My Brave Pony: The Heart of the World

by Scipio Smith

Letter to Celestia

Letter to Celestia

“Thank you so much for letting us use your library, Lady Sophoniba,” Twilight said, as she and her friends – Spike, Fluttershy, and Ace – walked between the towering stacks of manuscripts and scrolls that the zebras of Utica had acquired.

“It feels like the least that I can do, after you helped me to reconcile with my sister,” Sophoniba replied. Said sister stood behind her, just behind Twilight and the others, watching from the library. “And yet I fear that it may be the very most that I can do. I cannot provide you with an escort to the Heart of the World, I cannot even tell you where, precisely, the Heart may be found. All I can do is offer you my library to research in… and to advise you not to go.” She smiled. “But I already know what your answer will be.”

Twilight looked back at her, and smiled in turn. “I’m sure you do. I… I have to do this. I have to press on, one way or another.”

“You are fortunate that you have such good friends, willing to walk beside you on this perilous journey,” Sophoniba said. “Nevertheless, I must make another request of you, Twilight Sparkle…” she seemed to hesitate, unable to actually make the request.

“You would like Zecora to stay behind, with you?”

Sophoniba sighed with relief. “Thank you for sparing me the need to say so, and shame on me, the ruler of a town, for lacking the courage to give voice to such a request. You are a brave mare, Twilight Sparkle, to undertake this quest so perilous… but perilous it remains, and only recently has my sister returned to me. I would not have her depart so soon a journey with so uncertain an end.”

“I understand,” Twilight said. “I’m only here because of the ties that bind me to Lightning and Krysta, I can hardly complain when the bonds that bind you two together prompt you to try and keep Zecora safe.”

“Twilight, I promised that with you I would go,” Zecora said, “yet now I stand before you saying ‘no’.”

“You owe me nothing,” Twilight assured her. “You brought us here, at great risk to yourself. You brought us out of the desert and led us to salvation. You don’t know where the Heart of the World is, but you have led us to a place where we might find someone who does, or at least someone who can get us close to it. You’ve done enough. You deserve to stay here and get to know your sister, catch up on all the things that you’ve missed.”

Zecora bowed her head. “Twilight, you are generous and kind; it compliments your clever mind.”

“Will you ever go back to Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked. “Or will you stay here in Utica?”

Zecora glanced at Sophoniba. “A decision on that I’ve not yet reached, there are advantages to each; when you return I will make my choice, and give it to you with my voice.”

“When,” Ace said. “When we return? Not if?”

Zecora’s smile was tight, and taut, and it seemed a little tense to Twilight. “When, not if, just as you say; I fully expect there’ll come a day, when I will see you all again, and you’ll tell me of your adventures then. No less than that will accept, I will not in suspense be kept; waiting forever for sight of you, there is too much for you to do; in Ponyville where you make your home, for you to vanish into the unknown.”

“Two of the students of your Princess Celestia have vanished into the sands upon this quest,” Sophoniba said. “Do not be a third.”

“I don’t intend to be,” Twilight assured them both. “I mean to succeed where Sunset and Dawn failed, both in finding the Heart… and in returning again.”

“I rejoice to hear it,” Sophoniba said. “This library… it is satisfactory to you?”

It was odd to hear such a question asked of a library so immense in size; it dwarfed the library in Ponyville by some distance, and while the library in Canterlot was bigger that did not diminish the scale of the collection of manuscripts that Sophoniba possessed here in Utica. Although some of the texts looked to be mouldering from years, that only added to the sense of mystique as far as Twilight was concerned. Row after row of pages and scrolls, climbing up towards the ceiling, stretching out in rows as far as the eye could see. How much knowledge did the zebras possess that ponies knew not of, how much history, how much ancient lore from a past that ponies had forgotten? Twilight could hardly wait to get started.

“Yes,” she murmured. “yes, this is very satisfactory to me, thank you.”

Sophoniba gave a soft chuckle in reply. “We will leave you to your searchings, then. Come, sister.”

Zecora inclined her head, as the two zebra sisters took their leave. The door closed behind them with a soft thump.

“Where do you want to get started first, Twilight?” Spike asked.

“The first thing that we need to do,” Twilight said, “is write to Princess Celestia.”

“Right,” Spike agreed. “Good think the zebras gave me quill and paper.” He produced both, quill poised above the page. “Ready when you are, Twilight.”

“I’m sure the princess will be delighted to hear from you,” Fluttershy murmured.

“Without a doubt,” Ace said.

“You’re probably right,” Twilight said. “Although… I hope you all understand that I don’t mean to tell her absolutely everything. There are some things… I don’t want to worry her too much about what’s befallen us.”

“I don’t blame you,” Ace muttered. “There are some things I don’t much want Shining Armor to know about.”

“I understand,” Fluttershy conceded. “Although I think that you should probably be honest with her.”

Twilight thought that Fluttershy was probably right, but at the same time… she really didn’t want to worry Princess Celestia by telling them that they had been captured by a dragon lord, or almost died in the desert without food or water. It wasn’t honest, some lies were love, were they not? Or at least… no, they weren’t, but they could at least come from a place of good intentions.

There was no point in troubling Princess Celestia, especially when they were about to trouble her enough with the sad fates of Sunset and Dawn.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Dear Princess Celestia,” she said, and Spike began to scribble away on his parchment as Twilight spoke. “I am writing to you from the zebra city of Utica, where we have been received with hospitality by the ruler, Sophoniba. Sophoniba, as it turns out, is the sister of our good friend Zecora, and I am glad to report that we have been able to effect a reconciliation between the two, just as you were reconciled with your own sister, Luna. I don’t know whether Zecora will choose to stay here in Utica or return to Ponyville, but if she does decide to stay here then I know that she’ll be in good hooves with her little sister.

“Our road to reach Utica was not always pleasant, and we arrived at the gates of this town a little wearied by our journey, but as I say Sophoniba received us with great kindness; we have been fed, watered, and rested, and our ready to resume the next stage of our journey as soon as we have determined our best course.

“I wish that I had such pleasant news to report of the two unicorns who came before me. Unfortunately, in Utica we have discovered information about the fates of Sunset Shimmer and Dawn Starfall, and I cannot in good conscience not pass this information onto you. They both passed this way; Sunset arrived on her own, having encountered some misfortune upon the road; Dawn arrived with at least some of her companions still by her side. Sunset was able to convince some zebras and horses in the town to follow her, although those companions she recruited… forsook her and abandoned her upon the road. Dawn followed in Sunset’s path. And, as you are aware, neither was ever seen again. Although I still think there is a good chance that Sunset Shimmer is the same Sunset whom Lightning spoke of, I can no more prove that at this stage than I can for sure that she did not make it all the way to New Olympia. I hope to find someone who was a part of Sunset’s expedition and speak with them, with luck they may be able to provide some insights into where Sunset went, and… in what state she was in when they left her.

“Rest assured that I, and Spike, and all of our friends are quite well; I am… I am touched, and very blessed, in the willingness of all my friends to continue this journey with me, in spite of all the hardships that we have encountered, and which await us on the way.

“I remain committed, and determined to see this through to the very end.

“Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

Spike rolled up the parchment, and blew upon it. Green fire leapt from his mouth, consuming the rolled up document and turning it not into ashes but rather into a puff of greenish smoke which flew up into the air, and turned northwards towards Equestria before disappearing into the ethereal nothingness. Twilight could imagine it racing towards Canterlot and to the princess.

Nevertheless, she could not stay to simply imagine for too long.

“Come on, everyone,” she said. “We’ve got work to do.”

They found a desk in the centre of the library, which would do admirably for the purposes of their research once they actually had something to research; however, before Twilight could start to organise a look through all the copious materials in the Utica library, Spike belched out another burst of green fire and, with it, a roll of parchment bearing with it the seal of Princess Celestia herself.

“That was a quick reply,” Fluttershy observed.

“I know,” Twilight murmured, and her horn flared with a lavender light as she picked up the parchment in the grip of her telekinesis and unfolded it. “Dear Twilight,” she read. “I hope you will forgive the swiftness of my response, but – as my sister Luna, and your own brother Shining Armour, will attest – I have been rather frantic waiting for news of you, and when you wrote I was, I am not ashamed to confess it, overjoyed.

“My feelings towards learning that you are well, and that you have reached a safe haven for the time being, are of a similar key. I am relieved, and glad, and all other such positive emotions that you may conceive of, and have the vocabulary to express, to learn that you – and Spike, and all your friends – are yet well.

“You are indeed fortunate that your friends remain faithful to you, and to the path that you have chosen. Treasure them, for they are indeed the greatest treasure which any pony may possess. I know that you know this well enough already, but you must forgive a teacher for sometimes repeating the same lesson to her student more than once.

“Thank you, for this news of Sunset and Dawn. While it does not bring me any closure, nor would closure bring me peace, at least it does provide another piece of the puzzle. I can now say that they made it at least this far, that they were alive when they reached Utica. As you say, you may find out more, and yet for greater knowledge of their fates I would not risk you, or your friends, or so much as a hair from your manes or tails.

“I would beg you to come home, Twilight; I would urge you with every fibre of my being to turn aside from this quest of yours. But at the same time, I know that if you were the sort of pony to give up you would not be the Twilight Sparkle whom I love so dearly.

“And I do love you, Twilight. You are dearer to me than I know how to express to you. I can only hope that, though my words fail me in this, you feel the intentions of my heart within your own. Please be careful, Twilight. I do not want to lose you. I cannot lose. If I did, I am not sure that I could bear it.

“Go, and walk with good fortune in your quest, but please be careful.

“Your loving mentor,

“Princess Celestia.”

Twilight blinked. She felt her eyes watering a little. Yes. Yes, Princess Celestia, I know exactly how you feel. She blinked more rapidly, and wiped at her eyes with one hoof.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “Are you okay?”

I feel as though I’m betraying her with this. “I’m fine,” Twilight lied, because some lies came from a place of good intentions. “We… we have a lot of work to do.”