The Visit

A week after Frances returned home and the mirror was stripped of its magical properties for safety's sake, Spike coughed up a reply to Princess Twilight's report.

After grabbing the scroll and retreating to her room, Twilight was first glad to hear her letter was not an overreaction and that she and her friends behaved with the discretion and caution of very reputable citizens.

Then she received an apology: "Were that all I had to say, then this letter would have returned to you ages ago, but the latter half of your message gave me such pause that I was forced to meditate upon it before I responded."

Knowing full well Celestia couldn't see her, Twilight nodded in understanding before continuing.

"It is hard for me to imagine a world where I or my sister no longer exist, emotionally as well as physically. To read about the world Frances described chilled and saddened me, but it does say quite a lot about Equestria's youth if they were able to carry on. That being said, Frances himself does seem to be quite an interesting character, doesn't he? Polite, quiet, peaceful, and in the same turn threatening, mysterious, and, according to Fluttershy, carnivorous! Like you, I began to question his intentions until my eyes passed over his parting words to Fluttershy:

"'...I'm kind of a stand-in mother for a lot of young ponies, some no older than fillies, and it's certainly not easy, especially when absolute power corrupts absolutely. ...'

"This may be a redundant point to stress with you, Twilight, but when power is centralized, much of it is sequestered, as the name implies. When power is freed by a radical change in regime, like my and Luna's mysterious death, it spreads out like ripples in a pond, reaching all who wish to take advantage of it, 'for better or for worse,' to use his own phrase. Obviously Frances took advantage of it, and as soon as I acknowledged that, the origin of his darkness became clear.

"He is grappling with temptation.

"No one is truly pure of heart, Twilight. You know this as well as I. Venerable champions and irredeemable villains are both born from power and become who they are through the application of that power, on how well they respond to temptation under the duress of power. It is not an easy task. You are aware of this as well. Every instance of use, every heartless indulgence leaves a mark on the soul and reminds you, in its own twisted way, of how good it feels.

"How nice it would be to fall into the abyss and never wake again until your kingdom is little more than ash."

Twilight was tempted to step away from the piece of paper, but resisted it. There was a lesson she had to see through.

"Frances has likely slipped many times over the course of his rule, transforming his very being into something more bloodthirsty than you and I. Yet he has also shown restraint to you and your friends, indicating he is not lost to it. One cannot rule over ash, but his world does not seem to adhere to the neat resolutions we have been blessed to experience after every major threat. My guess is that he will only sink deeper into temptation as time goes on. However, due to the kindness of not only Fluttershy, but all of you, he will never become truly irredeemable."