Miasma

by Regidar

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Adventure, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 4989

A dark force falls upon Equestria, and Twilight and Pinkie Pie must find a way to stop it.

the revolution the revolution the sun has come to give me my eyes and i have returned to give it the skys

Published 2012-09-17 19:44:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-10-07 04:09:32 UTC

Twilight Sparkle and the Infinite Sadness

When one awakens to a feeling of crushing despair, like there is no hope left in our world, it is best advised to roll over and fall asleep again, hoping that when you awaken, the world will have somehow miraculously become a better, nicer, and more appealing place.

This was how the day began when Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes one Tuesday morning. Nothing particularly bad had happened the previous day, yet she felt as though somepony close to her had left. Wanting to simply roll over, she reminded herself about her duties to the princess and forced herself to the kitchen. Perhaps some tea would lighten her mood.

Upon entering the kitchen, she saw Spike sitting on the floor, head hung beneath his knees.

“What’s wrong, Spike?” the purple mare asked. Spike sighed, and lifted his head. His red eyes suggested he had been crying.

“Nothing, I guess... or really, I don’t know. I woke up feeling so hopeless...” Spike’s eyes began to tear up. “Rarity will never love me like I do... do you know how that feels, Twilight?”

It hadn’t occurred to Twilight yet today, but something about Spike’s words, and the general atmosphere of the whole area set it into her mind. She knew how that felt, with Princess Celestia...

Twilight’s depression swelled, seemingly feeding on the idea of her unrequited love for her teacher and Princess. A single tear fell from her eye as she thought of the imaginary scenarios in which she and the Princess were together. A sadness like never felt before filled her entire being, and she wished to just slip away from life entirely.

This sorrow was staved off for the time being when Spike produced a letter from the Princess through his usual manner: A burp. Green magic swirled into the air from the tiny dragon’s mouth, and a scroll of parchment was conjured forth. Using her own magic, Twilight levitated the letter over to her and read its contents aloud.

“To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,

A strange darkness has overcome us. A sorrow, a pain my sister and I hoped to never feel again, something akin to an “Infinite Sadness,” as foretold by the prophet Corgan. I request your assistance at once, my faithful student. Take your hot air balloon, for I fear the train will take far too long, and none of my royal transporters feel up to par due to current circumstance.

-Princess Celestia”

Twilight looked over at Spike, who was moping on the floor. He obviously wouldn’t be able to make it. She wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to, either. If the sadness was affecting the Princesses, then she knew that there was the distinct possibility of her sadness consuming her.

Then, it occurred to her. Twilight had to stop herself from slapping herself for not thinking of it earlier. Of course, what better pony then the Element of Laughter to help her through this? Hopefully, this “infinite sadness” would have not affected the pink party pony. Rushing outside, Twilight forced her sorrows aside for the time being (no easy task as the thoughts of her and Celestia never to be kept creeping to the forefront of her mind), and dashed to Sugarcube Corner.

Even the weather was gloomy, the sky filled with dark grey rain clouds. The pegasi must have decided to let the weather reflect their mood. She assumed that Pinkie would be as bright and happy as ever, though.

Her assumptions were correct. Upon opening the bakery door, she saw Pinkie Pie bouncing about, as happy as ever. Even the Cakes seemed not to be affected by the sorrow that plagued the rest of the world.

“Hello, Twilight! Why the long face? Did your face get stuck in the face-elonger again? I remember that time, it was so funny! Except for when you yelled at me for trying to throw a ‘yay, Twilight’s face is longer’ party! But come on, that would have been the best party EVER! I even got special long faced Twilight Balloons!” Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help but smile at Pinkie Pie’s monolog.

“So, deary, what brings you here?” Mrs. Cake said with a smile. Sugarcube Corner seemed like the only island in a sea of sorrows. Twilight felt warm and happy just by being near Pinkie Pie. The gloomy thought from before slowly receded, and once Twilight got over the euphoria of being happy once more, confronted Pinkie Pie about the situation on hoof.

“Pinkie Pie, I need your expertise.” Pinkie Pie’s smile stretched further than Twilight thought possible.

“Yay! What do you need me for? Cupcakes? Frosting? Scones?” Pinkie Pie gasped, and lowered her voice while still maintaining an air of excitement. “Crescents?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, none of that... I need you to accompany me to Canterlot on royal business.”

Pinkie Pie began to bounce up and down again. “OOH! What for? Are we planning Princess Luna’s birthday party? I know her birthday isn’t for another sixty-seven and a half days, but it’s never too early to start planning a party! Let’s make it moon themed! Or is it too soon to be doing that? I wouldn’t think so, since she raises the moon every night, but who knows, she might get offended by-”

“Pinkie!” Pinkie Pie stopped talking immediately.

Twilight shook her head. “No, we’re heading to Canterlot to go and talk to Princess Celestia about-”

“Your secret love for her?” Pinkie Pie said innocently.

Twilight Sparkle’s heart skipped a beat. “How did you know about that?”

“It’s kinda obvious, the way you write your letter to her,” Pinkie Pie said dismissively, focusing her attention on frosting a tray of Cupcakes Mrs. Cake had just set down.

“But I’m always very professional in the way I write to her!”

Pinkie Pie smiled and shook her head. “Silly filly, not your words you use, but the writing style! I can tell when you’re writing to a friend, an adversary, somepony you’ve never met, or a love, like Celestia!”

Twilight was astonished by her friend’s words. “What? How can you do that?”

“By looking at the way you write, not the words you write. You’re always very formal and concise with everypony you write to, but when you’re angry at somepony, your writing is harder, and more rigid. When you write to Celestia, it’s flighty and soft, full of love you’d never be able to tell her about.”

Twilight was astounded by Pinkie Pie’s ability. She decided not to even question how she had even gotten a hold of one of her letters to the Princess.

“Well, anyway Pinkie, we need to talk to her about the abnormal sorrow that had befallen Ponyville, right away! Your cheery disposition is the exact reason I need you along. Come on, we have to hurry!”

Pinkie Pie nodded her head happily. “Oki doki loki! Let’s go!”

The two mares  headed off back to the library, where Twilight kept the Hot Air Balloon moored. “Pinkie, stay here while I get Spike.” Pinkie Pie nodded, and Twilight rushed inside. Immediately after leaving Pinkie’s presence, she felt a wave of unexplained sadness crest over her, smashing her down and nearly drowning the lilac unicorn. Metaphorically holding her breath, Twilight looked around for Spike. He wasn’t anywhere in the Library.

“Oh no. I hope he hasn’t done anything drastic!” Twilight debated whether or not to spend time looking for her assistant. After a moment of thought, she reasoned by heading to Princess Celestia faster, she could help everypony faster.

“Where’s Spike?” Pinkie Pie, who was in the hot air balloon’s basket, asked upon Twilight’s return to the flying apparatus.

“I couldn’t find him. Come on Pinkie, let’s hurry!”

“Woah, woah, woah...” Pinkie held her front hooves up and shook them in an “x” pattern multiple times. “You’re just going to leave Spike? Without even looking anywhere else but the Library?”

Twilight groaned. She didn’t have time for this!

“Pinkie, the faster we get to Celestia, the faster we can help everypony, Spike included!”

“Even though he’s a dragon...” Twilight facehoofed.

“Pinkie Pie, we’re leaving, NOW.” Twilight jumped into the basket, and used her magic to untie the rope that kept the balloon from drifting away. Pinkie Pie did her share of the work by dropping the sandbags. Soon, the hot air balloon was drifting off towards Canterlot. Twilight used several small wind spells to control where the balloon was heading.

“So,” Pinkie Pie said, after staring off the side of the basket and making funny faces at the weather pegasi they passed, who couldn’t help but feel a little better after that, “what’s this all about?”

Twilight sighed. “Where do I begin? Well, some time ago, like, almost twenty years ago-”

Pinkie Pie’s eyes widened. “Woah! That’s three years older than I am!” Pinkie held up three hooves to affirm this fact. Twilight blinked quickly, saw that Pinkie’s third hoof had disappeared, and continued on.

“Right, anyway, some stallion named Corgan predicted that ‘An Infinite Sadness, one akin to the sorrow of one’s greatest heartache or regrets will befall all of Equestria.’ It’s all in a book called ‘The Smashing of Pumpkins’.”

Pinkie Pie nodded, and said “That would explain why everypony we pass looks so moody... But I don’t feel sad! I’m just as happy as ever! The Cakes were a bit grumpy at first, but they’re always like that when I wake them up with my one mare band.”

“Right,” Twilight continued “The reason you don’t feel the Infinite Sadness is because you’re the Element of Laughter. Except for personal reasons, like when you thought we didn’t want to be your friends anymore, you're not affected by sadness. An abstract force like this wouldn’t affect you. In addition, you project your happiness into others. normally, when you use too much, they’d get annoyed, but on a day like today... they welcome it. It repels the sadness... I really should do more of an in depth study on your psyche one day...”

“OOH!” Pinkie Pie clopped her hooves together in excitement. “What’s a psyche? Is it like a psyduck?”

“What’s a- oh look!” The hot air balloon nearly crashed into the side of Canterlot Palace. Twilight brought their mode of transportation to the ground, and tied it to a small tree. The two mares trotted quickly to the Palace entry, where the two guards stationed there wore melancholy expressions. As the two passed them, Pinkie Pie grinned at the two, who perked up almost immediately. Twilight hurried down the hall, with Pinkie Pie bouncing behind her the whole way.

Upon entering the throne room, the two Elements saw Princess Celestia sitting on her throne. Twilight’s heart began to beat faster, but having practise when being around her mentor, slowed it down. Celestia’s head was down, her mane covering her face.

“Um... Princess Celestia? You ok over there?” Pinkie Pie walked over to the Princess, ready to cheer her up. Celestia rose her head slowly. Her mane flowed away from her face, giving the two a good look. The Princesses cheeks were stained, and her eyes were shut tight, and a single tear was fighting to escape her left eye.

“I’m so sorry, Luna...” Celestia opened her eyes, and looked at the two ponies before her. “Ah good, Twilight. You’ve come quicker than I thought. I see you’ve brought a friend.” She smiled, albeit sadly, at Pinkie Pie, and turned back to her student. “But, may I ask, where is Spike?”

Twilight looked away. “Oh, he... couldn’t make it.”

“I see.” The Sun Princess turned to look at Pinkie Pie. “Hello, Pinkie Pie. I hope it’s not too much trouble for you that Twilight Sparkle dragged you along.”

“Oh, no, it wasn’t any trouble! I wanted Twilight to bring me along! If there’s one thing I want to do, it’s make ponies smile! And Twilight said coming along would keep everypony from being all sady sad faces!” Pinkie Pie’s happy energy filled the room. Twilight felt elated, and the guards at the doorway smiled.

Princess Celestia laughed. Genuinely. “Well, that’s certainly a part of this... but I must warn you, it’s not going to be an easy journey. You two will be put through several harrowing situation, and at the very end, will have to confront the Infinite Sadness at its source.”

“So, who’s causing all this sadness? Discord? Chrysalis? Trixie?”

Princess Celestia shook her head at the pink earth pony. “So, I’m afraid I do not know who’s causing the Infinite Sadness to spring forth. If you were to find Corgan, then maybe he could shed some light on the situation... I may be a princess, but in no way does that mean I know everything.” Turning to the unicorn present, Celestia addressed Twilight. “I will put a spell on you both that will drain me considerably. I would use it myself, but it would weaken me to the point of unconsciousness for me to maintain the spell while I search for the source. I feel like I can trust you, and if you trust Pinkie, that’s good enough for me. Once I cast the spell upon you two, head look for anything that might lead you to Corgan, understand?” The two nodded. “Good. I’m glad I can count on you.”

Celestia’s horn glowed, and a grey light covered everything. There was a flash, and Twilight and Pinkie Pie were gone. Celestia furrowed her brow in concentration, then stabilized the magic. She felt herself growing weaker with each passing moment. “Hurry, my little ponies.”

Tonight, Tonight

Tonight, Tonight

Twilight opened her eyes. Immediately, she felt her head swim from the sudden change in... everything. The once vibrant colors of the world had been replaced with a grey scale. It was like somepony had sucked all of the beauty from the world, leaving a grey wasteland behind. Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie, and had to shield her eyes from the bright pink contrasting on the otherwise colorless world.

“Woah! What kind of spell is this? Everything looks so... icky now!” Pinkie thrust out her tongue as a sign of displeasure to the current scenario.

Twilight furrowed her brow in concentration. “I know this one... I was studying it a few months ago, I’m sure of it...”

Pinkie Pie was looking at Celestia, who was frozen in place, her head low. “Weird! How come we’re the only ponies who can move?”

Twilight’s eyes light up as she recalled the spell. “Ah yes, now I remember! This is the ‘Temporal Status’ spell! It allows us to stay in a sort of existence where almost everything is frozen in time but us. Of course, the spell isn’t perfect, so...” A single fly buzzed in front of Pinkie Pie in slow motion. She could see every single one of it’s wingbeats crawl at the speed of molasses dripping from a spoon.

“See, case in point,” Twilight confirmed as she gestured at the fly. “Also, I remember reading something about powerful emotions being free of the spell, so we should be able to observe them once we reach the place where they started. I’d brace yourself for some sad experiences, because the Infinite Sadness has most likely amplified sorrow to be the most powerful ones to transcend the spell.”

Pinkie Pie stared slack jawed at Twilight, who rolled her eyes and explained. “The sad events are stronger because of the infinite sadness, so we’ll see them when we reach the place where they started.”

“Oh! That makes much more sense then that weird sciencey thing you were blabbing on about.” Pinkie Pie smiled an innocent smile at Twilight.

“I was not ‘blabbering on’, I was explaining a manner I’ve grown accustomed to!” Twilight was very touchy about her large vocabulary. It was one of the things the other students at Celestia’s Magic Academy had teased her about.

“Woah, ok, Ms. Grouchy Pants!” Pinkie Pie backed away from the subject. “Anyway, let’s go and find this Corgan pony so everypony can be happy again! Then we can throw a ‘Yay-the-infinite-sadness-is-gone’ party!”

Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. Pinkie Pie’s silliness would definitely come in handy if things got too depressing.

“Alright, I guess that Celestia wouldn’t have put this spell on us if she didn’t expect Corgan to go unaffected by it...” Twilight looked outside the window where a pigeon was frozen in it’s travel across the sky. “Let’s head into the main part of Canterlot, Pinkie. It’s as good as a place as any to start looking.”

Pinkie nodded, and tried to put on a serious face, but ended up smiling again in a few moments. The corners of Twilight’s mouth rose a bit, and the duo headed out into the streets of Canterlot.

Everything was still the depressing grey that the world tended to be now. But just as Pinkie Pie had stood out for Twilight, a couple standing frozen in time had color to them.

“Pinkie! Quick, over here!”

The unicorn and earth pony rushed to the two, and upon reaching them, felt the world shift.

“What’s going on?” asked the pink one.

“I think we’re being transported into the emotional event!”

The whole word was suddenly thrown back into color, and the two ponies groaned as their eyes had to adjust to this explosion of light. When they recovered, they were standing on a busy street, where the couple before them, one a dark blue unicorn sporting a long, thin sword for a cutie mark, and the other a lighter cream colored one with a shard of glass inscribed on her flank, were staring intently into the shop in front of them. They looked a few years older than Twilight, around twenty-five if she could guess right.

“What are they-” Twilight put her hoof in Pinkie’s mouth to silence her. She immediately removed it when Pinkie began rubbing her tongue all along the inner rim.

“UGH! Pinkie, seriously!”

“There was some caramel on it from yesterday when I spilled that bucket on you!”

Twilight shuddered, and turned her attention back to the couple.

“Wow, so that’s your armour set?” The cream colored one asked.

“Well, not my specific armour set, but yeah,” the male answered back. “That’s basically what I'll be wearing in the guard.” The unicorn stallion heaved a heavy sigh.

“What’s wrong?” the female asked.

“Nothing, it’s just...” the stallion looked over at his mare companion. “Silver Shard, do you ever get the feeling what you’re about to attempt is pointless?”

Silver Shard, as the mare was no identified as, looked over at the male. “What are you talking about, Estoc?”

Estoc sighed. “This... well, we can’t really call it a war, since there have been no official actions taken, but I don’t feel like this is right. We have no business trying to solve a problem in the Griffon Empire.”

Silver Shard gave her compatriot a look of disdain. “Those rebels could very well bring down take down the infrastructure of the government there! And then they threatened to attack the refugees in Cloudsdale. You’re doing a good thing, Estoc.”

Estoc looked down at the ground. “Am I? Come on, Silver... use your head. We’ll just end up escalating the conflict, and I’ll be gone for eighteen months at least... and I’d miss the foals!” Estoc put his hoof gingerly up to his mate’s underbelly, which now that Twilight took a better look at, was indeed heavy with foal.

“Ooh!” Pinkie bounced up and down due to this new development. “I can’t wait for the foals to be born! New birthdays! Yay!”

“Quiet, Pinkie,” Twilight said, in deep thought about the situation. “This memory only stood out in the Sadness because it was exceptionally tragic. Don’t celebrate yet.” Pinkie plopped down on her plot and stuck her tongue out. Twilight returned her attention to the couple.

“Come on, you’ll come back when in time for their first birthdays-” Pinkie Pie squealed in delight at this- “And you’ll be able to tell them all about how you’re such a brave war hero!”

Estoc sighed at this, and Silver Shard giggled. “Come on, I was kidding. You’ve got nothing to worry about over there.”

Estoc looked back at his mate. “Well... before I go, I was thinking...” Silver Shard cocked an eyebrow, intrigued. “We could have one more night together. Just me and you, out tonight.”

Silver Shard hugged Estoc, who blushed a bit. A teenaged stallion who had been loitering near the shop snickered.

“Where should we go first, handsome?” Silver Shard nuzzled against Estoc’s muzzle, and the same teenager pretended to gag. Estoc gave him a dirty look, then led his mate away from the armour shop.

“Let’s head out to Shaded Hill! That’s where we first met, after all.”

The two started to trot down the street. Pinkie was counting the number of cracks in one of the bricks that made up the wall of the armour shop when Twilight nudged her.

“Huh?”

Twilight gestured after the two. “Come on, Pinkie! They could present us some valuable information!”

“How will a mommy and daddy to be help us find Corgan?”

Twilight nudged her head into Pinkie’s side, and forced her up. “Well, if their story was enough to be preserved by the sadness, then they must be of some importance!”

In a bizarre role reversal, Twilight happily bounced after the couple while Pinkie Pie trudged behind her.

“Why don’t you want to know more about this couple, Pinkie?” Twilight looked back at her pink companion, who was currently neither happy nor sad, but rather staring at the ground.

“I don’t know, Twilight... something about this just doesn’t seem right... those two are so happy together, and it makes me sort of sad that he’s going away to the Griffin Empire...” Pinkie looked up, her face once again full of cheer. “But wait! When he come back, I can throw a ‘You’re Back From the Griffin Empire’ party!” Pinkie clapped her hooves together. “Come on, Twilight, I need to find out what sort of cake he likes!”

Twilight began to smile, once again filled with hope that her earth pony friend could help fight this infinite sadness. The two had caught up with the couple, who were both laying on their backs, gazing into the night sky.

“Oh, wow,” Twilight mumbled to herself in astonishment. “I didn’t know it was night time already. Then again, time does flow differently due to the spell...”

Shaded Hill was a part of the Canterlot Park. It overlooked Canterlot Lake, and was quite beautiful. Twilight remembered fond times coming here when she was little, and not so fond times, like when a baby lake kraken had attempted to make a meal of her, and Shining Armour and Orion had to rush in to kill the overgrown squid. Since then, there had always been a “Beware of Kraken” sign right next to the lake.

Pinkie Pie had snaked her way up next to Estoc, hanging on to his every word in hopes he might slip something about his favorite type of cake. Twilight hung onto every word, but for different reasons.

“The moon is so beautiful tonight,” Silver Shard remarked, pointed her left hoof up at the celestial body.

“Yeah, Princess Luna sure did a nice job,” Estoc responded. The moon wasn’t quite full, in fact the full moon had been three days ago, but it was still full enough to bathe them in a silvery-white ethereal glow. The two looked so peaceful, with Estoc laying on his back and Silver Shard curled up next to him.

Silver Shard nuzzled up against the stallion laying beside her. “I’ll miss you, you know.”

Estoc looked down at her. “Now I understand why the teenager was gagging back there. You get pretty sappy sometimes.”

Silver Shard giggled and swatted the side of Estoc’s head. Estoc smiled, as did Twilight. Pinkie Pie kept staring intently at Estoc’s face, as if the secrets of his favorite cake would be somewhere hidden there.

“Remember when we first met?”

Estoc looked taken aback by his female companion’s question. “Of course! I was skipping school, and I noticed you sitting under that willow over there.” The willow down by the lake swayed in the night time wind as if to acknowledge the fact that it was being remembered. “You looked lonely, so I sat down next to you, and you told me-”

“-that I liked to come down and feed the Kraken, yeah.” Silver Shard sighed. “He didn’t show up as much after the little purple filly nearly drowned that one year. I didn’t catch her name, I wonder what’s become of her? Hopefully she’s doing good things with her life.”

Twilight snickered at this. If only you knew...

“We still have all of tonight left...” Estoc rolled over, and helped his partner up before getting to his hooves. “Let’s head down to the Canterlot Lake! See if we can spot your little squid friend.”

Silver Shard gasped in excitement, and hugged Estoc. “I love that place!”

Estoc took his lover’s hoof, and the two headed down the hill to the lake. “Let’s go!”

Pinkie Pie walked sadly over to Twilight. “Nothing about cake! This party’s going to be harder to plan then I thought... maybe I should just combine ALL types of cake, and he can take a slice of his favorite kind!”

Twilight was also disappointed by the conversation. Nothing about Corgan at all...

“Come on, Pinkie, let’s follow them. We have no better leads at the moment...” Twilight and Pinkie Pie followed the two to the Canterlot Lake. The lake was beautiful, the moon reflected upon its surface. Twilight could almost swear that she saw some tentacles thrash around under the surface.

The couple walked down to the edge and peered deep into the water.

“It’s so nice and calm...” Silver Shard looked up at the sign. “Yup, that’s still there. He wasn’t really trying to hurt her, he only wanted to play. Me and him used to do that all the time, you Kraken don’t see very well, and I think they’re colorblind, so he probably mistook her for me.” Silver Shard gazed deeper into the water for a few moments before sighing. “Oh well. I guess he’s not coming around this time...”

Estoc looked into the water as well, the turned his head to look at Silver. “Didn’t you used to do something to let him know you were coming? I remember you telling me about that...”

Silver Shard perked up. “That’s right! Here, I think it was...” Silver Shard dipped her hoof into the water, and pulled it out again, repeating the process several times. Then, she picked up a rock from nearby and dropped it into the water.

“That’s a really odd way of getting his attention...” Estoc sounded as if he were beginning to question Silver Shard’s sanity. But sure enough, a long slimy tentacle emerged from the water and placed itself onto the mare’s shoulder. Twilight shuddered as she remembered the clammy grasp of the Kraken.

“Wow, you’ve sure grown up!” Silver Shard giggled as the tentacle retracted from her shoulder with a wet “slurp” noise. Estoc looked mildly disgusted. Silver Shard noticed his look, and scowled. “Oh, don’t be a pervert, Estoc.”

Estoc and Silver Shard both bust out laughing, and Pinkie Pie slid over to Twilight. “Um, Twilight? What’s so funny? I don’t get it.”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older, Pinkie.” Twilight couldn’t help but grin at this. Pinkie Pie was still so innocent... maybe she wouldn’t tell her. Still, the thought amused her. Pinkie might freak out a bit... then again, Pinkie Pie freaked out when there wasn’t any sugar left in the cabinet when there was some laying not two feet from her, so that could be expected. She was a spaz at times, after all.

The faint sound of hurried hoofbeats over cobblestone drew everypony’s attention. Looking up, the group saw the silhouette of a stallion up at the top of Shaded Hill.

“Estoc? Estoc, are you there?” The voice rang over the relative silence of the night.

“That’s Kite Shield,” Estoc explained to Silver Shard. “He’s in the same unite as me. We’ve be training together the last few months.” Estoc directed his attention back to the shadow of the stallion above them, and shouted back “Yes, Kite Shield! What’s the problem?”

“Oh, no problem, it’s just that we’re heading out in three hours, and the sergeant wants us all there!”

Estoc’s face fell. “Crap. Sorry, Silver, I gotta-” Estoc was cut short by Silver kissing him directly on the mouth. When she drew away, she whispered softly to him.

“Go on then, go. I’ll mail you every day.”

Estoc ran up the hill, turning back about halfway to shout “You know which squad I’m in, right?”

“Of course! The 7th!” Twilight’s mouth dropped open in horror upon hearing these words. Not the 7th...

The memory ended here, the world fading back into depressing grey.

Pinkie bounced over to Twilight cheerfully. “Well, did you find anything that’s gonna help us find Corgan-borgan?”

“No, Pinkie... do you by any chance read ‘Equestria Daily’?”

Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out at this. “Nah, it's too boring!  Why?”

“So you don’t know what happened to the 7th Squadron then, do you?”

Pinkie Pie shook her head. “Nope!”

Twilight began to ponder what to do next. Should I tell her the whole squad was wiped out in a rebel attack?

“I can’t wait for Estoc to get back! I’ll throw the best party for him, ever!”

Twilight decided against telling Pinkie. She had a feeling that news like that would take all the flair out of her, and that flair was something she was going to need.

“Come on, Pinkie, let’s keep going.”