Dear Princess Celestia,

This is definitely going to be the weirdest friendship report you’ve ever read.

Really, it’s kind of hard to put into words. Mostly because you probably don’t know who I am. But I know you, and your sister, and Twilight Sparkle, Spike, all the rest of their friends

That was starting to get really creepy, sorry. Let me start over.

Long story short, I’m from another world. One that’s lucky enough to get a have a glimpse of Equestria and how amazing and beautiful it is. For a long time I thought to myself that there would be nothing better than having the chance to be a part of your world.

Well, I got that chance and I was right. For a long time it was just as wonderful as I hoped.

Then I went and messed it all up.

I thought it was okay to just force myself into a story that I wished I could’ve been a part of without thinking about the consequences. Sometimes just to watch it play out. Other times because I thought I knew better than ponies that I had seen overcome the challenges they faced without me. I told myself that I loved Equestria and the ponies in it and that I wasn’t doing any lasting harm. I mean, you used your prophecies to affect Equestria all the time so what was the difference?

But I was wrong. You always used your prophecies to help push Twilight and her friends into being the ponies you believed they could be. I’d like to think I started that way myself, but the truth is it didn’t take very long before I was doing it just to make myself feel good. I was so caught up in living my fantasy I started changing things more than I should have, and part of me knew how wrong that was. If I hadn’t been found out I probably would have done some terrible damage to Equestria’s future.

That’s why I want to thank you, your sister, and Twilight and the others for giving me a chance to fix my mistake.

I sort of wish I could ask Luna how she came up with the idea of linking the time travel spell to the Tree of Harmony. I guess she never really did now, but it would be kind of appropriate if she’d learned about it from the same place I had. Undo everything with the same thing that caused it.

I’m home now (I guess technically I never left?) and everything's the way it should be again. That’s what’s important, but I still feel like I need to write this because

Well, I guess because the adventure doesn’t really feel over unless somebody does!

I don’t think I was wrong for wanting to see Equestria with my own eyes. I just never thought about how big the difference between helping someone and just giving them all the answers really was. You never did that with Twilight or her friends, and that was the major difference between us. Coming to their own answers and discovering themselves as they reached their goals was what made them strong, not the answers or goals themselves. No matter how strange, cringe-worthy, or outright painful the path might have looked, it’s what turned you all into the ponies (and dragon!) that I love.

So yeah, that’s all. The Tree is looking kind of impatient (don’t ask how that can happen, I don’t even really know!) so I’d better wrap this up. Just remember no matter how tough things get in Equestria that you’ve got me, and heck a whole world full of people cheering you all on!

Celestia read the letter over once more before rolling it back up again. Somehow it always managed to both comfort and confuse her.

She had no idea where it had come from. Part of her remembered it always being on her nightstand waiting for her but somehow it felt far more recent than that. Perhaps because she simply had never opened it before hearing about the big Apple Family Reunion down in Ponyville (an event she never failed to keep tabs on), and yet the words had felt familiar even then.

As little sense as that made, though, Celestia still smiled as she looked back at the hallway behind her. Countless stained glass windows depicting the great accomplishments of her beloved student and her friends. Purifying Luna, defeating Discord, saving the Crystal Empire…

Looking down at the dark cover of Star Swirl the Bearded’s book, she couldn’t help but smile a bit wider. Especially at the thought of so many cheering her and, far more importantly, her little ponies on. Setting the book and the mysterious letter aside for the moment, she took up a quill and parchment and began to write.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

The spell contained on the last page of this book is Star Swirl the Bearded's secret unfinished masterpiece...”

Author's Notes:

And here we finally reach the end of the story.

Firstly an apology for a minor bit of snapping I did in the comments of last chapter. I misread a healthy debate as harmful bashing and stepped in unnecessarily. Guess I had a bit to learn alongside Gary, huh?

I'll admit this story really became something more than I intended it. Truth be told it just started as me tossing out an idea that wouldn't leave me alone while I tried to work on something else. From there it drifted far, far away from how I'd originally intended it.

Originally I thought I'd write Gary as a complete jerk. Someone who forcibly stole glory and credit using his future knowledge. Somebody who suggested Spike help the fair so that Gary himself could save the Empire. And when confronted with his crimes he'd be unrepentant until he sees the full extent of the impact he's had on Equestria's future. Possibly include a bit of a court drama as he's put on trial.

So what changed my mind?

You guys.

At first I was scared I'd made Gary too sympathetic to be the antagonist in the story. Then, thanks to all the comments and attention that the story brought, I realized the story didn't need a traditional "antagonist". That I could change this from a simple shallow Stu-bashing into something that I felt would reflect self-insert fanfictions (and a bit of fanfic writing as a whole) better.

Gary being erased from Equestria's timeline was always the intended ending. No matter how badly a self-insert would impact Equestria by changing things they shouldn't detract from one's ability to enjoy the source material. People who read My Immortal certainly don't consider anything the Mary Sue in that story does when they're reading the canon books after all. And yet as I drifted from Stu-bashing the idea of just deleting him back to his own world as some kind of punishment felt hollow. At the same time I couldn't simply leave him in Equestria or else any lesson he'd learned from this would lack impact.

I'd like to think I found a way to integrate it by making the "prevent his reaching Equestria" ending his choice, but I can't wait to hear all your comments. Good or bad. Truthfully the debates that sparked (while unintentional) have been one of the best things about this fic and I thank all of you for helping it become the story it has!

Here's to whatever I work on next!