//------------------------------//
// Errata 
// Story: One Last Act of Tragedy 
// by Majin Syeekoh 
//------------------------------//

P’’C



And the Princess of Friendship grasped Tirek and removed him from Equestria.[1]



[1] The way this is phrased, you’d think this is when I murdered Tirek. This would be incorrect. This is when I teleported both of us to the moon and accelerated the celestial bodies to build up the momentum required to murder him.



And then she descended from the sky in a bolt of fire.[2]



[2] Understatement of the millennium. I penetrated the atmosphere with him at a significant percentage of the speed of light, and he vaporized. I’d say before we hit the ground, but I hit it within 1/10 of a second of initial atmosphere impact so trace particles of him might have made landfall. I don’t know. I estimate I lost consciousness somewhere in the magnetosphere when the fission reactions picked up speed.



She then rested twelve moons and awoke.[3]



[3] I honestly didn’t expect to survive plummeting through the sky at a speed close enough to c that I risked violating the laws of physics. In fact, I didn’t plan on surviving murdering Tirek. I wasn’t sure I could live with that burden. I mean, who could live with the weight of knowingly snuffing the life of another living being? I was devastated when Princess Luna popped by six months into my coma and informed me I was still alive.



On the dawn of the first day of the thirteenth cycle, Princess Radiant Dawn was born to the Princess of Love.[4]



[4] This is part of why I didn’t want to live after murdering Tirek. I didn’t want to have to tell my descendants that I was a murderer. Who knows if he might have eventually reformed? I unfairly robbed him of that chance. The fact that I got off scot-free just because he was a threat to Equestria did little to ease my conscience.



And on the day the Princess of Friendship awoke, you shall light a candle to honor those who fell under Tirek.[5]



[5] The only one who died that day was Tirek, according to official records. Because I murdered him. At the time I thought he had left me no choice. He had taken all of Equestria’s magic and taken all of my friends hostage after my attempts to nonlethally subdue him had failed. The other Princesses had given me their power, and I snapped under the pressure. I sunk to his level and put him down like one of Fluttershy’s animals.

The candle was my idea to be able to openly grieve for losing a part of myself after murdering Tirek, to enable Equestria to cry with me. It was the only way I could retain my sanity and try to piece together my moral compass again after committing an unforgivable crime.



On that day you shall prepare a great feast for your family.[6]



[6] In my years of experience, food has excellent palliative properties. I know it always helps me get through tough times. Maybe that’s why Nightmare Night turned into what it is today. I know I don’t mind an excuse to drown the horrible pit in my stomach with enough cake to feed a small town.



That will be the day you remember Equestria lived.[7]



[7] When it comes down to brass tacks, I realize intellectually that I did the right thing. I dispatched the greatest threat the world had ever faced. Technically, I’m the most decorated hero that the world has ever known. I should be grateful for ensuring the planet’s survival.

I’m just of two minds about it. Did I really have to murder him? Was there another way? Perhaps whatever was in that box the Tree of Harmony produced may have helped, but we’ll never know now. I made my bed and have to lie in it.

In the end, perhaps Equestria’s safety and survival was worth sacrificing my personal values for half a second.

And this holiday continually serves as a personal reminder to always look for another way when faced with an impossible choice, to keep searching for the option that I won’t regret for the rest of my life. If I was able to go back in time and redo it, I wouldn’t have made the same decision. Then again, I can’t.






Twilight rested the pen next to her journal and sighed, tears trickling out of her eyes and matting her muzzle. She let herself sob for a few more minutes, then closed her journal and smiled.

I can check that off my list for this year. Now I have my niece’s birthday party to attend.