~ Interlude II ~ A Letter to Twilight ~
by Monochromatic
Dear Twilight,
It’s been so long! The war has been over for almost a year now, but you still spend all your time in your “secret library.” How are your wings? It took me the longest time to get used to my new horn when I got it. Hopefully, it isn’t the same for you.
We received news of the founding of Ponyville. You probably knew this already, but the farmers living with you there used to be guards at the castle! They retired before the war even started, and I think they lived somewhere near The Great Falls, but Shiny thinks they moved near you out of instinct. “Once a royal guard, always a royal guard,” he says.
Shining and I would have loved to be there, but we are still dealing with the aftermath of the war. According to Aunt Celestia, not all changelings have left Equestria. I thought they would have, considering we defeated their queen, but there’s a possibility some of them wished to make a life here—even if in secret. Despite having been allied to the changeling queen, Discord is being little to no help in the matter. I only hope we’ll be able to find them and reach a peaceful solution.
Everypony here misses you terribly, of course—especially Shiny, but you did not hear that from me. I know Aunt Celestia visited you last week. How did that go? She told me she enchanted your books so they would never be damaged. She also thinks you’ve forgotten you’re not a filly anymore. How strongly did you “joyfully throw” yourself at her to have almost tumbled her down, silly?
Aunt Luna might be visiting soon. Her… relationship with Aunt Celestia is a bit strained on her side. A nearby village organized another “sun celebration” for Aunt Celestia, and even if she would never admit it, you can imagine how Aunt Luna felt about that. It used to be less hard on her when you were here, but now that her favorite night-owl is gone, she has no one to remind her how beautiful her night is by stargazing all the time.
Shiny and I are trying to see if we can stop by Ponyville next month. I hear you’ve been eating very good apple pies. Don’t eat too much, though, or you’ll get a tummy ache!
Hope to see you soon,
Cadance
my original plan was read this AND another chapter today as a treat but then well life happened as it usually does. so just this one tonight, but what an interlude this is. like it really shows so many little interesting things that i love to pick apart as a reader.
there’s the backstory, the explanation that twilight’s library was made before the second chaos war, which okay i don’t recall if that was supposed to be obvious to me from the start (i may be stupid) but it’s clearly put in place here and you start to see a timeline of events begin to develop, one more red thread to add to the conspiracy board of “what the hell happened to cause the imprisonments of the princesses?!?!??!” <- truly the development of this plot is so gripping. i love it. it's better than half the mysteries i've read in my life, easy.
there's the hints of the changelings and what's to come there, already set up so early on. absolutely brilliant, also I love changelings so much they're maybe my favorite of the mlp villains ever so i get giddy every time they come up. weee my favorite little fucked-up bug horses!
the establishment of (or, i suppose, thinking back, not the establishment but the expansion upon) twilight and luna's relationship is excellent and very important to me. i love the two of them deeply and i just want them to be friends. they are important to me. so important. twilight being a grounding force for luna and reminding her that her night is beautiful is so so so good i WILL cry don't test me.
the tidbits of information like the foundation of ponyville are also lovely. it's so cool how you've given context to an incredible amount of things in the story with one short out-of-context letter. it's just so fun as a writing device i am such a fan 😀