> My Little Pony: Friendships are Magic
>  by professor space n time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a beautiful morning in Canterlot, one of those mornings in which the sun seems to rise earlier and the clouds clear quickly, the sun rose in the east staining the sky pink, cyan, and orange, the birds began their song and the plants seemed to wake up and move with new life in the sunlight.

Princess Celestia was walking calmly on the outskirts of Canterlot, she was taking a little time to herself, admiring the scenery, enjoying every breath of fresh air with the fragrance of flowers and the dew on the plants, she walked until she reached a plain with a large field of flowers and on the edge a small pristine hill without flowers or weeds, not even clovers, it seemed that nature had put that lump of earth there so that it would function as a viewpoint so that the one who placed hooves there could admire the flowers, Celestia sat on the top of the hill and took a deep breath, admiring the view she had already known for so many decades. However, something felt different this time.

She looked around trying to find what was that different thing that gave her that strange feeling in the bottom of her stomach, she felt a slight, but strange trembling in her back that only made her feel more scared and confused, then she heard a small sob and a low screech like it came from a small animal coming from nearby bushes.

The sobs turned into crying, a cry that sounded familiar, Celestia got up and went to the source of the crying, hidden in the bushes was a basket and inside it a foal. "Shh, sh, sh everything is fine, I'm here" Upon inspecting a little Celestia noticed that the foal was, in fact, a creature she had never seen, it had holes in its hooves and hair, its horn was twisted and also full of holes, it's hair was green and similar to some kind of algae or weed, it seemed to shine as if it was wet but it was dry to the touch, she noticed on its abdomen a kind of sack or shell like that of insects, in fact, its whole body seemed to be covered in what was the exoskeleton of an insect, she also noticed that it had wings, thin and crystalline like those of a bee or a dragonfly, she was fascinated to see those wings, she thought for a second if what she saw was an alicorn, No, it couldn't be possible, a baby alicorn was not possible, but still there it was.

The creature yawned and showed its two huge fangs, Celestia dropped the basket and it hit the floor, immediately Celestia realized what she had just done so she took the foal in her hooves the moment it started to cry and snuggled it a little trying to calm it down "Shh, Shh, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry little one, I don't know what happened to me, please don't cry" Celestia lowered her head and planted a kiss on the foal's stomach, it stopped crying immediately and began to release small giggles, Celestia smiled when she saw the foal change its mood, she saw in the basket a note that said "Amara, Take care of her with Love"

Celestia looked at the filly on her hooves and watched her laugh for a second, then the filly stared at her as if she expected something, Celestia felt something sprout in her heart, it was similar to that feeling she had when she saw Sunset, and her previous students for the first time, but it had something different this time, it was stronger and more. . . close, she could not understand it but she felt something strong, instinctive, that made her see the filly with different eyes and gave her the signal that she had felt before when taking in a pony, but this time not as an apprentice or student, "I will" she said, the filly seemed to understand her because she immediately began to giggle and chirp like a cricket.

Celestia put her back in the basket and wrapped her with the small blanket, Amara stared into her eyes while she rocked the basket and finally fell asleep, Celestia lifted the basket carefully using her mouth, opened her wings, and took flight back to the castle.

Hours later Amara crawled through the throne room, attracting everyone's gaze, many were surprised to see Celestia bring the filly to the castle but were more surprised to see her appearance, some were scared and others watched her with curiosity, but everypony alike got used to her with incredible ease and noticed the change in the princess that morning, they saw her smile and be happy as they had never seen before.

Amara began to crawl toward Celestia sitting on her throne. Celestia giggled while she did not take her eyes off her, Amara climbed the steps that led to the throne and then tried to climb the throne from its left side, Amara slipped and fell on her flank, but that did not seem to matter, she got up and tried again, this time she managed to get on and leaned next to Celestia, she used her magic to lift her up in the air and nuzzled Amara with a smile on her face. "Well done Amara", Amara raised her little hooves, stretched them, grabbed Celestia's face, and began to giggle, then gave her a little lick on the nose "Aaaw," said Celestia as she lowered her and carried her in her hooves "You're so cute".

Amara was by her side the rest of the day, Celestia took a while to find her something to eat because she did not know what Amara would like, but she discovered that she liked flowers with a lot of nectar, leaves, and vegetables, which surprised her because, Well, normally foals don't find the vegetables very appetizing, but even so she ate almost three whole lettuces, Celestia also noticed that Amara ate like a caterpillar, literally, she bit off pieces of the outline of the leaf until she reached the center.

After feeding her, she took Amara to her bedroom and they huddled by the fire, Amara trembled slightly, Celestia tucked her under her wing and she fell into a deep sleep, Celestia picked her up carefully not to wake her up and put her down on the bed, she put her in the center and surrounded her with pillows to make sure that during the night she did not wake up and/or roll over and fall, the crib she had ordered would not be ready until tomorrow afternoon, other than that and the monotonous meetings with the nobles and the parliament, the only thing left to do was to make the public announcement, Celestia knew that she should communicate to her subjects and the other nobles that she had decided to adopt the little filly, at that moment horrible thoughts crossed her mind like an arrow piercing her heart, how would the nobles react? The chain of command would have to be reorganized, and surely they would not feel comfortable knowing that if something were to happen to her, Amara would be the one who would be in command and not any of them and/or their houses, what would her subjects say? Celestia knew that her subjects loved her, but how would they react to Amara's strange appearance? Would they hate her? Would they see her with disdain? Or maybe even worse, maybe they just wouldn't care about her in the least, would they ignore her? Celestia knew that her subjects were sadly capable of doing it and also knew the harm that could do Amara. Celestia looked out the window and saw the figure depicted in the full moon with sadness, resentment, and hatred, those last two not towards her but herself, then she saw Amara again and thought about her safety, there had been attacks against her before, it is true that it was many centuries ago, even some of them were a millennium ago, but the most recent had been just a century and a half ago, Celestia then looked at the drawer of her dresser thinking about the photos, drawings, and diaries that lay inside, her student and her niece had died in that incident, now she was looking at Amara worried, What if they attacked her? Celestia had scanned her magic, she was not immortal, although she had a lot of magic within her, at least more than usual for a filly, that did not guarantee her safety, What if they foalnapped her? Celestia had realized that her magic was very difficult or almost impossible to track, if they took her it would be impossible to find her, or even worse than that, what if they tried to kil-? Celestia shook her head in denial as she approached the bed. No, it wouldn't happen, and if it did, she would be there to prevent it. Celestia took off her regalia, put it on her dresser, and leaned next to Amara, delicately brushed her hair from in front of her eyes, and looked at her face for a moment, she looked so calm, so delicate, so beautiful, so tender and so. . . perfect, it was strange, she had found her that same day, but she felt how Amara completed something inside her, like a hole in her heart that was filled with pure joy, as if the universe had given it to her, to make her happy, she smiled, gave her a kiss on the forehead and closed her eyes, immediately some dust or dirt seemed to enter her nose, Celestia covered herself with a pillow and sneezed so low that she could barely hear herself, she looked at Amara, good, she was still asleep, she put down the pillow and laid back down, at that moment she let out a short yawn, and then Amara began to cry at full volume, Celestia frowned, she had forgotten about that part.



An 8-year-old Amara ran through the halls of the castle giggling as she was chased by Celestia. She was wearing a tiara and her little regalia. She had grown healthy and strong, the holes in her wings had filled in over the years and her horn had grown longer.

"Come back here little one!" Celestia said while laughing playfully.

“They will never catch me alive! Haha!" She said entering the throne room. Celestia entered behind her, but could not find her, she looked around in bewilderment, she approached her throne and looked under it, she looked under the carpet, at the edges of the windows, behind the columns, at the flowers at the bottom of the throne and even behind the tapestries on the walls, but could not find her, finally, she looked up and saw a figure inside the chandelier, Celestia smiled triumphantly and took flight up, carefully approached the chandelier, but when she saw inside she saw a black cardboard cutout with Amara's silhouette glued to the glass, suddenly she heard a small creak when she turned around she saw Amara trying to open the door of the throne room, she smiled again and dove to pick her up.

"Got ya!" she said lifting her off the ground and hugging her "There you are, my little butterfly!"

"Mommy!" she said spreading her hooves to hug her back "What did you think of my new trick? Did you like it?!" she said wagging her tail.

"It was very good Amy, you almost managed to fool me," She said nuzzling her "But, you still need to perfect your stealth if you want to achieve it," She said while landing "Since you don't want to use magic in these games"

"It's just that using magic isn't that fun." She said.

Raven Inkwell appeared at the door holding a clipboard with her magic, "Are you going to see somepony today?" asked Amara.

Celestia nodded “Yes, I will. There is a filly that has caught my attention; she seems very strong with magic and I wanted to supervise her entrance exam ”She said.

"Why? You've told me before about very strong ponies at your school, but I've never seen you personally go to an entrance exam before" Amara said curiously.

"Well, do you remember last week you told me about why you liked our walks around town so much?" Amara nodded, “Well, I kept thinking about what you said, in how spending time around others made you understand our little ponies better and allowed you to feel how others felt about you, the truth is that I have not interacted directly with my subjects since I exi-, since a long time ago, so I thought I'd try to interact with them more often, and I thought interacting with my future students would be a good start."

"Oh, ok," Amara said.

Celestia walked to the door, but before leaving she looked back at Amara "Would you like to come?" she asked her. 

"Oh! Can I bring Pepper?" She asked.

"Of course dear," Celestia replied. Amara quickly ran to her room, came back without her regalia, and brought a small box with her. As soon as she returned, she mounted on her mother's back.

Celestia left the castle and headed towards the building, upon arrival they entered a room with four ponies with clipboards who bowed to her.

"Greetings everypony," Celestia said as Amara got off of her back and walked to the front of the room.

She passed by two ponies, a blue stallion and a gray mare with a gray and purple mane, the stallion looked at her impressed.

"This is my daughter, Amara, she only came with me to observe the presentation" Celestia told them.

"Oh, that's fine with me. Hi Amara, I'm Night Light it's a pleasure to meet you" Said introducing himself, in that moment he saw the box she was carrying "What have you got there Amara?" 

"This is Pepper," She said opening the box, Night Light saw inside it a baby black cat sleeping soundly.

“Well, it's a pleasure to meet you both. I'm Twilight Velvet ”said the gray-coated mare.

"It is also a pleasure Mrs. Velvet" Amara fixed her gaze on a filly with purple fur that lay walking in circles worried next to a wooden cart "Excuse me" she said as she walked towards the filly.

Celestia saw this and accompanied her "Greetings Twilight Sparkle, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Twilight looked at her, you could see on her face the amazement, admiration and extreme stress mixed with nervousness, Celestia planted her hoof on her shoulder and looked at her in a way that reassured her. "Gre-Greetings to you too pri-princess Celestia, it-* Gulp * it is also a pleasure to meet you" She said gathering strength not to stammer.

Celestia pushed Amara lightly and put her in front of her "This is my daughter Amara".

"Hello!" Amara said warmly shaking her hoof in greeting. Twilight looked at her, Amara was taller and bigger than her.

"Hello! I'm Twilight Sparkle” she said, introducing herself a little more confident.

"It's a pleasure Twilight" Amara said, then she saw the lilac egg with purple dots, "Oh!, who is this?"

"It's a dragon egg, I named him Spike, I'm supposed to open it" she said nervous and worried.

"I can't wait to see it, it will be great" Amara said looking at the egg with interest.

"I-I hope I can do it" she said even more nervous and shrinking into place in fear.

"I know you can do it, surely you had to study a lot to get here, I don't see why you couldn't do it, you seem like a mare that knows what she's doing" Amara said in a comforting tone filling Twilight with confidence. Amara withdrew and sat in one of the middle rows of the auditorium to get a better view.

Everypony else took their seats, Twilight took a deep breath and tried to charge her horn with magic. Nothing happened. She tried again, and again, and again, but the result was the same, Twilight started to get very nervous, she kept trying and straining. And even if it didn't make any difference, Amara didn't stop supporting and encouraging her.

"Come on Twilight! You can do it!" She said encouragingly. Suddenly Amara felt something, her ears turned towards the window, and she could hear a strange buzzing noise, but no one else seemed to notice it. Twilight seemed to give up, at that moment a loud sonic boom was heard. Twilight gasped and her horn lit up, she launched a ray of magenta magic towards the dragon egg and it hatched in an instant, suddenly Twilight's magic went crazy, she began to float and her eyes shone as she was surrounded by magenta energy, the four clipboard ponies were raised into the air, her parents turned into plants, Spike grew to the size of an adult dragon, Amara was turned into a beetle and Pepper turned into a chimera.

Twilight scared could not stop throwing magic rays in all directions, Celestia approached her and planted her hoof on her shoulder "Easy, easy, I'm here, everything will be fine, I'm with you" Twilight looked at her, her expression turned calm, her magic faded, the 4 clipboard ponies fell to the ground and the others turned back to normal.

Twilight quickly regained reason "Princess Celestia !, I'm so sorry! I-". 

"You have something very special Twilight Sparkle" Celestia said impressed. 

"Uh?" Twilight said confused.

"I've never seen a pony with your abilities," She said still impressed "But you need to learn to use them."

"Uh?" 

"Twilight Sparkle, I would like to make you my own personal protégé here at the school," Celestia announced to the entire room.

Twilight gasped, this time not confused but incredulous.

"Well? What do you say?" Celestia said. Amara had come down the stairs of the auditorium and stood next to her mother, having heard the conversation and smiling as she looked at Twilight waiting for her response.

Twilight turned to see her parents, who were nodding happily indicating that they were in complete agreement "YES!!" she shouted happily.

Twilight started jumping in circles happily yelling "Yes!" non-stop.

Amara stopped her, grabbed her and shook her "That was amazing!" she told her. 

"I know, right?! For a moment I thought I wouldn't make it" she responded excitedly.

"Are you kidding?! I've never seen anything like it!" Amara replied, the two of them stood there for a moment holding each other while giggling with excitement, “Mom, if Twilight will be your student, does that mean she will have her own room in the castle with us? and if she will have her own room, can we have sleepovers?" She asked excitedly and smiling, hugging Twilight, almost squishing her, but Twilight didn't seem to care, she was also smiling while looking at Celestia, Amara and her parents.

"A room is not the only thing she's receiving," Celestia said pointing to Twilight's flanks and they could see a fuchsia star superimposed on another white star, all of it was surrounded by 5 small white stars.

"My Cutie Mark!" Twilight yelled in amazement "YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! Dad, Mom! Look! I got my cutie mark!" She said running to her parents who greeted her with hugs and kisses while telling her how proud they were.

"Cutie Mark?" Amara asked curiously.

"That Amara, is when a pony discovers their special talent" Celestia explained. Amara looked at her own flank which was blank.

"Will I get one?" Amara asked.

"You never know, no one has ever seen a creature like you before" She started to say "But, I'm sure you will get yours very soon"

Amara smiles, the two hugged and shared a light nuzzling.
> Chapter 1 (Friendship is Magic Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle rested in the shade of a tree while reading a book.

~Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sister who ruled together and created harmony for al the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powes to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her eldest sister brought forth but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness, Nightmare Moon! She bowed that she would shroud in eternal night. Reluctanly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom, The Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her sister and banished her permanently on the moon. The elder sister took responsability for both sun and moon. . . 

". . .and harmony has been mantained in Equestria for generations since." Twilight narrated aloud finishing her reading, "Hmm, Elements of Harmony, I know I've heard of those before, But where?" She said thoughtfully, trying to remember in which book she had read about them.


My Little Pony, My Little Pony
Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh
(My Little Pony)
I used to wonder what friendship could be
(My Little Pony)
Until you all shared its magic with me,
Big adventure,
Tons of fun,
A beautiful heart,
Faithful and strong,
Empathy and kindness,
If shared easy feat
And magic makes it all complete
Yeah, My Little Pony
Do you know you're all my very best friends?


Twilight was walking calmly back home when she came across three mares, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and Minuette.

"There you are Twilight, Moondancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard, You want to come?" Said Twinkleshine. The three of them inclined to the front with a smile waiting for her response.

"Oh, sorry girls, I got a lot of studying to catch up on." She said smiling uncomfortably and embarrassed, then she started running down the road, quickly running away from the three mares.

Twinkleshine sighed in frustration and anger "Does that pony do anything except study? I think she's more interesteed in books than friends." She said as the three of them watched Twilight speed away, then turned around and continued on their way.

"I know I've heard of The Elements of Harmony." Twilight said to herself as she ran back to the castle ignoring the greetings she received when crossing the bridge. She quickly climbed the stairs of the tower until she reached the library in her room.

Spike was about to leave the library, he was carrying a gift box wrapped in red paper tied with a gold ribbon, but as he approached to open the door it was opened quickly and with force by Twilight "UGH!" was the only thing he could say before being thrown to the ground.

"Spike!, Spike!" She said waiting for her assistant's response "Spike?" She said seeing him on the ground.

Spike groaned in pain. "There you are!" Said Twilight, she quickly trotted over to the shelves full of books and started going through them "Quick, find me that old copy of Predictions and Prohecies. What's that for?" She said looking at the crushed box that Spike had pierced with his tail.

"Well. . ." He said removing it from his tail "It was a gift for Moondancer, but. . ." At that moment the teddy bear inside fell to the ground and made a small squeak.

"Oh Spike!, you know we don't have time for that sort of thing" She said as she went through the books in a pile and then threw them away seeing that they weren't what she was looking for.

"But we're on a break!" Spike reproached.

Twilight lit her horn with magic and pulled several books off the top of the shelf and began to go through the titles "No, No, No, No, No, No, UGH! SPIKE!"

"It's over here!" He said standing at the top of a wooden ladder, he had just pulled out a blue book with gold lines on the spine fron the top of a shelf.

Twilight grabbed the book with her magic and pulled it towards her, pulling spike with it because he didn't let go of the book and hit the ground when the book got in front of Twilight "Ah!" she said triumphantly upon reading the title. Twilight happily brought the book to the lectern, while Spike sighed in frustration and sadness when he saw all the books that Twilight threw on the floor and that he surely had to start picking up at that moment.

"Elements, elements, "E", "E", "E"." She said flipping through the pages of the book "Aha!" She said triumphantly upon finding what she needed "Elements of Harmony, See Mare in the Moon? " She said confused when she saw the hoofnote on the page.

"Mare in the moon?, but that's just an old ponies' tale" Spike said standing on a ladder organizing the books that Twilight had thrown.

Twilight flipped through the pages of the book "Mare, Mare, Aha!. The mare in the moon: Myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by The Elements of Harmony and imprisioned on the moon. Legend has it that 'On the longest day of the 1,000th year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal'" Twilight gasped in horror "Spike! Do you know what this means?"

"No." He said honestly before loosing balance and faling "Whoa!, Ow!" He said as he landed in Twilight's back.

She gave him paper and quill "Take a note, please, to the princess"

"Okeydokey"

Twilight was about to dictate when suddenly somepony knocked on the door "Am I interrupting something?" Said a young but still somewhat deep voice in a formal tone, it was Amara standing in the doorway with a light and warm smile on her face.

"Actually, yes" Twilight said "I was about to send a letter to the princess"

"Why?" Amara asked her as she took seat.

"Because if the results of my investigation are correct a great catastrophe is coming" Twilight told him.

"Really? What kind of catastrophe?" Amara asked, Twilight's words had piqued her curiosity.

"I have discovered that the mare on the moon is actually Nightmare Moon and if my calculations do not fail, which they never do, she will return from her exile tomorrow, I have to warn the princess immediately" She said with a serious tone.

Amara chuckled "Twilight, my dear bookworm, the mare in the moon and Nightmare Moon are just old pony myths, there's nothing to worry about and no reason to write a letter to my mother"

"It's not a myth! Everything in my research can prove it" Twilight said, passing her a folder full of notes and documents with her magic, Amara opened it and began to read it carefully.

“Although I admit that it is a very complete investigation and does not have any notable errors or confirmation bias, I think I will keep my point, it is just a myth, if it were true my mother would have already warned me, and if it is and she for some reason had decided not to tell me I'm more than sure that my mother will put her back on the moon without any problem” Amara said with a relaxed tone that only irritated Twilight.

"Twilight, I think Amara is right, plus Princess Celestia must be very busy with the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration" Spike said.

"Spike, do me a favor and support me for a moment" Twilight said staring at him with an annoyed expression "Anyway, why did you come?" Twilight asked Amara.

“I came to say goodbye, Mom gave me orders to go to Ponyville to supervise the preparations for the celebration and get some friends, so I decided to pass and say goodbye, after that I will go to deliver my gift to Moondancer since I cannot be at her party, and talking about the party, Are you going?" Amara asked her.

"No, I don't have time for that," Twilight told her. 

"I was going to go, but Twilight pushed me when she opened the door and I crushed my gift" Spike said pointing to the mangled teddy bear lying on the floor.

"Oh that's not a problem at all" Amara said, opening her backpack and taking out of it a gift card to an extremely expensive local library. "Here, tell her you bought it." She said giving him the card that had a small bow tied with the inscription "For Moondancer"

"Wow, thanks! Wait, isn't this your present for her?" Spike told her "I would not like to take your gift for her and make you look inconsiderate."

"Nah, no problem, that's a spare" Spike looked at her confused "I always buy three gifts for any birthday, if I lose one or it breaks I have two other spare ones, if the first one works I save the other two to use them on another birthday, unless they are food or have an expiration date like that card” Amara told him.

"Oh wow, that's pretty smart actually" Twilight said, impressed by how clever the idea was and yet how simple it was at the same time.

"Thanks" Amara said as she closed her backpack "Do you still want to send that letter?" she asked her.

"Of course" Twilight said determinedly.

Amara rolled her eyes and smiled "Okay, do it" she said sitting down again "I want to see the expression on your face when you see that I am right" she said with a mocking smile.

"Whatever" Twilight said rolling her eyes "Spike take note. My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster."

"Hold on. Preci--, Preci--" Spike said as he tried to write that word he didn't understand.

"P-R-E-C-I-P-I-C-E, precipice" Amara spelled him out "If you say that somepony is on the edge of a precipice, you mean that they are in a dangerous situation in which they are extremely close to disaster or failure."

"Oh, thanks!" Said Spike.

Twilight continued with her dictation "For, you see, the mythical mare in the moon is, in fact, Nightmare Moon, and she's about to return to Equestria and bring with her eternal night. Something mus be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student Twilight Sparkle."

"Twilight. . . Sparkle. . ." Spike said out loud as he finished the letter "Got it!"

"Great!, send it" Twilight ordered.

Spike took a deep breath and blew out a green flare dematerializing the letter that turned into a bright magenta-hued mist that flew away from an open window. "There, it's on its way, but I wouldn't hold your breath."

"Oh, I'm not worried Spike, the princess trusts me completely. In all this years she's been my mentor, she's never once doubted me." Twilight said. Suddenly, Spike burped a letter "See?" she said looking Amara with a mocking smile "I knew she would want to take inmediate action."

Spike cleared his throat and started reading the letter "My dearest, most faithful student, Twilight, you know that I value your diligence an that I trust you completely."

"Mm-Hmm" Twilight said proudly as she looked at Amara with an egotistical smile.

Spike chuckled "But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books." Twilight gasped incredolous "My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you with my dear Amara to supervise the preparations for the Summer sun Celebration in this year's location, Ponyville, and I have an even more essential task for you to complete. Make some friends"

Twilight watched incredulous while Amara bursted into laughing "Ha! ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!, Told ya!"

"Wha-What?" Twilight asked without being able to process what she just heard.

"You bit off more than you could chew Twily" Amara said getting up "Now you're stuck with me, I'll let you get your things ready, we'll meet at the castle gates, there will be a carriage waiting for us, Spike let's go we'll give Moondancer our gifts and then we will meet Twilight”Amara was about to walk towards the exit when she stopped to pick up the shattered teddy bear to throw it away, at that moment when she bent down she saw a book thrown under a bookshelf, she took it with her green magic and took it out "Hey Twilight, have you read this book yet?"

“Perfection: The Impossible Pursuit,” Twilight read. “Oh, I  forgot about that. I’ll have to read that some other time, though. Because now I have to pack up my things".

"Okay, could you please give me your card so I can return it?" Amara told her as she put the book in her backpack.

"Okay, but don't lose it!" Twilight warned her.

"I have no intention of doing it" She said putting the card in her backpack "Come on Spike".

The two left and walked in silence towards the library, when they arrived they approached Dusty Pages. "Hello Princess, hello Spike" she said with her sweet old lady tone that always softened the heart "It's good to see you both"

"Likewise" Amara said as she took out two books from her backpack and put it on the counter next to two cards "I came to return some books, this is mine, and this is from Twilight"

“Oh Anthology of Horrors, did you really finish it so quickly? You borrowed it yesterday afternoon,” Dusty said impressed.

"What can I say, when the story catches me reading is easy, and I always choose good stories to read" Amara said with a shrug, Dusty put her stamp on the ticket inside the book and put it in a cart along with other returned books.

Then she took the other book and Twilight's card "Perfection: The Impossible Pursuit. You know, it’s actually a very popular book. I'm happy that you could return it for her"

"Well, I wouldn't want her reputation as the 'best book borrower' to go down the drain" Said Amara pointing to the picture of Twilight hanging on the wall "Who knows what the girl would do if one day she forgot to return a book, we would be damned!” She said mockingly.

Dusty chuckled as she stamped the ticket in the book. "Yet another book  from Twilight that’s been turned in on time. Tell Twilight 'hi' for me."

"Will do. See you another time, goodbye Dusty Pages" Amara said waving her hoof in goodbye as they left the library. "Well, next stop, west castle courtyard" they walked through a corridor full of tapestries and stained glass windows until they reached the courtyard, there was a round table with a pink tablecloth that had a bowl of punch on top and a rectangular table full of snacks, Minuette was talking to Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine was talking to Moondancer.

"Moondancer! Over here!" Spike said raising his claw over his head.

"Oh Hi, Spike! Princess Amara! Is Twilight with you?! She's missing out the party!".

“That’s the thing,” He said "Twilight can’t come to your party".

“Aww” Moondancer sighed "Why not?".

“My mother sent the three of us to Ponyville to supervise the preparations for the celebration, so we cannot stay. Do not take it the wrong way, if my mother decided to send the three of us it must be something important, I know you wanted to see Twilight and spend some time with her, I've noticed that you are trying to make more friends, I just want you to know that Twilight appreciates you as a friend, although she hardly ever expresses it, you know that Twilight has always been the asocial type just like you, maybe that's why you two became friends, she can be very cold sometimes, heck once I fell off a swing and while I was crying she simply told me "You should have been more careful", of course she helped me up afterwards and invited me to eat ice cream with her family. The point is that Twilight appreciates you and all the others as friends, even if she doesn't say it verbally, I'm sure Twilight will come visit you when we get back and make up for not being here, after all that's what she always does when herr schedule has a change of plans” Amara gave Moondancer a reassuring smile and gave her a hug.

"I understand, thank you princess" Moondancer said smiling.

“Please call me Amara, it was nice to see you. Oh, and Moondancer, happy birthday” Amara said, handing her what looked like a rectangular tablet wrapped in fine, silky fabric that acted as wrapping paper.

At that moment Spike handed her the card, "Wow! Thank you! you didn't had to"

“Nonsense, it is a duty, no, a privilege to be able to give you something. Mine is a chocolate bar, it is imported directly from Mexicolt and hoofcrafted, it has serrano pepper flakes, I assure you it is a delight, the chocolate and the spicy combine very well, but I recommend you eat it in small pieces, like this It will last longer and the spiciness will not irritate you, but if you are able to eat large pieces, serve yourself to your liking. Oh, I almost forgot the wrapping is silk and the ribbon is gold, you can sell it and thus get some bits and buy whatever you want, if I can make a recommendation I think some clothes would look nice on you, maybe a hoodie" Said Amara.

"Oh, I almost forgot something else" Amara said taking a book out of her backpack "this one is from Twilight"

"History of the Greatest Spells of the Northern Regions!" Moondancer shouted excitedly "And it's a first edition!" Moondancer started running towards her friends to show them her gift while yelling at the two of them "Thank Twilight for me!"

Amara smiled, the two of them turned and started towards the castle gates to meet Twilight.

"You know, it was very sweet what you said to Moondancer" Spike told her with an honest tone.  

"It was not that good" she said.

"I'm serious, whenever somepony needs it you have something to say" He said.

Amara shrugged "Perks of being a princess, besides I've always been good with words".

"Well that's true, although I think you must have blamed Twilight more, she always takes a lot for granted in my opinion, and always tries to avoid others, the only ponies she does not avoid are our family, Princess Celestia, you and me. and librarians, she really likes librarians” Spike said.

“Oh Spike, everything I said was true, Twilight feels that way about Moondancer and the other girls, she just doesn't express it, she doesn't think it's necessary. You know, I'm not only good with words, I'm also good with emotions, I don't know how to explain it, but I can understand and know a pony's emotions, no matter how hard they try to hide them, I can feel it, here" She said putting a hoof on her chest in the place where her heart was "It is not just a hunch, it's something certain, it's never wrong, and it's strong, it's like a tickle that is more or less painful depending on what emotion it is, when they are negative like anger, hatred or fear feels like a needle pierces my chest and I feel a prick in my nerves, then it goes down to my stomach and leaves a horrible taste in my mouth, sometimes it gives me a horrible stomach ache. When they are positive you feel. . . strange, I feel like it fills my stomach and warms my body, it's like having hot chocolate or a good glass of red wine. Oh right, you still can't drink alcohol, let's stick with the hot chocolate example, and there are also more complex emotions that vary between each pony. Getting back to the point, because I've already moved away a lot, Twilight does appreciate them, in her own asocial way, but she appreciates them, the reason why she doesn't express it so much surely has to do with how withdrawn she is, you and I know that she is not very talkative, the only times she will speak more than one paragraph is when she talks about history, books, magic or her studies, she talks a lot with us and her family because we are within her comfort zone, we have known her for so long that we are part of her life"

"Well that makes sense" Spike commented.

"Although I think maybe there is another reason, Shining Armor was always very overprotective with her, do you remember that colt that made fun of her hair? The following week he could not be more than five feet from Twilight before running away while he cryed, besides that in her classroom there were many bullies, of course none of them ever touched even one of her hairs because she was mom's personal protégé and because Shining would have broken their legs in 4 different ways. I think there is simply a part of her that is shy and afraid of contact with other ponies, she has always been a logic pony just like me, she is always very calculating and stubborn, she wants things to be within her parameters and meeting someone new would be adding a random factor to the equation, she doesn't know how that pony is going to react, she doesn't know what it will say, do, or think, a part of her is afraid to make friends. I don't blame her, the world can be very cruel, nobles are living proof of it, although I'm not sure I can call those things living beings, I too had trouble with bullies when I was young, but then they realized that annoying someone like me was a bad idea"

"Yeah, they must have freaked out when they remembered that you were the princess's daughter" Spike replied.

“In fact it was not like that, they knew it, they just knew that nothing would happen to them because you cannot arrest foals, and as long as they did not cross the line I could not do anything, what they did not count on was that I would not let them bother me, so I put into practicing the techniques for making speeches and talking that my mother taught me and I confronted them, destroyed them and humiliated them with words, zero insults, only facts, I spent two weeks writing that monologue, some of them did not even look at me again after that, others tried to continue bothering me but I scared them with my- a spell, I made them dance as if they were my puppets while my hypnotic-, nothing, forget it, the point is that they never bothered me again after that" She said interrupting herself.

"That's good, going back to talking about Twilight, I think you shouldn't have given Moondancer your third gift and said she bought it" Spike told her.

"Oh no, she did buy it" Amara told him sincerely. 

"Wait, what?" He said confused

“Yeah, a few weeks ago she bought that book for Moondancer, but Celestia gave hera test, so she told me to keep it because she was afraid she would get so immersed in her study that she would forget why she bought the book in the first place, and she did, she forgot that the book even existed, so I decided to keep it to give it to her one day when she was not busy, in the end I also forgot it, I found it yesterday while cleaning and decided to bring it to Moondancer for her to enjoy"

"Oh well, that's very sweet of her, I don't remember seeing her buy gifts for someone other than the family, you or Princess Celestia" He said.

“You're right, maybe she's finally changing, maybe she will finally make one or two friends in ponyville and finally stop bothering me, I'm tired of hearing her talk about how she does her homework, although I admit that our conversations about magic and history are very interesting, they are half or two hours of fun” Amara said with a sincere tone. Then they continued on their way in silence.
> Chapter 2 (Friendship is Magic Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As they traveled through the air in the carriage, Spike was rereading the letter the princess had sent to Twilight.

"My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you with my dear Amara to supervise the preparations for  the Summer sun Celebration in this year's location, Ponyville, and I  have an even more essential task for you to complete. Make some friends" He said chuckling.

Twilight groaned, Amara chuckled trying to maintain some respect and composure. Spike looked at Twilight and thought for a moment "Twilight. . . What if Amara is right?"

“I’m sorry?” Twilight’s ears perked up.

"Finally someone with common sense!" Amara said mockingly.

“What if Princess Celestia doesn't want you to get involved? Just think about it, Nightmare Moon is practically her sister. You may be talented in magic, but you can't compete against an Alicorn, we'd better let Celestia handle it, she sent Nightmare Moon to the moon once, I'm sure she can do it again” he said with a comforting tone.

"I hope so Spike" 

"Look at the bright side Twilight, we will be staying at the Golden Oak Library, so you can read in your free time, also if you're right and everything goes wrong you can yell "I told you!" from the window, reading, as the world burns in darkness" said Amara.

"Okay. . .?, Thanks?" Twilight said confused and a little terrified.

"Just relax Twilight, and do what Mom said: Oversee the preparations for the celebration and make some friends, If she wants you to do it, she will surely have some good reason"

“Oh come on, Amara. The fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends.”

Amara laughed "My dear Twilight, I would completely disagree with such a statement" she said in her formal tone that she used when speaking with nobles or in speeches "If the history of Equestria has proven anything, it is that it is always important to have friends or/and allies, for example, the events of Heart Warmings Eve, the pillars, the multiple battles against monsters in which Equestria has been helped by its allies, and the list goes on and on"

Twilight groaned again knowing that she couldn't fight Amara because she always seemed to have a good answer for everything, she looked at the sky somewhat hopeless and sad.

"Twilight, calm down, everything will be fine, one way or another I know that everything will work out, I don't like to see you like that, it's not good for your health that you always worry about something, you have to understand that there are things that no matter how real they seem, they are not. That's what you always told me when I talked to you about cryptozoology, I think it's time for you to understand that phrase. You will surely tell me again that you are right, and you know what? Perhaps it is true, perhaps you are right about everything, but, even if you are right, You cannot spend all that precious time worrying, that way you will achieve nothing, if you want to overcome a crisis of this level you need to keep a cool head and your forehead high. You have to be brave, you need a plan and if you don't have any of that, well it doesn't matter, if what you say is true my mother surely must have a plan, she has had 1,000 years to prepare, and if she had not created a plan 2 days is more than enough for her. But what if she didn't do it? That would leave just the two of us and if we had to, if we had to save Equestria it is necessary that that wonderful brain of yours can work in peace and it is necessary that you do not break with the pressure, I know you can do it, heck I could swear on my life that you can do it, but knowing how to swim is one thing and having the will to jump into the water is another."

Twilight smiled slightly and blushed a little at the comments that praised her intelligence "You're right" she said determinedly having regained her confidence, her eyes shone with determination "I can do this! When I get to the library I will start collecting information about the Elements Harmony and put together an action plan"

"Ok, I cheered you up, that's good" Amara said to herself "Just remember to at least try to make friends please"

Twilight nodded a bit reluctantly. The carriage began to descend towards the town, they landed on the main street, the three of them got off, Amara took her luggage and with a spell teleported it to the library whose address she already knew, then they thanked the Pegasi, the two neighed and they flew back to Canterlot.

“Okay, first things first, we'll go to Sweet Apple Acres to supervise the food, then. . . " Amara's face turned into a relaxed and pleasant smile. “Mmm. . . Does anyone else feel that? There is somepony very happy around here" She said, savoring the sugary and bubbly liquid that was forming in her mouth and running warmly down her throat.

"What did you say?" Spike and Twilight asked at the same time.

"Nothing, nothing" she said shaking her hoof discarding her words, "Oh, Twilight! Why don't you say hello to that mare and ask her for some directions?" She said as she saw a pink mare jumping happily as she approached them.

"Fine" Twilight stood in front of Amara and Spike and then stopped the pink mare politely "Excuse me, could you tell us where Sweet A-".

She was immediately interrupted when the mare gasped exaggeratedly and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Okay. . .? " she said confused.

"That was strange" said Amara "well, maybe she was scared of Spike, or maybe she recognized me, not many ponies expect to meet a princess in the middle of the street" she said in an comprensive tone, "We better go, we have a lot to do".



"Summer Sun Celebration official overseer's checklist. Number one, banquet preparations: Sweet Apple Acres." Spike read as they walked along a dry dirt road on the outskirts of town, they came to the gates of a huge ranch, the perimeter surrounded by white fences, there were corn and carrot crops to their left, and a chicken coop accompanied by 3 stables totheir right, in front there was a large house that in turn served as a barn.

Upon entering they heard a shout not far away "YEE-HAW!" shouted an orange-colored mare with blond hair and a Stetson hat, she was running at full speed towards an apple tree, when she was a few centimeters from colliding she turned around and with her hind legs she bucked the tree making the apples fall into several baskets.

Twilight sighed. “Let’s get this over with.” She approached the farmer and said, “Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle—” She couldn’t finish her sentence because the mare suddenly gave her one of the strongest hoof-shakes on the whole planet.

"Well, howdy-doo, Miss Twilight, a pleasure makin' your acquaintance. I'm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new  friends!"

"Greetings" said Amara "I am Princess Amara, it is a pleasure to meet a member of the famous Apple family, my mother told me about you" She said in her formal tone.

"Princess what?" Apllejack said confused "Forget it. So, what can I do you for?"

Twilight cleared her throat "Well, we are in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you're in charge of the food, right?"

"We sure as sugar are! Would you care to sample some?"

Amara nodded. "As long as it doesn't take too long..." Said Twilight.

Applejack quickly ran over to some tables and started ringing a Triangle "Soup's on, everypony!"

In a second a bunch of ponies came running like a stampede and seated the three of them at a table, Twilight shook her head in dizziness.

"Now, why don't I introduce y'all to the Apple family?" said Applejack

"Thanks, but I really need to hurry-" Said Twilight before being interrupted.

"Twilight, don't be rude" Amara said with a scolding tone, Twilight just shut up and blushed in embarrassment.

"This here's Apple Fritter. Apple Bumpkin. Red Gala. Red Delicious,  Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked  Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp..." she took a deep breath "Big McIntosh, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith." The old mare was sleeping and snorting in a rocking chair "Up n' at 'em, Granny Smith, we got guests." The old mare got up and went to the table to eat. "Why, I'd say you're already part of the family!"

Twilight spitted what she was eating and laughed nervously "Okay, well, I can see the food situation is handled, so we'll be on our way."

"Aaw..., Aren't you gonna stay for brunch?" said Apple Bloom with sad puppy eyes.

"Sorry, but we have an awful lot to do-"

"We'd love to!" Amara said, the whole family cheered while Twilight growled at her.



“Food's all taken care of, next is weather,” Spike said, he looked back to see a bloated Twilight following him. He was full from that meal, but Twilight was even fuller, she looked like she swallowed an entire watermelon.

“Ugh...I ate too much pie...” she moaned.

Meanwhile Amara walked briskly. "How come you are not full?" Twilight asked her.

"I have a very good metabolism" she said, then looked up at the sky and noticed how cloudy it was "That's weird, shouldn't somepony have already taken care of the clouds?"

"Hmm, there's supposed to be a Pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the cloud" Said Spike.

"Well, she's not doing a very good job, is she?" said Twilight.

At that moment Amara heard something in the distance "TWILIGHT GET DOWN!".

Suddenly a cyan mare with rainbow hair passed over them at full speed, the mare stopped immediately, stopped and flew towards Twilight.

“Are you alright, miss? Sorry, I didn’t...” She then noticed how messed  up Twilight’s mane was, apparently, the wind from the pegasus’s flying caused Twilight's mane to look like a cotton ball, the pegasus couldn’t help but guffaw at Twilight’s misfortune.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Amara shouted extremely annoyed "You could kill us!"

"I-I'm sorry" She said with a trembling voice "I-I-"

"Don't give me excuses!" She yelled "Do you have the slightest idea how fast you were going?!! At that speed even a wire to cut cheese could behead us both and would have broken Spike's neck! Don't you have common sense?!!"

The Pegasus's expression turned into fury "Hey! Who do you think you are to be able to talk to me like that?!"

Amara's expression became serious and with a raised eyebrow "Don't you know who I am?" the Pegasus shook her head innocently in denial, Amara face-hoofed "Princess Amara? Celestia's daughter, doesn't that sound familiar?" the Pegasus shook her head again “Forget it, it happens to me all the time. Sorry to yell at you like that, I just freaked out and lost my composure, just be more careful, though I admit it's very difficult to slow down at that speed, and it's also partly our fault for not realizing you were there, I'm sorry. Why don't we start from the beginning?, I'm Amara, a pleasure to meet you" She said offering her hoof "And I guess you are Rainbow Dash"

"The one and only. Why, you heard of me?" she said bragging a little to much.

"We were actually looking for you, we are here to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration and you were supposed to clear the sky, would you mind explaining why you haven't already?" Amara told her.

"Oh, I'm sorry I think I forgot, sometimes it happens to me when I practice my stunts" she said somewhat embarrassed.

"Oh, what are you practicing for?" Amara asked curiously.

"The Wonderbolts! They're gonna perform at the Celebration tomorrow, and I'm gonna show 'em my stuff!"

"The Wonderbolts? Yes, I think I've heard of them, well, I wouldn't want to interrupt you anymore then, I know they have very strict admission conditions, but I need you to clear the sky now" she said in a friendly tone.

"Oh, sure, sure, give me ten seconds" she said picking up speed, in a few seconds the sky was totally clear.

"Thank you very much, although I think it was eleven seconds. . . Nah!, just kidding" she said mockingly "Well, nice talking to you, hopefully we'll see you another time, bye!" she said walking away, she was followed by Spike and Twilight, who had been silent the whole time.

"What was that all about?" Twilight said once they were at a distance that seemed prudent to her.

"I don't know, I think I made a new friend" Amara said with a shrug.



The three of them walked to the town hall, when they entered they could see the beautiful pieces of paper and cloth that decorated the place, it was truly a show.

Spike took the checklist "Decorations. Beautiful. . ."

"Yes, the décor is coming along nicely. This ought'a be quick. I'll be at the library in no time. Beautiful indeed." Twilight said admiring her surroundings.

"Not the décor, her!" Spike said pointing to the mare in charge of the decorations, her coat was white and her hair was purple.

"No, no, no" She said while looking at some ribbons looking for the right color "oh! Goodness no."

"How are my spines? Are they straight?" Spike asked as he fixed himself.

Twilight just rolled her eyes and Amara looked like she was going to puke "Good afternoon-" Said Twilight before being interrupted.

"Just a moment, please! I'm 'in the zone', as it were." She said without even turning to look at her "Oh, yes! Sparkle always does the trick, does it not? Why, Rarity, you are a talent. Now, um, how can I help yo- AAH-HA-HA!, Oh my stars, darling! Whatever happened to your coiffure?!"

"Oh, you mean my mane? Well, it's a long story. I'm just here to check on the decorations, and then I'll be out of your hair!"

"Out of my hair? What about your hair?!" Rarity started to push Twilight to the exit.

"Wait! Where are we going?! Help!"

Out of nowhere Spike rose into the air making his tail spin like a propeller "How the heck can you do that?!" Amara asked completely impressed.

At that moment Spike fell to the ground "Uh? Do what?"

"That thing you did with your tail!" 

"What thing?"

"Fly! How-?! You know what! Forget it!" she said frustrated "I'll ask this lady where we are going" Amara walked over to the white fur mare. "Excuse me, Miss Rarity, could you tell me where you are leading me and my friends" she asked formally.

"Of course my dear, I want and require you to take your friend to my boutique so that I can fix her coiffure" she said before her pupils shrank and her face turned pale, well, the palest somepony who's already white can be. "For my beloved Celestia!, I cannot believe it! You-You, You are Princess Amara!"

"The same one, you are the first pony that recognizes me" she said "Why don't we continue with this conversation later? It seems that we are going to arrive"

The four of them entered the boutique, Rarity quickly fixed Twilight's hair and began to try on dresses "No, no, uh-uh. Too green. Too yellow. Too poofy. Not poofy enough. Too  frilly. Too... shiny." Finally put her in a gem dress with a bit of Saddle Arabia aesthetic "Now go on, my Princess. You were telling me what where you doing here and who is this unicorn."

"My mother sent us from Canterlot to supervise the preparations for the celebration, and she is Twilight Sparkle, she is mom's protégé and also her star student"

"Canterlot! Oh, I am so envious! The glamour, the sophistication! I have always  dreamed of living there! I can't wait to hear all about it! We are gonna  be the best of friends, you two and I..." She stopped and looked at the clothes she had given Twilight. "Emeralds?! What was I thinking? Let me get you some rubies!" Rarity headed to her study to find the gems.

Rarity headed to her study to find the gems. Amara approached Twilight trying not to make noise "Quick! Let's go before she tries to paint you a different color!" Twilight stripped off her clothes and the two of them started troting towards the exit, Spike stayed in place sighing, Amara grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the boutique.

The three of them were walking on a great plain, while they crossed the bridge Spike kept sighing "Wasn't she wonderful?" again Amara started to cough like she was going to puke.

"Focus, Casanova. What's next on the list?" asked Twilight.

Spike cleared his throat "Oh, uh, music! It's the last one!"

"They're over there," Amara said, pointing to a bush.

"How do you know?" Twilight asked her.

"Shh!" at that moment the two heard in the distance the harmonious song of a group of birds, the three walked towards the bush and crossed it, they came to a clearing, on a hill, standing on a small young tree, there were all kinds of birds, a yellow Pegasus with long pink hair was watching them, the birds began to repeat their song, but one, a blue jay, was uncoordinated.

"Oh my." The pegasi said to herself "Um, stop please, everyone, umm. Excuse me, sir? I mean no  offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny-tiny bit off. Now, follow me,  please. A-one, a-two, a-one two three-"

"Hello!" Said Twilight, The Pegasus yelped and the birds got scared and took flight "Oh my, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to frighten your birds. I'm just here to check up on the music and it's sounding beautiful." the Pegasus was absolutely silent and tried to ignore her "I'm Twilight Sparkle." the Pegasus remained silent and turned her head to other side to avoid eye contact "What's your name?"

"um. . . I'm. . . I'm Fluttershy" she said very quietly.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"She said, that her name is Fluttershy" Amara said in a low, sweet and kind voice, then she approached the Pegasus, who was still looking away and covered part of her face with her long pink hair "Hi Fluttershy" the Pegasus was still silent and without looking at her "I'm Amara, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm really sorry to have to bother you so much, I'm really sorry, we came to supervise the preparations, and I must admit that your work is beautiful, angelic beautiful, I really admire ponies like you who have such a deep connection with nature" Fluttershy was still silent "Well, I guess that's it, have a beautiful day and again I apologize for the inconvenience, it was a pleasure meeting you, bye" Amara turned around silently and started walking slowly out of there, Spike and Twilight following her silently as well.

"W-wait!" Fluttershy said finally turning her head to see her, at the same time the birds returned and perched on the tree "EEEP!" was the only thing that came out of her mouth when she saw Amara.

"Yes?" she said turning to look at her, then she saw the expression of terror on her face "Oh!, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I know that my appearance is not the most pleasant, I know that I am somewhat terrifying, I mean, who could like somepony with fangs, a body covered in chitin, horn and legs full of holes, you can look away if it seems less uncomfortable, or I can go if that is what you want" she said kindly.

"N-n-no-" Fluttershy interrupted herself and took a slow deep breath "No, it's okay, it's okay, you don't scare me, it's just-it's just" Amara covered her face, hoping for the worst "It's just that never I had seen something as incredible as you! " she said flying quickly towards her "you are fascinating!" she said as she circled Amara to see her better "I really like insects, especially butterflies and dragonflies" then she approached Amara and looked at her face and one of her legs "Um. . . Can l. . . see it? " She asked pointing to her leg.

"Uh?" Amara said confused "Oh, sure" she said lifting her right hoof and showing it to Fluttershy.

"Wow. . . " Fluttershy said looking at her closely, cautiously she brought her own hooves to hold hers, always looking from time to time to Amara's eyes seeking her approval, she nodded, Fluttershy held her leg and admired the texture "Your exoskeleton is very soft . . . "

"Thank you? You know, I did not expect this reaction from you, I thought you would not want to talk to us" she said in a kind way and taking care of her words so as not to offend her.

"I thought the same, usually I don't like talking to other ponies, I never know what to say and I'm always afraid. What if what I say is wrong? What if it hurts their feelings? Or bother sthem? Or I make them sad? What if they hate me? What makes me the one able to give them some advice ?, o-or” Fluttershy began to shake, sweat and hyperventilate thinking of the possibilities.

Amara put her hoof on her shoulder and looked into her eyes "Easy, easy, you? Say something bad about someone? Are you crazy? . . ., no offense, but that's nonsense, believe me, I'm very good at reading ponies and you, you wouldn't be able to hurt anyone's feelings, haven't you heard your own voice, it's the sweetest and most tender voice that I have never had the honor of listening"

Fluttershy blush "Well, thanks, you're the first pony to ever say that to me."

"The first? Has the world gone insane?!" Amara said mockingly.

Fluttershy chuckled at what she said, Amara smirked at how cute her laugh was “Um. . . How do I ask you this? . . ., Um. . . Why- Why does your body has holes? What are theholes for? " she asked in a low voice "No offense! I just. . . I just want to know"

"Well, I'm not really sure, although sometimes they secrete a kind of goo, like honey or sticky sage, sometimes it has a different color and consistency, it usually forms when I eat certain things, some fruits, flowers, vegetables and other plants. In fact, I can do it at will” she said as a sticky green liquid came out of one of the larger holes in her leg, which was then reabsorbed by the slightly rough surface inside each hole.

"Fascinating. . . " was the only thing Fluttershy said as she looked completely mesmerized “Could you. . . Please tell me what species are you? If it is not too much of a nuisance, of course” She said gently and cautiously, she did not want to take advantage of Amara and how understanding she had been with her.

“I have no idea, mom found me in a basket in a field of flowers, she had never seen anything like me, and apparently no one has ever done it because she could never find even a sheet of paper that had minimally useful information, even so we have ideas for the name, Twilight was impartial, surely there must be more beings like me so she keeps waiting until someone of my kind appears and we can clarify the matter, I prefer something like Apis Equus, and finally Spike suggested the name "Insectoids" although that sounds very fanciful in my opinion, it sounds like something out of a science fiction book"

"Spike? Who is Spike?" Fluttershy asked her.

“It's the baby dragon who came with us. . . Where's Spike? " She said when she realized that the dragon was nowhere to be found.

"Here!" Spike said coming out of the bushes "I dropped the list and I went to look for it"

Fluttershy gasped "A baby dragon!" She yelled, she immediately flew at full speed towards him and tackled Twilight "Oh, I've never seen a baby dragon before. He's sooo cute!"

"Well, well, well...!" He said looking at Twilight with an egotistical grin.

"Oh my, he talks. I didn't know dragons could talk. That's just so incredibly wonderful I, I just don't even know what to say!, oh my, were are my manners!, hello Spike I'm Fluttershy, it's a pleasure to meet you. Wow, a talking dragon! And what do dragons talk about?"

"Well, what do you wanna know?" He asked.

"Absolutely everything."

"Well actually, we have to go home," Twilight said.

"I don't think that's a problem, the road is long so, if Fluttershy decides to follow us, surely we have time to finish this conversation" said Amara, then she turned around and looked at Twilight, she winked at her, she knew what Twilight was trying to do.

Spike got on Twilight's back as she groaned "Well... I started out as a cute little purple egg. . ."



". . .and that's the story of my whole entire life! Well, up until today. Do you wanna hear about today?" He said, the four of them were already a few steps from the library.

"Oh, yes, please!"

"I think that will not be possible at this time, we are already here and although it sounds impolite we actually want to rest, we have walked all over town for hours, we also have to organize our things and I have to practice my speech for the celebration" Said Amara.

"Oh sure, it was a pleasure talking to you, could we talk another day?" Fluttershy said with a smile and her eyes lit up waiting for the answer to her question.

"Of course! We can see each other tomorrow during the celebration" Amara said smiling, Fluttershy had to admit that she had a very cute smile, her fangs actually made her look even cuter "See you later, good night" she said before entering the library.

They closed the door and stayed in the dark "Well, finally it's over, rest a while, we'll stay up all night so it's a good idea to take a quick nap, I'm going to go to the bathroom, then I'll go to practice my speech and clean my royal ornaments"

"Okay, I'll go study and try to convince the princess that Nightmare Moon is coming back and/or come up with a plan" said Twilight "Now. . . Where is the light? "

At that moment the light came on and the three of them could see dozens of ponies around them, there were party decorations everywhere "SURPRISE!" they all yelled at the same time.

Here we go again. . .Twilight thought as she growled.
> Chapter 3 (Friendship is Magic Part 1 and 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

At that moment the light came on and the three of them could see  dozens of ponies around them, there were party decorations everywhere  "SURPRISE!" they all yelled at the same time.

Here we go again. . .Twilight thought as she growled.

"Surprise!" screamed the same pink mare they had seen in the street "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie!, and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya? Huh huh huh?".

"Very surprised. Libraries are supposed to be quiet." Twilight said.

"Well, that's silly! What kind of welcome party would this be if it were quiet? I mean, duh, bo-ring! Y'see-" 

"How did you get in here? " Amara asked interrupting her "the door has two locks, I had them installed a few days before coming because when I checked the blueprints of this place I realized that no door had a lock"

"That's a secret silly filly!" she said with a smile.

"What's more, how did you know we would be staying here? We literally arrived today and said just like five words to you before you ran away" Amara asked her.

"Well, the mayor told me that I was in charge of receiving the supervisors of the celebration, I saw the three of you in the street alone and I did not know you and I know all the ponies here so that meant you were new and I always make a welcome party for the new ponies in town, so I went to ask the mayor if you were the supervisors and where you would stay and she told me that in the library but when I got there I realized it was closed so I got the locksmith to help me open the door and then I planned this super-duper special party for you!” Pinkie replied cheerfully.

Amara rolled her eyes "Well at least no one has touched my luggage, the alarm spells have not been activated, I appreciate that the mayor is concerned about us and I thank you for having tried so hard to give us a warm welcome"

Twilight just ignored her, rolled her eyes and started walking slowly towards a table with different bottles to pour a drink. Meanwhile Pinkie was jumping around herand talking to her in extreme detail about how she made the party, from how she got the confetti to how she lost a package of freshly baked cookies fighting 13 squirrels mounted on seagulls, Twilight approached the table, took a glass and began to pour the contents of a red bottle.

"Twilight. . ." Amara told her to get her attention, but she didn't pay attention to her “Twilight. . ." Still no response "Twilight. . ." no response "TWILIGHT!" She yelled at her.

"Uh? What?" she asked, coming out of her thoughts.

"That's a bottle of hot sauce" Amara said pointing to the bottle she had in her mouth.

"Oh!" Twilight put the bottle on the table, got another glass, poured herself some soda, and then went to her room.

"Why is there a bottle of hot sauce in here anyway?" Spike asked.

Pinkie took the bottle and covered a cupcake with hot sauce and then ate it, everyone except Amara looked at her confused and a little disgusted "What? It's good!"

Amara took the bottle and drank directly from it, emptying it, then she tasted it "Not bad" she said with a shrug.



Twilight was locked in her room "resting" on her bed, she covered her head with a pillow so she wouldn't have to listen to the music and the screams of the ponies at the party, then she looked at the clock, realizing what time it was she groaned and was about to lie down again when somepony opened the door.

"Twilight? Are you awake?" Amara asked in a low voice, then she saw her sitting on the bed “there you are!, Pinkie Pie's starting "pin the tail on the pony"! Wanna play?"

"No!" she answered "All the ponies in this town are crazy! Do you know what time it is?!"

'Says the mare who always goes crazy over insignificant things' Amara said to herself "It's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Everypony has to stay up, or they'll miss mom raising the sun"

"I don't care!" Twilight answered furiously.

Amara walked with firm and noisy steps towards the bed "Now listen to me well, miss antisocial! Mom ordered you to make friends and that's what you are going to do!" Amara took the pillow off her head and threw it on the floor. "I don't care if you like it or not! Tartarus, Sparkle! Even Fluttershy is better at making friends than you! You're as reclusive as Moondancer!" You know what?! You're worse! At least she's trying to make friends!" She said with an annoyed and scolding tone, she was already sick of Twilight's attitude.

Twilight gasped. “Oh, no! I forgot to tell Moondancer I was leaving!”  She jumped out of bed. “I need to catch the train back to Can-”

Amara quickly lifted Twilight with her magic and put her back on the bed "No, you don't! Don't you remember what I told you in the carriage? I already told her that we were leaving and also gave her your gift"

"Seriously?" Twilight asked him. 

"You know, sometimes you can have a very good memory for certain things and a very bad one for others" she replied with a serious tone.

"I think you're right" Twilight replied with a sincere tone "I'm sorry I acted like that" then she turned to see the moon through the window and I notice the four bright stars around her "the truth is, I'm scared, I'm scared to be right, for the first time in my life I'm afraid of being right, I hope the Princess was right... I hope it really is just an old pony tale..."

Amara sat next to her, gave her a comforting pat on the back and they sat there in silence, then Amara looked at the clock "Look at the time! It’s almost time to watch the sunrise! We better go soon"

"What about your speech? You didn't practice it” Twilight told her.

"I was lying, there is no speech, you are not the only one who makes excuses so as not to talk to anypony, I need to be alone from time to time" she replied with a smile.

The three of them left, along with the party ponies in the library and went to the Town Hall. They were suprised of how quiet it was.

Then Pinkie showed up out of nowhere "Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited, I've never  been so excited- well, except for the time that I saw you walking into  town and I went GASP! but I mean really, who can top that?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the birds began to sing commanded by Fluttershy who acted as an orchestra master, then the light from the large reflector focused on the stage where the mayor appeared "Fillies and gentlecolts" she announced "As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" all the ponies started cheering "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise,  and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great  honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land," in that moment the four stars around the moon fused and seemed to combine with the satellite "the very pony who  gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise,  the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..."

"Ready?" Fluttershy asked to her birds.

"...Princess Celestia!" announced the mayor. Then Rarity opened the curtain on the balcony, the spotlight focused on it, but there was no pony there.

"Huh?" said Rarity confused.

"This is not good" Amara said coldly.

"*Gulp* I agree" Twilight replied.

The crowd of ponies began to talk to each other chaotically. "Remain calm, everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation!" Said the mayor.

"Seems like mom's old friend is finally back. . ." Amara whispered mockingly to herself and nopony heard her.

"Ooh, ooh, I love guessing games! Is she hiding?" Said Pinkie jumping on her place.

"She's gone!" Announced Rarity. Everypony gasped.

"Ooh, she's good" Pinkie then yelped, then everypony gasped as they saw a kind of dark blue mist like the nightsky full of dots like stars materialized on the balcony where the princess should be.

"Oh no. . . " Twilight said while Amara looked in silence.  

Suddenly the strange mist cleared revealing a dark alicorn, her mane seemed to be made of the same strange blue mist, she had a bluish silver armor, her light blue eyes with aquamarine irises and pupils similar to the ones of a dragon looked around, along with an evil smile that revealed only the tip of her fangs.

"Nightmare Moon!" Twilight and Amara yelled in unison.

"Oh, my beloved subjects." Nightmare Moon said looking around "It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces."

All the ponies were gaping and paralyzed with fear except Rainbow "What did you do with our princess?" she asked firmly and with fury in her gaze, she was about to fly at full speed towards her to hit her face when Applejack grabbed her tail with her mouth to keep her at bay. "Whoa there, Nelly..." AJ said between teeths.

Nightmare Moon just chuckled "Why, am I not royal enough for you?" she said playfully "Don't you know who I am?" she then asked furious and offended.

“Ooh! I love guessing games!” Pinkie said with glee “Um, Hokey Smokes! How about... Queen Meanie! No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty!” Then AJ shoved an apple through her mouth so to shut her up.

“I know who you are!” Amara finally said breaking her silence and void expression “You are the younger sister of Princess Celestia, the princess of the night,  the almighty mistress of the night cloak of the sky, the Mare on the Moon. You are. . . Nightmare Moon!"

“Well well well,” said Nightmare Moon “Somepony who remembers me.”

"How could I forget you? Mom told me a lot about you, how powerful you were and how the conquest of Equestria would be just a foal game for you" Amara replied with a serious expression.

"Your mother sounds like a wise mare my dear subject, something very rare to find among these worthless pawns" said Nightmare Moon pointing to the crowd of ponies with disdain "Tell me her name and maybe I won't hurt her if I get to know her"

"Of course Princess Nightmare Moon, her name is Celestia" Amara said with a smile on her face.

Nightmare Moon was shocked for a moment, but her expression was replaced by fury, at the same time Amara chuckled "What?!" shouted Nightmare Moon, immediately Amara was surrounded by a light blue aura and lifted from the ground, Nightmare Moon pulled Amara towards her "You?!, Celestia's daughter?!"

"Princess Amara, at your service." Amara said mockingly, she could immediately feel an aura around her neck, it started getting tighter and tighter, but it was not enough to choke her.

"So my sister started a family, well, now that I have you it will be easier to keep her at bay, because if she tries to stop me I will personally take care of her little filly" Amara started to violently shake when she felt pressure on her wings "No, don't try to escape, I can break your neck with a simple movement, so relax, because I'm not letting you go. You say that my sister told you about me, right? Then you also know why I'm here."

“You're here to. . . to. . ." Amara couldn't finish speaking because she had to take a breath to keep from choking.

Nightmare Moon just chuckled "Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!" Then she began to laugh hysterically as the sky seemed to grow darker and the thunder filled the void with its terrifying roar.

At that moment Amara began to regurgitate and spat out a sticky green mass that fell directly into Nightmare Moon's eyes, "AIEEE!!" She shouted, immediately released Amara, who began to flap her wings and took flight, then Amara took a deep breath and with all the force that her lungs gave her, she expelled a huge flame, the fire surrounded the nightmarish figure, but immediately it went out and didn't hurt her "You’ll pay for that, you overgrown cockroach!"

"Seize her! Only she knows where the Princess is!" The mayor ordered the royal guards, the pegasi immediately took flight and surrounded Nightmare Moon, getting closer and closer.

Nightmare Moon tore the green mass from her face and glared at the guards "Stand back, you foals!" With a single attack the guards were thrown like stones towards the wall, Nightmare Moon transformed into the nightly mist and escaped from the town hall.

Rainbow Dash managed to free herself from Applejack's grip and flew at full speed chasing Nightmare Moon "Come back here!" she screamed, but the mist was faster, she stood there panting "Nighttime? Forever?" she then saw Twilight, Amara and Spike running towards the library "Where are they going?"
> Chapter 4 (Friendship is Magic Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The three of them rushed into the library and Twilight slammed the door behind her, then turned to see Amara who was brushing the dust off her hooves.

"WHAT IN CELESTIA’S NAME IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"I just defended myself! Didn't you hear what she said? She wanted to break my neck!" Amara responded quickly.

"You don't even have bones!" Twilight reproached her.

"There are more ways to break a neck you know? Besides, if she didn't break my neck, she would behead me" 

"We wouldn't be in this situation if you had kept your mouth shut!"

"Oh please! She would have found out that I exist anyway" Amara replied as she cleared a table full of garbage from the party.

"You knew then." Twilight told her.

"Uh? What are you talking about?." asked Amara.

"You knew I was right, you knew that Nightmare Moon was real, why didn't you tell me?! I could have helped you create a plan!" Twilight reproached.

"Twilight, my dear, if I told you half the secrets that I know, I would have to kill you, then your whole family, then I would have to erase them from the historical records and finally I would have to erase the memory of all the living ponies that know anything about you, even if it is only your name, as a princess there are things that I cannot speak about, even if I want to” Amara answered in a calm tone, trying to make herself understood.

"I understand that" Twilight answered in a sympathetic tone "But why not tell me today? Or half an hour ago? Why didn't you tell me this would happen?"

"Because I didn't know this would happen!" Amara yelled at her "The only thing I knew was that she would come back, that mom would take care of her and that if something went wrong we would go to plan B and that's why I told you to calm down, because plan B is the two of us. Now please calm down and help me."

Twilight took a deep breath and calmed down a bit. “Okay, I'm sorry I acted like that. We have to look for the Elements of Harmony"

"Yes, for that I need your help, I know what they are, mom told me about them, but she never told me what they do, she was supposed to go looking for them, since she did not beat Nightmare Moon that means that she will go for them, and if she corrupts them with her magic we're doomed"

"And what do I do?" Spike asked before yawning loudly.

"Go to sleep Spike" Twilight said "You are a baby dragon, you have been up all night, you need to rest, let the grown-ups take care of this" Twilight raised Spike with her magic, took him to their room, put him on gently on the basket he slept in and tucked him, Spike immediately fell asleep. When she returned they began to search through the books "Elements, elements, elements... Ugh! How can we stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?"

"We can't-" Amara was saying before a flash of rainbow color appeared and stoped in front of Twilight.

"And just what are the Elements of Harmony?" She asked to Twilight "And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh?" She said to Amara "Are you spies?" Immediately Amara threw ray at her with her green magic and Rainbow Dash was thrown against the wall and then tied to it by magic ropes "Whoa!"

"How did you get in here?!" Amara asked, lighting her horn again to attack her.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity yelled "What in your right mind do you think you are doing?! She is not a spy! She is the daughter of Princess Celestia!"

"Is she?"

"Of course she is! And you just accused her of having conspired with that monster, the same monster that foalnapped her mother, do you have any idea what could happen to you? They will throw you into a dungeon!"

Amara immediately tied her too and put her in the wall "Ok, How did you get in here?!"

"Simmer down, Sally." Said Applejack "You left a window open. I know you are not spies. Surely you know what is happening. Don't you?"

Amara released Both of them “Princess Celestia, my mother, told me about Nightmare Moon, told me her story and how dangerous she is, formed a plan to defeat her and different backup plans, Twilight did her own research. There are some mysterious artifacts called the Elements of Harmony, they are the only thing that can stop her, I know what they are and where they are, but I don't know what they do” Amara turned her back on them and looked in the bookshelves "I have a book about them, but it won't help us if I can't find what I'm looking for. "E", "E", "E". . . Aha!, The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide." She then gave the book to Twilight. 

"Thanks. There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness,  Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery, . . ." Twilight readed.

"Only five are known?! Impossible! Illogical! Nonsense! Complete nonsense!" Amara yelled, scandalized, walking in circles immersed in her own thoughts. 

"What happen?" Twilight asked her.

"It doesn't make sense. How come only five elements are known? My mother used all six, multiple times, she told me, if only five are known, how is it possible that they have used them before?, it's not possible that the information was lost" Amara ran quickly through her luggage and came back bringing several books, she took one that looked like the one Twilight had read that day in Canterlot "Look, in this illustration are all six"



"It could be a mistake, maybe the illustrator just drew six, even if only five were known, to make the illustration more faithful" Twilight replied.

"Maybe you're right, my mother told me that the sixth element would only appear if the bearers found "The Spark". . .  But wait if that is true then, how did they know that they there were six? My mother was the first to use them, and even so, she already knew there were six, the legends said they were six, How could she know if they had never been used and ergo no one had ever found the spark?"

"That doesn't matter" Twilight replied "We're wasting our time, we have to find the-"

"Wait a second!" Said Amara, she immediately ran to her luggage and took out an old book full of dirt, it was very badly treated, Amara put it on the table and looked at it quickly, then she smiled and looked Twilight in the eyes "There are seven elements"

"What?!" The girls responded in shock. 

"It's the only logical explanation, read this Twilight" Amara said showing the book to her.

"The best elements within us can spread light and virtue, and I know ponies who represent them all – strength, bravery, healing, beauty, hope, and sorcery. Myself and these Pillars of Equestria were gathered  together by another to maintain and share the light of these powerful ideals. But we soon came to believe the pony who brought us together  only wanted that power for himself. Cast out and alone, this power-mad  pony turned to darkness to satisfy his thirst. Transformed into a Pony  of Shadows, he returned for revenge – to extinguish the Pillars' light  and rob the world of hope. To stop him, the Pillars and I must make a grave sacrifice. But we shall leave behind a seed in hopes that one day it will grow into a force to stand against the darkness for all time. We  must now face the fiend with the only plan we have, I only hope it will be enough. What am I reading?" Twilight asked

"Star Swirl's journal" Amara replied calmly as she flipped through the pages looking for something.

"What?! His journal?! How did you get it?! Why didn't you tell me you had it?!" she said hysterically.

"Because I knew you would get like this, you are such a fan of him that if I had given you the book when I found it you would spend the next thirty years of your life locked in a tower studying it trying to find in it questions and answers that do not exist, the half of what is written here is rubbish, besides, do you remember that discussion we had about why I don't like Star Swirl?" Twilight nodded "This book and the research I did on it proves what I say, if I let you read my research the ideals of your whole life could fall apart, I don't want to break your brain or give you depression"

"Ok, I'll steal it from you later and read it, how did you get it? And why the heck do you say there are seven elements?!"

“Well mom always wanted to know what was from Star Swirl, so for her birthday four years ago I decided that I would give her the answer to that question, you know I've always liked archeology, so I did some research and organized an expedition along to some friends and teachers, and we went to the last place where he was seen alive, after a few weeks camping there we found a trunk with a magic lock, it took us a while to decipher it, but when we did we found a telescope, lots of ink and empty scrolls, alchemy sets, some dry and dead plants and of course the journal, I gave it to mom and a few days later she gave it back to me and told me to do what seemed right to me with it, I was going to donate it to a museum but I wanted to examine it first, it took me years to decipher what he had written, Star Swirl had very bad hornwriting from what I have seen, there are parts of this book that took months to decipher, when I finished, I had learned about the elements and what Star Swirl was really like, so I decided not to reveal what I learned to anypony, perhaps I despise the guy, but I am not the one to judge him or to destroy the image that his exploits gave him" She said in an understanding tone.

"Ok, I can understand that, there are things that are better not to know." Twilight said, she knew Amara well, she knew that she was a very understanding pony who always put others wellbeing before her, so she could understand the reason for her decision to hide the journal, since keeping its existence a secret was a grater good "What about the seven elements?"

"Oh sure!" Amara opened the journal in its last entry "Look at this illustration, it was made by Star Swirl, now, do you see how many branches the drawing in the center has?"



"Yes, there are six" Twilight replied to her.

“Exactly! But do you see this crystal in the center at the bottom? The magenta crystal, that is also an element, Star Swirl would never leave a vague drawing, all the drawings in the journal are exact and leave nothing behind to interpretation, so why would he leave such an insignificant artistic detail like this here if the only thing it would do is cause confusion? Because he didn't, he portrays the existence of seven elements, and that's not all, the entrance that you readed tells the story of their last battle, it tells us how that young unicorn that brought them together became the Pony of Shadows."

"The Pony of Shadows?!" the girls yelled in unison.

"He's real too?! Oh great, now we have to deal with him too!" Rainbow Dash said.

"What are you talking about? The Pony of Shadows and Nightmare Moon have no relationship whatsoever" Amara replied to her.

"They don't?" Rainbow Dash asked confused.

"Of course they don't, when the Pony of Shadows appeared my mother was too young to even fight, much less Nightmare Moon existed, what happens is that you ponies mixed the stories." Amara said "According to my investigation what happened was the following, the pillars devised a plan to stop the Pony of Shadows, the plan consisted of using their artifacts and the network of abundant magic around Ponhenge to imprison the Pony of Shadows in an empty space between dimensions, “The Limbo”, now, for the spell to work, the pillars would also have to be imprisoned together with the Pony of Shadows, for that reason they decided to create a magic seed that when germinating would give way to the Tree of the Harmony from which my mother extracted the elements, knowing that they were not coming back, they decided to leave an artifact that would channel the essence of harmony and defend Equestria from the forces of evil. Now, here comes the interesting thing, when they discovered Ponhenge they did not find the artifacts of the pillars, in fact, I went to the place and excavated the area, I did not find anything, do you know what that means?"

"That were they destroyed?" Twilight answered trying to understand what she was saying.

Amara laughed “Of course not! They were not destroyed, the journal is one of the artifacts and yet here it is, the strange thing is that I found the journal in the ruins of a town, not in Ponhenge and even more strange, Mistmane's flower is in a sanctuary garden owned by a family for generations and Flash Magnus's shield is in the Dragonlands as far as I know, I have heard rumors of the location of the other three artifacts but have not been able to confirm them, the point is that they are scattered around the world, do you know what that means?"

Twilight shook her head in denial.

"Think about it, the pillars disappear immediately after casting the spell and somehow their artifacts end up scattered around the world, the diary ends up in a chest with a lock and still the legend of the Tree of Harmony spreads, how is that possible if the pillars secretly planted the seed, in a secret location just before disappearing? Who told the story? Who recovered the artifacts and distributed them around the world? And who made sure the seed was germinated?, according to what Star Swirl wrote he was not sure that the seed would ever germinate, he said: To stop him, the Pillars and I must make a grave sacrifice. But we shall leave behind a seed in hopes that one day it will grow into a force to stand against the darkness for all time. We  must now face the fiend with the only plan we have, I only hope it will be enough."

Twilight's face was filled with astonishment the moment the gears in her head understood everything "Ok, I understand where you are leading this"

“So what if somepony did all of that? Somepony told the story, Somepony recovered the artifacts and distributed them, Somepony made sure that the seed germinated, but it was not just anypony because the seed was a secret and the spell to the Limbo was also a secret, it had to be somepony who was close to the pillars, or at least close to Star Swirl, somepony to whom they would entrust their plans and the location of the tree, a friend, but who?. . ."

"Wait a sec sugarcube" said Applejack "So all those legendary figures are not only real, but they also created the Elements of Harmony and there is also a seventh element that no one has ever heard of?"

"Yes, more or less that is what I say, it is good to see that they are paying attention, this can be useful to us" Amara said immersed in her thoughts and looking at the journal looking for the answer to her question "Who?. . . Who?. . . AHA!" Amara began to turn the pages looking for a drawing "Scorpan!" She said triumphantly showing a drawing that portrayed the gargoyle and Star Swirl.

"Who?" the girls asked.

"Scorpan was Lord Tirek's brother, he became great friends with Star Swirl the Bearded when he learned about pony customs" said Twilight "Do you think he was the one?" she asked Amara.

"It could be, or if not someone else who was close to them, let's assume that it was him, then Star Swirl went to him and told him about the plan to defeat the Pony of Shadows, about the seed and about the limbo, Star Swirl asked him to hide the artifacts and maybe help with the seed or maybe Scorpan was the one who insisted, the point is that he gave his part for the seed, after the pillars disappeared Scorpan collected the artifacts, distributed them all over the world and made sure that the seed did germinate in Tree of Harmony, he was the one who told the story, that's where the legends originated, he is the seventh element"

"But that does not explain why only six are known to exist or why they only painted six" Twilight refuted

“Maybe it does” Amara replied “Yes there were seven elements, but the sixth only appears when you discover the spark, so whoever saw the tree and was not a carrier would only see six elements physically, and since the pillars were not there Scorpan could only see six elements because no one had discovered the unknown element, Star Swirl was not sure that the seed would grow, so Scorpan was not surprised to see that only six elements seemed to have grown, so the legends only spoke of 6 elements, that is why the paintings and drawings only portray six elements, it refers to the six physical elements, not the one that is achieved with the spark. So when mom found the tree she assumed there were only six elements due to the legends, the strange thing is that she only found five physical elements in the tree"

"And what does that mean?" Twilight asked.

"It means that the sixth physical element is not in the branches of the tree, it could not be stolen, mom told me that if someone tried to take them without being carriers the pony would be destroyed, unless their magic could rival the elements, the sixth physical had to be out of sight, perhaps at the roots, or somewhere else near the tree, but my mother did not see it, she found the spark and assumed that the element that appeared when she found it was the sixth element, and so history continued believing they were six, that explains how from before it was known about the existence of six elements when no one had found the spark"

"That makes a lot of sense!" Twilight said slapping her forehead, she was surprised by how simple it seemed in hindsight.

"That's very smart Princess" Rarity said to her as a compliment.

“Oh please, call me Amara” She said taking the reference guidebook of the elements “what I don't understand is how it was possible to use the elements in the past if one was missing, mom told me that they didn't work separately, and the guidebook here says the same, so how did they use them before?"

"Is that important?" asked Rainbow Dash bored and tired "We have to save the princess!"

"Patience Dash, the princess, I meant Amara's trying to think" Rarity said scolding her.

"Unfortunately I think Rainbow Dash is right, I have no idea how to solve this problem of internal logic about the functioning of the elements, and I don't think it is worth spending more time, maybe I don't understand how it is possible to use them being incomplete but the elements work and that is the important thing, we better go"

"Okay, but where are the Elements?" Fluttershy said.

“Mom told me they were in the old castle, the castle is in. . . in. . ." Amara started hitting her head with her right hoof while the girls took the reference guidebook of the elements and began to look at it “come on! This is not the time to forget things!, it's in. . ."

"The Everfree Forest!" the girls yelled in unison.
> Chapter 5 (Friendship is Magic Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the outskirts of the town the girls were standing at the edge of the forest, they could feel the cold wind that came from it and in the distance they could hear the trees being moved by the breeze and the noise of the vermin that inhabited it.

"Whee! Let's go!" Pinkie Pie said starting to jog to enter the forest.

"Not so fast." Twilight said stopping her "Look, we appreciate the offer, but we'd really rather do this on our own."

"Twilight, what are you talking about? No way are we going to enter that forest alone! Don't you know the dangers of the Everfree Forest?! There are manticores, snakes, Timberwolves, cockatrices and I could go on for hours, not to mention the paranormal qualities of the forest" Amara said.

"Amara is right sugarcube. We sure ain't lettin' any friends of ours go into that creepy place alone. We're stickin' to you like caramel on a candy apple." Said Applejack.

The other mares agreed with a "Hmph!" and began to trot into the forest.

"Especially if there's candy apples in there." Said Pinkie, Amara looked at her confused "What? Those things are good." 

Twilight just sighed in frustration. Amara approached her "Twilight, you know we can't do this alone, these ponies are willing to help you, let them do it, right now we need all the help we can, so please be nice to them" Amara started trotting after Pinkie and went into the forest.

Twilight sighed again, this time not in frustration but in defeat because she knew Amara was right, she thought about how badly she had treated the mares that were accompanying her willing to help them face a dark and vengeful alicorn with the power to control night, she chuckled at her own stupidity and stubbornness, immediately began to trot fast to catch up with the others.



The seven of them walked in a row through the forest with the starry sky above them, they had very good light indeed, or perhaps their eyes had already gotten used to the darkness, at least they could see the three or four meters in front of them and not trip.

"So, none of you have been in here before?" Asked Twilight.

"Ugh, heavens no! Just look at it - it's dreadful." Rarity said with disdain for her surroundings.

"I have actually been here" Amara commented "But I entered the other side of the forest, I was visiting a nearby town due to reports of cryptids"

"Oh please, don't start with the cryptids again!" Twilight begged her. 

"Cryptids?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Amara believes fervently in Cryptozoology, a pseudo-science that tries to prove the existence of unidentified creatures, mostly from legends or myths, of which there are only witness reports, photos and recordings of doubtful origin and veracity" replied Twilight with a tone fed up as she despised the subject.

"It is more than that, we not only try to prove their existence but to give an explanation, there are times when cryptids turn out to be misidentified known animals, or diseased, or genetic mutations like the two-headed goats in the northern mountains, what we are trying to do is discover the truth, of course there are many crazy people who give us a bad reputation, one thing is to believe in something that seems improbable and another thing is being a crazy conspiranoic who believes that the Zebraica government is trying to hide the existence of extremely violent, large and carnivorous spiny monkeys because. . . "Reasons", I do not understand this type of ponies, What would the government gain by hiding the existence of these creatures? Apart from several unexplained deaths and fear in the population" Amara said.

"And what were you looking for?" Pinkie asked her.

"Good thing you ask, I was in search of an elusive creature known as "The Silver Beam", according to the inhabitants of the town for centuries, birds that shine like silver have been spotted and that at night fly over the forest , in a few months the creatures begin to fly in strange patterns and form different flashes that may be used as a mating dance, a few months ago the creature was photographed, the photograph was somewhat distorted due to the light but you can recognize the figure of owl, it is known that there are small populations of owls in the Everfree Forest but one with the qualities of the photo had never been discovered, so together with a zoologist and a biologist we entered the southern part of the forest, which is the least explored, we set up a base camp and set traps in different areas of the forest, after camping for two weeks one of the traps captured an animal, a totally new species, an owl with silver feathers that absorbed the light of the moon and began to shine, used its brightness to scare the other nocturnal creatures, I let the scientists take the credit. I already have more than enough titles, being a princess is enough for me, I don't want to have the discovery of a new species on my back"

"So it was real." Applejack said.

"Yes, but it is not always like that, sometimes the creatures turn out to be just legends, but in the worst cases they turn out to be lies, someone makes a joke and then takes it too far, an example was the supposed monster of Lake Blue Beak, they investigated for twenty years and in the end everything turned out to be a joke made by some ponies with an electric model that they piloted from time to time, somepony saw the thing moving in the lake and the legend remained, in the end it turned out that there was nothing, But at least the twenty years served as something because they managed to make the place become a tourist destination and it became a territory protected by the government and a nature reserve, in addition the observers who stayed to camp to see the creature could stop several serious crimes and even caught a murderer who buried his victims on the shores of the lake"

"Well that doesn't sound so bad" Fluttershy said in her low voice.

“From the general point of view everything was very good, but you have to see it from the point of view of those ponies, those ponies dedicated twenty years of their lives to that lake, how do you think they felt when it was discovered that it was a lie, How would you react if all your life, everything you believed, worked for, turned out to be just a joke, or something insignificant? How would you feel if someone ripped you out of your reality, gave you a new one and told you that all of the above was not important, that it was all for nothing?"

The girls were silent for a minute thinking about what Amara said, creating scenarios and dialogues in their heads, feeling more and more scared by the machinations of their own minds, they felt how the until now quiet forest began to eat the light of the stars and covered them in darkness, not just their bodies, but their minds.

"And. . . Why had none of you come before? " Twilight asked with a trembling voice trying to break the ice and trying to erase the idea that Amara implanted in their minds.

"This place ain't natural, Folks say that it don't work the same as Equestria" said Applejack also with a trembling voice.

"Wh-What's that supposed to mean?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow smiled slightly "Nopony knows. You know why? " she said approaching the other mares at a frightening pace. 

"Leave them Dash, you scare them" Amara told her.

" 'Cause everypony who's ever come in has never come OUT!" 

At that moment the earth fell away and the mares fell down the slope except for Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Amara who began to fly. "Fluttershy quick!" Rainbow Dash ordered flying quickly towards Pinkie Pie.

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness." Fluttershy said flying as fast as she could towards Rarity and grabbing her by the tail.

Amara was flying towards Applejack at full speed when one of the huge chunks of dislodged dirt hit her and knocked her to the ground "Ugh!"

Applejack grabbed onto an exposed root with her mouth, Twilight screamed as she slid uncontrollably towards the cliff, managed to turn on her belly as she was about to reach the edge, but the lower half of her body dangled and she didn't have a good place to hold on to.

"Twilight!" Amara yelled on the ground still stunned by the blow and feeling her body ease for a second, but at the same time getting heavier and feeling swollen from the pain.

Applejack let go and carefully slid over to Twilight "Hold on! I'm a-comin'!" She said holding on to Twilight's hooves to prevent her from falling.

"Applejack! What do I do?" She asked as she uselessly moved her hind legs looking for a place to lean on.

Applejack thought for a second and then looked up "Let go." she said with confidence.

"Are you crazy?!" said Twilight.

"No I ain't. I promise you'll be safe." Applejack said sincerely.

"That's not true!" Twilight responded knowing how illogical that statement was.

"Now listen here. What I'm sayin' to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you'll be safe." Applejack said, her tone honest  and her comforting gaze filled Twilight with confidence.

Twilight took a deep breath and let go "Yaaah!!" At that moment she was caught by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash "Phew. . ." She sighed relaxed "Wah!!" She screamed when Fluttershy lost her grip and she started to fall, right after that they grabbed her again.

"Sorry girls. I'm not used to holding anything more than a bunny or two." Fluttershy said in apologetic tone.

Twilight smiled as Applejack bounced down the cliff, below Rarity helping Amara walk.

"Are you sure you're okay darling?" Rarity asked her.

"Yes, yes, I just need a second, hit my head too hard, leave me, I'm fine, I can walk alone" she said clutching the right side of her head as the pain subsided and the feeling of swelling lessened.



"Ok, I understand you didn't know how long you were going to be able to hold Twilight" Said Amara, the seven of them had already resumed their way "But why not tell her "they will catch you"?" 

"And where would the fun be in that?" Applejack said winking and grinning.

"Oh. . ., I'm starting to like you! " Amara said with a smile, then she came forward and stood in front of the group, she was silent for a moment while she could still feel in her mouth that taste of sadness, like rotten blueberries with bitter and old lemon, and also fear with that strange metallic, bitter and salty taste, leaving her mouth dry and a feeling of emptiness in her stomach "Look, I-I'm sorry for what I told you a while ago about the lake and existentialism, I didn't want to sadden you, o-or scare you and I'm sorry"

"Oh, don't worry about that dear, it's not that bad" said Rarity, Amara felt the artificial sweet taste that left a bitter taste later, she was lying.

"No, it is bad, I-I know the damage that emotions can do, I can feel and know what others feel, and-and my words hurted you all" she said guiltily, but at that moment she could taste  liquorice with salt, they felt guilty “Oh and now I'm making you feel guilty! I'm trash. . ." she told herself with tears in her eyes, then she could taste a lemon sweet with the perfect amounts of sugar, its taste although bitter was comforting, it was forgiveness. Amara wiped her tears and smiled with a sigh "Thank you. . . for forgiving me."

The other mares looked in shock at the changes in her attitude and looked at each other for a second, but then they shook their heads, forgetting about it, everything was already settled so why bother?

They walked in silence for a while longer until Amara's face was filled with terror and with a brusque movement she indicated to the others to stop, then signaled them to speak in a low voice. "What happen?" Twilight asked.

“A manticore. . ., right in front of us. . ., he's irritated. . ." She said in a low voice and with a few pauses to make sure that the manticore did not move "Irritated is more dangerous, we have to move slowly and find another way"

"According to the book, this is the only way to the castle" Twilight told him.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's get rid of that thing! We're not going to move!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Are you crazy? We're not doing that" Amara told her.

"Amara is right." Fluttershy said.

"And then what will we do Fluttershy? Sing to it? Pet it? I say we all attack him at the same time" Rainbow Dash answered with a challenging tone.

Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie nodded and got into fighting positions. "Now!" Rainbow Dash yelled, the manticore jumped from the trees and the girls started running towards him determined to strike the first blow.

"WAIT!" yelled Fluttershy, the mares stopped in their tracks, Fluttershy started walking towards the manticore, it roared and prepared to attack her with its right paw, the girls closed their eyes and turned their heads to the other side so as not to see the grotesque scene that was about to be unleashed. But nothing remotely similar happened, Fluttershy nuzzled the manticore's left paw "Shhh... It's okay." The manticore seemed to understand and showed her its paw showing a huge piece of wood nailed into it "Oh, you poor, poor little baby."

"Little?" Said Rainbow Dash.

"Now this might hurt for just a second." Fluttershy said, then with her mouth she ripped out the splinter, the manticore jerked her up and roared.

"Fluttershy!" yelled everyponys except for Amara who was standing to the side quiet and with a calm expression.

The manticore started petting and licking Fluttershy while it purred, Fluttershy giggled "Aw you're just a little ol' baby kitty, aren't you? Yes you are, yes you are."

The girls took the opportunity to pass by the side and continue on their way Twilight and Amara stopped to wait for Fluttershy, she way calmly towards them "How did you know about the thorn?" Asked Twilight.

"I didn't." Fluttershy said getting ahead of them "Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness."

Twilight looked at Amara and smiled, Amara smiled back at her and shrugged, they both started walking to catch up with the others.



They were walking through the deepest part of the forest, they felt the fresh breeze and the smell of earth, the ground was soft and damp.

"Yuck!. My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck." said Rarity.

At that moment they entered a dark area of ​​the forest, the trees covered the stars and they were left blind.

"Well, I didn't mean that literally." Said Rarity

"We are in the most humid area of ​​the forest, be careful where you step, there could be loose soil, also be careful with the plants and roots" said Amara.

"That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn't even know it." said Twilight

Rarity felt like she was stepping on somepony's tail "I didn't see you there, my apologies."

"Right here... guh..." Rainbow Dash commented among the tangle of jumbled phrases that the ponies formed

"Oh wait, I think I stepped in somethin' " Applejack said pulling her hooves out of a mud puddle. Suddenly Fluttershy let out a scream of terror. "It's just mud," said Applejack. At that moment she saw the tree in front of her and with fright she let out a scream and took a great leap to get away from the tree that had a nightmarish face on its bark.

Suddenly everypony realized that the trees around them were deformed with grimaces and malicious smiles that looked directly at them, without emitting any noise except for the cracking of their branches due to the wind, but this only made them more terrifying, they could feel the eyes of those faces look deep into their hearts and fill their souls with fear. Amara felt terrified and at the same time dizzy and weak, she spit to get rid of the horrible metallic taste of fear that was now more intense and horrible because it was the combined fear of the other ponies, soon they could see how the shadows of the trees were moving making them see that they seemed to approach, they felt how the space was reduced around them and how they began to lack air, at that moment they could only do one thing, scream, scream in complete terror, some with tears in their eyes.

Suddenly their thoughts were interrupted by the laughter of Pinkie Pie who was standing in front of a tree making funny faces and sounds.

"Pinkie, what are you doing?! Run!" Yelled Twilight.

"Oh girls, don't you see?"Suddenly their surroundings seemed to light up.


When I was a little filly and the sun was going down...



Tell me she's not...



The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown...



She is.



I'd hide under my pillow
From what I thought I saw
But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way
To deal with fears at all



Then what is?



She said, "Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall
Learn to face your fears
You'll see that they can't hurt you
Just laugh to make them disappear."

Ha! Ha! Ha!



GASP!



So, giggle at the ghostly
Guffaw at the grossly
Crack up at the creepy
Whoop it up with the weepy
Chortle at the kooky
Snortle at the spooky



And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and  leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another  thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna...  hahahaha... heh...



Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuugh!


The girls fell to the ground laughing uncontrollably.



The girls jogged through the woods while laughing. 

"Hey, Amara, can I ask you something?" Rainbow Dash said. 

"Sure, what is it?" she told her.

"I saw you throw fire in the town hall when you attacked Nightmare Moon, how can you spit fire? I thought only dragons could do it"

"Well it's a funny story" said Amara "When I was ten years old Mom was teaching Spike how to use his flames, I thought it was cool so I wanted to breathe fire myself, so I tried and tried, thinking that I was a dragon myself, and then I set the carpet on fire, to put out the fire, I spilled my mom's coffee and the room was smelling of coffee for weeks.” They both started laughing again.

They turned into some bushes and collided with the pony in front of them as they stopped at the edge of an extremely turbulent river.

"How are we gonna cross this?" said Pinkie.

"Does anypony else hear those wailing?" Amara said.

At that moment the others could hear the sobs and wailing in the distance, they followed the river up to the top and when crossing some bushes they could see a sea serpent with purple scales and brilliant orange hair that was sobbing "What a world, what a world."

"Poor guy" Amara said tasting his sadness and helplessness spicy and irritating with a bitter touch that faded and gave melancholy.

"Excuse me, sir. Why are you crying?" Asked Twilight.

"Well, I don't know. I was just sitting here, minding my own business,  when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me and  tore half of my beloved mustache clean off, and now I look simply horrid." Immediately he began to sob and wail again and as he jumped into the water his splash soaked the mares from hoof to head.

"Oh, give me a break." Said Rainbow Dash annoyed.

"That's what all the fuss is about?" Applejack asked, incredulous at how childish the tantrum seemed to her.

"Why, of course it is. How can you be so insensitive? Oh, just look at him." Rarity said approaching him "Such lovely luminescent scales." Rarity said as a compliment as she stroked his chin

"I know." he said.

"And your expertly coiffed mane." 

"Oh, I know, I know." He said stroking his silky and shiny hair.

"Your fabulous manicure." Rarity said admiring his claws.

"*GASP!* It's so true!" 

"All ruined without your beautiful mustache."

"It's true, I'm hideous!" He said covering his face.

"I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected." Rarity said with a determined tone, then with her mouth she ripped a scale from the serpent.

He screamed in pain "What did you do that for?"

"Rarity, what are you-" Twilight was interrupted when in a sudden movement Rarity cut her own tail, it fell to the ground in one piece.

"Ah!" Exclaimed the sea serpent exaggeratedly acting a faint. Rarity got rid of the scale, with her magic she gathered her cut hair and fused it to his face "Oh-hohohoho!. My mustache. How wonderful."

"You look smashing." She said with a smile.

"Oh, Rarity, your beautiful tail..." Twilight said in a sad tone, although she herself was not a pony who cared much about beauty or her own image, she understood how difficult it would be to maintain such perfect hair and how wasteful it was to cut it. Any pony was an art critic or not would feel how painful it would be to see a masterpiece be damaged or destroyed.

"Oh. It's fine, my dear. Short tails are in this season. Besides, it'll grow back." Rarity said in a relaxed tone, the matter didn't seem important to her.

"So would the mustache." Rainbow Dash whispered to Twilight. Amara tapped her on the ribs, signaling her to shut up.

Twilight gasped as she realized that the river's waters had calmed down "We can cross now. Let's go. Ah!"

At that moment the sea serpent lifted Twilight and formed a kind of bridge with his body "Allow me."

The girls crossed the river and thanked the sea serpent.



After walking for maybe half an hour or more through the tangle of trees the girls came to a clearing, there was some fog, but they could see in front of them a bridge that crossed the cliff, on the other side the gray ruins of a castle full of undergrowth, it had no roof and there were large gaps in the facade, they could see the old wooden doors, dry in some parts, full of moss in others.

"There it is, the ruin that holds The Elements of Harmony. We made it!" Twilight started running towards the bridge at full speed.

"Twilight wait!" Amara yelled at her "There's no bridge!"

Twilight stopped short when she heard that, she was on the edge of the cliff and was losing her balance, suddenly her weight went to the front and she began to feel that feeling of void that there is in a fall, time seemed to slow down and her nerves were to the maximum 'Is this how it ends?' She thought 'After all the effort. . .' At that moment she felt herself being pulled from behind, it was Amara who with her magic pulled her by the tail and Twilight fell to the ground on her flanks.

"What's with you and falling off cliffs tonight?" Amara said mockingly.

"Now what?" Asked Pinkie.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings "Duh."

"Oh yeah." Pinkie said as Rainbow took off.

Rainbow plunged into the mist at the bottom of the cliff and rose again carrying in her mouth the ropes of the bridge she crossed to the other side and prepared to tie them, at that moment she could hear a voice say her name "Rainbow..."

"Who's there?" She asked, the mist seemed to get thicker.

"Rainbow. . ."

Rainbow got up on her hind legs and began to swing her front legs as she circled searching for the source of the voice       "I ain't scared of you! Show yourself!"

"We've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the best flyer in Equestria." Said the voice.

"Who?"

"Why, you, of course." 

"Really?! I mean... Oh yeah, me. Hey, uh, you wouldn't mind telling the  Wonderbolts that, would ya? 'cause I've been trying to get into that  group for like, ever."

At that moment, Rainbow could make out three figures in the mist that were rapidly approaching "No, Rainbow Dash. We want you to join us, The Shadowbolts." At that time the three figures were revealed, they were three pegasi, a mare and two stallions, they had on tight purple and black suits with yellow rays, they also wore yellow protective glasses that did not allow their eyes to be seen "We're the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest, and soon we will  be the greatest in all Equestria, but first, we need a captain." Rainbow Dash's eyes lit up "The most magnificent-"

"Yep."

"Swiftest-"

"Yes."

"Bravest flyer in all the land."

"Yes, Heh. . . it's all true."

"We need. . . you."

"WOOHOO! Sign me up. Just let me tie this bridge real quick and then we have a deal." Rainbow walked over to pick up the rope when suddenly the leader stepped in the way.

"No! It's them or us."

"Rainbow, what's taking so long?" Twilight asked from the other side of the bridge.

Amara could see the Shadowbolts talking to Rainbow Dash across the bridge “Oh no. . . Rainbow! Don't listen to them! They want-!" at that moment the leader turned to look at them, her eyes shone, the fog thickened even more and Amara's voice was lost to nothing.

Rainbow Dash was thoughtful, hesitantly looking back and forth between the bridge and the Shadowbolts.

"Well?" The leader asked.

"You. . ." the leader smiled triumphantly "Thank you! For the offer, I mean," Rainbow Dash tied the rope and tightened the bridge, the Shadowbolts looked at her in disbelief "but I'm afraid I have to say no." Rainbow took off and started to cross the cliff, the Shadowbolts frowned and melted into the nightly mist.

Rainbow crossed to the other side, the girls cheered when they saw her, they began to cross the bridge and Rainbow approached Twilight "See? I'd never leave my friends hangin'." She told her, Twilight smiled slightly.

The girls crossed the bridge and together pushed the large wooden door to open it, upon entering the room they were welcomed by columns and windows, broken and cracked, the plants grew between the cracks of the castle as nature began its slow process with which it was planing to reclaim the land that was hers, in the center on a pedestal the tools for their salvation.

“I knew it! I knew it! I was right! There are seven! Six physical elements!" Amara said excitedly flying around the pedestal, smiling and chirping like a cricket.

"Amara, what are you talking about?" Twilight asked.  

"That there are six stones, of course" Amara said with a smile.

"Amara, darling, what are you talking about? There are only five" Rarity said.

Amara stopped short in midair, her expression incredulous and surprised, she was paralyzed by what she had just heard “W-What? Can't you see it. . .?" was the only thing she could say.

"See what?" Applejack asked.

"The sixth stone!" Amara yelled, she began to go around the pedestal counting the rocks "one, two, three, four, five and six" but when she said six, Amara pointed to an empty space where there was nothing.

"Is this a joke?" Pinkie asked innocently. "Because if it is, it's not that funny, I mean, it's funny, but not that funny. How is funny measured by the way? There must be some kind of scale, but would it be measured in laughter or in smiles, because a very good joke can make you smile for minutes-"

"It's not a joke!" Amara yelled "I'll show you" Amara approached the pedestal to carry the rock, but when trying to take it her hooves collided with each other, Amara was incredulous "I can see it, but I can't touch it? I can see it, but I can't touch it?!!" she said furiously trying to pick up the rock over and over again getting the same result.

"I think she went crazy." Rainbow Dash told Twilight.

Amara kept trying to pick it up more and more furious until finally she just stopped and brought her hooves to her head as she tried to reason what was happening "What the heck is going on?! It doesn't make sense! H-How?!" she said frustrated, tugging at his hair and with an unsteady expression.

"A-Amara, A-Are you okay?!" Fluttershy asked in a low voice, somewhat scared by Amara's attitude.

Amara realized this, she noticed that all of them were scared or uncomfortable, she just landed "I'm sorry, I think I lost control, I'm just a little scared, I-I don't want to lose mom, and I don't want to fail you, I'm sorry to scare you, I understand that you have been through a lot today, I can feel it. . . I would like to thank you, I never told you, but I am grateful that you came with us, thank you" Amara smiled sweetly at them with an expression that made them feel safe and understood, the girls were able to understand Amara thanks to her words, and in fact every one of them felt identified in her own way, Amara could savor the bittersweet, beautiful, and harmonious taste of empathy "Thank you for being so understanding with me."

At that moment the pedestal began to shine and they were all blinded for a second, suddenly another element materialized on the pedestal "The other element!" the girls yelled.

"But why couldn't we see it earlier?" Applejack asked.

"I-I don't know, maybe it had some kind of spell, it appeared when all of you felt empathy at the same time, maybe that's what it represents, Empathy" Amara said looking at the rock with curiosity and a strange feeling in her chest. 

“Well, you were right Amy, there are seven elements. Now, how about we put them down and get this over with once and for all?" Twilight said.

"I couldn't agree more." Amara said.

Amara, Rainbow and Fluttershy took the elements and carefully placed them on the ground in a circle "Now what?" Applejack asked.

"As I said in the library, the missing element will appear when we discover The Spark" Said Amara.

"And what does that mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.

“I don't know, but I think I have an idea. Everypony stand back.” Twilight said, lighting her horn.

"Should we get out of here? You know so she can focus?" Applejack asked.

"Don't think that's necessary" Amara said "Just don't get in the way of her magic."

Twilight approached the elements, ducked her head and when she was about to radiate them with magic a dark blue swirl made presence.

"Nightmare Moon!" Amara yelled "The Elements quick!"

The girls rushed to grab the elements, but at that moment Nightmare Moon blinded them with a beam of light, the seven of them were teleported to another tower, as their eyes cleared they were welcomed by the vision of Nightmare Moon surrounded by the elements, she had a terrifying smile on her face and upon seeing them she began to laugh maniacally.

Amara's expression turned determined "We're all going to attack her at the same time, and don't let go of her no matter what." she said with determination. The girls just nodded and braced themselves, cracking their joints and getting ready to run.

Nightmare Moon just laughed "You're kidding. You're kidding, right?"

The girls started running towards her, Nightmare also started running towards them, just when they met Twilight teleported behind her and kept running towards the elements while the girls attacked her with everything they had, but all except Amara were thrown towards back by magic, Amara immediately began to launch magic attacks without stopping, some managed to hit her but they did not hurt her in that Nightmare Moon realized that Twilight was standing in front of the elements using her magic, Amara was trapped inside a magic bubble that was floating in the center of the room, Nightmare Moon transformed into a swirl of mist and lunged towards Twilight.

"Just one spark. Come on, come on." She begged. Nightmare Moon materialized in front of her "Aah!"

The elements seemed to light up and be united by rays of magic "No. No!" Nightmare Moon screamed scared.

But at that moment the elements went dead and inert, Twilight gasped "But... where's the seventh Element?!"

Nightmare Moon just laughed evilly and with a strong movement of her front legs the elements broke like glass "You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me? Now you will never see your princess, or your sun! The night will last forever!" Twilight was dumbfounded, her expression full of terror.

But at that moment the girls stood next to her. 

"Don't worry Twilight, we are here for you."

"Everything will be fine." 

"There is no reason to fear."

"We are in this together and we'll win together." 

"We'll get out of this."

At that moment Amara broke the bubble and landed next to her. "I know you're scared, but I won't let anything happen to you all." 

Twilight smiled, suddenly she felt a spark rise in her heart and run through her body, the realization hit her like a train, she turned to see Nightmare Moon and smiled "You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that? Well,  you're wrong, because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here."

Suddenly the pieces of the elements rose in the air, shining with auras of different colors "What?!" Nightmare Moon said.

"Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... honesty! Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of... kindness! Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... laughter! Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of... generosity! Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire represents the spirit of... loyalty! Amara, who was comprehensive to us, cared about our emotions and brought us together in an aura of understanding, represents the spirit of... empathy! The spirits of these six ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us." The elements flew towards their respective owners, surrounding them.

"You still don't have the seventh Element! The spark didn't work!" 

"But it did! A different kind of spark. I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all... are my friends!" At that moment a glowing orb materialized revealing the missing element. "You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the seventh element: the element of... magic!"

The orb shimmered and the elements transformed one by one, the girls rose into the air and the elements created a rainbow-colored beam that engulfed Nightmare Moon "Nooo! Nooo!"

Twilight opened her eyes that glowed white, suddenly there was an indescribably colorful glow, the next thing the girls knew was that they were on the floor. 

"Ugh, my head." said Rainbow.

"Everypony okay?" Aske Applejack.

"Oh, thank goodness." Rarity said happily shaking her tail that had been restored to its original form.

"Why Rarity, it's so lovely." Said Fluttershy.

"I know! I'll never part with it again."

"No. Your necklace. It looks just like your cutie mark." She said pointing to the golden necklace and its purple gem in the shape of a diamond.

"What? Ooh. So does yours." Rarity said pointing to the gem with the form of a pink butterfly.

Fluttershy gasped, The girls were impressed to see the necklaces they now wore "Look at mine! Look at mine!" Pinkie said to Applejack jumping happily.

"Aw yeah!" Said Rainbow Dash.

"Fascinating" Amara said admiring her necklace, it was a golden chain with a heart-shaped jewel, a black half and a green half merged in the center like a kind of ying and yang.

"Gee, Twilight! I thought you were just spoutin' a lot of hooey, but I reckon we really do represent the elements of friendship." said Applejack 

"Indeed you do." Said a sweet voice, immediately the sun rose on the horizon and a white glow manifested in front of them revealing Princess Celestia in all her deity glory, the mares bowed before her.

"Mom!" Amara yelled running towards her.

"Amy!" Celestia yelled.

Amara threw herself towards her giving her a strong hug while tears of joy rolled down her cheeks, Celestia returned the gesture and even seemed to shed some tears too. "You don't know how glad I am to see you, I'm very proud of you" she said.

"I'm also glad to see that you are okay" Amara said ending the hug "We did it, we got the seven elements"

"Seven?!" Celestia asked, impressed. 

"We have a lot to talk about, but first things first" Amara said, focusing her gaze on the place where Nightmare Moon had found herself moments before.

The two walked there and were greeted by the vision of an alicorn with dark blue fur and light blue hair lying unconscious surrounded by the smoking pieces of Nightmare Moon's shattered armor.

"Luna?" Celestia whispered in her ear.

The mare woke up with a loud gasp, Luna looked puzzled and confused at her surroundings in a state of total shock, she tried to get up but fell on her own weight.

"Wow! Calm! Calm" Said Amara, then she approached her and helped her up "Everything will be okay, you must be extremely confused"

Celestia stood in front of her, Luna trembled scared by the imposing figure of her older sister, she felt how her eyes seemed to look into the depths of her being, she gulped as she closed her eyes expecting the worst. But nothing remotely similar happened, Celestia hugged her tightly while tears ran down her cheeks "I missed you so much! I made many mistakes a thousand years ago, but I swear I have learned from them, I did not express my love as you deserved, but I want you to know that I love you, I have always done"

Luna immediately returned the hug, also crying "No, I'm the one who's sorry, I missed you so much big sister!"

"It is time for us to leave behind our differences and reign together, as it should had been since the beginning" Celestia said solemnly, and happy to have her sister back.

Amara for her part wiped the tears from her eyes, this was noticed by the two alicorns "A thousand apologies, sometimes I get something emotional with these things, disadvantages of being able to know the emotions of others I guess" she said trying to process the cocktail of innumerable emotions that went down her throat.

"I guess you already know Amara" Celestia said.

Amara approached, bowed before her and then offered Luna her hoof with a smile on her face “We never formally introduce ourselves, my name is Amara. Sorry about what happened a while ago with the fire and the goo"

Luna shook her hoof while looking at her impressed, did she ask her for forgiveness? "On the contrary, we are the ones who are sorry, we are the ones who wish to apologize, we tried to assassinate you!, and we are very sorry to have put you through so much tonight, we especially apologize for having threatened to break your neck"

“Nah, no problem, that wasn't you, it was Nightmare Moon. Besides, I have no bones." she said turning her head three hundred and sixty degrees.

Luna yelped in terror "How is this possible? Celestia, sister, what pony did you mate with?" she asked impressed.

Amara laughed “You two have a lot to talk about, but you better do it when we get back to Canterlot, it's better to get out of the forest before the bigger daytime animals wake up, besides, I think this old castle has seen enough for today, not to mention that our ponies must be hysterical"

"As always Amara you are right, it will be better to go" the mares began to walk towards the exit in a row, with Amara at the end, when the others left Amara turned to see the castle for the last time, in that moment she could swear she saw something move in the shadows, something dark, Amara simply shook her head in denial and assumed it was just her mind playing tricks with the shadows. She walked next to Celestia, who extended her wing and hugged her "Now tell me, how is it that there are seven Elements of Harmony?"

“Well it's a long story. We were in the library when. . . "



Upon reaching the town they were greeted by the joyful cheering of the crowd, a great party had already been organized, when crossing the main street Spike jumped to give Twilight a big hug, Amara was in charge of clarifying the whole matter in front of the town, in fact they were very understanding and some ponies even approached the princess of the night to give her gifts or talk to her, Luna could not feel happier and had a permanent smile on her face, just like Celestia who always stayed close to her sister.

After a while Celestia thanked her subjects and apologized when she told them that she had to return to Canterlot, at that moment she noticed how Twilight looked at the ground hopelessly and sad, when she finished giving her announcement she approached her "What's wrong Twilight? Are you not happy that your quest is complete and you can return to your studies in Canterlot?"

"What happens is that she does not want to leave" said Amara passing by her while delicately and politely eating a piece of brownie with chocolate chips.

"Is that true my faithful student?" Celestia asked.

"It's just that, Just when I learned how wonderful it is to have friends, I have to leave them. . ."

Celestia smiled " Spike, take a note, please." immediately the little dragon took out paper and quill "I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle  shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study  the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new  home in Ponyville." 

The ponies around them cheered after hearing that.

"Mom, if I may. Would these be weekly reports, or does she only have to send you a report whenever she learns something?" Amara asked.

"It may be whenever she learns something." Celestia replied.

The girls hugged Twilight "Oh thank you, Princess Celestia! I'll study harder than ever before." She stated

The ponies cheered, Celestia approached her daughter and whispered something in her ear, Amara looked at her impressed "Are you serious?" Celestia nodded, Amara looked at her for a moment, then sighed "Okay, I'll stay with them" then she hugged her "I'll write to you every day, I promise" then she kissed her on the cheek "I love you mom" she told her and then she went to talk to the others.

Celestia looked at her with a light smile that unsuccessfully tried to hide her sad expression, she knew that what she was doing was the right thing to do, but that didn't make it any less painful, she was about to cry when Luna hugged her and looked at her eyes with asmile trying to comfort her sister, Celestia smiled, hugged her back and they stayed there a while longer enjoying the party.
> Chapter 6 (The Ticket Master)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and Applejack walked back to the barn each carrying two baskets laden with apples, meanwhile Spike was lying on Twilight's back as he searched through the apples in the basket "No. Nope. Nope..."

"Thank you kindly, Twilight, for helping me out. I bet Big McIntosh I  could get all these Golden Delicious in the barn by lunchtime. If I win, he's gonna walk down Stirrup Street in one of Granny's girdles. Heh, heh!"

"No problem at all, Applejack. I'm glad the goal is lunchtime. All this hard work is making me hungry."

"I know, right?" Spike said throwing an apple that fell on Twilight's head, Twilight stared at him with a raised eyebrow that showed her anger, Spike just smiled awkwardly.

"Puh-lease, Spike. You've been lounging on my back all morning while we worked."

"Exactly. You two are taking so long, I missed snack time."

Twilight's stomach growled and she laughed nervously "Eh, I guess we better get some food."

Spike went back to his search "Nope. Worm. A-ha!" He cried out triumphantly when he found what he was looking for, a huge, deep red apple, perfectly ripe and juicy, it was a physically perfect apple and totally palatable to the eye.

Twilight's mouth was watering "Oh Spike, that looks delicious!" She said, immediately Spike ate the apple in one bite, squeezing its juices that fell on Twilight's face "Spike!."

"What?" At that moment Spike burped a green flame that turned into a scroll tied by a red ribbon and a gold seal.

"It's a letter from Princess Celestia." Said Twilight.

Spike got off her back, opened the scroll and cleared his throat "Hear ye, hear ye. Her Grand Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of  Equestria, is pleased to announce the Grand Galloping Gala to be held in  the magnificent capital city of Canterlot, on the 21st day of, eh, yadda yadda yadda, cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus one guest."

"The Grand Galloping Gala!" The two mares shouted in unison "The Grand Galloping Gala!" they shouted again as they cheered.

Spike simply made an expression of disgust and disdain before burping another green flame materializing two golden tickets "Look, two tickets."

"Wow, great! I've never been to the gala. Have you, Spike?" Asked Twilight.

"No, and I plan to keep it that way. I don't want any of that girly frilly frou-frou nonsense."

"Aw, come on Spike. A dance would be nice."

"Nice? It's a heap good more than just nice. I'd love to go. Land sakes. . ." said Applejack "If I had an apple stand set up, ponies would be chowin' our tasty  vittles 'til the cows came home. Do you have any idea how much business I  could drum up for Sweet Apple Acres? Why, with all that money, we could  do a heap of fixin' up 'round here. We could replace that saggy old  roof, and Big McIntosh could replace that saggy old plow, and Granny  Smith could replace that saggy old hip. Why, I'd give my left hind leg to go to that gala."

"Oh, well in that case, would you like to-"

"Whoa!" A figure shouted from the heights, suddenly Rainbow Dash fell on them throwing them to the ground next to the apples and raising a cloud of dust "Ugh. Are we talking about the Grand Galloping Gala?" She asked.

"Rainbow Dash. You told me you were too busy to help me harvest apples. What were you busy doing? Spyin'?" 

"No, I was busy. . . napping. And why are you upset with me like that? Amara is supposed to be here too and I haven't seen you reproach her"

“Because she had already told me that she had princess things to do and that she would come to help me next week. Anyway, what do you want?" she asked as she put herself up.

"Well I just happened to hear that you have an extra ticket, Right?" she asked to Twilight.

"Yeah, but-" Twilight couldn't even finish her sentence before Rainbow jumped in flight triumphantly.

"YES! This is so awesome. The Wonderbolts perform at the Grand Galloping Gala every year. I can see it now. . . Everyone would be watching the sky. Their eyes riveted on the Wonderbolts, but then in would fly Rainbow Dash!.  I would draw their attention with my Super Speed Strut, then, I would mesmerize 'em with my Fantastic Filly Flash. And for my  grand finale, the Buccaneer Blaze! The ponies would go wild! The Wonderbolts would insist that my signature moves be incorporated  into their routine, and then welcome me as their newest member. Don't you see, Twilight? This could be my one chance to show 'em my stuff. You gotta take me!"

Applejack immediately pulled her by the tail "Hold on just one pony pickin' minute here." She muttered, at that moment she let go of her tail "I asked for that ticket first."

"So? That doesn't mean you own it."

"Oh, yeah? Well I challenge you to a hoof-wrestle. Winner gets the ticket."

Immediately the two began their fight, only to be stopped by Twilight who pushed them apart "Girls, these are my tickets, I'll decide who gets it, thank you very much. Whoever has the best reason to go should get the ticket, don't you think?"

"Drummin' up business for the farm?" 

"A chance to audition for the Wonderbolts?"

"Money t' fix Granny's hip."

"Living the dream."

"Oh my, those were all pretty good reasons, aren't they?" then her stomach grumbled "Listen to that, I am starving. I don't know about  you, but I can't make important decisions on an empty stomach, so I'll,  uh, think about it over lunch and get back to you two, okay?"

"Okay." they both reluctantly said.

Spike got on Twilight's back and Twilight began to walk away slowly, at the same time Applejack and Rainbow resumed their hoof fight.



The two of them were walking silently down the main street while Twilight was with an uneasy expression not only because of how hungry she was, but because of the decision she had to make.

"Twily!" Amara yelled, shaking her front hoof high as she entered the street to the right, carrying bags of groceries and lab supplies with her.

"Hi Amy! Have you finished your royal chores yet?" Twilight asked her.

"Yes, luckily the redistribution of funds was not so complex this year, do you mind if I accompany you to lunch? I can tell that you are hungry" She said and began to walk silently with Twilight.

"So, who are you gonna give the ticket to, Twilight?" Asked Spike.

"Ticket? What ticket?" Amara asked.

"Princess Celestia gave me two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, Spike doesn't want to come, so I offered Applejack the ticket, but it turns out that Rainbow wants it too" said Twilight.

"Those two want the ticket? I would never have imagined it, it's not something I would expect from them, it would make more sense if it were Rarity" Amara commented.

"Well, they both have good reasons, and I don't know which one to choose."

“Perhaps I can help you, it is good to bring a neutral factor when making important decisions to be able to understand things from different points of view, that is why mom has counselors, although they are not always helpful. Anyway, what are their reasons?"

“Well, Applejack wants to go so she can set up a stall with her food and get money to repair the barn roof, buy a new plow, and pay for surgery to fix Granny Smith's hip. Rainbow wants to go so she can meet the Wonderbolts and show them her stunts, hoping they will allow her to join the group." She said with a frustrated expression.

Amara chuckled “Twilight, my dear, the answer is so simple that I can't understand why you haven't decided already, it's obvious that Applejack is the one who deserves the ticket, good housing, working conditions and health is clearly more important than Rainbow Dash's dreams, the Wonderbolts are not a priority. Still, there's something they don't know about the Grand Galloping Gala, you see-"

At that moment the three of them were thrown to the ground by Pinkie Pie who jumped through the door of Sugarcube Corner, the tickets slid through the air until they fell in front of Pinkie's eyes, who when she woke up jumped and began to run in circles "Gah! Bats! Bats on my face! Help! Wait," She said stopping in her tracks "these aren't... tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?! It's the most amazing incredible tremendous super-fun wonderful terrifically humongous party in all of Equestria! I've always, always, always wanted to go!" 

At that moment Pinkie began to sing, but nopony paid much attention, Twilight was more focused on her stomach, Spike was dusting his scales and Amara had an expression of bewilderment and confusion, how was it possible that so many ponies had an idea so wrong about the Grand Galloping Gala?

"Oh thank you, Twilight, it's the most wonderful-est gift ever." Pinkie said jumping happily.

"Um, actually-" Twilight said in a nervous and embarrassed tone, only to be interrupted by Amara.

"Pinkie, you don't know what you're saying, the gala isn't-" at that moment they were interrupted by a loud gasp from Rarity.

"Are these what I think they are?" She said looking the golden tickets in Spike's claws.

"Uh-" Was the only thing Twilight could say.

"Yes, yes, yes! Twilight's taking me to the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot." Said Pinkie.

"The gala? I design ensembles for the gala every year, but I've never had  the opportunity to attend. Oh, the society, the culture, the glamour! It's where I truly belong, and where I'm destined to meet him."

"Him!. . . Who?" asked Pinkie.

"Him. I would stroll through the gala, and everyone would wonder, "Who is that mysterious mare?" They would never guess that I was just a simple  pony from little old Ponyville. Why, I would cause such a sensation that  I would be invited for an audience with Princess Celestia herself, and  the princess would be so taken with the style and elegance that she  would introduce me to him, her nephew: the most handsome, eligible unicorn stallion in Canterlot. Our eyes would meet, our hearts  would melt. Our courtship would be magnificent. He would ask for my hoof in marriage, and of course I would say, "Yes!" We would have a royal wedding, befitting a princess, which is, Heh! heh!, what I would become upon marrying him, the stallion of my dreams. Twilight, I simply cannot believe you would invite Pinkie Pie so she can... party, and prevent me from meeting my true love. How could you? Hmph."

"Rarity, you have no idea how wrong you are" Amara said with a clear anger "He's not-" She was suddenly interrupted by Spike.

"Hey!" He yelled, seeing how Angel ran at full speed with the tickets in his mouth and jumped until Fluttershy's head.

Fluttershy gasped "Angel, these are perfect."

"Uh, listen guys, I haven't decided who to give the extra ticket to." Twilight said a little annoyed.

"You haven't?" Pinkie and Rarity said unison.

"Um, excuse me, Twilight. I would just like to ask, I mean, if it would be all right, if you haven't given it to somepony else. . ." Fluttershy said prudently.

"You? You want to go to the gala?" Rarity said indignantly.

"Oh, no. I mean, yes, or, actually, kind of. You see. . .It's not so much the Grand Galloping Gala as it is the wondrous private  gated garden that surrounds the dance. The flowers are said to be the  most beautiful and fragrant in all of Equestria. For the night of the  gala, and that night alone, would they all be in bloom. . . and that's  just the flora! Don't get me started on the fauna. There's loons and  toucans and bitterns, oh my! Hummingbirds that can really hum, and buzzards that can really buzz. White-blue jays, and red jays, and green jays, pink jays and pink flamingos!"

"Gee, Fluttershy, it sounds... beautiful...?" 

At that moment Amara touched her shoulder “Twilight, leave this to me. Girls, I know the gala is very important to you, but I'm afraid it's not what you think. Pinkie, the gala is not something like a huge birthday party, it is a gathering of high class ponies who do nothing but talk, eat, drink and listen to classical music, they are ponies with sophisticated manners. There will be no games or even music that can be danced, except for a waltz or two."

"Aww. . ." Pinkie sighed.

“Fluttershy, the animals may be adorable, but the gardens are not like a petting zoo, they are shy and delicate creatures, I have been in all the galas for as long as I can remember and even then the animals still run away from me. Also, as you said they are very exotic animals, I don't think you know how to treat them, do you know how to take care of toucans? Or spider monkeys? What about a Wallaroo?"

"Well. . . I-I. . ." Fluttershy tried to formulate an answer, but she had no words.

"And finally there is you, Rarity, my cousin Blueblood is not interested in mares like you, it is because of mares like you that he became a narcissist, when we were young he was sweet, respectful, chivalrous and tender, but with the years they came more and more crazy mares who claimed to love him without knowing him, just for being a prince they idealize him as if he were a perfect being, and that depressed him, the boy thinks that he will never be able to find love, or friends, or just be happy, so he took refuge in the only safe thing he had, his title and wealth, he acts like a heartless jerk in front of everypony so that others get away from him, but that simply makes him more alone, the only times he acts normal is in private gatherings with family members exclusively. So don't even try it."

Rarity was about to start a drama about how her dreams had fallen when suddenly someone screamed from on high "Wait just a minute."

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled. "Were you following me?"

"No. I mean, yes. I mean, maybe. Look, it doesn't matter. I couldn't risk  a goody-four-shoes like you giving that ticket away to just anypony."

"Wait just another minute." said Applejack.

"Applejack, were you following me too?" asked Twilight.

"No. I was followin' this one to make sure she didn't try any funny business. Still trying to take mah ticket."

"Your ticket?" Asked Rainbow.

"Why do you want to go to that gala?" Pinkie asked. "That place is full of ponies who don't know how to party."

"And the animals are too shy to meet." Fluttershy added.

"Not to mention that most of the royals care for nopony other than themselves and the others don't want to talk with us common ponies." Rarity said. 

"You shut up, you weak marshmallow!" Rainbow Dash said "Your mind tricks won't work on me, I know you just want to get the ticket"

"Marshmallow?! Weak?! How dare you!!"

They all immediately started arguing with each other, Twilight flinched into place and Amara was starting to feel sick from the mix of negative emotions "Girls, please stop this." No one paid attention to her, she felt increasingly ill and her thoughts were clouded in irritating pain “Girls! Stop! " She screamed, even so, nopony heard her, her blood boiled.

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!! SHUT UP, YOU STUPID PONIES!!!"

She screamed with all her might, her voice had a reverb and her eyes glowed green as her long fangs were exposed to view with her long green pointy tongue hissing like a snake's.

The girls were silent, in fact, the entire town was silent, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop from a kilometer away.

Amara covered her mouth with her hooves as tears ran down her cheeks "I-I'm sorry. . . I-I just don't like discussions" she immediately turned around and started running at full speed.

"Amy wait!" Twilight screamed, but in a second she vanished with a green glow.

The girls looked at each other "Can anypony explain what's going on?" Rainbow Dash asked.



Twilight walked slowly towards the library accompanied by Spike, when she reached the door she stopped dead, with her magic she took the key out of her backpack, put it in the lock, turned it and stopped, she doubted whether to enter or not, finally she raised her forehead and slowly opened the door "Amy? Amy are you here?" she asked followed by Spike.

They walked through the library, through her room and through the kitchen, they did not find her anywhere, finally Twilight directed her steps towards the door that led to the basement turned into a laboratory, she went down the stairs and was greeted by tables full of tubes, chemicals, machinery and shelves full of books "Amy?"

Amara was sitting in the corner of the room crying, Twilight slowly walked over and sat next to her "Amy. . ."

Amara raised her head to see her, her eyes filled with tears "Twilight. . . I'm so sorry. . . I-I-" Twilight covered her mouth with a gentle gesture.

"Shh. You don't have to apologize for anything. " Twilight sat next to her "I explained to the girls all about how arguments greatly affect your health and your judgment, it was not your fault."

"Yes it was!" she said starting to cry again "I lost control in front of my friends, what kind of friend does that?"

"Oh my Celestia!" Twilight said "We both know what could happen to you if the argument continued, you would have been bedridden for maybe more than a week while hallucinating."

"And who cares about my health?!" She replied “what matters is them, they did not deserve that. . ."

“Amy, please stop treating yourself like this. You tried to stop them the good way, and they did not listen, yes, maybe insulting was not the best option, but what else could you do? Do not worry about anything, the girls are not upset with you. Now come with me, I invite you to lunch, I'm starving."

"Thank you" Amara said wiping her tears.



The three of them were sitting at a table outside a restaurant, each browsing the menu.

"Have you made your decision?" asked the waiter.

"Oh. I would love a daffodil and daisy sandwich." Twilight replied.

"Do you have any rubies?" The waiter just stared "No? Okay. I'll have the hay fries, extra crispy." Spike said.

"Please give me some pasta carbonara with extra bacon and an extra addition of Parmesan if it is not too much trouble" Amara said as the waiter retired.

"Then who will you give theticket to Twilight?" Spike asked. 

"I don't know Spike, at least I don't have to worry about the others thanks to Amara, but I still have to decide between AJ and Dash" she said.

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk about, you see-" Suddenly Amara was interrupted. 

"Girls! Over here!" when they turned around they were welcomed by the rest of their friends.

"Oh hello girls," Amara said. 

"Hi Amara" said Fluttershy "We want to apologize for a while ago" 

"On the contrary, I am the one who wants to offer my apologies." Amara turned to Rainbow Dash and Applejack "I need to talk to both of you."

"Okay, but let's do it inside, there's a rain scheduled for a few minutes." Dash said. 

The eight entered the restaurant and sat by the window, at which point the waiter brought their plates and Amara thanked him politely. "So. . . What did you want to talk to us about? " Applejack asked.

“About the gala, you two want to go, but I don't recommend it, I know that both of you have reasons, some better than others, but you will not achieve any of your goals, believe me. Let's start with Dash, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but I don't think the Wonderbolts care about you, let's see it from the logical point of view, do you really think they will accept you, even though you have no prior training? I mean, maybe your stunts are good, but you have no real experience, you are a fan, you work in the rainbow factory and with the weather team. Also, your stunts are too risky and reckless to do in presentations all the time, you have to keep in mind that Wonderbolts are a business and it is not profitable for stunts to put team members at risk. What I would recommend is that you try to sign up the old-fashioned way and wait, I'm sure they are competent enough to recognize the talent of somepony like you."

"Oh. . . " was all Dash said.

"And then there is you, Applejack, of all I think you have the best reasons to go, but it won't do you any good. You see, the food that your family makes is delicious and your apples are of the highest quality, but something that you do not take into account is who you are, you are a farmer, and there is nothing wrong with that, but the nobles do not think like that, they will not buy anything that you offer them for a simple reason, your food is very simple, it is delicious, but it is not haute cuisine, it also has no presentation and unfortunately those ponies eat with their eyes, the only thing they get into their throat is what looks fine. So unless you manage to make your food look elegant enough to compete with haute cuisine, I don't think you'll have much luck."

Applejack just fell silent staring at the ponies coming out of the kitchen carrying trays full of dishes, her expression thoughtful, she had nothing to say. 

Rainbow Dash glanced at Amara's plate, without warning she grabbed the fork and grabbed some pasta "Hey, can I try this?" She didn't wait for an answer and put the bite on her mouth.

"Wait!" Amara said, but it was too late. 

"My Goodness! This is delicious! What is it?" Rainbow Dash asked impressed. 

“Pasta carbonara. . ." Amara said dumbfounded and immobile.

"And what does it have?" Rainbow asked. 

"Carbonara sauce based on egg, olive oil, salt, pepper and. . . bacon" 

"Bacon? What's bacon?" Dash asked confused.

"Pork meat" Amara said staring into her eyes. 

Rainbow started to spit and wipe her tongue "Meat?!!, You eat meat?!!"

"Strange, right?" Said Amara with a mocking smile “There is a reason why I have fangs, if you know anything about biology you will know that only carnivores have them. How we discovered it was something very curious, when I was four or five years old, Mom was discussing a trade agreement with the Griffons, I was hungry and bored, so I began to search the ambassador's suitcase and found a bag of jerky, the rest is obvious. You shouldn't take other ponies' food without asking."

Rainbow did not pay attention, took the glass of water from the table, and drank it to clean the taste "Anyway, then who will get the ticket to the gala?"

"Wait, what ticket? What gala?" Asked a waitress who was passing near them.

"You didn't know?" Pinkie Pie asked, "Twilight has a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala!" 

"The Grand Galloping Gala?!!" yelled the whole restaurant at the same time. 

Amara approached Twilight "As a good friend of mine with a pocket watch and loves to eat jelly babies says: RUN!"

Immediately Twilight jumped from her seat followed by Spike at the same time that the ponies around her began to offer favors and compliments, Twilight opened the door with a bang and ran out being chased by the crowd of ponies, they ran from side to side through the streets of the town until they reached the market.

"What the heck is going on?!" Shouted Carrot Top.

"Twilight has an extra ticket to the gala!" yelled somepony in the crowd.

The ponies in the market looked at each other for a few seconds and in less than a blink all the ponies were running after Twilight, in the end she was cornered next to Spike in the corner of a warehouse, the ponies were slowly approaching, Twilight looked in all directions looking for a way out, an idea suddenly formed in her head, an idea so risky that it just might work. Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could, her horn lit up and the two disappeared in a flash of light leaving the ponies bewildered.

The two rematerialized in the library, with an impressed expression, Spike had taken the worst of it, he was covered in soot and ash and some of his scales had caught fire "Ugh. .  Warn me next time you're gonna do that."

"I didn't even know it was gonna happen. Now quick, lock the doors!"

"Maybe we will be of help to you." commented Amara who appeared next to the girls, Amara made a sign with her hoof and they immediately closed the windows and doors.

"How did you know I was here?" Twilight asked. 

"Whenever something bad happens or you don't know what to do, you hide in the nearest library." she said.

Twilight sat up and rubbed her hoof across her face with a frustrated sigh "What am I supposed to do now?"

"That is up to you, none of the girls want to come now, so you could give the ticket away, or you could sell it." Amara commented.

Twilight was thoughtful for a moment looking at her friends and then at the tickets "Spike, take down a note. Dear Princess Celestia, I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings, but when there's not enough blessings to go around, having  more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful. So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala."

"WHAT?!!" Screamed all unison.

"If my friends can't all go, I don't wanna go either." Twilight finished.

"Twilight, you don't have to do this, we don't even want to go to the Gala anymore," Applejack told her.

"Nonsense, I already made my decision, I do not feel good about myself knowing that I manage to go to the gala while you are left with the desire, also, what am I supposed to do at the gala? You are my only friends and until a few weeks ago I was the most antisocial pony in the world, I still don't know how to start conversations and not even talk about my dance, all I would do is sit in a corner, eat and drink until the party is over. Spike, send the letter."

"Wait" Amara interrupted "Send this one too" she said passing him another scroll.

In a second Spike wrapped the letters in green dematerializing flame that went out the window snaking in the air, the girls shared a hug at the same time Spike began to regurgitate "Hgh. . .hgh. . .urk. . .urk. . ."

"Well wallop my withers, Spike. Isn't that just like a boy? Can't handle the least bit of sentiment."

"Applejack don't be dumb, don't you see he's about to spit out a letter? Isn't it obvious seeing the spasms of the dorsal scales?" Amara told her with sarcasm, immediately Spike spat out a scroll with the royal seal on it.

"A letter from the princess? That was fast." said Twilight.

Spike cleared his throat "My faithful student Twilight, Why didn't you just say so in the first place? Seven tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala."

"Now we can all go!" announced Twilight.

"Including Spike" Amara commented in a low voice, she turned to see the dragon and winked at him, then she turned to see the girls "Well, since you will all go I will make sure it is the best night of their lives. Pinkie, I can teach you some more formal dance steps and maybe I can convince the orchestra to play something a bit more. . . "Moved" Fluttershy, i can I lend you some books on exotic animals, I'm sure you'll learn their behaviors in no time. AJ, I can give you some recipes for simple but still fancy food. Dash, I still recommend filling out a registration form, but I still think I could introduce you to the Wonderbolts in person, that will make a good impression on them. And Rarity, I know a few nobles who might be of interest to you. What do you think?" The girls gave Amara a big hug as a sign of gratitude, Amara returned the hug "Now, what do you think if we go to dinner? I invite! You can order whatever you want, but we have to return before ten o'clock, I have experiments to finish."

The girls took their respective tickets and headed for the main street through the cold night fog with a smile on their faces.
> Chapter 7 (Applebuck Season)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack and Big Mac were on a hill looking at the plantation in front of them, it was the fruit of their effort and anypony could tell it just by looking at the color of the leaves and the bark of the trees, they looked healthy as best they could, Not to mention the apples, they were fat and juicy, their surface shining like red metal.

"Boy howdy! I got my work cut out for me. That there is the biggest bumper crop o' apples I ever laid eyes on." Said Applejack.

"Eeyup. Too big for you to handle on your own." Commented Big Mac.

"Come on, big brother! You need to rest up and get yourself better. I haven't met an apple orchard yet that I can't handle." At that moment Big Mac was slightly shaken in pain due to the blow that Applejack gave him in the side "Oops, sorry. I'll take a bite out of this job by day's end."

"Biting off more than you can chew is just what I'm afraid of."

"Are you sayin' my mouth is makin' promises my legs can't keep?" she inquired.

"Eeyup." Big Mac replied.

"Why of all the-. This is your sister Applejack, remember? The loyalest of friends and the most dependable of ponies?"

"But still only one pony, and one pony plus hundreds o' apple trees just doesn't add up to. . ."

"Don't you use your fancy mathematics to muddy the issue! I said I could  handle this harvest and I'm gonna prove it to you. I'm gonna get every  last apple out of those trees this applebuck season all by myself. . .*Gulp*" Applejack couldn't hide the nervous expression on her face as she took a closer look at the vast lands of Sweet Apple Acres.

At that moment Amara came out of the trees carrying a few empty baskets with her and with her magic she was holding a toolbox and the plow "I think I'm done." she said up the hill "What were you two talking about?"

"I was telling Big Mac that this year I'm going to take care of the harvest myself," Applejack replied.

Amara looked at her for a moment and chuckled to herself 'Is she serious?' A little taste test gave her the answer, she just shrugged “Well, it's your doom, the only way you can do it is if you don't sleep for at least maybe fourteen days and that would kill you, but you would surely break your legs before reaching that point. Anyway, I'll go drop this off in the barn, I have to meet up with a pony in an hour and a half to get a pair of hoov-hooks for my experiment."

"Okay, see you later, I have work to do." Said Applejack coming down the hill "Well I better get kickin'. These apples aren't gonna shake themselves outta the trees." Suddenly earth started to shake and an apple falled on her head "Hey! Oh no."

Suddenly a cry was heard in the distance "STAMPEDE!". 

Applejack raced up the hill and started running towards the path "Winona! My lasso! Quick!" she yelled, immediately the dog began to run towards the stable, at the same time Amara appeared flying.

"That was Rainbow Dash! We have to go soon!" Then Amara overtook her and in a few minutes Applejack lost sight of her, shortly after Winona appeared at her side carrying the lasso in her mouth, Applejack looked at the chaotic group of cows and began to run faster, realizing that they were heading straight for the center of Ponyville.

Amara was flying over the cows "Ok, Amara, think, you have to deflect them, the only way is to move the first one and they will follow like a domino effect." Immediately Amara threw herself on the back of the first of the cows and grabed the left horn, she threw herself to the left with all her might forcing the bovine to move to the left, but just as she was about to swerve Amara was pulled from the waist by Applejack's lasso.

"Stop there Daisy, do you want to kill yourself? Leave this to me!" Shee said disappearing into the distance  

Amara simply growled "I'm just trying to help!" but her screams were not heard, she turned around to untie the rope, but noticing that the knot was too complex Amara opened her mouth and pressed her fangs with her tongue spitting out a jet of acid that burned the rope, Amara immediately opened fly and headed towards the stampede at full speed.

Applejack had managed to tie the leader by the neck and was trying in vain to deflect her, but the cow was stronger, Applejack saw in horror how they were already a few meters from Ponyville, she closed her eyes and with all her strength she pulled the rope. While no one was watching Amara flew in front of the cow and looked directly at her, her eyes were filled with green and shined like lanterns, her pupils were tiny points that stuck like knives in the eyes of the bovine and entered her mind with no delicacy, the eyes of the cow turned green and its pupils dilated growing like saucers, at that moment the cow was carried away by Applejack without any resistance, diverting the whole group and stopping the stampede, the ponies in the city cheered. Meanwhile, a few feet away, Amara landed and dusted herself off, then simply walked back home to pack some coolers with ice and some preservative liquid.



Twilight was walking home with a nervous and worried expression, she was so focused on her affairs that she had not realized that Spike was not with her until she reached the door, she could only hope that he would stay with the others or that at least he wouldn't get in troubles, she had more important things to do at the moment. Upon entering she didn't see Amara anywhere, so she went down to the laboratory, everything was silent, she could only hear her own footsteps "Amara? Are you here?" suddenly from the closet came resounding thumps, like the ones coming from kicking a metal box.

Twilight approached slowly when out of nowhere the door slammed open revealing Amara who was wearing a side button lab coat and apron "Twilight! Good to see you! How was the celebration?" She said standing on her hind legs and hiding her front hooves behind her back. 

"It was good, I guess, what are you doing in the closet?" she asked.

"Nothing." Amara replied shrugging and showing her hooves, Twilight suddenly turned pale. 

"A-Amy, is that-?" Twilight couldn't finish the sentence, Amara's hooves were covered in red liquid with a metallic smell.

Amara looked at her hooves "Oh, this? This is just iron thiocyanate diluted in water, they use it to make fake blood, I was doing some experiments and I spilled it on my hooves." Amara immediately pointed to the bucket on the table filled with red liquid. 

"Oh okay, freaked me out for a moment" Twilight said laughing at her own idea. 

Amara walked to the sink "Well, since we cleared that up, tell me, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"It's about last week, you were right, you were absolutely right." 

"Yes I know. . . What are you talking about by the way? Lately, I'm right about many things." Amara said drying off and taking off her lab coat. 

"About Applejack, she looks terrible, she looks weak, tired and confused, even her dark circles have dark circles!"

"It is what one would expect after a week of work without rest and without sleep." Amara commented. 

"Before she left I offered her our help, but she refused, I couldn't even negotiate." 

"She is a stubborn mare, isn't she?" Amara said with a smile "What do you want me to do?" Twilight was impressed "Oh come on! Isn't it obvious? You didn't come for me just to tell me your sorrows, you want something, what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to talk to Applejack, to make her see reason" Twilight said to her in a pleading tone.

"Okay, but why me? What makes you think I could do it?" she asked. 

"Because you always win all the discussions, you are also the element of empathy, maybe someone who understands her can convince her." Twilight answered. 

"Okay, let me pack some things and I'll go right away."



I was at the doors of Sweet Apple Acres, the smell of the fresh and fertile earth filled my lungs accompanied by the sweet heat of the sun that caressed my black chitin giving me a comforting and numbing warmth, it made me want to lie on a hill and have a nap, but I hadn't come to that, I walked straight towards the house, on the path I could see in the distance an orange dot next to the trees and the barn full of a few dozen baskets with apples. I went to the door and gave three strong knocks, Big Mac opened "Princess? What are you doing here?"

“Please Mac, call me Amara. You know why I'm here, why don't we just sit down and talk about this?" 

With a gesture he invited me to pass "Coffee?"

"Yes, please, with milk and a lot of sugar" I walked to the kitchen and sat at the dining room table, took the chair next to the window, I saw the same orange dot on the horizon walking towards another tree, but halfway it would stop and remain motionless, then it shook with confusion and continued on its way only to repeat the same thing with each tree, at that moment Big Mac handed me my cup and sat in front of me.

"And why exactly did you come?" he asked. 

“Twilight asked me to come and convince Applejack to accept our help with the harvest, but we both know that won't work, I understand why she wants to do it alone, I've had a project or two which I wanted to complete alone no matter what, in the end I did it, but that does not compare to harvesting so many hectares of land."

"So what is your plan?" Big Mac asked. What I like best about him is how direct he is, but how gentle his words are at the same time. 

A smile formed on my face "Well, you know what they say, 'If you can't beat them join them'"

"That is a good plan, but you forget that my sister will not accept the help of anypony." 

"And who says she should accept?" I answered with a mischievous smile on my face, Big Mac raised his eyebrow "What I plan to do is the following, while she works in a place I will get as far as possible and harvest that area, but I need you to teach me how to make the apples fall from the tree."

Big Mac was thoughtful for a moment, took a sip of coffee and sighed, “Okay. It is not as difficult as it can be seen, you actually have a more than perfect build for the job, you stand with your back to the tree and leave enough room to kick, you have to tension your legs and buttocks until they are like branches of an oak tree, then you have to push yourself with your whole body and let your weight force the kick, you have to hit a point at the same height as your torso or your neck, sometimes it is even higher, it depends on the thickness of the trunk and how ripe the apples are, so you may have trouble with the trees on the west side. I recommend you drink a lot of water and bring something to eat that is not too heavy for the stomach."

"Easy, I've got that covered" I said giving my backpack a hit "Don't tell any pony that I was here, not AJ orTwilight, the secret stays between the two of us, understood?"

Big Mac nodded. I said goodbye and went to look for some baskets, I looked for the last time where Applejack was, I turned my back on her and started walking as far away from there in the opposite direction, fifteen minutes later I found the last of the tree line, the only thing in front of me was a white fence at about four meters that was in charge of limiting the lands. I immediately went to work, I put my backpack aside and approached the tree to my right, leavde some space between the tree and me, put my legs together and tighten my lower body, with all the force that my body gave me I lifted my own weight and with a sudden movement and pure inertia I kicked the trunk hard, suddenly I heard a CRACK! I immediately turned around and saw how the tree had broken at the point where I kicked it, in a second I took it delicately with my magic just before it touched the ground, I looked around to make sure that nopony had heard me, I approached the tree and put my hoof in the center of the piece of the trunk that was still glued to the ground and from the holes in my legs I expelled some sap-like sticky liquid that was moss green in color and carefully glued the rest of the tree, luckily the tree didn't fall to the ground "Ok, that should fix it, luckily Applejack won't notice while the tree repairs itself"

I picked up the apples on the ground and approached another tree, this time I hit with just one leg, with almost no effort all the apples fell into the baskets "Hmm. . . Maybe this will be easier than I imagined."



The next three hours I spent harvesting non-stop, it was not that difficult once you got into the rhythm, but I was starting to get bored, at that moment I remembered a song that I sang together with the boys of the royal guard.


There once was a ship that put to sea
The name of the ship was the Filly of Tea
The winds blew up, her bow dipped down
Oh blow, my bully boys, blow (huh)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We'll take our leave and go

She'd not been two weeks from shore
When down on her a right whale bore
The captain called all hoofs and swore
He'd take that whale in tow (huh)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We'll take our leave and-


"Hello?" Immediately my heart began to beat rapidly, without thinking twice I hid the baskets full of apples with a simple spell and sat leaning on the tree "Is anypony here?" Applejack asked from afar.

"Here!" I answered, at that moment Applejack appeared between the trees in front of me. 
“Amara? What are you-Yawn- doing here?" she asked. 

"Oh, you know, I just wanted to come and enjoy the sun and the calm, I have had a lot of work lately and I wanted to get away from the problems of finances and the laws of the parliament, how are you?"

"Good I guess, I think the harvest will go well for me if I continue at this rate" she said rubbing her eyes. 

"You should rest a few hours and go to sleep." I recommended. 

"Ha! No." She said, then she turned around and disappeared into the trees. 

I just sat there and when I was sure Applejack was far enough I got up in a hurry and started working again “Now. . . Where was I?. . . Oh! yeah"


There once was a ship that put to sea
The name of the ship was the Filly of Tea
The winds blew up, her bow dipped down
Oh blow, my bully boys, blow (huh)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We'll take our leave and go

She'd not been two weeks from shore
When down on her a right whale bore
The captain called all hoofs and swore
He'd take that whale in tow (huh)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We'll take our leave and go

Da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da

Before the boat had hit the water
The whale's tail came up and caught her
All hoofs to the side, harpooned and fought her
When she dived down low (huh)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We'll take our leave and go

No line was cut, no whale was freed
The captain's mind was not of greed
And he belonged to the Whalecolt's creed
She took that ship in tow (huh)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We'll take our leave and go

Da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da

For forty days or even more 
The line went slack then tight once more
All boats were lost, there were only four
But still that whale did go (huh)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We'll take our leave and go

As far as I've heard, the fight's still on
The line's not cut, and the whale's not gone
The Wellerman makes his regular call
To encourage the captain, crew and all (huh)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We'll take our leave and go

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguing is done
We'll take our leave and go




In the distance Applejack was kicking some trees and she could swear that in the distance she heard a chorus of voices singing for a second and then vanishing, she simply shook her head in denial and attributed it to fatigue.



Amara continued working tirelessly for hours singing every melody that her mind had on file, she sang until it got dark and at that moment, in a new moon, surrounded by darkness and cold listening to her own breathing and kicks next to the dim light of the stars she decided to sit down to rest, she took from her backpack something to eat and a bottle of juice, she enjoyed her food while admiring the stars, she turned to see the dozens of baskets full of apples and thought that she should take them back to the barn, but her thoughts were interrupted when her ears caught something in the distance, a harmonious whisper, almost incomprehensible but became clearer the more she heard it.


The sun will fall
And they all will die

The stars burning bright in the dark 
The moon will rise over the land

But first The Nightmare needs a new host.


The voice was attractive in a way that Amara could not describe, she felt the imperative need to get up and walk towards where the voice originated, she jumped over the fence, walked until she reached a clearing and on a hill a shadowy figure rested, dark as the deepest abyss, Her blue hair waved and shone like the starry sky, despite sitting she looked tall and imposing. For Amara everything felt unreal, it seemed that the figure was and was not there at the same time, like a ghost, a vision, a simple mirage, but still Amara felt the need to make sure "Hello?"

Amara did not see it, but a malicious smile formed on the figure's face, it turned to see her revealing turquoise blue eyes with small pupils, a long and thin horn on her forehead "Uh? Oh! Hello! I didn't know there was anypony around at this hours" said the mare smiling slightly, her features made that slight smile warm and at the same time caused fear and discomfort.

"Me neither" Amara replied cautiously approaching "What are you doing here?" 

"Looking at the stars, I really like the night. And what are you doing here?" she asked, diverting the conversation elsewhere. 

"Nothing," Amara replied.

The mare raised an eyebrow "Who comes to a clearing in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night to do nothing?"

Amara shrugged "Good point, I was helping a friend who lives in the area with this year's harvest." 

"Oh yeah, her name is Applejack, isn't it?" asked the figure. 

Amara was impressed "How do you know?"

"It is the only farm near here, but there is something I do not understand, did she let you help her? I have seen her work non-stop all week and she always refused every time I offered to help her." 

"Well, actually I help her secretly, while she works in one area I take care of another so that she works less, it's the least I can do." 

"You know that she will never thank you, right?" asked the mare

Amara looked at her confused "Yes, what about that? I don't do it out of pride or recognition, I do it because it is the right thing to do." 

"I understand that, but don't you think it's unfair? That all your efforts won't be rewarded in any way and that on the contrary, it is most likely that she will reproach you" 

The mare's words left Amara thinking for a second, but she just laughed "What about that? It's not like it's the end of the world." 

"Oh, but it's not just that, it's all the time isn't it? No one ever thanks you and no one ever rewards or even acknowledges what you do, right Amara?"

"Of course not, people appreciate what I've done," Amara replied a bit defensively. 

"Oh really?" the mare asked mockingly. 

“Yeah! Whe-When I was captain of the royal guard before Shining Armor, T-The soldiers. . . well they never gave me anything, B-But! The other ponies-" 

"The other ponies what? Uh? " she asked intensely “ You said it, they never gave you you anything, they didn't even thank you for joining the royal guard, you put your life at risk for them, how many wounds did you receive to help your soldiers? and they never talked to you about something unrelated to the battle."

“Well, maybe that's true, but ponies are made like that when they are soldiers, they become cold and mechanical, besides, in theory it was partly my duty to join the royal guard, they should not thank me for anything. Still, my subjects do appreciate me."

"Your subjects? The subjects that don't recognize you on the streets even though you're a giant insect with holes all over your body? Do you know why they don't recognize you? Because they don't care, they don't care about you, for the love of the moon! You are a princess and even so they treat you like a nobody! You cannot continue to ignore the truth, they consider you nothing, they do not care about your life and they will not mourn your death. Have you ever asked yourself Why should I put up with all this?? Have you never thought about changing things? To make them see how great, powerful and wonderful you are, to change everything, to make them your slaves, wouldn't that be fantastic?"

"No!!, the ponies don't see me like that! And even if they did, which they don't! Mom does appreciate me, she loves me and that's enough." 

For a miserable second a smile formed on the mare's face "Your mother? Loving you? Don't make me laugh! Your mother? Really? The mother who did not hesitate to abandon you in this nowhere town with a bunch of ponies you just met and her student?" 

"She didn't abandon me! She only did the right thing, it is better that the bearers of the elements stay together, also they are my friends"

"Do you really think Celestia cares about you?" she asked. Amara looked at her confused. "Think about this, who do you think Celestia cares about the most? Her daughter whom she let join the army, work on dangerous experiments, sent her on risky missions around all of Equestria and who is only twenty years old or her Immortal sister who she has known since she was born countless thousands of years ago, sister who she herself had to exile in a brutal battle and then spent the next thousand years creating a plan to get her back? You are a tool, a simple pawn which she is willing to sacrifice for anything no matter how insignificant it may be."

"That's not true! She loves me! I know, my senses don't lie ”Amara replied boiling with fury. 

"Oh please, Celestia is just deceiving you, a simple spell of hers surely makes you believe that she loves you."

Amara laughed "There are no such strong emotional spells, those things only work for a few hours" 

“Celestia is capable of moving the sun and the moon, do you really think that she is not capable of making a spell like that last a few decades? Admit it Amara, you are alone, nobody loves you and nobody respects you; Now I am offering you the means to change everything, you just have to shake my hoof” said the mare offering her left hoof.

Amara watched in silence for a second, then turned to look at the stars and laughed uncontrollably "What are you trying to achieve? I don't have time for this."

Amara got up and turned her back, but just before taking the first step the mare touched her back, Amara turned around to see her, immediately the mare pounced on her, she could only see her for a second, but that was enough, her features were warped into a grotesque and bloodthirsty smile that showed her razor sharp teeth, two huge black wings had sprouted from her sides, her feathers like thin and sharp claws seemed to try to catch her, the very composition of her body seemed to have changed from solid to something between gas and liquid, like mist or ink floating in the air. Amara rolled down the hill and fell on her back, she immediately got up with her heart beating at a thousand per hour and looked frantically at her surroundings while preparing an attack spell, there was nothing, everything was completely calm, as if the mare had never been there. Amara then prepared a tracking spell, there was no sign of any pony for miles around except the Apple, she immediately looked for signs of teleportation, also nothing. Amara felt dizzy, her head ached and spun, she felt cold sweat all over her body and her legs trembled, she rocked awkwardly towards the fence, leaned against one of the posts, and felt a twinge in her stomach, immediately she began to vomit, not a little, all the contents of her stomach emptied so fast that Amara was about to choke because she did not have time to breathe. She staggered slowly back to Sweet Apple Acres, reached for the juice bottle and rinsed her mouth, sat up and leaned back against the tree and looked up at the sky as she caught her breath. By the time she regained her reason and calm Amara had no idea how long she had been sitting there, it shouldn't be long because it was still night, she got up, gathered her things and carried the baskets to the barn with the help of her magic, once finished she started walking home with a feeling of unease.



Amara walked slowly through the silent streets of Ponyville, her expression thoughtful, glancing over her shoulder from time to time to make sure she wasn't being followed. When she got home she took the keys out of her backpack and without making much noise she slowly opened the door, walked silently through the darkness until she reached the main room, suddenly the light came on revealing Twilight sitting in a chair with a book in her hooves "Where the hell were you? It's ten-thirty!"

"How long have you been sitting there in the dark? You weren't reading, you don't have candles" Was the only thing Amara said. 

Twilight blushed and giggled nervously "That doesn't matter! Did you manage to convince Applejack?"

"No." Amara answered simply, she hung up her backpack and started walking towards the kitchen. 

Twilight looked at her in disbelief "So what the heck have you been doing all day?!!" 

"Oh, you know, walking around, finding out some things for my experiments, talking, all those things." Amara opened the refrigerator and began to browse its contents "did you eat my mushrooms?"

"No, I threw them to the trash, somepony sold you the wrong mushrooms, they were wild mushrooms, although because of how young they were I would not worry about the dose of hallucinogens, I got rid of them to avoid problems" 

A smile formed on Amara's face as she let out a relaxed sigh “So it was just a hallucination. . ."

"What?" Twilight asked. 

"Nothing. Why don't you just go to sleep? you must be exhausted. I'll eat something and then I'll go take a nap.” With that, Twilight turned and started walking towards her room. Amara prepared something to eat and took a bath to wipe off the dirt and sweat, she felt calmer now knowing that it had all been just a hallucination, she walked to the wall and began to walk on it until she hung upside down on the ceiling, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Fifteen minutes later she woke up with new strength now, prepared some food, packed it in her backpack and headed out to Sweet Apple Acres to continue harvesting.



The routine was repeated for the next three days until Tuesday, Amara stayed home writing in a notebook while resting sitting in the living room under a warm blanket, she had told Twilight that she had had to take a few trips on royal business during those three days. Speaking of Twilight, she was in the kitchen talking to Spike, who was drinking a delicious cup of hot chocolate made with Amara's secret recipe.

Suddenly their peace was interrupted by a loud knock on the door, Twilight got up and opened the door, a gray pegasus, derp eyes with golden iris and blond hair, she was dressed as a mailpony stood up and dusted herself off "Letter from Miss Applejack” She said, handing her an envelope. 

"Thanks." Twilight said "are you okay?"

"Yes, Miss!" She answered with a military salute "It happens to me all the time, I'm a bit clumsy" 

"Okay. . .? Well, thanks. . . I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"Derpy, Derpy Hooves" suddenly an alarm clock rang, Derpy took it out of her pocket and saw the time "I gotta go, see you later!" Derpy took flight only to collide with the branches of a tree.

Twilight closed the door. "Who was that?" Amara asked without taking her eyes off what she was doing. 

"The mailpony, Applejack sent us a letter" Twilight said as she opened the envelope and read its contents. 

"And what does it say?"

Twilight looked at her impressed. "It's an invitation, apparently she already finished with the harvest and she wants us to go celebrate with her." 

"Wow, so fast?" Spike commented. 

"We seem to have underestimate her a bit, maybe too much." Twilight replied.

"Well, we better be there." Amara said.

The three got ready and started towards Sweet Apple Acres, when they were near Twilight noticed how Amara was staring at a hill. 
"Amy, is something wrong?" she asked cautiously. 

"Uh? Oh! no, no, nothing, I just. . .admired the landscape” she said looking away.

Upon arrival they found the rest of the girls already celebrating with Applejack and Big Mac since Apple Bloom had school.

"Welcome sugar cubes!" Applejack said cheerfully giving each one a hug. 

"Congratulations Applejack, I can't believe you did it all alone!" Twilight told her. 

"Eeyup! I promised that I would, I harvested everything without the help of anypony” she said proudly.

"Sure. . . nopony” Amara commented with a smile on her face. 

"What are you insinuating?" Applejack asked. 

Amara shrugged "I don't know, you tell me" 

In a second everything fell into place inside Applejack's head. "No. . .it was you?!"

Amara simply nodded. "That explains why I founded trees that I didn't remember kicking! I thought I was losing the bolts faster than a rusty mechanical bull!" she said with a tone between relief, surprise and fury "How much did you harvest?!!"

"About three and a half quarters of everything, although I'm not entirely sure, I started three days ago." she answered.

"All that in three days?!! How?!" Applejack asked. 

"Well, I'm stronger than I look, insects don't have body fat so I'm pure muscle, besides I don't sleep, I only take short naps during the day." 

"But you are not even a farmer, how did you learn to harvest apples so fast?"

"Well, I had a little help."

Applejack growled "BIG MAC!!" The red stallion had already taken the lead and was running at full gallop as far as possible, Applejack began to chase him while shaking her hat to the winds.

The others just laughed. Amara went to pour herself something to drink when she saw her reflection in the punch bowl 'She was right, Applejack will never thank me.' she said to herself laughing remembering the words of the mare in her hallucination. But the laugh was short-lived as she felt a cold touch on her shoulder, a familiar voice whispered in her ear "I told you"
> Chapter 8 (Griffon the Brush-Off)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight walked to Golden Oaks carrying a dark blue book with her, she calmly entered the house and put the book on the table "Amara, I'm home!" immediately a warm smell was present, Twilight began to walk towards the kitchen, she found Amara who was washing the dirty dishes, she was wearing an apron and a chef's hat. 

"Oh! Hello Twilight! How was it with Pinkie?" she asked.

“Good, luckily she went chasing Rainbow Dash. What are you cooking? It smells amazing! " 

“Griffon Scones, I learned or rather bought the recipe on a diplomatic trip with Mom to Griffinstone; I made my own improvements to the recipe to make it more palatable, baking powder, some nuts, chocolate, pretzels, etc. Do you want to try? They're ready." Amara said taking the tray out of the oven and unmolding the scones to put them in a bowl to cool, then handed one to Twilight.

Twilight tried it, it had a slightly crispy crust, but with a soft and fluffy interior, the sweet taste of chocolate mixed with salty nuts and pretzels gave a relaxing massage to the palate "They are delicious!" 

"Thank you" Amara said taking one and savoring it delicately.

The two went about their business, Twilight sat down to finish reading her book while having some tea. Amara for her part finished some paperwork and asked Spike to send it in while she went down to the lab to work on something.

Twilight finished reading her book, put it on the table and quickly prepared her science equipment, grabbed a scroll, a pen and some ink. She began to write while observing chemical reactions, but when she turned over the parchment was blank; At that moment she heard the laughter of Rainbow and Pinkie who were watching her through the window, Twilight just ignored them and went to look for a bottle of ink.

Amara was in the lab, she was wearing protective goggles and gloves, she was carefully handling a flask filled with steaming yellowish liquid. Out of nowhere Pinkie jumped off the ceiling wearing a dragon mask; Amara let out a scream of terror and spilled the contents of the vial on her face, immediately Amara threw herself to the ground and began to scream in agony as her face melted revealing a green bloody skull. Rainbow and Pinkie watched paralyzed in horror.

"P-Pinkie, what have you done." was the only thing Rainbow Dash said. 

Pinkie cried as she hugged herself "What are we going to do?" 

The two of them turned around so they didn't have to see their friend's body. "W-We'll be fine, we need to hide the body o-or we could better leave it here, everypony will think it was an accident." Rainbow Dash said.

At that moment someone touched their back, the two of them slowly turned around. Amara's corpse had got up and was staring at them "Boo!" They both screamed in terror, at that moment Amara took off her skull mask and started laughing uncontrollably "O-Haha-Okay, that was fun" she said wiping her tears of laughter "Now get out of my lab." Amara said in a serious and threatening voice.

The two hurried out of the library, once more calm and having lost the spirit the two agreed to continue with the pranks the next day.



"So Pinkie Pie, are you sure that this friend of Rainbow Dash is really so mean?" asked Twilight as she readed a book.

"Um, yeah. She keeps stealing Rainbow Dash away, she pops my  balloons, and she told me to buzz off. I've never met a griffon this  mean. Well, actually, I've never met a griffon at all, but I bet if I had, she wouldn't have been as mean and grumpy as Gilda."

"You know what I think, Pinkie Pie."

"Hmm?"

"Well, I think... you're-"

"Absolutely right." Said Amara interrupting her “What Pinkie says is absolutely true, I can feel it. Her story also explains why I have been feeling the presence of a pony or someone in this case, who emanates an incredible amount of negative emotions"

"Wait, really?" Twilight asked. 

"Of course! Leave this to me Pinkie, I'll keep an eye on that griffon and if she bothers you again I'll make sure she'll regret it forever. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's bullies."

"Thanks Amy!" Pinkie said giving him a big hug.

“It's a pleasure to help. Now go, get on with your day, I'll take care of the rest " 

Pinkie left with plans to go have a milkshake. Amara took some things and went to look for the griffon making sure not to be seen by anypony.

Upon reaching the market street Amara hid behind some bushes, she could see Pinkie drinking a strawberry milkshake across the street, at that moment Gilda and Rainbow Dash landed on the street to Amara's right, the griffon had the colors and the head of an eagle. Amara couldn't hear well, but Rainbow said she would see her later and took off. Gilda looked around and spotted old Granny Smith who was buying some vegetables. She sidled up and played a bad joke on her.

Amara was outraged, annoyed, and even disgusted by her attitude. She could taste her malice, a metallic and spicy taste with hints of bittersweet that was only digestible for the one who felt it. She could also taste the disgusting pride Gilda felt after having made her prank. That taste of a cold dessert that left a cloying bad taste in the mouth. 

Then Gilda approached the vegetable stand again and with her tail snatched an apple. Amara was about to come out of hiding and yell 'THIEF!' When she noticed Fluttershy leading a family of ducks.

"All right little ones, this way, this way. Mama duck, you're free and clear." At that moment Fluttershy collided with Gilda.

"Hey!"

"Please excuse me-"

"I'm walkin' here!"

"Oh, um, I'm sorry. I-I-I was just trying to. . ."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Why don't you just watch where you're going, doofus?"

"B-b-b-but I... I..."

Gilda inhaled and roared loudly making Fluttershy burst into tears, then she turned and ran off disappearing into the crowd. Gilda turned and was preparing to leave when suddenly 

Amara jumped from her hiding place. "Where do you think you're going thief?! Don't think I didn't see you steal that apple"

Gilda turned around abruptly and looked Amara in the eyes with a threatening look. "Yes, I stole an apple, so what?"

"First: that's a crime, second: ponies work really hard to make those apples" Amara replied. 

“Do I look like I care about any of those things? Why don't you stop getting into what doesn't concern you"

“Oh, but it does concern me. That sweet yellow pegasus that you heartlessly made cry is my friend" Amara then took Gilda by the shoulders and jerked her close to see her face to face "And nobody messes with my friends."

Gilda pushed her away "And who the heck do you think you are to talk to me like that?!!"

Amara got up and dusted herself “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Princess Amara of Equestria, inventor, scientist, archaeologist, former captain of the Royal Guard trained in all forms of combat, element of harmony and I'm your worst nightmare"

"Should I be scared?" Gilda asked.

"Oh, you should. Because unlike poor Rainbow Dash I am able to see what you really are, you are a bully, an evil being, you are scum who finds pleasure and pride in hurting others because you think you are superior to them. Even so, you act like a saint in front of Rainbow Dash because she is your only friend and you know it, but you also know that if she knew what you really are she would abandon you without hesitation, but it is not only that, no, you used to be the loser, the one who was at the bottom of the chain of losers, then she defended you, helped you, took care of you under her wing and raised your self-esteem, but instead of learning you became the biggest bully, you misinterpreted her words of motivation and convinced yourself that you were superior. Well, guess what? You are not and you have no right to treat anyone like that, not you, nor anyone else. Now get out of here and don't mess with my friends, I don't want to fight with you, I understand that you suffered a lot, and I did too, but that doesn't excuse your actions. So turn around, go away, and don't come back until you've changed for the better."

Gilda looked at her with fury and pure hatred in her eyes, Amara was unfazed. Gilda finally seemed to calm down and turned to leave, Amara smiled and turned to go home, at that moment Gilda flew at full speed and hit her from the back, and threw her to a wall three blocks away, Amara hit the floor with her face and felt the pain run through her body. At that moment Gilda landed in front of her. 

"I don't want to hurt you," Amara said.

"Well, I do, a lot," said Gilda burning with anger. she took her by the neck and lifted her into the air. 

"Ok... let's not do things that we may regret later," Amara said.

"You say it like I'm not going to enjoy every second of this" With her other claw Gilda gave Amara a scratch on the face leaving a deep three-claw mark on her chitin.

"O-Okay, that will regenerate." Said Amara

"But the eyes will not." Gilda prepared to launch a direct scratch at her right eye with the intention of ripping it out when the tip of Amara's horn filled with green magic and a bolt of lightning sent Gilda to the ground.

"I'll say it one more time, I don't want to hurt you," Amara said getting up and catching her breath.

Gilda pulled up and quickly took Amara into a crushing hug and flew at full speed towards the nearest building, running through it using Amara as protection for her body. Amara in turn created a shield so as not to receive damage, but the shield disappeared when passing through the first wall and Amara received all the impact when crossing the opposite wall of the building and going outside again. Gilda then kicked her in the air and threw her against a tree. "You're a stupid bug, but I must admit that you have courage" Amara got up slowly, she was disoriented and her legs were shaking with pain, she looked Gilda in the eyes and prepared to fight as a drop of green blood came out of her mouth and it slid down her face. Gilda simply smiled "You don't know how much I'm going to enjoy this." Gilda was about to pounce on Amara when she was blinded by a green glow. Amara had disappeared.

"Gilda, stop this" Amara said behind her. Gilda just turned and pounced on Amara once more, only for her to teleport again "I can do this all day" Gilda pounced again releasing a roar like that of a lion, Amara teleported again, but without warning Gilda jumped out of a tree, launched herself at Amara and punched her hard in the face, wasting no time Gilda took her from one of the holes in her leg and rose above the city.

"I must admit you're making me mad," Gilda said.

"Yes, I already noticed that," Amara said with a small smile, she had one eye half closed due to inflammation, and now more blood was coming out of her mouth, and she was coughing blood between each breath. “I-*cough* I'll give you one last warning *Cough* stop before I decide to hurt you."

Gilda just laughed and tightened her grip, flipped Amara several times in the air, and threw her to the ground. Amara collided with force against Golden Oaks, as soon as she touched the ground she spat green blood, Gilda landed in front of her and slowly began to approach. Amara tried to get up, but her legs gave out and Amara fell unconscious to the ground. At that moment, Twilight came out of Golden Oaks startled.

"What was that?! Amy? Amy! What happened?!" Twilight quickly ran over to Amara and started checking her out.

Amara slowly opened her eyes still confused by the concussion "Twily?"

"Stay away from her conehead, she's mine," Gilda said approaching slowly.

"Gilda. . . " Twilight whispered dumbfounded. She immediately stood between Amara and her, and prepared her magic "No, you stay away from her."

Gilda frowned “I think you didn't understand. Get out of my way."

"No" Twilight readied herself for combat.

"Twilight no!" Amara said still on the ground.

Gilda started running towards Twilight preparing to strike when a bolt of magenta lightning hit her face and threw her backwards, without wasting time she recovered and threw another blow, only to receive another magic attack and fall to the ground. Twilight approached slowly to make sure she was okay, Twilight put her hoof on her shoulder to turn her when suddenly Gilda attacked. Twilight let out a cry of pain and surprise, falling to the ground with blood pouring from the claw marks on her face.

Amara's expression turned furious and threatening. She got up suddenly and jumped on Gilda, throwing her to the ground, without wasting time she began to deal blow after blow with her hooves “Listen to me you stupid fucking pigeon, piece of shit, street whore! You can steal, you can treat everyone like shit, you can attack me. but never, EVER dare touch my friends again!!!" Amara continued to beat her mercilessly and within seconds bloody feathers began to shoot out with each blow. Gilda with effort struck a blow on Amara's face, not that it hurt her, but Amara was already furious, she immediately returned the blow, and a huge fragment of beak shot out.

Gilda's face was filled with fear and a tear formed on her face “Oh no. . . NoNoNoNoNo! NO!" more tears began to run down her face "T-that's not-"

“-not going to grow back” Amara completed with a smile on her face “but fear not, they will give you a nice prosthesis in prison, or maybe they will put it on your corpse in the cemetery. It depends on how much fun I want to have. Now. . . " Amara took Gilda with her magic and raised her "Let's fly!"

Amara launched Gilda upward, lifting her over the city, Amara took off at full speed leaving behind her a low hum, and got into position. Just when Gilda reached the same height as Amara, she pushed her with all her strength back to the ground leaving a huge crater. Amara slowly approached Gilda and leaned close to her face "How about I call this off?" Gilda simply spat in her face. “Okay, we'll do it your way. But first” Amara's horn lit up and golden energy surrounded Gilda, in a flash Gilda felt revitalized, her most serious wounds had disappeared, and even her beak was as good as new. Something that was totally impossible “A healing spell Mom taught me. I am a fair mare and I was not going to fight you under those conditions"

Gilda paid no attention to her and immediately started the fight again. She lunged at Amara and delivered a blow to the face, Amara returned the blow and quickly turned around to give her a strong kick in the stomach, sending her flying several meters and falling next to Twilight. Gilda jerked Twilight off the ground and grabbed her tightly; Amara's expression turned violent and threatening again "Let go of her right now!" Amara ordered her.

Gilda simply smiled and brought a claw to her face "Or else?" Twilight had started crying and sobbing silently out of fear.

"Don't even think of it!"

"Don't even think about what?" Gilda brought her claw closer to touch Twilight's face "This?

"Gilda!" Amara yelled angrily and threateningly.

Gilda slowly dug her claw into Twilight's flesh, leaving a small wound from which blood began to flow; Gilda smirked, but only for a second, because before she could move a muscle Amara had teleported behind her. Amara grabbed her by the neck tightly and Gilda began to suffocate, she let go of Twilight and tried desperately to get Amara off her, at one point she dug her claws into the chitin of the legs around her neck, but this was useless; in a few seconds Gilda was about to lose consciousness when Amara released her and kicked her to the ground; Gilda spun around to get up, but Amara jumped on her just before she could take a breath and began an unimaginably terrible beating; the beating that had broken her beak seemed like a massage compared to this.

Amara beat her mercilessly. On her face an angry smile that showed her fangs bathed in her own blood and a murderous look, her eyes had turned bright green and were bloodshot, the small dark green veins fluttering in her eyes as if trying to reach her small pointed pupils. It was torture to see her directly, there were emotions in that face so strong that anyone would cower and kneel to pray for their life, but Gilda couldn't do it, even if she wanted to, Amara released forceful blow after forceful blow, Gilda didn't have time to breathe or open her eyes between each blow, the bloody feathers flew by dozens, practically half of her beak had been dislodged from her face, and what was left of it hung on tendons and cartilage. Gilda felt what was left of her bones moving through her flesh prickling nerves and tearing vessels; Right now all she wanted was for one of the blows to finally kill her.

But that didn't happen, Amara knew very well what she was doing, each blow had a unique function: to cause the most extreme pain that someone could ever experience without going crazy and without killing her, it was not complicated with her knowledge of biology, but she had ran out of non-lethal areas on her face, she decided to go for her stomach next when she suddenly turned to see the horizon, her eyes settled on a snowy mountain and in seconds her mind plotted the grand finale of the battle.

Amara took Gilda with her hooves and took flight. She headed against the mountain at full speed, moving so fast that she seemed to travel miles between each blink. The friction of the air burned the feathers and skin on Gilda's back, she released the silent and wet sobs of pain that her throat could release while a loud beep covered her ears, she felt her entire skull being crushed by an incomparable force. The mountain was a few meters away, Amara kicked Gilda and she fell against the rocky ground leaving a huge crater. Gilda felt a strong current of pain run through her body and then she felt it begin to fade at the same time that her body went numb, Gilda closed her eyes waiting for death, but she didn't arrive.

"Confused, right?" Amara said “Put this in your head birdseed brain. You are alive because I allow it, there is a force field around your body, you can only suffer the damage that I let into that force field. If you didn't have it you would have died a long time ago, do you have any idea how strong I am? I can kick a tree down, when I was a soldier I was able to go through a 10-centimeter-thick steel door and break the ribs of the pony on the other side with one single movement."

"What do you want from me?" Gilda stammered slowly.

“I wanted to help you! I gave you opportunities, I believed that you had a spark of potential strong enough to give you the possibility of redemption. I didn't want to hurt you because I knew that deep down you were a scared chick, that behind your acid shell there was someone disturbed who needed help, I didn't want to hurt you because you were important to Rainbow Dash. But in the end, you proved to be just one more bully on the heap, No. . . you proved to be the bully on top of the heap!" The anger had disappeared and now her face was full of sadness and frustration “I wanted you to shine. Now I just want you to get away, get away, and don't come back because next time I'll make sure you don't hurt anyone again.” Gilda was once again surrounded by golden magic and her body once again regenerated, except for something, one of her claws was missing and a little piece of her beak as well “That spell can only be used twice, and it has flaws the second time. So remember that if we face each other again and for some reason, I leave you alive there will be no way for you to recover from that fight. Now get out of here." Gilda without saying a word took flight and left without looking back.

Amara got up and returned to Golden Oaks, arrived with Twilight and helped her up, took her inside, cleaned her wounds while crying and apologizing, to which Twilight responded by assuring her that everything was fine, that it wasn't her fault, that she should worry about her own injuries, but Amara wasn't listening. The holes in her body started to secrete a yellowish liquid of a sticky and greasy consistency around her wounds, she would be as good as new in a few hours.

The two of them were cleaning up the mess at the entrance when a rainbow flash passed over them and revealed the cyan pegasus in all its glory. “Hey girls, how's everything going? Did you see all that scandal in the market? I couldn't get a good look at it because it was too far away so I thought you guys could tell me what happened, because it looked super cool-" Rainbow stopped when she saw Amara and Twilight "What the heck happened here?. . ."

Amara and Twilight looked at each other, finally, Amara looked into her eyes “Rainbow Dash. . . We need to talk."



There was silence in Golden Oaks, more than usual. Twilight was in her bed writing on some scrolls while she watched the foals play in the street, Amara was in her dark green cloth armchair writing in her little notebook, she checked from time to time some books and scrolls to make sure everything was correct. When she finished, she closed her notebook and put it aside. Amara saw the amber scabs that had formed around her wounds, she could already see through them that her wounds were about to finish regenerating, she felt weak, the regeneration wasted a lot of energy “Spike! Can you go to the store and get me a pound of sugar and a gallon of water? Spike?" Amara waited for an answer, but only found silence "Twilight where's Spike?"

"He went to one of his childish comic conventions," Twilight said with disdain for those fictional magazines.

“Oh don't be like that, comics aren't that bad, they can be very dark sometimes and other times they are pure expressions of art. Also, let Spike enjoy them. A dragon's childhood is less than a quarter of an eighth of its life, so let's let him enjoy it before he grows into a beast larger than Canterlot Palace."

Twilight was silent thinking about it a bit "I guess you're right. I mean, after all, I'm the mare who goes to conventions about book sagas and I really don't think it's much different."

Amara smiled “That's the spirit! Remind me to ask him to go to the store when he gets back.” Amara got up and walked to the kitchen, looking for a large jar and filling it with sugar and water in the right amount to make syrup, she returned to the living room and stood in front of the window to see the scenery while drinking. 'This should give me enough glucose to finish the process. I'll have to drink more later to recharge' she told herself; her gaze fell on a white feather outside on the grass. The conversation with Rainbow had been hard, it hurt Amara to tell Dash the truth about her friend seeing how slowly a light faded in her eyes and tears and pain flowed from her heart; Amara was about to faint several times in that conversation due to the number of negative emotions she had to digest, she was in such a bad state that it was Twilight who had to comfort the poor pegasus.

Amara just sighed sadly and hoped Rainbow was okay. She turned her gaze to the sky and could see something approaching at full speed "TWILIGHT RUN!"

In a blink Gilda went through the window and knocked her to the floor, then grabbed her by the neck and hung her on the wall. Amara prepared to cast a spell when Gilda placed a piece of metal on her horn using her other claw. “Magic inhibitor. I stole it from a street vendor who tried to sell me a strange amulet with a red gem" Amara began to make guttural sounds as if trying to speak "I'm sorry what did you say?" Gilda asked. Amara immediately spat a sticky green substance in her eyes, blinding her and irritating her eyes, Gilda put her claws to her face as she screamed in pain “Agk! You stupid bitch! you'll pay for that!" Gilda tore the greenish mass out of her eyes and lunged once more at Amara, grabbing her by the ears and head-butting her, leaving her stunned. Gilda grabbed her by the neck once more and hit her against the wall "Goodbye!" Gilda prepared to dig her free claw into the phylogastric sac in Amara's abdomen when she suddenly heard someone scream.

"GILDA NO!" It was Rainbow Dash coming through the broken window. 

"Dash?" Gilda asked incredulously. 

"Gilda, please don't do this. I know you're not a bad person" said Rainbow with sadness in her eyes.

"B-But. . . " Tears were about to flow from her eyes, but anger came back to her "She ruined me!" Gilda tightened her grip piercing the chitin and crushing Amara against the wall, preparing once more to deliver the killing blow as Rainbow put her hoof on her shoulder.

"Gilda, please. If there's still any of the griffon I grew up with in there, please listen to me. Search in your heart and do the right thing.” Tears ran down her face.

Gilda looked into her eyes, a knot formed in her throat, and tears began to flow slowly, it was a cry without sobs, just pure sadness. Gilda removed the inhibitor and released Amara, to later show her claws stuck by the wrist, on her face a feeling of supplication for her deserved punishment. Amara with regret fulfilled the request and with her magic handcuffed her. “I'll take her to the guards. Don't worry, Don't worry, I'll make sure that the punishment isn't severe. I just hope my mother doesn't find out.” Rainbow just nodded as she bit her lip trying to hold back the tears and sobs. then they heard the sound of a door opening upstairs and Twilight appeared.

"I-Is it safe to go out?" Twilight asked with a spell prepared, just in case.

"Yes. . . " Gilda said with a dull look, she was already disappointed in herself, but seeing the fear she had caused in others was a kick to the face.

"Rainbow, please help Twilight with this mess. Twilight remembers telling Spike to buy the things, I will need them for these new wounds" Amara said touching her neck and feeling the yellowish substance begin to sprout.

Twilight nodded and Amara took flight alongside Gilda holding her up with a chain of green magic.



They landed just outside the mayor's office. Gilda kept her head down, Amara smiled slightly and made the chains disappear, Gilda looked at her surprised and confused. “I'll tell them that you got into a fight with some stranger because of a misunderstanding. They will give you a maximum of a few months in prison, I will make sure that they take you to a rehabilitation prison, you will have all your freedoms, except for some schedules and of course, the confinement."

Gilda was even more incredulous "W-Why are you doing this? You don't owe me anything, I tried to kill you!, you should make sure I end up in a dungeon at the bottom of a well inside another dungeon."

Amara just chuckled "Because you're not truly evil, you just need help" 

"I don't understand, why are you so understanding with me?"

"Because that's what you need, just a little empathy. . ."
> Chapter 9 (Boast Busters)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike and Twilight were in their room practicing spells.

"Come on, Twilight. You can do it!" Spike said.

"Okay, here goes." Twilight closed her eyes and sought concentration, her horn lit up and began to emit white light. In a second a mustache of silky black hair appeared over Spike's lips.

"Ha ha! Ya did it! Growing magic, that's number twenty-five. Twenty-five different types of tricks and counting." Twilight blushed at the compliment. Spike turned around, looked in the mirror, and began massaging his new mustache "And I think this is the best trick so far. Hello, Rarity. What's that? Aw, it's nothin', just my awesome mustache. ha ha ha!"

Twilight rolled her eyes "Sorry, Romeo. As attractive and enticing as you look, it's just for practice, and it's gotta go." 

"Wait!" Spike said in vain, because right after the mustache disappeared "Aw, rats!"

Twilight chuckled "Let's go find Amara and see if she can come with us for a walk."

The two of them walked towards the basement, being a few steps from the door it was thrown open and Amara came out triumphantly holding a green crystal with her magic “EUREKA! I've done it!"

"Done what?" Spike asked.

"I have created a catalyst crystal capable of not only conducting magic but empowering it to triple its power" Said Amara proudly "now I just have to discover a faster and cheaper technique to produce them in mass"

“Well, you can work on that later. What do you think if you come with us for a walk?" Twilight said.

Amara teleported the crystal back to her lab "What are we waiting for?"



"Twenty-five, Twilight. Twenty-five different kinds of tricks and  counting. I thought unicorns were only supposed to have a little magic  that matches their special talents!" said Spike impressed.

"True, the average unicorn only knows three or four spells that suit their talent, but you forget that Twilight not only has magic as a talent, but that she is the very embodiment of that force" replied Amara

"Oh Amy, please stop," Twilight said being red as a tomato "I'm not even that good. You know more spells than I do and they are really complex"

“But it's not the same, I have knowledge but not ability, learning these spells is a great physical and mental effort, and you don't see me using them all the time. On the other hand, you are able to learn quickly and not only that, you are able to use complex spells several times with practically little or no attrition. Also, that's not true, you know more spells than I do, I taught you every spell I know, you just don't remember the names of the spells and you don't remember me teaching them to you, after that you didn't stop devouring spell books in just nights. Now stop talking nonsense and admit once and for all that you are the best."

Twilight blushed again and smiled.

"Gangway! Comin' through!" at that moment two spots of aquamarine and dull yellow passed quickly by their side raising a cloud of dust.

"*Cough* whe-*cough* where are those two going?" asked Twilight.

"Let's find out" Amara said starting to walk in the same direction.



They headed to the center of town. There was a huge crowd, all standing in front of a stage on wheels. the three of them pushed their way to the front, where the rest of their friends were.

"Come one, come all!" Shouted a female voice with a strange accent "Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" With an explosion of bluish smoke and sparks, a mare with blue fur and an almost white light blue mane was revealed, wearing a cape with a crystal brooch and a pointed hat, both purple and with yellow and blue stars. "Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!" Fireworks jumped through the air like a shower of colorful stars.

"My, my, my! What boasting!" said Rarity.

“Easy Rarity, it's just part of the performance. The number one rule of the theater is to exaggerate everything, you have to attract attention" said Amara "Also, there's no denying that she has a talent. And there's nothing wrong with being talented, right?"

"Nothin' at all, 'cep'n when someone goes around showin' it off like a school filly with fancy new ribbons." said Applejack.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Amara asked confused "That mare only does her job, she lives on this. You don't even know her and treat her like she's the biggest selfish bitch that ever lived."

"And why do you defend her if you don't know her either?" Rainbow Dash asked a little defensively.

"For two reasons. One: I'm the element of empathy, that doesn't only apply to my friends. Two: this is all illogical! Treating her like this for doing her job and feeling proud is stupid, all of you here are proud; Applejack always boasts that her apples are the best, I won't lie they're fantastic, but there is no way of knowing that they're the best. Rarity is always showing off her dresses not just to promote herself (which she has every right to do), but simply to show off her creative genius. Not to mention Rainbow Dash, she lives by bragging about her skills and stunts. Even I feel the need to brag, many times when I make a discovery I feel the need to go out into the street yelling "I've discovered it!" At the top of my lungs while I rub my research in the face of the scientific community; I just don't do it because, first: it is not the right thing, second: that would make me look bad, Third: call it conscience, call it humility, call it lack of self-love, but there's always a voice in the back of my head that tells me not to do it.
Nor am I saying that people who don't brag are good people, using that logic many criminals and dictators from the past would be considered good people.
What I want to get to is that there is nothing wrong with bragging as long as it's not taken to insane extremes, and neither you, nor I, nor anyone else has the right to reproach others for these things unless they have crossed the line between what is a normal ego and what is a superiority complex."

The girls bowed their heads in defeat and shame. “I guess you're right. . ." Rarity said.

Amara simply gave them a hug and patted them on the back, “There, there. We all make mistakes, the important thing is to learn from them. Now why don't we enjoy the show?"

The act was actually really good, there was no trick that didn't make a great impression and after each one of them Amara delighted in explaining to the others the complexity of the trick and how, when, where and who had created it. She never explained how it was done despite the pleas, because according to her "that would ruin the fun, it's also against the code of magicians."

At one point Trixie asked for an assistant and Amara volunteered. It was a card trick, Amara had chosen and signed a card at random without Trixie seeing it, Now Trixie mixed the deck and having finished she set it on fire, in a second all the cards burned except for one. "Is this your card?" Trixie asked with a smile on her face.

"No," Amara said blankly, "is this your wallet?" she said smiling, lifting a bag of bits.

Trixie was dumbfounded and began to search around her and then snatched the bag from her "where did you get that?" she chuckled.

The crowd laughed, followed by applause and cheers. Trixie and Amara stood in the center of the stage to curtsy and Amara whispered in her ear “I'm a magician too. you know what i'm thinking?” Trixie smiled and nodded.

A war of tricks then began, each one bigger and more fantastic than the last. The words 'fascinated' and 'surprised' were not even close to describing how those present felt.

It was an hour before dusk, the sun was beginning to set, and with it came the final act. Amara was chained and wearingt a straitjacket, on top of it hung a glass funnel with a hatch full of piranhas "Now listen well" Amara announced "I'll throw myself into this tank and I'll have two minutes to escape before it rains piranhas. Twilight, do me the favor of closing the locks" Twilight did as ordered and closed them "On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3!"

Amara jumped into the tank and the clock started ticking, Amara quickly removed three of the grips releasing her hind legs and one of her hooves, but just as she was about to surface the chain got stuck to the bottom of the tank. Amara began pounding on the glass desperately as the clock approached zero.

The crowd became chaotic. "Stop the clock! She can't get out!" Twilight yelled

Applejack started running towards the stage "Get out of my way!" As she went up, she launched a strong kick at the glass, it didn't break, but the blow unblocked the chain, Just when Amara came out of the water the piranhas fell on her, an agonizing scream was heard that was quickly drowned out by the noises of biting and tearing , the water turned green as the crowd screamed in horror.

Suddenly someone was heard laughing in the back of the crowd revealing Amara completely drenched, the crowd let out a sigh of astonishment as they began to clap “Thank you! Thank you thank you very much! Don't forget to pay the lady!" she said pointing at Trixie.



It was already night and a dense cold fog flooded the streets of Ponyville. Trixie was gathering her things inside her wagon and counting the bits she had collected. Suddenly someone knocked on the door when opening it Trixie found Amara “Oh, hi, it's you. Good to see you. You can come in if you want, sorry for the mess"

“Nah, okay, I just wanted to stop by to say goodbye. I never told you my name, I'm Amara” She said offering her hoof. 

Trixie shook her hoof with a smile on her face “A pleasure Amara. Hey, can I ask you something? "

"Whatever you want just say it" Amara replied.

"Can you tell me how to do the trick with the piranhas?" She asked shyly. 

Amara smiled slightly "Of course".

The two of them sat talking until dawn, they spoke, above all, magic, theater, themselves. With regret, Trixie finished packing her things and was accompanied by Amara to the outskirts of the city, as she walked away towards the rising sun she could hear Amara in the distance yelling “Don't forget! You will always have a friend here in Ponyville!" Amara turned around and started walking back home, mentally telling herself ‘This will look great on one of Twilight's letters’
> Chapter 10 (Dragonshy)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirled is a full-grown dragon doing here in Equestria?" Asked Applejack.

Suddenly the basement door was opened with a bang revealing Amara who was mixing two bottles full of chemicals, one green and one blue "Sleeping" 

"Huh?" the girls said in unison.

“He's taking a nap, his snoring is the cause of all that smoke. Mom wants us to take care of that, I wont lie, it'll be difficult, dragons are stubborn and they don't like someone messing with their sleep. Although I don't blame them, with the amount of matter they must consume to even move it makes sense that they take naps that can last millennia, also, because adult dragons eat jewels in such large quantities their metabolisms take time to process everything, they have to produce acids strong enough to melt jewels."

"And what are we supposed to do?" Rarity asked. 

“I'm working on that. I am preparing a chemical compound that should weaken the dragon and nullify its resistance to magic." Amara said.

"Ok, that sounds good. But, what's the plan?" Applejack said.

"The plan is to kick the dragon's scaly ass out of Equestria" Rainbow Dash said.

"Rainbow dear, can you stop being so impulsive? The last time you recommended that, we almost got into a fight with a manticore and surely we would have died. Let Amara take care of this, she seems to be the one with the most experience with situations like this” said Rarity

“Actually Rainbow is right. The plan is to smash that dragon's face, he will run away or we'll make him ashes” said Amara. 

"What?!" Rarity said "Surely you can't be serious!"

"Yes I'm serious." said Amara "And please don't call me Shirley"

“I'm not sure this is a good idea. Can't we just let him sleep in peace and pretend he's not there? " Pinkie said.

"If you want Equestria to spend the next hundred years covered in smoke, which would cause an endless winter, followed by heat waves that cannot escape the atmosphere, lung problems, vitamin D deficiency, famines and hysteria we will leave him alone." Pinkie was silent "we can't continue wasting time, go get your supplies for the trip and we'll meet again here before eleven thousand hours, understood?"

"Eleven thousand?" Rainbow Dash asked confused. 

“Just be here before eleven. Now get out of here!" Amara yelled in an authoritative military voice.

The girls rushed out the door each in different directions. With the exception of Fluttershy, who was walking slowly toward the threshold with her head lowered, all her behavior indicated nervousness. "Um, actually. . ."

"Fluttershy, you don't have to go if you don't want to" Amara said compassionately.

Fluttershy quickly turned around, her pupils bouncing like ping pong balls all over the place, sweat running down her forehead as she smiled nervously. “No, no, it-it's okay. I-I want to go”

Amara smiled slightly. “Don't lie to a liar. And less one who can taste your emotions" Amara came closer, put a hoof on her shoulder and looked into her eyes "I know you are scared, I understand, and I'm not going to force you to fight with almost ten tons of flamethrower lizard. The truth is, that this is dangerous and I'm not going to take unnecessary risks, the least I wish is that something bad happens to any of you. Go home, I'll make sure to go to your house when we get back and tell you how everything went."

Fluttershy hesitated for a few seconds, then looked Amara in the eye and took a deep breath “N-No. I'm going with you, it's what friends do, isn't it?" she said with a slightly nervous and trembling smile.

Amara smiled sweetly "I's an honor to have you on board." She turned around and started walking back to the lab.

"Um. . . Amy? " Fluttershy said nervously, hiding her face in her hair and rubbing her front hooves with each other.

"Yes?" Amara said turning around quickly "Is something wrong?"

"Do we really have to fight the dragon?" Fluttershy said in a shaky voice.

Amara sighed in frustration “If I'm honest, I don't want to do it either, but it's the only way. It's not easy to make a dragon see reason, trust me, I've been through that before. The most logical thing to do would be to communicate the problem to someone of high rank who would impose fear in the dragon, but no pony has spoken to the Dragonlands in years, and honestly looking at what happened last time I'm not in the mood to try. You don't have to fight if you don't want to, just stay behind me and I'll make sure to leave you at a safe distance before the fight starts. That's ok with you?" Fluttershy nodded smiling, Amara smiled back. “Perfect. Now go home and find what you feel you need, but remember to bring only the essentials, we cannot carry dead weight, that would slow us down." Fluttershy nodded once more and left.



Outside of Golden Oaks were the seven mares. Aj, Flutters, Pinkie, Dash and Rarity were in line, in front of them were Amara and Twilight, who was going through some notes and maps.

"Listen to me very well," said Amara, starting to walk from side to side looking into their eyes "I want this mission to be done quickly, Twilight has already calculated the shortest route to reach the top of that mountain, we have to keep a good pace so as not to get caught in the cold afternoon blizzards, keep in mind that the dragon is in that cave at the top” Amara said pointing to the source of the smoke.

"Looks pretty cold up there." said Applejack

"You bet it is!" said Rainbow "The higher you go, the chillier it gets."

"Good thing I brought my scarf." Rarity took out of her backpack a scarf of two shades of pink, one dark and one lighter that were interspersed in a pattern of: light, dark, light, dark, light, and so on.

"Ooo! Pretty!" said Pinkie.

"Heh, oh yeah. That'll keep you nice and cozy." Rainbow said sarcastically.

“Rainbow you didn't even bring clothes, don't be a hypocrite” Amara said, Rainbow was silent “Since there are no more interruptions I will ask you to listen to me. When facing the dragon we must take into account certain details of its biology, fortunately it's tired and being a cold-blooded being it will be weakened by the cold, but even so we must not get overconfident, we must attack the areas where the scales are less dense, and watch out for flamethrower breath or you'll burn at molecular level. I will detail the plan of attack on the way. Now get going!"

The girls began to walk guided by Twilight. "Stay close to me Fluttershy" said Amara, Fluttershy approached and stood walking to Amara's right, she noticed that the pegasus was worried, her head down, her hair was almost standing on end and she was shaking "Cold?" Fluttershy nodded, Amara then materialized a light blue wool hat and a thick soft fuchsia vest "There you go."

"I really appreciate it, Amy" she said, putting on the clothes, suddenly she let out a screech like that of a scared mouse when she heard a crack that turned out to be just a branch "Oh. . . Oops! Haha. . ." was the only thing she could vocalize between her nervous smile.

Rainbow Dash without even looking back rolled her eyes and whispered to Pinkie "I don't understand why we brought her, that mare is afraid of her own shadow"

"Hey!" shouted Amara annoyed "This mare can tame lions and bears, and let's not forget she made a manticore beg for bellyrubs, she deserves her credit"

“And what good will it do us against a dragon? Is she going to convince him to leave with kindness?" Rainbow said defiantly.

"Oh please!" Amara said rolling her eyes “If we are to be guided by that logic none of you should be here, what use is honesty, laughter, loyalty and generosity? The only ones who should be here would be Twilight, because her knowledge and talent would be useful to us, Fluttershy because her ability to tame beasts would be of great help and I, for my military training and my extensive experience with dragons and their biology "

"Amara, how is it possible that you know so many things if you are so young?" Applejack asked confused.

“Well, I can only say that I'm very good at learning, I have ease to assimilate things just by looking at them, a kind of photographic and muscular memory. And even so I've always been studious, I'm curious and want to understand things, I think it has to do in part with the fact that my own origin is a mystery, there's simply so many questions to answer, so many things that nobody knows and that are right in front of my noses so that I can hunt them down and solve them. Also, being royalty leaves you some relatively big amount of free time and with so many diplomatic trips it was almost mandatory for me to learn about all the cultures and species on the planet, there was a time when I had good relationships with the Dragonlands, I even had some friends there, but. . . that was years ago."

"What happened?" Pinkie asked. 

"I don't like talking about that. I'll only say: Betrayal and death” Amara said with a lost look, her voice disconnected from reality.

There were a few minutes of silence. "So. . . What's the plan?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Attacking the abdomen, the scales are weaker there, I wouldn't recommend attacking the eyes as blindness would scare and irritate him, which would simply make him fight harder."

"That's it?" Dash asked "It doesn't sound that complicated"

"That doesn't mean it won't be," Amara commented. 

"That doesn't sound good" Fluttershy said in a shaky voice.

"You don't worry Flutters, everything will be just fine" Amara said confidently.

"I want to believe you. It's just that I dread a lot of things here, avalanches, cliffs, steep climbs. . ." Fluttershy was interrupted by Amara's laughter "What's so funny?"

"Fluttershy, look at the road" Fluttershy looked in front of her and was surprised to see how steep it was, one could almost call it a wall.

"B-but how?" was the only thing she could say.

"You are much braver than you think Fluttershy" Amara said with a small and sincere smile.

"That isn't true. I just was distracted” Fluttershy said trying to hide her face in her pink hair.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no" Amara said shaking her head in denial, then turned and looked into her eyes "Never. Never underestimate your achievements. Achievements are achievements, and you should be proud of them. Ponies almost never realize how much potential they have, but they only have to see their past and present, each day they outdo a little more. You are an example of this, a shy mare incapable of maintaining fluid conversations that under such great adversity as the disappearance of the immortal ruler of her world and the return of a figure like Nightmare Moon decided to join the only six other mares willing to do something. Without thinking once, you decided to enter the Everfree forest with us and fought against a being infinitely more powerful than any of us. You are not a coward, you aren't even close, I dare say that you are one of the bravest beings on this planet and it is an honor for me to have you as a friend"

Fluttershy hugged Amara tightly as tears of joy ran down her face and drifted around her smile. Amara was about to apologize, believing she had said something wrong when she caught the light, sweet and citrusy taste of happiness, with just a hint of mint at the end. "Thank you, thank you so much, It means a lot for me."

Amara returned the hug and gave her a few gentle pats on the back “Anytime dear. Now do me a favor and look at the road because we are facing a cliff"

"What?!" Fluttershy turned and saw in front of her a gap in the rock that separated the two from the rest of her friends, the separation was perhaps a meter and a half, but the drop was surely several hundred.

"Do you think you can do it?" Amara asked softly.

Fluttershy stepped back and clung to the rocky wall as she shook her head from side to side in denial "Nu-uh"

Amara smiled, slowly walking towards her “There is something I still don't understand. Why didn't you have problem fighting with us against Nightmare Moon?"

"Because I wasn't alone, because I had you" She said covering her eyes.

Amara put a hoof on her shoulder “Well, if my eyes don't fail me, I think we're all here. Fluttershy, I assure you, it's safe to cross, you'll be fine. Give me your hoof, we'll cross together, if you fall I'll catch you and if we fall our friends will catch us"

Fluttershy uncovered her eyes and looked Amara, there was something comforting in her eyes, it was almost hypnotic, the more she looked at them the more confident she felt. Fluttershy took a deep breath "Okay, let's do it." She said determined and with a will of steel.

The two mares approached the edge of the cliff and held their hooves tightly. "Ready?" asked Amara. Fluttershy closed her eyes and nodded while biting her lip. “Okay, on the count of three. 1, 2, 3!"

With a little jump the mares landed safely on the other side. Fluttershy opened first one eye and then the other, completing her expression of disbelief "We did it!" she yelled triumphantly.

Immediately the others rushed to give the yellow pegasus a hug while giving her sincere congratulations and praises. Fluttershy modest as always thanked them with her sweet and calm voice while her face was dyed red with embarrassment.

The girls broke their embrace and prepared to continue. Head down Rainbow Dash approached Fluttershy “Hey, Flutters. Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Uh? Yes, of course" she said curious.

“I wanted to apologize for how rude I was to you. You know I'm not very good with words and sometimes what I say sounds out of context with other things. Look, I just want you to know that I respect you, I really do! You are a fantastic pony, you always listen, you are willing to help, you don't judge by appearances. You are like the sister I never had. I... I just want you to know that we will always be friends no matter what.  well. . . I think that's all” Rainbow formed an awkward smile, picked up her pace a bit and resumed her conversation with Applejack.

Amara then approached Fluttershy “How long have you two known each other? There's an aura of truly delightful emotions around the two of you."

"Oh? Rainbow? We've been friends for as long as I can remember, that's why I don't mind what she says, she's always been like that. Her words are as soft as a cat's tongue"

Amara laughed having caught the joke "Why don't you tell me about how you two met?"

"Well it's a funny story. You see, when I was a filly there where this two bullies. . ."



"There was also this time when we were doing crafts in the dining room and Rainbow accidentally glued her hoof to the table, they had to get an iron lever to separate her from the table"

Amara and Fluttershy were about to burst out laughing when Twilight turned around "Shh! All of you keep it down. According to my map, we're entering an avalanche zone. The smallest peep could cause a huge rock slide." she whispered.

Fluttershy started hyperventilating "An... an ava... ava..." Amara put her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder to get her attention, the moment Fluttershy looked into her eyes the calm took hold of her once more, although this time it was stronger, it almost seemed that her eyes really radiated something, had Amara's eyes always been completely green and bright? Her chain of thoughts was interrupted by the same Amara who gestured for her to look at the road, Fluttershy turned and continued walking with complete tranquility.

Amara was at the end of the group, she was walking slowly, but no less nervous for that, something felt wrong, she could feel an almost imperceptible taste that belonged to some primitive chemical reaction that could hardly be called an emotion, it was when the taste became slightly stronger than Amara stopped, she looked around confusedly and then leaned down bringing her head to the ground. It was then that she heard it, harsh and cyclical scratching sounds, something was crawling underground, Amara was about to get up to whisper to the rest of the group when she noticed something, the movements were not rhythmic and some were further away and seemed to move away, it was then when she understood. . . that they were thousands. "SHIT!" She shouted at the top of her lungs and immediately the earth began to shake because from above a wall of earth, rocks and snow had started rolling towards them "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

The girls had already started running with the first cry. Rainbow was flying overhead while dodging the falling rocks. Rarity and Pinkie ran in terror in all directions dodging the rocks out of sheer luck. Applejack was moving like lightning, jumping and circling debris as if she already knew exactly where and when they were going to fall. Twilight, for her part, ran as fast as her body allowed, but her path was blocked by bigger and bigger rocks that kept falling in her way, she was about to be crushed by a rock had it not been that Applejack pushed her out of the way.

Amara was just running trying to keep up with the others when a rock fell directly behind her and the detached earth threw her into the air, she fell disoriented on her back and was about to get up when she heard a scream to her right that was getting closer "Amara!" Fluttershy screamed as she ran towards her.

Amara looked up and saw in horror the rolling wall of dirt that got closer and closer. “FLUTTERSHY NO! RUN! GET AWAY! IT'LL BURY US ALIV-!" At that moment tons of earth drowned out their screams as the mountain fell silent.

"FLUTTERSHY!" Rainbow Dash screamed in a heartbreaking, almost agonizing way, as she took flight with tears running down her face "FLUTTERSHY?!!" She screamed again as she desperately looked around trying to find her among the rubble.

Twilight was paralyzed with horror for a few minutes, until the cold sweat finished running down her back "AMY!!" She screamed with all her might, she screamed in such a way that it seemed that she was dying, and in part she was, with tears she climbed the mound of earth while she kept repeating the same cry “AMY?!! AMY PLEASE ANSWER ME!!"

The others were immobile, Pinkie hugged Rarity who was crying uncontrollably. Applejack just looked at the floor in silence and with a gloomy expression while with her right hoof she held her hat against her chest.

Up on the mound Twilight looked around her, her legs shaking and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't take another step. Biting her lip as the tears kept running, she sat in place and tried to calm her breathing, but failed. Rainbow Dash landed next to her, looked into her eyes and she looked back at them wordlessly asking one thing, but all Rainbow Dash did was shake her head in denial.

Twilight broke down and bursted into tears, hugging the blue pegasus tightly as the world around her seemed to fall apart. Rainbow in turn hugged her as tears took over her, her wings jerking with involuntary spasms that were in sync with the knots in her chest that she felt when she breathed.

Then something was heard, a suffocated scream "Twilight?! Pinkie?! Aj?! Can somepony hear me?!!" it was that deep, soothing, and exotically soft voice that could only belong to one being on the face of the planet.

"AMY?! AMY WE'RE HERE! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Twilight said frantically as she lowered her head to the floor.

“I hear you loud and clear TwyTwy! Now get us out of here before the oxygen runs out!" Amara said smiling, then she turned to see Fluttershy her body illuminated by the dim green glow of the shield that protected them "Don't worry dear, they'll take us out soon"

“Don't worry about me, really. This is bigger than my shed. I don't suffer from claustrophobia, in fact, I visit the burrows of some of my animals several times during the year” She said calmly.

"Amara! How is Fluttershy?!" Rainbow Dash asked from the surface. 

"She's fine! she's right on my right!" Out on the surface Rainbow wept with joy as she shouted thanks to the sky.

"There's one thing I don't understand" Fluttershy said. "What happened? Why did you scream?"

Amara's expression faded and was tinged with a greyish cloak of horror. “A few years ago, when I was captain of the Royal Guard, I and a small unit were on a diplomatic visit to Saddle Arabia, everything went well, it was on the way back that it happened. 
We were camping in a canyon when one of us, a griffon, woke me up in shock saying that he had heard something underground, we were trying to calm him down when we also heard it, the ground sank and we fell into an underground cavity, around us hundreds of them. The locals call them Demons of the Rock. They are the size of a large rat, covered in stone-gray plaques, hundreds of tiny black legs, and two bulging, round, gray-pink eyes. 
They ate three soldiers from the inside out, another had his spine eaten, and one had his hind legs and wings ripped off we could only kill them with fire because magic has no effect on them. When I got close to the ground I heard thousands of them digging, it must be why this place is so unstable, those things hollowed out the ground and the mountain wall, I screamed in fright. But that doesn't matter anymore, what matters is getting out of here before-"

At that moment the two of them heard how the earth began to move to their right, a creature such as the one Amara had described sprouted from the wall of the dome, fell to the ground and seemed to look at them directly while regurgitating a disgusting greenish-brown liquid , then more and more appeared. "TWILIGHT! DIG FASTER!" Amara yelled as she backed towards the opposite wall of the shield, just then more creatures sprouted “Shit! We have to go to the center! stay behind me Flutters, I'm going to incinerate these things! " Amara took a deep breath preparing to release a flare, but stopped and let out her breath “No, wait. If I do it, all the oxygen in here will ignite and we'll burn alive. Fuck! Now what?!" She said with anger and despair as the creatures approached, there was one that got closer than the rest and Amara was not going to take risks so she prepared to kick it with enough force to return it to the pit of Tartarus from which it had come.

But when she was about to do it Fluttershy got in the way "Wait!" 

"Fluttershy! What do you think you're doing?! Get out of the way! I won't let that thing hurt you!"

"Amara this is not the way!" Fluttershy said trying to make her understand something that had always been clear to her "The locals can call them whatever they want, these are living beings like you and me"

"Fluttershy you don't know what you're saying. Those things don't have a trace of anything similar to real emotions, hell! I know it very well! Now get out of the way!"

Fluttershy gulped and steeled herself "I guess I'll have to show you myself." She turned around and calmly started walking towards the arthropod.

"Fluttershy, what do you think you're doing?! Come back here!" Fluttershy ignored it and leaned in front of the creature, offered it her hoof and the insect got on it "Fluttershy drop that thing!"

"Hello little one, how are you?" asked Fluttershy in a sweet voice, as if speaking to a foal "You look hungry, do you want a candy?" Fluttershy took out of her backpack a cube of sugar and gave it to that underground being that devoured it with pleasure "Good boy" She said proudly, then she caressed his strange shell that curiously was not so rough to the touch, the creature trembled and then shook, so Fluttershy stopped, but this only seemed to annoy him, so she resumed her action and after the arthropod made a strange purring-like sound the others swarmed around the pegasus.

"Fluttershy!" Amara yelled running towards her, but stopped abruptly when the pegasus turned and pulled the creature closer.

"You really don't see it?" Fluttershy asked.

Amara looked at the animal in confusion for a moment and suddenly felt in her mouth a horrible taste with a hideously familiar touch, like a piece of candy of the lowest quality "Oh shit!" she started spitting up trying to expel that taste from her system “Oh hell. . . That's horrible *Cough* but I think I got the point.” Amara caught her breath and coughed a few more times before finally recovering. She looked at the animal again and this time it didn't disgust her so much, actually the greenish light made it look quite adorable  “Sorry for trying to kill you, I think I wasn't seeing things objectively, but everything is clear now. . . Well Flutters, now what? The girls will take maybe an hour to get us out and with these things here oxygen will run out faster"

"I think I have an idea" Fluttershy whispered something to the armored being and he immediately jumped from her hoof and fell to the ground violently, but this didn't seem to matter to him, quickly all the creatures crawled out of the shield and disappeared between the walls of earth.

On the surface the girls were digging as fast as their bodies would allow them, but it didn't seem like they had made any real progress, suddenly small armored creatures sprouted from the ground around them in a circle, they were about to scream and prepare to fight, but as quickly as they appeared the creatures sank back into that brown paste of innumerable minerals. Suddenly the ground collapsed and sank, rebelling the highest point of a green magic dome "Amy!" Twilight shouted excitedly, they all came closer and could see the two mares, Amara smiled while waving with her eyes half closed as she settled into the light, Fluttershy for her part covered her eyes and uncovered them every two or three seconds trying to acclimatize until the pain became tolerable.

Amara opened a hole in the ceiling of the dome. "Your first Fluttershy" the pegasus mounted on Amara's back and came out of the hole with a single jump. Amara then took a leap that was enough to lift her out of the hole and flapped her wings a bit for a less rough landing.

"Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash yelled throwing herself to hug her as tears ran down her face again "For a second I thought. . . I thought I had lost you." Rainbow made her hug stronger while incomprehensible words were drowned out between her sobs, Fluttershy for her part returned the hug with affection while with her hoof she caressed the head and the multicolored hair of her friend. Her soft breathing and the slow and calm beats of her heart evaporated the cry of her friend in a few moments, Rainbow broke the hug releasing a long trembling but calm sigh, she turned around and hugged Amara tightly "Thank you for keeping her safe . . ."

'Thanks? She was thanking her? Amara looked into her eyes with a serious expression "No, no. On the contrary, I should apologize, this is all my fault, I-” Amara stopped at the sudden appearance of the comforting lemon and sugar flavor of forgiveness, but was more surprised to savor little notes of gratitude, that flavor always seemed strange to her. It was sweet but not intense and it seemed that as it made it down her throat its aroma rose to her nose, a scent similar to the nostalgic scent of rain, and then a warm flame hugged her heart. "For me these things are a duty, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't take care of you all?" she said with a sincere smile.

Rainbow broke away from her and stood next to Fluttershy without stopping for a moment to look Amara in the eye with a smile on her face. make sure there is another way to get off if we want to continue with this "Well let's get back to work" Amara said, clapping her hooves "Twilight give me the maps, we have to make sure there is another way down if we want to continue this"

Twilight reached into her backpack and handed her the three pieces of paper, Amara took them and thanked her with a nod, a smile on her face, a very special one. Every time Twilight heard something about Amara in some danger of death and ran desperately to find her, she would greet her with that smile that assured her that everything was perfectly fine, because Amara was so intelligent and capable that it seemed like death as with her mother was unable to keep up with her.

“All right, let's see what we have here. . . "



The seven mares were already at the top of the mountain, Canterlot palace was nothing more than a white point at the end of a mound that looked relatively small. The wind blew strong and cold, but its chilling effect was counteracted by the extreme heat emanating from the cavern in front of them. In truth, that was a scorching heat like standing in front of hundreds of bonfires under the burning sun in a desert whose floor was a mirror, the air was heavy and dense not to mention the smell of smoke, smoke that fortunately due to its natural properties rose as soon as it came out of the recesses of the cave and left the girls intact.

"Well Amara, It's time." Applejack said with her lasso between her teeth.

Every one of the mares, except for Fluttershy, was ready to fight. "And what are we waiting for?" asked Rainbow.

Amara kept silent and teleported in front of her a black cloth sack that despite being somewhat empty looked heavy “Actually. . . I changed my mind” she said.

"What?! You can't cower now!" Rainbow Dash protested.

“Nopony said anything about cowardice. I just said that I have made a small change of plans" Amara put the sack on her back and began to walk towards the entrance of the cave, then she turned around and looked at the second pegasus of the group "Flutters" She said in a resolute voice, beckoning the pegasus to come closer.

Fluttershy didn't have to ask questions, as soon as she saw Amara's eyes she knew what she was planning, it was as if she could read her mind. She started walking towards the entrance of the cave and stopped by her side. Courage was for her a new and electrifying emotion, it made her feel alive in a way that couldn't be compared to emotions such as happiness, love or the pride of a good day of work, no, it was stronger, more primal and instinctive. There was still a part of her that told her to stop, to curl up next to a stone; it whispered to her that at some point walking would become difficult and she would freeze in place with her legs shaking, but a burning flame in her heart clouded those thoughts, and so it was that she really understood, she had heard it before, but now that she felt it firsthand it was clear and logical. Being brave is not about not being afraid, it's being afraid and doing it anyway because your heart tells you so.

"Twilight" Amara said this time without the signs because her intentions were clear.

Twilight didn't understand anything, and although the tranquility on Amara's face was comforting to her she couldn't help but feel terrified at the situation. But she still nodded and walked towards the entrance of the cave, after all, whatever they were going to do couldn't be that dangerous or risky if Fluttershy walked with such confidence, right?

"The others wait here, whatever happens, whatever you hear, don't come in unless I tell you, got it?" Amara said with the same firm and imposing military tone that she had used at the beginning of the trip.

"But-" Rainbow Dash started to protest.

"I said, GOT IT?" Amara repeated firmly, her voice for a second seemed to have a reverb. The girls nodded silently. "Very good, come on girls, there's work to do"

The three mares entered and disappeared into the depths of the cave leaving the rest full of confusion and nerves, they all stayed at the entrance of the cave, partly to be ready if the others called for help and partly trying to hear whatever was happening inside, but they could only hear the dragon's breathing and some neutral growls that made it clear that nothing really moved was happening in there.

And so twenty minutes passed, Applejack played and made figures with her laso, Rainbow kicked stones and watched them fall out of sight and Pinkie with Rarity played tic-tac-toe. Despite the boredom there was an aura of tension in the air, tension that was broken when the sound of glass breaking and some pressurized gas being released from the cave came out with a hoarse hiss, then a roar of the dragon could be heard that was a mix between surprise and irritating pain. The girls jumped to their hooves with their hearts in their mouths, they looked at each other waiting for instructions when they heard Amara yell "NOW!" Two blinding glows of green and magenta emanated from the cave, accompanied by a dry suction sound similar to that of a drain.

A few minutes later three groups of hoofsteps were heard, two were slow and clumsy while the third seemed to be walking slowly of its own accord, minutes later three figures appeared under the threshold of the cave and revealed who was who, Fluttershy was helping the other two to stand up, Twilight was only slightly pale, but Amara looked gray, her eyes were dull and she had mannerisms so tired it seemed that some life had been taken from her.

They didn't say anything, Twilight leaned back against a rock and regained her color after a few deep breaths and a petunia sandwich.

Amara had laid down and her breathing was still labored “Fluttershy. . . Dear. . . Would you be so kind as to give me some of those sugar cubes you brought?" Fluttershy looked in her backpack and gave her five cubes that Amara eagerly devoured "Thank you" from her own backpack Amara took out a chocolate bar that she devoured with the same desire and speed, in record time she had recovered her original state, she then got up as if nothing had happened and stretched a little “Well. . . Who will pay for the drinks?"

"Drinks?" Applejack asked sharing confused looks with the others.

"Well of course, after going back to Ponyville and resting we'll meet on a bar and celebrate" Amara said starting the descent.

"Is that all?! Don't you think you should explain to us what just happened?!" Rainbow Dash said.

"That's why we are going to go to the bar, to chat, nobody knows what I'm talking about? really? This is like, standard procedure for these type of missions, it was the best part of being in the royal guard, sitting at a bar counter with a mug of cold beer while we told stories of our home and other battles" Amara met another group of confused stares “Well, I guess I invite. Now let's get out of here, there must be a lot of chaos down there"



"And you ladies, what are you going to order?" Asked the bartender, a mare with light purple fur, purple mane and a Cutie Mark with a bunch of grapes and a strawberry.

"A Martini, extra dry please." Rarity said.

"A Cherry Swirl please" Pinkie said, just by reading the description of the cocktail Pinkie could already taste the whipped cream.

"A Spring Dawn please, with little gin" Rainbow said somewhat embarrassed by her lack of tolerance to alcohol.

"A bottle of cherry wine from Raisin de sucre for me" Amara said somewhat distracted by the varied flavors of the emotions of the other three mares who had not yet ordered "Any problem Applejack?"

"This isn't my lands, a' usually only drink at family gatherings, a' had never heard about any of these drinks"

Amara chuckled "Darling give my friend here an apple cider cocktail, don't skimp on the rum or the cider. And you Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy looked at the others with a nervous expression “uh. . . Could you please give me a glass of absinthe with a filter spoon, a sugar cube and some cold water, if it's not too much of a hassle of course, just the absinthe would be fine."

"Absinthe for louche preparation, got it." Berry Punch said writing it down in her notebook "And you miss?" she asked Twilight.

"I-I shouldn't be here Amy, I think I should go back to the library and-" A sudden hug from Amara interrupted her.

"Nonsense, serve my friend a whiskey on the rocks and bring the bottle." Berry wrote down the order and retreated back to the bar.

"Whiskey?" Rarity repeated impressed.

“Whenever Twilight and I had a night off we would sit in a red velvet armchair in front of the fireplace and discuss recent topics or whatever we read, one of those days I took some whiskey with me because I was in the mood after some scientific successes; Twilight being the studious mare that she always was had never spent time on things like good food and drink, so I was surprised when she asked if she could have some whiskey.

"I was just curious." Twilight growled through her teeth, red as a tomato.

"As you say. The point is that from then on Twilight would always have a whiskey on the rocks during our sessions, and for now it's the only thing she drinks. It's not that long a story, ”Amara said with a shrug.

"Well, I guess that explains it." Rarity said

"Speaking of explanations, are you going to tell us what happened in that cave?" Rainbow Dash said a little impatient.

"All Right. I realized that the odds of winning a fight against that thing were incredibly low, so I decided to take another approach. I had never realized how easy it is to get carried away by prejudices and emotions like resentment, but Fluttershy here being the sanest pony of the group opened my eyes, and with what force! It was as if I was kicked in the conscience. This morning when I spoke of the dragon I did it with comprehension, but it was a lie, my mind hid behind a wall of pride my desire to vent, to vent all resentment and. . . Anger? No, hate? No, it was bitter, like contempt. Heh, heh, a curious emotion." Amara took some beer peanuts from the jar in the center of the table. "Well, going back to the cave, after that little revelation that I had underground and seeing what Fluttershy achieved by treating those beings well, my mind understood something that now seems obvious to me, it seems incredible to me and in fact I am ashamed to see that I lost my objectivity so easily, it's impressive indeed.” Amara stopped and in a second her expression changed to that of somepony so deep in thought that it seemed she was another plane of reality.

"Umm. . . yes, that all sounds interesting, but what we want to know is about the cave” Rainbow said irritated

"Uh?" Amara stammered as her mind snapped back into the conversation, as much as it hurt she knew she couldn't just leave the story hanging there and that her desire to mentally analyze those emotions down to their chemical components would have to wait. "Oh yeah! Emm. . . Well. Basically what we did was have a long talk with the dragon, Fluttershy apart from a voice as sweet as honey is very good at the art of convincing and she managed to persuade the dragon to listen to my plan, we were very close to fucking it up, do you have any idea how difficult it is to translate cute words into draconian?"

"Draco-what?" Pinkie repeated.

“Whether due to diet, species or some medical condition, some dragons lose the ability to speak ponysh when they reach a certain age, their throats are torn and deformed so they begin to speak the only other language they know: Draconian, a somewhat crude language composed of guttural sounds and sliding vowels, as the language was created by dragons it's incredibly difficult for other species to learn and, well, the language doesn't have many kind words. Anyway, we managed to convince him to relocate to a cave several hundred kilometers away and whose entrance is in the opposite direction from Equestria, so I used that chemical I made this morning to make the dragon vulnerable to magic and we teleported him and his horde to his new resting place."

"Wait a minute, you teleported a dragon?!" Applejack said.

Amara burst out laughing “Of course not! I don't have such great magic reserves! I just teleported the treasure, Twilight took care of the dragon."

The rest of the girls turned to look at Twilight. "What?" she said.

"Well darling, we knew you were skilled and strong in magic, but we didn't know you were that strong" said Rarity.

"Well, it's worth mentioning that Twilight's reserves have expanded since we unified with the elements" Amara said.

"That makes sense, but, what was in the bag?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Not much" Amara replied "a few maps that I used to explain to the dragon where we were going to relocate him, some bits, a Muisca gold medallion and a diamond, just some gifts to prove that we were on his side."

At that moment the waiter appeared with their drinks. Pinkie was quick and took a large sip of her drink making a whipped cream mustache, Rarity only dared to take the first sip after devouring the olive on the edge of the glass in an almost ritualistic way, Rainbow took short and shy sips until she felt safe and after a slightly larger sip she found herself pleased by the citrus and fruity flavors of her drink, Fluttershy put the sugar cube in her glass and added cold water until she got the milky consistency that she wanted, Amara filled her glass quickly but ceremonially, she picked up the glass with her magic and stirred its contents, then brought the glass to her nose and soaked in the sweet aroma of the wine and took a long sip that left a smile on her lips.

Twilight and Applejack stared at their glasses without blinking. "You know what? I'm not thirsty." said Twilight.

"Oh come on Twilight, just drink" Amara said smiling.

"What would Celestia think if she found out I was here?" Twilight said to herself, running her hoof across her forehead.

"You say that like mom doesn't know we're here" said Amara, Twilight turned around quickly and stared at her with an expression between stress, fear and anger. “What do you think I write to Mom in my letters? Obviously I let her know where we were going to the bar, and it's not like she doesn't know you drink whiskey, I told her the morning after you proved it while we were having breakfast. It's not like she really cares, you are her student yes, but she knows you're a mare not a filly, as long as you don't hurt yourself or others, Celestia cares little about that kind of things."

Twilight froze in place her pupils were nothing more than quivering points, her left eyelid twitching as her lips twitched into a trembling line that then stretched into a deranged grin.

"Umm. . . Is she okay?" Applejack asked.

“Yeah, just give her two minutes. Her brain takes a long time to process this kind of thing, there are times when she can't even process it and one has to explain it to her as if she was a foal."said Amara taking another sip from her glass.

Twilight suddenly regained her composure and after a long sigh she said her conclusion "Well, I guess there is no point in denying it anymore." Twilight took the glass and took a slow sip.

Applejack took the glass with shaking hooves and took a quick sip that she swallowed with an audible sound “Wow! This is not bad at all!"

"Told you. There was a boy in the second or third platoon that I worked with, I think his name was Red, we called him Tex because his hobby was collecting textile samples, whenever we went to the bar he would ask for this, a strong drink with a rustic touch, it seemed appropriate for you."

At that moment a stallion with dark blue fur took the stage in the center of the bar and took a guitar out of a case. “First of all good night mares and gentlecolts, my name is Midnight Melody and I'll be your entertainment tonight, I will be taking suggestions, if you want me to play something specific just tell me."

"Look at that" Amara said "Do any of you want to hear a song?" The girls shook their heads “Ah, well. I have some suggestions, but I'd better leave it for later."

"Hey, Amy, How did you recover after eating all that sugar an chocolate back there at the mountain?" asked Pinkie.

Amara shrugged "A result of my insect biology I think, sugar helps me maintain and recharge my energy reserves, and it usually helps me heal wounds, and about the chocolate, I just like it, it's delicious, it's all I can say. Did you know that chocolate has a chemical that your mammal bodies convert in phenylethylamine, which is the same chemical that you secrete when you fall in love?" 

"Oh, that explains why ponies give each other chocolates on Hearts and Hooves days" said Pinkie

"Amara, Could I ask you something?" Applejack said.

"Shoot" Amara said before taking another sip of wine.

"How's life with the rest of the royal family?"

“Well, it has its glamor and its rewards, but speaking of family itself it's not that great, I'd give my left eye for a family like Twilight's. As I have already told you, Blueblood is a poor depressed and lonely paranoid who uses a narcissistic facade to keep the world away from him, but in reality he is a really nice stallion, even though we don't see each other very often we've always been very good friends, he is attentive, sweet, intelligent, educated and a great astronomer, very skilled with the astrolabe."

"Astronomer?" Rarity asked.

“His Cutie Mark's star isn't there for decoration. I was on the balcony of the palace one night trying to find a passing comet with the telescope, Blueblood who was awake in his room reading appeared by the hallway and after going for a glass of water he came to accompany me, I was exhausted so I asked him to help me, and in just minutes he had everything ready and a star drawn on his flanks."

"Well, it sounds like the two of you get along really well." Rainbow Dash said.

“True, I can't say the same about the rest of the family, I have a cousin, I wanted to befriend her when I was young, but she has always despised me for my appearance, no matter how hard I tried, she has never tolerated me, she tries to pretend at family gatherings, but I don't even have to taste her emotions to know. It's not that she hates me as a pony, in fact we have a good relationship through letters and have helped each other on multiple occasions." Amara took a long sip of wine, then took the bottle and refilled the glass. "I would describe my relationship with her as problematic and complex, and frustrating, incredibly frustrating, I understand that she disliked me in the first few occasions we met when we were young, but at this point in life I find it annoying, I already lost all hope for change, but if she changes one day the change will be more than welcome."

"Oh well, that sucks." Rainbow Dash said.

"You have no idea of how much it does." Amara replied “But let's change the subject, it's my turn to ask questions. What about your family Applejack?"

"Oh no, here it goes again, I'll have to order something much stronger." Rainbow Dash said putting her drink aside and motioning for the waiter to come over.

Applejack just rolled her eyes. “Well things have actually been quiet this month, my third cousin from Manesota has been working on. . . "



Amara gently tucked Twilight into the bed making sure not to wake her up, Twilight, who was balancing between the thin barrier of dreams and her drunken ravings, babbled short incoherencies diluted by a sweet whisper that made Amara smile because of the cuteness. Amara looked at the bedside table and made sure nothing was missing “A pitcher of water, a glass, three of the strongest aspirins in the bathroom cabinet, ibuprofen, lemons, a knife, another glass and a book for when she wakes up. Mmm. . . I'll have to buy the ingredients for the soup tomorrow." She told herself as she left the room. After delicately closing the door behind her she went down to the main room.

Amara went into the kitchen and poured herself some water. She turned off the light and her surroundings were illuminated only by the light of the candle that she held with her magic, the flame danced slowly in a fluid movement that distorted the shadows in the corner of her eyes, giving the illusion that these moved like snakes Amara went into the kitchen and poured herself some water. When she left she turned off the light and her surroundings were illuminated only by the light of the candle that she held with her magic, the flame danced slowly in a fluid movement that distorted the shadows in the corner of her eye, giving the illusion that these same they moved like snakes crawling towards her.

As Amara walked towards the stairs, she noticed something curious, despite being directly in front of the shelves, the space of just centimeters between them was in absolute darkness, suddenly the darkness came to life and began to crawl through the crack, reaching the ground and expanding until projecting an unnatural silhouette, Amara backed away quickly trying to get away from the shadow, and right then it began to stretch and went from two-dimensional to three-dimensional state after a series of incoherent movements that defied all known geometry.

"Y-You. . ." Amara said with a trembling voice “What do you want now? I have no time for this."

“They didn't thank you. . . " said the figure in a whisper that seemed to come from everywhere.

"What?"

“None of your friends thanked you. . . " said the approaching figure, it was tall and thin, so dark that the candle was unable to illuminate it and it would seem that it was still a two-dimensional shadow were it not for the fact that it was moving in three dimensions.

“Of course they didn't thank me! They were all drunk!" Amara replied irritably "seriously, for a being like you that argument leaves much to be desired."

The figure smiled slowly revealing multiple rows of fangs. “Oh? really? ha, ha, ha. . . Mmm. . . okay let's do it your way."

"Uh?" Amara stammered in confusion. Suddenly the temperature of the room dropped drastically at the same time that the air seemed to paralyze, there was not the slightest sign of a breeze, the candle flame lay motionless in its position. Amara looked around searching for the shadow, she began to feel pressure in her chest and her breathing was accelerating, soon she began to feel dizzy as a stabbing pain went down from the tip of her horn to her head, Amara lost her concentration and let the candle fall as she held onto the table to keep her balance “S-Stop. . ." Amara could feel something else crawling inside her head, something that wasn't being to gentle to her insides "Get out of my head!"

As suddenly as the temperature of the room and the sound of the wind had disappeared it manifested again, the pain left Amara leaving behind severe nausea, shaky legs and bewilderment. "W-what?" The extinguished candle rose surrounded by a blue aura and lit up with a black flame that illuminated the room in an unnatural way, suddenly in front of her the shadow materialized once more, this time with a more compact and understandable form, an alicorn tall and thin, completely black, deep blue eyes with elongated and pointed pupils, from its mouth the ends of white fangs protruded, shining like the stars, but the strangest thing was its expression, it was a mix between surprise, confusion and malice.

"Wow. . . " she said raising an eyebrow and eyeing Amara with renewed curiosity.

"What do you mean by 'wow'?" Amara asked annoyed, showing her fangs to make her anger clear.

"Well. . . it's just that. . . Uh. . . Well, it's just that I didn't expect it to be so much" She said glancing at Amara once more.

"So much what?" asked Amara.

"Oh, don't play dumb. We both know what I'm talking about, you said it back there at Sweet Apple Acres, I was right, and I wasn't just right about what I said on the hill, right?" She said as she walked circles around Amara.

"Call me whatever you want, but I have no idea what you're talking about" said Amara who didn't take her eyes off her for a second.

"Poor and sad Amara, the pain and loneliness has been so much that you have started to believeyour own lies as if they were facts." She said shaking her head with a pious and empathetic expression.

"I repeat it again, I have no idea what you are talking about." Amara said even more annoyed.

“Oh really? But you talked about it this morning. You used to have such a good relationship with them, you did so much with and for them, and how did he pay you back? Uh? How did he pay you?" she said in a firm and inquiring tone.

"I don't want to talk about it." Amara said trying to hold back her tears.

"By my stars Amara, has the world really brought you down so low?" The figure asked in a strangely warm voice, her expression sad and disappointed.

"What are you trying to do?" Amara asked angrily already with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm trying to open your eyes!" She answered bluntly “Amara, you are better than this. Nobody, least of all you, deserves the things you've had to go through. For the love of Orion's belt! just touch your cheeks! you're crying! he hurt you so much that you can't even hear her name, the name of her who was taken from you, the name of-"

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare say it. . ." Amara said in a furious guttural stammer before her words were drowned out in little sobs that she tried to hide by closing her mouth and biting her lips closed.

“Pepper, they took Pepper from you, you saved their scaly asses, you taught the other to fly, you helped them countless times, you treated them like only somepony as kind and good as you can treat someone and they took Pepper from you. You start to-" She stopped and turned to look at the corner of the room for a few seconds. "Is there anyone else in this room? I mean, apart from the two of us?" She asked confused, Amara did nothing but cry uncontrollably letting out sobs so sad that they softened her cold heart a bit and made her dismiss her sudden question "Come on, raise your face. You are much better than this." Amara raised her face and let Nightmare see her expression filled with anger. "Oh, come on. If there's somepony to blame, it's not me." Nightmare went to the window and opened the blinds. "It's them you should blame" she said, pointing to the rest of the city. "Everyone in this miserable world has done nothing but hurting and/or belittling you, none of those stupid people value you as they should, it's not fair, it just isn't fair, think about it Amara, everything you've fought for them, everything you've lost for them, don't you think you deserve some of appreciation, some respect, some gratitude, some love. The subjects you've broken your back fighting for have failed to give you such vital things, and it's not like they're lacking them, those idiots spare no expense when it comes to praising your mother and all those other idiots who always steal your credit. "How good that Celestia sent her daughter to do this" when the idea was yours "how generous is Celestia to make her daughter fight alongside our soldiers" when you were the one who volunteered "how smart and great is Celestia who has given so many new inventions that have made our lives easier and have saved many others" you are the real inventor! and let's not start with the others! generals, scientists and other nobody peasants who don't deserve anything." Nightmare turned around and saw Amara's eyes now without tears "Why don't you believe me if everything I've said comes from your memories?" she asked.

"Because you're twisting everything." Amara replied in a grunt “Because I know what you are and what you want Nightmare, I've had more time than you could imagine to study you. You aren't a creation of Luna or a demon from Tartarus, you are nothing more than a parasite, a fragment of Darkness that wants me to become its new puppet so it can fulfill its purposes."

“My only purpose is to help you dear, I want you to obtain what is rightfully yours, don't you want it too? Respect. . . appreciation. . . power. . . All that and more will be yours if you accept the truth, yes, it will hurt at first, but once you channel that pain and give it its correct use, you will get everything you have always desired and nothing nor nobody will be able to take it away from you. What do you think?"

"I'm not an idiot Nightmare." Said Amara “Everything you say is nothing more than lies, what you say should belong to me by right is nothing more than your pathetic attempt to instill in me your desires. Yes, I also know a bit of manipulation, it's abundant among beings like you, you are in the first stage, you try to make me listen to you using concepts that you extrapolated from my mind, take any pony, listen to their goals and you will see that everything is based In the same fundamental desires, there is the same desire behind the one who wants to lead the company in which he works and the one who wants to dominate this world like a tyrant, the difference is in the intentions of that goal and in how it came to be, different trees born from the same root."

"So you don't deny that deep down you want it?" Nightmare asked with a smile of superiority 

"NO! YES! NO! FORGET IT! Of course I want things! I wish respect as everyone does, I wish appreciation, but only that which corresponds to my actions, and that doesn't mean that all my actions should be rewarded with praises, I'm not egotistical, good if they praise me, good if they don't. And yes, I wish for power, but to help, if I had enough power I could get rid of all those monsters in Tartarus, I could get rid of you, I could protect this world from forces worse than you."

“Amara, are you really so blind? You say that you do want it and that all desires are the same, under that logic you are accepting that deep down we are the same." Nightmare said with a raised eyebrow and a triumphant smile.

"Maybe that's true, we both have the fire that can change this world, for better or for worse, but what we do with that fire is what separates our paths." Amara replied with conviction.

"We'll see about that Princess." Nightmare growled in a poisoned tone as her body melted into bluish mist that rose to the ceiling and began to circle on top of Amara.

Amara felt her head spin and her body grow heavier as she was paradoxically invaded by the sensation of floating."W-What? What are you doing!?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I'm just going to give you a reminder, a little trip through your memory, so that you'll be a little more open minded on my next visit." Nightmare, still in her misty form, floated down in front of Amara, her nonexistent outline distorting into horrendous patterns.

"What are you talking abou-?" Amara fell to her knees and began to hyperventilate as pain and sadness invaded her, in a few seconds the emotions tightened her heart and formed a knot in her throat that did not allow her to do anything but sob.

“I am going to make you re-evaluate some things, you are going to relive each and every one of the moments in which this world has failed you. Don't forget, that everything you are going to see and experience is nothing more than the facts Amara." The mist circled around Amara with the speed of a tornado and came out the window disappearing into the night sky.

Amara lay on the ground crying, unable to form a thought due to the overlapping of memory after memory, her eyes burned, but not as much as her heart "G-Get up, get up, get up, come on, get up." Amara tried to get up only so that her shaking legs gave way to the nonexistent weight on her back. Suddenly Amara heard footsteps coming down the stairs, Twilight appeared staggering with a huge, innocent and placid smile on her face.

"Amy. . .! W-*hic*-What are you doing on the floor silly filly? *hic* you should sleep on the bed." Twilight stumbled around in a zigzag and helped Amara up even if it looked like she herself was about to lose her balance. "There *hic* mu-*hic*-much better."

"Twi-Twilight? What are you doing down here? I thought you were sleeping." Asked Amara wiping and hiding her tears leaning on the table in the center of the room as she regained some strength.

“Well, I got thirsty, so-*hic*-so I decided to go down for some water. Heh, heh, water, it's such a weird word. Water, waaater, waaaateeer." Twilight started giggling with a childish smile on her face that complemented her flushed cheeks.

"I'm pretty sure I left a jug of water on your nightstand." Amara said raising an eyebrow.

“Oh really? I think I didn't saw it, silly me. Heh." Twilight came over and gave Amara a hug that had enormous strength, which was only equaled by how warm and comforting it was "Thank you Amy, for everything, you are the best friend anypony could have, always so humble and kind, so-*hic-so loyal, so generous, it's as if you had the best traits of each one of us raised to the tenth power, you've always been so-*hic*-so good to everyone, I don't know what Equestria would do without you, I don't know what I would do without you. Thank you." Twilight tightened the hug a bit more as she snuggled her head into her friend's neck, enjoying the warmth and affection that Amara also returned, tightening her hug and letting melodious chirps like those of crickets while silent tears of joy ran down her face.

"I love you Twilight." Said Amara smiling replicating the action of snuggling into her friend's neck.

"I-*hic*-I love you too Amy." Twilight broke the hug and looked into her eyes with the same innocent smile, tilted her head and planted a kiss on Amara's right cheek. "Well, *hic* better go get that water, I'm dying of thirst."

Twilight turned around and after repeating the same zigzagging walk, she staggered up the stairs. Amara walked to the window and fixed her gaze on the darkest part of the night sky where she could barely see the dying flashes of some stars. "Perhaps my memories are facts, but as a great stallion once said "Facts, my dear Sancho, are the enemy of truth." " Amara turned  around once more and went up the stairs back to her room, that night she was going to take a nap happy and in peace.
> Chapter 11 (Look Before You Sleep)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike and Amara walked in silence through the corridors of the palace, it was a really comfortable silence, there where memories impregnated in every millimeter of the marble, every strand of the rugs and tapestries, every piece of the colorful stained glass that told stories of ancient feats. The two were navigating a placid sea of ​​memories, they could see before their eyes hundreds of younger copies of themselves, all had ghostly and intangible aspects and each one was immersed in a recreation of the memory from which they originated.

"It feels good to be back in the palace," Spike said looking at the bas-reliefs on the ceiling as he basked in the warmth of the sun's rays in a way that only the reptiles in Fluttershy's sanctuary could understand.

"Yup, it's like they say, there's no place like home." Amara said nodding slowly. A smile crossed her face, there had always been something calming and warm in that millennial miasma that was permeated in the air that roamed the corridors, no matter what blizzard hit the palace that smell was always there as a sign that whoever resided in it would be practically immovable and would be safe forever, and that was how Amara felt within the confines of that marble fortress, safe, like a filly protected from the sound of thunder by her mother's embrace.

"Well this is my hall, see you later Amara. And don't forget to bring me the copies of that document! " Spike turned down the hall to his left and disappeared down it. Amara kept walking accompanied only by the sound of her hoofsteps and the echo of those of a guard who was surely changing shifts.

"Princess. . ." Said a voice that seemed to come from all the recesses of the palace at the same time and that left behind a cold and shuddering echo.

But Amara didn't flinch, she wasn't afraid, not this time "Come out, come out from wherever you are Nightmare."

"Aww. . . You take the fun out of this. " Amara turned around and saw to her right that tall dark figure where her reflection should be in the window.

"Really? A reflection with shadow? Is that the best you got? A little more eldritch horror would help you sell a better atmosphere." Amara resumed her walk. "Start at once because I really don't have time for this right now, I have a lot of work to do."

"Don't act all brave around me girl, I can smell your fear." Nightmare said angrily.

"Good, that just further proves what a bitch you are."  Suddenly Amara was pulled by force towards the window, her body being pressed against the glass.

Nightmare, pressing herself againts to Amara's face had an incredibly cold touch that like little needles stabbed her face. “Listen well your miserable cockroach, you are not in the place to speak like that to me, I who was born within the darkness that lies out of time and space itself, I have seen empires rise and gods burn. You don't know what you're getting into."

Amara used her front hooves to push herself away from the window "Well this 'miserable cockroach' is who you want as a host, and I've seen things too Nightmare, lots of things."

"Yes, it's true, I forgot that you are a big box of surprises."

"Yes, yes I am." Amara said smiling.

"Oh, you're being rude. If you're so brave, why haven't you told your mother I'm here?" Nightmare asked.

"Because it's no use, if I did it would only complicate my efforts to get rid of you, I still can't find the correct incantations, besides, I can't let mom find out that I'm in this game."

"Yeah right. We both know very well that the reason you haven't told her is that you are afraid, because as soon as she finds out she will throw you into the deepest and most ardent pit of Tartarus."

"My mother is not a monster, Nightmare." Amara replied "and if we're going to start over with this, let me make myself comfortable." Amara prepared her magic and teleported to her room.

The room was spacious, the walls formed a circumference divided by eight columns, to the left of the door a large bed with a base and headboard of dark oak, white pillows and blue-purple sheets, to the right of the bed a large night table and a closet, on the left a desk surrounded by shelves full of books right in front of a huge window, and directly in front of the bed a marble fireplace surrounded by a red rug and two red velvet armchairs with details in gold.

Amara walked straight to the desk, grabbed the oldest books on the shelves, and sat down to decipher once again those paragraphs written in dead, unpronounceable languages. "Yes, your mother may not be a monster, not to scale with the rest, but we cannot say that she's a saint." Nightmare said.

"Of course not, nobody is, much less me." Amara replied somewhat distracted as she went over some Latin verses and compared them with their original version. 

“Do you really think that anything written there will be useful against me? It's like researching the eating habits of a lion by reading a book of fables."

Amara tried to ignore her as she read the last page of the oldest volume on the table, when she finished Amara carefully closed the book and took a deep breath "Damn it!" Amara slammed the table causing the objects on it to bounce to the floor.

"I told you." Nightmare whispered in her ear with a teasing tone.

"Shut up!" Amara quickly charged her horn with magic and launched a direct attack at Nightmare's face, hair and flesh peeling off like black paint dripping down a canvas.

"That's rude" said Nightmare.

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" Amara kept shooting magic that was dodged over and over again. "Why don't you just die?!" she screamed enraged.

“That's it little princess, let it all out. . .”

Amara's legs suddenly began to sink into a puddle of pure black emanating from Nightmare "No!" Amara desperately tried to crawl out of that cold pool of darkness dead for countless eons. “No! Let me go!"

"Oh, you're not going anywhere, it's the end of the road, Amara." Strange black appendages black like the abyss rose from the dead puddle, these appendages crawled and stretched grotesquely, their indescribable appearance had a vague tentacle-like shape and that little resemblance to nature gave a macabre contrast to those gelatinous black wires.

"NO! NOOO!" Amara screamed desperately and clumsily trying to get up with every ounce of strength in her body, but it was useless, only her head protruded from the puddle, one of the appendages stretched and wrapped tightly around her neck trying to submerge her completely once and for all.

And then, out of nowhere the room was filled with green glow and although Amara couldn't move her neck she could hear the sound of flames even if only for a few seconds "what the-? Who and what are you creature?" Nightmare asked to someone or something out of Amara's view, the being, whatever it was, didn't make a sound and a beam of blue magic went straight to Nightmare's face throwing her to the ground with outstanding strenght "You miserable mortal! insignificant termite! you'll pay for-" another beam of magic hit Nightmare who fell to the ground emanating a scream of pain. 

At that moment, taking advantage of Amara's lack of concentration, the tentacle clinging to her neck pulled her hard, submerging her head completely in that black tar. Amara wasted no time and stood up once more, letting her head out of the puddle. The room was now dark. Confused, unnatural, and grotesque screams emanated from Nightmare, and between the occasional bolts of magic could be seen fleeting glimpses of Nightmare herself and something else leaping out of the shadows that the light of the spells failed to illuminate.

The tentacle once again pulled her down and once again Amara swam out of the puddle, Amara saw Nightmare lying on the ground with holes and scratches on her abyss-black body that radiated dim light and emanated bluish aether spilling like dry ice vapor and then vanishing into nothing, Nightmare gasped with an expression of anger and the slightest hint of fear drawn in permanent ink on her face. Amara craned her neck the few inches she could and saw what Nightmare was staring at in the middle of the room, a faint gleam of two green eyes could be seen, the creature hissed and released a stream of pink magic straight at Nightmare, who screamed in agony.

Amara, now seeing herself free from the tentacles, stood up on her hooves and illuminated her horn only to see another green flare and then nothing, in the room there was only her and Nightmare who was lying on the floor "Damn you Amara, chances are over! Did you hear me?! Next time you'll be mine, and I'll make sure to get rid of your stupid mother and your stupid friends in the most agonizing and torturous way possible, and I'll make you watch it, I'll make you watch how I do it without you being able to do. . . any. .thing. . ." Nightmare started to become transparent "dammit. . ." Nightmare then vanished into thin air.

Amara, now terrified, confused, with broken nerves and out of her mind, ran out of the room, leaving behind overturned, smashed furniture and her belongings scattered on the floor. 



Luna was sitting in the throne room, the light of some candles was the only thing that illuminated the gallery, it was certainly difficult for her to see the interior of the room, but that was not what Luna was interested in, it was the stars, she was somewhat rusty but she had made an effort to make this night as beautiful as possible, a pity that it was a new moon night, but in fact it was something poetic, since it was the first time that she brought the night since she got rid of Nightmare. 

Her thoughts were interrupted when Amara came running into the room "get out!" she yelled at the two guards. 

These two looked at each other, then at Luna and then back at Amara "Princess... are you sure you want us to leave you alone with-?" 

"OUT!" Amara yelled loudly exposing her fangs with her reverberating voice.

The two guards ran full speed ahead and kicked the door shut. "Amara, what is the meaning of all this? What could lead you to cause such a sudden and scandalous intrusion?" Luna stopped and looked at Amara carefully, she was agitated, disturbed nervous, looking over her shoulder and surroundings apparently looking for someone "are you okay?"

Amara turned around and looked into her eyes with horror being on the verge of tears "No. . .not at all" she said shaking her head. Amara runned towards Luna and hugged her tightly.

Luna was paralyzed and confused, she didn't know how to react and she couldn't deny that she hadn't gotten used to having physical contact yet, despite the fact that she really wanted to have it, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, paradoxically. Even so, Amara was not okay, she needed her, she was her family, slowly and delicately Luna returned the hug, in front of which Amara hugged her harder, Luna began to caress her hair trying to calm her "there, there, you're safe, what's wrong?"

"She's hunting me, she-she almost got me, don't let her take me! Please!"

"Wha-Who?" Right then she saw it, a tall alicorn silhouette on the window "Oh no. no. . . no, no, no, no, no!"

"Good night Luna." said Nightmare behind her. Luna turned around and fired a strong beam of magic that opened a hole in the marble wall "Aw, come on, that's not the way to treat your old friend." Said Nightmare now meters away to the left.

"Why are you here you eldritch aberration? why are you torturing Ama-MY NIECE?" 

"Did your brain atrophy while we were on the moon and I didn't notice? You know what I want, a friend, just a friend." Nightmare slowly started to walk towards them with a decrepit smile on her lips and her pupils stabbing like daggers into Amara, who tried to cast a spell with the little control she had over herself, but only could make some green sparks that died in seconds.

"Amara, get behind me and if I say run, you'll run." Amara did as she was told. Luna closed her eyes and quickly but carefully began channeling and bending the arcane field of her magic into the correct pattern, she then channeled it into her horn unfolding a complex intrinsic pattern of magic, a spell so complex that despite its power it had never been used in battle before, many times the situation did not require it or there just wasn't time to concentrate enought to cast it. "Don't move."

Nightmare stopped unimpressed. She shrugged, sighed, and rolled her eyes "Luna, Luna, Luna, right now you're becoming a nuisance, I'll give you one more chance, for old times' sake, move out of my way." Luna didn't move an inch. Nightmare sighed again "you asked for it" Nightmare lit up her horn and the spell dissipated.

"Wha-?What?!" Luna shouted confused.

"You see Luna, as my old puppet you still have one or two strings I still can pull, which allowed me to disarm that spell and also allows me to do this." Nightmare fired a beam straight to the tip of Luna's horn. 

Luna's eyes rolled back on her skull and her jaw dropped, a sphere of blue magic came out of her horn and floated towards Nightmare who with a twitch of her hoof destroyed it.

"L-Luna? What did you do to her?!" Asked Amara while she shooked her aunt trying to get her out of that trance.

"Nothing bad, I just destroyed her memory of the last minutes, she wont remember you came here, will do the same to the guards in a while, but first I'll take care of you." Nightmare lit up her horn and for Amara all turned black.

She was paralyzed, couldn't move a muscle, couldn't make a sound, she wasn't even sure if she was breathing but she was sure that her eyes were open, she was on her bed, or so she thought, she could recognize the texture of the sheets and some silhouettes of the furniture that was still on its place. For hours she desperately tried to free herself, but one cannot scape from its own body, and once Amara got tired enough to comprehend this she started to cry in the inside of her head, the whole night.
> Chapter 12 (Bridle Gossip)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So let me get this straight, all of the town locks themselves in their houses each time this Zecora comes into town just because they think she's and evil enchantress with no actual proof?" Asked Amara.

"But we have proofs!" said Pinkie.

"Saying she does normal things like eating hay and walking on an 'evil' way isn't proof of anything, no, wait, it does proof something. You all are a bunch of paranoids!" Amara said.

"We're not." grumbled Rarity "If she means no harm why does she always come to roam the town in that way, why does she dig holes on the ground and what's with those horrible, horrible stripes!"

Amara stared into her with disbelief "Ok, I-I don't even-, I don't even know where to start. First of all, are you all dense?  she roams the city maybe because every store and building is closed and she's tries to find a place that's open, even the Hospital is closed, which is a very serious crime by the way, so what if she gets hurt and comes into town, will you leave her to bleed out on the middle of the street? 

Second of all, digging holes has nothing to do with her being evil, fillys dig holes with no reason, and if it was related to something sinister, why do it in the middle of the street of a town? if your into some big scheme you would probably keep it secret.

Third and most important what you said about her stripes is pretty racist, that mare is a zebra, she was born like that and she deserves the same amount of respect as everyone of us."

"A zebra?" Asked the girls unison, Twilight and Amara looked at each other and shaked their heads.

"Zebras have one the biggest and most rich cultures on the planet, they exist as a singular tribe subdivided by multiple different beliefs and traditions, all unified by an attitude of camaraderie and their shared belief that all life is important and connected, they care for each other and as they can't use magic they have developed advanced shamanic techniques and medicine, their country, Zebraica is home to some of the most complex and diverse ecosystems, they export fruits, fabrics, silk, and are one of the main producers of coffee, apart from Coltombia, they also are producers of cocoa." Twilight recited in a formal tone.

"Thanks Twily. I have met many zebras in my life, good people, very kind, caring and emotional, when I first visited them they recieved me not as an outsider or a superior but as if I was one of them, part of the tribe, a pity that it was such a short visit."

"Ya' may be right about some things, but that doesn't mean that she's an angel." Applejack replied.

"Neither am I, neither are you, neither anyone, well maybe Fluttershy could get that title."  Fluttershy hid her face between her hair as she blushed. "Look I know that you're scared, it's normal to be scared about the new and unknown at first glance, it's one of the primal instincts of preservation that have kept most species alive, but we're not wild animals, it isn't right to hide here and ignore the mare that's out there like she was some dangerous beast, and what you're doing is worst than that you are judging unfounded and slandering that poor mare, if the non-biased things that you say are true the poor thing may not have had contact with anypony in years, can you imagine that kind of loneliness? these visits may be the only form of socialization she has, maybe after this she goes back to the Everfree to spend the night cold and afraid of the creatures that lurk there, or maybe not, but that's not the point, the point is that you can't judge the book by its cover, and in your case you haven't even gotten a good look at the cover, you judge the book just by looking at the window of the shop across the street." Amara turned around and started walking towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Asked Rainbow.

"I'm going to talk with Zecora and see if I can help her with whatever she needs."

"You can't do that!" yelled rainbow.

"Oh really? and who's gonna stop me?" Amara glanced at everyone on the room except Twilight, Fluttershy and Apple  Bloom. No pony made a move, Amara turned around once more and walked outside.

As she walked down the street towards the hooded mare she had a realization, she was proyecting two shadows, Amara stopped for a moment and stared to the two dark copies of her holey silhouette trying to guess which was hers and wich was her, she turned her head around to find most of the girls staring at her, Amara gulped and restarted her walk, she had something to do right now. "Excuse me ma'am, do you need any help?"

The mare turned around and took off her hood, she had a squared off muzzle, dull blue eyes that lacked eyelashes, beautiful light and dark grey hair, her neck was surrounded by five golden dzilla neck rings, she also had two big golden earrings. The two mares just stared at each other for a moment "Hello, my name is Amara, wellcome to Ponyville." 

Amara offered her left hoof, which Zecora shook and then gave her a hug. "Mwei batiha obe lenoru." Zecora said with a smile on her face.

Amara chuckled nervously "Please give me a second, my farasi is somewhat outdated, uh. . . Odal ilowa ho bai, malaler a'ai?"

Zecora chuckled "Not bad. Meeting you does make me very glad, my name is Zecora."

"It's also a pleasure Zecora, and about what I asked earlier, can I help you with anything?" Amara asked kindly.

"Why I'm glad you're asking, I'm in search of one most peculiar herb, but everything is closed and everypony is disperse." Zecora said.

"Ther's a store down the market street with a big orange sign they might have what you need." Amara commented.

"Yes, I've seen it, but it's always closed down no matter when I come to town." Zecora replied shrugging.

"Oh, this was the part of this conversation I feared reaching." Zecora looked at her confused, tilting her head to the right. "You see, the reason for everything being closed and everypony hiding is. . . you." 

Zecora's confusion became deeper "W-What? But what would I have to do with that?"

"Well, everypony here thinks you're an evil enchantress, that you will hypnotize the first pony you find and then take them to the depts of Everfree forest and will cook them on a cauldron and eat them for dinner." 

Zecora bursted out laughing for several minutes until she saw Amaras ashamed and awkward expression "Wait, you're serious? how can they think that of a stranger? I am in no way a danger."

"Ask them I was just walking down to buy some cookies and got dragged into Sugarcube Corner by my friends, talking about that. Twilight! please, could you come out here for a moment ?" the purple mare peeked out of the window and then came out of the building while dragging Pinkie Pie that was clunched to one of her back legs trying to prevent her from leaving.

"Hello, you must be Zecora. Can I help you with anything?" 

"Twilight do me a favor, take miss Zecora to the herbalist's shop and force them to attend you two no matter what."

"And what about you?" asked Twilight.

"I'll go an talk to the mayor, because this is all outrageous! and illegal, very illegal. Also talk the girls and spike after Zecora gets the her she needs and try to make the talk to her and apologize." Amara turned around and headed towards the town hall.



Twilight banged on the glass door and waited for an answer, she could see a stallion peek around the counter only to hide again when she saw the two of them. Twilight knocked again and again there was no answer, Twilight then opened the door.

"You can't come in here!" the stallion screamed alarmed jumping into his hooves.

"The door is open and the sign hanging from it says it's open, so I think we can get in here." Twilight said, the staliion din't seem less agressive "Relax, she just wants some herbs and then she'll be on her way."

The stallion sighed ". . . ok, but be quick."

Zecora quickly took three small pouches and filled them with some strange dry leaves of yellowish color that emanated a strong aroma of ash and sugar, she then put it in the counter next to some golden coins with a red crystal on the center. 

The stallion weighed the herbs and then took the coins, but stopped before putting them on the register "Wait, these aren't bits."

"Indeed, they are the money of my tribe, the only savings that I have. Hope they are enough to pay the herbs I wish to buy today."

The stallion stared at the coins for another pair of seconds and then shrugged, he put the coins in the register and gave Zecora five bits back as change. The two mares turned around and walked to the door and before it closed they heard the stallion say in a sincere tone "Have a good day you two!"

Zecora had a smile imprinted on her face as they walked their way back to Sugarcube Corner.



"what do you mean by 'I don't control this kind of things'? you're the mayor, your work is to keep order in this town." Asked Amara with a mix of confusion and anger.

"What am I supposed to do? I can't force them to come out of their houses and talk to that zebra." Said the mayor with raised eyebrow and monotonous but strong tone, she was sitting at her desk, eyes darting between Amara and the documents she had to sign.

"Yes, you can't, because that's not how you should do your work. What you should have done long ago was a town meeting in which you could talk about the problem, maybe invite Zecora so she could tell her story and voila! Problem solved."

"Do you really thing that they would have dismissed so easily a rumour they themselves started."

"With a figure of autority explaining it yeah, a pony is intelligent the mass is dumb, that's why they believe it on the first place. Somepony started the idea, maybe as a joke, maybe as a thought maybe some scared foal that saw Zecora working and missinterpreted it, doesn't matter. The rumour started to spread and as it travelled from mouth to mouth people's line of thought was 'if so many people talk about it and believe it, it must be true' and during the years it took for the whole town to convince each other to the level of hiding locked up in their homes when Zecora comes to town you did nothing."

"I. . . I. . . oh my gosh. You're going to remove me from office, aren't you?"

"For this? nah, although this situation is badly handled I can know that you didn't mean it, your emotions tell me so."

"Oh Celestia i was scared for a second."

"Not so quick miss Mare, I just said I wouldn't remove you for the thing with Zecora, not that I wouldn't remove you from office."

"What?" she asked scared and nervous.

"Both the hospital and police station are closed, pretty illegal, why do you allow it?" 

"Well, as everypony is locked up at home there aren't any crimes when Zecora is in town, the same with medic incidents, and the staff insists on locking themselves up, so-"

"That's no excuse, you're the authority, you must follow the law and make sure everypony else does." Amara stared at her in such an intimidating way that the mayor was frozen by fear on her seat "but, I wont remove you, not yet, if I do I'll have to issue a lot of paperwork and help on new elections, which wouldn't be a problem if-" suddenly the lights flickered, Amara quickly and violently turned around to make sure her 'shadow' was stil on its place. The mayor, still frozen by fear didn't make any questions. "-if i didn't have a big problem right now that requires all of my time."

"B-Big problem?"

"Nothing that concerns you, what does concern you is that if you commit another of this errors you'll leave this office with a box full of your things as soon as I find out. Goodbye." Amara lit up her horn and dissapeared in a flash.

She opened her eyes on Sugarcube corner finding the place fully decorated and full of ponies, the voices and emotions of many others flooding outside. 

Pinkie jumped in front of her and started rambling about how she had made that party for Zecora because she never got a 'Welcome to ponyville party', Amara ignored most of what she said as she smiled and delighted on the taste of the happiness coming out of the smiling zebra on the center of the room that was talking to the rest of her friends and some other ponies.