The Curse of Undeath

by The Loner

Rating: mature
Tags: Anthro, Main 6, Princess Luna, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Dark, Romance, Warcraft, Adventure, Violence, Princess Celestia, Death, Human
Length: 138472

Many years have passed since the Lich King was supposedly slain, now he rises once more and finds that the world has changed drastically in his absence

After being heavily wounded after the successful attack on his citadel, the Lich King finds himself in an entirely different world where there are magical talking ponies and other odd sentient creatures. A strange piece of advice is discovered that might be the key to saving Equus from the cold grip of undeath. The fate of all Equus rests on the choices of one pony, will they decide to forgive him or will his past be too horrifying for her to deal with?

+Co-authored by Xarmar13

Published 2020-08-18 06:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-12-28 01:19:13 UTC

Chapter 2: When Trust and Honor Fall

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.

Chapter 3: When Hope is Lost (Crucial part added with Queen)

Chapter 3: When Hope is Lost (Crucial part added with Queen)

Chapter 3: When Hope is Lost

After the day long journey, Sapphy's hooves are aching from the long walk as her eyes look up to see a new horror before her. Thousands of bodies lay on top of the ground, all of them not buried properly and asks, "Are you not going to bury these warriors?"

Arthas laughs and says, "That is what you are going to be doing Sapphy while I go take care of an errand, I shall have an Abomination keeping watch over you while I am away. If you try to run, I will have my dragon Sindragosa burn that entire Yak village to ash, along with every Yak in it so don't get any ideas." He then tells her how to separate the bodies into sides, with the Horde on one side of the road and the Alliance on the other side. He also informs her which creatures belong in which side with the Night Elves, Dwarves, Draenei, Gnomes and Humans being in the Alliance faction, with the Horde faction having the Trolls, Orcs, Tauren, Forsaken Undead, and Blood Elves. To finish his explanation, he shows her what each one looks like by pointing their bodies out.

Sapphy takes in everything he says and asks him, "Where can I find a shovel master? I'm sorry sir, who is Sindragosa?"

He smiles and turns his head to look at her and says, "I forgot that I haven't given you the grand tour of my citadel that you will call home, come with me and I will show you. Perhaps there may be a shovel or two around the Plagueworks somewhere."

She follows him around wringing her hands from nervousness as he shows her how to use the rune portal on each floor of the citadel, as well as telling her what is where on each floor. She stares in awe at the craftsmanship and scale of the citadel, wondering how he manages to keep this place clean and says, "This place is enormous, how do you keep it so clean?"

Arthas looks back and sees that she is nervous for some reason and says, "If you are worried if I am taking you to my private chambers to rape you, you do not need to worry. I have no desire to lay with a farm animal, and I do not have any private chambers at the moment. I am thinking of having some built though, I shall lead you to the Plagueworks now. I need to find an abomination to be your overseer, you can look around for a shovel while I am raising the abomination as well as Professor Putricide."

They arrive at the Plagueworks and an abomination lies dead on the floor beside a dwarf with a battleaxe, she watches him draw his sword and thinks 'How is he going to raise a corpse like that?' She is rendered speechless when he stretches out his hand and lays his palm facing upwards.

Arthas then lifts it higher as a blue glowing mist covers his hand and says, "Arise, my minion. I demand you to serve your king." He watches as the abomination's corpse stirs and rises to its feet and says, "At your service, master. What do you wish of me?"

Her brain struggles to function properly as she watched him literally raise a corpse from the dead, her mouth and eyes are wide open in utter horror as her brain decides whether she should flee in terror or not. As her brain thinks on that, she forces herself to think as she reminds herself of what he said he would do if she tried to run away and forces her body to keep calm.

He chuckles at seeing her reaction to him raising the dead and says, "You are to be her watcher, use your hook to bring her back if she tries to run away and inform me of the attempt. After I leave here, her job is to bury the bodies belonging to the Horde and Alliance outside of the citadel. If the body is too heavy for her to move herself, help her move it. When it becomes nightfall, she may sleep. When the sun is in the sky, she goes back to work and eats one meal at noon and evening. Now go wait for her outside of the citadel." He then turns to look at her and says, "As for you Sapphy, I shall have to gather food. It appears that when I arrived here, somehow I need to feed myself once more. A body that requires sustenance is such a bother, I preferred it when I didn't have to eat at all." He then leads her into the Plagueworks to go raise Professor Putricide.

Sapphy watches as the abomination lumbers it way out of the citadel to go wait for her outside the entrance. She then turns back around and catches back up to Arthas and says, "Yak it really smells bad in this citadel. Do all abominations stink that badly?"

Arthas laughs and says, "Indeed they do, as well as a few of my other minions. You will get used to the stench in time, oh I will also have to find you a decent place to sleep so you do not catch cold. You can't work if you are sick, therefore I cannot have a sick servant."

As they reach the Plagueworks, she listens to him tell her to search around for a shovel somewhere as he makes his way towards the room straight ahead to raise this 'Professor Putricide.' She the spots a small alcove off to the side that has a few assorted tools in it and goes to search through them for a shovel and a pickaxe to use if the ground is frozen.

He walks over to the corpse of Professor Putricide and calls him to service, then waits for him to regain his facilities and says, "Welcome back to the land of undead, Professor Putricide. We are no longer in Azeroth, and I need you to begin improving the plague so it doesn't create any more forsaken with wills of their own. That last batch was a huge failure! You may begin working on this in ten years, as I have caused a bit of a ruckus and about to cause a bit more. I am going to be driving the occupants out of this land because they think that they rule me."

Professor Putricide looks down at the ground ashamed at his failure and then back up at his king and says, "A thousand apologies Your Highness, I will begin to make preparations at once. Sorry to make a request sir, but can you gather a few banshees to spy and gather information for me? I will begin learning what I can about this new world at once."

Arthas watches as Sapphy digs through a small alcove for a shovel and sets aside a pickaxe for some reason. He considers the professor's request and turns back to him and says, "Well professor, I shall raise a few banshees so you begin studying this world for me."

Sapphy finds a shovel that is in decent shape and then grabs a pickaxe and then begins to head downstairs saying, "I am going to begin now Master."

He turns to look at Sapphy and says, "Why do you need a pickaxe to dig graves?"

She turns around and says, "It is difficult to dig through frozen dirt, isn't it Master?"

Arthas then sighs and says, "You are correct, make haste for there are a lot of graves to dig. You don't have to bury the undead corpses, I shall be bringing them back to life eventually. Don't you want to meet Sindragosa, Sapphy? She is really talkative usually unless she is in a foul mood."

Sapphy then continues heading for the door and stops at hearing that, setting the tools down where she can get them later. She heads back over to Arthas and asks, "Is she scary looking?"

He chuckles and says to her, "Not at all. In fact I think she is rather attractive for a dragon. Follow me, she is just down this way." He watches as she falls into step behind him and leads her to The Frost Queen's Lair.

They reach a long hallway that connects to a balcony outside as Arthas steps off to the side to let Sapphy see Sindragosa. Her eyes slowly travel up, examining the massive dragon skeleton and asks, "Is this her? I was expecting her to be more...living."

Arthas grins at hearing what she says and comments, "Oh don't worry, she will be shortly." With that, he raises his hands as blue flames engulf them and travel along her skeleton, connecting her joints together and creates a ball of blue fire in her eye sockets and in her rib cage.

Sindragosa slowly comes to and lifts her head and immediately says, "Milord, I apologize for being unable to repel the invaders. How did the battle end for us sire?"

Sapphy's eyes look in amazement, wonder and fear at the once again living dragon. Her brain tries to scramble to come up with an explanation of how she can be walking around as a skeleton, but ultimately fails and leaves her there to gaze at Sindragosa with wide eyes and a completely shocked look on her face and can only say, "What, how?"

He sighs and shakes his head, ignoring Sapphy's shocked state and what she just said and replies, "Unfortunately, our forces lost and I was badly wounded. Luckily, I was allowed to live because Tirion wanted to deliver justice rather than get revenge on me and kill me outright. Therefore, he spoke with a group of mages that studied a spellbook found by Brann Bronzebeard in Ulduuar, and they used the banishing spell in it to send me out of Azeroth. Now we are in an entirely different world, just full of fresh opportunities to dominate this world. Are you ready to introduce this new world to new horrors and show them what true fear is?"

She rises to her full height and then stretches her joints, audible pops and grinding coming from being dead for a long time. As she makes herself more comfortable on her balcony, she notices the strange Minotaur-like creature gawking at her in a stunned state and pities the poor dear and replies to Arthas's question and says, "You just can never let a queen get her rest, can't you? Ugh, you are such a slave driver Milord. One moment please, I must introduce myself to our guest who is at a complete loss for words." She then lowers her head down further and says sweetly to her, "Hello there young living one, my name is Sindragosa and I am the Queen of the frostbrood dragons. What is your name and what are you?"

Sapphy immediately kneels and bows before her and stares at the ground and answers her, "My name is Sapphy Your Highness, I am a Yak. I belong to your husband King Arthas Menethil, it is an honor to be in your presence."

Sindragosa chokes out a laugh along with Arthas Menethil, and they both fall over laughing as she exclaims, "Did you hear that my love? We really should consummate our long overdue marriage shouldn't we?"

Arthas slaps his thigh and says, "Oh yes my darling, which hole shall I use first?"

The poor girl is confused at what is so funny and cocks her head at an angle and says, "I'm sorry, what's so funny?"

The dragon queen smiles and gets back onto her feet and slowly stops her laughing, still letting out a snicker once in a while and says, "Sorry, but Arthas is my master too. We are not married, I follow his orders but I do give him advice when he needs to hear it."

He gets onto his feet still chuckling, and then looks to Sapphy with a grin and says, "You will make my troubles easier by being here with me in this citadel, Sapphy. Sindragosa and I have business to tend to, so get started on digging holes. I will search for food for us to eat, what do you yaks eat?"

Sapphy looks to him and says, "Yaks are herbivores, therefore we eat grass, herbs, wild flowers, and tubers mainly. I shall start burying the dead at once master." She then turns around and goes to fetch the pickaxe and shovel to begin working on her task.

Arthas watches as she is out of earshot and says to Sindragosa, "I shall raise your two children for you, so you can begin to drive those that live here...out. Start with the settlements in the far north of this land, drive them to the Crystal Empire. From there I shall use whatever soldiers I can bring back to drive them the rest of the way out with you harassing them from behind to keep them moving south. I have a errand I need to deal with, so please don't be in such a rush to push them south. I shall be at the settlement to appear to be helping them with their problem, when in reality...I AM the nightmare they will never forget. Fear not Sindragosa, I will not do any serious harm to you, just minor cuts here and there. I shall pretend to not be stronger than you and plunge my sword into the ground to signify the next stage of the plan." He then begins to detail the next part of the campaign to her so she knows what to expect and do.

Sindragosa grins at the well thought out plan and nods her head saying, "I shall follow every detail, milord." She then watches as he raises his arms up in preparation to bring her two personal guards back.

He closes his eyes for a moment in concentration and opens them with determination and commands the two smaller frost dragon skeletons, "Arise children of Sindragosa, your king commands you to return!" He watches as blue fire reanimates their bodies. He then looks to Sindragosa and says, "If anything happens that does not go to plan and we need to improvise, I shall shout, "Frostmourne hungers!" when we can return to the plan, I shall say, "Your blood is mine!" When we fight, I permit you to speak to me like you would a normal foe."

She smiles and says, "Very well My King, I shall remember that." With that said, she turns around toward the edge of the balcony and says, "Children, TO ME!" She jumps over the edge and dives towards the ground, letting out a loud roar, then opens her wings just above the ground and begins flying to the north to begin driving the inhabitants south.

Arthas walks throughout the halls, resurrecting whatever undead he can find, leaving the more important ones behind to resurrect later.

Sapphy nearly has a heart attack from the sudden roar from Sindragosa diving towards the ground and taking off towards the north with the two smaller dragon skeletons following after her and says out loud to nobody in particular, "You did that on purpose, didn't you..." She shakes her head and picks up the pickaxe and begins to drag bodies off of the central path and out in front of some terrain suitable to use to bury the dead in.

He reaches the entrance to his citadel and looks out in the land beyond and sees Sapphy dragging a body by hand out to the land beyond the gates to start burying them and summons his steed. He then rides out to her and says, "Save your energy, don't dig them too deep because I might need to call on them to defend the citadel! Search for a wagon or a cart to use, it will be faster for you that way."

She nods her head and says, "Yes master, I will begin searching now, thank you for your thoughtfulness." She then lets go of the arm that she is pulling on and goes to find a wagon or a cart to use to move the bodies. Just then she hears the doors to the citadel fully open, soon followed by numerous undead with blue flames somewhere on their bodies and watches them moving down the stairs before their king.

Arthas looks at them and says, "Some of you get a few large wagons and travel south through a valley until you reach a bay and wait for further orders! The rest of you make your way east, chasing the inhabitants of this land further south. Leave the village beside the valley alone. Regroup with me when I command it!"

Without saying a word, the army sets out to do as it was told to. Skeletons, Ghouls, Banshees, Abominations, Val'kyr and a few other types begin making their way east while Geists, Skeletal Horses, and Zombies go get the wagons to head south through the valley.

He turns and rides east without his army and says, "YOU HAVE YOUR ORDERS! NOW FOLLOW THEM!" He rides hard towards the town to the east, trying to get there before Sindragosa does. "Come on my friend, we race to a village in the east!

A Full Day Later

The leaders gather in Unicolt, trying to figure out a way to deal with the looming crisis as they eagerly wait for the arrival of King Arthas to deal with the weather as snow starts falling around them. With the winds picking up and blowing snow against their homes, they pray that he arrives soon.

Clover the Clever looks to Commander Hurricane and says, "Food is beginning to run out, we need to do something or try to find new land in hopes that we can start over."

He glares at her and shouts, "We are not abandoning our homes just to find a new one and start over again!"

Arthas races into town, acting like a new crisis just came up and breathes hard and tries to locate the leaders. After getting some ponies to talk to him, he runs towards a dwelling and bursts through the door saying, "I have come to deal with your problem, but there is a bigger problem now." He points behind him as Sindragosa swoops down, chasing ponies around the town and destroys houses with her frost breath or frost bombs as ponies run around screaming in terror.

Clover's mind trips and fails to work after seeing a massive flying skeleton using frost and attacks the village and shouts, "What are we supposed to do about that, our magic isn't strong enough to beat that thing back!"

He hangs his head, playing like he doesn't know what is happening and says, "You flee south, I will find a way to keep her busy. Gather every pony you can find and leave this place, this town is lost! Now GO, or you will all die here!"

She gets the point and says to the others, "Go and gather your fellow ponies and meet us at the Crystal Empire please, Commander Hurricane. We will pack up what we can and meet up with you there."

Arthas moves out of the way as they rush past to gather what they need and flee south, he spots something in the skies above him and uses death grip and brings it to him. He notices that it is a kind of a malevolent spirit of a pony that couldn't find peace and draws out Frostmourne to absorb them, he thrusts his sword outward into the air and brings the spirit that he is holding by the neck closer to the sword. He watches with glee as the spirit fights to be free and get away from the sword with a scared look on it's face and begins to vanish into the sword and lets out an ear splitting shriek. He chuckles at the weak attempt to get free and sees that the spirit had called for help.

Clover the Clever is distracted by Arthas holding something in his grasp with a savage smile on his face as it fails to get free and is drawn into the sword. Others like it gather around him with anger on their faces as he applies magic to the sword, now looking to the others in hopes they attack him. She watches in horror as the creatures neigh in anger and charge him trying to avenge their taken friend, only to be sucked in by the sword. As the skies get darker, she begins to turn and runs back to the group right when the massive dragon lands in front of Arthas and stops to stare at the impending fight.

Acting her part, Sindragosa roars in agitation at the being who stands before her and yells, "Who dares interrupt the Frostbrood Queen's hunt to reclaim her stolen land!"

He plays along and says, "These lands belong to the ponies now, leave them be or you shall have to fight me!" He watches as the Frostbrood Queen breathes frost at him, trying to kill him. He jumps left and evades the frost, he then raises his sword into the air and charges her yelling, "Frostmourne hungers!"

Hearing the signal she says, "You shall be a pitiful meal, you wretched creature!" she twists her head and lunges out to bite him while extending one foreleg out to brace herself.

Commander Hurricane lands next to Clover the Clever, who stares at the two creatures fighting and grabs both of her shoulders forcefully and shakes her out of it, then says, "Snap out of it! We need to get out of here or that thing will eat us!"

Clover the Clever comes back and shakes her head and then nods, she turns around and heads back towards the group of terrified ponies that abandoned their homes as they were destroyed and says, "Alright everypony, we are leaving Unicolt behind. We need to search for a new place to live, so follow us south!"

Arthas watches as the ponies evacuate this town called 'Unicolt' and turns around, then runs up Sindragosa's turned head and softly says, "Apologies, proud queen of the frostbrood, that I must use your head as a step." He then seats himself at the base of her neck and says, "You shall fall to me, great dragon!" he holds on and raises his sword in the air.

Sindragosa grumbles and says, "Oh no I won't, you shall be my snack!" with a roar, she leaps up into the air and takes flight as the strange spirits give chase.

She looks back from the ground and says, "Oh Arthas, I hope you will be ok. Today is really turning out to be a nightmare, isn't it Princess Platinum?"

The leader is too shocked to answer, as she just continues to follow her robotically and stares at the ground in an unresponsive state. She finally sighs and says, "I failed them, my subjects...I have failed them all."

Clover tries to soothe her and bring her comfort, but nothing works as they make their way towards the Crystal Empire for temporary shelter while they search for a new home.

He commands Sindragosa to hover in the sky so he can absorb the few dozen spirits that are around here, seeming to be the cause of the unusual weather. He then watches as the sky turns really dark grey and a spirit the same size as Sindragosa strides forth from the clouds with anger on their face.

The spirit strides forth and bellows at him, "I AM QUEEN OF THE ELEMENTS, WHO DARES HARM MY CHILDREN!"

Arthas smiles cruelly and yells back, "It is I, Arthas Menethil. I am the Lich King, no one stands in the way of my conquest! Surrender to me and serve me or suffer the same fate your other children will!"

Queen of the Elements glares at him with hatred and says, "I serve no master! I will never become a slave, now you shall die for your insolence!" She then blasts him with freezing cold ice, trying to freeze him solid. She then notices that he is unfazed by her attack and stares at him wide-eyed and shocked then says, "How are you not affected by my power?!"

He smiles and looks directly into her eyes, letting her see what true evil is and says, "Look at me closely pathetic creature, I am the thing that goes bump in the night. I instill fear in every living creature, for I am the Lich King. If you don't know what Lich means, I will explain it to you. Lich King means that I am king of every living and dead creature that drags on their meaningless life on this earth. Serving only one, until the day you die and that is I. After you die, your soul shall be brought back and placed in a new body to continue serving me in death."

She stares in horror at the monstrosity before her, standing on top of a dragon that serves him. A new feeling makes its way up her spine, making her shiver and want to get away from him as soon as possible. She starts backing up and says, "Y-You do not belong here. Who, and what are you?"

Arthas continues to smile and laughs saying, "You are correct, I do not belong here. A spell was used that sent me here, and now... I shall be king over this whole world, I am the thing that nightmares are made of. I am Arthas, Lich King of the Scourge!" He then thrusts forth his blade and starts to enhance Frostmourne's power, beginning to draw her into it saying, "And now, I rule over you!"

Queen of the Elements turns and tries to flee but is to late, she is caught in the sword's iron grip. She screams out in terror as she is sucked into the sword, her screams echoing out over the snow covered land. Just before disappearing completely, she fires off a magical missile in hopes that somepony will find the gift one day and use it to save this world.

He grins as Frostmourne claimed a powerful soul that can greatly strengthen his rule. He then says to Sindragosa, "Continue driving the inhabitants south, I shall meet up with you outside of the Crystal Empire."

Sindragosa returns to the ground below with a crash and bellows, "YOU ARE STRONG INDEED, NOT MANY CAN TAKE ME ON IN SINGLE COMBAT! YOU HAVE CLAIMED A TEMPORARY VICTORY, SO ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTS YOU PITIFUL CRETIN! WE WILL MEET AGAIN!"

Arthas wields his sword in the air triumphantly and says, "Remember these words strong foe, the next time we meet... YOUR BLOOD IS MINE!" He watches as she flies off to continue driving the inhabitants of the land south, then summons Invincible and says, "We are off to the next stage, my friend. Bear with me a little while longer, you can rest after I catch up with the group."

Invincible breathes hard a little bit as he trots to catch up to the group and says, "Forgive me sir, but I have to walk for a little while or I am going to disappear." He then slows down to a quick walk, allowing himself to catch his breath and take it easy for a little bit.

He pats his friends neck, understanding that he needs to take it easy for a little bit and says, "It's ok my friend, I understand. We aren't really too pressed for time as of yet, because actually we are a little ahead of schedule and Sindragosa needs a little more time to scour this land for its inhabitants and drive them all past us."

They spend a good deal of time talking about the past as Arthas spots the group within sight and says, "Well my friend, this is where we part ways for now. I shall call upon you in a bit after I speak with them briefly and inform them of the situation. Farewell for now, my friend." He then stops and gets off of him and starts jogging to the group, slowly catching up to them.

Commander Hurricane hears a crunching and a metallic noise and looks behind him to see Arthas catching up with them finally and says, "Welcome back Your Highness, how did you fare in your fight against that monstrous creature?"

The other leaders nearby turn their attention to Arthas and listen in for what happened as well, hoping to be able to go home.

Arthas looks to them with a grin and says, "I managed to wound her and drove her off, but she is none too pleased that I hurt her. It is best to keep moving south to greener fields, this place is lost for you all. I am going to wait here for any other ponies that are fleeing south and will direct them to the Crystal Empire. I will scavenge around for some food that might have been left behind as I will stay there to direct any stray survivors."

Commander puffs his chest and says, "That is a job for the Pegasi, you just leave that to us. You sure look like you have been through an ordeal with dealing with that creature, what was that horrifying shriek earlier? It caused us to freeze in place due to sheer terror at the sound."

He sighs and says, "I was hoping you all wouldn't hear that, there was another strange force that was causing your dilemma. It was a very powerful spirit of some deceased queen of the past that turned malevolent and wanted you all out. The shriek you heard was the sound of her being slain, I do not like to take life so needlessly."

The ponies buy the explanation and keep moving on towards the Crystal Empire as Clover asks him, "Did you manage to avoid the Yaks on your journey to the Crystal Empire, Your Highness?"

Arthas facepalms his helm and says, "Crap, I forgot that I need to check up on them again. I bumped into a patrol of theirs and after they took me to their village, I saw many bodies laying on the ground. As well as several destroyed huts and frozen bodies, I need to go see if they are doing ok. I hope that the dragon didn't return to finish them off, I need to get going. I shall meet you all again in two weeks at the Crystal Empire, farewell."

Chapter 4: Salvation burns and Anger reigns

Arthas and Invincible regroup with his army, killing whatever ponies that were left behind. He makes his way south, taking his army with him as Sindragosa and her two children arrive with her he says, "I need one of you two to carry me to the supply group south of the valley near Yakyakistan and back, I have to give them their next orders while this army keeps moving south towards the low mountains straight south of here."

Sindragosa nods to one of her children and says, "I will let you two choose who goes on this errand."

One of the dragons nods at the other one and flies down to the ground, landing near him and waits for him to get on to begin their journey,

He looks to Invincible and says, "Keep traveling with the army Invincible, I shall return shortly after I issue them their next orders." He then dismounts him and gets onto the dragons body and says, "I'm ready whenever you are."

The dragon takes off into the air, heading towards their destination. Arriving three hours later, the dragon lands at the group of undead near the bay awaiting further orders.

Arthas gets off the dragons back and approaches the group and says, "I have new orders for you. You are to head east towards the Crystal Empire until you get within sight of it. When you are close enough to see it, hide in the trees and wait until the army hits the city after I take its barrier down. After a minute of the attack, head into the city and raid shops and their food storage. Collect coin, gems and food for living servants that shall be with us at home. After the wagons are filled, return home at once and protect them from attackers. I shall assign four abominations to go along with you all for extra protection." He then turns around and heads back towards the dragon and returns to it's back and says, "I'm ready to go back now, my task here is done."

The dragon takes off into the sky as the supply group get moving again and returns to the army three hours later around sunset and lands near Invincible to let Arthas off.

He gets off the dragon's back and turns back to him before it can return to its mother and says, "Thank you for the ride there and back, you have been a great help to me." He then walks to his horse and gets onto its back and says, "At this pace, we should arrive there in a couple days. We will be plenty rested and will be ready to show this world what true fear is."

Two weeks later at the Crystal Empire.

Clover the Clever and the refugees from the north arrive outside the Crystal Empire and are happy to be able to rest their aching hooves and eat a decent meal and looks to Princess Platinum and says, "I wonder when Arthas will return from showing others the way south."

Just then a crystal guard approaches them and says, "Halt in the name of Princess Amore!"

They stop and look to the guard in confusion as Clover says, "Is there a problem sir?"

The crystal guard looks at them sternly and says, "Did you just say the name of Arthas Menethil?"

She smiles and says, "Why yes I did, did he already return here?"

He holds his stern gaze on her and says, "No he hasn't, when are you expecting to see him again? The Princess demands his presence."

Clover looks at him in confusion and asks, "We hope to see him again any day now, did he do something wrong, sir?"

The crystal guard twitches at her question and answers, "Yes, and the Princess has questions for him. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to discuss this matter further with you. I noticed there are many of you that are coming from the north, did something happen?"

She smiles sadly and says, "Yes, we lost our homes and were forced to flee the land and head south to find greener lands. Do you happen to know of anywhere that is habitable?"

He thinks on it a moment and says, "I apologize for your hardships, unfortunately I do not know of anyplace outside of here that might be suitable for you to live. You should seek an audience with Princess Amore, but do not upset her as she is with foals."

Clover the Clever beams a smile and says, "I will convey my congratulations to her majesty, I shall go request an audience with her right now." she then turns to look at Princess Platinum and asks, "Do you want to go with me to speak to the princess of the Crystal Empire?"

Princess Platinum sighs and continues to look down at the ground and says, "No I do not, I am depressed and out of sorts. I need time to recover from the shock of everything that has happened. You go wish her well for me will you, thanks." She then returns to following the group of ponies as they wander through the marvelous city and look at everything they have.

She sighs, but then nods in understanding of her decision. She then travels towards the large crystal castle to seek an audience with the ruler of the Crystal Empire.

One and a half days later, outside of the Crystal Empire.

Arthas gazes down at the crystal city and sneers evilly, then says to his army, "Hold here until I get that barrier down and I return." He then gets off of Invincible and says to him, "I will be back my friend, and we shall have another living guest at the citadel with us." He then heads towards the city with a nullification ring he took from one of the dead guards, remembering when he first learned what it actually was.

After walking for a couple hours, the sun is high in the sky as Arthas finally appears right outside the city and the guards start to sweat bullets as he stands before them and says, "I have returned and wish to see Princess Amore, let me pass!"

The two guards very nervously open a hole in the barrier and allow him to pass saying, "P-Please have a good day Your Highness."

He walks on by them with a chuckle and mentally says, "Oh I will, don't worry. It will be a very good day for me..." He then makes his way to the Crystal Castle where his love is and passes by ponies that bow to him in respect and nods or waves in return.

An hour later...

Princess Amore deals with the last petitioner of the day and prepares to head back to her chambers for the day, feeling another bout of morning sickness coming around. She heads down the halls and thinks, 'I can't believe that i am pregnant by him! When I see him again, I am so going to make him pay for running off like that to repay a favor!'

As she finally reaches her quarters, she turns the handle and pushes the door in to hear someone say, "Hey sexy flank, did you miss me?" Causing her to nearly scream in surprise, she turns beet red, slams the door shut and stomps over to her coltfriend and yells, "WHERE IN THE NAME OF TARTARUS HAVE YOU BEEN, I HAVE BEEN WORRIED ABOUT YOU!" She calms down after beating him with her fists and then sobs and asks, "W-Why did you kill those guards, did they do something wrong to upset you that much?"

Arthas lays there on the bed with only a pillow covering his privates and smirks at her saying, "I do apologize for that, they said that my father was a disgrace for a king and that his nickname should be 'The Fool of Lordaeron'. I do think I went a little overboard and killed them from my rage, but do you think that you can forgive me for my rash behavior this once?" To get his way, he puts on a cute pouty face and looks at her as if he were a child.

She tries to keep being mad at him for ditching her like that, but utterly fails to stay mad due to the insanely adorable face that he has right now and says, "Ohhh...I guess I can pardon you, just this once. Do not let it happen again mister or you are going to be punished!"

He laughs and says mockingly, "Oh you dare to threaten me with punishment, don't you know that I am the rightful king of Lordaeron? Now obey your king and come over here and give me some sugar, chunky butt."

Amore blushes fiercely and stammers saying, "H-HEY, I can't help it if I really like cakes. Though I do have a much bigger appetite now that I have to eat for three, you are going to be a father Arthas."

Arthas's jaw drops open as he hears her say that she is expecting, and says, "I..I don't know...what to say." He then slaps himself internally and forces himself to correct the error he just made and continues, "Y-You're serious aren't you? You are not messing with me?"

She beams a huge smile and nods repeatedly saying, "Of course I am serious, I wouldn't joke about something like this my king. We are going to be a big happy family from now on."

He smiles widely back and says, "That is wonderful to hear chunky butt, now come over here because I missed you." He then holds his arms out wide and hugs her tightly and takes her to the bed in a warm embrace. He grimaces internally as his heart gives him a painful throb, announcing its presence to him.

Amore is in bliss right now at being in the arms of the father of her two foals as she feels him hugging her gently and kissing her face and then trails a finger along her horn and says, "I love you my darling, I look forward to our lives spent together as a family." She then begins to drift off to sleep after her long day at court and begins to dream of the future.

Arthas smiles and waits for her to drift off to sleep before casting a spell to keep her asleep until they were safely back at his citadel. As he hears her begin to snore quietly, he casts the spell on her and slips the ring over her horn to nullify the magic she has. With her taken care of, he can begin the final stage to his plan and thinks to himself, 'Oh don't start with me heart, I may have been cursed with you along with a soul. Don't interfere with the way I do things, or you shall be cut out once more and cast away.' He opens the door and shuts it quietly as he spots a maid just outside walking by and quietly tells her, "The princess is not to be disturbed under any circumstance, understand? She had a long day and needs her rest due to being an expecting mother, be sure to inform the other maids and guards around the castle."

The maid nods quietly and says, "It shall be done Your Highness, I shall inform them at once." She then goes on her way to inform the other staff and guards.

He watches her as she walks swiftly down the hall and makes his way to where the crystal heart is kept and chuckles thinking, 'Everyone around here is just so helpful, that it is just too easy to lay waste to their city.'

Twenty minutes later, Clover the Clever is exploring the city and passes in front of the citadel and spots Arthas exiting the castle and walks over to him swiftly and says, "Arthas, it is so good you are finally back! The princess told me earlier that there might be some habitable land south of here, It would be nice if you could come with us when we leave here to search for it tonight. Did you happen to find any other survivors when you were up there?"

Arthas stays in character and answers her with a sigh and a shake of his head saying, "Unfortunately, I didn't. I would like to go along with you to the new land but I sense something foul in the air, so I suggest that you all gather what you need and head south." He hopes that she takes the bait and prepares to leave very shortly.

Something inside her tells her that something is amiss about what he says, but she ignores it and says, "Thank you for warning me, you haven't led us astray yet. I shall trust your feeling and advise the others about leaving in a few hours. I hope we meet again one day Arthas." She then turns and makes her way to find where the other leaders are at, waving goodbye to her friend Arthas.

He nods his head in goodbye and continues on his journey towards the crystal heart, waving or smiling at the passing pony that notices him. After walking for a couple more minutes, he spots the thing he is looking for. He examines it for a way to deactivate it but isn't able to and looks around to see if anyone is watching him when a crystal pony notices him looking at the heart and smiles and approaches him.

The crystal pony smiles at Arthas and says, "It is beautiful isn't it, that is what keeps this city safe from the dangers outside. We are not sure who made it, but we found it somewhere underneath the castle. It has kept us safe from harm ever since, would you like to know more about the Crystal Empire's mysteries?"

Arthas smiles and looks at the annoying pony with kindness and says, "Perhaps in a little bit, I am just going to admire the beautiful craftsmanship of this object a little longer out of curiosity."

The pony smiles and then turns and walks away, heading back towards his shop and says, "I will be around the shop if you do come by later, have a nice day!"

He watches as the pony leaves him near the crystal heart, then looks around discreetly to see if anybody will notice. When he notices that he has an opening to take the heart and tuck it into his armor, he seizes it and tears the crystal heart from the pedestal and swiftly tucks the heart into his armor and wonders where he might hide it and spots an outhouse not to far away and walks to it. Entering the rather small outhouse, Arthas takes the crystal out and lifts up the lid and drops it into the deep hole then puts the lid back down and exits it and makes his way out of the city back to his army to attack the city.

Three hours later, back at the army atop of a ridge overlooking the Crystal Empire

Sindragosa watches as Arthas stands atop the ridge with a sinister grin on his face and asks, "Is everything finally ready, sir?"

Arthas glances to her and nods his head and then draws Frostmourne and holds it in the air and waves it forward saying, "Onward to the far edge of the field soldiers, it is time to introduce ourselves to the living! Sindragosa you wait here until you hear me shout, FEAR ME or I shall kill you all, then return you to life as my slaves. Then you shall bow to YOUR NEW KING!." He then sits atop his companion Invincible and rides in front of them, leading them to stand outside the edge of the city.

A guard stands beside the north road, leading out of the city and watches numerous bodies make their way down from the ridge from the north. Not liking the size of the group, they speak to the other guard, "I am going to inform the captain about the large group coming from the north, keep watch until I return." He then turns and hightails it to the captain.

The other guard nods and says, "What else am I supposed to do, let them in without getting the higher-ups' judgement on this? I am not that big of an idiot." He then stares at the huge group with more still coming over the ridge with wide eyes, praying they are not going to attack the city.

Five minutes pass by as the captain and the other guard arrive at the north road, having to force their way through the massive crowd of curious and freaked out ponies that are staring at something. They get through the crowd and stare in horror at the sheer number of dead bodies that have gathered north of the city, struggling to believe what he is seeing before his eyes he says, "How can this be possible! The dead just cannot walk on their own, and who or what is that in front of the army." His wide eyes shift to a large banner that one of the corpses wields, seeing the emblem of a kingdom that is not known to him.

A weary Princess Amore wakes from a nice nap and hears a commotion comes from outside and rises from bed, curious as to what is going on and makes her way across the room to the balcony. As she reaches her balcony, she looks out to the north of the city and sees a massive group gathered just north of the city. She sees a banner waving among the group and focuses on it then says, "That crest looks familiar, but where have I seen it before..." She then recalls where she saw it before and thinks, 'Oh, that is just the crest that I saw on Arthas's armor. I wonder why he brought such a large group here?'

Arthas strides forth atop Invincible and enhances his voice with his magic and bellows, "My name is Arthas Menethil, I am the Lich King of the Scourge! You shall receive a new ruler this very day, and that is I! If you bow before me now, I shall be merciful! If you swear your allegiance to me, I shall leave this city unharmed."

Princess Amore scowls at the pitiful prank that Arthas must be trying to pull now and attempts to amplify her voice, but fails completely and looks up to see a null ring on her horn and grumbles angrily and takes to the air. She arrives at the north road beside the captain of the Crystal Guard within a minute and stomps forth and yells out to him, "How dare you attempt to pull such a pathetic prank, I am not very happy with you right now. Come with me right now, we need to talk!" She then taps her hoof and crosses her arms, feeling very angry at her lover for pulling something like this.

He strides forth a bit further on Invincible and bellows back, "I think NOT my love, for I meant every single thing I said. Bow down to me and acknowledge me as king and I shall not leave your city in ruins!"

For the first time in her life, Princess Amore finds herself backing up in fear of the one she loved. She finally shifts her eyes around to look at the creatures standing in formation behind him, realizing that he outclasses her in might and magic. Forcing herself to stop backing up, she stands firm and exclaims, "WE ARE PROUD CITIZENS OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE, WE SHALL NOT BOW TO A FOREIGN RULER! BEGONE FROM HERE AT ONCE OR FEEL OUR WRATH!"

Arthas smiles widely at hearing her response and bellows with all his might, "FEAR ME or I shall kill you all, then return you to life as my slaves. Then you shall bow to YOUR NEW KING! Come Sindragosa, and teach these fools what it means to refuse THE LICH KING!"

Clover the Clever gets an unexpected shiver down her spine, causing her to turn around right when a massive roar is heard in the distance and spots a strangely familiar shape of something she can't quite see yet and focuses harder on it. She then realizes that it is the dragon from before and yells to the group, "There is not enough time to go help the Crystal Empire! We have to hurry south and hope that they can fend it off by themselves."

Amore physically trembles as she watches the massive dead dragon flying through the air towards the Crystal Empire. Suddenly she hears ponies screaming in horror and start fleeing for their houses, she turns her gaze to her subjects and sees everypony panicking in fear and start running home in safety. She tries to calm them down but nothing she does works.

He smiles at the mayhem that is running amok right now and thrusts his sword high in the air and bellows, "All warriors, kill any pony that fights against you!" With his link to them through his helm, he adds to that and uses telepathy to send them the rest of the order and thinks, "Do not kill women or children unless they attack first, and leave Princess Amore to me."

She is forced to scream out an order above the cacophony of screams and yells, "Guards of the Crystal Empire, TO ARMS! Defend the empire from these invaders!" She looks around at the gathering guard with calm faces, prepared to fight these monsters. She then says, "Defenders of the Crystal Empire, go forth and drive the enemy back!"

The attack on the Crystal Empire

The army of undead rushes forth towards the defenders, eager to shed the blood of the living and crash against their shields. A few go over the shields trying to break through their shield wall, but are quickly dispatched.

Arthas watches as his forces slowly begin to overwhelm the defenders, smiling with glee as Sindragosa swoops overhead of the defenders. She breathes a stream of frost and strafes them as she passes over them, freezing them to the bone instantly and goes back to terrorizing the city with her frost breath and encasing ponies in ice, leaving their heads exposed so they can still breathe.

The screams of terror and battle fill the air, signalling the group with the wagons to begin their job and pull the wagons out of the trees. The trip to the city takes them a little time, but at least they are doing something now.

Princess Amore's eyes shrink to pinpricks as she watches these huge, hideous creatures lumber forth and use strange, curved blades on chains to tear her guards apart literally. She slowly begins to snicker as her mind slowly begins to go insane, then she bursts into hysterical laughter as she loses it completely and just watches her soldiers be cut down.

An hour later...

As he watches his army chase down the few remaining guards, he then approaches his love and ceases her laughter by putting her to sleep and then says, "Sindragosa, please come down here." He picks her body up and cradles her tenderly due to her newly discovered state.

Sindragosa hears Arthas call her and lands nearby in an open spot and waits for him to tell her what he needs and asks, "What do you wish of me my king?"

Arthas approaches her, setting the sleeping body of his lover on top of her back just in front of where he sits and says, "Your task is done, a third of the city lies in ruins. Their army is obliterated with no one left willing to fight us now, let us head back to Icecrown with our guest. I need to make sure that the other group gathered enough food to feed a few mouths for a few months while I figure something out in the meantime." He then makes his way towards where the wagons should be to check their haul and bellows out a new order for the fighting force saying, "Undead warriors, be sure to gather a couple dozen test subjects to bring back for our good doctor. One more thing, make sure they are alive and healthy. If they have horns, make sure to search for rings like the one I placed on their princess. You should be able to find a few on the guards that you fought earlier, and place one over top of each of their horns to be sure they can't use magic to escape. Also, if they have wings, make sure to bind them to their body so they don't fly away."

After walking for a few minutes, he listens to shrieks of terror as several ponies are taken captive. Finally arriving at the wagons, he looks inside of them and is very pleased with the haul, 4 of the ten wagons are filled with gold and gems and a few magic tomes, while the other six are loaded with fruit, vegetables, and grasses and other edibles that herbivores can eat. Pleased with what he sees, he says to the group, "You have done well to gather so much, we shall have to find a way to be able to catch fish, but that is a problem for a different day. Regroup with the rest outside the city, we are finished with this place." He reaches inside a wagon and fetches a bag filled with some food that his servant can eat, then turns and makes his way out to the city limits. He then leaves the caravan behind him to clear the bodies out of the way themselves.

An abomination named Glug smashes around through a home, searching for whoever threw a rock at him. After flipping over a bed and tearing a door off of its hinges, he finds what he has been searching for. His eyes stare at a light pink unicorn with light aquamarine hair with moderate purple streaks with moderate persian blue eyes standing protectively in front of her daughter. Obeying the command that his king has issued them all, he seizes the mature pony and places a ring onto her horn then starts to lumber out of the damaged house while ignoring the screams of the parent trying to return to her daughter.

Lighting Glimmer runs after her mother, trying to get her back and screaming, "MOMMA, MOMMA DON'T LEAVE ME!! MOMMA, MOMMA!!"

Annoyed with the attempts of the daughter, Glug stops and picks up the screaming young pony in his other hand and hurls her through a fence. He watches as she skids across the ground and crashes into an empty merchant stall, falling unconscious and chuckles then says, "Haha, stupid pony thing. Nothing stop us now, we shall rule world one day."

The nearly unconscious daughter tries to get back up but watches and listens to her mother's wailing sobs as she tries to reach out to her and whimpers in pain, "I sowwy momma...I...not save...you." Her head feels too heavy to hold up any more and as her vision darkens, she closes her eyes and falls unconscious.

Arthas stands outside the city and then issues one more command to his forces and bellows, "To me undead warriors, we are returning to Icecrown!" He then approaches his flying mount Sindragosa and sits atop her back and waits for them all to arrive before issuing final orders and leaving them to return on their own.

It takes ten minutes for Glug to return to the gathered undead force of around five thousand undead warriors, including the other group. He stands around and waits for the rest of the fighters to arrive and smiles, feeling happy to see his brother Chug survive through the battle and says, "I unhappy. You take two slaves to me one. Me beat you next time!"

Chug laughs and says, "Keep try, brother! If you beat me, you take best axe." He then looks down to one of the captives he holds and hits them over the head with the curved blade's back, knocking them unconscious again and says, "Screams annoying, me hit to keep quiet, noise of living hurt me head."

He watches the last of the group gather and issues his last orders and shouts, "I must return to Icecrown quickly, ALL of you travel with the wagons. Make sure no prisoners escape or I shall punish you severely! Make sure to keep the wagons safe, they shall guide your path back home where I shall await your return. Now move out!" He then holds the bag firmly by moving his lover closer to trap the bag between them and just before he takes flight, he looks back and bellows to all the surviving crystal ponies, "I hope you enjoy your freedom now, ponies! I have your princess and your city lies in ruins, you have been such gracious hosts! Pleasant nightmares to all of you!" He then nudges Sindragosa to begin their journey back to Icecrown.

Three hours later, back at Icecrown...

Sindragosa lands on top of her balcony and lies down to let Arthas get off her back and says, "Now what will our plan be my king?" She looks to him thoughtfully for an answer.

Arthas holds the bag of food in his hand and turns back to her and says, "Now we shall study this world and learn from it and improve our home. First we get this land around our castle cleaned up, then we get the walls repaired properly. Then we begin our search for saronite to use as weapons, though I doubt there is any on this world and build walls across the access points to this land and put gates at each one. After that, we shall see what progress the doctor has made with improving the plague."

She looks to him in curiosity and asks, "What about after all that is done, what shall we do then sir?"

With a malicious grin he says to her, "After that is finished, we shall teach the world to fear us and we will bring it under our rule. I must go feed the slave now, I shall return for my love shortly. Do keep her company until I return, I sure hope that she won't be too much trouble. I eagerly await the day my children are born, and I shall teach them what they need to know to be able to survive in life." He then walks away towards the hall, making his way to where the teleporter will send him to the ground floor to give his servant some food.

Sapphy is making good progress on burying the dead bodies, with three hundred of them sorted and buried already. She is extremely hungry and hopes that Arthas brought back food for her and says, "I'm so hungry that I could eat a pony!" She continues to dig as she waits for her master to bring her food, when she spots him making his way towards her with a bag of food in hand and sighs happily at being able to eat real food now.

Arthas stops on the road beside a grave she is currently digging and looks at how many bodies she has managed to bury so far and says, "You are progressing adequately, you have definitely earned this meal. Do try to make it last as long as possible without starving yourself, eat a decent meal then take a short break and keep working. You will need to make sure the road is cleared of bodies, the undead group will be returning in just over a couple weeks."

She looks to him gratefully and takes the bag of food and then says, "Thank you so much for this food master, I survived this long because I searched around for some grass to eat and a nearby stream for water."

He turns around and waves a hand in the air dismissively and says, "Uh huh, just keep working after your break is over and get those bodies into the ground. They are beginning to become an eyesore. We will be getting some temporary prisoners in a couple weeks to aid you in burying this many corpses quicker." He then turns and heads back towards where he left his love with Sindragosa.

Amore slowly stirs and comes to, feeling uncomfortable for some reason and her eyes slowly flutter open to reveal blurry images. They slowly come into focus as she blinks her eyes a few times and shakes her head once or twice, and notices that she is laying on top of the back of the dragon that caused so much damage to her city and chuckles saying, "I'm terribly sorry, but I seem to have found my way onto your back. Can you please tell me what happened?"

Sindragosa swivels her neck around and looks back at her and says, "Since you are awake now, do me a favor and get off my back would you? Do you want the long version or the short version?"

She chuckles and says, "I think I would like the long version please." She then gets off of her back and walks in front of her a little ways and makes herself comfortable as two smaller skeletal dragons take off into the sky, not really wanting to hear the story.

It takes Arthas fifteen minutes to return to the floor, informing Professor Putricide of the incoming subjects as well as raising a few banshees to serve as spies for him. He then turns down the hall where Sindragosa's balcony is located and hears his love laughing at something.

Amore smiles and slaps her side lightly and says, "Then what happened?"

Sindragosa chuckles and says, "Then when I sneezed, his head got stuck!"

They both erupt into laughter as Arthas walks down the hall to where the two girls are laughing about something and he announces his presence and says, "Welcome to Icecrown, did you miss me my love?"

The insane princess looks back to her love and runs towards her lover saying, "Of course I have missed you silly! What an amazing view you have here Sindy, I am rather jealous of you right now. This view is better than from my balcony in the Crystal Empire, it was so fun watching you wreak so much death and destruction upon innocent mortals. There is no way they will ever forget what you did to them, nothing can undo the scar you just created by announcing your existence to the world. After all, it was you who threw me over the edge into the abyss of insanity. Worry not, my love. I will never wish to bring you harm, I just want to be by your side forever."

Arthas looks back at Sindragosa for any advice on what is going on but sighs as she shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head not knowing. Unsure of how to react to this recent development, he continues his sweet lover act and says to her, "Do you want to see our new home and kingdom, my love?" He then offers her an arm to take to lead her around the citadel.

Amore takes his arm in glee and says, "Of course I do, I can't wait to see what your throne room looks like...and our chambers." she says the last part with a bit of lust and mischief in her voice, squinting her eyes in a way that would turn any pony into a stallion rearing to have their way with a mare.

He begins leading her down the hall towards the center platform to show her the throne room first and says, "Unfortunately, there is no private chambers as of yet. I have never had need of those since I became the king of the undead Scourge." He mentally berates himself for allowing that slip of the tongue and then continues telling her more about the citadel.

She listens intently to him telling her about this citadel that was built by the first scourge lords and interrupts him briefly and threatens him lightly, "You need to get those private chambers built within four months so I can begin nesting, but if you fail I assure you will have a very angry and violent lover to deal with every day until they are ready. Do you understand me?"

Arthas winces mentally at her words and answers her, "It shall be done within three months, my love. Follow me onto this plate up here my love, I think you will absolutely adore the view from there even more." He then backs up onto the plate and disappears, reappearing on top of the citadel. He then walks forward to the base of the stairs and sits in the Frozen Throne, waiting for his love to appear on the plate.

Amore steps into the light and feels a tingle as she is teleported somewhere and looks around to see something truly remarkable, she sees a mirrorlike mint green floor with the symbol of the Scourge engraved on it. She is in awe at what she sees before her, her lover sitting atop a throne appearing to be made of either ice or the same material as the floor and says, "Oh wow, the view is beautiful from up here my love. I guess this is the throne room then?"

He looks at her from under his helm and says, "Indeed it is my love, this is the Frozen Throne that sits atop this citadel. Please come sit upon my lap for awhile, we have plenty of time to allow you to rest up before we continue with your tour of the citadel."

She hastily makes her way up to the steps, but is careful with going up them as they are iced over. She reaches the top and sits down on top of Arthas's lap and gazes out at the lands surrounding the citadel and says, "Oh wow, you were right. I do like the view much better up here, it really makes you feel like a ruler. The Crystal Empire will have to take care of itself for awhile, because I like this place much better now. Please continue to show me around this massive citadel my love, I would like to begin to memorize where everything is."

Three Hours Later at the base of Icecrown Citadel...

Arthas finishes up his tour of the Citadel and the grounds around it and stands in front of his love and turns around and stretches his arms out to each side and says evilly, "Welcome to Icecrown Citadel Princess Amore, my love. One day, we might marry and you would be the very first queen the Citadel has ever had."

Amore beams a wide smile and rushes forth and hugs him and whispers to him, "I hope that day comes soon, for it is a bad omen to father children before marriage."

Time Skip

Three weeks passes by with the army returning to the castle with their prisoners and the wagons. Arthas assigns the prisoners to help Sapphy out with burying the bodies, following her orders as she works alongside them. In the meantime, he has them assist Professor Putricide with his research and studies. He assigns a few volunteers from the army to begin building him and his love a private chambers at the top of the citadel.

Three months passes by as the chambers are finally completed, with Amore taking over the interior decorating. She then uses most of her time shouting orders to a few female workers after the males screwed up, getting them to correct their mistake.

As the months start to fly by, Arthas begins to get complaints about the wild nature of his lover. Largely he ignores those complaints, as they bring him much amusement after a few problems spring up with the constructing of the walls around the kingdom.

Temporary end of time skip.

One day, Arthas holds court atop Icecrown while his consort rests with a larger belly than before. He looks at a female Frost vrykul approaches him and complains saying, "This is insufferable! She is an absolute nightmare to deal with, she demands that I bring her some pickled herring. When I bring it to her, she throws it back at me and accuses me of trying to kill her. Then she asks me politely to bring her some salad with calamari in it, when I bring it to her, she throws it across the room. She then screams at me to bring her some bucking hay or grass. I am reaching my limit as to how much more of this I can take sir, please do something about it."

He moves a hand over his mouth and pretends to think about it, when he is actually fighting hard to keep from bursting out laughing. He forces himself to remain calm and says to her, "Many apologies for my consort's behavior. As you already know that she is literally insane and pregnant with two children. Do try to deal with it some way, Things will improve once they are born in five more months. I would say you could deal with it by digging holes or carving pillars out of stone to mark the graves, but the last bodies were buried two weeks ago."

She chuckles and bows to the king and says, "I actually wish that some fools would attack us, I could take out my aggression on them."

Arthas arches a brow as an idea strikes him and says, "You remind me of a problem I am having in the east beyond the ruined pony village Sindragosa reduced to ash. There are some pony-like creatures that are killing my workers, and keeping them from working on the walls and gates. I do think they called themselves, Umbrum or something, I want you to take a large fast group and drive them from our land. Oh and do visit Sindragosa and tell her that I request her to travel with you along with her children, your orders are to instill terror into their hearts. In fact, I think I shall go with you on this mission. So go and gather a large group to drive these mortals from Icecrown lands, I shall meet you at the front gates of the citadel."

Time Skip Continues.

After driving the Umbrum south out of their land, Arthas begins to start work on a port to allow him to send out scouting parties. Once it is built, he sends out a few scout groups to gather information about foreign lands. He starts to gather curious information about different species on other lands across the sea. He finds out from a few scouts from land parties that creatures resembling the Tauren on Azeroth, piquing his interest into investigating them more closely.

Several months pass by until Arthas stands by his consort's side and takes a first look at his two new daughters, both are strange creatures to him. Both having wings and horns, with one being white with a multicolored mane and tail with magenta eyes. He names her Celestine, he looks at the other, being dark blue and having a lighter mane and tail of varying hues of blues with cyan eyes. He takes off his helm and sets it onto the floor and lifts them both up, one in each arm as he looks at the unnamed child and thinks for a moment before saying, "Your name will be...Lunetha"

Five years pass by as Arthas teaches his heirs how to talk and walk, he then schools them on how to be cunning and intelligent with what they do. He ignores their repeated requests to make this place nicer and says, "This is our home and MY citadel, I shall have it look the way I please and rule it like I want. If you two don't like it, just shut up and deal with it until you can live on your own. Until then, its my citadel and my rules."

End of Time Skip

Amore slowly starts to regain her sanity, but continues to pretend like she is still insane. It takes two years before she gathers up the courage to take the girls out of this foul, evil place. She approaches Arthas one day and says, "I am going to take the girls on a two day camping trip to the crags just north of here, would you like to come along with us my love?"

Arthas waves his hand dismissively and answers spitefully, "Hell no I do not, I have too many things to deal with right now. Go on and enjoy yourselves, I need to stay here and deal with this new headache that calls itself Discord. He keeps turning my walls to jelly and my soldiers to toys!"

Taking the girls and leaving the castle with what the need to escape this place, feeling grateful that Arthas removed the ring from her horn to allow her to help out around the citadel. She takes them to a forest far to the south, she hears Celestine speak up first asking, "Momma, why dost thou lie to Papa?"

Keeping silent for a moment to think of an answer, she says, "I lied to your father because I do not want you two girls to continue growing up in that dark and evil place, picking up his nasty habbits. You two deserve to live a life full of happiness and love, not only knowing hate and fear for the living. I would go with you but he is able to find me easily, so I must return. Please remember I will always love you two girls, I want you and your sister Luna to take these two family portraits of happier days. If you ever get lonely or sad, just think back on better days to improve your mood. Don't hate your father girls, he truly does love you but a new nuisance has recently came around to pester your father for a while."

Celestia and Luna take the family photos of happier times and hold onto them dearly and begin walking away when Luna stops and runs back to hug her mother one more time before saying, "I shall love thou forever Mamma, may we meet again some day." She then catches up to her sister Celestia and follows her into the fields.

Amore sheds a tear, knowing that it won't ever happen and returns to Icecrown Citadel to face her lover to find out what punishment awaits her.

A few moments later...

Arthas is enraged right now at hearing how his consort took their children away from him and abandoned them by the woods, far from his reach. He raises his hand and backhands her across the face, sending her sprawling across the floor and storming forth to replace the ring back on her horn. After setting the ring back into place, he goes to speak to Professor Putricide about what to do with the prisoners now...including his consort.

Chapter 5: When tales of old become legends, evil stirs

Chapter 5: When tales of old become legends, evil stirs

Celestia lies in her bed, suffering the same nightmare again for the second night in a row and wakes up screaming. Guards rush into the room and ask what is wrong and she just waves them off saying, "Oh it is nothing, just a nightmare that I really wish would go away. Please return to your posts everypony, there is nothing dangerous here." She then sighs and pulls out an old picture frame that was hidden away in a desk drawer that has an aged photograph of her mother and father in it, with the father figure scratched out. She puts it away and pulls out a book containing a prophecy claiming that Nightmare Moon will return and make the night last forever, but she has an idea that may work out to save her sister. She then makes a mental note to get this back to the library for her pupil to 'discover' so her idea can go into motion.

Three days later...

Twilight is in her tower studying every book she can get her hooves on while her assistant Spike, sorts the books she has read already into another pile and sighs saying, "Gee Twilight, what are you looking for?"

She frustratingly looks through her books to find the one she wants and says, "I'm trying to find a book called Predictions and Prophecies Spike, please keep an eye out for it." She then reaches for a really old looking book, not familiar with it at all. She dusts the book off and reads the title, which reads 'Ancient Tales and Legends of Old'. Curiosity gets the better of her as she spots a passage that catches her eye, she then starts to read the first few pages to herself, 'Long ago before Equestria existed, somewhere in the frozen north, a stranger's life was saved by ponies. Stranger was not a pony at all, but turned out to be something called a human and came from a foreign land. The stranger owed a favor to the ponies for saving his life. He agreed to help them out, then went about taking care of personal business. The stranger betrayed them all with lies and treachery, may his name be lost forever and suffer an eternity in Tartarus.' Twilight checks for more about this tale but finds nothing, sighing in defeat and sets the book aside. She wants to find out more about this tale, but isn't sure who might know something about it. Until suddenly, she thinks of her mentor Princess Celestia.

Spike finds the book she is looking for and holds it up saying, "Here it is Twilight, I found it underneath a romance novel."

She is overjoyed at hearing that and tears it from his grasp and says, "Oh I have been looking for that, I can't believe I forgot that I put it there."

He grumbles at being denied gratitude at finding it and thumbs through a book about myths and legends and checks out one particular passage that reads, 'There is a mighty castle of old that defies logic in the north. You best pray that you never journey there, for things go bump in the night that are worse than nightmares. One is to be feared above others, for he rules them all. Steer clear of the Frozen King if you value your life. Should he rise again, this world shall fall under his rule.' He closes the book and scratches his head saying, "Hey Twilight, have you ever heard of the myth of the Frozen King?"

Twilight pulls her head out of the book she is reading at hearing a strange myth and says, "What myth?" She listens closely as Spike reads it aloud to her and then says, "Oh Spike, don't be so silly. That is just an old mare's tale, there is no such thing as a Frozen King in the north." Just then something clicks in her brain and connects the dots and she says, "Spike, take a letter. Dear Princess Celestia, it has come to my attention that there are signs of a prophecy telling the return of Nightmare Moon. I fear that this may be an actual prophecy, could you look into this further? Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Send it immediately Spike, thank you."

Princess Celestia chuckles as a scroll pops into existence in front of her, she grabs it with her magic and opens it. After reading the letter, she puts it aside and replies by writing, 'My faithful student, Twilight. I do understand your worry over something like this and trust you completely, but I think it would be a good idea for you to head to Ponyville and check on the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. You really need to go there and stop reading those dusty old tomes for awhile. Make some friends when you are there, don't worry yourself over that tall tale of the Frozen King. It is all ponyapples anyways, I did visit the Frozen North as a younger filly. Don't you remember me telling you some of the journeys I had there?' She then sends the letter to her, feeling a bit cross at missing a surviving original copy of that book.

Some time later, at the Castle of Two Sisters...

Celestia chuckles and steps back from her sister and says to her, "Princess Luna, it has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us, we were meant to rule together little sister."

Everypony there is surprised at hearing that and say in unison, "Sister?"

She continues to speak to her sister saying, "Will you accept my friendship?" She then stands back up and waits for her sister's response.

A small Luna thinks on it for a little bit, then gets up and runs up to her sister. She throws her arms around her sister and hugs her tightly and responds to her sister saying, "I'm so sorry, I missed you so much big sister." She sheds a few tears at finally being reunited with her sister.

Celestia's eyes tear up and she smiles saying, "I've missed you too." She then hugs her back just as tightly, feeling happy to have her little sister back.

Luna whispers to her saying, "I miss Papa." A few more tears make their way down her face as she remembers the good days they had together inside Icecrown when their father was not dealing with the cruel Dr. Putricide or causing trouble for other creatures of the world.

Celestia hugs her sister tightly and shushes her saying, "I am sorry sister, it has been a thousand years since I banished you. I must ask you not to mention anything about our past that will make ponies find out about what happened during those times, sadly including our father and mother. We have each other, that is all that we need right now."

Luna then smiles and softly says to her, "Okay sister, I won't. I promise that I wont tell anyone about the Frozen King."

Twilight perks her ears up at hearing Luna mention Frozen King, deciding not to question either of them about it without proof. She smiles and says to the girls, "Looks like everything is almost done here. Let's start heading back to Ponyville to welcome back Princess Luna to Equestria."

As the other girls start to head back and talk amongst themselves, Twilight walks towards the two Alicorn Princesses before her and say, "After Pinkie Pie's Party, can I ask you two a question in secret?"

She suspects what Twilight really wants to ask about is their father, but doesn't say anything and responds saying, "Of course you can Twilight, as long as my sister is up for it. So Luna, what do you think about it? Do you feel up for answering a question from a curious pony?"

The small alicorn smiles and says, "I don't see why it would bother me at all, since I have been gone for so long. There are bound to be curious ponies that would like to know things, I don't have any problem satisfying their curiosity."

Celestia is shocked to hear her sister say that and then looks to her student and says, "There you have it Twilight, just find us after the welcome back party and we will answer your question."

Some hours later, as the party ends...

Twilight searches for Princesses Celestia and Luna, finding them off to a side of an empty room and says, "Here you two are, I was wondering if you are enjoying the party Princess Luna?"

Luna smiles back at Twilight and says, "I am indeed liking the party, it will take some time for me to get used to how much things have changed."

Celestia waits till her sister finishes speaking to cast her secrecy shield so nopony hears what Twilight wants to know. She then says, "So my faithful student, what is it that you wish to ask us?"

She blushes from embarrassment and says to Celestia, "I do apologize to both of you for catching something you said Princess Luna, I overheard you say Frozen King. Can you please tell me what you know about him? I found a reference to them in an old looking tome called Ancient tales and Legends of Old when I was researching a prophecy I heard of and came across it. I heard another one mention the Frozen King, but nothing more than that." She then looks at the both of them with curiousity all over her face, hoping they would tell her something.

Celestia sighs and says to Luna, "What do you think we should do Luna? Satisfy her curiosity, or everything?"

Luna sighs in return and thinks on it a moment then says, "I think satisfying her curiosity would be enough for right now, she is not ready for everything just yet."

She looks to her sister with a soft smile and says, "Very well sister, let's begin then." She then turns and looks at Twilight and takes a breath and starts by saying, "Here is what we will tell you for now young curious student. Long ago when we were fillies, even younger than you at the time, we heard of a legend of a mighty king in the frozen north. Greatly wounded in battle he was, and fled across the vast unknown seas to the north. He was saved by a group of ponies that happened to come across his tracks, only requesting a favor in return of saving his life. His sword was broken in the fight and needed it repaired, they told him where he could get it fixed. Several days passed by and he found love with Princess Amore of the Crystal Empire, he betrayed the ponies he owed the favor to and unleashed unspeakable horrors upon them. He ruled his subjects with an iron fist, allowing nothing to get in his way of conquest of the lands before him. Several years passed by then and we thought he was content with the land he now ruled, but we were wrong. During those years we learned that he fought and drove the Umbrum from their homes using a truly vile creation called, The Plague. After we became adults and Discord rose to power, we learned that he fought against the King of the Frozen North and lost. King Sombra was another one of his victims because The Plague killed nearly every Umbrum in existence. He tried to conquer Equestria after King Sombra was banished, it took so many soldiers to drive him back behind the borders and to his own citadel. He called the citadel Icecrown, he wields dangerous powers that no pony should ever have Twilight. He used the black art of necromancy, that is the art of enslaving the dead to serve you. In the end, we managed to wield the elements to deal him a serious blow that forced him to retreat to his throne. We followed him up there and bore witness to very gruesome things along the way up there, but the worst thing we saw was the Dragon Queen Sindragosa raised from her grave to serve him as a flying mount to carry him to far away places. I warn you now Twilight, steer clear of the borders of the Frozen North. If he awakens once more, this world shall be in danger from the horrors of Icecrown Citadel."

Twilight tilts her head to the side, sadness shows on her face but wonder shines in her eyes as she asks, "Did you ever learn what his name was Princess Celestia or Princess Luna?"

Princess Luna watches Celestia turn her head away from Twilight, signalling that she will say no more on the monster they called father and says, "I heard rumors that his name was Arthas Menethil, but I am not sure because rumors distort things." She continues the rest of the 'story' and says, "When we fought Sindragosa and caused her to crash through the ice lifeless, we then used the elements against Arthas to encase him in ice for eternity."

The eager bookworm hangs her head as she thinks of all that he has done and says, "Do you think that maybe he can change his ways?"

Princess Celestia sighs and says, "Unfortunately, that is one thing we have failed to do back then. Perhaps if he should ever have a change of heart, and gain some real friends...a miracle may happen."

Twilight then smiles and says, "Miracles happen everyday Princess Celestia, but I will respect your warning and steer clear of the Frozen North. I will see what else I can learn about Arthas and Icecrown, maybe there is another way to deal with him?"

She smiles and says, "If there is another way, I am sure that you will discover it. Do make sure to keep this knowledge of Arthas and Icecrown to yourself, do not let the others learn of it until they are ready or need to know."

One Year Later in Ponyville...

Discord enjoys all the chaos he is wreaking in Ponyville, dubbing it the chaos capital of the world and sits atop Twilight's shoulder while she walks back to her home in a grayish form of herself and whispers into her ear, "You love secrets don't you? Well I have a few that I would love to tell you, but I will only tell you one. I will be generous and tell you one of your pick."

Grayish Twilight walks forth in a foul mood and says to him, "I don't care what you tell me, you decide what to tell me. They are your secrets, why do you want to tell me anything?"

He claps happily and says, "OOH YAY I WAS SO HOPING YOU WOULD SAY THAT. Listen up because I will only say this once, I used to be a bunch of different creatures. Then this Dr. Putricide got a hold of us and started experimenting with artificial life, after several failures there were two successes. My sister Cosmos was one, but she literally vanished because I sent her to become one with the stars. Oh and I never lie about my secrets, so enjoy the secret, ta ta!" He then claps twice and vanishes from her shoulder and returns to his throne.

After Discord was returned to stone...

Twilight thinks back to when she was grayish and remembers what Discord told her and her jaw falls open, finally learning something new, if a bit trivial about the mystery of Arthas and Icecrown Citadel. She says farewell to her friends and hurries back to write to Princess Celestia about this new development she learned from Discord.

Some weeks pass by as Twilight finds herself in the Dragon Lands, watching in hopes that Spike will be alright. After she and her friends assist Spike through a few of the tests to prove that he is a real dragon, she spots a light blue female dragon with down curved horns that is standing atop of a stone watching the others have fun. She waits till their task is done making sure that Spike will be ok, she asks her friends to begin heading towards her. As they get close to her, Twilight looks around and sees that no other dragons are around and asks, "I'm sorry to bother you, but have you ever heard of a Dragon Queen called Sindragosa?"

The dragon looks at the obvious disguise and gasps at hearing that name and clamps a claw over the mouth to shut it and whispers into the eye holes, "Don't you dare mention that name around dragons, EVER! Are you trying to cause a panic, or are you just stupid?"

She blushes in embarrassment and whispers back, "My apologies, but I only read about faint mentions of the name and that it was a dragon. I couldn't find any other way to learn of them, so I came here with my friends mainly out of concern for Spike.

They soften their expression a bit and responds saying, "Of course there wouldn't be many mentions telling the story, Dragon Lord Torch forbade the telling of the stories or even the mention of that name. My name is Ember, and Dragon Lord Torch is my father. Who are you and why are you here imposter?"

Twilight ignores the pulling on her tail and answers her, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am a pony from Ponyville. It is a pleasure to meet you Princess Ember, we are just here to look out for our dear friend Spike. We have no other ulterior motives, I just couldn't resist the chance to ask a dragon if they would happen to know the name."

Ember chuckles at hearing their reason for coming and says, "Thank you for being honest ponies, unfortunately I do not know much about her except that she was fierce in battle and ruled her own kind called Frostbrood Dragons. One more thing is that there were rumors that claimed she and her master came from another world. That is all I know about that, I am sorry I don't know more."

Applejack angrily whispers up to Twilight and says, "What in tarnation was ya askin her bout that? You've been lookin fer somethin ever since ya spoke ta Princesses Celestia and Luna at the welcome back party, so spill the beans missy!"

Rarity chimes in even and says, "I can't believe you blew our cover to ask a silly question like that! What were you thinking Twilight, tell us!"

Twilight sighs in defeat and then starts to explain it from the beginning when she first learned of the mystery saying, "Well girls, I shall tell you everything once we are back in Ponyville. Meet me in the Golden Oak Library at night, after Spike goes to sleep. I don't want him to hear this story and have nightmares from hearing about it, he is too young to know yet."

After they return from the Dragon Lands, the girls all meet up at the library to hear the story from Twilight. As they listen to her tell the story, their jaws hang open from shock as Rainbow recovers saying, "Oh pahlease, that story can't possibly be true. The dead do not come back at all, they just stay that way and in the ground where they are buried."

Applejack shivers in fear at hearing that and says to Rainbow, "Ah don't know Rainbow, it sounds like Twilight speaks the truth about this somehow. Ah definitely would feel better if we could all make sure that this is not true or at least make sure that this Arthas is still asleep, what do y'all think about that?"

Fluttershy rocks back and forth, clutching her knees to her chest mumbling incoherent words. Finally gaining enough courage to stop rocking, she quietly whispers, "I think that would be a really nice idea, though it sounds terrifying if it is true. It would be a great comfort knowing that they still slumber."

One by one they eventually agree that they should investigate the existence of this Icecrown Citadel, deciding that it would be best to leave tomorrow to tell everypony that they are going to search for a hidden library outside of the ruins of the Castle of Two Sisters.

One Week Later...

Twilight stands outside a very high wall, with a massive gate that would be nearly impossible for her to open by herself. Sighing, she looks to Rarity and asks, "Rarity, girls, do you all think you can help me get these doors open just enough for us to go through them?"

Together they all work together and manage to crack the gates open enough for them to pass through, and walk through them leaving the view of the valley and the distant Luna Bay behind them.

Rainbow talks to Applejack saying, "I think I sprained a wing pushing those super heavy gates open, who in their right mind would build something that massive and heavy?"

Applejack chuckles and says, "I hear ya, ah think ah pulled a muscle too with that darn thing. Hey Twilight, do you think there are any more like that?"

She thinks on where the Citadel might be located and answers Applejack saying, "I think there may be just one or two more Applejack, but that should be all if this is a typical stronghold structure. After this point, it is anypony's guess as to where Icecrown might actually be located."

At Icecrown Citadel...

Arthas opens his eyes to see that he is encased in ice, still sitting atop his throne. He smiles as he realizes that his daughter's made a mistake in encasing him in ice, showing how weak they really were. Deciding against of breaking free of his prison now, he closes his eyes and returns to his slumber to gather his full strength before his grand awakening.

Back at the Gate leading to the Frozen North

A banshee that was stationed to watch the gate and ordered to alert him if anything gets through it hovers at the top of the wall in an alcove watching the group of six ponies make their way beyond the valley and into the Frozen Lands. She then commands two hidden abominations that were ordered to slumber there to open the gates should the need arise to open them.

Twilight thinks she hears an eerie shriek come from behind and turns her head around to take a look and sees nothing behind them and continues on until she hears a sound of heavy doors closing and says to the others, "Um girls, don't freak out but I think the gate behind us just closed. We will have to find a way to open it when we return from completing our recon. Follow me girls, we are a few days away from where the rumors say this place is."

Rarity shudders and looks at a very scared Fluttershy and says to her, "Don't worry Fluttershy, nothing bad will ever happen to us. We are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, there is nothing that we need to fear."

Fluttershy calms down a bit and smiles saying, "I know that Rarity, but this place feels very...sick to me. I don't know how else to explain the way it feels to me, like something all around us just feels..."

Twilight finishes the rest for her and says, "Wrong, right Fluttershy?" She continues to lead them further away from the valley towards a lone peak far in the distance, barely visible to the naked eye.

She squeaks in surprise and relaxes saying, "Y-Yes Twilight, that is what I am feeling right now. The sooner we get out of here I think we will all be happier for it.

Arthas continues resting until a banshee interrupts his slumber by making a telepathic report to him through the helm, informing him that there are six intruders on his land and asking what should they do about them. Intrigued and annoyed at the same time, he sends out a command to the warriors milling around the castle saying, "To all forces within the vicinity of the Citadel, I order you all to slumber and do nothing to inform them that you are awake. Play possum until I give the order to reveal yourselves. They think that I am still aslumber?! I will allow them to think that until I am ready to announce my return to the world!"

A few days later, the sun begins to set as the girls all make camp for the night. Twilight drifts off to sleep, but suffers a nightmare of books that she has read that gain consciousness and begin attacking her and try to 'read' her. To her surprise, Princess Luna comes by and ends the nightmare saying, "Greetings, Twilight Sparkle. It has been some time since your last nightmare, is everything going ok for your girls' trip?"

She looks to Princess Luna and sighs saying, "Everything is fine, but it is going a bit slowly. It is taking longer than we expected it to take to find what we are searching for."

Luna cocks her head in curiosity, then watches Twilight closely and asks, "What are you hoping to find, may I ask?"

Twilight sighs once again and looks at her seriously and says, "Can you promise to keep this a secret from your sister, Princess Luna? She would likely send me back to magic kindergarten if she knew what we were actually searching for..."

She narrows her eyes suspiciously at Twilight and then responds, "I promise that I won't tell her, now what are you girls really searching for at our old castle?"

The nervous unicorn wrings her hands and closes her eyes and looks right at Luna and says, "I am sorry but we are heading to the Frozen Lands to find out for certain if the Frozen King still slumbers. If he is awake already, I will politely ask him a few questions on why he does things the way he does. Perhaps I can become friends with him and get him to be nicer to everypony."

Luna's eyes shrink to pinpricks at hearing where they are really heading and instantly switches to her royal voice and says, "GO NO FURTHER, AND RETURN AT ONCE LITTLE PONY! YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF WHAT HORRORS AWAIT YOU INSIDE THAT CITADEL! IF YOU DO NOT RETURN IMMEDIATELY, I SHALL COME AND DRAG YOU ALL BACK MYSELF!"

Twilight braces herself against her royal voice and is determined to find out the answers to her questions that have plagued her for a year and a half and stands up saying, "I must apologize Princess Luna, for there are just too many questions that have been left unanswered for too long. I need to get answers to these questions so I can move forward with my life, this mystery of Arthas the Frozen King of the North is going to drive me to madness if I don't get answers soon. I am so sorry Princess Luna, but I have to go against your command right now. I hope that you can forgive me for doing this one day..." She then sighs and wakes up and sees that it is nearly dawn and decides to prepare breakfast for the girls.

Luna returns from looking over the Dream Realm and sees that her sister is beside her with a concerned look on her face and says, "What is wrong dear Cece?"

Celestia frowns and looks at her sister in worry and says, "You used your royal voice when you were in the Dream Realm, but nopony understood what you said. Is everything alright dear Lulu?"

She sighs and says, "Everything is alright for the moment, I am just dealing with a stubborn pony that does not want to listen to me. I need to patrol the borders and allow myself to calm down a bit, I shall be back in a few weeks. Unfortunately, I won't be back in time for the upcoming wedding because I sense something off with the borders to the North."

A shocked and worried look crosses Celestia's face as she says, "Do you think I should send guards with you for protection if anything goes wrong and he does return?"

Luna shakes her head and says, "No dear sister, I think that it is safe to say that father will continue to slumber unless fate or some higher power cause him to wake up for some unknown reason. I shall see you again in a few weeks, I will try to make it back for the reception at least."

One More Week Later...

Twilight stands before a massive field of vertical stones and two massive pillars with different emblems on banners flapping in the breeze of each one, suddenly feeling the need to pay her respects and bowing towards the massive graveyard.

Rainbow chuckles and says, "What on Equestria are you doing Twilight, why are you bowing before rocks?"

Before Twilight can respond to her, Fluttershy stands before her and glares into her eyes and says, "Don't you realize that this is a graveyard, Rainbow Dash? She is paying her respects to the soldiers who fought and lost their lives here long ago, we should all pay our respects to the fallen soldiers here that have faced such horrid creatures."

She gulps and looks around and hangs her head and says, "I apologize for being ignorant Twilight, I never have seen a graveyard quite like this one. The graves seem to be a bit shallow, don't they Applejack?"

Applejack sighs upon seeing how the graves number into the thousands and tears up a little and says, "Umm...yeah they kinda do, ah wonder why they did that?"

The other girls line up beside Twilight and bow in respect to the fallen soldiers that are buried here, then straighten up and continue to follow Twilight towards the massive towering citadel.

A few minutes pass as the girls worked together to get the front doors open enough to get through and closed them behind them, now Twilight enters a large open area with pathways leading everywhere with a light coming from straight ahead.

She looks at the light with curiosity and says, "I have never seen anything like this girls, let's check it out. Maybe it will tell us more about this place, or maybe show us if the ruler of this place is still imprisoned." She approaches the light and walks around it, examining it closely for any hints of what it does. Without another word to the others, she touches the device and suddenly finds herself standing at a very high place in the citadel. Figuring out that it is just a teleporter, she taps it with a hoof to try to make it work again. As that attempt fails to work, she tries applying magic to it. With that failing, she gets annoyed and steps off of it and taps it again. Finally finding herself back in the room before, she smiles and says, "I found something amazing girls! You see, this thing here teleports you to another location. To get it to work, you have to touch it. To get back, you have to step off of it and touch it again. The view is spectacular from there, come on girls."

Chapter 6: Crashed weddings, secrets, and a family reunion

Chapter 6: Crashed weddings, secrets, and a family reunion

The girls all walk through the portal, arriving at the very top of the Citadel one by one until they all stand there together, taking in the sight. Rarity looks at the floor and is distracted by the sheer beauty of it and says, "Oh wow this floor is designed so intricately, look at the emblem in the center of the floor! I can't imagine how much work it took to get this level of detail in this floor."

Twilight looks around for anything else of interest and notices a set of stairs ahead and follows them up, until stopping at a strange being sitting in a throne at the very top of the stairs with the tip of a sword on the floor and both their hands resting on the hilt, with their elbows resting on their knees and leaning forward slightly with his eyes closed. Instinctively, she starts backing up bit by bit until she bumps into Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow feels Twilight bump into her and says, "Hey, what is the big idea Twilight? Why did you back up into me so suddenly?" She follows her gaze and then follows her as she continues to back up a little bit further and stops saying, "Oh wow, so the story was true after all. Girls, I think it would be wise to stand where we are because somepony is imprisoned in that throne at the top of the stairs."

Fluttershy stops looking out at the breathtaking view from the top of the citadel and looks at the top of the stairs and says, "Oh my heavens, the scary king does actually exist!" She then turns around and hides behind the other girls, looking at him with one eye peeking out from behind Applejack's hip.

Rarity stares at the imprisoned being known as Arthas and says to Twilight, "Umm dear, we have successfully found out if he exists and is still imprisoned. Do you think we can get out of this place and return to Ponyville before he wakes up?"

Twilight sighs in disappointment, actually hoping to be able to ask him questions. She then answers Rarity saying, "Yeah, I think that is all we can do since it is not possible to ask him questions while he is like that." She then turns around and tries to step onto the portal to return to the lower level and go back home, but discovers that it isn't working and tries to examine it with her magic

Arthas decides to have a little fun with them without breaking free from the ice and uses a little magic to make his thoughts heard out loud, and amplifies them a little to be a little more intimidating and says, "Where do you ponies think you are going!? You have questions for the Lich King of Icecrown Citadel, very well then. I shall reward you for your bravery coming to where the undead scourge bow to only one leader."

Fluttershy panics and her whole body locks up and she falls backwards and lands on her back in sheer terror as everypony turns around to look at the only male around them. Thinking he broke free, they are relieved to see that he is still inside the ice.

Twilight turns to look at the frozen king as her eyes begin to shrink to pinpricks and says, "Did you just say something, Your Highness?"

He decides to act friendly towards them just to get answers he needs from them and internally chuckles saying, "I have just made my thoughts heard out loud is all, and amplified it a little bit. Unfortunately, my body is not able to break free from this prison of ice that I am currently in. My mind has only recently awoken. So tell me young ponies, how many years has gone by since today?

Unable to resist the opportunity to speak and get answers to her own questions, she says, "It has been just over a thousand years since Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have defeated you. Can you tell me more about you, this place, and what happened in the past?"

Arthas responds to her and says, "I am impressed that they managed to keep me imprisoned for this long, but they didn't defeat me. I let them imprison me because I was simply just bored and didn't have anybody else to study and terrify at the moment. To answer your questions, first tell me what you do know. How have you managed to find this place? Is it common knowledge that this place exists or...did it get forgotten to time?"

Twilight ignores the pony tapping on her shoulder and answers him saying, "Well I first heard of this place through a couple of books just over a year ago, after that I heard from Discord that somepony named Professor Putricide created him and his sister by experimenting with artificial life. Before Discord told me anything, my mentor Princess Celestia and Luna told me a few things." She then tells him what her mentor and Princess Luna told her.

He then laughs and responds, "That failed science experiment still lives to this day? I remember when he tried to get me to join him in taking over the world, but I refused because I rule alone. Princesses Celestia and Luna...oh you mean Celestine and Lunetha, my daughters? It is good to hear that they have found their place in the world as leaders, I remember when they were knee high to me and I was teaching them how to speak and rule a kingdom. Those were fun days, I do miss them. Do you know what kingdom they rule by chance?"

Everypony's mouth is agape at hearing that and say in unison, "They are your DAUGHTERS?"

Letting her guard down, she says, "Yes I do, they rule the kingdom of Equestria together from a castle in Canterlot. Princess Luna just recently came back from being banished to the moon." She cocks her head then says, "Wait a minute, how are Princesses Celestia and Luna your daughters, they don't look anything like you."

Arthas answers them through the spell saying, "Yes, they are indeed my daughters. Princess Celestine got her coat from her mother, and I think Lunetha got her looks from her grandma. But Lunetha got the color of her magic from me. You see... A long time ago, I fell in love with Princess Amore when I first visited the Crystal Empire when I needed my sword repaired. I had a favor that I needed to repay to Clover the Clever and the others that found me and saved my life after my old friend Tirion led a large assault against my citadel, defeated me and left me lie here gravely wounded. He then used a spell some mages found and banished me and my citadel along with some of the ground that were immediately around it. So, yes this citadel and me, as well as most of my army, are from another world." He tries to stop himself from telling her so much, but there is just something about her that captivates him and intrigues him to no end, and continues saying, "After my sword was repaired in a month, I left to go repay the favor to the ponies that found and saved me. I then betrayed them and drove them all from this land, after that I visited the Crystal Empire and asked Princess Amore to stay with me in my citadel." He then starts to grow angry and says, "After my children were born, a few years after I taught them how to walk and speak, I began to teach them how to rule a kingdom. Amore didn't like what I was teaching them and took them from me one day, and I never saw them again. Now I do know what happened and where she took them thanks to you six ponies, therefore you deserve a reward. Follow me please and I shall give you your reward." He then cuts off the spell and begins to attempt breaking free from the ice prison, causing a few cracks to appear in the ice block.

Fluttershy and Rarity are both tugging on Twilight's arms and saying, "Twilight, let us please leave this foul place. We have our answers, now lets go!" "Can we please leave this place behind us and return home now, I don't want to know what the reward is."

Annoyed by their repeated attempts to get her to leave this interesting place, Twilight turns her head around and snaps at them, "I said no already! Now be quiet and let me finish speaking with him."

Everypony including Twilight are horrified at the sounds of the cracking ice as Applejack exclaims, "Woah nelly! I think that we need to get out of here now Twilight!"

She turns back to them and briefly says, "No, not yet girls. We will leave in a bit after I finish talking to him." She then turns her gaze back to Arthas as he continues to break free from the ice.

He applies more strength into shattering the ice encasing him, finally succeeding after a few more seconds. The ice shatters into pieces and a few chunks fall down the stairs and slide across the floor as he stand up from his seated position with his hands still on Frostmourne's hilt and says, "Ahhh...now that feels much better, follow me and I shall give you your reward." He then begins stretching his body out and then makes his way down the stairs to lead them to where their reward lies, placing Frostmourne in its sheathe.

Applejack's eyes shrink and she moves in front of Twilight and says, "Oh horseapples, he is free now. All of equestria will be in danger because you just had to ask him questions."

A few minutes later, outside of Icecrown Citadel

Twilight and the others follow him to a spot a little distance away from the walls around the citadel when she turns and says to the others, "Now after he gives us our rewards, we will head for home okay girls?"

Rainbow crosses her arms and rolls her eyes saying, "Uh huh, I've heard that one before..."

Arthas ignores them and continues to look for where their reward lies and finds it finally and says, "Aha! There you are girl, I was wondering where you went to." He then turns to the ponies and says, "Your reward is just right here, it took me some time to find, but here it is. I hope you like your reward, I don't do this in front of just anyone, you know."

Twilight finally begins backing up, not liking the way he said that and says, "What do you mean, what are you going to do?"

He chuckles and says, "Just watch, and you will see." He then draws Frostmourne and thrusts it into the ground and begins to raise Sindragosa once more.

Rainbow stares at him as he thrusts his sword into the ground and says, "What's he doing that for?" She goes silent as cracks begin to spread from his sword, the layers of snow get blown away from the ice, clearing a large area before him.

Twilight stares on in wonder and fear at what is happening before her eyes, watching him doing something with his sword when the ground beneath them rumbles. Suddenly, the ice ruptures and explodes upward as something comes through it from underneath saying, "I-Is that a w-wing I see coming up?"

A massive claw falls down upon the ice as something else shoots through the ice and lands, water begins to bulge upwards as something begins to come up to the surface. A body rises above the water, becoming clearly visible after the water finishes falling from it.

Fluttershy shudders in horror at what she sees and collapses onto her back muttering, "I-It's a...i-it's a m-massive, terrifyingly huge, d-d-dead d-dragon. I-I'm n-not s-scared of t-that at all, n-no I am not..."

Applejack watches as the insanely huge dead dragon keeps rising from the hole, getting larger and larger until it is fully on top of the ice. Easily twenty times bigger than them and ten times bigger than the king, she becomes scared and her body begins to shake as blue fire begins to make its way through the dragon's body. The fire accumulates into a ball inside the ribcage as flames connect the limbs together, with two orbs of blue fire appearing inside the eye sockets. She fails to think of what to do and says, "Oh heavens' ta Betsy Twi, ya've really done it now, we're gonna be in soo much trouble for doing this... Equestria is in big trouble now because of you!"

To silence them, Sindragosa speaks up and shouts, "QUIET DOWN AND LISTEN LITTLE PONIES!" She then clears her throat and continues speaking in a normal tone, "My master was already awake when you got here, he just chose to remain inside the ice just to make a spectacle of it and to entertain himself by speaking with you. Don't blame your friend for waking him him up because she was not the cause of it. My name is Sindragosa, what are your names? I have not seen any of you before."

Shocked at hearing the dead dragon talk, Twilight remains silent for awhile then says, "Wait, so YOU are the Dragon Queen, Sindragosa?"

She chuckles and says, "I am the Queen of the Frostbrood dragons of Azeroth, so yes I am that Sindragosa."

Twilight's jaw falls open and she closes it and resumes the introductions saying, "My apologies for being rude Your Highness, My name is Twilight Sparkle and the pony with the orange coat and blonde mane and tail is Applejack. The white pony next to her with the horn and purple mane and tail is Rarity. The pony to the left of Applejack with a blue coat, wings, and a multicolored mane and tail is Rainbow Dash. The pony a little bit behind Rainbow with a light pink coat and extremely curly, and very bold pink mane and tail is Pinkie Pie. And the one behind them all currently laying on the ground terrified beyond reason, having a yellow coat, wings and a light pink mane and tail is Fluttershy.

Sindragosa then looks at her master and says, "Sir, you haven't introduced yourself properly yet."

Arthas smiles and says, "I am Arthas Menethil, King of Icecrown Citadel, the king of the Scourge, The ruler of...the Frozen North." He then amplifies his voice and then resumes his speech saying, "I formally welcome you to the Scourge land's capital of Equus." He then drops the spell and adds, "Yes...you were right though Applejack, Equestria is in danger...FROM ME!" He then chuckles and says, "Arise, warriors of Icecrown and show yourselves! Your king has returned at last!"

Twilight hears a roar of several thousand voices answering the call and tries to fight the urge to look behind her, already knowing what it was that responded. Thousands upon thousands of dead corpses making their way to their king. Unable to resist the urge anymore, she looks back. Sure enough, there were many dead corpses making their way to where Arthas was and says, "Umm...girls, we will be taking our leave now." She turns around to look at Arthas and says, "Thank you for answering so many of my questions Your Highness, but we must be getting back home now."

He frowns but continues to act kind and says, "Fare well on your journey, people are always just dying to serve me." He then addresses his soldiers and says, "Let them pass, they are only curious of what this place is! Therefore no harm is to come of them!"

Twilight begins to pick up Fluttershy with Rarity and carry her back with them still muttering, "Dead dragon." repeatedly when she begins to walk away.

Arthas calls out to Twilight saying, "Twilight Sparkle, please feel free to visit me again. It was a pleasure speaking with somepony for once." He wonders to himself why he would want anyone to visit him here, he doesn't need anybody to keep himself company, so why does he even care.

She looks behind her and is struck dumb by what she heard him say and says, "Maybe I will come to visit some day when I am not too busy." She then begins to walk back to the valley carrying Fluttershy still until she comes back around to walk on her own again.

The girls are terrified as they look at the numerous standing corpses all around them, parting and letting them pass through without so much as saying a single word to them. Continuing to make their way back to the valley, they eventually arrive at the end of the path through the horrible truth of Icecrown Citadel a half hour later.

A week and a half later at the gate leading out of the Frozen North into the Valley

Twilight watches as two tall, horrendous creatures grab hold of the gate on either side and pull it open for them to pass through and says, "Thank you very much for getting the doors for us, the first time it took all of us to push just one open enough to get through." She then continues making her way towards the now open gate.

Glug looks at the small pony and says, "Glug welcome small pony, door real heavy. Pony real polite, Glug like polite ponies. Takes much strength to open it does. That me brother Chug on other door. Me work hard to do better than him, me want his favorite axe."

Rarity gags with disgust at the horrifyingly ugly creatures and says, "EEEWWW, what an abomination! It is absolutely hideous, and has its innards hanging out! I am going to continue to suffer so many nightmares from our visit to this place. Thank you very much for the nightmares Twilight."

Applejack passes through the doors and says, "There is no reason to be so rude to them Rarity, even if their appearance leaves much to be desired. How do you think the rest of us feel, especially poor Fluttershy. Poor girl is prolly gonna need counselling after this when she comes around and is able to walk on her own."

Glug smiles and says, "Pony not rude, she give compliment. Me happy to be ugly, abominations like us made to terrify living beings and be good at stopping them from fleeing."

Her mane gets a little frizzy as she hears what he says and freaks out a bit, getting creeped out by it liking being insulted like that and continues walking and says, "I am glad that you liked my compliment."

A few hours pass by as the girls find themselves at the Luna Bay at sunset as Twilight says, "Let's camp here for the night girls before we make our way back home."

The girls all remain silent as Fluttershy stops muttering and then gradually stands up to gather wood for a fire and looks at them but doesn't say a word as she turns around and begins heading away from them when Twilight says, "Fluttershy, are you ok?"

She turns around and squints her eyes and shakes her head side to side indicating her answer is no.

Applejack butts in and asks, "What's wrong sugar cube, why won't you talk to us?"

She sighs and looks at the ground and then grabs a stick and writes, 'I am ok physically girls, but my mind is not. I am not speaking to any of you because I fear if I open my mouth, all I will do is scream from the terror I saw and felt from that place and could not express. I am going to go gather wood for the fire now, but I am not at all happy with you right now Twilight. You have a lot of unhappy friends, it will take some time to make things right with us again.' She then turns around and begins to look for wood for their fire tonight.

Twilight sighs and hangs her head and brings out her tent and starts to set it up to go inside, but she is halted when she hears a flapping pair of wings and she freezes when someone bellows in the royal voice, "TWILIGHT SPARKLE I AM VERY UNHAPPY WITH THEE FOR THY ACTIONS AND IGNORING MINE WARNINGS!" She then slowly turns around to look at Princess Luna respectfully and prepares for the scolding to come.

Not missing a beat, she strides towards Princess Celestia's pupil and continues her scolding, "What on Equestria have thee been thinking, traveling to the dangerous Icecrown Citadel! What purpose demanded such a foolish venture? Thee best pray that the monster that rules it remains aslumber, or Equestria may findeth itself under siege!"

She lifts her eyes up to look at Princess Luna in the eyes and says, "Umm...When we got there, he was already...sort of...awake. Why didn't you tell me that he was you and Princess Celestia's father?

Luna's eyes widen in horror at what she just heard Twilight say and responds, "Did thee just say mine and Celestia's father is...awake?" and snaps her head around to stare intently at Twilight, waiting for her to answer.

Twilight looks down for a moment and crosses her arms and says, "Yes, he was already awake when we got there. After speaking to him for a little bit, he broke free of the ice encasing him. He also said that you two didn't defeat him, he let you two imprison him because he was bored with not terrorizing or studying anypony new." She then goes into detail about what he said to her.

Her eyes shrink a little at hearing that new information and sighs saying, "So at least he didn't tell you everything. I had a feeling that he held back a bit during our fight. Even when we wielded the elements against him, the fight was still tough. I truly fear for Equestria's safety, Twilight." She then looks of to the side and says, "I see that spark is still in your eyes Twilight, do you wish to hear the whole story?"

The knowledge hungry pony beams a smile at the princess and says, "Of course I want to hear the entire story, I could just feel that he wasn't telling us everything. Sindragosa seems nice though, as long as you stay on her good side. She told us that Arthas was already awake when we got there, also said that he chose to remain inside the ice just to make a spectacle of it and entertain himself." She frowns and kicks at a rock, feeling mad about being used like that.

Luna's eyes continue shrinking with every revelation and says, "He brought her back again?! It's official now, Equestria is in some serious trouble Twilight." She then goes to sit by the fire and begins to tell the story how she learned and heard of it, causing all the girls to sit down beside the fire to listen to the tale.

Rainbow Dash leans forward and says, "That is what he did in the past while he was in Equestria? What do you know of his story back where he came from?

She chuckles softly and says, "The only thing I really know about that is when he raised Sindragosa from the grave for the first time, and that the name of the world where he came from was called Azeroth. My sister and I heard bits and pieces about his past there, like the land he ruled there was called Northrend. We also heard that he is still mad about losing his floating necropolis called Archerus: The Ebon Hold. He still gets angry when he thinks back on when he was betrayed by Death Knights he created that took it from him."

Twilight thinks to herself, 'I'm sure that once he makes a few friends that can show him how fun life can be, and meets a very special somepony that can handle being with him, he might turn out to be not so bad and just might abandon using necromancy.'

Luna smiles while she thinks back on the very few good times she had with her father and says to the ponies around the fire, "Now I think it is high time for you all to get some rest, you have an event that you need to help prepare for. Your brother will tell you more the next time he sees you. Goodnight and sweet dreams,my little ponies. I shall be taking the night watch tonight, for I shall need to take a short vacation."

Twilight hangs her head and says, "I'm sorry I ignored your warnings Princess Luna, I just gathered so little information about something new and I just couldn't stand to leave it at that. I hope you can forgive me for disrespecting you like that one day." She then turns around and heads to her tent, going inside to get some much needed rest after being on the move with only a couple hours of sleep each night.

Princess Luna watches Twilight go into her tent and pulls out a parchment and a quill, then writes a letter to her sister saying, "Dear Sister, I must be away for a few weeks to watch over the blizzards surrounding the Crystal Empire as well as monitoring the border for any movement of our fathers' return. I can feel a change coming soon in the air for Equestria, and I must prepare for it. Sincerely, your baby sister by a minute."

The royal wedding at Canterlot, a week and a half later.

Twilight huffs in annoyance at her brother and speaks to herself as she is busy organizing everything for her brother's wedding, "I can't believe that he didn't tell me that he was seeing my old foalsitter, didn't he trust me at all? I'm extremely happy that he is getting married to Cadence, but something just feels off about her."

Cadence sits in her suite in the castle and chuckles saying quietly to herself, "Finally, my children shall have enough love to last them awhile if we succeed in my plan to take Canterlot. Now I just have to find a way to deal with that nosy Twilight Sparkle, I can't have her ruining my big day now."

At the borders of the Frozen North

Arthas sits atop Sindragosa as they make their way towards Equestria's capital city Canterlot, looking to wreak some havoc and greet his daughters and says, "When will we get to Canterlot Sindragosa? I look forward to saying hello to my daughters once more."

Sindragosa continues to fly towards Canterlot's location and answers, "We shall be there within a couple hours sir."

Back at the chapel in Canterlot

Cadence is happy to see that the little meddling pest Twilight is gone getting something from her maids, hoping that she is in a cocoon right now. She seizes the opportunity and feeds a bit more off of Shining Armor, trying to weaken him enough to where her changelings can break through the barrier and begin grabbing what ponies they can. As she begins to make her way out of her suite, she sees a black cat with bright green eyes run past the door and crossing her path. She pays no heed to it and exits the room and decides to double check to make sure everything is ready for her to marry Shining Armor saying, "Stupid cat, get out of my way! This is my special day and I won't allow you or anypony to ruin it!"

Twilight feels depressed about how she acted towards Cadence and feels she should apologize to her. She quickly runs to find Cadence to apologize to her, seeing her walking down the hall, she runs after her and stops her by sighing and saying, "I don't know what came over me, I didn't realize how much stress you were under due to the wedding planning, my brother keeping up the barrier and the threat against Canterlot."

The imposter Cadence smiles sinisterly and says, "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself you know, ponies change when they grow older. So it is only natural that you fight change, when it is easier to accept it than try to keep it the same when change must happen." She then pulls her into a firm and loving hug, feeding off of her love for her brother.

She then sniffles and says, "I am so sorry Princess Cadence, for causing so much trouble for you." She then hugs her back lovingly.

Cadence's eyes flash green and then she casts a spell and sends the nosy pony through the floor to the crystal caves underneath Canterlot saying, "Oh don't worry, you will be."

The last thing Twilight sees is Cadence walking away from her as she suddenly realizes and says, "Oh no, I was right! That is not the Cadence I know, I am soo going to get back at her for making a fool of me!"

A couple hours later, nearing Ponyville

Arthas and Sindragosa continue flying towards the mountain city of Canterlot in the distance, ignoring the distant screams of fear coming from the denizens in the town just in front of them. He then chuckles and says, "Well Sindragosa, at least we know we are still terrifying to look at. I've got something right at least if they are screaming in terror like that, it would freak me out if they all started to shout, 'Hail! Hail! Hail!' I do hope that we arrive in time to make a spectacle of my arrival. Who knows, maybe I will get to play the layabout hero that didn't do a damn thing to help either side."

Sindragosa watches as they pass the town of screaming ponies below them, and begin approaching Canterlot and spots a shield shattering and says, "I think you may get what you asked for sir, because the shield over that city just shattered and I see black specks making their way into the city. What is your plan of action sir so I can follow along with it?"

He laughs and says, "Looks like we will get to have a little fun after all, Sindragosa. Wanna play that game we once played, 'Who's the better killer'?"

She grins and chuckles and says, "You do realize that I won that last game right?" She flaps her wings harder to get there sooner to begin the game.

Arthas harrumphs and says, "You only won that one because I fell into a hole and couldn't get out, otherwise I would have won."

Sindragosa continues towards the rapidly nearing mountain city and says, "MMHHHMM, that is just a technicality! The win still counts because there are unexpected developments that happen on the battlefield and life."

He watches as they pass over the walls of Canterlot to hear wails of despair and screams of terror coming from the ponies below. He waits for a bit longer before jumping off her back shouting, "Unarmed ponies count for nothing!"

She calls back and says, "Same goes for innocent bystanders!"

Arthas lands on a angled rooftop and slides down the tiles and lands on the ground with a massive thud, creating a dust cloud to kick up around him. Obscured from the view of the ponies he startled nearly half to death, he waits there with his senses heightened. Waiting for someone to engage him, he hears someone say, "Who and what in Celestia's name, are you!?"

He laughs deeply and says, "The worst nightmare that any living creature could ever imagine, except...I AM REAL! I am called Arthas, the Lich King of the Scourge!" He then turns around to see a pony with a white coat, light blue wavy mane, a monocle, a horn, and a cutie mark of three gold crowns bowing down before him and feels his mood perk up a bit more and says, "Rise up! I am not your king so there is no need to bow to me."

The strange pony standing before the others rises to his full height coughing a bit and responds saying, "My apologies Your Highness, but it is customary for any pony to bow down to royalty. Be it of their own kingdom, or one from afar. I must ask from which land you come from and which kingdom do you rule? I know of several royal families, but I have never heard of you as of yet"

Arthas is intrigued and says, "I come from a land of death, in the Frozen North. My kingdom is called Icecrown, and I sit alone atop the Frozen Throne of Icecrown Citadel."

He watches with interest as the dust cloud disperses, revealing a being way taller than him. Wearing some kind of strangely designed heavy armor, with eyes glowing blue and emitting what appears to be frost vapors and having long golden hair. Seeing an opportunity to open a new location for trading, he introduces himself saying, "Pardon my rudeness Your Highness, my name is Fancy Pants. Perhaps we could consider becoming trade partners and help improve your citizen's lives as well as our own once this crisis is over with. Are you here for the royal wedding by chance, Your Highness?"

He smiles and ponders the idea and responds saying, "It is possible, when the chance arises. Either come yourself or send emissaries. Unfortunately, I was on my way to visit family that I have fallen out of touch with. When I saw the attack happening, I jumped into the fray to find out if I still have my skills in battle. Who is getting married?"

Fancy Pants smiles at that and says, "We each have skills that we need to keep sharp if we intend to stay at the top of our game. I shall try to find time to schedule a visit to your kingdom one day, so we can figure out what you would like to trade and exchange with us. It is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor's wedding today, it is in the wedding hall at the top of the city beside the castle. Just follow the path of decorations laid out and you will find it in no time at all Your Highness. I shall bother you no more and resume guiding these nobles to safety away from the changeling attackers, good day Your Highness."

Arthas chuckles and turns around to head into the battle when Sindragosa says to him, "I have killed thirty so far, what is taking you so long to kill just one slowpoke!"

He answers her by saying, "I was doing business with a pony, I am considering opening up Icecrown to trade with the other empires if they aren't to terrified to consider it." He then hears a flapping and a hissing noise as he sees a insect like creature rushing towards him in a pathetic attack attempt. Drawing his sword, he turns around in a circle and slices the creature clean in two halves, falling on either side of him saying, "That was a pitiful attack, not very well thought out at all. There is no tactic with an open all out rush like that." He then continues on his way to where the fighting is more intense, eager to catch up to Sindragosa's lead on him.

Meanwhile at the Wedding Hall thirty minutes later

The pony in charge of the music goes into a trance suddenly and sifts through her vast collection of songs and selects one and begins to play it over the speakers, ignoring the fighting going on in the room around her. She stands stock still, staring straight forward as if waiting for a cue of some kind.

Twilight turns away from the real Cadence, noticing the inappropriate music beginning to play. She sees Dj Pon3 in a trance and staring straight forward and says, "Hey are you ok over there DJ? Why are you playing this music for, this isn't acceptable for a wedding!" She sighs and shakes her head, hoping that she snaps out of it soon. Unable to move due to the stuff locking her hooves to the floor, she turns back to Cadence and her brother Shining Armor. Noticing that they are still talking, she wonders when she will try to use her magic to free him when she sees her begin to lower her horn to touch his.

Arthas hears music playing from inside and listens to it for the right moment to enter for the full effect and thrusts the doors open swiftly and violently just when the song goes from instrumental to adding voice to it, drawing the attention of everyone inside and saying, "I'm sorry to just drop by unannounced, but my invitation seems to have been lost in the mail!"

Dj sings along to the song, saying, "Hail! Hail! Hail!" as the strange creature strides across the floor, blood dripping off some places of their armor.

Twilight stares in horror at seeing Arthas standing before them all, soaked in green and red blood. Too shocked and horrified for words, she just stares at him open mouthed while Celestia is still inside the cocoon.

The large changeling female stares in rage at the being who created her and screams, "HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE BEFORE ME NOW, YOU SADISTIC AND VICIOUS FUCKER! I HOPE YOU FUCKING CROAK ONE DAY IN THE MOST PAINFUL WAY POSSIBLE, ALONG WITH THAT FUCKING PROFESSOR YOU GAVE ME TO, TO EXPERIMENT ON!" She continues growling in rage at the one who made her.

He laughs at seeing who led the attack on the city and ignores her, choosing to walk up to his daughter Celestine first saying, "Oh I think you will want to be able to hear me when I say this sweetheart." He taps on the green shell and shakes his head and smacks the flat side of his sword, Frostmourne against it and watches as she falls to the ground with a singed horn, coughing and sputtering.

Celestia lays on the ground, coughing and sputtering while trying to recover her strength and says, "Why that was very thoughtful of you to do Twilight, but I think that you should..." Her words are cut off as she looks around and sees a very familiar armored boot standing before her, following it up to find the very familiar form she wishes was not her father and says in the royal voice, "WHY IN TARTARUS ARE YOU HERE FATHER! ARE YOU TRYING TO TAKE MY KINGDOM FROM ME NOW LIKE YOU TRIED WITH ALL THE OTHERS!? WELL I WILL DIE BEFORE I LET YOU TAKE ANYTHING FROM ME THAT I HAD WORKED HARD FOR! BESIDES, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE STILL IMPRISONED. HOW ARE YOU STANDING RIGHT HERE BEFORE MY VERY EYES!" Her eyes, mane and tail change to fire as her eyes glow a bright white as her rage takes over.

Arthas chuckles and starts laughing out loud and says, "Of course I haven't come to take your kingdom away from you... not yet at least. I just thought that I should make sure that you knew that I was awake is all, it was a funny coincidence with you being attacked. Oh and by the way, I think I should be the one to introduce you two after being separated for so many years. Princess Celestine, meet...YOUR MOTHER!"

Her body returns to normal as her eyes shrink to pinpricks as she asks, "Wait, how is that my mother? Mine and Luna's mother is called Amore. That creature just can't be her, I'm sorry. You will have to try again to convince me of your lies father."

He chuckles and crosses his arms and says, "Well, after Amore took you girls from me and hid you well, she returned to the castle and told me what she did and why. I understood the reason why and decided to punish her harshly for it, therefore I sent her to be part of his experiments. Now what you see here is the result of several failed attempts. One day, she broke free and took a couple other successful tries with her and hid from me for a time and changed her name to Queen Chrysalis I do believe. Of course she has lost her sanity completely, haven't you lovebug?"

Chrysalis (Amore) snarls and says, "Don't you dare start calling me by that stupid fucking nickname you gave me back then you dickhead! You lost every right to call me your lover since you gave me to that damn mad scientist of a doctor!"

Chapter 7: When chaos passes, plans form

Chapter 7: When chaos passes, plans form

Chapter 7: When chaos passes, plans form

Dj Pon3 finally snaps out of her trance as the song comes to an end and turns everything off mumbling, "I bucking hate when that happens." She then looks to all the other ponies and says, "My apologies every pony, that tends to happen once in awhile. I have a certain condition that causes that, and the medication is only experimental." She then notices the room is a mess and says, "Wait, what is going on here?"

Everypony's eyes in the room widen as Celestia's eyes become as wide as dinner plates and says in a stunned voice, "M-Mama? I-Is that really you? Luna and I have been missing you ever since you told us to run to the ponies and live a happy life. Why did you do that to us Mama, why did you take us from Papa?"

Chrysalis (Amore) rolls her eyes at the show of affection and a touching reunion saying, "I am not the sweet and innocent mother you had anymore, your mother Amore is gone for good and my personality is here to stay. So cut out that doe eyed expression you have on your face, the reason she abandoned you like that is because she cared for the future of you two. She wanted you to have happy lives, not be miserable and grow up to be corrupt and evil like your father."

Annoyed by the facade she is putting up, Arthas steps closer and says, "Do I really have to sing that song that you used to sing to me whenever you were depressed?"

She snaps her head to him with fear on her face and yells, "DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE DO THAT OR I WILL KILL CELESTINE!"

He chuckles and says, "Oh please, if you were really going to hurt her, you would have done it already. You also can't because I know Amore is still there deep inside, locked away in a cage of misery. You also know she is still there, or you wouldn't have remembered the name that I gave her and Lunetha." He clears his throat and laughs, saying to the pony by the music board, "Musician, play me a song of longing for a lost love." He then turns to look at Chrysalis and says, "You have forced my hand lover, it looks like I shall have to sing that song from long ago. Maybe then you might return to your senses and give your daughter the touching reunion she deserves." He then begins to hum a tune before breaking into song.

As Arthas's voice rings out through the hall, Twilight is entranced by its beauty and says, "His voice is so smooth and beautiful, it almost makes me want to forget the evil that he has done and hold him tightly." She then looks to the other girls in the room and sees that a few of them are looking at him like she was and chuckles and whispers, "Seems like he is a siren as well as a king of death."

Rarity looks at him and sees a fantasy unfolding before her eyes and says, "Oh he is sooo dreamy...oh so marvelous and majestic."

Chrysalis fights to keep Amore inside of the prison she created, but fails miserably as her body's appearance fades slowly back to what it used to be and her voice changes as she joins Arthas in singing her parts of the song.

Celestia's eyes tear up as she watches her mother gradually returning to her, waiting for the song to end so she can rush up and hug her mama for dear life and talk to her.

As Amore continues to sing her part in the song, her eyes tear up as well. Feeling very guilty for putting her daughters through a tough decision to abandon them so they can have a better life. The song begins to wind down to the ending and she finishes the song out as a tear falls from her eye and lands on the floor saying, "Celestine, my darling daughter, I am so proud of the way you grew up. I wish Lunetha was here to say hello, but everypony have their duties. Maybe one day I shall come back and speak to her if Chrysalis allows it. I am so proud of you and the way you rule your subjects with kindness instead of fear and cruelty." She narrows her eyes and looks towards her ex lover Arthas as she says that and continues, "If only every ruler could learn from you and Luna, I believe that this world could all live together in peace."

Arthas crashes the moment and scoffs saying, "Oh please, I rather enjoy the way I rule my subjects. They enjoy it as well, because they compliment me once in awhile on how I am running things as Lich King or as the previous Lich King said to me before, 'The Jailer of the Damned'.

As the moment is dampened by his rude interruption, Amore squints in irritation and says to him, "That is only because they are forced to obey you! They don't obey by choice or obligation, they are little more than slaves to the king." She turns back to her daughter and says, "Come here sweetie, momma wants to hug her darling daughter once more before she returns to the prison Chrysalis has created."

Celestia frantically runs to her mama crying and saying, "Momma, Momma don't go! Please stay, there is so much that we need to catch up on!" She collides with her mother and wraps her arms around her as tears run down her face, wrecking her makeup.

Ignoring the lovey dovey fest over there, he turns around and ponders on what she said to him and thinks, 'Is what she said true? I may have to experiment and find that out for sure, I would like to know what it feels like to be truly loved as a king.' As he begins to hear the bawl fest going on between Amore and Celestia, he gets fed up with how annoying he finds hearing them crying in happiness over being reunited finally after so many years of being apart. He decides to express his own feelings of irritation and draws Frostmourne, turning it around in his grasp and raises it into the air with both hands as he turns around to face the two crying ponies.

Twilight watches him and cries out, "Princess Celestia, Amore, watch out!" Her warning gets their attention as they both turn to look at Arthas who has Frostmourne in the air held in a downward position.

Arthas amplifies his voice and bellows, "That is enough of this lovey dovey bullshit! It is time you two just chill out!" He then thrusts his sword downward into the marble floor and sends out a massive blast of frost, trapping every pony and covering every building in Canterlot with ice. Ensuring that they can still breathe air, he rises from the floor and says, "There, now have the two of you calmed down?"

Amore and Celestia both glare and Arthas and shiver, nodding their heads and answering, "Y-Yessss, w-we ha-have. Can you please release us from this ice, we're freezing our tails off."

He chuckles and sheathes Frostmourne saying, "Unfortunately, I have no control over the effects of the spells I use. Therefore you must find your own way out of it. Isn't there supposed to be some kind of a wedding today between Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor? I just thought that I would stop by and say hello to my darling daughter and inform her that I am awake now, but I am bored of this so I shall take my leave of this happiness." He then turns around and walks out of the wedding hall returning to the streets that are full of frozen ponies and creatures.

Celestia powers up her horn and shatters the ice around her and everyone in the room, releasing them from further suffering from the cold. She looks to her mother and says, "I really do wish that you would stay longer, but I shall begin searching for a way that you can free yourself from Chrysalis's prison for good one day. Goodbye mother, I will miss you until you return again."

As she begins to weaken and her body slowly reverts to the previous form, she says, "My darling daughter, be sure to tell your sister that I love the both of you equally. That I am also proud of the both of you, goodbye my daughter." As she sheds one final tear, her eyes close as her body finishes its transformation and reopen to be green eyes with vertical slits in them. She then sighs in frustration and says, "My apologies for taking too long, but it took forever for me to get that annoying pest back under control. Let's get back to business shall we? Canterlot is mine now, so get lost!" She puts Celestia back into a cocoon, annoyed at how that cretin freed her so easily the first time.

Cadence resumes her attempt to free her fionce, Shining Armor from the substance trapping him and touches her horn to his, to give him her magic so he can restore the barrier around Canterlot saying, "Here Shiny, use my magic to restore the barrier around Canterlot. Whatever is mine is yours too, we share everything together Shiny. That means if one of us lacks the magic to do something, the other helps out and offers theirs in return."

Shining Armor smiles at her and says, "I love you Cady." He then rubs his horn against hers affectionately, and feels her magic flowing into him and casts the spell. He sends out a violet barrier that expands and returns to protecting Canterlot once more.

Arthas is halfway down the stairs when he is launched forth off the stairs, landing face first onto the stones below. Rising to his feet, he sees a violet wave of magic make its way outward. Watching curiously as it stops and forms a barrier around Canterlot, looking around him to notice that there aren't anymore frozen changelings in the streets below. Curious, he wanders around ponyville to find the pony who was nice to him thinking to himself, 'I think it would be nice to attend a party and socialize a bit, as well as celebrate seeing one of his long lost daughters again. Perhaps that pony I met might be able to help me out and find some way for me to attend the ceremony tomorrow, I think Fancy Pants was his name. I shall search for him to see if he has any ideas on what can be done to possibly allow me to attend it.' He then begins his search for the pony in question.

Fancy pants is grateful that he managed to reach safety when that blast of frost went through Canterlot, freezing everypony and every building. He looks out the door to the residence and sees a distorted image of a tall, heavily armored figure pass by the house. Wondering who could be outside right now and not affected by the spell already, he opens the door and says, "Good heavens, why are you out right now? Were you affected by that big blast of frost that went through Canterlot earlier?" He then realizes that it is the foreign king known as Arthas and bows quickly and says, "Oh, my apologies Your Highness. I did not realize that it was you out there, I can't make anything out by looking through these frozen windows."

He chuckles and says, "No I was in safety at the time, I just managed to open the door enough to get outside to see what is going on right now. It is quite alright, do you by chance know of a way that might allow me to be able to attend the wedding without them knowing it is me under this armor?" He then sets a hand on the hilt of Frostmourne and waits for his reply.

Fancy Pants smiles as the start of an idea comes to mind and says, "Please come inside so we can discuss things further, Your Highness. I might know of one pony in Canterlot at the moment that just might be able to assist us with making that happen."

Arthas steps inside and sees a few ponies huddle together in a corner out of seeing the terrifying appearance of him, having to bend at the waist and knees to get inside and says, "Please don't all start screaming at once, that violet wave of magic pushed me down the stairs and caused my nose to bleed when my face spared my body the pain of landing on the stone first. I am just glad that no serious damage was done to my body in this armor, can't say the same thing about this headache that magic gave me though."

Sindragosa panics and furiously attacks the barrier, trying to get through it and tries calling to her master through the link and says, "My king, are you alright! Can you hear me at all, MASTER!"

He grunts as her words reach him, making him wince and replying back to her through the link, "Yes Sindragosa, I can hear you now. What is the problem?"

She calms down a little and continues to attack the barrier and says, "I was pushed out of the city by a violet shield of some kind! I am trying to break through it but it is not budging at all! What shall I do now, should I go back and fetch the army to come save you?"

He chuckles and answers her, "No, leave the army there for the time being. I have a wedding to attend to, my family is getting a little bit bigger today. So my new orders to you are go on home for now Sindragosa, I shall call for you if I need your aid. As for that game we were playing, unfortunately you beat me yet again. Have a good flight Sindy."

She is shocked at him giving her a nickname, calling her Sindy instead of her name. She smiles and then says, "Very well my king, I shall return home and wait for you to call upon me. I told you before, that you would have difficulty in beating me in combat competition." Her attacks then cease and she turns around and heads back towards Icecrown Citadel.

Arthas returns to pay attention to his newest ally and apologizes saying, "My apologies, I was distracted by a minor headache. What was it you were saying sir?"

Fancy Pants smiles and nods saying, "It is quite alright Your Highness, I was just mentioning to you that there is a pony here that has a lot of talent and skill with fashion." He then looks to a pony in the crowd currently huddling in the corner furthest away from the scary looking foreign ruler and says, "Suri, can you please come forth. There is someone important I wish for you to meet that might help your business improve by helping them with an issue they are having."

The frightened pony steps forth, intrigued at hearing how this scary being can help her struggling business improve and says, "Very well Fancy, if you trust this being, then I shall too. So please tell me what I can do to help them?"

He looks at Suri with a smile and turns back to Arthas and says, "Please allow me to introduce you to Suri Polomare, she is visiting Canterlot to attend the wedding as well as us Celebrities. You shall accompany us to the wedding hall, and I shall vouch for you personally. The plan I have in mind right now is that first we remove the armor and weapons you wield because that stands out too much, then we have Suri here look you over to see what she can do to help you blend in a bit better. The last part of the plan will be to convince the curious guards that your invitation was forgotten but you are a friend that was invited over tea a few weeks ago." He then looks to the rest of the group and says, "Everypony, please allow me to introduce you to our esteemed guest of honor. Arthas, King of the Frozen Throne of Icecrown Citadel in the Frozen North."

Meanwhile, at the wedding hall...

Shining Armor sighs in relief as the migraine finally ends and says, "Looks like whatever was attacking the shield has gone away, whatever it was was pretty strong."

Cadence smiles and says, "Well I am just glad that you aren't suffering from maintaining the shield anymore, if you ever need me to, I am more than willing to share the burden with you. Now then, will somepony please explain what the rude interruption by that strange being claiming to be some kind of Lich King is all about and why he called my aunt Celestia his daughter?"

Princess Celestia then sighs and says, "This will take a little bit, please sit down Princess Cadence. The rest of you may as well gather around, you should hear this as well. I have some questions for you Twilight Sparkle, but those will wait when this explanation is over. First, I need to remove the ice trapping my ponies." She then casts a spell and sends a wave of magic throughout the city, targeting the ice trapping her citizens.

An hour and a half passes by as Celestia finishes telling the entire story to Cadence of who the intruder was and how she and Luna were related to him and says, "That is the entire story as I remember it. I don't know much about where he came from except that he ruled a land called Northrend and came from a war torn world known as Azeroth."

Cadence looks down, finally understanding so much more now that she heard the whole story. More questions pop into her head as she looks up to Celestia and asks, "Do you know if I am related to him at all? Because my name comes from the first princess of the Crystal Empire. I sure hope that I am not related to that monster."

She looks at her and sighs saying, "I am sorry Cadence, but I do not know. What I do know is that Princess Amore didn't have any other children than Luna and I, but we don't know if she had any more after she returned to him. Only he or Amore would have those answers."

The pink alicorn sighs in disappointment and says, "Yeah, who knows whenever I will have the chance to get that important answer. One of them is imprisoned inside of an insane changeling, and the other lives in a horrible citadel full of dead things in the lands north of the Crystal Empire and is on his way there right now. I am never going to get my answers now."

Twilight speaks up and tries to comfort her and says, "Don't worry Cadence, I am positive you will get your answers one day. He is after all, just over a thousand years old. You are an alicorn too, so time is on your side. You only need to have lots of patience and wait for the opportunity presents itself."

Celestia looks to Twilight pointedly and narrows her eyes and says, "Speaking of answers and opportunities, Twilight Sparkle. Did you go somewhere that you weren't supposed to a few weeks ago? My sister told me about a stubborn pony that refused to listen to her warnings, and then left in the middle of the night to go deal with them."

She looks down at the ground guiltily and sighs saying, "I'm sorry for ignoring your sister, Princess Celestia. You know how it drives me bananas not having answers to every single question I have, I just could not stand waiting one more year waiting to get more answers. Please don't send me back to Magic Kindergarten for ignoring Princess Luna's warnings."

She raises her eyebrow mischievously and takes the opportunity to punish her student a bit and says, "Only on one condition, Twilight." She then looks at her and waits for her answer.

Twilight eagerly says, "Whatever it is Princess Celestia, name it and I will do whatever you wish."

Celestia happily smiles and says, "Okay then, please tell me everything you seen and experienced during your journey there."

She facepalms herself and then sighs and begins her story by saying, "It all began just after our trip to the Dragon Lands to make sure that he would be okay during his journey."

Meanwhile in a private residence somewhere in Canterlot

Arthas is grateful with Fancy Pants deciding to get the group to change locations to his house, allowing him the freedom to fully stand up and have room to spare to remove his armor and set it down so Suri Polomare can begin to take his measurements. He first takes off his boots, chuckling at how the ponies' nose wrinkle and their faces cringe at the hideously foul smell coming from them. He watches as they eagerly watch as he goes to remove his helm, facing away and leaning forward to surprise them and takes the helm off completely. He then sets it beside his boots and rises up suddenly and throws his head back, causing his hair to whip into the air and land against the back of his armor. Earning a couple gasps of surprise, he turns around to face them to let them see his face finally.

The ponies look at him curiously as he looks nothing like a pony, having a relatively flat face, no muzzle or ears on top of his head. Having pale skin, long blonde hair that go past his shoulders and green eyes, his looks cause a couple mares to bite their lips at his handsome features.

The smell only getting worse when he removes the rest of his armor. He chuckles as one of them actually has to leave the room, holding a hand over their mouth needing to throw up as the stench becomes too overwhelming to handle and says, "Do I really smell that bad to ponies?" He stands there in a soft white wool shirt and a pair of wool pants that serve as clothing as well as added padding against the heavy armor.

Fancy Pants holds his nose closed and tries to breathe through his mouth and struggles to say, "Unfortunately for you, yes it is Your Highness. Please feel free to use my shower or the bathtub to cleanse yourself of that foul smell, I shall go fetch somebody to privately clean this armor of yours so you can be ready to depart after the wedding party."

He then softly smiles and smells himself, wincing at the strong smell and says, "That is very kind of you to not allow me to attend the wedding, smelling like a rotten corpse. I shall think of a way to pay you back for doing so much to help me be able to attend the wedding. When whoever cleans the armor, I have two words of warning for them regarding a couple pieces. The first warning is for the helm that I wear, Under no circumstance is any magic permitted to be used when cleaning it. If magic is used, it will send out a magic pulse in retaliation that will kill every living pony within a one mile radius. As for the second warning, it is for my sword Frostmourne. Be extremely careful and respectful when handling it, it has a mind of its own and will retaliate as well if it ever feels the need to. Oh and one more thing to add, do not try to put the helm on. It is extremely choosy at who is permitted to wear it, that helm is the crown that shows others who wears it is the king of Icecrown Citadel, the Jailer of the damned. That pulse will be sent out if it finds whoever tries it on unworthy to wear it, killing every being that is within one mile of it including the wearer."

Fancy Pants writes down the warnings and remembers to ensure the strict rules regarding the two pieces. He then looks up to his guest and says, "That is not necessary at all, Your Highness. It is enough that you even agreed to use the facilities of a strange pony that you do no really know, or even came to me to ask for help. I shall see you once again after you have finished with your bath or shower Your Highness, I shall have a few clean towels set inside for you to dry yourself off with. Now, if you would please follow me. I will show you where the bath and shower are located." He then proceeds to show Arthas the way to the washroom, getting some servants to grab some fresh towels and placing them there for when he finishes bathing.

Arthas remembers what it was like having service like this back when he was much younger and sighs happily and says, "I do apologize for the extremely foul smell that I have right now, I have been too busy with ruling the citizens to even have time to bathe properly."

He continues to lead the way and says to him, "Even rulers need their personal days to tend to their personal needs. You should take whatever chance you can to take a break from your duties to them Your Highness, or it will surely destroy you from the inside out." He then stops at a door and says to him, "Well Your Highness, this is where we shall part ways for now while I go fetch somepony to tend to your armor and keep quiet about it." He then bows and says, "Until we meet again later, Your Highness."

Smiling, he nods and says thank you before walking into the room and looks around at all the advancements that were apparently made over the years and closes the door, deciding to get busy trying to figure out how everything works these days and says, "Wow, times sure have changed since back in the old days. This may take a bit of time, I better get started on learning how things function now."

A curious unicorn mare with a light grey coat, pale violet eyes and a magentaish gray watches the tall and attractive being enter the shower, only not liking the intensely foul odor coming from his body and his armor and softly says, "I really feel bad for Fancy Pants, he is going to have to get his plumbing redone after this strange King Arthas fully cleans himself. He really does have a certain handsome appeal after all, if you can force yourself to look past the smell." Her legs get a little itchy and she rubs them together at how his looks manage to make even more curious.

A half hour passes by as he finally figures out how each thing works in the room saying to himself, "Now to decide which one to use." After a little internal debating, he decides on using the shower to get himself clean first. He removes the thin shirt and the pants and lay them on a flat countertop so he can put them back on when he is finished bathing himself. He reaches in and adjusts the water to his liking and steps into the shower and closes the door behind him and begins to wash his face and hair first using what soap he could find, discovering that it smells of spearmint and winter's first frost.

She continues to rub her legs together as she is now biting a nail waiting for the horrid smell to go away completely before checking out Arthas as he showers. She finds the burning desire rising from below too much to bear and is unable to wait anymore. She makes her way towards the door to the shower and slowly cracks it open to watch him as he showers and is shocked to see him standing at full mast inside of the shower, easily beating Fancy Pants in size and any other stallion she has been with.

Arthas hears the door crack open and discreetly looks over to see who it is, seeing a pale violet eye looking through the crack, a light magentaish mane and a light gray coat. Finding out that it is just one of the mares in the group, he continues to wash the rest of his body with the bar of soap. Eager to get rid of the rest of the grime and dirt that have built up on his skin over the years, he scrubs his chest and goes down to his legs. After finishing with his feet, he sighs and remembers he has to clean his back and looks to the cracked open door and says, "Please step inside, I would like you to please do me a favor and scrub my back for me? Humans have short arms and can't do it themselves."

The curious mare walks into the room and sighs saying, "Many apologies for intruding on you Your Highness, I just couldn't help myself from finding your appearance too...attractive. Could you ever find it in your ability to forgive me one day for my curiosity?"

He mischievously puts a finger and thumb on his chin, pretending to think on it when he already knows the answer. He finally stops stalling and says, "I can forgive you on one condition. I will forgive you if you can come in here and scrub my back clean for me."

She closes the door behind her and smiles saying, "I can sure do that for you, Your Highness. Thank you for choosing to forgive me, my name is Fleur De Lis. I am a supermodel for a magazine called Cosmare, have you heard of it or read it?"

Arthas cocks his head and says, "Unfortunately, I have not had much time to read anything at all really. Been too busy with dealing with the never ending problems of the citizens or dealing with other kingdoms wanting to pick a fight with me or take some of my land. This king needs a short time to relax and just enjoy...life, you know?"

Fleur De Lis takes the opportunity to strip down to nothing while he is complaining and strides forward towards the shower door, her hooves lightly clicking against the tile floor. Her ample chest size lightly bouncing with each step, she softly laughs and says, "I can help you to relax and enjoy life for a bit, Your Highness." She then opens the shower door and steps inside and closes it behind her, quickly getting to work on getting his back scrubbed clean.

Not sure why she said it like that, he forgets about it and just lets her work on cleaning his back for him and says, "It really stinks, you know? Not being able to reach your own back to scrub it clean, it is rather embarrassing really."

She blushes at thinking he could smell her arousal for a moment but then relaxes and continues to clean his back, looking forward to what she was going to do to help King Arthas relax and enjoy life and says, "I can sure understand that, Your Highness. I think that somepony should invent something that would allow any being to scrub their backs themselves."

Chapter 9: A new day, new problems arise

Chapter 9: A new day, new problems arise

Meanwhile...back on Azeroth, Twenty minutes before Icecrown Citadel was banished

Alexstrasza senses something amiss in the air around them and begins to worry, then walks out to the ledge and then looks to Icecrown Citadel. Not liking what was in the air around her, she looks to Cielstrasza and Chronormu and says, "Something in the air troubles me greatly...Cielstrasza, Chronormu, accompany me on a flight to investigate this disturbance. I also require two strong guardians to serve as escorts, we shall retain our altered appearances so we can gather information on the situation." She then gets up onto a drake and nods her head to take flight, with those she mentioned at her heels.

Chromie catches up to her on a drake and says, "What do you think is going on Your Majesty?"

She looks to the disguised Chronormu and says, "Nothing good by the feel of it, I hope it turns out to be no big problem..."

Eighteen minutes later, in the skies of Icecrown

Cielstrasza looks at the towering Icecrown Citadel and hears cheers rise from the ground and then says, "My Queen, it appears that the allied armies of the Horde and the Alliance succeeded in defeating the Lich King. This is a day to celebrate a great victory over that foul monster."

Chromie looks to Ciel and then says, "Oh yeah, the drinks are on me today!"

Alexstrasza then directs the drake to fly lower to get a better idea of what was going on and then says, "The armies are both marching to the furthermost limits of the citadel and are encircling it. I don't understand this, we need to investigate further."

The gnome then gets a prickly tingling all over her body and says, "I don't know either, but it can't be good because I am getting a prickly tingling sensation throughout my body Your Majesty."

After a minute more of flying, they get close enough to see casters of all kinds gather in groups and circles around the entire citadel as Cielstrasza then speaks up saying, "It looks like they are performing some kind of large scale spell. I do not know what kind of spell it is or what it does, but I think we should get away before they finish it."

She stares on in shock at recognizing the shape on the ground and then says, "Impossible...it just can't be that spell can it? It was locked away in Ulduar by the Titans, how could they have gotten their hands on it unless..."

Chromie looks at Alexstrasza with concern and asks, "Uhm...I'm sorry Your Majesty, I don't understand what you are saying."

Alexstrasza's breath hitches in her throat as she feels the magic reaching a critical point and then suddenly screams, "NO, DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SPELL!!!" She then turns to the others with panic in her eyes and then yells, "Make haste and fly away immediately, as fast as you can! We must get out of range before they cast it, or we will be caught up in it!"

The gnome hangs on tight as the drakes and guardians immediately turn away and rush to get out of the area, looking back just before a flash comes from the ground. Moments later, it is proceeded by multicolored ribbons of light dancing through the air in the skies behind them over Icecrown Citadel. The ribbons then become one and form a massive pillar of multicolored streams in the circle of light, then becoming a blinding aura that forces her to look away from the citadel saying, "Wow that is bright! I am going to be seeing spots for a bit now."

The queen then senses the fading magic and then turns back to see what became of Icecrown Citadel, only to see it gone completely. Leaving a big crater where it used to stand and then growls angrily and says, "Those fools have no idea what they have just done to this world... Assume your regular forms except for you Chronormu, you are going to take that tome they have into your possession shortly after we land. I have words to exchange with those fools." She then jumps off of the drakes back and then takes her normal form and then heads to the spot closest to the leader to land.

Tirion hears an angered roar come from above and then yells, "Clear a landing path for Queen Alexstrasza and her companions!"

Alexstrasza lands on the ground in anger and watches as Highlord Tirion falls on his rear and then glares at him and shouts, "How did you get your hands on that tome?! Do you have any idea what you have done, and what the consequences will be!? Hand it over immediately so we can fix what you have done!"

Archmage Malin approaches hastily and presents the tome to her and says, "I tried to advise him against using it, but he ignored me and wanted to give his old friend a chance to redeem himself in a different world."

Chromie hurries forth and tears the book from his hands, looking at him with a scowl on her face and then says, "That monster will never repent his actions! If you thought that he might, then you are a fool for believing it!"

The highlord then sighs and says, "I may have been wrong to think that, but I just couldn't bring myself to end his life. He fell victim to the corruption of the Old Gods, he deserved a chance to redeem himself...now this world is rid of..."

Shrill cries of agony and madness rise all around them, stopping the highlord mid sentence as corpses beyond measure start crawling out of the ground in the crater where the citadel once stood as Alexstrasza then looks at the bottom of the crater and then says, "You freed the dead from their servitude to the Lich King, now they are screaming in pain as the bond continues to be severed. With the crown unable to be placed upon another's head, the millions of dead will drive all living things into a corner and then slaughter every last one." She then looks to the shocked faces of the surrounding mages and soldiers and then looks to the leaders and then yells, "Run to your cities and gather your forces, for the fight against the freed dead has begun! We shall keep them at bay while you all work together and form a unified army to battle the undead threat to Azeroth, NOW RUN!!" She then watches as the armies all start to flee from Icecrown in terror. She then turns to Chromie and then says, "Chronormu, get on the drake and return to the Temple. Once you return there, start studying that book and find a way to connect us with the world the Lich King was sent to. We must return the dead in this world to their servitude of the Lich King! Tell the other aspects there to call for every dragon they can spare, and to send them to the borders of Icecrown to slay every undead creature that tries to cross the border."

She then nods her head and says, "At once, Your Majesty!" She then sprints back to the drake she was on and then takes flight, heading back to the temple with all haste to start her task.

Two Years Later

Alexstrasza looks around at the field around them, seeing hundreds of dragons assisting the allied armies of the living beings on Azeroth keep the undead hordes of nearly two million at bay. Losing more ground with each following day, she nervously looks to the new gate that is being built. With the last few stones being set into place, two towering dragon statues look out at the land in front of them. She then makes another pass to push back the undead once more, raining purifying flames before turning back to check on the status of the portals state of completion.

Brann Bronzebeard looks at the massive portal the cooperating armies of the living are working on and sees Queen Alexstrasza stand beside him and then says, "This is truly a marvel Your Majesty, who would've thought that every living being would actually work together."

Alexstrasza then sighs and says, "Indeed it is truly a wonder at what can be accomplished by working together instead of trying to kill each other. I hope this is finished soon and activated so they will return to their servitude of the Lich King, all life on this world is at stake and we must finish this quickly."

Thrall then approaches the two slowly and then says, "It pains me to admit that you are correct Your Majesty, but the final piece that convinced the Horde that we needed to work together was the fall of Orgrimmar. That was a sad day for the Horde then, but the day after that...they looked forward to getting revenge against the undead and reclaimed the lands. This gate is this worlds only hope to repair the bond that the foolish humans severed, it would have been so much simpler if Highlord Tirion had just took his revenge and ended his life."

Tirion then approaches them and then sighs saying, "I now regret my decision to not take his life that day just over two years ago, I would do anything to make amends for that mistake. We also need to rebuild Stormwind yet again due to the undead rampage, but at least we are still holding the lines against them."

Darion Morgraine stops near the group and then looks to Queen Alexstrasza and bows his head saying, "Your Majesty, the portal is now ready to be prepared."

Back on Equus, in the streets of Canterlot

Arthas exits the home of Fancy Pants, with his new suit folded up and placed in a bag at his hip. He then gets up onto his steed's back once more as he starts to sense a familiar magic coming from far away, he then decides to go investigate it and then gallops Invincible out of the city to summon Sindragosa.

Invincible then continues to head to the city gates and says, "Sir, where are we going?"

He then looks on down the road and continues to guide the steed down the road, chuckling with glee as he sees and hears the panicked screams of terror of the citizens as they are bumped out of the way and to the ground when Invincible runs into them. He then laughs out loud and then yells to the citizens with a booming voice, "Feel all your hopes turn to dust when you see death come for you, watch as your dreams become nightmares without end. Listen to the cries of despair as your own children curse you for letting them die at the hands of the Scourge!" He sees the gates of Canterlot in the distance and gallops towards them saying, "Open up those gates or I will lay waste to this city like I did to Stratholme!"

The faithful steed then gallops through the gates as cries of panic rise into the air behind them from the streets of Canterlot and then sighs saying, "Sir, I think that you really should try to change the way you view and treat the world. If you continue on down this path, history may repeat itself and instead of finding yourself wounded...you might die as the result of your actions."

Arthas then races to where he senses the magic coming from and then says, "I better ready my army to greet the ones using this familiar magic, whoever dares to come to my new playground and come after me is going to pay dearly...with their souls."

An hour later on Azeroth, after the portals' creation

Chronormu and Brann look at the finished portal in curiosity and then look to each other, nod and then look to Queen Alexstrasza as Chromie says, "Your Majesty, I am concerned about the differences between that world and ours. After that spell was used, I sensed a temporal disturbance that it created. I have studied that tome after those hotheads used it without closer examination, and I have learned that it may have sent Arthas into the past of that world."

Queen Alexstrasza then nods and says, "That is very unfortunate for that world indeed, but there is no way to correct what has been done. You and Brann Bronzebeard were the two that studied that tome, am I correct?"

She then nods to her and says, "Yes Your Majesty, we were. Who do you suggest should go first through the portal?"

The queen then considers it and then says, "Since you were key in fully understanding that tome, why don't you and Brann go through first and see what is on the other side of it."

Chromie then steps up to the gate, shifting to her gnome form as she continues to walk alongside Brann and then says, "Well Brann, are you looking forward to our newest adventure to an unknown world?!"

He then laughs and says, "Oh don't you know it kid, I love going on new adventures and discovering new things! Race ya through, last one there buys the drinks!"

She then laughs saying, "Oh you are so on dwarf, and don't call me kid! I am older than you are!" She then takes off running alongside him towards the portal.

Back on Equus, on the other side of the portal

Arthas stands in front of his hidden army before the large stone archway with two dragons looking to the land before them with a cruel smile on his face as he waits to see who passes through first. He then looks up to see Sindragosa flying in the skies above them, and then looks to the ground to the far side where the massive decomposing form of the former queen of the dragons Ashara is keeping out of sight. He then turns his gaze back to the portal as he spots two life forms pass through and then smiles as he waits for them to come closer to introduce himself.

Chromie then looks back at Brann and says, "I made it through first, the rounds are on you this time Brann!"

Brann then slows down and stops, shaking his head and then says, "I was so close to beating ya though, but a bet is a bet. I will honor the bet I made with ya, ya can pick the tavern we get drinks okay?" He then stops dead in his tracks as his eyes land on the large banner in the distance in front of the portal they came through and then says, "Blast my beard, that's...that's the banner of the Scourge! Why is it out here of all places?!" His eyes then look around and sees a tall figure standing to the side of it, recognizing it as the Lich King and then says, "Welp, we know that there is a Lich King on this side. I never would've guessed that they would be waiting for us, we should find out what their name is."

Her eyes go wide as she sees the being standing there next to the Scourge Banner and then says, "Uhm, you go ahead and do the talking here Brann. I am just going to stay quiet and watch for approaching enemies." She then scans around the area, sighing in relief at not seeing the undead hordes around them.

He steps forward and then greets the Lich King and says, "May we have words, Your Highness? There is a big issue involving the world where we come from, caused by the banishment of Icecrown Citadel and its king that sat in it's throne."

Arthas then becomes curious to hear what they have to say, so he masks his voice and then says, "You may come a bit closer as I am hard of hearing over such a distance, creature."

Brann looks to Chromie and says, "Well we are doing good so far, he isn't like Arthas at all. Maybe Arthas did die on this world after all, what do you think about it Chromie?" He then starts to get closer to the Lich King to discuss matters on Azeroth.

Chromie then looks at Brann and follows him saying, "I think something feels off here, but it would be good to gather more information." She then hears a flapping of wings and then looks up and sees a skeletal wing with blue flame running through the bones, serving as the flesh and allowing flight. She watches as more of the creature emerges from the cloud and her eyes widen at seeing that it is Sindragosa and then gulps saying, "I sure hope this goes peacefully, because Sindragosa is flying over our heads."

He looks up and then sees her as well and says, "Oh no...so the Lich King brought her back, I wonder who this Lich King is if it isn't Arthas." He then returns his gaze to the Lich King before them and then stops several feet away from him and then says, "Your Highness, have you ever heard of a world called Azeroth?"

Arthas looks at him and narrows his eyes, pretending to be someone else and says, "I have heard about it from the previous Lich King Arthas Menethil before he died, what troubles your world that drives you to seek me out strange creature?"

Brann then looks at the figure a bit more and then says, "Well you see, when the previous Lich King was banished. It caused every undead in Azeroth to cry out in pain and go into a blood crazed rampage, it even continues outside of where we built this portal. We lose more and more ground each passing day, we come to respectfully ask that you take them under your control and return them to their slumber."

He then chuckles at hearing this and then smiles and says, "So creature, you have the nerve to respectfully ask that I return them to their slavery to this crown and make them go back to sleep? Who do you think you are to request anything of me!? Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill the both of you and raise you as undead creatures."

Chromie then steps up and gulps audibly, then nervously says, "We mean no offense, Your Majesty. Our world is at great risk of perishing, and we are desperate indeed to ask you to do such a thing. Please think on the matter and put yourself in our shoes, would you not be desperate in wanting to preserving the life on this world if it were in danger?"

Arthas is then curious about what has happened in the time that he was sent away and then says, "I shall consider doing so, are you the leaders of your group?"

He then looks to Chromie and asks, "Do you think we should tell him about the others?"

She looks back and then nods her head and says, "I think that if he wants to speak to them, it is in our best interests to divulge that information to him."

Brann then nods his head and says, "Okay, if you say so Chromie." He then turns to look at the Lich King and then says, "No we are not, we are just a scouting party investigating this world where he was banished to. If you wish to meet them, could you come through with us?"

He then shakes his head and then says, "Unfortunately, I cannot. If the portal should close behind me, what would become of this world's undead?"

Chromie then sighs and then says, "Queen Alexstrasza would not allow the portal to be shut behind you, she just wishes to preserve the balance of this world that is currently upset. Will you reconsider coming across with us to see the state of the world with your own eyes?"

Arthas raises an eyebrow and then chuckles to himself and thinks, 'It would be rather amusing to see the reaction on her face when she discovers that I survived, even more enjoyable if she would permit me to see the state of the world from her back.' He then smiles and then looks at her then says, "I do not recognize that name, the previous Lich King never mentioned it to me before he passed on. Very well, you have piqued my curiosity. I shall go with you to see the state of your world." He then begins to walk towards them at a leisurely pace, in no big hurry to spare a few lives.

Brann then starts walking back to the portal and then looks back to ask the Lich King his name and then says, "Your Highness, may I ask your name?"

He then looks to the dwarf and then says, "Yes you may, my name is Frozen Crown. What might your names be, strange creatures from Azeroth?"

The dwarf goes first and introduces himself saying, "My name is Brann Bronzebeard, and I am an Ironforge Dwarf."

Chromie then looks at the Lich King and then says, "And My name is Chromie, and I am a gnome. Could you tell us how long ago the previous Lich King passed away?"

Arthas then nods and then says, "Yes, it was two years ago to this very day that he died." He then watches the portal ahead of him draw nearer and then sends an order to Sindragosa through the link saying, "Keep a watchful eye Sindragosa, I have some leaders to meet on the other side. Apparenty there is a problem on their world involving the numerous undead that I have not called to service, and only I can correct the problem. So I shall go and investigate what has happened during my time away, keep an eye on the army and keep them waiting for my return." He then addresses the army and issues them orders through the link saying, "Warriors of Icecrown hiding underground, I shall return once I take back control of the undead that are causing problems in Azeroth." He then follows them into the portal and rolls his shoulders as he feels the magic take affect and transport him back to Azeroth.

Brann then runs forth with Chromie as he sees that he is back on Azeroth and says to Queen Alexstrasza, "Your Majesty, Arthas Menethil has perished from his wounds two years ago. However, we have managed to bring with us the current Lich King Frozen Cown. Hopefully he will be able to return the undead to their servitude, Your Majesty."

Alexstrasza then looks at them and then says, "So there is a new Lich King of the undead Scourge, can you return these foul beings back to being under your command?"

He then looks out at the rampaging undead and then masks his voice and says, "I wish to see the damage they have done to this world with my own eyes, I will then attempt to return them to being under my servitude. I must ask you since you are strange to me, who are you?"

She then looks at him and says, "I am the queen of the dragon flights, Alexstrasza. It is unfortunate that Arthas Menethil has perished, I wish he finds peace in his next life."

Jaina then steps forward and then says, "I hope that monster suffers for what he has done to this world, he has done nothing but cause much pain and suffering through his actions."

Arthas then keeps the act up and then looks to her and says, "His last words mentioned some Jaina that he still cared deeply for, and that he failed his sister Calia and would forever curse his name for just trying to save his people."

Her eyes soften a bit, feeling guilty for speaking ill of him and then says, "I apologize for disliking your previous King Frozen Crown, but he committed a lot of foul deeds on Azeroth to earn that title. Do you remember what he said?"

He then pretends to think about it, laughing internally and enjoying his torment of his former love and says, "If my memory serves me right, I do think that he said 'Lady Jaina, now you won't ever have to worry about me trying to kill you anymore. May you find comfort and pleasure at hearing how I died alone and without a single person to mourn my passing, please throw a grand celebration if you ever hear of this one day. Remember this though Jaina, death hears and sees everything that happens in the world. I will always have a soft spot for you in my cold, unfeeling heart. I hope you are able to forgive me some day...' After he said that, his body slowly tensed up as he took a wheezing and painful breath before his face distorted in agony and stayed that way." He watches in glee as Jaina turns away with tears in her eyes and stands behind the other leaders.

Alexstrasza then looks at Frozen Crown and then says, "Are you ready to view the chaos that this world is currently suffering, Frozen Crown?"

Arthas then looks to her and bows his head respectfully and then says, "Indeed I am Your Majesty, am I to see the chaos from atop your majestic shoulders or am I to see it atop a lower status dragon?"

Cielstrasza glares at Frozen Crown and then roars saying, "You dare to suggest you sit atop of Queen Alexstrasza's shoulders like she is your mount, apologize to Her Majesty at once or perish in flames!"

She then glares back at Cielstrasza and then says admonishingly, "Do not threaten him like that again or he will not help us with our dilemma, he was only asking a simple question that was worded poorly."

He then bows his head to her and then says, "My apologies My Queen, I shall not let it happen again."

He then looks to the dragon and then says, "Perhaps I could have worded that differently, I not mean any offense. I was just asking due to the fact that I have no reliable way to see the chaos from the air as you so naturally do. I ask again then, how am I going to see the chaos that is affecting the world of Azeroth?"

Alexstrasza then ponders for a moment and then says, "You shall view it from atop my shoulders Frozen Crown, you have remained respectable towards me and the others. Therefore, I shall allow you to witness the chaos from atop my shoulders. Are you ready to depart and see the current state of Azeroth, Frozen Crown?" She then crouches down and extends a foreleg for him to climb up, then waits.

Arthas then nods and then says, "Thank you for being so generous Your Majesty, in the other world I am treated like a filthy beggar inside of a beautifully decorated palace and chased away." He then strides forth slowly, making sure that they don't see the hilt of Frostmourne just yet and then climbs up her offered leg, then into place between her shoulders and her neck. He hangs on tightly as she then takes to the skies above Dragonblight to show him the extent of the chaos.

A few hours pass by as Tirion then looks to the sky and says, "Here they come, they return from surveying the chaos among the world!" He moves out of the way as she lands on the ground gracefully.

He then sighs and then says, "I see why you seek to return the undead to their servitude, therefore I shall help you by doing what I can." He then smiles and then thinks, 'Oh when I get these soldiers back, I will truly be a force to recon with back on Equus.' He steps down from her shoulders and then bows his head to her and says, "Thank you for the flight through the beautiful landscapes Your Majesty, it would be truly beautiful if the undead weren't such an eyesore. Those Forsaken aren't much better." He then strides past the group towards the hordes of undead, stops and bellows in a loud royal voice, "UNDEAD SCOURGE OF MIGHTY ICECROWN CITADEL CEASE YOUR FIGHTING AND LISTEN TO YOUR KING!!!"

They watch intently as the field suddenly goes deathly quiet as Frozen Crown addresses them as Tirion says, "That voice is familiar somehow, but where have I heard it before?"

Arthas then continues to address his subjects and then leaps up onto a dwarven tank saying, "I KNOW YOU MUST FEEL GREAT ANGUISH AT THE LOSS OF YOUR KING, BUT HE HAS RETURNED TO TAKE YOU ALL HOME. SO STOW YOUR WEAPONS AND MARCH IN A COLUMN OF THREE WIDE, WITH LARGER BODIES FORMING A SEPARATE COLUMN OF ONE OR TWO WIDE THROUGH THIS PORTAL. YOU ARE TO RETURN TO THE LANDS OF THE FROZEN NORTH, WHERE ICECROWN CITADEL IS NOW AND RETURN TO YOUR SLUMBER!"

Alexstrasza's eyes widen with wonder as the undead hordes all stop and obey at once, then begin making their way to the gate in an organized march and then says, "That must be the power of the Crown that is at work here, it truly is a terrible thing to have such control."

Arthas then rubs his forehead in exhaustion and then says, "It can be at times, at others it is a blessing."

Tirion then shakes his head and then says, "I know that voice from somewhere, but...from where..." He then continues to rub and scratch his chin in thought on the matter, trying to figure out where he has heard it before when an idea strikes him. Acting on it he then says, "There is no way that Arthas could be alive, you said that he died two years ago. Yet there is something familiar about the way you hold yourself and talk, that isn't you Arthas...is it?"

He then chuckles and then throws his overcloak behind him and lets the sword show and then continues the act and says, "I don't know, am I him? Am I the monster that you all so detest and constantly try to kill, I will let you all be the judge."

Alexstrasza is the first to gasp when her eyes land on the unmistakable sword and then says, "Impossible! There is no way that sword could have been fixed, how in Azeroth did you get it repaired!?"

The Highlord then says, "I agree with you Your Majesty, I saw for myself when it was shattered and freed the souls within it. That sword is beyond repair, it was a very special sword that is unlike any other. Nice bluff by the way, you almost had me thinking that you could have been Arthas for a second there. That is just the broken hilt inside the scabbard, points for effort."

Arthas then laughs and then pulls it free and stabs it into the ground saying, "Why don't you inspect it for yourself then, hmmm?" as he reaches for his helmet and then very slowly begins to lift it and then says again, "Maybe this will finally convince you of the truth!" He leans forward to hide his face from view as he takes the helm the rest of the way off and snaps his body straight and then laughs sadistically as their jaws drop momentarily.

Jaina then steps in front and then says, "YOU CRUEL, SADISTIC, EVIL BASTARD, YOU LIED TO ME! DO YOU HAVE NO RESPECT AT ALL FOR THE FEELINGS OF OTHERS!"

He then chuckles as the others frown at his charade and then returns the helm and says, "Of course I don't, I am a monster aren't I? Thank you for sparing me and sending me to that world, even though you sent me just over a thousand years into the past. You have inadvertently provided me with a lot of entertainment, as well as a family to torment. I shall keep my word and have the army of undead continue to withdraw from this world so you can get back to slaughtering each other over stupid things, I have more important things to do back home." He then pulls his sword from the ground and turns towards the gate, looks over his shoulder and says, "Feel free to keep the portal open and explore the world of Equus, it is full of interesting and curious things." and then continues walking towards the portal without looking back again.

Chapter 10: The return of an Empire

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Chapter 11: Familial Bonds

Arthas spends a few days searching for workers to help build the city of Grimholme, deciding to stop at 1000 workers for now and just sits atop his throne to watch the town develop. He leans forward in his throne and steeples his fingers underneath his chin wondering, 'If I'm going to open my kingdom's borders to trade, we will need trade goods. What am I going to do about that challenge...'

The sun reaches the horizon as Arthas stands up off the throne and makes his way to his room for some much-needed sleep. While walking through the halls, he thinks back on what he has done in the past. He then opens the door to his room and enters it. He hesitates for a moment before removing his helm and sets it on the dresser. He then pulls Frostmourne from its sheath, leaning it point down against the right side bedpost closest to the headboard, and strips out of his armor to be more comfortable in his bed. As he finally gets his thick plated leggings off, he leaves them on the floor for the banshee maids to pick up and clean. He then grabs his helm from the dresser and places it on the hilt of the sword easily within his reach if he should be attacked tonight. He looks down at the bed, with the top sheet being heavy black silk on top of a silverish blue undersheet and a white silk sheet over the mattress. He reaches down for the corner of the top two sheets, then grabs and swiftly tosses them back towards the opposite corner and sits down on the bed. Lifting his legs up, he then slides them under the sheets and pulls the top two over him, then lays his torso down and turns onto his left side, ready to grab his sword if anything should happen.

Nighttime, just over a week and a half ago in the throneroom at Canterlot

Luna sits on her throne comfortably as the last few petitioners leave for their homes to get some sleep, then decides to spend the remainder of the night patrolling the Dream Realm. Changing her position on the throne, she slips into a trance and enters the Dream Realm. She spots a few nightmares troubling her citizens and makes her way to the closest one to begin dealing with them. Making her way from dream to dream, she spends several minutes dispelling the last nightmare as a few new ones begin.

A few hours pass as Luna deals with nightmare after nightmare, ensuring her subjects sleep peacefully when she finally gets a moment to relax for a little bit and waits for the next nightmare to appear. She then notices a slight shift in every dream door around her from a gentle, pure white, to a light orange hue that causes her to wonder why it is happening. As she wanders further into the halls, she senses someone having a nightmare and follows the feeling wherever it may take her. She wanders down the halls searching for the source when she reaches a large black door and stops in front of it thinking, 'I wonder whose dream door this is, I don't recognize seeing this door before.' then raises her hand and grips the handle.

The moment her hand grabs the silver handle, she instantly lets go of it and backs away nervously, thinking, 'Why is there a door leading to our father's dream?! I do not know whether I should enter it, or if I should ignore it and inform my sister first...'

As she debates what to do, her sense of longing gets stronger and causes her to miss her father more. She feels tears run down her face while her longing to see her father gets stronger, making her stop backing away and take very small steps towards the door. Her loneliness and longing fight for control of Luna's body, making her right hand shakily rise up and reach for the handle.

As she starts to openly sob, her fingers land on the handle as she slowly cries out, "...Father...I...I...I miss you so much!" Her feelings get the upper hand and force her hand to grip the handle quickly, then attempt to open the door. Realizing that she is losing the struggle, she still fights back and retains some control of her hand, just barely managing to keep the handle from turning too far.

Her feelings push through her defenses and overwhelm her, making her turn the handle downward fully. Luna hears a click as the door opens and stops struggling against her feelings as tears run down her face in streams saying, "I'm...I'm...I'm on my way...father!" and quickly pushes the door open, then steps forward and walks through the door as she regresses to the height and mind of a teenager.

Luna finds herself in a strange field, seeing only a strange tower across from her sitting on a hill as she desperately tries to find her father while tears stream down her face and off her chin, when she spots three creatures ahead of many others in the distance, walking down a long road towards her and thinks, 'What did father say those things were...oh right, humans.' She watches as they continue their journey and get close enough for her to barely recognize the face of the human in the middle, bringing a huge smile to her face as she starts to run towards him with her arms outstretched to either side shouting, "FATHER, I CAME TO SEE YOU!"

Arthas makes his way down the road with his mentor behind him to the right and his lover behind him on his left side, making his way across a bridge, and hears coughs come from a couple of people chopping down a tree in a nearby field in front of the city Stratholme a little further down the road when he stops on the other side. He releases a sad sigh and looks down at the ground saying, "Damn it, we're too late! The citizens have already been infected with the plague. They may seem fine now, but they will inevitably turn into the undead as time passes."

As her father starts speaking, it doesn't register her as she closes in on her father and starts to throw her arms around him. Only to wrap her arms around herself then pass right through him, making her fall down onto the hard stone road with her crown coming off her head and clattering away from her a short distance before stopping. Tears fill her eyes as she looks up to her father, not understanding why she can't touch him, and tries again to hug him. As she falls through him once more, she tries one last time and attempts to tackle him...only to soar right through him and crash to the ground beside her crown. She then looks up at him and sobs saying, "Why won't you let me hold you...father...did I do something bad?"

Uther gasps at hearing that and turns his eyes away from the city to Prince Arthas in shock saying, "WHAT! That cannot be!"

Arthas turns around to face his mentor, looking into his mentor's eyes with determination, and says, "It is and there is no cure available to stop this plague spread by the scourge..." he then lifts his arm and quickly points to the city and continues, "This entire city must be purged from existence!"

Luna's body and mind regress again, stopping at the height and mind of a 12 yr old filly. Quietly staring at the ground sobbing, wondering what she could have possibly done for her father to not want to be physical to her as she doesn't realize this is a memory. She crawls her way towards him and tries to grab his cloak or leg, but passes right through him each time, desperately crying out, "P-Please let me touch you, papa, I miss you!"

Uther glances towards the city for a moment, then back to Arthas and says, "How can you even consider doing such a thing, there's got to be some other way to deal with this situation."

Arthas looks at his mentor that isn't listening, hardens his gaze, and tries again to convince him of following his orders, "Damn it Uther, I am the crown prince. So as your future king, I order you to follow my orders and purge this city!"

Uther looks to his student with defiance in his eyes, then raises his left hand and extends his forefinger, and narrows his eyes in a harder gaze saying, "You are most certainly not the king yet boy, and neither would I obey that command if you were king." and begins to walk away from the city.

Arthas frowns at Uther, then looks away with disappointment saying, "You leave me no choice but to consider this an act of treason then."

Uther stops and turns around with surprise on his face at hearing that and looks at Arthas saying, "Treason, you can't be serious! What is wrong with you, have you lost your mind or something Arthas?"

Arthas stands up a little straighter and looks down to Uther and narrows his eyes saying, "I don't know, have I Uther? Hear me, Lord Uther. By right of succession and sovereignty of my crown, I hereby strip you of command and suspend the service of your paladins."

Jaina then looks up to her lover with wide, shock-filled eyes and lifts one of her hands up. She extends her arm out to him as she tries to keep the situation under control saying, "Wait Arthas...you can't do that."

Luna keeps trying to touch her father as her tears run in rivers down her face, her neck muscles weakening further due to the sadness building in her heart, and stops trying to touch him as her arm muscles weaken. She uses both arms to support her upper body's weight as her head falls forward, her eyes shut tightly when her sobbing slowly turns into quiet wails and pleads, "I'm sowwy papa...I'll do whatever you tell me. Pwease let me just touch you once more!"

Arthas then raises his gauntleted left arm up and across his body to the right, holding it horizontal for a brief second before extending it outward and down to his left with determination on his face as he looks at his lover in displeasure saying, "It's already done!" He then looks to the soldiers in front of him and continues, "Those of you who have the will and determination to save this land from the vile scourge, follow my command. As for the rest of you, get out of my sight, you sicken me."

Uther turns away from Arthas and sighs, then turns to him one last time and looks at him with disappointment saying, "You have just crossed a terrible threshold Arthas, I hope you can live with what you're about to do..." then shifts his eyes to Jaina for a brief moment before turning back around and follows his men as they walk away from Stratholme.

2 minutes ago in Celestia's bedchamber inside the castle at Canterlot

Celestia wakes with a start as she hears a banging on the door and a raised voice shouting, "Princess Celestia, I must see you!" She looks to the clock and hastily throws the covers off of her and races to the door in a short, gold and white silk nightgown, angrily saying, "It better be something really urgent to wake me up at this hour..."

The Thestral guard sweats nervously as the door swings open quickly, and strikes the far wall. Looking up to see the angry face of Princess Celestia and stammers, "Umm...I-I beg your forgiveness Your Majesty, but I was at my post beside the throne room doors when the other guard and I heard crying coming from inside. I knocked on the door and called out to Princess Luna but she did not answer, so I told the other guard to keep everyone away from the doors while I went to inform you."

She gasps and runs out of the room, worried for her sister's safety. She races through the halls, ignoring the guards as they salute her. As she hurries down the halls thinking, 'Don't worry Lulu, I'm coming to save you. Whoever harmed or upset you is going to pay dearly for it...'

The doors are nearly thrown off their hinges as Celestia bursts into the room and runs towards her sister, seeing her running and jumping with her arms attempting to tackle something. She watches in confusion as she crashes to the ground as her crown falls off her head and clatters across the hard floor and looks up at something when she hears her say, "Why won't you let me hold you...father...did I do something bad?"

Celestia gasps as Luna's body darkens a little and quickly turns to the guards that followed her into the room saying, "GO OUTSIDE NOW AND MAKE SURE NO ONE ENTERS!" She watches them salute and race out of the room, then slams the doors shut behind them and casts a silencing barrier throughout the room. She then kneels beside her sister and places a loving hand on her sister's back, noticing immediately that she has shrunk in size. She is about to try to wake her sister up when she is pulled into the Dream Realm her sister is in, finding herself standing in a green field beside a road across from a tower. Trying to find out where her sister is, she spots a large force of armored creatures sitting on top of other creatures with four legs and makes her way towards them as she hears a conversation start.

When she is close enough, she spots her sister lying on the ground attempting to grab her father. She looks around at who is talking and recognizes the armored creatures as humans and the ridden creatures as four-legged ponies. She hears a familiar voice but can't quite remember it until she sees one of them turn around, making her raise a hand to her mouth in shock. She recovers from her shock and stomps her way over to her father, stops just before him, and raises her hand into the air. She brings her arm back and then uses all her strength to slap his face, surprised as her slap passes right through his face, causing her to spin around to maintain her balance.

She is shocked that her hand went right through her father's face when she realizes what is going on and sighs, then turns her head around to gaze at her sister who still hasn't realized it yet, and softly says, "Sister...dear sister this is not a nightmare, this is a memory that you can't interrupt. Come back to me and realize what this is for yourself." She then turns her head around to look at the other faces before her, seeing an older male seeming wiser and more intelligent, wearing heavy armor without a helmet and carrying themselves like an advisor or teacher with greying dark auburn hair, moderately tanned skin, and green eyes. She then looks to the other human beside him but stands a short distance away, recognizing her as female, having a lightly armored robe exposing her toned stomach with pants over heeled boots and holding a long staff with a large blue crystal at the top of it. She looks up at her face to see that she has light skin, sapphire blue eyes, long blonde hair parted with the right half hanging to the right of her face, in front of her shoulder while the left side is tucked behind her ear tucked underneath a lavender cowl. She stands between the three of them and listens to the conversation taking place.

A few moments later

Arthas turns his head further to his right and looks at Jaina with a softened gaze, hoping that she understands what he is trying to do and asks tenderly, "Jaina, will you stay and aid me in purifying Stratholme?"

Celestia spins around at hearing the city's name as her eyes go wide with understanding and says, "So this is the city called Stratholme, I have only heard from my mother that father did something really awful here..." She then looks at her father's face and sees the sorrow and desperation in his eyes that he has for her, causing a question to pop into her head, 'What are you to my father, Jaina?'

Jaina turns around and looks down to the ground as her heart begins to break with the decision she needs to make wisely, releasing a sigh and says, "I'm sorry Arthas, but my heart cannot bear to watch you do this." and starts walking away from her love as tears well up in her eyes, then spill over and blaze trails down her cheeks.

Arthas looks to his remaining forces and raises up his war hammer, then sets it on his shoulder and shouts, "Proud soldiers of Lordaeron, follow me into the battle to save our homes!"

Luna hears the marching of soldiers and looks behind her to watch her father moving away from her quickly, making her scramble to her feet and run after him screaming, "Papa, papa! Don't leave, I be good I pwomise! Come back, Come baaack!"

Celestia has tears in her eyes as she watches Luna's body shrink to the size of a 5-year-old toddler and tries to run after her, only to stumble as her legs give out from the pain she is feeling deep in her heart. She feels herself shrink in size too at understanding her sister's pain, then forces herself to chase after her sister and picks up her sister's fallen crown, not wanting to lose her to Nightmare Moon again.

Luna trips and falls a few times trying to chase after her daddy, paying no attention to the screams of horror and cries of pain filling the air as smoke starts to rise from the city while a bell begins to ring out in alarm.

Arthas enters the city as he spots a group of villagers turn into undead and says, "Set fire to the houses regardless of anyone still inside and kill as many undead as you can, This plague must be stopped at any cost!"

Celestia makes it to her sister and leans forward, then wraps her arms around her small sister as tears stream from her own face. She tries to get through to her sister saying, "Luna, LUNA! This is a memory, you cannot interact with father here!" She then sees a flash and looks over to it and sees a creature twice the size of her father standing near Arthas having large cloven hooves, large bat-like dark purple wings, pale skin with two long horns sticking up from its head curling towards the back and wearing heavy armor over most of its body.

"I have been waiting for you to seek me out young prince, my name is Mal'Ganis." the creature said. He then walks towards a house and casts foul spells at it to destroy the home and turn the people inside into undead saying, "I'm sure you know, your people belong to me now. I am going to proceed turning this city into undead household by household, until life's flame is snuffed out...forever."

Arthas watches as he destroys another house and adds those within to his ranks of undead and shouts back over the screaming, "I shall not allow you to succeed, Mal'Ganis! It is better that these people die at my hand than be reduced to serving you as undead!" He then raises his hammer over his head, calling upon the light and brings his hammer down upon the stones, creating cracks in surrounding stones as he destroys another house and purifies it of the plague.

Celestia holds onto little Luna tightly as she fights to be free and go to her father, then quickly grabs her shoulders and turns her around to face her. She places a hand under her chin gently and tilts it up so her sister sees her as tears continue to run down her face saying, "Dear sister, come back to me."

Little Luna's tear-stained face looks into somepony's eyes, slowly recognizing that it is her sister and wraps her arms around her and sobs, "Why is papa mad at me, what I do?"

Celestia runs a hand down her back lovingly as the creature destroys one more house, then flies to the other side of the city. She holds her close saying, "You did nothing wrong little sister, this is one of father's memories of the past. Please come back to me, you are so small it pains me to see you suffering like this." She holds her sister tightly against her body as they both sit inside the walled city as fires fill the skies, looking around to see fires raging everywhere when a house collapse in on itself with the residents running out covered in fire screaming in pain.

Luna's body recovers a little, reaching the height and mindset of a 10-year-old as she looks around her to see houses falling in on themselves and asks, "Sissy, why is papa causing these fires and hurting his own people?"

Celestia looks around to see a steeple crumble in the distance, sending the ringing bell to the ground with a loud clang as it falls silent at last as she watches her father face off against a creature twice his size and says, "I don't know why our father did this Lulu, but I am here to comfort you after seeing these horrors. You have me, Cadence, and Blueblood as family. Also, you can't forget that you have Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and several other ponies as friends, so you are most definitely not alone sister."

Arthas stands before Mal'Ganis as houses burn and collapse to the ground saying, "It's time to finish this battle, Mal'Ganis. It is down to you and me now."

Mal'Ganis retreats to the bridge and looks to the prince with a knowing grin and chuckles saying, "Those are brave words indeed. Unfortunately for you young prince, it won't end here. Your journey has only just begun. If you really want to finish this, gather your forces and meet me in the arctic land of Northrend. It will be there that we shall settle the score. It is also where your true destiny shall be revealed to you." He then prepares to teleport away to wait for Arthas to seek him out.

Arthas glares at Mal'Ganis as he retreats a short distance from him and raises his war hammer into the air with one hand saying, "I shall hunt you to the ends of the earth to be rid of you! Do you hear me damn demon? To the ends of the fucking earth!" He then huffs out in annoyance at his foe's retreat and makes his way back to gather more soldiers.

Luna looks around her and feels a change in the dream and says, "The memory is changing, maybe daddy can see us now. What do you think sister?"

Celestia sighs and shrugs her shoulders as she holds her sister, then breaks the hug. She moves her hands and holds her by the shoulders lightly and says, "I do not know for sure Lulu, but if you really want to see father we can try to get him to notice us. Would you like that?"

Luna quickly nods her head saying, "Yes I would, thank you Cece!" and looks around for her father, noticing him in the distance making his way back the way he came into the city.

Arthas hears a child calling out for her dad and looks around in confusion, trying to locate the child. He then continues on his way as low-lying smoke blocks his vision, still holding his hammer in his right hand with his other hand trying to guard his face from the heat on his left side when he notices something small waving at something. As he steps through the smoke and into a clear spot, he makes out two forms huddled near the ground and tries to identify it while he moves his other hand down to the handle if it is a couple of infected humans. As he wields his hammer with both hands, he prepares to kill the humans when their image becomes clear to him. His eyes widen in shock to see his two daughters here and shifts his hammer to his right hand and runs over to them saying, "What are you two doing here, it is not safe with the plague in this city!"

Luna breaks free from her sister's gentle hold and runs towards her daddy with tears flowing down her face, overjoyed at finally being noticed by him and says, "I saw a dark door in the Dream Realm and learned that it was your dream, then I saw you talking with those people and ran to give you a big hug. I missed you so much papa, please don't leave us again!" She then throws her arms wide to either side, and wraps them around her father's legs.

Arthas smiles lovingly at his daughter and looks up to see his other daughter there, shifting his gaze back down to Luna and releases his hold on the hammer. He lets it fall to the ground with a heavy resounding clunk as he wraps his arms around his daughter, releases a sigh asking, "You two really shouldn't be here, I do not wish you to share the burdens of the terrible things I have done when I thought it would ultimately save my people. How much of this memory have you two seen?"

Celestia looks at her father with a slight smile and stands up from the ground, then makes her way over to join the hug saying, "I don't know what Luna saw, she was very desperate to be noticed by you and even followed you into the city before I managed to catch up with her. I did see everything though and Luna almost went back to being Nightmare Moon because she missed you so much. It surprises me that you went to such lengths to protect your own people father, but those homes you destroyed had many innocent people in them. You butchered hundreds of men, women, and children because you let your fear of failing to protect your people control you. I cannot forgive you for doing such an unspeakable act such as this, for I am greatly disappointed with learning what exactly happened here."

Arthas holds Luna as she sobs loudly over missing him so much, then puts his hands underneath her arms saying, "And up you go my little Moonlight, wrap your arms around my neck to hold on." and quickly lifts her up to his chest and slides his left arm under her to hold her up saying, "Let's get out of this city and into a nice green field so you don't have to deal with the smoke."

Luna giggles softly hearing her father's nickname for her and lays her head beside her father's happily, wrapping her arms around his neck while closing her eyes, and snuggles her way into his shoulder saying, "Thank you for holding me daddy, I really missed you. When will you return to us so we can be whole again?"

Celestia leads the way out of town, feeling happy that Luna is cheering up a bit and says, "She really did need some affection from you, she hasn't been very happy since she came back from being Nightmare Moon. Maybe now she may start to smile more often, are you ever planning on returning to us and be a part of our family?"

Arthas bends down to pick up his hammer with his right hand and stays quiet for several minutes as they get a fair distance away from the city and finally answers her, "I would like to be a family once more, but with the remaining undead scourge from Azeroth in Equus, the helm of domination and Frostmourne in my hands, I do not see that happening any time soon."

Celestia looks to him and cocks an eyebrow at hearing a chunk of information and asks, "Okay, so how many more soldiers did you add to your ranks and how did they get here? While I am asking questions, could you tell me what that woman meant to you?"

Arthas stands there on the field and says, "Well, there are about 2.5 million undead that followed me through a gate somewhere by a mountain. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you where it is exactly but I do know it is large and made of stone." He then winces in pain as he starts to get a headache and puts Luna back on the ground saying, "Maybe we can be whole again if fate ever wills it, but it may take a long time before that happens. So I want you both to remain strong and continue to fight me when I return to being the Lich King, it is like being in charge of the prison and in a cell of your own underneath of it. I must go now, the helm is stripping away my will." He then closes his eyes for a moment and looks away from Celestia's face and says, "That was Lady Jaina Proudmoore, we were lovers once upon a time before this mess started but our roles in life would not permit us to further our relationship. She is the exiled daughter of the ruling family of Kul Tiras, and is a powerful archmage. I find it amusing how Twilight and her are so much alike, it would be interesting if those two ever met."

Luna recovers again, returning to the height and mindset of an older teenager as she stands on the ground and quickly kisses his lips saying, "I wish you could stay longer father, and stay strong because I shall look forward to visiting you in your dreams when you sleep at night."

Celestia sighs and walks up to her sister, then takes her by the hand and gently says, "Come on Luna, let us return to the throne room before he wakes."

Arthas raises his left gauntlet up to the side of his head as the headache gets worse, watching them both leave, and says, "I love you both my little sunbeam and my little Moonlight, goodbye for now."

They reach the door as Luna turns to open it and looks back to her father saying, "Goodbye for now father, I love you too."

Celestia follows her sister and looks back to Arthas as a few tears fall from her eyes and mouths the words, I love you also, farewell before stepping through the door and closing it behind her. She turns around to look at it, but sees nothing as it disappears from sight.

Moments later in the throne room

Luna wakes up and rises off the floor to spot her crown lying a short distance away from her near the base of the stairs, then uses her magic to grab it and return it to her head as her sister also rises off the floor. Remembering what happened in the Dream Realm, she returns to her normal self and wraps her arms around her sister and quietly says, "I-I don't think our dad will ever come back to us dear sister..." and slowly starts to sob as tears fill her eyes and blaze trails down her cheeks.

Celestia holds her sister back as tears fill her own eyes and run down her cheeks and tells her, "D-Don't worry sister, we will find a way to rescue our father from his wicked state and return to being a whole family once more."

In Arthas's chambers just before daybreak in the Frozen North in Icecrown Citadel

Arthas sighs and opens his eyes after getting a fitful night's sleep plagued by his past mistakes, but somewhat pleasant because he got to see his daughters. He sits up in his bed, throws the covers to the other side of the bed, and slides his legs over the side, then stands up off the mattress and begins to put his armor on to begin tending to the duties he needs to and thinks, 'I wonder if I will ever get to meet Twilight again...'

After he puts his armor back on and returns Frostmourne to its sheath and the helm to his head he is greeted by a shouting Sindragosa through the link and shouts back through it saying, "I'M HERE SO SHUT UP ALREADY, I WAS ONLY GETTING SOME REST! What is going on, are we under attack or something?"

Sindragosa calms down a little and replies through the link, "Apologies sir, but I received a report four hours ago from a banshee that you tasked with monitoring the area around where the Crystal Empire was."

He is shocked to hear that and raises the volume of his voice a little and speaks to her through the link, "Has something changed? Tell me what it said immediately!"

She lays on her platform and looks out past the horizon to where the Crystal Empire is at then tells him through the link, "The Crystal Empire has finally returned, and if it has returned, then..."

Arthas hastily makes his way towards the door to his room and kicks it open and growls deep in his throat and says through the link with hatred, "...SOMBRA..." He turns down the halls towards the teleporter and addresses Sindragosa once more through the link saying, "I will be taking Invincible this time. If the Empire has returned, surely Celestine and Lunetha would know too. Now it is a race against time, I need you to guard the citadel and keep an eye out for any forces heading our way. There is one more pest I need to deal with"

Back to the present time in Equestria, on the train heading to the Crystal Empire

Twilight sits on the train with the girls as she turns her head to Brann and says, "I am so glad that Celestia allowed you to come, we could use the help of an experienced explorer like you Brann."

Brann looks to Twilight and says, "So am I, I'm eager to find out if there are any titan secrets buried in the Crystal Empire we're going to."

She looks to him curiously and says, "How will we be able to tell if there are any of these secrets there?"

He chuckles and says, "You won't, I'll have to tell ya because I have been studying titan secrets since I was old enough to drink ale hahaha!" he then pulls out a bottle of dwarven stout and begins to take a drink from it.

Twilight turns to look out the window, seeing the landscape of green grass and trees passing by and wonders out loud saying, "I am curious if Arthas might show up at the Crystal Empire..."

Brann hears that as his eyes widen with fear, then quickly brings his drink down and sputters and spits it out nearly shouting, "BY THE LIGHT AND ALL THAT IS HOLY, WHY WOULD YOU EVER WANT HIM TO BE THERE!?! HE'D KILL US ALL!"

Chapter 12: The Empire's Return

Somewhere in the southern part of the Frozen North, far west of the city and just past Luna Bay

Arthas slows invincible to a trot as he hears a strange whistle in the distance, breaking the silence in the surrounding area and wonders what it is, and says, "I look forward to dealing with the last of those annoying umbrum pests."

Invincible continues on as he hears the whistle again a few seconds later and says, "Forgive me for saying this master, but do you think it would be wise to just move on and ignore what happened in the past?"

He looks around for the source of the sound, spotting faint light in the distance and watches it curiously saying, "THERE"S NO WAY I AM JUST GOING TO FORGET THEIR INSOLENCE AND REFUSAL TO SUBMIT TO MY RULE, THEY ATTEMPTED TO USE THEIR SHADOW MAGIC TO ASSASSINATE ME AND MY FAMILY! FOR THAT, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM DESERVES TO DIE." He hears the whistle break the silence once again and says, "WHAT IS THAT ANNOYING AND INFERNAL NOISE, LET US INVESTIGATE IT IMMEDIATELY."

On the train to the Crystal Empire, 20 minutes later

Brann stares at Twilight in shock and shakes his head, then looks away saying, "You are crazy for having feelings towards that monster, he'd just as soon kill you and raise you into his service as an undead corpse than reveal a weakness to anyone."

She cocks her head and swivels her ears forward, focusing on what he is saying, and asks, "Why would having feelings for someone be a weakness? He danced with me, then we shared a kiss and he even tossed me a rose with a broken stem. Surely that must mean he likes me back."

The dwarf looks at her and lets out a sigh saying, "Because many others can use those feelings against you to get what they want, Azeroth is a harsh place where you need to fight to survive. I don't know anything personal about Arthas other than he was really strong and has terrifying powers at his disposal, your world would be a better place if he died lass." He then takes another drink from the bottle, returning the cork to it and tries to think of the adventure ahead to be had.

10 minutes later with Arthas, along the southern border of the Frozen North

Arthas has Invincible follow the large mining tracks and thinks, 'It seems they have found a way to transport things to other places by rail, how clever of them. Let's find out where this will lead us.'

He follows the tracks to the east for a while when he senses a dark malevolence in the wind and makes his steed go into a full gallop saying, "Something comes Invincible, let us ride forth and find out what it is!"

A short distance away from the station, with Twilight and the others

Shining Armor leads the girls towards the Crystal Empire and angles his head into the blowing wind and snow saying, "I'm not sure what, but something keeps trying to get into the city. We think it's the unicorn king who originally cursed the place." nervously looking around him for any signs of danger and turns his head to watch where they are going.

Twilight follows her brother through the wind and snow, feeling a little worried about this mission and says, "But Princess Celestia told me that she was sending me here to find a way to protect the empire from him. If King Sombra is unable to get in, then it must already be protected." She then goes quiet as she hears a creature howl come from somewhere in the distance.

Arthas looks to his right to see a strange engine with some enclosed wagons on wheels hooked up to it and says, "Hmmm...interesting. It amazes me that these ponies made something like this as the other races on Azeroth haven't yet." He then sees a trail of hoofprints in the snow, leading to a group of ponies a fair distance away and slows his steed to a swift trot.

Applejack hears a faint shuffling coming from somewhere and turns to look at her friends asking, "Are any of ya moving yer legs a lot to stay warm?"

Rainbow looks to the other girls, then back to Applejack and shakes her head saying, "I'm not doing anything like that, I'm shivering from the cold but that's it."

Fluttershy hears strange noises and swivels her ears to pinpoint the location it is coming from, after learning where it is coming from, the noise becomes a little clearer to her. Now hearing a heavy thumping of hooves coming from behind them, she turns her head around to look behind them to see glowing blue eyes with a glowing blue gem above them and another pair of glowing blue eyes below them. Too shocked and afraid to speak, she walks over to Rarity and taps on her shoulder.

Rarity feels someone repeatedly tapping her shoulder and looks over to see a scared Fluttershy with wide eyes and asks, "What is the matter Fluttershy darling?" She watches as Fluttershy doesn't speak and simply points behind them with a shaking hand, then follows it to where she is pointing and her jaw drops in shock as she quickly turns her head around. She is about to scream for everyone to run, but is interrupted by the howling of a distant creature and says, "Oh what in Tartarus could that be?!"

Shining Armor looks to the group and spots the Lich King making his way towards the group and says, "We need to get to the Crystal Empire right now, the Lich King is right behind us!"

A massive cloud of darkness looks to the group of ponies, eager to claim them, and lands heavily onto the ground to frighten the ponies further while growling menacingly at them.

Arthas watches the black mass start to chase after the group of ponies, and decides to try to capture this creature's soul so he can search for Sombra. He then makes Invincible run faster to get the creature's attention saying, "Come on Invincible, go faster or we won't catch up to it."

Twilight's brother looks back to see Spike trip and fall, then stand up to stare at the creature bearing down on them and turns around to retrieve him. He powers up his horn and grabs Spike, leaving the large suitcase he was carrying behind in the snow and starts to catch up with the group. He releases his hold on Spike and says, "Keep running, the barrier is just up ahead!" and turns around to fend off both of them, then starts to power up a spell to attack the creature.

The Lich King hastily gets off Invincible and draws his sword, then flips it around underhanded and raises it above his head. Moving his other hand to the hilt, he then growls and amplifies his voice while thrusting it towards the ground shouting, "FIGHT ME YOU STUPID CREATURE, I'M MORE OF A THREAT THAN THOSE PATHETIC PONIES!!"

The black mass dodges the magic shot at it by the white and blue unicorn, getting close enough to cover its horn with black crystals before screaming in agony as black lightning shoots up from the ground and right through its shadowy mass.

Shining Armor falls to the ground, suffering intense pain from where his horn was struck by a stray bolt of lightning. He tries to get up, but he feels another strike hit him in the shoulder and cries out in agony again. He then shakily turns his head, watching the Lich King as he controls the lightning for a few more seconds before stopping his attack and stands up while pulling his sword from the ground.

Twilight stands on the other side of the barrier and sees her brother struggling to get up, then tries to run out to go get him when she spots Arthas making his way to where he lays and shouts, "Come on brother, GET UP! Arthas is coming to get you, GET UP AND RUN!"

The mass writhes in pain and glares at the one who caused him such pain, feeling slightly disoriented after returning from banishment with the city a few hours ago. He watches the being walk towards the other, and tries to gather his thoughts to identify the armored being as clues slowly drop into place.

Arthas stops and stands next to the downed pony and looks into his eyes and angrily says, "Stupid pony." while bringing his right arm back that holds Frostmourne, then reaches down with his left and grabs him by the end of his tail. He then turns towards the barrier and takes a few steps towards it, dragging the pony behind him and chuckles saying, "You can take this pathetic pony with you, just be sure to STAY OUT OF MY WAY!!" and then brings his arm back and over his head, then lunges forward with his left leg and throws the pony into the air towards the group of ponies on the other side.

Shining Armor screams as he is thrown into the air, flipping end over end helplessly and yells, "SOMEONE PLEASE CATCH ME!"

The Lich King chuckles at hearing the pony scream and then turns away to look at the black mass and says, "I demand to know what you are creature, so answer me and speak!"

The last few clues fall into place as he finally realizes who the unmistakable being is and howls in rage at seeing it again, then charges forth to attack them.

Arthas swings his sword and slices through the mass, causing it to howl out in agony as he dodges its pathetic attack saying, "Is this all you have, what a pathetic creature you are."

It slams into the barrier as green blood oozes out of the gash in its side, causing his eyes to widen with fear as he remembers how he slaughtered his whole race. Deciding against facing him as he is now, he retreats into the air to gather his strength to attack the barrier later.

The Lich King thrusts his sword into the air to steal the creature's life energy, only to discover that it has doesn't have any, and lowers his sword. In an instant, he then uses another spell to throw a green skull at its fleeing form shouting, "STOP RUNNING AND FACE ME COWARD!" to his disappointment, the creature keeps retreating, but screams in agony as the skull makes contact with it. He turns away from the fleeing mass and glares at the ponies, then begins to stomp his feet angrily as he approaches them.

Brann trembles with fear at seeing the Lich King so close and backs away from the barrier nervously saying, "Umm that barrier is going to hold right, everyone?"

Twilight and Rarity gently set Shining Armor down as Twilight says, "I believe so, Cadence must be helping maintain the barrier, is that right brother?"

Shining Armor returns to his hooves a bit shakily, still feeling the effects of the attack and wobbles slightly. He watches his sister and Rarity hold onto him to help keep him steady, then places his hands onto their shoulders saying, "T-Thank you for helping me, but I'll be fine once I regain my balance. You are indeed right, Twilight. We should be on our way towards the castle now, Cadence will be very happy to see you."

The purple unicorn lets her brother stand on his own as he leads the group towards the castle, then looks back to see Arthas swing his sword at the barrier, attempting to damage it.

Arthas keeps attacking the barrier with Frostmourne for ten minutes, causing only slight ripples in it. Agitated, he flips the sword underhanded with a smooth motion, then raises it over his head and grabs it with both hands, attempting to drive it into the barrier with all his might. He succeeds in only scratching it and summons black lightning to strike the barrier all over, angered at how resilient the barrier is being.

A minute ago, Inside the barrier

Twilight spots her old foal sitter on the throne at the back of the room, hanging her head for a moment before calling out to her, "Cadence!"

Cadence spots Twilight and brightens up immediately, then jogs towards her, stops in front of her, and then crouches down slightly.

As they both get into a slight crouch, then jump up together in a brief prancing dance saying together, "Sunshine, Sunshine." dropping onto the floor and covering their eyes with their hands saying, "Ladybug's awake." then pull them away before moving into a sitting position and clap their hands together without missing a beat saying, "Clap your hands and" then quickly stand up and shake their rumps saying, "do a little shake." finishing their silly little greeting and share a laugh for a few short seconds.

Twilight smiles at Cadence, overjoyed at getting to see her again when her eyes snap shut for a brief moment, causing her horn to slightly flicker. Concerned, she asks, "Hey are you..." interrupted by seeing Cadence's magic aura become covered in black lightning as it dances throughout the inside of the aura, eliciting an agonized scream for several seconds before stopping.

Shining Armor yells, "CADY!" rushes forth as Cadence collapses onto the crystal floor, panting hard for breath. He helps her to her hooves as she struggles to keep the barrier up.

Cadence then holds onto him and looks to a very worried Twilight saying, "One of these days, we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance."

Outside the barrier, an hour later

Arthas walks along the barrier, inspecting it in different spots by striking it with his sword when he watches it dim a bit. He smiles as he flips his sword around once more, hearing a howl in the distance and pauses for a moment and amplifies his voice shouting, "I AM RIGHT HERE WAITING FOR YOU, SO COME HERE AND ACCEPT YOUR FATE!" He waits a few minutes and nothing happens, making Arthas even angrier as he raises his sword to attack it again, using the same black lightning to inflict pain and suffering upon whoever is keeping the barrier up. He stops his attack after keeping the spell active for ten seconds, and smiles as the barrier slowly collapses and starts walking over where it used to be saying, "Well...that was quite effective, now where should I go?"

The mass smiles as he notices the barrier is down and starts moving towards it when he spots the one that slaughtered his whole race, forming a head to be able to speak and summons thirty black crystal pony soldiers, having glowing green eyes, with manes and tails of purple smoke to kill him and shouts, "DIE MURDERER!!!" sending all thirty ponies to rush forth and overwhelm his enemy.

He turns around to see the incoming soldiers and chuckles then shakes his head at this pathetic attack, and prepares one of his spells to slow his foes down. He waits for the right moment to cast it, watching their progress until the perfect moment to catch them all, and casts it to create a freezing whirlwind.

Arthas rushes forward to the first soldier, holding Frostmourne in his right hand, and spins his body in a circle. Cleanly cutting off its head and claiming the soul within, he continues to single-handedly slaughter all thirty of his soon-to-be subjects.

On top of the balcony of the crystal castle

Brann walks towards the rail as his eyes go wide and says, "Umm...guys, I think we might be in some serious trouble here."

Twilight then walks up to the rail beside Brann and says, "I would hate to say this but I think you may be right, but this may be a blessing in disguise because Arthas seemed really interested in fighting that creature. Sombra is a bigger threat than Arthas is right now, so we need you to do what you can to return the barrier to keep the Crystal Ponies from seeing Sombra out there. Cadence needs you to stay with her, Shining Armor. Brann, I need you to return to the library to see what else you can find out about the Crystal Faire."

Rainbow Dash then looks at her curiously saying, "What do you want me to do?"

Twilight then smiles and says, "Rainbow Dash, you and the rest of our friends need to keep the faire going while I try to find the heart and bring it back." she then takes off running for the stairs to return to the ground for ideas where it could be.

She follows Twilight through the castle with her wings as they reach the first flight of stairs going down and says, "How come, shouldn't we try to get Arthas out of the Crystal Empire's border if Cadence can get it back up?"

The unicorn turns around to go down another set of stairs saying, "No, because the whole purpose of the faire is to lift the spirits of the Crystal Ponies so they can activate the Crystal Heart."

Rainbow rolls her eyes and flies just above Twilight saying, "Yeah, and why?"

Twilight continues running down the stairs saying, "Because, if the Crystal Ponies find out that King Sombra is trying to take over the empire again, their spirits are going to be anything but lifted. If we can succeed in cheering up the Crystal Ponies and they activate the Crystal Heart, Arthas will most likely be cast out of the city."

Back to the fight between Arthas and the creature

Arthas effortlessly kills the last of the ponies and looks up at the shadowy face with a chuckle saying, "If this is all you have creature, I am disappointed."

The mass roars at him in rage and summons even more soldiers to overwhelm him and end his life and shouts, "I HATE YOU! YOU SLAUGHTERED THEM ALL AND TURNED THEM INTO DISGUSTING CRYSTAL ABOMINATIONS, MY WHOLE RACE PERISHED WITHIN A WEEK! YOU USED YOUR VILE LIQUID TO KILL EVERYTHING IT TOUCHED, NOTHING GROWS ON THE GROUNDS WHERE OUR VILLAGES ONCE STOOD. I WAS SENT AWAY TO GET AID IN FIGHTING YOU, THE PRINCESSES REFUSED AND TURNED ME AWAY I HATE YOU ALL, WHEN I GET MY KINGDOM BACK, I AM GOING TO MAKE THEM ALL SUBMIT TO ME. FOR I AM KING SOMBRA AND YOU WILL NOT TAKE ANY MORE FROM ME!!"

He chuckles with delight and says, "I have wondered what became of you after I used the improved plague of undeath, now I know that the Umbrum's leader lives. Now I shall look forward to claiming your soul and raise you for all the trouble you have caused me!" He then uses his sword's ability to steal life and quickly kills off the 90 black crystal soldiers that Sombra just summoned and laughs sadistically saying, "It will take more than that to kill me coward, FROSTMOURNE HUNGERS!"

Sombra is blinded by his rage and summons the remainder of the enslaved soldiers he corrupted and took from the empire prior to his banishment. He then cackles madly and shouts, "SHOW ME HOW YOU WILL HANDLE THE REMAINDER OF MY 2000 ELITE GUARD, RUTHLESS KING OF THE NORTH!"

Arthas looks at the soldiers and shakes his head saying, "Your strength amounts to nothing compared to mine, I have millions of soldiers to conquer this world while you only have a pathetic handful. Allow me to demonstrate the difference between you and me..." He then looks to the skies and amplifies his voice for all to hear, also uses the helm's link to address someone special to display his power and calls out to them saying, "SINDRAGOSA, YOUR KING CALLS FOR YOU TO DISPLAY THE STRENGTH OF ICECROWN! KILL ALL THESE PATHETIC INSECTS THAT STAND BEFORE ME!"

On the balcony with Shining Armor and Cadence

Shining Armor holds Cadence in his arms while he watches the distant fight, listening to the two fight as King Sombra is enraged at what the Lich King has done to his whole race. Staring in shock as he sees a massive skeletal dragon making its way towards the Crystal Empire and tries to wake Cadence gently saying, "Umm Cady, I'm sorry to wake you but I think you should try to raise the barrier again."

Cadence's eyes slowly flutter open as she wakes up from a brief nap and asks, "I'm sorry, what did you say? How long have I been sleeping?"

He turns away from the incoming dragon and looks into his wife's eyes and says, "I wish I didn't have to wake you, but I think you should try to raise the barrier again. I can see a large army standing just before the Lich King as well as a large skeletal dragon he called Sindragosa is making her way here."

She slowly turns her head towards the rail and asks, "I would like to know what she looks like to be able to watch out for her. Take me a little closer please so I can see what is going on Shiny."

Shining Armor sets her down carefully and helps her towards the barrier, seeing said undead dragon turn and fly right for a ways before banking left and fly towards the line of black soldiers that King Sombra has summoned. She watches the large dragon queen as she raises her head up, letting out a loud roar before casting a spell that creates an area on the ground covered in a glowing whitish-blue. She sighs as a few tears stream down her face when the soldiers inside of the large circle fall to the ground, and Sindragosa makes another pass at the line of soldiers then breathes frostfire.

At the fallen barrier's edge, with Arthas and King Sombra

Arthas laughs as Sindragosa kills all of the remaining soldiers with a couple of more passes over their heads, then sends her outside of the barrier to attack Sombra saying through the link, "Let him have a taste of your fury Sindy, it is time he learned to fear the might of Icecrown!"

Sindragosa circles around saying, "WITH PLEASURE SIR!" and lines up to attack the black mass, releasing an angry roar and targets it with one of her spells and shoots a Frost Bomb at him, then glides past him overhead and calls forth a wave of frost to chill the mass to its core.

Sombra howls in agony as several pieces of his shadowy mass are destroyed and tries to reform them but finds himself unable to. He starts to lightly panic as each attempt fails, causing him to feel fear for the first time and hastily flees into the air shouting, "THIS IS NOT OVER YET! I WILL TAKE BACK MY KINGDOM AND THEN DEFEAT YOU!"

The Lich King watches Sindragosa give chase and throw Frost Bombs at him, causing Sombra to cry out in pain each time. With an agitated sigh, he jumps backward as a shield forms just before him, stopping him from giving chase to Sombra and uses the helm's link to connect with Sindragosa saying, "The shield is back up Sindy, go back to Icecrown and protect it from Sombra if he should decide to attack it in retaliation. I shall explore this city a bit and wait for him to come back and attack again, I shall make my move once he is truly vulnerable."

She breaks off her chase of King Sombra and heads back to Icecrown answering his mental command, "Very well sir, I shall protect it with my life."

Arthas then turns around and makes his way towards the city thinking, 'If I find whoever is making this barrier, I will make them wish they were never born...'

Over at the crystal castle, twenty minutes later

Cadence squints as she tries to keep the barrier up but her magic starts to fade in and out and weakly says, "Please hurry Twilight, my magic won't last much longer..."

With Twilight, somewhere inside the castle

Twilight picks Spike up and places him on her back saying, "Hold on to me Spike, I'm going to try something." then focuses on casting a gravity spell, then flips herself over and lands on the underside of the stairs above her and says, "Woohoo, it worked! I'm glad I studied gravity spells on our way here, thinking it might be on my test. As it turns out, I was definitely prepared for this!"

With Cadence on the balcony with Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash

Shining Armor watches as Cadence's magic slowly slips down her horn, then fades away completely as Cadence falls unconscious in his arms saying, "You have done everything you can Cady, rest for a moment and leave the rest up to Twilight."

The others watch in shock as the barrier falls and reveals orange skies with black clouds surrounding the empire completely as Rarity says, "Come on Twilight darling, where are you?" She then looks down to see an armored figure heading towards the castle and gasps saying, "Oh Hurry up Twilight, that dreadful Lich King is getting closer to the castle!"

With Twilight, on her way to the top of the castle's peak

Spike watches as they rapidly slide down the underside of the stairs with the help of the gravity spell Twilight cast, he then holds tighter as an opening to the outside appears just up ahead saying, "Umm watch out Twilight, the exit is coming up."

She giggles as they both slide off the end of the archway's roof and reverses the gravity spell, flipping them both around in the process and leaving them to fall five feet to land on the top of the crystal castle peak's floor. She looks around and sees the Crystal Heart hovering in the air above a platform with a star in its center with the points touching the edges of the platform.

With Arthas, nearing the front of the Crystal Castle

Arthas stomps forward, making his way towards the group of ponies when he hears a voice call out way above him, "Hey look up here, I got the Crystal Heart!" and turns his head up to where it came from and sees a purple creature standing atop one of the blackened spires, then hears an angered roar. He turns his eyes to look at the direction it came from and sees Sombra leap forth from a cloud and into the ground, racing along the ground like a shadow and causing black crystals to sprout up from the ground he passes through. He watches the shadow race forth and waits for a chance to strike, seeing a large crystal shoot up out of the ground as others race forth towards the castle's peak and cause a few cracks to form as well as destroying the top part of the roof.

Twilight runs to the side of the black crystal cage she is in and tries to protect her head saying, "Ohh...what's happening now! I hope that nothing hits me..."

Seeing Sombra slowly rise from the long crystal, Arthas flips his sword to hold it underhanded and prepares to throw it. He waits eagerly for the perfect chance to strike him down and absorb his soul, drawing back his right arm holding his sword as Sombra finally emerges wearing a dark silver band with spikes on the sides and two red ones up front on either side of a dark silver circle, an armored chest piece being the same dark silver with a flared collar, a fine red and white cape under the back of the chest piece with small black diamonds around the white strip at the bottom, and armored hoof guards going up to his knees.

Sombra looks up to see the Crystal Heart in the hands of a small, purple dragon and shouts, "THAT BELONGS TO ME, NOW GIVE IT HERE OR I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER!"

Spike spots Sombra standing on the large crystal a fair distance below him and trips, going over the edge after losing his grip on the Crystal Heart. Watching as he falls through the sky towards the ground, he prays that he doesn't feel any pain when he hits it.

The Lich King smiles and sees his chance and amplifies his voice shouting, "FROSTMOURNE HUNGERS!!" then throws the blade as hard as he can towards Sombra's solid body.

Sombra turns his head to locate where the Lich King is when he finally spots him a moment too late as he feels something strike him in the chest, making him look down to see the other's sword piercing his chest. He then looks around fearfully, trying to find a way to escape, only to feel the sword begin to draw his surviving soul into it, and says, "No...no...NO! I-I DON'T...I DON'T WANNA GO! SOMEPONY PLEASE SAVE ME, I DON'T WANNA DISAPPEAR!"

Shining Armor quickly jostles his wife awake and lifts her head up towards Spike and the Crystal Heart as her eyes open and says, "There's Spike and the Crystal Heart Cady!"

Cadence notices a glint and focuses on it, realizing at once that it is the Crystal Heart, and says, "I see it, now throw me Shiny!" and feels the wind rush through her mane as she is thrown by her husband. She rushes through the sky to save Spike and the heart, reaching them both in almost an instant, catching Spike in her arms and grabbing the Crystal Heart with her magic, then hurries back to the castle.

Sombra looks around and sees that most eyes are on him as his shadows are being drawn into the sword, making him weaken as a couple of tears fall off his chin as he screams, "DON'T JUST STAND THERE WATCHING YOU FOOLS, PLEASE SAVE YOUR KING!!"

Arthas watches as Sombra's shadows fade away quicker and shouts back, "YOU WERE NOT A RIGHTFUL KING, YOU CLAIMED THE EMPTY THRONE BECAUSE IT'S LEADER WAS MISSING! YOU TREATED THESE PONIES LIKE YOUR SLAVES, JUST LIKE THOSE CORRUPTED SOLDIERS YOU LET ME SLAUGHTER. THEY ARE LESS THAN PAWNS TO YOU IN YOUR VAIN QUEST FOR POWER, BUT ALL POWER COMES AT A COST...A PRICE YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF PAYING."

Twilight falls backward and hears Arthas shout again, landing on her back as the black crystal surrounding her disappear saying, "Wah! Okay, something is definitely going on because Sombra would never set me free from this prison." She then gets back onto her hooves to go see what is going on down below.

King Sombra's body begins to slowly fade away as he cries out one last time, "Somepony...please...I beg you to...save...." he doesn't complete his final words as his shadow fades away completely, leaving the sword to land on the crystal he was standing on and slowly slide down.

The Lich King activates his spell and pulls the sword back to his grasp and raises it before his eyes to look at it sighing happily saying, "Ahhh...I feel much better now. With his soul and strength, I am back to my full power." He then turns his gaze to the pony making her way towards the base of the castle and starts stomping his way there saying, "Now...I demand you hand over that heart!"

She ignores him completely and lands in front of the crowd of ponies then looks at them with determination saying, "The Crystal Heart has returned, use the light and love within you to ensure that the Lich King Arthas Menethil cannot."

Arthas then flips the sword underhanded, feeling agitated that he was ignored, then raises it above his head saying, "HOW DARE YOU IGNORE ME, YOU INSIGNIFICANT PEST! LET ME HEAR YOUR SCREAMS OF AGONY!" He begins to thrust it towards the ground as she moves the heart towards the center of the Crystal Heart's pillar when both of them stop as a loud cracking fills the air.

Twilight backs away from the edge of the castle's peak as the floor under her begins to slide and tilt, causing roof debris to slide off the edge. She quickly turns and looks for a safe spot to stand on when she sees only a small part where she can stand, except she has to jump across a gap to reach it. As the floor starts to fall away, causing the floor she is standing on to tilt quicker and leaving her no choice but to go for the jump. She then starts to sprint towards the edge as the gap grows steadily larger, reaching the edge and jumps for the other side. She lands on the far side safely and balances on the small remaining piece, releasing a sigh of relief, and wipes her arm across her eyes when the chunk wobbles and falls away. She tries to quickly use her magic to make herself levitate, only for nothing to happen and then moves her hand to her horn. She runs her fingers along its length to find it is slightly damaged, with a chunk missing from the tip. She then screams at the top of her lungs as she begins to freefall towards the ground end over end flailing wildly.

Rainbow hears Twilight scream and feels the need to be her hero, then zips off into the sky to go catch her. She tries to approach her carefully, trying to avoid her wildly flailing hooves as Twilight's eyes are closed tightly while she continues to scream. She gets close enough and tries to reach out to grab her when she gets slapped in the face hard, and then kicked in the chin by a hoof. Her vision fades away into darkness as she falls unconscious, her wings cease flapping and hang limp as she joins Twilight into a freefall.

Arthas watches the two ponies fall through the air and follows Twilight's angle, then looks towards the large crystal sticking out of the ground at a fairly steep angle. He feels a slight pang in his chest, urging him into action. The pang in his chest remains for a few seconds, causing him to growl in annoyance at his heart and summons his steed Invincible. He mounts up quickly and kicks him into a gallop while cursing, "These light-damned lovey-dovey ponies are going to suffer my wrath after I deal with one final nuisance!"

Fluttershy sees Arthas start racing away on his mount and narrows her eyes at him, but then widen with shock as he starts to turn around and go even faster. Spurring herself into action, she takes off into the sky to catch her unconscious friend Rainbow, managing to reach her as she reaches the balcony overlooking the main road into the city saying, "Don't worry Dash, I've got you."

Cadence watches in shock as Arthas rides forth hard on Invincible, then stands up on the saddle as they start to race up the crystal that Sombra created. Invincible then leaps off the end of the crystal with Arthas running forward and places a boot onto the other's head and jumps off of it into the air above him.

Time seems to slow way down as Arthas waits for Twilight to get close enough for him to catch her, ignoring her flailing limbs and swiftly wraps his arms around her waist saying, "STOP FLAILING WILDLY AND CALM THE FUCK DOWN!"

Twilight stops instantly as she feels herself being moved into a bridal carry, wrapping her arms around whoponyever has caught her and holds onto them for dear life while trembling and says, "I'm sorry I hit you, I'm just so scared of dying."

Arthas braces for the hard landing he is about to make and says, "If you were to die, I would just raise you into my service." He then readies his legs as he lands on the ground heavily, crushing the crystal path underneath him from the force and shifts his momentum forward. He runs for a short distance and comes to a stop, then prepares to set her down.

She recognizes the voice of her rescuer as tears slowly fill her eyes, quickly moving away to see that her rescuer was Arthas, and quickly pulls his helm off and reacts by saying, "Oh thank you Arthas, I love you." She lets go of it and quickly grabs his face, and gives him a kiss on the lips. She attempts to make the kiss deeper, but is quickly pushed away and roughly placed onto the ground.

Cadence's mouth hangs agape as she struggles to believe what she just witnessed with her own eyes, blinking once more to see him reach up with his gauntlets and pries her hands off of him.

The Lich King then turns around and grabs his helm and shoots her a threatening look and says, "Don't ever touch my helm again!" and starts walking away from Twilight. He then puts the helm back onto his head and starts to make his way towards Cadence saying, "GIVE ME THAT DAMNED HEART BEFORE I KILL YOU ALL!"

She then rolls her eyes at him and tosses the heart into its spot, being captured by the two points and slowly begins to rotate.

Arthas starts to make his way towards the Crystal Heart to prevent it from activating, stopping in front of Cadence and reaches out to grab her by the neck when the crystal path under him begins to glow brightly. He then shifts his gaze to the ponies around as they start to return to their crystalline looks and kneel down to touch their muzzles to the crystal paths underneath them, glaring angrily at Cadence and amplifies his voice and shouts, "I SWEAR I SHALL RETURN ONE DAY TO REDUCE THIS CITY TO CRYSTAL POWDER WITH MY ENTIRE ARMY AND KILL THE GROUND IT SITS ON WITH THE PLAGUE!! THIS...ISN'T...OVER!!!

Twilight starts to move towards Arthas when she is blinded by a bright whitish-blue wave of light, forced to close her eyes to protect her vision. She tries to squint her eyes to be able to see what is happening to Arthas and sees him also guarding his eyes with an arm against the light, but then an even brighter light forces her to close her eyes completely.

Cadence watches as The Lich King tries to fight against the power of the Crystal Heart, hearing him shout, "I WILL BE BACK!" then watches a second blast of the Crystal Heart's power sends Arthas flying into the air and out of the city.

Arthas's mental argument with the remnant of his humanity

The Lich King crashes into a tree and tumbles to the ground, then pushes himself back onto his feet and stares at the city, full of rage. He stands there glaring at the shining city as a rainbow streak shoots up through the sky, creating a barrier and emitting pink, blue, and yellow ribbons into the air and stretching far off into the distance. A calming warmth starts to flow through his body as his heart beats louder, irritating him further.

He then hears a quiet voice fill his head, quietly saying, 'You are not a real king either, remember how you killed your own father after putting the entire population of Stratholme to the sword and flame?'

He then replies to the voice, 'I had no choice but to do that, father was going to lead Lordaeron to ruin!'

The quiet voice continues saying, 'Did you really have to do those terrible things? What about when you destroyed the Sunwell by raising Kel'Thuzad as a lich after slaughtering so many innocent lives such as women and children, don't you want to have a family again?'

Arthas looks down to the ground with his fists clenched as his anger reaches a boiling point and replies, 'Be quiet.'

The voice chuckles and says, 'You are a much worse monster than Sombra ever was, and you are oh so eager to pay the price needed to claim more power. Do you feel anything after what you put your daughters through, what about your pretty pony wife huh? Did you even take a second to think that maybe you were the problem?!'

He has finally had enough and pries off his helm shouting, "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU, IT IS HIGH TIME I DID THIS AND RETURN TO WHAT I SHOULD BE!" and drops it to the ground, then moves to take off his gauntlets.

The Shen'dralar druid sits in her flight form and watches with wide eyes, still trembling at what is happening before her very eyes, fighting against her strong urge to attack The Lich King with his guard down. She trembles with fear as he strips out of his chest armor, and down to his bare chest as she watches him draw Frostmourne. He then grabs it by the blade with both hands and drives it into his chest, then goes through his sternum and returns the sword to its sheath.

Arthas reaches up to his wound with one hand, then digs his fingers into his chest and underneath the bone. He then uses his strength to pull back his ribs and plunges his other hand inside, grips his own heart in his hand and rips it out with one swift motion.

She sits up there in the snow-covered pine tree and fights the urge to throw up at seeing him tear his own heart out and hold it in his hand glaring at it and thinks to herself, 'I can't believe that I actually saw him tear his own heart out, what is he planning to do with it?!'

He then sighs with relief as the voice goes away and smiles saying, "I feel better already now that you are out of me...NOW BE GONE!!" and hurls it as far from him into the trees as he can. Without a care for the wretched part of him, he turns his back on it and goes back to putting his armor back on.

The druid waits as Arthas gets the rest of his armor on and returns the helm to his head, then summons his steed Invincible and rides off hastily. Seeing her chance, she jumps from her perch and shifts into her cat form and begins her search for the heart to put it in a safe place before she races back to inform her friend of what she witnessed.

She has slight difficulties in finding the heart due to the snow and wind moving the scent around, but finds it lying inside the hollowed base of a fallen tree. With a sigh, she shifts to her normal form and hesitantly searches through her bag for something to grab the heart and wrap it in. She then pulls out a large scrap of frostweave and carefully lays it over the palm of her hand, then reaches into the space with her upturned palm and turns her hand over, and grabs the still-beating thing. She cautiously removes it and begins to wrap the cloth around the heart as it continues to beat slowly, then begins to search for somewhere to place it when she remembers seeing a platform by the train and begins to head there.

At the castle in Canterlot with Celestia and Luna

Celestia stands beside her sister when they both look out the window to see pink, blue and yellow ribbons of light dance in the sky and smiles. She looks to her sister as she does the same and walks up to her, then gives her a hug sighing happily saying, "Twilight passed her test and they all succeeded in saving the Crystal Empire dear sister."

Luna hugs her sister back and says, "Yes they most certainly have, they kept Sombra from reclaiming the heart and freed the Crystal Ponies from his tyranny."

Chapter 12A: The Empire's Return (Alternate ending)

Author's Note

THIS IS AN ALTERNATE VERSION OF THE STORY WITH A DIFFERENT ENDING, SENDING THE STORY DOWN A DIFFERENT PATH. SO SKIP THIS CHAPTER IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE THE ORIGINAL ROUTE, ALTERNATES WILL BE MARKED AT THE TOP.

Chapter 12A: The Empire's Return (Alternate ending)

ALTERNATE ROUTE FOR THE STORY, CHANGE IS WITH THE ARGUMENT. SKIP THIS CHAPTER TO CONTINUE WITH THE ORIGINAL ROUTE.

Somewhere in the southern part of the Frozen North, far west of the city and just past Luna Bay

Arthas slows invincible to a trot as he hears a strange whistle in the distance, breaking the silence in the surrounding area and wonders what it is, and says, "I look forward to dealing with the last of those annoying umbrum pests."

Invincible continues on as he hears the whistle again a few seconds later and says, "Forgive me for saying this master, but do you think it would be wise to just move on and ignore what happened in the past?"

He looks around for the source of the sound, spotting faint light in the distance and watches it curiously saying, "THERE"S NO WAY I AM JUST GOING TO FORGET THEIR INSOLENCE AND REFUSAL TO SUBMIT TO MY RULE, THEY ATTEMPTED TO USE THEIR SHADOW MAGIC TO ASSASSINATE ME AND MY FAMILY! FOR THAT, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM DESERVES TO DIE." He hears the whistle break the silence once again and says, "WHAT IS THAT ANNOYING AND INFERNAL NOISE, LET US INVESTIGATE IT IMMEDIATELY."

On the train to the Crystal Empire, 20 minutes later

Brann stares at Twilight in shock and shakes his head, then looks away saying, "You are crazy for having feelings towards that monster, he'd just as soon kill you and raise you into his service as an undead corpse than reveal a weakness to anyone."

She cocks her head and swivels her ears forward, focusing on what he is saying, and asks, "Why would having feelings for someone be a weakness? He danced with me, then we shared a kiss and he even tossed me a rose with a broken stem. Surely that must mean he likes me back."

The dwarf looks at her and lets out a sigh saying, "Because many others can use those feelings against you to get what they want, Azeroth is a harsh place where you need to fight to survive. I don't know anything personal about Arthas other than he was really strong and has terrifying powers at his disposal, your world would be a better place if he died lass." He then takes another drink from the bottle, returning the cork to it and tries to think of the adventure ahead to be had.

10 minutes later with Arthas, along the southern border of the Frozen North

Arthas has Invincible follow the large mining tracks and thinks, 'It seems they have found a way to transport things to other places by rail, how clever of them. Let's find out where this will lead us.'

He follows the tracks to the east for a while when he senses a dark malevolence in the wind and makes his steed go into a full gallop saying, "Something comes Invincible, let us ride forth and find out what it is!"

A short distance away from the station, with Twilight and the others

Shining Armor leads the girls towards the Crystal Empire and angles his head into the blowing wind and snow saying, "I'm not sure what, but something keeps trying to get into the city. We think it's the unicorn king who originally cursed the place." nervously looking around him for any signs of danger and turns his head to watch where they are going.

Twilight follows her brother through the wind and snow, feeling a little worried about this mission and says, "But Princess Celestia told me that she was sending me here to find a way to protect the empire from him. If King Sombra is unable to get in, then it must already be protected." She then goes quiet as she hears a creature howl come from somewhere in the distance.

Arthas looks to his right to see a strange engine with some enclosed wagons on wheels hooked up to it and says, "Hmmm...interesting. It amazes me that these ponies made something like this as the other races on Azeroth haven't yet." He then sees a trail of hoofprints in the snow, leading to a group of ponies a fair distance away and slows his steed to a swift trot.

Applejack hears a faint shuffling coming from somewhere and turns to look at her friends asking, "Are any of ya moving yer legs a lot to stay warm?"

Rainbow looks to the other girls, then back to Applejack and shakes her head saying, "I'm not doing anything like that, I'm shivering from the cold but that's it."

Fluttershy hears strange noises and swivels her ears to pinpoint the location it is coming from, after learning where it is coming from, the noise becomes a little clearer to her. Now hearing a heavy thumping of hooves coming from behind them, she turns her head around to look behind them to see glowing blue eyes with a glowing blue gem above them and another pair of glowing blue eyes below them. Too shocked and afraid to speak, she walks over to Rarity and taps on her shoulder.

Rarity feels someone repeatedly tapping her shoulder and looks over to see a scared Fluttershy with wide eyes and asks, "What is the matter Fluttershy darling?" She watches as Fluttershy doesn't speak and simply points behind them with a shaking hand, then follows it to where she is pointing and her jaw drops in shock as she quickly turns her head around. She is about to scream for everyone to run, but is interrupted by the howling of a distant creature and says, "Oh what in Tartarus could that be?!"

Shining Armor looks to the group and spots the Lich King making his way towards the group and says, "We need to get to the Crystal Empire right now, the Lich King is right behind us!"

A massive cloud of darkness looks to the group of ponies, eager to claim them, and lands heavily onto the ground to frighten the ponies further while growling menacingly at them.

Arthas watches the black mass start to chase after the group of ponies, and decides to try to capture this creature's soul so he can search for Sombra. He then makes Invincible run faster to get the creature's attention saying, "Come on Invincible, go faster or we won't catch up to it."

Twilight's brother looks back to see Spike trip and fall, then stand up to stare at the creature bearing down on them and turns around to retrieve him. He powers up his horn and grabs Spike, leaving the large suitcase he was carrying behind in the snow and starts to catch up with the group. He releases his hold on Spike and says, "Keep running, the barrier is just up ahead!" and turns around to fend off both of them, then starts to power up a spell to attack the creature.

The Lich King hastily gets off Invincible and draws his sword, then flips it around underhanded and raises it above his head. Moving his other hand to the hilt, he then growls and amplifies his voice while thrusting it towards the ground shouting, "FIGHT ME YOU STUPID CREATURE, I'M MORE OF A THREAT THAN THOSE PATHETIC PONIES!!"

The black mass dodges the magic shot at it by the white and blue unicorn, getting close enough to cover its horn with black crystals before screaming in agony as black lightning shoots up from the ground and right through its shadowy mass.

Shining Armor falls to the ground, suffering intense pain from where his horn was struck by a stray bolt of lightning. He tries to get up, but he feels another strike hit him in the shoulder and cries out in agony again. He then shakily turns his head, watching the Lich King as he controls the lightning for a few more seconds before stopping his attack and stands up while pulling his sword from the ground.

Twilight stands on the other side of the barrier and sees her brother struggling to get up, then tries to run out to go get him when she spots Arthas making his way to where he lays and shouts, "Come on brother, GET UP! Arthas is coming to get you, GET UP AND RUN!"

The mass writhes in pain and glares at the one who caused him such pain, feeling slightly disoriented after returning from banishment with the city a few hours ago. He watches the being walk towards the other, and tries to gather his thoughts to identify the armored being as clues slowly drop into place.

Arthas stops and stands next to the downed pony and looks into his eyes and angrily says, "Stupid pony." while bringing his right arm back that holds Frostmourne, then reaches down with his left and grabs him by the end of his tail. He then turns towards the barrier and takes a few steps towards it, dragging the pony behind him and chuckles saying, "You can take this pathetic pony with you, just be sure to STAY OUT OF MY WAY!!" and then brings his arm back and over his head, then lunges forward with his left leg and throws the pony into the air towards the group of ponies on the other side.

Shining Armor screams as he is thrown into the air, flipping end over end helplessly and yells, "SOMEONE PLEASE CATCH ME!"

The Lich King chuckles at hearing the pony scream and then turns away to look at the black mass and says, "I demand to know what you are creature, so answer me and speak!"

The last few clues fall into place as he finally realizes who the unmistakable being is and howls in rage at seeing it again, then charges forth to attack them.

Arthas swings his sword and slices through the mass, causing it to howl out in agony as he dodges its pathetic attack saying, "Is this all you have, what a pathetic creature you are."

It slams into the barrier as green blood oozes out of the gash in its side, causing his eyes to widen with fear as he remembers how he slaughtered his whole race. Deciding against facing him as he is now, he retreats into the air to gather his strength to attack the barrier later.

The Lich King thrusts his sword into the air to steal the creature's life energy, only to discover that it has doesn't have any, and lowers his sword. In an instant, he then uses another spell to throw a green skull at its fleeing form shouting, "STOP RUNNING AND FACE ME COWARD!" to his disappointment, the creature keeps retreating, but screams in agony as the skull makes contact with it. He turns away from the fleeing mass and glares at the ponies, then begins to stomp his feet angrily as he approaches them.

Brann trembles with fear at seeing the Lich King so close and backs away from the barrier nervously saying, "Umm that barrier is going to hold right, everyone?"

Twilight and Rarity gently set Shining Armor down as Twilight says, "I believe so, Cadence must be helping maintain the barrier, is that right brother?"

Shining Armor returns to his hooves a bit shakily, still feeling the effects of the attack and wobbles slightly. He watches his sister and Rarity hold onto him to help keep him steady, then places his hands onto their shoulders saying, "T-Thank you for helping me, but I'll be fine once I regain my balance. You are indeed right, Twilight. We should be on our way towards the castle now, Cadence will be very happy to see you."

The purple unicorn lets her brother stand on his own as he leads the group towards the castle, then looks back to see Arthas swing his sword at the barrier, attempting to damage it.

Arthas keeps attacking the barrier with Frostmourne for ten minutes, causing only slight ripples in it. Agitated, he flips the sword underhanded with a smooth motion, then raises it over his head and grabs it with both hands, attempting to drive it into the barrier with all his might. He succeeds in only scratching it and summons black lightning to strike the barrier all over, angered at how resilient the barrier is being.

A minute ago, Inside the barrier

Twilight spots her old foal sitter on the throne at the back of the room, hanging her head for a moment before calling out to her, "Cadence!"

Cadence spots Twilight and brightens up immediately, then jogs towards her, stops in front of her, and then crouches down slightly.

As they both get into a slight crouch, then jump up together in a brief prancing dance saying together, "Sunshine, Sunshine." dropping onto the floor and covering their eyes with their hands saying, "Ladybug's awake." then pull them away before moving into a sitting position and clap their hands together without missing a beat saying, "Clap your hands and" then quickly stand up and shake their rumps saying, "do a little shake." finishing their silly little greeting and share a laugh for a few short seconds.

Twilight smiles at Cadence, overjoyed at getting to see her again when her eyes snap shut for a brief moment, causing her horn to slightly flicker. Concerned, she asks, "Hey are you..." interrupted by seeing Cadence's magic aura become covered in black lightning as it dances throughout the inside of the aura, eliciting an agonized scream for several seconds before stopping.

Shining Armor yells, "CADY!" rushes forth as Cadence collapses onto the crystal floor, panting hard for breath. He helps her to her hooves as she struggles to keep the barrier up.

Cadence then holds onto him and looks to a very worried Twilight saying, "One of these days, we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance."

Outside the barrier, an hour later

Arthas walks along the barrier, inspecting it in different spots by striking it with his sword when he watches it dim a bit. He smiles as he flips his sword around once more, hearing a howl in the distance and pauses for a moment and amplifies his voice shouting, "I AM RIGHT HERE WAITING FOR YOU, SO COME HERE AND ACCEPT YOUR FATE!" He waits a few minutes and nothing happens, making Arthas even angrier as he raises his sword to attack it again, using the same black lightning to inflict pain and suffering upon whoever is keeping the barrier up. He stops his attack after keeping the spell active for ten seconds, and smiles as the barrier slowly collapses and starts walking over where it used to be saying, "Well...that was quite effective, now where should I go?"

The mass smiles as he notices the barrier is down and starts moving towards it when he spots the one that slaughtered his whole race, forming a head to be able to speak and summons thirty black crystal pony soldiers, having glowing green eyes, with manes and tails of purple smoke to kill him and shouts, "DIE MURDERER!!!" sending all thirty ponies to rush forth and overwhelm his enemy.

He turns around to see the incoming soldiers and chuckles then shakes his head at this pathetic attack, and prepares one of his spells to slow his foes down. He waits for the right moment to cast it, watching their progress until the perfect moment to catch them all, and casts it to create a freezing whirlwind.

Arthas rushes forward to the first soldier, holding Frostmourne in his right hand, and spins his body in a circle. Cleanly cutting off its head and claiming the soul within, he continues to single-handedly slaughter all thirty of his soon-to-be subjects.

On top of the balcony of the crystal castle

Brann walks towards the rail as his eyes go wide and says, "Umm...guys, I think we might be in some serious trouble here."

Twilight then walks up to the rail beside Brann and says, "I would hate to say this but I think you may be right, but this may be a blessing in disguise because Arthas seemed really interested in fighting that creature. Sombra is a bigger threat than Arthas is right now, so we need you to do what you can to return the barrier to keep the Crystal Ponies from seeing Sombra out there. Cadence needs you to stay with her, Shining Armor. Brann, I need you to return to the library to see what else you can find out about the Crystal Faire."

Rainbow Dash then looks at her curiously saying, "What do you want me to do?"

Twilight then smiles and says, "Rainbow Dash, you and the rest of our friends need to keep the faire going while I try to find the heart and bring it back." she then takes off running for the stairs to return to the ground for ideas where it could be.

She follows Twilight through the castle with her wings as they reach the first flight of stairs going down and says, "How come, shouldn't we try to get Arthas out of the Crystal Empire's border if Cadence can get it back up?"

The unicorn turns around to go down another set of stairs saying, "No, because the whole purpose of the faire is to lift the spirits of the Crystal Ponies so they can activate the Crystal Heart."

Rainbow rolls her eyes and flies just above Twilight saying, "Yeah, and why?"

Twilight continues running down the stairs saying, "Because, if the Crystal Ponies find out that King Sombra is trying to take over the empire again, their spirits are going to be anything but lifted. If we can succeed in cheering up the Crystal Ponies and they activate the Crystal Heart, Arthas will most likely be cast out of the city."

Back to the fight between Arthas and the creature

Arthas effortlessly kills the last of the ponies and looks up at the shadowy face with a chuckle saying, "If this is all you have creature, I am disappointed."

The mass roars at him in rage and summons even more soldiers to overwhelm him and end his life and shouts, "I HATE YOU! YOU SLAUGHTERED THEM ALL AND TURNED THEM INTO DISGUSTING CRYSTAL ABOMINATIONS, MY WHOLE RACE PERISHED WITHIN A WEEK! YOU USED YOUR VILE LIQUID TO KILL EVERYTHING IT TOUCHED, NOTHING GROWS ON THE GROUNDS WHERE OUR VILLAGES ONCE STOOD. I WAS SENT AWAY TO GET AID IN FIGHTING YOU, THE PRINCESSES REFUSED AND TURNED ME AWAY I HATE YOU ALL, WHEN I GET MY KINGDOM BACK, I AM GOING TO MAKE THEM ALL SUBMIT TO ME. FOR I AM KING SOMBRA AND YOU WILL NOT TAKE ANY MORE FROM ME!!"

He chuckles with delight and says, "I have wondered what became of you after I used the improved plague of undeath, now I know that the Umbrum's leader lives. Now I shall look forward to claiming your soul and raise you for all the trouble you have caused me!" He then uses his sword's ability to steal life and quickly kills off the 90 black crystal soldiers that Sombra just summoned and laughs sadistically saying, "It will take more than that to kill me coward, FROSTMOURNE HUNGERS!"

Sombra is blinded by his rage and summons the remainder of the enslaved soldiers he corrupted and took from the empire prior to his banishment. He then cackles madly and shouts, "SHOW ME HOW YOU WILL HANDLE THE REMAINDER OF MY 2000 ELITE GUARD, RUTHLESS KING OF THE NORTH!"

Arthas looks at the soldiers and shakes his head saying, "Your strength amounts to nothing compared to mine, I have millions of soldiers to conquer this world while you only have a pathetic handful. Allow me to demonstrate the difference between you and me..." He then looks to the skies and amplifies his voice for all to hear, also uses the helm's link to address someone special to display his power and calls out to them saying, "SINDRAGOSA, YOUR KING CALLS FOR YOU TO DISPLAY THE STRENGTH OF ICECROWN! KILL ALL THESE PATHETIC INSECTS THAT STAND BEFORE ME!"

On the balcony with Shining Armor and Cadence

Shining Armor holds Cadence in his arms while he watches the distant fight, listening to the two fight as King Sombra is enraged at what the Lich King has done to his whole race. Staring in shock as he sees a massive skeletal dragon making its way towards the Crystal Empire and tries to wake Cadence gently saying, "Umm Cady, I'm sorry to wake you but I think you should try to raise the barrier again."

Cadence's eyes slowly flutter open as she wakes up from a brief nap and asks, "I'm sorry, what did you say? How long have I been sleeping?"

He turns away from the incoming dragon and looks into his wife's eyes and says, "I wish I didn't have to wake you, but I think you should try to raise the barrier again. I can see a large army standing just before the Lich King as well as a large skeletal dragon he called Sindragosa is making her way here."

She slowly turns her head towards the rail and asks, "I would like to know what she looks like to be able to watch out for her. Take me a little closer please so I can see what is going on Shiny."

Shining Armor sets her down carefully and helps her towards the barrier, seeing said undead dragon turn and fly right for a ways before banking left and fly towards the line of black soldiers that King Sombra has summoned. She watches the large dragon queen as she raises her head up, letting out a loud roar before casting a spell that creates an area on the ground covered in a glowing whitish-blue. She sighs as a few tears stream down her face when the soldiers inside of the large circle fall to the ground, and Sindragosa makes another pass at the line of soldiers then breathes frostfire.

At the fallen barrier's edge, with Arthas and King Sombra

Arthas laughs as Sindragosa kills all of the remaining soldiers with a couple of more passes over their heads, then sends her outside of the barrier to attack Sombra saying through the link, "Let him have a taste of your fury Sindy, it is time he learned to fear the might of Icecrown!"

Sindragosa circles around saying, "WITH PLEASURE SIR!" and lines up to attack the black mass, releasing an angry roar and targets it with one of her spells and shoots a Frost Bomb at him, then glides past him overhead and calls forth a wave of frost to chill the mass to its core.

Sombra howls in agony as several pieces of his shadowy mass are destroyed and tries to reform them but finds himself unable to. He starts to lightly panic as each attempt fails, causing him to feel fear for the first time and hastily flees into the air shouting, "THIS IS NOT OVER YET! I WILL TAKE BACK MY KINGDOM AND THEN DEFEAT YOU!"

The Lich King watches Sindragosa give chase and throw Frost Bombs at him, causing Sombra to cry out in pain each time. With an agitated sigh, he jumps backward as a shield forms just before him, stopping him from giving chase to Sombra and uses the helm's link to connect with Sindragosa saying, "The shield is back up Sindy, go back to Icecrown and protect it from Sombra if he should decide to attack it in retaliation. I shall explore this city a bit and wait for him to come back and attack again, I shall make my move once he is truly vulnerable."

She breaks off her chase of King Sombra and heads back to Icecrown answering his mental command, "Very well sir, I shall protect it with my life."

Arthas then turns around and makes his way towards the city thinking, 'If I find whoever is making this barrier, I will make them wish they were never born...'

Over at the crystal castle, twenty minutes later

Cadence squints as she tries to keep the barrier up but her magic starts to fade in and out and weakly says, "Please hurry Twilight, my magic won't last much longer..."

With Twilight, somewhere inside the castle

Twilight picks Spike up and places him on her back saying, "Hold on to me Spike, I'm going to try something." then focuses on casting a gravity spell, then flips herself over and lands on the underside of the stairs above her and says, "Woohoo, it worked! I'm glad I studied gravity spells on our way here, thinking it might be on my test. As it turns out, I was definitely prepared for this!"

With Cadence on the balcony with Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash

Shining Armor watches as Cadence's magic slowly slips down her horn, then fades away completely as Cadence falls unconscious in his arms saying, "You have done everything you can Cady, rest for a moment and leave the rest up to Twilight."

The others watch in shock as the barrier falls and reveals orange skies with black clouds surrounding the empire completely as Rarity says, "Come on Twilight darling, where are you?" She then looks down to see an armored figure heading towards the castle and gasps saying, "Oh Hurry up Twilight, that dreadful Lich King is getting closer to the castle!"

With Twilight, on her way to the top of the castle's peak

Spike watches as they rapidly slide down the underside of the stairs with the help of the gravity spell Twilight cast, he then holds tighter as an opening to the outside appears just up ahead saying, "Umm watch out Twilight, the exit is coming up."

She giggles as they both slide off the end of the archway's roof and reverses the gravity spell, flipping them both around in the process and leaving them to fall five feet to land on the top of the crystal castle peak's floor. She looks around and sees the Crystal Heart hovering in the air above a platform with a star in its center with the points touching the edges of the platform.

With Arthas, nearing the front of the Crystal Castle

Arthas stomps forward, making his way towards the group of ponies when he hears a voice call out way above him, "Hey look up here, I got the Crystal Heart!" and turns his head up to where it came from and sees a purple creature standing atop one of the blackened spires, then hears an angered roar. He turns his eyes to look at the direction it came from and sees Sombra leap forth from a cloud and into the ground, racing along the ground like a shadow and causing black crystals to sprout up from the ground he passes through. He watches the shadow race forth and waits for a chance to strike, seeing a large crystal shoot up out of the ground as others race forth towards the castle's peak and cause a few cracks to form as well as destroying the top part of the roof.

Twilight runs to the side of the black crystal cage she is in and tries to protect her head saying, "Ohh...what's happening now! I hope that nothing hits me..."

Seeing Sombra slowly rise from the long crystal, Arthas flips his sword to hold it underhanded and prepares to throw it. He waits eagerly for the perfect chance to strike him down and absorb his soul, drawing back his right arm holding his sword as Sombra finally emerges wearing a dark silver band with spikes on the sides and two red ones up front on either side of a dark silver circle, an armored chest piece being the same dark silver with a flared collar, a fine red and white cape under the back of the chest piece with small black diamonds around the white strip at the bottom, and armored hoof guards going up to his knees.

Sombra looks up to see the Crystal Heart in the hands of a small, purple dragon and shouts, "THAT BELONGS TO ME, NOW GIVE IT HERE OR I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER!"

Spike spots Sombra standing on the large crystal a fair distance below him and trips, going over the edge after losing his grip on the Crystal Heart. Watching as he falls through the sky towards the ground, he prays that he doesn't feel any pain when he hits it.

The Lich King smiles and sees his chance and amplifies his voice shouting, "FROSTMOURNE HUNGERS!!" then throws the blade as hard as he can towards Sombra's solid body.

Sombra turns his head to locate where the Lich King is when he finally spots him a moment too late as he feels something strike him in the chest, making him look down to see the other's sword piercing his chest. He then looks around fearfully, trying to find a way to escape, only to feel the sword begin to draw his surviving soul into it, and says, "No...no...NO! I-I DON'T...I DON'T WANNA GO! SOMEPONY PLEASE SAVE ME, I DON'T WANNA DISAPPEAR!"

Shining Armor quickly jostles his wife awake and lifts her head up towards Spike and the Crystal Heart as her eyes open and says, "There's Spike and the Crystal Heart Cady!"

Cadence notices a glint and focuses on it, realizing at once that it is the Crystal Heart, and says, "I see it, now throw me Shiny!" and feels the wind rush through her mane as she is thrown by her husband. She rushes through the sky to save Spike and the heart, reaching them both in almost an instant, catching Spike in her arms and grabbing the Crystal Heart with her magic, then hurries back to the castle.

Sombra looks around and sees that most eyes are on him as his shadows are being drawn into the sword, making him weaken as a couple of tears fall off his chin as he screams, "DON'T JUST STAND THERE WATCHING YOU FOOLS, PLEASE SAVE YOUR KING!!"

Arthas watches as Sombra's shadows fade away quicker and shouts back, "YOU WERE NOT A RIGHTFUL KING, YOU CLAIMED THE EMPTY THRONE BECAUSE IT'S LEADER WAS MISSING! YOU TREATED THESE PONIES LIKE YOUR SLAVES, JUST LIKE THOSE CORRUPTED SOLDIERS YOU LET ME SLAUGHTER. THEY ARE LESS THAN PAWNS TO YOU IN YOUR VAIN QUEST FOR POWER, BUT ALL POWER COMES AT A COST...A PRICE YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF PAYING."

Twilight falls backward and hears Arthas shout again, landing on her back as the black crystal surrounding her disappear saying, "Wah! Okay, something is definitely going on because Sombra would never set me free from this prison." She then gets back onto her hooves to go see what is going on down below.

King Sombra's body begins to slowly fade away as he cries out one last time, "Somepony...please...I beg you to...save...." he doesn't complete his final words as his shadow fades away completely, leaving the sword to land on the crystal he was standing on and slowly slide down.

The Lich King activates his spell and pulls the sword back to his grasp and raises it before his eyes to look at it sighing happily saying, "Ahhh...I feel much better now. With his soul and strength, I am back to my full power." He then turns his gaze to the pony making her way towards the base of the castle and starts stomping his way there saying, "Now...I demand you hand over that heart!"

She ignores him completely and lands in front of the crowd of ponies then looks at them with determination saying, "The Crystal Heart has returned, use the light and love within you to ensure that the Lich King Arthas Menethil cannot."

Arthas then flips the sword underhanded, feeling agitated that he was ignored, then raises it above his head saying, "HOW DARE YOU IGNORE ME, YOU INSIGNIFICANT PEST! LET ME HEAR YOUR SCREAMS OF AGONY!" He begins to thrust it towards the ground as she moves the heart towards the center of the Crystal Heart's pillar when both of them stop as a loud cracking fills the air.

Twilight backs away from the edge of the castle's peak as the floor under her begins to slide and tilt, causing roof debris to slide off the edge. She quickly turns and looks for a safe spot to stand on when she sees only a small part where she can stand, except she has to jump across a gap to reach it. As the floor starts to fall away, causing the floor she is standing on to tilt quicker and leaving her no choice but to go for the jump. She then starts to sprint towards the edge as the gap grows steadily larger, reaching the edge and jumps for the other side. She lands on the far side safely and balances on the small remaining piece, releasing a sigh of relief, and wipes her arm across her eyes when the chunk wobbles and falls away. She tries to quickly use her magic to make herself levitate, only for nothing to happen and then moves her hand to her horn. She runs her fingers along its length to find it is slightly damaged, with a chunk missing from the tip. She then screams at the top of her lungs as she begins to freefall towards the ground end over end flailing wildly.

Rainbow hears Twilight scream and feels the need to be her hero, then zips off into the sky to go catch her. She tries to approach her carefully, trying to avoid her wildly flailing hooves as Twilight's eyes are closed tightly while she continues to scream. She gets close enough and tries to reach out to grab her when she gets slapped in the face hard, and then kicked in the chin by a hoof. Her vision fades away into darkness as she falls unconscious, her wings cease flapping and hang limp as she joins Twilight into a freefall.

Arthas watches the two ponies fall through the air and follows Twilight's angle, then looks towards the large crystal sticking out of the ground at a fairly steep angle. He feels a slight pang in his chest, urging him into action. The pang in his chest remains for a few seconds, causing him to growl in annoyance at his heart and summons his steed Invincible. He mounts up quickly and kicks him into a gallop while cursing, "These light-damned lovey-dovey ponies are going to suffer my wrath after I get that heart!"

Fluttershy sees Arthas start racing away on his mount and narrows her eyes at him, but then widen with shock as he starts to turn around and go even faster. Spurring herself into action, she takes off into the sky to catch her unconscious friend Rainbow, managing to reach her as she reaches the balcony overlooking the main road into the city saying, "Don't worry Dash, I've got you."

Cadence watches in shock as Arthas rides forth hard on Invincible, then stands up on the saddle as they start to race up the crystal that Sombra created. Invincible then leaps off the end of the crystal with Arthas running forward and places a boot onto the other's head and jumps off of it into the air above him.

Time seems to slow way down as Arthas waits for Twilight to get close enough for him to catch her, ignoring her flailing limbs and swiftly wraps his arms around her waist saying, "STOP FLAILING WILDLY AND CALM THE FUCK DOWN!"

Twilight stops instantly as she feels herself being moved into a bridal carry, wrapping her arms around whoponyever has caught her and holds onto them for dear life while trembling and says, "I'm sorry I hit you, I'm just so scared of dying."

Arthas braces for the hard landing he is about to make and says, "If you were to die, I would just raise you into my service." He then readies his legs as he lands on the ground heavily, crushing the crystal path underneath him from the force and shifts his momentum forward. He runs for a short distance and comes to a stop, then prepares to set her down.

She recognizes the voice of her rescuer as tears slowly fill her eyes, quickly moving away to see that her rescuer was Arthas, and quickly pulls his helm off and reacts by saying, "Oh thank you Arthas, I love you." She lets go of it and quickly grabs his face, and gives him a kiss on the lips. She attempts to make the kiss deeper, but is quickly pushed away and roughly placed onto the ground.

Cadence's mouth hangs agape as she struggles to believe what she just witnessed with her own eyes, blinking once more to see him reach up with his gauntlets and pries her hands off of him.

The Lich King then turns around and grabs his helm and shoots her a threatening look and says, "Don't ever touch my helm again!" and starts walking away from Twilight. He then puts the helm back onto his head and starts to make his way towards Cadence saying, "GIVE ME THAT DAMNED HEART BEFORE I KILL YOU ALL!"

She then rolls her eyes at him and tosses the heart into its spot, being captured by the two points and slowly begins to rotate.

Arthas starts to make his way towards the Crystal Heart to prevent it from activating, stopping in front of Cadence and reaches out to grab her by the neck when the crystal path under him begins to glow brightly. He then shifts his gaze to the ponies around as they start to return to their crystalline looks and kneel down to touch their muzzles to the crystal paths underneath them, glaring angrily at Cadence and amplifies his voice and shouts, "I SWEAR I SHALL RETURN ONE DAY TO REDUCE THIS CITY TO CRYSTAL POWDER WITH MY ENTIRE ARMY AND KILL THE GROUND IT SITS ON WITH THE PLAGUE!! THIS...ISN'T...OVER!!!

Twilight starts to move towards Arthas when she is blinded by a bright whitish-blue wave of light, forced to close her eyes to protect her vision. She tries to squint her eyes to be able to see what is happening to Arthas and sees him also guarding his eyes with an arm against the light, but then an even brighter light forces her to close her eyes completely.

Cadence watches as The Lich King tries to fight against the power of the Crystal Heart, hearing him shout, "I WILL BE BACK!" then watches a second blast of the Crystal Heart's power sends Arthas flying into the air and out of the city.

Arthas's mental argument with the remnant of his humanity

The Lich King crashes into a tree and tumbles to the ground, then pushes himself back onto his feet and stares at the city, full of rage. He stands there glaring at the shining city as a rainbow streak shoots up through the sky, creating a barrier and emitting pink, blue, and yellow ribbons into the air and stretching far off into the distance. A calming warmth starts to flow through his body as his heart beats louder, irritating him further.

He then hears a quiet voice fill his head, quietly saying, 'That was quite bold of you, to go save her like that. Perhaps you are not the same monster as before... maybe there is hope for you after all. There is one thing you should keep in mind, you are not a real king either. Remember how you murdered your father after putting the entire population of Stratholme to the sword and flame?'

He then replies to the voice, 'Of course I remember that...I had no choice but to do that, father was going to lead Lordaeron to ruin and I needed to save my people!'

The quiet voice continues saying, 'Did you really have to do those terrible things? What about when you destroyed the Sunwell by raising Kel'Thuzad as a lich after slaughtering so many innocent lives such as women and children, don't you want to have a family again?'

Arthas looks down to the ground with his fists clenched as his anger reaches a boiling point and replies, 'I know the many evil things I've done, quit reminding me.'

The voice chuckles and says, 'You are a much worse monster than Sombra ever was, and you are oh so eager to pay the price needed to claim more power. Do you feel anything after what you put your daughters through, what about your pretty pony wife huh? Did you even take a second to think that maybe you were the problem?!'

He then grumbles in annoyance at the part that is nagging him and summons invincible saying, 'I'm done talking to you about this, shut up or I'll cut you out again.' As his steed comes to his side, he climbs up into the saddle and starts to ride off.

The Shen'dralar druid sits in her flight form and watches with curious eyes, wondering at what is happening before her very eyes. She continues to observe him, eager to gather more information. As she sits there in the tree ready to follow him, a stray thought enters her mind and raises her curiosity, 'I wonder if those beings that came here are okay, I should stay and make sure before I return to watching over the Lich King.'

At the castle in Canterlot with Celestia and Luna

Celestia stands beside her sister when they both look out the window to see pink, blue, and yellow ribbons of light dance in the sky and smiles. She looks to her sister as she does the same and walks up to her, then gives her a hug sighing happily saying, "Twilight passed her test and they all succeeded in saving the Crystal Empire dear sister."

Luna hugs her sister back and says, "Yes they most certainly have, they kept Sombra from reclaiming the heart and freed the Crystal Ponies from his tyranny."

Chapter 13: Unexpected Developments (Edited)

The Shen'dralar druid makes her way over to the station platform, looking to see if anyone is on the machine resting on the rails. Not seeing anyone on it, she proceeds to check for any loose boards she can pry up. She finds a couple of boards she is able to move and sets the heart down to transform into her bear form. After she changes forms, she claws at the frozen ground below with her front two paws, trying to make a large enough hole to hold the heart.

When she finishes the hole, she switches back and picks up the bag with her hand. She then shakes her head at what Arthas has done and sets the heart in the ground to return for it later, and finally covers it up with dirt then returns the planks to where they were. With the planks back in place, she uses a rock to ensure the nails don't stick out and then tosses it aside when she's finished. With the heart hidden, she switches to her bear form and uses one of her claws to make two small scratches on the bottom end of the board. As she returns to her normal form, she turns around and switches to her flight form. She then quickly takes off to find where her friend is and inform her of the situation, as well as tell her that she needs to rush back through the gate to inform the leaders of what has happened.

Two Days Later, at the Crystal Empire

Twilight smiles at her foal sitter and says, "I wish we could stay longer and help with the cleanup Cadance, but we need to get back to Ponyville, and I need to go report to Princess Celestia about what happened here."

Shining Armor looks down at his younger sister with a smile on his face, trying to cheer her up and says, "You've really got to stop saving my rump like this, it's beginning to get embarrassing."

She sighs and hangs her head, feeling bad that she wasn't responsible for saving the day saying, "But it wasn't me who saved you all in the end, it was Spike."

Her brother grins and chuckles saying, "It's just a test Twilight, maybe she will let you retake it."

Cadence frowns at her husband's teasing of her new sister inlaw and nudges him with her wing to get him to stop it as they make their way to the station, seeing how Twilight's mood is not improving at all.

Twilight continues to gaze down at the ground as she continues walking, not watching where she is going and sighs saying, "I don't think that she's going to give me another test after failing this one." She hears someone shriek in alarm as she bumps into someone, forcing her to look up and see who it was. Noticing that it is her friend Rarity she says, "Sorry for bumping into you Rarity, why did you stop so suddenly?"

Rarity trembles and points at the ramp as her friends all huddle around her, except for Pinkie who is standing near the ramp staring at some small, two-legged creature with a body that you can see through. Watching as Pinkie then screams, "AHHH, A GHOST!" and disappears in a puff of smoke and appears right next to her and says, "Did you just figure that out NOW darling?!"

She looks at the small creature, having pale skin, blonde hair combed and slicked backward, and green eyes. It is wearing a white button-up shirt, an open blue vest with both having gold buttons on them, and a pair of short brown trousers with a black belt and a gold buckle. The creature looks vaguely familiar to her for some reason, but can't quite think where she has seen them before and walks around the group of huddling ponies as Cadance accompanies her asking, "I think that you look familiar to me, but I can't quite figure out where though. Who are you, what are you, and why are you out here?"

The young boy sighs and looks up at the purple pony with a horn that just spoke and says, "I am a human boy, my name is Matthias Lehner. I am what your friend called me, a ghost. This makes it twice now that I watched him throw it away, but another trembled as she watched it happen with her own two eyes then found it and hid it away."

Cadance looks at the young child and asks, "Who threw what away, where did they hide it?"

Matthias looks at the other pony, being taller, having a pink coat, with wings and a horn then smiles and shakes his head saying, "I can't tell you any of that, nuh-uh... He wouldn't like it...at all."

Twilight then cocks her head curiously and asks, "Okay then, what can you tell us, Matthias?"

He smiles and chuckles saying, "Hmmm... Well, I can tell you that it is something small and very clearly does not belong out here in this cold. You will know you found it once you set eyes upon it."

The foal sitter looks to Twilight and says, "I wonder if you should continue on and board the train to inform Princess Celestia about what happened here, that way we could conduct the search for the item."

Matthias sighs and says, "The sooner you find this object and keep it safe from his loyal subjects', the better chances you will have of defeating him when help comes."

She sighs and then looks at the others saying, "Let's all spread out and see if we can locate this thing and return home, I actually find paying a visit to the spa quite intriguing after reporting to Princess Celestia."

The boy watches with a smile on his face as they start looking around in various places for the hidden heart, waiting to see the reactions on their faces when they find it. He then remembers one important detail and shouts to all of them saying, "One thing you should know about the object, make sure to not touch it with your hands...or it will cause you intense pain and put your life in peril as he will hunt you down."

Twilight then turns her gaze away from the forest as something in her head suggests that the one the boy is speaking about might possibly be Arthas, then looks at the boy more closely as the idea in her head gains a little more strength. She walks a little closer to get a better look at him to confirm the possibility when her attention is suddenly interrupted when she hears a deep, slow-sounding heartbeat, causing her to freeze in place and look at the area around her for the noise in hopes she is just hearing things.

Matthias watches the curious pony as they seem to be attempting to figure something out and asks, "What's the matter, do you need something?"

She hears it again and thinks it sounds close to her, drawing her attention to the only place the others haven't checked yet...under the train. As she walks around the ramp, she walks up to the train and carefully leans her head under the cars as she hears it again, sounding farther away. Turning around and checking under the car closest to the ramp, she doesn't see anything and moves to the next car down, hearing it once more and sounding far away again. As she starts to get a little frustrated, she looks back at the boy when she notices some large prints in the snow that are different from a ponies. Making her way back to where she was, she looks at the tracks a little closer and calls out, "Hey Fluttershy, could you come here and tell me what kind of animal made this track?"

Fluttershy heads away from a hollow spot in a nearby tree, then stops next to Twilight and looks down at the track saying, "I would have to say that a bear made this track Twilight, but I don't know any bears around here that could have made that large of a paw print."

Twilight then sees another set of smaller, narrower prints and says, "Do you know what made those other prints Fluttershy?"

She looks at them and quickly shakes her head no saying, "Unfortunately, no I don't. Sorry I'm not very helpful, Twilight."

She smiles at her friend and says, "Don't be sorry Fluttershy, because I think that the object is somewhere on the train." She then looks to the others that are by the forest and calls out to them saying, "Try scouring the train for the object while I continue to check the area around it." She watches as they all head onto the train to look at it when she hears the beat one more time, this time the sound seems to come from the ground near her. Shifting her attention for any changes in the snow, she notices a couple of claw marks on the end of a board and takes a closer look at it. As she looks at the board from a few different angles, she notices that the end of it has a few scrapes on it as well as some indentations around the nail heads.

The young boy sits at the top corner of the ramp and watches as the pony proves to be smart, wondering if she will prove to be smarter than the last adventurer that touched Arthas's heart with their bare hand. He then grins and says, "Are you eager for this game of hide and seek to end?"

Twilight grabs the board with her magic and tugs on it a few times before it comes free, then sets it to the side and says, "Yes I am, though I really am not looking forward to telling the princess that I failed the task she has given me."

Matthias watches as she stares ahead, lost in thought and says, "Why, did any important people die that you needed to keep safe?"

She looks up at him quickly and says, "No, nopony died. There were a few injuries, but we made it through and protected the Empire from dark forces."

The boy then smiles widely and says, "Then be happy about it because you most likely completed the task she gave you, If you fail a task, bad things and regrets are the results you are left with. No matter how hard you try, there is no undoing them once it is too late."

Twilight looks down at where the board was and sees a pile of torn-up dirt, grass, and snow. She begins to push the dirt to the side with her hand when she hears the sound again and the soil rise up and fall slowly, making her curiosity and nervousness rise quickly. As a nervous sweat appears around her forehead, she works slowly and carefully on moving the dirt out of the big hole until her finger brushes against something soft. She gulps audibly and stares down into the hole, using her hand to move the remaining dirt in the hole bit by bit. As she finally gets done removing the dirt, she finds a ball seeming to be only fabric that seems to have a shimmer all its own with a few faintly glowing light blue lines that seem to almost move if you look away from them. She reaches out with her hand to pick up the ball, carefully lifting it up and out of the hole before setting it on the ground in front of her beside the ramp and wonders out loud, "What is this?"

Matthias then stands up and wanders closer to her, sitting on the ground and saying, "That is just frostweave cloth on the outside, be very careful not to brush your fingers against the item inside or you will feel an excruciating pain throughout your entire hand. There aren't any faceless ones around, so be extremely cautious when unwrapping it."

She looks at him as her brain thinks about the name, taking a minute before her brain figures out that the boys name is an anagram for Arthas Menethil then says, "You're Arthas Menethil, aren't you?"

He smiles and claps his hands saying, "You really are smart, though I thought that you would have figured that out a while ago. Yes, I am Arthas Menethil but just what remains of his humanity after he cast me...or rather...it away." He then watches as an unusual emotion briefly enters her eyes that he saw only once before and asks, "What is the king to you, pony?"

Twilight carefully unwraps the object with her hands and gasps as she sees a partly blackened, still-beating heart. Nearly dropping it from her surprise as the others start to gather around to look at what Twilight has found, asking the boy, "H-How can he still survive after cutting his own heart out, I don't understand how this is possible?!"

Rarity makes her way to an open spot to look at what Twilight is holding and wishes she never saw it as she gasps shouting, "EWW!! A bloody heart that still...beats..." trailing off as she faints and collapses onto the ramp from shock, fright, and disgust.

Matthias lightly chuckles and shakes his head at the one pony fainting and answers her saying, "Well it is quite simple, he is master of the undead. That means that normally, he is undead himself. Since he threw his heart away that was keeping him in check, he went back to being a true monster. I am sorry to tell you this but your world is in for a lot of pain, misery, and new horrors you never experienced the like before. You never answered my question, pony. What is the king to you?"

She sighs and blushes at his question and says, "W-well I...I have...feelings for him."

Cadence sees the irritation building on her husband's face and bumps him with her wing first, then pulls his face to look at hers as she shakes her head and looks at Twilight saying, "I would normally encourage you to pursue what your heart desires, but first, I think that you should search for a way to save him from the darkness that is eating away at his heart. You need to understand Twilight, this is going to take time."

He looks at the pony and nods his head saying, "Even though you found his biggest weakness, it certainly will not be an easy fix. So keep the heart with you always so it remains safe, but to save him you will first need a big army to push through his forces. Second, you have to fight your way through each floor of the fortress, and make it to the very top. Finally, you will have to face him at the very peak of Icecrown, remove the crown from his head and destroy his sword as well as create an opening so the heart can be put back into his chest. Only then will he have a chance to be saved, it will not be an easy fight. I assure you that there will be many losses, you saw the graves outside his citadel doors. Those were all warriors who fought together to bring an end to his rule the first time, the cost was great but they prevailed."

Twilight sighs and hangs her head a little, wrapping the heart back up in the cloth saying, "I guess that we really should get going girls." She sets the heart into her bag carefully then puts the board back down and says, "Applejack could you secure this board and make sure that nopony's hooves will catch on the nail heads?"

Applejack nods her head, forcing herself to look past the disturbing sight and says, "Sure thing Twi, ah'll git on it after ah take Rarity inside."

Rainbow grins and puffs up her chest saying, "With four alicorns to fight his army, the solar guard, the night guard, and the Elements of harmony to face him and his goon squad, he has no chance of winning."

Matthias sighs and shakes his head saying, "You would have a very challenging time if it was just him to deal with, but with the reinforcements he received from Azeroth after a gate was built? You need to go through his army to get close to him, and there are two and a half million soldiers in all at his command. Not including the two Dragon Queens Sindragosa of the Frostbrood and Ashara of this world's dragons."

She is shocked at hearing such a vast number as her chest falls when she understands just how strong he is and says in alarm, "That's crazy! How are we going to have any hope of surviving when he sends those monsters to attack Equestria!?"

Cadence speaks up and says, "We will do what we can to endure the coming trials, and I know that friendship will help us to get through it." She then looks at the boy and asks, "I know nothing of a new portal in Equestria, where is it?"

He says, "Well it was built and activated seven months and about two weeks ago, but I wont tell you where it is because the land of Azeroth is in turmoil and you would not last one day over there. You have enjoyed a peaceful existence without any serious wars, the nations in Azeroth have been hardened by it because there is always conflict between the two major factions...the Horde side and the Alliance side." Matthias then stands up and says, "Well it was fun talking to you all, I need to rest for a while but I will be back. One more thing before I go, you will have some time before he launches his assault on the living in your world. That relic that drove him out dealt some damage to him, I don't know why, but it did. So maybe that could somehow help you out, farewell for now." his form fades away as he starts to recover his strength for later.

Twilight looks at her sister-in-law and gives her a big hug saying, "I'll come visit again someday when I can, goodbye for now." and then heads onto the train as Applejack starts to pound the nail heads back into the ramp support beams, as her head starts to fill with questions of why would Arthas cast his own heart away.

A day later, in Canterlot at the castle with Princess Celestia and Twilight

Twilight looks up at her mentor who watches the colorful streams of light dance through the sky and lets out a defeated sigh saying, "I wish I was the one who ultimately made it so and saved the day, but it wasn't..." then looks down at the ground, expecting to be scolded or punished.

Celestia smiles proudly at her student and says, "Twilight, as I understand it, Spike brought the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadence because you weren't sure of how quickly you could find a way of escaping the tower. You weren't willing to risk the future of the citizens of the Crystal Empire in an effort to guarantee your own. It is far better that I have a student who understands the meaning of self-sacrifice, than one who only looks out for her own best interests."

She looks up hopefully at her mentor and says, "So does this mean that...?"

The princess looks down at her student with pride and says, "Yes it does my faithful student, you have passed the test I gave you. On another note, it concerns me greatly that Arthas showed up and took Sombra's soul. It saddens me to hear that Sombra met an end like that, I would not wish anyone to suffer a fate such as that. Is there anything else that may have happened while you were there?"

Twilight then remembers the heart she found and says, "Actually...there is one very troubling thing I found when I was returning to Canterlot to tell you what happened. It...involves your father Princess Celestia."

Celestia smiles curiously, hoping that something great happened between Arthas and Twilight and asks, "Does it involve wedding bells in the future?"

She blushes and is stunned to hear her mentor say that and stammers, "Wha...Wha...I...I...N-No, no it doesn't. Wouldn't that be way too awkward for you...if Arthas and I were to marry...then you and Princess Luna would be my stepdaughters and I am far younger than you."

The princess giggles at her student's embarrassment and says, "It would be different, but Lulu and I can deal with it." She watches as Twilight's face becomes troubled once more and her own cheerful mood darkens a bit asking, "If that isn't it, what could it be that you learned?"

Twilight looks down at the floor and says, "When my friends and I were walking back to the train with my brother and Princess Cadence, we were just about to head up the ramp to board the train when we saw something transparent..."

Celestia cocks her head curiously and says, "Okay, please continue Twilight and tell me more."

She looks at her mentor with a troubled look on her face saying, "I asked who it was, what it was, and why it was there. It then told me that it was a human boy, and he was a ghost named Matthias Lehner. He then began saying how it is twice now that he watched him throw it away, but another trembled as she watched it happen and then found it then hid it away. Cadence then asked him who threw what away and hid it where, but he refused to answer it clearly and said that he wouldn't like it at all. After trying again, he gave us a clue that it was something small and did not belong out in the cold. We would know when we found it because of its appearance. So after Cadence offered to look for it while we returned to Canterlot, he said the sooner we find it, the better chances we would have of defeating him when help comes." She then asks, "Could you please cast a complete secrecy bubble please to hear this next part?"

The princess becomes worried as she tries to figure out why the name Matthias Lehner bugs her so much and nods her head, then casts a solid bubble to keep all sound and images from the outside and asks, "It is done, something about this seems very important to have you requesting complete secrecy about some matter. Let's have the rest of this tale, my faithful student. That name bugs me for some reason, but I know not why."

Twilight then takes her backpack off and sets it on the floor in front of her then continues saying, "As we started searching for it, I heard a strange sound. After spending a few minutes looking for it, I located it hidden in a hole underneath the ramp at the Crystal Empire's station..." She then pulls out the object wrapped in frostweave cloth and keeps it hidden from view saying, "I found this buried in the hole, Princess Celestia..." pulling out the heart wrapped in cloth before her mentor's eyes, then begins to carefully unwrap it saying, "Whatever you do, do not touch this with your bare hand." She then looks at the heart in the cloth and asks, "Matthias, could you please come out and greet my mentor?"

Matthias Lehner then appears as a mist from the heart, taking his human form and yawning while looking at Twilight asking, "That was a pleasant nap, what do you wish to know Twilight?"

Celestia gasps and takes a closer look at the boy before her as the last clues fall into place and asks, "F-Father...is...is that you?"

Matthias Lehner looks at her and smiles saying, "Hi Celestine, I am you and Lunetha's father but only the remnants of his humanity."

She starts to back up in fear stammering, "Wh-Wh-What di-did he do, how are we seeing you now?"

He watches Twilight continue to unwrap the heart and sighs saying, "It started after he fed Sombra's soul to his sword, he was hurt by the Crystal Heart when he was forced out and I began to argue with him over his actions. As you can see now, he didn't like that very well. I am sorry but you and your subjects only have a brief time to prepare for when he attacks, he has returned to being a true monster."

Celestia stands up tall and proudly says, "We have faced many foes, we can stand against him and beat him once more."

Matthias shakes his head saying, "You have never faced the true monster that I was keeping in check, you aren't able to withstand the wickedness he will bring to bear against you and any others that breathe."

She then looks down at the object Twilight holds in her hands and says, "What is that...thing you are holding Twilight?" As Twilight finishes uncovering it, she watches as it beats slowly. Causing her to back up against the barrier, feeling disgust rise at seeing it and asks, "What is that thing, it is disgusting."

Twilight then looks up to her mentor with sadness in her eyes and says, "This...is Arthas's Heart...He threw this away like it was a hindrance to him. We must withstand his attacks and find a way to save Arthas by removing the darkness from his heart, we will need to wait for strong allies to show up to help us defeat Arthas at the top of Icecrown. In order to save him, we need to cleanse his heart, destroy his sword and get the helm off his head then return this to being inside his chest."

Matthias nods his head solemnly and says, "I am sorry I could not continue to keep his evil at bay, you shall experience firsthand what kind of monster he has became. So find your resolve and do what is necessary to protect your people from the Lich King, fight against him as long as you can. I assure you that help will come from those that beat him before, just keep them occupied for as long as you can while searching for a possible way to save him from his evil. If you are lucky, you will not have to kill him."

At the newly constructed portal in the Badlands with the Shen'dralar druid

Kalysse uses her travel form to race towards the active portal, seeing two alliance guards at the gate and shifts into her humanoid form shouting, "Scout coming through with an urgent report for the Alliance leaders in Azeroth, let me pass!"

The dwarf and human guards both nod their head as the dwarf says, "Head on through lass, what's goin' on?"

She stops for a moment and looks to both of them saying, "The Lich King Arthas Menethil has returned to being a monster, and will most likely begin attacking Azeroth once more in earnest." She then continues to sprint toward the portal as the guard's faces fill with shock and fear.

The dwarf gulps nervously and says, "Ah hope that he don't come here anytime soon, we stand no chance against him. Do ya have any family Bolen?"

Bolen nods his head as his hand trembles slightly and says, "Yes I do, a wife and son in Stormwind. How about you?"

The Dwarf nods and says, "Aye, a wife in Coldridge Valley. If that monster Arthas shows up, we'll both give him a bloody nose at least before we die."

Kalysse passes through the portal to see a fortress starting to take shape around the large portal, hearing a passing soldier calling out to her saying 'Halt!' and skids to a stop, then looks at the guard and shouts back, "I have an urgent report for Priestess Tyrande and the Alliance leaders of Azeroth, let me pass!"

The captain stops and asks, "What is your report elf?"

She sighs in annoyance and says, "The Lich King Arthas Menethil has returned to being a monster, so he may begin attacking Azeroth and come here. I must go now, for every living creature is in danger from that monster! Now let me pass!"

He quickly nods his head fearfully and says, "Very well, you may continue on your way elf." He then looks for a courier to send to request reinforcements and shouts to a young soldier, "You there, come here!"

The young female nods rushes over, then stands at attention and salutes saying, "Yes sir!"

The captain returns the salute and says, "Fly to Valiance Keep and tell them that reinforcements are requested at the Frozen Keep in Icecrown, the Lich King may come after Azeroth again. Now go! if there are no reinforcements available there, sail for Stormwind and ask King Varian for soldiers."

She nods and takes off for Valiance Keep thinking, 'I pray that the Lich King does not attack the portal, for we are all doomed if he does...'

The druid shifts to her flight form and flies quickly to Dalaran in hopes of using the portal there to return to Darnassus. Having to flap her wings for a long while to get up to the city, she reaches the city feeling exhausted already from flying from the Crystal Empire and having to use the portal in Dalaran to return to Darnassus.

After flying through the portal, she hurries towards the Temple of the Moon to find the priestess. She passes by the guards that give her curious looks, in too much of a hurry to inform what she just saw. She arrives at the Temple of the moon and runs towards the ramp as the guards block her path.

The first guard asks, "What brings you here, Shen'dralar?" eyeing the elf suspiciously while blocking her path with her glaive.

Kalysse breathes hard for a moment and answers, "Urgent report from Northrend, I have dire news that Priestess Tyrande needs to hear."

The guard studies the tired Shen'dralar and clicks her tongue saying, "Tch, go on ahead but do not expect any respect from the other guards."

She waits for the guard to move out of the way and continues running up the path to where the priestess is at, passing by the guards as they either scowl at her or glare at her. She reaches the top at last, breathing hard for a few seconds as she looks around the room for the priestess, finding her speaking to another night elf and jogs towards her. She stops a distance away and kneels saying, "Priestess Tyrande, I bring important news from Northrend regarding the Lich King!"

Tyrande's eyes widen with surprise at how out of breath the druid is and addresses everyone in the area around her waving her arm in a wide gesture saying, "Everyone clear the room, I must hear what this report is" She watches as they all head down the ramp and then looks back to the Shen'dralar druid and says, "Lift up your head and tell me what is going on that has you in such a state."

Kalysse takes a breath and says, "I followed Arthas Menethil around to keep an eye on what he was doing over there, the most disturbing thing that has me racing here to bring you a report is that I watched him cut out his own heart and cast it away. I waited for him to leave before I started to search for it, I then found it and carefully wrapped it in frostweave cloth, then hid it away. I fear what he may do now that he has so many soldiers at his command, what are we to do about this development Priestess Tyrande?"

She gasps and takes a step back in shock saying, "You actually saw him cut out his heart and throw it away? You didn't touch it with your bare hand did you?!"

The scout nods her head saying, "I did see him do it, right after he was forced out of an empire of crystal that showed up out of nowhere. I was scared to even look at it, even though it lay there in the trunk of a hollow tree...it continued to beat. I used frostweave cloth to pick it up, I then looked for a good place to hide it where none would find it. What do you wish for me to do priestess?"

Tyrande looks away in thought and says, "We must get to it before any others can, it is crucial in ending the Lich King's reign forever. Come with me, I will need you to take me to where you have hidden it." She then takes off running for the ramp as the scout follows after her. As they arrive outside of the temple, she whistles for her companion Ash'alah and looks to a nearby sentinel and says, "Find my handmaiden and have her come here immediately, then find a mage to create a portal for four of us to get to Dalaran. We search for something to use against the Lich King, if all goes well we will have something to use against him and end his reign for good."

Chapter 13A: Unexpected Developments (Alternate route)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 14: A change of fate

Priestess Tyrande waits for the mage to come when she spots a night elf hurrying toward her and asks, "Are you the mage I'm waiting for, or do you have a report to make?

The mage stops and bows in respect to the priestess, catching her breath and says, "I am the mage, Priestess. What is it that you need me to do?"

She looks at the mage and says with urgency in her voice, "I need you to open a portal to Dalaran, there is a recent development that calls for my immediate attention."

The mage nods her head and begins to cast a spell to open a portal there saying, "At once, Priestess."

In Dalaran a few minutes later

The group rides through the city to the flight point to take gryphons down to the surface, ignoring the curious looks that they get from passing adventurers on their own missions.

Tyrande stops and hops off her mount, making her way towards the flight master quickly and says, "I need four gryphons to take us down to the surface now, we have urgent matters to tend to."

The flight master nods and whistles for more gryphons, watching as three more come in and land nearby saying, "There ya go, Priestess, have a good day."

She tosses him a few coins for getting them gryphons so quickly and hops onto a gryphon, then looks to their mounts and says, "We shall call for you all when we return to the ground, see you soon." She then pulls the reins to turn the gryphon around and then kicks the gryphon lightly, causing it to take off as the others follow after her.

As they land on the ground near the portal in Icecrown, they whistle for their mounts that leap out of their shadows and land beside them.

Tyrande and the others get on their saber cats and head towards the portal, coming to a stop before the captain of the outpost saying, "We have urgent business beyond the portal, let us pass."

The captain nods his head saying, "Uhh...yeah...go right ahead Priestess Tyrande." and watches them continue on towards the portal and disappear through it.

As they reach the other side, they continue past the guards as Tyrande calls out to the druid saying, "Now lead us to where it is, we don't have time to waste."

The druid nods and says, "It is a fair distance from here, but we should get there by nightfall."

A few hours later, on their way to the Crystal Empire

Kalysse leads them north, spotting a town up on the side of a mountain when she hears a whistle from somewhere ahead of them. She scans the horizon for the source, on the lookout for any of the Lich King's soldiers when she sees the large object from before exiting a tunnel below the mountain city saying, "That looks like the object that was near where I hid it, shall we observe it to see where it stops Priestess?"

Tyrande looks at the object and says, "We came here to get the heart, not to see the sights, however, that would not be a bad idea. Let's go see where that object is heading, then we will continue to head north to get the heart."

The druid nods and leads them towards the train to follow it to its destination. As they start to near a town, she slows her saber and says, "We might stand out too much if we just head into the village, I will go check it out first and return."

The priestess nods her head saying, "That would be wise as we have not encountered the beings in this world yet, so we should be cautious. We shall find cover outside of the town and watch the object from there."

Kalysse hops off her mount and shifts into her flight form, then takes off towards the village. As she passes over the slowing object, it comes to a stop to allow some citizens to get off of it. Realizing that it is a transportation vehicle, she lands on the roof of a nearby building and sees the same group that were in the cold, snowy region where she buried the heart. She then heads to another building to watch where they go, overhearing their conversation.

Twilight dances happily saying, "I'm so happy that I passed my test, let's go to Sugarcube Corner! I'm treating you all to cupcakes because I passed!"

Fluttershy smiles and follows her, noticing a different animal that she doesn't know thinking, 'What a pretty animal, I should find it after we have a snack and celebrate together.'

The druid watches them as they head inside a building and then flies off the building thinking, 'Did that being actually notice me up here, I wonder if she could sense me there. If so, she is quite powerful to sense me from so far away.'

Tyrande sees the druid return to them and says, "Well, what did you learn?"

Kalysse shifts to her humanoid form and bows her head saying, "I learned that the object is a transportation vehicle, it appears to use rails to travel back and forth. A group of citizens appear to live in the area that were in the cold snowy lands up north where the heart is hidden, should we continue to watch them to see where they live exactly, Priestess?"

She thinks about it for a moment and nods her head saying, "It would be good to know where they can be found if we need to take action and get information from them. Go and continue to watch them, we will keep out of sight here."

The druid nods her head and shifts to her storm crow form, then flies back to watch the building she saw the ponies enter. As she lands on the lowest part of the roof, she gets comfortable not knowing how long they will be there.

Ten minutes later...

Fluttershy and the others say their goodbyes, then part ways as Rainbow flies off to her home. She then heads off to her own home, looking up at the building that the bird was on before but doesn't see it there now and continues heading towards her home saying,"I shall have to look for that strange bird another day after I take care of my animal friends."

Kalysse watches the butter-yellow creature make their way back home and becomes very curious to know what her connections to animals are, and decides to follow her home as the pink creature waves goodbye to each of the creatures before heading back inside.

As she gets to her home, she opens the door to see Angel tapping his foot on the floor in annoyance and giggles saying, "Alright then, I will feed you once the others are taken care of."

The druid watches curiously as the creature tends to her animals, figuring out that she must have a connection to them and thinks, 'I think that she would be the best chance we would have at getting information, I should head back and inform the Priestess of this.' and prepares to take off.

Fluttershy looks out the open top half of the door to see a strangely colored crow fly away, pausing for a moment to think, 'Perhaps if I just be patient and wait, that bird will come back and let me meet them.'

Kalysse returns to where the rest of the group is and shifts to her humanoid form and says, "I have found that one of them has a connection to animals, they would be our best bet for information if we are forced to make contact with them. Shall we return to our quest for the heart, Priestess?"

Tyrande nods her head saying, "At least coming here turned up a potential source of information, let's continue on and get it before that monster sends his soldiers to get his heart back."

She nods and gets back onto her saber and resumes their journey to the snowy lands of the north saying, "Very well Priestess, right this way."

Several hours later, in the cold lands of the snowy lands of the Crystal Empire

Kalysse hops off her saber and starts to look for the platform where she hid the heart, finding it quickly and calls out, "Here it is, I removed this board here and dug a hole with my bear form. I hid it inside the hole and then marked the end of the board, I made sure no one was around when I hid it."

Tyrande quickly approaches the platform and watches as the druid pries up one of the boards, then begins to search through a pile of loose dirt and asks, "Did you bury it that deep?"

She reaches the bottom of the hole and sighs saying, "No...I didn't Priestess, the heart...is not here. I don't know who would have known to look for it here..." She then sees several sets of fading tracks heading towards the platform and heads towards them saying, "Priestess, several creatures have passed by here, I think it might have been that group of creatures from that village because I saw them come here and protect the city over there from a dark creature. There was a vehicle sitting here when I buried the heart in this hole, and we saw that very same vehicle heading towards the village. Perhaps the ones who used the vehicle were on it and traveled there, what should we do Priestess Tyrande?"

The priestess sighs sadly that the heart isn't here and looks over at the pretty city behind them and says, "It looks like we need to make first contact, unfortunately, and get information from that possible source you found. Let's return to that village, we will have to possibly abduct and interrogate the source you found." She then heads back to her companion and rubs her hand against her neck saying, "I am thankful that you are always at my side when I need you most, Ash'alah."

Kalysse nods and returns to her saber, then says to her, "Sorry to have to push you so hard, but the world of the living is at risk now that the Lich King threw his heart away." She then turns her around and makes her way towards the village they found before.

Several hours after they leave the Crystal Empire

As they approach the sleeping village, they look up at the beautiful night sky as the druid asks, "May I have a chance to make first contact, Priestess? When I was watching the group the first time, there was one that seemed to notice me. When I watched them the second time, I followed them to where they lived and they seemed to have a connection with animals. I might have a good idea of how to approach them peacefully without causing much trouble, may I give it a try?"

Tyrande thinks for a moment and nods her head saying, "It would be great if we could start out on good terms with these creatures, so go ahead and try it. If it doesn't go well, just incapacitate them and we will interrogate them in an isolated area."

She nods and heads to a group of bushes that are a little east of the village to avoid raising any alarms, then hops off her mount. She then shifts to her flight form and takes off towards where the one creature lives, hoping to make peaceful first contact with the beings here in this world.

As Kalysse lands near the door, she walks towards it and pecks it with her beak hard in attempt to get the one inside to notice and come out.

Angel hears an annoying pecking at the front door and frowns unhappily while thinking, 'It better be an emergency to be knocking at a door in the middle of the night like this! Some ponies have no respect at all for those who should be asleep at this hour!' He then makes his way towards Fluttershy's room and hops up onto her bed, then thumps his foot at the end of her bed to wake her up.

Fluttershy wakes up with a start, she looks at Angel and smiles asking, "What's the matter, did you have nightmares again Angel?"

He shakes his head and points towards the door, then knocks on the bedpost to inform her that someone is knocking on the door.

She tilts her head asking, "There is someone at the door, at this hour of the night? This is most irregular, I will go check it out. Somepony or some creature might be hurt and needs help." and then yawns, rising up from her warm bed to see who is at the door. When she gets to the door, she reaches for the latch on the top half of the door and unfastens it. She then pulls the top door open and looks outside, seeing nopony around. She hears a pecking at the bottom door and looks down, wiping her arm across her tired eyes to see a large crow looking up at her and says, "Hello there pretty bird, is there something wrong that you need my help with?"

Kalysse shakes her head side to side and softly squawks, "Hello. Sorry...to wake...so late."

Fluttershy gasps and smiles saying, "Oh you can sort of talk, that will make it easier to understand what you need from me. It is okay, if anypony or anycreature needs my help then I am happy to assist them."

The druid faintly smiles back, finding it very difficult with her beak and flies up to a post and lands upon it then replies, "Yes...talk...some. You follow? Talk...quiet place?"

She looks at the animals laying around in their places around her home and then heads outside, closing the door behind her and nods softly saying, "That would be wise because there are others here that are trying to sleep." with a smile on her face.

Kalysse nods and hovers in the air, then flies around in a circle to lead her to a quiet place where they won't disturb anyone still asleep at this hour. She leads her to a spot a little distance away from where the others are hidden and lands upon the top of a large rock, then waits for the creature to land near her.

Fluttershy lands a short distance away and walks closer asking, "Okay we are here, what is it that you want to talk about pretty crow?"

The druid looks around for any other creatures around and doesn't see anything and squawks, "No...fear...me. I...not hurt...you. Just...have...questions."

She looks at the creature curiously and says, "Oh I am not afraid of you, you seem really kind like me. What questions do you have?"

Kalysse takes a breath and squawks, "Keep...calm." and then shifts into her humanoid form, taking a seat on the rock and crossing her ankles and says in a gentle feminine voice, "Ishnu-alah, I am Kalysse and I am a night elf druid, and I am also a member of the Cenarion Circle. Who and what are you?"

Fluttershy's mouth falls open in shock to see a tall, pale, medium blue-skinned creature with thin ears longer than hers, silver objects in both of her ears, her violet hair in a long ponytail going over her right shoulder with glowing light blue eyes and short, well-trimmed eyebrows extending from above her eyes a short ways. She also has no scars on her face, but has two red tattoos that look like lightning bolts over each eye running down her long narrow face with an uplifted smile. Wearing a long silver chain with a silver pendant and a violet jewel matching her hair color around her neck, she wears an outfit seemingly made from an animal coat, covering her chest but exposing her midsection. Her skirt ends just around her knees, made of the same material. Her shoes reveal that she has feet somewhat similar to a dragon, but without scales and the sharp claws at the end of each toe. She remembers that she asked her something and hides behind her mane, closing her mouth, and quieting her voice saying, "My name is Fluttershy, and I am a pony.

The druid smiles and says, "Awe, don't be so shy Fluttershy, I mean you no harm. After all, we both have a love for animals and nature. I also have a friend that is an animal, she is a saber cat named Falysse. She has kept me safe from those that wished me harm. Would you like to meet her?"

She comes out of her shell a little bit and turns her head, asking nervously, "I-Is she nice?"

Kalysse giggles lightly and nods her head saying, "Oh of course she is, she is also quite affectionate."

Fluttershy faintly smiles and nods her head softly saying, "I would like to meet her, is she nearby?"

The druid places a couple fingers into her mouth and whistles for her companion saying, "Falysse, come over here and say hello please."

Falysse trots over to her caretaker, rubbing her large head and neck against her leg in greeting as she purrs.

She sees the large cat having silverish grey fur with black spots and blue eyes, making her smile become much wider as she comes out of her shell completely and says, "Awwe, what a big, beautiful cat!"

The loveable cat spots the one that just spoke, finding her small and adorable then pounces at her.

Fluttershy lets out an eep as she is taken to the ground, giggling as the large cat starts to lick her face while purring loudly.

Kalysse giggles at the display of affection her frost saber is showing to Fluttershy saying, "Awe, how cute, she likes you."

She giggles with delight as the cat lays beside her, looking up at the tall night elf and asks, "Where are you from. I have never seen a night elf before."

The druid nods her head and says, "Well I am not from here, I am from a world called Azeroth. My homeland is a continent called Kalimdor, I come from a place called Feralas."

Fluttershy gasps and looks up at her in shock saying, "The Lich King Arthas Menethil is from your world, a-are you friends with him?"

The druid narrows her eyes at the thought of being friends with that monster and shakes her head saying harshly, "Of course not, he is a cold-blooded murderer who has only hatred for those that won't side with him. His only friends are the slaves he raises when someone dies, he delights in the pain he can inflict on others."

She lowers her ears at angering her and says softly, "O-Oh...sorry for angering you. Wha-What questions did you want to ask me? What is the Cenarion Circle you mentioned?"

Kalysse sighs and calms herself down then says, "The Cenarion Circle is a group of druids like myself whose duty is to protect and maintain the balance of nature, and it is composed of night elves, as well as several other races on Azeroth meaning night elves like myself.I am not angry at you, but the Lich King made an enemy out of nearly every living race on Azeroth meaning. I am surprised that this world is still untouched by his vile presence, speaking of the Lich King... Good work on keeping him out of that city, by the way. What I wanted to know is that did anyone in your group find something unusual there?"

Fluttershy thinks about what she said and sighs at how the Lich King has no friends at all and then answers her, "Well there was a ghost there named Matthias Lehner that said we needed to find something to have a better chance of defeating somepony, after some searching, we found something scary. Why are you looking for it, were you the one that found and hid it there?"

The druid's eyes widen and she asks, "Yes, did any of you touch the item itself?!" She then looks over to the bushes and waves the others over saying, "The priestess will want to speak to you, be very respectful to her because she leads the Night Elves."

She gulps and hears several footsteps coming their way, seeing a large white cat making its way toward them silently as another tall night elf walks forward wearing a long, white dress with a circlet around her forehead, glowing blue eyes and long bluish-green hair in twin braids that come over either shoulder. As she comes closer, she can see that she has a light lavender skin and very long, thin ears that stick far behind her head.

Kalysse looks at her speechless face and hops off the rock, landing silently on the ground in a kneeling position and lightly places a hand on Fluttershy's shoulder and asks, "Fluttershy, did any of you touch what was in the cloth?"

Fluttershy turns to look at Kalysse's face, her glowing blue eyes filled with worry and shakes her head saying, "N-No we didn't, my friend held the heart but listened to Matthias's warnings and only touched the cloth it was wrapped in. W-Why do you want to know about it so badly?"

The druid looks to the priestess standing a short distance away and says, "Priestess Tyrande, fortune favors our search. She and her friends did indeed find the Lich King's frozen heart, but did not actually touch it thankfully. This is Fluttershy, and she is a pony. I must warn you that she has a very shy nature, so it would be best to treat her as gently as you can."

Tyrande then kneels onto the grass and looks at the scout saying, "Thank you for letting me know, I will try to be as gentle as I can though this is an urgent matter that we need to deal with right away so I can return to the needs of my home and its people." She then turns her gaze to the timid pony and takes a breath saying, "Ishnu'alah, I am Priestess Tyrande. Can you tell us where the heart of the Lich King is right now? It is very important that it remains in a safe place and out of his hands, that is a very important weakness that can increase the chances to defeat him and send him out of your world."

She fidgets nervously and hides behind her mane a little but softly says, "I think that my friend might still have it if she didn't give it to the princesses..."

The priestess looks at her with a smile on her face and gently asks, "Do you think that you could go find her and bring her here?"

Fluttershy stammers a little and glances up at her behind her mane saying, "U-Uhm...I could, but it is rather late and she had a long day."

Tyrande sighs and says, "It is really important that we know, could you please bring her friend here?"

She sighs and nods her head slowly saying, "I can try, but she won't be in a good mood because of the late hour. I will be back, with her or her answer." She then gets up off the ground and makes her way toward's Twilight's home, really not wanting to disturb her peaceful slumber.

At Twilight's house in Ponyville Library, a few minutes later

Twilight is asleep in her bed, having disturbing dreams about what she and Princess Celestia were shown by Matthias. She turns over as she has yet another dream, seeing herself at the top of Icecrown Citadel amidst a raging battle alongside several others when everypony gets frozen in a block of ice. Arthas walks up to her and grabs her by the throat and lifts her up off the floor saying in a deep, threatening voice, "You cannot save me, so stop trying so desperately. Your resolve is weak, leaving you unable to act while I slowly kill everything around you...starting with your friends."

Arthas holds her in the air and walks towards Applejack, pulling Frostmourne back and swinging it down and to the left. He chuckles as he watches the ice shatter, causing her body to fall in two halves as her soul leaves her body and flows into the sword.

She watches as tears stream from her face as her friends are killed one by one, with Fluttershy being stabbed through the chest. She sees Fluttershy's eyes open and emit a glowing blue light as cold mist slowly drifts off of them screaming, "NO! STOP IT, DON'T DO THAT TO MY FRIENDS!"

He turns back to her and gets closer to her saying, "What are you going to do to stop me!? You lack the strength to do what is necessary and just watch as your friends fall like flies!" He then raises his two daughters up from death to serve him and says with an evil chuckle, "Now...it is your turn to join them. We shall rule over this world in death and you will be my queen, we will create and raise so many monsters together...my love." He then kisses her lips as the tip of his sword pierces her chest, causing her to writhe out in pain as she feels her soul being sucked out of her body by the sword.

Twilight breaks the kiss as her eyes begin to glow blue and start to emit blue smoke from them and says in a loving tone, "Yes my love, we will have a large family and welcome this world with the friendship of undeath..."

Fluttershy shakes Twilight violently as she writhes and screams on the bed yelling, "Twilight! WAKE UP, IT'S ONLY A NIGHTMARE!"

She feels herself being shaken and grabs them by the throat, thinking that it is Arthas shaking her and shouts, "I will not let you hurt my friends!" She then pushes them onto their back and gets on top of them, raising her fist to punch them in the face when she realizes it is Fluttershy. She is rapidly waving her hands in front of her face, pleading for her to snap out of it. As reality sinks in that it was just a dream, she then feels tears of joy start to fall from her face and wraps her arms around her friend tightly saying, "Y-You're alright...you're alright."

The shy pony hugs her friend back, ignoring the pain of her really strong hug and says hoarsely, "There there Twilight, it was only a bad dream. C-Could you perhaps ease up on your grip? You're hurting me."

Twilight continues to hug her and sobs saying, "It was the worst nightmare I have ever had...EVER! We faced him with a large group of soldiers and we still lost, and everypony died. What's worse...is that he raised you, Celestia, and Luna to serve him. After he raise you three, he then kissed me saying that we would rule over the world in death and I would be his queen. He also said that we would create and raise many monsters together and then killed me. When he raised me, I stopped kissing hi and said that we will have a large family and welcome this world with the friendship of undeath!" She then sobs harder and cries saying, "Oh I am so glad that it was only a terrible dream, I wouldn't want to live in a world like that!"

Fluttershy sighs and caresses the back of Twilight's head saying, "I'm here Twilight, it was just a dream. We won't let that happen, we will find a way to save all of Equis. Now dry your tears Twilight, there is somepony important that wishes to meet you."

She relaxes her death grip on Fluttershy and looks up at her curiously then asks, "R-Really? Who could it be at this late hour?"

The shy pony rises to her hooves and smiles at her saying, "You will have to see that for yourself, they are quite unique. Now come on, they are waiting for us just outside of town." She then makes her way to the front door and smiles saying, "You may want to bring some paper to write on, this might be an important first meeting."

Twilight cocks her head in confusion as she looks at a worried Spike standing beside her bad and says, "Sorry to wake you Spike, you can go back to bed." She watches as he nods sleepily and returns to his bed, then gets off of her own bed and stands on the floor in her silk nightwear. Unaware of how she is dressed, she hurriedly grabs her backpack, some paper, a couple of quills, and inkwells. She then remembers about the heart, seeing it right next to where she was lying on the bed, still wrapped in the frostweave cloth. Realizing she must have subconsciously grabbed the heart sometime in the night and sighs, not sure what to do about her warring emotions over what Arthas did. She then puts it in her bag as well then hurries out the door after Fluttershy as her mane trails behind her.

Fluttershy leads Twilight to where they wait and sees four pairs of glowing blue eyes looking at them and says, "Get ready to meet some unusual beings Twilight, because they are also from Azeroth. Maybe they could tell you more about Arthas, or a possible way to save him?"

Twilight smiles at the possibility of learning more about Arthas and says, "Oh, do you really think so Fluttershy?!" She then frowns at how someone he trusted the most betrayed him and continues, "It would be so great to get more information about his past as well as his relationship with Jaina, as well as why things happened the way they did."

Priestess Tyrande waits for the two ponies to get closer and says, "Ishnu'alah, I am known as Priestess Tyrande and I lead the night elves alongside my husband, the druid next to me with the red blade tattoos over both her eyes is Kalysse. What is your name little pony?"

She stands stock-still as Fluttershy lies down beside her, taking in the beings that are before her and asks, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, it is nice to meet you. Y-You're from Azeroth, like Arthas?"

The leader nods her head and sighs saying, "All four of us night elves are, we come from a continent called Kalimdor. We are on an important journey here to find something that belongs to the evil Lich King, Kalysse informed me that the object she buried was found by you. I hope that you still have it, that is very important and will help lead the Lich King to his defeat."

Twilight pulls her bag off her back and sets it down before her and holds it close saying, "I still have it...Matthias says I should never let it leave my side. I am hoping that there might be a way to remove the darkness that is tainting his heart. Would you have any idea about how to accomplish such a thing, Priestess Tyrande?"

Tyrande sighs in relief at her still having his heart and says, "Unfortunately, I am among those who do not care if he is saved or if he should die. His evil nature is an affront to all life, and both our worlds would be much better places if he were dead."

She hangs her head a little and lays her ears back slightly, feeling slightly depressed about her offering no opinion on the matter. Determined to make the most of this meeting, she then asks, "Do you know much about Arthas past life in Azeroth, priestess?"

The priestess sighs and says, "All I know is what everyone else knows in Azeroth...That he was the crown prince of Lordaeron, who turned to dark forces in a desperate attempt to save his nation's people from the undead that were threatening them. The dark forces then led him to murder his own father, then he proceeded to destroy the rest of the kingdom. After that, he became the Lich King and began to wage war on the living a few years after that."

Twilight frowns and says, "Well, that is more than what I knew...would you by chance know anything about a certain Jaina that was close to Arthas?"

Tyrande thinks for a moment softly saying, "Jaina...Jaina...it sounds familiar, but why is that name familiar..." She looks off to the side and searches her memory, tapping one of her fingernails against her cheek in thought and asks, "You wouldn't happen to have a description of who the name belongs to, would you?"

She then nods her head hopefully and says, "I do, she is human with light tan skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. She also has a staff that has brass strands coming out in a spiral with blue gems or crystals at the tips of each strand at the top of the staff, there also was a large blue crystal floating at the top between the spiraling strands. That is all I could see from the visions that Matthias shared with me, is that any help Priestess Tyrande?"

The priestess remembers who she is describing and says, "It appears you are describing Jaina Proudmoore, the only thing that I could tell you is that she and an orc named Thrall helped us fight off the Burning Legion that had minions of the undead scourge backing them."

Twilight then asks, "How long ago was this, was Arthas a part of it? What is the Burning Legion, I have never heard of it before? And who is Thrall?"

Tyrande tenses slightly and thinks of a way to describe the near-infinite army and says, "It was eleven years ago on Azeroth when the Burning Legion came to Azeroth the second time, and was before Arthas became the Lich King. Thrall is a talented orc shaman who led the Horde at the time, though he stepped down as Warchief a few months ago before the cataclysm happened when Deathwing escaped from Deepholm. The Burning Legion is a vast army of demons with nearly infinite numbers that has destroyed countless worlds in their crusade to extinguish all life in the Twisting Nether." She watches as Twilight uses her magic to pull out a large stack of papers, followed by an inkwell and a quill. Her horn then lights up and surrounds the quill with a magic aura, making it begin writing something down and asks, "What is it that you are doing, curious Twilight?"

She then smiles sheepishly and says, "Sorry, I tend to take notes about new things I hear and find fascinating. Please forgive my curiosity, but we know next to nothing about your world." Her horn stops channeling magic as she finishes enchanting the quill to write down the information onto the stack of paper and asks with wide eyes, "How is this possible, Arthas has been in our world for about 1,500 years?! What is Deepholm, and the Twisting Nether?"

The priestess finds her reaction surprising and forces a smile then answers, "About 3 years ago, when the Lich King was defeated...I heard that a spell was used and banished Arthas from Azeroth, taking Icecrown Citadel with it. The spell apparently sent him back in time to another world which we later learned was yours. Deepholm is the Elemental Plane of Earth in Azeroth, I am one of the few that remember that Deathwing used to go by another name...Neltharion, and he was the Aspect of Earth as well as the leader of the Black Dragonflight, charged to protect Azeroth alongside the other Dragon Aspects. Unfortunately, he was corrupted by the old gods and started referring to himself as the Aspect of Death. So now some of the races of our world are working to stop Deathwing's attempt at destroying everything on Azeroth. The Twisting Nether is the vast expanse where many planets like yours reside."

Twilight worries a little and asks, "Umm, do you think that the Burning Legion will come after our world? Also, do you know if Deathwing will try to attack us as well?"

Tyrande sighs and answers, "Unfortunately, they might, though currently, they are focusing on Azeroth at the moment because they have made two successful invasions that were repelled and another attempt was made but it was stopped before it could complete. As for Deathwing attacking your world...well...it is most likely that he will if he learns of the portal, succeeds in destroying Azeroth, and locates the portal. I would recommend not worrying about it that much because the citizens of Azeroth will not let him destroy their world without a fight."

She thinks for a moment and says, "I need to inform Princess Celestia of these potential threats, would you please join me at my home so that we can continue talking? I have so many questions about Azeroth, and you are the second being I met from there that actually answers the questions I have and doesn't talk endlessly about Titans and their relics."

The priestess thinks about it for a moment before smiling and nodding her head saying, "I wouldn't mind spending a little time in your company, you have not been hostile in any way towards me or my escorts. I see no harm in telling you more about where we come from. Perhaps you could show the heart to us? we have never seen it before but have heard about it from an adventurer that unfortunately touched it."

Twilight nods her head and says, "Alright then, please follow me to my home Priestess Tyrande." She then uses her magic to put the stack of papers, quill and inkwell back into her bag then stands up. She then picks her bag up and returns it to her back, illuminating her horn and turns around, then starts heading for her home.

A few minutes later, close to Twilight's house in Ponyville

Tyrande and the others look around at the quiet town and says, "It is not wise to leave your town unprotected at night, or you may come under attack."

She sees her home in the distance and answers, "Normally the towns and cities in Equestria don't need to be guarded because it is very peaceful...usually. Every once in awhile, something will happen in or around Ponyville, however, with Arthas now without his humanity...Equestria and this whole world is in danger from his vast army of solders he just received. Is there any way that we could get help in dealing with him and his army from the races of Azeroth?"

The priestess sighs and says, "Unfortunately, most races have their hands full with dealing with Deathwing and the evil cult that is led by him, called the Twilight's Hammer."

Twilight sighs at hearing that and asks hopefully, "What about those that defeated him the first time, can they help?"

Tyrande shakes her head saying, "The Alliance and the Horde could...but not for free. There are neutral parties that just might assist you, but will need time to deal with the current issues that have came up. My people are busy now trying to make room to house the Gilneans that have lost their land to the cataclysm and the invading Forsaken."

She gets curious and then asks, "When was the first time the Burning Legion attacked Azeroth?"

The priestess thinks about it for a moment and says, "It has been about ten thousand years since they first invaded Azeroth, I fought in it after all."

Twilight freezes in her tracks as the last bit of information causes her eyes to go wide with surprise, then slowly turns her head around to look behind her and quietly asks, "I-I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I must have heard you wrong."

Tyrande smirks at how her face looks and says, "You didn't hear me wrong, because I fought in the War of the Ancients that was about ten thousand years ago."

She blinks a few times, not believing what she heard, and asks, "T-There's no way that you could be that age and look so young...unless......you are immortal."

The priestess briefly chuckles and nods her head saying, "We were...until the battle at the world tree in Mount Hyjal."

Twilight then asks, "Sorry to be rude, but exactly how long have you been around Priestess Tyrande?"

Tyrande looks at her softly then says, "Thank you for trying to be polite, unfortunately, I have lost track of how long I have been around but I know that I am over ten thousand years old."

The gears in Twilight's shock-frozen mind slowly start functioning as she then gasps and says, "Wow, you have been around for much longer than the two princesses have. As far as I know they have been around for only about one thousand years, give or take a few centuries or decades."

She then smiles and nods her head saying, "They are children when compared to my years. Would you care telling me about how you came across the heart?"

Twilight continues on towards her home and gestures for them to continue following her saying, "Of course not, let's go inside so that I can tell you what happened a few days ago." She then opens the door and holds it open for her guests saying, "It may be a little small in here for you all, and I apologize for that in advance."

Tyrande smiles and ducks down to enter the dwelling, looking around curiously and says, "So you live in a tree as well, the one thing that I find most interesting about this tree is that it was assisted in growing with magic."

She smiles and looks around as the others make their way inside saying, "I am not sure who was responsible for growing this tree, but I would like to find out someday." She makes her way to one side of the room and sits down saying, "I am sorry I don't have chairs for any of you, but let me begin telling you what happened a few days ago..."

Chapter 15: When knowledge opens new doors

Author's Note

This chapter and story would not have been possible or as good without my co-writer and friend Xarmar's help in providing much-needed information.

Chapter 15: When knowledge opens new doors

Presently, at Torghast inside The Maw

Zovaal is trapped in his fortress, watching the events occur through the helm. Absolutely furious at how his plans were derailed by the mortals, finally seeing a chance to take action and get his plans back on track while venting out his anger on the inhabitants of the world where Icecrown Citadel was banished to. He grins evilly and chuckles, saying, "Looks like I get to have a little fun after all..." He takes control of Arthas's body after throwing his heart away, then summons his steed and rides back to Icecrown to think of what to do next.

Arthas' body sits atop his throne, unoccupied as Zovaal controls it and looks down at Frostmourne resting against the throne, then reaches down and picks it up. Zovaal glares at the sword and focuses on the souls trapped within it, singling out one soul in particular and telepathically shouts, "ARTHAS, YOU INSUFFERABLE FAILURE!!! I HAVE TO PUT MY PLANS ON HOLD BECAUSE OF WHAT THOSE WRETCHED MORTALS DID!" He calms himself down a little and chuckles sadistically thinking, 'But I should also thank those mortals for introducing a new world for me to make plans for once I'm finished with Azeroth.'

He looks up from the sword at the world around Arthas and smiles saying, "This world is so young and full of life, it won't take nearly as much work to prepare this world..."

In the throne room inside the castle in Canterlot

Luna sits upon the throne, lost in thoughts about the troubling news she got from her sister several hours ago about what happened in the Crystal Empire. She lets out a sad sigh and decides to spend the rest of the night patrolling the Dream Realm, getting herself comfortable to shift her consciousness over.

As she shifts over to the Dream Realm, she senses some pony having a nightmare and makes her way towards their dream.

Celestia tosses and turns in her bed as she has a nightmare about Equestria being ruled by her father. She sits up and gasps after she saw him raise her sister into his service and cries out, "NO! NOT MY SISTER!"

She sobs at realizing it was just a nightmare and shakes her head, then lies back down to return to sleep. As she closes her eyes and drifts off, she opens her eyes and looks around to find herself in a cage. She looks around the area that is somewhat familiar and yet very strange to her, she then tries to use her magic to get out of the cage but nothing happens. She becomes worried and raises her hands to feel the horn on her forehead, seeing that she is in heavy metal chains. She continues to reach up to feel her horn, only to cause her to become more afraid as she only feels a stump where it used to be.

A chuckle catches Celestia's attention as she looks for where it came from when the voice all-too-familiar speaks, "Well well, it appears that my mentor has finally decided to wake up my love. What shall we do with her today?"

Celestia gasps as her eyes land on her prized student Twilight, having a very different appearance now. Her mane is a deep purple, her coat is pitch black and appears to be decomposing in some places. The worst thing that she sees about her is that her eyes glow a bright blue and emit a blue mist and asks, "Wha...What happened to you Twilight, why do you look like that?"

Nightmare Twilight looks and smiles at her former mentor's scrawny frame then answers, "Did you forget already, silly pony? Hey, I look damn sexy compared to the others who were struck by the plague. My husband defeated you and your sister at Canterlot five years ago, you did your best to save the surviving ponies. Unfortunately for you, the citizens were already infected with the plague and your sister was torn in half by Sindy. When you saw her body like that, you transformed and attacked her with all your power. You didn't pay attention and lost your horn to my dear's lovely blade, your wings followed shortly after and you fell from the sky. I found you unconscious in an alley of pony corpses, then brought you to Ponyville after the new citadel was built. You were catatonic for 3 years until I forced you to watch me give birth, and your first words to me about my child were, "What an abomination, just like its horse of a mother." She then narrows her eyes and stomps up to her, then gathers saliva in her mouth and spits on her face saying, "I am lucky enough to have a chance to bear a child for my beloved Arthas, you however, will never have that chance after my new mentor, Professor Putricide is finished with you. He has taught me many things about a pony's body..."

Luna enters the dream of her sister and wonders what the nightmare is about and watches curiously for a moment, waiting for when it becomes too much.

She stares at Twilight in shock and horror as her mind reels at what she just heard when she hears heavy booted footsteps coming her way, turning her head to look at who she instinctually knows to be her father's and shrinks in size a little, nervously saying, "Papa...did......did I disappoint you?" Her eyes land on a heavy metal boot stopping before the light and travel up the towering form of her father as he comes to stand beside Twilight.

Nightmare Arthas looks down at his daughter and chuckles saying, "Not as big of a disappointment as your sister was, she is part of my new abomination now. You are still a failure in my eyes, you couldn't protect your own beloved ponies from me......though you never really had a chance once I destroyed the two hopes you had in ever beating me. Now all of Equestria belongs...to me!" He then looks to his wife and says, "I have subjects in need of my guidance on how to be good slaves...do what you wish to that miserable failure." He then looks back over his shoulder and says with venom in his voice, "She's been dead to me since she failed her kingdom..." and then walks away out of the hall.

Twilight walks a little closer with a cruel smile on her face and caresses her abdomen saying, "You would have made a wonderful mother once, but I shall bear your children for you. I will have to talk to my mentor about getting a body upgrade to allow multiple pregnancies at the same time, he will be so glad to hear my request when I tell him to harvest the parts that make you a mare..."

Celestia's eyes tremble and dart around wildly as she starts to scream out in terror and starts to shrink even further, repeatedly screaming, "NO!!!!"

Luna has had and heard enough of this nightmare and stomps her hoof shouting, "ENOUGH NIGHTMARE, BEGONE! Trouble my sister no more."

She stops screaming once she sees the hall vanish into a black mist and quickly looks over to her sister, desperation filling her eyes as tears stream down her face. Wanting to desperately hug her sister, she scrambles to her hooves and races over to her and tackle-hugs her saying, "Oh Lulu! It is really you...you saved me from that horrid nightmare, thank you!"

The lunar princess pats her sister on the back lovingly and sighs saying, "I am sorry I couldn't come sooner, but you woke up when I reached your dream."

Celestia sobs as she holds her sister tightly and nuzzles into her while she returns to her normal size when she is startled awake by a familiar pop indicating that there is a new message from Spike.

Luna is thrown out of the dream roughly by her sudden awakening and hits the Dream Realm's corridor wall hard saying, "OOF... It always hurts when they are startled from their slumber like that. I wonder what caused my sister to wake so suddenly, I shall have to go investigate once my patrol of the dream realm is over."

The solar princess groans in annoyance at the late hour Twilight had Spike send the letter, then sits up in her see-through golden yellow lace night dress and turns the crystal lamp on. She then scans the room for the offending parchment. Finding it a few moments later just off the edge of the bed, she leans over the edge and reaches out to grab it.

Celestia grabs the scroll and sits back up, breaking the seal on it. Opening the scroll, she begins to read it quietly, wondering what is so urgent that makes Twilight send a letter this late at night.

The lunar princess searches for another nightmare to deal with when she hears someone calling her name and transfers her consciousness back to her body, slowly opening her eyes as she sits on the throne to see her sister standing before her in a golden yellow lace night dress with an opened scroll clutched in her hand and says, "What is the matter Celly, what causes you to be up at this hour and not properly dressed?" She starts to worry a little and asks, "Is father attacking Equestria?!"

She shakes her head no and blushes lightly at her sister's admonishing her for her lack of proper clothing, then says, "No Lulu, we have visitors from father's world over at Twilight's. Come with me so we can go find out why they are here." She then grabs her sister's hand and starts to walk out of the room.

Luna is pulled from the throne by her sister and tries to keep up with her quick walk, seeing how little she is actually wearing and frantically says, "Can you at least put some under clothing on under that dress before we go see foreign dignitaries?!"

Celestia continues on her way, not caring about how she is dressed and says, "There's no time for that and I want to know why they are here and what they know about where our father came from!"

At Twilight's home in Ponyville

Tyrande looks at Twilight warily and crosses her arms saying, "Forgive me if I don't take your word that Arthas's daughters are nothing like their father, the proof lies within seeing it for yourself."

Twilight sighs and nods her head saying, "But I can promise you that they are not evil." Wanting to change the subject and satisfy her thirst for knowledge, she asks, "Would you mind telling me more about yourselves? What is a druid and do you each have magic that you specialize in?"

She smiles softly at how curious the pony is and nods her head answering, "Yes, we do have magic unique to us all. We are all Night Elves, but we each have our own special roles in life." She then takes a moment before deciding to inform her of the many kinds of adventurers are in Azeroth and says, "Let me first tell you about the adventurers in Azeroth, they all wander the world to perform tasks for various beings. There are three roles that a person's abilities fall into which are, those that draw the enemy's attention from the others, healer, or causing damage to the enemy. A healer is responsible for healing those injured so that they can continue to help bring down the foe, a good healer must be quick to react and keep their nerves steady or they will not be as effective in the fight and cost the lives of the whole group. Adventurers also talk about there being sub-roles in a fight where certain classes suit better situations, but that can be explained by one of them that has the time. There are also many classes and different races of beings out there, so I will tell you what the first one is."

Celestia and Luna arrive outside of Twilight's library and hear talking inside, then head right on inside to introduce themselves. Only to close the door behind them and watch as Twilight holds a quill in her magic, furiously scribbling down information as Spike continues to snore softly. Celestia fights a giggle seeing how much of a thirst Twilight has for knowledge as she takes in the strange appearance of her otherworldly guests, nodding her head to acknowledge them respectfully before holding a finger to her lips.

Tyrande then pauses for a moment as she looks at the new arrivals, nodding her head as one of them quietly asks her to not mention their arrival. They then motion for her to continue what she was doing and watches as Twilight pulls over a fresh stack of paper and another inkwell, then nods her head to her and continues, "A Warrior keeps the foes attention while dealing damage, their rage grows as they take damage and they use that rage to attack their enemies. As long as there has been war, there are heroes from many races that aim to master the art of battle. They are masters of various weapons and use different styles to suit their own preferences for offense and defense."

She pauses for a moment before continuing, "A Paladin is another versatile role, they are protectors of the innocent and are among the first line of defense in any fight. They wield the power of the holy light to heal wounds, protect allies and smite the wicked. I have heard from an adventurer that Arthas Menethil used to be a Paladin before he turned to the darkness."

Twilight hears two gasps and one 'oh my' but pays no mind to it and asks, "I would like to know why he turned evil..." She then shakes her head and says, "Sorry for interrupting you, please continue Priestess Tyrande."

She looks up at the two visitors and then says, "It would be rude to continue on when you have new guests."

The young pony cocks her head curiously saying, "Hmm?" then turns her head to see Princess Luna wearing a long, black silk dress with her crown on her head and Princess Celestia wearing a rather revealing golden yellow golden night dress with a black bra and underwear, causing her to hastily bow to her saying, "Oh hello Princess Celestia, I'm sorry for waking you at this hour. I just thought that you might like the opportunity to meet with the leader of the Night Elves from Kalimdor in Azeroth. Sadly, they don't know much more than we do about Arthas, but they do know a lot more about the state of things where he came from. Please allow me to introduce you..." She then turns to look at the group of night elves and outstretches her fingers with her palm upwards, gesturing at the leader first saying, "This is Priestess Tyrande, she is the leader of the Night Elves." She then moves her hand towards the druid and says, "The one over there with the red blade tattoos over each eye is Kalysse." She then gestures to the last Night Elf and pauses for a moment to think, saying, "Unfortunately I didn't get your name. Would you mind introducing yourself?"

The Night Elf mage smiles softly and nods her head saying, "Ishnu-Alah, my name is Kaylara, and I am a mage, however, I am just here as an aid for the Priestess. There is no need to pay much attention to me."

Celestia clears her throat gently and introduces herself saying, "Greetings to you all, my name is Princess Celestia and I am the co-ruler of Equestria alongside my sister Luna."

Luna then steps out behind her sister and introduces herself saying, "Greetings everyone, my name is Princess Luna and I rule Equestria beside my sister Celestia. I take over for my sister at night while she watches over the citizens during the day." She then remembers that it is night and sighs saying, "Unfortunately I won't be able to take part in the meeting because I need to return to my nightly duties." She then looks to her sister and says, "Please let me know when it is time to return to Canterlot sister."

Priestess Tyrande nods her head as the dark blue princess heads to the side of the room and sits down onto the floor, carefully bringing her legs underneath her body. She then looks to Princess Celestia and looks at her outfit and sees an image of a sun on her rear underneath the lace, finding it strange to have a tattoo in such a place, and smiles asking, "Do you have any questions to ask me about Azeroth?" She then senses that the darker-colored princess has a familiar magic that is similar to hers and turns to look at her for a moment before returning her gaze to Celestia.

The solar princess watches Luna as she focuses on shifting over to the dream realm, noticing the curious look that the Night Elf leader had when looking at her sister and answers her, "I do have questions, but they can wait until we hear more about your world. Would you mind continuing where you left off, Priestess Tyrande?"

She nods her head politely and says, "Very well, I left off with telling you about the Paladins. They channel a force called the Holy Light to bring their foes down. Then we have Hunters that prefer being in harsh environments to being around cities and towns, they are the master of whatever environment they may be in and can tame nearly any beast to become their companion and help them face foes. They are damage dealers that use their focus to attack their enemies." She then looks to Twilight and asks, "Do you have anything to drink?"

Twilight nods and puts the quill down, then hurries off to the kitchen and asks, "Would you like some water, tea, milk, or orange juice Priestess?"

Tyrande thinks for a brief moment before saying, "I will just have water for right now, thank you."

She quickly gets her a glass and fills it with water, then takes it over to her and holds it out towards her with her hand saying, "Here you go Priestess."

The priestess takes the glass from her saying, "Thank you very much Twilight."

Twilight then looks to the others and asks, "Would anyone else like something to drink while we take a short break?"

Twenty minutes later

The bookworm looks at the Priestess and asks her, "I don't mean to sound so eager Priestess Tyrande, but do you feel ready to continue?"

She takes another drink from her second glass of water and chuckles lightly then says, "I do feel ready to continue telling you all I know about Azeroth, curious one." She then takes a breath and resumes speaking, "Rogues are agents of trickery and espionage. They are known for their stealth and assassination techniques as well as making the best scouts. They are the main means of intelligence gathering and will use any means necessary to turn a bad situation in their favor, even if they have to use deception and other crude tricks to get what they want.. They follow the code of the contract, and their honor is bought with gold, they do not have a conscience to control their actions."

Tyrande pauses for a moment to let Twilight catch up with her notes, then continues, "Priests devote themselves to the spiritual way of life, dealing with the psychological or mental well-being of others, wandering out into the world to tend to the needs of the people. They take charge on the battlefield where there is chaos and keep themselves distanced from actual combat to use healing magic to support, and heal their allies. There are also a few that are disciplined enough to connect with the terrifying darkness and use it to fight foes. Though it is a double-edged sword...if they are not careful, they will go insane."

She pauses to take a drink and then resumes talking, "The next class is the Shaman, they are spiritual leaders that commune with elemental spirits. They use spells and totems to heal or enhance the bodies of their allies, or they can target their enemies and use the elements of nature to cause damage."

Tyrande continues on to the next one and says, "Next is the Mage, they are students of keen intellect and determination. Mages are wielders of arcane energies who are trained to use them in a number of ways such as conjuring food and water. They can refine those energies to produce fire or ice and bring destruction on the battlefield. They can also use the arcane energies to manipulate space and time somewhat.

She finds it amusing how the young pony brings out another quill and starts furiously writing all this down and continues speaking, "Then we have Warlocks which are seekers of power above all else. They take the energies of the Twisting Nether and use it as their weapon. They use the demonic fel energies and corrupting shadow magics to inflict curses, manipulate souls and tame demons to become their servants. The demons are bound to the warlock by contract. A few can also tame demons from the Burning Legion...but sometimes they get careless and summon a demon they can't control. So overall, they are barely tolerated in society as long as they remain in control over the powers they wield."

Twilight looks up from her notes as a question enters her mind and says, "Why are they not well-liked, and what is fel energy?"

Tyrande sighs and answers her, "It's a magic that can easily corrupt the user, and will kill the ground under them if used excessively. The reason for their distrust of Warlocks is because as far as most people are concerned those who use such magics are agents of the Legion. Most consider their magic evil because nothing good has ever come of it. I tolerate their presence

The curious pony is shocked to hear how some adventurers are just disliked for the magic they use and says, "Oh..."

The Priestess nods her head and says, "Azeroth is a different world than what you are used to here. Over there...every day is a fight to survive because of the conflict between the Alliance and the Horde." She pauses for a moment before wanting to get back on topic and says, "After that, there are Druids. Druids have a deep connection with nature that allow them to manipulate the flora and fauna of the world and through connecting with the spirits of the wild, allow them to take the forms of various animals. Among the commonly used forms are the enduring bear, the large and ferocious cat, the mysterious moonkin, and the bountiful tree. They also take the forms of the swift stag, the aquatic sea lion and the agile storm crow. Because of the variety of forms they can use, they are the most versatile class."

She then sighs as she thinks about the final class and says, "And finally, there are Death Knights. They are members of a group that is called the Knights of the Ebon Blade, they are old heroes who once defended their homes from the undead Scourge...only to fall and be raised to serve Arthas in undeath, until he abandoned them to the Argent Crusade about four years. Now that they have their freedom, their minds are free from the Lich King's grasp, they are able to serve their people once more. Once warriors, these knights are now capable of unleashing dark necromantic spells upon their enemies using their blades that have magical runes etched into them. With these runes, they are able to utilize unholy blood magic, biting frost magic and inflict magical diseases that rot their foes from the inside out. They are also able to exert limited control over undead of lesser intelligence, such as ghouls. If you want to know more about them, you will have to speak to one of them."

Celestia looks down and feels sorry for them and says, "What a cruel thing for Arthas to do to proud warriors, to deny them the chance to rest in peace."

Twilight then cocks her head as she sets the broken quill down and digs out a new one saying, "That is rather mean. Priestess Tyrande, would you mind telling me what class each of you are?

Tyrande nods and smiles saying, "Well, to be honest, I am different than most others because I am the High Priestess of Goddess Elune. Let me give you a better example for what a couple of those classes are. Kalysse is a druid, she is responsible for causing damage to enemies so they can be defeated. She has the option to either cause damage, or keep the enemy busy to keep us safe while they are brought down. She is also capable of healing others. Kaylara is a mage, she uses her magic to create temporary portals to various locations in Azeroth to make travel easier for members of her party and/or just herself if she is alone. Though she is only here as my aid, she can deal a fair amount of damage with what spells she knows."

The solar princess cocks her head at the name familiar to her sisters's and asks, "Do you mind if I ask who Elune is Priestess Tyrande? That name sounds a lot like my sister's name."

She smiles and straightens her posture, saying with pride, "Elune is the moon goddess we worship, she blesses Night Elves with her light every night, answers our prayers as she wishes and watches over us." She looks curiously once again at Luna as she is still in the same position and asks, "If you would, might you gain your sister's attention? I wish to ask her about her abilities."

Celestia nods her head and says, "I can do that, it will take but a few moments." She then looks to her sister and calls her name gently, " Luna, time for you to return. The Priestess has a question for you about your abilities, return to us dear sister."

Luna finishes dealing with one more nightmare before shifting her consciousness back to her body, lifting her head up and sitting up from her position on the floor. She then opens her eyes and looks to the priestess and asks, "Apologies, there were a few nightmares I had to deal with before I returned here, what do you wish to know Priestess Tyrande?"

Tyrande looks at her and asks, "I sense a familiar magic within you, would you mind telling me about your abilities?"

She smiles and nods her head saying, "I don't mind that at all. I look over the dreams of ponies at night, protecting them from the nightmares that cause them to sleep fitfully and not rest well. I know a few spells for defense as well as offense, but have never really had a good reason to use them. Though we did have to use them just over a thousand years ago against the King of the Frozen North, but Equestria has known peace for a long time. When the day comes to an end and my sister lowers the sun, I raise the moon and watch over our subjects throughout the night. Then when the time comes for the night to come to an end, I lower the moon as my watch ends while my sister's begins and we trade places when she raises the sun to start a new day."

Kalysse gasps and looks at Luna for a brief moment, then looks at Tyrande and says, "By the blessed light of Elune, she might have a connection to her!"

The priestess smiles gently and looks at Kalysse, nodding her head slightly saying, "I was wondering that myself." She then looks back to Luna and asks, "Princess Luna, would you mind helping me determine if you have a connection to our goddess?"

Luna cocks her head curiously and asks, "I don't mind at all, but what does it mean if I do have a connection to your goddess? What will be asked of me?"

Tyrande looks at her kindly and says, "It means that you can learn to call upon Elune's light to better protect your people. Though you may not be part of our religion, I feel it is my duty to help those with a connection to the goddess learn to better use them in order to honor and respect Elune. There is no need for you to worry, there is nothing I can request from you."

The dark blue princess is amazed at hearing that and straightens her head then smiles and asks, "Well that is very kind of you to offer to teach something you think so highly of, when would you recommend the lessons to begin? Also, where could this training take place?"

The priestess thinks on it for a moment and answers, "Unfortunately it will have to be at the Temple of the Moon in our home city of Darnassus. Because of the present crisis with Deathwing escaping from Deepholm and the Forsaken's attack on Gilneas, I cannot leave the city to train you in your world as I must help find a place for them to live."

Luna thinks about it for a moment and says, "Very well, let's find out if there is a connection between Elune and I."

Twilight watches curiously as Tyrande uses a spell to search for a connection in Luna, eagerly wanting to get more information on the inhabitants of Azeroth and asks, "Forgive me for bothering you, but did you find any connection?"

Tyrande finishes the spell with a smile on her face and nods her head saying, "I did indeed. If Princess Luna wishes to learn how to call upon Elune's light, I look forward to teaching her. All that remains to be done now is for her to decide when she will be able to visit, I could have another mage come here to create a portal if she wishes."

The princess shakes her head gently and smiles saying, "That won't be necessary, I could just accompany you when you return home and teleport back to our castle in Canterlot. Is that acceptable?"

The priestess thinks on it for a moment and takes another drink from her glass then answers, "I find no issue with that, as long as no one else minds you being away for the training."

Celestia shoots a worried gaze to her sister and asks, "If you go away to train, how will you manage your nightly duties here in Equestria?"

Luna giggles lightly and looks to her sister with a smile saying, "I don't intend on staying there longer than several hours, I do still need to watch over the dreams of the citizens and keep a vigilant eye out for the Lich King's movements."

The sun princess blushes lightly and says, "Oh how silly of me to worry like that."

Kaylara cocks her head curiously and asks, "Is that similar to what Ysera does with the Emerald Dream?"

Twilight looks up curiously between the group of night elves and asks, "Uhm...apologies, but who and what is that?"

Tyrande looks to Kaylara and shakes her head saying, "It is quite different from how Ysera watches over the Emerald Dream I assure you, my husband told me about it a great many years ago." She then looks to the curious pony and says, "What I know about Ysera is that she is the dragon aspect of the Green Dragonflight and that she watches over a place called the Emerald Dream, though I do not know much more about that place."

The curious student sighs in disappointment and says, "Okay, would you mind telling us about those that live there in your world?"

The priestess smiles at her and says, "You are quite the curious and tenacious one aren't you? Very well then, I can stay a little bit longer before we return home. Which ones would you like to know more about? There are sentient races such as us Night Elves, and there are beasts."

Twilight thinks about it for a moment and says, "Well...since we don't have much time, could you tell us more about the more common races on Azeroth?"

Tyrande nods her head and answers her, "Okay then. You know that there are Humans and Night Elves in Azeroth, so let's start by telling you a bit more about our race." She then places a loose fist in front of her mouth and clears her voice, then says, "We Night Elves have a history that goes back over 15000 years, so I shall fit the necessary information into a brief explanation. We have our origins as a tribe of dark trolls who were mutated by the magical energies of the Well of Eternity. We were able to learn magic and create an empire that spanned across ancient Kalimdor. However, when Queen Azshara started making deals with the Burning Legion, those who didn't agree with her will fought against her, this began the War of the Ancients. When the war ended, the result was ancient Kalimdor shattering into several smaller continents and islands as well as a massive whirlpool known as the Maelstrom where the well once was. Such reckless dabbling in the arcane caused us to outlaw magic use and caused our race to branch off. Those who refused to give up magic exiled themselves from the Kaldorei Empire while those who remained, turned to druidism to coexist with nature." She pauses for a moment to let Twilight catch up, then resumes saying, "For your knowledge... Kaldorei are us Night Elves, and Quel'dorei are High Elves that branched off from us. Anyway, back to what I was saying before. Up until the Legion's second invasion, the Kaldorei have lived in peace. When the Alliance and Horde began seeking resources from our forest of Ashenvale, we would fight off the intruders until the demons made their presence known to us. With the Legion's return, desperate times were upon us and the Kaldorei needed all the help we could get so I freed Illidan Stormrage, who was imprisoned for his treachery during the War of the Ancients. We were even forced to make a truce with the Alliance and the Horde to deal with the Legion. We made our final stand at the base of Nordrassil, the World Tree where we held off Archimonde and his Scourge and demon forces until my husband, Malfurion, was ready to spring his trap. As of recently, the Highborne returned to our society. We also joined the Alliance, and Fandrel Staghelm was captured by an independent group of Night Elves called the Wardens for treason. They are a group that enforce the law and guard dangerous prisoners." She picks up her glass and then drains it into her mouth and then looks to Twilight and asks, "Twilight, could I get some more water please?"

Twilight finishes writing and looks up at her, then nods her head saying, "Of course, one moment." She then gets up off the floor and makes her way to the kitchen, picking up the empty pitcher of water as she passes by it.

Celestia watches as Twilight refills the water pitcher and shifts her attention to Priestess Tyrande and says, "From how you speak about this War of the Ancients, it is as if you actually fought in it but you look too young for that to be true."

Tyrande smirks at Princess Celestia and says, "Yes, my youthful appearance does mislead those that don't know of me, but I most certainly did fight in that war. Twilight had a hard time believing my age." She watches as Twilight returns with a pitcher of water in her magical grasp and lowers it gently onto the ground beside her.

She makes her way back to her seat and says, "There you go Priestess Tyrande, I was indeed surprised to hear it. I have read in a book somewhere by Starswirl the Bearded that says age is but a number, and only shows how much wisdom that being has."

The priestess smiles and says, "Thank you Twilight, that is true but wisdom comes from experiences in one's life." She refills her glass with water and takes a drink from it, then puts it down and says, "Now let me tell you about the Quel'dorei. The High Elves of Quel'thalas were the upper class of the ancient Kaldorei Empire. After the War of the Ancients, the highborn chose to leave and establish their own kingdom. Using a vial of the waters from the Well of Eternity, they created a font of power for themselves called the Sunwell. Times were tough for them, they had to fight for their land against the ruthless Amani Empire of trolls. They had to turn to the human tribes for assistance to save them from the Amani. During the Second War against the Orcish Horde, king Anasterian Sunstrider reluctantly sent aid to the kingdom of Lordaeron. When he learned that the Amani allied with the Horde, he fully mobilized his armies and helped drive away the Horde. After that, Anasterian had his people isolate themselves from the world. Fifteen years after that, Arthas paid them a visit and sacked the kingdom, murdered 90% of the population, used his power to raise Sylvanas as a banshee, and desecrated the Sunwell to revive Kel'thuzad as a lich. When Kael'thas heard the news, he gathered up what survivors he could and they began to call themselves the Sin'dorei or blood elves. They rejoined the Alliance. Sadly, it was under the banner of a MAJOR racist bigot named Othmar Garithos. This guy was practically a human supremacist. With their Sunwell gone, Garithos ordered Kael and his elves on demeaning or suicidal missions. One such mission made Kael desperate enough that when the naga, Lady Vashj, offered her assistance he accepted it. This happened twice and Garithos knew about it and sentenced Kael and the elves to death on treason charges. Imprisoned in a cell in Dalaran, Kael was rescued by Vashj and together they escaped Dalaran and evacuated his people to Outland. It's there that they rescued Illidan from the clutches of Warden Maiev Shadowsong. After that, Illidan, Vashj, and Kael worked together to remove the Legion leadership from Outland." She then pauses for a moment to take another drink from her glass and continues, "After Illidan completed his takeover of Outland, Kil'jaeden found them and would have punished him for his failure, but he managed to convince the demon lord to give him another chance at destroying the Frozen Throne. So you know, Kil'jaeden is equal to Archimonde in power, and his actions are subtle and manipulative. He uses various methods to bring new races to their side or convince others to do his bidding while Archimonde leads the armies. Back to the history of the Sin'dorei, Illidan's attempt ended in failure in the end. Kael lost faith in Illidan at some point and sold out to the Burning Legion. Back on Azeroth, there were more blood elf survivors but they were under the leadership of Lor'themar Theron. Sylvanas and the Forsaken reached out to them and helped them secure their lands from the Scourge. After that, the blood elves officially joined the Horde."

Tyrande pauses again to take another drink and then thinks of who to speak about next then says, "Let's move on to the Human race next, but first you must understand the Vrykul in order to comprehend the human origins. In the beginning, the Vrykul were created by the Titans as half-giant iron constructs to serve as Azeroth's defense. Some of the Titan Keepers went to war with one another and this was ultimately instigated by the Old God Yogg-Saron when he corrupted the keeper, Loken. Yogg's manipulations extended to the Forge of Wills where he corrupted it with a malady called the Curse of Flesh. You see, the Forge was what made the creation of Iron Vrykul and Earthen possible. This led to the creation of the first mortal Vrykuls, Dwarves, and Gnomes. This curse also extended to some of the previous generations of titan-forged." She pauses to take another drink and then continues saying, "Okay, moving on to later generations... At some point, Vrykul parents started giving birth to children who were stunted and weak. The Vrykul king Ymiron decreed all malformed children to be killed at birth. Some parents couldn't bear to conduct such an act and instead abandoned them in a faraway land with limited supplies. These malformed children were the first humans. At some point in time, the humans formed tribes who practiced primitive forms of druidism and shamanism. The human tribes eventually built towns in the northern parts of the Eastern Kingdoms, creating the nation of Arathor. The High Elves turned to Arathor for aid against the Amani Trolls. In exchange, the high elves taught the humans magic. However, over the centuries, Arathor's prosperity ended up with several city-states declaring independence from Arathor, and the nation was broken up into many smaller nations such as Lordaeron, Alterac, Gilneas, Dalaran, Kul Tiras, and Stormwind. Millennia later, we have the First War that occurred when the magus Medivh created the Dark Portal that brought the Orcish Horde into Azeroth." She pauses again, taking another drink from the glass and refilling it with the pitcher before continuing, "The First War resulted in the fall of Stormwind and the death of King Llaine Wrynn. The young prince Varian Wrynn fled to Lordaeron with the survivors. The Second War started with the knowledge of the Horde pushing north and that they would attack Lordaeron. The kingdoms forged an Alliance and along with Quel'thalas, were able to defeat the Horde. The surviving orcs were placed in internment camps, marking the end of the Second War. When a mysterious prophet warned the orcs of the Legion's return, a young orc named Thrall began liberating the internment camps and stole a small fleet of ships then sailed to Kalimdor. The same prophet tried to warn King Terenas Menethil but the warning was disregarded. Meanwhile, the Third War started when a plague was spreading throughout Lordaeron, so Arthas and Jaina were sent to investigate. There they encountered the Scourge who had been using the town of Andorhal as a means to distribute the plague through the grain. The leader of the group sending the plagued grain was a necromancer named Kel'thuzad. After Kel'thuzad told Arthas about Mal'ganis and where to find him, Arthas killed him. Following the lead to Stratholme, Arthas discovered the whole city was infected and made the drastic decision to purge the city." She hears a gasp from both Celestia and Luna and asks, "I'm guessing that you have heard of it."

Twilight looks quickly over to Celestia and watches her nod her head as Luna says, "We have, I was patrolling the dream realm when I felt another subject suffering from nightmares and went to investigate. My sister must have been checking up on me and was pulled into the dream as well, I don't know how much of the dream she saw but I saw it as it happened because I tried to stop it but I couldn't due to it being one of Arthas's memories. I'm sure that Twilight has little knowledge of what happened in that city, so please continue and I'm sorry for interrupting you." Twilight looks back to Tyrande as curiosity is all over her face.

She nods her head and continues, saying, "Uther refused the order so Arthas disbanded the Order of the Silver Hand. After Arthas murdered many innocent but diseased people, Mal'ganis told him to meet him in Northrend. Arthas' obsessive pursuit led him to Frostmourne. He used the blade to kill Mal'ganis before the blade drove him mad, making him return to Lordaeron to kill his father. While Arthas' actions caused the fall of Lordaeron, there was one who heeded the warnings of the prophet, Jaina Proudmoore. She led an expedition across the sea weeks before Lordaeron's fall. The Burning Legion's second invasion caused the prophet to convince the expedition to work with Thrall's Horde against the Legion. After the Second War, the Stormwind refugees returned to the ruins of their kingdom and rebuilt, becoming the strongest bastion of human civilization today. Jaina then founded the nation of Theramore. Those who stayed behind in Lordaeron that survived the Legion and the Scourge tried to take the nation back. Though it didn't help that Garithos was leading them. The fool wound up being controlled by a dreadlord. Meanwhile, at this time Ner'zhul was weakening and some of the Scourge regained their minds, including Sylvanas. She rallied the freed undead and forced another dreadlord to submit to her, Varimathras. Garithos got her to help him reclaim the capital city of Lordaeron, only to get betrayed and killed by Sylvanas in the end. Others like the Silver Hand tried reclaiming Lordaeron themselves but some became so zealous in their task that the order split, becoming the Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn. That is the end of the Human's history as I know of it, let me know when you are ready to begin the next one."

Twilight moves a stack of papers to the side carefully with her magic, then sets a new stack next to her and says, "There, those are set off to the side...now onto the next race."

Tyrande nods her head and says, "Okay then, there is not much to say about the Forsaken. They were once part of the Scourge but Ner'zhul was weakening and some of the undead regained their minds. Sylvanas rallied them to retake Lordaeron for themselves as the original inhabitants of the land. Sylvanas attempted to kill Arthas when he was weakening with Ner'zhul, but Kel'thuzad prevented that attempt. Sylvanas and her forces defeated three dreadlords. She forced Varimathras to submit to her, killed Detheroc, freed the minds of Garithos and his men, and then used them to get rid of Balnazzar. Once he was gone, Garithos was betrayed and murdered by Varimathras at Sylvanas' command. This was the beginning of the Forsaken. Since their survival depended on making allies, emissaries were sent to different kingdoms. Despite knowing their sinister nature, the Horde was willing to accept them. In their war against the Scourge, the Forsaken researched a plague that could be used against them. Of course, this plague would be used against the living as well. This plague was one reason why the Horde keeps the Forsaken under scrutiny." She pauses for a moment to take a drink from her glass.

The curious pony looks up to the priestess and asks, "Do you know what the plague does?"

The priestess nods her head and says, "I heard from a few surviving adventurers that experienced it at the Wrathgate when they faced Arthas for the first time. They say it causes a living or dead body to melt and turn into a puddle of toxic liquid that kills anything that comes in contact with it."

Celestia gasps and says, "How cruel..."

Tyrande takes another drink before saying, "Now let's move on to the next race, the Orcs. The orcs are not native to Azeroth, they come from another world. It is a savage world named Draenor. The savage orcs lived in groupings called clans. One day, the Burning Legion turned their interest to that world and contacted a frail orc named Gul'dan. They gave him power that he so desperately craved and pledged fealty to the Legion. He soon gathered more like-minded followers and formed a group of warlocks called the Shadow Council. Gul'dan summoned a powerful Pit Lord to Draenor named Mannoroth and began to tempt the other clans with promises of power. By drinking the blood of Mannoroth, the orcs became empowered at the cost of their own freedom, they were bound to Mannoroth. The other clans joined in and together they formed the Orcish Horde. Their task was the conquest of Azeroth to pave the way for their demon masters. Through the actions of the sorcerer Medivh, the Dark Portal opened and the Horde invaded Azeroth. They fought the kingdom of Stormwind and emerged victorious, razing the city and assassinating its ruler. Their campaign continued north through the dwarven lands of Khaz Modan and into the human kingdoms. However, the Alliance managed to push the Horde back to the Dark Portal and an expeditionary force pursued them into Draenor. Those who remained were placed in internment camps as prisoners of war. One particular orc infant was captured and raised by a cruel human named Aedelas Blackmoore who raised the infant as a gladiator for his entertainment. Blackmoore named that infant Thrall. As the prisoners suffered in their camps, the effects of Mannoroth's blood began to wear off and they suffered symptoms of withdrawal, most particular being lethargy. Thrall's freedom came at the hands of a young human girl named Taretha who protested the treatment of Thrall and risked everything to set him free. Thrall rallied his fellow orcs and led his people to Kalimdor, motivated by the warning of the prophet. While he was liberating the camps, the orcs named him Warchief. On the way, they befriended and aided the Darkspear tribe of trolls and after landing on the shores of Kalimdor, befriended and aided the Bloodhoof tribe of Tauren. The prophet made the new Horde form a truce with the Lordaeron survivors to combat the Legion and with the night elves, stalled Archimonde and his forces at the Battle of Mount Hyjal. After the battle, the Horde founded the city of Orgrimmar, in honor of one of his mentors. The construction of the city was overseen by goblins of the neutral Steamwheedle Cartel led by Monte Gazlowe. When the Dark Portal opened again, the Alliance and Horde ventured through it. In the lands of Nagrand, the Horde discovered more of their people who had not partaken of Mannoroth's blood. Among them was one who was supposed to lead them, Garrosh Hellscream. Thrall showed Garrosh the actions of his father regaining his honor when he slew Mannoroth and roused him. Since then, Garrosh has proven brash and reckless. He led the Horde Expedition to Northrend against the Lich King and when Thrall stepped down as Warchief after the defeat of the Lich King, Garrosh took over and has begun a campaign of conquest for Kalimdor."

The priestess pauses and takes another drink of water, then watches as Twilight furiously writes the information down. Waiting for her to catch up before resuming telling them about the different races, she then says a few moments later, "Now I will tell you about one of the oldest races, the Trolls. Long before the night elves emerged into the world, the Well of Eternity brought forth the first sentient beings, the trolls. Trolls developed many customs in their early days such as cannibalism, warfare, mysticism, and a dark magic that they refer to as voodoo. Trolls worship Azeroth's Wild Gods, referring to them as loa. The tribes founded the first empire in a place where many of the loa dwell. This was the birth of the Zandalari Empire. The Zandalari developed a caste system but this caused the lower castes to break away and led to the creation of the Amani Empire and the Gurubashi Empire. Smaller tribes emerged such as the Drakkari Empire of Northrend and the desert-dwelling Farraki Empire, but they never reached the prosperity of the Amani or Gurubashi. A tribe of dark trolls broke away from the Amani Empire and founded a colony near the Well of Eternity, not knowing that the Well would mutate them into the first night elves. When the Kaldorei Empire came to power, the Amani and Gurubashi tried to stop their expansion but were outmatched by the elven magics and the two empires fell apart within a few short years. After the implosion of the Well, the two empires tried to rebuild and reclaim some of their former power. This led to a war between the high elves and the Amani Trolls. The Amani were defeated when the high elves were assisted by the humans of Arathor. The Amani never fully recovered from that. The Gurubashi fell under the sway of an evil loa named Hakkar who promised them power and demanded daily sacrifices but the Zandalari saw this and convinced the Gurubashi that dealing with him was a bad idea and worked together to banish Hakkar from the mortal plane and exile his loyal followers. The Gurubashi split off into the Skullsplitter, Bloodscalp, and the Darkspear tribes. During the Second War, the Amani worked with the Horde to destroy Quel'thalas but when the Horde targeted Lordaeron instead, the Amani decided to leave the Horde and stayed out of the way. When the Darkspear tribe was formed, they settled on some islands away from the main continent. Fate would bring this tribe and Thrall's Horde together and Thrall would develop a friendship with the new chieftain of the Darkspears, Vol'jin. The Farraki tribe were felled by Horde and Alliance adventurers. The Gurubashi remnants tried to bring back Hakkar but the Zandalari recruited Horde and Alliance adventurers to deal with this. The Drakkari became desperate because of the Scourge invasion and sacrificed their loa to take their power and went mad, forcing the Alliance, Horde, and the Argent Crusade to take them down. The Drakkari were wiped out."

Twilight's quill continues writing at a furious pace as she says, "Wow, some of the races have a few bad experiences in their past. Which race is next Priestess Tyrande?"

Tyrande puts her glass down after taking a drink from it then says, "Ok then, the next two races I tell you about will be the Dwarves and Gnomes. I will start with the Dwarves and the Gnomes because their histories are connected to each other." She then shifts her sitting position a little to be more comfortable and says, "The Dwarves and Gnomes share a common history. Like the Vrykul, the original forms of the two races were created by the Forge of Wills. Dwarves were originally called Earthen and Gnomes were originally Mechagnomes. For Dwarves, as the Earthen, they were beings made of stone and were a sort of mass-produced version of a titan keeper. However, the first attempt at creating such beings resulted in a savage and flawed race called the Troggs. The second attempt resulted in the Earthen who were tasked with crafting mountains and carving out the deep places of the world. However, the war against the mad keeper Loken resulted in one of the keepers stealing an artifact called the Discs of Norgannon to find a way to combat Loken. The keepers took as many titan-forged as they could and fled south to Uldaman. However, with the Curse of Flesh afflicting the refugees, the titan-forged requested to be placed into hibernation. The Mechagnomes created the hibernation chambers but over time began to break down or leave Uldaman. The Earthen were placed into hibernation while the last of the Mechagnomes in Uldaman perished. Eventually, the Earthen of Uldaman awoke from their slumber but were no longer beings of stone but beings of flesh. They soon called themselves Dwarves since they were no longer beings of earth. The Dwarves conquered the lands of the central areas of the Eastern Kingdoms and named the lands Khaz Modan, translated to Mountains of Khaz. They soon built the city that would act as the seat of power for their new home, Ironforge. There, they encountered the fleshified Mechagnomes, or Gnomes. The Dwarves and Gnomes worked together to create the city of Gnomeregan. The Dwarves became masters of smithing and weaponry thanks to the bountiful magma and ores within the mountain Ironforge was carved into. Dwarves, being the friendly race they were, developed relationships with the human kingdoms and exchanged knowledge. Civil war eventually occurred in Ironforge and three clans vied for control of the city. The Bronzebeard Clan, the Wildhammer Clan, and the Dark Iron Clan. The Bronzebeard Clan ultimately won while the Wildhammer Clan founded Grim Batol and the Dark Iron Clan founded the kingdom of Thaurissan. The Dark Irons tried attacking Ironforge and Grim Batol at the same time which failed because the Bronzebeards and Wildhammers worked together to defeat the Dark Irons. When the Bronzebeards attacked the Dark Irons, their leader, Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan, performed a foolish ritual that summoned the Firelord Ragnaros to Azeroth. This set most of the region aflame and turned it into a charred landscape. The Dark Iron attack had also made Grim Batol uninhabitable so the Wildhammers moved further north and founded the city of Aerie Peak while some moved east and created settlements in what is now called the Twilight Highlands. There, the Wildhammers bonded with the gryphons who soon became emblematic to Wildhammer culture. Meanwhile, Ragnaros enslaved the Dark Irons and they built a city beneath Black rock Mountain called Shadowforge City. The Dwarves and Gnomes took part in the Second War. They aided the human kingdoms against the Horde, bringing in their machines used in war and pushed them back to the Dark Portal. The Dwarves and Gnomes have been steadfast allies of the Alliance ever since. On a side note, I have heard a rumor that claims that Magni Bronzebeard forged the Ashbringer that shattered Frostmourne, the Lich King's sword. How it was repaired, however, remains a mystery to me. Gnomeregan was lost to Troggs due to toxic substances leaking into the air. I have heard from some Gnomes and adventurers about what occurred. What happened was, basically Gnomeregan was invaded by an army of Troggs. This was followed by High Tinker Mekkatorque's chief advisor, Sicco Thermaplugg suggesting the release of a radioactive gas to kill the Troggs which Thermaplugg hoped would kill a bunch of gnomes so he could blame Mekkatorque. This backfired and led to either killing or turning a good number of gnomes into crazed leper gnomes, including Thermaplugg. Because of this incident, the surviving gnomes moved to Ironforge." She stops to take a drink from her glass, then sets it down saying, "Now, let's move onto the Worgens."

Twilight finishes writing it all down, then gets a fresh sheet and looks up at Tyrande saying, "Ok, ready when you are."

She nods and says, "The Worgens were originally human, the curse began with the creation of an artifact called the Scythe of Elune, made from the fang of the wolf demigod Goldrinn. Some druids practiced use of a powerful yet unwieldy form called the Pack Form. The Scythe was supposed to help the druids temper the uncontrollable rage that came with the form, but instead, they were transformed into Worgen. The druids became chaotic and attacked friend and foe alike. Because of this, the druids were banished within the Emerald Dream beneath a tree called Daral'nir, the equivalent in the real world is located in where is now the Kingdom of Gilneas. An archmage named Arugal discovered the banished Worgen through visions where the Emerald Dream and the real world intersect. He used this as a means to summon the Worgen to defend Gilneas from the Scourge. However, when the Scourge was pushed back, Arugal betrayed Gilneas and sent the Worgen after them. Those bitten by a Worgen have the curse spread to them as well. Despite their efforts, the Gilneans couldn't stop the curse from spreading and soon lost their capital city to the bloodthirsty packs. The refugees took shelter in a town near the capital where they captured roaming Worgen and experimented on them. The Cataclysm occurred and when the Forsaken invaded, we came as well to offer aid to the Gilneans and offered a partial treatment that allowed their citizens to control the beast within. The Gilneans were forced to evacuate with us but were promised that they would have the aid of the Alliance when they take back their home."

Tyrande watches as Twilight's quill finishes writing and then says, "Now I will tell you about another ancient race, the Tauren. The Tauren were once a nomadic race that eventually settled in several regions throughout ancient Kalimdor. The Tauren had their own beginnings as a result of the Well of Eternity changing them into the Tauren they are today. Cenarius taught druidism to many of them while others pursued shamanism. The Tauren took part in the War of the Ancients and were strong allies. Four tribes of Tauren were blessed by Cenarius as a reward and were given the horns of Eche'ro: moose-like antlers. After the Sundering, the different species of Tauren lost contact with each other. The Tauren who joined the Horde were ones who roamed the lands of central Kalimdor. These Tauren were hunted down by a savage race called the Centaur. When they were on the brink of extinction, the Tauren found their salvation with the arrival of Thrall and his Horde who had just landed on the continent, following the Prophet's warning. The Horde drove back the Centaur and helped the Tauren settle in a land called Mulgore where they built their capital city of Thunder Bluff. With a new home, the Tauren of Kalimdor rallied together with Cairne Bloodhoof to unite them all. His leadership is advised by Archdruid Hamuul Runetotem and Magatha Grimtotem. However, there are rumors that the Grimtotem have been working to undermine Cairne. Recently, this treachery made itself fully known when Garrosh Hellscream became Warchief. Both Cairne and Vol'jin disagreed with the way Garrosh led the Horde. Rumors that Garrosh slaughtered innocent druids drove Cairne to duel the Warchief. What neither combatants knew was that Garrosh's ax had been poisoned by Magatha, one wounding strike was all it took to end his life. With Cairne's death, his son Baine has taken over leadership and the Grimtotem have been cast out of Thunder Bluff."

She then waits for the quill to stop before moving on, then says, "Then we have the goblins. The ancestors of goblins is unknown, only that the race the goblins came from were part of an experiment by Keeper Mimiron. He used a substance called Kaja'mite which transformed them into the first goblins and boosted their intelligence. After the Sundering, the goblins were cut off from their supply of Kaja'mite and lost the boosts to their intelligence. They took refuge on the Isle of Kezan. The island had a huge supply of Kaja'mite but when the Zandalari came upon them, the goblins were enslaved to mine them since they saw the substance as a component for rituals and ceremonies. Over time, the goblins had been inhaling Kaja'mite dust which reawakened their intelligence and gave them the mental capabilities of creating a wide range of weapons, traps, and explosives which they used to defeat their Zandalari oppressors. With their new freedom, they turned on each other and formed groups, the most powerful which became cartels who competed against each other. Eventually, the Kaja'mite ran low and the heightened intelligence vanished, rendering their gadgets less reliable so the goblins turned to mercantilism. The Steamwheedle Cartel expanded beyond Kezan and founded several towns such as Booty Bay. When the old Horde destroyed Stormwind, they sided with the Horde in the Second War to profit off of them. Of course, the goblins returned to neutrality after the war. The Bilgewater Cartel remained on Kezan up until the Cataclysm when Deathwing caused Kezan's volcano to erupt and forced them to evacuate. Trade Prince Gallywix took advantage of the panic to exploit everyone and enslave them. On their way to Azshara, their ship ended up where they shouldn't have been and got attacked by Alliance ships attempting to capture Thrall and ran them aground on some uncharted islands. The goblins decided to seek out the orcs who were trying to save Thrall and help them. In return, the orcs helped the goblins shut down Gallywix's slave labor operations and forced his surrender. Gallywix still leads the Bilgewater Cartel, but now they were integrated into the Horde."

Tyrande then says, "That is all I know about the more dominant races of our world, and there is one other race called the Dranei but it's history is unknown to me."

Twilight looks up at Tyrande and asks, "Is there anyone that might know it?"

She giggles softly and says with a smile, "You are quite hungry for knowledge about Azeroth, aren't you? There is one that would know it, but I believe that he is busy teaching the crown prince Anduin the ways of the Light at the moment. His name is Prophet Velen, and possibly been around as long as I have. Perhaps someday, you might get to meet him and get their history from them if the chance arises after our world's current crisis is dealt with."

Chapter 16: Reflections of the Past

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 17: Planning for the future

Celestia waits impatiently as the chariot rolls to a stop by Twilights library, wasting no time opening the chariot door and exiting swiftly. Making a bee-line for the door, quickly opens it with her magic and closes it behind her, and then asks worriedly, "What has happened to my precious student?"

Everyone turns around swiftly and bows to the Princess except for Twilight as she continues to freak out when Matthias looks at Celestia and sighs saying, "All I have done is just shown her a single thing that happened in the past when some people did not listen to the advice given to them, she was in no actual danger from it. I have no idea why she is behaving like this though, perhaps you would like to see what I have shown her so you might have a better understanding being her mentor."

She nods her head saying, "I would like to see what caused her to behave this erratically, show me what she saw."

Matthias extends his hand forward and then says, "Take my hand and you shall see what she saw. Keep in mind that this is after he cast away his heart."

Celestia reaches forth and grabs his hand, feeling his spell start to take effect when she feels other hands land on top of hers. Making her look to the others and ask, "What are you young ponies doing? You should not see such things like this when it comes to my and Luna's father!"

Applejack looks up at Princess Celestia with a sheepish look on her face as she says, "Ah'm sorry princess, but we are all worried about Twilight and we would like to know what exactly is going on between you all and Arthas."

She sighs reluctantly and says, "Very well, all of you. Be prepared for what you are about to see, if Arthas is involved with this...then it can not be good."

They all go silent and watch the event play through as Rarity is the first to react from seeing it saying, "Oh how horrifyingly barbaric and cruel the Lich King is!"

Fluttershy looks away and says, "It is tragic how one being must take the Lich King's place if he dies... I don't think I could have the heart to say goodbye to my friends and rule over such wicked and unnatural beings."

Celestia gasps after a few moments of silence as she figures out why Twilight is reacting this way and sighs happily saying, "Oh Twilight..." then looks to Matthias and asks, "Do you know where Twilight hid it?"

He then looks at her and chuckles, then points to her bed while remaining silent. He watches as she makes her way there to get the heart and says, "Remember what you heard from Twilight earlier about the heart. Also, don't use your magic to grab and hold it."

She silently nods her head and looks around her bed for the heart, finding it hidden underneath her pillow still in the frostweave cloth and carefully grabs it. Holding it in her hand gingerly, she makes her way down to Twilight and holds the heart out towards Twilight in both palms saying, "Twilight, you silly filly...you forgot about something. Snap out of it and keep it close to you."

Twilight stops in mid-turn as her eyes fall upon the wrapped heart belonging to Arthas and races towards it, then snatches it from Celestia's hands and clutches it tightly while bringing it to her chest saying, "How could this have happened to me..." Her legs give out from under her as she then brings her knees up towards her while curling her tail around herself on the floor as an embarrassed blush crosses her face.

Celestia walks towards her with a smile saying, "Welcome back to reality my dear student. We cannot always control who we fall in love with in our lives, but even if it is destined to fail, it is good that you had loved them at all. The worst thing anypony could do to another is abandon them or give up and stop trying to help them."

She then holds Arthas's heart in front of her and sighs as she still has feelings for him though she has seen some of what he has done and says, "Y-You're right, Princess Celestia. No matter what happens, I will never stop trying to save Arthas. There must be a way to do something about his heart, could I get permission to check through the private section of the Canterlot Library?"

The princess nods her head saying, "I don't see any reason I shouldn't let you, so I grant you permission to look through it to your heart's content." She then thinks back to what Jaina said in the vision and turns to Matthias asking, "Jaina said others were fighting inside Icecrown Citadel, what happened after what we saw?"

Matthias looks at her and sighs saying, "Brave champions of Azeroth faced the Lich King's strongest warriors in his citadel about three years ago, and defeated him...then some grand spell sent him here unknowingly. Would you wish to see that as well?"

Twilight looks at him and nervously nods her head saying, "I know I must see it, perhaps there will be clues as to how to bring him back to reality."

Celestia looks around at the others, seeing them nod their heads as well and turns her gaze to Matthias then nods her head saying, "It would benefit us all to have further knowledge of how he was defeated the first time, please show us."

He looks at them all briefly and nods his head saying, "Very well then, take my hand one last time and you shall see how strong the Lich King was then compared to the Champions."

They all place their hands on his as he starts to show them the final battle against the Lich King, starting just outside of the gates through the eyes of the same adventurer as they watch and listen to Jaina quietly speaking to the leader of the forces gathered before the gates as he commands them all to rise up because the time for justice has come for the Lich King. With a gesture from his arm, he orders a large battering ram to move forward. Pushed along by a group of knights in full plate armor, they reach the towering gates to Icecrown Citadel and stop. They then hold it there as others start to pull back the ram and release it repeatedly, with the sound echoing out across the large force.

After several minutes of bashing the front gate, a loud echoing crack sounds from behind the door as the ram strikes the door one final time. Sending the door swinging back slowly as it signals they have finally succeeded in breaching the front gate as they begin to pull the large ram away from the door as the forces charge forward into the cold, dark citadel.

Fighting their way through a large group in the first room, they press forward to establish a base so that they can resupply for the battles up ahead of them.

Celestia watches as the adventurer fights alongside the others against horrific monsters many times bigger than they are, having strength that is much greater than her own.

As the adventurer continues on through the fight, losing many allies as a single soldier walks out of a pair of doors as a few orcs charge forth ahead of the others as one of them tells them to continue forward and leave dealing with this foe to them as the enemy is his son. The adventurer watches as the orcs start fighting the foe and runs around them all then proceeds into the halls, eager to put an end to the Lich King.

For those that may be confused, this is what is going on at the moment. The character and video are not mine.

They all watch the long and grueling battle against the might of the Lich King's forces, costing the lives of many soldiers and adventurers as they finally find themselves at the very top of Icecrown Citadel when the leader strides forth to the center of the platform.

Celestia watches closely as the Lich King speaks to the leader saying, "So the Light's justice has finally come for me. Shall I lay down Frostmourne and throw myself at your feet and beg for mercy, Fordring?"

The adventurer shifts its gaze to the leader in the center as he says that they will grant him a swift death, more than what he deserves for the thousands that he has tortured and slain.

The gaze shifts back to the Lich King as he says, "You shall learn of that firsthand, Fordring. When my work is done, you will be the one begging for mercy...only to be denied. Your agonized cries of anguish shall be the ultimate testament to my unbridled power.

They watch through the eyes of the adventurer as Fordring gives them all the order to attack, charging in with their blade drawn against the Lich King as he freezes their leader inside of a large block of ice saying, "I shall keep you alive so you can witness the end, Fordring. I do not want the Light's greatest champion to miss seeing this wretched world being remade in my image.

As the fight continues, they watch as the Lich King uses a blast of wind, snow, and ice to push them all away. Their gaze is pulled to the sides of the platform as several soldiers are forced off to fall to their death, drawn back to the Lich King after seeing that they too are heading for the edge. Using the blade in their hand, the adventurer slips off the platform and quickly drives the sword into the ice and halting their fall. With their strength, they pull themselves back up onto the platform and retrieve their sword.

Returning their focus to the Lich King, the adventurer charges forth once more as monsters are summoned to fight them. Leaving them to the others, they return to attacking the Lich King.

The vision switches to The Lich King as he then chuckles with glee saying, "I shall freeze you all from within until you are but lifeless husks!" and creates a large freezing area as a blizzard starts to rage around him, catching many heroes inside of it. He then begins to kill them off before the blizzard fades away and drives his sword into the ground, channeling his magic into it to shatter the ice that is built up around the platform's actual edge. He watches as the ice starts to fall from the edge as the remaining soldiers are forced away from the edge, pulling his sword from the ground as he goes back to attacking the survivors.

The vision returns to the adventurer, with the fight raging on as he summons winged humanoid creatures he calls Val'kyr, then sends them towards the survivors. Eager to bring the fight to an end, the adventurer looks back to the Lich King and continues to attack him with everything they have left.

The vision switches to the Lich King once again as he uses a spell to freeze the soldiers to their core saying, "Succumb to the ice cold snows of Icecrown!" summoning a few raging spirits to attack those that still live, ordering them to sacrifice themselves as they are defeated and take as many of the soldiers with them they can. He cackles with glee at the damage they are dealing to his foes and begins to draw souls into his sword one by one as he chases after those that are distracted with the spirits.

After landing numerous blows to the Lich King, the adventurer watches as he starts casting a spell. They then look to the others and see a large black spiral of swirling shadows appears on the ground, causing massive damage to those caught within it as it steadily grows larger with each passing second.

Their vision switches to the Lich King as he heads for the heroes trapped within his spell and kills them all off by driving Frostmourne into the ground, channeling its rage towards the remaining soldiers, shattering the ice in the process. As lightning strikes all around him, he waits a few seconds before pulling Frostmourne from the ground and looking around at the corpses of the soldiers that faced him and says, "There are no questions remaining unanswered, no doubts yet linger... You ARE Azeroth's greatest champions to have ever faced me. You have managed to overcome every challenge I put before you. My greatest servants have all fallen to your relentless assault and your unbridled rage." He remains silent for a moment before continuing, "I wonder... Is it really righteousness that drives you so far?"

Watching as he then faces the leader and says, "You have trained them very well, Tirion. You have brought the greatest fighting force Azeroth has ever had to my doorstep...then delivered them into my hands. I could not have planned it any better than this! I shall now reward you for your unwitting sacrifice..." and races to the center of the platform, then thrusts Frostmourne into the air saying, "Now, you shall watch as I raise them all from the dead to become masters of the Scourge! They shall shrowd this world in chaos and destruction until only death remains." He then begins to cast his spell to raise the corpses and continues, "Azeroth's fall shall come from their hands...and you shall be the very first one to die." He cackles with glee and then finishes, "Oh how I delight in such irony."

He focuses on casting his spell as he hears the ice shatter, followed by a few footsteps before watching a sword strike Frostmourne...and shatter it. Looking on in shock at his shattered sword, softly saying, "Impossible...no weapon can shatter Frostmourne." He then drops the hilt and looks up at Tirion as the numerous souls within the blade escape and raise him into the air. He swats at the souls surrounding him and keeping him suspended, only to find himself unable to break free from their hold on him.

They watch as his gaze turns to Tirion Fordring as he charges forth and leaps at him with his blade drawn back, then watches as the blade is driven through his chest. Grunting in pain as the spirits drop him to the ground, he looks up from the hilt into the hate-filled eyes of Tirion and chuckles saying, "At last you manage to run me through, old friend."

They look through The Lich King's eyes at Tirion as he scowls while narrowing his eyes saying, "Indeed I have, it feels good to finally be rid of the monster that has betrayed so many friends and allies for his own gain. I haven't killed you yet, regardless of how much I hate you and want to give you the punishment you deserve, justice yet needs to be dealt. One of the mages found a tome a couple months ago with a banishing spell in it. It took some time to convince them, but we are going to use that spell to banish you from this world." He then raises his boot and roughly kicks him off of his sword.

Twilight watches on in curiosity as he lands a few feet away, filling the air with the sound of metal scraping against stone as he looks at the shattered hilt of Frostmourne lying on the floor a few feet away. His gaze then shifts towards the rune teleporter to watch his friend head for the door as a ghostly apparition appears in the corner of his vision, catching his attention, and recognizes it as his father.

Watching as the apparition walks over and kneels down beside him, a gauntleted hand reaches up for their shoulder as a tear falls from their eye. With a cough, he looks into their eyes and asks, "Father, is it over?"

They look through his eyes as he looks at his father while he places a hand over his softly saying, "At long last, my son. No king rules forever." He watches as his father then turns his gaze to Tirion and says, "Without the Lich King keeping them under control, the restless scourge will greatly endanger the world of the living. There always needs to be a Lich King."

The gaze remains on his father as he speaks with Tirion, speaking about how they won't have to worry about the Lich King anymore due to a spell being found by Brann Bronzebeard in Ulduar.

Twilight listens intently to what the two say to each other, making her curious as to how she could locate and study this spell. She listens to the conversation between Arthas and his father as he asks if he will die there when his father says he does not know but hopes that he finds love one day if he survives. He then bids farewell to his son, calling him the crown prince of Lordaeron before correcting himself and saying that he is the king now due to being dead, then joins the other spirits as they head to the beyond.

Celestia watches with great curiosity as the vision continues, with his gaze turning up towards the sky as several multicolored ribbons of light appear above him and force him to shield his eyes from the brightness. When the brightness fades, he looks around to see that nothing has changed.

As the vision plays out to the end, they return to their bodies as Rainbow is the first one to speak saying excitedly, "Okay, that fight was totally EPIC!" She then quickly looks at the others and continues, "I can't believe that he got to meet and actually speak to the Commander Hurricane!"

Applejack sighs and says, "It is hard to believe that with so many fighting against him, he still was strong enough to end their lives so quickly and ruthlessly."

Fluttershy then somberly says, "They were saved though, after the sword was broken and those souls trapped within it lifted the Lich King into the air. They were brought back somehow after that by Arthas's father just before Tirion took the opportunity to deal the final blow even though he managed to survive."

The princess then sighs and says "It is surprising to me that they used a spell that seemed to have a connection to Equis, this requires further investigation into the matter, though I will not send you there unprepared. You all are to remain in Ponyville and perform your normal duties until I send a letter to Twilight and let you know what needs to be done."

They all nod their heads and bow to Princess Celestia as Twilight wonders what could possibly be done to save Arthas. She watches Princess Celestia exit her home followed by the others after saying their goodbyes to her as Rarity stays behind.

Rarity looks at her, seeing her deep in thought and smiles asking, "Twilight, darling, whatever has you in such deep thought? It is not good for your appearance to scrunch up your beautiful face like that for too long, that is how you get wrinkles you know?"

Twilight is pulled from her thoughts at what Rarity said, causing her to giggle saying, "Sorry Rarity, I...I was just thinking that there must be some way to save Arthas from the Lich King's grasp."

She then looks at Twilight and says, "How about we pay a visit to the spa, it will be my treat? Perhaps after relaxing for a bit while getting pampered will provide you with an idea."

The bookish pony smiles and considers it for a moment saying, "You know Rarity, that just might help. Okay, let's go."

A month later, late in the evening in Canterlot Castle

Luna wakes from her short three-hour nap, then looks at the clock to see it is already close to the time for raising the moon and setting the sun. With a sigh, she rises from her bed and heads to her closet to make herself presentable for her nightly duties.

Celestia watches as her sister walks towards her in a black silk dress with sheer fabric laying on the short skirt coming to just above her knees, and ending around the middle of her calves. She smiles and says, "That is a very pretty dress sister, did you get that in Darnassus?"

The still-tired princess shakes her head and yawns while approaching her sister on the balcony saying, "Unfortunately not, sister. The fashion in Azeroth is sorely lacking and places value of magical enchantments over appearance, I fear for Rarity's sanity if she saw some of the clothing that is over there."

She stands there on the balcony in her golden yellow sun dress hanging to her knees as she frowns at seeing the bags under her sister's eyes and says, "I wish you would stay home more so you can recover from your lack of sleep, it has been several weeks and those two keep telling us that his forces have not left the Frozen North yet though he is clearly preparing something as he has begun building siege engines of various types."

Luna blinks her eyes a couple of times before taking a deep breath then yawns once more looking at her sister and saying, "I would if I didn't feel that it was so important to the survival of Equestria, should father make his move and wage war against all of Equis starting with Equestria. It took me two whole weeks to learn and adapt her method to be able to cast Moonfire for the first time, which was extremely weak at the time and only managed to singe a few strands of straw on a target dummy. I must keep trying to learn all she can teach me so I can become stronger to keep our ponies safe from the Lich King's armies."

Celestia sighs and says, "If you are set on becoming stronger to protect our world and all its subjects sister, then I will not stop you. In fact, I shall join you in training and visit Darnassus during the day, three days a week and use Tuesdays and Thursdays to hold court."

She smiles tiredly at her sister and says, "Very well sister, though I doubt that you will be able to learn from Priestess Tyrande since you lack a connection to our moon. Perhaps if your connection to the sun might allow you to channel something similar to the Holy Light, you might be able to be trained as a paladin. I can ask Tyrande if she could recommend someone to train you in their ways."

With a smile and a nod, she asks, "I would be very grateful if you did that for me, shall we begin our duty and change places dear sister?"

Luna nods her head as she and Celestia begin using their magic to change the day into night, ending her sister's watch as hers begins and says, "Have pleasant dreams tonight Cece, I shall watch over our precious subjects as they slumber." and then heads to the throne to begin her shift.

Hours pass as she patrols the dream realm, sensing another pony being troubled by a nightmare, then enters the dream to see Scootaloo trembling in fear as the body of a headless pony prepares to chase after her and blasts it with her magic. It vanishes and leaves behind two marks where it was rearing on its hind legs.

Scootaloo continues trembling for a moment before stopping when she recognizes Luna standing before her and says, "Princess Luna, it's you! I thought that you were the headless horse that was chasing me."

She smiles affectionately at the troubled pony and says, "You were only mistaken, but not disappointed I hope?"

The young pegasi beams a smile and takes a couple steps forward saying, "Oh of course not, you are so much better than the Headless Horse. What are you doing here though, shouldn't you be in Canterlot?"

Luna stands up tall and says, "I am princess of the night, so thus is my duty to enter your dreams."

Scootaloo then blinks for a moment saying, "Oh, yeah...I forgot, how silly of me. Wait...this is just a dream, seriously? It feels way too real."

The princess nods her head saying, "I promise you that you are still dreaming, however, when you wake up, what frightens you most shall still exist."

She cocks her head in fake confusion and says, "Uh...do you mean the Headless Horse?"

Luna sees through the act and pretends to think for a moment asking, "Hmm...is the Headless Horse really what you are most frightened of?"

Scootaloo thinks for a moment and sits down saying, "Mmm...I'm just scared that Rainbow Dash will find out I'm not as tough as I say I am."

The princess lays a hand on her chin gently and smiles saying, "Everypony has something they fear Scootaloo, even me. There is a time that they must face them in their own way. If they are not faced, the nightmares will continue to trouble them." She senses that she is waking up and starts to retreat from the dream saying, "Find the courage and face your fears!"

A couple of hours ago, just outside a cave in the Whitetail Woods

Rarity sits down beside the campfire as Scootaloo returns from gathering wood for the fire tonight as she claims to not being able to find any more. Unsure whether it is true or not, she remains silent as Applejack tells her it's okay and to go sit with Rainbow as she gets the fire started.

Matthias appears just behind a couple bushes and watches curiously as they begin to tell stories, waiting for the right moment when he hears Applejack telling one next. As she nears the end of the story, he sees their eyes are focused on her as a pegasus with a hot pink mane tries to control her trembling and moves between the two bushes in front of him then shouts, "BOO!" from between them.

Applejack briefly screams in fright and falls backwards off the log, then looks around for who said that as the others giggle and laugh at her after calming down. She sees Matthias standing between two bushes and scowls at him saying, "Well, ya definitely caught me off-guard with that Matthias. Twilight's not with us, so why're ya here?"

He approaches the fire and sits down on a rock saying, "I am free to wander as I wish, so I decided to see what camping is like."

Rainbow then smiles and says, "Pretty cool isn't it? Say, would you happen to have any campfire stories to tell?"

Matthias then thinks for a moment and says, "A campfire story needs to be a legend and scary yes?"

Rarity then nods her head and says, "That is correct darling, let me introduce you the young fillies here." She then looks to them and says, "Girls, this is Matthias Lehner. He is ehh...a friend of ours that we met on our travels." She then looks to Matthias and gestures to each of the girls as she says, "Matthias, these are the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their names are Applebloom, who is Applejack's younger sister, Scootaloo, who is a big fan of Rainbow Dash, and then there is Sweetie Belle, who is my younger sister."

Applebloom then blinks a few times and looks at the strange being then asks, "Hi, what are you and where did you all meet?"

He looks at her and smiles, then answers her saying, "Hi, I am a human from another world, though I shall not tell you which. We all met at the platform just outside the Crystal Empire, however, I won't share the story with you. That will have to come from one of those that were there, only if they think you are ready for it. As for the scary stories, I do have a lot. Unfortunately, I can't tell any of them because you would never sleep again."

Rainbow gulps nervously and then says, "Alright then...now where was I..." and starts to return to the story she was telling earlier.

A few minutes pass by as they finish singing a song after Rainbow's scary story about the Headless Horse, Applejack notices a sly smirk on Matthias's face and waits for the others to go to bed and walks up to him then asks, "What was that smirk for about Rainbow's story?"

Matthias sees Scootaloo outside the cave and leans in close to Applejack's ear and softly whispers, "The Headless Horseman actually exists in Azeroth, he shows up at night every Hallow's End which is similar to your Nightmare Night."

Applejack's knees tremble at hearing that and looks at his face, seeing no hint of a lie and gulps nervously before looking to Scootaloo saying, "It's time fer us all to git some sleep, c'mon Scootaloo." then hurries along inside the cave.

He watches over them for a few hours and sees Scootaloo race out of the cave first, wondering where she is going when he sees Rainbow head out of the cave and says, "If your looking for the young pegasus, she grabbed her board thing and took off that way down the trail. She is way too fast for me, but you may have a good chance of finding her and bringing her back."

Currently, inside the throne room at Canterlot

Luna spends a few more minutes patrolling the Dream Realm when she checks on another dreaming pony, seeing that Scootaloo is dreaming about an elderly mare searching for her rusty horseshoe when Rainbow Dash appears and gives it to her. She giggles with delight as Scootaloo overcame her fear and then retreats from the dream to finish up her patrol.

Celestia wakes up well rested and rises from the bed to get ready to begin the new day as she searches for a suitable dress to wear today for court saying, "I wonder what Tyrande will say about the possibility of me training to become a paladin..."

As she watches her sister make her way to the balcony, she smiles and says, "Good morning, sister. Did you sleep well?"

The older princess smiles and looks at her sister affectionately saying, "I slept very well sister, thank you for asking. I must insist that you get some rest before going back to continue your training. You have bags under your eyes that ruin your youthful appearance."

Luna smiles back and heads over to the balcony while saying, "I must endure and press on because the lives of every being on Equis depend on us defeating our father. With what strength we have now, we would just be throwing rocks at an ursa major."

Celestia sighs and nods, saying, "I understand that sister, which is why I am eagerly waiting for the guards I sent out to find the Druid and the Mage that are still in our world. Once they arrive, we can figure out where to send them for training to prepare them for our inevitable battle against The Lich King."

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Everfree Forest...

Kalysse and Kaylara wander through the forest on the coast together, making a map and gathering further information on the creatures that live here when they hear a flapping sound in the air around them.

The druid shifts to her bear form in preparation to be attacked when a pegasus in gold armor lands before them panting slightly and straightening his posture saying, "Princess Celestia is looking for you two, please make your way to Canterlot with haste."

Kaylara looks at him with concern asking, "Is the Lich King attacking?"

He shakes his head saying, "No, unfortunately, that is all I know." and then takes to the air to go find and tell the others they have been found and can return to Canterlot.

The mage watches him leave and then looks at her friend saying, "Well, shall we be on our way then Kalysse?"

Kalysse turns to her friend and says, "We don't have much of a choice if it sounds important, can you open a portal anywhere near Canterlot?"

Kaylara shakes her head saying, "Unfortunately, not yet because I haven't been there or to any town the ponies have."

The druid nods her head in understanding and says, "This forest reminds me of Ashenvale, being so wild. Though it is rather dangerous and dark here."

The mage smiles and says, "Yeah this place would suit our people well if the need ever arises and the Princesses allow it." and then calls for her saber so they can ride to Canterlot.

Chapter 18: Taking the advantage

It takes Kalysse and Kaylara three days to reach Canterlot while adding more details to the map they are making for this world when the two look around curiously at the ponies that stop what they're doing to watch them go by saying to each other, "Who are they?", "What are they?", "Where did they come from?", "Where are they going?"

Celestia is on her throne when the doors open and the two night elves enter the throne room, making their way towards her and then bow respectfully. Happy to see them finally here, she smiles and greets them saying, "Please rise. Thank you for coming, I have been anxiously waiting for your arrival. Did you have any issues finding your way to Canterlot?"

Kalysse straightens and looks up to Princess Celestia saying, "Fortunately there were no big issues, a few hydras tried to pick a fight but we handled them. This land is much larger than I first thought. What do you require of us Your Majesty?"

She then casts a soundproof barrier and says, "Well, knowing how weak we ponies are compared to The Lich King's forces, my sister and I think that it might be good for a few of our subjects to receive training in Azeroth. Therefore, I was wondering if you two could look at their abilities and determine what kind of training they should get. Would you two be able to do that, by starting with me?"

Kaylara thinks for a moment before saying, "I have watched over his forces and Kalysse has told me what occurred in the Crystal Empire, so I think that it would be good if you are capable of learning some spells in Azeroth. I am not sure I would be the right one to suggest who should get what training, but I will give it a try... Could you tell me everything you can about your magic, what spells you can use, and what your skills are?"

The mage listens to the princess as she tells her what she is capable of, then takes a few minutes to think before saying, "Okay, from what you have told me, I think that you would be better suited as a paladin." She then takes a few moments to think before saying, "I do know of a trainer that might be able to train you, it just depends on what they are doing currently. About the others that need training, will we be traveling there, or are they coming here, Your Majesty?"

Celestia then smiles and says, "Well, I sent them letters to come here a few hours ago, so they should be arriving soon."

It only takes a few moments for them to arrive as Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy jog into the room as Twilight says, "We're here Princess Celestia, what is the emergency? Is the Lich King attacking Equestria?"

The princess chuckles and shakes her head saying, "There is no emergency girls, I just summoned you all here so that these two could get an idea of what skills you have to let Kaylara think of what training you should receive from skilled masters in Azeroth. We must do whatever we can to get stronger before the Lich King's forces start attacking."

Twilight smiles widely for a moment, which quickly turns into a frown saying, "With Azeroth becoming so dangerous and Deathwing on the loose, how will we remain safe?"

Just then, Luna steps out of an open portal with a tired sigh saying, "Do not fear, my little ponies. Deathwing is We shall ensure that you receive training to defend yourselves against enemies. A large gathering of adventurers has conquered the Bastion of Twilight, defeating Cho'gall and Deathwing's undead mate, Sinestra."

Kaylara sighs with relief at hearing that and says, "Oh that is such good news to hear, which means that it is only a matter of time before they are able to start tracking down Deathwing."

Celestia smiles at hearing the news and looks at the group of girls for a moment before turning to look at her sister saying, "I hope you learned a lot today sister, be sure to eat something before you go to sleep."

Luna smiles tiredly at her sister saying, "Oh I certainly did, and I will be sure to do that. Goodnight for now, sister." then makes her way towards the doors to get some food before getting some sleep.

The mage looks at the girls, then asks, "Okay...so who would like to go first and tell me what their skills are?"

As the girls step forward one by one saying what they are good at, Kaylara listens to them all before making a decision saying, "Alright, after considering all of the options, I have determined that none of you would be suitable as either a Paladin, Priest, a shaman, or even a Death Knight for obvious reasons."

Rainbow then asks in an offended tone, "And why not!?"

Twilight looks at Rainbow and sighs saying, "Because to be a Death Knight, we would have needed to die and be resurrected by Arthas, then find a way to free ourselves from his control. Remember what we were told about the different types of adventurers when we first met with Priestess Tyrande?"

The blue pegasus then drops the attitude and sulks saying, "Oh, right. That might prove to be rather difficult."

Kaylara then smiles and looks at Twilight and Rarity first, saying, "Twilight and Rarity, you two would be best at being mages." then shifts her attention to Twilight and says, "Though you could also learn to become a good Warlock."

The purple unicorn gulps and asks, "Warlocks are the ones that crave more power right?"

The mage nods her head with a smile saying, "That is correct, they are."

Twilight then smiles and says, "I would rather stick to being a mage, greediness is not in my nature."

Kaylara then nods her head in acceptance saying, "Alright then, there are two trainers you would need to see. For your actual mage training, you could either see Jessa Weaver, which is my trainer...or you could go see Warcaster Fanoraithe. To learn to summon portals, you would have to see Archmage Celindra.

Rarity politely clears her throat and says, "Forgive me for asking this darling, I wouldn't mind seeing your trainer...but would it be possible for the trainers to come here? I only ask because I do have a few orders to work on."

The eager unicorn then smiles even wider saying, "I wouldn't mind seeing your trainer as well, and I would also like to know the answer to what my friend Rarity asked."

Kaylara smiles and chuckles saying, "I can certainly write a letter to them both and give it to them, though I have no idea how busy they are." She then hears the two thank her and then looks at Rainbow Dash saying, "As for you Rainbow, I think you would be a good fit to be a warrior due to your speed."

Rainbow smirks at hearing that and straightens her posture saying in a cocky tone, "Oh yeah, that is totally me! Who am I going to receive training from? I do have Wonderbolt practice, so it will have to be done here."

The mage thinks on it for a moment saying, "Hmm...the most skilled fighter I know learned to fight as a gladiator, though I do not know him personally. The trainer's name is Varian Wrynn, and he is the King of Stormwind as well as the High King of the Alliance. I can send him a letter as well to see what his answer will be."

The young pegasus's mind is blown away as she stares at the mage completely dumbfounded and lost for words, managing to say several seconds later, "A...KING!?! I MIGHT GET TO LEARN HOW TO BE A WARRIOR FROM A KING!"

Kaylara chuckles and shrugs her shoulders saying, "It is possible if he agrees to train you, but we will only know his answer when he replies." She then quickly looks over to Princess Celestia, and sees that her face is filled with mixed emotions saying, "Worry not Princess, I will inform him of your position and politely encourage him that your world is to remain strictly neutral as to avoid the conflict between the Horde and the Alliance."

Celestia lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, then takes a fresh breath and lets out a sigh of relief saying, "Oh thank goodness, I was worried that we would become involved in that ugly affair and drag those two warring factions here."

The mage and nods her head saying, "Worry not, Princess Celestia, I will do whatever I can to ensure this world remains peaceful." She then looks over at Fluttershy and says, "Fluttershy...as for your druid training, it might have to wait because many druids are fighting against Ragnaros."

Kalysse then interjects saying, "Not all of them, I do believe that Keeper Remulos should be at Moonglade to serve as a teacher. I think that he might be able to help Fluttershy until either Shan'do Stormrage or his teacher Cenarius return."

Fluttershy then asks, "Okay, umm...thank you. Where might Moonglade be, and how might I get there?"

The druid smiles at the shy pony saying, "Well, it is on the northernmost edge of Kalimdor, Darnassus is at the top of the great tree called Teldrassil, which is west of the small landlocked region. I do remember Priestess Tyrande offering lessons to Princess Luna, so perhaps you could accompany Luna and see if you can get a flight there from Darnassus. If you wanted, I could even take you there until you can learn to summon your own portals there."

The shy pony smiles at hearing that and softly says, "Uhm....I would like that, traveling there with you, I mean."

Kalysse smiles softly and nods her head saying, "Alright then, whenever you want to go, just let me know."

Kaylara looks at the last two ponies and sighs saying, "Well, you two are in for a bit of difficulty. Applejack, I think you would be a great monk. The trouble is that there are monks in Azeroth, but they wander and are tough to find. I can send letters to a few friends of mine that can try to find one to train you." She then looks at Pinkie and says, "As for you Pinkie, I think you would be a good rogue with how unpredictable you are, however, you would need someone to teach you how to channel your anger. Unfortunately, I have no idea about who would be best to teach you that."

Pinkie giggles saying, "Oh don't worry about that, it will work out somehow."

Celestia then smiles and claps her hands together lightly, saying, "All that is left to do is to send the letters off and wait for their responses."

In Azeroth, A couple weeks later, in the Elwynn Forest at the Stormwind Keep

King Varian is sitting on his throne, waiting to hear about the next problem when a courier comes forth with a letter in their hand. He then greets him saying, "Greetings, is that a report I see in your hand?"

The courier shakes his head and bows to the king before extending his left hand holding the letter and saying, "I'm sorry Your Highness, I do not know. It was given to me by one of Priestess Tyrande's couriers."

Curious, he leans forth and grabs the letter from him, he then breaks the seal and opens the letter. He then looks at the top of the paper and reads it silently, 'Greetings, King Varian Wrynn, it has been a few months since we last met. I have received a letter from one of my scouts in the new world called Equus, requesting my assistance in writing letters to a couple of important people asking for their aid in training some of their subjects to hold the Lich King at bay until the current crisis is dealt with. Although he has not attacked yet, my scouts tell me he is building weapons and is preparing to attack. When he will attack is unknown, but I have briefly visited this world, and it is very peaceful compared to ours. One of the nations there is called Equestria which is ruled by two pony sisters, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna. With how many soldiers the Lich King has under his command, and two massive dragons at his side, I feel that the two sisters and their forces are really lacking in combat power. Therefore, I wish to convey their request for your aid in teaching one of their skilled subjects how to fight as a warrior. The two sisters wish to keep their world out of the conflict between the Alliance and the Horde, but are forced to wait until Deathwing is defeated before they can request aid in defeating him. My scout has inquired about the skills of Rainbow Dash and considered she might be a suitable warrior. If you wish to judge her talents for yourself, please find a way to the gate in Icecrown. The world of Equus is peaceful, so please do your best to avoid attracting the Horde's attention to this world to keep it that way, Your Majesty.'

Folding the letter back up, he then twirls it by the edge around his fingers and considers what he should do for a moment before smirking and looking at one of his soldiers saying, "Find and bring Archmage Malin here, I have a sightseeing trip to go on." He then looks at another and says, "You, come here."

The soldier nods her head and approaches him, then takes a knee while looking downward saying, "Sir, how may I aid you?"

King Varian smiles and gets up off his throne, takes a couple of steps forward and then gets down on one knee, then leans forward to whisper into her ear, "Go find nine soldiers, instruct them to leave their Alliance tabards behind, and wear cloaks to hide their armor before you bring them here. I will be taking a short little trip to another world with a detachment of soldiers, so make sure you do the same because you will be joining me on this expedition."

The soldier nods their head while looking down saying, "At once sir." then rises to her feet and hustles off to find them and relay their orders.

He then stands up and makes his way back to the throne, having to consider what to take with him on this trip. Needing to reply, he makes his way to his room at a quick pace, stopping for a moment before turning to his steward and whispering to his ear, "Be sure any future reports, letters, or other important matters get sent to the Captain of the Garrison by the gate in Icecrown. I shall be busy for a few months." before returning to his previous destination to make changes to his attire.

A few days later, in Darnassus

Priestess Tyrande is watching Princess Luna, smiling as she tries to learn how to use a glaive when she sees a night elf courier on a night saber dismount before approaching her saying, "Do you have a message or a report for me?"

The druid kneels before the priestess and holds out two letters for her saying, "Priestess, these letters just arrived from King Varian and Highlord Tirion.

She reaches for the letters and takes them from her and looks at the top one, then opens up and starts reading it. A brief smile comes to her face and moves on to the next one, reading through it when her smile gets a little bigger then looks over at Luna saying, "Princess Luna, please continue on training. There are letters I need to reply to."

Luna turns and nods while executing a spinning sideways loop, dodging out of the way of an opponent's attack before darting forward to land a strike with her wooden training glaive. She then sees the night elf quickly parry her attack and follow it up with a counterstrike, knocking the glaive from her hand while holding the blade against her neck. The princess sighs in defeat saying, "Yet again you managed to defeat me, it is unfair how easily you can defeat me Ralaiyana."

Ralaiyana smiles and bows her head to the princess saying, "We have had lots of training, for Azeroth is the most hostile world you could visit if you have only known peace your entire lives. You are learning though, Princess Luna, so take pride in the fact that you are learning better how to defend yourself."

She then sighs and goes to retrieve the training glaive saying, "I know, but I need to improve faster before Arthas goes on the offensive, we have no way to defeat him on our own! The fate of Equus hangs in the balance, and only a handful have the strength to last but an hour if we fought just him alone. Please, show me more."

A night elf hurries off toward the stables with a satchel on her side, needing a hippogryph to take one of the portals that will take her to Northrend where the new gate is located.

In Equestria, at the Badlands a few hours later

The courier exits the gate on a hippogryph, looking at the map that two scouts in this world have made, thinking, 'Let's see here...Priestess Tyrande said they could be found in Canterlot. Now, where is Canterlot on this map...' while taking a few moments to look at the badlands portal on the map, finding it a few moments later to the northwest having the icon of a city built on a mountain. She then folds the map up and puts it away before having the hippogryph take to the air, flying above the clouds to avoid being seen by the inhabitants below.

In the Canterlot Castle Library

Kaylara is sitting in the library, attempting to figure out this world's language when she hears a gentle chuckle come from behind her. She turns her head to find Princess Celestia behind her and smiles saying, "Your written language here is quite different to what is used by the various sentient races."

Princess Celestia smiles back and says, "Perhaps my protege can assist you with understanding our books, you should seek her out once the replies arrive."

She nods her head with a smile saying, "I will definitely do that, I am quite curious to find out who is able to help out."

Just then a guardspony enters the room saying, "Excuse me, Your Highness, but there is a night elf messenger on a hippogryph from Azeroth in front of the castle doors asking for the Night elf scout Kaylara."

Both of the girl's heads look at each other while a smile crosses the mage's face when Celestia looks at the guard and says, "Thank you, please bring the courier here."

The guardspony then bows to the princess saying, "Yes, Your Majesty." and turns around to bring the courier to the library.

Minutes later, as the night elf courier follows the guard into the library, she looks around with wide eyes at the numerous stacks filled with books wondering aloud, "Wow, I wonder if there are more books here than in all of Kalimdor?"

Kaylara walks around the corner with a chuckle saying, "There might be, though we will never know. Do you have any messages for me?"

She then snaps her gaze to the night elf that stepped around the corner and asks, "Are you Kaylara?" When she sees the subtle nod of her head with a grin on her face, the courier pulls out two letters from Priestess Tyrande and holds them out to her saying, "Priestess Tyrande asked me to deliver these to you."

The mage takes the two letters and opens the first one quickly, then reads through it fully when her smile gets bigger and turns her head to Princess Celestia saying, "Good news, Your Highness. King Varian has agreed to come train Rainbow Dash, and he is already on his way to the gate in Icecrown. Let's see what the other letter says..." and then folds the letter back up and puts it away before opening the other one. She then looks at the courier and pays her some gold for her delivery saying, "Thank you for delivering this, you may return, courier." As she reads through the second letter, her smile gets a little wider when she finishes reading and says, "They are both coming. Highlord Tirion has also agreed to train you to be a paladin, things are looking brighter for Equestria's future. With both of them on their way as we speak, I must go to the gate and greet them when they arrive. Where would you like me to bring them, Your Highness?"

Celestia thinks about it for a moment before saying, "Since they are visitors from another world, I think it would be best to bring them all here. When you return to the castle, be sure to bring them to the throne room. I will take care of the rest after that so you can resume your own duties."

Kaylara then nods her head saying, "Yes, Your Highness, I shall take my leave then and bring them to the throne room." She then bows to her and heads toward the front doors of the castle to lead the two leaders here.

Meanwhile, at Twilight's home in Ponyville

Applejack and Twilight share a laugh about a few of the things that happened at the Sweet Apple Acres as Applejack says, "It is amazin' what ya can accomplish when there's a lot of ponies to help out. So have you had any luck figuring out what yer gonna do about the heart?"

Twilight sighs and places her hand over the heart as warmth spreads through her body at having a piece, albeit a bit gruesome part of Arthas with her and says, "I've scrounged through the library stacks, every one of them. I did learn that some ponies long ago had a theory that the crystal heart might have the ability to cure evil, but I could not verify it without paying a visit to the Crystal Empire."

The farm pony cocks her head and asks, "Perhaps when ya have a chance, we all could go there together to help ya look through the library. Oh what about Brann, he's still there right?"

She looks at her friend with a shake of her head and sighs saying, "Unfortunately, he left about a few weeks ago to go investigate another ruin in Azeroth somewhere."

Applejack then asks, "Did he find anything while he was there?"

Twilight then shakes her head again, saying, "Not much, but he did some research about the crystal heart and how he thought it was a Titan Relic, but he ruled that possibility out due to discovering it was crafted and enchanted by the first ruler of the Crystal Empire."

The farm pony then sighs and says, "Well that's a shame he didn't learn anything useful about the heart. Perhaps as a group, we will have a better chance of finding what we're looking for."

She then smiles and nods her head saying, "It is, I have high hopes that we will manage to discover something that will help us out."

Hours later, on the other side of the portal in Azeroth

Kaylara waits outside the fort, keeping a lookout for the incoming dignitaries when she hears a flapping of several pairs of wings and looks up. She sees a group of seven humans flying in on gryphons and waits for them to arrive, waving at them while looking at their armor to try to tell who they are.

Highlord Tirion heads towards the night elf guiding them to her in the fort's square, being the first to land a short distance away with his soldiers landing right behind him. Guiding his gryphon to the night elf, he dismounts and stands a few feet away asking while drawing his sword, "Who sent you here?"

She takes a few steps forward, slowly reaching for and pulling out her letter saying, "Highlord Tirion, along with two others, we were tasked with scouting the unknown world on the other side of the gate hidden inside of this fort's keep, which we later learned was known as Equus. Priestess Tyrande tasked Kalysse, Brann Bronzebeard, and I with learning about this world and keeping an eye on a major threat to our world, and theirs...the Lich King Arthas Menethil." She then holds the letter toward him to allow him to check the writing and says, "Here is the letter I received from the priestess so you can verify that I am not aligned with the horde or the Lich King."

He takes the letter from her and pulls out his own letter, then looks at the two in a scrutinizing manner, saying a few moments later, "This letter is not forged and proves that you are no spy, so what is that monster up to?"

Kaylara then sighs and says, "Preparing for war the last we checked, sir, though a full briefing on pressing matters will have to wait until our whole group is here as one more has yet to arrive."

Tirion then cocks an eyebrow and asks, "Who would that be?"

The druid sees a few specs in the distant horizon and says, "He might be a friend of yours. I believe you know King Varian, sir?"

He nods his head as his eyes widen slightly with surprise saying, "I do. I did not expect that the other person was the King of Stormwind." He then turns to his soldiers and says, "Be on your best behavior, soldiers. The King of Stormwind is coming here, as per the letter...we are not here to bring this peaceful world into the rivalry between the Alliance and the Horde. We are here to assist them in becoming stronger to fend off the Lich King."

A few minutes later, the king of Stormwind lands near the other group of gryphons and looks at who is leading the group with a grin on his face saying, "Tirion! I see that you have been asked to train a warrior in a foreign land as well, it's good to see you again. How is your progress in the Plaguelands, have you been having any success?

Tirion shrugs his shoulders and says, "It's been...tough at first to figure out how to remove the taint the plague of undeath has on the land, but the lands are slowly getting better. It will be harder to save the Eastern Plaguelands because of how little survives there, I curse the scourge for causing so much damage to the land."

Kaylara looks at the King and bows to him saying, "Welcome, Your Majesty, I hope your trip here was pleasant." She then stands straight and then asks, "Are you two ready to begin our journey into the peaceful world of Equus in one of the nations called Equestria, and meet either one or both of the ruling princesses?"

King Varian raises an eyebrow curiously and asks, "What can you tell me about the princesses we are going to meet?"

The mage then smiles saying, "Well, Your majesty, there is currently a Diarchy in Equestria, and two sisters rule over it. The older sister raises and lowers the sun while her sister does the same with the moon, which sounds a bit crazy at first but I have watched them do it. They are powerful in their own right, being the strongest ponies on two legs in their entire world."

He looks at her with a look of disbelief and a scrutinizing gaze saying, "That is hard to believe without seeing it, I'm ready to go whenever you are."

Kaylara nods her head and turns her companion around to return through the gate looking back over her shoulder and saying, "Alright then, Your Majesty, and Highlord Tirion, please follow me to the capitol of Equestria...Canterlot." She then guides her hippogryph forward into the keep, then heads down the long, wide path. The doors close behind the last one as she passes through the portal, she keeps her mount going forward so they will continue following her. Once the last member is through, she looks over her shoulder asking, "Are all your soldiers with you both?"

King Varian looks back and sees his soldiers and Archmage Malin right behind him and faces forward saying, "All of mine are here."

Highlord Tirion looks back quickly and counts his soldiers, then faces forward and says, "So are mine, we're good to go."

She then urges her companion into the sky saying, "We're going to fly above the cloud cover so the citizen's on the ground spot us, there are pegasi ponies that control the weather and move clouds around so pay them no mind."

Hours later, inside Canterlot castle's throne room

Celestia and Luna sit in the throne room, waiting for the time to set the sun and raise the moon when knocking is heard from the doors. Celestia turns to look at the front doors saying in a loud, clear voice, "You may enter."

Kaylara watches as the two guards push open the doors, then enters the vast room and continues walking forward until she is several feet away as the rest of the soldiers stay behind just inside the doors. She comes to a stop and bows to the two princesses saying, "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, I have brought the guests you asked to assist you in resisting the Lich King's evil forces. Allow me to introduce them to you..." She then steps to the side a bit and motions to her right saying, "Your Majesties, this is King Varian Wrynn...the King of Stormwind," raising her arm a bit, she finishes saying, "And this is Highlord Tirion Fordring." Turning her gaze to her right, she sees the two standing just beside her and puts her right arm down, then gestures to the two princesses saying, "King Varian, Highlord Tirion, on the left is Princess Celestia, the older sister. To the right is Princess Luna, the younger sister. Together, they rule over Equestria with Princess Celestia watching over the land and its citizens during the day while Princess Luna watches over both during the night."

Varian speaks up first as he gives a light bow to the two princesses saying, "It is a pleasure to meet you during such a peaceful time, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

Highlord Tirion follows his example, but gives a brief, lower bow to the two princesses saying, "Likewise, Your Majesties. Is it true that the Lich King has been more focused on building weapons instead of waging war?"

Princess Celestia nods her head saying, "It is, which is quite fortunate for us because at this point, we stand very little chance at surviving should he start attacking. Each day he goes without attacking us gives us the advantage to train and become stronger, our peaceful existence thus far has been both a blessing and a curse."

The king cocks his head and asks, "Why would you say it has been a curse, Princess Celestia? I have heard that your world has yet to experience the horrors of warfare, I think that should be considered a blessing compared to the frequent fights on Azeroth throughout the vast years."

She smiles at him and says with a slight frown, "What you say is true, King Varian, however, the problem is that without conflict...there is no real reason to get stronger. The Lich King, Arthas Menethil, has been in our world since my sister and I were born. We grew up fearing his wrath until we discovered our powers and formed an army to push him back, and lost every single soldier we took into the fight. We managed to encase him in ice to seal him away from the world for eternity, but to our dismay...we learned a few months ago that he was just playing with us and let us think we beat him. Hatred is not a natural feeling to us ponies because nearly all ponies were raised in the teachings of Harmony between all races, it is acceptable to defend yourself against foes but never to willingly take their lives. It is because of him that we are forced to call for aid in defeating him and removing the threat he poses to our world, and yours."

Chapter 19: Training begins

King Varian nods his head saying, "I understand your predicament and why you have asked for aid, I wish that hatred wasn't so prevalent in our world and was more like yours. Since we are both equals and leaders, might we be able to call each other by name only?"

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna look at each other with questioning glances, asking unspoken questions as Luna is the first to nod followed by her sister. She then turns to look back at the visitors saying, "We do not see any issue with that Ki..." clearing her voice a moment before trying again saying, "Ahem, apologies...Varian, we are presently waiting for your student to arrive from her training as a wonderbolt. I believe that miss Rainbow Dash will arrive sometime in the morning." She then looks at Highlord Tirion and says with a slight smile, "Apologies for neither of us addressing you sooner Highlord Tirion, we have seen through visions shown to us that you fought against the Lich King and defeated him by first shattering his sword then running him through. That battle was challenging but the end result of your action sent him to our world, threatening every soul in it."

Highlord Tirion hangs his head and sighs heavily, saying, "I apologize for what I have done to affect your world, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, I upheld justice instead of seeking revenge and threatened your world in turn. When the time comes to face him again, I will not spare him a second time. Both worlds would be a better place without that monster plaguing us with his existence, but if he were to die...someone would have to take his place as king."

With a nod of her head, Celestia speaks up and attempts to brighten the mood a little, saying, "We are aware of that, but we are not here to blame either of you for what happened as you were facing evil, and shall be asked to face it again because the Lich King has command of soldiers that came from your world. Would you mind telling us how he came to acquire them?"

Highlord Tirion looks at Celestia and nods, saying, "It happened shortly after Icecrown Citadel was banished along with Arthas Menethil. You see, Your Majesty, the scourge are under the command and control of the helm Arthas wears. Without its presence to keep them in check, the undead horde of countless numbers went on a rampage throughout the land causing major damage to towns and villages across every continent. After we somehow managed to draw them back to Icecrown, Queen Alexstrasza sent a couple of scouts through the newly completed portal that took two years to build to search for either Arthas or the current Lich King. Archmage Malin tried to warn me against using it, but I refused to listen..."

Luna fights back tears at the sad prospect of losing her father and takes the opportunity to learn more about their father, asking, "Since we know so little about the Lich King's life in Azeroth before turning evil, we were wondering if you two knew anything about his life before that? We know that he used to be a paladin like Highlord Tirion is, he was in love with Jaina and was the crown prince of Lordaeron before he killed his father. Can you tell us anything else we do not know about him?"

The paladin sighs and says, "Well Princess Luna, I can tell you that I only knew that he was trained by Uther and that he was very proud of his pupil until Stratholme started..." He pauses to think back on the better days and says, "His love for his people was second to none, he was okay as a paladin."

Varian listens as he tells the two princesses what he knows about Arthas during his time in their order, finishing the story with the attack on Light's Hope. Knowing it is his turn, he then prepares to begin telling his story when he sees Princess Luna look at her sister for a moment as her sister looks off into the distance, deep in thought.

Celestia then lets out a sigh and says with a sad smile on her face, "Well, that helps us understand he was once an honorable person in life." She then turns back to the king and asks, "Do you know anything of his past that could help us understand him more, Varian?"

He nods his head and says, "I do know much more about Arthas, although I'm not sure how much it will aid you in understanding who he used to be..." and starts his tale by saying, "I first met him many years ago after Stormwind was destroyed by the first Horde, I was a boy at the age of ten then... He never once managed to beat me in a match, and he always lamented how I..." and goes on to tell them the story of his friendship with the evil being he once called his best friend. As he nears the end of his story, he looks away with a little anger saying, "Then when I had heard he had fallen in with the Scourge and murdered his father, I felt so betrayed and when he became the new Lich King..." he clenches his fist as he thinks about how his best friend destroyed their friendship and finishes by saying, "To this day, I consider him the Alliance's ultimate traitor."

Luna looks away with a sad expression and says, "Just so you know, his heart is in our possession and guarded by one of our wisest ponies, Twilight Sparkle, our princess of friendship."

The Varian and Tirion look at each other as the highlord lets out a sigh saying, "It is no surprise to me that he has done it again."

She then asks in a hopeful tone, "What if a way could be found that returned him to how he used to be, would either of you want that to happen?" She then looks back at the two of them with curiosity in her eyes.

Highlord Tirion thinks about it and looks at King Varian as he looks back at him, sharing a look of confusion between them before the king sighs and shakes his head. Understanding his wordless reply, Tirion sighs in turn and looks back at Princess Luna saying, "Apologies, Princess Luna, but with every atrocity he has committed in Azeroth and whatever he has done in this world... We feel it unwise and not worth the effort. I have once attempted to purify it myself, but my efforts were in vain as I looked at the heart and realized he could not be saved. Shortly after realizing that, I rushed toward the heart and ran it through with my sword Ashbringer, destroying it. I was knocked out as I did so, but I heard that my action harmed the Lich King greatly."

She watches as Luna remains quiet for several moments, blinking her eyes to keep the tears from spilling down her face, and then takes over for her saying, "I understand why you say that, but we would still like to give him a chance. One of our subjects is searching for a way to cleanse the heart and free it from darkness, we need assistance from the warriors who fought him before which means that you would be fighting alongside the Horde. We will have to go through a third party to ensure that neither of you searches our world for resources, but will provide a monetary reward for the adventurers that join in the fight. As for rewarding the Alliance and Horde soldiers, both shall receive payment through resources we shall deliver. Does that sound fair?"

Varian looks at Celestia and thinks for several seconds before sighing and saying, "As the High King of the Alliance, I cannot make any promises but I can tell the soldiers to put aside their feelings for the benefit of all living beings in Azeroth and this world."

Tirion then looks up at her and says with conviction, "As the leader of the Argent Crusade, we are soldiers of righteousness and justice. Our duty is to protect Azeroth and all of its people, we would be glad to assist your world as well. I must tell you now, Arthas Menethil is no more, only the Lich King exists now."

Celestia sighs and nods her head saying, "Thank you, all that remains is to inform the Horde leader of the plan and to find a neutral third party to request aid for our world against the Lich King."

Varian thinks about her intention to invite the Horde over and says, "I would advise against inviting the horde here to inform them of the plan, my reason is that Garrosh is a brash and headstrong leader that is willing to cross lines to strengthen his people."

Archmage Malin nervously speaks up and says, "E-Excuse me, Your Highness, but perhaps I could recommend either the Kirin Tor of Dalaran, or the Cenarion Circle at Cenarion Hold in Silithus. They both would want something for making the request in your stead though, The Kirin Tor would likely take an interest in the magic used in this world. With the Cenarian Circle primarily focused on the balance of nature, they may take an interest in the nature of this world, however, they are busy with the Firelord Ragnaros.

The princess thinks for a moment and says, "Very well, if they wish to just study our magic, we see no problems with that but they are not allowed in the restricted section. I shall write up a detailed scroll requesting aid against the Lich King. When it is finished, could you ensure that it gets delivered?"

The mage bows to the princess and says, "I will, Your Majesty."

Highlord Tirion clears his voice and says in a polite manner, "Excuse me, Your Majesty, but would you mind telling us about what has been going on lately regarding the Lich King?"

Celestia is about to speak up when her sister stops her saying, "Allow me to do that, sister." and nods in approval.

Luna then softly clears her throat and continues, "Since you have offered to aid us in fighting the Lich King, we both feel that you deserve to know a secret we keep from all others except for those closest to us."

She watches them as they remain standing there, with curious looks on their faces as they look at her. Taking a calming breath, she then casts a privacy barrier around them, including her sister and says, "We hope that you will still help us against Arthas, because you see..." and trails off for a few seconds before taking a nervous gulp saying, "We spent part of our early years inside of Icecrown's halls...as it was our home because Arthas Menethil is...or was...our father."

Tirion, Varian, and Malin's faces go slack at the revelation, with Malin trying to speak several moments later and finally asking a minute later, "W-Wait...YOU'RE his family he told us about, Your Highness?"

Celestia and Luna both nod their heads as Luna says, "We are indeed the Lich King's daughters, the name he picked for me was Lunetha, and chose Celestine for my sister. However, we prefer to be called by the names we gave you."

Varian then looks at the two of them with wide eyes as he then says, "This is a lot to take in, I shall need to ensure that the Horde doesn't find out or they will invade Equestria to hunt you down."

Tirion then looks at the king and says, "King Varian, you should inform Mathias Shaw of S1:7 of this. Surely you remember Arthas said that he had a family, in front of the other leaders?"

He facepalms himself and then sighs saying, "You're right...he did, fortunately, Garrosh was fighting the undead so the chances of him knowing are slim." He then looks up at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna asking, "Would either of you have issues with me informing the leader of my spy network to ensure that your secret stays that way?"

Celestia shakes her head no, saying, "Go right ahead, that is a very wise choice. I really want Equestria to remain out of the feud between the Alliance and the Horde. Can we still count on you three for your assistance against our father?"

Luna watches with bated breath as the three of them slowly nod their heads and choose to help them, then shifts her gaze to the balcony where the sky is a light yellowish-orange. Turning her head to her sister, she smiles and says, "Sister, it is time, shall we give our guests a little show of our power?"

She looks at the balcony, then back to her sister with a smile and a quick nod saying, "I think that would be a wonderful idea sister, could you cancel your privacy barrier please?" She then starts heading down the stairs towards the balcony as her sister begins to drop the shield.

Archmage Malin follows the two princesses out onto the balcony, curious at what magic they could have gotten from their father. He is stunned at the sight of them effortlessly using their magic to set the sun and raise the moon together asking, "How do you two have this much power?"

As they finish setting the sun, Celestia then smiles and says, "This is something we discovered for ourselves when we were young, after we learned how to use our powers, the ponies around us started to treat us like royalty. With the cycle changed, we can conclude today's business and have the maids give you a tour of the castle before escorting you all to your rooms during your stay in the castle. If you wish, your guards can rest in our barracks, and I shall have guards posted at your rooms to ensure your safety." She then looks at Highlord Tirion with a smile saying, "I look forward to receiving training from the warrior who defeated the Lich King the first time, as we observed the battle through a vision shown to us by Matthias Lehner."

Varian looks at his soldiers, then at Celestia, and says, "I don't want to sound rude or disrespectful, Celestia, but as peaceful as your world seems to be with the Lich King preparing for war...I think it would be best to have a pair of our guards outside our rooms, don't you think so, Highlord?"

Tirion looks at him and bows his head saying, "I do, Your Majesty, perhaps we could have one paladin and one of your warriors outside both our doors."

Luna then remembers about the changelings still in their world and says, "We should warn you, there are certain creatures in our world that can change their appearance to look exactly like those they capture. However, we have measures in place to make it impossible for them to return to Canterlot."

The king then looks at Luna with a sigh of relief saying, "That is good to hear, as an added measure, we shall have our guards be vigilant in their duty." then turns his head to look at Tirion and says, "I agree with that suggestion, Highlord Tirion. I think that we both will be rather busy tomorrow with our new trainees."

Celestia smiles and chuckles saying, "I am sure of that, but I'm afraid my training with Highlord Tirion will have to wait until I have finished business with the Element Bearers." She then looks to one of her guards in the room and calls out, "I need one of you to go find a maid and bring her here."

One of the guards bows and says, "At once, Your Highness." then starts heading towards the front doors at a swift walk.

A few minutes later, the guard returns with a maid in tow saying, "Your Highness, I have brought the maid here as you requested."

She looks at the guard and nods saying, "Thank you, you may return to your post. Once they have arranged their guards for the night, please escort them to the guard barracks where they can rest." then looks at the maid saying, "I need you to first give these royal guests a tour of the castle before escorting them to the visiting dignitaries' wing, and see to it that a maid is assigned to each of them to tend to their needs during their stay here." Shifting her gaze to Kaylara, she says, "Thank you for escorting our guests here, I shall notify you when I require your aid once again via scroll through Spike."

Kaylara then bows to Celestia saying, "You are most welcome, Your Highness. I will go find Kalysse and we shall go see the Lich King's preparations before I indulge in learning to read your books."

The maid bows to her saying, "I will see to it at once, Your Majesty." She then looks at the three men and asks, "Milords, are you ready for your tour of the castle?"

Varian smiles and nods politely, saying, "We will be, shortly. We need to arrange shifts for our soldiers first, so please excuse us for a few moments."

The maid then bows to the guest and says, "Very well then, I shall wait until you all are prepared."

Celestia then smiles and says, "Tomorrow, just after daybreak, will you three join me in our private dining hall so I can inform you of what has been going on lately over breakfast?"

The High King and the others nod and voice their agreement to her request, then discuss their guard's shifts throughout the night before letting the maid show them to their rooms.

As Tirion follows the maid down the halls, he looks at Varian and Malin saying in a quiet tone, "I wonder how much of the Lich King is in the two sister's blood..."

Varian lets the maid gain some distance from them before looking at Tirion and saying barely over a whisper, "These princesses are being gracious hosts, do not start acting suspicious and questioning their actions. Remember what Princess Luna said, Arthas was their father...not the Lich King. We are here at their request for aid against the Lich King, it has to be difficult for them to have to fight against a monster that once used to be their father."

He then bows his head to Varian and says, "I was not going to, I was merely voicing my curiosity, King Varian. I can sense goodness inside these two, I think that it might hurt them deep inside to have to divide their family like this..." out of the corner of his eye, he sees the maid's ear twitch and snaps his head forward to look at her as she walks away then says to her, "Maid, if you are listening to our conversation, it would be best if you kept what you heard to yourself. Do I make myself clear?"

The maid then gulps and nods her head quickly saying, "Y-Yes sir, I didn't mean to hear you. Ponies have sensitive hearing, just so you know, so I am certain that the guards have also heard what was said."

The High King spins around to glare at the guards in a superior manner and says in a loud, clear voice, "The same goes for the guards that also heard us... If any of you should spread that information around, I'm sure that the princesses will not be too pleased to hear about it. Understood?"

One of the guards standing beside the door nods his head ever so slightly as a bead of sweat rolls down his face saying, "Yes sir."

The next morning, at the castle's private dining room.

As Celestia sits down at breakfast with her sister and their royal guests, Luna then tries to get to know them a little, asking, "So what does the diet of humans consist of?"

Varian smiles and says, "Meat, vegetables, fruit, bread, and certain types of leafy plants like cabbage, spinach, and lettuce. How about a pony's diet, what does it consist of?"

Celestia takes the question and answers, "Well, it consists of what you may expect, meaning plants, flowers, fruit, vegetables, grain, and of course, baked goods. Personally, I rather enjoy cake."

When the servant comes to take their orders, the three humans ask about what types of food are served there and then make their choices after listening to what ingredients are in each dish.

As they wait for their orders to arrive, they strike up a conversation and exchange information about the differences between their worlds.

Once their food arrives, they all dig in and enjoy it while making small talk in between bites of their food as Luna pauses mid-bite of her pancakes and asks, "Did you all have a good night's sleep? I did what I could to ensure you slept peacefully and without nightmares."

Archmage Malin then swallows his food and says, "I most certainly did, thank you, Your Majesty. I was rather surprised to find you in my dreams after getting rid of the nightmare I was having regarding Deathwing."

Tirion pauses with his fork held in mid-air as he then says, "As was I, I didn't know that one could do that. That is a rather impressive skill you have, Princess Luna."

Luna blushes slightly at the praise and smiles at them saying, "Thank you for your compliment, and you are all welcome. Nightmares are troublesome creatures that rob you of your precious sleep, does that skill not exist in your world?"

The archmage then shakes his head saying, "Unfortunately, it does not. The citizens of Azeroth have to deal with their nightmares on their own. It would be nice if someone could fight against nightmares as you do, but you don't need to worry because in Azeroth, we know that nightmares are just bad dreams."

They continue to talk about each of their worlds' events, finding a few similarities with their holiday celebrations. As they discuss the differences between the celebrations, the door to the private dining hall open up. The sound draws their attention as they all turn to see who just entered the room when Princess Celestia swallows her food and smiles saying, "Rainbow Dash, you have arrived. It is good to see you, please take a seat. Are you hungry?"

Rainbow Dash bows to the ruling princesses saying, "No thank you, Your Highness. I received your message and I came as soon as I could after informing the drill instructor about your summons. What can I do for you, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?"

She smiles and chuckles saying, "Please rise, Rainbow Dash. I was just asking you to come meet your trainer, King Varian Wrynn of Stormwind."

She snaps her body upright and looks at the princess with a mix of shock, awe, and excitement and says, "Really!?! I get to learn to fight from a KING!?! AWESOME!" then looks at the three guests and hovers above the floor in excitement, asking, "Which one is the king?"

King Varian smiles at the behavior of the young pony, and looks at their mane saying, "That would be me, I wondered who my trainee was going to be. I say that your rainbow hair coloring is quite interesting, is that how you got your name?"

Rainbow bows her head to the king and says, "Yep, it is Your Highness, I was also named Dash because I was so full of energy."

Tirion then looks at the energetic pony and says, "Well don't just stand there like a statue, pull up a seat as your princess asked you."

She blushes and stammers, saying, "R-Right, sorry, Your Majesties." and makes her way to the table to find a seat.

Celestia looks at the three human guests saying, "My esteemed guests, this is Rainbow Dash, she is the fastest pony in Equestria." then shifts her gaze to Rainbow Dash, gesturing to each of the guests in turn from left to right saying, "Rainbow Dash, these three guests are from Azeroth and on the left is King Varian Wrynn, beside him is Highlord Tirion Fordring, and to his right is Archmage Malin."

Rainbow's eyes nearly bug out of her head as she stares at them in shock and amazement, saying in a higher-pitched tone, "You mean the one who beat the Lich King the first time!?! TOTALLY EPIC!! When Matthias showed us the last battle against the Lich King, it was awesome!"

The princess chuckles and nods her head at her reaction saying, "The very same one, and did you know that King Varian once called Arthas Menethil his best friend before he chose to abandon the friends he had and betrayed them by becoming the Lich King?"

Her jaw drops open momentarily before she recovers and glances back and forth repeatedly between the three sitting at the table with her and asks in a hyper-excited tone, "SERIOUSLY!?! He used to be friends with Arthas!?"

Highlord smirks at her enthusiasm and looks at her saying, "The fight against him was definitely not easy, and it had cost the lives of many to get through his guardians. It was a miracle that the light answered my prayer and granted me the power to escape my bonds."

Rainbow's excitement at meeting her recent idol and her teacher fades significantly as she then asks in a more somber tone, "What are we going to do now?"

Celestia grabs her sister's hand and gives Rainbow a reassuring smile saying, "Do not worry Rainbow, we will all train and fight against the monster Luna and I once called father. With the power of friendship, love, and the aid of others, we will defeat him once again and ensure he does not threaten our world any longer."

She looks at the princess with a gentle smile and says, "Yeah we will, we are going to kick his flank so hard, he will regret ever messing with Equestria!"

As they return to their food, Varian looks at Rainbow and says, "After hearing what the Lich King has been up to lately, I look forward to seeing your skills to determine how to train you."

Several hours later in the Frozen North, near Icecrown Citadel

Kalysse stands behind some crates in her nearly invisible cat form, watching with wide eyes as she witnesses the first of several glass containers being constructed as the first two machines roll forward. One of which Has a catapult beside a large, flat platform while the other is a large vat with some kind of alchemist's brewing stand on the front of it with a spout leading from the rear of the vat. Knowing its purpose can only mean bringing death to the ponies of Equestria, she decides to take action and looks for where the materials for their weapons are located. Seeing a large pile of lumber stored in tightly packed stacks, she grins when an idea comes to her mind.

As she looks around for something to destroy the supply of timber, she spots several barrels set side from various piles of materials and waits for her moment to strike. The moment comes when an abomination comes by and sets another barrel by the others with its lid partially open, then makes her way over to the one with an open lid and looks around for any nearby enemies. Seeing none around, she drops her stealth and switches back to her night elf form, quickly prying the lid open to see it full of a clear, thick substance that slowly runs down the sides. She gets close and sniffs it and realizes that it is whale oil, then looks around for something to carry the oil in and sees a discarded wooden bucket.

After she retrieves the bucket, she fills it with the oil and returns the lid so it appears to be closed. Making a trip to the piles of lumber, she then hurls the oil onto one of the piles and returns to the barrel to refill the bucket again.

It takes the druid several trips back and forth to cover most of the lumber, then returns once more to pour a trail of oil from the barrels to the lumber pile. Deciding to do as much damage she can, she uses each opportunity to splash oil onto the rest of the burnable materials the Lich King's army is collecting.

A few hours later, Kalysse holds a flaming blue torch in her right hand, then drops it onto the bucket she was using. While the fire catches the oil on fire, she quickly switches to her cat form and uses her stealth to sneak back to deliver a report to the princesses about what she has discovered during her scouting mission.

Zovaal is sitting in his throne when he hears a loud explosion come from below, causing him to rise up from his throne to gaze down upon the ground to see the source of the noise.

When he reaches the edge, he looks down to see fires beginning to consume the materials he had been collecting and chuckles darkly saying, "So...the ponies are willing to put up a fight to keep their world... I don't really care about this planet, but I will continue with my plans regardless of their pathetic attacks." He then addresses Sindragosa through the link and says, 'Use your frost breath and put out those fires Sindragosa.'

Sindragosa makes her way towards the edge answering through the link, 'At once, sir.' and leaps from her platform to soar through the sky, looking for the fire and locates it almost instantly. With a flap of her wings, she heads towards the blaze and uses her frost breath to put out some of the fires.

Zovaal lifts his gaze as the fires are slowly put out, and turns his head to look at the land of Equestria far away in the distance. With a slight grin, he then says in a sadistic tone, "Oh, so you would like to share your resources...how thoughtful of you."

Kalysse makes her way past the gates leading into Icecrown's territory, and keeps going until the abominations are out of reach. She leans against a tree and tries to catch her breath thinking, 'I must catch my breath before I race to Canterlot to inform Princess Celestia of what I have just seen. We must do what we can to hinder his production of the plague...or Equestria will be the first to fall!' She then shoves herself off the tree and switches to her flight form saying in an exhausted tone, "Must warn...Princess Celestia."

Chapter 20: A hopeful meeting

The druid spends most of the night and the following morning flying towards Canterlot while taking needed breaks to rest and catch her breath, finally arriving at the castle's front doors and asking in a hurried tone, "Where can...I find...Princess Celestia? Urgent report...regarding...Lich King's...activity."

One of the guards looks at the out-of-breath night elf and says, "In the castle's Private dining room, do you need an escort?"

She shakes her head and hurries inside, saying, "I know where it is...thank you for asking." then makes her way toward the room.

Princess Celestia is at the table enjoying breakfast with her guests and sister when the door is pushed open roughly, turning her head to see who it is and sees Kalysse doubled over, gasping for breath and asks her, "Greetings Kalysse, is something the matter? Why are you so out of breath?"

The druid takes a few moments to catch her breath before straightening up and saying, "Greetings, Your Majesties. I have just come from a trip to the Frozen North, and I have learned something awful regarding the Lich King's plans."

Princess Luna and Celestia both listen with bated breath as Luna asks, "What does he have planned?"

She then sighs and says, "Nothing good I'm afraid, I watched as machines were being created. Several of those machines only had one purpose...to spread the plague."

Celestia then looks at her with fearful eyes and says, "Please tell me you did what you could to destroy them!"

Kalysse nods her head saying, "Do not worry, Princess Celestia, I did what I could and set fire to some of their materials and the machines. Although, I fear that it will only slow his progress as Sindragosa swooped down to put the flames out."

Her demeanor changes at hearing that, making her look on the verge of tears and turns to her sister asking, "What are we going to do Luna? We have no forces to attack him with and the elements of harmony are utterly useless against him!"

Varian and Tirion both think of what they can do to help out as Tirion looks at Varian and asks, "King Varian, couldn't we use our soldiers to pull off short raids?"

The King looks at Tirion and smiles saying, "We could fly there and charge through the front gate, he won't expect that as he does not know we are here yet."

Celestia shakes her head at the idea and says, "No, that won't work because after losing supplies, the Lich King will send his soldiers out to gather more. We need to keep training so we can better protect our beloved citizens."

Rainbow raises her fist and says enthusiastically, "We can still carry out sneak attacks and be a thorn in his side while taking out his war machines."

Luna places a hand upon her sister's shoulder and says in a calming voice, "Calm down and breathe, sister. Rainbow Dash has a point, There is no reason for us to ignore the opportunity to strike back and hinder father's progress as much as possible."

She takes a breath and calms down a little, then says, "You're right sister, forgive me for panicking." She then looks at Tirion and Varian and asks, "So, how would you suggest we commence such an attack?"

Varian then ponders on it and looks to Tirion for his opinion and asks, "What would you suggest Tirion?"

Tirion takes a long minute to think it over and then says, "Well, I think that it is too soon to attack again as he would likely have Sindragosa watch the borders for any suspicious activity. In the meantime, we should continue to train others to fight as we do until another opportunity rises to strike back again. Remember, as strong as we are...we are still outnumbered by a devastating amount, so we need to be wise with our attacks as we are Equestria's only hope of survival while the Lich King threatens their realm."

Archmage Malin then speaks up and voices his opinion saying, "I know it is much too early for this, but we could beseech Queen Alexstrasza and ask for her to allow us to study and alter the spell we used so that it returns Icecrown to its original location in Azeroth."

Celestia then looks at them and cocks her head curiously and asks, "You mean that Queen Alexstrasza allowed you to use the spell to banish the Lich King to our world?"

He then waves his arms in front of him and says, "No no no, not at all. You see, quite some time ago when Brann was exploring the depths of Ulduar with a large group of adventurers, he found the book there and brought it to me to study. So after studying it, I learned of its ability to banish things from a world. However, after we used it against the Lich King, Queen Alexstrasza had Chromie take the tome away from us, and she was really mad that we used it. I only hope that she will grant us the chance to correct our mistake and return Icecrown to its rightful place in Northrend."

Tirion half chuckles saying, "You're right about it being too early... We have to survive his reign long enough for Deathwing to be dealt with before we can even send out our call for aid, but your idea does have merit. What do you think about that idea Princess Celestia?"

She looks to her sister and says, "What do you think, sister?"

Luna then looks at her and gives her a determined smile saying, "I think that it would be a really wise idea, perhaps she could offer us some aid against the Lich King's forces."

Celestia then nods her head and turns to face Tirion asking, "I do like that idea, as it shows that you wish to correct your mistake. If she is amenable to the request, we might gain some assistance in combating the Lich King. When can we depart?"

Archmage Malin then says, "Right away, would it be possible to wait until we finished our food before we go visit the Queen of the Dragonflights?"

She smirks and gives him a brief nod saying, "I do think it would be best if we did, it would be rude for our stomachs to intrude on such an important meeting. We shall depart after sating our hunger."

Rainbow Dash looks at Celestia with a hopeful smile and asks, "Princess Celestia, do you think that my friends and I can come with you all? I'm sure that Twilight would relish the opportunity to find out more about Azeroth."

Kalysse then bows her head to them and says, "I shall remain behind and see what Fluttershy is doing at the moment."

Celestia smiles and shakes her head saying in an apologetic tone, "I do apologize Rainbow, but this meeting is very important. Perhaps you will get another chance to meet Queen Alexstrasza some other day." then looks at the druid and nods her head saying, "Thank you for telling us that important bit of information, Kalysse."

She hangs her head dejectedly, but lifts it up and smiles saying in an understanding tone, "I understand, I will look forward to getting another opportunity someday."

After finishing breakfast an hour later, the five of them wait for Archmage Malin to open a portal when he says, "We are going to Wyrmrest Temple, so be on your best behavior and follow our lead. I will speak to their steward to get us to the top level."

Curious, Luna looks at the humans and asks, "Do you think that it would be wise to share my sister and I's secret with Queen Alexstrasza? Can she be trusted with it?

Tirion looks at her and nods his head saying, "She most certainly can, for she cares deeply about the preservation of life. She has a motherly demeanor about her whenever she deals with someone."

The night princess looks at her sister and smiles saying, "She is like you in a way, sister. Perhaps you two will get along quite well?"

Malin opens the portal and chuckles nervously, saying, "Well, I hope so. The subject we are going to be discussing is a rather sore one as she was furious after we used the spell, so be prepared for her to raise her voice."

As Celestia and Luna look around them, seeing snow and mountains as far as the eye can see. A road leads behind them towards a large tear in a glacier, revealing a wide stone path at the bottom. When they turn back around, they notice a massive structure ahead of them stretching into the sky far above their heads. They see strange creatures and dragons barely similar to what they are like in their world.

The archmage looks at the princesses and chuckles asking a rhetorical question, "Pretty impressive isn't it?" and then starts walking towards a dragon on the ground standing off to the side and saying, "Until you are asked a question directly, please let us do the talking, Your Highnesses."

The Steward looks at the new arrivals with a curious eye, noticing that they are accompanied by King Varian Wrynn, Highlord Tirion Fordring with Archmage Malin leading the group. He takes in the curious new beings he has not seen before, seeing that both are around the same height. They both share a few similarities such as the flowing mane, a horn on their heads, folded feathered wings at their sides, being bipedal, having a pair of hands on their upper arms and a pair of hooves on their lower legs. Assuming they are female due to their chest size being much larger than normal on a male, he thinks that they might be sisters due to their similar characteristics.

Malin looks at the steward and says in a respectful tone, "Greetings, steward. My companions and I would like a flight to the Temple's Summit if you please."

The steward eyes them all curiously before nodding his head saying, "Very well, I shall call some of my brethren to take you there. We will watch the newcomers closely as they are unknown to us."

He nods his head in understanding as the dragon calls for five young drakes to give them a lift to the top of the temple saying, "Thank you very much for allowing our request."

The steward blinks and nods his head, appreciating the respect, and watches as the drakes land nearby, saying, "Take them to the Summit. As they nod their heads at his order, his eyes observe the strange creatures as they follow the others onto the backs of the drakes. He smirks as the dark-colored one squeaks out in alarm at the sudden takeoff and thinks, 'I wonder who and what those two creatures are, and why they are here?'

Top of Wyrmrest Temple

Queen Alexstrasza looks at the other two representatives and sighs saying, "We must choose who shall lead the Blue Dragonflight after Malygos's death. Surely one of you would be able to make a suggestion?

Nozdormu looks between Queen Alexstrasza and Ysera saying, "I think that Arygos would be the natural choice, as he is Malygos's son. Who do you think would be best to choose as leader for the Blue Dragonflight, Ysera?"

Ysera then looks at Nozdormu saying, "Personally, I believe that Kalecgos might be a good choice."

The Life-Binder thinks the two options over as she watches five drakes drop visitors off at the outer balcony and holds out her hand for silence saying, "This discussion will have to wait until later, we have guests arriving."

Chromie looks at the group asking, "I can see King Varian, Highlord Tirion, and Archmage Malin...but who are the two strangers with them?"

She then raises an eyebrow curiously and says, "I do not know, but they are not from Azeroth, that much is clear."

Archmage Malin calmly makes his way into the rotunda and kneels before the aspects as the others choose to bow saying, "Greetings Queen Alexstrasza, I apologize for our sudden and unannounced visit. Please allow me to introduce the two unusual guests that are with us..." He then glances behind him and uses his hand to gesture to them to come forward and continues, "These two guests before you are sisters that come from the land on the other side of the gate that was constructed, called Equestria. They are sentient beings like us and are known as Alicorns, just one type of ponies out of three others which are the earth, pegasus, and unicorn pony. The white alicorn with the multi-colored mane is called Princess Celestia, and she shares a Diarchy with her sister, Princess Luna. Princess Celestia rules over her subjects during the day while her sister looks over them during the night, having a special duty to care for those that slumber and dream at night, by entering a realm through her subconscious. She protects them from shadows that trouble them that take the forms of nightmares or bad dreams, disturbing their peaceful rest."

The archmage's words interest the three aspects, causing Ysera's and Alexstrasza's eyebrows to rise a little in curiosity as Ysera is the first to speak, asking, "I am Ysera, I am the Aspect of the Green Dragonflight and guardian of the Emerald Dream connected to the spirit of all of Azeroth. What is your world's dream realm like?"

Princess Luna looks at the one that just spoke and says with a nervous tone, "W-Well, it is a realm that is at its strongest at night while our subjects sleep and easiest for me to enter during that time. Whenever I patrol the realm for nightmares, I enter the private dreams of my subjects if I sense trouble coming from their doors."

Ysera smiles at finding someone to talk to about dream realms as a few questions pop into her head and holds onto them as she looks at Queen Alexstrasza saying, "Apologies for speaking before you, sister."

Alexstrasza then looks at Ysera with a grin and nods her head saying, "No need to apologize for your curiosity of our guest's abilities, it is only natural for us to be curious." She then looks at the archmage and narrows her eyes ever so slightly saying, "Thank you for introducing your guests from another world, your sudden and unannounced visit is forgiven. King Varian, Highlord Tirion, and Archmage Malin...it is good to see you all in good health with all that is going on at the moment. What brings you to Wyrmrest at this time?"

Archmage Malin gulps and is about to speak when he feels a hand on his shoulder, then looks up to see Princess Celestia looking down at him while shaking her head.

Celestia averts her gaze back to Queen Alexstrasza saying, "My sister and I heard about their misguided choice to use a spell to banish Arthas from your world, taking Icecrown with it. What we would like to do with your permission, is to study the spell and possibly alter it so it will return the Citadel to its original location once the current Lich King is defeated."

Nozdormu gazes off into the distance as he watches the potential results of saying yes or no to their request and then shifts his gaze to the queen and shares his opinion saying, "Hmm, what a curious request as I know nothing about this spell, however, I would offer the suggestion to agree to their request."

The aspect looks at him with a questioning eyebrow saying, "Why would you suggest such a thing Nozdormu?"

He looks at her with a serious look in his eyes and says, "I suggest it because they are going to need the help of your flight to lessen the damage done by the Lich King's forces. I can not say more than that because I only see what affects Azeroth." He then looks at Princess Celestia and sighs saying, "I do wish my powers would allow me to see more of what lies ahead for your world, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

Celestia's ears droop at hearing that and she locks her gaze on him and asks in a slightly panicked tone, "Can you see or tell us more about the attack so we can better prepare for it?!"

Nozdormu looks again and watches as fragments of a siege being led by the Lich King's forces against a town of ponies by a body of water and says, "I see machines and undead soldiers attacking a city by water with dragons from the Red Dragonflight aiding a small force defending it, but that is all I can see aside from a glimpse later on from a distance when Icecrown Citadel is returned to its rightful place."

She looks at her sister with a wild, happy hope in her eyes and says, "We can win the fight against the Lich King sister!"

Luna looks at her sister with a sad smile and says, "We can, but at what cost? What will it cost us or our allies to defeat the Lich King, how many lives will be destroyed in our battle? Will we ever be able to keep our family from falling apart after our father's defeat?

She then looks at Celestia, asking her with wide eyes and a shocked expression on her face, "You both are his daughters?" and uses her senses and abilities to search for any darkness inside of them, causing her shocked expression to change to a curious one as she then says, "For having a father like Arthas Menethil, I am curious about how little of his darkness resides inside of you both. How have you both managed to avoid such a feat as that?"

Celestia and Luna both sigh as Luna answers for her sister when she becomes too choked up about it to respond, saying, "We have our mother to thank for that, as she made a tough decision to take us far from our father's reach and leaving us to be found by ponies nearby. Despite our pleas for her to stay with us, she returned to his side and was handed over to Professor Putricide to be a subject for his experiments as a punishment for our escape. We hope to find someday a way to return her to how she once was."

Alexstrasza smiles at hearing her response and says, "I could sense a deep sadness in you both, however, I am still surprised that you still consider the Lich King part of your family."

She looks at her sister with a sad look and looks back at Alexstrasza saying, "My sister stopped loving our father many years ago, but I still love him deep down and hope he can be saved. Although others may have given up hope for him due to the darkness pervading his heart in our possession, some of us will not stop trying to cleanse it."

Her expression changes into one of sympathy and admiration and shifts her gaze to the sister and says, "I am wary about granting your request for the spell, but I will listen to Nozdormu's suggestion and permit you to take the book. I will also send a number of my drakes with you, but please, treat them as you would your own subjects and ensure as many of them return alive after the Lich King's defeat. How does your world fare against the Lich King's forces?"

Celestia looks at her and lets out a sigh of relief saying, "Thank you, Queen Alexstrasza, for granting our request and lending aid. Fortunately, the Lich King has not yet started attacking anywhere yet, but we are using that time to become stronger. Sadly, we just learned from Priestess Tyrande's druid that the Lich King has begun making the plague once more, though she did sabotage much of the materials and equipment she could before reporting what she learned to us. However, we have no other option but to wait for Deathwing to be defeated before we can make a request for aid through a third party to begin fighting back."

Alexstrasza then blinks saying, "It is only a matter of time before he does, so it would be wise to prepare your forces for when the attacks start." and looks to Chronormu asking, "Chronormu, take one of my drakes to retrieve that time, then give it to our new friends."

The gnome nods and says, "At once your Majesty, I will return in a couple of hours." then hurries off to fetch it.

Ysera switches her gaze between the two sisters and her own sister asking, "While we wait for Chronormu to return, would you care to accompany me to the Emerald Dragonshrine so we can talk more about the realms we both look after, Princess Luna?"

Luna smiles and says, "I would like that very much, thank you very much Lady Ysera."

She giggles at hearing that and says, "I appreciate the respect you're showing me Princess Luna, but I am no lady. So follow me to the outer balcony." then begins making her way there and looks over her shoulder at her sister, saying, "We shall return after we have satisfied our curiosity."

Celestia watches her sister begin to follow Ysera to the balcony when the others guide them off to the side as King Varian says, "Make sure to stand aside and leave her plenty of room for when she switches to her normal form, these dragons are far larger than you might expect when they are in their humanoid forms."

Alexstrasza then looks at the whitish-grey alicorn and asks, "What have these three humans told you about Azeroth so far?"

She turns to look at the aspect and says, "Well, we have learned that only Tirion and King Varian knew him from the past with the king having grown up with our father, and that the war would bring with it the loss of lives."

The aspect looks at them with a curious and questioning gaze, slightly narrowing her eyes as she then asks, "Do you plan on requesting aid from the Horde as well to fight your father?"

The night princess stands by a column as she watches Ysera change her form into a massive green dragon, gasping with surprise at how beautiful she looks when Ysera looks at her with a draconic smile and says, "Climb onto me and sit between my neck and front shoulders, Princess Luna. Be sure to hold on when we take off, it would be unfortunate if you get hurt."

Celestia turns to watch Ysera take off from the balcony with her sister before looking back at Alexstrasza and nodding her head saying, "I do plan on calling upon them in the battle, do you see any problems with it?"

Alexstrasza continues to look at them with a scrutinizing gaze before returning a neutral look towards the princess, shaking her head and saying, "Not at all, I was just wondering if you have heard about any particular members of that faction in a little more detail?"

She then looks at her, cocking her head in confusion, and says, "I have heard about the different types of adventurers, and the various races including their history regarding their origins from Priestess Tyrande when she came to visit us a while ago. Unfortunately, our guests haven't mentioned anything that has happened after that."

The aspect shakes her head with a sigh saying, "I don't blame them for not bringing it up as it is not a pleasant topic to discuss, but if you are set on asking the Horde for aid, you must know about one thing the Forsaken did that took place some time ago near Fordragon Hold to the northwest of here."

At hearing her words, Varian sighs and looks away saying with anger in his voice, "Because of what the Forsaken did, we both lost a dear friend at the Wrath Gate."

Alexstrasza nods her head and sighs saying, "Before the Alliance and Horde armies could get into Icecrown, they first marched on Angrathar, the Wrath Gate." she then pauses a moment as she remembers hearing the screams and blinks back a tear saying, "I only remember hearing the screams of so many soldiers running for their lives as a large green cloud appeared directly in front of Angrathar, when we raced to investigate...we learned that the Forsaken were launching something at the troops that had a horrific effect on the living and the scourge alike."

Varian speaks up and interrupts Alexstrasza saying, "Forgive me for interrupting, Your Majesty, but what they created is what they called the new plague and it causes a body to liquefy and become a toxic puddle of goo. Because of what the accursed Forsaken did, 5000 soldiers from the Alliance suffered a painful death and made the tension between the Alliance and the Horde even worse."

Tirion then interrupts his rant and coughs saying, "Yes that is true, but the Horde also suffered from how the Forsaken betrayed the Horde, they lost 4,000 of their own soldiers because of that."

Annoyed with being cut off yet again, she growls in warning at the two saying, "Yes...both sides have suffered from it, but my drakes and I used our fire breath to burn it away before it could cause any more harm."

Nozdormu looks at his Queen and asks, "My queen, since they will seek aid from the Horde, I think it might benefit the Princesses to hear about...her...would you agree with me?"

It takes a second for what the aspect says to register in her mind as she nods her head saying, "I do agree, perhaps it would be best to show them both once my sister's curiosity is satisfied."

Meanwhile, at the Emerald Dragonshrine

Ysera slows her speed and lands on the ground smoothly, lowering her body to the ground saying, "Here we are, Princess Luna. Do you mind if we call each other by name?"

Luna smiles and shakes her head from side to side saying, "Not at all, I was just wondering what you wish to know?"

I would like to know if you are able to connect to the Emerald Dream which is a vast and ever-changing spirit realm, existing beyond the boundaries of the physical world. It represents how Azeroth could have looked if there were no intelligent beings to alter its surface, or what it might become once more many years ahead. The Green Dragonflight are its guardians and we have our own unique way of connecting to the dream, which is through using our minds and abilities together. How do you connect to your world's realm, Luna?"

She looks at the aspect as she shifts to her night-elvish appearance, eyeing her curiously for a moment before saying, "There is a spell I use to enter the realm of dreams, though I do not know if it will allow me to connect to your realm the same way. When I dream walk, it is usually at night when it is strongest."

Merithra watches the interaction between her mother and the strange, new guest and asks, "Mother, would you care for some extra company in the Dream?"

Ysera looks at her daughter with a smile and nods her head saying, "I would like that very much as added security if we should be attacked, thank you for offering your assistance dear." She then looks at Luna and says, "Luna, this is my daughter Merithra." and turns her head to look at her daughter saying, "Dear, this is Princess Luna, she is an alicorn pony and has a sister named Celestia and they rule over a land called Equestria. Perhaps you might enjoy the chance to see a world much different from ours, think it over during our time in the Dream." She then looks back at Luna and sits down on the ground, folding her legs underneath her saying, "I would like you to take a seat before me and close your eyes, then try to use your abilities to sense this world's realm and connect to it."

Luna watches as Ysera's daughter sits near her and waits for her to join them, making up her mind to give it a try. Taking a seat in front of Ysera, she gets into a similar position as the other two wait patiently for her to attempt to connect to the Emerald Dream. As she closes her eyes and casts her dream walk spell, she then opens her eyes to find herself standing on a plateau with a bunch of trees before her. She looks around to learn that she is completely surrounded by nature and sees the two dragons in humanoid forms looking at her with an amused expression on their faces as she looks at the beautiful area around her with wide eyes and asks, "Is this the Emerald Dream that you all protect?"

The aspect nods her head saying, "It is, I am surprised that you were able to connect to it so effortlessly, let us see what else you are capable of here."

As the three wander around the dream, they come across a small group of tentacled horrors as Ysera asks Luna to try to attack the evil monsters with her magic. So Luna nods her head and steps towards them, finally getting a chance to test out one of her more damaging spells.

Luna thrusts her hands into the air and channels moonlight magic into her horn, using her hands to control how large the affected area is and its strength. She then opens her eyes to select the spot to attack and unleashes the spell, whispering, "Burn, vile creatures."

Ysera is astonished to see her attack completely destroy the creature's bodies and chuckles saying, "Well, now that was quite a show using a spell like that, who taught you how to fight?"

She turns around to look at Ysera and says, "Priestess Tyrande taught me how to fight, because Equestria is such a peaceful world, we have to resort to receiving training from those residing in this world."

Merithra looks at Luna with eyes wide in amazement asking, "Priestess Tyrande has found someone with a magic similar to hers?"

Luna looks at her with a gentle smile and nods saying, "That is correct, she is teaching me how to use the light and magic of the moon to fight against my enemies. One day, we shall take the fight to the Lich King's throne...and either save our father from the darkness that infests his heart..." when the smile drops from her face at the sad second option and continues with a somber tone, "or end his life if he cannot be rescued."

The aspect hears her daughter take a sharp breath and places her hand on her shoulder, then looks at her and shakes her head saying softly, "I know what you're going to say dear, and I was shocked to hear it as well when they told us, but Nozdormu, my sister, and I could sense that they have none of his darkness in them. From how she speaks, I think that all she has to rely on are her sister and those she has at her side."

The princess watches the spell end and says, "You are correct, Ysera. Celestia is all I have left of my immediate family as my mother is beyond our reach as she has been locked inside one of Professor Putricide's subjects he experimented on, and our father is currently plotting to conquer our world first..." and feels something inside of her give as her eyes begin to moisten.

Ysera and Merithra feel sympathy for her and move toward her to give her a hug as she starts to sob as Merithra says, "I do not know your pain, but I am sure that you do not bear it alone. Things have a tendency to work out for the better if beings work together to face what puts them all in danger, I believe in that."

Chapter 21: A small victory

After spending a few hours with Luna, Merithra looks at her mother and asks, "Mother, would you be willing to permit me to accompany their group to their world?"

Ysera eyes her daughter curiously before letting out a sigh and chuckling lightly, saying, "You may dear, just make sure to keep yourself safe over there." She then looks at Luna and says, "It's just a matter of time until Deathwing is dealt with when you shall be able to send out a call for aid against the Lich King's forces."

Luna looks at Ysera and nods saying, "I look forward to when that time comes, we will need all the help we can get against Father's forces." then looks at the sky and sees the sun reaching toward the horizon, giving her a brief smile and saying, "It might be a good time for us to head back, my sister has a few duties to tend to before we set the sun and raise the moon."

The aspect smiles and nods her head saying, "I was beginning to think of that as well because we still have yet to choose a new leader for the blue dragonflight. I hope that we can come to some sort of agreement soon. Hop on my back, Princess Luna and we will be on our way back."

She nods and heads over to the aspect, then gets up onto her neck saying, "Alright, I'm ready to go." Once she gets settled in, she is joined by Merithra, who sits right behind her.

A little while later, at the top of Wyrmrest Temple

Alexstrasza watches her sister land and let the others return to the ground before she shifts back to her humanoid form, looking at her niece Merithra with a smile saying, "I'm so happy that you decided to join us here, little niece." Turning her gaze to the other two, she holds a subtle smile on her face asking, "Is everyone ready to hear about one person you need to keep a watchful eye on? How about you Luna?

Luna joins the others in a small circle, nodding her head while the others seem to be uninterested in hearing about them and saying, "Sorry we took so long, Ysera was showing me around the Emerald Dream."

The Aspect nods her head saying, "It is fine, we had to wait for the tome Chromie was retrieving." She then clears her throat and begins by saying, "Now the person you must know about and keep an eye out for is a key member of the Horde, her name is Sylvanas Windrunner. She used to be a proud Ranger General of Silvermoon, which was the capital of Quel'thalas when Arthas and his scourge came through and nearly slaughtered their entire race."

Nozdormu sighs and speaks next saying, "Sylvanas put up a resistance, but it was doomed as Arthas's forces were too strong and her kingdom's leaders grew corrupt after too many years of peace. Thus allowing their once mighty army to dwindle down to just a few. When Arthas finally came face to face with her, he wounded her just enough so that his sword could rip her soul out of her still-breathing body. He then used her soul to turn her into a banshee and ordered her to attack and kill her own people. Her final moments had the greatest impact on her and made her who she is today. As Arthas stabbed her with Frostmourne, she shed tears that were seared into her skin while she was being ripped out of her body. Seeing the one who defeated her with breath still in her lungs, her soul was torn out, and turned around to gaze upon the field where her own lifeless body...and saw her failure forever commemorated by the corpses of her people lying on the ground around her, two of which she saw were the mother and child she tried to save. With a final anguished scream, Arthas transformed her into a banshee. While Arthas was purging Lordaeron of life, his power began to wane, and left for Northrend to defend the Frozen Throne. He became weak enough for Sylvanas to regain her freedom and somehow possessed her own body. She then intended to ambush him on his journey while still weak herself, and poisoned him with an arrow, but failed to do more due to Kel'thuzad's interference. When he arrived, Illidan Stormrage and a few of his soldiers stood in his way, intending to destroy it, resulting in him nearly dying from Arthas' strike. She then started to bide her time by gathering the freed undead to make a home for themselves. She coerced the dreadlord Varimathras to join her in securing the capital city of Lordaeron, driving out the other dreadlords and making an alliance with Othmar Garithos, who was a surviving military leader of the Lordaeron forces. When they retook the capital, she betrayed him by having the surviving dreadlord kill him. I won't say anymore as it may have adverse effects on the future.

Celestia gasps at hearing the story about Sylvanas, saying, "I cannot believe that father was that cruel to someone, I look forward to the day when we make him face what he has done to us all."

Luna sheds a tear for what her father had put Sylvanas through, saying, "I feel sad for her, having to suffer from such misery because of our father Cece." She then looks at the one who spoke and asks, "Can anything be done to help her?"

The bronze aspect looks up for a moment and then shakes his head saying, "At this moment, unfortunately not." He then looks away and off into the distance, then turns his head toward them saying, "You all should be on your way since you have the tome you require, time is of the essence now as it is turning against you while we speak."

Luna's older sister rises to her hooves as her younger sister joins her, turning her head to them and bowing her head to them in respect saying, "Thank you for all that you have told us, wise ones." then looks at the Queen saying, "We will take what you have so graciously granted us and leave you to your duties, good evening and good luck to you all."

Taking that as her cue, Alexstrasza nods her head saying, "You are welcome, may fortune favor you all in these trying times. Fare thee well, young ones." and looks to the dragons all around them and says, "I need twenty brave drakes to travel with them to their world, aiding them against the Lich King's forces."

With nothing left to be said, the group takes their leave and makes their way towards the portal in Northrend along with the drakes lent to them as Celestia tucks the tome into her storage space.

Several minutes later, somewhere over the western part of Wintergrasp, near the Crystal Song border

A solitary Forsaken gatherer is out looking for ores and herbs when she hears the distant beating of wings. Curious, she heads out of the forest and into the clearance to get a better look when she spots a group of red dragons flying low and heading north. As she takes a closer look at the group, she notices a few alliance gryphons mixed in with the group and spits on the ground saying, "Alliance pigs..."

The group continues to fly a little above the treetops to avoid being seen, unaware of the danger of being spotted from the ground as Luna says, "Umm, aren't we flying a little too low? I thought I saw some creature running through the trees..."

Varian shruggs at that and says, "Don't worry about it, it is most likely just some forest animal. The Horde's attention is drawn elsewhere due to Deathwing trying to destroy Azeroth."

Luna still feels unsure about it but sighs and says, "Alright if you say so, King Varian, I still feel it unwise to fly this low."

The Forsaken female crouches in a bush as the group passes overhead, her eyes opening wide at hearing King Varian mentioned and cocks her head curiously, thinking, 'King Varian is here? I thought that he was supposed to be in Stormwind... This is highly unusual, I need to get word to the Dark Lady about this discovery.' then summons her war bat to head for the portal to Undercity in Dalaran.

It takes her half an hour to reach the portal in the floating city of Dalaran, arriving in the Undercity below the ruins of Lordaeron's capital city, then starts making her way to the surface.

Sylvanas is a few miles outside the forsaken's home of Undercity, finishing off the last member of a recently spotted group of scourge soldiers when she spots a forsaken heading her way on a war bat. She crushes the skull of a decrepit skeletal corpse crawling its way toward her with her foot saying, "Ugh, annoying pests..."

The forsaken hops off her war bat and makes her way towards her leader, bowing to her in respect saying, "My Dark Lady, I have a curious bit of information to share with you. I was in the western part of Wintergrasp gathering herbs and ore when I heard the flapping of distant wings, I then looked around and saw a dragon with a few others heading in my direction, so I ran to find some cover. When I found a bush by an open area, I looked up to see them passing overhead, heading towards Icecrown, and noticed something out of the ordinary."

The Dark Lady narrows her eyes and says, "Get to the point already, I'm busy wiping out the annoying remnants of the scourge's soldiers."

She bows again, saying, "Apologies Dark Lady, I saw three gryphons in the middle of the group of dragons and heard one of them say King Varian's name as if he was among them... I found it odd that King Varian Wrynn is in Northrend at all and not at Stormwind. What do you think?"

Sylvanas's curiosity is piqued at that and raises her eyebrow, saying, "You are correct, it is rather odd for the king of Stormwind to be there." then looks away in thought, saying aloud "I wonder what he is doing there..." She then looks up to the forsaken female and says, "Go find Lillian Voss, she might be hunting down members of the Scarlet Crusade somewhere in the Eastern Plaguelands, go find her and have her investigate it when she is finished with her mission."

The forsaken nods and then makes her way towards her war bat to begin her task of locating Lillian Voss and informing her of the Dark Lady's orders.

Three weeks later, near the edge of the Everfree Forest

Lillian Voss is nearing the forest's edge when she sees a group of three fillies heading down a path towards her position and moves behind a bush, crouching down behind it to see what they are doing.

Sweetie Belle then looks at Applebloom and asks, "Hey Applebloom, are you sure it is a good idea for us to go visit Zecora in the woods with Arthas's soldiers threatening to attack Equestria?"

Applebloom then looks at her and answers, "Well, it might not be wise, but what if we could find a way to help the princesses to save The Lich King from his evil ways? We would be heroes of Equestria and might just get our cutie marks by doing that!"

Lillian watches the two girls agree with her and trot along with her down the road hearing them say, "Heroes of Equestria!" and chuckles quietly, saying, "Foolish children." when a voice from behind startles her.

Pinkie Pie looks at the strange being and says, "Hi! My name is Pinkie Pie, what's your name?"

She whips around to see a very energetic pink pony speaking to her and says, "Lillian Voss, I have followed rumors saying that King Varian Wrynn passed through a forest in Northrend, then disappeared through a portal. I then found my way through it and wound up in a wasteland, what can you tell me about this world, Pinkie Pie?"

She then smiles and says, "Well, I can tell that you are from Azeroth because you mentioned Northrend, some portal, and King Varian Wrynn. I could tell you lots about this world, what would you like to know first? OH OH OH, what are you?"

As the two get to know each other, they both find out what they need to know as Lillian says, "I need to go report back to the Dark Lady about my findings, maybe we shall meet again another time."

Pinkie Pie then smiles at her and asks, "Do you think you could teach me to be a rogue just like you Lilly?"

The rogue then cocks her head and shrugs her shoulders asking, "I'm not sure, when you fight in Azeroth...you fight for your life and the life of the others with you. It is either kill or be killed over there, can you be angry enough to fight with a weapon and draw your enemy's blood? Could you bring yourself to protect your friends by taking an enemies life, how about the life of an enemy that can speak, think, and talk like you that wants to kill you or worse?"

Her mane deflates slightly at hearing her speak like that and mumbles for a few moments, saying, "Uhm...I...I..." then sighs and gathers her courage for the most difficult task ahead of her and looks back at Lillian with a steeled gaze saying, "I Pinkamena Diane Pie, will do whatever I can to keep my friends safe! So please teach me how to be a rogue!"

Lillian Voss nods and says, "Very well Pinkie, after I make my report, I will return here swiftly to begin training you." then turns around and makes her way back to the portal, wondering how Sylvannas will react to hearing that Arthas is alive and well in Equus.

Sneaking her way back through the portal and the garrison, she summons her mount and makes haste to return to the Dark Lady to report her findings.

A couple of weeks pass as Sylvannas strangles the life out of one final ghoul when she hears footsteps approaching and quickly turns around, hurling the ghoul off to the side like garbage and sees Lillian Voss asking, "Do you have something to report, Lillian?"

Lillian nods to her and says, "Indeed I do Dark Lady, I investigated the matter of King Varian being in Northrend and discovered that there is a garrison built around a portal that leads into a peaceful world called Equus. He is there along with Highlord Tirion and Archmage Malin to help a nation of ponies named Equestria ruled by two powerful alicorn sisters, Princess Celestia and the younger sister, Princess Luna. The reason for their being there is to help train them to fight back against a great evil that threatens them all, one you know as Arthas Menethil."

Surprised and enraged at hearing the news that the Lich King still lives, she screams and leaps towards the ghoul she tossed aside. Landing on its head, she watches it explode all over the ground beneath her boots. Turning to look at Lillian with eyes glowing in rage, she says, "TELL. ME. EVERYTHING."

The rogue nods and proceeds to tell her what Pinkie told her about waiting for Deathwing to be dealt with before getting the Alliance and Horde to help deal with Arthas, saying, "That is everything I have learned of the situation over there. Is there another task you want me to do?"

Sylvannas smiles at an opportunity to get her revenge on the Lich King and nods her head saying, "There is, yes. Go back there and keep a close eye on the Lich King's movements, and set up a drop point to relay reports to me every week. I have to speed things up with the battle against Deathwing and his minions..."

Lillian Voss nods her head saying, "At once, Dark Lady." then hurries off to find a drop off point hidden from the eyes of the Horde or Alliance, then look for a trustworthy mage to collect the reports and deliver them to Lady Sylvannas for her.

It takes her a couple of weeks to get everything set up securely as she finds herself back in Equus, teaching Pinkie Pie during the day and observing the Lich King and his forces at night. She looks over at Pinkie and watches her working on her lack of anger saying, "I know that you are the Element of Laughter, but in Azeroth...that will only get you and your friends killed if you can't get angry. Try harder Pinkie."

Six months later, at Canterlot Castle inside the training area

Kalysse flaps hard, approaching the ground quickly and transforms into her humanoid form and pants shouting, "WHERE IS PRINCESS CELESTIA?"

The guard flinches at her volume and says, "In the training area with Highlord Tirion, what is wrong?"

She hurries towards the door and yanks it open saying, "There's movement in the Frozen North, that's what's wrong!" and then races through it to go find Celestia.

Celestia is happy at just getting started on learning the limitations to resurrect and says, "So, if I understand this correctly, I can only resurrect someone if... They died in battle less than 15 minutes ago and has not been attacked by any magic that damaged their soul."

Highlord Tirion nods his head and says, "That is correct, because no matter how hard you try...you can't bring back those who have died of natural causes, or those who have moved on once the 15 minutes are up. You can't even return ponies killed by the Plague of Undeath, as it is a magical disease that reanimates them as mindless corpses. When we do reach Arthas at the top of Icecrown, the chances to being able to resurrect someone during the battle will be very slim because he is a very strong foe."

The princess then asks, "So, where do I start learning how to do that?" and suddenly hears someone burst through the door to the training area, looking over to see the druid Kalysse searching for her with a worried look on her face.

The druid looks around the room hastily for the princess and spots her, then sprints towards her saying breathlessly, "PRINCESS CELESTIA...(gasp)...DIRE NEWS...(gasp)...FROM THE...(gasp)...FROZEN NORTH...(gasp)...REGARDING MOVEMENT...OF THE LICH KING'S...(gasp)...FORCES!"

The training area goes dead silent as Celestia's heart starts to rise into her throat while her eyes widen with fear as she replies loudly, "What's going on?! Is the army heading anywhere?!"

Kalysse takes a few seconds to catch her breath before continuing on in a slightly more composed, but worried tone, saying, "A large number, about 300,000 strong are on their way south...with hundreds of machines towards the narrow path between the mountains just north of the eastern coast of the Luna Bay."

Celestia looks at her and hastily says, "Go to Moonglade and get my sister, then tell her what happened on your way here." She watches her nod and summon a portal, then pass through it as she turns to Rainbow Dash, who is staring off into the sky with an expression of worry on her face and says, "Rainbow, it is a miracle that you are here right now. You're the fastest flier in Equestria, go gather the dragons that Queen Alexstrasza lent to us and lead them to the narrow pass then have them use their abilities to create as many obstacles as they are able before the army gets there. Me and the others will wait for my sister to get here and then we will join you as soon as we can, do whatever you can to hinder their movements but please...do not attack the army until we arrive."

Rainbow nods her head and then takes off into the sky with a short rainbow trail following her as she thinks, 'I sure hope that he doesn't attack the Crystal Empire or Vanhoover...'

Half an hour passes as Luna finally arrives with Kalysse, and hurries to her sister's side asking, "Where is father headed sister!?"

She looks at her and shakes her head with a sigh saying, "I'm not sure exactly, but it appears he means to attack Vanhoover. Come on, Rainbow and the dragons are waiting for us at the pass, let's get going." and takes flight with the humans mounted on their gryphons towards the pass.

When they arrive, Princess Celestia looks at Rainbow lying on a cloud as the dragons sit upon the sides of the valley, watching the pass carefully for approaching enemies. She then asks Rainbow, "Has there been any sight of the army Rainbow?"

Rainbow then shakes her head saying, "Not even a lousy ghoul, could they have turned back or maybe just going slower than usual?"

She thinks it over and says, "With the machines, they would definitely be slower. Let's wait here a while as we have a good position set up to ambush them from for when they show up."

Two hours later...

Luna has a sinking feeling in her stomach and turns to her sister saying, "I will go see if I can find out where they are at, I have a sinking feeling in my gut that tells me they should have been here by now."

Celestia sighs worriedly and nods saying, "Okay sister, but be careful."

With a nod, she says, "I will sister, don't worry." then takes off into the skies above the pass, heading towards the closest gate to her father's lands.

Once she gets through the pass, she keeps a close eye out for any signs of an army marching by. She doesn't see anything for a good half hour until she sees a trampled swath leading south, then turning to the east. With too many potential targets, she flies a bit higher and follows the path to be sure of what their target is.

She catches up with the army as it begins to turn towards the mountain range, climbing a bit higher to remain out of range of Queen Ashara's keen undead dragon senses. When she spots a large hole at the base of the mountain range several miles away, she notices that the army is heading right for it and then flies high enough to still see the hole, but out of Ashara's range.

Racing forward towards the hole, she is first to arrive, being a few miles ahead of the army. Darting inside quickly, she casts a barrier spell while illuminating her horn to see in the pitch-black tunnel. Seizing the opportunity to hinder their progress as much as she can, she drops her spells and blasts the sides and top of the tunnel's entrance, hearing a low rumbling at first as it gets louder with each passing second. Quickly recasting her barrier and light, she flies a distance down the tunnel before doing the same thing again. As she does this every so often, it takes her a few minutes to get to the exit.

Finally leaving the tunnel, Luna flies up into the air to get her bearings and gasps when she spots where the tunnel comes out at. Seeing the beautiful tourist village and the rainbow arching over it, she turns her head to the right and realizes what their target is. She flaps her wings and pulls around hard to fly back to where her sister and the others are waiting in a now-useless ambush.

A half-hour later, at the ambush point in the pass

Celestia barely has time to react to hearing a pair of rapidly flapping wings when she hears something land really hard beside her, causing her to cry out in alarm and spin her head to her left to find her sister's chest heaving as she tries to catch her breath and asks, "WHAT'S WRONG LUNA!?!"

Luna looks around for Rainbow Dash and shouts, "RAINBOW DASH, GET OVER TO RAINBOW FALLS AND TELL EVERYPONY THERE, MARE, STALLION, FOAL, AND NEWBORN TO EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY AND HURRY TO THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE THIS INSTANT!!! ENSURE THEY ALL LEAVE WITH ONLY THE ESSENTIALS OR THEY MAY FALL BEHIND AND BE CAUGHT BY THE LICH KING'S ARMY!"

A circular rainbow spreads out when Rainbow Dash performs a Sonic Rainboom from a nearly-dead stop as Celestia looks at Luna with wide eyes filled with terror and shouts, "LUNA, WILL YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS WRONG!?!"

She looks at her sister, takes a deep breath and says, "Father is on his way east, there is a large tunnel carved through the mountain range that exits near Rainbow Falls. I looked around and figured out from the clues provided to us at Wyrmrest Temple...he's..." and begins to fight against crying and forces herself to continue on, "he's going to hit Manehattan...WITH THE PLAGUE! I've done what I could to hinder the army's progress, but it's only a matter of time before they get through. However, Ashara will have to fly over as she is too big to fit through the tunnel." as her body shudders, unable to keep itself from sobbing any longer.

As she watches her sister begin to break down, she raises her right hand and brings it back, then slaps her across the face to snap her out of it and bites her lower lip to keep herself from sobbing as well and focuses on what's important saying, "YOU CAN CRY AFTER WE DO WHAT WE CAN TO SAVE THE PONIES IN THE VILLAGES NEAREST TO MANEHATTAN!" Then grabs her sister by the shoulders and says in a softer tone, "For now, please go back and help Rainbow out by flying from those places closest to Manehattan, you've done very well to try and buy us time to help ponies get to safety. I need to go get Twilight to help evacuate towns," then looks to everyone else and says, "Set up an ambush point above the tunnel's exit, we will at least take away one of his minions this day!"

A few cheers go out as King Varian heads over to a dragon saying, "Soldiers, head over to a dragon and climb on! Use whatever ranged spells you can on their back. Today is the day we take a step forward in weakening the Lich King! Archmage Malin, go find yourself a drake or sit behind a soldier and let them handle steering while you fight."

The Archmage nods and makes his way to a drake, sitting behind a female soldier saying, "I sure hope that you are good at flying a dragon, they are nothing like flying a gryphon."

The female soldier hesitates to answer, then says, "S-Sorry sir, I have not had the opportunity to learn." then looks at the dragon and says, "We're both counting on you in this upcoming fight, so if you see an attack coming and I fail to attack, take over flying and evade it please."

The female drake nods her head and says, "Very well, I shall do that, my queen would be saddened if any of us were to perish here."

The ambush point, an hour later

The resurrected Dragon Queen Ashara is halfway over the mountain range when she comes under sudden attack, feeling multiple fireballs pummel her body. Crying out in pain and rage, she bellows, "You pathetic attack felt like the bite of a mosquito, let me show you what pain really feels like!" then spews out a stream of fire at a passing red dragon.

The red drake carrying the female soldier and Archmage Malin sees an opportunity to do some real damage and lands on the top of the large dragon's neck, using her claws to tear into her flesh. As she bites down on the scales over her spine, they crack under the force of her bite. Tossing her head sideways, she opens her jaws to discard the shattered scales, then brings her head back around to tear away at the dragon's body.

Ashara roars out in pain as a dragon tears into her neck, making her ignore the others she's fighting and shake her head to try to dislodge her attacker.

As Malin attacks her with a lightning spell, he watches as the dragon's body falters briefly and calls out, "Keep hitting her, she's weakening!"

The attacks from the small creatures and the dragons continue to take their toll when the dragon queen looks up to see a bright light coming from two of the small creatures. Thinking that this may be her end, she charges toward the pair of lights, roaring in defiance, "I am the mighty Dragon Queen Ashara, I will not fall here without taking you with me!"

Celestia switches from attacking to defending as she discards the spell she was going to use for her shield spell, then casts it as Luna focuses on putting more strength into an attack saying, "Do in now Luna!"

Luna opens her eyes, finishing with the spell and then casts a much stronger version of Starfire and calls out, "NOW...FALL!" and watches as her spell engulfs her body and burns her flesh away.

Ashara feels her strength leaving her, knowing that she is going to die soon as her body begins to fall. One wing gives one final flap, causing her body to roll onto its back as she falls from the sky, speaking to her master through her connection with him, saying, "I'm sorry...my lord...but my strength...has failed me. Please forgive me...for failing you..." then crashes onto the side of the mountain peak and slides down to the ground.

As Zovaal controls Arthas's body, he chuckles with amusement at the small, minuscule victory they had achieved in defeating the weak Equestrian Dragon Queen that Arthas had previously raised. He then shakes his head and grumbles at her failure to complete his task, saying to her through their connection, "How pathetic, I expected you to do much better against those ponies." then shrugs his shoulders and continues, "Oh well, I guess if you want something done...you have to do it yourself." then speaks to Sindragosa through the helm's connection and says, "It's time that we take the fight to these ponies and show them how ill-prepared they are for this fight. I will be there shortly."

Feeling relieved, she looks to the foes around her and chuckles menacingly, saying, "Enjoy your victory...for it will be your last. My master...will make...you...payyy." when her last word slips from her mouth and turns into her final sigh as her head falls to the ground, lifeless.

Chapter 22: Darkest before the Dawn (Minor edit 12/25/23)

Author's Note

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL, OR HAPPY HOLIDAYS! FINISHED THIS JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, SO I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY THIS CHAPTER AS MY GIFT TO YOU ALL!"

Chapter 22: Darkest before the Dawn (Minor edit 12/25/23)

Celestia watches with fear-filled eyes as Ashara's corpse lies in the snow as several paladins work to sanctify her remains to make them unusable to the Lich King, replaying her last words in her head as a cold dread creeps over her body, hearing, "My master will make you pay."

As her body begins to tremble uncontrollably, she looks to the west to where Icecrown Citadel is at. Thinking she can see the flicker of faint blue flames suffusing Sindragosa's body, (which is actually just a figment of her imagination) she starts to hear a cacophony of thousands of moaning, groaning, rattling, and the shrieking or wailing of an army of undead marching out of the tunnel. With a horrified shudder at the army marching on at a frenzied pace, she looks to the others and says, "As soon as you all have finished with her body, return to the dragons, we have a city to defend and evacuate!" then blasts the top of the entrance with a powerful beam of magic, causing a loud crash from the tunnel as the entrance collapses on top of the soldiers.

A few dragons swoop down and incinerate any soldiers that are outside of the cave as the others finish sanctifying her body, then land so they can mount back up quickly and hurry towards Manehattan. Luna sees that Twilight couldn't get any of the citizens to evacuate as a large mob has gathered near the city limits with pitchforks, torches and other assorted tools for farming. Concerned for her citizens, she looks at the mob and says, "WHAT ARE YOU PONIES DOING, YOU NEED TO EVACUATE THIS CITY NOW!"

Amidst a veritable crowd of ponies, a headstrong Starlight says, "We won't let a foreign invader take our homes without a fight!"

Another pony is emboldened by her words and calls out even louder, "YEAH! The changeling invasion of Canterlot was repelled, so we can do the same HERE!"

Celestia tries to reason with the mob of ponies, but it does no good as she hears the cacophony of the undead approaching the city. Wanting to know where they are at, she flies up into the air to locate them and sees them just a few miles away, sprinting towards Manehattan and lands hastily shouting, "HOW CAN THEY BE THROUGH ALREADY?!" and casts her protective barrier over the whole city saying, "Sister, please lend me help once I begin to really strain to keep it up!"

Luna nods to her sister as she hears ponies cry out in terror at seeing what they are facing, watching helplessly as the army strikes the shield with their weapons or magic.

A half-hour passes by as the army of undead surrounds the city, with siege weapons beginning to appear with wagons loaded with glass barrels reinforced by iron rings. As the first of the barrels are loaded into the catapults, plague-bringers stand just outside the barrier, eager to rush in and spread the plague to the living inside.

Wincing slightly as the containers filled with a green, swirling cloud strike the shield and shatter on impact, Celestia focuses on maintaining the barrier. A little while later, she gasps when she feels a stronger attack hit the shield, still focusing while looking up to see Sindragosa breathing frostfire onto the shield.

Luna watches the area around the barrier turn green and hears some ponies around her beginning to worry about their safety when she sees black lightning race along the barrier, and hears her sister scream out in agony for the very first time in her life. Turning to her sister, she watches as she maintains the barrier while trying to curl up.

Somehow managing to stay standing throughout the attack, Celestia sighs with relief as a bead of sweat trickles down her forehead and falls off her chin. Left with no other choice, she says, "Luna, and Archmage Malin, open a portal to Canterlot large enough for these dragons to walk through! Then evacuate Highlord Tirion and King Varian, followed by their soldiers and then every pony else!"

Varian watches as the Lich King unleashes another attack, causing Celestia to scream out in agony while black lightning races all over her body. He sees Archmage Malin begin to create a large portal when he hears a loud, glass-like crack echo through the air. He looks up to see a large crack appear at the top of the shield, turning to Malin and says, "You better hurry Malin or we're going to die here and join the scourge!"

It takes Malin a minute to get the portal open as Luna says, "Dragons through the portal, now!" and watches as they hurry towards the portal while the soldiers do what they can to keep the ponies from racing toward the portal. Seeing a pony about to attack a soldier causes Luna to bellow in the royal voice, "DO NOT LOSE YOURSELVES TO PANIC AND DISMAY JUST TO SURVIVE! MY SISTER AND I WILL BE THE LAST ONES THROUGH AFTER YOU! SO KEEP CALM AND HAVE FAITH IN US TO GET YOU TO SAFETY!"

Celestia collapses onto the ground, curling up on herself as she howls out in agony from the black lightning racing along and throughout her entire body. When the attack ends, she nearly passes out from exhaustion as she says "LUNA! HELP ME MAINTAIN THE SHIELD!"

Nodding, Luna channels her magic and joins her sister in holding the barrier up, barely able to maintain focus as another attack hits them both. She hears her sister howl out hoarsely in agony as her horn begins to glow orange, a sign that she is nearing mana depletion sickness. Trying to take more of the burden onto her, she holds her sister and pushes herself even harder. She surprises herself as she manages to close up many of the cracks in the barrier, grimacing as yet another attack hits her even harder.

Tirion watches as the last dragon goes through the portal, asking King Varian to go first saying, "After you, King Varian."

Archmage Malin watches as both of the leaders go through and shouts to the soldiers, "Come on and get through already soldiers of Azeroth!" smiling as they each turn and sprint towards the open portal, one by one.

When half of the soldiers are through, he looks over at Princess Celestia and sees her horn changing colors and calls out to Luna, asking, "Why is her horn changing colors!?"

She looks over at her sister's horn slowly turning into a light red and shouts, "DROP THE SPELL SISTER! YOU ARE NEARING COMPLETE DEPLETION WHICH WILL CAUSE A BACKLASH IF THE SPELL FAILS!"

Barely managing to force herself to stay awake with desperation, she exclaims, "I WILL NOT ABANDON OUR SUBJECTS LIKE OUR FATHER DID TO HIS! I WILL NOT FAIL MY LITTLE PONIES, FOR THEIR LIVES MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME!"

Luna watches her sister fight to maintain the spell and bellows back, "YOU ARE NOTHING LIKE HIM, CECE! YOU LOVE OUR SUBJECTS MORE THAN ARTHAS EVER DID, YOU NEVER LET YOURSELF BE BLINDED BY YOUR PRIDE! FATHER HAD! PLEASE DROP THE SPELL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!"

Celestia sighs and continues to maintain the spell a little longer, saying in a normal tone, "Alright sister, I'm sorr..." when she throws her head back, accidentally using the royal voice as another attack suddenly wracks her body, causing her to let out a blood-curdling and ear-shattering scream in full volume as she starts bleeding from her eyes, ears, nose, and the corner of her mouth.

She watches in horror as her sister's horn flashes red and then the bright, red aura explodes outward and unleashes a backlash that is transmitted to her as her sister collapses to the ground unconscious. It is her turn to wail out in agony as the combined pain from the backlash and her father's current attack, hearing a sickening spiderweb of cracks race out along the shield.

Malin watches with wide eyes as Princess Celestia's horn is blackened after the spell failed, while Princess Luna has no choice but to maintain the spell...on her own. He runs up and picks the unconscious alicorn princess up and looks to Luna saying, "We need to get you to safety Luna!"

Gritting her teeth through another attack while tears run in rivers down her face, Luna looks at the shocked and stunned ponies around her and shouts, "What are you staring at?! Get your flanks through...NOW!"

Zovaal stands a fair distance away from the shield, seeing its heavily damaged state and chuckles saying, "A well-placed sword strike will bring it crashing down around them all." and then starts to run towards the shield, turning the blade around in his hand to wield it underhanded. When he is a few feet from it, he uses all his strength to jump while raising the sword above his head and grabbing it with two hands, then drives it towards the barrier and pierces it. With a dark chuckle, he channels suffering through Frostmourne saying, "Now...you'll break...then die and serve me...in death."

The archmage watches as a light aquamarine-ish grey earth pony gallops through the portal when he hears Luna's wail match her sister's exactly, turning to look at her and sees that she, too, bleeds from her ears, eyes, nose, and mouth while her magical aura flashes red then explodes outward. Hearing a glass-like crackling of the shield collapsing, he races towards her as she falls to the ground unconscious. Throwing one sister over each shoulder, he races towards the portal as it begins to waver. Knowing that it will close really soon, he leaps into the portal as it starts to shrink rapidly.

Tirion watches as Malin emerges from the portal with the two sisters on his shoulders and asks, "What happened?! Are they okay?" Hurrying over to take his student from him, he shifts her into a princess-carry saying, "Come on, let's get them to the healers." and then makes his way towards the castle's medical wing to have them looked over by the nurses.

Varian looks over at the scared ponies who made it through the portal and sighs saying, "I apologize, but we are only guests here so we cannot help you with food or new lodgings, citizens of Manehattan. We must get the princesses taken care of first." He sees Princess Twilight sitting near a wall with her hands clutching Arthas's heart close to her chest while rocking back and forth, deciding to go help her deal with this situation. He walks over to her and sits beside her saying, "Princess Twilight, I know how you must be feeling so helpless right now after being forced to flee Manehattan. I was once forced to flee Stormwind when I was almost thirteen due to an attack from the Horde during the first war, and we fled to Lordaeron, which is where I first met Arthas."

Twilight slowly stops rocking to look at Varian and asks, "Could you tell me more about your childhood with Arthas?"

The king chuckles and says, "Of course, well, about the only thing that we really did together was duel and train with our weapons, although Arthas never beat me once in a duel."

The two of them go on to talking about what he knows of Arthas's past, which is surprisingly little, to Twilight's disappointment.

A few moments ago, after the barrier failed over Manehattan...

Starlight watches in shock as the portal snaps shut that the human just jumped through with the unconscious princesses on his shoulders, hearing glass shattering around her along with some cries of alarm. Forced to turn around saying, "They left us..." and watches the green cloud of mist begins spreading out around them.

A few ponies unable to get away fast enough breathe in the green mist and cough, then turn around and start heading for their homes to wait for their princesses to come to rescue them.

She begins to panic, breathing in more of the mist surrounding them as glass barrels continue to fall all around the city, suddenly feeling so helpless at being abandoned...again and screams out in despair, "NOOOO!!! THEY LEFT US BEHIND!!"

Starlight begins to completely freak out after the royal princesses abandon their own citizens to die, noticing a little while later how few ponies are around her. She takes a few steps to find someone and bumps into something lying on the ground, saying, "Watch it! instinctively. Looking down at the ground, she recognizes the pony she bumps into as the one that was standing beside her in the crowd. However, something looks very wrong with the mare, getting a closer look, she screams out in terror at seeing her body starting to rot away. As she stares at the mare rotting away, she screams bloody murder, then is horrified beyond reaction as the corpse gets back onto its hooves shakily. Seeing the sight of the wobbly undead pony before her causes her to lose control of her bladder as she pisses herself, then hears heavy booted steps approaching her from behind and turns around to see the Lich King everypony has been talking about lately walking amongst the rising undead ponies, thinking, 'I was so close to finding the scroll to get revenge...'

Zovaal looks around at the paltry number of undead ponies rising and then scoffs saying, "Pitiful, I will just have to go scourge one or two more cities before it is enough of a message..."

She then starts to cough harder as her vision begins to swim, causing her to drowsily groan out..."Sooo.....sleepy..." then feels her left leg give out, causing her unsteady body to fall over onto its left side as her eyes fall shut, letting out one more heavy breath before darkness takes her.

When she regains consciousness, she opens up her eyes feeling the need to serve her master. Shakily, she rises to her hooves and hears an order in her mind, telling her to wander Equestria and spread fear to the living ponies. Nodding her head and blinking dumbly, Starlight walks away, not knowing that her body has been forever changed and unaware that she is enslaved to the one responsible for her present state.

A couple of days later, in Canterlot Castle

Twilight paces back and forth in the hall, having great difficulty eating or sleeping due to her anxiety over both princesses still being unconscious. Totally freaking out over them not waking up yet after their horns have regained their natural color, she is startled when a pony suddenly talks to her and screams for a moment before asking in a panic, "HAVE THEY WOKEN UP YET!?!"

Doctor Hoof sighs and nods his head saying, "Princess Luna has just woken up, please go in and try to calm her down."

She nods and then trots out of the waiting room and into the recovery room, seeing Luna standing shakily near her sister's bed with her head lying beside hers and says, "I...I'm so sorry that she hasn't woken up yet, Princess Luna."

Luna straightens and spins around, expecting to see her father there, but sees Twilight there instead and sighs sadly before asking, "Do you know what happened after we both lost consciousness?"

She then hangs her head and says, "From what Archmage Malin tells me, as you suffered a really nasty attack, the spell failed and caused you to black out from the backlash. Once the shield started to shatter and fall apart, he grabbed you and carried you over his shoulder through the portal just before it could close. A few ponies made it through the portal, but many were left behind due to there not being enough time to keep the portal open. The news of the attack is all over Canterlot...and everypony is panicking about how the Alicorn Princesses were swiftly defeated at Manehattan, but they are utterly terrified at the news of dead ponies coming back to life."

She feels her heart break over how they were not able to save more as tears start to fall from her eyes, letting her head fall upon the bed beside her sister saying, "How could we have failed our subjects so miserably!?"

Varian strides into the room with a sigh saying, "Do not let yourself fall into the pit of despair, Princess Luna. You two have fared far better against the Lich King's might than others have. It pains me to know that a city and its citizens have fallen to the scourge, I swear that the soldiers of the Alliance will do whatever we can to bring the Lich King to Justice."

Twilight looks over at King Varian and nods saying, "I'm sure they both will appreciate your words, Your Highness. As long as we can ensure that he is not slain so that a suitable punishment can be delivered."

The king looks at Twilight as he sees Luna look over at him and sighs saying, "I cannot promise that the Horde will like that idea, so it will fall to you all to find a way to get them to agree to it."

Two days later, In Canterlot

Celestia sits at the breakfast table, barely able to eat anything due to how miserable she feels for having failed her citizens when the doors open to admit a courier into the room who tries to catch his breath for a moment and asks, "Is there news of more attacks from the Lich King or Azeroth? I really hope it is the latter because I can't take another bit of bad news or yet another city being scourged, I still weep for the citizens of Fillydelphia and Baltimare."

The courier then sets the scroll before Varian, saying, "It is a report of the battle between our forces and Deathwing's, Your Majesty."

Varian quickly takes the scroll and unrolls it, then reads through it, saying, "Good news at last...the last of his allies have been slain or cornered, and Deathwing has finally fallen. Since he has finally fallen, we can rally what forces we can after doing some cleanup. Fortunately, it will not take long, but I must return and take command of the forces.

She sighs sadly at hearing that and asks, "Could you spread word of our call for help against the Lich King?"

Varian, Malin, and Tirion then nod as Tirion says, "We will and I am sure that The Knights of the Ebon Blade will be the first ones here."

The High King looks at the courier and says, "You head back and spread the word around that there is to be a new call to arms posted on every warboard in every single city against the Lich King Arthas Menethil for the final time within a few hours, now ride forth and inform the captain of the garrison that fighters from the Horde and other factions are to be allowed through if they came to fight the Lich King."

The courier nods and then hurries out of the room to perform his tasks, passing by a pink pony trotting down the hall from where he came from. When he exits the castle doors, he hops onto his gryphon before taking off into the sky and heading for where the portal is located.

Celestia turns to see Pinkie Pie pronking into the room after being let in by the guards and asks, "What brings you here, Pinkie Pie?"

Pinkie looks up at Princess Celestia and bows to her saying, "My Pinkie Sense was tingling, Princess Celestia, which told me that something good big just happened. So I came here with a friend to lend a hand, what happened?"

She looks at her and smiles, saying, "Something wonderful indeed, had happened. Deathwing has finally been defeated, which means Equestria can ask Azeroth for aid against the Lich King. I have already asked Varian and Tirion for their help to spread word of our request for aid to their people, and they agreed to do so."

She then prances in place with a wide smile on her face, saying, "OOH, OOH!" Then turns to her right and says in a rapid-fire manner, "Did you hear that, Lilly? Huh, huh?! The mean dragon aspect has been beaten, which means that we get to bring the fight to Arthas!"

Celestia then chuckles and says, "Pinkie Pie, there is nopony there."

Pinkie then giggles and says, "Oh, right, silly me! I sure hope that you don't let her appearance get to you, she really isn't all that bad once you get to know her." Then turns her head to look at where Lillian is beside her and nudges her side with her elbow, saying, "Come on out and say hello, there has to be a way for you to lend a helping hand."

Lillian turns to Pinkie as her stealth is canceled, saying, "Curse you, Pinkie..."

The princess then cocks her head as she notices a figure starting to fade into existence beside her, asking, "Hello, who might you-"

Highlord Tirion recognizes her at once, saying, "Remain calm Princess Celestia, she is no threat to you. That is Lillian Voss, she has sworn allegiance to no particular faction, she once used to be human, so she might be willing to help spread the word to the horde if you were to ask nicely."

Celestia then takes in her horrid appearance and asks, "W-Were you plagued by the Lich King?"

Lillian then turns to her and shakes her head saying, "No, I was slain by my father's own crusaders, then reanimated by a val'kyr at the Dark Lady's command. It took me a little time to get used to life as an undead because I wanted nothing to do with The Forsaken, so I started my own path and took revenge against the Scarlet Crusade. Once I destroyed them all, I came here at her orders to keep an eye on the Lich King's forces. However, I do need to report back on his latest journey back to the north with all his soldiers."

She cocks her head and asks, "You mean he just returned and is not making his way to other cities?"

Lillian nods her head, saying, "Correct, they just went north after plaguing Fillydelphia and Baltimare. They then went through a second gate that appeared to have been recently finished, when I took notice of a shipyard taking shape nearby."

Tirion then looks at Voss with narrowed eyes and says, "Since you brought up Sylvanas, it would be wise if you would do what you can to keep her from wanting her revenge against the Lich King."

She then says, "She learned her lesson the last time she tried to fight him, she won't do so again without being prepared."

The Highlord then nods and says, "Good, then that is one less thing we have to worry about."

Celestia gasps and then says, "He's intending to attack the other lands..." then looks at her with eagerness and asks, "Will you please take word to the Horde and tell them Equestria calls for their aid against the Lich King's forces?

Lillian nods once more, saying, "I know for a fact that members of the horde still harbor a thirst for vengeance against the undead for overrunning Orgrimmar, so I will spread the word after making my report to the Dark Lady."

She nods, saying, "Thank you very much for aiding us, Lillian Voss."

With nothing else to do here, she then turns to Pinkie and says, "When I return after this, we need to get back to your training. I'll meet you by the same place as usual."

Pinkie Pie then smiles and nods, saying, "Okie Dokie then!" and makes her way out of the castle.

Varian watches Lillian follow Pinkie in stealth, then heads out himself with the other two humans following behind him. Heading to where his men are at, he has them get their mounts and then flies back to where the portal is located.

Arriving at the portal a few hours later, they all get off their mounts and walk through the portal. When Varian steps out of the portal and into the keep with doors large enough to admit war machines through, he walks out of the keep and pulls his hood back to reveal his face and sees the captain working on making the approach smoother for war machines to roll through. He then turns to his men as Tirion leads his own men a short distance away to address them, and says, "Soldiers of the Alliance. When we get back to Stormwind, you all are to follow me into the castle and wait to receive a list of locations to visit along with another paper of what to tell the townspeople. Mount up and move out!"

In Azeroth...

As they all mount up and take flight, Varian spots a lone war bat to his left and thinks, 'That banshee had better not do anything to jeopardize our friendship with a potential ally, or there will be hell to pay...'

Lillian Voss makes her way towards Dalaran to take the portal to Orgrimmar, which takes her a good fifteen minutes of flying to reach. Once through the portal, she hurries out of the portal chamber to go find Garrosh.

Garrosh is atop a plateau overseeing the hanging of a part of Deathwing's jaw when he hears someone approaching quickly, turning around to see that it is Lillian Voss, and asks, "What business do you have with me, Voss?"

She stops and says, "The business I have with you is to inform you that the Lich King is still alive in another world, and he seems to have plans to return to claim this world too. I have gotten word that the Alliance are also going to be gathering troops to aid the struggling inhabitants."

His face contorts with rage as he roars and shouts, "That bastard still lives!?! He's on the other side of that portal, isn't he...ISN'T HE!!??" He sees Lillian nod and then roars again in anger and bellows, "WELL WE WILL SEE TO IT THAT HE NEVER GETS THE CHANCE TO TAKE ANOTHER BREATH!" He then turns to a bunch of orcs looking at the trophy with smiles on their faces and bellows, "YOU ORCS OVER THERE WITH SMILES ON YOUR FACES, GET OVER HERE THIS INSTANT!"

The group races over and stands in front of their warchief as one of them asks, "Yes, Warchief?"

Garrosh then huffs and puffs in rage, saying, "Fly to any locations the Horde holds and spread the word for able-bodied fighters to come at once to the gates of Orgrimmar, now go! Blood and glory await us, Lok tar ogar!"

They all shout, "For the Horde!" in unison and then take off to spread the word to all of the locations.

A passing Death Knight overhears the news about the Lich King still living and clenches her fist, thinking, 'He won't be around for very much longer...not if we have anything to say about it.' then summons a death gate and runs through it to go inform the others the news.

Back in Equestria...at Canterlot

Celestia organizes a contingent of twelve guards to go watch the gate for any activity, instructing them to question them if they are there to fight the Lich King. If they are, one guard is to escort them to the base of the mountain Canterlot is built on and inform them that one of the ruling princesses will be there once a large enough force has been gathered to take on his forces in the Frozen North. She also tells them that if they are either Horde or Alliance, they are to be kept miles apart from each other to prevent fights from breaking out. They are to then head straight back to their post after telling them that food and drink will be provided until the army is ready.

Once the contingent of pegasi heads out, she starts writing a letter to Twilight and her friends, writing, 'My loyal student, I need you and your friends to...'

In Ponyville, moments later...

Twilight takes the letter from Spike and reads through it hastily, saying, "I need you and your friends to travel to the Crystal Empire to begin searching for a way to cleanse the heart right away, for Deathwing has finally been defeated and I asked word to be sent to Azeroth that we require aid to defeat the Lich King's overwhelming forces. I hope you succeed at finding a way to cleanse Arthas's heart before we have no other choice but to end his life, but I have every ounce of my faith invested in you succeeding at this task. You haven't let me down yet, so work hard and fast, my brightest student. We do not know how long it will take for both armies to get here or how long this battle will take before we face the Lich King."

Spike blinks and says, "Woah."

She then looks at him and says, "Tell me about it..." Then rolls it up and puts it away, adding, "Well, Spike, we have our work cut out for us this time. You go find Rarity, and Pinkie while I go find the rest of the girls, alright?"

When the girls are all gathered, Twilight looks at them saying, "We are going to be gone for a while girls, what are we going to do about the Crusaders. They cannot come with us because it is too dangerous, who are we going to have watch over them?"

Applejack then says, "They can stay at the farm, there's no shortage of things for them to do, so they won't be bored very often."

Rarity nods her head, saying, "That will work for me as my parents are traveling all the time and have made me Sweetie Belle's legal guardian."

Rainbow then says, "Scoots can go there too since I won't be able to keep watch over her at her parent's place."

Twilight then nods and turns to Fluttershy saying, "Do you have anypony to look after your pets?"

Fluttershy nods and says, "Oh yes I do, I asked Tree Hugger to watch over them with Discord."

When they have everything sorted out with their pets, they take the girls over to Applejacks and their pets to Fluttershy's before making their way to the train station to get tickets for the Crystal Empire with their bags as well as their gear if they should need to join the fight.

Small Timeskip

Winter arrives as Twilight has not found anything helpful at all, a month passes as Tauren warriors from the Horde show up first. The next ones to arrive are the Death Knights, with a new group member, former Highlord Bolvar Fordragon. The next ones to show up are numerous parties of adventurers belonging to both the Alliance and the Horde, who annoy each other by making snowballs and pelting each other in the face or the groin. No blood is spilled, miraculously as they are not looking to fight each other, but have a good laugh at each other to steel themselves for the intense fight yet to come against the Lich King. As Garrosh arrives with the rest of his army and his war machines, Night Elves show up in glaive throwers with Dwarves driving their tanks who are not pleased about the Horde army slaughtering a garrison of Alliance soldiers who were told to let anyone through. They clean up the area as best they can and lay the soldiers to rest, leaving a man behind to inform paladins to stop and lend a hand sanctifying the graves so the soldiers don't rise from them.

Two weeks later, at the castle in Canterlot

Celestia is in the throne room with Luna holding court while the soldiers finish getting ready for a hard fight ahead when the doors open, shifting her eyes up to see who arrived. When Celestia sees that it is Highlord Tirion, Archmage Malin, and some woman with long, blonde hair, she and Luna both gasp at recognizing her from visions and dreams, as Celestia says, "Welcome back to Canterlot, Tirion, and Malin. I hope you all had a pleasant trip here."

Tirion speaks first, saying, "It was a peaceful trip...mostly."

Malin then chimes in, saying, "Unfortunately, we had to clean up the garrison on the other side of the portal due to Garrosh and his Horde slaughtering the soldiers that were told to let them through."

Jaina then huffs in disappointment, saying, "Bloodthirsty warmongers."

Celestia sees the question burning in her sister's eyes and speaks first, saying, "Welcome to Canterlot and Equestria, we have not met before. Though we have seen you in visions and dreams, what might your name be?"

She then bows her head respectfully, saying, "I am Lady Jaina Proudmoore, Your Majesties. Archmage Malin and Highlord Tirion have told me much about you and this land, is it possible that Arthas can be saved?"

Luna then speaks up with a smile and says, "We surely hope so, my sister has her brightest student working on a way to do that."

Jaina looks at the two princesses and reflexively asks, "Could they use some assistance?"

The solar princess then smiles and nods, saying, "I do believe that she might, for you both share a common bond with Luna and mine's father, Arthas."

Her eyes go wide as she says, "YOUR FATHER?!" then turns to Malin and Tirion, saying, "You never told me he had a family!"

Luna then smiles and says, "It is true, though he was never married. We shall have to spend time together to talk once the war against Arthas comes to an end an Icecrown is returned to where it belongs."

Jaina then smiles and says, "I would relish that chance very much if Arthas can indeed be saved, perhaps to rekindle old bonds."

Celestia then giggles and says, "I look forward to that as well, I have sent my student and her friends to the Crystal Empire, which you can find almost straight north of here. It has a towering crystal structure which is hard to miss from the air, you should get going so that you can lend aid to Twilight Sparkle, my student."

She nods and says, "At once, Your Majesties." then hurries out of the throne room, then makes her way out of the castle to summon her gryphon and fly to where the princess said the Crystal Empire is.

Chapter 23: The fight back begins

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Nightmare (Edited 6/29/21)

Author's Note

Many thanks to a reader and friend Xarmar13 for all the help with answering my hundreds of questions and telling me histories, you really help make a difference with this story.

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Nightmare (Edited 6/29/21)

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Nightmare

Arthas grunts at feeling the sword being thrust through him by his old friend Tirion, he looks down to see the hilt of Ashbringer sticking through his armor. He shifts his gaze upwards to meet Tirion's hate-filled eyes and chuckles saying, "At last you manage to run me through, old friend."

Tirion scowls and squints his eyes, still gripping the hilt of his sword tightly as he replies, "Indeed I have, it feels good to finally be rid of the monster that has betrayed so many friends and allies for his own gain. I haven't killed you yet, regardless of how much I hate you and want to give you the punishment you deserve, justice yet needs to be dealt. One of the mages found a tome a couple months ago with a banishing spell in it. It took some time to convince them, but we are going to use that spell to banish you from this world." He takes a step back and raises his foot up and sets it against Arthas's chest plate and kicks him off of it.

He lands on the floor and slides a few feet as the sound of armor hitting the floor and scraping against it echoes into the sky above the frozen throne, clutching his stomach as he turns to look at his shattered Frostmourne lying on the floor out of his reach. With a grunt, Arthas shifts his gaze towards the rune teleporter to watch his friend head for the door as a ghostly appearance catches his eye and notices that it is his father.

Terenas strides over to where his son lies and kneels down beside him when his son's gauntlet reaches up to grab his shoulder. A tear leaves a trail down his cheek as he looks at his son's weakening body.

Tirion halts and looks back towards the ghostly figure of the slain King Terenas Menethil II with shock on his face and continues to watch the two and thinks, 'How can he still love his son after all that he has done?'

Arthas lets out a cough and looks into his father's eyes and says, "Father, is it over?"

He places his left hand over top of it and softly says to him, "At long last, my son. No king rules forever." He then turns his gaze to Tirion and says, "Without the Lich King keeping them under control, the restless scourge will greatly endanger the world of the living. There always needs to be a Lich King."

Tirion sighs and shrugs his shoulders saying, "If the spell we found works, the scourge won't be a threat to us anymore."

Terenas's eyes widen at hearing that and asks, "By the light, what do you mean? There is no spell big enough that can get rid of the scourge!"

He looks harder into Terenas's ghostly eyes and says, "There is such a spell, Brann stumbled upon the book after Yogg-Saron was dealt with in Ulduar by several brave people. After studying it for a time, the mages learned that it can banish things. After several weeks of arguing over what the punishment for Arthas's crimes should be, I managed to convince them that banishment to another world would be better than just outright killing him."

He lets go of his son's hand and rises to his feet suddenly and says, "I strongly advise against banishing him. If you were to banish him from here, what would become of that world if he should return to power? Their blood would be on your hands forever, are you sure you want that Tirion?"

Tirion turns around and starts to head for the door and looks at Terenas over his shoulder and replies, "If the scourge wants a fight, we will give them one. If he rises to power once more, it won't be our problem anymore, it will be their headache to deal with. I have made bad calls before, I already have blood on my hands. A little more won't make a difference, all I will feel is a bit of guilt. I can deal with the guilt just fine..." He pauses a bit then turns and looks down to Arthas and says, "...I hope you suffer wherever you are going Arthas, farewell." With that said, he turns back around and heads to the rune teleporter and then teleports to the entrance on the bottom floor.

Arthas looks to his fathers face and sheds a tear and says, "I wonder where I will be going, will I continue to live or will I breathe my last after I get there?"

The slain king gazes lovingly at his son and says, "I'm only 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. I must go now son, we will meet again after your time is done on that world and you breathe your last. Fare thee well my son, Crown Prince of Lordaeron. I guess I should call you King Arthas since I am dead after all." He looks straight ahead of him and turns into a wisp of glowing blue frost and joins the other spirits into the beyond.

He chuckles and says to no one in particular, "Well Calia and Jaina, it looks like you two won't ever have to worry about me trying to kill you anymore." He looks at the hilt of Frostmourne and can still feel some faint magic coming from it and thinks, 'It's not enough to be of any help to me of course, but maybe it can be repaired. If I survive long enough to find aid of course, but nobody could ever love me after they hear of the things I have done. That is if I decide to tell them, but I think I will be keeping that a secret until I gather my strength once more.'

Tirion walks over to his horse, mounts it and returns to the large group outside of the corpse-filled grounds of Icecrown Citadel and stops in front of Archmage Malin and says, "Is everything in place for the spell?"

The Archmage looks at Tirion and says, "Y-Yes sir, everything is ready to go. A-Are you sure we should do this, we really don't understand this spell all too well. We were only able to understand that it is a complex banishment spell, for all we know it could banish all of Northrend!"

A couple minutes ago in Equestria

Princess Platinum is with the members of the other pony races discussing what they all should do about the looming threat of the temperatures making it harder for the earth ponies to produce food for them all and says, "Somepony needs to do something about this cold weather, it is really putting a drain on all unicorn's magic."

Commander Hurricane frowns and says, "I'm sorry would YOU like to try dealing with those clouds? If I went up there I would freeze my wings off. I don't need a UNICORN telling me how to do my job."

Clover sighs as the leaders continue to bicker and argue, clearly not making progress as the weather gradually gets worse when she senses a great deal of magic a great distance away. Turning her head in the direction where the magic is coming from, the frozen corner of their current home that they have no need to explore. She then turns the rest of her body away from the others and cocks her head at an angle in wonder and says, "I wonder what could possibly be emitting such intense magic."

Princess Platinum notices movement in the corner of her eye and stops her arguing for the moment and looks to Clover the Clever, seeing that she is focusing on something and says to her, "What are you looking at Clover?"

She continues to focus in the direction where the magic is coming from and answers, "I am sensing a great deal of magic coming from the frozen land. There is something... different about this magic, from what I can tell... it is not our magic."

The princess squints her eyes and says, "How curious, I wasn't aware of anything besides us unicorns that could wield magic. I do think that we should investigate this mystery, we may benefit from it." She turns to the others and says to them, "Unfortunately, we will have to continue this discussion for another time. Farewell."

Just then Commander Hurricane raises his voice and yells, "Where do you think you're going UNICORN, we aren't going to allow you to get an advantage over us! We will be coming with you to claim this discovery for ourselves."

Chancellor Puddinghead grins and sees an opportunity to join a race to get something that the other two races are fighting to take for themselves and says, "This sounds like a fun adventure, I'm coming along too."

Clover the Clever sighs in disappointment that the leaders are more concerned with gaining power over the other races and begins to head for the door to find the source of the mysterious magic and says, "Ok let's get a hoofin, we better hurry if we wanna get there by nightfall. It is a ways away from here after all, but I am curious as to what we might find."

Smart Cookie thinks of an idea and says, "Since it would be quite a ways for us earth ponies to walk, why don't we find a way to make it a faster trip?"

Princess Platinum sighs and looks to Smart Cookie then answers her, "Getting there faster is a good idea, but we can't teleport many ponies at a single time unfortunately."

Commander Hurricane scoffs and says, "Wow, UNICORNS really are weak then if they can't teleport five other ponies across a distance."

Before another argument can break out, Clover the Clever intervenes and says, "Since we all want the same thing, why don't we just work together this once. We can all go back to hating each others' guts after our journey there okay?"

Everypony turns their head to look intensely at Clover and mull over the offer as they hesitate to answer the question and reluctantly agree to it just this once.

Clover huffs in annoyance and says, "Good, now that we are on the same page, we will think of a way that we can all get there together. Smart Cookie, do you have any idea what we all could use to get there faster?"

Smart looks up and puts a thumb and forefinger to her chin in thought and says, "Maybe a wagon or a carriage big enough for us all?"

She smiles and likes the idea and says, "Yes, a carriage will work fine, maybe the pegasi can fly and pull it while we unicorns use our magic to keep it above the ground."

Commander Hurricane rolls his eyes and mumbles under his breath, "Great, we are doing what earth ponies should be doing."

Clover squints her eyes suspiciously and says, "I'm sorry Commander, I did not hear what you said, can you please repeat that?"

He puts on an embarrassed smile and chuckles then says, "Oh, I was just looking forward to getting the chance to exercise my wings. We have a good plan, lets put it into action!"

Thirty seconds ago, Back in Azeroth

Arthas holds a hand over his wound and looks around him when he notices that strange ribbons of multicolored lights are beginning to form above the citadel, gradually beginning to intensify until it is too bright to look at anymore and closes his eyes.

Suddenly, he feels sick to his stomach and fights the urge to throw up all over the floor. As he waits for the blinding light and the sensation to fade, he impatiently says, "This is a real annoying inconvenience, how long is this damn spell going to take!"

After a few moments pass, the urge to puke goes away as the blinding light also fades. Arthas finally opens his eyes to look around at his new surroundings, only to discover that nothing has changed and he is still atop his citadel in front of the base of the stairs leading to his throne and says, "Nothing has changed at all, I wonder if their banishment spell failed?"

He slowly begins to feel a little weaker and an emotion slowly comes over him. Arthas tries to remember what this emotion is, when it finally hits him and he realizes that what he is feeling right now is sadness. Oddly, he starts to feel the urge to sing that is slowlygetting stronger, and starts to resist it. He only sang once in his life, and that was to Jaina as a young boy. She laughed at him and thought that his ballad was hilarious and didn't realize he was singing a love song to her.

Finding this new urge very uncomfortable and unpleasant, he fights it harder and hopes it passes. He angrily looks around the area to see if someone is causing this unpleasant urge, only to find no one around him.

Meanwhile...back with the Founders in Equestria

Commander Hurricane finally sees a shape of a structure in the distance and pushes his wings harder and exclaims, "Finally, we are almost where you claim the mysterious magic came from. I can see a structure in the distance, from what I can tell, it seems to be quite large to be spotted from so far away. Come on Private Pansy, flap harder, we are finally closing in!"

Princess Platinum harrumphs at hearing they are nearing their destination and says, "It is about time we got close enough to see it, my flank is aching from this hard seat! One more thing Commander...WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GO SO FAST!"

He grumbles and calls back, "Well let me think, who was it that wanted to get back before nightfall? It is pretty far away you know. If we flew at a normal speed, it would take us a full day just to get this far!"

Clover the Clever is surprised to hear that and says, "Are you serious?! I can't believe that what I sensed came from so far away, just how much magic was used up for it to be sensed from where we were?"

Hurricane's eyes look at the massive castle rushing towards them, he then notices something different on the ground a ways ahead of them and suddenly says, "NORMAL SPEED PRIVATE, THERE IS SOMETHING UNUSUAL ON THE GROUND UP AHEAD THAT WE NEED TO CHECK OUT!" Without warning, they both rapidly decelerate.

Smart Cookie hears what he says and responds with, "Wait...what...ooof" She finds herself up against the other side of the carriage and untangles herself from the pile of ponies saying, "Oww my head hit something harder than wood, why would you slow down so suddenly?!" She then begins to help the others to their hooves as she waits for his answer.

Commander is shocked to see what lies before him on the ground below them...dead bodies of strange creatures numbering well into the thousands, if not into the tens of thousands. Struggling to recover from his shocked state, he finally says, "See for yourselves, we are landing now so be ready for a swift descent." He and Private Pansy go into a swift dive and start to land.

After the carriage stops moving, Clover and Princess set the carriage down on the ground and exit it then gasp at what lies before them.

Clover gazes at the enormous number of bodies and corpses laying atop the ground and walks a short distance when she gazes upon a body cleaved nearly in half and pukes at how revolting it is and says, "This is absolutely horrible, I wonder what happened here. All this death is very...disturbing to no end, let's keep moving forward towards the castle. Maybe there could be a few survivors within that can tell us what happened here."

Thirty minutes pass by as Arthas continues to fight the urge to express his sadness through singing, as tears finally start to make their way from his eyes and run down the sides of his face. Not wanting to lose to the overwhelming urge, Arthas forces himself onto his stomach and pulls his body towards the hilt of Frostmourne, hoping that it can help him banish the urge to sing.

After dragging himself along the floor for a couple minutes, Frostmourne is just out of arm's reach and can move no longer as he begins to sob openly and gives in to the urge to express his sadness and starts to sing.

The group pauses as they arrive just in front of the truly massive structure as music starts to fill the air, hearing someone expressing their sadness and longing through song and listen to it. As they listen to the voice singing the sad song, they start to choke up but shake it off and resume their journey into the massive structure to leave the corpse-filled field behind them.

Clover the Clever leads the others to the slightly open doors and uses her magic to open them further so they can pass through, but struggles to move it at first and tries again. After putting quite a bit of effort into opening the door further, she breathes hard for a moment. She stops briefly to catch her breath and walks through the massive double doors leading inside and looks around and sees even more bodies within the castle and shakes her head saying, "This is absolutely the most horrendous thing I have ever seen in my life, there are so many bodies laying around that it would take way too long to bury them all."

Commander Hurricane follows Clover as she resumes walking past the bodies in the halls and says, "We pegasi have known conflict, but nothing of this magnitude. This is too much, even for me. It is a truly gruesome sight, to see so many bodies laying on the ground like that. I can't believe that the force who won didn't bother burying their dead, why would they just abandon them like that?"

As Clover climbs another set of stairs through yet another room, but this one connects to a room that is larger than the other three were and she sees even more bodies strewn around the room with a large pile of bones laying just off to the side with three large skulls sitting atop of the pile and shudders at the gruesome sight and says, "I cannot imagine the fear these beings must have had when they faced a creature such as that one over there."

Chancellor Puddinghead trembles at the horrifying sight of the large bone pile and says, "I hope we are almost there, I don't like the feeling I'm getting from this place. It feels...wrong here, I can't explain what I'm feeling from being in here too well."

Smart Cookie follows her leader past the bone pile and says, "It feels very creepy in here, doesn't it Clover?"

Clover leads the way into the room beyond that and sees the same thing as in the other room except for there being a large female corpse laying on the floor with heavy chains lying about her body and says, "Let's keep moving forward through here, the sooner we can get to where the singing is coming from, the sooner we can leave this place behind us."

Private Pansy looks around for a way forward but doesn't see anything leading up and says, "Ummm... there isn't any other halls here besides the one we came through. I doubt that this is all there is inside this massive castle, there has to be more to it than this, there is no throne here."

Clover looks around and walks towards the top landing and says, "There has to be a way forward, let's look around for a hidden door." She gasps in surprise as a noise surprises her, she looks behind her and sees a platform coming down to the floor from above and says, "What in Tartarus is happening!?"

Platinum looks at the object coming down and wonders the same thing and follows the others up to the balcony to look at it. She watches as it floats down to the ground, she looks to see if anything is on it and is relieved to see that it is empty. It almost reaches the ground when it strikes something, keeping it from completing it's motion. It then goes back up to where it came from after not moving for a few seconds. Upon seeing that it was striking the legs of the large female's body along with a few other bodies nearby under where the platform tried to land, she sighs and uses her magic to lift her body and slide it further out of the way of the soon-to-return platform and says, "I think that it is some sort of device to move things to a different level, quite an interesting way to use magic. Don't you think so, Clover the Clever?"

She turns her head and nods to her leader saying, "Indeed it is, we will have to study it if we decide to return one day. That would be very useful to know how to use that." She notices that the platform is beginning its descent once more and quickly goes about moving the few bodies away from the landing.

A few seconds is all it takes for Clover to move the few bodies away when the platform completes its landing and says to the others, "Ok everypony, let's get on and see where this takes us next."

The platform stops at the next level and the ponies all get off and follow the path around and find themselves on a walkway on the side of the castle with Clover looking out over the railing and is in awe of the view and says, "Wow, this is such an amazing view!"

Commander Hurricane huffs in annoyance at her stopping to admire a view like this and says, "We can admire the view after we found what we are looking for, let's move!"

She is about to make a remark when she hears the song continue on, causing a few tears to make their way from the corners of her eyes down her cheek to her chin. "I wonder why this song makes me feel so sad?"

Smart Cookie smiles faintly and says, "I'm not sure why, but it is affecting the rest of us as well."

As Clover continues to follow the path around the side of the castle, they arrive at a dock with a flying ship next to it. She approaches the dock and looks to the others and asks, "Do any of you know how to operate a ship like this?"

The others look back at her and shake their heads saying no, leaving them stranded with no way to the next level when a voice catches their attention. They turn their heads to see a ghost at the steering wheel waving an arm saying, "Ahoy there, do ya need a ride to the landing up above?"

As Clover watches as the other ponies tremble at the sight of the ghostly apparition and rolls her eyes and answers, "Thank you kindly, we accept your offer." She then starts to head onto the ship to ask him a question and looks back to the others and asks, "Are you coming with me or not?"

The others blink in disbelief at what they are seeing and slowly make their way towards the ship to board it, still unsure about getting onto a ship operated by a ghost.

Clover makes her way towards the operator and asks, "Do you know what happened here?"

The ghost looks back at her and says, "I'm sorry, the only thing that I am able to remember is that I operate this ship. Unfortunately I cannot be of any other help to you." As he watches the others get on, he says, "Watch your step, it is a long ways down. Okay everyone, be ready for a little swaying."

Commander Hurricane feels a little queasy when the ship rocks back and forth and goes to the side and breathes deeply to avoid puking on the deck saying, "I hate riding on ships, the rocking gets me every single time."

A couple minutes pass by when Clover looks at him with sympathy as she also fights queasiness, she then watches as the ship comes in to land beside the dock then slowly comes to a stop. Turning her head towards the operator, she says, "Thank you for bringing us up here, we would have been stuck there if it wasn't for you as none of us know how to operate this ship."

The others get off the ship at the next level and begin to head for the open door in front of them leading further into the castle. As they start to head down the corridor, Clover tells them to stop.

Commander Hurricane grows impatient at waiting to proceed and exasperatedly says, "Ugh, what is it now Clover?"

Clover turns her head to look back at them and says, "Something feels off about this part of the castle, I need to check it out first to make sure it's safe to proceed." She walks further ahead and thankfully stops short as a blast of painfully cold air is blown out from hidden vents on the side of the wall and covers the other side with thick frost. She looks back towards the others and says, "Looks like we will have to use our magic to keep barriers up against these traps hidden against the walls."

The others slowly make their way through the freezing traps under the protection of the barrier that the two unicorns are keeping up, and arrive at and a junction and must choose which way to go.

As they make their way through the massive chamber, passing by a few bodies here and there, arriving at a spot where they can either turn left or right, or go straight forward as Clover says to them, "There are multiple paths across the room, which direction do we go now? Do we go to the doorway on the left, the right, or do we go straight forward?"

Princess Platinum and the others look around and think about it, after a few seconds of thinking on it they say in unison, "Left!"

As they walk around the edge of the massive chamber, they get to the doorway and pass by two big hideous corpses, then start to head into the room and up the stairs on either side into the room above them. They see an even bigger corpse laying towards the side of the room and are horrified at how gross it looks and once again have to choose which way to go now and decide to go left again, then head down the hall and run into a room filled with several bodies and one great big hulking monstrosity.

They go back the way they came after hitting a dead end with that room and head across the hall, running into another room filled with the same number of bodies and another great big hulking monstrosity and another dead end. They turn back and head down towards the only place they haven't been to yet.

Clover walks into the room and feels very uneasy being in here, she looks around and learns that it is a lab of some sorts. Not really wanting to know what goes on here, she turns back and says, "I don't like it in here, this room scares me."

Commander Hurricane puffs up his chest and follows after her saying, "I don't find this room that bad, it just creeps me out a little."

She then heads back to the corridor to choose a new direction to go and asks, "Where should we go now, the corridor to the left of us or the one straight ahead?"

The others talk it over and then Chancellor Puddinghead speaks up saying, "Let's go down the corridor to the left and see if that leads to the next level."

As Clover leads the way to the corridor she thinks, 'There are so many bodies here it boggles the mind. I really want to know what happened here, and why this was such an intense fight.'

Commander Hurricane follows Clover down the corridor past a room with a few bodies in it and into a big room. They then turn left and go up a ramp that winds around and leads them to a landing with a handful of bodies there with another ramp that leads up and around to the next landing and gets annoyed and says, "I can't believe how big this bucking place is, it feels like we have been walking forever. I can't wait until we can fly again because this is boring me to death!"

Clover reaches the next landing and turns her head back and looks at Commander Hurricane in annoyance and says, "I'm sorry you find this so boring, would you want to get started with digging holes for the bodies instead of figuring out who is still alive among this death-filled nightmare castle?"

He grumbles and looks around at the room and says, "...No I do not, we can't let the unicorns get the upper hand."

She turns her head back around and resumes their journey into the unknown rooms of the castle saying, "Okay then, calm down and we will get to where whomponyever is at that much sooner."

As they reach the next room, they are disappointed to find it empty besides having more dead bodies in it and then turn around to go back down the ramp. Just then a chandelier falls from its' chain and lands on a circular pattern on the floor, making a loud noise that startles the group. They watch as the floor around it cracks and breaks apart, allowing it to fall through the hole to the floor below. As the crash echoes throughout the floor, the group goes around the hole and make their way back down the ramp.

Chancellor Puddinghead sighs in annoyance and says, "Now there is only one way left to go, is it just me or did that lab give you the impression that it had some dark and dangerous purpose?"

Clover makes her way through the last remaining unexplored corridor and answers him, "I got that impression too, but you know they say 'don't judge a book by its' cover right?" She continues down the hall, passing by a few bodies here and there and passes by some strange devices with blue fire blowing upwards when she comes to a corner. Her eyes fall upon a large female corpse and wonders at what it could be.

She leads the way up the stairs and stops at the top landing and says, "Whoa...this is...different. There is a huge dragon laying up here among several other bodies." As numerous questions fly through her head, she continues to go around the body and down the hall on the other side.

Princess Platinum passes by the dragon and sighs saying, "I feel sorry for the poor dragon to have to face so many foes, I wish there was something we could do for her, but we don't have the time to do anything for her."

They reach another dead end when another platform rises up to the top and pauses there a moment to take them down to the next part. They get onto the platform and ride it down and once they reach the bottom, they look at the wall in front of them and turn around and see a hall before them again leading to another room and make their way there.

Clover enters the large room and looks at all the numerous creatures that lie around the room lifeless and passes through another corridor that leads to a balcony outside. She spots a few bodies laying around some massive dragon skeletons, one of which is far larger than them and wonders who that skeleton belongs to. As she doesn't see any other way forward she looks back to the others and says, "I don't see any other way forward from here, let's head back and check if we missed anything."

The group grumbles in aggravation at having to go back to where they were before and follow Clover back through the halls. They reach the room with multiple paths when Smart Cookie says, "Hey why don't we try the middle path, we haven't tried that one yet."

She makes her way towards the center of the massive chamber, spotting a device on the floor with a beam of bluish light reaching towards the roof of the structure in the middle that they somehow missed. Curious at what it is Clover goes to check it and says, "I wonder what this thing is and what it does." She tries to examine it with her magic. After a few moments, she turns back to the others and says, "I think this is a teleporting device that will take us to the next place, follow me everypony." She then steps into the portal and vanishes from sight.

They all feel unsure about using a strange device, but after a few moments of hesitation they decide to go through with it and join Clover at the next part of the enormous castle, standing on a strange device with a large rune in the center surrounded by smaller runes above it on either side. They look around to see something laying on the floor clutching its stomach.

A couple minutes ago atop Icecrown Citadel...

Arthas finishes the final words of the song and growls in aggravation at doing something he hated ever since Jaina laughed at him for it. The music dies down as Arthas puts more pressure on his stomach as the arm he propped himself up with gives out and stretches out before him, leaving his head to rest against his armor uncomfortably. As he starts to grow tired, he fights to stay awake as his vision begins to blur. He then hears the sound of the rune teleporter activating and uses what strength he has left to shift his body enough to look at who came to kill him. Seeing only vague outlines standing on two legs before him he asks, "Have you come to end my reign at last Tirion? Will you kill me as I lie helpless here on the floor as you left me?

Clover the Clever looks to the fallen being lying in a large pool of blood that thought that she was this 'Tirion' and starts walking towards them slowly, unsure if they are friend or foe. She stops a distance away from them and answers, "I'm sorry, I do not know this 'Tirion' you called me, nor am I them. I am called Clover the Clever, what happened here?"

He coughs as blood enters his mouth, expelling it onto the floor as he prepares an answer and says, "Many champions disliked the choices I made and came here to put an end to my decision making. The fight was a major effort as you can tell from what lies in the lower floors, and obviously my forces lost and now I lay here bleeding to death because my old friend ran me through with his sword ..." He says no more as he falls asleep due to blood loss, his head falling upon his arm and rests there.

Princess Platinum steps up beside her assistant to introduce herself when Clover rushes to the strange being's side and examines the wound and calls out for her help saying, "Princess, I need your help here now, he has a serious injury!"

Commander Hurricane steps forward with a frown and says, "This is just another strange and useless creature, let's leave it behind and search this castle for what we came for and leave!"

Princess Platinum scowls at Commander Hurricane and yells at him, "Leave this being behind? How can you be so cold and uncaring towards another that may be able to help us out and answer our questions when he realizes that we saved his life and feels indebted to us? This wound is terrible, we need to use magic to heal this wound or he will die from it! She then runs over and helps Clover heal the being. After healing them, the two wait patiently and hope that he will survive because they have questions they need answered.

Arthas slowly comes to and tries to open his eyes, finding it difficult with feeling so weak right now. After a few moments pass by, he tries again. This time they slowly flutter open, only to find that his vision isn't getting much better and asks, "W-What is going on, am I dead?"

Clover gasps in relief as the being stirs, proving that there is still life in them. After taking a short relaxing breath, she asks him, "No, you are definitely not dead. You have been unconscious for a couple hours, luckily we were able to heal your serious wound. Sorry to have to ask you questions right when you come to but, what is this place and who are you?"

He ponders on it, deciding to tell them part of what they want to know and says, "I am known as Arthas Menethil and this, this place is called Icecrown Citadel. How did you manage to save my life?"

Princess Platinum speaks up and answers for her, "We obviously used magic to heal your grave wound, there was no way that wrapping it up would make a significant difference. Since we saved your life, I request that you help us do something to get rid of the cold weather that has been troubling us for a few years now. Food stores are beginning to decrease to the point it worries us. If nothing is done, we will be forced to leave this place for somewhere better suited for us to live."

Arthas keeps a calm face as he ponders on the order he just got from someone who does not rule him. Unintentionally discovering a way to expand his territory and responds to their request, "Very well, I shall return this favor and aid you. Before I do that though, I will need to get my sword repaired. Do any of you know who might be able to repair this blade?"

Clover walks around Arthas and encompasses the shattered sword with her magic, getting an awful feeling from the sword. She shakes the feeling off and decides that it is too damaged to be repaired by the unicorns and says, "I'm sorry, even us unicorns won't be able to repair this sword, the only other ones that might be able to help would be the Crystal Empire."

He raises a brow in curiosity and says, "I have never heard of there being a Crystal Empire in Azeroth, where is it located at and why haven't I heard of it before?"

Chancellor Puddinghead scoffs at hearing the name Azeroth and laughs saying, "Maybe you haven't realized it yet, but you are in a world full of ponies right now!"

Chapter 8: The plan unfolds, insanity ensues

Chapter 8: The plan unfolds, insanity ensues

Chapter 8: The plan unfolds, insanity ensues

Arthas steps out of the shower, leaving a very satisfied sex hungry Fleur De Lis in the shower. He chuckles as he watches her hooves twitch from time to time involuntarily from the many orgasms he gave her. He softly says to himself, "Yeah it appears that I still got it after a thousand and some odd years. I wonder how long it has been since I stepped into the shower. I need to finish up in here and dry off, then put my clothes back on." He looks to where he set his clothes and finds that they have been washed and folded up neatly on the countertop with a note from Fancy Pants on top of them reading, 'Sure hope you are nice and relaxed after your invigorating shower with my associate Fleur De Lis. I had your clothes washed since there was nothing else for you to wear. I sure hope that she wasn't too much for you to handle, Your Highness.' He shakes his head and hopes that he didn't offend his gracious and generous host too much and then grabs a towel and dries his long hair first, then goes to dry off the rest of his body. He finally gets dressed and exits the room when a voice gets his attention.

Fleur De Lis' chest heaves, trying to catch her breath as she spots him walking out of the door and manages to say, "Thank you Your Highness, it has been awhile since anypony has been able to last longer than me when I get aroused. I sure hope that I wasn't a bother for you to deal with."

He turns back and says, "Not at all, you gave me a pleasant exercise. It was fun, if you ever find yourself in the frozen north, feel free to visit me at the top of Icecrown Citadel."

She smiles and then forces herself to stand so she can clean herself up and says, "Perhaps one day I shall pay a visit when my schedule allows it. I wish you a good day, Your Highness." She then turns the water on, ignoring how cold it is and begins to clean herself up from their recent activity.

Arthas nods and then closes the door behind him, leaving her to wash up. He then walks down the hall to look for his host Fancy Pants to apologize for his actions with his associate, finding him speaking with Suri about what they can do for shoes for him. He sighs and says, "Fancy Pants, can I speak to you for a moment over here?"

Fancy Pants stops his conversation with Suri and says, "Of course Your Highness, I will be right back to continue this discussion Suri." He follows Arthas to a corner of the room and asks, "What is the matter, Your Highness? Was the shower not to your liking?"

He shakes his head and chuckles saying, "No, no. It is nothing like that, I was just wanting to apologize to you for what happened in the shower earlier with Fleur De Lis. I sure hope that she isn't with anyone."

The pony waves his arms in protest saying, "Oh of course she is not with anypony, I just help her to satsify her urges when they become too much for her to handle. I am actually glad that you 'took care' of her for me this time around, I needed a break from her. I sure hope she didn't make you too exhausted, because we have a lot of work to do to get you ready for the ceremony tomorrow."

Arthas chuckles and says, "That is good to hear that I am not stepping on anyone's hooves with what happened with her, but the funny thing is that I tired her out. She was gasping for breath after I was done and dried myself and started to leave the room."

Fancy Pants chuckles at finding that amazingly funny and says, "So she has finally met someone with more endurance than her when it comes to the bedroom, oh this will be the talk of all the mares in Canterlot. Thank you for making my day Your Highness, now lets get started with what we are going to do about your look." He then guides him back to Suri to resume the conversation as well as getting started with her coming up with a design for his outfit.

A couple hours earlier in the wedding hall

Celestia's eyes are wide open in shock at what her student just told her about their journey to the Icecrown Citadel where she spent some of her life saying, "I can not believe that you took a long journey to go visit a place that was full of untold dangers just to satisfy your own curiosity! I still find it hard to believe that he allowed Luna and I to imprison him with the elements just because he was bored. I am sure you girls had a big fright when you witness him actually raise a corpse from death. Not just any corpse at that but the Queen of the Frostbrood dragons from Azeroth, Sindragosa. Did you know that the reason why mentioning her at all is forbidden in the Dragon Lands? You see, when Luna and I were growing up in Icecrown, we went to welcome back father and Sindy from their long journey. Father had already left to go deal with Discord, who was causing issues for him. Sindragosa was there to speak to us at least, so she told us where they went and what she did on the journey. She was sent by Arthas to investigate the migration of the strange dragons of this world, while he went to deal with the Umbrums that weren't happy with him claiming their land and refused to leave their city. Sindragosa had sent her two children to find out what was going on and why they were migrating to their sacred breeding grounds. When they didn't return, she grew worried and went to investigate herself and learned that they just attacked them right away and defeated them. She became enraged at them for just outright attacking her children, so she took revenge on them. She slaughtered half of the dragons single handedly, and then she killed their queen and stole her last egg. We grew up and returned to take the egg back, killing Sindragosa and watched her fall through the air and crash through the ice below. We then decided to deal with Father while we were there and had the elements with us, and you know how the rest of the story goes." She sighs and then looks at the rest of them, seeing their stunned and shocked faces and says, "The egg she stole, was Spike's egg. Dragon Lord Torch watched his father go insane from desperately trying to get revenge, so he did what he needed to and stopped his father from sending the dragons into extinction by ending his life. From that day forth, he forbade all mention and talk about Sindragosa and the events of that day on the punishment of pain of death to whoponyever mentioned it."

Twilight hangs her head in sadness, feeling guilty for disobeying Princess Luna and says, "I did not know that your father did such terrible things in the past, now I wish that I have left those questions unanswered."

Cadence wraps her wings around Twilight and pulls her into a hug saying, "Everything will be okay Twilight, I think fate had a hand to play in his waking up. Like you said, he was already awake when you six got there right? Now, I don't really want to know the details but I think it would benefit all of us if we knew the makeup of his forces and their descriptions so we can prepare ourselves if he decides to attack us."

Celestia nods in agreement and says, "I agree with Cadence on that, can any of you tell us what exactly you saw and the numbers?"

Pinkie Pie says, "We only saw what he had above ground, but I think there were like 100 Abominations, 400 Skeletons, 200 Liches, 4 Flesh Titans, 4 Flesh Giants, 10 Death Knights, 10 Frost Wyrms, 200 Banshees, and I think 100 Val'kyr. If you want me to guess at how many forces he could muster altogether, I would have to say four hundred thousand soldiers including the grave yard outside of the Citadel."

Everypony's eyes widen in shock and fear at hearing the sheer number of enemies they would have to deal with if he decided to wage all out war with Equestria as Celestia says, "Four...hundred..."

Cadence finishes for her saying, "Thousand soldiers altogether!!? That is way so many more than the one thousand guards we have at the moment, we better start recruiting and training soldiers ourselves and prepare for the day he decides to attack us!"

Celestia chuckles and says, "I admire your desire to prepare for war, but I think we can take things a bit slow. Luna's and my father would not do something as reckless and rash as that, he thinks up a plan and uses tactics. He issues orders to leaders if he leads a force that large, that is what he did when he attacked us at the Castle of Two Sisters. Amazingly though, we managed to prevail against the five thousand soldiers he brought to bear against us.

Twilight then says, "Let's put all of this aside to deal with after the wedding why don't we? After all, we do need to go back through the list and see what you would want for decorations and such."

Cadence says, "That sounds like a splendid idea Twilight, lets get this party going!"

The next day, three hours before the wedding...

Arthas looks in the mirror and checks himself out, seeing himself wearing a frost blue silk long-tailed suit with a deep, blood red silk vest with a white shirt and an Aquamarine tie and deep blood-red shoes and says, "Damn I look sharp in this suit. What do you think Fancy Pants?"

Fancy pants walks around and takes a good look and nods saying, "It will work for this wedding, though being a bit bold with the dark red. Now we shall do something about that long hair of yours, do you want us to cut it or do you want it slicked back. Slicked back manes seem to be all the rage these days."

He thinks about it and nods saying, "Lets trim the hair to be just above the shoulders, slick it back and then put the rest into a tie."

He then calls over a famous stylist he knows and then asks her to tend to Arthas's mane saying, "Bella, would you please help finish his look for him so we can be on our way to the wedding?"

Bella nods and then gets to work on Arthas's mane, trimming it down carefully and then combs it out and slicks it back. She fluffs up the front half of his hair to make it taller than in the back, remembering to put a frost blue tie in the back to add even more style to the look and says in a New Yoke accent, "There you go stallion, all fixed up and rearin' to go."

Arthas nods and looks at the mirror and says, "Alright then, let me know when you guys are ready to be on our way to the wedding."

Fancy Pants smiles and says, "We shall be back in a few moments, have a seat we shall be back in a bit once we are ready."

The group all head their own directions to go get prepared to attend the wedding, with Fancy Pants just heading up the stairs and down a hall as a few servants trail after him to help him get ready to go.

He walks over and sits down on a couch carefully, not wanting to damage the brand new suit that he got from Fancy Pants and waits for the group to return and thinks to himself, 'I think this is going to be the first family function I have gone to since I murdered my father.' He then closes his eyes for a little bit and then waits for them to arrive so they can go.

An hour passes by when Arthas wakes up to feel someone touching him and talking to him, opening his eyes to see Fancy Pants in a black and white suit. He coughs and says, "Is it time to go already? I just sat down a little bit ago to wait for you to be ready to go."

Fancy Pants chuckles and says, "At least you laid down in a way where your suit or your mane would be damaged. Shall we get going to the wedding then?" He then offers Arthas a hand to help him get up.

Arthas takes his hand and pulls against him, rising to his feet and says to him, "I don't want to be rude, but humans don't have manes, we have hair."

He chuckles and says, "Different names for whatever grows on our heads is all it is, there is not much difference between having a mane or hair. Come on my friend, we have a wedding to attend. Oh my, I almost forgot one important detail. I need to cast an illusion spell so other ponies don't cause a scene when they see you." He then proceeds to lead the group towards the wedding hall after casting a quick spell to make him look like a snow white unicorn pony with a blonde mane and tail, having green eyes and an image of a crown made of ice for a cutie mark.

The disguised human says, "With this, it will be much easier to speak to ponies. Thank you for doing this for me Fancy Pants, I shall signal you with a nod and raise my hand in the air when I am ready for you to cancel this spell out."

Fancy Pants smiles and says, "Oh the spell isn't tied to me, I just altered it so that it relies on your magic instead of mine. If you wish to release it, all you have to do is break the stem on this rose."

Arthas chuckles and takes the rose, then puts it into a pocket just above his left breast and says, "This world's magic is very interesting, I shall have to learn a bit more about it."

At the wedding hall, one hour before the wedding

Twilight is going through her checklist to make sure that she didn't miss a single thing on her checklist and says, "Okay, we have everything on the list checked off and we are officially ready to get this wedding started in earnest! Are you ready to go down the aisle single and walk back a married mare?!"

Cadence's knees tremble a little in excitement and nervousness saying, "This time, it will be the real me that goes down the aisle, not some crazy creature pretending to be me. So Twilight, my answer is yes I am ready to go down the aisle and return a married mare. I look forward to spending the rest of my life with my Shiny, and being your sister in-law. I hope that you find love yourself one day Twilight, love is also magical. Let's get this wedding started!"

Presently, just outside the wedding hall doors...

Fancy Pants leads the group past the guards when one at the gates asks to see Arthas's invitation. He quickly gets his attention by saying, "He is with me, isn't that good enough for you guard?"

The guard sighs and says, "Many apologies sir Fancy Pants, but we have been told to ask to see invitations from any pony that we do not recognize that tries to attend the wedding. Ever since the attack yesterday, Princess Celestia demanded that we ask any pony that we do not recognize to show their invitations." He turns back to Arthas and says, "Please show me your invitation sir, or I am going to have to send you away."

Arthas sees that Fancy Pants is about to argue with the guard again and interrupts him saying, "I received one a few months ago, but unfortunately a spell went awry and incinerated it. If you wish to verify the invitation, you shall have to ask Princess Cadence about it. Tell her that Frozen Crown lost his invitation due to a spell misfiring."

Fancy Pants looks at Arthas and smirks at how skillfully he just manipulated the guard with a lie and watches as the guard says to them, "Please wait here while I go ask the princess to verify that you were invited." The guard then turns away and swiftly walks into the hall, disappearing from view.

He then turns to Arthas and softly says to him, "I can't believe you managed to tell him a convincing lie like that, I would never have thought of saying something like that."

Princess Cadence is getting the final pieces to her dress on, when she hears a knocking on the door and answers saying, "I'm decent. You may enter, unless you are the groom. If you are the groom, stay out and speak!"

The door opens and a guard walks in and closes the door after him and says, "Princess Cadence, there is a male unicorn pony named Frozen Crown outside the doors attempting to attend the wedding. He claims that a spell went awry and incidently destroyed the invitation, do you know this pony Your Highness?"

She ponders on it and then answers, "I don't immediately remember any pony by that name, but my memory has been a bit slow in returning to me ever since I was abducted by changelings."

He nods his head then and starts to head out the door saying, "Very well then Your Highness, I shall send him away." He is stopped when the princess speaks to him again.

Cadence is curious as to what this pony looks like and asks, "Wait, what does this pony look like, guard?"

The guard turns around and faces her, then describes the male unicorn and says, "His coat is white as snow, he has a slightly upward curved unicorn horn, green eyes, a blonde mane and tail, and a crown made of ice for a cutie mark. Does that remind you of a pony you know, Princess?"

She taps her chin in thought, an odd idea crosses her mind and she thinks, 'I wonder if this might be him trying to reconnect with his family...' and answers, "Unfortunately it doesn't spark my memory yet, but I shall speak to them later about how I know them. So for now, permit him to attend the ceremony, but keep an eye on him and watch for any hostile intent."

He then nods and takes his leave and says, "As you wish, Your Highness. I shall personally keep a close eye on them and watch for any hostile intent." He then closes the doors behind him and returns to where the group awaits permission to enter the wedding hall.

Arthas stands there, waiting patiently for the guard to return when he spots the guard returning and says, "So, does she remember me or doesn't she?" He taps his foot in annoyance as the guard finally stops before them and speaks to them.

The guard says to Frozen Crown, "Unfortunately, she cannot remember a pony bearing your name or appearance. She has thought it over and decided to grant you entry into the wedding hall, you may now enter sir." He then steps aside to permit the group to enter the hall.

He smiles and then says, "Why thank you very much for allowing me to enter, guard. I shall have to inform your superiors of your diligence, what is your name?"

He is amazed by the pony praising his diligence in doing his duty, and answers him saying, "My name is Flash Sentry Sir. Thank you for complementing my diligence in doing my duty."

Arthas follows after Fancy Pants, heading into the wedding hall and finding their seats in the second row. He notices that there is one seat empty in the very front with a sign sitting on top of it saying 'Reserved for family' on it. Deciding against taking it for a better view, he stays sitting in his seat at the very end next to the center aisle.

Cadence waits for the music to cue her entry, she waits anxiously to see this 'Frozen Crown' for herself and says, "Geez, it is rude to keep a mare waiting you know..."

He looks around the room and sees Twilight Sparkle standing beside a male unicorn dressed in some sort of official looking outfit having a light gray coat, a blue mane with a baby blue streak and a almost purple looking blue color. Standing beside Twilight is a strange looking purple creature with green ridges on its back and claws for fingers, with two fangs poking out of its mouth. Standing beside the creature is two other male ponies, wearing outfits he does not recognize and looks to the other side and sees Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. At the back of the stage stands his daughter, Celestine acting as the minister or the one in charge of the ceremony.

Arthas watches as the doors open, revealing three young fillies acting as flower girls, throwing rose petals along the path the bride will be taking. The doors close behind the fillies as they move to the side once their task is done. As a few more seconds pass by, the music begins to play.

The doors open to reveal Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, having a light pink coat, wings and a horn, with light magenta eyes and a tri-color mane and tail with dark pink, purple and pale yellow streaks. All eyes are on her as she makes her way down the aisle. She notices the Frozen Crown pony and notices there is just a simple illusion spell active, deciding to leave it alone due to it being no danger to anypony. Not pausing for a second on her journey to the stage, she makes her way up the steps and stops before Princess Celestia so the ceremony can proceed.

Celestia looks at the two ponies soon to be wed and begins her speech saying, "Mares and gentlecolts, we are gathered here to celebrate the union of the real Mi Amore Cadenza..."

Cadence interrupts her with a smile saying, "Princess Cadence is fine."

Celestia briefly frowns at being interrupted and smiles, then resumes her speech saying, "Princess Cadence and Shining Armor." She then continues with the rest of her speech when she notices a familiar, yet unfamiliar pony in the second row. Not letting it distract her, she then says, "May we have the rings please?"

Spike approaches, lifts the pillow up with the two rings and waits for her to take them. He then watches as they are lifted in Celestia's magic, and then steps back to his spot.

She sets a ring onto each of their horns and says, "I now pronounce you Mare and Colt, you may now kiss your mare." She then watches as they both kiss and turn and walk down the aisle side by side and step out onto the balcony to be cheered as the new royal couple and kiss again in front of the citizens.

Arthas is amazed at how brief the ceremony takes when he sees a rainbow colored flash run across the skies, wishing he could see what caused that and hopes it ends soon.

A couple of hours pass by as the day begins its change to night as he is at the reception, tasting a few of the items they have there. He takes a liking to a few apple treats that are on a table when he hears flapping wings and looks around to find that it is his daughter Lunetha arrives at the reception finally. He smirks and thinks to himself, 'I shall have to go over and say hello to my other, long lost daughter later.' He then grabs a couple apple treats and goes to head back to a chair when he suddenly stops as he sees Princess Cadence and Shining Armor both standing in his path.

Princess Cadence suspiciously narrows her eyes and introduces herself to the pony posing to be 'Frozen Crown' saying, "Hello, I do not think I remember ever meeting you before in my life. Until yesterday that is...Frozen Crown, so please explain who you are and why you are here or I will expose you and pretend you have attacked me and cause a lot of trouble for you."

Arthas chuckles and answers her, "Unfortunately, we never had time to be properly introduced. My name is Arthas Menethil, I am the King of Icecrown Citadel. I am here simply to attend a party and socialize a bit before I return home. Just so you know, I am a threat even without my weapons and armor. I would highly advise against doing anything to ruin this happy celebration for the citizens, for it seems they will need some happiness for what awaits them beyond the Crystal Empires borders."

Shining Armor puffs up his chest, not liking the threat he made, but is calmed down quickly by his mare Cadence and says, "If you go looking for a fight, Equestria will rise up to meet you in battle. So watch your tone when you speak to the Princesses, I am the captain of the Royal Guard after all."

She puts a hand over his mouth gently and stops him and says to Arthas, "So why did you choose to attend a wedding, Arthas? I also would like to know if I am related to you in any way."

He puts a couple fingers to his chin in thought and answers, "I wanted to celebrate seeing one of my long lost daughters again after a thousand years of imprisonment. As for if we are related, I would have to see if you know Crystal Glow at all? She was the last child we had together just before Amore was transformed into Chrysalis."

Luna notices Princess Cadence speaking to somepony both familiar and not, then says to the group of girls before her, "Hello everypony, did I miss anything?"

Twilight chuckles and says, "You missed a bit, yes, but Celestia will have to fill you in on that unless she wants me to."

She cocks her head and says, "What in Equestria happened while I was patrolling the northern borders? By the way, who is that handsome pony that Princess Cadence is speaking to?"

Pinkie Pie speaks up saying, "I have asked around and he is a friend of Fancy Pants, his name is Frozen Crown."

Luna looks back at the handsome pony and says, "Well, I am going to go over there and introduce myself to them. It is a smart idea to know every up and coming celebrity is it not?" She then begins to make her way over to say hello to the new pony.

Cadence sighs and then says, "It is unfortunate to discover that we are related through Crystal Glow. At least I have answers to what I was wanting to know after I heard the story Celestia told us."

Luna catches the first part of that last conversation and says, "I was just coming over to say hello to the new and handsome pony here. Apologies for eavesdropping on the conversation, but who is related?"

Arthas and Cadence both turn to look at Luna as Arthas or 'Frozen Crown' says, "She said that it is unfortunate to learn that she is, in fact, related to me because of the evil things that I have done in my past. I have missed you, I was wondering when I would be able to see you again."

She doesn't catch the hint and continues to have the hots for the new pony at the party and says, "I do not remember ever seeing such a handsome pony as you before. I would remember a tall, good looking pony such as yourself. Oh I don't know if I would say it is a bad thing to be related to any pony. Do you enjoy the beauty of my night sky? Each night, no star is in the same place twice.

He blushes at her compliments, finding it a bit strange to have his own daughter hitting on him. Deciding to pop her bubble of fantasy, he says to her, "You should know if it is a bad thing to be related to me or not, after all, you and Celestine were both taken from me at a young age."

Luna's fantasy shatters into millions of pieces as the puzzle suddenly becomes clear with that vital clue, her eyes begin to shrink down to pinpricks. Not wanting to believe it, she starts to back away as her freak out begins saying, "W-W-What do you mean, w-w-why are you here father?" She begins to slowly get louder as her mind continues to panic, but is suddenly quieted down by Arthas.

Arthas chuckles and holds Lunetha tight, keeping her mouth firmly pressed into his shoulder. He keeps her from causing a scene and says in her ear, "We do not want to wreck the celebration here tonight, I informed Cadence that I am just here socially. I am celebrating at meeting my two long lost daughters again, would you care to dance? You can ask me whatever you like and I will tell you, my darling daughter."

She forces her mind to settle down at hearing that and taps him on the shoulder to inform him that she has calmed herself down, taking a breath of fresh air she says, "I cannot believe that you crashed this wedding father, but I shall accept your offer to dance."

He smiles and then holds out his elbow for her to take, after having to quickly put his treats back on the table in order to pull her into a hug to keep her from causing a scene. He says to her, "Do you remember how to perform the near touch I taught you and Celestine, Lunetha?"

Luna rolls her eyes at that and says, "Like I could ever forget it, you told us that it was vital for any ruler to know how to dance. I am sure that the style of dancing has changed quite a bit over the years, so we shall be drawing attention to ourselves...as well as stealing the spotlight for a little bit." She takes his offered elbow and goes with him to the stage, blushing again at being able to dance with her father once again. Realizing that she still misses him, she tries to get herself to forget how happy she feels at this moment.

Twilight and Celestia both look at Frozen Crown and Luna heading to the dance floor, Celestia's face is shocked at seeing that and says to Twilight, "I am surprised that Luna is going out to dance on the floor with somepony, maybe there might be another royal wedding some day."

The student glares at Princess Luna for dancing with a pony that she finds absurdly attractive crossing her arms in annoyance, she harrumphs and says, "Well I for one wish her good luck, for I too find that pony really attractive. I do not intend to allow her to have him first."

She chuckles at seeing the romantic rivalry beginning and defuses it by saying, "Now now Twilight, do you remember the old rules that are still viable to use these days?"

Twilight stops glaring at Luna and says, "Uhm, of course I still do. Where are you going with this, Princess Celestia?"

Celestia smiles and then says, "If there is a rivalry involving multiple mares, it is permitted for a herd to be formed with that stallion. Sadly, there hasn't been a situation that has called for it, including the day it was made."

Her eyes become wide with shock and says, "You mean to tell me that multiple mares that want the same stallion can form a herd by all of them marrying the stallion?!"

She laughs softly and answers, "Yes Twilight, though there does need to be a head mare in charge though. So I guess that you both could compete with each other for that position."

Twilight beams a wide smile and then squints competitively and says, "Well then, I say let the competition begin." She then starts to make her way towards the stage where the dj is, waiting for the song to come to an end before taking the mic and singing a song to get his attention.

As Arthas and Luna finish their dance a few minutes later, they make their exit from the stage. Just now noticing how many celebrity and noble couples have joined them on the dance floor. He says to her, since I have danced with one of my daughters. I guess it would be rude to leave Celestine out of it."

Luna smiles conspiratorially and says, "It would indeed be rude to do that, I shall inform her that Frozen Crown wishes to dance with her. Thank you for the dance, daddy." She then genuflects to him and takes her leave, heading straight for her sister.

Celestia watches a blush cover Lulu's face as she makes her way towards her, curious as to how her dance went with that new pony.

She stops and stands beside her sister with a grin on her face as she says, "That Frozen Crown is a marvelous dancer, Sister. You should go dance with him, I promise that you will enjoy it."

She tries to figure out what her sister is plotting, but plays along with it and says, "If you insist dear Lulu, I shall dance with a pony you are attracted to. Don't be surprised if you have to compete with me too for his affection." She then takes her leave and heads towards him, wondering if he really is that good at dancing.

Luna chuckles evilly and very softly says, "Oh, I am sure that it will be a love like no other dear sister. You are in for the biggest shock of your life." She then laughs softly at the joke her sister is walking into, eagerly waiting to see her reaction when she finds out.

Arthas hears a beautiful voice singing, and wonders which pony it belongs to and looks for around for them. He then spots a pony holding a mic and realizes that it is Twilight's voice that he is hearing. He smiles at how nice the voice is and then says, "What a beautiful voice you have there, I shall learn what you sound like when you scream soon enough." He turns and sees Celestine stop before him.

Celestia smiles at Frozen Crown and says, "It is a pleasure to meet the pony who has captured my sister Lulu's affections. She tells me that you are a very good dancing partner, would you care to dance with me so we can chat?"

He chuckles and then says, "I am indeed a talented dancer, but I must inform you that incest is not all that common where I am from, but it is not my thing. I may be evil, but I am not into that sort of thing."

She frowns and then says to him, "I beg your pardon young colt, but you and Luna are not related in any sort of way. So why do you think that it would be incest?" Her mind tries to assemble the clues before her, but comes up blank.

Arthas smiles and then pulls her into a hug whispering in her ear, "When I tell you this, do not make a scene. I am here on a social reason, I am here celebrating being reunited with my long lost daughters. It is good to see you again Celestine, I have missed you and Luna so much for the past thousand years."

As the clues finally make the image clear, she turns her head around and glares at her sister. She watches her sister cover her mouth with a hand as she laughs at her expense, then returns her attention back to Arthas and says, "Why in Tartarus did you decide to remain here, father? Why did you not return to your home, Icecrown?" She then steps back a little bit from him and waits for his answer.

He chuckles and then offers her his arm and says, "Well, can you blame me for wanting to see my daughters some more after a thousand years of imprisonment?"

Celestia takes his arm hesitantly and says, "I can't believe that I actually thought that Lulu had the hots for her own father. So what other reasons do you have for being here, aside from annoying us with your presence?"

Arthas leads her to the dance floor and says, "Oh I am just here to reannounce my presence to the world, and sing a song or to to cause a few nightmares for your citizens. Do you remember the dance I taught you that Luna couldn't quite get herself to enjoy?"

She tries to think of the one he means and remembers it and says, "Oh no, not that one. I hate that dance, it is so slow. But at least it is not a romantic dance, I would not agree to dance a romantic dance with you. Lead the way father, let's get this nuisance out of the way."

Twilight watches as her teacher takes the pony she is attracted to, to the dance floor. She squints her eyes and watches as she thinks, 'Not you too Celestia, I don't want an awkward relationship like that with you...' She then continues her song, praying that a romance doesn't spark between Celestia and the pony she fancies.

As the song gradually comes to an end, Arthas escorts her off of the dance floor. He then says to his daughter, "I am glad that we managed to catch up a little bit during our dance. I shall take my leave of this too overly happy occasion, fare well Celestine." He is about to make his way out of the party and say his fare wells to the new couple when Celestia stops him.

Celestia stops her father from leaving and looks to Twilight, knowing how she fancies him and says, "I think there is one more pony that you should dance with, father. After all, she is quite fond of you. Can you please dance with Twilight Sparkle for a little bit before you leave?"

He is annoyed by how his daughter is trying to play matchmaker with him and says, "I shall comply with your request just this once, because I would find it hilarious if you and Luna might one day end up calling her 'mother'." He then laughs evilly and walks away from her towards Twilight Sparkle.

She is stunned by her plan backfiring in her face, thinking to herself, 'I should have thought a little more cautiously at the repercussions this could bring. It would be very wierd for me and Luna to have to call her mother if she winds up marrying our dad.'

Twilight smiles at seeing the new pony walk towards her with a smile on his face, stopping before her and asking, "Twilight Sparkle, may I have this next dance with you?" She takes his offered hand and nods, feeling a blush coming to her face.

Arthas smiles and leads her to the dance saying, "It is a pleasure to finally have the chance to dance with a pony that is as pretty as you. I have danced with Luna and find her dark and mysterious, and her sister is cautious and calculating. One thing that sets you apart from them, is that they do not have your intelligence or skill with magic as I hear from other ponies. Do you know the dance known as Foxtrot?"

She looks at him with sparkles in her eyes as her face becomes flushed and says, "Of course I know it, I have studied all kinds of books and have learned how to dance from them. My parents tried to teach me, but I preferred my books to dancing with my father. I have been curious about you ever since I saw you in the second row at the wedding, what is your name?"

He plays it cool and gets into the beginning dance of the Foxtrot and says, "Oh my apologies, I thought that you knew me already. My name is Arthas Menethil, and it is a pleasure to finally be able to dance with you. Before you have a chance to freak out, I must tell you that I have told Luna and Celestia about my real name and why I am here. So do not cause a scene and stay calm."

Twilight's mind refuses to function at hearing him say that he is Arthas Menethil, desperately trying to regain function, her eyes dart around trying to find some other explanation and says, "Don't joke with me Frozen Crown, I have met the one who really bears that name. So try again, who are you really?"

Arthas then whispers into her ear, "I remember when you and your friends stood before me at the top of Icecrown Citadel. You, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, PInkie Pie, and Rarity all had such marvelous expressions on your face when you witnessed me raise Sindragosa from death to serve me once more by thrusting Frostmourne into the ground and demanding that she rise once again to serve her king."

She feels something click in her mind as her brain says to her, 'That's it, I'm going on vacation. This is just way too much to deal with. You are on your own Heart, I'm out of here.' Unable to think of what to say, her pupils dilate as she answers, "That is so amazing that you are able to do that Arthas, I would like to get to know you some more. Please tell me more about where you come from, I am just dying to know what your story is."

He is thrown off balance at her sudden interest in him and begins to tell her about Azeroth first. He tells her about how many different races are there and then after that he says, "The politics that go on behind the scenes are a mess, so don't ask me about them or I will get a headache trying to explain the entire history of Azeroth to you first just so you can understand what I was saying."

Twilight is enraptured by the existence of another world, and feels herself being drawn further towards him and says, "That is fascinating, I wouldn't mind hearing the history of Azeroth. In pieces though, so you don't get a headache from trying to explain it." Without her realizing it, she finds herself wanting to kiss him.

Arthas is absorbed by the moment at getting to talk to someone without them trying to kill him first and says, "I am enjoying talking to someone for a change. I have gotten used to them always trying to kill me first, I am enjoying telling you things about my world. I find myself actually missing it, I wonder if there will be any chance for me to see it ever again." His emotions and feeling take control of his actions before he realizes what is going on and feels himself leaning forward, his arms holding Twilight tenderly as the dance has ended. He notices her lips look so inviting and blinks slowly, leaning in and swinging her into a low dip as he gives her an open mouthed kiss.

She wraps her arms around her neck, enjoying the romantic kiss she is getting from him when her mind suddenly returns and screams, 'I go on a short vacation and look at what is happening! Stop acting like a love struck filly and wake up and see the insanity! You are fell for a monster! I can't believe that you allowed him to steal your heart like this, you even let him give you your first kiss!!'

He pulls her to her feet suddenly, realizing what is going on and is enraged. He keeps his cool and says, "I admire you for your skillful manipulation, but I am afraid that I must cut this tenderness short. I must give a congratulatory speech to the newlyweds and end my time here with a song and then take my leave in style." He then lets her stand on her own two hooves and makes his way towards the stage.

Twilight treasures the kiss he gave her and places her fingertips over her lips and blushes deeply, relishing the sensation of getting her first kiss. She then suddenly wakes up from her trance and feels her face turn beet red realizing what just transpired over the past few minutes. She then quietly says to herself, "Oh what did my heart let happen?" She then watches as he makes his way onto the stage as the dj is just about to put another song on and he takes the mic and clears his throat.

Arthas gets the attention of all the ponies attending the party by clearing his throat and saying, "I know that most of you don't know me, but I have to congratulate the newlyweds on their marriage. I wish them a long and happy life together in the tough times ahead. I must take my leave now, but first I shall sing you a song." He then looks to the dj and looks through the music selection she has available and picks one, then looks out at Princess Cadence and says, "I must give you a proper greeting now, so listen up Princess Cadence. This song is for you."

Luna, Celestia, Cadence and Shining Armor stand beside Twilight, who is still blushing at having her first tender kiss. Celestia clears her throat and says, "This will not end the party well Cadence, just so you know. Our father has a sadistic side when it comes to leaving, he leaves with a flair for the dramatic side."

Cadence scoffs and says, "I have noticed that during his rude entrance yesterday, but don't worry. I was kind of thinking this party should end before too long. After all, we do have plans to make to find out what his next move is." She then focuses on Arthas as he looks over the lyrics to the song and asks, "I wonder what greeting he is going to give me through a song?"

He finishes memorizing the lyrics and nods to the dj to indicate he is ready and waits for the song to begin and says, "Welcome to the family Cadence." He then listens to the music as he begins to sing.

Arthas laughs as he finishes singing, loving at how the ponies are all shocked and appalled at his song choice and says, "Now, as for my exit, allow me to introduce myself properly to all of you!" He then pulls out the rose and snaps its stem, watching as the spell is released and slowly begins to fade. He looks at the rose and sees how the broken part remains attached to it and tosses it through the air towards Twilight, who catches it eagerly and he says to the crowd, "My name is actually not Frozen Crown, it is Arthas Menethil! I am the king of the frozen throne that sits atop of Icecrown Citadel, I rule the numerous races that comprise the Scourge. Hail to the king of undeath!" He then casts a spell, summoning his steed Invincible.

Celestia, and Luna roll their eyes at his over the top grand performance as they watch in shock as a spot on the ground cracks and explodes outwards, revealing a desiccated forelimbs of an animal with hooves instead of hands that fights its way out of the ground neighing and braying, sounding like something from a nightmare. It pulls itself onto the ground, hidden from view as the dust cloud it kicked up trying to escape from the ground beneath it. She can only tell that it is wearing heavy armor and sounds unholy. When the dust clears, she stares at the horrifying image before her.

Luna stares wide-eyed at the horror before her, the rotting corpse of a large four-legged animal stands on the ground before her very eyes. Looking like it has been dead for at least a few years, with its pitch black fur and skin hanging down in some places revealing bones all over its body where the armor isn't covering it. She hears a few shrieks of terror as a few ponies scream and faint from the terrible sight and reassures the subjects as they begin to panic saying in the royal voice, "HEAR ME CITIZENS, AND HEAR ME WELL! THIS CREATURE WILL NOT HARM YOU WITHOUT IT'S MASTERS COMMAND! SO PLEASE CEASE YOUR PANICKING AND CALM DOWN. MY SISTER AND I, AS WELL AS THE ELEMENTS AND PRINCESS CADENCE AND SHINING ARMOR SHALL DEAL WITH THIS THREAT. THERE IS NO NEED TO FEAR THEM AT THIS MOMENT!"

Invincible approaches his master and shakes his head, feeling pity for the other ponies that are freaking out over how he looks right now and says to his master, "Sir, are you sure that doing things like this are absolutely necessary?"

He then laughs and says, "Of course it is necessary to do this, I have never went to a party I enjoyed more than when the subjects suddenly see when I introduce myself and piss themselves with fear! Come then my faithful steed, let us ride out of here in style!" He then jumps from the stage onto his steeds' back and gets him to rear up, charging a blue flames spell in his hooves when he comes crashing down on the tiles below.

Celestia looks around as guards raise shields around the guests, ready for anything that he might do to start a fight when Invincible's hooves come crashing down on the tiles below, going into a gallop, casting a weak flash spell that causes blue flames to burn briefly where his hooves land. She then sighs and hangs her head saying, "Oh father, you just had to stir up trouble and terrorize my citizens didn't you."

Arthas laughs and bellows back to all of the ponies that are currently in Canterlot at the moment, "Death shall come for you all!!" He continues to laugh as ponies continue to scream in terror and faint at the sight of him and Invincible. He steers him down an alley and guides him towards Fancy Pants' house to retrieve his armor, helm and weapons.