//------------------------------// // Epistolary // Story: Rise of Ponietheus // by twitterdick //------------------------------// Dear Princess Celestia, As per your request, I've compiled a list of estimated crop damages by farm. Farm Staple Crop Est. Loss (%) Approx. value in bits (b.) Acorn Flats Wheat/Corn 28% 1,960b Amity Almonds Nuts/Asst. Veg. 43% 1,913.5b Clouded Night Corn/Barley 14% 513.1b Crisp Waters Asst. Fruit 32% 2,080b Dust Torn Alley Wheat/Asst. Veg. 34% 2,550b Glistening Amber Apples/Corn 19% 1,805b Honeybrew Orchid Honey/Asst. Fruit 23% 4,025b Meek Meadows Wheat/Asst. Veg. 48% 3,600b Merry Mires Asst. Veg. 27% 675b Sunburn Pastures Wheat/Corn 18% 1,260b Sunny Side Wheat/Barley 24% 1,599.6b Sweet Apple Acres Apples 33% 2,475b Tarred Wolfshead Corn/Barley 38% 1,392.7b Twisted Root Asst. Veg. 11% 275b Vestige Lands Wheat/Barley/Fruit 43% 5,661b Windy Willows Asst. Fruit 21% 1,365b Estimated Harvest Losses: 28.5% 33,149.9b Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle --- Dear Princess Celestia, As per your request, I've been keeping in close contact with my brother and Princess Cadence. While they do have some food and money to donate to us (15,000b and enough wheat and barley to cover around 7 or 8% of our lost crop), they send their regrets as to not being able to cover our loses. Word of food shortages is spreading and I think it would be wise to release an official statement regarding such. I can take care of that for you, if you wish. Reconstruction around Ponyville is going better than I'd expected. Nopony here likes Ponietheus, but he's actually been very helpful. He seems to know a great deal about masonry. I've caught him and Discord of all ponies(?) chatting together in a field near his home. I know better, or at least I hope I know better, but there's something odd about the way they creep around. I can't help but be suspicious. I don't fully trust him. I don't suppose I ever will, given the circumstances. Rainbow Dash absolutely loathes him and isn't quiet about, and I can tell Spike doesn't like him, but most other ponies at least seem to begrudgingly accept his being here - at least, as long as he's a servant to the state. I conducted an anonymous survey to garner an idea on public opinion of him and of your decision to offer him asylum. In a nutshell, neither he nor your decision are popular, but the nightmares induced by his storm are vaguely recalled as passing dreams and very few participants of the survey reported to any perceived psychological damage. I am hoping to conduct several clandestine experiments so that these results are more conclusive, and I of course am willing to submit them for approval. Please don't exhaust yourself, Princess. I'll attend to matters here. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle --- Dear Princess Celestia, I, Knight Commander Protean Joy, hereby humbly request to be placed with a small detachment into the personal command of Princess Twilight Sparkle. I also request permission to establish and maintain a small foreword operation base there to watch over the town and keep order. In light of recent events, I believe having boots in Ponyville would be wise strategically. Also, admittedly, I do not trust Harbinger. I've heard Discord's been slinking around near him as well. I'd like to personally keep an eye on matters there, as well as personally respond to any attempt by them to disturb the peace. I'll be awaiting your response. With Respect, Knight Commander Protean Joy P.S. Since you asked, I think you're right. Princess Twilight Sparkle is a natural leader and seems to operate well under stress, so long as she's with her friends. She's also taken initiative in the reconstruction efforts and holds herself personally accountable for them as well as informally mediating the relationship that the townsponies have with Harbinger. I am impressed and I do not impress easily. However, I also believe her weakness is her inexperience. That is also why I'd like to keep an eye on things. --- Dear Princess Celestia, I do hope that I'm not bothering you, it's just that all the critters have been acting very strangely. There's something rather off about them and I'm not so sure what to do. I know you must have so much on your mind, but I figured I'd at least voice my concern.They keep staring at a specific place in the sky at night, and they're really still. Does it have anything to do with the upcoming equinox? It's just got me a little worried, since we're still recovering from Ponietheus's attack. I don't think he's settled in very well, since you asked. I think he has a hard time making friends as it is, let alone trying to make friends with ponies he spent four days attacking. He's very comfortable around Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie, and I think he's warming up to me, but other than that he's very quiet and reserved around other ponies. We had a very pleasant conversation the other night. He was stargazing out in the meadow near my home, and I built up the courage to talk to him. He's strangely sweet and ask me lots of questions. He also told me a great deal about the planets, and about that equinox I mentioned before. He wouldn't give me any details about it, though. He said it would 'spoil the fun.' He seems to eat lots of candy, and frequents the candy store and the cake shop. That seems to be all he spends his money on. I think he'll fit in eventually and he's put a lot more effort into it than Discord ever has. He really is a sweetheart when you get to know him. With love, Fluttershy --- --- Dear Princess Celestia, First of Her Name, Rightful Monarch of the Kingdom of Equestria and all Her Holdings, Greetings. I am Lord Gyshwalle of House Rakeshire, steward to her royal majesty, Queen Gyrrasheda of the House of Fairbeak, Her Royal Majesty, Lady and Reverent Sovereign Monarch of the Lands of the Griffons and of All Her Protectorates. I am writing to you today at the behest of Her Grace as a response to your formal request of aid. Her Grace humbly accepts your offer of ten thousand bits annually for the next five years, to accept her son, Prince Hugo, as a personal student and to formally recognize her claim on the disputed island territories of Brownwolfe and Summerholme in exchange for a million bushels of wheat; half a million bushels each of barley, oats and rye; five thousand pounds of assorted fruit, mainly apples; and nearly three thousand pounds of assorted vegetables, such as corn, tomatoes and cabbage. Such will be delivered in five shipments bi-weekly, starting the week after next. Her Grace would ask you to send a small convoy to oversee the first shipment, and to safely escort her young son, Prince Hugo and his personal sworn knight back to Canterlot. As a gesture of good faith, Her Grace will include some one thousand pounds iron, steel and clay with the first shipment free of charge to assist in the repairs of your territories. Feel free to contact me if you have any concerns. Yours truly, Lord Gyshwalle of House Rakeshire --- Dear Princess Celestia, I'm sure I'm the last being you want to hear from, but Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie tell me I ought to write to you and tell you what I've learned. I don't know where to begin. Lots of things happen that are out of one's control, but you are the only one that decides what you let circumstance turn you into. It's easy to get caught up in it. It's easy to only see things from your own perspective. I was selfish and I was caught up inside what I thought was going on. I couldn't see things from an outside point of view and I couldn't leave it alone. I was blind. I suppose I still am. I considered myself a good being, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe good and bad aren't the way to look at it. Anyway, good and bad don't really seem to matter, but what I did was wrong. What I did to you and to this town was heinous and awful and I am so, so sorry. I only hope that one day I could be forgiven. I guess I've got a lot to make up for. Thank you for not killing me, caging me or casting me away. - Ponietheus of Hailcryon