//------------------------------// // Intermission Appendix: Dear Sunset Shimmer // Story: The Last Equestrian Princess // by Dr_DeDeDe //------------------------------// Letters to Princess Celestia Excerpts From HRH Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Memoirs Appendix A Editor's Note: Transcribed below is a copy of the letter Princess Celestia sent to Sunset Shimmer. Princess Twilight came into possession of the letter upon Sunset Shimmer's death and asked that I include it to provide context to the circumstances surrounding the beginning of their relationship. Whether Celestia's words and actions sufficiently make up for what transpired between her and Sunset Shimmer is for you to decide.-TN To my dearest little sunspot, To Ms. Sunset Shimmer, Dear Sunset Shimmer, If you are reading this, then it means that I have passed on without an opportunity to talk to you one last time. If this is the case then I have only myself to blame. I have kept my distance from you for years out of respect for you and your wishes but as my time in this world runs out I find that I must intrude in your life one last time. I know that you are still very hurt and angry with me for dismissing you and I am not writing to ask your pardon or make excuses for my actions. What I did to you is absolutely inexcusable; I knew that when I made my decision and I’m not going to try and justify it some decades later. But you are owed, among so many things, an explanation. You deserve to know why I decided to stop teaching you once Twilight Sparkle came around. The truth of the matter is that I was…scared. There were events that took place centuries before you were even born and because of decisions I made, my sister was lost to me. For a thousand years I had to live with my mistakes, waiting for a special young mare to come along who would one day reclaim the Element of Magic and free my sister from the madness that possessed her. And then you came along. Bright, enthusiastic, and eager to learn. What you lacked in outright magical power, you more than made up for with a passion for your craft and a tireless work ethic. I thought, at last, that I had found the mare that would one day free my sister and reunite the Elements of Harmony. As our student teacher relationship progressed and helped you work your way through spellbook after spellbook, I thought at last I had found my successor. But then…there was Twilight. I am too easily dazzled by genius; it is a weakness I have never managed to rid myself of. I admit I was growing worried that you might not be ready for the challenges you would face as my pupil. I worried that you might not possess the magical acumen to challenge Nightmare Moon and unite the Elements of Harmony. I worried that your hard work wouldn’t pay off for me in time; that after one thousand years the promise that I made to bring Luna home again would go unfulfilled. However diligently you worked and however eager you were to learn, you had difficulty grasping some of the more advanced subjects I asked you to master. Time was running out and I feared that our time together training would amount to nothing. And then…there was Twilight. Barely eight years old, untrained, and yet capable of magic that most college professors had difficulty with. With barely any effort, she was already far more “advanced” than you were despite the two years you spent studying under me. Twilight appeared to be everything I could have wanted in a protégée; somepony already half ready to meet the challenges I knew lay ahead. And so, with time until Nightmare Moon’s return fast running out, I made a decision to focus all my energy and time on Twilight to prepare her for her destiny. “Destiny” is a convenient excuse to absolve yourself of any responsibility and it becomes an easy lie for a princess to tell to justify her actions. I could say that it was Twilight Sparkle’s “destiny” to complete Starswirl the Bearded’s text and become an alicorn herself but that would be a lie. The truth of the matter is that I alone guided Twilight on a path that led her to where she is today. I sheltered her, taught her, and groomed her beyond any possibility of failure to ensure that my plans came to fruition. I manufactured a series of events that could only have one possible conclusion. I alone am responsible for what happened to Twilight Sparkle…and what happened to you. I still remember the look of unrivaled confusion and devastation on your face when I informed you that I had made the decision to stop teaching you and how quickly that pain turned into anger. Your textbook is still embedded in the wall of the lower library; a curiosity that I’ve never got around to explaining to Twilight. I remember making some attempts to get back in touch with you after that but I expect you were still raw, still hurting. I tried to respect your last words to me and “never speak to you again” and as much as I wanted to explain myself to you, I kept my distance. But there came a time, only recently, when I felt the need to invade your privacy once more. Things were happening so fast that I fear I became a little paranoid as I got so close to my goal and became wary of any potential threats to it. I am ashamed to say that there was a time that I worried that you would be a danger to Twilight; that the hurt and anger I remembered seeing in your eyes would boil into hatred for somepony you saw as a replacement. So I had you watched, especially after Twilight’s coronation, for any sign that you would try and harm Twilight to get back at me. I don’t know what I expected to learn but what I discovered surprised me. Instead of a bitter, broken, angry young mare I found a bright, hardworking student who relentlessly strove to better herself. I saw a mare who spent hours struggling to master a single spell, leaving only when the library closed and returning as soon as it opened. I discovered a mare who balanced textbooks on her lap while working two jobs to stave off a steadily rising student loan bill. I saw a mare that struggled and suffered for her craft harder than any other. A mare that endured hardships that Twilight never had to face and in spite of (or perhaps because of) all of that, persevered. With everything stacked on top of you, she rose to heights I never thought her capable of. And most amazingly, she never lost her spark. No matter how hard things got over the years or how many times you would have been justified in giving up or changing your goals, you never did. No matter how dim things seemed, you always managed to persevere with gritted teeth and hard, hard work. You grew older, wiser, and stronger than I could have ever dreamed of and all without my help or guidance. Part of me (an ugly arrogant part of me) is shocked that you accomplished all this on your own. But another part of me knew all along that our parting was but the smallest of stutters on what has been a truly brilliant rise. I truly, truly hope that this letter isn’t necessary. I hope that you gave me the chance to speak to you in person so that I could say how fantastically proud I am of the mare you've become and how sorry I am that I wasn’t there for you when you needed to be. For the longest time, I worried that I had left you out in the cold but now I see that the only pony who truly suffered for our parting was me. You are, have been, and will always be fine without me but I robbed myself of the chance to stand in the presence of a brilliant sorceress and wonderful person and am all the poorer for it. I do not know what fate awaits me after I have gone. It is possible that my soul will vanish into nothingness and that all of my hopes and dreams will prove foolish. But if there is some small part of us that survives after death…I hope I meet you again. I hope that we have some time to sit down and clear the air between us. I don’t doubt you have a few choice words for me and I’ll suffer whatever grievances you have to level at me. I have done so wrong by you, little sunspot, and I am willing to spend an eternity making amends if it means that we can be friends someday. I remember when I first met you. You were so fierce and eager that I thought you were going to shake the stars from the sky one day. Whatever happens, however the world conspires against you, I pray that you never lose that spark that I saw glitter in your eyes when I first asked you to be my student. I hope that you will light up the dark as a lantern of hope to guide all those who have had to fight for what they believe in. When others feel beaten down and bereft and think of abandoning their dreams as I am sure you must have, I hope you lend them some of your courage and help them to shine even half as bright as you do. And I hope that, someday, somewhere, I can catch just a little bit of that brilliant light coming off you and be all the warmer for it. Love (now and forever), Princess Celestia P.S. You are a fantastically strong mare and your independent spirit will always serve you well but sometimes you just can’t do everything on your own. I hope you will let me do this one small thing* for you. You will accomplish all you have set out to do one way or another but I hope you will allow me the honor of playing a small role in the rise of one of the bravest and most brilliant magicians I’ve ever met. I cannot begin to restore what you have lost but I hope this is will ease your burden just a little bit. If I can ask but one more favor from you before I go, I would ask that you be the friend to Twilight you always should have been and let her be a friend to you. You are two of a kind whose fortunes could have been reversed if not for the whims of a short sighted old mare that missed her sister. I ask that you keep an open heart and not let any feelings towards me poison what I believe could be a wonderful new friendship. Please don’t blame her for what I did to you for you must believe that she was completely innocent and ignorant of what transpired between us. I am confident that you will find in her a truer friend than you could have ever hoped for and she will be in desperate need of ponies like you in the future. For her sake, and yours, I hope you will give her a chance to be your friend. *Editor’s Note: Enclosed with this letter was a check totaling some five hundred thousand bits; enough to pay off Sunset Shimmer’s remaining tuition and the student loans she took out previously.