Dear Benjamen,

I have been trying to write you this letter for two days now, but every time I come back to it I can't stop my cheeks from burning in embarrassment. You asked a really good question this time around, and I'm having trouble composing myself enough to write you an answer. I will do my best, but I hope that you can appreciate that I've tried everything I can to find a clever and vague way to let you know the truth. Especially when I'm a bit shocked by how young you claim to be, but maybe human age really is much different.

So where do baby ponies come from? Well it starts with the fact that you need two adult ponies to begin with, one of each gender. You must have already realized that there are male and female ponies, and that's because of how the process starts. I just want to sum it all up by saying, "They're made the old fashioned way," but that might be assuming too much about how things are back where you're from. Are humans mammals too? Do they have sex and birth live children? I know you mentioned a father and a mother, but I don't know if your meaning of the words is different.

By the way, that's not the question I want to ask you for my turn in this exchange.

I never would have imagined that so many creatures could live on such a small place as you described. You mentioned a while back that Terriel is a patch of land that floats in the sky above a planet, didn't you? It must either be very cramped there, or it is much bigger than I could imagine it being. It must be the size of a whole continent to house that much life at once, and to have seven or more provinces on it! How do you do it though? You told Zecora and I that the humans and creatures back where you are from do not practice magic, so how are you able to keep it suspended in the sky like that?

Speaking of Zecora, she asked about you recently. She was wondering why she had never gotten another chance to speak with you since your little episode. I think she was rather upset that you had gone away as well, but she wanted me to inform you that she sends her regards and anticipates a chance to begin again once you return. Of course she also requested that I omit her rhymes in hopes to not upset you again.

The Crusaders also came by with a special request for me to send along to you. They want to know if you have any idea of what they should do for this year's upcoming talent show to impress everypony. Last year did not quite go the way they had planned. Don't even bother trying to answer with, "Whatever they feel they are best at." I made that mistake already, Ben. That advice just does not work on these three.

As for something personal I wanted to let you know, Ben: I want to make sure you're still safe out there. Your last letter mentioning a fatal accident has left me a little uneasy when I think about it. Is everything really alright out there? I just want to know that you're okay, because you're just too far for me to know how things are faring for you. If you ever feel like Songring is ready for visitors, please let me know. My offer to get everypony to go for a short visit still stands. I know everypony would be relieved to get the chance to see you again.

Worried About You,
Twilight Sparkle

Dear Twilight,

I wish rather dearly that I could settle your mind and tell you that I am safe as can possibly be out here in Songring. I could go ahead and write that everything is cheery and sunshiny while we splash around in pools full of melted chocolate and make jokes by throwing cotton-candy-filled balloons at one another before we all have our regular evening tea in our little dining hall on the beach. That would be a lie, and I know not to do that again to you. No, instead I must continue to set you to worrying by letting you know that it has been a rather perilous time since our last correspondence. A hurricane hit Songring and took with it most, if not all, of our progress throughout the past two years. We are back where we started.

I honestly don't quite know how we're going to pull through after this, but we have to. I've not been relieved of my duty here, and that means that I'm just going to have to find a way. We're currently preparing to embark to a new location to attempt again, somewhere that perhaps the weather will not ravage us, and we will stand a chance of not losing all of our work within a single day.

So the best that I can tell you is that I'm not exactly safe, but I am unharmed. Most importantly, I do have ponies here to help keep me on my feet, so rest assured that I’m not facing the world alone right now. Hopefully that will give you a bit of ease.

Now that I have more paper from the caravan, however, there's no excuse for me not being able to answer your questions. Even though it wasn't your main question, I'll oblige you in answering anyways: Yes, humans have sex. Constantly. All the time. In fact, there are psychologists on Terriel that hold a firm stance suggesting that absolutely everything a human does is only in the pursuit of sex. I would challenge anyone to try and find a young man who does not spend at least two out of every three thoughts on the subject matter. Either way, thanks for the information. It does not settle me any, but being informed will still help at least.

You are right in that Terriel is very large. I would say it is indeed a small continent, and slowly expanding as is needed. Adding new surface area of course is exorbitantly expensive and time-consuming, but that is why there are projects in place to retake land back on the planet's surface so that perhaps one day we can come off of our floating rock in the sky. How does it stay up there though? To be honest, I never wished to be a geoaerial engineer so I did not study what techniques they use to make it happen. I personally wanted to be a journalist. I will suffice it to say that it is extremely advanced technology compared to what I have seen in Equestria, much like most of the conveniences that I was once used to. Do you even have computers here? If you do, maybe then you understand what I mean when I tell you that every single person on Terriel has a computer implanted within them that helps with organ functioning and adding the convenience of technological assistance for quite a few mental tasks. It's also a handy storage for recordings, media of all types, and communication. There's a function of it called the Stratus, which is the ability of every individual within range of a node to connect to one another remotely for chatting and transferring of data between our internal, and sometimes external, computing devices. Rainbow Dash damaged mine back when I first arrived, and it has yet to stop playing music at me because of it, but there's little I can do to remedy that until I get back home.

Tell Zecora that I would be happy to meet with her again, hopefully so I can not make an ass out of myself this time. I suppose I don't mind the rhyming all that much, I was just stressed at the time. I'm glad she's able to look past it and give me another pass at getting to know her.

Why not try suggesting to the Crusaders that they injure someone for the talent show? I always noticed they had an affinity for causing me pain and grief, so maybe that's what their true calling is. Just don't tell them to break a leg before they go on, that's for sure. They might bring the house down! Okay, I'm sorry for that, I don't think that'd be funny no matter where I wrote it. I'll have to avoid puns.

Does my inquiry about computers count as my question this time around? If it doesn't, I wanted to ask you if Fluttershy's clock has been able to keep time recently, and I want to know how Rainbow's meeting with the Dunderbolts went. Has Rarity been doing well with her business? Is everyone alright at the farm? Has Pinkie been busy lately? I also want to know: How is Sugarlump? Does she still have her job at the post office? Is she happy? Anything you could tell me might give me a bit of relief knowing that things there might be going better than they are here.

Enduringly Yours,
Benjamen Prodder