Punky Print's Log; Day 2:

I most definitely shouldn't have told Inky Pie that I was hoping to confront Celestia.

"I'm coming with you," she said. I sighed, I knew better than to argue with my sister.

"Fine, but we're just going in, asking Celestia how much of the book is true, and leaving."

"After I buck her in the face." I sighed.

"No, no bucking. We go in, get our answers, and get out."

"After I bite her."

"No no, no biting!"

"What about head butting? Can I head butt her? The headache would totally be worth it!"

"No! No bucking, biting or head butting!" I took a breath to calm down from my outburst. "Frankly, it's a stealth mission. If anything, I just want you to stay hidden while I ask her about the book." She made a face. "I just don't want to get you in to trouble." She sighed.

"Yeah, I know, Punky. But we both know you need a defender, especially against ponies you don't know." I lowered my head, my olive eyes on my hooves. "Besides, I'll miss you if she exiles you without me," she joked. Even though she was joking, I think we both know that if this doesn't go well, Celestia might exile us. I wonder where we'd go. I don't think the book mentions where anypony but the Council ponies and Nightmare Moon went. They can't all be in the Everfree Forrest, Equestria has expanded beyond it now.

I wonder if Celestia broke the horns of all the exiled unicorns. I hope not, because I don't know how to write without it. Inky Pie can, being an earth pony she kind of had to learn. I don't think I'm clever enough to learn now, and I'm pretty sure breaking somepony's horn makes their magic unusable. I could be wrong, but just in case I need to find a way to write without a horn and without inconveniencing Inky Pie.

Later:

I'm teaching a rat to write.

He can already write out his name, Cursive. He forgets the u about a third of the time, but it's still good progress. I found Cursive in a bakery a few blocks from my apartment when I was going out for brain food. The baker offered a bag of doughnuts to me for taking the rat out of his store. Needless to say, I declined.

Cursive uses his tail to write, and it looks more like a brush than a quill is writing. It's beautiful and slanty and even if Celestia doesn't break my horn, it would be a waste of an incredible talent if Cursive didn't write.

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

We're practicing the alphabet. I wonder if I could teach him to talk. I don't think it's possible, but wouldn't that be incredible? A talking rat!

I wonder what he would say. Would he thank me for taking him out of the bakery? For teaching him to write? Or would he tell me he hates me? I took him out of the life he was living, plucked him up and put him in my saddlebag without his say so. For all I know, he was perfectly content to scurry around eating the baker's food. For all I know he hates writing. I imagine this is what Celestia feels like if the book is true. I need some milk.

thank you pnky

There's warm milk all over the next page of my journal now. I didn't mean to, but I did a spit take. I guess I did okay though; with Cursive, I mean. That makes me really happy, I'm kinda proud of myself. I just hope I do okay when I go to confront Celestia. I'm not going to write out the plan before I do it, I'm too worried about what would happen if somepony read it.

I'm not going through with it until Cursive can write fluently, but I think I might just be a coward. I think I'm hiding behind that as an excuse, because I'm too scared to go do it. I wish I was strong. I'm starting to tear up, and it's getting harder t o write clearly. I ke ep thinking about all the ponies in the book; the ponies whose lives were ruined, and how path etic it is that I, one of only two ponies to know what happened to the m, am too afraid to go and get answers.

I'm so sorry I'm a coward.

And now some of the letters are smudged because I started crying on them. Wonderful.