Regarding: Gary Stu

by Bed Head

Dear Gary Stu

To:  Princesses Celestia and Luna

Re:  Witness statements

I have a strange unique an interesting situation, your majesties.  As requested I’ve met once again with Miss Twilight Sparkle in order to gather the statements of her and her friends regarding the current investigation.

It seems, however, that I’m going to have to disappoint you.  Apparently everypony here (plus Spike) has come to the agreement that they’ve already told you all they know about the matter regarding Gary Stu.

They are, rather adamantly in a few cases, insisting on talking to Mister Stu himself.

I’ve explained to them that Gary Stu can’t be disturbed before you yourselves have had a chance to speak with him.  When that failed to convince a few of them I brought up my orders to keep them at Carousel Boutique.  After a few, admittedly hectic, minutes during which Miss Rainbow Dash seemed a little too eager to test whether or not I could keep her from leaving; Miss Sparkle came up with a compromise.

So included with this report is a letter, written by those I was sent to question and intended for Gary Stu.  My apologies for failing to get any official statements.  It of course falls to your majesties’ judgement whether or not Mister Stu receives this message.

Addendum:

If I might make a personal note, Princesses?

I’m really hoping you show it to him.

I read the letter myself before allowing it to be included in my report, of course.  Between that and what Twilight Miss Sparkle and her friends have told me about this whole mess

Let me put it this way:  Were I in their hooves, whether Gary is punished or not, I don’t think things would sit right if I didn’t get a chance to say something to him.

Dear Gary Stu,

I’m really not sure where to start with all this.

I guess I owe you an apology.  After spending the whole day seeing the ways everypony else reacted to my discovery I think I can understand why you might have wanted to keep those story disks hidden.  All my yelling and imprisoning you was out of line, and even if I did so under Princess Celestia’s request it might have been better if I’d at least consulted with you before informing the rest of my friends about what I’d learned.

So, for whatever it’s worth, I’m sorry Gary.  Looking back on it all I can only imagine my reaction was probably exactly the sort you’d been afraid of.

Unfortunately that’s not the only reason I’m we’re writing to you like this.

You’ve really thrown us all for a loop, sugarcube.  I still ain’t certain whether or not it was better that you helped me out this morning.  Maybe if it were just me I’d let this whole things slide and figure you learned something important from it, but considering the circumstances

You lied to us.  You lied to all of us.  The only reason you ever believed in any of us was because you already saw the way things could’ve been!  What’s it matter that you backed us up if you already knew

It doesn’t matter that you cheered us on because you never thought we’d fail

I believe what Rainbow Dash is trying to say is that it’s hard to see what value any faith you put in us had if, thanks to your story disks, you never had any room to doubt in the first place.

(The poor dear doesn’t want to admit it but she’s been rather shaken since that thought occurred to her.  It’s hard to blame her.  With the way you stepped in on so many of our adventures I myself find it hard to think you ever had much confidence in us to start with despite all you’d foreseen.)

It sure doesn’t feel like you believed in me.  I remember when you talked me out of running away because of Owlowiscious, or during my first birthday in Ponyville when I got greedy about my presents and you talked me down.

This isn’t even just about the Crystal Empire anymore!  Anytime things started to go a little wrong for me you just jumped right in.  I thought you were trying to be my friend.  I still want to!  But after everything else it just feels like you didn’t think I could handle solving those problems or learning a lesson on my own.

Hey don’t worry!  Fluttershy and I both think that you probably thought you were helping (she’s just feeling a little too shy right now to write it out herself).  Still, maaaaaaaaybe you should’ve come and asked me before messing around with stuff you knew or thought you knew was gonna happen!  After all, nopony knows future-knowledge-that-probably-definitely-will-happen-but-maybe-not-the-way-you-expect better than Pinkie Pie!

Which actually brings us to the real point of this letter.

As you can see, even after talking it over for so long, our opinions on this are still quite scattered.  We’re angry, hurt, saddened, betrayed

Most importantly, we’re all confused.  Even those of us that want to believe in your good intentions need to ask:

Why, Gary?

Why did you do it?

Dear Twilight

Dear Spike

Everypony,

I’m sorry.

I wish I knew what else I could say, but that’s it.

Celestia Princess Celestia showed me your letter.  Before she even asked me anything herself she showed it to me and said I needed to read it.  She showed me all the letters you guys have been sending each other all day.

I messed this up.  I messed this up so bad and I know it.  I think I’ve known it for a long time I just

I’m sorry.  It’s hard to think straight like this.  I guess I should answer your question first.

Rarity, you were actually pretty much right about this whole thing.  I don’t think you really can imagine what it’s been like for me though.  It’s like

I can’t even think of a good example without using spoilers “future knowledge” but I guess it can’t hurt anymore now, right?  I’ll try not to be too specific at least.

Imagine if you guys got pulled into one of Spike’s comics.  Or a Daring Do book.  Would it be any fun if you just spent the whole time watching the story and getting rescued from the bad guys?  Do you think you’d be happy just being the sidekick while the heroes save the day?

That’s me.  That was me exactly when I showed up in the Everfree Forest and met you guys.  I knew where I was, I knew when I was, and I was just too excited.  I had a chance to adventure with you guys!  Everything I’d seen back in my world, I’d get to be a part of!  But I was scared too.  If I did something wrong I might mess things up and leave Equestria in a really bad place.  But still, this was a once in a lifetime shot.

That’s when I figured it’d be okay, as long as the stories ended the same.  Which was also about the time I decided to signal to AJ that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were moving to catch Twilight when she fell.

“Aww, it weren’t all me.  Gary’s the one that pointed these two out after I grabbed ya!  Good thing he was here!”

It felt so amazing to hear that.  So I just kept helping.  At first I just let the adventures happen and tried to be close by when they did.  I’d give you guys a little advice and get things going.  It’s why I let Rarity fall up in Cloudsdale or just let Fluttershy be a nervous wreck while we were climbing up to that dragon nest.

I guess it all started to go to my head though.  You guys started to come to me when problems were coming up.  Or sometimes before they were coming up, like with that surprise party you wanted to throw for Pinkie Pie.  I started to think it wouldn’t hurt things if I helped you guys get away from some of the weirder or more embarrassing stuff I’d seen.  I mean, it’s not like Pinkie needed to think you guys didn’t want to be her friends anymore.  And it’d be mean if I just let Spike run into the Everfree Forest because Twilight got a new pet, right?

It all just kept getting bigger and bigger and I just kept telling myself it was okay because things happened like the episodes stories I’d seen.  Rainbow Dash made the Sonic Rainboom, Rarity still found out Blueblood was a big jerk, Applejack’s family won that cider-making bet with Flim and Flam.

The Crystal Empire was where I started to get worried.  When Spike sent me to help Twilight instead of running off himself I started to wonder if I’d gone too far.

I tried, Spike.  I really did try to put you back in the spotlight but everything happened so fast after I caught up to Twilight that I didn’t see any other choice than to jump in myself.  I was scared because I knew this time I’d changed something big.

Then I saw the statue the Crystal Ponies were building of me and my own window in Canterlot.

I’m terrible and I’m sorry.  I should have stopped it right then and there but remember what I said before?  About how it wouldn’t be any fun to be a sidekick?  That was the first time I really felt like I’d been a hero in this story.  I just told myself it was okay because we kept winning and the bad guys lost so there wasn’t any difference in the long run.

But there was a difference.  A big one.  The whole situation happened because I’d messed things up to the point where you guys relied on me for so much and then when Twilight found those disks

My first thought should have been “Oh no, I’ve seen what happens when Twilight learns about the future.”

Instead I thought “Oh crud, I’m in so much trouble.”

I only wanted to feel like I was part of your world.  Like I was helping you guys!  But you’re all right.  Whatever my reasons were I acted so selfishly.  You guys would have been heroes with or without me.  I never even gave you guys a choice about whether or not I should help.

I’m sorry.

I don’t know what else I can say.

My most faithful student,

It would seem we’re nearly at the close of this case, as Gary’s letter to you and your friends has no doubt implied.  As it stands, however, Luna and I are in something of a conundrum.

Gary has confessed to acting selfishly.  To knowing, if not at first then eventually, that he was robbing ponies of their glory and posturing himself as a hero that (in his own opinion) he does not deserve to be.  All parties on this end agreed that Mister Stu and his future knowledge can not be permitted to impact Equestria any further than it already has.

Which left us at a loss for what to do with him.  The story disks can be destroyed, but Gary himself is another issue.  I would not deign to execute a creature that seems so sincerely repentant for his actions, even if such punishments were enforced in Equestria.  While his memories of the future knowledge could be removed, the spell required risks significant damage to his personality and would be fruitless in any respect with the evidence of his works still present in our world.  While banishment or imprisonment are options, they are ones neither Luna nor I wish to exercise lightly.  Even were he banished, Gary has nowhere else he could go in our world and we have yet to discover a way to return him to his own.  To make him wander lost in the inhospitable lands beyond Equestria’s borders is a fate I would inflict upon no creature, regardless of their crimes.

Which brings us to you, my little ponies.

A suggestion was offered by Luna.  One that, in theory, would remove all danger and damage Gary Stu and his future knowledge have visited upon Equestria.  Upon placing the proposition to him, Mister Stu accepted.  He truly seems to believe it is the only way to redeem himself.

Included with this letter, Twilight, is an outline of the plan along with the formula of the spell that you, along with Princess Luna and myself, will need to cast.  I am trusting you to interpret and explain it to your friends as, given the differing circumstances between the story disks and our current reality, this plan can only be implemented with the assistance of all six Elements of Harmony.

Discuss carefully amongst yourselves.  I leave the decision in your hooves.

Dear Princess Celestia,

We understand.  All of us, Spike included, are in agreement.

Gather the Elements of Harmony.  We’ll meet you at the Castle of the Two Sisters.