First MLP fanfic successfully completed!

And about time too! This was extremely tedious work for me, considering that it took me a whole year to complete -- the longest I've ever taken to complete a fanfic to date! Phewph! :P

I still remember the evening when Huascar (a friend of mine, the inspiration of the character of the same name in this fanfic) and I first sat down to write this fanfic together; it was a Wednesday evening in late February of 2013, if my memory serves me right.

The idea for the name of "Alberto Garcia" was actually Huascar's idea; we had planned on making this story set in Latin America, in a place where there are lots of Amerindians -- and what place more suitable than La Paz in Bolivia, the country which has more Amerindians than any other in the Western Hemisphere?

Alberto Garcia, as we would create him, is this 33-year-old typical working class Bolivian gentleman, a native from the Aymara tribe, who happens to be very high-society in his attitude, if a little snobbish. This kind of attitude, unfortunately, causes him to have lots of problems, especially in regards to keeping a job for long. What makes matters worse is that he is financially poor, and comes from a single-parent family, having never known his real father all his life; and above all, he is also equestrophobic, having once had a bad experience after a kick in his arse from a real horse when he was only a boy.

The turning point already comes as early as Chapter 1, where we see two ponies -- the alicorn Twilight Sparkle and the pegasus Rainbow Dash -- flying into his dormitory, during a period where he is doing a stint in the Canaries with his then-workplace, All Lee Enterprises, under the iron-fisted regime of its boss, the villainous Don Francisco Juan Perez. From there, we see Alberto running into numerous encounters with these cute ponies. Initially he is skeptical about them (we can see a very good example in the part where he is halfway on the way to the lawyer's in an early chapter and Derpy comes and blocks his way and asks him "Alberto, Alberto, why are you persecuting us?"), but he starts seeing some good in the ponies after a later incident where he is a guest at a big party, and another guest -- his ex-manager in All Lee, the mega-villain Benz Guzmán -- traps him on the host's balcony with a bomb disguised as a "cocalero" brand cigar in his hand, and it is the very same Derpy who rescues Alberto -- and all he needed to do was to jump off the balcony and land prostrate on Derpy's back, and she would then fly him to safety.

The story's climax comes when we see towards the end of the story that Don Francisco actually turns out to be Alberto's own biological father. The ultimate lesson about friendship that Alberto has learned from the ponies, despite all the sacrifices along the way, is that true love never dies. Just think -- Alberto did not trust the ponies at first, even tried to avoid them, but time and time again they kept on saving his life. It is only by the end of the story that he realises who his true friends are, namely, the ponies.

This fanfiction was a great pleasure for me to write; albeit it took such a long time due to lack of time, energy, and inspiration on my part (for those who don't know, I do have a day job). I'm also aware that there have been many dislikes on this fan fiction. I'm not exactly VERY troubled by that; I knew that that was coming anyways, given that I did have lots of lacks of inspirations along the way -- notably around episodes 7, 8, and 9. Needless to say, thank you for your feedback; I will be sure to make the next big fanfic, "In History Maybe", also with Alberto Garcia and the ponies, a lot more fun than this one! :D

Also, I'm aware that some of my readers may not be very used to my excessively dramatic style; I've had people asking me before (you know who you are) as to how much television I watch every day, why I MUST make the avatar of the fanfic look so much like some HKTVB series poster, things like that. I do know that the dramas I'm used to watching may not exactly be the genre that everypony else is used to watching. Nevertheless, I do try to cater to as much styles as possible. Huascar, whom I met earlier this week, shared with me that I should try to add in more elements of "witty, charming, violent, emo" into my stories. Do not worry, I have every such intention, and you will be seeing those happening in upcoming fanfics!

I do not know how many of my readers watch drama serials, but for those of you who do, you'll probably have noted that the 1983 HKTVB series "Return of the Condor Heroes" -- my favourite serial to date -- was a strong influence, particularly from Episode 9 onwards. I am actually a very big fan of drama serials; I've been watching them on TV since I was 12 years old, that was in September of 1997 (folks, I leave it to y'all to figure out how old I am!). You can ask me to name all the drama serials airing on my local TV in chronological order from September 1997 to August 1999, and I can assure you, I can do so without referring back to any sources.

Hence it should not be a surprise to you, dear readers, that my fanfics have too many complications. I've always been of the faith that a drama is never a drama until and unless there are enough complications to carry forth the story; my dad's colleague, a doctor who writes stories for our local TV channel in his free time, shared with me that "complications are the essence of all drama". Indeed, I do also follow the annual Star Awards on my local TV, and am well aware that the best drama serials are always those that have many episodes, lots of complications, and also plenty of guns and shooting. I incorporated those elements into "Amor Esta Magica" because they would surely be necessary to carry the plot forward. I kept telling myself, write this story as though you are about to submit it to your local TV station, how they view it will ultimately affect whether or not it will go on air.

I know at this stage there will most likely be some who will ask me, why did I become a brony if what I like is top-class high-rated drama serials? Welp, actually I became a brony because I found out that the MLP plushies were very cute and cuddly, and their make kind of intrigued me. So I became a brony for collector reasons. You do realise that many of the ponies I featured in "Amor Esta Magica" are some of the rarer and harder-to-find ponies, notable examples are Snips and Snails, the "Samba Unicorns". Even Derpy, who is normally not featured as a main character in the original Hasbro cartoon, is given the ultimate female lead role in "Amor Esta Magica". After I'd gotten some of the plushies, I saw a few of the episodes and I said to myself, man, the characters are cute and cuddly, but at some point in time this story will need a lot more action if it's going to become a candidate for the annual Star Awards. That was when I decided to actually write a fanfic based on these characters, with a few of my original characters -- Alberto Garcia being the most prominent of the lot -- thrown in to carry the plot forward. It was good that I was mixing ponies and humans in the same scene; after all, as one old American saying goes, what good is a pony if there is no rider?

There are a few acknowledgements I would like to make at this juncture:

RUPAC INCA HUASCAR LEÓN -- your life is an inspiration to me. If not for your persistent encouragement to me inspite of all I did to you, I don't think I would have become the man that I am today. Thank you so much for being my friend despite having to constantly endure my yellings over the phone or in person for so many months. And thank you also for teaching me how to play modern games. I assure you I am doing all I can to be a Better Man! (apologies to Robbie Williams...) Help me send my regards to your family! :D

TIMOTEO ALEJANDRO "TIMMY" GARCIA and GABRIELE LUIGI GARCIA, my two cousins thrice (maybe more times?) removed cum co-directors -- thanks for your prayers and for sharing the love of the ponies with me! Let not any differences divide our friendship; for with the Mane 6 Elements to guide us on, we will lead our pony group to greater heights! See you this Saturday at the meetup! :D

My dearest uncle, JUAN GARCIA -- thank you for your wonderful leadership through these past nearly three years! You are truly a man of wisdom beyond your years; you have taught us the importance of corporate security, not just for the individual alone, but for everyone within our borders! You have also been of much help to us during our times of conflict with our rivals. Stay strong Uncle; the ponies send you their brohoofs! /) /)

FOREST RAIN -- I know that you and I live a whole ocean apart on two different ends of the globe and have never met in person, but still I'd like to say a big thank you for teaching me that it is great to be different and to believe in who you are despite what the other lot say! I know I have a lot of dislikes now, but I won't let that dishearten me or wear me out; rather, I will take the dislikes as feedback, and keep on changing my strategy for the better with every new fanfic that I write, until I become a shining star! :D

And last but not least, ALL MY PLUSH PONIES -- thank you all for being with me through thick and thin, even for touching the parts of me that no human would even dare to see! It wasn't cheap buying you all, but it was certainly worth it! This labor of love is for you and you alone; where would we be without your love!!! :D *hugs them all*