My Little Pony: Amor Esta Magica

by WarThunderBrony

International Friendship Day

This was a very different new beginning. It was as if I was literally being born again — starting afresh, albeit this time with the help of the ponies, whom I had once despised for so many years starting from the time I had been kicked by a random horse in my a*** when I was all but three years of age. Thirty years had flown by, so it seemed; and it was as if it took me a whopping three decades to learn to love the ponies for who they were.

Now with the help of Derpy, Flash Sentry, Pinkie Pie, and the two colts Featherweight and Pipsqueak, Donita and I already had a small business running in the marketplace, selling our traditional Aymara tapestries. And it had already been up for about a week.

Many rich customers came to buy from us. It was on one of those days when a bright yellow pegasus mare with a vermillion mane and sunglasses on her muzzle, stopped by our shop to buy a quilt.

“I’d like to buy this piece of quilt,” she proudly declared. “How much is it?”

“It’s 30 quetzals,” I said.

The yellow pegasus mare took a look at the quilt and then wrapped it around herself like a shawl. She then produced 30 quetzals and put it on our cashier counter, while Donita did the transaction for her.

“Thanks,” she said. “Here’s my card. Call me anytime.” She put a card on our desk and then galloped out.

“OK, so here’s some luck for us,” said Donita. “Let’s see.” She took the card and read the name:

All right, I thought, as I read the card. This pegasus mare is clearly a flying instructor. What do we do?

“Donita, amor,” I said to my wife, “this is a potential follower that we’ll need.”

“Hmmm,” said Donita.

Suddenly, three men wearing balaclavas and gloves burst into our store. They all wielded rapid-firing sub-machine-guns.

“Where is the safe?” demanded one of the men.

“There’s no safe,” I said. “So sorry about that, senores; we’re just a textile shop and there’s nothing valuable here.”

“NOTHING VALUABLE??” yelled the men. They immediately began opening fire. I grabbed Donita and we ran out the back door of our shop. Thank goodness most of our supplies were stored in my temporary residence at Papa Ferrando’s, and not in the shop.

“The textiles, amor!” cried Donita. “You forgot the textiles!”

“Never mind the textiles!” I cried back. “Life is more important!”

But we were taken by surprise. Armed men in cosplay uniforms of our pony friends — mainly dressed up as Fluttershy, or DJ Pon-3, or Rainbow Dash, or Derpy — lined up the streets and were opening fire at us. We had to run through a back alley in order to avoid them.

“This is the time to raise the alarm!” I yelled. “This is a clear-cut surprise attack from the All Lee people!”

It was indeed. Thank goodness, this back alley took us out of La Paz into the safety of the countryside; we were already exhausted and didn’t know if we could run another meter more.

“I’m tired, amor,” said Donita.

“So am I,” I replied. “Not sure which way we should go.”

“Perhaps you can go this way!” came a male voice from behind us.

We turned around but there was no-one in sight; it was all greenery except for an old vintage car which had red-and-yellow-striped wings, parked not far off. It was also getting dark, being around 6pm.

“Maybe we were hearing voices or something,” said Donita. “Let’s just go on.”

“Aha aha UM UM! Or perhaps you could try the other way!” said the same voice.

This time I was fully sure we distinctly heard this masculine voice with our own ears. We turned around to double-check our surroundings. I was sure that I saw the vintage car’s lights turn on.

“This must be it,” I said. I took a closer look at the vintage car and discovered that its lights were actually its EYES.

“So it was you who spoke…?” I asked the vintage car.

“Yeah,” said the vintage car. “From the way I saw you guys running, I thought you were kind of escaping from those All Lee scumbags.”

“How did… you know???” I gasped.

“My name’s Vincent,” said the vintage car; “and I am one of their ‘antiques’ in their ‘collection’. Years before, Daniele Spintos, the Antique Manager from La Paz who had been recruited by Executive Assistant Manager Justino Diaz, captured me with his men and took me into his possession. I only managed to escape recently with the help of some — er — winged horses who took me out here and told me that this place would be safe for me. Aha aha UM UM! Sorry, that’s just the way I cough; I’m kinda old now and my spare parts are wearing out, so I cough easily.”

“Gesundheit,” said Donita.

“Wait a minute, amigo. You said ‘winged horses’?” I gasped.

“Yeah,” replied Vincent. “I remember the leader of their pack was this grey mare with a blonde mane and crossed eyes.”

Must be Derpy, I thought.

“My name’s Alberto, by the way,” I said; “and this is my wife, Donita.”

“You look a little puzzled, Alberto,” said Vincent. “You mean you know these winged horses?”

“They’re what we call pegasi,” I explained; “singular, pegasus. And yes, we know them. They’re our friends. They’re helping us to revive our business which went bust last month; and so far we’ve been doing so well…. until today, when some robbers wearing cosplay costumes came and looted us. We suspect those robbers were from All Lee, considering their Argentinian accents.”

“You’re not alone,” said Vincent; “for now that you’ve told me this story, I can see that you two and I are in the same boat. Aha aha UM UM! For after all, All Lee Enterprises is under the leadership of its CEO, Don Francisco Juan Perez, one of the most ruthless bosses in all Latin America. I’ve been kicked around by so many such people all my life… aha aha UM UM! ‘Scuse me…. but it was Don Francisco who took the meaning of ruthlessness to a whole new level.

“Nice song, Vincent,” I said, “but you don’t have to sing the next verse; let me do it for you.

“Excellent songwriting skills you’ve got there, Alberto!” said Vincent. “But right now we need to get down to urgent business — put our words into practicality; fight Don Francisco Juan Perez and all under him!”

“Well, where is he now?” I asked. “I want to hold him accountable for what he’s done to our shop.”

“He should be holding a rendez-vous in the Ion Convention Center in La Paz,” said Vincent. “Come, I’ll take you guys there. It’s International Friendship Day today, August 3rd; and most of the ponies you know are there.”

It was right then and there that I experienced the one time I ever spoke so strongly to anyone. I remember Donita and I getting into Vincent’s car and flying back into La Paz, over the city walls. We flew all the way to the main shopping belt of La Paz, where the Ion Shopping Mall was located; Vincent dropped us there. “I’d better fly off,” he said; “they might be here any minute.”

“Muchas gracias,” said Donita.

Vincent waved back with his wing and then flew off.

Meanwhile, Donita and I combed the whole mall. It was crowded, a typical Saturday; so it was hard for us to make them out.

“Donita,” I said to my wife, “this just proves that they had more than just one reason to come to our city. So — there had been this event all along and we were not aware of it until now.”

“You can see that they were certainly better prepared than we are,” said Donita; “and one more thing — they most likely will be armed when you see them. I’ve got a dagger here with me. What about you, amor?”

“Just a revolver,” I replied; “but that should be ok. I hope so anyway.”

We stood where we were, doing surveillance like undercover agents. Just then, we saw two ponies flying in: Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

“So THEY are among the guests??” I wondered.

“Si,” said Donita; “this event revolves around them anyway. I’ve come for such events for so long already myself and I know how it functions — it’s like a walkathon, something like that; we just walk down the street with the actual ponies, as well as the cosplayers. Ahh! Look! Here come the cosplayers!”

I looked hard enough and saw the cosplayers walking in. I immediately recognised a lot of familiar faces, the first one being that of Bangalee Muthusamy, the former All Lee janitor who had since risen through the ranks to become the Stewarding Manager of All Lee; he was cosplaying as Derpy. Among the cosplayers I also saw the wicked witch Natalia Cuartas and her two younger siblings Artur and Alegria, all of them cosplaying as Rainbow Dash; human resource manager Jovento Bajaran and his half-Soviet wife Berlinella, who were both cosplaying as DJ Pon-3; and — wonder of wonders — Benedicto Lee-Guzman himself, who was cosplaying as Fluttershy.

And indeed, their guest-of-honour was to be no other than General Taddeo Spettro, the mayor of La Paz who was nothing more than a puppet for Don Francisco Juan Perez. Perez himself was indeed already IN the crowds, walking and chatting with his managers.

The organisers had clearly planned a wonderful day for everyone; there would be a speech by the organisers, as well as a special item — accompanied by the La Paz Guitar Orchestra, Thunderlane would be performing his signature song, his ode to Granada, the very same song Donita and I had heard at the pub immediately following our wedding a few months back. Then after that would be the walkathon. Lots more ponies were coming in; I recognised the other four members of the Mane 6, as well as Big McIntosh, Braeburn, Thunderlane, Flash Sentry, the two Samba Unicorns (Snips and Snails), Soarin, Shining Armour, Featherweight, and Pipsqueak.

“Friends, comrades, country-bronies!” announced Rainbow Dash, as she took to the stage with Fluttershy. “Buenos dias to one and all! We’re so glad to be here in your city once again! I’m Rainbow Dash!”

“And I’m Fluttershy!” said Fluttershy. “And the two of us will be your….. wait a minute! What the…?” she suddenly cried out — and rightly so; for just behind us we saw a large stampeding crowd of All Lee employees, among them the familiar faces of Dario Coleda, Jose Nerarondine (Taddeo Spettro’s best friend), Huascar Leon, and — wonder of wonders — Derpy. All of them were armed with daggers, like most of us Latinos have been traditionally.

I ran forward, not bothering about the danger, and grabbed Derpy’s right forehoof and dragged her out of the stampeding crowd. “Derpy! What were you doing there?!” I cried. “You know you just almost risked your life big time?!!”

“I just… don’t know what went wrong!” protested Derpy.

“Don’t come and pretend with me!” I yelled back. “You caballos are really locos in your cabezas! First you save my life, then you do this to us! Do you even know who in the name of Santa Maria those muchachos were?!”

“Amor mio, take it easy!” Donita nudged me in urgency.

“Donita, I’ll handle this!” I pushed my wife aside — for the first time in the history of our love. Then I turned back to continue scolding Derpy. “Look, Derpy, it’s not that I want to scold you,” I said, “but you cannot be doing this all the time! So WHAT if they claim to be fans of yours?? Were not your compatriots, Senorita Twilight Sparkle and Senorita Rainbow Dash, the ones who first came into my life? And were you not the one who’d saved my life from those Peronistas so many times?”

“But Alberto, I was only going through the underpass in the suburbian metropolitan station when I saw this happening,” Derpy explained, “and then I asked someone what was going on, and they told me, so I joined!” She began to weep.

“You still had the cheek to ASK?!!” I yelled. “Caramba! I thought I’d found a true friend in you among all of them…. but you STILL did this! And of all people I must see you with, it MUST be those Peronistas! Oh BOYYY!!”

“ALBERTO! Stop your nonsense!” Donita scolded me. “You’re making the poor mare cry!”

“KEEP AN EYE ON HER!!!” I yelled. From where I was, I saw Rainbow Dash calling for Don Francisco Juan Perez to come on stage “to say a few words” — apparently HE was among the organising team for this event.

“Muchas gracias, todo el mundo, muchas gracias!” said Don Francisco as he stood at the pulpit. “I am muy happy to have been chosen to be the one among the organising committee to do today’s sharing! Special thanks also to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy for being muy kind to us as to be our emcees!”

Applause from all around. I continued marching up to Don Francisco, steadily thinking about what I was going to say.

“Allow me to share how this event came about,” went on Don Francisco. “We had wanted to start this kind of event for the longest time. However due to rising oil prices, that did not seem feasible. It was however in February this year, upon joining the flow of the rest of the world and retrenching some of our staff, we were finally able to save up enough money within less than seven months to start this wonderful event. I am forever thankful for the help of all my staff, especially Benz, my general manager, who is one of our cosplayers for today. I would also like to thank….”

“DON FRANCISCO JUAN PEREZ!” I shouted.

I was a little taken aback at the way my voice resonated; for now all eyes were on me; including those of many unfamiliar faces on this shopping stretch, which had joined the event along the way.

“Don Francisco Juan Perez! You ruined my life!” I continued my rant. “You don’t for one minute think I don’t know what you’ve done before! You are a loco muchacho who knows nothing except to womanise! You think I don’t know — you killed your first wife and son before and re-married a rich woman! And, you sexist, because you had no sons, of all women you just HAD to marry the widow of your ex-boss! You are the most sick and immoral and loco muchacho that ever walked the face of the planet! I CURSE the day I ever thought of joining your company!”

“QUE DIJISTE?!” suddenly roared Don Francisco.

“Don Francisco Juan Perez! Heaven will NEVER forgive you! I hope your event today gets ruined by stormy weather!” I shouted. “Everypony present, escuchame: This man, Don Francisco Juan Perez, is nothing but a pimp and a sexist and a womaniser! He deserves to die! Do NOT support any of his events in future!”

“There’s a gato loco in our midst! Escort him out!” Don Francisco called for his guards. Led by Kazakstani textile merchant Saldi Grushevsky, the guards grabbed me by my arms; I admit I was completely upstaged. “Donita! Help me!” I called.

“Coming!” I heard Donita’s voice. Derpy was apparently carrying Donita on her back; and they were flying towards me as I was being led out by the guards.

“Let him go!” said Donita to Grushevsky. “He’s my husband; I’ll handle him!”

“Don Francisco! You will wish you had never been born!” I continued yelling. “You will regret that you ever deceived me this way!”

RAINBOW DASH: I guess that must have been indeed a very embarassing moment for poor Alberto. To attempt to expose his worst enemy in public, on a day known universally as “International Friendship Day”, a day stereotyped by many as one for the whole world to unite as friends despite differences. I believe Alberto had indeed tried his best to do so; but as HRH Princess Celestia and HRH Princess Luna later would reveal to us, earlier that same day his shop had been robbed by the very same cosplayers who would later appear at the IFD fiesta in the same city.

Now Fluttershy and I were indeed taken aback by the very incident; but we tried out best to continue with the walkathon programme as we’d planned. The organisers, indeed, were Hasbro Bolivia — but in name only; we’d only find out much later from Their Royal Highnesses as to who were the real financial sponsors behind the event.

We saw numerous people running up to these carts pushed by Hasbro specialists from Bolivia, giving out free small scale models of all of us to those who produced their phones and showed that they’d “liked” the Hasbro Bolivia page on Facebook. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Big McIntosh were among the ponies in the entourage; apparently mixing pretty well with most of the crowd, including those who hated Alberto’s guts.

Disaster struck midway when we heard a couple of gunshots halfway down the stretch of road in La Paz where the walkathon was held. Shouts of “HELP! Somepony has just shot Perez!” were heard everywhere.

Apparently three bullets from goodness-knows-where had hit Don Francisco right in the leg, the arse, and the abdomen. Perez, unconscious but still alive, was nonetheless critically wounded; the ambulances were called in and he was rushed to hospital.

“Was that Alberto who did that?” wondered Fluttershy.

“They’re sure to start pointing fingers at Alberto for this,” I said; “but from what I can see he would not be so foolhardy.”

And just second afterward, it began to pour cats and dogs. Shining Armour came up to us just then. “The two of you,” he said, “Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia is expecting you both.”

Fluttershy and I flew straight to Canterlot Castle, where our fellow ponies of all four races had gathered. HRH Princess Celestia herself was chairing the meeting.

“Friends, comrades, country-ponies,” she announced, “it seems we have just fallen into one of the biggest of big traps. Apparently my sister and I had received an email from Hasbro Bolivia, asking us all to be guests of honour at this year’s IFD event in their country. Only now, after much investigations, do we realise what really has happened. Luna, tell them.”

“The event by itself as organised by Hasbro would not have been bad normally,” said Princess Luna, “but sadly this year it was sponsored by Don Francisco Juan Perez, the multi-billionaire who, as we discussed before, is a ‘brony’ only in name, just like all of his employees in All Lee. In reality, he’s nothing more than a socialist who has based most of his beliefs on the teachings of the late Argentinian dictator Juan Peron.”

“So we accepted Hasbro Bolivia’s invitation,” said Princess Celestia; “but only once we were halfway through it, did we realise who made up the bulk of the audience therein. It’s a good thing none of the special items or events were put up. Forced to take matters into our own hands, Luna and I decided to darken the sky a bit and enforce a heavy downpour with lots of lightning, in order to disperse the congregation.”

“Have any of you anything to add?” said Princess Luna.

“I do,” said Derpy. “Before we even discovered anything, Alberto somehow beat us to it. But he made a big scene; even his wife couldn’t stop him, not to mention me. The security staff had to escort him out. I took him and Donita to the next town — Chaco — so we could talk about things calmly. He has since calmed down somewhat; I’ve given him some money so that he can rebuild his shop.”

“Allow me to cut you there, Derpy,” I put in. “Your Highness, moments after Derpy and Alberto and Donita left, and seconds before the thunderstorm began, Fluttershy and I witnessed a tragic event — Don Francisco was shot three times when halfway giving his speech. He was critically wounded and has since been hospitalised. We do not know who the culpable is, but we are certain that it was not Alberto.”

“We will hence need to verify whether your claims are true or not, Rainbow Dash,” said Princess Celestia. “We love Alberto for who he is, however if he breaks the law, he has to be chastised in some way, like everyone else.”

“From what I can see,” said Princess Luna, “things do not look too good on Alberto’s side, as the evidence clearly is not in his favour. Think about it: Minutes before the incident happened, he was already making a scene. Don Francisco then ordered security to hustle him out. It’s not surprising if thereafter, he would have had a motive for vengeance. Do not forget also that he feels wronged by Don Francisco.”

“May I suggest to you all this proposal,” added Princess Celestia; “Flash Sentry, you go and make sure that Don Francisco is OK and that he’s not going to die. And you, Derpy, you’re the one whom Alberto can best identify with; you go take care of him. The both of you may go now. This is an order.”

Shortly after Derpy and Flash Sentry left, Dr Whooves came running in. “Your Highness,” he cried, “I bring tragic tidings! I have been doing research in my laboratory and have discovered that the Nightmare Poison gives its victims only half a year or less to live, depending on the severity of the infliction! And I remember Alberto was infected with the nightmare poison! We’d better go to Dbrnouk’s and find a quick antidote; I’ve got ingredients to make an antidote here with me, but I cannot guarantee that I’d complete it all in less than half a year!”

“This is serious!” cried Princess Celestia. “Big Mac, Braeburn, Thunderlane, Rainbow Dash, Snips, Snails, the five of you will be in charge of Operation Dbrnouk! Quick, go to Passionless Valley now; this is an order!”

ALBERTO: Donita was so flabbergasted by my impulsiveness that day that she walked away from me. That was, I remember, the last time I ever saw her face to face. It was VERY tragic.

I dared not to go back home, for fear that I might have to face Papa Ferrando again. I could do nothing but wander the streets. However, deep inside me, I was still not over Donita.

As I sat down on a park bench in my own home city late that night, and made myself a fire and some soup, I could see no true future for myself if things went on this way. Tearfully, I lamented the future.

“I’m looking for a song to sing…..” I began again, when I happened to see something flying in the sky. And lo and behold, Derpy came flying down into the park.

“You look dejected, Alberto,” she said, her walled eyes having a hint of sympathy. “Is anything the matter?”

“You bet there is,” I replied. “Donita has just walked out on me just because of what happened earlier today!”

“I understand how you feel,” said Derpy, taking my hand in her left forehoof. “I’ve been there so many times. I heard in the song you sang earlier on, how sad you were. But I have been there before and have emerged from the fray nonetheless; if I could do it, I believe you can too.

I heard the words of Derpy’s song and knew that she had a point; she was, after all, the stone the builders rejected, which had since become the chief cornerstone of the pony fandom. Clasping her right forehoof in my hand, I sang back to her:

And then we sang together:

And as we finished the last lines, we hugged each other very tightly. I knew that Derpy was THE one pony who could truly relate to me, seeing that we had been through that kind of rejection practically all our lives long.

“You need to be strong,” said Derpy. “I have been strong and kept my flame burning bright amidst all the rejection. Alberto, you can do the same.”

“I can,” I said, “and I will, even if it means starting afresh!” And with that, I stood up and sang out:

“I’m glad you are feeling better now, Alberto,” said Derpy. “Even if nopony else likes you, I do.”

“You are my friend, Derpy,” I said. “I sometimes wish there were a way….”

Suddenly, my phone beeped in my pocket. I took it out and read the text. “Caramba!” I cried; for it was Mama bringing me evil tidings:

Alberto my son, it’s Mama here. Don Francisco Perez is in hospital and in critical condition. Apparently he was shot while giving a speech at a fiesta in the city, and you were seen shouting at him less than an hour before he was shot. Did you have anything to do with it?

“What’s up, Alberto?” asked Derpy. “Share it with me, buddy.”

I showed her the text. “Read this yourself,” I said.

“Oh no. That sounds bad,” said Derpy. “Sounds like they’re blaming you for that. But I know you had nothing to do with it, as I was the one who took you back to your shop. You certainly would not have returned there while the event was on, for fear that they might chase you out again. Furthermore, I was with you at the time of the incident, as was Donita; so I know you’re innocent.”

“That I know, Derpy,” I replied; “but that doesn’t matter. Donita’s pissed with me because she thought I was embarassing her family. She ran away moments after Flash Sentry came to call you to the meeting with Princess Celestia. Her last words to me were, ‘Adios para siempre, Alberto Garcia; I hope you’ve enjoyed all that attention you got!’ and then she went away, leaving me in that shop which was all but overturned since the robbery.”

“Take it easy, pally,” said Derpy, stroking me on my back.

“I don’t know why,” I said, noting a sudden feeling overcoming me, “but something inside my heart is telling me that I should go and pay Don Francisco a visit in hospital, as much as he and I may be enemies.”

“That true too,” said Derpy. “Why not? Just hop on my back and I’ll fly you there.”

So I jumped on Derpy’s back and she flew with me to the Bolivia General Hospital; after checking in, both of us went to Don Francisco Perez’s ward in the ICU. I saw Rosa, his daughter who had previously helped me in a predicament I’d had with Don Francisco about half a year ago, standing outside and listening to the doctor.

“Your father’s disc in his back was ruptured by the abdominal shot,” the doctor was saying, “the leg shot was a minor graze, but what I’m most concerned about is the shot in his arse — that was a near-fatal shot as it almost got his liver. He’s still in danger. We may have to operate on him again.”

“Oh no,” said Derpy. “Better go and comfort Rosa. She looks like she’s going to cry.”

“Si,” I said. I went up to Rosa. “Rosa, como esta?” I asked her kindly.

But Rosa turned on me in anger. “You still have the cheek to show up here?!!” she screeched, starting to go hysterical and hit me. Good thing the nurses came to hold her down.

“Calm it, Rosa! We can talk things over!” I cried. “No need to freak out like that!”

“Senorita Perez, please keep quiet!” ordered a staff nurse. “You’re in the ICU and the other patients need rest! If you want to shout, go out of the hospital and shout all you like! Not inside here!”

“ENOUGH!” yelled Rosa, clearly so griefstricken that she was oblivious to what the head nurse was telling her. “So in everyone else’s eyes, you’re a great man!” And with those words, she stormed out of the hospital.

“Rosa! Rosa!” I called after her, but she was gone.

“Looks like you really have a lot of work to do before you can get Donita back,” said Derpy, “but even if Donita doesn’t want you, I do. You don’t have to be a married man to be happy. You don’t even need children of your own. You just need friends. The wonderful thing about us is that our motto is, ‘Friendship is Magic’. And the magic is fulfilled when we make a positive difference in one another’s lives.”

I said nothing, but hugged Derpy in reply. I was just so lost for words….

FLASH SENTRY: I had been assigned by Princess Celestia to observe Don Francisco Perez. I observed his progress in the hospital mainly from his ward window.

I remember that after the second operation, the doctor had told Rosa Perez, “We’ve done our best. Your Papa is temporarily out of danger. But we’re not sure when he’ll come to. Maybe pretty soon, maybe never. But keep talking to him. It might help wake him.”

I went into the hospital as a visitor of Don Francisco. Following the directions of the nurses, I soon found his ward. I heard the sound of a guitar inside. As I opened the door gently with my hoof, I saw Rosa sitting beside her father, who was lying unconscious on the bed in the ward, while his EKG meter was beeping to show his heartbeat. Rosa was playing a guitar and singing this song:

As she sang the lines “You must wipe away your hurt and your tears”, a huge pearl-like tear fell from one of her eyes. I could really see how griefstricken Rosalinda Perez was at seeing her father ending up like that.

“Rosa,” I said, “are you ok?”

“Si, I’m fine,” she said. “But Papa isn’t.”

“But he seems to be sleeping peacefully,” I explained to her.

“Don’t be fooled,” said Rosa; “Papa is out of danger but still in critical condition; the only way to save him is to keep talking to him, the doctor said.”

“Rosalinda,” I said to her, “I am sure you are aware of the numerous outrages your papa has committed, and about how he has been ill-treating you since you were a girl.”

“Si,” said Rosa; “I am fully aware of all that. And I do believe that Papa deserves to be duly punished for all he has done. Still, it is not right for anyone but G-d himself to mete out any punishment.”

“Has it ever occurred to you,” I went on, “that your papa may have committed criminal breaches of trust before?”

“He is a bad papa,” said Rosa, “and his staff are all equally bad people. However I do know the law, and from what I know, I do not find him guilty of any criminal breach of trust.”

“Have you ever wondered how your papa became so wealthy and rose to his present position as CEO of All Lee?” I asked.

Rosa rose to her feet and her eyes flashed at me. “Have you been seeing that rat Alberto?” she demanded, her voice now having an obvious hint of hysterical rage.

“Not recently I haven’t,” I said truthfully. “Why do you ask?”

“Alberto is the only person I know who would go so far as to accuse my papa without any evidence,” said Rosa. “And furthermore he is the only possible person who would have had a motive for shooting my papa like that.”

“But you too are also pointing fingers at Alberto without any tangible evidence that it was indeed him,” I pointed out. “And furthermore, from what I’ve been hearing from Derpy and the others…. were you not the first person to come to his rescue when he needed evidence against your papa?”

Rosalinda choked back a sob. “Flash,” she said, “I think it’s about time I told you the truth. Follow me, and promise me you won’t tell anypony about this until I tell you when.”

HUASCAR LEON: I was there when Alberto kicked up a scene at the IFD Fiesta in La Paz. While still with the rest of the All Lee staff, I was beginning to feel very cold in their presence. The main reason was because my younger sister Valeria was now pregnant with Don Francisco’s child!!

I was also there when Don Francisco was shot. I was probably the only one who thought that Don Francisco deserved to be shot like that, for having seduced my kid sister. I swore from that time on that I would get my revenge by transferring my allegiance to Don Francisco’s arch-enemy, Alberto Garcia — and his entire company with it.

I would, of course, have to first take my sister in hand for having allowed herself to be seduced by Don Francisco. When I got home that evening, I heard Papa on the phone with someone.

“Hola?” Papa was saying. “Hola? Qui?…. Oi! YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! And if you dare to talk to me like that again, I WILL KILL YOU!!!” He slammed down the phone in a rage.

“Papa, que pasa?” I asked.

“Some idiot just threatened me with my life, your mama’s life, your life, and the lives of your sisters!” Papa screamed. “I don’t know who he is!”

“Donde esta Valeria?” I asked Papa, making sure I stayed on topic.

“She’s gone to town for the day,” Papa said, “with a sub-machine gun in her hand; she took your laptop as well.”

Si, and not for the first time at that. But it was really amazing why this time she had not come home until now — it was already almost 10pm.

“Huascar, better go find Valeria,” said Papa. “I suspect her going missing may have something to do with that muchacho who called just now.”

Acting on Papa’s instructions, I hurried down to La Paz. There was only one place that Valeria would have gone if she’d gone to town — NATAS shopping mall, which was diagonally across from ION. I was pretty amazed that in the crowd earlier that day, I had not seen Valeria anywhere.

I went into NATAS. The security officer stopped me. “Sorry senor, but the mall is closing shortly,” he said.

“Senor, have you seen this girl?” I asked, taking out my phone and showing the security officer a recent photo of Valeria.

“Oh!” cried the officer. “This one! She ran up the emergency escape staircase with a machine gun earlier today. We tried in vain to stop her; our men were afraid as she was armed. She did not come down ever since. We have been monitoring. There is only one emergency staircase here.”

“Caramba!” I gasped. With the officer leading the way, I went up the emergency staircase. We combed all the shopping mall floors, but we found no trace of Valeria.

“There’s only one other place,” said the officer. “Come with me.”

He took me to the roof access. And it was there at the very place that we found Valeria. She had apparently been shot right through her heart; her submachine gun was not in her hands, apparently it had been kicked out of her grasp by someone. We also found lots of bloodstains. It was clear that SOMEONE ELSE had been present and killed her.

“Valeria!” I cried. “Valeria! Que pasa!? VALERIA!!!!!”

It was clear that she was dead beyond any means of possible revival. The police were immediately called in, as were the medics. The post-mortem revealed that Valeria, who had been with child all along, had gotten into a scuffle with someone on the roof access of NATAS; the bullet that had delivered that one fatal shot through her heart, was believed to have come from an AWPer Hand sniper rifle used from a distance by someone who had been believed to be at the sixth floor of ION and who was observing the scuffle, and then shot Valeria right then and there. The unborn child had been killed likewise.

According to the evidence from the bullet, the assassin was believed to be Ramon Prada, now one of the top men in All Lee, and also the man who had helped Taddeo Spettro rise to power. Prada himself was indeed now one of the candidates running for mayor of Chaco.

A wake was held the next day for Valeria at the Temple of the Sun in Soledad; then also at the Church of San Pedro in Chaco. Valeria was then buried according to her wishes, at the cemetery in Sucre, where she had been born merely 20 years ago.

After the funeral, I decided that I would call on Alberto. I was fully aware by this time that, because of what he had done, he would surely have received a lawsuit from Don Francisco’s lawyers by now. I had to find a way to save him. So I called on Derpy, the mail mare who had been my best pony friend as much as she had also been Alberto’s best pony friend.

“How’s Alberto doing?” I asked.

“He’s feeling very depressed, almost suicidal,” said Derpy; “his wife has left him, he can’t go back to his in-laws’ home, and his mother no longer wants him in her house; he has to sleep on a park bench now. Also, his mother just received in the mail, a lawsuit from Don Francisco’s lawyers. I’ve been comforting the poor boy for the last few days.”

“My sister was killed by Don Francisco’s men,” I said to Derpy. “I wish I could help Alberto, but I’m not sure if he still thinks I’m the cause of his wife leaving him.”

“Take it easy,” said Derpy; “when there’s a will, there’s a way. I don’t see what Alberto would have against you, as it’s Don Francisco he’s after.”

I could not decide whether to laugh or cry….

BRAEBURN: It was during this period of time that I, together with Big McIntosh, Thunderlane, Rainbow Dash, and the two samba unicorn colts Snips and Snails, set off for Syldavia; according to what Dr Whooves had told us, Alberto was still infected with the Nightmare Poison, and would die if left untreated for another half-year. We HAD to find THE cure — which was believed to be in the hands of Wladimir Dbrnouk, the boss of the Passionless Valley in Syldavia.

It took us some time before we eventually found the Passionless Valley; along the way, we were ambushed by the Cuartas siblings.

“Ah! Ah! Heaven’s will for us to be meeting here!” laughed Artur Cuartas.

A fight ensued; Natalia Cuartas’s magic was certainly powerful, so Snips and Snails had to strategise to fight her. Big Mac and I took on Artur Cuartas, while Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash tackled Alegria Cuartas.

Within a matter of minutes, Dashie and Thunderlane managed to kill Artur; and Alegria likewise was destroyed by a little rugby tackle from Big Mac and myself. Snips and Snails had a lot of trouble fighting Natalia in terms of magic powers, but they did succeed in pushing her — by some miraculous chance — onto a patch of Nightmare Poison plants.

“OWWW!” yelled Natalia. “Caramba! What’s up with me?! I feel …. strange..!” And with those words, she ran away.

“Natalia Cuartas! What’s your problem now, eh? Scared to fight two unicorn colts?” Snips taunted her.

“Enough of that; the infliction of Nightmare Poison she’s gotten is enough to kill her within a matter of hour of contact,” I said, noting the area of Nightmare Poison plants she’d fallen onto. “Let’s proceed; Dbrnouk Manor isn’t far from here.”

When we finally reached Dbrnouk Manor, Lisa Dbrnouk was there to greet us. “Good that you’re here!” she said. “I know why you’ve come — to find the Nightmare Poison antidote, right?”

“We have indeed,” said Big McIntosh. “Your mama has it with her, does she not?”

“Yeah,” said Lisa. “But we can’t disturb her now; she’s sleeping. Come, let’s go for a walk in the valley to stretch our legs first. We’ll talk more later.”

We walked out into the forests of the Passionless Valley. Eventually we came to the bottom of a mountain called Heartbreak Hill.

“Heartbreak Hill is so named because of its shape,” said Lisa; “if you can look at it from a bird’s eye view, you’ll see it sort of resembles a heart with an arrow shot right through it.”

“Well said!” came a man’s voice from nearby. “Your wounds, and the loss of my eye, was all because of that cunt Alberto Garcia! Good thing we can meet here; God must have willed this!”

“That’s Papa’s voice!” gasped Lisa Dbrnouk in horror.

Indeed, Wladimir Dbrnouk, now with a big patch over his right eye, was sitting under the trees together with Natalia Cuartas, who had been critically wounded from the Nightmare Poison.

“This is certainly a divine appointment, that we should be meeting here!” said Wladimir to Natalia.

“Caramba! My body’s critically wounded from the goddamn Nightmare Poison Plant! And you don’t give a fuck!” Natalia murmured. “Por favor, stop making me empty promises, Senor Dbrnouk!”

“No, no, my lovely Natalia!” Wladimir pleaded. “What do you mean I don’t give a fuck?! We have to brainstorm together! Look, you’re critically wounded, but my heart’s even more critically wounded!”

Snails recognised the wicked witch. “So — Natalia Cuartas somehow survived!” he gasped.

It was true; while Natalia Cuartas had indeed been critically wounded by the Nightmare Poison plant, it was nonetheless her iron will for revenge that spurred her to live on as far as possible. She was herself after the very same antidote for herself, that we were after for Alberto.

“I’m the boss of this valley,” said Wladimir; “and I have the antidote to the poison on you. Or at least, half of it. The other half is in the hands of that slut! We must fight and kill her, and the full antidote will be all yours!”

Natalia Cuartas was not convinced. “Since that’s the case,” she shouted, “why do you continue being such a hypocrite?!! The antidote is in your wife’s hands! Your wife and you are now enemies; and even if you were to kill her, how the fuck would you be able to acquire the antidote?!!”

“Listen, Natalia, my dearest!” Wladimir grovelled at the wicked witch’s feet. “I have a plan; I know how we can fight her! You must, however, promise to cooperate!”

“Caramba! Senor Dbrnouk! It should not be hard for you to see that I’m a nun!” cried Natalia. “I am from the order of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary — Sister Natalia Cuartas, F.M.M.! That is my full name! I am celibate, and celibate I will be till the day I die! You want to give me the antidote, also can; you don’t want to give me, also can! Makes no difference to me!”

“You misunderstand me, sweetie!” said Wladimir. “What matters to me most is your happiness! I am all ready to grab the antidote from that slut just for you, even if it means having to kill my own flesh-and-blood daughter!”

Lisa Dbrnouk heard those very words and was about to scream; but I used my hoof and covered her mouth. “Not now, Lisa!” I whispered. “I’ll tell you when the time is right! Continue observing them discreetly!”

“So!” Natalia Cuartas continued ranting at Wladimir. “Your antidote is in the hands of another lover?!”

“No! Never!” cried Wladimir. “That slut has hidden the other half of the antidote in a secret place which only she knows!”

“All right. Bueno. Explain what you want to do,” said Natalia, exasperated.

“OK, this is what we’ll do,” said Wladimir. “I’ll lure my daughter over with some sweet-talk. When I give you the signal, you push her right smack into the centre of the Nightmare Poison plants. We’ll use my daughter as a way of making that slut hand over the antidote, in the hope that she would want my daughter to be saved! Sadly though, there is only ONE antidote pill; even if I gave it to you, I would not be able thence to save the life of my daughter.”

“We don’t need to use the real Nightmare Poison plant, Wladimir,” said Natalia. “We can just fake it, and make it appear as if she were really poisoned. That way both my life and her life would be saved!

“Amigo! That slut is very scheming! She will certainly know it if we were to fake it!” Wladimir exclaimed. “Now listen to me: We’ll wait here for half a night, then I will lure my daughter over, she won’t half know what to expect!

On hearing this evil song from her father, as well as all the words he had spoken to Natalia, poor Lisa was beginning to cry. I held her in my forelegs and used my hooves to stroke her.

Wladimir continued his song of reassurance to Natalia:

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!” laughed Wladimir as he finished his evil gloating song.

“Leave me alone, all of you,” said Lisa, “I want to be alone here for the night.”

“But Lisa… “ I begged her. “Your papa cannot do this to you!”

“Just leave me,” Lisa repeated.

“Well, OK,” I said. “Come, fellow ponies, let’s go.”

We walked further on, being sure not to get hurt by the Nightmare Poison flowers. Eventually we found a patch of ground that was barren, where we could sleep for the night.

“I don’t feel comfortable leaving Lisa Dbrnouk on her own,” I told the others; “good thing we can still see her from here.”

“I’ll go and keep watch on her,” said Rainbow Dash. “From a distance, I mean. It’s for her own safety. She’s certainly no match for her own father. You guys wait me here; I’ll text you to inform you how she’s doing.”

ALBERTO: I’d been living alone in the park for a week now and managing well, with the ponies coming to pay me occasional visits. Now the day came when I was so tired that I accidentally banged into a passer-by who was taking a stroll in the park; I only found out later that this was part of the infection of the Nightmare Poison of which I had contracted when I was in Syldavia.

“Sorry, senor,” I said to the man whom I’d banged into, an obvious naval officer from his clothing.

“Impudent young kid!” said the naval officer. “You clearly don’t know who I am. One day you will regret you crossed my path! Just remember: My name is Sean O’Hara!”

And with that, he walked away. He had a clear-cut Celtic accent; the name was obviously Irish. I knew who he was, albeit not very well; he was a rich Irish businessman who was now based in Bolivia, and was the boss of a shop that sold computer games, not far from Mama’s residence.

This fatigue that was overcoming me, as I mentioned earlier, was the doing of the Nightmare Poison; I knew without any doubt that I had to get myself over this. The only way would have to be to find the antidote, which I knew Dr Whooves was supposedly making.

My distant cousin Timmy Garcia, the one I’d met when I was living in Syldavia, came to find me in the park. “I’ve rented a flat,” he said; “we can move in together. You don’t have to live here like a vagrant on your own. It’s actually illegal.”

“Gracias,” I said. So I moved in to stay with Timmy in his one-room flat, which was located in the northern Bolivian town of Buena Vista.

The next day, we had a knock on the door. Timmy answered it. It turned out to be a lawyer. “My name’s Raul Fernandes,” he said; “and I’m looking for Senhor Alberto Garcia.” His accent was clearly Brazilian.

I heard my name and came running to the door. “That’s me,” I said. “Who are you and how did you find out where I was living?”

“My name’s Raul Fernandes, and I’m a lawyer,” said Fernandes, producing his namecard. “Here’s my card. I have been sent to represent you; you apparently have a court case scheduled for tomorrow, against Dom Francisco Juan Perez.”

“I don’t believe you,” I said. “I did not call for any lawyers. Also I just moved in here, so I am actually pretty creeped out at how you found my present residence. May I know who sent you to me?”

“I’m sorry, but the person has requested to remain a mystery,” said Fernandes.

“Well, Senor Fernandes, I really cannot accept your help then,” I said.

“If you don’t accept my help Senor Garcia, I’m not sure how you’re going to win,” said Fernandes; “because Dom Francisco has engaged a very strong lawyer to represent him, and you do need a strong defense. You should be thankful that at least someone here is willing to help you.” His flat, monotonous voice did not once sound angry.

“Senor Fernandes, if you are serious about helping me,” I said, “you will let me see the person who sent you, face to face.”

Fernandes hesitated a bit. “All right then,” he said. “Come with me.”

Fernandes took me to a graveyard in his car. All the while when we were journeying there, I did not notice any further hint of suspicion in his behaviour. He stopped at a graveyard, took me out, and pointed to a familiar figure in the distance, standing in front of a tombstone. I recognised Huascar Leon at once.

“That’s him,” said Fernandes. “That’s the man who sent me to you. If you need my help, just call me.” And he went back to his car and drove off.

“Huascar?” I asked, still a little reserved within me about the bad experiences I’d had with him before, especially the Bel Mundo case.

“Garcia!” said Huascar, turning to face me. “I heard about your predicament. I wanted to call on you, but was afraid to disturb you, seeing that Donita had left you.”

I was about to accuse Huascar of stealing Donita, but thought very carefully, giving him full benefit of the doubt.

“You were the one who sent me the lawyer?” I asked him.

“Si,” said Huascar. “Derpy told me that you’d moved into this flat with your cousin. So I sent you a lawyer — MY personal family lawyer — to help you in your court case against that cunt Don Francisco tomorrow. It took me a long time for me to get my papa to say yes to this.”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “Did I hear you right — you just called Don Francisco a cunt?”

“Si, you heard me right,” said Huascar. “I hate him with a sizzling hot hatred.”

“But I thought you were one of his assistant managers..?” I wondered. “Given that you started working for him six months before I joined All Lee?”

“Well, do you think you’d continue working for anyone who does this to you?” said Huascar, pointing at the gravestone before him. I looked at the epitaph thereon, and it read:

“She was my sister,” explained Huascar. “The oldest of my three kid sisters, the rascal who kept stealing my laptop when I wasn’t looking. I found her dead just the other day, the same day that you made a scene at the IFD fiesta, with a submachine gun a few yards away, on top of the NATAS building in La Paz. Apparently she’d been sniped to death by one, maybe more, of Don Francisco’s men.

“Closer inspection revealed that she was also the one who had been responsible for shooting Don Francisco three times earlier that day. Some of Don Francisco’s men had been on a higher floor in ION, and they’d seen her sniping him; and so they sniped her to death. Which ones, I really don’t know as I was downstairs all along.

“I sometimes wish she had killed Don Francisco utterly. Then this death of hers would not have been in vain. For after we found her body, it was revealed that she had been with child — with Don Francisco’s child. Which was also killed along with her.

“About a week before her death, Valeria had grown very quiet, and refused to speak to us. She would even skip meals on purpose and go more frequently to the toilet to retch. It was only after her death that we found that the reason for such behaviour on her part was because she had actually been pregnant all along.

“My guess is that she must have gone into severe depression upon discovering that she’d been seduced by that cunt. No wonder she even contemplated shooting him to death. Yet in the end both she and the unborn child inside her were killed, by the employees of the very man who was that child’s biological father.

“Because of this one incident, I swore to myself: I will transfer ALL my allegiance over to you, Senor Alberto Garcia. I will NEVER let that cunt off for seducing and then later assassinating my sister like that. As I said before, I now hate him with a sizzling hot hatred, beyond any form of verbal description. I am willing to help you out as much as possible, Garcia. I know you are suspicious of me because of past experiences we’ve had with each other; but let me assure you this time that I am serious about what I’m saying.”

“Huascar,” I said, “don’t worry. I trust you. In fact I would love to begin this friendship afresh, if you’re ok with it.”

“I certainly am OK, Garcia,” said Huascar. “And I have to say, I fully admire your courage that day, the day you actually stood up to Don Francisco when he was making that speech. For now I know that Hasbro Bolivia was only the nominal organiser of that event; the real organiser, in terms of finances, was Don Francisco Juan Perez. If I had known that he was the one behind all my troubles, I would never have supported that event. Indeed, I am very proud of you, Garcia. You are a man who has that iron will that spurs you on to stand up for your rights no matter what the cost is.

“There is however but one thing I’ve got to tell you, amigo. You do have that thing about you which can often cause you to make careless mistakes. You have a foolhardy nature which often gets you into lots of trouble, more so than you think. While you were courageous that day when you stood up to that cunt, I nevertheless have to say that you were a little over-courageous, to the point of becoming foolhardy. If you want to fight Don Francisco Juan Perez, you have to be a little more subtle in your undertaking. Indeed, you can well avoid this pending court case. It’s very simple. You can do it. Your first step, will be to apologise to Don Francisco.”

“What — I apologise to him??” I gasped.

“That is what I call being subtle,” explained Huascar. “You must say sorry to him. You must put him off his guard, or give him reasons to go off guard. Once he accepts your apology, come and see me. I’ll tell you how you can defeat him. Believe me, this is all for the best.

My eyes filled with tears as Huascar softly sang those words to me. “Huascar,” I said, “you have a point. But isn’t Don Francisco unconscious and in hospital?”

“He came to yesterday,” said Huascar. “You can go and find him. He should be in his ward. Do be very careful what you say or do, though. I’ll be praying for you. We’re in this together. Come, let’s shake our fingers on that. All will be well. Hakuna matata!”

“Hakuna matata,” I said as I shook fingers with Huascar, before I left the scene with lots of thoughts in my head….

HUASCAR LEON: I had seriously done my best for Alberto. This was the one way I could help him. I had previously no such desire; but Valeria’s assassination just showed me the true colours of that cunt.

Derpy and the other ponies had told me that Alberto needed lots of assurance about who his real friends were. And now that I had reason to empathise with Alberto, seeing that I was now going through something he had once went through half a year ago, I was more than willing to extend that hand of friendship to him, even if he was 11 years my senior.

The only way out to avoid a court case, as far as I was concerned, was for Alberto to apologise to Don Francisco. Not that I wanted him to mean it, but that he had to put up an adequately convincing act if he was to set himself free from that cunt’s clutches.

Shortly after Alberto went off, I saw a taxi driving up and someone getting out. It was my domestica; she was in tears.

“Young master Huascar? Your sister Odelia has been found assassinated!” she cried.

“Caramba!” I cried. “The second to go in just a few days!”

Overcome by great anguish from all that had happened in less than a week, I sang out:

And as I finished the last words, I followed my domestica back in the taxi to see what had happened to Odelia….

ALBERTO: Upon arriving at the hospital, afraid that Rosa would be there and start freaking out, I went very grudgingly as a visitor up the elevator to Don Francisco’s ward.

Rosa was there indeed; but to my surprise, she did not freak out. “I won’t stop you,” she declared coldly, stepping aside to allow me in.

My eyes met with Don Francisco’s eyes. I was about to myself freak out; but suddenly, outside the hospital window, I saw Derpy and Flash Sentry looking and smiling at me, as if saying to me, Go on buddy, you can do it!

I took a deep breath……