//------------------------------// // Departure. // Story: Chaos Rising. // by Totito30 //------------------------------// There was a short indoors ceremony after the battle. It was presided by Celestia, who had her rigth hoof in a sling. The fighting outside the palace was short and bloody. Even with superior numbers, the Banished could not match the skill nor the quality of the Order's equipment, and few survived the carnage. Sp´hre was surprised when Ix stopped fighting her to run away. She kept saying "she wanted the fame of having killed the First Traitor", but J´zar consoled her affirming that Ix had surely died a very painful death. The members of the Order left shortly after. Under the condemning stare of the mares and stallions of Canterlot, they burned the bodies of their fallen on a single large pyre. The smoke made spirals in the air and filtered the sun. The Banished were left were they had been killed, and the janitors had to put the bodies in bags. The ponies were not sure of what to do with them. It was the first time they had to deal with so many dead bodies, and they decided to throw them into a massive pit which was promptly filled with earth. No tombstone is there, not even two crossed sticks. But, as J´zar said when his original travel partners complained, they deserved no "peaceful rest". The journey back to Ponyville was a silent one, unlike the way from Ponyville to Canterlot. For what seemed years, they walked forward, following the black mass of the Order's ninety-two survivors without saying anything. The ponies, particularly Twilight Sparkle, were perplexed. "Now I am wondering..." Ponyville's librarian finally said, unable to hold herself "¿Why didn't the Elements work?" "Yeah, they had never failed before" Rainbow Dash agreed. "As I have told you a million times before" J´zar grumbled "Chaos is god. He can easily survive mostly anything" "But the Elements never kill nor destroy" Twilight Sparkle recited. She had read that in one of the many books written about the Elements "They should have just turned Chaos into something else, or trapped him, or..." "¡Okay,okay! ¡I get it!" J´zar cut her off "Still, Chaos could probably shrug those off" J´zar didn't understood why would somebody want a nonlethal weapon. For him, there was no point in capturing an enemy, or subduing them in any other way than immediate execution. "But you managed to trap Chaos ¿didn't you?" Twilight rebutted. "I used the Maw" J´zar reminded her "It was different" "¿How so?" Twilight asked. "Both Chaos and the Maw represent different things. Chaos is what everything was before the dawn of time itself. The Maw is just the frontier between places, an alternate reality bordering every reality. Until today, I thougth the Maw was just that, a place. But now I have seen it crawl towards something with the intent of crushing it. It is at least slightly sentient. I do not know how, I cannot begin to imagine what it is like, but it is alive. And when it came into contact with Chaos, who is utterly opposite to it, it reacted by trying to destroy it" J´zar explained slowly, thinking each word before saying it "That is my guess, but I could be wrong" "¿And for how long do you think the Maw can hold Chaos back?" Rainbow Dash inquired. "I think it will keep it at bay for a very long time, if not indefinetely" J´zar theorized "Chaos cannot destroy the Maw. It is too vast how to be simply erased, and it constantly rebuilds all damaged areas. The Maw, on the other hand, cannot destroy Chaos, for he is immortal and invencible" "¿How do you know all of this?" Rainbow Dash continued. "Your lavender friend is not the only one who reads books" J´zar said "And I am sure the Order has more books than her library" They didn't spoke much. Mostly trivialities, and J´zar chose not to pay much attention. The mares made him wonder how could a teenager be so innocent. But J´zar reveled in that, knowing that at least not every part of the Universe was neck-deep in blood spilling. J´zar's heart skipped a beating when he saw Ponyville closing on them, as if it was some sort of massive train wagon loaded with people, houses and stores. But there was no rail propelling them other than J´zar's feet, and for a reason he didn't understand, he was happy to end this journey. J´zar felt a desire to tread the streets of cities he didn't even knew about. But J´zar understood why he wanted to go back. J´zar and the mares stood near the portal as the Order's warriors walked towards the portal and dissappeared, one after another. "Last time the portal closed when you passed through it" Rainbow Dash considered "I wonder why it remains open now" "I can't answer that either, storm-caller" J´zar admitted "¿The beastkeeper told you everything that happened the last time, did not she?" "Only that and something about corruption" the pegasus confessed. Fluttershy tried to turn as tiny as possible while looking in fear at J´zar. "The truth is I cannot remember what is the purpose of the Order" J´zar said, and the ponies looked at him in shock "It happened such a long time ago, I doubt anyone remembers it. My memory is rusty as well, I guess we could put the blame on that too" "¿Your memory?" Twilight questioned. "¿How old are you?" J´zar asked her. Twilight Sparkle told J´zar her age. "You are young" J´zar wasn't surprised by the number "But when you get old, your memory will not be the same anymore. Even my short-lived race loses its memory over time" "Wait, ¿if your race is short-lived, how can you be over a thousand years old?" Rarity looked anxious to learn the secret of eternal youth. "I said magic was a dusty bone" J´zar reminded them "But a dusty bone is more than dust alone" The last man passed through the portal, and J´zar was left alone with the mares and Sp´hre. "I'll see you atthe other side" said Sp´hre, and she as well crossed the portal. "You're leaving once again" Applejack claimed. She didn't ask it. She affirmed it. "Every thing has its place, and every place has the things that belong only there" J´zar exposed his answer to the question of why he wished to leave Equestria "So long, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack" He walked to the edge of Equestria and crossed the portal without hesitation.