Sombra took a deep breath as he crested the hill. Letting the crisp mountain air chill his lungs and invigorate his spirit, he gently lowered himself onto his stomach, relaxing slightly after the harrowing ordeal he had faced just a few hours prior.
Looking up at the night sky he saw that he still had a few hours before dawn hit, which meant it would be some time before the Crystal Empire realized that their greatest treasure had been pilfered, held against his chest and wrapped in a magic-proof cloth, and even longer after that for them to ascertain the direction he went, with the heavy snowfall hiding any tracks. They probably wouldn't even realize it was him that-
Sombra was cut off from his musings by a gentle coo from the bundle that was cradled in his forelegs, leaning down, sombra gently tugged away some of the swaddle revealing the pink-furred face of an infant, sombra smiled to himself as his ‘treasure’ wriggled slightly, getting into a more comfortable position before settling back to sleep.
With that taken care of, sombra looked back to his saddlebags, he had enough formula and changing supplies to last a few days should they need to deviate from their route, looking up from his supplies sombra could just barely see the faint outline of the Crystal Empires shield glowing blue in the night sky. A white-hot bolt of urgency shot through his gut, a message from his benefactor to keep moving.
Sombra rose to his hooves, babe still held against his bosom, and began his careful descent down the semi-steep hill, heading towards the vast plains of Equestria he couldn't stop himself from smiling.
Today was going to be a wonderful day, he could feel it.
he could finally trust that something in his life was going right for once.
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Twilight Sparkle yawned as she re-read the latest paragraph of her thesis on The thaumic side effects of friendship magic and their potential applications, checking her work for any spelling errors or inconsistencies, she arched her back and flared out her wings as far as they could go, feeling the satisfying ‘pop’ of nitrogen bubbles in her spine and the ensuing release of tension. She set down her quill and arose from her chair, remembering that Spike had made her promise to get some sleep after spell-checking the last chapter, before moving to the door of her study, hoping to get a glass of water from the downstairs kitchen before retiring for the night.
As she made her way through the hallways of her crystalline castle, she found her mind wandering, it was always the same thing, a small whisper in the back of her mind that she couldn't understand, it had been there since she was a filly, she had once gone to Celestia about it, thinking is some magical malady or hex, but she merely lay a firm hoof on her shoulder and asked that she ignore it, and while she was curious, her trust in the solar goddess outshone any desire for knowledge she might have. Twilight looked to the walls of her home, banishing the whisper from her focus once more, and busied her mind with thoughts of her thesis paper.
Twilight yawned as she stared out her kitchen window, looking towards the lilac-tinted sky, the all-nighter was starting to catch up with her, with the oncoming dawn dashing any hope of maintaining her sleep schedule, twilight quickly grabbed her glass and filled it at the sink, not wanting to deal with the bright glare of the fridge light and ensuing headache. She trotted out of the kitchen, quickly making her way to her bedroom.
As she set down her glass on the nightstand and snuggled under the covers, she felt a sense of giddiness begin to rise in her throat, once she woke up she would finally finish the first draft of her paper! and then she would be able to hang out with the girls and collect statements for the second draft! As twilight drifted off she did so with a smile on her face and a single thought in her mind.
Today was going to be a wonderful day, she could feel it.
Because why would it be anything else?
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Ditzy doo grumbled as she rummaged through her kitchen cabinets, patting around until her hoof found the bottle of unopened chocolate chip pancake mix, pulling it down with a grin she maneuvered herself around the many cardboard boxes now populating her home and reached into the cooler she had set out after she cleaned out and packed up her fridge last night, pulling out a small carton of milk and pouring it into the larger bottle before twisting the cap shut and shaking vigorously, turning the powder within into a thick batter. Setting down the bottle she grabbed the small non-stick pan that she left on the counter after packing the rest of the kitchen and set about making breakfast.
Ditzy inhaled deeply as the sweet aroma filled the kitchen, she thought of how delighted her daughter, Dinky, would be when she saw her favourite breakfast waiting on the table for her after a hard day of helping her mother pack their belongings. Flipping one of the fluffy disks of goodness, ditzy grunted as a beam of orange light from her window caught her bad eye, lifting a hoof to block the light ditzy trotted over to her window and adjusted her blinds, the dawn light now diverted away from her face, she nodded and went back to the pancakes, transferring the now finished one in the pan to the stack awaiting on a nearby plate.
Before she could pour out more batter into the pan, ditzy was interrupted by a knock at the door, three fast, two slow. Gasping in realization, she killed the heat and made her way to the door, opening it, she couldn't fight the grin she made when she saw who was on the other side. “Hey, buddy!” she whisper-shouted, not wanting to disturb her neighbours “You made it just as i was fixin’ breakfast” She backed off to the side, letting her friend enter the doorway, she took in his dishevelled state as she shut the door behind her “why don't you go lay down on the couch for a bit and I’ll wake you up once breakfast is ready, then after that you can go back to sleep until we need to load all the heavy stuff onto the convertible” she gestured with her hoof towards the two-seater couch at the far end of her living room, a small fold out bassinet lay prepared on the floor next to it.
her friend yawned as he walked towards the couch, mumbling a tired “sounds good” as he carefully laid the bundle he was carrying in the bassinet, before unceremoniously flopping onto the couch and passing out, ditzy giggled at the sight of her friend flopped over on her sofa, before returning to the kitchen to finish off the pancakes, mind drifting to the schedule she had made in her mind, her years in the postal service industry had shown her the importance of mapping out your loading schedule before you moved anything onto transport. She would ensure that nothing would go wrong and they would leave on time.
Today was going to be a wonderful day, she could feel it.
She would do everything in her power to make it so.
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pinkie pie bounded through the streets of Ponyville, a box of muffins balanced on her back and a big, goofy grin on her face. She made sure to say hello to the ponies she passed on her way to her destination, delighting in the smiles and waves she got in return. As she hopped her way through the streets, she saw the ponies of Ponyville start their days, market stalls were being set up, store signs flipped to ‘open’ and produce set out for curious passers-by.
Pinky slowed to a brisk trot as she neared her destination, only to stop dead in her tracks as she took in the sight before her. She stared in awe a the airship now parked in the street, the runes faintly glowing along the hull marked it as one of those fancy collapsable models she had read about in a magazine once, the figurehead depicted some sort of dragon, mouth stretched wide and tongue falling out past jutting teeth.
Just as Pinkie began to trot closer to investigate, she saw the back of who she had originally come here for and called out “Hey derpy! Over here” She made sure to waver her hoof far above her head just in case her bad eye was acting up again. She saw her flinch in surprise before looking around to see her,
she looked stunned for a moment before breaking into a smile and coming over to where Pinkie was “Pinkie, oh my gosh, hi” Derpy took a moment to wipe some sweat from her forehead “What brings you to my place”.
Pinky shrugged the box of muffins off her back and held them in her forehoof, derpy’s eyes brightened upon seeing her favourite treat through the clear plastic of the lid “Oh nothing much” Pinkie chirped “My pinkie sense told me that you were having something BIG happen today so i thought id give you some of these to celebrate!”
she bounced on her hooves as Derpy set the box on the ground next to them, pinkie bounced up extra high before landing in a sitting position “So, what is it, what is it, WHAT IS IT” she squealed her face getting progressively closer to derpy’s with each ‘what is it’.
Derpy blinked in surprise before backing up a couple of steps, giving herself some breathing room before answering “Well, pinkie…” She trailed off, letting the suspense build for a few seconds before splitting into a grin “i got a promotion!” She puffed out her chest in pride at the statement,
“Oh wow, that's great derpy” Pinky clapped her hooves together, before turning her head to the airship next to them “But what's all this? Are you going on a pre-promotion vacation or something?”
she looked back to the mailmare only to blink as she suddenly shrunk in on herself, sheepishness overtaking any confidence that was there before Derpy averted her eye, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof “Um…actually pinkie…” She looked to the small pile of boxed pinkie and had only now just noticed she looked back to Derpy “It’s about the promotion..” derpy sucked in a breath “My new position is in the Huoshan Empire,” she looked down at her hooves, almost ashamed “I start work in a week, so Dinky and i don't have the time for a farewell party”.
Pinkie deflated at hearing that, one of her Ponyville friends was leaving and she didn’t even get to throw a party!?, “Oh,” Pinkie said dumbly, unsure of how to react, before shaking her head and smiling at her friend. “Hey, it's ok, it's no biggie, promise!” pinkie made sure the smile reached her eyes, she couldn't have her friend feeling sad because of her moping!
Derpy looked up and smiled, “Thanks pinkie” She looked over to the boxes again, her face morphing into shock “Oh shoot! I gotta finish packing or we’ll be off schedule!” the grey mare threw her hooves around pinkies neck before scooping up the muffins with a wing and bolting back into her house. Pinkie watched her go, feeling perplexed, derpy’s urgency had set off a niggling itch in her brain that she was forgetting something as we-
“OH SHOOT I FORGOT ABOUT TWILIGHTS MEETING”
-and with that exclamation, she bolted away from the doos' residence towards the crystal tree that loomed over the small town.
Pinkie huffed and puffed as she arrived at the door to the map room, her run from the other side of town had worn her out more than she thought!, as she caught her breath she reached into her mane and pulled out the small note Twilight had sent her, re-checking the time stamped at the bottom in neat cursive, 11:30 AM, she breathed a sigh of relief, she was only a few minutes late. As she pushed the door open, she let a grin form on her face.
Today was going to be a wonderful day she could-
Any thoughts of a good day ground to a halt as pinkie pie’s blood turned to ice in her veins, her body going stock still at the sight of her alicorn companion. Twilight looked at her from where she was slumped over the cutie map, her bloodshot eyes looked through her like she wasn’t even there, twilight heaved a wet breath and croaked out two words that made Pinky's heart drop to her stomach like lead.
“Flurry’s gone”
Somewhere outside, a small airship flew away, taking any chance of a wonderful day with it.