//------------------------------// // Chapter: 2 - The AMA // Story: A Link to Equestria // by Mcayon //------------------------------// Chapter: 2 - The AMA You quickly turn around and you run as fast as you can. Not caring about anything else than getting away, you bash your way through the ponies in your way, their yelling quickly becomes inaudible as you run past them. As you continue to forcefully make your way through the crowd and the winding streets, you feel yourself beginning to tire, running in your new pony form wasn’t something that you had done yet. After all, you had just learned how to walk again. Now you’re doing your utmost to get as far away as possible from the sex-crazed Princess that’s chasing you. The wild chase and yelling has alerted the ponies further along the winding streets, which helps you since they move to the side, giving you a somewhat clear path through the crowd. It also gives you the chance to look behind you to see where your pursuer is. As you do so, you discover that despite her larger form, she is fast and has no problems keeping up with you since she’s only a few feet behind you. “There is no use in running, my little pony, I will get you either way,” she says menacingly and laughs. This makes you even more scared and you feel the adrenaline pumping through your body, giving you the extra energy and power needed for you to gain some distance from her. As you refocus on the path ahead, you suddenly see a pony pulling a cart, forcing you to jump, narrowly escaping crashing into it. You hear a loud ‘clop’ as you land back on your hooves and continue to run. Just a second later, you hear the unmistakable sound of wood breaking, you quickly look back to see that Molestia has crashed through the cart and obliterated it. You grin but don’t let it distract you as you refocus on the path ahead. You realize that you’re getting further from the center of Canterlot as you see that the streets is no longer packed with ponies. You look back again, Molestia is still on your tail, but thanks to the adrenaline that’s flowing through your body and her being slowed down, the distance between you has increased dramatically. Though you’re not safe yet. You can see what must be the Canterlot slum not too far away and you run in the direction of it, hoping to lose Molestia there. A foul odor suddenly penetrates your nose as you reach the Canterlot slum, causing you to wrinkle your nose in disgust. Glancing behind you again, you see that Molestia is also having problems with the foul odor, and she’s actually slowing down. You can’t help but grin at her discomfort. You manage to ignore the smell and use it to your advantage in getting away. You continue to run as fast as you can, and as you get deeper into the slum, it seems like you’ve lost her and you slow down. About ten minutes has passed since you last saw Molestia and you’ve gotten even deeper into the slum. You don’t know if she’s still searching for you, but you’ve decided to play it safe for now. Further down the road you’re now on, you see a unicorn mare wearing a dark cloak beckoning for you to go to the alley she’s standing at. “Hurry up!” she hisses. You do as she says and you run to her. You’re about to slow down and stop in front of her when she suddenly grabs you with her magic and yanks you into the alley. At the same time she makes a zipper appear on your mouth, preventing you from yelping. She then conjures another dark cloak up and drapes it over you before she grabs your head with her hooves and forces you to look at the ground. The mare lets your head go after a few seconds and you immediately give her a confused look. She simply smiles and points at your ear and then at the sky. You nod in understanding and turn your ears towards the sky. The sound of wings flapping heavily reach you and your eyes widen as you realize what the mare in front of you just did. Her smile is still present as she motions for you to follow her, which you gladly do. You see her horn light up in a dim silver aura, and you wonder what kind of spell she is casting, it doesn’t take long to figure it out since you can’t hear your hoofsteps. It seems like the mare knows exactly what she’s doing, you still keep to the dark shadows. The darkness of the alley doesn’t give you a good picture of your surroundings, so you resort to simply look straight ahead at the mare you’re following.   You eventually arrive at what you think is her home. It looks very simple and small on the outside, you can only see a wooden door and to the right of it is a dirty window with a crack running through it. “Welcome to my humble abode, stranger,” she says as she opens the door, allowing you to enter. You manage a smile despite the zipper that’s still on your mouth and do so. Much to your relief, the zipper disappears as she closes the door. Surprisingly, the apartment looks nicer than you expected on the inside.  Directly to your right you have the kitchen, and straight ahead is the living room, which you decide to go to. As you look around, you find that it is pretty basic. A couch, a coffee table, a rug and a bookshelf is all you see. The mare enters the room just as you finish your look around in the living room and uncloaks herself and you get to see what she looks like for the first time. She has a ivory coat with small patches of dirt at the back of her hooves. Her mane and tail is unusually short and kind of spiky, and has a light grey color to it that almost looks like silver in the light that shines on it. Her cutie mark is black and looks almost like a ghost from Pac-Man with a hat on it, which is covering the eyes. She smiles and looks at you, “I’m sorry if was a little violent with you, I didn’t want to take any risks.” “It’s alright, you saved me after all,” you say with a smile. “Forgive me for being blunt, but it seemed like you knew that I was in trouble?” “Yes, we did,” she smirks. “We?” you inquire, looking puzzled. She nods and turns around, “Follow me,” she says and you do so, wondering what the hell is going on. The unicorn walks to a bookshelf and browses through it before pulling one of the books out a little, she then lets it go and it retracts to its original place. As it does, the bookshelf slides to the side, revealing a hidden room. Your eyes widen at the sight, eliciting a giggle from the mare. You shake your head and walk after her as she enters the room. As you walk past the bookshelf, it slides back again, sealing the room off and everything goes dark. Luckily, the unicorn’s horn flares and she uses her magic and the room is suddenly lit by a number of lanterns. Now that you can see again, you look around in the room, which is completely different from the apartment. It has a black wallpaper with a crimson stripe near the roof, in the middle of the room is a long rectangular table and around it are a number of couches. “Alright guys, you can show yourselves now,” The mare says, startling you, and ponies starts to appear on the couches. Just ten seconds later you see about twenty other ponies in the room. “What the-” you start but you’re cut off by the unicorn, “My name is Silver and I’m the leader of the Anti-Molesting Alliance, or AMA for short, and if it wasn’t for everypony in this room, you would’ve been another victim of Molestia’s.” “What?” you ask. Silver nods, “One of our unicorn scouts saw you bump into Celestia, and when that happens, she usually changes into Molestia,” she says with a pause, “So he sent out a message to all of us, alerting us of the situation.” You nod. “We did many things to help you on your way here, for instance, the cart that you had to jump over, which Molestia crashed through, that was us,” she pauses again, “As well as that foul odor you smelled when you entered this here slum, that was stinkbombs that we threw at Molestia, we know they give off a nasty smell that can be felt from far away, and we’re sorry if it caused you discomfort.” “It’s alright, it helped me to escape after all. Two things though, firstly, how did you know I would clear the cart, and secondly, is this place really safe, won’t Molestia eventually find it? Silver smirks, “We didn’t, it was a stroke of luck that you actually cleared it. We had two unicorns at the ready just in case. And yes, this place is safe from Molestia, it’s got a perception spell cast on it, so she won’t be able to see it, even if she wanted to, because she doesn’t know what it looks like.”   “Wow...” you say, eliciting another giggle from Silver, “Also, forgive me for not asking earlier, what’s your name?” As Silver asks this question, you realize you haven’t thought of a good pony name, and you don’t want to lie, so you decide to tell her your real name. “Name’s Chase, Silver, it’s a pleasure meeting you,” you say with a bow as you introduce yourself. “Chase, huh? That’s an interesting name.” “Yeah... um.. I’m not from around here...” you say, scratching the back of your neck. Silver smiles at you, “It’s okay, everypony here comes from various places in Equestria, if that’s what you’re worried about.” You shift around nervously, “That’s the thing, I’m not from Equestria... at all...” “Where are you from then?” Silver asks. “I’d love to tell you, but I can’t, not yet at least. It’s rather sensitive, I think, so no offense or anything like that to you guys.” A unified “None taken,” is heard from everypony in the room and Silver looks at you again, “I guess you’d like to know more about us, right Chase?” You simply nod. “Well, have a seat and I’ll tell you.” You smile and the two of you sits down in one of the couches.