Spike’s Letter
1:07 am
Canterlot
You know, the sound of hooves striking the road outside used to send comfort to those who slept in their beds. They would snuggle under their covers, knowing full well that Princess Luna would watch over them all. The guards would keep a closer eye on the small things, such as a common bugler, a salt-addict, or even a pony drunk on hard cider. With our thanks to Luna, we would slumber peacefully (something I enjoyed a lot). Then, in the morning, we would wake up, refreshed. It was almost beautiful. Often times, I would throw off my blanket and rush to help Twilight with her chores. Then, the day’s adventure would begin. Sometimes it could be a certain blue unicorn causing a ruckus or a dragon in need of waking. A few times, it was a major baddie, like Discord or Chrysalis. Those were the days.
And when the days weren’t all that bad, you know, we’d have picnics, hang out with our pets, or take afternoon naps. It was glorious. As we did this, we could relax knowing Princess Celestia watched over Equestria from Canterlot. The ruler of the day, even if she didn’t know you personally, she still loved you and wanted nothing but the best for you. Everypony was equal in her eyes, and rightly so.
With the six being the Elements of Harmony, Harmony itself sung from every hill. Heck, there were even multiple glass windows constructed in the Palace itself depicting the heroic feats that they did together through the power of friendship. It was magical.
Everypony knew how powerful friendship was within the land. The changelings knew it as they tried to suck away the love from us all. Discord knew it as he changed others personalities to drastically lower the possibilities of him being defeated (even though he was). Yeah, friendship is key to everything. There was nothing that it couldn’t help us accomplish.
What shocked us all though was Twilight’s transformation to an alicorn. She was now one with our rulers. She had been elevated beyond us, even though she insisted she wasn’t. Secretly, we knew she was above us. Thank Celestia she took her role with humility and didn’t start acting like some know-it-all snob. In reality, it would have just been the snob that would have been added. Nothing more, really. She still was a know-it-all – in a good way.
She was crowned Princess over Magic and Friendship. What greater honor than that? Well, I can think of nothing. Yep, it was hers to rule. She was one of the four rulers of Equestria. She took her duties seriously. There wasn’t anything she didn’t go to us with for help. Her books were her friends, we were her advisors, and Celestia was now her mentor for something completely different. To put things simply, Twilight was a good ruler.
Trade flourished, our treasury absolutely exploded (sadly, I wasn’t able to get any gems…ugh), even our foreign relations became envied throughout the world. Every nation who was any nation knew they needed to become friends with us. Technology and culture soared. It was a Golden Age all over again. No baddies came after us, considering we had the Elements, four alicorns, and a massive army capable of handling anything. It was glorious. You know, I expected things to end that way. Just like that. Have the scene fade to black with the sun setting in the distance as Twilight zips around going, ‘Yay yay yay yay yay yay yay!’ Something like that – usually, it pretty embarrassing, but what can you do?
Sadly, life gives you lemons, drinks your lemonade, and then spits it back in your face. Why? Well, because life, as Sweetie Belle put it, is always ironic. How do you think it could be ironic in this Golden Age? The answer is too simple.
You know that thing about alicorns living for, like, ever? Yeah, that’s a curse disguised as a blessing. As our friends grew old, she didn’t. The only reason I’m alive is because I’m a dragon. Dragons have longer lifespans. Sometimes, I’m happy we do. Other times, it’s just another scar.
Anyways, it all happened when Pinkie Pie left us. I’m not talking about packing up and going away. No, I’m talking about gone gone. Our Laughter had left us. It was absolutely heart wrenching. Pinkie’s extravagant humor and constant ability to make us smile was just…gone. Our faces weren’t smiling long after that. Instead, we had adopted a somber atmosphere. Twilight was devastated by the loss. She cried the longest, the loudest, and felt absolutely sick as she would look down at her own body and then see her friends in their aged state. Age spells are hard to complete and to do for a bunch of ponies, it’s against the Rules. I was almost scared that she would succumb to dark magic and attempt to raise Pinkie. Thankfully, Twilight was stopped from going off into the deep end by the remaining friends, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence.
The funny thing about Death is that it doesn’t stop. It doesn’t care if it steals away your closest friends, your lover, even your family. A soul is a soul to Death. Just another one to take and bring to worlds beyond our own. Death took the Generosity from our hearts. Rarity died. I don’t really want to linger on it. It breaks my heart, shatters it to pieces. I will never feel the same. It’s terrible. I won’t lie. I almost drank myself to death. Thankfully, I was stopped. Twilight had to be stopped as well. We took the loss very hardly. Both of us. Slowly, but surely, we go over it. I regret to say I never have stopped drinking after that. In fact, I have a glass with me right now.
Excuse me.
Well, I feel better. No, not really. I hope you never have to go through something as awful as that. From what you can guess, it didn’t stop there. Twilight was still trying to juggle Equestria and deal with her emotions. I have to commend her, she did an excellent job. Now, however, there were only three of the original left. Generosity and Laughter were gone. No longer did they have a pull on us, except in sorrow. Gosh, how I wish it hadn’t happened the way it did.
Next, quite simply, Applejack died. Honesty was now gone. Lies were spread. Media took over. The Empire Twilight had formed with hard work, was now beginning to grow bleak. Yet, through those ashes and the tears, Kindness and Loyalty were still present. It was warmth of those two that kept Twilight from completely drowning in a sea of her tears. The support of those around her was enough. She kept a level head, though I could see her descent into madness. At night, I could hear her talking to herself. Occasionally, I had the misfortune to see her in deep trance, like she had reached beyond the grave. Magic like that isn’t something you dabble in. Even if you are heartbroken. Time isn’t a very nice player and he will punish those who try to meddle in his affairs. Same goes with Death. Both of them are unstoppable forces. Those that claim to be immovable objects are simply lying. Like a freight train, they’ll go straight through you.
Anyways, the unthinkable happened. Our friends and the final pieces of the Elements were lost. Kindness and Loyalty died within the same week. Twilight snapped. Her best friends – not to mention her first friends – were gone. We were all afraid of what she was going to do. Nothing happened. Shocked, surprised even. Yeah, we all were.
Something split her brain in half for the next six months. She went about her duties and the other half of the time, she was mumbling to herself. The dark magic she had been performing was gone. There wasn’t anything reminiscent about it. Celestia and Luna both checked. Even Cadence cautioned digging around in her head when she was asleep, making sure she didn’t alert the troubled alicorn. Cadence herself had suffered loss when Shining Armor died. Twilight was so out of it to really notice. In fact, I doubt it ever crossed her mind.
Then, one day, she went berserk. Only, she did it subtly. Weird, right? Reforms were made. Everypony was made equal. It looked good at first, yet it wasn’t. No more specialization, jobs were handed down. Hierarchy was completely demolished. The rulers were now simply ‘Enforcers.’ The community decided. Each pony equaled one vote. Perfect, right? Nope. Arguing and fighting began to break out. So, Twilight cracked down. Divisions of ponies. Some ponies were designated bakers, others mechanics, and so on. It seemed that Twilight didn’t want to see ponies have to suffer through losing their best friend like she had. So, nopony was anyponies best friend. Everypony was everyponies friend. Nothing more than that. Love was forbidden and Twilight cast Cadence away; locked her up in the same dungeons that Chrysalis had done to her. Yep, in order to keep the population up, ponies were mated together according to ‘compatibility’ and then sent to a room. The mother and father never see each other after that. And when a foal is conceived, after birth, the mother isn’t even shown her child. No love. Just equal friendship.
Speaking of that, even families are banned. All it is designated wet nurses raising the children with a few ‘fatherly’ figures. The foals are raised to believe they are not unique. They are simply to be friends with everypony else. They are to treat everyone as an equal and they are to, in no way, differentiate anyone. Not because of whether you’re a Pegasus or a unicorn or an earth pony. You’re all taught to be friends with everypony and that nopony can be number one and nopony can be number two. Solid logic, yet not. Friendship isn’t fair, you have to remember that. Twilight thinks it has to. No talents or unique characters can be shown.
That means cutie marks are ‘banned.’ Now we have a bunch of ponies walking around with blank flanks. A pony isn’t allowed to explore their likes to discover what they’re good at. Yeah, they’re all blank flanks! Occasionally a young filly or colt stumbles upon their special talent and is immediately labeled as an outcast. You can’t be different from everypony else. It makes friendship unequal and therefore you might feel better than others. That’s not true! You need to be different from your friends, it’s what makes friendships so amazing. Does Twilight see that now? No. To her, cutie marks are now an abomination. In her mind, they just remind her of the friends she lost and the things they did together. She doesn’t want anyone to have to go through her loss, even though she is really just dragging us down into her grief as well. Can you believe it?! Cutie marks are illegal!
Everything became ruined. What Equestria had been was now lost. Twilight was an absolutist ruler. A totalitarian dictator. Twilight even reduced Celestia and Luna into nothing but slaves serving a single purpose. Everypony was disheartened. We became nothing but a husk of what we used to be. Just like Twilight’s heart was empty, we all became empty. Riots and rebellions rose up. The guard crushed them. From a dystopian utopia, we simply became a dystopia. Nopony in their right mind wants to live here. We have to though. There is no other place to go. But guess what, we survive somehow.
Twilight has crowned herself Lady Protector. What a load of bull. I’m almost disgusted that I used to be her assistant. What’s funny is I even followed her blindly at the beginning of her start into dictatorship. What a fool I was. I enforced the rules, even witness the casting down of Cadence. Come to find out, I was simply under a spell. That’s what Twilight had been doing when she was locked in her room and muttering to herself. The Twilight I knew was gone. Mind control was her forte now. If she couldn’t convince or persuade you to do something, she would use brute force and hypnotize you. Your mind would be yours, but at a moment’s notice she would end you or make you do something else. Thanks Celestia for turning the most studious unicorn into an all-powerful alicorn. Even Discord is, was, at loss for words – and that’s saying something. First thing that she was to turn him into court jester. He didn’t have much issue with that. After all, he had been searching for something to do. This was his chance. How much mirth do you think was on his face when he was turned into stone again? None. Discord, the reformed villain was to be encased once again. It’s sad.
Well, if you do stumble upon this letter, just know I won’t be around to help you. I’m finished with my life and being under her rule. Chances are an empty glass will be next to my bed. I hope with all my heart that some brave ponies do stand up to her.
The ironic part about it all, friendship will still prevail. You just need to show her friendship and its magic again. She needs to accept it like Celestia and Luna have. I just pray her aching heart can be soothed. With all regret and hope in my heart, do I write this letter.
I did mention I used to be her assistant, didn’t I? I did. Good. It’s time to come clean. I had to deal with those who stumbled upon their special talent by accident. My soul is torn to pieces by the atrocities I’ve done. I just thank whoever is listening that I didn’t have to end the lives of any of them. Instead, we rip them away from society. They are put into a place where other pony’s have cutie marks as well. However, they are all covered up. No talking is allowed and they are, in essence, the states slave labor. They are not allowed to talk, though I know they do. I secretly hope that they do form a rebellion that works.
To those who are in this camp, I leave this letter to you. As you read this, as I know most of you know how to read. After all, otherwise how would you be able to read all the edicts that she pushes through her corrupted bureaucracy. Please read this and don’t shove it aside. Take all of this into your heart. Make friends, don’t let the guards notice, but make friends. Not acquaintances, let the magic of friendship blossom.
The sound of hooves marching sternly on the streets used to bring comfort to many. Now, it’s just another reminder of what has happened to this world. Cheers, to the future. Hope, to those who finally do stand against her. Let Laughter carry you through the trials; let you be Generous with the needy; always be Loyal to your friends (even if it is outlawed); Honesty should always be forefront in your journey; Kindness can win the hearts of many, even those who life hasn’t been kind to. Lastly, let the Magic of Friendship guide you through it all. Just remember, the Elements are still on your side. I do wish I could help you, whoever you are, but I know that it would simply put you in even more danger. Good luck.
As a final farewell,
Spike the Dragon, Assistant to the Twilight he once knew, and friend to all.
Author's Note
I don't really expect for anyone to like this or give it a thumbs up. If you do great, if you don't, its expected and I won't take any offense if you give me a thumbs down. In fact, this was just something that I thought of at one time. Felt like I could write something quickly. I did. Here it is. Enjoy?
