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// Swamp of Sadness 
// Story: SMG Equestrian Stars: Side Entries 
// by warpd 
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Swamp of Sadness

The more I research it the more frightened I become, and grateful for getting out of that swamp alive. Applejack's statement should have clued me in on the nature of the swamp when we first found it. It is rather laypony to say, but that place is evil. I watched all of my friends succumb to depression and self-loathing, yet I didn't care. I was under the spell like they were. The apathy is soul binding.

The spell creeps in your mind unnoticed, I was fighting against the slog of mud holding me so I never felt it coming until it was too late. I doubted my abilities, that was the first step. Easy after a failed spell. Don't ever lose that first fight, it makes your downfall come that much faster. Panic sets in to make everything that much more dire. You fight fruitlessly against yourself while the swamp slowly consumes you. The downward spiral dragged me until the your will is eaten away. If Mario hadn't been there, I shudder to think the end.

History on the Swamp of Sadness had confirm my suspicion that it is not a natural location. Books from completely different civilizations claim different locations, but it is not multiple swamps with the same name. I have reason to believe it moves from one place to another, though I have the advantage of having access to all of this source material to say this. Illustrators share details, eyewitnesses have similar testimonies, and the bones recovered I can trace to different worlds. Equines seem to be a common victim, both animal and sapient. The number of souls lost is incalculable.

Do not cross the swamp. It is a death trap.

Twilight Sparkle