Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,
As much as I’d like this to be a regular update or a simple hello, I’m writing to you regarding a discovery that is both exciting and disturbing.
You are well acquainted with my friend Pinkie Pie, as well as her lighthearted personality and many of her quirks. You may recall that she has an uncanny ability to predict imminent events through sudden twitches and sensations, something she calls “The Pinkie Sense.” Examples of this include a pinchy knee (something scary is about to happen), a twitchy tail (something is about to fall), and a wide range of other sensations and combinations. Though I still don’t understand how it works or why, I’ve seen it in action and have come to trust it. It is through Pinkie’s ability, a close examination of the time I’ve spent in Ponyville, and my own intuition that we have come to our conclusions.
I know it doesn’t sound very scientific, but it feels right so just hear me out.
In discussion with Pinkie, we discovered that the day I first arrived in Ponyville, Pinkie began feeling a sensation she’d never felt before: a “warm-and-fuzzy tummy”. It was subtle, almost unnoticeable, but Pinkie knew that it had something to do with her Pinkie Sense. Since I always seemed to be around her when she felt it, she first thought that it meant I was somewhere nearby. But as time passed, she concluded that that wasn’t the case. She found it would manifest most often when she or any of her close friends (specifically Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and I), was going through some kind of major learning experience. It seems that, as a general rule of hoof, if an event resulted in a report on friendship or an entry in our friendship journal, Pinkie would experience the warm-and-fuzzy tummy during the event.
However, learning a lesson on friendship is not what Pinkie came to associate the warm-and-fuzzy tummy with. It means that, in her own words, “somepony nice is watching [her].” This conclusion came from the fact that whenever she felt it, she would also get a vague sense that somepony, perhaps a whole group, was watching her actions with a vested interest in her well-being and success. Though the sensation wasn’t specific enough to identify who or what these creatures were, or where they hail from, it did give a sense of what they were feeling at that moment. Pinkie reports that the “vibes” she got from them were comparable to her own and that they ran a full range of emotions. At times these feelings would be so strong, she reports getting a distinct idea of the viewers’ perspective and going so far as to address them directly, almost like they were her own personal audience, even though to anypony else it would appear that she was speaking to nopony at all.
All through these events, she never felt compelled to tell anypony about these watchers, her reasoning being that they never felt threatening to her and that she didn’t want to violate what she felt was a private relationship with these spectators. She describes the “warm-and-fuzzy tummy” like a security blanket or a favorite toy you don’t get rid of because of its personal significance. No need to tell anypony about something they likely wouldn’t understand, she thought.
She likely never would have told anypony about it, if the warm-and-fuzzy tummy hadn’t inexplicably stopped after the return and defeat of Tirek.
Pinkie reports that, while the feeling came intermittently, it would never be more than a few weeks between episodes, a couple of moons at most. They were most frequent during the spring and summer, with occasional occurrences during the fall and winter, but they always came. So when the feeling failed to manifest, Pinkie began to worry. She had grown so used to the feeling that her life felt empty without it. After moons of waiting, the emptiness was driving her to distraction, so much so that it drew my concern and lead to our mutual discoveries.
Celestia, Luna, the implications of this are incredible! If all these observations are to be taken as fact (which I know is a stretch by any scientific view), then some entity, perhaps an entire group of entities, has been but is not currently observing Equestria from someplace beyond normal pony perceptions. They appear to have taken special interest in my friends and I, tracking our growth and bearing silent and affable witness to our accomplishments. I speculate they must have some level of omniscience, since they could not have been observing the right place at the right time otherwise. And if they are omniscient, then we must also consider the possibility of omnipotence!
It will take some time to compile all of my notes on the subject, but I expect you will want to see them as soon as I do. In the meantime, I ask for your wisdom and guidance. Have either of you sensed any foreign presence in Equestria in the last few years? Do you know of anything or anyone that could behave in this manner or wield such a level of power? Most importantly, what do you think we should do about it?
Under Pinkie Promise, both Pinkie and I will keep our observations to ourselves until we know your thoughts on the matter, though I think the rest of The Six and Princess Cadence should be informed as well. I know you trust my judgment and I feel that, as Equestria’s leaders and protectors, we must learn all we can and prepare for whatever truths we uncover. We anxiously await your response.
Your Fellow Princess, your Friend,
Twilight Sparkle
Pinkie Pie stood at the counter in Sugar Cube Corner, frosting in hoof, decorating her latest batch of confections. She hummed a simple happy tune to herself, her mind drifting over the events of the last few weeks. Her talks with Twilight had lead to what she thought were some awesome discoveries: It was entirely possible that a whole bunch of possible friends had been watching her and her friends ever since Twilight came to Ponyville. Pinkie still didn’t know who they were or why they had been watching or why they didn’t just introduce themselves, but she knew for sure that they were nice.
So much nicer that that Itchy-Neck-Pony she had picked up on a few times over the last few moons, but now she knew who that somepony had been and that she was trying to be a friend now.
Twilight had written a letter to the other Princesses, telling Celestia and Luna about what they had discovered and asking what they thought about it. They had responded very quickly, saying that even they didn’t know of anything quite like what Pinkie had described. Celestia and Luna had instructed Twilight to inform the rest of their friends about what they had learned, but that each of them would be under Pinkie Pie Promise not to tell anypony else, unless all the Princesses said otherwise. They also asked Pinkie to be on the alert for any signs that The Observers were back and to tell Twilight about it as soon as she felt them again, to which Pinkie had enthusiastically agreed. She, more than anypony else, wanted to know when her audience came back. Maybe even meet them.
It had done wonders for her mood to talk about them with Twilight and get her worries off her chest. Her baking was almost back to normal. Still a trace of distractedness here and there, but nothing a little extra frosting couldn’t cover.
Pinkie dabbed the last few designs onto her cupcakes, then set aside her baking tools and made to put the tray into the front counter display. Then, with a clatter, the tray fell to the ground. Pinkie’s eyes widened. A huge smile formed on her muzzle, stretching from ear to ear. Ecstatic giggles bubbled up from her barrel.
There it was: A Warm-And-Fuzzy Tummy.
“Helloooooo Everybody!!!”
In a flash of Pink, the party pony was gone.
In a realm beyond Equestria, a creature sat with a bewildered expression on its face. In one hand was what looked like a featherless, blunt pen, frozen above an apparent writing or drawing surface. Its eyes were fixed on the place where a pink Earth Pony had just disappeared. After a spell of palpable silence, the creature finally found its voice.
"What just happened?"