Chapter 7: The Trouble with Anger
Matthew had already reached the main floor when Fluttershy reached the stairwell. He was grumbling under his breath, but it wasn't loud enough for anypony to hear.
"Matthew, wait!" called Fluttershy. He stopped and looked to his pegasus friend, "do you mind if I join you?"
He was silent for a moment, then nodded, "I suppose two heads are better than one."
And so, they made their way out of the hotel. Once outside, Matthew put on the special sunglasses that Twilight had enchanted earlier in the day and looked to the other ponies. The first fifteen that passed were regular ponies, but when the sixteenth one walked past them, he could see that it was a changeling in disguise.
"Stay close Fluttershy."
Fluttershy nodded and followed right behind Matthew, all the while the duo made sure they were a good distance away. More than once, the changeling looked over it's shoulder, but Matthew and Fluttershy were too quick for him and remained hidden.
"I can't believe this is still working," Fluttershy whispered.
"Probably won't be for long," Matthew whispered back, "that's why we need to get the location of those weapons out of that one."
After a great deal of walking, they arrived at a row of skyscraper apartments. The disguised changeling went into an alley, after checking to see if the coast was clear, but of course, it wasn't. Matthew and Fluttershy slowly made their way into the alley, but stopped before the edges of the buildings. Up ahead, they could see the one disguised changeling meeting up with another, and by the sounds of it, one was groaning badly.
"My wing hurts more than anything," the undisguised changeling said. "I sometimes wonder if our queen's plan is actually worth getting hurt over."
"Are you doubting our queen?" the disguised changeling asked.
"No of course not. I'd follow her to the ends of Equestria, just like any of the changelings, minus the traitor Princess' changelings, but even you have to admit that the pain isn't always worth it."
"Yeah I guess so, but make sure you don't say that in front of the Queen."
"I wouldn't dream of it," groaned the undisguised changeling. "She'd rip me to pieces if she knew."
Fluttershy and Matthew could hear every single word, and Fluttershy felt sorry for them. Yes they were nasty creatures, but no one deserved to suffer the way they were.
"I wish we could help them," she said quietly.
Matthew shook his head, "that's just stupid thinking right there Fluttershy, you don't help the enemy. You need to knock them down and give them the same treatment they would give you."
Fluttershy was concerned after hearing that, "why would you say that?"
Matthew didn't answer. In his mind, a memory from his childhood was playing itself over and over again, which only made him madder and madder.
"You actually thought we could be friends? Honestly, you should've learned from the first time I beat you up. You are such a loser Matthew, and you'll never have friends."
An angry snarl could be heard coming from Matthew's mouth, which was starting to scare Fluttershy.
"Matthew, are you alright?" she asked kindly.
He didn't answer. He just pulled out his paintball gun and loaded it.
"The time for talk is over, I'll show Twilight why you should never trust the enemy." And without warning, he charged out of the alley and over to the changelings.
The changelings were surprised. They were about ready to attack, but Matthew shot at their wings, forcing them to land on the ground.
"Ow, my wing," groaned the undisguised changeling.
"Oh cry me a river, you're not in pain, you're just trying to use an excuse to keep me from shooting you full of paintballs."
Seeing the anger on his face and hearing the tone of his voice, Fluttershy was too scared to even get involved. Plus, she had a bad feeling about the whole situation.
"What is it you want from us?" asked the disguised changeling.
"Simple, I want the location of those bombs. Do either of you know where they are?!" he shouted. Both changelings shook their heads, which made Matthew really mad. He pointed his paintball gun at them and fired more paintballs. They groaned in pain over getting hit by them. "Don't lie to me you stupid monsters, your queen is putting worlds in danger! Now I'll ask again, do you two know where the bombs are?!"
"We swear to you, we don't know."
"LIER!" And he fired off more paintballs at them.
Fluttershy was now really scared, she had never seen such anger before, and that's saying alot coming from the adventures she's been on.
"One more time you stupid changelings, tell me where the bombs are, or else..." His finger went to the trigger again.
"Alright! Alright! I'll tell you!" cried the undisguised changeling, "just don't hit us again."
"We'll see," Matthew grumbled. "Now the location of the Source of It All, and where those nuclear bombs are."
The undisguised changeling rubbed a bruise on his forehead, sighed and answered as calmly as he could, "the Source of It All is in the town square near the Tower of Friendship. The left side portal goes towards a big school, and the right side portal is at the base of a big tower."
Matthew lowered his paintball gun, "now see, that wasn't so bad. You just answer me truthfully and I won't shoot you. Now one more question, how long has Starlight Glimmer been working with you?"
"Who?" asked the disguised changeling.
"We don't know a Starlight Glimmer."
Matthew's anger was now reaching it's breaking point. He lifted his gun back up and aimed it in between the undisguised changeling's eyes, "I said be truthful to me," he snarled angerily, "how long has she been working with you?" Neither changeling answered. "TELL ME!"
Fluttershy decided at that point that enough was enough. She was going to fly over to help Matthew, but that's when she heard loud buzzing coming from above. She looked and saw more than a few dozen changelings.
"Oh dear, that's not good," she squeaked.
Matthew heard the buzzing sounds and looked behind him to see a swarm of changelings coming towards him. Instead of getting scared, something scary happened. His anger finally reached it's breaking point and he let out a loud angry yell.
"So you want a fight huh?! Fine so be it, I'll take you all down!"
The changelings charged in at Matthew, and he fired off his paintball gun at them. Fluttershy watched from a distance, she wanted to help, but knew that if she got involved, she would get knocked out of the sky, or worse, hit by Matthew's flying paintballs. She knew she had to get help, so she ran off to find it.
Matthew pulled out his bow staff and started swinging it while shooting at the changelings. Surprisingly, he was able to hit more than fifteen of them with the combination attacks.
"What is this creature and how can he fight like that?" asked one of the attacking changelings.
He was then hit by Matthew's bow staff and hit the ground hard. The changeling looked up and noticed he was in front of Matthew. He snarled as he looked down, the look on his face looking rather sinister, "Today, I am your worst nightmare!" And he hit the changeling hard with his bow staff.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy had just reached the street corner when she bumped into Twilight and Rainbow Dash. They had decided to go look for Matthew and Fluttershy.
"Help please," Fluttershy begged, "Matthew's being attacked by the changelings, and I think he's let his anger blow up."
"Oh dear, that's not good," groaned Twilight. "Lead the way Fluttershy."
The two ponies followed the Element of Kindness back down the street and towards the fight. They gasped when they saw Matthew beating up the changelings, and worst still, he was hitting them, even after they were knocked down.
"We give up," they groaned.
"You never gave mercy before, so why should I start now?! I was tricked one time too many, now scum like you will finally get what's coming to you." And he slammed his bow staff aganist the changeling again.
"He's finally flipped," gasped Rainbow Dash.
Twilight nodded in agreement, then gasped when she looked up, "he better stop this soon, cause he's about to get company."
But with his anger controlling him, Matthew didn't stop smacking the already injuried changelings, so he didn't see the second wave of changelings coming down.
"Hit him hard!" cried the leader of the second wave.
With horns glowing, they charged down at Matthew. He got hit several times before spinning round and tried shooting at them. By now though, his anger had taken away much of his energy, so his fighting was becoming sloppy and he was getting hit more.
"I Will NEVER Fall to your kind AGAIN!" he shouted in between pants.
"Again? What does he mean by that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Ask later, worry now," groaned Fluttershy.
Matthew aimed his gun one more time, but he got hit by an energy blast and he fell backwards. He hit the ground and was knocked out cold. Twilight couldn't stand by anymore and charged in to help her friend.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" she shouted and using all her energy, unleashed a powerful blast, which sent the changelings flying.
The injuried changelings stood up and stumbled away back to their hideout. With them gone, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy could now join Twilight and their injuried human friend.
"I can't believe he took down so many changelings," gasped Rainbow Dash.
"I can't believe he wouldn't run for his life," groaned Twilight. She tapped him on the shoulder, but he didn't wake up. "We need to get him back to the hotel."
Working together, the three ponies got him on their backs and they walked him back to the hotel.
Queen Chrysalis was stunned when the injuried changelings arrived, "how did this happen?" she asked angerily.
"We got attacked by one of those two legged creatures," groaned one of the changelings. "We fired everything we had at him, but he just would not go down."
"Until we came in," said the leader of the second wave, "we hit him and knocked him down. We would've finished him off if the Princess of Friendship hadn't gotten in the way."
Queen Chrysalis growled angerily, "again she interfers!" But then a smirk came to her face, "well at least you've taught that silly creature that you don't ever mess with the changelings. Good work second wave. First wave, you could learn much from them."
"Yes your highness," said the first wave changelings.
The two changelings that Matthew had originally attacked looked to each other. They knew that he knew the location of the bombs, but weren't sure if they should tell their queen at this point and time. In the end, they decided not to.
With much groaning, Matthew finally opened his eyes and saw both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy watching over him. "Ow, that hurts," he said in pain, "I feel like someone used my head for a punching bag."
"I'm not surprised," said Rainbow Dash, "you took some big hits from the changelings."
"Not to mention you let your anger get out again," added Ryan, who was standing with Emily at another end of the room. "Really Matthew, we thought you had conquered your anger problem."
"Guess we were wrong," added Emily.
Matthew winced in pain again as he sat upright, "well now I know who to thank for the shot in the back. At least I got the location of the bombs out of them, but got nothing on what Starlight's real plans are."
Everypony and human's eyes looked to him, "she is not working with them," said Applejack firmly. "She's not being a traitor."
"Yeah right, I don't buy it." He stood up, but groaned in pain again and fell back down onto the bed. "She ratted us out in the first place, so that's why I was getting my answers. Oh well, we got a few more days to get information out of those stupid changelings."
Twilight walked up to Matthew and smacked him with her right hoof.
"Ow," he groaned.
"Open your eyes Matthew, Starlight is not evil anymore. She is not working for the changelings, and she's not the one putting us in danger. In fact, the only one doing that is you. You and your bad attitude."
"And we only five hours left," added Patrick.
"What?!" Matthew exclaimed. "That can't be right."
"You've been out cold for a couple of days Matthew," said Rarity.
"A couple of days?! Oh for crying out loud." Using what energy he had, Matthew got up from the bed and walked over towards the window. "It can't be, we were so close to stopping them."
"Yeah we were, until you went all nutty on us," grumbled Rainbow Dash.
"You've been a real party pooper," added Pinkie Pie.
"Yet," continued Rarity, "in spite of it all, Starlight has been by your bedside and looking out for you. Now doesn't that show that she's a different pony, and that she's not working for the changelings?"
"No it doesn't," came the blunt reply.
Patrick growled loudly, "Matthew, what the heck is your problem? Clearly, we see a pony trying to change her life around, but you don't. Why is that?" Matthew didn't answer, he just looked down to the ground, "you better start telling us Matthew, cause this has gone on far enough!"
"It's because of Stephine."
"Who?" the ponies all asked in confusion.
Ryan and Patrick were confused at first, but then they recongized the name, "wasn't she the girl you tried to be friends with back in kindergarden?" asked Ryan.
Matthew nodded. "When I started at school, I was determined to make new friends. Stephine was the first person I met there, and I was sure she and I would become the best of friends. So I introduced myself to her and she introduced herself to me, and right away, a new friendship was formed. All was going well for me, that was until three days after kindergarden started. Stephine and her real friends decided to beat me up in the school yard. They hurt me so badly that day."
"And that's what is making you believe Starlight is still evil?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"No, it's what happened next that changed my views forever. You see, the next time I saw Stephine she apologized to me and said that she only did what she did, because she had been dared by bullies. She said she'd never hurt me for real." Matthew's right fist started to shake voilently, that was until he slammed his left hand on it, thus making it stop. "Because I didn't know any better, I believed her and gave her another chance. It was the single dumbest move I could make."
"Up till now anyways," muttered Applejack, but it was still loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Applejack," snapped Twilight.
"Sorry," she said meekily.
Matthew sighed and continued, "for about a month after that, everything was fine. Stephine would stand up for me aganist bullies and she would even share lunch with me. She was proving to be a good friend. Then came that day. It was starting to rain out and teachers were calling us back inside, but as I was making my way back to the classroom, Stephine grabbed my right arm, dragged me towards the playground equipment and she slammed her fist into my face and stomach over and over again. There was no one else around, it was just her, acting on her own decision. Clearly she was no friend, she was the type of person who liked to hurt others just for the fun of it."
"At the end of it all, I ended up with a broken nose, bruises all over me and a completely different view on friendships. Which is why," he continued, "when she tried to ask for my forgiveness, I did no such thing, I just walked away from her and I never tried to become friends with anyone until I got in the third grade and met Patrick, Ryan and the others. But it was that one moment that made me realise that if someone is bad to you the first time, then they're bound to try and hurt you again when you least expect it. That's why I don't trust Starlight or those armor wearing changelings."
"Yet you trust Sunset Shimmer," said Emily.
"Yeah that's because she hasn't tried to hurt others since being defeated by Princess Twilight. But Starlight attacked our homes, and then meddled with time here in Equestria as if she didn't learn."
The room went quiet after that and no one moved. That was until Starlight walked forward and stopped in front of Matthew.
"I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you when you were younger, but you got to know that not all of us who start off nasty will betray you later on. Since being beaten by Twilight and Spike, and from the beatings I took from all of you, I have learned that friendship and forgiveness is better than destroying time and conquering worlds. I know it's hard for you to believe, but I am working my hardest to make up for my mistakes, and I hope one day we can meet up and talk like friends instead of being rivals." Then she added, "and I'm sorry for throwing you into a tree, will you ever forgive me?"
Once again, the room went silent as everypony and human waited to hear what Matthew was going to say. Matthew was thinking it over. His past experiences would never disappear and he would always remember them, but unlike the girl that beat him up that one day, he could see in Starlight's eyes that she meant every word she was saying. Finally, he came up with a decision.
"I will not forgive you Starlight Glimmer," he said.
"Oh for crying out loud!" cried Rainbow Dash.
Patrick and Ryan shook their heads and were about to tell Matthew what they thought of him at that moment, when he said; "not until you can forgive me."
"Say what now?" Starlight asked with a raised eyebrow.
Although in pain, Matthew got down on his knees till he was at eye level with Starlight, "Twilight's right, I'm the one that's been putting us all in danger, and all because of one life changing event. I...I'm so sorry Starlight, if you can forgive me, I'll forgive you."
Starlight raised her right hoof, "I think we can do that."
Matthew was about to shake her hoof, but instead leaned forward and gave Starlight a hug. She was stunned at first, but then hugged him back, to which the response was a slight groan of pain.
"Sorry."
"No it's alright," he whispered.
They let go and Matthew got to his feet, "now that the fight agmost us is over, why don't we get down to business. I know where the Source of It All is."
"Well then tell us Sugarcube, where is it?" asked Applejack.
"It's in the town square near the Tower of Friendship. As for the bombs, one's in a school, Canterlot High I'm guessing, the second is at the Tower of Friendship and the third is indeed on our world in a tall tower."
"Well that doesn't help," said Patrick, "it could be anyone of them, our world does have alot of tall towers."
"Well whichever one it is, we need to get to them and stop them. After all, that is our mission, not to stop the changelings."
"Glad to hear you say that Darling," said Rarity, "But there is still an issue. To get to the downtown area, it would take us four hours by hoof, or foot in your case, and I hear traffic is terrible in this city, and it would take us forever to get there by cart."
"So how are we suppose to get there?" asked Rainbow Dash.
No one knew, but then a sly grin came to Matthew's face, "why not ask Discord? He's standing right behind Patrick."
"What?" Patrick asked with a raised eyebrow.
Patrick looked behind him to see a coatrack. Moments later, it changed form and into the Spirt of Chaos and Disharmony, which shocked Patrick and mostly everyone in the room, except Twilight, Fluttershy and Matthew.
"Now how did you know I was here?" he asked.
"Oh please Discord, I've seen you turn yourself into a tree, a snake and even turn Fluttershy into an orange, so nothing surprises me anymore. Plus too, I could hear you breathing from over there."
Discord was quite stunned to hear that.
"What are you doing here anyways Discord?" asked Rarity.
"Well Princess Celestia sent me out here cause she hadn't heard anything from you in a few days, and she was getting worried."
Fluttershy flew over towards him, "well we're glad you're here, cause we need your help in getting to the Source Of It All. We need to get there quickly and get rid of those bombs."
"You...you really want my help?"
"Of course we do, your magic could be of great help to the mission."
"That is assuming we're not going to have anymore problems with grudges," said Patrick as he glared over to Matthew.
"No grudges here. Anypony else?" Everyone shook their heads, "I say we're good, we do need Discord's help on this one."
"In that case, let's get going."
The humans quickly got their paintball guns and whatever gear they needed. Matthew was about to grab his weapons when he found them being lifted over by magic. The magic that was coming from Starlight Glimmer.
"I got your back this time, and I promise not to break it."
"Thanks Starlight," smiled Matthew.
"Everypony ready?" Discord asked. Everyone nodded. With a snap of his fingers, everyone was engulfed in a bright beam of light and disappeared out of the room.