The Catacombs of Zalgo

Chapter 23: The Promise (Finale)

“My name… is Jack Armstrong… or… if that really is my name…” Jack’s voice echoed far in the abyss. Jack could feel himself falling with nothing on. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, but merely fell in the endless abyss. He could still think, but all that came to mind was the cold… the damnable and hopelessness cold. All he knew was that he was falling in nothingness. But he did not care, not one bit. Or at least, he couldn’t with all feelings struck away from him. He was a nothing... a complete and utter nothingness. The only thing he saw was a glimmering light fading away from him as he continued to fall.

“I thought… life was fair. But instead, I was given the wrong fate… just so God can laugh at my misery. I wonder… why me? Out of all the people in the history of existence, why choose me? Am I chosen to bear such a great burden? I… I just don’t know anymore.” As each passing second went by, the glimmering of light went farther and farther from reach. Jack slowly outstretched his hand to reach for the light. But the effort he put out to reach for the light was dull. He could only feel himself becoming colder the more he fell.

“If only… I wished I didn’t have this fate… then… then I wouldn’t feel so alone anymore. If only… I would've spent more time with my friends. But now… I just don’t care. Jack Armstrong is a name… I will never accept. That name shall be remembered as… utter torment and hell to me.” The glimmering light started to go out, as Jack’s barely opened eyes slowly closed.

“But at least… all this madness… has ended. At least… I won’t have to go though… any more pain. Everypony… I’m sorry…” Just as the glimmering light faded, Jack closed his eyes. He gave himself up to the endless abyss, where he thought that this was his eternal resting place. After that… silence filled in his mind.

But just then, the glimmering light appeared once more. Only this time, the light was glowing brighter, and it was drawing closer to him. Jack could feel the warmth of the light, as he slowly opened his eyes.

“W-What…?” At that moment, Jack could feel the inside of his body tingle with happiness. The light grew bigger, and he felt positive feelings within him.

“What is that…?” Jack tried to reach out for the light once more. Only this time, the light came to him. He was presented with the feeling of love and grace.

“What is this… feeling? Am I…?” Finally, the light engulfed his visions, along with his body. There, he felt something what felt like forever… being alive.

Right after the light engulfed his visions, it turned into black again. But this time, he could hear sounds. Though they were fuzzy sounds, but he could hear stuff going on. The first sound he heard was something beeping. Then the sound was accompanied by a few mutters coming from the center.

Seconds later, Jack could feel his whole body once more. He felt tired; his eyelids felt heavy, and his body ached. Yet to his slight surprise, he realized that his entire mind, along with his body… felt different. He couldn’t feel any pain, or even feel depressed. With his mind slowly coming back into reality, Jack slowly opened his eyes. Everything in his surroundings looked blurry and vague. He saw several colorful blobs surrounding him. He tried to make out whom they were, but the blurriness clouded his visions. He tried blinking once, and the visions were starting to become clearer. He let out a sickening moan during this. Then, he heard the sounds of familiar gasps.

He blinked once more, and the picture sharpens. The colorful blobs before him formed into their shapes. He still couldn’t make out whom they were. So, he blinked one last time, and his visions were back to normal. There, he spotted the main six and Aero surrounding him. He noticed that he was lying on a white bed with dark red blankets covering his body.

“Nugh… w-where…” Jack paused himself for a moment to view his surroundings. He was in a regular room with turquoise paintings on the side. On his left were light green dividing curtains. And on his left was a heart monitor that had an electrode attached to his neck. He noticed on the window from above that it was almost sunrise.

“…am I?” He finished saying his sentence. Right after that, he grunted as he felt something flung to his chest. He looked down to see Fluttershy burying her face in his stomach while crying in happiness.

“…F-Flutter…shy…? I-Is… that you?” He spoke weakly. A few seconds of bawing into his stomach, Fluttershy raised her head from his chest with teary eyes.

“Oh Jack… thank goodness you're alive!” She sniveled.

“B-But… where am I? Are… we dead?” Jack asked. Pinkie Pie giggled as she got close to him.

“No silly! We’re in the hospital!”

“Hosp…ital? Then… what happened?” Suddenly, he was reminded what had happened during the encounter. He barely remembered sealing away Zalgo within a parchment paper, along with the ceiling collapsing. Anxiously, Jack snapped into panic mode and sat up.

“W-Wait! What happened to you know who?! D-Did the scroll work?! H-How did we get here! Why-“ Jack continued, but was interrupted by a short giggle. Jack turned his head to find Princess Celestia smiling at him.

“You don’t need to worry, Jack. He is imprisoned within this scroll.” Celestia wanted to show Jack the scroll, but she wanted to rest due to letting out a lot of magic from the encounter. So, Twilight used her telekinesis to lift the parchment paper into the air, and levitated it to Jack. On the paper, he saw the white outline on the heptagon star to contrast with the pitch black that surrounded the star. On the centre of the star was a red dot, indicating the eye. Jack knew that wasn’t there before, so therefore, he concluded that the scroll worked. He let out a sigh in relief, before lying back down on the bed.

“That’s a relief…” He sighed. Twilight landed the paper on his stomach, with a confusing look on her face.

“But… I don’t understand. What is this? How did Za- ah I mean-“ Twilight caught herself from saying his name. But just before she could continue, Jack interrupted her.

“It’s alright, Twilight. You can say his name now, since his presence is no longer within the mortal realm. However, it’s best to keep his name in secrecy. We don’t want any misfortune souls to speak his name if he does ever return. As for the scroll… well…” Jack looked down at the paper.

“It’s a special sealing spell. It’s called ‘The Seven Sacred Imprisonment’ spell. It can only be used when Zalgo opens all seven Maws of the Apocalypse. However, it must be done instantly, otherwise, his song would have ended us all. I really don’t know how I made this, since it just came up in my head. I can guess Am Dhaegar the Pure must of aided me. But that’s not important right now… how did we all end up here?” Every pony went silent for a moment, while looking grim. Jack was confused by their behavior, but he got the feeling that it went awful. Jack didn’t want to see them like this, so he decided to change the subject. But before he could do that, Fluttershy immediately smiled.

“Well… you could say it was one of the most frightening experiences we’ve ever met. We thought we were gonna die down there, that is until Celestia had an idea and asked us for the powers of the Elements of Harmony. Sure enough, we shared our powers to Celestia, and she managed to teleport all of us out. And now here we are…” At that moment, Fluttershy wiped her smile away.

“And… Jack. There’s… something you should know.” Jack raised his eyebrow in confusion.

“What is it?” He asked. Fluttershy wanted to speak, but her words were caught in her throat. Applejack knew she wouldn’t spit it out, so she decided to take over.

“Well sugarcube… we don’t know how we can actually put this. But… whatever you do… don’t freak out.” At that moment, Jack was confused even more.

“Huh?”

“It was… the only way to save ya. And uh... we... we didn’t want you to... uh... ya know.” She added. While utterly confused, Jack scratched the top of his head.

“What are you all talking abo-“ Right there, he felt that something was off. Jack literally froze for a moment. He realized that his fingers were missing, and what he was scratching with… was hard and rough. He blinked a few times, not wanting to know what was scratching his head, but he needed to know. He slowly brought his hand in front of his face… only to see that it wasn’t a hand, but a round and gray circular stub.

“…What the…” Jack stuttered in confusion. Jack raised both his brows as he twisted this gray stub around, examining it closely. He then brought his other hand up, only to see the same result. At that moment, Jack was shocked beyond all belief.

“What the fuck…” He uttered in fear. While Jack continued to look at whatever he was looking at, Pinkie Pie leaned over to Rarity’s ear.

“What does ‘Fuck’ mean anyway?” She whispered. Rarity looked at Pinkie Pie with a shrug. Jack grabbed the covers and flipped them off… only to see the unimaginable. Instantly, Jack darted his eyes at the mirror hanging on the corner of the room.

“Give me that mirror, please!” Jack anxiously asked. Sure enough, Twilight used her telekinesis to levitate the round mirror to Jack. Once Jack can see his own reflection, a piece of his sanity was chunked away. What he was seeing right now… was the face of a shocked gray stallion. And that’s when it occurred to him… he was in the form of a pony.

“Oh… my… god!” Jack shuttered. He had his original brown hairstyle or mane style. His muzzle and chin groove were the same style as Princess Luna, and his eye style was the same as Zecora only with no eyelashes. Jack placed his hands… or frontal hooves on his cheeks and started to rub in a circular motion while looking into the mirror. He knew that this wasn’t a dream, and yet, he still couldn’t believe it. The ponies thought he was about to go insane, but instead, he let out a sigh.

“Wow… I… I just can’t believe it. Heh… me… being one of you guys.” Jack said playfully and sad. Twilight levitated the mirror to the corner of the room and placed her frontal hoof on his shoulder pad.

“I’m sorry… but… it was Fluttershy’s idea. And… well… we all didn’t want to lose you too.” Jack eyed at Fluttershy who looked shyfully.

“What happened…?” He asked. Fluttershy stopped her shyness and displayed her friendly smile.

“Well… your human body was in pretty bad condition. You were on the verge of death…again. You see... I didn’t wanted to see you die. I begged Celestia with all of my heart to save you. Sure enough, Celestia created a pony body for you… and transferred your soul into it. You’ve been asleep for twenty four hours ever since. Oh Jack… I’m so sorry. I just didn’t want to lose you. There’s so much you have to see in life. Please forgive me…” After hearing that, Jack felt a bit bewildered. But at the same time, he felt happy to be with his friends. Jack looked at Celestia, who had a cast around her horn.

“You… did this?” He asked. Princess Celestia nodded while displaying her friendly smile.

“Yes. Since you were the one that helped my faithful subjects escape from that dreadful place, you have my thanks. Consider this as a reward for doing a great deed.” A great deed… that was something Jack wouldn’t normally hear every day. Even so, Jack thought that he did the right thing. He closed his eyes for a moment, then reopened them with a smile of his own.

“Thanks. But… where’s my body now?” He asked. Every pony turned their direction to the left of the room. Rarity used her magic to split the curtains to expose what was behind it. Sure enough, Jack gasped a little. Lying on the bed was his human body acting like a corpse. His body was almost wrapped around in bandages along with stitches on certain parts of his body. This was the first time Jack had actually seen his body in a very long time. He never knew he would look like a mess.

Wanting to take a closer look, Jack carefully scooted his body off of the bed. The group immediately gasped as they were concern about his present condition.

“Wait Jack, don’t get up so fast, I say!” Aero said. Wanting to test this new body out, Jack leaped off the bed, and landed on his back hooves. The group thought that he was about to tumble over, but the balance got the better of him. He looked at his new legs, and he was impressed. Not only that, he felt more lightly and stronger than his original body. He looked behind him and noticed he had two long ninety-degree angle tails. But taking his mind off of that, he began to walk around in circles while walking on two legs. The ponies were impressed by his ability to walk on two legs. But it looked kind of creepy.

“Jack…?” Rarity asked. Jack turned around and looked at Rarity to see what she wanted.

“Yeah?”

“How are you… doing that?” She asked, making Jack confused.

“Doing what?” He asked.

“You’re… walking on two legs, darling. How is that even possible?” She pointed out. Jack looked down at his legs, and sure enough he was walking on his back legs. Not knowing what’s the big deal about that, Jack looked back at Rarity puzzled.

“Well… I always walk on two legs. That’s how humans walk. Why? Is this… wrong?” He asked innocently. Rarity shook her head, and tried to take a different approach.

“Well not really… but it’s kind of… unnatural for a pony to be walking on two legs instead of all four. Try walking on four legs and see if that’s any better.” Jack looked at all the ponies. They all were standing on all four. Not to mention, he saw them walking on all fours back then. Comparing a human pony to a regular pony, Jack felt a bit embarrassed. So, he collapsed to all four legs… and nothing changed. However, just as he begun to take his first few steps, something in his lower vertebrae shot immense pain. It felt like a thousand needles puncturing his lower back. Jack grimaced as he grunted in ache. He immediately went back up to two legs, placed his hooves on his back, and thrusted his hips forward. The ponies gasped and they went up to Jack for support.

“Jack, are you alright, I say?” Aero asked with a helping hoof. Jack nodded while he rubbed his lower back with his hooves.

“Nugh, yeah. It felt like something was out of place. It’s like my body was telling me I shouldn’t walk like that.” The ponies looked at each other with puzzled looks. Then they drew their eyes back at Jack.

“But… that’s how we ponies walk. How on-“ Just before Rarity could finish, Celestia stepped into the conversation.

“It appears I’m the one to blame. You see... during the body creation spell, I must have had a few… mistakes. I believe your bone structures must be different than ours. Or perhaps, the body must have genetics of your human body, thus making you walk and stand like a human. It’s extremely rare to see humans turned into ponies. Unlike that one mare that is obsessed with… anyways, sorry for the misfortunate accident.” Jack kept rubbing his back up and down, trying to ease the pain.

“Nugh, that’s okay. I-“ But just then, he felt something on his upper back. It felt like…lumps on his back. He looked around to see what it was. He thought it was another mistake from the spell, but as it turned out, it wasn’t a lump… but a pair of wings.

“What’s… this?” He asked. Seeing Jack having pairs of wings made Pinkie bounce for joy.

“Ooooh! Not only you’re a pony, but you’re also a pegasus!” At that moment, Jack turned around to display his puzzled look at Pinkie.

“Pegasus?” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy extended their wings to show what they meant.

“It’s these bad boys that makes us pegasus!” Rainbow Dash boasted. Jack never thought of having wings before. He thought that it would be cool to fly like them. Willing to try out his new wings out, he prepared to mimic the pegasus’ wings. He extended his wings out to the side, so far so good. But trying to get airborne was the problem. He tried flapping his wings, but they were slow and weak. And the more he flapped, the more he felt tired.

“What’s wrong with these wings?” He asked, while sounding embarrassed. Fluttershy giggled while she walked up to Jack.

“It looks like your wings were born as a foal. You need to exercise those wings and practice flying before you can actually become like us. Trust me, I couldn’t fly when I was a little filly. Most of the fillies made fun of me for that.” Jack looked at Fluttershy in awe from hearing she had trouble flying as well back then.

“I see… that must have been hard for you.” After that, silence filled the room for a while. They all looked at Jack, and Jack returned that look with a smile. But after a few seconds, Jack turned back around to see his human body again. His smile dropped from seeing his body once more. He walked up to his body, while observing the damage. He stood right next to his human body, looking sad. He placed his hoof on his own human cheek, while thinking of things that came to him.

“You know… now that I think about it… I feel sorry for humanity.” Jack said. The ponies gathered around Jack’s human body, while they looked at the reincarnated Jack with sincere faces.

“Whatever do you mean, darling?” Rarity asked. Jack closed his eyes and sighed.

“Well… I don’t want to believe everything Jared said to me back then. I mean, I used to not care for my kind, because of the way they treated me. But… now that I compare my regular body to the rest of the humans… I feel compassion over them. We rarely have any harmony in my city… or anywhere around the rest of the world. There is no end to our pain as long as there are continuous wars going on outside of Equestria. We used to rule this world long before this land existed. At that time, everywhere was peace… no fights… no pain… nothing but harmony. That is… until The Elder Gods and the Great Old Ones waged war against us. Our world was one big battleground, and their destruction caused our friendship bonds to break. Those accursed gods corrupted our lives, making our world a living hell. Now… us humans have become endangered species. We forged hatred and despair towards one another because of this cruel fate. I once read a wise physiologic truth from a book.” Jack opened his eyes again and turned around to face the ponies. Given a few seconds to remember what it said, Jack went on talking.

“War breeds our desires to protect those closest to us, and acknowledge our existences. As long there is love, there will be hatred, and while that hatred grows will eventually give rise to new pain. That might be the reason why they formed a cult to worship Cthulhu. So that he can be their salvation and bring justice to those who would oppose him. I don’t know how Equestria was made or how it got its harmony, but all I know is that during the world war, lots of our warhorses escaped from battle and faded from existence by an unknown force. That force must had evolved them into what you all are today. Our kind has been living in disharmony longer than I have. Us humans are considered to be the most mature species of all living creatures due to the immense pain we had dealt with. It’s sad to think that this is their fate… now and forever.” Jack paused for a moment to see the ponies looking sad.

“Can... can I ask you all a question? Why can’t you share your harmony with us? I can understand your fear… but we’ve been living in more fear than you can possibly imagine. So… why couldn’t you let us live in your harmony?” After Jack was done, every pony went silent. They couldn’t come up with an answer, since they rarely knew about the humans. Since Jack knew they didn’t have the answer, he sighed. But, Celestia on the other hand, finally came clean and spoke.

“Jack… you must understand. It is impossible to spread our harmony to the humans. The element bearers might have sympathized with your pain, but the others can’t because they have fragile minds and feeble hearts. Ever since the Avatar of Zalgo invaded our land, my parents knew that the humans were dangerous creatures, and that they only seek strife and misery. We’ve been kept hidden from the world for centuries to avoid any conflict. I feel your pain… I truly wanted to unite every single living being into harmony. But… everything changed… when they came in.” After hearing that, it sparked Jack’s interests. He walked closer to Celestia with a serious face.

“Who?” He asked. Not only Jack was interested, but the other ponies. Seeing Celestia had a good audience, she decided to let it all out.

“It was the cult of Cthulhu that entered our magical barrier unnoticed.” At that moment, every pony gasped in revelation. After the gasp, Celestia continued.

“One thousand and five ago, The cult found our land and they seek to conquer it. My sister Luna and I, along with an army of royal soldiers, waged war against the cultists. Their powers were great, and their terror struck the hearts of my loyal subjects. However, with our combined powers, we managed to make them retreat back into their land. As we drove them back, I spot the source of their power that was lying on the ground abandoned. It was the Necronomicon book that had unimaginable dark powers. At that time, I knew that I didn’t have enough energy to destroy that book.

“I tried to obliterate it with the remaining magic I had, but their cultist leader snatched it away from me and ran off. After the war subsided, we lived in harmony once more. This time, we decided to erase this land’s existence so that we could hide in peace. But… that proved to be useless, since we found out that those cultists were still in the land. They made their base deep within the Everfree Forest, and planned to revive Cthulhu so he could take over this land. Only those with innocent hearts, or those with powerful dark powers can enter Equestria.” She paused for a moment to look at Jack’s doleful expression.

“I know there are those who have the same heart as you do…” Celestia continued. “but the fact is that the humans will always have a hard time developing a mutual understanding with us. Even if ponies and humans do understand one another, they all can’t come to an agreement. That’s the truth. Your brother knew the humans very well… and I can’t help but think that I should grief over the humans. But you need to understand… I want to protect those I cherish from threats and wars. I can never forgive myself if I bring war into this land. Equestria is a place for true peace… and I hope I keep it that way. If we were to join your wars now, then neither your kind nor we can ever live in true peace. I’m sorry your life was utterly hard and harsh… I wish I could take all that pain away.” After she was done speaking, every pony was silent. Some had tears running down their cheeks, while others were mourning the fate of the humans.

During their silent moment, Jack began to think about what Celestia had said. All his life he despised the world for its brutal settings. He was living within those cruel bindings that weighed his existence down. He thought that the monster he had inside of him was the true source of his pain. He felt like… an unwanted living being. But after hearing what Jared and Celestia had said, his perspectives on the world started to turn dramatically. Instead of taking all of his suffering and anger towards the others, he decided… to help guide the innocent lives out of their miserable state. Not only that, he wanted to protect those closest to him, so that he can feel loved and wanted. Feeling satisfied for making up his decision, Jack made a small smile.

“It’s… alright. Besides, pain makes us stronger, no matter how harsh it is.” With that said, every pony’s hearts were risen from their depression state. Without Jack’s guidance, Zalgo or his traps would had defeated them. They knew he was right, especially Fluttershy, since she had endured a lot of pain lately. She nodded her head and agreed with Jack. But right after that, Fluttershy spotted something on Jack’s haunch.

“Jack… is that what I think it is?” She said. At that moment, every pony’s attentions were drawn to Jack’s flank. They all gasped in shock from what they were seeing right now. Jack didn’t hesitate, as he looked at his haunch. He too gasped in shock after seeing what was on his flank.

“What the… hell?” Jack uttered. On his flank was a cutie mark. But… it doesn’t appear to be one at all. It was actually ‘The Eye of Eternal Darkness’ symbol. Jack wondered what this thing was… and how it got there.

“What is this?” Jack asked. Twilight got a little closer to observe it. Fair enough, it looked like a cutie mark. But this… was another story.

“I believe that’s a cutie mark.” Twilight said. Once more, Jack was confused.

“Cutie what?”

“A cutie mark. It shows what your special talent is once you discover it. It’s often related to the personality, proclivity, or talent of the character. Mine has stars, indicating I love magic. Fluttershy has three butterflies, showing her passion towards creatures. Rainbow Dash’s rainbow thunderbolt cloud represents the fastest pegasus in Equestria. Applejack has three apples, meaning she loves to harvest and buck apples for her business. Rarity’s triple diamond cutie mark shows that she makes beautiful dresses and fashion. And Pinkie Pie has three balloons, which means she loves to party alot. But this… I don’t understand. What is your true talent, Jack?” Every pony went silent for a moment to let him think.

Jack didn’t know what his true talent was… or even knew that the symbol was even a talent. He looked at the other cutie marks, and compared his. All of the cutie marks looked like happy images… while his looked very creepy. With only one answer in mind, Jack shrugged. The ponies were then more concern about the symbol. However, Celestia thought of something that could be plausible.

“What if… this could be the legendary ‘Curse Mark’?” Celestia spoke. Almost immediately, every pony gave puzzled looks at the princess.

“Curse mark? What’s that?” Jack asked, and Celestia replied back.

“Only six of these managed to exist, and you could be the seventh. According to the research I’ve dug up years ago, the curse mark was supposedly to be the counterpart of a Cutie Mark. It is said that whoever possesses the Curse Mark will undergo a curse that will haunt the user for the rest of his or her life.” Hearing such horrible info made the ponies gasp in horror. After the gasp subsided, Celestia continued where she left off.

“That is, until they fulfill the most sacred deed that brings true happiness to oneself and others. Only then, will the Curse Mark will disappear, and a cutie mark will emerge from its wake.” At that moment, Jack knew that the Curse Mark was related to one thing.

Just like the curse of humanity. Jack said in his consciousness. Hmm... now that I think about it... could... could I had been given another task? Since there is war around this land... could I possibly be the bringer of peace to the humans? Or rather... the world itself? Hmm... no... no that’s just ridiculous. Whatever reason, I don’t care... I now have friends. But... but maybe... it could be it. As Jack was lost in his mind, looking troubled, the ponies thought that this horrible burden might of made him depressed. But they were surprised to see Jack suddenly smiling.

“Well… as long as there is a chance to bring peace to the world, then I’m okay with this curse mark.” Jack informed while keeping his composure. “After all, each and every one of you saved me from not only death… but from myself. I can’t thank you enough for this. And… can’t believe I’m actually gonna say this again… but… I’m extremely glad you all came into my life. Thank you…” Struck by his greatest gratitude, every pony had upwelling tears. Without a moment to lose, every pony went up to Jack and hugged around his body. Jack embraced this lovable feeling, as he hugged back with a shred of his own tear. They hugged like this for a half a minute, until Fluttershy looked up at Jack with teary eyes.

“So… does this mean… you’re gonna stay here with us?” Fluttershy asked. Jack flinched in remembrance since he did promised that he would stay with them. Taking a look into his friend’s eyes, they all shown that they desperately wanted him in their lives. Saying no would be a dick move, and Jack couldn’t had been the person to say such thing. So… he smiled… and said,

“Sure… why not.” And with that, every pony cheered for joy. However…

“…but... it can’t be today.” Jack added. Suddenly, every pony paused their cheering. They all looked up at Jack with puzzled looks.

“What…? What do you mean… not today?” Fluttershy asked. Jack lowered his smile, and eyes away for a moment. Seeing Jack like this made the ponies anxious and unease.

“Well, there’s… something I must do… alone. I can’t tell you where or why I am going… but it’s best if I do this now.” Struck by confusion and sadness, the ponies demanded answers.

“W-Wait! You can’t go! You just got here! Don’t tell me yo-“ Rainbow Dash tried to continue, but Jack lifted his hoof up indicating to stop.

“It’s alright, Rainbow Dash. I won’t be gone forever, just for a little while. I don’t know when I’ll be back… but I promise… I will return and live with you all. Please… let me do this. Have faith in me…” The ponies were disappointed to see their new friend leave so soon. However, they respected Jack and knew that this could be very important to him. So, every pony but Fluttershy nodded their heads. After a few minutes of getting prepared, every pony went outside.

The dawn almost rose from its horizon, and the critters were waking up. The air breezed calmly, and the grass smelled ever so nicely. Upon sunrise, a new day was about to begin. The main six, Aero, and Celestia were outside of Ponyville, where they were about to say their goodbyes to Jack. They all were sad that he had to go, but they did not despair, since he was going to return one day. Taking one last look at his friends, Jack could only smile.

“Well… looks like it’s my time now. Princess Celestia?” Celestia tilted her head.

“Yes?”

“The scroll containing Zalgo’s essence, would you hide it somewhere safe where no one or no pony would ever think to find it? I might do a crappy job on doing that, but could I count on you to hide it to a place only you know where to find it? Also, if possible, can you… try to fix my human body for me? I really miss being in my older body… not that this new body is bad, but still. Can you do that for me?” Jack asked sincerely. Taking such a simple, yet heavy burdens, Celestia nodded her head.

“You have my word. Zalgo shall be hidden undisturbed forever, and I will see to it that your body will linger within the realm of rehabilitation. There, your body will regenerate itself over time. However, it will take years till your body is finished. Until then, please make due with your new body.” Jack nodded his head back.

“I will… and thank you…” Then, his eyes were drawn to his friends. He first looked at Twilight.

“Twilight Sparkle, since you and your friends are responsible on finding the importance of friendship, would you all continue learning? Cause I might learn something from all of you someday.” He said. Twilight nodded her head, with a friendly smile. Next, Jack eyed at Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie Pie, just keep making your friends smile and laugh. Cause you know… I like seeing them doing it too. Hehe…” Jack chuckled, and Pinkie chuckled along with him.

“You got it!” Pinkie said. Jack trailed his eyes towards Applejack, who looked a bit sad.

“Applejack, without your honesty, I would've never told you about my pain. I want to thank you.” From hearing that, Applejack beamed while she tipped her hat.

“Aww shucks, yer mighty welcome.” She said happily. Next up, he looked at Rarity, who had tears of happiness.

“Rarity, your generosity of helping me out made me a better person… or pony. I feel like I should help others who are in need of comfort. You have my thanks.” Rarity wiped her tears away, as she nodded. After that, Jack looked at Rainbow Dash, who was also crying.

“Rainbow Dash, you taught me about loyalty. Protecting something that’s dear to you will make you stronger. I thought vengeance made me strong, but I couldn’t of been more wrong. Thanks for clearing my head.” Rainbow Dash never heard somepony say something this nice to her in all of her life, except her other friends of course. But this one took the cake. She continued to cry while hiding her face away from Jack.

“T-Thanks! B-Be sure to exercise those wings… so you can fly! A-And d-don’t think that I’m crying, got lots of stuff in my eyes… that’s all. Stupid dust…” She wept. Jack made a short chortle from that while adding a nod. Finally, he set his eyes over to the one responsible for changing his life… Fluttershy. He walked up to Fluttershy, kneeled down to her level, and wiped away her tears with his hoof.

“Fluttershy… I want to thank you the most. You’ve shown me kindness, even though I was being a jackass to you. That showed me that I wasn’t alone anymore. You’ve changed my life… forever. And I can’t thank you enough for that.” While Fluttershy cried hard, she tried her best to speak, but it was difficult due to the tears.

“Y-Y-You… will come… back… right? I… I don’t want… t-to lose you. I-“ Fluttershy was about to finish, but Jack placed his hoof on her lips.

“It’s alright. Remember when I said if I were to put an end to Zalgo, I would not of be able to return to the surface because that place marks my tomb, right? That was the truth… and yet you all saved me from death. But when I said I’ll come back, that means I will. I attend to keep promises, and not even death again will stop me. And besides, with this new body, I feel stronger than ever.” Feeling a bit more confident towards Jack, Fluttershy calmed herself down a bit. But she still had tears falling out of her eyes.

“B-But…” Once more, Jack paused her.

“Fluttershy… please stay strong for me, will you? You’ve proven yourself that you gotten stronger. Try not to lose that strength… okay?” With a simple nod, Jack’s smile went bigger. Then, he wrapped his forearms around Fluttershy’s neck and hugged her. Fluttershy returned the hug, while she sniveled.

“We won’t forget you… please come back soon.” Fluttershy whimpered.

“I will…” Jack responded, and broke up the hug. With everything said and done, Jack was about to turn around and leave, that is until he spotted Aero who displayed a friendly smile.

“Oh… Aero?” Jack said. Aero tilted his head.

“Yes, chap?”

“Well… umm… thanks. Heh…” Jack wanted to say something nice, but that’s all he could think about. But Aero accepted what he said and nodded.

“It was an honor being with you, I say.” Aero replied, and Jack nodded. And with that, Jack turned around and started running towards the rising sun. He sprinted like a human, and his heart beating like a wild pony. The group watched in tears as Jack followed the sunrise. They all were going to miss him, but they were also expecting him to come back soon. With the sun now rising from the horizon, the whole town shined in its awakening. Just as Jack reached towards the top of the hill, he turned around one last time. There, he made one last smile… knowing he had a new life up ahead. After a few seconds of looking at his friends, Jack resumed running. And with that, Jack’s body faded within the sunlight.

As the new day begun, everything in Ponyville went as it should be. Twilight continued studying new spells and conjuring several new chemicals within the Library. Applejack went to the orchard land of apple trees and continued drumming her business as per usual. Rarity was at her boutique making new dresses with Sweetie Belle helping out a bit. Pinkie Pie kept her happy spirit alive by baking sweet treats and making parties for the ponies. Rainbow Dash was flying high, soaring through the skies like a free bird. Aero lived with Zecora, who was happy to take him in as an apprentice. And Fluttershy… she went back to take care of her animal friends, while still thinking about Jack.

Later that night, Twilight was looking up at the stary night, while she had a friendship letter to report. Spike, who was happy to assist, had his quilt ready.

“You ready?” Spike asked.

“Yeah...” Twilight replied, with a slight sigh. She cleared her throat, letting Spike know she was about to begin.

“Dear Princess Celestia, I’m writing an update for the previous lesson. The reason why... is because this could be one of the most important and valuable lessons I’ve learned so far. Friendship is indeed worth fighting for... but what is the true reason for that? Well, if you think about it, protecting the ones you love gives you strength, and sharing bonds with one another acknowledges one’s existence, making that person feel loved and wanted. There are those who are hurt in the world... experiencing true loneliness and despair. But if you share your feelings and relate to your pain, you will create a strong friendship bond. Protecting the ones you love shows how much you really care for that person. And you know... someday… just someday… there will come a day where the world… can become a better place."

Your faithful Student: Twilight Sparkle.

The end.

Note: Lesson Zero starts two weeks later.