Dear Princess Celestia,
I finished learning a lesson today.
I’ve been learning this lesson for my entire life; my brother started to teach me when I was a filly, then you picked up where he left off and now, my friends have finished teaching me this lesson.
I’ve learnt the final lesson about friendship.
Friends do a lot of things, they support you when you are trying to succeed, they are there to calm you down when things get out of hoof and they are also there to make your life more interesting.
And you do the same thing for them because you’re their friend too.
But these are all things that your family can do, that any community can do. What makes friends unique is also what we look for in life. They are the ones with no obligation to help you, yet they stick by you all the same. There is no bond of blood between friends and there is no compulsory promise to show you the tricks of life.
But there is an unseen attraction between friends, one that is only formed when you realise that they bring a smile to your face every time you see them and they can brighten up your day, just by being near. Friends can be inscrutable, and they can also be incompatible, but they can still come together without any conflict. Who they are as individuals doesn’t matter, it is the result of their companionship that overcomes their seemingly repelling natures.
Friends are the ones that help you realise this.
No one other than a friend can teach this lesson, and no one other than a friend is qualified. They do not need to be aware of how important they are too you, nor do they need to be at the forefront of philosophical innovation. Instead, they just need to know that they have a friend in you too.
They force you to come out of your shell and they accept you for whoever you may be, without question. They don’t laugh at you, they laugh with you, and they will never abandon you for their own selfish reasons.
And you should do the same.
Sadly, this is a lesson learnt, and not implemented.
I wish I could say that I was able to put this lesson to use, but the way by which I learnt it prevents me from doing so. It is not something that I can easily talk about, so I will spare the details, but know that today I have made an incredibly important decision.
I’ve made the decision to leave my friends.
For years, I’ve lived in Ponyville, and there’s never a dull day. There’s always something going on; if it’s not one of Pinkie Pie’s unpredictable whims, it’s one of Rainbow’s pranks or one of Apple Bloom’s attempts at earning her cutie mark.
Shining Armour had to put up with that for a few years as well. He tells me that I was unbearable during my “blank flank” phase.
Ponyville is a quaint town, and it is much simpler than my home in Canterlot. I do miss my spire where I would practise my magic just as you had instructed, and I do miss my family, but over the years I’ve realised that my friends are worth so much more to me. Without them, Ponyville would have been no different from my old life and I would have never left Golden Oaks Library. Even now, after all these years, they are still the reason why I love Ponyville.
But they can’t be for much longer.
Like I said, friends will support you no matter what you do. I have to encourage them; they’d do the same for me.
I can’t ask them to abandon their dreams and to tend to my needs. They’re ponies of their own right and as such they have their own dreams, their own aspirations.
They’re growing up, and we’re growing apart.
It’s become a lot harder for us to stay friends, and it takes more sacrifice than it should for us to just organise a day out together. Rainbow has left Ponyville all together and she’s travelling with the Wonderbolts. Applejack has taken over the farm; Rarity is sending a hundred unique dresses to Canterlot a fortnight; Fluttershy is attending veterinary school; and Pinkie is starting to go crazy. She thinks that we’re not friends anymore, but I can’t say I disagree. It doesn’t feel like we are anymore.
They’re all busy, but this is just what they’ve been waiting for all their lives, isn’t it?
Rainbow’s always wanted to be a Wonderbolt; there are countless posters in her room and the memorabilia outnumbers the ponies of Ponyville. Applejack has worked on the farm her whole life, and the farm was the reason she got her cutie mark. She was born to work there, and I’ve never seen her frown since the day she took over. Rarity has been hoping for a chance to be a world-renown designer and this may well be it. Even Sweetie Belle’s leaving her alone. And Fluttershy just loves animals. I’m surprised she didn’t do this sooner.
I can’t say anything about Pinkie, but I know that she’ll be fine. She’ll make new friends, and she’ll live a happy life with them, after the six of us have gone our separate ways. Rarity will move to Canterlot as soon as she has a chance. Mr and Mrs Cake are moving to Fillydelphia which means that Pinkie needs to go with them since she can’t afford to buy a house, nor can she afford to rent a home in Ponyville without some serious reduction. Fluttershy will get a job somewhere that has a higher percentage of pet owners, but I’m sure she won’t stay in Ponyville after she graduates.
Applejack would be the only one of us left in Ponyville, but she’ll be fine. She’s a strong pony, dependable and truthful. As you would expect from the Element of Honesty.
We’ve been through a lot together as the Elements of Harmony, and even more as friends. Parties, adventures, the good and the bad -- we’ve seen so much and we’ve learnt so much that we’ll spend years just retelling the tales of our friendship.
It was a hard decision to make, but it’ll be even harder to spend my first night away from my friends and away from my home.
I hope they’ll miss me, because that would mean that I had a place in their lives, but I know that I’ll miss them. I may be able to make new friends as my life goes on princess, but I know that I’ll never be able to replace them. I don’t want to either.
Maybe someday we’ll meet again, and maybe I’ll learn another lesson about friendship -- one that I missed because I was too busy living it. For now, they need me to go.
They need to live their dreams. When all of us are the ponies that we’ve always wanted to be, then we can meet again and reminisce about the years we spent together and the years we didn’t. We can tell stories of the trials that we faced alone, and we can share the aspirations we still have.
Until then, I’ll try my best to meet new ponies. It’ll be hard, but maybe I’ll meet someone as delightful as Pinkie Pie, or as cool as Rainbow Dash.
Who knows?
They are my friends, and they’ve been there for me ever since you sent me to Ponyville. But there’s nothing that says friends will always be there, that you’ll always have them.
This doesn’t have to be a bad thing though. I can start over now. A chance to follow in the hoofsteps of my friends and achieve my dream, whatever it is.
Thank you princess, for sending me to Ponyville all those years ago. If it weren’t for you, my life would not have a fraction of a fraction of the meaning it does right now.
Thank you princess.
Maybe I’ll send you another letter at some point, but for now, this is goodbye.
Thank you for all the lessons you’ve taught me princess.
Thank you for guiding me to the path that I’ve always been looking for, but failed to find.
And thank you for being such a good friend to me all these years.
Perpetually Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle.