To My Beloved…

Guess what! You’ll never guess what happened today! Go ahead and guess. Wrong! So the Mayor and Petunia were having their engagement party, and Kerfuffle decided that it would be the most hilarious prank to hide in the bushes and leap out of nowhere while wearing a manticore mask. I told her that it probably wasn’t the best idea, but you know Kerfuffle. When she has her mind set on something, she makes it happen. That is how she lost her leg, after all. Too soon? Hopefully not. It’s been six years. I’m rambling. Don’t worry, I’m about to get to the good part!

So she jumps out to scare the bride to be, and instead of scaring Petunia, she ends up scaring one of the bridesmaids, freaking her out so bad that she had to go to the hospital! I personally felt bad for her, but I knew you would have loved it. You always seemed to enjoy having fun and not worrying about whether or not ponies criticized you for it. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always wanted to be more like you. I can barely stand up to the mayor whenever he stacks me with a workload that I can barely handle, but I’m working on it!

Oh! Speaking of which, Hope Hollow is going through a total renovation right now! We’ve decided to bring in some helper ponies from other towns to fix up a couple worn down buildings, install a few more houses, and--get this--maybe even add a second hotel! Poor ol’ Petunia has barely been able to run the place seeing as how she’s busy planning the whole wedding by herself while her groom runs the city. I don’t envy her in the slightest. I may not get to hear from you much… or ever… Gosh, I wish I could hear your voice just once…

Whoops! Got a little lost there. I would have cut out that last part, but quills don’t exactly have the best erasers haha. Where was I? Oh, that’s right! I was talking about Petunia.

So she’s been way busier than I’ve ever seen her, to the point where she barely even has any time to spend with her future husband! Can you imagine that?! I mean, I get it. All I ever get to do is send you letters, but they’re about to get married! I mean, have you ever thought about getting married before? Not to me, of course! Just, in general. Yes, I admit, I’ve always fantasized about it, ever since I was a filly, but it’s not like I’m in any rush or anything. After all, I’ve been waiting my whole life already. I don’t mind waiting a few more years if it means I get to be with the one I love for the rest of my life.

The ponies in charge of doing the new resort are a little bit sketchy, though. Their names are Flim and Flam, and supposedly they’ve already had plenty of successful ventures so far. They still seem a little off to me, though, you know? Like, I can’t put exactly where the problem is with them, but the way they talk just feels like there’s something important that they’re leaving out and not telling us. I’m probably just overthinking things. If you want, though, as soon as you come back, you can just eat their powers or whatever it is you do. Still not sure how that works with earth ponies, and to be honest, I’m not sure you’d be getting much out of them anyway. Don’t tell the mayor I said that, by the way. I know, I’m a terrible pony! If anyone asks where I got it from, though, I’m going to tell them I got it from you. Haha just kidding!

You know, some ponies have been wondering who I’ve been writing to. Not many, but a couple. Mainly just the mailmare and a couple of ponies who are surprised that I even know how to write. You know what I tell them, though? “Oh, yeah, I have this boyfriend who’s stuck in Tartarus right now after committing high crimes against Equestria,” and you should see the looks on their faces! Don’t worry. I then clarify that I don’t actually have a boyfriend and that the letter is really just going to some old friend who works in the royal guard who’s stationed in Tartarus. That usually makes them laugh, but every once in a while, I get some weird looks. Especially from the mailmare. That’s why I kiiiiiinda decided to come visit you. Don’t be mad! OK, you’re probably going to be mad, but at least hear me out first! Or, read me out. Whatever.

So, yes, I went to the School of Friendship, and yes, I spoke with one of the faculty members there. I promise, I had good intentions! You remember Fluttershy, right? Of course you do. I’m an idiot. Sorry. Well, the point I’m trying to get at here is that I went to her basically to see how I would get past Cerberus at the front gate. Don’t worry, I was discreet about it. I just asked Fluttershy if she knew anything about him, and from there she basically told me everything I needed to know right there on the spot! Of course, I sincerely doubt she knew that I wanted to break into Tartarus to come see you, and that’s all I did at the academy! I promise, I didn’t have lunch with them or play any games with them or anything like that! I know how much you hate them, but you need to realize how much I hate being away from you. I promise I had good intentions in being there.

Now, you’re probably wondering why you didn’t see me in Tartarus. Well, I managed to get past Cerberus, but I didn’t realize there was more to it than that. After you managed to break out of there--*cough*twice*cough* (I know you can’t hear them, but those coughs sounded very realistic)--the security around those parts got a whole lot stiffer. I’m talking big, beefy guardsponies who were all like, “What in the hay are you doing here?” and I said, “Mindin’ my own business! What are you, my mom?” Remind me to never try the tough mare shtick ever again. I love you, but I’m not about to join you in there.

...I mean… You are still in there, right? I’ve been hearing that something happened to you, but I don’t want to believe it. I want to believe that you’re still there, but you haven’t been writing me back. I know you never have, but now that I’m hearing these… these… STUPID rumors, I don’t know what to think anymore! I’m so scared, Tirek. Please, PLEASE write me back, just so I know you’re OK. I don’t want to believe that you’ve been turned to stone. I’m trying to convince myself that it’s all a lie… but then why is everypony talking about it? Why are they all celebrating?! I needed to come see you, just so I could come back to Hope Hollow and tell them that they were all wrong! Please, Tirek! Don’t be gone! Please don’t leave me!

Nopony has ever understood me. I hate magic. I wish it would all just go away. Maybe that’s why I fell in love with you in the first place. Being an earth pony all my life, I’ve basically had no choice but to work with my hooves while unicorns and pegasi could be whatever they wanted to be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m darn good at fixing stuff up, but it would have still been nice to at least have the option to be a mailmare, or working at the rainbow factory, or even being a wizard like the kind we’re taught about growing up! I’ve always detested ponies with wings or magic, and you made it all better. You made them just like me. I know you somehow managed to steal magic away from earth ponies too, but I would gladly give up all the magic I have if it means making you happy.

That’s when I saw it, though. I went to Canterlot to see if I could get any of the royal guardsponies to allow me into Tartarus, but on the outside of Celestia’s castle, I saw a windowpane with your image on it along with the other two that the ponies have been talking about. When I saw that image, I went straight home and cried my eyes out. I’m still crying! I haven’t stopped crying since!

There’s no way it could be true. I refuse to believe that you’re really gone forever. If you really are, though, then what’s been the point of all this heartache?! I’ve been waiting for you for so long that I can’t handle the idea of you never coming back. I’ve finally had something to look forward to, someone who I could love, someone I could reach out to, even if it meant writing you letter after letter and never hearing back from you. Even if you don’t love me back, at least I still had hope that one day you’d get out and that I’d finally get to meet you face to face. I finally had hope that maybe, maybe all my dreams could one day be realized, and even if it was a stupid filly fantasy, the two of us could be happy together. Is this really what life is, though? Getting hurt and heartbroken with no reward for all that we’ve been through?!

I refuse to believe it. I don’t care how much I end up crying, I’m never going to lose that hope. I don’t care if every day, I write another letter, wondering whether or not it will ever be read. I’ll never stop writing. Every night, I promise that I’ll tell you about my day, I’ll tell you about Hope Hollow, I’ll tell you about the mayor and Petunia and Kerfuffle and the twins, and one day, I know you’ll write me back.

Sorry about the tear stains, by the way. Those aren’t from my eyes. I just… have a leaky pipe! That’s believable, right? Guess I’d better get on that haha!

But anyway...

Tirek, I know you’re still there somewhere, and when you get this letter, please… write me back. Until then, though, I’ll write to you every night. I’ll spill my heart for you. I’ll always love you. Until the day I die.

Love, Torque Wrench

XOXO

Author's Note

Written for the Season 10 Bingo Writing Contest. I had the following prompt: