//------------------------------//
// Life After  
// Story: Smile No More 
// by Kaiser Perminente 
//------------------------------//

	Alcohol was terrible for him and he knew it. But no amount of scotch, vodka, or hard cider would kill enough brain cells to let him forget. There was just simply no way he could forget what he had done. His actions were inexcusable. Dark memories continued to run like film in his head as he slowly sipped down his fifth glass of liquor. It was some kind of exotic whiskey that he’d never heard of before. 
He sat in the corner of the only bar, or saloon rather, in Dodge City. Dodge wasn’t his home town, he actually lived in Vanhoover, but he was staying here for the night on a layover. His train would be there early the next morning. He really should have been back at the hotel, but being buzzed, he had completely lost track of time. The staff began to discuss what to do with him. He was approaching their drink limit, but he still didn’t show any signs of intoxication. They didn’t want to throw him out, after all he wasn’t doing anything wrong, but they were starting to get nervous about him. 
“Howdy there.” A stallion dressed as a sheriff walked up to the pegasus in the booth.
“What do you want?” He answered.
“My name’s Wyatt and this here,” he gestured to another sheriff pony behind him. “Is my partner, Bat. Mind telling me your name?”
The bar patron looked away and mumbled something that Wyatt couldn’t quite get. 
“Pardon?” Wyatt asked.
The prior spoke again, but louder. “Strong Sword.”
“Well Mr. Strong Sword,” Wyatt responded. “I noticed that you’ve had an awful lot to drink and I would just like to suggest that you take it a little easier.” He looked down and noticed that Strong Sword’s cutie mark depicted the iconic helmet of the Royal Guard. “Now I would hate to disrespect a member of the guard but -”
“Go ahead.” Strong Sword interrupted. “I don’t deserve respect anyway.”
Wyatt was surprised by Strong Sword’s amount of hatred for himself. But he was trained, he knew how to handle pretty much every situation that fate could throw at him.
“Now don’t be so hard on yourself, partner.” Wyatt said in a soothing tone. “Do you want some help getting home?”
“I don’t live here.”
“Well, where do you live?”
“Vanhoover.”
Wyatt waited a second before replying. “You’re pretty far from home.”
“I’m… on my way back from a deployment.”
“Well how long are you gonna be in Dodge?”
“Just tonight.”
“You stayin’ in a hotel?”
“Yeah.”
“Well come with us. We’ll pick up your tab.”
“No, I got it.” 
Strong Sword pulled twenty bits from his saddle bag and left them on the table. He stood and exited the building with Wyatt and Bat, who was yet to say a word to him. As they were walking down the street, Wyatt began to speak again. 
“So what’s got you down, partner?”
Strong Sword really didn’t want to talk about it, but he knew that talking would be good for him. He stayed quiet, hoping that Wyatt wouldn’t try to prod any further. He didn’t, but Strong Sword still felt the need to get something out.
“I’ve done some things I’m not proud of.”
“Well we all have,” Wyatt said. “But life goes on. I’m sure everything will turn out okay.”
“No it won’t, what I did was… inexcusable.”
Wyatt began to get concerned.
“Mind telling me what you did?”
“I’d rather not.”
“I could get you some help if you need it.”
“No thanks, in fact, if you could leave me alone please. I have some stuff I need to take care of.”
“Okay, but please, don’t do anything you’re going to regret.”
Wyatt and Bat turned away and left him there, a short walk from the hotel.
“I can’t regret it if I’m dead.” Strong Sword muttered.
He shook his head of the dark thought. He knew that he was in the wrong. He knew that if he was going to end it, he would wait until he got to see his family first. He would go home as soon as he arrived in Vanhoover. He had another layover in Ponyville tomorrow, but he could wait that long, after all, it wasn’t like he could do much damage until then. 
After entering the hotel room, the first thing Strong Sword noticed was a strong smell of mildew. He looked around and took inventory of everything in the small room. There was a bed, a desk with a notepad, a small coffee maker, and a bathroom, complete with a miniscule toilet, a leaky sink, and a mold infested shower. He sighed, thankful that he was only staying that one night. 
He looked at the bed one more time. He was absolutely exhausted, but he didn’t want to sleep. There were two things he was afraid of. One, the bed was probably infested with dust mites, and two, the nightmares. He had been having recurring dreams of the horrible things he’d done. Even if he could get to sleep in the first place he would be awaken countless times during the night. 
He sat at the desk, eyeing the notepad. Printed across the top, was a fancy logo with the words Dodge City Inn. He picked up the pen and fiddled with it between his teeth. He decided on something to write down and scratched into the notepad, occasionally mumbling his writings to himself. He wasn’t the most fanciful writer, but he tried his hardest to get the thought across. After deciding that it didn’t sound exactly right, he crumpled the paper and threw it into the waste basket. After going through several more sheets from the notepad, he came out with a suitable result.
To my friends and family,
I regret to inform you that if you are reading this note, then I have taken my own life. I beg you not to be sad for me, for I have purged the world of a great evil. For you see, I have committed acts that many would see as unforgivable. My comrades may call me weak, and they may be right, but I have come to terms, perhaps a bit too late, with the fact that I am not a soldier, I am not a killer. 
I have murdered twenty one griffons under order from my chain of command. I do not blame them, and I don’t want you to either, for they didn’t make me this way. I don’t want you to blame yourselves either. You should never be ashamed that you raised me to be valiant enough to do what’s right, to make up for my wrong-doings. 
The world is now bereft of my horrid soul, but my possessions still burden you. Do what you please with them, the only request I have is that I do not get a military burial. They are for heroes of war, I was a craven who knew not what such inexcusable actions would do to me. Please respect this as my final request. 
Goodbye, and thank you,
Strong Sword
Strong Sword folded the letter and placed it in his luggage. He still didn’t want to sleep, but decided to get into bed anyway. He stared at the ceiling as he slowly began to fade into a drowsy trance. He could see dark figures approaching him, but he wasn’t scared. He knew it was his imagination playing tricks on him. Either way, he was still too tired to do anything. He winced as he finally realized what a terrible mistake this had been.
He dreamed of a field. It was in a far away land, unheard of to most ponies of Equestria. It was beautiful in the spring time, or rather, it had been. The field was stained with the blood of ponies and griffons alike. Strong Sword was moving amidst the chaos that was erupting in the field. He carried a seven foot pike, which he swung at everything that wasn’t a pony.
He heard a command being yelled from the distance. “Pegasi, take flight!” it said. 
He and hundreds more of his race simultaneously launched themselves into the air. His view no longer obstructed, Strong Sword was able to clearly see the ground of the field divided in half. One was gold, thousands of guardsmen helmets reflecting the sunlight. The other was griffon, their white and yellow feathers stained with dust and blood. 
He was shaken from the entrancing landscape by a set of talons moving at extremely high speed towards his head. He ducked as the griffon they belonged to flew overhead, screeching at him. He twisted his pike and plunged it into the retreating griffons back. The beast screeched with pain and dropped out of the sky like a bag of rocks. 
He followed it down, the heinous amounts of adrenaline making him a little crazy. He observed the falling griffon, it was still alive, but wouldn’t be for long. His demented mind wondered whether or not it would die from blood loss before hitting the ground. It was right in the middle of this thought when he felt something, something painful. He turned around to see another griffon furiously clawing at his back. Strong Sword lost control of his wings and became dizzy very quickly. He tried to remain level, but was completely helpless as he tumbled toward the blood-stained field below. 
Strong Sword was jolted from his sleep. He sat for a few moments, still in bed. His body was covered in a cold sweat. He shook his head wanting to forget the dream so badly. But he would never be able to, because it wasn’t only a dream. He reached back and felt the scars on his back. They were remnants of the moment he changed his mind about what he’d done. For the first time in his military career, he’d gone from predator, to prey. He was lucky to be alive in the first place. Should he really have tested fate like that?
He looked out the window, it was still dark. He hopped up and went to go open the blinds. Outside, he could see the night version of Dodge City. It wasn’t as nearly as alive at night as Vanhoover was. He could see only two ponies, Wyatt and Bat. They were loyally patrolling the streets of their town. He looked off at the eastern horizon, which happened to be right in front of him. The sun was barely beginning to creep over distant hills. His train would be arriving in a few hours. He made his plan for the morning as he packed up what little he had. First, he would get breakfast at the inn. Then, he would head the bar for a quick drink to help sooth his hangover. And, finally, he would go to the train station and wait to go home.             
Well, the first part of his plan went well. He went downstairs and grabbed a bagel, which he shoved in the toaster. He hadn’t eaten since the morning before, and was famished. But he still found himself unable to finish the bagel. It was rather peculiar for him. He usually would stuff his gullet at breakfast, but his recent circumstances had led him to suppress his appetite. 
After eating what he could, Strong Sword checked out of the inn and made his way down the street toward the bar he was at the night before. As he approached the door, he noticed a sign that informed him of the establishment being closed. He looked over at the nearby chart, showing their hours.
“Fuck.” He said. “It’s Sunday…”
He nearly slammed his head into one of the columns on the porch, when he heard a familiar voice from behind. 
“Well, look who it is, Bat!”
Shit…
“How ya been doin’, parter?”
Strong Sword put on the best face he could. “I could be worse.”
“Well, it’s nice to see you today.” Wyatt said.
Strong Sword looked at Bat, confused. Bat merely shrugged and made a face that said, ‘just go with it.’
Strong Sword sighed. “Nice to see you too, Wyatt.”
They looked at each other awkwardly, neither quite sure what to say. Strong Sword didn’t want to say something wrong and have another “chat” with Wyatt. And Wyatt, who was still not quite sure that Strong Sword didn’t murder somepony, didn’t want to say anything to offend Strong Sword. The impasse lasted a few moments before Strong Sword decided to end it.
“Well…” He said. “I got a train to catch, so…”
“Oh,” Wyatt said. “Okay, don’t want to make you late!”
“Yeah, it was nice meeting you guys. Bye!”
The minute he walked off, he lost the bubbly façade, and went back to his depressed self. He arrived at the train station way ahead of schedule. Not being able to stop at the bar threw off his timing. His hangover was also still bothering him. He winced at the sharp migraine and nausea. Checking to see that there was no pony around, he walked over to a nearby gutter and began to vomit furiously into the sewer. He spat out the foul taste in his mouth and he sat back at the bench, waiting silently.
After about another hour, the train showed up. Strong Sword boarded and sat at his economy seat. The only other pony in the car was a sleeping mare. He ignored her and stared out the window as the train made its way west to his next layover in Ponyville. Remembering his none-too-pleasant encounter with Wyatt and Bat, he made a promise not to meet anypony in Ponyville. Connections would just lead to more trouble, and causing any more trouble was the last thing that Strong Sword wanted.  
Ten minutes into the four hour ride, the sleeping mare next to him woke up. Strong Sword pretended not to notice, but the mare’s blindingly bright pink mane caught his eye. He saw her look around for a second, before she stood up alarmingly fast.
“Girls?” she called out. “Girls!”
Strong Sword again looked away, pretending not to notice her, although it was kind of impossible at that point.      
“Sir?” She turned to him. “I’m sorry to ask, but did you happen to see five other mares around here? One is a purple unicorn, there’s also a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, an orange earth pony with a Stetson, a white uni-”
“I’m going to stop you right there.” He interrupted. “I haven’t seen anypony else since I got on this train.”
The mare thought for a moment. “I’d better go look for them!”
She ran frantically toward the next passenger car. Strong Sword breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe now he could get a little peace. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get his mind off of that mare. He felt sorry for her. He knew what it was like to wake up and find out all of your friends are gone. In the middle of a battle, he was knocked unconscious by an explosion. When he awoke, he found himself in a pile of bodies on the battlefield. The griffons had mistaken him for being dead and tossed him with the corpses. He was able to escape, but had to find his way back to camp on his own, in enemy territory. Granted, the mare’s situation wasn’t exactly the same, but he decided to apologize to her when she came back.
He looked around the empty cart for a way to entertain himself. He looked at the chairs, they were arranged so nicely, so perfectly. For a split second, he saw them as something else. They were solders, some ponies, some griffons. They were lined up so nicely on a foggy, grey evening. They each had a weapon, swords, axes, spears, and even spell tomes. The vision hadn’t lasted long, but it was enough to make Strong Sword’s heart skip a beat. He jumped frantically out of his seat, falling on the floor. It took him a few moments to realize that it was just his mind acting up. The doctor said that was going to be happening. 
As he sat back up in his seat, he heard the back door of the car open again. Still a little jumpy, he quickly shot his head back. The mare was walking back in towards her seat, accompanied by five others. He looked over the new passengers. They matched the few descriptions that the pink one was able to spout out. 
“I said we were sorry, Pinkie. We would have brought you along, but you fell asleep.” The purple unicorn said.
“I’m not upset with you.” The pink one said. “It’s just the fact that I slept through a meal time, I’m still hungry.”
Strong Sword thought about the promise he’d made to himself to apologize to… Pinkie, was it? But then again, it probably would’ve embarrassed her in front of her friends. They had no idea what was going on and probably would’ve also felt just as awkward. 
He listened to them talk for a while. It was mostly stuff that he didn’t really care about. Some stuff about their vacation to Manehattan. Other banter was about what they would do when they got back to Ponyville. He’d felt enough like a creeper already, so he wasn’t looking at them. Because of this, he hadn’t noticed when Pinkie walked right up and sat down next to him.
“Hi there.” She said.
Strong Sword leapt from his seat again. Pinkie couldn’t help but giggle.
“You looked lonely.” She continued.
After he calmed down, Strong Sword was able to speak again. “You don’t know the half of it.”
Pinkie cocked her head to the side, intrigued. Strong Sword sighed and conceded to tell her the basics of his story.
“Wow!” She said when he finished. “I just have one question.”
“Yeah?”
“What does PTSG stand for?”
“PTSD.” He corrected.
“Well what does it stand for?”
“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” He answered. “The war did horrible things to me, Pinkie. I’m a changed stallion.”
“Well, that’s all over now, right? You’re going home, you can be happy, you’ll see you family and friends, you don’t have to be sad anymore.” 
She smiled at him, but Strong Sword could see in her eyes that she wasn’t really happy. He looked at her. She was young, relatively, no older than nineteen. He couldn’t outright spit the sad truth into her face. He also didn’t want to sugar coat the situation. 
“Well, it doesn’t exactly work like that.”
He saw the smile disappear.
“I mean…” He said. “I’m happy to be going home, of course. But, I still have problems. I’ll never be able to forget what I’ve done.”
Pinkie Pie just stared at his face for a while. 
“Well,” She said. “Pinkie Promise me that you’ll smile today.”
“What?”
“I said, Pinkie Promise me that you’ll smile today.”
“Um… okay.” He was still confused.
“No,” She said. “Like this.” 
She grabbed his right fore leg and began to guide it through the motions of a Pinkie Swear. The touch triggered a reaction in his mind. The bubbly mare in front of him became a griffon soldier. And she was no longer helping him with a friendly gesture, now she was trying to break his arm. He lurched forward, knocking both of them off of the seat. He had her pinned to the ground and was screaming in her face when he finally snapped back to reality. 
Pinkie Pie was crying in fear at what just happened. He stumbled off of her and looked up at the other girls, who were already on their hoofs, ready to defend their friend. He backed away, crawling at first, he picked up enough momentum to stand and run out of the back of the car. 
He ran to the caboose of the train without stopping. He leaned against the outside, beginning to tear up himself. He kicked at the back wall of the caboose.
“Fuck!” He screamed.
He watched the rails speeding by behind the train. He put one of his legs up onto the railing and held it there for a moment. He breathed in the fresh air of Mid- Western Equestria. He watched the birds, surprised at his own ability to keep them from turning into griffons.
“No.” He finally said. “I already broke one of my promises today. I’m not going to break another.”
Even though the promise that he had supposedly broke didn’t technically say anything about meeting anypony on the train to Ponyville, he still counted it as a loss. And he didn’t like losing frequently. He watched the passing scenery for a little while longer, before hearing the door open behind him.
“I’m sorry.” He recognized the voice as that of the mare who he’d just attacked.
“No, I’m sorry.” He replied. “I don’t know what happened, it wasn’t your fault.”
He turned around to face her and saw the others watching him through the window in the back door. He glared at them, making them back a little. He looked back at Pinkie, who was staring out at the train tracks, similarly to how he did. 
“Are you still going to keep your promise?” Her eyes didn’t move.
“I don’t know if I can now.” Strong Sword replied.
“Laughter is the best medicine.” She said. “Trust me.”
He fulfilled his promise at that moment. Pinkie Pie’s pure innocence made his heart warm and his lips curled upward. Without even looking, she smiled too. It was as if she knew that her work had been done.
“Can I hug you?” She asked.
“I wouldn’t.”
She disregarded his warning and wrapped her fore legs around him. Strong Sword could feel the tension boiling over in her friends’ mind. No reaction happened. No memory or dark vision was triggered. 
“Well,” he said. “I guess laughter is the best medicine.”
The train ride lasted another three hours, or so. Over the course of that time, Pinkie Pie sat next to Strong Sword back in the passenger car, entertaining him with her crazy and somewhat flamboyant stories. He would laugh when they were funny, lean in when they were suspenseful, and react to all the other moods of the story. For this time, he had forgotten about the events of earlier. The blissful peace was taking over his mind.
When they arrived at Ponyville, Strong Sword was forced to say his goodbyes to Pinkie and her friends, whom she’d introduced gradually over the course of the stories. It hurt to be alone again. Pinkie’s kindness to him had helped restore his faith, at least a little bit. But now that he wasn’t being distracted by her humorous flights of insanity, his dark thoughts began weighing down on his shoulders again. If anypony looked carefully, they would see his neck slowly descending as this weight added up.
“Strong Sword, wait!” 
He recognized the voice immediately. His head sprung back up and he couldn’t help but smile again. His escape from the terrible world was here again. Hopefully she would be able to stick around and brighten up his day for a little longer.
“Yeah?” He replied, trying not to look too eccentric.
“I forgot to tell you when we got off the train. I work at this restaurant called ‘Sugar Cube Corner.’ You want to meet me there for breakfast tomorrow?”
Strong Sword was a little disappointed at the fact that she wasn’t planning to stay. On the other hoof, she was inviting him to breakfast. That was better than never seeing her again. But the word that she’d used, “promise,” that word would probably haunt him forever. He agreed anyway. 
“Great!” She said, and gave him directions from his hotel.
He continued on his way alone. He had considered asking her to come with, but felt that might be a little weird. After checking in, he once again inspected the room. This one was in slightly better condition, but it was no Ritz Clumperton. He went into the bathroom to check for mold spores. While there, he caught a look of his white face in the mirror. His depression had made him neglect his personal hygiene. His blue mane was sloppy and unkempt, his chin was getting scruffy, and his teeth were yellowed. They never would’ve let that happen in the military. 
As he was looking over his reflection, he had another one of his episodes. It was no longer his reflection he was staring at. Instead there was a dark figure. It resembled him in size and structure, but its mere appearance screamed “EVIL.” His military instincts took over and he slammed his front right hoof into the mirror, breaking it, and causing the horrible hallucination to come to an end.
This frightening incident forced him to remember why he was there in the first place. After waking up in the hospital after falling out of the sky, the doctors were surprised that he was even able to awaken from the coma he had been in. There were no serious physical injuries, but what the doctors found the hard way, were the psychological issues. Strong Sword’s near death experience had caused his to develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, making him dangerous to himself and others. This discovery was made when he nearly killed a nurse with an IV that he ripped from another patient. 
The doctors forced him to go through intense forms of therapy. He was put through electroshock, experimental drug tests, opulent conditioning, and other horrible things that he didn’t care to remember. After being able to suppress the delusions, he was released from the hospital. They said he would still have occasional episodes and probably still experience nightmares, both of which were true. He couldn’t help but see himself as dangerous. 
After standing in the bathroom, staring at his bleeding hand, he decided to get himself cleaned up. He had to at least look decent if he wanted to get any closer to becoming content with himself. He bandaged his hand and left the room, deciding not to tell anypony about the mirror. He would leave them a few extra bits when he checked out. He walked out into the streets of Ponyville and found a small, local barber. They offered a shave and a manecut for just two bits. 
The barber was nice enough not to pester him too much while he was there. He was the only one in the establishment, so all of the other employees were talking amongst themselves. Strong Sword had to keep his eyes closed for most of the time. He knew that seeing a razor blade anywhere near his neck might trigger another incident. And with a sharp edge nearby, he might actually hurt somepony this time.
Thankfully, he was able to make it through to grooming without snapping. He paid and left, heading back for the hotel. He was still in an unfamiliar area, and the unfamiliarity was making him nervous. He decided that it would be better to get back to the hotel as soon as possible. 
Upon entering his hotel room, Strong Sword jumped onto his bed. He stared up at the ceiling and thought about the events of the day. It surprised him to think that just a day earlier, he was drafting his own suicide note. The thought gave him chills. He decided to drop the mental subject and move to the highlight of his day, meeting Pinkie Pie. Despite getting off to a rough start, he felt some sort of connection to her. It wasn’t romantic, he had given up on trying to find love long ago. No, instead, it was like a sibling- type connection. She had cheered him up like a sister would. Being an only child, this experience was new to him.
As his thoughts continued to move from topic to topic, Strong Sword began to drift off. His dream that night was not dark, nor haunting, nor sinister. That night, he dreamed of Pinkie Pie. The pink mare he had met under rather strange circumstances danced around his subconscious. He dreamt of some of the stories she’d told him, some true, others tall tales. He saw her friends as well, standing by her side, like his once had before they either were lost to the war or abandoned him. This dream made him feel alive inside once again. 
Strong Sword woke up peacefully that morning. Looking at the clock, which his last hotel room was sadly lacking, he saw that he had plenty of time to meet Pinkie at Sugar Cube Corner and still make his train in plenty of time. He checked out, leaving the money to reimburse them for the mirror in the bathroom. He made his way down the various streets of Ponyville, following Pinkie’s instructions until he found Sugar Cube Corner. A bell jingled as he opened the door. Mrs. Cake poked her head out of the back room.      
“I’ll be with you in a minute!” She said.
She retracted her head back into the annex. Strong Sword could hear various shifting and shuffling of things going on. He couldn’t quite figure out what was going on until he heard the babble of a foal. That made sense. He was very patient as Mrs. Cake pushed her husband out of the back room. 
“Well,” He said. “How can I help you?”
“Umm…” Strong Sword began. “Is Pinkie Pie here?”
Mr. Cake sighed. “Yeah, hold on.”     
He retreated into the back room and, after a few moments, Pinkie Pie emerged. She ran over and hugged Strong Sword, who took a deep breath and was able to suppress any unnecessary visions. They grabbed a table and Pinkie brought out a plethora of pastries, breads, and other baked goods. They sat eating for a few moments. At first, they didn’t say much. After a couple minutes of getting situated, they began their conversation, which, after some time, arrived on the issue of the future. 
“Well, you’re invited anytime to come visit me in Vanhoover.” Strong Sword said.
“Thanks, Strong Sword.” Pinkie said. 
She hadn’t been nearly as hyper as she had been the day before. Maybe she wasn’t a morning pony. Though, she didn’t look particularly tired. Strong Sword wasn’t a psychologist, but he thought there might have been an emotional issue reinforcing the flood gates on her energy. He debated whether to ask her or not.
“Are you okay?” He said.
“Yeah.” She spoke bleakly, putting on a mundane smile. “Why?”
“I don’t know, you just seem a little… off today.” He paused for a second. “But then again, what do I know, I only met you yesterday.” He laughed a little to lessen the tension. 
Pinkie giggled along, though, not quite at the same intensity that she usually would have. Strong Sword noticed this, and cocked his head to her. Pinkie took a deep breath.
“Okay, I am a little bummed out that you’re leaving so suddenly.” She said. “But, never mind me. You have to get back to Vanhoover and see your family.”
Strong Sword felt sympathy for her. He felt that he had to comfort her somehow. 
“Well, had I known that I was going to meet you, I would’ve planned to stay longer.”
“No, I understand.” Pinkie replied.
“And like I said,” Strong Sword continued. “You can visit me anytime in Vanhoover.”
“Yeah I guess.” Pinkie said. “So what time does your train get here?”
“Oh, not until-” Then he saw the clock. “Oh crap, I gotta go!”
Pinkie helped him gather up his belongings and led him out the door and to the train station. Strong Sword quickly rushed onto the train and bade his final farewell to Pinkie Pie. The train began moving soon after. They both watched each other’s faces get smaller and smaller.
When the train finally disappeared, Pinkie Pie noticed a piece of paper that had been left on the platform. She figured somepony must have dropped it. She picked it up and decided to read it.
***
For the first time in three years, Strong Sword was seeing his family. His parents were both very excited to know that he was recovering nicely. His uncle was also there, he had been assisting Strong Sword’s parents while he was gone. Meeting Pinkie Pie gave him a whole new outlook on life, and he was ready to endure whatever life was going to throw at him, but first he was going to rest.
The next morning, Strong Sword was unpacking. He was going to live in his parents’ house until he could find a place of his own. While shuffling through his bag, he noticed that his draft of that horrible suicide note he’d written, was gone. He didn’t really care at first, until he realized what sort of damage that note could cause if it ended up in the wrong hands. But what could he do know? He began nervously pacing in his room. He thought back to all of the places that he could have left it. 
While he was pacing, his mother walked into the room, carrying the day’s mail. She held out an envelope that was addressed to him. There was no return address, which didn’t cause him too much concern. He ripped open the seal and pulled out a very familiar note. He looked it over, how did it end up in the mail, and how did the pony who found it know his address? He flipped the note over and saw a message that told him both the sender, and her reply to his offer…
	HOW COULD YOU?!