Dear Plum,

I do not want you to be suspicious of me. I am sorry, it has been too long since I have had others nearby and I am not used to thinking about how my actions could be interpreted. I have been dealing with personal issues and I thought that not getting you or anypony else involved would be best for everyone. I believe I owe you an explanation.

Do not say this to his face, but Stratos is a genius. From what I understand, he has nearly perfect self-selective photographic memory, and his ability to grasp any new material and adapt that to any situation is unparalleled. Even the brightest of pony minds have a hard time holding a candle to this one human. And yet, even though he says he tries to do the right thing I am terrified of him.

When I saw Stratos and Barn arguing with each other I was immediately struck by the way Stratos was acting. Even to his friends, even to you, the way he talked about his own species, his stubbornly judgmental views on everypony he knew, and his adamant belief in his own superiority was horrifying. Worse, I knew that if he was pushed too far, there was nothing he was unwilling to do. And because of his intelligence, there is little I doubt he could not do. I am not sure if we could stop him if he turned against us. I have to trust that Zed would be strong enough to prevent that from happening.

Please do not think I believe this man is evil. I know he does not mean to be like that but Stratos only cares about what he wants. He does not easily accept opposing views because he believes he can never be wrong. Understandably, it makes everyone hate him.

Worse yet, he was acting like me. It made me realize how stupid I had been.

Plum, I think it is time you understood me a little better. I did not just steal my ancestor’s journal because I wanted to end the curse on my family; I did it because I wanted them to remember me. I was always the best at everything. I was the best fighter and the best crafter. I mastered everything with ease. I always acted the best I could. Everypony in my family hated me. Now I understand why. I was always too self-righteous, acting above everypony. I could not grasp why they did not like me. I thought they were jealous. I thought I deserved more recognition for what I was doing. But no matter how good I was, they never changed their opinion of me.

When they refused to recognize me, I stole the journal. I went to live by myself because I assumed doing so would show how great I was. I told myself I did not need them. I went to work on my armors thinking that my skills would get me the recognition I deserved.

But I still acted like a jerk. I pushed everyone away. Yes, many professionals knew about me, but they all learned to avoid me. If Stratos and Esper had not found me and pursued conversation in spite of my attitude, I am sure I would have been either forgotten or remembered only with disgust.

And when Esper showed me this base and her friends I felt something in the pit of my stomach. When I saw what Stratos had, I became envious. I realized how lonely I was and how I wanted to have somepony to talk to. I did not just want recognition, I wanted friends. I could not understand why he had them and I did not. But when he came so close to losing it all, it finally sank into my skull that unless he changed, he was going to end up like me. He was going to end up alone.

I vowed to better myself. I do not want to be like this anymore.

That is why I tried to make amends with my family. I knew I could not do that alone. That is why I asked Barn to come with me.

I sent Barn in first to “break the ice” as it were. In the way that he does, Barn quickly got them to open up to him. They are doing quite well now that the curse no longer plagues them. They still train and improve their abilities so they have not changed all that much. They liked Barn’s ability and felt sympathy for him when he explained his former situation of being cursed. They practically welcomed him in as one of the family.

But no matter how long Barn talked, they did not mention me by name. They had removed every trace of my existence.

Finally, Barn pulled out my ancestor’s journal and gave it to them. They loved him for that and profusely thanked him in every way ponily possible. They spoke of how the journal was taken from them by a lowlife. Still, they refused to mention me by name.

Barn eventually said he got the journal from me. My family warned him to stay as far away from me as possible. Barn said that this would be a problem.

When I showed myself, they immediately became hostile. Even after apologizing and saying I had learned from my mistakes and was trying to better myself, they still showed me the door. When I tried to ask how I could make it up to them, they threatened me with weapons. I knew that it was time to leave.

I will have to thank him standing up for me. Barn asked why they were so hostile to his friend. Using as many unpleasant words as imaginable, my family said that I was a selfish pony that could not be trusted. Barn said I had changed. They refused to believe it.

I asked Barn if we could just go and he agreed.

When we left, my family held no ill will towards Barn, only me. They gave him food and items, wished him well, and reiterated that I was not worth associating with.

I do not think they will ever forgive me.

That is what I was doing.

So please do not hate me. I want to change. I know it will be a slow process but I am trying. I do not want to be like Stratos. I am afraid of that happening. I will work hard. I will be the best Unknown Guardian I can be. I promise.

Sincerely,
Smithy Strike

Dear Strike,

It’s alright. If your family won’t accept you then you are welcome in ours.

Don’t worry; I know you are not as similar to Doctor Lucid as you might think. You spent the time to write me a detailed and personal letter about your life and feelings while Stratos would never do that.

If anything, I ask you to not think of Stratos as a good symbol of his species. I know you and Barn are reading all of Stratos’s horror novels and I cannot imagine that would paint a good picture of them. I’d rather point you to my home’s own legends of Sir Colbert or Deus’s writings on the human Athereal Knights and their Diamond Wolf brethren. If we are going to be working with humans in the future we need to know both the good and the bad.

As far as improving who you are. Just remember that you do not need to change your personality, just how you act towards others through it. For that we will all help you as much as you need.

With Love,
Pocket Plum

P.S. Do you think your family would be good additions to the Unknown Guardians?

Dear Plum,

Thank you. I needed to hear that.

I am not going to judge humans like that. Unlike most ponies, I knew that humans existed. Master Strike wrote about them frequently. They were some of the only ones to survive being associated with him. Whatever this thing is, it does not like confronting humans. It briefly made my ancestor suspicious of them. I just need to know whether it is because humans are worse than it or better than it, if you catch my meaning. I will withhold final judgment until after we meet them. Until then, I am interested in this other culture.

On the other hoof, that is a great idea. My family consists of a lot of exceptional ponies. Given that they see it as their duty to challenge this darkness I believe they would be all too willing to help. Just do not right away tell them that I am here.

With Thanks,
Smithy Strike