The Best of All Possible Worlds
Translated from the Equine by McPoodle
“To hold a pen is to be at war. This world is one vast temple consecrated to discord.”
—Voltaire to Marie-Louise Denis, May 5, 1752
Introduction
In the basement beneath the Canterlot branch of the Rich Family Bank, there was once a unique collection of artifacts from the outer lands, the result of a lifetime’s obsession by the younger sister of the bank’s founder. This informal museum was open to employees of the bank, as well as to anypony who asked really nicely.
The author had the privilege of visiting this location on multiple occasions, before an unfortunate incident involving a brownie recipe and a weaponized parasprite caused it to be dismantled, and the artifacts donated to the Palace for safekeeping. The highlights of that collection included a scrap of barding (all that remained of the heroic griffon Captain Otto after he gave his life for the Princesses), a dragon scale that had passed through the Astral Plane, an airtight vial of a semi-solid pink substance that only moved when you didn’t look at it, and a harmless-looking piece of machined coral called a “sell phony” that boasted the tightest security of the entire museum.
The least noticeable of the artifacts were a couple of metal items mounted under a glass case upon a red velvet stand, dating nearly two hundred and fifty years before the return of Nightmare Moon. One of them was a pocket watch, long since wound down, and the other was a large silver coin embossed with an elaborate seal involving an eagle and a regal crown of an unfamiliar style. A good deal of research eventually revealed that the watch was in fact the first watch in the history of Equestria, indeed the first advanced non-magical machine ever seen by pony eyes. The coin was most unusual for what was depicted on its hidden face: the bust of a human, surrounded by the legend “FRIDERICVS BORVSSORVM REX” in the human script: Friedrich, King of Prussia.
Discussion of these finds with Princess Celestia revealed the existence of a detailed set of notes compiled by an ancestor of the author who actually met the visiting human these items are tied to. With the current interest being shown by the public in humans and human affairs, it was thought that this might be the best time to share the details of the visit by this human to the court of Canterlot, and the surprising role a young Equestrian had in these affairs.
I am intrigued...
This could be going somewhere...
1207309
Weeping Angels are not the only thing that moves when you don't look at it. Think something more...Lovecraftian (and 1st Generation).
1207418The Smooze?
Voltaire I recall one of the other philosophers was Rousseau right?
2321802
Yes, they lived at the same time, although they didn't get along. Then again, Voltaire was a bit of a grump, so he didn't get along well with most anybody.
Rousseau (if I remember correctly) was the one praising the "noble savage", with the idea that civilization promoted inequalities that wouldn't exist in an ideal state of nature. He and Voltaire were sort of twin intellectual inspirations for the French Revolution: Rousseau for equality and Voltaire for the right to free speech.
Alright, let's get to it.
Time to finally start one of the oldest fics sitting in my RiL bookshelf!
Away!