//------------------------------//
// Laughter in the wind 
// Story: The Last Party:  A Eulogy For Laughter 
// by No one is home 
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Night set the letter down. That cursed letter. That… She let out a slow breath.

"What's wrong?" came Silver's voice as he trotted into the room. "You look upset."

Night swiveled a tufted ear towards him. She rose and rapidly approached, smooching his cheek. She was tempted to bottle it up, but that habit was, perhaps, being worn down by her husband. "I got a letter, from somepony I didn't expect."

Silver rose a brow at that. "From someone you like, I hope?" He put a wing over her and drew her close. "Tell me about it?"

Night released that breath with a little shiver. "A dead pony. Surprise."

Silver froze a moment. "When did she die?!"

Night blinked and turned towards him instead of at his side. "That's… not the point. She is dead, but she wrote me this letter." She tapped the paper she had been reading before adjusting her glasses. "I… was considering… I'm not sure."

Silver leaned in and rubbed his nose against her soft cheek. "Do you want to talk to her?"

"It's not right." Night shook her head. "The spirits have places to be, a purpose. Calling them is not something done casually."

Silver leveled a hoof with Night. "You wouldn't even be considering if it had no reason. Call her, speak your peace, let her go. No harm in that, right?"

Night considered quietly a moment before she nodded. "I'll do it. She… If she doesn't want it, I will call gently, let her say no, if she prefers. I wouldn't begrudge her." She rose to her full height. "I want to be alone for this."

Silver glanced down at his wedding shoe. It never stopped looking just a bit off, being one of what should be four, but he loved it, and those it bonded him to. "I'll be with you, even if I'm not there, you know that, right?" He smiled a little. "I'll be getting some paperwork done, but if you want, call. You're always worth the interruption."

Night flashed a bright smile at the kind words and kissed him goodbye. Soon he was out the door to his work as an ambassador.

With the apartment emptied, Night set out some low candles and drew diagrams in chalk that'd be easy to remove later. "Estranged Element of Laughter, I hope your mirth still rings out somewhere, even if I never smiled for you," she called in a morose tone, caught between trepidation and shame. It wasn't an ideal place for a shaman to be, but she pressed on.

“I- I wasn’t sure if you’d call me or not,” a pink shadow slowly solidified before Night’s eyes, “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t… I messed things up pretty bad.”

“Did you get my letter?” The spirit smiled sadly as she spoke.  “There was so much I had to explain… about me… about Charlie.  I didn’t know who else to ask.  I have lots of friends… but I only know one pony who can talk to ghosts.  And only one pony in this world who ever really met Charlie at all.”

Night pointed to the folded paper that sat on the floor. "I… did." She took a slow breath. "It really… puts some things into context, I suppose." She quirked a smile. "My challenges feel small beside them."

“I’m so sorry.  I really am.  In my world we were really all super close friends and Silver was married to my best friend, and when I saw Charlie in the hospital… just floating there.  He and Silver were the only po… only people in his world who ever saw where I came from.  I always thought there would just be different versions of them, just like everypony else, then I found you and Silver, and Silver remembered me… I actually started to hope that… but no…he never woke up.”

Night adjusted her glasses in a nervous display. "It's… awkward, to say the least. This Silver is your Silver, but, so far I know, that's about where it ends. Nothing else, besides you, bridged that gap." She gave a little smile. "When he looked at you, he had that special look on his face. He wanted to save you…" She leaned forward. "Why didn't you tell him you were sick? He would have been trying to shove Canterlot off the mountain if it meant saving somepony he cared for that much."

“I know… one more thing Pinkie Pie got wrong… but Surprise… I had my own ponies to save.”  The pink ghost shook her head sadly, then smiled.  “But I did it.  I brought back three smiles.  Three whole smiles that would have been lost forever.  Have you seen Z-978?  Or my little Face Hugger?  They wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.  It seems so small, after everything I broke, but that little grub… she exists because I was able to at least fix something.  And Diane… I know she doesn’t make the best first impression… or second, really, but she’s something really special.  That smile was almost lost.”

Night canted her head a little. "You're… Spirits can have a hard time hearing this, but you were looking at it the wrong way. You think I don't have regrets, or Silver?" She put a hoof to her chest. "It got worse for him a little while ago, hmph, but let's not dwell. You did well." Her ears twitched suddenly. "Do you prefer Surprise or Pinkie?"

“I- I think I’m Surprise now.  Mint Surprise Pastel.  That’s the name we put on Diane’s adoption forms.” The ghost smiled at the happy memory of filling out all the paperwork with her family.  “Is Train Wreck alright, or do you know?  I don’t suppose he ever tried to just be friends with Silver?  I used to wonder how our families could be so estranged when we have foals in the same school.  It seemed silly then and it seems sillier now.”  Surprise let out a sudden giggle.  “You’d better watch those two.  Unless you want a swarm of piranha-toothed bat-changelings.  Because I'm pretty sure that’s how you get a swarm of piranha-toothed bat-changelings.”

Night shook her head lightly. "He is mostly Samantha's responsibility. I keep half an eye on them, but she's taking being a mother very seriously. I think it's done good for her to accept a real task, rather than following wherever her urges take her." She leaned back a little, looking over the spectral form of who she was speaking with. "They… haven't, no. They still have a wager pending. I suppose the coronation botched that plan a little." She frowned. "I have an idea though, though there is only a 20% chance you'll accept."

“Oooo, if I were a betting mare, I would totes take those odds!”  Surprise grinned widely.  “I am totes a betting mare.”

Night nodded. "If rumors are true, my numbers may be quite off when you are involved. Let us see. Do you want to see your husband, in the flesh, one more time?" She raised a brow. "It would be my body, so no… marital things, but a hug, some last words… The things ponies never get when death snatches them away. I was a terrible friend in life, I can at least offer this now."

Surprise smiled sadly and shook her head.  “We had a rule.  One big, fat, important rule.  I could never be Diane, and he could never be Charlie.  We would never be the ghosts of the loved ones we already lost.  I’m afraid that includes me.”

“There wasn’t any Pinkie Pie where Train Wreck came from you understand.” Surprise hung her head a little.  “But there was a Lt. Pinkamena.  He was her Charlie.  And she was his Diane.  I brought him out of Starlight’s time loop so he wouldn’t go back to being dead, but the cost was… he lost her.  She went back to being this world’s Pinkie Pie, and she never even met him until he showed up in Ponyville around the coronation.  It was hard for him.  And… he was angry at me, after he met her… when she didn’t even remember him at all.  I remember how hard it was when you didn’t know me, but for him meeting Pinkie… imagine… meeting a Silver who had never seen you before in his life.  In a very real way I took her away from him.”

Night quirked her head a little. "I'm afraid we're not on the same page. I didn't mean for you to introduce yourself to anyone as anything you're not. Train Wreck, you loved him, as you, right? Is he not allowed to see you, as you?" She raised a brow. "Just checking. I did say I expected a no."

“We don’t chase ghosts… not in life anyway.  I made a wonderful family.  I...I want him to move on.  We… everything we had to say was said.  There were no secrets, no lies.  I don’t have any unfinished business… not with Train Wreck.” The pink ghost turned her head away.

Night found her brow raising high. "There is a sixty percent chance that reaction implies you have somepony else with whom you do have unfinished business. Do you wish to share?"

“There was somepo- someone you brought to me once.. A ghost…” Surprise admitted reluctantly.  “In this world everypony only knows his nightmare…”

Night adjusted her glasses a moment, rubbing the lenses with a fetlock carefully. "What was their name?"

"Are you talking to ghosts again?" came a familiar voice before Samantha opened the door to the hallway and trotted inside. "Oh! Hello!" She didn't seem alarmed to see Pinkie there.

“Oh I remember you!  You’re Moonbeam’s mom!  We met when I was dropping Diane off at school.”  Surprise beamed at the happy memory.

Samantha quickly bobbed her head. "You've been curiously absent." Click it went somewhere in her head. "Oh, you expired? You were far before your expected expiration date." She frowned sharply. "There must be someone to lodge a formal complaint with."

“I lived a full and happy life, possibly happier than I deserved.” Surprise smiled warmly.  “You knew my little Diane, didn’t you?  She would talk about your son for hours it seemed.  Train Wreck and Z liked to tease her about it so much.”

Samantha's left ear flicked off to the side before righting itself. "They are together right now." She looked distant a moment. "They are speaking in a friendly manner. I determined that the best course of action was to allow him to explore relationships at his own speed. Attempting to control this aspect of his development would have ad--"

Night gently put a hoof in front of Samantha's muzzle. "We get the idea." She leaned in and smooched Samantha's nose to make sure no hard feelings were had. "You're doing an excellent job."

“Diane is… she’s more fragile than she lets on, she takes after Train Wreck that way.  It’s strange, I'd almost swear she inherited my mane and his smile… so warm, and still so cold.  To her Charlie and his nightmare are one and the same.  The memories she stole with the goat’s card…  it’s just one more set of memories a filly her age shouldn’t have to remember.”  A ghostly tear moistened the spectral pony’s cheek.  “Charlie wouldn’t have wanted that.  He wasn’t like that.”

Samantha peeked back and forth between the two, but showed remarkable wisdom for one such as herself by saying nothing.

Night shook her head slowly. "I'm afraid I don't know much about that, but… is there something you want us to do, for them?"

“Not for them… Diane has her sister, she has Train Wreck.  Z-978 is alive and amazing and a wonderful new mother… it’s the one I couldn’t save.”  Surprise flickered for a moment, her shame and doubt overwhelming her presence.

That wisdom could only extend so far. Leaning forward, Samantha looked to the ghost quite curiously. "Who's that?"

“My Charlie.  In my world I… I drove him off.  I thought it was for his own good.  I thought I was sending him to a safe place… At least that’s what I told myself.  The Unspeakable Pinkie Pie, the breaker of worlds, that’s who I am.”  Surprise turned away in shame.  “Lt. Pinkamena saved her Charlie.  I threw mine away.  I went off to prove that his spoilers were just stupid made up stories, but do you know what?  He was right.  Our whole world was just a stupid dream that he couldn’t wake up from.  And I left him there, floating in a stupid stinky changeling pod in a hospital.  That’s what kind of pony Pinkie Pie was on my world.”

Samantha cranked through things logically, or so she hoped. "If you are expired, and exist in this state," she waved at the spectral form. "Logically, so should he. You could see him now?"

Night bobbed her head. "Actually, I could put out a gentle call, see if he's in the mood to come. It might help… close some things?"

“He’s angry, he has every right to be angry.  I tried to tell him last time, but something pulled him away.  Somepony is trying to keep him.  I don’t know if I should be afraid for him… or for his captor.  The Nopony is his Nightmare,  Discord gave him one last gift, a curse on us but a gift for Charlie.  Noone escaped, but Charlie never woke up.  At least he doesn’t carry that burden.  If you could find him…”  The pink pony’s eye’s carried he plea into the souls of the living witnesses.

Night was already frowning towards the start of that statement. "Pulled him? That… could be an issue. We should check. If he wants to be left alone, we will honor that." She rose to her hooves and returned to the circle she had drawn. "A human, right?" She began making subtle adjustments.

Samantha flashed a large smile at Surprise. "Night's in that 'super serious' mode. You may as well sit back and allow her to proceed."

“I trust you.” the pink spectre smiled.  “If anypony can help me save my Charlie, it’s you.”

Night pressed her hooves to the circle, which glowed gently a moment, but then… nothing. Night frowned. "That was not." She stood up, sentence incomplete. She strode purposefully over to some books and began pulling them down and nosing them open in a hurry, her wings helping to search through them swiftly.

Samantha blinked at the reaction before an ear went up. "NefNef is upset about something."

-The End-