Princess Amity

by Mister Smiley

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Dark
Length: 13601

Princess Amity daughter of Celestia has lived in Canterlot all of her life and has loved every moment of it, but she is upset for not achieving anything like her mother. However, Celestia has always said destiny will reward her when the time comes.

Princess Amity has lived in Canterlot all of her life and loves her life with her mother Princess Celestia, but she is also depressed for not having a cutie mark or achieving anything wonders like her mother has. Celestia has always told her daughter though she lacks a cutie mark, with great character, hard work, and loving others, destiny will guide and reward her.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-11-15 22:57:40 UTC

Chapter I

Early on a Wednesday morning at Canterlot High School, a forty-three year old, female, unicorn twelfth grade teacher, with her classroom door closed, is cleaning her room at a fast pace. The frantic pony multitasks by straightening her students' desks with her magic while organizing paperwork spread everywhere on her desk. She takes the paperwork with her front hooves and crams it in one of the desk's drawers. Then, she slams the drawer making a loud banging sound echoing in the room. Just then, a younger female Earth pony knocks on the door, and the teacher sits in her wooden chair, takes a deep breath, and says, "Come in."

The door opens slightly, and the younger pony steps in and says, "Mrs. Lily, your guest speaker is here."

Mrs. Lily swallows nervously and responds, "Please bring her in."

The Earth pony completely opens the door and bows her head for the special guest, the majestic Princess Celestia. As Celestia walks into the room, Mrs. Lily steps off her chair, walks up to the princess, bows her head, and says, "Welcome, Your Majesty. It is an honor having you in the school and classroom."

Celestia with a kindly smile responds, "Thank you for inviting me. I'm very anxious in telling the students about my cousin. If I recall, you are a history teacher, correct?"

Sweating profusely, Mrs. Lily lifts her head and responds nervously, "And the students will enjoy it, hopefully. Uh, do you need anything like water? I have bottles in my little fridge beside my desk." Celestia tries to answer, but the unicorn unintentionally interrupts her. "Would you like a snack? I have granola bars. Oh, I know, would you like a chair or a stool?"

Celestia finally responds, "Mrs. Lily, don't be so nervous. I know your students will do fine. Also, thank you for the offers but I'm perfectly fine. Now, when do the students arrive?"

Mrs. Lily slows down her breathing calming herself and answers, "It's about 7:25 now. So, in about ten minutes, the students will start coming in, and the bell rings at 8:00."

Celestia responds, "Until then, we can just talk."

The two ponies start and carry on a conversation throughout the time while teenage ponies, unicorns, and pegasi formally enter the room staring at Celestia in disbelief she is actually in the classroom. Many want to ask her questions, but some are too shy or even scared to ask the princess.

Eventually, the time reaches 8:00 and the bell rings to start the school day, and all the students sit silently giving Princess Celestia their full attention. Celestia instantly knows how they are feeling by their body language. Some students either have widened or shrunken pupils, while others are shaking constantly, or even licking their lips, but Celestia knows this is normal for teenage ponies and proceeds to speak. She stands from the extra chair beside Mrs. Lily, walks in front of the students, and says politely with a smile, "Good morning, class." All of the teens stay quiet.

Mrs. Lily then yells, "Class, respond to the princess!"

This startled the students, and they say at once, "Hello, Princess Celestia."

Celestia turns to the educator and responds to her, "Mrs. Lily, please don't do that again." The teacher blushes in embarrassment, and Celestia turns back to the students. "Class, please relax. I am simply here to tell you a story about an event that occurred twenty-one years ago, but first, does any pony know who Triton was?"

An eerie silence dominates the classroom atmosphere for a couple of seconds, then a male unicorn with a deep voice sitting in the middle of the room breaks the silence by answering to Celestia, "My mom told me that he was your relative."

Celestia responds, "You're correct, and, specifically, my cousin."

Then, a female pegasus sitting in the front row to Celestia's left raises her right hoof, and Celestia looks at her giving the young pegasus her attention. The teen pegasus asks, "I know he was a mean ruler, but how was he before that?"

Celestia's smile deteriorates and forms into a slight frown, looks down at the floor and answers, "He was... a wonderful alicorn. In fact," she looks up to look at the class, "he was my and Luna's favorite cousin.

"When we were little, we played all the time. He was sweet, caring, and he never thought about himself. When we were apart, we sent letters to each other. I loved him dearly, and I wish he was here and his former self. This is where the story starts.

"Triton became the ruler of the once great city of Pandora twenty-one years ago, and, at first, he handled the city and the citizens with great care, and the ponies of Pandora loved him. He was a symbol of hope because Pandora just like most of Equestria was harshly affected by Discord's chaos. During Discord's reign, the cowardly mayor of Pandora left the city and citizens to perish. Even after defeating Discord, the city was still in great peril. Many ponies tried to run for mayor, but the city was splitting apart for no one seemed suited to run the city. Violence and hatred were destroying the city. It seemed nothing could save it or the innocent ponies. As a result, Luna and I contacted Triton and asked him to take care of Pandora. Triton accepted and flew to the city immediately. From what I know, when he arrived at Pandora, the ponies greeted him, and since he was of royal blood, the citizens accepted him as their new mayor immediately. In fact, they refused to call a mayor but instead a leader. We thought he was the perfect choice...but we were wrong, and what he did was beyond belief.

"He did as he promised: rebuild Pandora. He pushed employment, tax cuts, and other orders to make the city's economy strong once again. Additionally, he had hired many ponies build homeless shelters and repair apartments and local businesses. Of course, he was viewed upon as a great leader. He constantly sent Luna and me letters informing us about his progress, and it sounded like he was doing magnificently. After about two months, he had told us the city had reclaimed its former glory, and we were happy for him. However, about a month after that message, the letters had stopped. Luna and I thought nothing of it at first. We thought he was busy and had forgotten, but when we had not received a letter after three months, we grew worried. Eventually, we sent him a letter asking if he was alright, but instead of sending us a message back on the next day, we did not receive one until four weeks after we had sent the letter. He responded with a single sentence, 'Everything is fine.'

"As soon as we received that letter, we knew something was wrong and flew to Pandora immediately, and we took the Elements of Harmony if it was something crucial. I'm glad we did. When we arrived at Pandora, what we saw...was disturbing. The city had regained its size before Discord, but it had a, you could say, gloomy and threatening atmosphere. No ponies expect for ones wearing black metal armor walked down the streets. Hanging on every street lamp were flags each with a blood-red background, a six-pointed black star in the middle, and Triton's face in the star looking forward, as if he was looking at you, with solid black eyes. Those flags though simply designed sent chills down my spine, and we wondered what had happened to our dear cousin. When we got to the middle of the city, we saw a massive castle. This castle was not in Pandora before Triton came, and it was black with dark blue markings all over it with those disturbing flags hanging on nearly every wall. We slightly flew towards it.

"We landed in front of the entrance which was composed of two massive wooden doors, and as soon as we landed, the doors opened and standing in wait was Triton. I could tell immediately something he had changed. His iris was completely black with no sign of the bright blue color his eyes once had, and they were bloodshot around the blackness. He was wearing a dark blue crown and a black amulet around his neck, and both items had various gems and diamonds all over them. Luna and I didn't want to believe it, but it was true: Triton had embraced the dark magic within himself in the form of power and greediness.

"Luna and I tried to persuade him to stop his tyranny and be his former self. However, he believed he lived in our shadows, disrespected by all ponies, and mocked and criticized behind his back. He said when he had Pandora, he did not want to let it go and wanted all political power and fortune he could have. Also, he blatantly told us he made a law in the city to obey and worship him, and all male ponies were soldiers of the city and all gold went to him. I don't remember a lot of the things he said but one I do was, 'All ponies in the city…no in this world will obey me and I AM their only lea…no…god.' We tried to tell him no pony ever thought he was not as equally important as us, but he did not listen and attacked.

"It was an intense fight, and with the dark magic, he was stronger and more powerful than we thought. He was one of the most powerful enemies either of us had ever faced. I remember one moment of the fight where he demonstrated his power: I had charged at him and we were in a horn lock, which for those who don't know is when two unicorns' or alicorns' horns are side by side and one tries to overpower each other by magic and strength. Anyway, Triton and I were at a horn lock, and he overpowered me with ease. Luna who was hit by one of his magic beams prior the horn lock rushed in and joined me in the lock, but Triton continued to push forward with no difficulty. He definitely had a strength and power advantage, but we had speed and experience. I know you're wondering how we defeated him. Sometime during the fight, we were in the air, and we tried to force him to the street so we can use the Elements of Harmony against him. I got frustrated and charged him with everything I had, and we got into another horn lock in the air. However, this left him vulnerable at his sides, and Luna with her horn stabbed into his right side. With Triton in intense pain, I overpowered him forced him to ground level. To make sure he would not escape, I broke his left wing with my magic. Then, we used the Elements of Harmony to turn him into stone, but before we did, I said to him, 'How could you, Triton? We asked to bring peace back to Pandora, not bring tyranny to it.'

"In tears, Luna then said to him, 'You were our favorite cousin! We loved you.'

"Triton wallowing in pain responded, 'I hate you, and I will kill you both! I will return and the world will be mine! I am Triton, God of Earth!' He broke our hearts. With tears dominating our faces, we turned him into stone. He's still in his stone imprisonment in the Canterlot Garden."

The students with faces of awe sit silently while Celestia looks at the classroom clock on the wall to her left. She then says, "According to your classroom clock, you have a couple of minutes until the next class period." She turns back to the students and asks, "Any questions?"

After asking the question, a young male pegasus raises his left wing. Celestia looks at him, and he asks, "I know he did terrible things, but he was your cousin. Do miss him, even a little?"

Celestia with a neutral expression answers, "Yes. Just like how I miss Luna when I banished her ten years ago, I miss Triton a lot."

Then, a female unicorn raises her right hoof, and Celestia looks at her. The young unicorn says, "I know this is off topic but…"

"You know the class rules, Firefly" Mrs. Lily interrupts the teenage pony, "we don't ask questions off topic."

The princess looks at the educator and says, "It's quite alright." She turns back to the curious unicorn and says, "What's your question?"

"Well," she hesitantly starts, "I was wondering where your husband is. I have heard of him but never seen him."

Celestia smiles and says in a polite yet sad tone, "He's not with us now. He's not dead but on major royal duty elsewhere that has consumed every minute for the last sixteen years."

The same unicorn asks, "Do you miss him?"

"Of course." As soon as the princess finishes, the bell rings. Before leaving the classroom, every student approaches the princess, bows their heads, thanks her for the story, and politely leaves the room. A pink alicorn who stands up to Celestia's chest with a mane and tail of gold with silver lines, golden eyes, a blank flank, and a bookcase containing three massive textbooks on her back is the last to leave the classroom and approaches Celestia.

"Great job, Mom," she says to her mother.

"Thanks, Amity," Celestia says to her daughter in a cheerful tone. "Now," Celestia tilts her head slightly to her left to where her horn is pointing at the classroom door, "get your butt to class." Amity chuckles and walks out the door.

Chapter II

Throughout the day, Celestia tells the same story to all of the classes of teenage ponies, and after finishing the story to the last class, just like the classes prior, all the students before leaving bow their heads, thank the princess, and leave politely. The teacher lifts a pink and white purse with her magic and wraps it around her neck and approaches the princess. She says in a clear tone, "Thank you so much for being here today, Your Majesty."

"Thank you for inviting me, Mrs. Lily," Celestia replies with a smile. Mrs. Lily bows her head and heads for the door until the princess says, "Before we leave the school, I would like to ask you a question." The educator turns to her, and the princess asks, "May I see Amity's grades?"

"Of course, Your Highness," Mrs. Lily answers immediately. She walks back to her desk, opens a drawer and takes out a file with "Amity" written on the file tab. She places it and opens the file which contains with highly graded tests, quizzes, and rubrics. Using her magic, Mrs. Lily lifts the graded material in the air in a straight line. Celestia looks at each graded item while the teacher says, "She is or was a fantastic student. So bright, responsive, respectful, and..."

"What is this?" Celestia asks in concerned tone. With her magic, she brings one test closer to her face and stares at a red eighty written on the top of the assessment. Then, Celestia turns her head to her left to see Amity with an empty bookcase standing in the classroom doorway.

After about ten seconds of silence, Amity asks her mother, "What?" Celestia with a stern expression shows the young princess the paper. She looks at it, her pupils slightly dilate, looks back at Celestia, and says in a nervous tone, "Uh, that was...uh...a hard test."

Celestia raises her left eyebrow and says, "I thought you knew the material."

"Your Majesty?" Mrs. Lily then interjects. "That assessment was about a week ago. Also, she made the highest grade. Don’t be mad or disappointed with her. Besides, she’s graduating and particularly makes this grade pointless." Celestia places the test back in the row of tests and places them back on the teacher's desk in a tall stack.

Celestia approaches Amity and says, "From now on, you will tell me every single test you will have and what grade you receive."

As Celestia passes Amity out the room, the young princess lowers in eyebrows, follows her mother, and says, "But today was my last day of school."

"Exactly," Celestia replies. "I was referring to when you go to college." Amity rolls her eyes behind her mother, then Celestia responds, "Don't roll those eyes behind my back. I'll roll that little head of yours."

Amity sighs knowing anything she does is pointless. Celestia then says, "Now, let's go home and practice your magic. I have something unique to teach you."

Amity darts beside her mother and responds, "But I wanted to help set the concession and banners for the hoof-ball game tonight. It’s the last sport event of the school year."

Celestia looks at her and says, "You can go to the game later, but you need to practice your magic first."

Amity breathes out and replies, "Okay."

About thirty minutes later, Celestia and Amity stand in the middle of the Castle Ballroom alone. Celestia stands in front of Amity and says, "Like I said earlier, we’re going to learn something new today."

Amity enthusiastically replies, "Alright! Let's do it! Is it a powerful magic beam?"

Celestia calmly answers, "No."

Amity then asks, "Is it a powerful spell in controlling all the natural elements? Will my eyes glow when that happens?"

Celestia shakes her head, and Amity responds in a less excited tone, "Uh, going to a different dimension where we stand on two legs and wear the same clothes all the time?"

Celestia with shrunk eyes and raised eyebrows responds, "I knew you’re a creative pony, but…wow.” She then shakes her head and reverts back to her prior expression and continues, “No. It's something you'll like but first practice your teleportation spell."

Amity's smile and enthusiasm quickly deteriorates, and she lowers her lips and raises her right eyebrow. She then says, "Mom, really? That's like the most basic spell I know. Heck, I learned when I was two."

Celestia shows an expression of annoyance with her right eyebrow raised high. Amity then breathes in and out heavily, makes a neutral expression, closes her eyes, and thinks of one of the corners in the ballroom. She concentrates her magic to her horn, and then a golden-colored aura glows around her entire horn. Suddenly, a white flash engulfs her and disappears from standing in front of Celestia and appears to one of the corners behind Celestia. Celestia turns to her left to see Amity standing there staring back. Her daughter calmly says, "Now what?"

Her mother responds, "Do it again." Amity still with the annoyed expression repeats the same process but now appears in front of the ballroom doors which lead to the Canterlot Garden. As soon as Amity appears, Celestia says, "Keep doing it until I tell you to stop."

Amity simply replies in an annoyed tone, "Okay." Amity continues practicing her teleportation but after the sixth time teleporting, she realizes Celestia has vanished. Amity looks around and says out loud, "Mom? Where did you go?"

"Nowhere," Celestia's voice echoes in the room. Amity looks all around the room but does not see Celestia. Suddenly, Celestia spooks Amity by whispering in her left ear, "Boo."

Amity shrieks and jumps in the air, and her wings start flapping keeping her in the air. Her eyebrows lower down, pupils slightly shrink, and say with an irritated tone, "Mom, that's not funny!" Celestia giggles which Amity can hear underneath her and slightly to her left. Then, she feels a slap across her bottom. She yells, “Ouch!” and turns swiftly to see nothing. Suddenly, she is tackled from above by Celestia and pins her to the floor which did not hurt either of them.

"Gotcha," Celestia says to Amity in her left ear. Amity looks at her mother visible but then slowly vanishes. Amity still feels Celestia holding her down for a brief second until she is free. Celestia then says from a distance, "This is your new lesson but answer this question first. What are the five senses?"

Amity stands up, looks around for her mother but to no avail, and answers Celestia's question aloud, "The five senses? Touch, hear, taste, smell, and see. Why?"

"Well," Celestia replies still invisible and from a distance, "there is a sixth sense that only unicorns and alicorns have: the sense of magic." Amity shows a confused expression by raising her lower eyelid and lowering her eyebrow of her left eye and raising her right eyebrow. Celestia continues, "Basically, because alicorns and unicorns are active with magic, both species can use their own magic to sense the magic within others including the passive species, Earth ponies and pegasi. You will not be able to master this tonight, but it is a start.”

“Mom,” Amity replies, “I have mastered ‘tough’ spells quickly before. What makes this one so different?”

“Excluding I, your father, and your aunt, less than fifty ponies in existence have mastered it.” Celestia answers. “Listen carefully because it is confusing at first. Close your eyes, think about me, and concentrate your magic."

Amity closes her eyes and concentrates with great effort. Her horn glows gold again, but she is unable to sense Celestia. Amity stops and breathes heavily and says, "Can't sense anything."

“You’re doing something wrong," Celestia replies.

"What is it?" Amity asks.

"Try to find out," Celestia asks.

Amity thinks about what she just did and still does not understand. She concentrates hard again but still with no success. She stops again and breathes again. Celestia then grabs her daughter again and says, “Gotcha again.”

Amity then says, "Not for long." Amity then rolls on the floor with her mother still holding on. Celestia then starts grinding her left hoof against her daughter's head. Amity squeals a bit and slides out of her mother's arms. Both princesses stand and stare each other down with playful smiles. Amity suddenly leaps at Celestia, but within a second, Celestia teleports herself right above Amity wrapping her arms around her daughter again, and both princesses drop to the ground laughing. Celestia calmly says, "You've grown up so much, Amity. I’m proud you’re graduating. I love you.”

"I love you too, Mom," Amity replies.

"After the graduation ceremony next month, what do you want to do to celebrate?" Celestia asks.

Amity merely shrugs and turns her head to look at her mother, but she stops her head when she sees her blank flank. Her playful smile slowly turns into a frown of disappointment. She lowers her head and stares at the floor.

Celestia raises her head looking at Amity and asks, "What's wrong?" Amity just keeps looking at the floor. Celestia then looks at her daughter's flank and says, "Oh." She looks back at her daughter sympathetically says to her, "Amity, how many times have I said to ignore that?"

Amity sighs and responds, "Too many, but I can't let it go. Your and Aunt Luna's cutie marks represent more than just raising or lowering the sun and moon. They also represent the marvelous wonders you both had done in the past. I'm 19 years old and still don't have one. When I look at my blank flank, it just reminds me that I haven't done…anything. What kind of princess am I? Not doing anything wonderful or having a cutie mark."

Celestia lays her head on her daughter's cheek and replies, "I understand how you feel, but you can't let it haunt you. If you work hard and stay true to yourself, destiny will reward you someday."

"I hope so," Amity says.

"It will, and I know it will be astounding," Celestia replies and Amity’s smile returns. Both princesses stand up and Celestia says, "Go ahead to the ball game." Amity hugs Celestia and runs through the ballroom doors.

Chapter III

Just behind Canterlot High School, two teams of hoof-ball players entirely composed of teenage male Earth ponies are playing on a seventy-five by one hundred yard field. Behind both teams are stands filled with ponies of all three species, and the ponies behind one of the teams wearing white and blue colors are Amity and her friends. Both teams have been playing for an hour and thirty minutes and are sweating profusely. The opposing coaches' voices are raspy from yelling at their players, opponents, and referees throughout the intense game.

The score is two to two, and the game will end when the next team scores. In the field are twenty-two players with two in the center, and a male unicorn referee wearing a vertical black and white striped shirt and a whistle hanging from his neck stands between the players holds a thick black and white ball with a hexagon pattern with his magic. He sets the ball down on the grassy field and walks away leaving the two tired conflicting ponies staring each other down. With is right hoof, the referee brings the whistle to his mouth and blows through it, and within a second, the player for the home team kicks the ball to the right with his front right hoof with his rival following close behind.

The audience behind the home team cheers in great enthusiasm as the player controls the ball. He passes through all of his opponents with all of them trailing behind him. He then passes the ball to another player to his right and that player passes the ball to another member to his left who kicks the sphere to the goal. However, the goalie from the contrasting team blocks the shot by jumping in front of the ball and pushing it away from the goal, but instead of grabbing the sphere and throwing it to a team member, it bounces back onto the field where another home player controls the ball. However, a rival player dashes in front of him and tries to steal the object. The two struggle to take control of it with their team mates circling around them to pass the sphere. Suddenly, the home player kicks the ball to his left to a team member. The player sees a small opening between his member who just passed the ball and the rival member in front of him where the goalie is not near, and hesitation and relying on luck, the player kicks the ball between the two ponies which catches the goalie off guard who lunges to block the shot but misses. The home team has won the game.

The audience behind the home team cheers extremely loud and ponies all in the stands start hugging and jumping in the stands including Amity and her friends. After screaming in excitement, the ponies release each other, and Amity’s unicorn friend says, "They won! Thank Celestia, they won!"

"Too bad it's the last game of the school year, though," Amity's Earth pony friend replies.

"True, Vanilla," Amity responds, "But at least they won the last game and can leave the school year on a positive note."

"Yeah," the unicorn friend says. She then notices a tall, tan, muscular team member giving hoof bumps to his team mates on the field. She elbows Amity against her shoulder and says playfully, "Hey, Amity. There's your boyfriend."

She and Vanilla giggles while Amity sees the player and blushes. She then yells at them, "He's not my boyfriend! Sure, he’s a sweet guy, and I like him but not that way."

"Sure, we believe you," the unicorn friend says back sarcastically.

"Shut up, Evening! I mean it!" Amity yells at her unicorn friend.

The crowd exist the stands by walking to the bottom row and walk either to the left or right onto the ground and being directed where to walk off the school property by school faculty. The three young ponies exit as well and walk off the school property. After leaving the school grounds, the band of friends and walk down a road which leads to downtown Canterlot which the girls must walk through in order to reach their individual homes, but no more than twenty feet after leaving the school area, a female Earth pony with an arrogant smile approaches the trio.

The teenage pony stands in front of the trio and says, “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the great Princess Amity, or should I say ‘Princess Blank’?”

Amity stares at the Earth pony with an egotistical smile of her own and replies, “Good to see you too, Jiggy Rich, or should I say ‘The Idiot Not Graduating with Her Classmates’?”

“Oh,” Evening behind Amity shouts excitingly, “you got burned!”

Jiggy Rich shows the bottom of her left hoof to Evening and replies, “Whatever, talk to the hoof.”

Amity then asks, “What do you want?”

The overconfident Earth pony lowers her hoof and answers, “Nothing from you! I’m here for something of mine that you don’t have: a boyfriend.”

“So?” Amity sharply replies, “That makes you better than me? Let me remind you something, I’m a princess and graduating high school, and you are part of a family filled with their heads up their plots and the only one of our entire senior class not graduating. So, who’s better here?”

Evening and Vanilla simultaneously holler, “Oh!” which makes the young princess proud and puts on a proud expression.

Jiggy drops her mouth wide open and responds furiously, “What does make me better is actually being a somepony like being cheerleader captain, having a cutie mark which makes you pathetic for being a freaking princess, and not having a thousand year, benevolent, hypocritical hag for a mom!”

Amity’s smile quickly fades away and turns into an intensely irate scowl. Keeping her eyes on the cocky pony, Amity lowers her head and breathes slow while Jiggy Rich makes a supercilious smile. Evening then steps in front of Amity and shouts at Jiggy Rich, “How dare you?! Do you have any idea what Celestia has done for you?! Heck, if Celestia knows you’ve been talking about her like that…”

Vanilla then steps beside her and yells, “Insulting Amity is one thing but insulting Celestia is going too far! I should shove my hoof down your throat!”

“Move,” Amity tells her friends in an angry and even scary tone. Her friends turn to see her breathing heavily with intense eyes, but they quickly notice something odd about them. The iris of Amity’s eyes was not gold as usual but rather an eerie blood red color. Evening tries to ask about her eyes but is suddenly halted by Amity by screaming at them, “Move!” Even though they know something is wrong, they move out of her way slowly. As soon as her two friends move, Amity dashes at Jiggy and head-butts the spoiled pony in her face.

Jiggy falls to the ground, rubs her forehead, and screams in pain. Suddenly, she picked up by Amity’s magic, but instead of her regular gold aura, the aura is blood red as well. Then, Amity with Jiggy constricted in her magic flies straight up into the air. Amity’s friends try to stop her but are not fast enough to do anything and can only watch Amity fly to the sky. With Jiggy screaming, Amity flies higher and higher. Once she stops, Amity turns Jiggy upside down where she is staring at the ground, and she immediately sees they are so high in the sky the tallest tower of Celestia’s castle is several meters below them.

Jiggy starts to cry, looks at Amity with the blood red eyes, and pleads, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Please put me down!”

Amity responds in a deep sadistic voice, “You pathetic, worm. I have tolerated you for nearly five years, and I have had it! I should let you drop right now! In fact, I will because I can’t stand your guts! I absolutely and always have ha…”

“Princess Amity!” Celestia’s voice suddenly echoes from below the two ponies. As soon as she hears her mother, Amity’s eyes and aura turn back to their gold color, and her anger vanishes. After her aggression disappears, she sees Jiggy being held in her magic, upside down, and several meters in the air. Celestia flies in front of her and yells, “What do you think you’re doing?! Lower her down, now!” Amity starts descending to the ground slowly with Celestia following her. After a couple of minutes, Amity, Celestia, and Jiggy all touch the ground near in front of Evening and Vanilla who both have expressions of shock, and as soon as she touches the ground, Jiggy Rich runs away quickly. Celestia orders her daughter, “Meet me in the throne room.” She then flies into the air and heads to the castle swiftly.

Before leaving, Amity looks at her friends with expressions of fear. She walks towards them, but they move away with every step. Amity stops walking and then says, “Girls. I…I…” She starts to form tears and flies to the castle without finishing talking to her friends.

Chapter IV

Minutes after ordering Amity to meet her in the throne room, Celestia lands on the balcony outside of her bedroom and storms through the balcony doors into her room. She takes her crown, necklace, and shoes off and places them on top of the drawer next to her bed. Then, she calmly walks to her larger drawer across her bed and observes a picture which shows her smiling and lying on grass beside a muscular, maroon, male alicorn with his front hooves in the air holding happy foal Amity.

Using her magic, she lifts the picture up and says "If only you were here, my love... You have no idea how hard it has been raising Amity for these past fourteen years. We need you. Better yet, it's probably best you not being here. I broke our promise made before Amity was born: I yelled at her." A tear from her left eye streaks down her cheek. She continues, "Please forgive me, Amyas." She hugs the picture and says, "Amyas, please be careful at the Ancient City and never forget us."

Five minutes later, Amity with dried tear streaks on her cheeks approaches the throne room entrance doors thinks to herself, "What is Mom going to do? Is she going to order me to take over my maid's position for a month? That would suck! Wait, is she going to banish me like she did with Aunt Luna? No, she turned into Nightmare Moon. What I did wasn't as bad, or was it? Mom..."

Amity then breathes in slowly and opens the doors, and steps in to see an empty throne room with no ponies in sight expect for Celestia sitting in front of a colorful picture glass window. The window shows a maroon male alicorn and a white female alicorn with the tips of their horns together, eyes closed, and smiling, and over their heads is a pink alicorn baby curled up with a white star around the infant. Amity walks beside Celestia, sits next to her, and looks at her with a guilt expression.

Celestia turns her head to stare her daughter and says, "Amity, I am very disappointed in you. What were you thinking? You would have killed that pony." Amity looks away but does not respond. Celestia continues now in a calm tone, "Now, tell me what happened."

Amity says in a nervous tone, "Vanilla, Evening, and I were walking back home after the game, and she came up to us and started insulting us, especially me. I stood up for myself by talking back at her, and it was working. Then..."

"What?" Celestia asks.

"She insulted you by called you 'a hag'," Amity answers. Celestia raises her left eyebrow, and Amity continues, "I got frustrated and tried to control myself, but thoughts of hurting her went through my mind. I gave in and then...I don't remember anything after that, until you yelled at me when she and I were in the sky."

Celestia then responds calmly, "So, she was being a bully. Amity, tell me, is this the first time she or any pony bullied you?"

Amity shakes her head and replies, "She's been like that towards my friends and me since we were freshmen."

Celestia says back, "Why haven't you told me about this? If you're in that situation, you always come to me immediately. Why didn't you tell?"

Amity looks at her mother with tears about to run down her face and answers, "I...I did it for you." Celestia lowers her eyebrow and listens to her daughter, "Since Dad is not here, I thought keeping it a secret and taking care of it myself would give you less stress. I didn't care what could have happened to me if she took it too far. I didn't want you to worry. There are more important things you have to deal with."

Celestia makes an expression of shock and says, "Amity..." With her right hoof, she brings Amity close to her and hugs her daughter tightly. "You are the most important thing in my life. You should never ever think like that. I love you more than thing or anyone in this world."

Amity asks, "Even Dad?"

Celestia hesitantly answers, "Y...Yes. I love Amyas so much, but no one is more important than you." She breaks the hug and asks, "But there is something you need to understand outside of the castle. You need to maintain your role as a princess and never act like that."

"I know," Amity replies, "But I just couldn't take it anymore and insulting you was too much!"

"'Too much?' What else did she say tonight?" Celestia with her eyebrow raised again asks

"Well..." Amity responds and looks at her blank flank.  Celestia leans to look at what her daughter is staring at and immediately knows Amity is referring to her lack of a cutie mark. Before Celestia could respond, Amity says, "She says that I should be embarrassed being your daughter, and I am a 'nobody' and having a blank flank shows it. I know. I shouldn't think about it, but whenever Jiggy brings it up, I can't help but think that she's right. I don't show that it bothers me in front of her, but when she's not around, it her insults come back and can't get them out!"

"Amity..." Celestia interrupts in a calm voice.

"No, Mom!" Amity shouts, "You know she's right, and if she doesn't respect me for being a princess with no cutie mark and doing nothing, why should all of the other ponies in Equestria? They all think that! I know they do! There is no pony out there who respects me, including you, Aunt Luna, and Father! All of you think that don't you!"

"Stop it right now!" Celestia shouts back in her royal voice. Then, she calmly continues, "Just stop it. I know you're thinking I'm going to repeat what I said earlier today, but I'm not. Instead, I'm going to tell you something I should have told you long ago. No matter who you are, there will always be those who will hate you." Amity looks at her mother with a confused expression with her left eyebrow lowered down and her right raised high.

Celestia continues, "Not all ponies or any other individuals living in Equestria respect or like me. I've heard and read criticisms towards me, and many call me a hypocrite, a tyrant, a liar, and even a bum who makes others carry out my tasks instead of me doing them myself. They have their right to their opinions upon me, but there is one thing I always do no matter how many critics are out there, I make decisions for all of the residents of Equestria. I have never made decisions that benefit me. I protect them and as a princess, everything I do as a leader centers around them. If I attack any of the critics, I will appear to be selfish and many would turn against me. I have to do what is best for them. Amity," Celestia places her front hooves on her daughter's shoulders and continues, "no matter what they say, you need to protect them your own way. Even with the ponies criticizing you, many will follow you and respect you with or without your cutie mark. Heck, I bet you would make a great role model for those who don't have one. You could show them that you don't need one to accomplish wonder things. Amity, promise me, you will always protect all of the citizens of Equestria."

Amity with a smile and tears running down her cheeks hugs her mother and says, "I promise. I will protect all of them with my life. I'm sorry, Mom. I love you."

Celestia hugs Amity back and replies, "You are forgiven, and I love you too." Celestia breaks the hug and says, "It's late. Let's go to bed." Amity nods and walks along with Celestia to the hall containing their bedrooms.

A couple minutes later, they come across Amity's bedroom door, and Amity opens it and walks inside the bedroom. Before Amity closes the door, she smiles at her mother. Celestia smiles and says, "Goodnight." Celestia turns to her left but stops and says to Amity, "Oh, by the way, you're grounded." Amity's jaw drops and her eyebrows raise high in shock. Celestia smirks and walks to her bedroom just ten feet away from her daughter's room.

Chapter V

Four weeks after Amity's outburst, early in the morning of a Friday, Celestia is sitting in front of a mirror combing her hair with a brush being held by her magic. She places the comb on the counter and wears her crown on her head. She looks at a picture to her left which shows her wearing a straw hat and sunglasses and beside her is Amity at 14 years old wearing braces and an orange swim suit with a white flower pattern at a beach.

Celestia smiles at the picture and says aloud, "Amity, how much you've grown. It only seems like yesterday we were there."

Then, a knock on her bedroom door catches her attention, approaches the door, and opens it to see her unicorn assistant with a clipboard and pen in her right hoof. The assistant says, "I'm here, Your Majesty."

The princess interrupts by whispering, "Sh. You'll wake up Amity. Her room is close to mine. Come inside my room and we'll talk." The unicorn enters Celestia's bedroom quietly, and Celestia closes and locks the door. She continues in a slightly louder tone, "We can’t let her know about this. Also, tell all of the guards, maids, chefs, and any pony else you can get to not let her go into the dining room." Her assistant nods and with her magic lifts the pen and prepares to write, and the princess says, "Now, this is what I was thinking..."

Just down the hall is Amity’s room which is shut and locked from the inside. Inside the room, the young princess is on her back fast asleep on a queen size bed. Her mouth is wide open making faint snores, and her sheets are only covering her legs and waist. As she sleeps, she dreams she is walking down the streets of Canterlot with her friends Vanilla and Evening. All three are wearing highly expensive clothing, jewelry, and other accessories. The three walk into a random clothing store and grab various clothing such as shirts, pants, and dresses off the shelves and hangers and quickly try them on and take them off. Then the friends leave the store with all of the clothing they tried on in bags that around their necks, back, waist, and hooves. Suddenly, all three come to a halt and stare at three tall, muscular, handsome Earth stallions who give the three teens flirtatious smiles. The group smiles and let their jaws hit the concrete floor, and their eyes grow at a cartoonish size. The teenagers breathe heavily as the three stallions approach them. Amity looks at her friends who each take one of the stallions, and each pair enter in a small room that spontaneously appears in front of them, and each of her friends with their stallion enter the room and closes the door which has a sign that says "Whoopee Room". The princess hears her friends moaning loudly from the rooms. With an excited, flirtatious expression, she turns back to the attractive stallion, but instead of the stallion, a slightly taller dark blue alicorn with a long flowing blue mane stands in front of her with a smile.

"You're lucky I'm not telling your mom about this," the blue alicorn says to her. Amity is shocked by the alicorn appearing before her and backs away quickly, but then she feels something hard against her bottom and stops as soon as she feels it.

"No way," a deep male voice behind her says. "There is no way you will be with a stallion like him."

Amity recognizes the voice and slowly turns her head to see a massively tall, muscular, red alicorn who stares down at her with his eyebrows raised high. She backs away from him and looks at the two alicorns intensely and asks, "How are you two?"

"Why, Amity," the blue alicorn replies, “don't you remember us?"

Amity observes the two more carefully and recognizes their cutie marks which the blue alicorn's cutie mark is the moon and the red alicorn's mark is a golden crown. She relaxes; widens her pupils, and responds in a shocked tone, "Aunt Luna? Dad?"

The two alicorns nod their heads simultaneously, and Amity instantly forms tears in her eyes, runs up and hugs them tightly, and the two alicorns hug her back tightly as well. Amity then breaks up the hug and asks her aunt, "Aunt Luna, I thought you were banished to the moon." She turns to her father and asks, "Dad, I thought you had to stay at the Ancient City.”

Luna answers in a gentle voice, "When your mother raised the moon earlier, she used a powerful old spell to contact my alter ego Nightmare Moon in spirit form instead of meeting physically for safety reasons. Long story short, she granted me one night to talk to you in your dream before you wake up."

"Wait,” Amity asks, "this is all a dream?"

"Yes, my niece," Luna answers. "Even if this is a dream, it is still wonderful to see you again, and I can say that for the both of us. Right, Amyas?"

She turns to see Amity's father staring at his daughter with a big smile on his face and widened eyes. He and Amity look eyes, and he says, "Amity, my little girl, it’s been so long since I have seen you."

Amity almost cries but holds back to ask him, "Daddy, how come you're here?"

Amyas answers, "Well, your aunt contacted me in my dream."

Luna then says, "After I and my sister negotiated about this, I proposed the idea on bringing him here for you, and Celestia agreed and gave me my power to go into his dream and connect both of your dreams together."

"Tell me," Amyas continues, "how do you feel about this surprise?"

Amity with a joyous expression answers, "This is...unbelievable. There aren't words to describe how I feel. I missed you two so much. I wish this was real."

Her father responds, "Don't fret. One day we will all be together again. It takes patience." Then, the environment all around the three alicorns slowly start turning black. "Is it already done?" Amyas asks Luna.

The princess of the moon answers, "I'm afraid so. You are waking up Amity. This is all the time we have with you."

"No," Amity replies with tears slowly streaking down her face. "Please no. You just got here."

Luna explains, "Celestia fears that if I have too much freedom such as this, I would turn into Nightmare Moon and somehow escape. Even if I did, I made deal with her and I must keep my side of it. I must return to the moon, and Amyas must return to his dreams."

Amity closes her eyes causing more tears to run down. She approaches her aunt and hugs tightly, and does the same with her father crying harder and burying her head in his chest. "Daddy, please not leave me again! Stay, please!"

"I'm sorry," her father responds in a calm voice. "I can't but promise me and your aunt this: stay strong and never change who you are."

Luna then approaches the couple with a single tear down her left cheek and places her head on Amity’s left shoulder. Amity then says, "I promise. I love you both."

The world around the alicorns turns completely black with the group contrasting the blackness. Then, Luna and Amyas slowly fade into the black as well.

Amity opens her eyes to find herself on her bed. She sits up and looks around hoping to see her aunt and father but to no avail. However, instead of crying, she smiles and cross her arms across her chest as if she is hugging some pony, and she whispers to herself, "Good bye for now."

Several hours later, Amity wearing a graduation gown which covers her body and a cap stands at the edge of a white wooden stage which set up in the center of the same field where the last game of the school year was held weeks ago, and the stage is facing in front of a massive audience of ponies wearing formal attire. On the stage are the school principal, vice principal, school board, and Princess Celestia. All of the graduates expect for Amity have walked across the stage, received their diplomas from the principal, thanked all of the ponies on the stage, walked off, and stand on the other side of the field. Amity waits for her name to be called by the principal so she can repeat the, but the principal hands the diploma to Celestia and walks up to the very front of the stage.

"Now," Celestia says to the crowd, "the only alicorn in the entire graduation class, my daughter and the future of Equestria, Princess Amity!” The crowd spontaneously springs out of the stands and a roar of cheers erupts.

Amity with blushes dominating her face walks up to her mother. Celestia hands her the diploma and the two hug, and as soon as they hug, Amity whispers in her mom's ear without moving her lips, “Don't ever do this again! It's so embarrassing! “Celestia chuckles and breaks the hug for Amity to walk off.

About thirty minutes after the ceremony ended and celebrating with friends and fellow graduates, Amity and her friends return the gowns and caps in the school's main office where an assistant takes the graduation clothing. The group leaves the main office and waiting for them is Celestia. She says, “Congratulations, girls." Evening and Vanilla bow their heads before her and then raises them. "Evening and Vanilla, would you two like to come to the castle to celebrate?”

The pegasus and unicorn stare at each other with shocked faces and then look at Amity who has an excited expression with a gigantic smile and widened eyes and nodding her head frantically. The two friends then look back at Celestia and answer, "Yes!"

Celestia responds, "Excellent! You both can ride with Amity on her royal carriage. As soon as we arrive at the castle, just follow me." The group then exits through the school doors to see two massive golden carriages both with four white pegasi guards. Celestia walks and climbs on the carriages up front while Amity walks to the one behind her mother’s. Evening and Vanilla follow their alicorn friend and excitedly climb on the golden carriage and sit next to Amity who is between them. Celestia then says to all eight guards, "To the castle." The guards of her carriage pull with ease and take off into the air, and as soon as Celestia's carriage gets off the ground, the guards attached to Amity’s carriage pull as well and follow suit. As they head towards the castle. Amity’s friends look at the breath taking scenery below them making Amity chuckle.

She then says, "I know. It's...so...awesome!"

Only five minutes after leaving the school, the ponies arrive at the castle, and Amity and her friends step off the carriage and follow Celestia who has already entered the castle through two beautiful painted doors with golden edges. They catch up to the princess, and the unicorn and pegasus observe the amazing, massive interior design of the castle. Celestia takes them through the main hall and into the dining room where a long undecorated table is set up.

"Please take a spot," Celestia asks the group of friends as she sits at the table.  The younger ponies do as she asks.

They awkwardly sit for a minute until a male unicorn butler enters the room, bows his head, and asks the princess, "Is this the entire group, Your Majesty?” Celestia nods her head, and the servant replies, "Very well." He leaves the room politely without saying another word. Suddenly, a large number of maids, butlers, and chefs barge in giving all four ponies white napkins, glass cups, and golden plates in front of them. Amity’s friends are shocked by all of the servants and treatment they are receiving, but Celestia and Amity simply smile. Then, a cart with salads, steamed carrots, five star soups, and various other foods with steam eliminating from them enters the room.

Celestia looks at Amity’s friends who have excited faces and asks, "Surprised?”

"Yes, ma'am," Evening answers.

"Thank you so much, Your Highness,” Vanilla also answers.

Celestia chuckles and looks at Amity who has a smile and asks, "Well, Amity? Are you surprised?"

"Kind of," Amity responds, "but you do this call the time." Celestia simply shrugs.

The four ponies eat dinner in the dining room and have a massive marble cake with vanilla and strawberry flavors and chocolate icing for dessert. After eating, the ponies talk, tell jokes, and play board games in the dining room for several hours. Eventually, the two friends have to leave the castle and the guards who pull Amity’s carriage take the two teens to their homes. As soon as they left, Amity immediately goes to her room, takes shower, and goes to bed while Celestia lowers the sun and raises the moon. However, instead of going to bed instantly, Celestia flies to Amity’s balcony and knock on the glass doors that lead to her room getting her attention. Amity in her bed hears the knocking and sees Celestia on her balcony with the moon brightly shining behind her. Amity stares at the moon with a gapping mouth and lets her mom in. Celestia enters and sits next to her and looks at the object as well.

"Beautiful, isn’t it?” Celestia asks.

Amity whispers, “Yeah."

"Amity," Celestia says, "since your friends have plans with their families this summer, do you want to go to Orange Beach?"

Her daughter darts her head at her mother and responds excitedly, "Yeah. I would love that."

"Glad to hear that, but..." Celestia replies, "I have royal duties throughout Equestria for two weeks. Once I finish, we’ll go, but you have to do something until then. "

"What?" Amity asks.

"You will go to Ponyville and stay with and learn from Miss Remedy. She is a behavior specialist and a master in magic. I asked her the other day to take you in and give you some training in magic and help with your behavior, specifically your anger."

Amity with a confused face asks, "What do you mean? I don’t…"

"What happened weeks ago," Celestia snaps. Amity then stops and makes an expression of shame.  "Look, I and your friends have already forgiven you, but we need to make sure this doesn't happen again. This isn't to punish you. It's to help you. Please take this seriously. It’ll be worth it and even fun."

Amity nods and says, “Okay. When will I go there?”

Celestia answers, “Tomorrow! Now, get to bed and have a goodnight.” Celestia exits her daughter’s bedroom leaving Amity speechless with a stunned expression.

Chapter VI

In the middle of a beautiful day, Amity is riding on a train to the small town Ponyville, and she has sat in the steam locomotive for thirty minutes. Throughout the majority of the thirty minutes, the many passengers including fillies take notice of her presence and ask her questions and autographs. The ponies on board were very excited to meet a princess which is a once in a lifetime opportunity, but despite appearing calm and tolerable, Amity slowly got irritated with the attention. At one point, she wanted to lash out on all the ponies. Eventually, the attention stopped, and Amity gained a terrible migraine. Currently, she is simply staring out of the window looking at the various landscapes passing by.

Then, a female stewardess enters the passenger cart and says to every pony in the cart, "Attention passengers. We are arriving at Ponyville. Please see if every pony in your party is present." Amity gives sighs and raises her right hoof. The employee sees the princess' hoof, swallows in nervousness, and approaches the young royal alicorn. She bows before Amity and asks, "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"May I have some of the apple cider?" the princess asks.

The stewardess swallows again and replies, "...I'm sorry, Princess, but we have sold all the cider we have. We won't have any more until we get to Ponyville."

Amity lowers her eyebrows, widens her eyes, turns her head back to the window, and says in an irritated tone, "It is fine."

"We have water if you like Princess," the nervous pony replies.

"I said no," the alicorn loudly snaps at the employee.

The stewardess swiftly jumps backwards and says, "I'm sorry," and exists the cart. The rest of the passengers stare at the young princess with expressions of shock and fear. Amity looks out the window once again and notices the landscape slowly stopping and then comes to a halt. She steps out of her seat, opens a small cabinet above her, pulls out a saddle with her two luggage bags attached, places it on her back, and follows the rest of the passengers out of the cart. She passes by the same stewardess but says nothing to her.

Amity steps out of the door to find an adult and a filly unicorn standing in front of her. The filly is peach colored with bright blue eyes, a combed straight mane and tail, a darker blue hair bow, and a blank flank. The adult is dark orange with a dark blue mane and tail in spiky fashions and dark green shades and vest with a cape attached. The two approach the young princess, and Amity in return walks towards them. The adult approaches Amity and says, "Welcome to Ponyville, Your Majesty. I'm Remedy's daughter."

Amity replies in a tone indicating tiredness, "Thanks. Nice to meet you."

The unicorn turns to the filly behind her who has her mouth open and widen eyes and pupils and asks, "Amber, would you like to say something?"

Amber simply stares at Amity with her ears back; eyes widen, and mouth open. The princess breathes out through her nostrils and approaches the filly and says, "Hello, Amber."

"I…I…" the little filly replies, then she leaps up and hugs Amity tightly. Amity rolls her eyes and hugs the filly back with her left front hoof.

"Amber," the adult unicorn says, "let the princess go. She ain't a teddy bear."

Amber breaks the hug and excitedly says, "Sorry, Mommy. It's just…" She squeals in excitement and continues, "so cool meeting you!"

Amity smiles and replies, "Well, it's pretty cool to me you."

"Allow me to introduce myself now," Amber's mother says. "You can call me DJ-R. It's my nickname around here and I prefer that."

"Um, okay," Amity replies. "So, where is your mom?"

DJ-R answers, "She's in the forest taking a walk. She will be home by the time we get there, but before we go home, I need to do something, if you don't mind."

Amity replies, "Fine. Let's get it done with. I have a terrible headache."

"Yeah, no problem," the unicorn says. "A friend of mine wants to me to hear his latest mix. He's a local DJ too."

Amity grinds her teeth and silently says, "Fine."

The three ponies walk through town with residents starring in awe at Amity, but surprisingly, none of the Ponyville citizens approach her. The ponies of the town simply kept their distance from the young princess and bow when she passes by them. For a brief minute, Amity did wonder why they were acting in this fashion, but she dismisses the thought and accepts their behavior and giving her space. Eventually, the trio approaches a small brick house with loud music coming from the inside.

The orange pony knocks on the front door hard, the music stops, and a white male pony with spiky hair and shades opens the door. "Yo, DJ-R!"

"What's up, VJ?" R answers.

"I'll be one minute," DJ-R says to Amity and Amber and walks inside the house, and loud music starts emulating from the house. Amber and Amity back away from the house, sit on the ground against a wall, and wait and wait and wait.

"Tell me Amber," Amity asks, "why do you like me so much?"

The filly blushes and answers, "Well... you're a princess, awesome, and smart without a cutie mark. I want to be just like you when I grow up! I want to be some pony others can look up to and show them that being a blank flank doesn't mean a thing. You showed me that when Mommy showed me a picture of you in the newspaper."

Amity with widen pupils and blushes on her face asks, "How long ago was that? When you saw me in the paper?"

Amber immediately answers, "Three years ago, and I haven't stopped trying to be like you! Work hard, be nice, and love family."

"I inspired you to 'love family'? You didn't love your mom at one point?" Amity asks with a tone of concern and curiosity.

The filly shock her head a continued, "I didn't love Mommy because I wanted to be with Daddy. Dad told me one day that I had to be with her, and I was really upset. I promised him that I would love her, but I didn't keep that promise. I just never talked to her or anything. Then, one day, Mommy told me Princess Celestia and you were coming to Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration at year. I couldn't meet you like this because we were behind a crowd. Mommy put me on her head so I could see you and Celestia, and I saw how you and you mommy talked. I thought about how I was acting and if I want to be like you, I had to love my mom too. Now, I truly love my mommy."

Amity with her jaw open, pupils dilated, and a single large blush consuming her cheeks says in a soft tone, "Wow. I've made that much of an impact on your life?" Amber nods her head and nuzzles against Amity's leg. Amity with a smile pats on the filly's head. Amity then thinks in her head, "I can't believe it. I've affected this little filly's life this much? Maybe...I'm not useless as I thought. I can only imagine what Mom, Father, and Aunt Luna would say to this. This is one of the best moments of my life."

Five minutes pass and Amber asleep on Amity's leg and the young princess has grown very impatient with the unicorn. "Oh my mother's name," Amity says without waking the filly, "how long could this possibly be? Listen to the music, if you can even call that mess music, judge it, and leave it. How long could it possibly be? I should barge in and..."

Then, the front door opens with the orange unicorn stepping out and says to her friend, "Keep it up, dude! Later!" The door closes behind her, and DJ-R approaches the two. She sees her daughter sleeping on the leg of the princess. "Aw. That's so adorable. You have no idea what you mean to her."

"Yeah, I do." Amity replies. "She told me a bit, and I'm proud that I have affected both of your lives."

DJ-R smiles and says, "Well, if you can lift her up and carry her on your back, we'll be on our way to home."

Amity then asks, "By the way, why do you have the cape on?"

"It's to keep cool. It's hot out here," DJ-R answers.

"True," Amity replies.

The alicorn lifts Amber with her magic and sets the filly on her back and follows the unicorn through the rest of town. With the sun close to setting, the trio reaches a beautiful forest. The group walks through it and they can hear and see wide life animals such as squirrels, birds, and even deer eating, sleeping, and gathering food for the night. Eventually, they come across a wooden two-story house with windows on the sides, a wooden front door, and a blue painted roof.

"Finally," the DJ says, "we've made it."

Amity sighs and follows the unicorn to the front door. She opens the door to see a staircase to the upper floor in the middle; to the right is a small kitchen and dining room next to it; and to the left are a couch, two chairs, and a large bookcase. The filly on her back yawns and hops off her back and walks up the stairs while rubbing her eyes.

"Go upstairs, Amber and get a bath. Dinner will be ready soon," her mother says. The filly runs up stairs to the bathroom.

DJ-R then walks over to the dining table with a concerned face and picks up a letter. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Amity asks. She approaches the DJ, and the unicorn hands her the letter and reads it aloud, "'Dear Princess Amity, I am sorry to tell you that I had to leave to see a sick relative today. I will be back in two days, and when I return, our first session will begin. Again, I am truly sorry.' Really? Really?! She's not here after what I went through?! Annoying ponies bothering me today, and a train staff

that can't even give me a drink I wanted!"

The princess stops when she feels some pony's head on her back, and an orange hoof wraps around her forehead. Amity pauses in shock, and then she feels the head and hoof back away. She jumps forward, turns around, and sees the DJ right in front of her with a disappointed expression. The unicorn takes off her clothing and hangs all clothing attire on individual hooks on the wall, and she reveals green eyes and a cutie mark of a ying-yang mother unicorn lowers her head and swiftly jerks it back which straightens her mane. Then, she says in a formal tone, "Just as I thought. You have no patience, flexibility, or ways in controlling your anger. You will be a difficult one. "

"You're Remedy?" Amity asks.

The unicorn nods her head and continues, "You immediately assume that the way I look mean that I am not a genius in magic and behaviors? Before you ask, the DJ gimmick was your first test. I wanted to see who you really are. If I had told you right away what I would look like, you would act polite and formal which would hide who you are. I had to catch you off guard and see the problems you have. Also, don't think what you did on the train won't come into play. While you were talking to Amber, I asked the stewardess if anything happened, and she told me your sudden burst. Also, my friend really is a DJ, but the loud music was a cover up so I could read your lips. From that, I saw that others leave an impact on you, but I read your lips after Amber fell asleep, and you have very little patience."

Amity looks down with an expression showing shame. She asks, "Everything was a set up to see what my problems were?"

"Most of the things," Remedy continues. "What Amber said was absolutely true. We had a difficult relationship after her father and I had a divorce, but we came closer after she saw you and Princess Celestia. Now, to the matter at hand, don't apologize for what you did or said today. Reflect on those events and think what you should do when it happens again. Our real first session will start tomorrow, but for now I need to get supper ready." Remedy goes to the kitchen and opens drawers to start cutting a head of lettuce. "There's a room upper stairs to the right."

Amity walks up the stairs, enters a room with a medium-sized bed, puts down her luggage, and lies on the bed. She stares at the ceiling and says, "I was impatient, harsh, and when something like that note happened, I went out on a rant. I see what she meant. These next two weeks will be…intriguing."

Later that night, Amity, Amber, and Remedy are all asleep in their beds, and Amity is having a dream about the animals she saw in the forest earlier. She is interacting with them, petting them, and giving food off her hooves. Suddenly, everything turns black. An eerie laugh echoes all around her, and she hears Celestia scream, "Amity! Amity, is that you?!"

"Mom?!" Amity shouts to Celestia.

"Oh," the voice making the laugh suddenly says, "how precious. Your little girl, Celestia? I can't wait to see her bleed." The voice then makes an evil giggle.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Celestia then shout out.

"Who are you?!" Amity then yells.

"You know me," the male voice answers. "We'll meet soon, Amity, and I'm expecting a lot from you."

Then, silence dominates the dream with nothing to see. Suddenly, a white alicorn figure fades in from the black scenario.

"Mother?" Amity asks. The white figures then turns to its left to look at Amity, but she immediately knows the figure is not Celestia. The alicorn has bat like wings and a mane, a tail, and many stripes all over the body fading in quickly in a blood-red color. The figure stands in front of Amity with its eyes closed, and Amity cannot believe her eyes. This is her. The white Amity then opens her eyes quickly to show blood-red cat-like eyes and makes a horrible spine tingling scream. Amity then wakes up and leans forward sweating profusely. She breathes heavily and looks around. "It's just a dream. That's...it," she says to herself. She lies back down on the bed and hesitantly goes back to sleep.

Chapter VII

Early in the next morning, the sun shines through the window of Amity's temporary room and shines right on her face waking her up in the process. The young princess rubs her eyes with her hooves, sits up, lawns, and steps off the bed. She stumbles a little but quickly regains her balance. She breathes out through her nose slow and rubs her head with her left hoof. She then hears three knocks at her door and approaches it. She opens to see Amber standing in front of her with a smile of her face.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," the young filly says.

"Morning, Amber," Amity says quietly.

"Mommy wanted me to see if you were up," Amber replies. "Breakfast will be done any second."

"Amber! Amity!" Remedy says aloud from down stairs. "Breakfast is ready!"

"Right on time," Amity responds. She follows the filly down the stairs and to the kitchen. They sit at the round dinner table where Remedy is waiting for them.

The unicorn mother says, "Good morning Amity. Looks like you're having a bad mane day."

Amity chuckles a little and in a clear voice, "I guess I am." Suddenly, a sharp pain rushes through her head, and the alicorn rubs her head again.

"You okay?" Remedy asks.

"Just a headache," the princess replies.

"Well, maybe food will help with that. Please sit." Remedy says. Amity and the two unicorns sit in chairs in front of the round table where a wooden bowl and a wooden spoon sit in front of the ponies. The princess uses her magic to lift the spoon which she uses to scoop some of the oatmeal and tastes the food.

"Hmm," Amity loudly hums. "This is delicious. Is this peach?"

"Why yes," Remedy answers, "with a dab of cinnamon."

The three ponies continue to eat until the bowels are empty. Remedy with her magic takes the bowels to the kitchen sink and proceeds to wash them. Amber with a book bag on her back hugs her mother and Amity and leaves through the front door. Amity stands up and walks back to her room and makes the bed. While she makes the bed, through the window she sees magic dust from the sky head under her and hears a pop sound.

"Please don't tell me that's Mom's letter," Amity says to herself with an expression showing concern. She finishes making the bed and walks up to the mirror attached to the room's drawer, and she uses her magic to lift a comb on the drawer and straighten her hair. As she straightens her hair, she thinks about the voice and white alicorn from the night before. "Who had that voice?" She thinks to herself. "I don't recognize it, but he said I knew him. He also said he wants to see me bleed?" She places the comb back on the drawer and walks downstairs. As soon as Amity reaches the bottom of the stairs, she sees Remedy outside with the door open and sends a letter via magic dust into the air.

"Was that from Mother?" Amity asks in a somewhat concerned tone.

Remedy re-enters the house and answers, "Why yes it was. Don't worry. She was just asking what I was going to do today, and I simply told her on that letter." Amity breathes out in relief. "Amity," Remedy continues, "you don't have to worry about being in trouble. Everything that happens here, stays here."

The pink alicorn nods her head then asks, "By the way, what are we going to do today?"

Remedy sits on a wooden chair against the round table and replies, "Simple. We're going to talk. Please sit down so we can start."

"Talk? That's it?" Amity asks with a confused expression.

Remedy brings her hooves together, clears her throat, and responds, "Excuse me. Yes. You see I've found that the best way to help my patients is getting to know who they are. Not their problems like your anger as an example but rather personality. That way I know how they think and how hard I should push them during the sessions. Additionally, my patients should know who I am through conversation so they can trust me. Understand?"

Amity nods and sits in the chair across from her instructor. She then says, "So...where should I start?"

Remedy lies back on her chair and replies, "Whatever or whenever you want."

"Okay," Amity calmly replies. "As you probably know, I was born in Canterlot and my mother is Celestia and my father is Amyas."

Back at Canterlot behind the castle, numerous unicorn and Earth royal guards are patrolling the Canterlot Garden while pegasi guards are flying over the maze. The captain of guard standing at the entrance removes his helmet and bows before Celestia with her unicorn assistant who is holding a clipboard in her left hoof and a quill placed on her right ear standing beside her.

"At ease." Celestia orders the captain who rises after the princess' command. Celestia and the assistant walk past the captain who stays at Celestia's side, and the princess asks in an intense voice, "Did you find him?"

"I am sorry," the captain replies "but we did not find a trace of him. However, we can confirm that he has..."

The trio turns to their left past a corner to find a statue base with shards of broken marble scattered around it. Celestia stops immediately and her pupils shrink quickly. She approaches the base and the shards and observes them intensely and notices that the base shows no signs of damage. Celestia then uses her magic to scan over the debris then says, "Captain."

"Yes, Your Majesty?" the captain marches behind her with his helmet on.

"Tell the guards stay alert of an enemy who could strike Canterlot. However, do not alert the citizens. I don't want them to panic. Have guards patrol all streets of the city. That will be all for now." The captain nods and rushes to the middle of the garden to gather all the guards. "The assistant who is beside the corner then receives magic dust and transforms into a letter before her. She holds it with her magic. "Raven," Celestia calls to her.

The assistant walks beside the princess and asks, "Yes?"

"Take a letter," Celestia tells the unicorn. Raven places the letter on her left ear and picks up the quill with her magic. Celestia continues, "After writing this, send it to the Wonderbolts immediately. Write:

General Purple Dart:

The following is top-secret and only the best Wonderbolts are to take on this mission. I need the very best Wonderbolts to fly to the abandoned city of Pandora and search for any evidence of any pony being there. I understand that no pony should set hoof there, but I and the E.U.P. here in Canterlot have evidence that my cousin Triton has escaped from his stone imprisonment. I scanned the base and shards where he once stood and he somehow broke freely on his own. I have a strong suspension that he would be heading towards Pandora to reclaim his power he once had. Whoever you send must stay alert, and if he is there, they are not to confront him or follow him. Tell the members on this mission to return and inform me immediately.

- Princess Celestia"

Raven rolls the letter and send it via magic dust, and the dust goes into the sky quickly. Celestia then asks, "Where am I to go to next?"

"Let me see," the unicorn replies. "You are to appear at the Rich's Annual Fine Wine Tasting Convention. Do...do you want me to cancel it?"

"The white alicorn looks at her with a neutral expression and asks in a calm tone, "Why you ask that?"

"Well," Raven responds, "because of what's happening here."

"No. Don't cancel it. I cannot ignore the citizens of Equestria, and if I suddenly cancel all of these appearances, they will grow worry. I don't want them to worry. Not to mention, there may be a small chance that he left Equestria. His defeat may have affected him emotionally so much that he would want to leave. Even if that's proven wrong, I don't want the citizens going into a panic unless we know where he is."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Raven replies.

"Let's head back to the castle," Celestia says.

On their way out of the Garden, Raven says, "Oh, Princess. I almost forgot that Miss Remedy responded back."

Celestia stops, turns to her, and orders, "Read it to me."

Raven with her magic lifts the letter from her ear, opens it, and reads aloud,

"Princess Celestia:

Thank you for informing me about this. I will ask Amity if she had the same dream last night after our first session. Also, please don't worry about her. I know she will be a great pony to work with.

- Remedy"

'Your Majesty," Raven speaks, "if I could recommend something. I think we should tell Princess Amity. Maybe if you two fight him together like you and Princess Luna did, both of you could stop him."

"Absolutely not," Celestia snaps at the unicorn. "I'm sorry for snapping, but despite Amity being powerful and knowing a lot about magic, Triton is too deadly for her to face even with me. I fought him, and he's beyond anything I had faced before. If she were to fight Triton..." The princess stays silent.

"But can't you two control the Elements of Harmony?" the assistant asks.

"No." Celestia swiftly answers. "Only Luna and I were the ones to wield them. Without Luna, the Elements are worthless. She and I found them together before I was pregnant with Amity. Maybe if I was when I used the Elements, the Elements' power could have transmitted into her because their power circulated through my entire body when I used them."

"Then," Raven replies, "how can he be stopped?"

Celestia lowers her eyes, turns back to the castle, and walks without making a sound.