The Scholar's Laments

MY SORROW

I know not how many tears I have shed over the loss of the Royal Sisters. Princess Celestia, our guide and guard for millennia, and Princess Luna, newly returned after all these centuries, only to be snatched away from us again, the lessons she had to teach stolen from us the moment we were granted them… It’s not fair… it’s just not fair.

The disappearance of the Royal Sisters weighs heavy on my heart, but it was the treachery of the Elements that truly broke my spirit. They failed us… Celestia’s chosen, The Elements of Harmony, called to protect, called to preserve the order of light and love within the realm of Equestria, the very group that was meant to keep our land together, our people safe, have failed in their duty… Not by any flaw of skill, but the most repugnant flaw of character, the active and energetic embrace of treachery… Treachery to us, the people of this land, Unicorn, Earth Pony, and Pegasus alike. All of us were Celestia’s citizens, all of us her chosen… But no longer.

Racial divides long thought extinguished have been reawakened, and for what? For a claim to superiority over this land, for the purpose of creating stronger internal factional ties, for manufacturing an enemy during this time of crisis? How do they justify these atrocities to themselves… Do they even care anymore? … I don’t think they do. Not about everypony. Just their minions, nipping at their heels.

Their betrayal goes beyond how they betrayed us. The treachery extends to a betrayal of Celestia, Luna, and even themselves… There was chaos in the wake of Celestia and Luna’s disappearance, and that was unavoidable. It could have been mitigated however, and righted, by the Elements working together as one as they were taught to do, as Celestia commanded them to do. But no… instead of working for the good of all, they rejected Celestia’s teachings, her doctrine, her code, in favor of their own ends and means, embracing madness and hatred, and tearing apart all of Equestria in the process. We trusted them, because Celestia trusted them, and they proved themselves so many times… how could they have done this to us? Betrayed us now when it mattered the most? … How could they…

Twilight Sparkle… They all bear great and horrible evil within them now, evil that all the blood they spill only stains darker, but she… she was the start, and the one who bears the heaviest guilt upon her. For she was Celestia’s student, she was called upon more than any of other Element to continue Celestia’s legacy… And she has done so in name but in spirit, none could have strayed farther from Celestia’s edict. Even as she trumpets their names she defies the commandments of the Royal Sisters with every breath, every mad magical experiment, every abomination crafted, every Pegasus or Earth Pony enslaved, everything her hoof touches is stained by her bigotry and tainted doctrine… She started the downfall into madness that claimed this land… Creating an army of racial supremacists to serve her ends, twisting everything the Sisters ever taught… but it was the choice of the others themselves to embrace the fall, instead of trying to salvage it.

One embraced her fall by seeking profit and profit alone, one abandoned us for the wild and the savage and draws others there to embrace barbarism… Another has her head lost in the past, claiming to fight for the Sisters and yet establishing a “Dominion” based upon the Pegasi race. Still another has given into her rage and fear, and now trumpets a thundering army of hatred and paranoia across our lands. And the last… who can say if that is even her or not, who is it truly that now commands lunacy given form, spreading like a contagion across these lands…

Equestria was my home. I loved it with all my heart. But now it is lost, ruined, to the point of no return, not because of the loss of the Royal Sisters, but because of the failure of these Elements of Harmony to do as they were called upon… Instead of maintaining Harmony and Balance they have fractured, betrayed their Elements, betrayed their selves, and betrayed their Princesses… Equestria was my home… and I can no longer live within it. I have retreated from it, with a sorrow filled heart, and now watch as the fools tear my home apart, waiting for the end…

I know it is coming. I know that Celestia, that Luna, were our protectors against the darker things… and though they claim otherwise it is abundantly clear that the Elements are no longer protectors… they are now the creatures they were supposed to protect us from. In times past they stood against those who would threaten harmony, but now they are the ones who tear it asunder. What are we to do when Equestria is ruled by evil? Ruled by these grasping, wrenching, covetous traitors?! … Equestria is never going to be Equestria again. They have destroyed my home, and now seek to build their own empires from the scrap.

Who will win? The Moon and Star with their racial bigotry and perverted interpretations of the Royal doctrine? House Everfree, with its ever-expanding forests and wild ponies seeking to plunge us back into barbarism? House Whitegold, the house of spies and backstabbers who care only for profit? Perhaps House Stormwing will succeed in creating their glorious “Pegasi Dominion” and turn Equestria into a military state. Maybe the Earthborn will overrun the rest of Equestria, taking by force what they have no right to own, and permanently ripping magic from Equestria with the horns of the unicorns… Or maybe it will be the Cult of Laughter, spreading like the contagion they are to eat away the last morsels of sanity that dwell in Equestria, devouring their host, and plunging it into a giggling Tartarus.

To know which side will be victorious would take a far wiser stallion than I. But though I flee, I cannot ignore the changing tides within my home, and so will use my talents of sight, interpretation, and research, to record what occurs, as best as I’m able. I will craft a record of folly, arrogance, fear, and hatred… A record that I pray, may tell those who someday walk on our ashes, how we failed, and how we were failed by those we trusted… Oh Celestia… Forgive me the hatred I have in my heart for those whom you once held dear… For I have no love left unto them… And no hope at all left for the home they have ripped from me…