Chapter XIII

Baelor,

If you are reading this letter, then that means that you yet live, and if that is the case, then there are no words to describe how truly relieved I am to know that. However, if you are reading this, then that also means that I have passed from this world. A millennium is, unfortunately, many times much too long for any mortal, even for a longma like myself, to survive for.

I know that you have already figured this out. You have always been able to put the pieces of almost any situation together. But I write you now so as to be able to fully express to you some final words of mine, since the ones I shared with you when you left were said in the hope that you would return one day.

When you first set foot at the base of our mountain, I saw an aimless wanderer, looking for something that he was losing hope of ever finding. You stated that it was a way to control an unstable power of yours. You wished to find a teacher so that you may learn to control it so that you do not hurt others with this power. I found no deceit in your words, and felt your intentions both humble, and commendable, and so I accepted you as an acolyte of our temple to learn our ways. You learned well the style of Zhan-long-yishu, and I am glad to state that you discovered how to control your power. But you never found what you sought.

Yes, you discovered what you believed was necessary for you to obtain, but you did not find what you truly needed. You arrived here aimless, and you left here aimless. Your steps carried you for the sole purpose to keep moving. To continue existing.

I wish for you to know that you must live.

Not survive. Not continue existing, but live your life. Find a purpose for yourself, and excel, and rejoice in your purpose.

The seeds of a cottonwood tree can drift across the winds for a very long time, but they must eventually drift to the ground to take root and grow.

Without a purpose, your life will eventually seem meaningless to you. Without fulfillment, your purpose will weather you down until there is nothing left. You must find a way to obtain both. Only then, will your true strength show.

Before you start thinking it, no, I do not believe your purpose is to return to the temple, and I dare to say I may even come back from the great beyond to scold you should you do so. We of the temple live our lives to train, and prepare for a conflict that it is unknown to us whether it will come in our lifetimes. And so, we start as students, train to become masters, and then die either of old age, or because our talents are needed to protect our country and we fall. That is our purpose and our fulfillment. Through our loyalty to our home, we strive to give our power to its protection. And as harsh as this will sound, we do not need your strength.

It is true that you have forged friendships and comrades here that you no doubt would give anything to protect. But you were pulled away from us because of your own loyalty to the ones that needed you elsewhere. You knew that we would get along fine, and would continue to do so without you. But the silence from your friends in Equestria bade you to go to them, and so you did.

You have traveled long, and you have traveled far, and you have no doubt suffered a great deal. I only hope that this last lesson helps you should you ever read it. But regardless of where you travel, and where you end up, I want you to know that I am, and will always be, proud to have taught you.

Goodbye my young student. I will be waiting for you in the life beyond.

-Weiyu

I close my eyes with a bowed head. My hand slowly lowers itself into the grass while still holding the letter.

He’s right. I did figure it out on my own. I already know that he’s gone.

But still… it hurts. It hurts so much to read it. To read a goodbye I thought I never would get the chance to hear. A goodbye that I’ll never be able to return.

I hate this! I hate that I’ve been ripped from everything I’ve known not once, but twice now! First I was sent to Equestria. Now I’m a thousand years ahead of when I got here. Everyone I know is gone, and I’m never going to see them again!

My claws gouge into the ground to make a fist with my hand that’s not holding the letter.

‘Why Luna?! Why did you do this to me?!’ I think angrily. But then it turns to regret. ‘Why did you do this to us?’ I ask within my mind. That’s right. She’s probably going through this too. She has only Celestia and I as the only ones that she has any connection to now.

I don’t know why I’m sympathizing with her. Maybe my mind is broken. Maybe I’m just stupid. It’s definitely her fault that we both got stuck on the moon for a thousand years.

But everything after? Regardless of the fact that she started it, I continued it. I escalated it. She pushed, and I pushed back harder. When she stumbled, I took advantage of her weakness. And she did the same right back.

This has to stop. We may no longer on the moon, but this isn’t over, not yet. I have to make this right.

Which brings me to the other item besides the letter that wasn’t in my bag when I got sent to the moon.

A golden ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala.

I was initially confused by the letter addressed to me when I first opened my bag before training, but that ticket filled in the gaps for me. Celestia must have put them both inside.

I snort in amusement. No matter the universe, she always seems to be some kind of schemer. She knew I’d agree to meet with Luna at the Gala.

I’m not angry at her. If anything, I’m grateful. This is something that I have to do, and I know I’ve procrastinated in the past, so her setting this up from the beginning just makes things easier.

I let out a deep sigh of melancholy. And then there’s the last thing Celestia wanted to discuss with me yesterday.

I’m… honestly surprised by it. I never imagined that she would do something like this in the thousand years gap between Nightmare Moon and the start of the show. It’s all just so hard to grasp. And she wants me to be a part of it?

Her reasoning for telling me now makes sense though.

~The day before~

“This isn’t a decision to be made lightly Bael. And I completely understand if you need time to think about it. I encourage it even. This is something that everypony involved needs to think long and hard about.” Celestia tells me.

“I… I don’t know yet. You’re right. I need some time to think about this. Do you want a response at the Gala, or some other time?” I ask her.

She shakes her head in the negative. “No, I will not set a time frame for this, nor press you to make any decision, one way or another. The choice is yours and yours alone. But believe me when I say it’s one that you must be absolutely sure about. If you make the decision to accept, it needs to be with complete certainty and conviction. You won’t be able to fulfill your role otherwise.” She answers.

I shake my head slowly. “This all is just… I don’t know what to say.” I respond, feeling lightheaded.

Celestia sighs. “It was necessary, at the time. And very well just might still be necessary. The risk is just too great without it.” She says.

“And you really think this would be right for me?” I ask her.

“That is for you to figure out for yourself.” She answers.

“How will I know? How can I possibly know if I should do this?” I ask her, a little frustrated.

Celestia gives me an understanding look. “You have all of the physical abilities needed for you to fulfill the more common responsibilities of this position. The only thing you need to ask yourself is whether you would be able to go through with it.” She answers me patiently. She then turns her head to look downwards, and then drops in altitude. I fumble with my wings a bit to follow her down.

We come to a landing near the library. “However, today is simply the day I pose the question to you. Now that I have, I expect you to relax, and enjoy the time we have together for the rest of the day. No need to rush your choice. This is a time of enjoyment, so no more depressing thoughts!” She says with more cheer in her voice.

~Present~

‘Yeah, kinda hard to do that after all the bombs you just dropped on me Celestia.’ I mentally scoff. I’m just glad the girls didn’t question how quiet I was when we got back inside.

I let out a frustrated sigh. With everything that’s cropped up recently, it almost makes me want to be back on the moon again.

I lift up the letter again to look at it in contemplation. Could Celestia’s offer be the purpose that Master Weiyu wanted me to find?

After several minutes of thinking, I still can’t answer my own question. This is all going to take a lot of soul-searching. Maybe it’s best to just put it aside for now.

‘Yeah… that sounds like a good idea right now. Let’s move onto doing something to get my head back on straight.’ I tell myself. I gently roll the letter back up into its scroll state and place it carefully into my bag.

And then I pull out two things from my bag that cause a grin to grow on my face. My dual chain-whips.

Each whip consists of a leather-wrapped handle at one end, nine metal rods joined by links in the middle, and a small but heavy metal dart at the other end.

The Ki-rin monks I trained under undergo rigorous training of the body, mind, and spirit, and are required to learn how to use their natural magics, unarmed combat of the Zhan-long-yishu martial arts style, and choose one of several weapons to train to use. I chose to train using the paired chain-whips.

I take the bunched up rods in each clawed hand, and move to stand in my usual spot for practicing my forms.

I take a deep breath to calm my excitement.

The darts drop down from inside my fists, and then my chains whirl into movement.

It’s time to get back into the swing of things.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! Here's another chapter!

"That was fast."

Yeah, well, I felt kind of bad for leaving them all with such an abrupt cliffhanger last chapter. I didn't want to make them wait two or three weeks for more of an explanation on Celestia's talk with Bael. This part seemed like a good way to divide that away from another chapter that's more full in length that would take me a while to write.

"THIS STILL DOESN'T EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!!!"

Well I did say that the big reveal is going to be at the GGG. That's still quite a ways off. I'm also fairly sure that it's very clear why it's so far off now too. That's the main reason I posted this one. To get across that Bael needs time to think things over.

I'm not telling you what he's thinking over yet, but now you all know that he's thinking about something in his spare time.

And with that said, I bid you all, adieu. Until next chapter guys.

"WAAAAAAAAIIIIIT!!!!!"

Wh-Pinkie? What is it?

"Go to the site homepage!"

Whyyyyy-

"DO IT!!!"

Okay okay. Jeez. What's so important that's happened to the homepaaaaaa-

~Featured list~

Root of my Pain, Core of my Growth

Featured list~

Root of my Pain, Core of my Growth My Little Pony: Journey

"... Well damn. That's kind of depressing. Featured for a solid three minutes.

"Either Falx is incredibly let down by that short time, or he's still in shock that he got featured at all."

"Let's stay positive and assume it's the latter!"