Twilight got her quill and paper; she couldn't believe she was doing this. But if she held it in any longer she would explode. Here goes nothing.....
Dear Princess Celestia,
I am writing as a concerned party in hopes of bringing your attention to many people’s opinions on certain transgressions that have occurred during your rule of which you were an integral part in its outcome. Most ponies believe you to be a benevolent, kind, and all around paragon of a ruler. However my party knows better than that as they have seen things others have not and thus know things others do not. This is not to say of course that we think you an improper ruler and wish to see you step down from power because you cannot handle things well. On the contrary, we believe you to be just as kind and your actions just as amiable as everyone else. We just think that there are a couple things we should bring to your attention. Now, certain events as of late have made us question whether or not your response to certain events has indeed been the best of all the possible choices available to you. Let us start small and work our way up, starting with a certain forest that everypony seems to want to avoid.
The Everfree Forest is a blight on Equestria’s landscape, stretching for who knows how far. You have demonstrated your ability to move two celestial bodies time and again and yet you cannot seem to remove a few trees. The creatures in the Everfree are evil incarnate and would not hesitate, given the opportunity, to dine on and pastel colored equine that may be unfortunate enough to cross its path. You seem to not be able (or worse still, not willing) to deal with these creatures to ensure the continued safety of your subjects. One does not need to look hard to see that there is something wrong with this picture. If you could do everything that is thought of you, then what is stopping you from eradicating a threat as serious as this? There are some theories as to why you are not able to do this. One such theory states that because of the war that transpired with Nightmare Moon and the subsequent destruction of your previous domicile- that is to say, your castle that now lies in the heart of the forest- dark magical forces that cannot be easily destroyed were created, shrouding the surrounding area in this magic and as a result creating these creatures that are the whole root of the problem to begin with. An added corollary of this theory suggests that it was this force that in fact created the forest in the first place.
If any of these theories do in fact, suggest truth, then it is understandable that you are not able (not without a tremendous deal of effort, at least) to eradicate the Everfree Forest. But that would then still beg the question as to why you allowed the founding of a town near it in the first place. You knew full well of the dangers the forest presented to those who got too near to it and still allowed the founding of a major settlement in the area. What was worse is that you actually encouraged it. Perhaps there is truly nothing to fear unless one were to actually set hoof inside its borders, but that still does not excuse this obviously blatant disregard for the safety of your subjects to put them at the possible risk of harm.
Next up on the list of issues one might have with your decision making and your ability to adequately prevent against possible problems regards somepony very close to you: Twilight Sparkle. At one meeting- regardless of how brief it may be- one would find Miss Sparkle very intelligent and worthy of the title of your protégé. However, perhaps your excessive influence on her has in some way or form cause some damage to her mentality. Let’s take, for instance, the events that transpired on the day her Friendship Report was due and she did not have one. The story of her rapid descent into desperation and insanity is infamously regarded as a fascinating story that captivates those who hear it. And why not? Princess Celestia’s personal student and goes insane and causes widespread havoc in an entire town? That is a story that unless you were there one might think it a work of fiction, fabricated by somepony who would be too drunk to even remember their own name. However it did happen nonetheless and your response was to- albeit calmly- chastise her for her actions. It is the opinion of this writer and many others that this event was brought on because of you to begin with. If not for your conveyance of the importance of punctuality and timeliness in all things being drilled into her head from years of your influence, she would not have acted so irrationally in the first place and thus would not have caused all the chaos in the Ponyville. These are just one of the examples, and the only one I will mention in this letter of the way that you could cause damage to those around you. However, before you go isolating yourself from those who love you, know that we also acknowledge the importance and criticality of your role in Miss Sparkle’s life. If not for you she would not have met the other Elements of Harmony and even more, the magic of friendship. Her power as a unicorn would have been left untapped as well and as such, wasted.
Let us mention now the most important event that you had to decide the fate of: the Nightmare Moon Incident. This is of course a sore subject for everyone involved but there are those, including myself that have decided it has not been addressed properly. We all know the story by heart; however no one came to think about just how it happened. A wise man once said that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” but you apparently didn’t think about this. While Luna is not innocent in the matter, you are the guiltiest. Jealousy does not appear immediately and there are indeed signs of it. If you were the ruler Equestria needed, but more importantly the sister Luna needed you would have caught these signs and done all in your power to prevent this. But of course you did not and Luna descended into madness, leaving you no choice but to banish her to the Moon. For how long? A decade? A century? No, a millennium. One thousand years on the most isolated place in the solar system. Close enough that she could see the life down there and the changes occurring, but far enough away that she can’t partake in any of it. Did you ever stop to think that maybe banishing Nightmare Moon would not actually do anything but maybe perhaps make her even more resentful? To banish your own sister away from everything is the cruelest thing that I can think of. She was away from everything that she held dear for one thousand years. No one can easily recover from that and she will most likely be feeling those effects for many more years. You should be so lucky if she didn’t feel the passage of time up there, because the worst thing would be the loneliness; no one you can talk to, no one you can touch, no one you can even see. That’s especially cruel for a leader who enjoyed bringing happiness and joy to those around her. Could you imagine that? I didn’t think so. Now let’s fast forward to now; do you know what one of the worse feelings in the universe is? Regret. Luna will eventually recover and be back up to speed. She’ll learn new customs all over again and fit right back in as co-ruler of Equestria. You however, will never recover from that regret. Sending your sister to the moon for a thousand years, that aforementioned loneliness, that resentment, that jealousy; that will never go away to you. She might forget about it, make it all some sort of distant, painful memory, but you will remember it.
That brings us to the most important part of my letter: you. You Celestia. You are a threat to yourself. Evidence of this is in the letter. You hurt those around you, unintentionally of course, but it’s still there. All these wounds will recover, all these lessons will be learned, but you will live on with these memories. You will live on with this regret; you will live on with this pain. But like a phoenix, there is one thing that can be learned from this: a lesson. Attention, planning, making sure that you don’t hurt those around you when you do something and making sure that you can prevent any pain that you see.
Learn these lessons well Princess, they will always help you.
Sincerely,
Violetta
Twilight smiled; she felt much better now that the letter had been written. It really helped that it was sort of in third person. It felt like she wasn't really the pony writing it an that just gave her some peace of mind. Although she sort of lost her temper and formality as she continued. Regardless, she felt better. Standing up, she levitated her letter to the trashcan and crumpling it up, threw it in. Without another glance she walked out of the library, ready to start a new day.
The Letter (Read this one if you want to see the original draft)
Dear Princess Celestia,
I am writing as a concerned party in hopes of bringing your attention to many people’s opinions on certain transgressions that have occurred during your rule of which you were an integral part in its outcome. Most ponies believe you to be a benevolent, kind, and all around paragon of a ruler. However my party knows better than that as they have seen things others have not and thus know things others do not. This is not to say of course that we think you an improper ruler and wish to see you step down from power because you cannot handle things well. On the contrary, we believe you to be just as kind and your actions just as amiable as everyone else. We just think that there are a couple things we should bring to your attention. Now, certain events as of late have made us question whether or not your response to certain events has indeed been the best of all the possible choices available to you. Let us start small and work our way up, starting with a certain forest that everypony seems to want to avoid.
The Everfree Forest is a blight on Equestria’s landscape, stretching for who knows how far. You have demonstrated your ability to move two celestial bodies time and again and yet you cannot seem to remove a few trees. The creatures in the Everfree are evil incarnate and would not hesitate, given the opportunity, to dine on and pastel colored equine that may be unfortunate enough to cross its path. You seem to not be able (or worse still, not willing) to deal with these creatures to ensure the continued safety of your subjects. One does not need to look hard to see that there is something wrong with this picture. If you could do everything that is thought of you, then what is stopping you from eradicating a threat as serious as this? There are some theories as to why you are not able to do this. One such theory states that because of the war that transpired with Nightmare Moon and the subsequent destruction of your previous domicile- that is to say, your castle that now lies in the heart of the forest- dark magical forces that cannot be easily destroyed were created, shrouding the surrounding area in this magic and as a result creating these creatures that are the whole root of the problem to begin with. An added corollary of this theory suggests that it was this force that in fact created the forest in the first place.
If any of these theories do in fact, suggest truth, then it is understandable that you are not able (not without a tremendous deal of effort, at least) to eradicate the Everfree Forest. But that would then still beg the question as to why you allowed the founding of a town near it in the first place. You knew full well of the dangers the forest presented to those who got too near to it and still allowed the founding of a major settlement in the area. What was worse is that you actually encouraged it. Perhaps there is truly nothing to fear unless one were to actually set hoof inside its borders, but that still does not excuse this obviously blatant disregard for the safety of your subjects to put them at the possible risk of harm.
Next up on the list of issues one might have with your decision making and your ability to adequately prevent against possible problems regards somepony very close to you: Twilight Sparkle. At one meeting- regardless of how brief it may be- one would find Miss Sparkle very intelligent and worthy of the title of your protégé. However, perhaps your excessive influence on her has in some way or form cause some damage to her mentality. Let’s take, for instance, the events that transpired on the day her Friendship Report was due and she did not have one. The story of her rapid descent into desperation and insanity is infamously regarded as a fascinating story that captivates those who hear it. And why not? Princess Celestia’s personal student and goes insane and causes widespread havoc in an entire town? That is a story that unless you were there one might think it a work of fiction, fabricated by somepony who would be too drunk to even remember their own name. However it did happen nonetheless and your response was to- albeit calmly- chastise her for her actions. It is the opinion of this writer and many others that this event was brought on because of you to begin with. If not for your conveyance of the importance of punctuality and timeliness in all things being drilled into her head from years of your influence, she would not have acted so irrationally in the first place and thus would not have caused all the chaos in the Ponyville. These are just one of the examples, and the only one I will mention in this letter of the way that you could cause damage to those around you. However, before you go isolating yourself from those who love you, know that we also acknowledge the importance and criticality of your role in Miss Sparkle’s life. If not for you she would not have met the other Elements of Harmony and even more, the magic of friendship. Her power as a unicorn would have been left untapped as well and as such, wasted.
Let us mention now the most important event that you had to decide the fate of: the Nightmare Moon Incident. This is of course a sore subject for everyone involved but there are those, including myself that have decided it has not been addressed properly. We all know the story by heart; however no one came to think about just how it happened. A wise man once said that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” but you apparently didn’t think about this. While Luna is not innocent in the matter, you are the guiltiest. Jealousy does not appear immediately and there are indeed signs of it. If you were the ruler Equestria needed, but more importantly the sister Luna needed you would have caught these signs and done all in your power to prevent this. But of course you did not and Luna descended into madness, leaving you no choice but to banish her to the Moon. For how long? A decade? A century? No, a millennium. One thousand years on the most isolated place in the solar system. Close enough that she could see the life down there and the changes occurring, but far enough away that she can’t partake in any of it. Did you ever stop to think that maybe banishing Nightmare Moon would not actually do anything but maybe perhaps make her even more resentful? To banish your own sister away from everything is the cruelest thing that I can think of. She was away from everything that she held dear for one thousand years. No one can easily recover from that and she will most likely be feeling those effects for many more years. You should be so lucky if she didn’t feel the passage of time up there, because the worst thing would be the loneliness; no one you can talk to, no one you can touch, no one you can even see. That’s especially cruel for a leader who enjoyed bringing happiness and joy to those around her. Could you imagine that? I didn’t think so. Now let’s fast forward to now; do you know what one of the worse feelings in the universe is? Regret. Luna will eventually recover and be back up to speed. She’ll learn new customs all over again and fit right back in as co-ruler of Equestria. You however, will never recover from that regret. Sending your sister to the moon for a thousand years, that aforementioned loneliness, that resentment, that jealousy; that will never go away to you. She might forget about it, make it all some sort of distant, painful memory, but you will remember it.
That brings us to the most important part of my letter: you. You Celestia. You are a threat to yourself. Evidence of this is in the letter. You hurt those around you, unintentionally of course, but it’s still there. All these wounds will recover, all these lessons will be learned, but you will live on with these memories. You will live on with this regret; you will live on with this pain. But like a phoenix, there is one thing that can be learned from this: a lesson. Attention, planning, making sure that you don’t hurt those around you when you do something and making sure that you can prevent any pain that you see.
Learn these lessons well Princess, they will always help you.
Sincerely,
Dark Side of the Rainboom
