An Important Letter
An Important Letter
Hello honey,
I’m a bit of a coward. We both know that I don’t hold up all that well under certain kinds of pressure, and that still makes me feel bad sometimes even though you’ve told me it’s part of who I am. If I were saying this to your face I’d be tripping over my own words and making a fool of myself. Even writing this I’m messing it up. This is my sixth try at doing it right. I want it to be exactly right.
How long had you been coming into the library before that night? Three months? Six? I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I never thought all that much of you then. We didn’t really talk for more than a minute or two at a time. Never anything personal, just you asking if a book had come in or for a recommendation.
Was there a sign that I missed somewhere along the line? Even knowing what I do now I can’t be sure. You hid your feelings well; all smiles even though you were in such a dark place.
That night. I’m never going to forget it. The library was closed but I was still up, about to pull an all night cram session with my new book on the history of weaving techniques in decorative tapestries. Did you know that you can actually date one of those to within a decade just by looking at the type of stitching?
I had gotten up to go take a break and make myself a cup of tea when I heard something fall through the book drop. If I had been reading I probably would have ignored it until morning. Do you believe in fate? I don’t, it’s a completely irrational idea. At the same time, I’m still gobsmacked at how different everything would be now it I hadn’t picked just that moment to make tea.
I picked up the book with the intention of reshelving it while the kettle was boiling, when that little slip of paper fell out. My first thought was that you had torn a page and hoped I wouldn’t notice, but when I picked it up it was clear that it was a note.
I read what you wrote. I read about how unhappy you were. How hopeless you were and how you just wanted everything to be over. What you planned to do to yourself to make it all stop forever.
I was concerned. Who am I kidding, I freaked the buck out. I ran out of the library just in time to see you turn a corner a few streets away.
You probably weren’t expecting to get tackled from behind by a unicorn that night. Sorry again about the ankle. I’m also sorry about some of things I started screaming at you, loud enough that I probably woke half the town. I’m sorry I called you stupid, and selfish, and weak. You aren’t any of those things. What I absolutely am not sorry for is dragging you straight to the hospital that night over your objections. When I turned you over to the nurses and told them what had happened, you looked at me like I had betrayed some trust we shared, if only in your head. It would have been worth it even if you had never spoken to me again.
On a whim, though, I told you if you ever wanted somepony to talk to I’d buy you a cup of coffee.
They took you away and I went back to the library. I thought that was the end of it. A scary night with a satisfying ending. Until two weeks later you knocked on the library door, and took me up on that cup of coffee. We found a corner booth in the cafe and started to talk, for real, for the first time.
How much of that cup of coffee did I actually drink? Two sips? Three? I’m pretty sure I forgot it was even there after the first quarter of an hour. I found the wonderful and engaging pony who had been right under my nose the entire time. You were smart. You were funny. When you got up to use the restroom I might have taken the opportunity to confirm that your backside wasn’t so rough on the eyes either.
I don’t believe in love at first sight. It took me nearly a whole two hours to fall for you, after all.
I didn’t tell you that back then of course. You had been through a lot, and were only just starting to claw your way back from it. You needed help, professional help, and you were getting it. I just stayed close, ready to support you when you needed me. I saw you at your best and at your worst and I took heart as the former slowly but surely overcame the latter.
I kept that note, you know. The one you slipped into the book. I re-read it every once in a while and wonder how such an incredible, spectacular, self-evidently amazing pony could even think of doing such a thing. It reminds me how close I came to never getting to know you at all, and that I have to cherish every single moment I’m with you.
The day I finally asked you out was one of the most terrifying of my life. I went back and forth on whether I would tell you what I really felt. To be honest if you had told me that you only saw me as a friend I don’t know that I would have been able to be around you any more. That, of course, would probably have made you feel horrible. I put it off for two weeks with the excuse I was doing what was best for both of us, when really I was just chickening out.
Finally, I asked if you wanted to come with me on a picnic in the park which you immediately agreed to. So immediately that I figured you had no idea what I was really asking. So naturally I felt like I had to spell it out in excruciating detail. I still cringe when I remember how I actually used the phrase ‘I am attempting to court you by employing what I understand to be the expected social cues and customs.’ I know you’ve told me how adorable it is when I get carried away on those little tirades, but I appreciate the way you let me know it’s time to stop talking. The trick you discovered right that moment when you stepped over and kissed me.
We never did make it to the park, but at least we put the picnic blanket to good use.
The next few weeks are a little blurry in my head. Every time I saw you was a rush. Every new detail I learned about you, no matter how insignificant, was to be memorized and treasured. I began to trust you with me, with all of me. I told you all the things about myself that I’m ashamed of. The things I’m afraid of. You took it all in stride, even when I was crying in your arms. You love me, the real me, and not just some persona that I prop up to face the world. You know me more deeply, more intimately, than anypony else. Maybe even better than I know myself.
I began to wonder what you saw in me. How could a pony as fantastic as you want to be with a pony as weird and neurotic as me? I worried that someday I would wake up next to you and you would look at me as you suddenly came to your senses and realized I wasn’t worthy of you. Then you’d leave me and find some beautiful mare who actually deserved you. The idea, the expectation that that would be the only way this could ever end was soul crushing.
But you showed me how wrong I was. You loved me and showed me why I had been worth loving all along. Not only am I better pony for knowing you, I always was a better pony than I believed I was. In fact I may even be a little bit out of your league (Kidding! That was kidding!)
I love your smile. I love your laugh. I love the way you make me feel in the throes of passion or when we’re just lazing around doing nothing, but doing it together. I love the way you know that I prefer my toast cut diagonally rather than straight, and how I prefer putting ice cubes into a glass after pouring a drink rather than before. I love the fact that you are completely hopeless at trying to do laundry.
I’m a very greedy pony. I want an impossible amount from you. I want a piece of your soul and all of your heart. I want to have foals with you, to make you a part of my family. I want to keep learning all of your little quirks and secrets, and then just when I think I know them all for you to go ahead and surprise me anyway. It’s a lot to ask, and all I can offer in return is to spend the rest of my life with you.
I did something a little sneaky, and I apologize for the deception. Before I put this note somewhere I knew you would find it I slipped a spell onto it that would alert me when it was opened. If the new silent version of my teleport spell works like I hope it does, I’m standing right behind you as you read this.
I know you tell me I ask too many questions, but I hope you’ll indulge me and answer at least one more. Don’t worry, it’s multiple choice.
Will you marry me?
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So I know I wrote in my blog post that I was taking a week off from writing. I guess I lied.
Well, no suggestions from me, I'm afraid (though we are somewhat out of my area of expertise). Other than to expect a deluge of ponies wanting to know who the mysterious pony is; and yes, I do notice you've deliberately left it almost completely open; in that it wouldn't be any of the major characters who Twilight would know, but it could be a pony of either gender (or even, if Twi was speaking more colloquially than specifically when she said "a pony like you", not necessarily even a pony at all, I guess.)
No obvious spelling/grammar errors I saw either, so there's that, i guess!
It does strike me as a very Twilight thing to be doing though...!
Ah, good ol' Valentines Day.
f.kulfoto.com/pic/0001/0018/6pA5b17058.jpg
The bane of my life.... Well not really!
But I prefer Tainted Love.
2054772
Very open, very deliberate. I did notice that I got a little pushback when Twilight came out of the closet in Hard Reset so I've learned not to toy with people's head canon without having a very good reason. I did envision it being a pony rather than some other species.
2054819
You still have two weeks! Go get 'em!
First I thought you were talking about Spike and Twilight being together then I noticed it said pony.......damn
Oh well, very well written, as always and I very much enjoyed it....wonder who the pony was?
Part of me wants to (insert self as intended recipient) but the more rational side says to err on the side of whatever twiship is sailing the oceans of my mind at this moment. i like it, although I'm not one for romantic relations, (not much luck there anyways).
Rambling again, as I'm prone to do. good job and keep. it comin.
Wow. This is absolutely beautiful.
I'm at loss of words.
On a mechanical point of view, it was flawless. The sentences flowed smoothly, almost as if Twilight herself would be writing it. But I couldn't wrap my head around the open-ended point of it. It was a good story, it's just that it was an invitation for people to fit in their preferred ship, also known as pandering.
2055229
I guess I can see where you're coming from. At the same time I don't think it works with any major Twilight ship. Both because Twilight pretty much doesn't consider them significant at the beginning and because having any major character suddenly be suicidal would be hugely depressing and out of character. And making it some new OC would just make it lame and people would be complaining about what a huge Mary Sue they were. So I decided that taking the focus off the other character and making it a story about Twilight falling/being in love was the stronger option. YMMV, I suppose
2055392 Fair enough, I suppose that's one way to avoid angering others merely because of who Twilight falls in love with. Good story though, this deserves an upvote.
2054512
Dude or ma'amdude, you are some kind of MACHINE. Including Hard Reset, this makes, what, like 15,000 new written and edited words in three days?
As for the story itself:
Fie upon you and your misleading cover art. This is not a Twilight story. In my head, it will forever be Starswirl the Bearded's letter to Luna, in which he reminisces about that fateful night when he stopped her from becoming Nightmare Moon.
That bought Equestria another eight decades. She only fell into darkness after he finally died.
2055942
12,000 in four days, actually, so I'm not quite that prolific. But this story took me less than two hours.
Your head will have to do some interesting contortions to justify him worrying about leaving him for "another mare"
2055973 Aha! Already anticipated that objection.
Your actual line is "Then you’d leave me and find some beautiful mare" … clearly, it was common knowledge among court gossip at the time that the Lunar Princess was attracted to mares, which is why he was so surprised when she took him up on coffee and one of the reasons he got so neurotic about the possibility of her departure.
(I considered Clover x Luna, but the rest of the story fit too well with the Starswirl/Twilight parallels we see in your other works.)
2055987
Well played. Very well, your head canon is officially approved as "story compatible"
2055229
If allowing readers to draw their own conclusions was pandering, many of our greatest fictional works would be so. If anything, taking advantage of a specific pairing's fanbase would be more akin to pandering. This is merely leaving just enough to the reader's imagination.
I love it! You are on an excellent roll.
2055998
dashie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw2925_small.jpg
Now to reinterpret Hard Reset as an allegory about Sixth Century diamond-dog diplomatic relations!
2055392
I'm going to sound stupid for asking this, but what is a Mary Sue? I've almost every story have a comment using the term.
2057034 It's a character that is perfect and has absolutely no character flaws. One-dementional and stupid.
2057034
People throw the phrase around pretty often, and they don't always mean the same thing but generally it's a character perceived to be getting undeserved treatment and be uninteresting dramatically speaking. It's often associated with authors who write wish fulfillment fics where a character who is a thinly veiled stand in for themselves come into the setting and immediately get everything the author wants. So an OC showing up and having Twilight immediately fall in love with him would be accused of that sort of thing, because the audience probably wouldn't find the character that compelling that quickly.
With this story I'm only asking people to stretch their belief far enough to cover the idea that there exists a pony such that Twilight would fall in love with them over a coffee date and enter a relationship. Since I'm not specifying anything about the pony in question it's not such a hard sell.
2057356
Ah, well then I'm glad to inform you that you did not create a Mary Sue. This was well written and it would be kind of hard to do that with a character you hardly introduce the reader to. Maybe if you hadn't shown that they had been talking to each other for a while. Maybe.
Eakin, have you told you what a glorious person you are recently?
2057630
Like four times in as many days
so... who was the recipient?
2058833
Who do YOU think it was?
2058836
oh so it's one of those things, eh? ... I love these kinds of stories
2055229 They're throwing pandas at us!
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ly60b42ig for those of you who do not get the reference)
I lovely letter. Well written, and captures Twilight very well.
Well done
BUT WHO WAS PONE? Ahhhhh....wonderful story
2054851
How does anyone survive running around in this fandom, particularly here on FimFiction, without being comfortable with magical lesbian pony makeouts? I mean, really.
NNNNNNEEEEERRRRRRD
Don't blame it on the Ti-light, don't blame it on the Moon-dance, blame it on the boogie!
All the rest: KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! So much cuteness! So glorious! Sold, American!
Awww! Your Twilight is as perfect as ever, and this story is incredibly sweet. Thanks a ton for writing!
The recipient was...
YOU!
...nah, it was probably an OC.
I just admire the attention to avoid any give-away details to the identity of the recipient, to make sure to enclose their person in your own calculating mind. Though in all honesty it was certainly heart-warming, and also a bit adorkable, I loved the execution and overall writing of the letter. I always love the way writers execute their "letter" stories, it always warm me up inside, it's also a good thing since Winter is just around the corner.
[color=transparent]Also, Twilight, if I were to ever answer you question, no matter what happens... I couldn't
Was the recipiant that one royal guard guy
This was so sweet! Really lovely!
I've loved pretty much everything I've read of yours so far, and this is no exception.
Looking forward to reading Hard Reset and its sequels in the near future!
3616801
You read this BEFORE the Time Loop Trilogy?
Wow. Oh, man. You, my friend are in for a hell of a ride
My biggest regret about the TLT is that I never got to read it blind. Enjoy.
Your letterwriting-fu is indeed far greater than mine. Keeping this one close to my heart.
I turned my head around when I read the last few paragraphs. You got me, Eakin.
That was amazing.
So, who wrote this, twilight or her special somepony? Hmm... I must've missed something...
3794848
Twilight wrote it. The tapestry line should have been a dead giveaway.
3794944 welp I apologize for my lack of observation. Lol. Good read though. Jolly good show.
3499422 BOOOOOO
I was sent here on recommendation of Dr Wolf of the Brony Analysis community, and it was quite the pleasant surprise!
This short story hits just the right amount of sweetness, wit and nuance of character that it felt very much like something Twilight would have written! I take my hat of to you sir!!
2054512
You went back on your word!
*reads fanfic*
All is forgiven.
Lovely fanfic. Interesting to have Twilight pop the question. But she's a progressive woman, isn't she?
3935326
I read along with him. His voice coupled with this letter was phenominal!
Kudos to the author on such a wonderful job!
3935326 Wow we're here for the same reason
Still I'm curious who is this "he"?
Very touching,
I had to skim through a second time, when I realized there was no identifying info of any kind.
It still tears me up thinking about it.