//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 (Dragonshy) // Story: My Little Pony: Friendships are Magic // by professor space n time //------------------------------// "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.