The Sparkle Letters

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I made an incredible discovery. By aligning a certain set of crystals in a specific 3-dimensional array (I shall send you my notes on their positions posthaste), I was able to open a gateway--a gateway to another world!

Naturally, I immediately stepped through. As the Princess of Friendship, and the head of the Friendship Academy, I am perfectly equipped to perform diplomatic duties.

On the other side, I met a strange creature. It walked on its hindlegs, carrying a bag of some sort in one forelimb and a hot beverage in the other. It was quite excited to meet me! Amazingly, our languages were mostly compatible, although I shall have to determine the meaning of the word "shit" and why it might be holy. After exchanging some pleasantries, I asked it what its name and gender is. Apparently, it was a male--and after some thought, he gave his name, and explained some things about his species. Apparently they are "humans", and their social structure is quite complicated. Why, the human I had met was known as Barack of Bama, and he said that he was previously a great ruler. I was honored to make his acquaintance! He offered to introduce me to the world of the Humans, and I was more than happy to accept his invitation.

More details in an upcoming letter. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Princess Celestia,

This day was so eventful! The human known as "Barack" brought me to his home--it was surprisingly small, despite being part of a massive tower. He explained that because there are so many, many levels in the human hierarchy, many powerful rulers share their towers to save on costs. Clever! The humans are clearly very skilled architects, and that's not even the most amazing thing I saw.

He had a window of some kind--he called it a "TV". It was not attached to any wall, and he explained that it could display all sorts of things, like the scrying mirrors of old. He said that we would be using it to discover many things about humans! But first, he said that he had to buy some groceries, as he had only planned on feeding himself that day. I knew that he was doing so out of the kindness of his heart, so I didn't mind.

That having been said, I could not help my curiosity. I began experimenting with the strange little rectangle sitting on the table in front of this "TV", and to my surprise, I found that it controlled the TV! I soon found that I could select various records from "You Tube", and it is here that my journey took a strange and confusing turn.

I saw that one record contained an image of me.

It was labeled "Friendship is Witchcraft"; I do not know if the word has the same meaning in this new world as it did in my own, and so I did not think much of it. When I activated it, it began showing visions of me and my friends--but...they were subtly different. Fluttershy was...not Fluttershy at all. She said things that I had never imagined Fluttershy would say--and her voice wasn't quite right either. I watched, enthralled, as Fluttershy coordinated an invasion of Parasprites, as I constructed a totally reasonable fortification of knowledge. At about the moment that the Parasprites began tearing through the town, I heard a thump, and turned to see that Barack had returned! He must have seen the confusion in my eyes, for he looked utterly shocked--and he showed a great deal of concern at my discovery.

He explained to me what a "TV Show" is, and that--in his world--they know of Equestria as the stuff of legend. Further, they have a strange relationship with legends--why, he seemed to see no issue at all with changing how the tale is told. This "Friendship Is Witchcraft" show is a retelling, a "fanfiction". But, more importantly...it is not real. The humans do not believe legends, not in the way that we do.

I shall have to investigate carefully, then.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.