“Dear Princess Celestia,
Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!
I made an amazing discovery!
Oh, how do I word this?! Spike, don’t write that one down!
Sometimes, the truth can be difficult to talk about. While it's always good to tell the truth, especially to your friends, sometimes a lie is easier to tell and hurts less for everypony involved. But a lie is still a lie, even if that lie was said to protect others. Telling the truth can be one of the hardest things a pony may do, and it’s even harder still if that truth is spoken after telling, and living, the lie. It takes a lot of courage to come forward and tell everypony the truth, and Zinnia may just be the most courageous pony I have ever met.
I am writing this letter to you, as what Zinnia has shared with us may be important to the safety of Equestria as a whole, and sheds a lot of light on the mysteries surrounding the magical disturbances that ceased around the time of her discovery.
Zinnia isn’t from our world! In fact, she wasn’t a pony either until she found herself alone in the Everfree. I can’t even begin to imagine how terrifying it must have been for her to have been so close to death, only to be thrown into an entirely new world with a new body and being totally unable to use it properly. Her skills as a survivalist, coupled with her unbelievable luck, were the only reasons she survived as long as she did.
The closest thing in our world that resembles what she used to be is an ape, though her breed was significantly less hairy and significantly more intelligent. I wanted to dig deeper and learn as much as I could from her in our initial conversation, but her reluctance to talk about her past prevented me from doing so as much as Rainbow Dash’s shouting. (I will explain)
She explained that her world was devoid of magic of any kind, and that her species was the only one considered sentient. This answers quite a few questions I had about her. Specifically the dangerously low levels of magic that her medical reports had shown, and her fear of being ‘othered’ were she to have revealed herself sooner. Apparently, her kind has a tendency to fear that which they don’t understand to the point of reacting violently (A trait that she thankfully doesn’t seem to share with most of her species, as far as I can tell.)
As to how she arrived here: She confirmed that during the magical disturbances that occurred shortly after the use of the Elements of Harmony to reform Nightmare Moon she experienced similar disturbances in her world. Those disturbances frightened her so badly that she fled her camp in the middle of the night and ran off a cliff, where she thankfully fell through a particularly large disturbance and into Equestria. I’m unsure how a world devoid of magic could still display evidence of magical disturbances like those here in our world, but I speculate that powerful enough instances of Equestrian magic may have far reaching consequences.
While I am personally very excited to have Zinnia as a friend, and am glad that she felt comfortable enough around us to tell us about who she really is, I’m afraid that not everypony else feels the same.
Of course, Pinkie Pie and Rarity took the news the best. Both of them were just happy that Zinnia trusted us enough to reveal her secret. Fluttershy was a bit, well, shy at first but she quickly joined Pinkie and Rarity in accepting Zinnia.
Applejack was pretty upset with her. As the Element of Honesty, it must have felt especially sharp for her to learn that Zinnia had covered up who she was for so long. She eventually came around though. AJ is one of the most understanding ponies I know, so it didn’t take her too long to put herself in Zinnia’s horseshoes and understand her point of view and why she felt the way she did.
Rainbow Dash, however… I’m worried that she may not have taken it too well at all. Shortly after Zinnia told us the truth about who she was, Rainbow yelled at her. A lot. She said that Zinnia broke her trust. ‘How can I believe anything you said was ever true? How can I believe that you really are our friend? You promised me that you’d stay in Ponyville and that we were the best friends you had in Equestria! Best friends don’t lie to each other like that! Some best friend you are!’
After that she bolted out of the library, and I haven’t seen her at all today. Zinnia was really upset about it too. She already looked exhausted after we returned from convincing the dragon to leave but after what Rainbow said to her, she looked devastated. Applejack decided that it was a good idea to let Zinnia rest, and Fluttershy helped console and walk her back to Sweet Apple Acres. I really hope Rainbow and Zinnia can work this out. They were so close, and I’d hate to see them lose such a wonderful friendship over Zinnia trying to do the right thing.
Maybe if we can reason with Rainbow, we can get Zinnia to come out of her room. Applejack said Zinnia hasn’t left her room today, which isn’t like her at all. Rarity and I are going to have a talk with Rainbow Dash later today to see if we can get her to understand how Zinnia feels.
I will continue to keep you informed on her condition, as I am confident that you are just as invested in Zinnia’s well-being as we are.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle.”