Thirty-Minute Pony Stories

by Silvernis

267a: Last Letter

267a: LAST LETTER

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This one’s a bit dark. Ye be warned.

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Dear Princess Celestia,

How many times have I written that over the years? I don’t know. Actually, strike that—I do know.

Too many.

This has gone on for too long. Far, far too long. I won’t do it anymore. I won’t let you do this to me, to my friends, to your sister, to Equestria. I refuse to be your pawn any longer.

It hurts, you know. I thought you cared about all of your little ponies. I thought you cared about me. You meant so much to me. You were a friend, a mentor, even a mother. Was any of it real, or was it all just part of your plan? I don’t know anymore. I like to think that maybe there was some small part of you that really did love me.

It doesn’t matter now. I’ve made sure you won’t succeed. The Elements are beyond your control now.

They wouldn’t have understood, so I didn’t try to explain. I just did what I had to do. I wish I could have told them, though. Even if they didn’t understand, it would have made it a little less painful. They each died with that look on their faces. I can’t stop seeing them. Even when I shut my eyes, I can see them staring at me, hurt and confused and wondering why I’m doing this to them, why I’m betraying them.

I did it as quickly as I could. They didn’t suffer, at least not much.

I’ll be joining them soon. I can hear the sheriff banging on the door, coming to tell me that something terrible has happened and that my friends have been murdered. He’ll stop talking as his brain slowly realizes that I’m covered in blood—their blood, of course. If he’s not too completely shocked, he might glance inside and see Spike slumped motionless over the crumbs of the gem cake I made him. Spike didn’t bear an Element, of course, but I wasn’t about to abandon my old friend to you.

The sheriff will put two and two together, and he’ll probably arrest me, or at least drag me off for questioning. I don’t care. I don’t care about anything anymore. I know nopony will believe me. They’ll believe you, of course, just like they’ve believed you for centuries. They’ll call me the madpony, the villain. They’ll hate me, and they won’t be upset when you come to destroy me for my crimes.

That’s how it will end, you know. You’re going to kill me yourself. I’ll force your hoof if I have to, and I will have the satisfaction of watching you destroy the tool you spent so much time and effort crafting.

Irony. That’s about all I have left now—savage irony, and a cold pain in my heart that won’t go away.

It’s funny. I used to sign these letters as your faithful student. I was so proud of that. It seems a bit silly to use it here, after all of this, but I think will anyway. I’m not your student anymore, Celestia, but I am a student of the things I once thought you stood for: courage, determination, dedication, devotion, and love.

I love Equestria, even if nopony will ever know it, and I loved my friends. I loved my friends enough to destroy them.

I’ll be waiting.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Author's Note:

This is deliberately vague. I'm not sure how well it works, but at any rate, the idea was to raise questions about Twilight's reliability as a narrator. Did she have a good reason for killing her friends, or did she merely THINK she had a good reason? You decide.

Comments

[Arteries]

That's the funny thing about dark in this fandom: it always seems to work so sporadically. Might just be because of what the source material is, but, tangent.

The letter conveys what's needed of the prompt. Betrayal, and a sense of justified anguish are easily discernible, and that's all something of this length requires while reinforced by the context of the show. There are a few bits of diction and phrasing that I might think as "too poetic" for a Twilight still covered in blood, with the police banging on her door. Although, Twilight's an articulate gal, and I guess one could argue that she's had time to cherry-pick words, depending. Speaking of which--I'm not sure how it could be done seamlessly in this instance--but successfully tying thoughts back to the canon of the show, especially dark ones, provokes more response than any prose ever will. A hint or a nudge as to what started this bitterness, or at least when it started to give some depth to the situation (provided that the reasoning is sound), could play to such a piece's strengths, though I can't certainly say what it would do, for better or for worse.

Also,

I’ll force you hoof if I have to,

[Silvernis]

2160489
I think I know what you mean about "poetic," but that was mostly deliberate -- given the circumstances, Twi's going to be a bit more rambling and flowery in her writing than she would normally be.

Tying this letter back to canon events in the show would definitely be interesting. I'm not sure I want to dwell on this one enough to go back and edit anything else in, but the potential is definitely there.

Also, fixed. Thanks.

[PresentPerfect]

I'm not sure how well it works, no, but it does remind me of something else. I think less vagueness might have been a better way to go.