//------------------------------//
// Correspondence 
// Story: Oh, No! Not Another Dusk Shine Story! 
// by Nyxian 
//------------------------------//

	Dear Princess Celestia,

It's been two months since the whole Ursa disaster, and as I'm sure you've read in the newspapers, Ponyville is finally almost back to normal. The damage the Ursa did has been mostly fixed, but there are a few things that just won't be the same anymore. The fire station had to be completely rebuilt, and some of the buildings (including my tree) have incongruously new parts on them, but life moves on. I'm finally out of convalescence, thank elysium, because I couldn't stand it anymore. First it was a week in the null magic room, then they wanted me to stay in there for ten days, then two weeks. You can imagine how well I took that. Nurse Redheart yammered at me about damage to mana vessicles in my horn for about ten minutes straight when I first complained, but then I pointed out that the statistics on recovery times she quoted at me were from a paper I had written. She turned a very interesting shade of puce and threatened to have me restrained.

In the end they only let me out when my mana started evening out again and started...well, breaking the suppression room. The suppressor they put on my horn four days after the attack overloaded in a half hour, and when they came into swap it the mana sinks in the room were filled to capacity in the time it took them to put another one on. And before you ask, no, I didn't do it on purpose...not totally anyway.

Anyway, after the whole room nearly blew out they agreed to release me on my own recognizance, which was a big relief. Redheart and a few of the other doctors insisted on bleating at me about recovery times and everything, completely disregarding the fact that my normal mana levels would fry just about any other unicorn like hay bacon (related note, hay bacon from Sweet Apple Acres: tear-inducingly good. First time I had it I swear my mouth had an orgasm.). I mentioned that, pointed out that my mana levels were almost back to normal already without any ill effects, and listed many other reasons why I would be fine without one of them hanging around to wipe my plot all the time, but they refused to listen to reason so they went and got the others involved.

Pinkie made me a bunch of get well soon cupcakes (carrot cake, my favorite, and they were right and proper, meaning they did indeed have nuts in them. Walnuts, to be precise.) Rainbow dug through the wreckage of my apartment and somehow managed to salvage eighty three point seven percent of my books. Rarity went through the library and inventoried the damaged books for me, which was a huge load off my whithers, I was not looking forward to that. Applejack, being chivalrous to a fault, offered to let me and Spike stay at Sweet Apple Acres while my tree was being regrown. That was pretty ridiculous, the re-growing I mean, not the offer, that was nice and I took her up on it after she insisted for the twelfth time. I could've re-grown the tree in about an hour, even fresh out of the hospital I can manage that much, but Mayor Mare left explicit instructions with the guards that I wasn't allowed.

While I was staying at Sweet Apple Acres (which is when I discovered the hay bacon, seriously, you should order that for the castle. It won't make mornings any less miserable, but you'll be able to have something to sop up the cement you call coffee and protect your innards) I managed two days of bed rest, which is pretty admirable as far as I'm concerned, but unfortunately the others didn't listen to reason any more than Redheart did, and after my third attempt to go to my re-grown tree to get something worthwhile done they sicced Fluttershy on me.

That was just low.

So I ended up spending a week getting Flutternurtured, which was kinda like that time I got the flu when I was eight, but instead of a stern look from your hoofmaidens whenever I got out of bed I got the world's biggest guilt trip instead. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if we could bottle whatever it is about Fluttershy that makes anypony and anything around her just want to give her a big hug and never make her sad ever, we'd never lose another soldier. She means well, but I think she's unaware of how bad she makes you feel when she turns those big sad eyes of hers on you.

I will say this though, as annoying as I found being confined to bed away from the town, it was probably good for Spike. He's...well, he's not back to normal yet. The top of his largest spike was snapped off when he was attacked and though I've been looking into ways to fix it I haven't found anything yet. More than that though he's been very clingy, which I can understand, but it still hurts to see him that way. I don't think he's willingly left my side at all since the attack and he's taken to spending most of his time on my back or leaning on my barrel. Plus, all he really wants to do is cuddle, not that I'm much different. I hope he'll be alright, but I think it might be a good idea for you to talk with him. There aren't any dragon psychologists after all, and honesty dictates I admit there's no way I'd be able to conduct therapy lessons with him even if I did have the qualifications, I'm way to emotionally involved. I've been spending as much time with him as I can but as each day passes and he seemingly isn't recovering the more worried I get.

He's also been having nightmares again, mainly about the Ursa now of course, but about the guardsponies too. He hasn't had any bad reaction to going back to the tree, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be sleeping in bed with me for a while yet. I can't exactly say as I mind though. I've, well, I haven't been sleeping that great either. I'm not as bad as I was during the custody fight with mom, but I keep waking up thinking I heard something. Having him right next to me and knowing I can check up on him at any point is...reassuring.

Moving onto something else, I managed to pester the Guard Captain and Mayor Mare into giving me a look at the records of the investigation into the attack itself. Good thing I did too, because there's no way in tartarus the unedited version is going to be sent off to the Inquisitors. Apparently there have been unsubstantiated reports of Ursas living close to town in the outskirts of the Everfree for years, but since they were mostly just local legends that parents used to scare foals into eating their alfalfa somepony in the Eldritch Defense Battalion decided they didn't need to investigate whether a bucking Ursa was living within walking distance of a bucking population center. In hindsight it makes perfect sense. The Blight at the center of the Everfree isn't the same kind of wild magic that spawns Ursas, but it's similar enough that it might attract them, though I shudder to think what would happen if an Ursa got infected by the Blight.

Anyway, the the official report is going to say something along the lines of 'a migrating Ursa just happened to get attracted to the town, because reasons'. Bits to bon bons it won't mention the fact that the Detachment Commander of the local contingent of the EDB is an inbred twit who couldn't find his plot with two hooves and a map. At least Iron Shod (the new Ponyville Guard Captain) isn't buying it. He's going to send a contradictory report onto the Inquisition, though it'll just get buried when Detachment Commander Penumbra gets wind of it and pays for it to be conveniently misplaced.

Speaking of Iron Shod, he might have a lead as to what provoked the Ursa to begin with. Some of his officers, not the smart ones, went on an impromptu scouting expedition to try and find the Ursa's nest. They managed to follow its trail back to the cliffs in the Everfree a few miles out of town. They found a cave with magical residue consistent with Ursa habitation, and they also found bodies. Five total, three adults (two mares, one stallion), and two local foals, Snips and Snails. What was left of them all was found strung out along the trail leading to the Ursa's den on the outskirts of the forest and the last body was almost within sight of Ponyville proper. As best anypony can put together they were trying to run from the Ursa and back into town when it got to them.

As for why they were out there to begin with, that's an interesting story all on its own. Remember that Trixie mare I mentioned in my last letter? The one bragging about defeating an Ursa? She was the last one the foals were seen talking to, and her diary was found in the wreckage of her wagon in the town square. Turns out, 'Trixie Lulamoon' isn't just a stage name, it's an alias. Her real name is Sunset Shimmer, and she's my cousin twice removed. She was born (illegitimately) into the cadet branch of house Noctis. I had to bend a few laws regarding family records, but I found out a few very interesting things about both my much esteemed family and little miss sparkly plot. Since mommy was stupid and forgot to use protection during Estrus season, derailing an arranged marriage with a banking family that would've brought House Noctis one step closer to having more net worth than bucking Manehattan, she got kicked out of the family and ended up drinking herself out of rented house and home before getting an eventually fatal venereal disease during the course of her side job as a mare of the night. The last thing she did on her deathbed was explain everything to Sunset Shimmer.

Well Sunset, who at that point already had a rap sheet longer than I am including but not limited to theivery, forgery, and unlicensed prostitution, was rather upset about the whole thing (not unreasonably, I have to admit) and stupidly went to house Noctis to try and get recompense. The records don't say exactly what happened between her and mom, but we both know how that meeting would've went. Incidentally, Sunset checked herself into Canterlot general not long after her chat with mom. Her medical records show three broken ribs, a mild concussion, and multiple lacerations along her barrel with embedded glass fragments consistent with a wine bottle. Funny how that works, huh?

After that she drops off the face of Equestria for a few years before getting busted in Trottingham as a part of a ring of thieves and fences specializing in high end magical and alchemical materials. Sunset, who was just a mid level fence at that point, sang like Philomena on Hearthswarming eve and ended up with a five year sentence instead of twenty. Fast forward three years and she was out on good behavior, then she promptly skipped out on her parole officer and disappears again and as far as official records go she's never seen again. That's where her diary comes in.

Well, 'diary' is a bit of a misnomer. What was recovered was a large tome filled with her accounting records interspersed with footnotes and side comments, with only a few real diary entries. Trying to make sense of it was a serious pain in the plot. Her bookkeeping is spot on, but everything else is rambling and slapdash at best. The first thing she did once she got out of prison was visit an underground clinic to get her coat, eye, and mane colors permanently changed, then she went to Manehattan and reinvented herself as Trixie Lulamoon. She used  the mobility her new job offered to get in contact with some old pals and reform the thief ring. She laid low for about a year until a few ex-military friends of hers from prison finished their sentences so she could invite them in. With their help she was able to expand her operation into military grade equipment and black market artifacts. She mentions thefts, black market contracts, and general bad behavior in almost every city in the Realm. On an unrelated note, she also kept records of her carnal...exploits, in her diary along with the accounts of her 'business' ventures. The amount of detail she goes into can only be described as obscene.

Anyway, the reason she was in Ponyville was to meet with an associate to pick up a shipment of charged Capacitor Crystals for the old Linear Acceleration Cannons the Royal Fusiliers phased out five years ago. Apparently the old blunderbusses are popular enough among a few Griffon insurrectionist groups that Sunset was able to make a tidy profit smuggling them across the border. As you can probably guess, the adult ponies found in the Everfree outskirts were, in fact, smugglers with a record almost as long as Sunset's, and it was probably the charged crystals that got the Ursa's attention. Even when their containers are properly sealed (which, given the nature of their acquisition, I highly doubt they were) those things leak enough energy to attract all sorts of creatures. Hay, they probably seemed like a nice snack for the Ursa. The crystals themselves weren't found, but there was a rather large crater that suggests either heavy duty combat magic or that somepony destabilized the crystals enough for them to blow. Since the smugglers weren't exactly magical heavyweights I'm going with the second option. We don't know why the foals were out there, maybe they followed Sunset for some reason, I don't think we'll ever know.

As for what happened to Sunset herself that's a mystery too. Her cart was wrecked, but there was no blood, and nopony's seen hide or hair of her since the attack. My guess is she's hiding out somewhere out of the Realm by now. She's got the contacts and the skills to get into Griffonia without raising an alarm, and she'd know that there's no way in tartarus the griffons would extradite her even if she got caught by the Imperial Civic Guards while she was hiding out with her terrorist friends.

And that's all there is to say really. As odd as it feels to write this, things are almost completely back to normal now despite how horrific that night was. Though that reminds me, the service for the fallen was held last week. Mayor Mare insisted on hauling me up on stage to play hero for the townsponies, I tried to get out of it but she wouldn't listen. I knew it was going to be hard on Spike, but Rarity held him while I was up on stage and afterwards he hid between my forelegs like he used to do. He kept it together during the service but afterward I had to take him home so he could calm down. I read to him for a while and he fell asleep leaning on me, after which I took a nap myself. It was...pretty nice actually. Then Rainbow Dash woke us up later that afternoon and we all went out to eat at Horte's. Looking back on it I think they were all a bit shaken by the service like I was (Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie especially) and the...normalcy of finally having our weekly get together  with all of us there and none of us in recovery or having to leave early to deal with some kind of fallout from the attack was therapeutic.

Well, I think this has gone on long enough and Spike looks pretty tired so I'm going to call it here. I'm including complete copies of Iron Shod's report, the unaltered EDB report and Sunset's diary for your perusal (though I've clearly marked the icky parts of the latter so you won't have to read them).

Your faithful (and tired) student,

Dusk Shine.

P.S. Since you're insisting on dragging me and the others to the Gala I want to look into having either Shiny or Cadence look after Spike while I'm there. I'm hoping he won't be quite so clingy by the time the Gala rolls around but just in case he isn't I think it's best to have a back up plan. Besides, without any of the others here in Ponyville there aren't any ponies I feel safe foalsitting him.