Chapters Early on a Wednesday morning at Canterlot High School, a middle aged unicorn twelfth grade teacher is cleaning her room at a fast pace. The frantic pony multitasks by straightening her students' desks with her magic while organizing paperwork scattered everywhere on her desk. She takes the papers, crams it in a drawer, and slams it which makes a loud sound echoing in the room. Just then, a much younger female Earth pony knocks on the door, and the teacher sits in a wooden chair, takes a deep breath, and says, "Come in."
The door opens slightly, "Mrs. Lily," the young pony says, "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 before the guest, the majestic Princess Celestia. 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 educating the students on history.?"
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 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. 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."
"Well, until then," Celestia says, "we can just talk."
The two ponies start and carry on a conversation, and soon, teenage ponies, unicorns, and pegasi formally enter the room staring at Celestia in disbelief. Many want to ask her questions but 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. All the students sit silently giving Princess Celestia their full attention.
Celestia stands in front of the students with a smile, "Good morning, class." However, all of the students stay quiet.
Mrs. Lily then yells, "Class, respond to the princess!"
This startled the students, and they say at once, "Good morning, Princess Celestia."
Celestia turns to the teacher and says, "Mrs. Lily, don't do that again." Lily 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 answers back, "Correct. Specifically, my cousin."
Then, a female pegasus sitting in the front row raises her right hoof, and Celestia looks at her giving the young pony her attention. The pony asks, "I know he was a mean ruler, but how was he before that?"
Celestia's smile deteriorates and forms into a slight frown, "He was... a wonderful alicorn. In fact, he was my and Luna's favorite cousin.
"When we were little, we played all the time. He was sweet, caring, and unselfish. I remember one time, Luna tripped a scrapped her knee a bit. She started to cry, and Triton was there to check on her before I had a chance. Whenever he was away, Luna and I sent letters to him all the time. We loved him dearly, and... I wish he was here as his former self. I guess this is where the story starts.
"As I said earlier, this occured twenty-one years ago, and this was when Discord was spreading chaos throughout Equestria. Much like Canterlot and Manehattan, Pandora was greatly affected his destructive magic, and during that time, the cowardly mayor of city fled leaving it and the citizens to perish. Even after defeating Discord, the city was still in great peril. Many ponies tried to run for mayor, but the violence and hatred was too great for a regular pony to resolve. It seemed nothing could save it or the innocent ponies. As a result, Luna and I contacted Triton and asked him to save Pandora. He accepted and flew to the city immediately, and from what I know, when he arrived at Pandora, the most of the ponies greeted him while others became furious. Despite some negative reactions, he did as he promised: rebuild Pandora. He pushed employment, tax cuts, and restoring city's economy. Additionally, he had many ponies build homeless shelters, repair apartments, and reconstruct local businesses.
"He constantly sent Luna and I letters informing us about his progress, and he was doing a magnificent job. After about two months, he had told us the city had reclaimed its former glory. We were so proud of him and knew that he was perfect for this task. However, about a month after that message, the letters had stopped. Luna and I thought nothing of it at first. We figured he was busy and had forgotten, but after three months, we became worried and sent him a letter asking if he was okay. Instead of sending us a reply back the next day like he usually did, we did not hear until a week later. He responded with a single sentence, 'Everything is fine.'
"As soon as Luna and I received that letter, we flew to Pandora immediately. We also took the Elements of Harmony in case 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, 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 inside the star. Those flags sent chills down my spine. When we got to the middle of the city, we saw a massive castle which has never been in Pandora before. We landed in front of the two massive wooden doors, and as soon as we landed, the doors opened with Triton waiting for us.
"I could tell immediately something he had changed. His eyes were bloodshot and the color was completely black with no sign of the bright blue color. Also, his name and tail where black as well. The only part of him that was blue was his fur, but it was dark blue much like Luna. 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 by just the mere sight of him, Triton had embraced his dark magic.
"Before I continue, I need to say this children: Please do not embrace your dark magic. Every pony has dark magic within themselves and something will ignite it. Once it is, never embrace it. It will turn you into a monster. Now, it's true that embracing dark magic will make you twice as strong as your full potential, but you have to sacrifice who you are to become that powerful. Some ponies have done it, but they never return to who they are. If you are able to control it, fantastic, but if you need help, seek it please. Back to the story.
"Luna and I tried to reason with him but with no avail. He believed said that he only lived for his gold and jewels and was..." Celestia closes her eyes tightly and continues, "willingly to die for it. He didn't want to let the political power and fortune the city had given him go. He even blatantly told us he made a law in the city to submit all wealth to him. I can't remember everything he said exactly...but I do remember this and something later. He said this exactly, ' These ponies don't mean anything to me for I am greater than all ponies! I...am...a...god.' We tried telling him that we loved him and convince him to turn back into his former self, instead though...attacked us.
"It was an intense fight, and he was much stronger and more powerful than Luna and I had thought. I remember one moment of the fight where he demonstrated his power: Luna was hit by a magic beam and she collasped. I then charged at him, and we were in a horn lock. For those who don't know, this is when two unicorns' or alicorns' horns are side by side, and one pony tries to overpower the other with magic and strength. Anyway, Triton and I were at a horn lock, and he overpowered me with ease pushing me down to the street below. Luna woke up, rushed in, and joined me in the lock. Despite having the both of us using all of our strength, Triton continued to push us back 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. We were in the air, and Luna and I tried to force him down to the street so we can use the Elements of Harmony while he was still. I charged at him with everything I had, and he and I got into another horn lock while. However, I was solely a distraction while Luna stabbed into his right shoulder with her horn. With Triton in intense pain, I overpowered him forced him to ground level. To assure he would not escape, I broke his left wing by landing on it with intense strength. Finally, Luna and I were able to use the Elements of Harmony to turn him into stone, but before we did, I remember saying to him, 'How could you, Triton?'
"In tears, Luna then said to him, 'We loved you.'
"Triton wallowing in pain responded and this was the other second I remember him saying exactly, 'I hate you, and I will kill you both! Go ahead, turn me stone but heed my words. I will return and this world will be mine! I am darkness! I am Triton! I AM GOD!' He's still in his stone imprisonment in the Canterlot Garden."
The students with faces of awe sit silently. Celestia looks at the clock at the back of the room and says, "According to your classroom clock, you have a couple of minutes until the next class period. Any questions?"
A male pegasus raises his left wing. Celestia looks at him, and he asks, "I know he did terrible things, but do miss him? Even a little?"
"Yes," Celestia answers, "Just like how I miss Luna when I banished her ten years ago, I miss Triton a lot. He's still family after all."
Then, a female unicorn raises her right hoof. With Celestia giving her full attention, the young unicorn says, "I know this is off topic but..."
"It's quite alright," Celestia says, " I don't mind answering any 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 taken every minute of his life for the last sixteen years."
The same unicorn asks, "Do you miss him?"
Celestia responds, "Of course, my dear." 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. The last student in the classroom is pink alicorn with gold and silver lining mane and tail, golden eyes, a blank flank, and a bookcase containing three massive textbooks on her back. She approaches Celestia with her eyes reaching the princess' upper chest making her the tallest student.
"Great job, Mom," the alicorn says.
"Thanks, Amity," Celestia says in a cheerful tone. "Now," Celestia tilts her head slightly to her left, "get your butt to class. Don't want to have a tardy on your last day of school." Amity chuckles and walks out the door.
All throughout the day, Celestia tells the same story to Lily's other classes, and after telling the story to the last class with the students already dismissed, the teacher lifts her white purse with her magic, wraps it around her neck, and approaches the princess. "Thank you so much, Your Majesty" Mrs. Lily says.
"Thank you for inviting me," Celestia replies. The teacher bows her head and heads for the door. "Before we leave the school," Celestia says to Lily. "I would like to ask you a question." The educator turns to her, and the princess asks, "May I see Amity's grades for these nine weeks?"
"Sure but why?" the teacher asks curiously.
"Just to see how she did," Celestia answers.
"Of course," Lily responds. She walks back to her desk, opens a drawer, and takes out a file with "Amity" written on the file tab. She places it on her desk and opens the file containing highly graded tests, quizzes, homework, and rubrics. Using her magic, Mrs. Lily lifts the graded material in the air in a straight line. As Celestia observes each graded assignment, Lily says, "She is or was a fantastic student and one of thr best students without a doubt. So bright, responsive, respectful..."
"What is this?" Celestia asks in concerned tone. With her magic, the princess brings one test closer to her face and stares at a red 80 at 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.
"What?" Amity asks. Celestia with a stern expression shows the young princess the paper. Amity looks at the paper, her pupils slightly dilate, looks back at Celestia, and simply smiles. Celestia raises her left eyebrow.
"Your Majesty?" Mrs. Lily interjects. "That test was about a week ago. It really didn't affect her average much. Not to mention, she made the highest grade on that assessment. Don't be mad at her. This grade's practically pointless." Celestia places the test back in the row, organizes all of the grades neatly, and sets them back in the teacher's folder.
Celestia approaches Amity and says, "From now on, you will tell me every grade you make."
She passes Amity who says, "But today was my last day of school."
"Exactly," Celestia replies. "I was referring if you go to college." Amity rolls her eyes behind her mom's back. Celestia then says, "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 continues, "Now, let's go home and practice your magic. I have something unique to teach you."
Amity darts beside her and responds, "But I wanted to help see the hoof-ball game tonight. It's the last sporting 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."
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 unique today."
"Alright!" Amity enthusiastically say, "Let's do it! Is it a powerful magic beam?"
Celestia chuckles and calmly answers, "No."
Still excited, Amity 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 clothes all the time?"
Celestia with raised eyebrows responds, "I knew you were creative, but…wow. No. It's something you'll like but first practice your teleportation spell."
Amity's enthusiasm quickly deteriorates, "Mom, really? That's like the most basic spell I know. Heck, I learned it when I was two."
Celestia shows an expression of annoyance with her right eyebrow raised high. Amity seeing her mother annoyed, purse her lips knwoing not to further annoy her. She 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 in her horn, and then a golden-colored aura glows around her entire horn. Suddenly, a white flash engulfs her, and when the flash disappears Mity had vanished. Celestia turns to her left to see Amity standing at one of the room's corner. Her daughter then says, "Now what?"
"Do it again," Celestia answers. Amity repeats the same process but now appears in front of the room's main doors. As soon as Amity appears, Celestia says, "Keep doing it until I tell you to stop."
Amity in an slightly annoyed tone, "Okay." Amity continues teleporting without as her mother said, but after the sixth time, she stops and 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 her mother. Suddenly, Celestia spooks Amity by whispering in her right ear, "Boo."
Amity shrieks and jumps in the air with her wings start flapping keeping her in the air. The spooked alicorn shouts, "Mom, that's not funny!" Celestia giggles which Amity hears underneath her. Suddenly, she feels a slap across her plot and yells, "Ow!" She turns swiftly to see nothing. She's then tackled from above by something invisible and is pinned to the floor. Amity is not hurt but is being held by something bigger than her.
"Gotcha," Celestia says to Amity in her left ear. Amity feels Celestia holding her down for a brief second until she is suddenly 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 and answers aloud, "The five senses? Touch, hear, taste, smell, and see. Why?"
"Well," Celestia replies, "there is a sixth sense that only unicorns and alicorns have: the sense of magic." Amity displays a confused expression. 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."
"Okay," Amity replies, "but how do I do it and why is it useful?"
"I was able to spank you just then right?" Celestia answers. "Listen carefully because it is confusing at first. Close your eyes concentrate your magic just like you did with teleportation but at the same time, remove all of the other senses."
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 says back.
Amity concentrates hard again but still with no success. She stops again and breathes again. This time though she starts to feel a slight pain at the base of her horn. She turns all around but the pain doesn't change it's place. Amity points her horn up and the pain instatntly moves to the tip of her horn. However, befpre she could act, Celestia grabs her daughter again and says, "Gotcha again."
Amity playfully responds, "Not for long." Amity rolls on the floor with her mother still holding on, but Celestia starts tickling her daughter with her left hoof. 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. Both princesses drop to the ground laughing. Celestia calmly says, "You've grown up so much, Amity. You're graduating. It was like yesterday you were going to Kindergarten. 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 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 and asks, "What's wrong?" Amity just keeps looking at the floor. Celestia then looks at her daughter's flank and says, "Oh. Amity, how many times have I said to ignore it?"
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 stand for the marvelous things you both had done in the past. I'm 19 and still don't have one. When I look at my blank flank, it just reminds me that I've done…nothing. What kind of princess am I?"
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.
"I know so," Celestia says back. She kisses her daughter's cheek, and both princesses stand up. "Go ahead to the ball game," Celestia says Amity. Her daughter hugs her and runs through the ballroom's main doors.
Just behind Canterlot High School, two teams of hoof-ball players entirely composed of teenage male Earth ponies are playing on a massive field. Each side of the field are stands filled with spectating ponies one of which Amity and her friends are in. 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 awaiting the unicorn referee. He sets the ball down on the grassy field, walks away, and blows in his whistle. 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 which Amity is apart of cheers in great enthusiasm as the player controls the ball. He passes through all of the opposing members, and then passes the ball to team member to his right who passes the ball to another member who kicks the sphere to the goal. However, the goalie from the other team blocks the shot by jumping in front of the shot. The sphere bounces back onto the field where another home player controls it, but a rival player dashes in front of him and tries to steal the object. The two struggle to gain control while their team mates circle around them. Suddenly, the home player kicks the ball to his left to a team member who sees a small opening to score, and with no hesitation and relying on luck, the player kicks the ball catches the goalie off guard. He lunges to block the shot but misses resulting the home team winning.
The crowd cheers extremely loud, and various ponies start hugging and jumping in the stands including Amity and her friends. 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. The princess then talks back, "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 friend.
The crowd exits the stands and are being directed by school faculty where to walk off the school property. Amity, Vanilla, and Evening ponies exit as well, and after leaving the school grounds, the band of friends and walk down a road which leads to Princess Celestia's castle. However, no more than twenty feet after leaving the school area, a female Earth pony with an arrogant smile approaches the trio.
"Well, well, well," the Earth mare states, "if it isn't the great Princess Amity, or should I say 'Princess Blank'?"
Amity stares at the Earth pony replies, "Well, well, well, if it isn't Jiggy Rich, or should I say 'Idiot Not Graduating'?"
"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? Oh, not to mention that you're still acting a filly showing you haven't grown up. Any remarks smartass?"
Evening and Vanilla simultaneously holler, "Oooooh!" 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 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 an egotistical smirk. 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?! Hell, you wouldn't be saying that to her would you?"
Vanilla then steps beside her and yells, "Insulting Amity our us 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. They don't move because of her eyes. The iris of Amity's eyes had changed from gold to blood red color. The two are about to say something, until they're halted by Amity by screaming, "Move now!" Even though they know something is wrong, they move out of her way slowly, and within a second, Amity dashes at Jiggy and head-butts her forehead.
Jiggy falls to the ground, covers her forehead, and screams in pain while some blood streams from forehead, down her cheeks, and to the road. Suddenly, Amity clutches Jiggy in her magic, but much like her eyes changing, her aura also is blood red instead of gold. The princess then constricts the pony in her magic and flies straight up into the air.
"Amity!" Vanilla shouts. "Evening, fire a flare or something. We need help!" Evening nods and shoots a bright red flare in the sky hoping someone will see.
"Ah! Let me go! I'm so sorry!" Jiggy screams. Amity flies higher and higher. Once she stops, Amity turns Jiggy upside down where she is staring at the ground, "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! My mother is too precious to be mocked, and you will..."
"Princess Amity!" Celestia's voice suddenly echoes from a distance. As soon as she hears her mother, Amity's eyes and aura revert to their gold color. 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 Evening and Vanilla, 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. Amity tears up and says, "Girls...I"
Celestia lands on the balcony outside of her bedroom and storms through the balcony doors. She takes her of her jewelry off and places them on the drawer next to her bed. She walks to the door about to swiftly go to the throne room until sees a framed painting on one of the walls. It shows her lying on grass beside a male alicorn with his front hooves in the air holding happy foal Amity. Celestia observes it and calms down thinking about that day.
"If only you were here, my love..." Celestia thinks to herself, "You have no idea how hard it's been." She starts breathing heavy. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I broke your promise. I yelled at her today." A tear from her left eye streaks down her cheek. "Please forgive me, Amyas."
Five minutes later, Amity with dried tear streaks on her cheeks approaches the throne room doors, but she stops and 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? What I did wasn't that bad, was it? Mom...". Amity then breathes in slowly, opens the doors, and steps in to see an empty throne room with no ponies in sight expect for her mother sitting in front of a colorful picture glass window which displays a maroon alicorn and a white alicorn foreheads together with a pink alicorn infant hovering over them. Amity walks beside Celestia, sits next to her, and looks at the window.
Celestia looks at Amity says, "Amity, I am very disappointed in you. What were you thinking? You would've killed that pony." Amity does not respond. Celestia asks, "What happened.?"
Amity says in a nervous tone, "Vanilla, Evening, and I were walking back home after the game, and Jiggy Rich 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..."
"Hm?" Celestia asks.
"She called you 'a hag'," Amity answers. Celestia raises her left eyebrow. Amity continues, "I got frustrated and tried to control myself, but thoughts of hurting her went through my mind. I saw white and...I don't remember anything after that, until you yelled at me when she and I were in the sky."
Celestia then responds calmly, "Is this the first time she or any pony have done this?" The pink alicorn shakes her head. Celestia says, "Why didn't you say anything?"
Amity with tears about to run down her face 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."
A shocked Celestia responds, "Amity..." With her right wing, Celestia brings Amity close to her and hugs her 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, "...Yes. I love Amyas so much, but no one is more important to me 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 asks.
"Well..." Amity responds and looks at her blank flank. Celestia instatntly knows what Amity is referring to. Before Celestia could respond, Amity says, "She says that I'm pathetic for being a blank flank and a princess. 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, but they do."
"Amity..." Celestia interrupts in a calm voice.
"And you know what?!" Amity shouts, "She's right! What kind of princess am I?!" The young princess starts to cry. "Why should all of the other ponies in Equestria look up to me? I've done nothing! All of the ponies in Equestria know that, and they also know that I won't be great like you, Aunt Luna, and Father! I'm a nobody! All of you think that don't you!"
Celestia calmly interrupts, "Stop."
Amity continues, "I am pathetic! Am I?!"
"Stop it," Celestia interrupts.
"Tell me!?" Amity screams.
"STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" Celestia shouts back in her booming royal voice. Amity stops and is pushed back a bit by the force of the royal voice. Celestia calmly continues, "Just...stop it. I know you're thinking I'm going to repeat what I've said, 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. Not all beings whether pony or not in Equestria respect me, let alone like me. Many call me a hypocrite, a tyrant, a liar, a bum, and even a menace. Despite those criticisms, there is one thing I always do no matter what they say, I make decisions for all of the residents of Equestria. I have never made decisions that benefit me. I do what I can to protect them. If I attack any of the critics...I would be no different from Triton. I have to do what is best for them. Amity..." Celestia walks to her daughter and places her forehead on Amity's."...no matter what they say, you need to protect them in your own way. Even with haters, many will follow 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 great things. I mean, you graduated high school. That's something, right?"
"Yeah..." Amity answers.
"Honey, promise me something, always protect them. No matter what they say and do whatever it takes to do so." Celestia continues.
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." Both alicorns stand up and walk down the hall containing their bedrooms.
They eventually come across Amity's bedroom door. Amity opens it and walks inside the bedroom, but before she closes the door, she says, "Goodnight Mom."
Celestia smiles and replies, "Goodnight." Amity almost closes the door all the way until her mother stops it with her horn, "Oh and by the way, you're grounded." Amity's jaw drops, Celestia smirks, closes the door, and walks to her bedroom.
Four weeks after Amity's outburst, Celestia sitting in front of a mirror finishes combing her hair, places the comb on the drawer, and wears her crown on her head. She then hears a knock on her bedroom door and opens it with her magic. Her unicorn assistant holding a clipboard and a pen in her right hoof says, "Good morning, Your Majesty."
The princess interrupts, "Sh." She waves the assistant to comes inside. As the unicorn steps in, Celestia continues, "You'll wake up Amity. Her room is close to mine." As soon as her assistant steps inside completely, Celestia closes and locks the door, and 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 begins to write what she just stated.
In Amity's room, the young princess is fast asleep making faint snores with her sheets wrinkled and covering only her waist. As she sleeps, she dreams she is walking down the streets of Canterlot with her friends. All three are wearing highly expensive clothing, jewelry, and other accessories, then they are halted by three tall, muscular, handsome stallions who give the three teens flirtatious smiles. Instantly, all the girls' eyes grow massively large with sparkles in their pupils and jaws hitting the concrete floor. Amity looks at her friends who each have taken a stallion and enter a small house that spontaneously appears. With an excited, flirtatious expression, she turns looks at the last stallion, but instead of the stallion, a slightly taller dark blue female alicorn with a long flowing sparkling blue mane and tail stands in front of her.
"You're lucky I'm not telling your mom about this," the alicorn says to her. Amity is shocked by the alicorn appearing before her and backs away quickly, and she feels something hard behind her 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 maroon alicorn who stares down at her. She backs away from both of them and asks, "How are you two?"
"Why, Amity," the blue alicorn replies, "don't you remember us?"
Amity observes the two more carefully, then her pupils widen and responds in a shocked tone, "Aunt Luna? Dad?"
The two alicorns nod their heads simultaneously, and Amity smiles, runs up to them, and hugs both of them tightly, and Luna and her father hug her back tightly. Amity breaks up the hug and asks, "How is this possible?"
Luna in a gentle voice, "When 'She' raised the moon ther other night, used an ancient spell to contact my alter ego Nightmare Moon in spiritually instead of 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 dear," Luna answers. "Even if this is a dream, it is still wonderful to see you again. Spin around. Let me get a good look at you." Amity in place spins and extends her wings. "Beautiful. Simply beautiful." Luna states.
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 at each other's 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, "Dad, how did you get here?"
Her dad answers, "Well, your aunt contacted me in my dream."
Luna then says, "After 'She' and I negotiated about this, I proposed the idea on bringing him here for you, and 'She' agreed and gave me my power to go into Amyas' dream and connect both of your dreams together."
"Tell me," Amyas asks, "how do you feel about this surprise?"
Amity with a joyous expression answers, "This is...unbelievable! 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. Please be 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. "Please no. You just got here."
Luna explains, "'She' 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 agreed under her circumstances 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 asks, "Before you go. Answer this, do you love Mom?" Luna stays quiet and hug her niece tightly. The two break their hug, and Amity hugs 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, and Amity opens her eyes. 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 and whispers, "Goodbye."
Several hours later, Amity wearing a graduation gown cap stands behind some curtains of a theater stage. All of the graduates expect for Amity have walked across the stage, received their diplomas from the principal, thanked the vice principal, bowed to Princess Celestia, and walked off stage. Amity waits for her name to be called and repeat the same process, but the principal hands the last diploma to Celestia who holds it in her magic.
Amity seeing this thinks to herself, "Uh-oh. What's happening?"
"And now," Celestia says to the crowd, "the last graduate of this senior class and only alicorn, my daughter, 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 which Amity receives using her magic. The two hug tightly on stage, and as soon as they hug, Amity without moving her lips whispers in her mom's ear, "Don't ever do this again! It's so embarrassing!"
Celestia smiles and without moving her lips responds, "This was part of your punishment a couple of weeks ago." She then breaks the hug and sees Amity with a big smile on her face with the inner part of her eyebrows curved down. She simply smirks at her daughter, and the graduate walks off stage.
About thirty minutes after the ceremony ended and celebrating with friends and fellow graduates and returning the gowns and caps to school staff, the group leave school ground and find Celestia waiting for them. 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? Don't worry. I already asked your parents, and they said to ask you."
The pegasus and unicorn stare at each other then at Amity who nodding her head frantically. The two friends, "Yes ma'am!"
Celestia responds, "Excellent! You both can ride with Amity on her royal carriage. As soon as we arrive at the castle, just follow me." Celestia walks and climbs on one carriage while Amity and her friends climb on the other. Celestia then orders the guards, "To the castle." The guards pull the carriages with ease and take off into the air. 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..."
Then, the three graduates say simultaneously, "Awesome! Whoa, we said it at the same time! Cool!"
Later, the ponies arrive at the castle, and Amity and her friends step off the carriage and follow Celestia who has already entered the castle. 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 seat," 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 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 napkins, glass cups, and golden plates in front of them. Then, a cart with salads, steamed carrots, five star soups, and various other freshly made foods and dishes.
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 games in the dining room for several hours. Eventually, the two friends leave the castle with guards taking them home. As soon as they left, Amity immediately goes to her room, showers, and goes to bed while Celestia lowers the sun and raises the moon. However, instead of going to bed, Celestia flies to Amity's balcony and knocks on the glass doors getting her attention. Amity in hears the knocking and sees Celestia on her balcony with the moon brightly shining behind her. She opens the doors and stares at the moon with a gapping mouth. Celestia enters, sits next to her daughter, and stares at the moon 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 this summer?"
Her daughter darts her head at her mother and responds excitedly, "Yeah. I would love that."
"Wonderful. However..." 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.
Celestia answrs, "You will go to Ponyville, stay, and learn from Miss Remedy. She is a behavior specialist and a master in magic. I sent her a letter the other day asking if she could to take you in and give you some training in magic and help with your behavior."
"Behavior?" Amity asks. "What do you mean? I don't…"
"Remember what happened weeks ago," Celestia snaps. Amity stays quiet. "Look," Celestia continues, "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. Besides, it'll be boring for you to stay here, right?"
Amity nods and says, "Yeah. So, when will I go?"
Celestia answers, "Tomorrow. Now, get to bed and have a goodnight sleep." Celestia exits her daughter's bedroom leaving Amity speechless.
In the middle of a beautiful day, Amity steps on board a passenger car of a train. She takes a seat and lays her head on the window and sees Princess Celestia waving goodbye, and she does the same to her mother. As soon as the train takes off to Ponyville, Celestia's assistant asks, "Princess, why isn't she taking her royal carriage?"
Celestia answers, "Miss Remedy requested it. She said it will 'help with her examination'."
"Examination of what?" the unicorn assistant asks.
"Not sure," Celestia replies.
Amity on the train talks to herself, "A train? Really? Why can't I fly to the town? It's a lot faster than this." A stewardess passes by, and Amity says, "Excuse me."
The stewardess bows and asks, "Yes, Your Majesty?"
Amity questions, "How long is this ride?"
The stewardess politely answers, "An hour and thirty minutes." Amity groans and dismisses the pony.
After about fifteen minutes of doing nothing but waiting, an adult and filly pegasus ponies walk up to Amity. The filly stares at the alicorn but does not move towards her, but the adult pushes the filly forward with her wing. The nervous filly asks, "Um...Princess...why are you on this train?"
An irritated and bored Amity looks at the filly and instatntly gets a big smile on her face by just the pony's appearance. The adult pony says, "Sorry if we were disturbing you, Your Majesty."
"It's okay," Amity responds. The princess wants to answer the filly's question but fears that telling her that it was Celestia who told her to take the train. She thought of a story and continues, "Why my little pony, you see...my mom Princess Celestia is being doing things that we can't to do anything together. So, I came up with an idea to go to Ponyville and meet and get to know some of the citizens of Equestria, and why not start doing that by being on a train?"
"Aw. That's so sweet," the adult pegasus. Amity chuckles a bit and blushes red a little. The pegasus continues, "If you don't mind, can I and Jubilee sit with you?"
"I don't see why not," Amity replies, and Jubilee jumps on the seat next to Amity.
The adult pegasus sites across and continues , "The name's Weiss. We were at the cart infront of this one, but my littld Juby wanted to meet you. Plus, my husband...has a snoring problem and is...socially awkward."
With Jubilee nuzzling in her wing, Amity says, "Ah. Why does she like me so much?"
Weiss responds, "She looks to you a lot. She can't fly good and heard about you having difficulty when you were young and eventually overcoming that."
Amity smiled, "Wow. That's...something. It's pretty cool."
Throughout time, the two ponies chat but eventually the two stop chat more, and Weiss falls asleep. Amity however cannot sleep and looks out the window once again. She once again gets bored and just thinks about who Remedy is. Later, she notices the landscape slowly stopping and then eventually comes to a halt. Weiss steps off her seat and picks up Jubilee who is fast asleep. They go to their original seat, and Amity steps out of her seat, and walks out a door leading to the outisde of the cart.
Amity steps out of the door to find an adult unicorn 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, dark green shades, and a vest with a cape attached. The two approach the young princess, and Amity in return walks towards them. The adult, "Hey, what's up, Princess? I'm Remedy's daughter."
Amity replies in a tired voice, "Thanks. Nice to meet you."
The unicorn looks at the filly beside her who has her mouth open and widen pupils and asks, "Amber, would you like to say something?"
The filly simply stares at Amity. The princess breathes out through her nostrils and says, "Hi, Amber."
"H…hi…" the little filly replies, then she leaps up and hugs Amity tightly. Amity 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 says, "Sorry, Mommy. It's just…" She squeals in excitement and continues, "so cool meeting you!"
Amity replies, "Well, it's pretty cool to me you."
"Allow me to introduce myself now," Amber's mother says. "I'm Raga, I'm best known as DJ-R. It's my nickname around here and I prefer that."
"No offense but...Raga?" Amity states.
Raga replies, "It means 'melody'. Very appropriate 'cause I LOVE music."
"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 back, I need to do something, if you don't mind."
The tired 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 citizens are keeping their distance from the young princess and bow when she passes by them. For a brief minute, Amity wonders why they are acting odd, but she dismisses the thought and accepts their behavior because of her migraine. Eventually, the trio approach a small brick house with loud music coming from inside.
DJ-R 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?" Raga answers.
"I'll be a minute," DJ-R says and walks inside the house. The loud music starts emulating from the house which makes Amity's head hurt even more. Amber and the princess back away from the house, sit on the ground against a wall, and wait for a very long time.
Remembering about Jubilee from the train, Amity asks, "Tell me Amber, why do you like me so much?"
The filly blushes and answers, "Well... you're a princess, awesome, and smart all without a cutie mark. I want to be just like you when I grow up! I want to be some pony like you and show others that being a blank flank doesn't mean anything."
Amity with widen pupils and blushes on her face asks, "That's really something."
Amber continues, "Mommy, told be about you and how much you love your mom, and I've earned to work hard, be nice, and, after seeing you for real, 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 shakes her head and continues, "Three years ago, I didn't love Mommy because I wanted to be with Daddy. Daddy 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. 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 your mommy were so happy together. Later, i got mad at mommy over something stupid, and she told me that you wouldn't act like that. We talked...and I love her."
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. The princess smiles, pats on the filly's head, and forms a tear which streaks down her cheeks. She thinks to herself, "Mom..."
Five minutes passes, Amber is asleep on Amity's leg, and the young princess with the headache 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. How long could it possibly be? I should barge in and..."
Then, the front door opens with Raga stepping out and sayinh 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 quite 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.
"A little but wouldn't say 'hot'," Amity replies.
The alicorn lifts Amber with her magic and sets the filly on her back. With the sun being lowered down, the trio reaches a beautiful forest. The group walks through it and can hear and see wild life animals frolicking around. Eventually, they come across a wooden two-story house with windows 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, a small kitchen and dining room to her right, and to her left a couch, two chairs, and a large bookcase. Amber on Amity's back yawns and hops off her back and walks up the stairs while rubbing her eyes.
"Amber, get a bath. Dinner will be ready soon," her mom 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 Raga who shows her the letter. The princess takes the letter in her magic and reads 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?! A near two hour trip over here, and your music?! Terrible! And..."
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, 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 the vest and cape on wall hooks and places the shades on the dining room table. She reveals green eyes and a cutie mark of a blue ying-yang symbol. The mother unicorn lowers her head and swiftly jerks it back which straightens her mane instatntly. She sighs and says in a formal tone, "Just as I thought. You have issues with patience, flexibility, and controlling your anger. Not an extreme case, but one that can become serious. You could be worse"
"Remedy?" Amity asks.
The unicorn nods her head and continues, "One thing you did that showed some issues was that you immediately assume that the way I look meant that I couldn't be the one who wrote to your mom? Also, before you ask, the DJ thing was a gimmick. I wanted to see if you had enough patience with a pony like that. If I had told you my appearance right away, you would act more polite and formal which would further hide your issues. 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 which it did. I understand a long boring trip, bit that's no excuse for lashing out on uncontrollable circumstances. Additionally, my friend really is a DJ, but the loud music was a cover up so I could read your lips and body language. I know you said you had a headache but that too can't let you go on a outburst, and while in the house, I could tell you were a ticking time bomb."
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 with utensils insides. "There's a guest room upstairs to the right."
Amity walks up the stairs, enters the room Remedy said 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 petting with 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 especially 'Her'."
Then, silence dominates the dream with nothing to see. Amity looks all around and suddenly sees a white alicorn figure. "Mom?" Amity asks. The white figures then turns to look at Amity, but she immediately knows it is not Celestia. The alicorn has bat like wings, a blood-red mane, and a tail in the same color as the mane. The figure's body shows that this is a female alicorn who is standing right infront of Amity with her eyes closed, Amity stares at the alicorn intensly and notices something, this alicorn looks exactly like her. The white Amity opens her eyes 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 and sighs. "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.
Early in the next morning, the sun shines through the window of Amity's room and right on her face waking her up. The young princess with a messed up mane rubs her eyes with her hooves, looks through the window, and says, "Mom, come on." Then, the sun's rays get brighter, and the young princess sits up, yawns, and steps off the bed. "Okay, okay. I'm awake," she says, and the sun fades back to it was before. Amity stumbles a little, breathes out through her nose slow, and rubs her head. Then, three knocks at her door are heard.
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," the tired alicorn says.
"Mommy wanted me to see if you were up," Amber replies. "Breakfast is almost done."
"Amber! Amity!" Remedy says aloud from down stairs. "Breakfast!"
"Right on time," Amity responds. She follows the filly down the stairs and into the kitchen. They all 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, clears her throat, and replies, "Easy for you to say. You have a short mane, but mine is so long." Suddenly, a sharp pain rushes through her head, and the alicorn rubs her head again.
"Another headache?" Remedy asks.
"I guess," the princess replies.
"Well, maybe some food will help with that this time." Remedy says. The three ponies enjoy some oatmeal and eat it all up. 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 the two other ponies then 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 some magic dust glide underneath her window and a popping sound is heard.
"Please don't tell me that's a letter from Mom," Amity says aloud. She finishes making the bed and walks up to a mirror on the wall and uses her magic to lift a comb on the drawer and combs 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 know him. He also said he wants to see me bleed? It's probably nothing. Just a messed up dream." She places the comb 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 Mom?" Amity asks.
Remedy re-enters the house and answers, "Yeah, but 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. What happens here, stays here."
The pink alicorn nods her head then asks, "Speaking of which..."
"Anxious are we?" Remedy asks with a smirk.
"After thinking about what I did yesterday," the princess replies, "I should enjoy this. Is that a sign of no patience?"
Remedy raises her right hoof and twists it. "Ehhhh, depends on how you look at it. You are just anxious because you said it in a cheerful way. If you had said like this," Remedy continues with a grumpy old mare voices, "'Let's get this over with so I can go see an old fool jump off a hundred feet into a bucket of water and I shout out Jackass before she jumps.' Then that's impatience." Amity laughs hard and sits on a wooden chair against the round table. Remedy sits next to her and replies, "But in all seriousness, the first thing we'll do is very simple. Talk."
Amity catching her breath says, "Talk? That's it?"
Remedy responds, "Yeah, you see I've found that the best way to help others is getting to know who they are. Not their issues like 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 says, "So...where should I start?"
Remedy lies back on her chair and replies, "Let's start with background."
"Okay," Amity calmly replies. "I was born in Canterlot and you know who my parents are. The earliest memories I can think of were in my parents' bedroom, and I was on one of those baby swings where you set the baby inside and let them swing."
Remedy darts her eyes to her left and interrupts, "Wait, I know what you're talking about 'cause Amber had one of those long ago, but the age limit is like six months. You remember being in one of those?"
"Nothing specifically like throughout the day, but just me swinging there," Amity replies.
"That's very impressive memory," Remedy says. Amity shrugs.
At Canterlot, 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 who is joined by her unicorn assistant.
"At ease." Celestia orders the captain who then rises. Celestia and the assistant walk past the captain who stays at Celestia's side, and the princess asks in an intense voice, "Have you found him?"
"I'm sorry," the captain replies "but we didn't. However, we can confirm that you were right."
The ponies turn left at 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 observes everything intensely. Celestia then uses her magic to scan over the debris and says, "Captain."
"Yes, Your Majesty?" the captain replies and marches beside her.
"Tell the guards stay alert of an enemy who could strike Canterlot but don't 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 a quill that was on her right ear 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. Guards 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 free on his own. I have a strong suspension that he would be heading towards Pandora to reclaim his city and power he once had. Whoever you send must stay alert, and if he is there, they are not to confront him or follow him. They must return to me immediately.
- Princess Celestia "
Raven rolls the letter and send it via magic dust, and the dust goes into the sky swiftly. Celestia then asks, "Where am I scheduled 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 which can lead to panic especially if word of Triton gets out. I can say that there may be a 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. If this dream affects her, I will do whatever I can.
- 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 I'm not going to risk her being killed by Triton. He's too deadly for her to face even with me. I fought him, and he will kill her." 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."
"Then," Raven replies, "what will happen to Equestria?"
Celestia lowers her head and continues walking without making a sound.
