The Land Unspoken

Shuriken stood watching the portal as, one by one, the living ponies followed Twilight and her friends back into the world of the light.

As the last of the living crossed the threshold she moved forwards and, without ceremony, closed the portal. It winked shut, now just an empty frame that would never again mix the living world and the dead. The scar was finally healed.

As she stepped back one of the ex-Replicus ponies approached her.

“What do we do now?” he asked.

Shuriken had never really thought this far but as she scanned the hopeful faces that surrounded her, her eyes alighted on the ruins of the village. With a little work and, of course, a strong leader…

“Now?” she replied. “Now, we build ourselves a new home.”

Once Xerox’s spell wore off, the Replicus all returned to their own colours and sizes. For some, this meant a significant shrinking as they had been barely more than foals or fillies when they were taken. Now, released from the spell, the youngsters crowded around a single figure, one who was even smaller than the rest.

“Aren’t you the one who stopped the portal?”

“And he’s friends with the ponies who destroyed Xerox!”

“That’s so cool! How’d you get friends like that?”

“Wanna come play hide and seek with us?”

Ditto had never had much of a childhood, so he was now determined to find out what it was like. A face swam into view in his mind’s eye. It was a yellow face haloed in pink hair with soft, blue eyes that held a kindness unlike anything he’d ever seen before. A light in the darkness of his life.

He smiled. At least now he knew the kindness of a mother and how it felt to sleep warm and safe beside her while she healed all the hurts the world dare throw at you.

And who knows? One day, Fluttershy too would die.

He’d be waiting.

Several weeks later and a whole world away, Twilight awoke. It seemed odd to wake up in her own bed for once, especially since her last memory had been stepping through the portal. She yawned and opened her eyes, obtaining a face-full of Pinkie Pie for her troubles.

“She’s awake!” the earth pony screamed gleefully.

The others bounded into the room with rather less noise but no less enthusiasm.

“Oh Twilight!” Fluttershy began “we were so worried for you!”

“Yes,” added Rarity, “the way you just collapsed when you went back through that portal. We all thought something just terrible had happened!”

“You thought something terrible had happened,” said Rainbow Dash, “the rest of us realised she was just tired.” Rarity glared at her.

Derpy broke in; “some of Xerox’s ponies we rescued were pegasi and they agreed to fly us all home!”

“But when you didn’t wake up for days we were just a teensy bit worried.” Rarity supplied.

  “I’m fine, don’t worry,” Twilight said with a smile, “I guess these past few weeks have just tired me out a little. So what’ve I missed?” A babble of voices answered her.

“Everything near the castle, all the poor plants and animals that were acting so oddly, have gone back to normal!” said Fluttershy.

“And all the dead trees further out were startin’ to regrow before our very eyes! I ain’t seen nothin’ like it in all my days!”

“It was so awesome!”

“So I threw a party…”

Twilight let her friend’s fragmented storytelling drift over her. It was over. Finally. Everything was back to normal. Soon the land subjected to Xerox’s reign of terror would become inhabitable once again.

Now there was just one thing left to do. She raised a hoof to quiet her friends and glanced around. She quickly found who she was looking for and spoke.

“Spike. Take a letter.”

Dear Princess Celestia

I think that in recent days we’ve all learned something very important about friendship.

I learned that you should always treat others fairly. Those who seem, on the surface, to be simple are quite often the ones who have great hidden depths. All it takes is a little friendship and kindness, and they might just surprise you.

Applejack learned that no matter how difficult the fight, no matter how much you despair, you must always try your best. Because while you continue trying there is still hope. Once you give up, however, you’ve already failed.

Fluttershy learned that, even in the darkest of situations, you must do all you can not to give in. Even if all others seem evil, you should always do what is right. Because someone has to be the first. Someone must light the way so that others can follow.

Pinkie Pie learned that it is a fine thing to be able to make your friends laugh, but laughter doesn’t always solve the problem, and trying to cheer someone up this way can often have the opposite effect. Laugh with your friends when they’re happy, but always be ready with a kind word when they’re sad.

Rainbow Dash learned that negative emotions can often cloud your judgement. When you are feeling frustrated or angry your brain can twist the words of even your closest friends to insults or mockery when in reality it was merely an honest joke, or even an attempt to cheer you up. Be free with good emotions, but learn to control the bad, or else you may end up saying or doing something you’ll live to regret.

Rarity learned that it is easy to stand up to your enemies, but it can be much harder to stand up to your friends. But nobody is perfect, and friends can be wrong too. Stand by your friends in their good decisions, but don’t be afraid to stand up to them in their bad.

And Derpy learned something that is perhaps the most important of all. Although an ape cannot swim as fast as a fish, if a fish is judged on its ability to climb trees, then it will live its life believing itself a failure. Have faith in yourself and your talents, whatever they are, as it is in this faith that your true strength lies.

Your faithful student:

Twilight Sparkle.