Book Horse

Perhaps it is selfish of me, but after long days of meetings and tending to other ponies’ needs, I would rather just relax, usually with a book. I will likely have this job for centuries, and I need to find a balance where I don’t wear myself out.

And while it is regrettable, I must announce I will no longer answer letters, and I do not know if or when I will resume. Anything else would be dishonest, I feel, and would offer only the false hope of an answer. The archive remains a matter of public record and will continue thus, perhaps some may find there the answers you seek.

I will still be at the castle, where the public may petition me during the allotted time. You can also write to the castle, but there are many letters and not all will reach me personally, as I do not have time to read them all.

Thank you all for reading and writing, for the challenging questions and the silliness, for all those times you gave me a reason to pick up a quill. It has been an honor.

Absolutely, alicorns have stronger magic in general. Every type of pony has magic, but when you combine the three common types of ponies into one it’s like you have the power of three ponies. Not exactly like that, but looking at it in that way can help you understand the processes at work.

We know he’s the guardian creature in charge of protecting relics in the Tenochtitlan Basin. There are other guardian creatures, but it is my understanding they don’t look the same. Some creatures are unique, or at least so rare only one specimen has been observed. Ahuizotl does appear to be one of them.

By coincidence I was just reading some Daring Do novels, as today has been one of those rare days when I’ve had a lot of time to myself.

That’s an odd way to frame it. I don’t think retiring is among things considered rude. “How rude of you to retire!” Try saying that out loud to yourself, sounds rather silly doesn’t it?

I did enjoy it, but if I had remained longer that would mean demanding Celestia and Luna postpone their retirement, and I wouldn’t want to do that. If that’s what I wanted then I would have made that choice, but clearly I did not. So this seems like a question already answered by my actions. You don’t think I was forced to do anything, right? It would be rather contradictory if I was made to rule against my will.

Oh, I don’t have data on that, it’s not something covered by census records.

You would first need to establish one coherent standardized definition of what following in your parents’ steps constitutes, and since you usually have two parents who are not identical, does that mean any one parent, or a combination of the two? Furthermore, occupation is only one aspect of a pony, and there are always differences, so which specific things would qualify?

Once you have the definition you could start gathering the data, and over time one may amass a suitable sample size to use as a basis for conclusions, as long as the data being collected is representative of the population as a whole, not subject to participation bias, selection bias or such.

The methodology to analyze the data would at least be simple, as there would be only two outcomes, and the observed success distribution is just the number of positive cases divided by the sample size. You can then use a binomial proportion confidence interval to get a range of estimated probabilities within a certain confidence level.

Well of course not, would be rather odd if I was as good as two ponies, let alone two who were meant for their particular roles. Unlikely one could just step in and do a better job than the two of them combined.

I used to feel like I should be able to fill their horseshoes, but not that I could, and it’s something that caused me a lot of stress. But I realized that while I can’t do it, that’s fine, it’s an unreasonable standard.

We had very high expectations of the royal sisters, and took them for granted, but really their tasks weren’t even reasonable for them to do. Their duties demanded so much of them and harmed their relationship, and it’s entirely understandable they would want to retire.

I will never do the job they did, but ultimately, I don’t think I should. Equestria isn’t just me, it’s all of us, and we are all part of making it a better place. I have to make sure that there is night and day, and no looming disasters, but for most things you don’t really need me.

You can all do so much, and you don’t need to be instructed and micromanaged, I believe in you, that you know what is right and what needs to be done to build a better future. You just have to believe in yourselves.

While entering dreams might be a more direct approach, it isn’t the only way to deal with nightmares. I would suggest speaking to somepony about dreams that trouble you, either a friend or a professional therapist.

We don’t always have magical solutions to things, but we do have each other.

That is not the same thing, as I did not decide to dislike her for no reason. Regardless, I still have my issues with her, but I would not turn her away. I don’t know if we would hang out per se, we’re not that close and I am very busy, but I wouldn’t refuse to be around her. It would be detrimental to my relationships with others who do consider her a good friend.

Well, as you say there’s nothing wrong with them, so surely you shouldn’t have to “grin and bare” their company? Perhaps they are not your favorite pony in the world, and not somepony you would spend time with just the two of you, but seems to me they aren’t a burden.

So while you don’t enjoy hanging around them, one could argue you aren’t really hanging around them, you are hanging around your friends, and that pony is just also there.

I’m sure there has been cases where my friends have had friends I didn’t find anything wrong with yet weren’t perhaps ponies I wanted to interact with at the time, but I don’t see how that’s a problem.

It’s a strange question because you seem to just have decided to dislike somepony despite there being nothing wrong with them, which is rather unfair, and you should give that pony a chance.

Well, soon he’ll be a grown dragon, making his own plans. It’s not for me to plan out his future. I will support him as best I can, but ultimately it’s his future and his choice. And seeing what he decides is far more exciting than making any sort of plan for him to follow.

You don’t have to lick everything you put into your mouth, you know.

I have been very busy, and though I do try to delegate there are a lot of meetings which I have to personally attend. I certainly do not rule supreme, but perhaps ponies thinking that is part of the problem. There are many others who could be doing negotiations in my stead but they’re not necessarily accepted. My presence is expected, even if it’s not strictly needed.

It doesn’t help when some creatures have these lengthy rituals, like embarking on a spiritual journey to a remote cave and spending three days in meditation. I don’t mind such things; they’ve certainly been enlightening to help me better understand other cultures, but they do take up a lot of my time.

Well, I would argue that’s what friends do. He knows what he did was wrong and he tries to atone for it, and as friends we should help him grow.

He’s also done a lot of good too, and while that doesn’t give you a free pass to do bad things, it is something to take into account when judging somepony’s character, and how sincere they are about their apologies.

I prefer to look at how far he has come from what he used to be.

She didn’t put my cutie mark on that tree. It was there long before I was even born. Nor is recognizing somepony’s potential and helping them realize it manipulative.

I didn’t get where I was because Celestia tricked me into anything. To suggest that is the case is to trivialize the choices I made, the work I put in. As if I have just stumbled through life and had everything hoofed to me. I have my own life, one I had to go through many hardships for, make sacrifices for.

While I don’t mind the question, it seems that you think I am naive and don’t have any agency of my own. If that’s the case, I imagine you can’t have a high opinion of my leadership.

Well, it’s not a status, it’s what they are, regardless of their duties. They might change in appearance with time due to no longer performing their former duties, looking more like myself or Princess Cadence, or perhaps more aptly like Luna as she was after her return from her banishment. Though likely that will take quite some time. But they were born alicorns and will always remain alicorns.

The basilisk gaze does leave some telltale signs, and primarily one would want to study the texture of the rock as opposed to something more invasive. A natural rock carved into a pony shape will show marks of tools and erosion, whereas a petrified pony will exhibit remnants of a skin cell structure.

Well, that and the lack of a plinth.

The Elements of Harmony, to my knowledge, can create statues which are indistinguishable from crafted statues, or at least sufficiently close to them to fool art critics, I know this as they have in the past written critiques about the craftsmareship behind the supposed Discord statue.

Fortunately ponies being turned to stone isn’t all that common, so it’s not a highly studied area, but it’s usually obvious when that has been the case, at least in the short term, which is quite sufficient for a rescue.