IC CONTACT

[preformthisneigh]

FROM: SUBJECT: PINKIE Saw the roster changes, Cheesy PINKIE Hey, Cheesy. How's it going? PINKIE How much do you know about that Diamond lady? PINKIE Happy Summer Sun Celebration, Cheesy! PINKIE Hey, Cheese, Hiro from the Bishop is back PINKIE Hey, Cheese. Hope you're not too busy. PINKIE Got some more treats for you~! PINKIE Dear Cheese Sandwich...

TO: SUBJECT: CHARACTER NAME THREAD SUBJECT CHARACTER NAME THREAD SUBJECT PINKIE Hey, Pinks. You okay? PINKIE Pinkie!!! I need you on the Bishop ASAP! SORA HEY SORA ARE YOU AWAKE?!!!

inboxcode by cawaii

Comments

[preformthisneigh]

[These are things he absolutely needs.]

Uh huh. Everypony there had one. It was either a skill or a memory or an item. Whatever it was, it was something important. Something that would hurt them to lose.

I really missed travelling. There was a whole wide world out there I could never see.

[spontaneouscombustion]

Oh, Cheesy... That sounds awful.

We went to a place like that not too long ago. Have I told you about Twilight's new castle and the friendship map yet?

[preformthisneigh]

Tip of the iceberg, Pinkie. Tip of the iceberg.

Yeah. But surely it wouldn't send you guys anywhere awful, right? Friendship missions and all that.

[spontaneouscombustion]

(Lemme know if you ever want or need to un-submerge the rest of that iceberg.)

It was our very first one, though. It took us to this town in the mountains near the Crystal empire. All the houses looked the same, all the ponies looked the same with the same WRONG smiles, they even had the same CUTIE MARK!!! It looked like this on EVERYPONY: =

ANYWAY, the pony running it was Starlight Glimmer, and SHE thought that differences cause friendships to fall apart and that taking away everypony's cutie mark would fix that, and that everybody in her village was perfectly happy. I didn't like it at all from the second I saw those "smiles".

And it WASN'T perfectly happy. A couple of ponies MISSED having their cutie marks and their special talents. One of them even used to be a baker, and her muffins were AWFUL afterwards, and one turned out to be ANOTHER PARTY PONY!

And then WE ended up getting our cutie marks taken away, and we were trapped in this tiny little shed with only a couple of window and this really loud recording telling us that being all the same was great, and I started losing my ability to feel happy or tell jokes. I think it was even WORSE than being tricked by Discord or Tirek stealing my magic!

But then we figured out and showed the ponies that Starlight still had HER cutie mark, so those ponies that missed theirs chased after her and ended up getting their AND our cutie marks back, and then Starlight disappeared into the mountains until later.

1/3

[preformthisneigh]

[Wow that's a lot to process in a short amount of time.

It's a terrifying thought, though. A pony with the ability to take away others pony's cutie parks. To rip away who that pony was, to sever them from their destiny. Worse still, knowing that happened to Pinkie. That she'd been taken away from the happiness which makes every single living being around her feel better about themselves.

It's not something he'd ever like to dwell over. ]

2/3

[preformthisneigh]

Wow that's- really awful.

Wow.

And you girls are okay now? Back home? You fixed it like you always do? Because I thought the whole Tirek thing was bad but this is worse.

done

[preformthisneigh]

Also, seriously, why does this sort of thing keep happening? Is Equestria just a hot-tub for magical weirdness now? Is this just what we're stuck with? I don't remember it always being this crazy.

1/2

[spontaneouscombustion]

Oh sure sure sure, of COURSE we are! Like I said, that was a while ago, we're ALL fine now, the village AND us! Hay, Twilight even stopped Starlight from changing the past and the future and made her realize what friendship's REALLY like. Now she's friends with us too, we even made cupcakes together a couple of days before I came here!

2/2

[spontaneouscombustion]

[That last part, though? That... catches her off-guard.]

... Are YOU okay, Cheesy?

[preformthisneigh]

Good, good, that's good.

[And the problem, of course, is that she's putting herself into danger- she's one of the protectors of the realm, it's her DUTY. It doesn't stop him being any less worried about her getting hurt. Or that this time will be the time she doesn't get through it.]

Oh yeah. I'm fine.

[spontaneouscombustion]

[Talk to her, boy. You promised each other you'd listen about problems, right?]

Are you sure? I don't think I've heard you NOT remember how crazy home is. Or not like crazy stuff.

[preformthisneigh]

[Promises are hard to keep though :( ]

I just

It's scary. Thinking about the danger you and the girls face all the time.

[He half types "I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you" but swiftly deletes it before he sends it. ]

[spontaneouscombustion]

Oh, Cheesy...

Yeah, sometimes it can get a little scary, but I trust the girls with my life, we can get through anything together.

Actually... We couldn't have beat Tirek without you either...

[preformthisneigh]

Yeah. I guess.

...Well, I didn't do a whole lot battle wise. That was all you and the girls.

[spontaneouscombustion]

Uh-uh, no it wasn't.

So, this is kind of a long story, and I meant to write to you about it, I'm sorry I didn't, but you've gotta know this out of anypony.

So when we got the box that had all that friendship magic and Twilight's castle inside, we had NO idea where the keys were, so we started making a journal and kept helping ponies wherever we could. And each of those ponies gave us something to thank us for helping them... except for you, because I'd already helped you a LONG time ago. Anyway, when Tirek started attacking... well...

[She's just... going to switch to video to show him the Key of Laughter.]

[preformthisneigh]

[That sure is a key. He'll star at it for a moment.]

Huh. It looks like your cutie mark. But I didn't give you a key, I gave you Boneless.

[spontaneouscombustion]

Y-yeah, you did... Everypony we helped gave us something special to thank us... And we figured that when we put them near the chest, they turned into keys...

I-I was first... Boneless got too close to the chest, and then he got transformed...

[preformthisneigh]

...Oh

Soo. He's a key now? A magical key.

[Give him a second, he's trying to process this. ]

Well- uh. I guess it's good he helped save Equestria? Yeah.

That's...good.

[spontaneouscombustion]

Yeah, it is... We couldn't have gotten our magic back or beaten Tirek or given everypony's magic back without him. Or without you.

And Twilight wouldn't have a castle to live in either; Tirek destroyed the library. And we wouldn't have the map to show us all those ponies and griffons we needed to help.

[Amazing how one little chicken helped bring about so many changes for the better.]

[preformthisneigh]

[Huh. He's never felt all that important in the grand scheme of things. Who knew. ]

Wow. That's....really special.

[The one and only friend he's had for most of his life is a key now. ]

I- yeah. That's special. I'm glad he could help. He would have wanted that.

[spontaneouscombustion]

[Still doesn't help Pinkie's heart from sinking as she delivers the news, or watches him react. Maybe a certain planet can help with that?]

... I-if you want, I can send him to you. Or give him to you the next time we see each other.

[IF he wants to see her ever again. She's mostly hurting for him, but she's also a little afraid he resents her for this, even if he'd be well within his rights to.]

[preformthisneigh]

I gave him to you. I wanted you to have him, because-

[Because of everything she's done for him. She quite literally gave his life meaning, and he can never repay that. But Boneless? He was a start, an attempt to make up for giving him something he would never have had without her. ]

Well. You know. Everything.

[Look, he'll try to inject some happy in his tone. ]

It's okay, really. I was just surprised is all.

[spontaneouscombustion]

[And for once, she catches all those hidden meanings exactly, and a tiny smile starts gracing her lips again.]

If you're sure... I thought I should offer because...

[Because he's been there for him longer than she has, and without his friendship... well, she might have helped another pony and gotten another key before Tirek's rise, but it probably wouldn't have meant NEARLY as much, wouldn't have permanently killed her fear that others would get tired or her or her parties, because now she'd ALWAYS know that her parties inspired one pony's cutie mark, saved him from a loneliness that might as well be hell to her.]

Well, because he means so MUCH to us. Especially you.

[preformthisneigh]

He does. But...well, it's like he's found his own destiny now, right? Something really important for all of Equestria. That's pretty amazing.

[And it's comforting. Knowing there will always be a little part of him in Equestria. In Pinkie's life. That no matter where he goes in their world, a piece of him will always be with her.]

[spontaneouscombustion]

[A soft nod.] Mhmmm, it is...

[That's... quite the tender smile she's giving him right now. She was worried about getting into a fight over the enemy fleet and then of him getting upset about this, but now... now it doesn't worry her at all. In fact, it feels like they've gotten a LOT closer now.]