Distributor quill? WTF??

Ok, just got my car back from the shop, and they tell my that my distributo quill(??) is broken and that's what's causing me to miss on random cylinders (makes sense, no spark, no bang). Leads me to my questions since the guy at the shop couldn't explain it, what is this piece that's broken, how could I have broken it, and what can I do about it. My car is running like crap, and I've halved my gas mileage, and I'm worried this may damage my engine. I've only put about 3 miles on in since the problem started, and right now it's parked until I have a better idea of what's going on... Please help, I don't want to be a pedestrian.

One more question to tack on since I started a thread, my smog equipment no longer exists, as I have no smog testing anymore. Is there a way to get rid of my check engine light that came up when I removed it? thanks again.

One more question to tack on since I started a thread, my smog equipment no longer exists, as I have no smog testing anymore. Is there a way to get rid of my check engine light that came up when I removed it? thanks again.

search on ebay motors for a mustang egr eliminator. it costs about 10 dollars usually, and they send you some resistors that you silicone into place in the EGR position sensor wires. no more check engine.