A Villain Gets A Second Chance

After being practically dragged to Rarity's boutique, you stand still with a frown at her instruction and watch her sketch your body's outline until she finishes it, then grab her tape.

She loops the tape around the base of his neck first saying, "Now just keep your body and neck still while I measure you, I need to get these measurements right."

When she gets the measurements she needs, she writes them down on the paper and then turns her gaze upon him and moves around him, observing him from several angles with her designer's intuition. She then hears a thump followed by a crash as something shatters when a fan starts running at top speed, she turns her head to see Opalescence walking away from a fan that was knocked off the shelf. Noticing two large piles of blue and silver glitter being sucked into the fan and blown high into the air, she frowns at her pet and chastises her, saying, "Opal, how many times must I tell you not to get into mischief when I am in the zone?!" With a huff she turns off the fan and turns back around to apologize to her friend about Opal's behavior, when her eyes watch blue and silver glitter flutter down slowly through the air.

You watch the glitter fall and are sucked into a memory of your last encounter with Illidan, and relive the harrowing experience yet again. Watching each snowflake blow by as you calmly get off Invincible, refusing Illidan's sound reasoning to destroy the throne with Frostmourne in your hand, saying, "Never..."

Not paying attention to what he said, the way the glitter falls like snow sparks a vision to play out before her mind's eyes. Finding herself outside by a lake, she watches as snow falls lazily around her. When she thinks of her friend's personality, her eyes move to the water as she watches it crystalize and turn to ice ever so slowly while the land around her is covered with a thick blanket of snow as light glints off of it. The sight causes her eyes to go wide as inspiration hits her hard and returns to reality with a big smile on her face, dramatically saying, "An idea!" as she races over to her planning table to search for the perfect colors for his outfit.

Moments later, there is a hard knocking at the door when Applejack suddenly pushes it open, loudly saying, "Howdy Rarity! when Twilight enters and then shushes her.

Twilight looks at Applejack and whispers, "Can't you see that she is trying to concentrate?"

As Rarity attempts to get a piece set into place on you, you notice Rarity pause whenever they talk, eventually frowning, then growls under her breath before forcing herself to smile and turn to look at her friends to ask if they need something.

When Twilight asks her to fix a button for the dress she decides to wear to the Gala, Rarity then offers to make her a new dress and thanks her for her generosity as her gaze then turns to Applejack.

Unable to hear anything around you due to reliving a memory, you slide underneath his swing as the glaive almost slices off a lock of hair and grab one of the claws on his wings. Yanking yourself up onto your feet, you spin and swing Frostmourne, cutting him across the forearm and causing him to let go of the glaive.

As she looks over to her friend Blistering Blizzard, she notices that his head is hanging low and off to the side, causing her eyebrow to rise curiously when she hears Rainbow crash through the room and watches him closely.

Applejack glances at Twilight and notices she's looking at their friend Blister, she then asks curiously, "What's goin' on that has you so interested in Blizzard, Twi?"

Averting her eyes for a moment, she briefly looks at Applejack and says, "Oh, it is just that I noticed how he occasionally zones out with his head hung low, once in a while, he becomes unresponsive to any sudden noises. For instance, he didn't react at all, not even so much as twitch an ear the moment Rainbow crashed through the ceiling."

Rainbow then looks at him and stands up off the floor, saying, "Yeah, I've noticed he does that too now and then, so what's the big deal?"

Twilight looks at Rainbow and says, "The big deal is that I think that he somehow gets pulled into his own memories and loses track of time."

As the fight concludes with you being the victor, you walk away and leave Illidan lying on the ground with a deep cut on his chest and approach the doors to the frozen throne as grief wells up within you.

After getting the opportunity to put on a fashion show, she chuckles and tells Applejack with a laugh, "Oh Applejack, you make it seem like it is going to be hard."

Finding yourself watching yourself walking up to the top of the steps where the frozen throne sits, hearing the voices of those you betrayed up to then, your grief reaches a breaking point and causes you to let out a solemn sigh.

Twilight then looks at Rarity and says, "Alright then, I guess we should just leave you to it then, come on girls, let's give her a little bit of space to work."

Together, they all start to make their way out of her boutique when a half sigh, half sob comes from the stallion, freezing them in their tracks as he then takes a breath and lets out an audible sigh, saying, "Oh Illidan...I was such a fool to deny you in your quest."

Rainbow cocks her head in confusion, and looks at the others saying, "Who the heck is this Illi pony?"

Harshly shushing her friend, she says, "He must be thinking about his past mistakes, and whoever this Illidan pony is, is part of it. He never ever gives out clear details." then pulls out a quill, paper, and inkwell and writes down information.

Rarity looks at her friend and says, "Twilight! I am offended that you would stoop so low as to take advantage of our friend like this!"

Twilight then sighs and says, "I'm sorry Rarity, but the princesses have come up with absolutely no leads about who he might be or what his real name even is, let alone at finding absolutely zilch about his past. The information he gives up now in his state might be the key to helping him get past his grief and rid him of his frequent nightmares that Luna can't seem to locate in the dream realm. Trying to speak to him directly and asking him those important questions is like trying to get answers from a wall, though you would get more out of a wall than him."

She groans for a bit and then relents saying, "Oh....fine then, but make sure that nothing gets out such as that last faux pas!"

As you see yourself approach the top step and sigh saying, "I should have let you destroy it and end the threat, but instead...we fought, which led to me nearly killing you. I then walked towards the entrance and left you to die outside." Letting out a dark chuckle, you then slowly say, "So I continued on and claimed my...prize." while adding more venom to the last word as you watch yourself don the armor left behind by the former Lich King, adding, "and became the world's worst villain. Such a fool I was..." then shake your head as your other self puts the helm on and open your eyes to see blue and silver glitter all over the floor and lift your head to look at Rarity and ask, "Why is there blue and silver glitter all over the floor?"

Rarity sees Twilight quickly hide her notes, quill and inkwell, saying, "Oh, that was Opal getting into a little mischief, I'm terribly sorry about that."

Just now noticing Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack there as well, you ask, "Hey girls, when did you get here?" and then chuckle saying, "That cat of yours is almost as much of a troublemaker as those crusaders." causing the cat in question to angrily growl and hiss at you and say, "Well it is true, but I guess you are a big help to Rarity when she is working on outfits."

Rainbow then leans forward a little and begins to ask, "So who's-" when she is quickly silenced by a rubber ball stuffed in her mouth by Rarity's magic and Twilight using her magic to hold her mouth around the ball.

Twilight then giggles and says, "In her own way, she wanted to know who's your favorite author."

Knowing that is false, you recall Fluttershy telling you how you tend to talk in your sleep and ask, "So how much have you heard?"

She then starts to say, "Oh not much, really."

Rainbow then spits out the ball and asks, "Yeah, so who's Illidan?"

Applejack then frowns at Rainbow and sighs saying, "We heard you call yourself a fool a couple of times, you spoke about letting him destroy something but you decided to fight him for it instead."

Twilight then cocks her head and asks, "Why did the fight lead to you nearly killing him and how come you left him behind like that? What was the prize you wanted so badly to do such a thing to another pony, and how did claiming that prize lead you to become a villain?"

Something within you gives a little as the guilt, regret, and sorrow become too much to bear anymore and say, "Well...at the time I was so blinded by my pride and arrogance, that my hunger for power drove me to claim it for myself. I then came face to face with a foe I had encountered once before, Illidan was a worthy opponent. When I defeated him, I took a dagger from him as a trophy because he was the closest one to ever come close to actually killing me." Not quite ready to share more, you say, "That is all I'm willing to share for now, as my past still haunts me."

Too stunned to write anything down, she looks to her friends and says, "Come on Rainbow and Applejack, let's give them some space."

When they leave, you then sigh and look at Rarity, saying with a slight smile, "I will let you return to torturing me with your fashion sense."

Rarity huffs at hearing him say that and says, "It's good that you've accepted your fate, now hold still as I pick up where I left off."

After a week goes by, you make your way over to Rarity's boutique and knock on the door asking, "Lady Rarity, are you there?" and see the door open saying, "I got word from Spike that you finished my outfit." then see a few other dresses against the far wall looking quite strange and then see Rarity come out from behind a curtain.

Rarity stops beside him and says with a nervous tone, "Oh yes I have indeed finally finished it just in time, darling. Come forward and I will unveil your outfit!"

Curious, you step forward and stand in front of the U-shaped curtain, watching as Rarity yanks it back dramatically, and tosses it aside with her magic, hearing her say, "TADA!" You stare at the fancy suit she made for you, seeing a three-piece suit. You take in its look with an appraising eye, seeing an arctic blue undershirt with an ice blue vest with gold buttons, and a long, wide, light grey coattail that hangs over the flank of a wireframe pony-shaped stand, having a dull, light green bow tie just above it under the collar of the undershirt. What really strikes you is the double-breasted top coat, seeing gold buttons with string loops to hook around the buttons, a gold chain is connected to a tiny button between the shoulder and the line of buttons and loops. The chain then hangs a little as the end of it is tucked into a small pocket, though what really draws your eye is that the top coat is snow-white with something else that glints in the light as well as blue and silver snowflake designs all around the coat.

She waits nervously as her eye twitches and asks, "Well, what do you think of it?"

As you get much closer, you spot tiny pieces scattered all along the surface that catch and reflect the light. When you gaze upon the snowflakes, you notice that it isn't snowflakes at all, but two intricate, intermingling patterns of frost that appears on windows during winter. As you look closer, you see the lines of silver merge together to form a few lazy, waving lines as some streaks of light and a slightly deeper grey run through the stark white material. Taking a few steps back, you look at the back and realize that it looks exactly like a snowbank and chuckle briefly before swallowing your feelings, saying, "It is an outstanding outfit, Lady Rarity. It reminds me of winter so much, it most certainly will turn a lot of heads when I wear it to the Gala."

Rarity beams a wide, hopeful smile, and asks, "Oh would you do me the smallest, teeniest favor darling?"

Cocking your head, you say, "Uhm...I guess I could, what do you need?"

She then gets down on her knees and puts her forehooves together in a begging manner and desperately pleads, "Will you PLEASE take part in the fashion show tonight!?! All of Ponyville will be there and you are my only hope at not becoming a laughing stock! Oh woe is me-e-e!" and starts crying tears of despair.

You think about it for a moment and decide to give it a chance as it is just an unremarkable, small-town fashion show and say, "As long as it will only be attended by the town's people."

Rarity throws her hooves around his neck and cries joyfully while hanging on his neck, saying, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!"

As she sobs joyfully, you sigh and wrap your right foreleg around the crying mare to soothe her, saying, "Everything will be alright, Lady Rarity."

When Rarity helps you into your suit, you move onto the stage behind the curtain. Standing off to the side and out of view, you hear Spike give a small speech to excite the audience when the spotlight illuminates the group of five mares. You look at the mares with a surprised look and think, 'Those dresses were theirs? Something isn't right here, Rarity wouldn't dare make something so unusual.' You then try to think of what would have caused this, you facehoof yourself and groan softly, thinking, 'Of course, it's so painfully obvious...' then look at the girls and shake your head thinking, 'They did this' Knowing the options you could pick, you choose the proper one and start heading towards the back to get out of the outfit when you see Rarity standing before you.

Rarity stands there with concern all over her face as she asks, "W-what are you doing? Aren't you going to join them?"

You then sigh and shake your head briefly, saying, "I'm sorry, Lady Rarity, but I cannot go through with this."

Tears start to well up in her eyes as she stammers, asking, "B-but wh-why? Did I do something wrong to upset or anger you?"

Lifting your right hoof up and turning it upside down, you lightly wipe away a tear before it ruins her makeup saying, "Not at all, this outfit is truly one of a kind. The reason I am not going out there is because it would do more harm than good to you and your friends, I know that from experience." You watch as a tear threatens to fall from her other eye and wipe it away quickly, saying, "Don't let your tears ruin your makeup in front of every citizen of Ponyville, you need to look your best."

Rarity's heart sinks as she feels him caress her left cheek with the side of his polished hoof, then kiss her just behind the left corner of her mouth. The tender moment causes her heart to flutter lightly and rise a little, feeling herself stop wanting to cry, saying, "It would be uncouth of me to go out there not looking my best in any situation." then smiles a little and dabs the moisture away with her hoofkerchief and puts it away, making her way toward the waiting audience as Spike calls her to walk on out with her head hanging low but with dry eyes.

You take great care in removing your outfit and putting it back on the wireframe stand it came off of, then cover it up with the sheet Rarity used before walking away from the show and head out of town to try to perfect a spell that has been giving you trouble.

When you come back a few days later, you are stopped in your tracks by Rarities friends who all have scowls on their faces and ask, "Hello girls, is something wrong?"

Applejack then shouts, "Ah'd say something was wrong!"

Rainbow then hovers in the air with her hooves crossed, saying, "Yeah! You chickened out on Rarity!"

Pinkie Pie then speaks up and says, "That was a super mean thing to do after she went through all the trouble to make an outfit for you to wear to the gala out of generosity."

Twilight then asks, "How could you let us go out there alone and embarrass Rarity like that?"

Fluttershy frowns at him and says, "That wasn't very nice of you."

You then say, "No, it wasn't something to be proud of, but it is a lot better than me going out there and making you all look bad with my outfit. The very last thing I need is to fall to one of my vices and repeat my crimes from the past, I deserve to remain in the shadows."

Applejack then looks to the others and grins asking, "Are yall thinking what ah'm thinking?"

Getting the idea, they all rush you as Twilight puts a metallic ring on your horn saying, "This is temporary, I'll remove it later!"

Hours later, you are in the boutique against your will as Rarity uses her magic to put on a light show to match the girls' dresses as they hold an impromptu fashion show. As punishment for walking out on them, you have to put on your own introduction. While the others start going first, you smirk as an idea comes to mind when it is your turn to come to the stage and cast an illusion spell you learned from one of those ancient spell books from Univille.

As they all get drawn into the illusion, they find themselves in a grassy field with low grass and trees all around them during springtime when a voice matching Blistering Blizzard's speaks up, saying, "The four seasons of nature are wondrous, aren't they? They symbolize many things in life, which every living being can enjoy. Springtime is a time for nature to start anew, giving all a chance to grow in many different ways."

Applejack watches with amazement as the cool temperature around them all goes up to an uncomfortable degree as the vision around them smoothly changes into summer, hearing, "Summer is the time of making an effort to improve growth as much as possible, for the time of harvest is nearing."

Fluttershy sighs as the temperature cools down around them as all the tree's leaves change colors, hearing, "Fall, or Autumn is the time of reaping the rewards of the hard work one has put forth during the year, giving them the chance to prepare for the last season to come."

Twilight watches as the leaves slowly fall off the trees, striking her as odd, but then gets a chill up her spine as a large snowflake lands on her nose. Shaking her head with a giggle, she realizes he must have got this from one of the ancient spell tomes and holds out her tongue curiously. When a snowflake lands on it, she is surprised to find out it is real and looks up to see a cloud above them, spotting a pony-shaped shadow hidden within and wonders, 'Is that a windigo?' but loses sight of it as it disappears in the blink of an eye. Turning her gaze back down, she watches the leaves falling more quickly and waits for the show to finish.

Hoity Toity watches in amazement as the area around them turns brown as snow starts falling, hearing the same voice from before say, "Winter is beautiful and sad at the same time because it is when many things must rest until the cycle renews, many things don't endure the cold and depart from this world. When winter fully comes, have you ever watched frost appear on the window or the transition that water makes when the temperature is low enough? Here's your chance, so look now."

Everpony's eyes look outside a massive window at the lake, finding themselves on a table inside with a massive, warm, crackling fireplace behind them as the temperature outside continues to plummet until a light wind picks up and sends continuous, small ripples across the water's surface, watching curiously as small patterns of frost form in the center of the large window, then shooting outward to cover the whole window.

They watch as Pinkie touches the frosted window, causing it to blow away in the wind as they are now beside the now massive lake when they notice spots of unaffected water appear and gradually join together as a thin sheet of ice. They gasp as a change in the temperature causes a large crack to appear in the thick ice, running from one side of the lake to the other when a gentle snowstorm kicks up and starts to cover the lake in a light dusting of snow.

The famous fashion celebrity is awed again as he watches intricate designs pass before his eyes when a gust of snow blows before him, revealing something standing amidst snowbanks on the lake.

You walk your way through the banks of snow and jump through one of them into the middle of the disguised stage, bursting the fake snowdrift towards them which fades away before hitting them and dispel the illusion saying, "Winter is a beautiful, but solemn time of year...for where there is life, there must also be death..." and gaze towards the fashion celebrity with an unyielding, sorrowful, ice-cold expression on your face.

Hoity Toity is completely thrilled by the show and claps his hooves together saying, "Absolutely marvelous! This is what I call a fashion show! Oh, these outfits are just stunningly magnificent! Who is responsible for this? I must meet them, so step forward and show yourself!"

You stand behind the second curtain as Twilight nudges you on the foreleg when Rarity makes her grand appearance, asking, "Like my little show?"

Twilight blinks and then glances to him quickly, whispering in a barely restrained tone, "You call that LITTLE!? You had used at least three spells that burn through mana like Pinkie burns calories! Then there are those other highly taxing localized area spells that even I don't know how to cast yet, just where did you learn those?"

With a grin you whisper, "Oh, two of the three are just spells I learned from those ancient spellbooks I turned in a while ago, and I know every spell that was contained in them. If you want to learn them, you will have to ask your mentor if you can borrow the books to learn them."

She growls lightly as the light above turns on, whispering, "Those have been classified as national treasures by Celestia herself, there's no way she would permit them to leave the restricted section!"

When the curtain starts to slide back, you look toward where Rarity is and whisper out the side of your mouth, "We'll talk later."

Half an hour later, at the castle in Canterlot

Celestia receives a letter from Twilight and reads through it, reaching the end as it reads: 'P.S. I have just found out that Blistering Blizzard learned every spell contained in those ancient books I turned over to you. Uhm, would it be too much to ask for a chance to learn them too?' Surprised by what she just found out, she can't help but laugh lightly saying, "It seems that stallion has some rather interesting secrets he's guarding..." then summons one of the ancient spell texts and pulls out a quill, inkwell, and paper to write back.

Back in Ponyville

Rarity beams happily at him asking her to allow him to feature her designs in his best-of-the-best boutique in Canterlot and gasps excitedly, but remembers what Blistering told her about the outfit she made for him and clears her throat, saying, "I would be ecstatic at the honor, but I can only allow the dresses worn by us mares to be featured as I desire the suit I made for the stallion to not be recreated."

Hoity Toity nods with a smile and says, "That'll be fine with me, now, I shall need a dozen of each dress made for me by next Tuesday."

As you watch Rarity's eyes go wide and start twitching, you hear Twilight gasp and squeal softly in delight. Turning your head to her, you see her hugging one of the ancient books in her hooves and say with a chuckle, "Wow, someone's spoiled."

A few days pass by as you head into town, politely declining the invitation to a party when you spot two guards wearing golden armor standing outside of Sugar Cube Corner who stand like statues, causing you to wonder how well they're trained and make your way toward them.

The two guards observe the stallion from their peripheral vision as he walks their way.

As you get closer to the guards, you smirk darkly and say, "Hello there, I was admiring your shiny armor and couldn't help myself but wonder how well your training holds up to mine... Care to entertain me for a bit?"

The guards then look directly at him as he says, "Oh good, you do notice something of importance. At first, I thought you were just mindless statues."

When they both frown at your remark, you grin and then charge forward without your magic saying, "Let's dance."

As she hears a commotion outside, one of her four guards approaches her and whispers something into her ear, causing her to stand up and say, "I'm sorry everypony, I'm afraid I have to cut this party short as the mayor has requested an audience with me." and sighs mentally saying, "My royal duty calls, thank you all for a wonderful time. It has been a joy getting to know each of you better." When she and the two guards standing inside get outside, she is greeted by the sight of Blistering Blizzard...fighting her two royal guards and sighs, ordering the two guards with her to do nothing but observe.

Not noticing the alicorn watching from outside the sweets shop, you jump back as one of the pegasi dives down at you and chuckle saying, "The problem with foes that can fly..." and flips up a small stone with a front hoof, then uses his nose to send it higher and towards his flanks while watching the one pegasus guard building up speed again. You notice the other one attempting to tackle you and take him by surprise as he closes in, jumping into the air while drawing your left hoof back and spinning around to face him while throwing a punch with that hoof. Your punch catches him right in the throat, causing him to go wide-eyed.

The guard brings his wings in closer and bares his teeth in anger, intending to knock this stallion unconscious.

Waiting for this chance, you raise your back hooves off the ground and kick the stone as hard as you can at the speeding guard, nailing him on his right wing, saying, "They need to mind their wings!" Turning around while pushing your upper body into the air, thrusting you hoof upward in a wild right hook. Your wild swing catches the stallion by the throat and cast a spell to render the pegasus guard's wings useless, saying with a chuckle, "Your training is not half bad, but it could be better."

Celestia then stands up tall and stares down at the stallion who just defeated two of her guards with an irritated glare, asking, "Greetings, Blistering Blizzard. Why is it you are fighting my royal guards? Did they do something to offend you?"

Just now noticing the Princess watching you, you genuflect and bow toward her, saying, "Apologies, Your Highness. They did nothing at all to offend me, I was merely picking a fight to spar and test their training against mine."

She cocks her head and then looks at the guard with a wing bent backwards, pinned under his spine as he lies on his back and narrows her eyes saying, "Rise. For your sake, that spell better not be permanent or there will be consequences."

Straightening your posture and unfazed by her threat, you shake your head and say, "Not to worry, Your Highness, the rubbery effect will wear off in fifteen minutes."

Celestia then smirks as her suspicion grows stronger and says, "Take a walk with me, I wish to speak with you about a few things."

With a sigh, you ask, "Do I have any choice in the matter?"

She then giggles with slight menace in her voice, saying, "Not unless you fancy a night in the dungeon while being interrogated or tormented by my sister..."

You then turn and sigh saying, "Very well, lead the way, Your Highness."

Twilight and the other ponies watch the stallion walk away with Princess Celestia and two guards as she hears a few ponies curiously talk about how much trouble he is in and she nips the troublesome gossip short and says, "He isn't in that much trouble everypony, the reason is because he wasn't trying to cause any serious injuries to the guards, he only used one spell at the end that just temporarily rendered a guard unable to fly for a few moments. Blistering Blizzard is very troubled by his past, that is why he keeps to himself."

The other ponies nod and then go out to help out the incapacitated guards as the princess makes her way to the mayor's tent.

After waiting outside the building while Celestia speaks with the mayor, you hear the doors close behind you and turn to see Princess Celestia making her way out and ask, "Where to now, Your Majesty?"

Celestia starts to make her way through town towards the outer limits saying, "We will head outside of town first before we start our talk." She then sees a guard head her way and whispers up to her ear that her pet has gone missing, and says, "Search the whole town and find her, look everywhere she could have gotten to."

You watch the soldier salute and hurry off to start searching, and look back to Princess Celestia saying, "It seems that a crisis has sprung up, Your Majesty. Perhaps now is not a good time for a chat?"

She narrows her eyes at him and says, "Not so fast, Blistering Blizzard, we are going to be having this talk because I am not leaving Ponyville until my friend Philomena is found and returned to me. So don't try to weasel out of this talk, I won't let you. Now come on, I have much to discuss with you..." and quickens her pace through town.

As you make your way through town at a quick walk with Celestia, who looks very eager to discuss a sensitive matter with you, the two of you cross the bridge by Fluttershy's cottage and turn left asking sarcastically, "By any chance did we come out here just so you can kiss me or confess an attraction toward me?"

Celestia stops in her tracks and turns around, narrowing her eyes at him warningly, saying, "Of course I didn't come out here for that, and besides, although you are handsome...you are not my type. You and Luna would be a better match because of whatever common experiences you have with each other." She then turns back around and continues on, heading further into the field outside of town.

You then trot after her and ask in mild annoyance, "Then why are you bringing me out here, did I do something to incur your wrath? Do you mean to kill me for whatever I have done? If so, then make me suffer to the bitter end."

Irritation gets the better of her as she turns around, saying with a frown and adding a little volume to her voice, "YOU'VE DONE NOTHING WRONG! I WOULD NEVER, EVER CALL FOR THE LIFE OF ONE OF MY SUBJECTS! I ONLY BROUGHT YOU OUT HERE BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW YOUR NAME, WHAT WAS YOUR POSITION IN THE ROYAL HIERARCHY OF LEADERSHIP, AND WHERE YOU CAME FROM!"

With a sigh, you look away at how she figured out so much so far and say, "Please don't make me tell you any of that, as it will bring nothing but pain, guilt, sadness, and misery..."

Celestia sighs and hangs her head, then sighs and gets her emotions under control and uses the tip of her left wing to lightly guide his face back toward her and says, "I apologize for my rudeness, my little pony. I am just so concerned about you because of how sad you appear to be to my student, she and the others worry about you because you suffer nightmares every night unless you sleep beside Fluttershy. If you would only give others a chance to hear what is causing you so much torment, I know that friendship can help you recover from it."

You turn your head the other way and feel your complex emotions welling up from deep down, saying, "I know you are concerned, Your Highness, you all are worried about me. Why do any of you care about my suffering so much?"

While Versa watches events around Equestria, she hears a crack appear in Arthas's soul and hastily begins to cast her magic once she feels it starting to destabilize, saying, "Not this again..."

Returning her wing to her side, she moves to stand directly in front of him, sitting down on the grass and using her other wing tip to touch the other side of his face and turns his face toward hers, saying, "We care because you can't start to heal until you open up to others about what happened to you. Why does your past make you suffer so much? What exactly happened to make you so afraid of friendship? How come do you not want us to know more about you?"

You jerk your head out of her hold as tension grows within you to a breaking point and say, "None of you could possibly maintain your sanity after hearing a fraction of what I've done, you are all too soft-hearted to deal."

Celestia then returns her other wing to her side and then sighs, having been forced to push even harder, saying in a loud, demanding tone, "JUST WHAT IS IT ABOUT YOUR PAST THAT AFFECTS YOU SO HORRIBLY?! WHY DO YOU HATE YOURSELF SO MUCH THAT YOU KEEP EVERYPONY AT A WING'S DISTANCE?!?" Then softly shouts in the royal voice, "Tell me!!"

Sweat drips down Versa's forehead as small fractures run throughout Arthas's soul when a massive crack appears in the center, barely having enough time to keep it from completely breaking apart as she groans with the effort it is taking to hold him together, saying, "Come...OOONNNN!!! Give a mare some rest, you petulant child!"

Something snaps as you suddenly get up into her face and stare directly into her eyes shouting, "BECAUSE I'M A MONSTER OF A PRINCE THAT MADE THE WORST POSSIBLE CHOICES DUE TO MY OWN PRIDE, ARROGANCE, AND IGNORANCE! MY FOOLISH AND STUPID CHOICES LED ME TO BETRAY MY OWN PEOPLE AS I THOUGHT KILLING THEM WOULD BE A MERCY! THAT HAPPENED BEFORE I TURNED EVIL AND SUBSEQUENTLY LOST WHAT WAS LEFT OF MY HUMANITY! AFTER BETRAYING MY OWN PEOPLE, I GREW DESPERATE FOR ANY POSSIBLE WAY TO SAVE THE REST OF THEM BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE. ONCE I FOUND IT AND BECAME EVIL, I EVEN TURNED ON MY OWN FATHER...AND MURDERED HIM BEFORE DESTROYING THE REST OF THE KINGDOM HE RULED OVER!"

She feels her heart hurt at hearing what he went through, too stunned to speak, she finds herself scooting backward across the ground as he slowly walks forward with tears starting to spill out of his eyes and fall to the ground.

Ignoring the tears falling from your eyes, you then shake your head and say, "I forget my manners, Your Highness. Allow me to properly introduce myself to you..." You then look around to see absolutely no ponies around as well as being out of sight from Fluttershy's and take a few steps away from her before using your ability to return to your real form. You feel yourself return to normal and then remove your helmet, holding it under your right arm as you bend your left arm at the elbow and hold it in front of you. You then bend at the waist and bow graciously to her before straightening back up and saying, "I am Arthas Menethil, the former Crown Prince of Lordaeron and the former Lich King of Icecrown Citadel in Northrend."

Celestia trips backward over a rock and lands on her back, looking over the frightfully imposing bipedal form as her breathing quickens, asking fearfully, "H-Huh? W-Wha? W-Where a-are you f-from? Ho-how d-did you g-g-get here?"

You walk up to her and stop, looking her body over for a few moments before taking a knee beside her and then lean over her saying, "I am from a world far different, and much less peaceful than this one called Azeroth. When I was at the peak of my evil state, I was brought down and slain by the world's strongest heroes, I wanted a chance to redeem myself for all I'd done and was brought back to life here, then restored to how I was before I made those wrong choices in the first place. I was also given the ability to take on the shape of the different types of ponies, such as Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasi. The sword, helm, and the rest of my armor are all replicas of the original to remind me of my failures. There is no mistaking that I am not evil anymore, because if I were...there would be a lot of death and corpses by now." Wanting to get rid of her so you can be alone, you then swiftly reach out and grab her behind her head and pull her against your lips.

She blushes furiously as she tries to squirm out of his grasp while his tongue pushes into her mouth, kissing her furiously and sorrowfully. Thinking quickly, she smacks him across the cheek hard enough to leave a bruise and then wrenches her head out of his grip, rolling back onto her hooves, and starts to gallop back toward the town.

Switching back to your unicorn form, you watch her gallop away and chuckle, saying, "Wow, look at that big butt jiggle..." then shake your head as tears continue to fall and let yourself collapse onto the ground, sobbing silently as you let your emotions free.

Versa sighs in relief that she managed to stop the worst from happening, and collapses onto her couch exhausted, breathing hard and saying, "UGH! WHAT AN ANNOYING STALLION!" then shouts at his image, though unable to hear her, "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST ACCEPT WHAT YOU'VE DONE AND MOVE ON?!"

A few hours later, after letting yourself cry it it out, you go to get up when your hoof bumps into something metallic. When you lift up the metallic object, you discover that it is a crown and put it into your saddlebag before getting up and making your way to return it to its rightful owner.

After searching around town, you spot your friends standing near a fountain, looking up at something with a great deal of interest. When you look up to see that there is a strange bird up there, the last feathers fall off it and cause it to wobble and leap off the statue's head. Once you see it burst into flames and turn to ash, you roll your eyes at recognizing a phoenix's rebirth and slowly make your way toward the girls.

Celestia looks down at her pet Philomena with an amused smile, saying, "Oh, stop playing around, Philomena, you're frightening everypony."

Strangely feeling better than you have in years, you take your sweet time to approach the group from behind after they finish talking. They start laughing when Rainbow gets the phoenix to tickle the guards' noses with the tips of her feathers and say, "Phoenixes are rare and majestic creatures, though they can be troublesome and most certainly are capable of holding a grudge if you gain their ire." As everypony turns to look at you with a gasp, you pull the crown out of your saddlebags and set it onto Princess Celestia's head, messing with her by saying, "Oh, you forgot your crown in the field, Your Majesty."

Everypony's jaws fall open at hearing that as their gazes turn to Princess Celestia, who is blushing a deep red and looking at the stallion with wide eyes when Twilight cocks her head and asks, "Uhm, did you two really..."

The princess turns to Twilight and giggles in embarrassment saying, "Oh of course not, I would never do such a thing out in the open..." turning to him with a glare and continuing angrily, "and certainly not with him." She then huffs and narrows her eyes a little, saying, "You should really be careful how you word things, my little pony..."

You smirk and then say, "Where would the fun be in doing that when I can watch you squirm as payment?"

Twilight watches in amazement as she sees how annoyed her mentor is with him as Celestia huffs again, hearing her say, "That kiss wasn't enough payback?!"

As you watch the group watch with enraptured eyes, you chuckle and say, "I did that so I could have a moment alone with my thoughts."

Celestia then breaths out harshly in annoyance and turns away, saying, "Oh you are in dire need of refinement, my little pony."

With a smirk, you mumble softly, but just loud enough to hear, "That flank needs refinement."

She whips her head around and scowls harshly at him and asks menacingly, "What did you just say?"

You then sigh and say, "I said, I think that your kissing needs refinement." when a grin crosses your face.

Celestia's face gets red with embarrassment as she says, "Why you...OH!" then huffs and forces herself to calm down, saying, "I will consider your advice, thank you for returning my crown to me. I half-expected you to keep it for yourself."

Shaking your head, you say, "I would never do that...besides, it's not my style and is too big on one end."

Fighting to keep her cool, she then says, "I would love to stay and chat more, but I have royal duties to attend to as I'm sure you can understand."

Twilight watches her mentor take her leave with the guards following just behind her, then turns to him and says, "Are you crazy!?!"

Rarity then frowns and says, "She should have tossed you into the dungeon for the uncouth things you said straight to her very face!"

Fluttershy then steps forth and says, "Yes, it wasn't very nice of you to embarrass her like that."

Applejack then cocks her head and asks, "Why did you do that pardner?"

As Rainbow sniggers away, Pinkie Pie asks, "Yeah! Why did you do that mean Mister Meanerton?!"

With a sigh, you then look to the girls and say, "Well, it is because after she met with the mayor, we went outside and she wanted to know things about me. I kept refusing to tell her, but then she was persistent and tried various approaches. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and I cracked and yelled at her, telling her the vague, yet specific version about my past. I was upset at how she got me to give up information, so I rushed in and kissed her deeply just to get her to leave me alone for a while. This is the first time in a few years that I haven't felt quite so bad about my past, but it will be a while longer until I am ready to share more."