Bound Books

Prompt: "The Elements of Harmony betrayed by one of their own. Special rule: the traitor is not Discorded, nor is she acting under any other form of magical control or coercion."

Dearest Friends,

It is with a heavy heart that I leave you. I wish that things could have been different... but as a wise pony once told me, “the only thing you cannot change is the past.”

I know that without me, the Elements will be useless, but I fear that I would not be able to use them anyway, not after the things that have happened. The Elements of Harmony require harmony between their users. That much is obvious. Harmony is something we no longer possess, however.

When we defeated Nightmare Moon, the magic of the Elements drew us together. It gave us strength, and bound us with a friendship that we should not have shared. We stayed together, each of us pressured by the others, each of us feeling that we could not possibly hurt anypony else.

To organize myself and to be more coherent in this understandably fragmented letter, I have compiled my thoughts and conclusions as a list:

I knew that I was lonely, even when I was around all of you.

I knew that when I felt these feelings I was being a terrible friend, so I crushed them.

I thought that you wouldn’t have those feelings too; I assumed that I was the only one questioning our friendship.

I know now that I was wrong; all of us were feeling the same way.

I guess it’s right to tell you how this came about.

After the wedding, I was surprised to find in myself feelings for Rainbow Dash. This startled me; never before had I had more than a simple crush on another pony.

I confided in Applejack, and she told me that I had to tell Rainbow before she left for the Wonderbolts, or I would lose her forever.

Even after that, I waited until the very last moment to tell her. She was leaving, going on the train to Canterlot, and I poured out my feelings in front of her.

She didn’t reciprocate. She told me that she couldn’t think about spending her life with me.

As I left, dazed and confused from the restrained turnaway, I realized that the Element of Loyalty wasn’t really that loyal at all. I realized that none of us really represented our Elements. That was the last straw for me.

I knew it wasn’t healthy to continue this way. To save everypony from the emotional trauma of breaking our relationships up, I decided to leave. To save myself from the pain, I decided to tell all of you in a letter. By the time you read this, I will be long gone.

Rainbow Dash, don’t blame this on yourself. You did not drive me to this decision; you simply revealed the truth that none of us could see. I hope that you can understand this.

Goodbye, everypony. Face the truth. Begin new lives.

Remember me fondly.

Twilight Sparkle.

She took a last look at her hoofwork, nailed to the door of the library, before she turned and fell off into the night. The moon shone brightly down, but nopony saw her.