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"Spike?"

"Yeah Twi?" the adolescent dragon poked his head into Twilight's office. The lavender alicorn rose from her desk holding a stack of sealed envelopes, addressed to the editors of Equestria's major newspapers.

"Send these out to the marked addresses," she said as she turned the envelopes over to him. "I've emailed you a digital copy to put up on our social media."

"Sure thing!" said Spike. He turned to leave, then stopped. "Wait, how come you're mailing paper copies when you could just email it to them?"

"Bureaucracy," Twilight said with a sigh, "Just make sure they're sent."

"It's about that diary, right? The one Gilda wrote?"

"Allegedly wrote, Spike," the alicorn corrected. "But that turned out to not be the case. I've studied it for a week now, and it is nothing more than a cruel, pornographic hoax. Gilda has been dead for seven years."

Spike turned to go again, but Twilight rested a hand on his shoulder. It wasn't every day that something so raunchy made headlines, and she could tell it was having an effect on the dragon, even if he wasn't open about it.

"Look," she said, "I know the tabloids have been saying some really wild stuff about it, and you've got a lot of questions. If there's anything you want to talk about once we've got this mess cleaned up, I'm happy to listen."

"Heh, thanks Twi," he said with a soft smile, "I'll think about it. But first, I gotta get these to the papers." He sketched a two-finger salute, then took his leave to send the statement.

With that taken care of, Twilight straightened her sensible blazer, and left her office for the map room. Upon stepping into the spacious room containing the Friendship Map, she spotted an all too familiar pegasus in her usual seat.

Rainbow Dash had her chin rested on her arms as she stared intently at the map, gaze focused on the South Celestial Sea. She hadn't taken off her bomber jacket despite Twilight's offer to hang it up somewhere. Really, she had to be sweltering sitting indoors in that thing for two hours!

Next to the pegasus sat the journal and the rolled up parchment that the tabloids were screaming about. It was balanced precariously on the table's edge.

Twilight took a few hesitant steps forward. Should she disturb Dash? Yes, yes she would. "Hey," she said softly.

Rainbow Dash started a little, then quickly wiped her sleeve across her face. Twilight pretended not to notice she'd been crying. "Hey," the pegasus replied, none of the usual bombast in her voice. Not a good sign.

The alicorn princess stepped up to the table, then took the seat next to Dash. She offered a warm half-smile of encouragement and rested a hand on the pegasus's arm. "I'm sorry that took so long. Finding the right words was challenging."

"Mmhmm, I'll bet," Dash mumbled. Her eyes drifted back to the South Celestial Sea on the map.

Twilight squeezed her arm to regain her attention. "How much of it did you read?"

The pegasus heaved a slow, shaky sigh. "All of it," she said. Twilight's smile faded into worry. She'd warned Rainbow Dash that it might be too upsetting, but Rainbow Dash had wanted to know - needed to know.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Rainbow Dash looked over at the alicorn, then chuckled bitterly. "What's there to talk about? Some rando decided to write porn about my dead friend - the one who died in a shipwreck after we had a fight - and decided to throw me, Fluttershy, AND Pinkie in there for shits and giggles. And on top of that, twist everything to make it look like my friend secretly wanted me! Golly fucking GOSH, Twilight, isn't that swell?" She hung her head and sat back, arms hugged tight against herself. Her attempt at suppressing a sniffle was only moderately successful.

Twilight scooted in closer, her hand moving to rub along the pegasus's shoulder. "I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you to read it."

Rainbow Dash tensed, but didn't move away from the alicorn's touch. "You were right, Twilight. I did NOT need to read that." Her hands clenched at her pleather sleeves. "What is wrong with people?"

"I'm here for you, if you need me," Twilight murmured.

Dash stood and took a deep breath. A pregnant silence lingered around her as she gathered her thoughts. "Nah," she finally said. "I think I'll be okay. Might take awhile to get it out of my system, but I can talk to AJ about it more if I have to." Her hand came to rest on the journal. "This is the only copy, right?"

"That we know of," said Twilight with a nod, "It's not going to see the light of day. I'll see to it."

"Good," Rainbow Dash grunted, "I hate to think about who might've written this shit. Whoever it was did their homework. It was either somecreature who knows me, or who knew Gilda. Probably that kid who crapped his pants on the obstacle course at flight camp. Little bastard seems like the kind to be vindictive enough to pull this for laughing at him."

Twilight could only shrug. "Guess we won't know unless the author comes forward."

"Yeah, then I can put my foot up their ass," Rainbow Dash snarled, then shrank back at the disapproving stare Twilight gave her. "Anyways, I gotta get going. AJ doesn't like it when I'm late for dinner. I'll call you if I need anything."

"Sounds good," said Twilight. As the two mares moved away from the map, the alicorn pulled the slightly shorter pegasus into a hug. "I'm really happy to hear that you forgive Gilda for what she did."

"Mmhmm, it's the least I can do. We're thinking about having a quiet little memorial for her this weekend. So I can remember her as she was instead of as, you know..." Rainbow Dash trailed off and nodded toward the book still perched on the edge of the map.

Twilight smiled as she pulled back. "That sounds like an excellent idea."

The pegasus shuffled her wings and stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. "Aight, see you later Princess." She smirked at the face that Twilight made. After all these years she still got flustered at being reminded of her title. With that, Rainbow Dash took her leave.

Alone again, Twilight returned to the map to gather up the journal and letter. "Almost taken care of," she thought aloud as she returned to her office. Just one more job to do, then she could put this all behind her.

Twilight closed her office door and locked it. Spike should be another few minutes, but she didn't want to take any chances. With a quick spell from her horn, she ignited her office fireplace. Her grip tightened on the journal and the letter. This went against everything she held dear as a researcher and a librarian.

Steeling herself with a deep breath, she approached the flaming hearth. She swallowed hard, but was unable to get the lump out of her throat.

"Sorry Gilda," she whispered, "But there's nothing we can do to save you. We can't let anycreature else find that island. The 'old you' would understand."

The journal slipped from Twilight's hand into the fire, the letter fluttering in close behind. She watched in silence as the flames consumed the pages, and the testimony written upon them.

Meanwhile, back in the map room, the surface of the map shimmered. In the South Celestial Sea, a small island flickered into view, far away from the others. It continued to flicker in and out, as if it did not fit on the rest of the map. On that island, tucked against the side of a lone mountain, sat a black pyramid. Just as suddenly as it had appeared on the map, it winked out again, leaving nothing but an empty sea.