//------------------------------//
// The Critical Answer 
// Story: The Critical Question 
// by Matthais Unidostres 
//------------------------------//

Sunny Starscout looked about the large home. It was sparsely furnished, which was understandable given the creature who lived there. But then there were the many, many books of various sizes strewn about, which were the last thing anypony would expect to find here.

The Earth Pony was very nervous, not that it would stop her. She was obviously determined. She'd have to be to have accomplished what she'd done. Sure, she did have the help of her four new friends, but Sunny was without a doubt the leader who had spurred the group onward to their goal: restoring Friendship and Magic to Equestria.

And now that this goal was very well within their reach, Sunny was able to direct her mind to a question that had always been in her subconscious but now felt the liberty to come out into her conscious mind: Why was their quest even necessary in the first place? Why had the three pony races split apart? Why had Harmony died in Equestria?

Luckily, with help from her new friends, she had discovered the identity and location of the one who knew the answer to the question. An Oracle. A Keeper of Knowledge. A Hermit from a bygone era.

Unluckily, this answer keeper would only see others on a one-on-one basis. So, Sunny now nervously stood in his presence all alone, having asked her question and now awaited an answer.

It seemed that her fear and trepidation were more obvious than she thought, as her host smiled and reached over to a relic from a bygone era. Something far removed from the age of smartphones and mp3 files. It was an relatively well preserved phonograph, and the needle came down to play some ambient mood music to both calm the trembling Earth Pony's nerves, while also setting the somber tone of the heavy, tragic tale he was about to relate.





Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, three pony races lived in Harmony: Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi.

The three races were ruled over by a fair, just, and beautiful Alicorn Princess: Princess Twilight Sparkle. She was originally born a Unicorn; a studious, intelligent mare who had no interest whatsoever in making friends. However, thanks to the guidance of her teacher and mentor, Princess Celestia, Twilight eventually did make friends with two Earth Ponies: Applejack and Pinkie Pie, two Pegasi: Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and a Unicorn: Rarity.

These six ponies had many adventures together, and saved the world from great evils time and time again; sometimes vanquishing it, other times reforming a lost soul into an ally; all through the Magic of Friendship. And it was this very magic that allowed Twilight Sparkle the Unicorn to ascend to an Alicorn Princess: a pony that bore the traits, magic, and abilities of all three pony races.

During the Princess of Friendship's reign, Twilight Sparkle extended Friendship all across the world, so that there was Harmony not only between the three pony races, but between ponies and all the other creatures of the world. Dragons, Changelings, Griffons, Hippogriffs, Yaks, Buffaloes, Abyssinians, Diamond Dogs, Satyrs, Kirins, Zebras, Kelpies, Deer, Harpies, Klugeians: everycreature in the world was united in Friendship.

But Twilight's message of Friendship did not stay in this world. It also extended into a different world entirely. With a Unicorn named Sunset Shimmer acting as an ambassador, Princess Twilight offered a "hand" in friendship to the world of tall, bipedal, five fingered creatures known as Humans. Through a magical mirror portal created by Starswirl the Bearded, Sunset Shimmer led ponies and Humans back and forth through the portal so that each may come to know the creatures of each other's world. The ponies of Equestria gave the Humans gems, gold, rare metals, organic foods, and literature; and the Humans gave the ponies their technology in return.

However, each of the pony races had a different reaction to the Humans' gifts. The Unicorns did not trust the strange devices of the strange "monkeys", feeling as if they were cheap imitations of their magic and spells, and thus turned their noses up at them. The Earth Ponies were slightly curious of Human technology, and they considered it to be a helpful tool in their day to day lives, which they used accordingly. As for the Pegasi, they dived headfirst into Human technology. The adopted the televisions, computers, and smartphones into their own culture to the point where their lives would be inconceivable without them.

As Human technology slowly began to divide the three pony races right under Princess Twilight's nose, the Humans also introduced something else into Equestrian society along with their technology. Something that would be Equestria's, and inevitably, Princess Twilight's undoing: Human ideology.

It was strongly believed by many Humans that in every society, there would always be certain groups that would be superior, while there would be other certain groups that would be inferior. The people in these so called inferior groups would be constantly dominated and taken advantage of by the very society they lived in, for no good reason except that they were part of one of the so called inferior groups.

So, some of the Humans told the Unicorns that since they could cast spells, that they should be the ones in charge and in control, so that they may take care of the lesser Earth Ponies and Pegasi and keep them in line. And yet, some of the Humans told the Pegasi that since they could fly and control the weather, that the lesser Earth Ponies should answer to them, and the bigoted Unicorns should give up all of their possessions to the other two races. And still yet, some other Humans told the Earth Ponies that since they could neither fly nor cast spells, that not only had they been marginalized by the Unicorns and Pegasi for centuries, but they also had been trapped in a type of institutionalized slavery where they were forced to grow food for the other races.

Princess Twilight watched in shock and dismay as her little ponies were slowly being critically indoctrinated by the Humans' racial theories. She made many attempts to speak out against these corrupt ideas, but the ponies would simply accuse her of trying to silence them or trying to take away their freedom of speech. Princess Twilight met with Sunset Shimmer in an attempt to find a way to fix the damage being caused by the Humans, but Sunset could only shake her head helplessly, and say that there was nothing she could do. Princess Twilight couldn't even put an end to the trading between Equestria and the Humans, for fear of protests from her little ponies.

As more and more Human technology and culture entered Equestria, the magic that once flowed freely throughout the land began to fade, as did the Harmony and Friendship that had kept the three races together. However, the ponies did not notice this at first, because they simply used the Human's technology in the place of the fading magic.

Princess Twilight couldn't stand to see her little ponies regress so badly. So, one day, she flew to the top of the tallest mountain in Equestria and cried out for the Windigoes to come back, so that the races would be forced to come together once again, lest they all freeze to death.

But, no Windigoes came, for they too had faded away along with Equestria's magic.

Years went by, and Harmony slowly began to fade throughout Equestria as trade flourished between Humans and ponies. And then, Sunset Shimmer, Princess Twilight's trusted human ambassador, succumbed to the curse of time and old age, and died.

Wracked with grief, both from her dead friend and Equestria's dying Harmony, Princess Twilight entered through the mirror portal, and appeared before a large crowd of Humans at a grand rally. She harshly condemned Human-kind for what they had done to her world, cursing them and disparaging them, venting all of the anger, pain, and frustration that she had kept bottled up over years and years of watching paranoia and distrust gnaw away at Harmony. In her rage and hate, she said that the Humans were the lowest, foulest creatures in any reality.

While some Humans were ashamed and cut to the heart, others were enraged and insulted. One group of Human protestors with intolerance and hate in their hearts pushed their way to the front of the crowd, and they attacked Princess Twilight with everything they had. They threw rocks, they sprayed harsh chemicals, they tossed bottles with burning rags, and they fired weapons that launched deadly bits of metal at the Princess of Friendship.

As an Alicorn, Princess Twilight would have had the power to not only defend herself, but to destroy her hate filled assailants. However, anypony who crossed through the mirror portal would be stripped of their magic and reduced to a Human form. So, with none of her friends close enough at the time, Twilight could not fight back.

Twilight's body was taken back through the portal, and the Princess of Friendship was laid to rest in a place where she would never be disturbed. Much of Equestria was wracked with grief, even more so when it was discovered that everypony's magic had finally fully disappeared. The Humans had truly taken everything from the once magical land of Equestria.

Not long after the death of the Magic of Friendship, Discord, the Spirit of Chaos appeared before all of Equestria. He declared that no Human would never set foot in Equestria, and no pony would ever return to the Human world. With a single snap of his talons, Discord returned every Human and pony to their own respective worlds, destroyed the mirror portal, and closed all other portal between the two worlds. However, this action drained all of the Spirit's chaos magic, and Discord gave one last smile as he collapsed and faded away.

And with that, the last of those present during Princess Twilight Sparkle's Golden Age of Harmony were truly gone. Time went on in spite of this, and over that time, over all those years, all those centuries, Friendship and Harmony were completely replaced by paranoia and distrust, never to be restored again.





" . . . or so I thought. . . You've given me . . . given all of us so much hope, Sunny Starscout. You and your friends. . .Thank you. . ."

Sunny nodded, smiling through her tears as she replied, "It was my pleasure, Mr. Spike."

The huge green and purple dragon chuckled softly as he rolled up the dragon-sized scroll he had been reading from. "Please. Drop the 'Mr.'. Just Spike, please. That's what my friends call me."

Sunny's eyes widened as she gazed up at the massive dragon before her. The cavern was huge, taking up nearly the entirety of the mountain, and Spike was so tall that the spikes on his head nearly touched the ceiling. The dragon was comparable in size to the TV screen adorned skyscrapers in the Pegasi city. Sunny finally caught her breath and said,  "You. . .want us to be friends? Really? But when we found out about you, everything pointed to you wanting to be alone."

Spike gave a sad sigh and said, "When Twilight. . .died. . . I suppose my desire for friendship died along with it. She reached out to the Human world. . .she offered them Friendship. . .and then they destroyed our world. They undid everything Twilight had accomplished. And for what?"

Spike let out a vicious snarl, smoke trailing out of his nostrils. However, Spike raised a foreclaw and put it to his chest. He took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly, extending his foreclaw out as he did so. Now visibly calmed down, Spike continued, "But now, it seems as if I was wrong to give up so easily. You and you friends have achieved so much, Sunny. You've made amazing progressing in undoing the damage the Humans did. There's no doubt in my mind that Twilight would be proud of you."

Sunny blushed and said, "Wow. . .thanks Spike. That means a lot coming from you."

Spike winked a massive eye at her and said, "Hey, don't mention it. Now, I'm sure you're friends are worried about you. They probably think I've gobbled you up by now. You'd best go ahead and tell them what you've learned, unless you have any other questions?"

Sunny thought for a moment, then she asked, "What about all the other creatures that used to be friends with Equestria?"

Spike shrugged and said, "Equestria has always been THE main superpower in the world. Everycreature else tends to either envy us or follow us. When Friendship and Harmony died, it made sense for the others nations to lose interest and go their separate ways as well."

Sunny smiled confidently, and said, "Well then, it looks like getting all of them to be friends again will be our next big mission!"

Spike smiled widely and said, "I like the way you think, Sunny. Any other questions?"

Sunny thought for another moment, then she asked, "What do you supposed happened in the Human world after the Spirit of Chaos cut it off from Equestria?"

Spike snorted contemptuously and said, "Well, best case scenario is that the Humans are all like how Equestria was before you and your friends changed everything: Lots of technology, no magic, little Harmony between groups, and large parts of the world filled with poverty and suffering. Worst case scenario: they just destroyed themselves. It wouldn't surprise me."

Sunny frowned, "I hope not. I mean, I know it's kinda their fault that Equestria got ruined. . . but it wasn't the fault of every Human. Just like how it was only a small group that attacked Twilight. I mean, if a couple of little ponies like me and friends could change this world, maybe a group of Humans are hard at work doing the same thing. It kinda makes me wish that I could somehow open a window or make a screen of some kind that could show the Humans what my friends and I have done. Maybe it could inspire them to make their world better too!"

As Sunny spoke, a tear appeared in Spike's eye. With a misty gaze, Spike smiled warmly at the Earth Pony and said softly, "You're so much like her. . ." He then cleared his throat and said, "W-well, that's enough questions for one day. Go ahead back to your friends now, for real this time."

"I can come back and visit, right?"

"Of course."

"And I can bring all my friends next time, right?"

"Hmmm. . .how about you just bring one of them at a time. Like one of my close friends once said: 'I'll get there someday. But for now... baby steps, everypony. Baby steps.'"