Requiem [voice/action for the Straw Hats]

[letteropener]

I have waited to see if they would return, as some occasionally do, but I think any further waiting is pointless. It is my sad duty to report that as of now, I am the only specimen of ponykind remaining here.

Those of you who remember my sister or Pinkie Pie fondly... if you have any message you wish to pass to them, then I will accept them, and if it is in my power to do so, I will pass them on when I next see them.

We have seen so many go of late, and yet I truly believe they have returned home as those who come back to us have reported doing. Do not weep for your lost friends, but rejoice that you had them as friends, even if for but a short time.

Comments

[action]

[letteropener]

I was a terrible sister, Zoro. I neglected her, ignored her, left her felt abused and mistreated. When she needed me, I was not there. When she was lonely and jealous, I did nothing to help.

[action]

[yourotherleft]

[shrugs a bit] So you want to claim full responsibility for her deciding to revolt against you and turn...nightmare, or whatever.

Gotta say, that's probably not true. And even if it is, people are responsible for their own choices.

[letteropener]

She would say the same. [That brings a wistful smile to her face.] And yet, for her to have done what she did... meant that all my love and caring for her, I had failed to express. If you will not allow me all of the blame, you must allow me some.

[yourotherleft]

Take as much as you want. You won't catch me adding to it, though.

Life's too short for regrets. Well...I guess maybe a thousand years doesn't seem short but... [erm...oops?]

[letteropener]

You cannot imagine it, Zoro. [She says this without prejudice, because it is simple fact. He has no way to comprehend what missing somepony desperately for one thousand years is like.] I do not regret my decision to banish her, because I had no choice but to protect my subjects. But every day, I regretted the necessity, and the knowledge that I did have to put my subjects over my sister.

And for a thousand years, every night I raised the moon as she should have done, so the pain never dulled.

[yourotherleft]

[no, he can't, and he gets it.]

Mm. Sorry.

[letteropener]

I am not tough.

[She turns back to the ocean, letting the breeze tug ineffectually at her mane and tail as they stream out in defiance of it.]

I simply do what is necessary. There is a difference.

[yourotherleft]

Sometimes, that takes a certain kind of toughness.

...Luffy ever tell you about our friend Vivi?

[letteropener]

The princess you sailed with? Yes, I've heard a little of her.

[That has her attention. She'd love to hear more about this other princess.]

[yourotherleft]

[ooh, good, then he doesn't have to explain that]

She's just like you - she did what she needed to do for her country. She had to stop a civil war, and she didn't want to do it by fighting the rebels, she wanted to talk to them. We had to get her to the palace in time so she could.

I always considered her tough, too. Not because she knew how to fight, but because she suffered for her kingdom. Most of those people don't even know what their princess went through, but we do. We got to see it for ourselves.

[letteropener]

Suffering only counts if you actually, truly feel it, Zoro.

[Which is exactly why she doesn't consider herself tough.]

[yourotherleft]

And regret isn't suffering?

[not that he would know, he has so few.]

You're welcome to feel however you want. I'm just trying to understand.

[letteropener]

Regret is the past, while suffering is the present. If that makes sense.

[yourotherleft]

Mm. I suppose it does.

[letteropener]

I have suffered a little, but that was nothing. So I cannot say I am really tough. I am merely a Princess.

[Is she talking about her past... or her present?]

[yourotherleft]

[he smiles slightly; and that's exactly why he thinks she's tough, nothing will shake that opinion.]

You really do remind me of Vivi, sometimes.

[letteropener]

From what I have heard, that is a high compliment.

Perhaps you could tell me more about her? [After all, what she had originally heard was... disjointed, given the source.]

[yourotherleft]

Sure. What do you want to know? I don't remember how old she said she was when she joined Baroque Works...she left her country to go undercover with this criminal organization to find out who was framing her dad for shit he didn't do. She was pretty young, though. Managed to keep her identity a secret for a few years.

[letteropener]

Well, that is already much more than I knew previously. But how did a princess manage to go undercover?

[Celestia has allowed her thinking to lapse a little bit; she thinks in terms of Equestria, where princesses are reasonably well-known and have anatomical differences that could not be hidden.]

[yourotherleft]

Got me. I guess maybe she was sheltered in Alabasta enough that only her own people would've known her. She was abroad, posing as a bounty hunter. Though, I guess we can't know exactly when Crocodile was onto her, he might have known all along and just let her go because he's a bastard like that.

[letteropener]

More foolish of him, then, since it sounds like in the end she achieved her goal. [At least, that's Celestia's understanding. Help her out here?]

[yourotherleft]

Yeah, but not by herself. She needed help, and even realizing that took strength. We got her there, and Luffy took Crocodile for her since, honestly, he would have killed her in a heartbeat.

[letteropener]

A goal achieved by making friends and allies is a goal achieved. I expect to her enemies, the nature of her success mattered much less than the fact of it.

[yourotherleft]

Pretty much. They didn't want her in the square calling for the two armies to stop fighting, but that's what she did. And somehow, it worked.

[letteropener]

In my experience, most people do not truly wish to fight each other. Sometimes a voice that asks for peace is all that it takes.