Spare Parts

by Crack-Fic Casey

Triptych Recap (spoilers)

Author's Note:

I'm wondering if I should publish this as a story and put it in the Tryptich folder, but it goes here until the author will give me an answer about that.

With help from Kitkat36 and Cogswheelbrain. Triptych can be found here.

Writing this is harder than I thought it’d be.

I’ve had hard friendship reports before, but this is… well, it’s not a friendship lesson, is it? It’s just me trying to make sense of all of this. So much happened, and I can’t talk to Celestia about it. I… still have a little while before I talk to my friends about it. I want to make sure it’s all straight before I go to them and explain how I used to be a monster

Before I explain.

We were on a mission to Trotter’s Falls. We met this mare, one who’d been experimented on, with abilities from each pony race. She could only use them one at a time, and changing between each hurt her. She didn’t even have a name back then; it wasn’t until later that she named herself Triptych. She’d been psychologically abused by her father, who was

Let me back up because there’s something else I need to deal with properly. Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie’s Earth Pony magic didn’t work when she was a filly. She couldn’t be a rock farmer, and her dad didn’t take that well. I’d always imagined her growing up pretty happy, maybe with a stern-yet-loving older sister or something, but she didn’t have anything like that.

Her father kicked her when she was a filly.

Eventually, Pinkie escaped. She was found by a unicorn named Gentle Arrival. He brought her to Ponyville, introduced her to the Cakes, and kept in contact with her. She wrote him letters about everything that happened to her, loved him like a father, and it didn’t come out until later that he was just doing that to keep an eye on her.

I don’t know if that’s fair. She doesn’t think that’s fair, but I… don’t know. I feel like maybe she should assume it’s not, just in case, but I

I’m off track. Gentle’s wife had died giving birth and he couldn’t handle having an Earth Pony filly on top of that. He had to find a way to ‘fix’ his daughter because she wasn’t a unicorn and of course that was a problem. He found ancient texts, took a job as a midwife to gain access to as many foals as he could, and convinced Equestria that he was a good pony. All the while accruing influence and finding more ponies like him. This had been going on for decades by the time we got there.

The foals he experimented on weren’t hurt. He used Discord’s essence on them to change their magic, using that in tandem with the stolen essence of the dead to try and change the tribes of the foals he needed to save, which he failed to do no matter how much essence he flooded every dying foal with. Fluttershy’s ability to talk to animals, the Stare, Pinkie’s ability to conjure party supplies, the Pinkie Sense; it’s all because they’re Hybrids.

This mare we found, she was Gentle’s daughter. He’d tried to make her an Alicorn. It didn’t work. But he didn’t want to give up. His… it was a cult. They didn’t call it that, but it was a cult. Nearly everypony in town was in it, including...

One special

Just this

A liar

Misguided

...One I liked. A lot. He was a good pony, except for where he wasn’t. I wish I could talk to him, get him to change his mind, fix him… But I can never find him. Not if he doesn’t want to be found. His talent is dismissal resonance (making ponies ignore him) and I only got around it by using powers he didn’t know about.

Right. Those. Earth Ponies have a secret kind of magic, one that lets them control the earth. It’s kind of funny how straightforward it is, compared to everything else. I mean, it’s not easy, because if I let slip that I know how Earth Pony magic works then the best case scenario is that the town will lynch her and I. Earth Ponies have been keeping this a secret for thousands of years, and I have no idea how far they’ll go to keep it.

It’s nearly ironic that the cult didn’t have any Earth Ponies in it. They formed it because they thought Earth ponies didn’t have ‘real’ magic, and not only do they, but they feel the same way about unicorns that unicorns feel about them.

We caught Gentle, in the end. Helped Triptych escape her father, and he’s in prison. Discord’s helping Tish learn how to use her magic, and we all went home.

But not before

This is the hard part. More than anything else on this list, this is what’s scaring me. I talked to Celestia after the mission was over. And I found out she hates me

...Long ago, when Discord ruled the land, Celestia and Luna put together a group of friends that became the original Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I don’t know who all of them were, but I know that aside from the Sisters, there was Star Swirl the Bearded. He was their Magic. He built the Elements. But after they beat Discord, that wasn’t enough for him. He was angry he wasn’t an Alicorn, so he tried to find a different way to Ascend. He created the Alicorn Amulet and hunted down magic from others. He intentionally turned himself into a monster.

They caught him, in the end. He wasn’t able to use magic for the rest of his life. And as the other Bearers died, he ended up being the last one alive. Celestia…

I don’t know much about what she was like, back then. Which definitely is ironic. Because at the end of his life, she cast a spell on him. One that changed the very nature of his soul, which is apparently possible. She cursed saved made him reincarnate, over and over. Until he realized what he did wrong, and how to do it right. His died and lived, for a thousand years, until eventually…

Until I did.

I am Star Swirl the Bearded. I can’t remember what I was back then, or anything before… this me. But she looks at me and

She’s never seen me as me

And I don’t know. Maybe I’m just a way to fix her mistakes, maybe she actually gives a damn about me. She tried to write me after, but I shut her down. Then I wrote to her, and she hasn’t written back. And I have no idea what’s going to happen next.

Luna told my friends to keep an eye on me. They stayed up in shifts all night to make sure I was okay. I haven’t told them; I’m still trying to deal with it. But I think it’s going to be okay. No matter what happens, I’ll carry them with me.

I have no idea what’s going to come next, but it’s all going to be so new.

Comments

[Ri2]

So THAT'S what was going on? Wow. Seems I made the right call abandoning Triptych (and Estee) when I did.

[Crack-Fic Casey]

9573531
I actually really loved it, but people can like diffrent stuff