Chapter X

I sink into the hospital bed with a sigh. Why don’t they ever listen?

“What do you mean ‘you can’t find anything wrong with him?’ he spewed blood out his mouth! That means he’s got internal bleeding!!!”

“Miss Trixie, while I’m sure you’re telling the truth about what you saw, I cannot find any damage, either internal or external, that requires my assistance to heal. There is no damage.”

“Now I’m not a medical expert like you are, doctor, but I’m pretty sure injuries like that don’t just heal themselves that quick.”

“Can I say something?” I speak up.

“Not now Bael, we’re trying to get the doctor to fix you.” Rainbow says.

I frown. “I don’t need ‘fixing’ because everything that’s wrong with me has already healed.” I say.

“Yes, it actually has. The only thing even remotely out of place in Baelor is a place in his stomach that almost looks like it’s bruised. And…” The doctor’s horn glows, and a magical aura encompasses me for a second. “even that is nearly gone now, despite internal bruising usually taking two to three weeks to heal in that time. It’s actually rather remarkable.” He says in wonder.

“Wait, so you’re saying… Bael’s going to be okay?” Twilight asks.

“YES!” I say in exasperation. “Part of my magic heals injuries rapidly, even most ones that would be fatal.” I explain.

“What?! Since when have you had that trick?” Rainbow asks.

I glare at her, deadpan. “Since before the moment you met me.” I answer.

“Well why didn’t you say so! Woulda’ saved us all heart attacks from worryin’ about you.” Applejack says in irritation.

“I was trying to tell you the entire time you were going down the mountain, panicking! None of you listened!” I hiss, much more annoyed than Applejack.

“You know, I think he was.” Pinkie says with a contemplative hoof on her chin.

“Well why didn’t you say anything if you noticed?” Trixie asks her.

“Cause I wasn’t sure he was. He was also gurgling and spewing more blood as he was spinning around and around and around and around-.”

“We get it. Twilight’s horrible at carrying things in her magic.” Trixie interrupts Pinkie.

“I am not! Bael just slides around way too much whenever I try to lift him!” Twilight protests, then looks at me questioningly.

I shrug. “Don’t look at me. I’ve got no clue why it happens either.”

“Well, regardless, you’re perfectly fine and good to go. Nothing you need to be concerned about, health-wise.” The doctor says to me.

“Alright then, let me... just…” I shakily put my weight on my front legs to try to step off the gurney onto the floor.

“Do you need help?” Fluttershy asks me.

“No, I’ve got i-.” My claw slips on the side rail.

*Clang!*

Seven mares and one stallion stare at Bael’s unconscious form in shock.

After several moments of just standing there, the doctor’s horn glows and his magic field encompasses Baelor again. “… Huh. Even brain-damage heals itself.” He notes. His magic vanishes.

“Okay, so, your friend is fine, mild concussion aside, and should only need to sleep off whatever fatigue he’s feeling. He’s still free to go.” He announces to the still shocked mares.

The mane six plus Trixie share stupefied looks with each other. “I suppose we can just carry him back to the library, since he’s going to be alright with just sleeping for now.” Rarity says.

“Yep.”

“Mm-hm.”

“And Twilight shouldn’t be the one to carry him.”

“Heeeeey!”

They all chuckle at Twilight’s light razzing. Things like her inability to hold Baelor seem a lot funnier now that they’re not worried about the black dragon bleeding out.

“On the bright side, he picked a great time to be conked out. We’ve got a big storm scheduled tomorrow, so he should be able to sleep right through that if he stays out for the rest of the day.” Rainbow Dash announces to the others.

“How big are we talkin’ here?” Applejack asks her.

“Big enough that the mayor’s busy working on assigning different ponies to handle taking down loose branches in all the trees around town. The storm’s not gonna happen until late at night, but you guys should have your hooves full handling the trees tomorrow if you get assigned to that. Bael sure skipped out on some work tomorrow.” Rainbow tells them.

“No he didn’t, he slipped. His head made a big “Clang!” sound when it hit the metal table when he fell off the bed. Remember?” Pinkie corrects.

Twilight facehooves. “Pinkie…” She sighs. “Let’s just… get Bael home.” She says tiredly.

I groan in pain, fatigue plaguing my body. ‘Ugh, weak. Need breakfast.’ I think tiredly.

Then I’m hit by something hard, fast, and unrelenting, right in my side.

I feel the wind knocked out of me as I go sailing away and bounce on the ground until I slide in the dust on my front.

I struggle to get up, and clutch my side in pain. I breathe in and out shakily as I plant my three legs into the grey dust under me.

Grey dust?

Grey dust?!

I snap my head up with wide eyes and see stars shining above me in the night sky.

‘No.’ I think with dread.

Around me, stretching for miles in every direction are hills and plains of nothing but grey dust and rocks.

‘No.’ I repeat in my mind. This can’t be real.

Above me, glowing a brilliant blue, floats a large planet that resembles Earth in a lot of ways, but the continents are all different.

‘NO!’ I mentally shout. This can’t happen again!

My instincts scream at me to move, and I dart to the side just as several powerful arcs of lightning crash and rend the ground where I was standing. I whirl around, but get brought down by more lightning impacting me, searing holes in my wings, and making me convulse as the charge disperses through my body and into the ground. I fall heavily on my side, smoking.

“Got you.” A familiar and terrifying voice hisses. I force my eyes open. Nightmare Moon stalks slowly towards me, electricity flowing over the feathers of her half-extended wings.

‘No…’ I whisper, numb.

I’m back on the moon...with her.

“I hope you enjoyed that dream I sent you. It’s the last nice thing you’re going to experience in this life.” She tells me coldly.

I blast out a stream of fire from my mouth at her and roll back and take to the air. Nightmare just puts up a shield to block the fire and then takes flight after me.

Fear surges through me and out through my membranes to propel me forward without flapping. ‘What the hell is going on?! I was just in the hospital with the others, and then I fall and I’m on the moon again! What is this?!’ But I already know the answer.

Opening my senses to my element Fear, I feel a burning sensation course from my tail to my head and I roll, avoiding Nightmare’s beam attack. I dive down close to the ground while taking evasive maneuvers to avoid Nightmare Moon’s attacks.

Nightmare Moon’s pulled this trick on me before multiple times. She sent me nightmares while we’re both unconscious from our fights to demoralize me. But this time, she sent me a regular dream. A dream of what I most wanted, to get out of this nightmare.

And I fell for the trick, hook, line, and sinker.

Right as I evade another blast, I feel a jerking tug on my tail from Nightmare grabbing me in her magic and my momentum is reversed. I twist around in time to take a hoof to the face, sending me in the direction I was going a moment prior, I reorient myself and skid on all fours across the ground. I sidestep the instant she cracks into the earth next to me with her hind legs raised at me. My body switches to bipedal and my forearms slam together with ice over them, but Nightmare’s buck shatters right through it and I feel painful snaps in both my forearms.

I skid backwards until I stabilize the ground beneath me and feel my bones mend from the rush of fear surging through me.

A sharp slicing pain going from my shoulder to my hip causes me to spring up and twist over a flying diagonal air blade from Nightmare.

“I was surprised about the amount of foresight you had in your mind Baelor. It allowed us to construct a convincing dream for you to frolic in while we waited for our real bodies to mend.” Nightmare Moon says slinging gusts and slices from her wings.

I’m too preoccupied with dealing with everything she’s throwing at me to reply. I haven’t found anything that can’t be cut by those blades yet, so blocking them isn’t an option.

“And we do believe we owe you an apology Baelor, we did not believe you when you told we and our sister about where you came from. Your memories of our “cartoon” are very detailed about future events.” Nightmare eyes narrow. “Including your foreknowledge of our fall into madness.” She hisses out hatefully.

I gasp from her words. She found out about that?

My lapse in focus gave her the opportunity to slam me in the gut with an air blast with the force of a train.

“YOU KNEW! SINCE THE MOMENT YOU MET US YOU KNEW! YOU KNEW I WOULD TRANSFORM INTO NIGHTMARE MOON!” She roars at me, closing the distance between us with a single stride.

I avoid a punch to the face only to get slammed by a roundhouse in the shoulder, shattering the bones there. I tumble end over end and spin in order to snap my tail across her face, sending her flying to the side. I stand on three legs, letting my shoulder heal.

“I tried to stop it Luna! I tried being your friend! I thought you were going to be okay when I left!” I call to her desperately, her words driving in a long-time fear that I’ve had.

Lightning cracks into the spot I was standing a second before, and then I get struck right in my back, breaking it. I choke out a cry of pain before Luna blasts me into the ground with a magic beam.

“DID YOU TRULY THINK THAT YOU SUCCEEDED?! YOU ONLY OFFERED ME COMFORTING WORDS AND SOMEONE TO SPAR AND BANTER WITH! YOU DIDN’T GET THEM TO STOP! YOU DIDN’T ALERT MY SISTER! YOU DIDN’T GET THEM TO LOVE ME AS I DESERVED!” She shouts down as the beam burns and disintegrates my body until my skin and limbs are nothing but char.

I can’t see, I can’t hear, I can’t move, I can barely feel. My fear causes my ears and eyes to heal just enough to hear her land by me.

“You are pathetic. How did you think this would end, trying to befriend a broken mare when you cannot even care about getting back to your own family?” She asks, leaning down to speak quieter. My heart stops from her words.

“Now die.”

A long time ago, I would have gotten angry, probably raged and raved and thrown everything I had at her without rhyme or reason. And a long time ago, that probably would have worked on her. But we’ve been fighting for a thousand years, and passion eventually becomes a noose when fighting an opponent as experienced as her.

I let it go. All I feel is intent.

My fear solidifies and sharpens within, and flash-heals my muscles and body just enough to allow me to move at full speed.

My tail whips out and wraps around her barrel, but instead of pulling her down, I pull myself up and behind her.

Her horn glows right as she rears up, ready to throw me and slam me back down with her magic, but my head snaps out and my jaws slam down at the base of her horn.

She screams in pain and rage and her wings snap up and slam into my sides again and again. But the pain just makes me clench my teeth further down on the boney appendage.

Then it cracks.

A small splash of blood hits my tongue before I’m thrown forwards. Instead of holding my grip on her, I let go and take to the air with a forward roll. She’s glaring at me past the blood dripping down her face. Lightning cascades across her wings and then the world fills with light.

Any other creature caught in this would have been vaporized within an instant, but fear is my ally and savior, as time seems to slow down around me. I can tell where the web of electrical current travel out from, and I know where to place my claw tips.

Seven bolts of lightning hit my right fingertips, and then a single concentrated bolt lets loose directly at Nightmare Moon from my other claw. She catches the bolt on her wing, and makes ready to counter-attack.

I fire off the rest of the charge I didn’t use from her seven bolts, and Nightmare manages to block the bolt, but the awkward angle causes it to vaporize her wing, and she drops from the lack of the two appendages keeping her aloft. I rush forward and close in on her before she even hits the ground.

But she brings her head around and gores me in the stomach with her horn. I gag but the pain doesn’t stop me, and I push her onto her back, bring my hind leg up and drive it into her throat, my hind foot’s claws encased in dark crimson fear.

Time seems to freeze for a moment, but then with a shuddering effort, she throws me off her horn.

I slam into the ground heavily, and cough up a mass of blood, but I can already feel the wound healing.

But looking over at Nightmare Moon, she’s done for, if the gurgling coming out of her mouth is any indication. Amazingly and horrifyingly though, she manages to roll over, and shakily stand up, staring daggers at me, all the while blood spills out of her throat and mouth.

Seeing this, I’m spurred to my feet as well, much quicker than the dying alicorn.

Nightmare Moon takes a single step forward… and gurgles out a few words that take the fight right out of me and make me lock up in shock.

“Now…you are… alone…”

And then she shudders, and falls forward into the dust, unmoving.

I stare at her. She doesn’t move.

I continue to stare. She still doesn’t move.

And then her words set in.

‘I’m… alone?’ repeat mentally.

She… she wouldn’t… she isn’t… coming back this time?

With dawning horror, I realize what I’ve just done. I sit down.

I… I killed her…

She lays facedown in the gray dirt, one side missing a wing, horn cracked down the middle, and her right eye still visible, blankly staring into her own growing pool of blood.

I just killed her.

Around us stretches the barren grayness of the moon that’s been our battlefield for the past millennia, silent now that the fight is at long last over.

I just killed Nightmare Moon.

~Alone…~

I just killed Luna.

~Alone.~

Oh my God I just killed Luna.

~You’re alone.~

… No, there’s no way she’s dead… she can’t be dead…

~She’s dead.~

SHE CAN’T BE DEAD!!!!

~You’re a murderer!~

NO! She… she’s… I…

~You killed her. And now you’re stuck here alone.~

Please Luna, I’m sorry. Please come back.

~…And now you’ll always be alone.~

I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

~Celestia will never forgive you.~

I’m sorry.

~No one will accept a dragon.~

I’m sorry.

“Baelor.”

~Not even other dragons accept their own kind Baelor.~

“Baelor!”

~You’re going to be alone for the rest of eternity Baelor.~

~Alone.~

~Baelor.~

~Eternity.~

“Baelor!”

~Murderer.~

~Eternity.~

~Alone for Eternity.~

“BAELOR!”

I jerk awake to the worried faces of Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity.

“Bael, are you alright?” Twilight asks me, worry in her eyes.

My eyes dart around quickly, taking in everything. I realize I just woke up from a nightmare.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine. Just a little bit of a scary dream is all.” I say shakily. Fuck, that wasn’t convincing at all. “I’m fine.” I repeat, trying to sound more convincing.

“... No, ah don’t think you are Bael. Yer crying.” Applejack states.

Once she points it out to me, I realize that she’s right, I am crying. I must have been crying in my sleep. “It might have been… have been… just…” I struggle to try and come up with an excuse for why I’m crying.

“Baelor, please tell us what’s wrong dear.” Rarity asks me quietly.

“You girls don’t have to worry about it. I’m… just trying to work something out on my own is all.” I say, calming my heartbeat down. I wipe my face on my foreleg to clear away the tears.

“Problems that you can solve on yer own don’t usually leave you crying in yer sleep.” Applejack points out almost dryly. She still looks concerned though.

“It’s fine Applejack. I’ve got it. I’m going to go shake it off with a run. Cool my head a bit.” I say, getting up off the couch and moving to do walk out the door and do just that.

“It’s raining out Bael.” Applejack points out.

Huh. So it is. “All the better.” I say over my shoulder.

“Baelor, please. I know we haven’t known each other long, and I’m still new to friendship. But you shouldn’t keep things inside you where they can hurt you. Please, can you just… talk to us about it?” Twilight asks me before I can walk out the door.

I stop. I consider her words, and I do something I haven’t done in a long time: I consider telling them that I’m a human.

In my head I know that they probably won’t believe me, just like Luna and Celestia didn’t. No one I’ve told that to has ever believed me. Why should they? Sure, I’m a dragon with magic, and I haven’t grown to the normally gargantuan size of the other dragons. And I may have strange habits and morals compared to them. But I’m still a dragon. There’s nothing that screams alien about me. They’ll just think I’m a little different like everyone else does.

But, looking at their faces…a part of me just wants to tell them anyway… to be believed… to be understood…

“I… had a nightmare… about the moon… and my time there.” I finally say after a long time of thinking.

I can see that they’re a little surprised about my quick confession. But now that I’ve started, I keep going.

“Nightmare Moon… she was saying that everything that happened, was all a dream… that I was still stuck on the moon… and she was using things I’d told her as Luna against me… things that hurt… and I got angry, and vengeful.” I tell them.

“What did she say to you?” Rarity prompts.

“… Do you know where I came from… who and what I am? Did Celestia ever tell you Twilight?” I ask, looking into Twilight’s eyes.

She shakes her head no.

Here it goes. “… I… wasn’t born… as a dragon… on this world.” I say quietly.

“Wasn’t born a… wait, on this world? What are you saying? That you’re an alien?” Twilight asks, completely blindsided.

“Yeah. I guess.” I admit.

Rarity looks ready to comment, but Applejack just holds a hoof to her mouth, stopping her from speaking. They wait for me to elaborate.

I sigh. “I got sent here by someone, or something, I don’t really know anymore. One minute I’m talking to her, then next I’m falling into a black hole, and then I wake up in the Everfree as a dragon.” I summarize.

“Not that I’m saying this isn’t important Bael, but how does this tie into that nightmare you had?” Twilight asks.

I glance at her. “Because I told Luna about this.” I say. “And she used it to hurt me while we were on the moon.” I tell her.

They look at each other, worried about where I’m going with this.

“I came back to Equestria after a while training in Quina with Ki-rin monks to find Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon. She was about to kill Celestia, and I reacted and attacked her. I held her down so Celestia could use the Elements on her.” I unconsciously curl my claws into the wood of the floor. “She was furious when she realized what happened to us both. She attacked me as soon as I stood up, and I did my best to defend myself and avoid her attacks but she overwhelmed me.” I get up and start pacing. “She started to hurt me, and berate me and hurt me and berate, and irritate, and hurt me and hurt me and hurt me and hurt me-“ I repeat again and again, words just flowing out of me without thought. “and she was saying that she was never my friend, and that I was a liar and like all liars that I deserved pain for it despite the fact that I was telling the truth about being an alien and she was saying how if I really was an alien I would be trying to get back to my family back on my planet. Then she kept hurting me again and again and again and again and again!”

I’m full on ranting by this point, not even paying attention to the three ponies listening to me.

“And then, I just got angry. SURE, I did help her sister to stop her, but if she succeeded, Celestia would be dead and then everyone else would be dead from the moon being locked in the sky and how STUPID is Luna that she didn’t realize that. She was hurting me just for the sake of something to do, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Just pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, PAIN, PAIN, PAIN, AND PAIN FOR ME, AND JUST A BUNCH OF LAUGHIN FROM HER!!! And then the next thing I know, I’m fighting with everything I’ve got, with all of my anger. And I was fighting her to hurt her. I didn’t care about what she did to me because she’d kept making me hurt for a long time! SO I IGNORED THE PAIN AND KEPT ON HURTING HER!!! And you know what? I finally brought her down!!! And I started hurting HER INSTEAD!!!” I’m lashing my tail, baring my teeth, and boring my claws into the wood floor as I pace back and forth, back and forth.

“I ripped her flesh, I broke her bones, I went for her wings, I stopped her from using her horn. I burned her, froze her, electrocuted her, blasted her, beat her, cut her, bit her, clawed her, threw her, and I don’t even remember what else. But she eventually got away from me herself. And then we got serious, and started fighting for real. Every hour, every breath, we just kept on fighting and blasting each other with our magic, our wills, our bodies, and killing intent. And I hated her. I hated her hated herhatedherhated HATED HER!!!! And I used that hate to my advantage. I absorbed it and used its power. And I could feel her hate for me and I absorbed and used that too.” I stop pacing, panting.

“I wanted her to die… one of the first friends I made in Equestria. I wanted to kill her so badly…” I slump down, feeling weak from the admission.

“I wanted to kill her because she just kept reminding me… that I betrayed her… and that I just completely gave up on going home. Of trying to get back to my family… Of never thinking about them… and that they’re all dead of old age now while I’m still alive. She just kept shoving all my faults and mistakes in my face again and again. And I lashed out at her again and again. And then after hundreds of years of fighting… I just got… tired.” My voice gets tight. “I got so, so tired of it all. But I kept fighting. I kept getting back up. The things I’d been doing were just habit by that point. I kept fighting.”

My whole body starts to shake. “And then, once I’m finally free, and the whole nightmare is over, and I feel like I can move on and rest finally… I wake up on the moon again. And she’s there taunting me again. And it seems like it was all just a dream and I have to keep on fighting her.” I get out shakily. “Realizing that everything is just a dream, and waking up to the nightmare again. I’ve never been more terrified in my life. And I lashed out. I hurt her again, but this time it actually was a nightmare, and I woke up to see you three worrying about me.” I look up at Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity, panting. We just stay that way for a minute, with me watching them, and them watching me.

Then Applejack slowly walks up right in front of me. She looks up into my eyes for a moment, before leaning in and wrapping her forelegs around my neck in a hug, causing me to freeze in shock.

“You’ve been alone fer a while, haven’t you. All that time on the moon with somepony that wants to kill you… and all that time without yer family. This mustave’ been buildin’ up inside you for a long time.” Applejack says comfortingly while rubbing my back.

I’m hardly breathing. The soft contact feels… familiar. How long has it been since someone’s just given me a comforting hug?

I can feel a stinging feeling building up behind my eyes. My breath starts to shudder. “Go right ahead. Let it out. Let all the pressure relieve itself.” Applejack tells me, patting me on the back.

And that’s all it took for me to slowly bend my neck down over Applejack’s back and start quietly sobbing. All the remaining pain that I couldn’t get out with words coming out in tears.

Celestia yawns as she makes her way through the castle’s hallways towards her sister’s room. It has been a long day, and now it’s time to lower the sun and allow Luna to raise the moon. Celestia smiles, glad for the umpteenth time to have her little sister back after so long.

As she draws near Luna’s doors, she notices a worrying sight. The guards posted outside Luna’s room look unsure of themselves, looking back and forth between each other and Luna’s door. But that’s not what’s worrying.

It’s the sound of crying coming from behind the doors.

Celestia quickens her pace and passes by the two guards without a word and knocks on her sister’s bedroom doors. “Luna? Luna, I’m coming in.” She announces to her in a slightly louder than usual voice, before opening the door and stepping into Luna’s room.

Inside, Celestia sees a sight that breaks her heart. Luna sobbing quietly into her pillow.

Celestia moves quickly but quietly, reaching her sister’s side in a few steps. She lies down next to Luna in her bed and drapes a white wing gently over her sister’s back. Luna turns to her sister and wraps her up into a tight embrace, sobbing into her Celestia’s neck and mane.

“Shhhh, shhhh. You’re fine. You’re okay Luna. I’m here.” Celestia tells her, rubbing her back as Luna cries into her coat.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Luna whispers through her sobs.

“It’s okay, I forgive you. You’re okay Luna. You’re okay.” Celestia tells her, continuing to comfort Luna.

“I’m sorry Baelor. I’m sorry. Please don’t leave me alone. Don’t let me be alone.” Luna says, not acknowledging she heard Celestia.

Celestia just continues to rub Luna’s back and embrace her. “Shhh, shhh. You’re okay. You’re okay.” She continues to comfort.

They stay like this for several hours, Celestia sets the sun and raises the moon when she notices that Luna is unable to for tonight.

Eventually though, Luna falls back asleep. Before Celestia can follow suit though, having decided to stay with her sister for the night, a scroll appears in the air from a wisp of green smoke. Celestia unrolls it to read it, interested in a letter from her student but also a bit troubled and distracted by her worries for her sister. She quickly grows interested though when she starts reading:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I’m sorry about this, but I’m not really writing about a friendship report this time. Well I mean I am, sort of, but I suppose I sort of am not. Oh, this is confusing trying to explain, so I will just skip to some events that transpired over the course of this evening.

Today, there was a major storm scheduled to happen all across town by the weather team, and several ponies from the town were conscripted into pulling down loose branches from many of the trees around Ponyville to prevent them from accidentally falling and hitting somepony during the storm. Applejack and Rarity were caught out in the storm, and so I let them take shelter in my home. We had actually decided to turn in into a slumber party when all of a sudden, Baelor, who was sleeping on my couch, starts to squirm and make worrying sounds in his sleep. It wasn’t long before he was full on crying while we observed, so we decided to wake him from whatever nightmare he was having. Upon waking, he was obviously distraught about his dream, but was resistant to telling us about it. We eventually managed to convince him to talk to us about it.

I’m… feeling conflicted about what he told us, and what happened next. Baelor had a nightmare about being stuck back on the moon. And the things he told us that happened there… I’m… I’m afraid and horrified at both the things that happened to Baelor as well as the things he told us he did. The things He did to Princess Luna while she was Nightmare Moon. He also revealed to us something hard to believe about himself. He said he was from another world and that he got sent to Equestria and turned into a dragon.

What happened next was a little… surprising to me at the time. Applejack just walked right up to Bael, and hugged him. And he just broke down crying. Rarity and I joined in on the hug after that and we all just did our best to help him back to sleep.

Anyway, the reason I wrote this letter is to ask you a question Princess. Did we do the right thing? After all the horrible things he told us, should we have helped him? Did I do the right thing by comforting someone who’s hurting even when they revealed that they did so many horrible things to another living being?

Your Most Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

Celestia quietly summons a quill and scroll and begins penning a response letter.

Dear Twilight,

You absolutely did the right thing at the time, don’t ever doubt that. Don’t ever think that aiding someone while they are in pain or grief is a bad thing. I would also like to commend your friend Applejack on her decisive judgment, since she is the one that was the quickest to react to Baelor’s pain.

Sometimes, Twilight, ponies or other beings go through hardship and anguish for no other reason than that they were in the wrong place, at the wrong time. And more often than not, those ponies succumb to the pain that they undergo. It is our duty as living beings to help and attempt to heal the wounds caused to these individuals who have experienced great pain.

I know that I left Baelor in your care on the night after the thousandth Summer Celebration because it was convenient at the time, myself simply wishing to have time to reconnect with my sister. But I know for certain, especially now, that leaving him in you and your friend’s care was the right decision. From the sound of things, Baelor has quite a bit of pain hidden away, and I would not be fooled into thinking tonight’s incident will resolve all of it. He is going to need your support Twilight. You and the other Bearers will need to be there for him if he is to have any hope of working through this. But I am confident that you are all up to this task, if for no other reason other than the fact that I know you would have done so even without me tasking or even mentioning it.

Sincerely,

Celestia

P.S. Don’t become too overzealous with this task my faithful student. Though this may be a request from me, all I’m truly asking for you to do is to continue doing exactly what you’ve been doing until now. Being Baelor’s friends. It will help to heal his wounds far better than some of the best therapy sessions could ever hope to manage.

Celestia checks over her letter once before sending it on its way to Spike. Then she turns her gaze to look down at the sleeping form of Luna.

‘Oh Bael, Luna. How much did I truly fail you two? All this could have been avoided if I were able to see the signs… if I were strong enough to handle the burden on my own, neither of you would have had to be sent to the moon.’ She thinks with a sad frown. She lays her head to rest next to her sister’s.

‘Please help him Twilight. Help him, and I shall work on helping my sister, and then maybe they’ll be able to put this all to rest for good.’ She begs silently all the way to Ponyville before drifting off to sleep.

Author's Notes:

And this chapter is now complete.

"That was fast."

Only in comparison to how long the last chapter took me.

"True."

Anyway, I'm sorry to some of you if the part where Bael seems a little less... qualitative... than the rest of the story, but, at the time... I had actually had one of my bi-annual breakdowns, so the emotions and way I expressed them kind of bleed over from that.

"Bi-annual breakdown?"

Uh, yeah. Life can get stressful, and that usually builds up over time. I don't know, sometimes it just doesn't happen for five to seven years cause nothing really triggers it hard enough. This year though, with finals approaching while taking five classes for the quarter and worrying about losing a scholarship from failing an especially challenging class all just kind of set it off. And, well... let's just say I'm glad I didn't move out of my parents house yet, otherwise I really would have been alone while I went through that.

"Wait, so you actually cried?!"

"Awww, here. Have a cupcake to make you feel better Falxy. Also-." *hug*

Thanks Pinkie. And I also just want to thank all of you guys too. Yeah, that's right, you my readers, and the rest of the FimFiction community. I came to a couple realizations with the help of my parents, and I just want to say that all of you out there, just being here, reading my story, liking it, and commenting are one of the few things in my life that make sure that I'm not completely alone. A lot of the time, I shut myself out from the world around me, and you guys help to make sure I don't lock the door up for good.

So truly, to all of you, thank you so very very much. And I'll see you all next chapter.