Dear Twilight Sparkle,

If you are reading this, then the worst has happened: Equestria is in danger, I have somehow been incapitated, and you are paralyzed with doubt over whether or not your connection with your friends is strong enough to make you worthy of weilding the elements of harmony, no doubt due to the Discord incident.

If the above is true, then it is vital you read the following fact: Your near-failure to beat Discord was rigged. By me.

This may sound shocking, but I have my reasons. When I fought Discord, he didn't take me seriously. He played pranks, tried to corrupt me with immature lies and ilusions. But when he realised that me and my sister really did have to power to beat him, he got serious. And a serious Discord is not something I would want to expose the Equestria of today to. Mountains were split, towns were annhilated, and Discord attacked our minds with enough power to give us nightmares that haunted us for years. Nightmares bad enough to make me destroy buildings in my sleep. Nightmares I would never wish on any mortal.

When I realised Discord would return, I formulated a plan to convince Discord that you and your friends were too weak to truely weild the elements, so you may be spared of his full power. Eager to save you and your friends from the wrath of Discord after you returned her to her normal self, my sister agreed to it.

I fear this was the worst thing I have ever done, even if it was to protect both you and Equestria.

The plan was simple: Luna would make herself invisible and keep casting wit-dampening spells on you and your friends until Discord managed to corrupt you. Then, when you each found reminders of your friendship, she would lift the wit-dampening spells off you, allowing you to break out of your corruption easily without suspecting outside help (other than mass-letter sending). Your reminder would be your old letters sent by me, and we relied on you to supply reminders for your friends. The goal was to convince Discord that if you were so easy to corrupt, then your friendship could never be powerful enough to activate the elements properly, whilst convincing you that all we had done was sit at home and send a lot of letters. And to complete the illusion, I put the elements in a magic safe that looked ridiculously secure, but could be opened easily if any magician worth their bits bothered to put any effort into a unlock spell, and then pretended that Discord's inevitable robbery defied all laws of nature. (Discord's ego would never let him downplay any exaggeration of his power.)

This is not to say you could have never have won if both sides went all out. I honestly believe you would have won, but the resulting carnage would leave scars both mental and physical on both your friends and Equestria, scars that I couldn't bear to see inflicted on anypony.

It was a sucess, thanks to Discord's ego preventing him from thinking that he only "won" due to outside help or thinking that there were was more to you than your first encounter with him suggested. But this victory had it's cost: Luna had spent months praticing stealth spells to achieve this, months she could have spent catching up to the times, resulting in her behaviour on Nightmare Night. But even worse was your sudden obsession with pleasing me and the ensuring incident with that doll, which I honestly believe that would not have happened if the Discord incident hadn't taken it's toll on you.

I wish I had told you the truth when we were in your libary alone, but when your friends entered, eager to defend you, I realised that you and your friends, quite understandablely, may not take the news that I had pratically forced you to be corrupted by Discord. I could handle my own student's wrath, but the wrath of her friends as well? And so it was that I asked your friends to send in letters as well, so I could check that your friends wouldn't break down like you did.

I should have never betrayed your trust like this. I should have asked for your permisson in this, or found another way to protect Equestria. But I cannot change the past, and now I write this knowing I have caused many a sleepless night for my greatest student, and perhaps, the best friend I ever had outside from Luna.

I know you may not believe this. But do you really think Applejack would willingly trust a talking pile of apples with evil eyes with a sane mind? (I think my sister may have overdone the wit-dampening spells on her.)
Do you truely believe Fluttershy, the pony who can stare down dragons and cockatrices, would allow herself to be brainwashed into being mindlessly cruel without being out of her mind? (My sister claims her mind was the hardest one to subdue.) Do you think Rarity would really pick up a giant diamond without considering more pratical ways of securing it, or leaving it till a later date? Do you think Pinkie would be such a prankster without being able to take a few jokes at her expense? Do you think Rainbow Dash would go from abandoning her friends for a noble, if misguided cause to lazing on a cloud, not caring anyone for absolutely no reason?
And did you yourself not question your own logic when you decided that your friends were a lost cause without investigating why they had changed? If all these questions are answered with "no", then you will know that this is the truth.

I will not ask for forgiveness, for you have every right to hate me and refuse to work under me for a single second more. But I beg of you to realise that you did not almost tasted defeat because your friendship was weak. You almost tasted defeat because the person you trusted both held you back to protect you and Equestria. As long as you all stick together and give it everything you have, I honestly cannot think of a single force that can stop you. I beg of you, save Equestria. I can be saved later, if I can be saved. Equestria needs you, and if it knew the things I knew, it would never think that you and your friends would ever fail to save it.

I made you my student for a reason, and let your friends weild the elements for a reason. I would not give the most powerful magic in the kingdom to an average pony, or a pony I could not trust with all my heart. Believe me when I say that you are much stronger than you think you are.

I am so proud of you. Never forget that.
Now go be the hero I know you truely are.

Best Wishes,
Princess Celestia.