User blog comment:Guildmaster Grovyle/JLE Role Play, Winter 2015-2016/@comment-7562999-20151203164858

Goldenheart balances on one hoof ontop a pole. Her eyes are closed in extreme concentration. She breaths steadily. The Sensei checks his watch. He mutters to himself. "Thirty minutes, and not a single waver...Hmm...To her, I'm sure this training has felt like...years maybe...I can't tell...The time warp spell cast over this place can cause time to ocilate...She's nearly mastered emotion...time to begin the next part of her training. Overcoming the corrupted nature of ponykind."

He speaks up to Goldenheart. "Stop, my pupil."

Goldenheart opens her eyes. She deftly leaps from the pole and lands in front of the Sensei. The Sensei nods approval. "It is time for another part of your training."

GH: "What it is?"

Sensei: "A test of morality. If a pony or any other creature murdered for sport or for own personal gain, what is their punishment?"

GH: "Balkham or any other prison."

Sensei: "No! The walls of Balkham cannot contain a criminal nearly as well as it should. No, the punishment for such infringers of the innocent desereve only one thing. They deserve to feel the same death that they inflict on other."

GH: "But-"

Sensei: "No! Those that bring death deserve death. But remember, those that have not committed such heinous acts do not. That is the problem with the justice system. Those that deserve death are granted life, and those that deserve life are granted death. You must be better than them. You are better than them!"

GH: "But, I can't just kill killers...That just makes me no better than them."

Sensei: "But you are killing for a just cause! Those that kill for pleasure or any other selfish reason deserve to die. Their sins must be rectified!"

Goldenheart thinks about what the Sensei has just said. "I don't know..."

The Sensei sighs. "I guess you need some more convincing. Come."

The Sensei once again leads Goldenheart to the library. He pulls a book from one of the shelves. "Here is a perfect example. A serial killer, who I shall name, killed between fifteen and twenty ponies, foals. He murdered children. He was a monster, and deserved the death penalty. He did not recieve it, and was instead thrown in jail. He then escaped with hardly any effort. He remains free to this day."

GH: "But...I don't know..."

Sensei: "You've killed already, Goldenheart...I do not blame you for it, as you had to to esacpe the changeling stronghold. This is justice! This is how you can topple the corrupt justice system. This is how you better the pony race. You need to uproot the weeds that clot the garden."

GH: "I...I don't think I'll be able to bring myself to murder them."

Sensei: "Not murder...Justice killings...Your fighting skills are honed. I have taught you how to master emotion. Now, you must become the master of fate. You must be the one to decide who deserves death and who deserves life. Which criminals deserve to be slain and die alone, and those that should only be imprisoned. This is my final lesson to you, and it is something that you must develop on your own. You have learned much under me...You are very different from what you were when you came here...How long has it felt to you?"

Goldenheart ponders this. "I have no idea...years...four or five. I can't say for certain, but I feel like I haven't aged."

Sensei: "Because you haven't, and it hasn't been years. This cave is really its own seperate reality. The time warp over this pocket dimension has caused time to dialate. One day in the world above can be months, even years of time here. It doesn't matter anymore to me, as we are immortal so long as wer remain here. Once you leave, your aging will continue as normal...and you are leaving now."

GH: "I am?"

Sensei: "Yes. Take the name Achlys fully. Be the bringer of fear to the corrupt. Now go! Quash the slayers in our midst. Make me proud."

Goldenheart nods and trots out of the library. She glances back at the Sensei one last time, and then leaves the cave as she entered, what seemed like years before. As she leaves, she feels a strong resistance at the mouth of the cave. She pushes through it and reappears on the hill outside Maretropolis. Her communicator turns back on at this moment. She breaths in deeply...Fresh air. It has been so long since she has experienced it. Every message that had been relayed between team members plays in rapid succession. Goldenheart nods. "Ponyville...and from the sound of it, I've only been gone a couple of days at the most...I must be off."

Goldenheart pulls on her hood, and disappears in a flash of golden light.