• Member Since 5th Jan, 2012
  • offline last seen Aug 20th, 2015

Dark Side of the Rainboom


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UPDATE: The arguments made are outdated. I won't delete this story, but I don't recommend reading it if you expect a good story. It's totally not.

Dear Princess Celestia.......
There's a method of therapy where when you're mad at someone, you write them a letter, then shred it. Twilight loves her mentor, but something got her thinking about Celestia and all the bad she's done. This isn't the story of how that happened, this is the letter she writes.

Author's Note: AH HA! It passed moderation. Thank Luna. You see, I didn't want to write it like this; it was supposed to by MY letter to Celestia. It was my feelings on a few things I didn't like about our beloved princess. I still love her of course but I just needed to vent.

Chapters (2)
Comments ( 8 )

242873 What do you not get? Haven't you ever heard of a type of therapy where you write an angry letter to someone and then you throw it out? That's what this is?

PS: If you dislike this story could you please state why?

Haha,I thought this was quite well done, as Twilight would certainly be in the best place to analytically break down some of the decisions Celestia had made. :twilightsheepish:
Now that I think about it, I would love to see a follow up where she leaves it on the desk and Spike sends it off to the Princess without asking her, so much fun to be had :moustache:

Hmm...I could certainly see somepony or other writing a letter like that, but, whether it's actually meant to be sent or not, I'm not convinced Twilight Sparkle in particular ever would. She's simply not the type to, well, attack her beloved mentor like that, even for purely therapeutic purposes. So it comes across as just out of character enough to raise the question just who is having issues with the matters brought up in the text here -- Twilight, or the author?

That the opening complaint is about the Everfree Forest of all things doesn't really help, either. In the show, the forest honestly is never shown to be that much of a threat -- the monsters seem to be generally content to stay within its borders, so as long as you use your common pony sense and stay outside you're safe enough. Appropriately enough, we have yet to see anypony at all suggest that it needs to go, so blaming specifically the Princess for the fact that it still exists comes rather far out of the left field. (Besides which, do we really want to risk touching off a flame war about whether ponies are more or less environmentally conscious than humans? "Let's torch some more useless rainforest to make room for farmland" is one of those issues in real life as it is...)

243157 Indeed. You see, this was actually MY letter to Celestia. However, the mods here are very... picky about what they allow on (as far as just how the story is formatted, not the actual content) so I had to switch my character to a different character. As far as the Everfree is concerned: look at the previous sentence. This is written from a PERSON'S point of view, not a pony's. Unless you read it as a pony's point of view then Twilight just doesn't like the Everfree with all the first hoof experience she's had with it. Actually, now that I mention it....

Reading it as your letter, as opposed to Twilights's, a rebuttal:

1. Everfree Forest: Yes, the Everfree is wild and dangerous, filled will all manner of flora and fauna varying from neutral to irritating to outright hostile. The dangers of the forest are the very reason that ponies are taught to avoid it. In defense of the Everfree, the untamed variance of this wilderness has brought forth many wonders that equines could not dream to have developed on their own, such as the many medicinal plants that Zebras use for potions in lieu of magic (how else would unicorns figure out how to mimic those effects through magic?).
Instead of letting her fear of danger lead her towards razing the Everfree out of hoof, perhaps Her Majesty recognized that there was more to the forest than a pony deathtrap, that there were unknown possibilities that could be harnessed into opportunity by many little ponies to come. One such example of pony ingenuity harnessing the Everfree for the betterment of all comes into play in the founding of Ponyville itself. Without Granny Smith's discovery (and subsequent study and understanding) of Zap Apples, Ponyville would not have had the very product that turned the settlement into a trading center: Zap Apple Jam.
The dangers of the Everfree are real and should not be underestimated. Neither should its benefits (known and unknown) be ignored. The Everfree is a fascinating feature of Equestria's geography, one that this one hopes will be explored and understood to its fullest one day.

2. Twilight Sparkle: While only conjecture can be used to imagine how the Princess mentored Twilight, is it not a rather egregious assumption that Princess Celestia would stress timeliness and punctuality in all things to such an extent that it caused trauma to her pupil? While Twilight's duty as a filly was limited to her sessions with the Princess as well as any classes she took in addition, the Princess had various affairs of state, disaster relief, and her own personal time to juggle. Perhaps Twilight's neurotic tendencies were born by her attempts to emulate her mentor and longtime idol's adherence to a busy schedule (A rather impossible standard, as Her Majesty has had years of practice).
As you mentioned, it is clear that Twilight's relocation and interponyal developments have drastically improved her character. Is that not proof of the Princess' ability as a mentor, regardless of her own self-interest in the matter (rekindling the Elements)?
As for punishing Twilight, what benefit would there be from a harsh punishment? Twilight was sent to Ponyville to study the magic of friendship, and has learned from quite a few incidents (such as the one you mentioned and the parasprite disaster) that communication is a complicated and essential part of friendship, and that hindsight is 20/20. She understood the brevity of her mistake, her friends learned that her neuroticism didn't always manifest in positive ways (such as her splendid job with the Winter Wrap-Up), and no one was left worse for wear (with exception to Twilight's missing doll and the Cutie Mark Crusaders' burst ball). As a bonus, Her Majesty now receives reports from all 6 Elements, allowing Her to develop relationships with them further (and giving each Element even more in common with Twilight, enhancing their own friendship). Why punish when you have a solution where everypony wins?

3. Luna: While the exact circumstances regarding Luna's transformation into NightMare Moon remain unclear... everypony makes mistakes, even the immortal Princesses (as you have so boldly addressed). Despite this, standards have to be maintained in order to have a semblance of society. Ultimately, everypony is responsible for his or her own actions and, to a lesser extent, feelings. To think that anypony can be held solely accountable for the feelings (and subsequent actions) of somepony else is absurd.
That said, that does not absolve Princess Celestia of all responsibility to her sister and to the ponies of Equestria. To her sister, Celestia owes love and support in Luna's endeavors, as well as the conflicting responsibility of not meddling in Luna's affairs (they are co-rulers after all). To Equestria, Celestia owes some measure of safety from threats, internal and external (through the social contract). Though prevention is indeed the best medicine, there is a limit to how much effort you put in can effect outcome. Sometimes, random or unforeseeable events have much more of a hoof in how things turn out than anything else.
Regarding Luna's feelings, everypony bears some responsibility for failing to appreciate, or even acknowledge the beauty of the night. Despite that, Luna, as one of Equestria's rulers, had access to all the resources (if not the influence) her position entitled her to. Instead of trying to forcibly change the ponies of the past by forcing the night, could Princess Luna not have helped ponies conquer their fears instead? By teaching ponies to deal with the dangers and darkness of the night, and by seeking out and educating ponies with night-related cutie marks and special talents, could Luna not have had more of a hoof in how Equestria advanced?
Perhaps Princess Celestia doesn't fault Luna for not taking a longer, wiser path. After all, its quite possible Luna had been doing as much as she could, but to no avail. Regardless, Luna's feelings of jealousy and despair were instrumental in her transformation, and that is a burden Princess Luna must bear.
No rebuttal regarding the length of NightMare Moon's exile. Though we are not privvy to Princess Celestia's knowledge of the Elements of Harmony and their workings, It seems to be rather unreasonable and contrived.
(Note: recent evidence gathered upon Luna's return has suggested that her transformation was the work of some external evil influence. While Luna can be faulted that her feelings may have left her vulnerable to possession, this theory would exempt her from responsibility for her actions as NightMare Moon.)
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Loved the concept and the execution, even if I disagree with the contents. Good work!

I was really tempted to put italics in implying that the rebuttal was penned by Celestia, with some tongue-in-cheek back at Twilight, but If I did that I'd have to just go ahead and try to Surreptitiously submit this as a separate fic! :derpytongue2:

247405 And THAT is why I love a good argument. Strong opinions and theories to support each side. There are very good points you made and other things that make a fine rebuttal. I take my hat off to your well constructed argument and appreciate the time you took to write it. Thank you for that read; it was quite enjoyable.

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