A Brief Note

It's been six years basically to the day since the site tells me I published Friendship is Revolution, though obviously it took a while after that to finish it. It remains the only work of fiction I've ever finished.

It is nowhere near perfect, and one way I have mixed feelings about it is that it doesn't precisely identify exactly what the protests are about. There are a lot of reasons for that. Some are noble - I didn't want to turn Twilight and company into an outside force dictating the agenda of an earthly movement. Some less so; I was unsure at the time, and remain somewhat unsure, as to what the best remedies to our many woes would even be. So I had Twilight and company leave at the beginning of the process, when it looked likely we humans would pull through eventually, rather than at the end, when it was clear how. I still don't know if that was wise, or cowardly, or both.

But, here we are, six years later, and once again we're in the streets without any alien pony princesses to help out. And it would surely be cowardly for me not to use this very minor platform to point out that, if this story were set now, Twilight and her friends would be there. These protests have the noblest goals and are undoubtedly in line with the themes of Friendship is Magic, themes about protecting everyone, welcoming everyone into society, and listening to and respecting the experiences of others.

And there is something everyone can do here. There's a pandemic on, so many of us can't march, or need to quarantine for a while after. Not all of us can afford to donate. But we can all work to make our spaces safer. We can all learn about and denounce racism and bigotry. We can all boost the words of Black and other excluded people, and speak out against fascism and hate. This moment is full of people using their own weird knowledge to help out, in ways I'd have never expected, from Kpop fans flooding police scanners to LARPers teaching people to make signs that double as shields, to all sorts I've no doubt missed.

To me, that is the definition of harmony - a song made more beautiful by the variety of notes. I hope everyone who found some joy or comfort in this silly story passes it on by doing at least a little bit today and in the days ahead.

Thanks for reading. Black lives matter.