A curl of smoke and a soft pop brought Celestia's attention to the scroll floating in a magenta glow before her. For the briefest of moments, she hesitated before plucking the scroll from the air and breaking its seal. Normally, she would have had to catch the scroll, but Twilight's magic had been growing almost as fast as she had and the result had been impressive.
Even at such a great distance, her scrolls could be held aloft with mere telekinesis.
It was enough to bring a slight smile to her face. Even if the contents of the letter proved unpleasant, she could still find a bit of pride in her student progressing so well.
Celestia took a small sip of tea as she unrolled the scroll and began to read.
Dear Princess,
I'm just writing to respond to your concerns about my handling of the Tirek incident.
Let's be perfectly clear here. I did what was needed to be done. Not only had that monster already started leeching away the magic of countless ponies, but he had been feeding off their destinies... their special talents, magics, what helped to make them unique and special. He had siphoned off the natural abilities of all three tribes, causing untold hardships, injuries, and even deaths. It's not bad enough that he was harming them all then, but he was stealing their futures.
I know that's not what you want to hear, but I thought you should know.
While you ran around, afraid that he might acquire your and your sister's magic, you let him continue unopposed.
You can account for the value of something, you can weigh it's worth by comparing it to other things of value. He was stealing their futures, the infinite potential of any and all of them. He was stealing the infinite, priceless, worth of every pony in existence... their very souls, and if you don't believe me, go look in their eyes... I've seen a few of them who didn't get their magic back. Look in the eyes of those whose 'magic' was burned to fuel his greed. You look in their eyes and tell me if it was a cost worth paying.
While you collected Cadence, forwardly to consolidate your powers, you actually brought exactly what he was searching for all in to one place.
While you decided to 'give' your magic to me, you managed to outfit a young, inexperienced, and newly minted alicorn princess with the phenomenally potent powers of the SUN, MOON, and the HEART. You effectively washed your hooves of responsibility while giving more power than any being has a sane thought to endure to me... somepony who had, until only a year ago, been nothing but a powerful unicorn, with little to no instruction on what to do with that power.
While you played a game of schoolyard teasing, denying Tirek of his prize, I had to take over for three immortal beings, ensure the survival of EVERY lifeform on this planet, hide the facts of said magic from my first, and closest friends, and FIGURE OUT how not to annihilate the sun, moon, minds of every being, and accidentally tear the planet in half because I might be startled.
Pinkie is a friend of mine.
Think about the wisdom of that plan.
Think about it really, really hard because I think you owe me a friendship lesson after that letter.
Oh, and about trusting Discord? You're right. I shouldn't have trusted him. You have thousands of years of experience with him. You disagreed with him. You argued with him. You fought him... in HIS kingdom, in HIS realm. You and your sisters were the invaders in that conflict. Yes, the ponies ended up happier and better off without him in control, but you've done a very good job at pointing out his faults and glossing over your own.
How about the fact that never, in the entire existence of Discord, has he EVER been responsible for a single death. Not just of ponies... but not a single death at all. His magic actively avoids injury. He CAN'T kill. Death is too final... it doesn't allow creativity or continuation via his abilities.
Shining Armor and Cadance killed more Changelings with their love-bubble thing than in all the eons of Discord's reign. Don't believe me? Ask your janitors and public works comittees. No, the bubble wasn't harmful, but it was powerful. It pushed the Changelings out of the kingdom... in lethally straight lines... without regard for any form of infrastructure or architecture. My own brother and sister-in-law are now propagators of near-genocide... because you DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME WHEN I WARNED YOU.
How about Nightmare Moon? Your sister... banished for a thousand years. You can't tell me you didn't know the exact date she'd break free, or at least a very good guess.
You had more years than most history books considered REAL to think up contingencies and plan for your reunion, and you came up with "I'll throw my student into another town, cross my hooves, not tell anyone, and hope for the best?" THAT was your plan? You ignored it?
Princess, if you hide from a flood, you drown.
Blind luck, devotion, and determination has seen my friends and myself through all your foolishness. When you turn your head and hope for the best, we've stepped up and saved Equestria. When you've laughed at our struggles, we risked everything to do all we could to spare our friends and families. When you've condescended to us and treated us as mere children who need to learn the ways of the world, we've pulled ourselves out of the dark places of the world, looked at our tormentors, known that you could have helped but chose not to, and did what needed to be done in the most gloriously magnificent ways imaginable. We've created miracles. We've made things work. We've sweat and bled for our peaceful lives.
That's right, we've FOUGHT for our PEACE. Your guard were worthless. They harassed innocent ponies and ignored the real threats. Only a few of the batch have any real skill or devotion beyond the image and paycheck. They run at the first sign of trouble and fall over like bowling pins when faced with a real threat that doesn't happen to be a blond white unicorn prince with an entitlement problem.
Think about what my 5 friends have done. Think about it very hard.
Consider what the six of us do for a living. I'm a librarian. Rarity is a seamstress. Applejack is a farmer. Rainbow Dash is on the weather patrol. Fluttershy is a reclusive veterinarian. And Pinkie Pie? Pinkie Pie is an assistant baker... she's JUST LEARNING how to make things that don't involve gravel or hazardous materials as foodstuffs.
Now, think of what we've had to become to deal with your problems. We've faced dragons, chimeras, hydras, the diamond dogs, rogue unicorns with ancient artifacts that you didn't keep track of, evil unicorns, the spirit of Chaos himself (on more than one occasion since you thought it a good idea to let him go), monsters, dangerous environments, the elements themselves, our own fears since you didn't even think to warn us, then a being that moves an infinite number of suns on a nightly basis as a pastime, and even our own friends and family. We've faced an entire army.... no, wait, that was JUST ME until you admitted you were wrong and let my friends feel safe to help.
To put that in perspective, Applejack has no parents and is the one who runs the family farm. If something were to happen to her, the Apple Family in Ponyville would not be able to support itself. Rarity cares for her sister more often than her own parents. Fluttershy is not only the only vet in town, but she's the only thing that stands between civilization and the Everfree forest, let alone the only one able to control the wild cockatrice population or DISCORD. Rainbow Dash has now had to use lightning offensively, and that's ignoring how many times she's had to put herself into direct risk of death. Pinkie Pie carries explosives as a habit and hides even more everywhere she goes out of a mental need to 'be prepared for XXXX emergencies."
That last one should make you sweat. Pinkie's been everywhere. If she weren't Pinkie Pie, she'd have been labeled a mad bomber years ago and likely arrested, tried, imprisoned or executed for the public good.
And just to point out, since you mentioned Discord, YOU trusted him before I did. You demanded we release him, but you fled before we did. You said to give him a chance, but left it to us. You even mocked him, forcing me to prompt him to admit something... "friendship is magic" remember that? What kind of resentment do you think THAT little slap to an immortal ego is?
And as to my 'corruption' and 'instinctual use of dark magic'... let's be clear here. Zecora speaks in rhyme. I don't know why, but she's only broken it a few times, usually when she's startled. She didn't exactly give me a spell to use. I just went through the gamut to try and find something that might react. Heck, if it were so dangerous, maybe a little instruction or warning would have been helpful. I KNOW I told you what Sombra's door made me see, so maybe a little confidence building or comfort after the fact would have been helpful?
You know... hindsight 20/20? No? Still not getting it?
Let me lay it out for you then Princess: We've been doing the hard work.
I respect you. I love you. I trust you implicitly.
I follow you. I believe in you. I will jump whenever you ask me to, and I'll ask how high, what direction, and when I should stop.
But, if I'm being totally honest with you, and your letter suggests that's what you were being with me and what you expect me to be with you, I really shouldn't.
With all those years of experience, with all your raw skill and power, with everything you've done and seen, I don't know why you seem to believe you are immune to mistakes. I don't know why you seem to think that others can do your job for you. I don't know why anypony really listens to what you have to say anymore other than the gentle voice and the ever present threat of total destruction at the behest of a flickering glow of your horn, the moon, or instant death to all life if you just got tired of our whining.
Heck, Chrysalis only invaded because her ENTIRE race was starving to death and we had such a surplus of population that we could have supported them without any detriment to ourselves. And don't give me that line about an unprecedented population increase, food, resources, or anything else. They were already here and they eat EMOTION. We could have had them sitting on stools, using their glowing eyes as light in the evening, without a speck of extra housing or food being needed. We could have asked them to help with construction or industry, lunch breaks and labor included since all they need is appreciation to be revitalized. We could have been allies and friends, but you had to go and be so xenophobic as to make them into the monsters of myth and then force their hoof in a desperate act of survival. Your thoughtlessness may have actually eradicated an entire sentient species.
No, let me correct that. You may have made my brother do it for you.
And once again, that's pointing out that you couldn't even do it yourself... make someone else do it so you can look down on them, tut your tongue, and be the moral equivalent of a schoolyard bully kicking a puppy.
And to answer what you should tell the mother or the father of those fillies and colts... tell them that someone else had to sacrifice something very very precious to her to make sure that they could still make mistakes, that they could wake up to the sun and drink clean water. Tell them that a group of ordinary ponies, just like themselves, sacrificed everything they held dear, watched their hopes and dreams, their every possession and memory annihilated and burned before them so that they wouldn't have to live in that world. You tell that mother or father, that brother or sister, son or daughter.... you tell them that fighting is wrong because even when it is done for the right reasons, things can never go back to how they were. You tell them, Celestia, that while you hid and played the good ruler, while you made your moral stand, you left ponies that are less than even infants to you go off to face nearly certain death with only the merest whisper of hope. You tell them that you supplied them with a sabatuer, a traitor, and a faulty defense. You tell them that you sent them out blind and hid precious knowledge to 'protect' them. And you tell them that you were wrong.
That filly or colt on the playground? Why don't you ask why there was a fight? Why don't you find out if the teacher was watching as carefully as they were supposed to? Why don't you ask if any of the other students saw anything?
Or better yet, why don't you ask the parents to wait a few days while a new student shows up at the school to see things for herself? Telling the teacher never works very well unless it's a very big problem. A slap on the fetlock is nothing more than a warning not to get caught until the crime is worth actually teaching a lesson.
If you had to ask such a question, and you had to attempt a guilt trip or logical fallacy to make your argument, you're out of touch with those ponies who you profess to lead.
Celestia, I'm not angry at all, but I am insulted and hurt that you would think those things of my friends and I. We've done everything for you. We've lived our lives in your guidance and teachings. We've sacrificed our own hopes and dreams to make you proud of us.
I'm going to pretend that I didn't get your letter. I'm going to burn it and wipe Spike's memory before wiping my own of the last two hours forty-three minutes and eight seconds. I'm going to stage the scene so when I wake, I'll think I just drifted off while reading Of Harmony and You, like I was before it arrived, and hope that I didn't forget to account for anything.
Pinkie will be over sometime tonight with cupcakes, and Applejack was planning on dropping by with Rainbow Dash and Rarity for a slumber party. Fluttershy might even make it for the scary story part if Beary's chiropractic alignment goes smoothly. You're welcome to come.
No. I'd encourage you to come and see your little insurgents in their native element.
I think it would be a good idea to get back in touch with the little ponies around you.
You can think of this as my first royal decree.
Twilight Sparkle