The bar is always open

Chapters

Huh?
Words, plants, bottles
Uh, did alcohol save the world?

Huh?

The splashing of the sea,

The cheerful rustle of the foliage of strange trees

And the light of the golden sun

Dispersed the tormenting longing, won.

I couldn't help but smile when I saw the quatrain I had written. But after just a second, I frowned slightly and asked myself: "Do I really have a rhyme here? Hm. "

Well, considering that I didn't succeed at all before, the main thing is that at least some progress has occurred. Right?

I let out a happy sigh and looked up from my notebook. In front of me was warm white sand, which was washed by small waves of the sea. The waves of the sea that separates me and the collectors from Manhattan. I shook my head slightly and muttered: "It's better not to think about it. No one knows where I've gone anyway! Well, except for a strange pony in a raincoat who sold me a boat for almost free. "

Before I could fully calm myself down, I was suddenly blinded and instinctively closed my eyes. Oh, I stayed until dawn again and the sun blinded me again. I really don't know how to go to bed if no one drives me to bed. Ugh. . .

"Huh?" I was confused when I felt that there was almost no light falling on my closed eyelids. When my eyes opened, they found that the sun had still not risen and the world remained at a satisfactory brightness level. Along with my growing embarrassment, I began to scan the horizon, trying to find at least some explanation for the outbreak that had occurred.

Hey, eyes, wait! What is this purple mist over land?

I squinted into the distance, but I couldn't see anything better than a purple spot above the land. And I don't have binoculars, for obvious reasons. But for other obvious reasons, I have bottles filled with alcohol, which I brewed from local plants! Delicious!

"Wait, how is this supposed to help me? I muttered, glancing at the bar that I had built on my own. There were a lot of different drinks on it, which I made, definitely not in order not to go crazy from loneliness. I just need a lot of alcoholic and not-so-alcoholic drinks!

"I really need to do something about my habit of being distracted and making excuses. I muttered with a sigh, before opening a random bottle from the pile that stood on the bar counter. Don't ask me why I made it, I'm interested in it myself.

Relax, Amber. Just drink some mango beer and breathe. Well, I hope I chose the non-alcoholic mango beer. It's easy to confuse. I don't have any labels.

I took a deep breath and started drinking in big gulps, throwing my head back. As the cooling and delicious liquid poured down my throat, my eyes couldn't tear themselves away from the purple mist. Not only did he appear in a blinding flash, he also seems to be moving slowly! And some black spots begin to appear on the water. . .

"Wait, what!?" I spat, abruptly putting the bottle on the bar. Despite the distance, I could actually see a few black spots on the water that were slowly moving towards me. It happened in short leaps, as if someone were rowing with oars. Are these boats?

Collectors!?

I let out a startled sigh when this thought occurred to me. Of course, it's strange that suddenly a purple cloud appeared over a large land mass and collectors immediately began to float towards me. This is an absolute accident! Ha-ha.

"An accident . . ." I muttered as the calm face slowly turned into the purest frown. If these are collectors, then you need to prepare somehow. Hmm.

I nervously looked at the many bottles on the bar before excitedly voicing my idea: "If I offer them to drink all this, they will relax and will not touch me. Maybe we can even become friends!"

But I'll finish my mango beer myself. It seems to be non-alcoholic. It is rare to find such a drink among all my bottles.

I chuckled slightly before tilting my head back to finish my mango beer. When I was done with the drink, I put it on the bar before quickly adjusting the bottles. Of course, I could find glasses and pour drink into them.

"But I don't have glasses." I sighed as I watched the approaching boats. Despite the slowly rising blinding sun, my eyes were able to make out the outlines. In the first boat, I managed to make out the outline of something with large wings. A strangely seated bat pony? Yes, probably. Let's move on.

On the second boat, I noticed the distinct figure of a pony, with some kind of protrusion on its head. Oh, it's easy. Bat pony with a festive hat!

With a cheerful wave of my hoof, I turned my gaze to the third and last boat. In it, you could see the outline of a pony with very strange wings. It's like they're small and have a few holes. Um, a bat pony with a wound on its wings?

Is it just me or is it a little strange that only other bat ponies approach me on the boats?

I quickly shook my head and decided to channel my energy in another direction. For example, hmm. Should I give them a signal that someone is on the island? Well, so that they won't be scared when they see me.

"Uh-huh." I muttered to myself, nodding before grabbing one coconut that was lying on the bar with my wing. What was it doing there? Well, I wanted to make glasses for myself. But I got distracted.

"Ugh, remembering that I was distracted, I was distracted!" I exclaimed in displeasure before moving away from the bar and throwing the coconut right on the sand. Then, I grabbed the nearest bottle with my wing, opened it and lightly splashed it on the object.

"I hope I found what I think I found. I muttered before grabbing the flint carefully and tentatively trying to strike a spark. Unsuccessfully. The second attempt was also unsuccessful. The third attempt - hooray, I struck a small spark. But that's probably not enough. . .

Contrary to my thoughts, the coconut instantly burst into a bright flame, causing me to jump back. Uh, good news?

Apart from the fact that my heart hurts a little, everything is fine.

I sighed and carefully placed the lighter on the bar before looking back towards the approaching three boats. And I wish I hadn't done that. . .

"Ponies should not have blue scales. And strange wings similar to those of scary beetles. And there definitely shouldn't be horns!" I muttered to myself in fright as the distance narrowed enough for me to see the approaching creatures.

Oh no, wait. The latter actually happens to ponies, sort of. Uhh, it's hard to remember different types when I've lived all my life in a village where there are only bat ponies.

I took a few slow breaths before muttering thoughtfully: "Maybe they're not even collectors. And, well, um, I didn't come up with a sequel. Can someone come up with it for me, please?"

I looked around, hoping to at least see some bird that would cheer me up. This did not happen. Either the time is too early or the animals are more afraid of me than I am afraid of scaring them. Wait, there seems to be something wrong with that thought. But.. .

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" A sharp female voice asked from behind me.

Oh, one already seems to have sailed! I hope she wasn't too scared to see me.

I quickly turned around on the spot and took a moment to examine my interlocutor. It was a unicorn with pink-tinged fur and a dark sapphire mane with purple stripes. On her back were saddlebags from which some test tubes were peeking out. When I finished the inspection, I smiled and said, putting a hoof on my chest: "Hello! My name is Amber Fer. . ."

"Are you kidding? Ember is the dragon lord. You absolutely don't fit that description." The unicorn replied harshly when her horn began to glow slightly.

Wait, what? Did she hear my name wrong? But I seemed to be talking normally.

I opened my mouth to say something, but stopped when I noticed one of the unicorn's ears. It was damaged. It was as if he had almost been cut in half. Poor thing. I sighed and said a little louder, "I'm Amber! The full name is AMBER FERMENT, if anything."

The unicorn stared at me for a while before taking a deep breath and saying, "My name is Twilight. Now tell me, Amber. . ."

" What are you doing on a DESERT island!?"

I jumped slightly when I heard a sharp female voice. Looking up, I saw something that looked like a dragon standing behind Twilight. Although I'm not sure if they should stand on two legs and be not too taller than me.

Could she be a child? Although this does not make the situation better. Poor kid.

While I was looking at her and thinking, she put her right paw on her hip and asked harshly: "I will rephrase my question. What are ponies doing on a desert island that belongs to dragons!?"

My eyebrows shot up in surprise, and after a moment, Twilight took a step towards the dragon and said irritably, "Excuse me? This island belongs to Equestria! As one of the princesses, I demand an explanation and the return of the island with compensation. "

The dragon just grinned and said, raising his left paw: " As soon as we found out that a killer virus was roaming all over Equestria, which the unicorns released to enslave the neighbors. It's a good thing they didn't succeed and cut them out. Anyway, as soon as this happened, we decided to take under our wing the nearest territories that the virus simply cannot reach. "

I'm not sure it's okay to do that. And anyway, what is a virus? Wait, Princess!?

Twilight indignantly stamped her hoof on the white sand and said indignantly: "First of all, this is a violation of international law, which you must understand perfectly well, Dragon Lord Ember! Secondly, unicorns have absolutely nothing to do with it! According to my research, this virus was created by changeling magic."

"Of course, of course. Well, first of all, it's unclear why changelings would create a virus that does this to living beings. And secondly, my task as a lord is to ensure the safety of my people. So I'll ask you to leave the territory."

The princess, the lord, and the brewer. Someone is superfluous here.

I could see Twilight's wings twitching slightly, as if she couldn't control them. Perhaps because of anger. Ember stood calmly with her right hand on her hip. The morning breeze slightly fluttered her cloak, from under which the scratched armor glittered. And in that moment of tense silence, my ears caught the sound of someone rowing.

"It was worth expecting." A deep female voice grumbled in disappointment a little to the side of me. Everyone turned their heads to the source and at least I experienced a mixture of shock and horror. Mostly horror. She looked like a very strange mix of a beetle and a pony. Plus, even from a distance of a dozen hooves, you can tell that she is taller than me.

For some reason, the height difference with the dragon didn't scare me.

There was silence in the air for a while, as if no one here was happy about the presence of the pony beetle. It's like she's some kind of villain. Well, does she really look like that, I suppose?

No sooner had my thoughts started than Twilight abruptly spreads her wings and said taking a step forward: "Chrysalis! I am well aware that it is the Changelings who are involved in everything that is happening on the mainland right now. But you can see for yourself how things got out of control. So stop it now! "

Chrysalis stared at her and said baring her teeth: " Don't make baseless accusations against me, Twilight Sparkle. The virus is affecting my people too. The only enemy here is the dragon. "

" What did you say, bug? " Asked Ember slowly and clearly.

Uh, I really look out of place here. Maybe I should find out something about the topic to at least understand what they are talking about?

"Eh, girls?" I asked cautiously, but they didn't pay much attention to me. All three of them just continued to be intensely silent before the thread finally broke.

"Explain your words, bug, I'm waiting!" said Ember when there was a soft creak, as if something sharp had been pulled out of something. Uh, she doesn't have a gun, right?

Chrysalis slowly approached Ember and said, looking at her with contempt: "The beginning of the infection was first reported by the scouts in the southeastern part of Equestria. Exactly where the border with the lands of the dragons runs. How do you explain this? Did the ponies just decide to start self-destructing themselves? Or were the Changelings in the territory farthest from the hive able to gather enough strength to start an infection? ","Dragons don't use magic. Especially this one. In addition, the infection began far from our territories. Otherwise, I wouldn't have found out about her by the time most of Equestria was already devastated." Ember replied harshly, looking straight into Chrysalis' eyes.

"Besides, I've studied the virus enough to say that it's based on changeling magic. And I doubt very much that they did anything without your orders, Chrysalis. Twilight continued as her horn began to blink a little more actively.

"Take your time, pony. I'm still sure that you, or at least your kind, is involved in everything that's going on. Ember said slowly, glancing at Twilight.

"I've already told you that it has nothing to do with it!" She was indignant, hitting the white sand with her hoof.

Oh, my head hurts. I don't like it when my head hurts!

"Girls, shut up, please!" I said irritably, hitting the sand with my hoof, which caused a small cloud to rise into the air. And it almost got in my eyes.

To my own surprise, all three of them turned around with different shades of annoyance on their faces. Oh, I probably should have thought of something to say before I spoke. Yes, it would be worth it.

Suddenly a thought came to my mind and I quickly reared up before saying, pointing with my hoof at the bar: "Eh, the bar is always open! Look at how many different drinks I've brewed out of boredom! Can you sit down together and talk peacefully? Or at least explain to me what's going on? "

All three of them blinked for a few seconds before Twilight asked confusedly: " Wait, you really don't know what's going on? Like, you didn't come to the island to hide from danger? "

I opened my mouth to reply but was interrupted by a brief giggle from Chrysalis: "I knew that bat ponies sit in caves and don't see the light, but to be in such isolation? It's just ridiculous."

"Yeah," Ember sighed, seemingly unhappy that she was agreeing with someone.

I feel kind of humiliated. I wonder if it was a verse, how would I write a sad sound? Whoo? No, probably in a different way. Uuu. It'll do.

I quickly shook my head and said slowly, "Well, you see, I took on a lot of debt to start my business. Well, it didn't work out and I'm here, kind of hiding from the collectors."

Twilight looked at me for a while before sighing: "In another situation, as a representative of the government, I would say that not paying off debts is wrong. But now. I appreciate your honesty. Okay, I'll sit down and explain everything to you. "

" Very clever, Twilight Sparkle. Do you want to tell her what's best for you? Do you want to have an ally on this island? " Chrysalis asked with a sinister smile. It's really creepy.

" You're not going to make it. " Ember firmly stated, taking a small step forward.

Enough!

"Stop swearing! Please just sit down and let's talk. Is it okay?" I asked almost pleadingly. At first, I was met with only silence.

However, after a few seconds, Twilight nodded and said, "That's right. Everything can be solved with conversation, kindness. Good way of thinking, Amber. "

" I didn't say anything at all. Ember said sheepishly as Twilight walked past me and moved towards the bar.

"No, no. I am Amber. And you're an Ember. We have, like, strangely similar names. Uh, nice to meet you, by the way. I said hesitantly, stretching out a hoof towards the dragon.

She stared at my gesture for a while before saying calmly: "I have little faith in your story about collectors. So no handshakes until the infection is eliminated."

Oh. I see.

I nodded reluctantly, and after that, Ember also started walking towards my bar. My gaze focused on the last participant in the conflict. And immediately moved it to the other side. Chrysalis looks too creepy with all those holes in the hooves.

She noticed my emotions and briefly chuckled before heading to the bar and whispering, "Don't worry, I'm not going to suck the love out of you. For now. "

" Did you have to say the last part? " I asked carefully as I followed Chrysalis to the bar. She only laughed briefly in response. In any case, the others were already sitting on chairs in front of the bar. Yeah, I didn't think my most successful day as a bartender would be under such circumstances.

It's even kind of awkward to demand money for drinks. Well, maybe I should demand friendship in return?

I sighed slightly as I stood at the bar, facing the three seated rulers. After briefly taking a look at them, I swallowed, already starting to feel sorry for them and asked: "Well, um, what do you want to drink? I have mango beer, non-alcoholic mango beer, multi-fruit beer, non-alcoholic multi-fruit beer as well..."

"Do you only have beer here?" Twilight asked, slightly worried.

"Well, yes, if you do not take into account the seawater that can be filtered and boiled." I replied, raising an eyebrow in embarrassment. Isn't it obvious?

"Why would a pony know how to handle water?" Ember asked, squinting.

I put a hoof on the back of my head and said laughing nervously: "Ha, funny story, ha. To save money, I went out to the Manehattan embankment and collected water in buckets. Well, then there were experiments with filtering."

"Hmm." Chrysalis mumbled, studying me with her eyes for a few seconds.

So we're getting off topic!

"Uh, I take it you're not going to drink anything, are you?" I asked with an awkward smile.

"Give me something non-alcoholic." Twilight said with a sigh.

"I can't promise, I don't have labels." I said when the awkward smile faltered slightly. I feel so stupid.

"Then I won't do anything. I don't want Chrysalis to suck the love out of me. " She replied by covering her face with her hooves.

" You don't have to be afraid of that yet, Twilight Sparkle. I'm interested in the dragon. " Chrysalis said, glaring at Ember.

" If you touch me for even a second, I will cut you into small pieces. " Ember replied so coldly that I shuddered slightly.

Which is ironic, considering that dragons breathe fire.

I shook my head and said rubbing my temples with my hooves: "Okay, okay. Now please answer my questions and don't swear. First of all, what is a virus?"

Twilight stared at me before asking, "What is the virus in general or this one specifically?"

"Uhh, how difficult it is. Let's do this one specifically." I said with a sigh. I don't know why, but I suddenly felt tired. Probably because of all this negativity.

Twilight nodded slowly before clearing her throat and saying, "So, from what I've observed, this virus should almost completely paralyze the musculoskeletal system and greatly slow down metabolism, but at the same time keep the victim alive. Obviously, this is necessary in order for the changelings to use other creatures as living tanks with love. "

" Nonsense. Even if the virus were harmless to Changelings, such paralyzed ponies would die out without leaving offspring. It's a dead-end path that a queen like me would never choose. Chrysalis hissed, looking into the distance.

Oh, the negativity again.

Twilight was silent for a moment before magically pulling a photo out of her saddlebag and placing it on the bar. There was a picture of a rabbit lying on its side, which looked like a toy. Wide-open eyes, slightly open mouth and a completely neutral face. Almost not alive.

I swallowed briefly when I saw this and Twilight continued, putting the photo in her bag: "But this way the virus only works on creatures with a low amount of magic. Rabbits, for example. But for creatures like ponies, the virus works differently. He, as it were, goes further than just disabling the musculoskeletal system."

Twilight took a deep breath and pulled out another photo from her saddlebag. There was something visible on it. No matter how hard I looked, it looked like a puddle of some strange material. Maybe if the photo had been in color, I would have been able to see something.

Twilight stared blankly at the photo for a while before shaking her head and saying, removing the photo: "Somehow, the virus completely dilutes the musculoskeletal system in a matter of days. As a result, only such puddles remain of ponies, in which, surprisingly, magic is well preserved."

I swallowed back and tried to cheer up, "Well, doesn't that sound too terrible? No, no, I sound like a villain! I mean, well, you can just leave the victims alone and the virus won't go any further, right? "

Twilight sighed and said slowly shaking her head: " When there are quite a lot of such bodies with stored magic in one place, well, an explosion occurs. Which throws the virus in all directions. You've probably seen one in Manehattan."

Oh . . .

Sighing, I asked cautiously, "Uh, a little question. How long has this been going on?"

Twilight initially raised her eyebrows in embarrassment before sighing and saying, "Oh, yes, you came here to hide from collectors. Uh, I received the first information about the infection a month ago. So let's assume that it all started a month ago. "" Hmm, I thought it started less than a week ago. " Ember sighed, lifting her head up. I looked up with her for a moment, but I didn't see anything interesting. Well, okay.

Chrysalis snorted and said with a glance towards the dragon, " I also found out about this about a month ago. So I have a feeling that someone is lying."

No, no, that's enough!

I hit the table with my hoof and said when my wings instinctively lifted: "Can you not swear, please!? Bad things are happening now and we need to do something good so that the world doesn't collapse, right?"

Damn, I feel stupid again. Before the shame could show on my face, Twilight sighed and said, gently placing a hoof on my shoulder, "Amber, the world has already collapsed. There is practically nothing and no one to save. "

I opened my mouth slightly, but Twilight continued with a forced smile: " But on the other hand, the virus no longer has food. Sooner or later, the magic will wear off from the corpses and Equestria will become a safe place again. We just need to wait here. "

Ember took a deep breath and said, " Okay. I will ignore the fact that you are in the legitimate territory of the dragons. "

Chrysalis bared her teeth and asked: " Are you serious? This virus has killed all my subjects, or almost all of them! I will not rest until I find out who did this and until this someone learns the most terrible punishment."

Uhhh.

"Chrysalis, revenge won't solve anything right now. In addition, all our versions of the origin of the virus are different. Although mine is backed up by science." Twilight muttered the last part.

I pointed my hoof forward into the sky and asked trembling, "Is this cloud supposed to be like this?"

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, quickly turning around in her chair and then froze. The Lord and queen turned a little more slowly, but they also froze. The purple cloud that appeared over Manehattan has not disappeared anywhere. On the contrary, it seemed to expand to the sides. One of which is us.

It's not going to get here, right?

For a while, an anxious silence continued to hang in the air, which no one dared to interrupt. The purple cloud in the sky continued to spread very slowly in all directions, showing no signs of slowing down.

Twilight puts her hooves on her temples and said, breathing deeply, "Okay, okay. Our boats are too small to sail to more distant islands. The current will be too strong. I can say for sure that we are in the affected area of the virus. But judging by the speed of the spread, we have a few days. "

I swallowed nervously and asked carefully: " Are you sure there aren't any islands close enough? Any at all? "

Ember sighed loudly and said, shaking her head, " No, there are no such places. The closest island is the island part of the dragon lands. And it is already ravaged by the disease. "

Chrysalis's ear twitched slightly before she grinned and asked, crossing her hooves, " Oh, oh, oh. Did your animals start to suffer because of the infection they developed? How sad."

"I repeat once again, beetle." - hissed Ember gritting her teeth - "Dragons have neither the ability nor the desire to arrange anything like this."

And now they're fighting again. We need to distract them for at least a couple of seconds. So that I can fall asleep before the sun gets blinding.

I swallowed a lump in my throat and said, raising my voice slightly, "Guys, we don't have time to argue! Can we just have a drink and forget about what's going on for at least a couple of seconds? "

All three of them slowly turned around in their chairs and all stared at me. In response, I hesitantly grabbed my notebook and tried to cover at least part of my face with it. But I was stopped by Twilight's tired sigh, followed by the words: " Give me something. "" I thought you weren't going to drink because I wouldn't be able to tell non-alcoholic from alcoholic. I said with a little surprise in my voice.

"I've changed my mind. I have a lot of things that need to be flooded." Twilight replied instantly.

Uh, on the one hoof, it can have bad consequences. On the other hoof, I've been dreaming of serving at least one customer in a bar for too long.

I smiled slightly and took one of the many bottles with my wing without looking at it. However, before I could properly put it on the table, Twilight activated her horn and snatched the drink from me. In just a moment, she took off the lid and immediately started drinking. Uh, well, okay.

I couldn't help but smile excitedly and asked, turning to Ember, "What about you? Are you thirsty?"

In response, she snorted, letting out some smoke from her mouth and said reluctantly, "Okay, give me something. I'll take a couple of sips."

Hurray!

I seemed to grab the bottle even faster than last time without looking at it and put it firmly on the bar. So much so that the bottom of the bottle broke into many pieces. Beer splashed on the bar as we both looked at the situation. In the end, I laughed awkwardly and said, turning around, "Hehe, I'm sorry? Don't worry, I'll give you something now. "

" No, no. Everything is fine. " Ember said, which made me turn my head to her in embarrassment. She took the top of the bottle and lightly sipped the remaining drink there, as if drinking from a glass.

Even more surprisingly, after taking a sip, she grinned a little and said, " This is satisfactory. Quite. I'm surprised, to be honest.

Should I be offended or not?

I shook my head briefly and grabbed two bottles from the shelf before putting both on the table. Then I smiled toothily and asked, "Well, Chrissy, do you want to join in the fun?"

To my surprise, Chrysalis glared at me and said slowly: "First of all, you will call me Queen Chrysalis. And secondly, how can I be sure that you didn't put poison in the drink? "

I pulled away from her slightly before rubbing my neck with a hoof and asking, " Well, will it make you feel better if I drink first before giving it to you?"

Chrysalis continued to stare at me for a while before nodding slowly. I sighed and slammed the edge of the bottle against the table to remove the lid. After that, I took a short sip and sighed with satisfaction: "M, mango beer warmed by the sun."

So delicious~

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and said, taking the bottle from my grasp with magic: "Okay, I believe it. But I'm still watching you."

In response, I just smiled and opened the last bottle. No one swears. Everyone drinks drinks. Everyone drinks drinks prepared by me. In my bar. I need to consolidate this success!

I cleared my throat briefly and said, holding the bottle up, "Uh, a toast! A toast to a bright future and, uh, a successful bar!? "

For just a moment, I thought I'd made another mistake, but suddenly Twilight slammed her bottle against mine and said, " Yes, to a bright future. "

Ember very carefully tapped her improvised glass and said slowly, " And for you to continue making delicious drinks. "

Surprisingly, even Chrysalis reluctantly lifted the bottle and said, " Yes, yes, to getting everything back to normal."

How can anything go wrong after such a toast?

Words, plants, bottles

"Uhh." painfully escaped from my mouth when I felt that my face was lying on something wooden and flat. Which is strange considering that I usually sleep upside down in a tree. Hmm, maybe I was unlucky and accidentally took the strongest beer I had.

Groaning slightly, I lifted my face from the wooden surface and blinked several times. It is surprisingly very dark. Darker than at night. Maybe a specific phase of the moon? I looked up at the sky, trying to find the moon. Absolutely unsuccessfully. But I managed to see that the sky seemed to be moving slightly. Wait.

Is that the cloud with the infection? But how does it get here so fast!? How long have I been sleeping!?

I looked around in fright, trying to figure out at least where my new friends were. But there was no one. The boats were gone, and there were no traces of the presence of others. I don't know why, but I turned my gaze to the bar. And I found my notebook there, from which a sheet had been torn out.

Turning slightly, I found a piece of paper torn from my notebook. It was attached to a bottle that was on one of the shelves. Carefully approaching it, I read aloud what it says: "Your beer is disgusting. Don't ever do that again. Ember, Twilight, Chrysalis. . ."

I bit my lip and muttered, turning away from the note: "I'm certainly not as good at brewing as Dad. And like a grandfather. And I'm not even close to as good as my brother. . ."

So stop thinking about it, Amber! There is a bigger problem.

I nodded slowly to myself and let out a long sigh before looking up. The cloud has not gone away and no solutions have appeared in my head. I carefully leaned two hooves on the bar and asked cautiously: "So, how do I know that this thing has started to harm?"

Before I could take a breath, I suddenly felt that my eyelids began to feel heavy and my right hoof experienced a severe burning sensation. It happened so fast that I lost my balance and fell on my side, right on the sand. My gaze instantly slid to the source of the pain. My right hoof. It quickly lost its shape, like some kind of fruit, but several times faster. Worst of all, I could feel the pain moving to other parts of my body.

Is that how it ended? Will it be over the day after my most successful day?

I closed my eyes, unable to move because of the spreading pain. But suddenly the words "Amber!" pierced my mind.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, barely gathering the strength to open my eyes. And to see absolutely nothing.

"Amber, wake up!" A woman's voice shouted louder and suddenly I felt all the strange sensations disappear.

Blinking several times, I saw that I was looking down at Ember, who had her hands on her hips. My gaze wandered around a bit to understand what was going on and calm my mind a little bit. My tail caught on one of the branches of a mango tree, which allowed me to hang upside down while I was sleeping. The bright scorching sun was reflected from the delicious fruit. A clear sign that I was woken up earlier than expected.

Although I'm not complaining. It's better than if the nightmare continued.

I looked at Ember again and said, slightly rubbing my eyes with a hoof: "Eh, good afternoon? I'm sorry, I didn't know what to say when I woke up so early."

"In this situation, it would be more correct to say good afternoon. It's three o'clock in the afternoon. Well, about that. After all, we only have a sundial. And I doubt pony did them right. She replied with her arms crossed.

"I can hear everything, Dragon Lord!" Twilight's voice shouted from afar.

"And just so you know, dragon, I personally checked her work and confirmed its quality!" The irritated voice of Chrysalis was added from about the same side as Twilight's voice.

Well, at least they don't fight as much as they did last time.

I sighed and said, trying to ignore the hot light, "Well, um, why did you wake me up? Not that you need a serious reason! If you just want to talk, you can wake me up anytime. . ."

Ember briefly waved her paw and said, resting the other on her side: "Pony wants me to look for some things on the island. Do you have any food supplies so that I don't have to take care of it during the search?"

I stared at her for a couple of moments as my mind slowly started working. I don't think she'll be pleased to know that I don't stock up at all. As soon as my gaze slid to the mango that was hanging on the same branch as me, an uncertain sentence fell from my lips: "Maybe I'll throw you a couple of such sweets?"

Ember stared back at me and asked: "Do you really think that if this was an option, I wouldn't have taken the fruit myself?"

I'm so stupid . . .

Ember shook her head and said with a strange tinge in her voice, "Okay, don't cry. Most ponies don't know anything about dragons, so I'll explain it to you. I need crystals as food. As a last resort, meat."

I was silent for a couple of seconds before excitedly saying, "I can go with you! As a filly, I was taught to hunt hares and mice. Although I'm more used to doing it when it's snowing around. . ."

To her surprise, Ember almost immediately laughed out loud and said with a smile: " Really? Pony, what's hunting for small rodents? Are you a cat? "

I frowned and said looking away: " There aren't many other sources of food in the eternal cold north. "

Ember giggled briefly once more before saying, raising her paw, " Okay, don't be offended. Get down from there and follow me. "

Hooray, I'll be useful!

I nodded actively before relaxing my tail and detaching myself from the branch. By flapping my wings several times, I was able to flip over in the air and land on the ground, lifting a lot of sand into the air. Ouch.

I swear, I heard Ember briefly chuckling as I shook my head in an attempt to disperse the cloud of sand. But as soon as I finally got over the problem, she cleared her throat and said, turning around on the spot: "Ready? All right, follow me, pony-kitten."

That's a nice nickname, I suppose? Uh, I don't like it anyway.

My thoughts were instantly interrupted when Ember began to walk confidently towards the tree line, deep into the island. I quickly ran to the bar, stumbling slightly due to my recent awakening and perhaps because I woke up so early. Wow, and the sun is so hot.

"I almost want to pour the whole bar over my head. " I muttered when I got to my bar and grabbed two bottles with my wings. For myself and Ember.

For me and Ember to not care about drinking in the backwoods for at least a while. Hmm, for some reason it seemed to me that this requires clarification. But for whom?

"I'm getting distracted again. It's a bad habit." I muttered to myself, slowly shaking my head.

"Are you coming or not?" the distant voice of Ember asked with a strong tinge of irritation.

Almost falling, I rushed to her, along with two bottles of beer in my wings. After a few moments of running, I stopped next to Ember and said, panting, "Uhh, I'm here. And I took drinks with me so that we wouldn't have to take care of the water in the forest."

I felt her gaze on me followed by a slow question: "And what will you do if both bottles turn out to be with normal beer?"

Oh, it's just beer! Even less than beer. Just a little thing, juice.

I took another heavy breath in an attempt to regain my strength and said tiredly, putting a hoof on my chest: "Oh, don't worry. The strongest beer here has a maximum strength of fifteen degrees. Give or take a couple of degrees."

"You say that like it's a normal indicator for beer." Ember said, rolling her eyes.

I took my hoof off my chest and said, staring at the ground: "Well, actually it's not enough. Like, I've never seen a pony that makes such weak drinks!"

Ember looked down at me for a while before waving her paw and saying, "Okay, you're really weird. Funny, weird, mostly. Let's go and find the right things. Time is not infinite."

Exactly. The cloud exists not only in my nightmare.

I briefly looked at the cloud. It certainly did not cover the island, as in my nightmare, but it still became much closer. Sighing, I took a cautious step towards the line of exotic plants and said with a slight nod, "Okay, I'm ready."

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear." Ember said with a nod before starting to walk quickly forward. At first it seemed to me that the pace of a simple walk would be enough. But it soon turned out that in order to keep up, I almost had to run after her!

Maybe it's because I woke up so early. The sun is baking.

As soon as I thought about it, I felt the shadow of a tree cover me. Deciding not to study my savior, I asked, trying not to show fatigue: "Well, um, what do we need to find?"

Ember glanced at me briefly and suddenly slowed down so that I didn't have to almost run. In response, I nodded gratefully and she finally began to speak as she walked: "So, the unicorn told me that in order to continue creating the medicine, she needed several small animals and a bunch of plants. The more we bring, the better."

"Uh, for what?" I asked tensely, looking closely at Ember. How can this be related to the creation of a medicine?

Suddenly, my interlocutor pulled out a long sword as if out of nowhere and cut several dense leaves that blocked the way with it. My eyes widened slightly and I took a cautious step back. From everything I said, it looked like something was wrong. But what?

I have no idea. How could I have made a mistake by saying just two words? Of course, anything is possible for me, but not to the same extent!

Ember turned her head to me and asked confusedly, "Hmm? I didn't hear the question, repeat it."

I let out an incredibly long sigh of relief before taking a small step forward and saying slowly, "Why does Twilight need animals and herbs? Like, I saw some test tubes in her bag, but I still don't find a connection. "

She shrugged and said, cutting down a few more obstacles: " She said something about some antibodies, an experiment that she needed to conduct and then a set of completely incomprehensible words began."

On the one hand, it's too bad that I don't understand any of this either. On the other hand, I have something in common with Ember. We're almost like friends! Well, I suppose.

After a couple of awkward seconds, during which Ember cut through the plant barriers, I finally gathered my strength and said, "So, how are we going to choose animals and plants? Just the first thing that comes across or what? "

In response, Ember only briefly grunted before cutting through the plant barrier once more and replying: " I planned to just grab one animal for each claw and do the same with the plants. How's the idea? "

" Well, uh, let's try to find some wide place first. Well, so that we can see a lot of plants and animals from one point. " I suggested cautiously. Just don't ask any questions, please.

"Why, if we can just take the first thing that comes along?" Ember asked laconically, suddenly stopping and looking down at me.

Do I need to say that the sword as long as my body, which she holds with one paw, makes her even more imposing? Oh, I've already said that.

I looked away for a moment, as if I was looking for something interesting. Which is impossible considering that there is a thick leaf of some kind of plant an inch from my face. After a few more seconds, I coughed awkwardly and took a quick glance at Ember. She's still looking at me and seems to be frowning slightly. Sighing, I said reluctantly, "Well, you know, I like writing poetry. And I just thought that the spacious jungle landscape would give me more inspiration. "

After the answer, my gaze focused on Ember by itself and refused to break away from it. At this time, she raised an eyebrow slightly and asked confusedly, " Don't you ponies focus your whole life on what you have painted on the flank? You have a fan made up of bottles painted here."

Uh. . .

"Oh, look, I see a light! Probably there we will immediately see a beautiful landscape where there will be many animals and plants to collect!" I said excitedly, jumping towards the bushes and starting to make my way forward through them. Yes, it was the best plan that was born in my gloomy mind. In my defense, I can say that I woke up extremely early.

"Hey, don't even think about running away from me!" Ember shouted with suddenly high anger in her voice. No, it would be more correct to say that this is pure rage. To be honest, I'm not sure I've ever heard of anyone being so angry. Oh, oh.

Without any intention, my hooves started moving even faster as I struggled to hold the bottles in my wings. Yes, even in such a situation, I remember about my alcohol. The secret tactics of prioritizing the Ferment family?

Probably?

I resisted the urge to shake my head and continued running towards the light, which became more and more visible as I moved. Yeah, in any other situation, I would have covered my face with my wings and started looking for a shadow. But when you're being chased by a dragon with a huge sword, priorities change.

"Come back!" Ember's voice, laced with irritation, shouted almost immediately after I remembered her. Probably shouldn't have done that. But if I forget about her, nothing will push me to endure the sun! Trouble.

Suddenly, I realized that my last step had not met any resistance from the plants. For a moment, I was blinded by the bright light of the sun and just kept running by inertia. Even the hint of stopping was met with an angry shout from Ember: "If you stop now, then maybe I'll leave more than half of you intact!"

I need my body completely!

I kept running for a couple more seconds until my half-blinded eyes noticed a large branch above me. Given Ember's armor, she's unlikely to be able to take off. Right?

"It doesn't matter." I exhaled when I made a jump with the last of my strength and unfortunately could not control the right wing. It jerked in an attempt to help me, but dropped the bottle in the process. Well, at least one is left!

My thoughts were interrupted by a painful collision with a large branch, which I nervously grabbed with my front hooves. After a couple of seconds of struggle, I was able to pull myself up and sit on a branch. Victory.

Well, if you don't count somepony. Or somedragon, in this case.

Suddenly, Ember burst out of the line of greenery with a sword raised above her head. She stopped for just a moment before she discovered me and let out a furious roar from her mouth along with black smoke. And it was at this moment that my mind started thinking about an absolutely inappropriate thing. I dropped one of the bottles. But why was there no sound of it falling?

"Get down from there. Ember hissed, holding out her free hand to me. Well, it's a small relief that she doesn't want to cut me in half. On the other hand, she still looks extremely furious.

" Eh, there's no point in getting mad! Look, I really brought us into the light! " I said without looking, waving towards the bright sun.

I'd watch it if I wanted to go blind again.

Instead of answering, Ember just continued furiously walking towards me with her arm outstretched. With every step she took, my eyes adapted better to the hated sun. When Ember's paw was only a couple of hooves away from me, I said carefully: "Stop, watch your step!"

Unfortunately, she took another step forward. And her hind paw met only emptiness. Slowly, Ember's eyes opened wide and his mouth opened slightly. While she was falling forward by inertia, into a cliff. Yes, it was so lucky that it was the branch that I jumped on that turned out to be right over the cliff, followed by a long fall.

"Stop, don't fall down!" I exhaled in fright when, without hesitation, I stretched out a wing with a bottle so that Ember would grab. Fortunately, she reacted quickly, grabbed the bottle with her paw and hung on to it with her eyes wide open.

And she's heavy . . .

"Uh, can you please throw away all the heavy stuff? Like your sword?" I asked when I wrapped my hooves around my wing as support. Although it did not significantly reduce the pain and tension.

In response, Ember stared at me with her mouth slightly open and abruptly closed her mouth before releasing the sword, which began to fall down reflecting the bright light. I sighed when I felt the reduced pressure on my wing, but when Ember grabbed the bottle with her other paw, everything became as before.

No, it actually got worse.

I tried my best to pull up the Ember, but having failed, I asked again: "Can you, uh, take off your armor? It's really not very easy for me to hold it all with a wing and a little hoof help."

She stared at me again with wide eyes. In response, I just raised an eyebrow in embarrassment. Is my ability to say something wrong so comprehensive?

As if noticing my concern, Ember sighed and lowered her right paw from the bottle before running it under her cloak. After a few moments, I felt the weight drop significantly from my wings and saw several steel plates falling far down after the sword.

Now we need to try one last time and talk to her. Sounds like one of the best plans I've ever had.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled Ember up with difficulty with my wing and when she was close enough, I stretched out both my hooves to her. After a second of hesitation, she grabbed my hooves with her paws and with a final push, I pulled her high enough so that she could catch her hind legs on a thick branch.

"Phew, it's good that everything ended well." I exhaled wearily as I lay back on a thick branch and shielded myself from the sun with one of my wings. To be precise, the one that I didn't hold Ember and part-time, which I can still feel.

There was a pleasant silence in the air for a while after my words. No birds, no words, just a light wind that blew parts of my purple mane into my eyes. Additional protection from the sun, so there are no disadvantages.

"Thank you very much. And I'm sorry for what happened earlier." Ember replied quietly and slowly.

What a strange tone. Hmm.

I carefully removed the wing from my face and asked slowly sitting up: "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ember stared at me and asked incredulously: "I screamed at you, chased you, and at least looked like I was going to kill you. But after that, you saved me and you want to talk about it? Are you serious? "

I cocked my head to the side in embarrassment and asked: " What else was I supposed to do? "

" Let me fall. That's what any dragon would do to its enemy. " Ember replied with her arms crossed.

But it's just like that. . . wrong!

I blinked in surprise several times and pointed one hoof at myself and the other at her before saying, "But we are not enemies! We are both in a difficult situation, we share the same island and you liked my alcohol. We are at least distant and unfamiliar, but still friends!"

Ember stared at me and asked with a hint of annoyance: "Just how can you be so indescribably naive? Just HOW!? "

I recoiled slightly before saying awkwardly raising my hooves, " Well, yes, I can be funny to others. And maybe naive. But if I wasn't, then the people around me would be angrier and then everything around me would be worse! If there are a lot of angry people in one place, they get angry at each other and everything gets even angrier. Isn't that how it works!? "

Ember just looked at me for a moment and said with a contrite sigh: " You're just unbearably naive. It's just impossible to argue with you."

Well, then, how about. . .

"How about not arguing then, but just talking? For example, tell me why you were so angry when I started running?" I asked, carefully placing one hoof on top of Ember's paw.

In response, she was silent for a while before tucking her knees up and looking straight ahead at the huge rift in the ground. After a few seconds, she said: "I'm the dragon lord, do you understand?"

"I understand. After all, as soon as Twilight arrived here, she confused my name with yours! " I replied with a slight chuckle.

Ember only grinned for a moment in response before suppressing it and continuing to say, " As soon as I found out about this disease, I tried to organize the evacuation of dragons to distant islands. Which was extremely difficult and incomplete. Many simply did not believe that a powerful being could die from something invisible."

I don't like your tone, Ember.

She suddenly focused her gaze on me and said, "Don't tell anyone the next part, okay? Just say yes."

"Yes," I replied instantly.

Ember nodded gratefully and slightly pulled back her cape with her paw, just enough so that I could see one of her wings. It looked flat and crumpled like some kind of dough. Plus, it was a paler shade compared to the rest of Ember. Swallowing, I slightly moved away from her and asked cautiously: "Uh, are you sick?"

In response, she sighed and covered the wing with a cape again before saying with a blank look: "Yes, that's how it is. I don't know how much longer I have left. But in any case, as soon as the dragons found out about it, they immediately scattered in all directions. "

" And I feel guilty for those who decided to fly towards Equestria. I don't want to let anything out of my control anymore. If I had been tougher, it would have been a better leader, more dragons would have been able to escape for sure." Finished Ember with a final exhale.

So that's why you're so angry. You didn't want anyone else to run away from you. . .

For a while I sat next to Ember on a thick branch and looked down at a huge hole in the ground. There were many plants and animals to be seen there, but it is unlikely that we will be able to safely descend there. Well, Ember definitely won't be able to. But the view is still beautiful.

I looked up slightly and asked, "So, maybe we need to get down from here and find out why we came here at all, right?"

Ember sighed and said slowly getting up, "Yes, I guess. Can you get down from here by yourself? "

I stood on all fours and looked towards the cliff. He's not very far from the branch, probably five hooves or a little more. After a couple of seconds of thinking, I said, " Yes, I can."

I hope.

I stood for a few moments gathering my strength before making a leap forward and landed surprisingly well. Uh, no, I stumbled a little anyway, but it's still good.

My ear twitched slightly as Ember landed on my left. We were both awkwardly silent for a few seconds before I asked slowly, "So, where are we going to collect animals and herbs?"

Ember looked around for a couple of seconds before shrugging her shoulders and saying, "I don't think it's particularly important. In the end, we can always just go ahead to find the shore and find the other two sooner or later."

I nodded slightly and lightly tapped my hoof on the ground, trying to figure out where to go. Suddenly, my gaze focused on the strange grass that grew in front of one of the big trees. The upper part of each blade of grass looked like a bird with a sharp beak and scarlet feathers on its head, which rushed straight up.

Hmm, I suddenly thought about it. Why does a plant need to be so beautiful? I don't think the animals that surround it will be able to appreciate such a quality. Although never say never, right?

At first I wanted to stretch out a pair of wings to pluck a few of these blades of grass, but I couldn't move my left one. Well, yes, overexertion. I can't even open it to let go of the bottle. Smiling awkwardly, I looked at Ember and said, "Uh, can you take the bottle from my wing and help me pick this grass?"

"Of course. And once again, I'm sorry for the chase that happened. " Ember said before carefully pulling the bottle out of my wing and squatting down to my left. Then the two of us gathered some of these strange blades of grass before I got up and Ember repeated it almost immediately.

Am I in charge now? Uh, I don't really like it.

Sighing, I began to walk slowly forward and let my gaze wander in search of something we needed. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the swaying of a branch of one of the low trees. Well, low only relative to the huge trees standing nearby, the top of which was difficult to see.

Suddenly Ember asked: "I understand that you have done so much good and I appreciate it. And it's like I have no right to demand anything else from you. But can you tell me why you reacted the way you did to the question about the cutie marks?"

Uh, maybe if she shared something with me, then I should also in return? Uhh, even if I don't want it.

I turned away from the tree and slowly continued walking forward while I gathered my thoughts. After a few seconds, I finally said slowly, "How should I say it? Well, um, I have a problem with the interpretation of my cutie mark."

"What else can a fan consisting of bottles mean besides the fact that you are preparing alcohol?" Ember asked, confused.

"No, I'm sure that means that I sell drinks well! It's just, it's just, I made a mistake somewhere when I created my bar." I replied, closing my eyes for a moment as I walked forward.

"It always seemed to me that pony couldn't go wrong in an area where she was talented." Ember commented thoughtfully.

Me too. Me too.

I sighed and said nervously shaking my head slightly: "It's just that my talent can't be brewing! Because in this case, it turns out that I am talented, but to a much lesser extent than anyone in my family! I can't be the worst, right? Is that right!?"

My mounting stress was contained when Ember grabbed my shoulder tightly and said, "Hey, take it easy. I do not know how good your relatives are at brewing. But I can definitely say that you are a good pony. And this is important. "

I froze in place and rubbed my cheek lightly while I thought about Ember's words. It's not like one phrase completely wiped away all my problems. But the effect is still there.. It feels. Sighing, I said, carefully placing my wing on Ember's paw: " Thank you. I'm really very pleased. Although I'm still very nervous. "

I felt Ember's smile as she took her paw away, and said with a brief grin, " I didn't expect anything more."

In response, I nodded and asked, taking in the tropical landscape in front of me, "So, let's go look for something else for Twilight?"

"Yes, that's a good idea. Ember replied, stepping forward to take the lead again. I don't mind either.

The main thing is that everything will be fine from now on.

Uh, did alcohol save the world?

"Get up, pony." A deep female voice sounded with a hint of demand in her voice. I blinked a few times but saw only darkness in front of me. Uh, that's weird.

Please, can I not have a nightmare?

Very slowly, I lifted my face from the dark surface and rubbed my face with my wings. Eventually, my eyes discovered that Chrysalis was sitting in front of me with a sullen expression on her face. I, in turn, was sitting right on the sand, behind the bar. How did I fall asleep like that? And why is it so dark in here?

I looked behind Chrysalis for a moment and saw that the cloud was really close. Like, it literally blocks the sun so much that only a couple of lonely rays break through. Of course I don't like the sun, but it's too much.

"Are you ignoring me?" Chrysalis asked slowly, with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Ouch!

"No, no! I'm sorry if I offended you. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on and when I fell asleep at all. I replied, rubbing the back of my head with a hoof and barely stifling a yawn. I wouldn't like it if the other person yawned.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and briefly chuckled before saying, "Ember brought you here and said that you stumbled very badly when you saw a crab."

I rubbed my head slightly and muttered resentfully, "I don't remember that. But crabs are really creepy! Like, have you seen what kind of claws they have? They can tear your nose off! It's scary to even think about their strange mouths. "

Chrysalis looked at me for a while before briefly shaking her head and saying in a commanding tone, " It doesn't matter, all ponies are afraid of harmless things. I woke you up so you could give me a drink. Naturally, after trying it first."

Well, I don't mind the client! Even if you have to serve it for free.

I grinned slightly and got up from the sand so that the height difference with Chrysalis would not be so strong. Then, without looking, I stretched out my wing and grabbed two bottles from the shelf. Putting both on the table, I smiled at Chrysalis and asked, "Well, which one will you have? Left or right? "

" It doesn't matter. " Chrysalis replied instantly, taking a deep breath. Well, I was hoping that she would make the choice for me so that I wouldn't feel guilty if I gave her something too powerful.

Shaking my head, I grabbed the right bottle and slammed the lid on the table. The next moment, she flew off and landed soundlessly somewhere on the sand. It was further than usual. Shrugging, I put the bottle in front of Chrysalis and she sighed and wrapped her hoof around it.

Which is strange, by the way, considering that she has a horn.

For a few seconds, Chrysalis just stared at the reflection in the bottle without taking any action. I wondered for a moment or two what was wrong before saying apologetically, "Oh! I completely forgot that it's important to you that I prove that there is no poison there. I'll do it now..."

"No, you don't have to waste time on this. I'm not sure I'm going to drink at all. " Chrysalis replied in a dejected voice, without even looking up at me. Uh, why do all the worst and scariest things happen when I'm sleeping?

I hesitantly stamped my hind hoof on the sand before asking slowly, " So. Do you want to tell me what happened? I've heard that ponies like to complain about problems to bartenders. "

" I heard it too. Don't you think that's weird? Why would anyone come to a stranger who just pours drinks to tell secrets? Secrets should be discussed with your ruler and your most loyal subordinates. Chrysalis said with a disappointed sigh.

Well, we're not exactly strangers . . .

I tried to formulate an answer for a while before carefully stretching out my hoof and asking, "Can we talk as friends then? I don't want you to just hold the bottle and sigh sadly."

Chrysalis's eyes widened for a moment. Then she squinted and asked, removing her hoof from the bottle, "Why would you do something like that? What benefit do you get from this, pony?"

Perhaps such a question should be answered honestly? Probably.

I sighed and said, lightly tapping my front hooves on the table: "Well, first of all, I would like to try on the role of a full-fledged bartender with whom problems are discussed. Because I'm sure that's my talent. Secondly. Um, I didn't come up with the second one."

Chrysalis chuckled extremely softly before lifting her head slightly to look at my cutie mark. Before I could dodge, she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice: "What makes you think that your talent is to be a bartender? It seems to me that a fan made of bottles means the ability to cook. Or seduction."

"And I'm sure that means the ability to sell!" I replied by hitting the table with my hoof so hard that Chrysalis recoiled slightly from me.

And I also made my hoof hurt. Oh.

I rubbed one hoof lightly against the other before saying looking away: "I'm sorry. It's just, well, I don't like this topic of treating a cutie mark, you know?"

Chrysalis snorted and slowly said, rolling her eyes, "Okay, but don't ever do that again. Otherwise you'll regret it. Did you get it?"

I bit my lip nervously and just nodded slightly. Chrysalis took a deep breath and grabbed her bottle with magic. She took an extremely small sip before looking away and saying softly: "Yesterday I went up to Twilight Sparkle to see what she had learned about the disease and prove that there was no changeling magic there."

Oh, it worked!

Barely restraining an excited smile, I propped my head on two hooves and stared intently at Chrysalis. After a couple of moments of silence, she turned to face me and asked: "Tell me, pony. Is the ruler responsible for every action of his subjects?"

I recoiled from the question a little bit, because I planned to just listen without saying anything. Sighing, I tapped my chin a little before answering uncertainly, "Well, it seems to me that this is too high a requirement. Like, a ruler should just do well, shouldn't he? It's enough for him or her to try to do better."

Chrysalis frowned in response to my question and said, rolling her eyes, "Just do what's best. Do you understand how vague this is? "

" Well, yes. But I really don't know what to say to such a question! " I replied a little upset.

I'm really better at just listening.

After a few seconds, Chrysalis looked away again and took another short sip before saying, "The virus was really created with the help of changeling magic. I've personally double-checked it several times with my magic. "

Suddenly, she wrapped her hooves around her head and muttered: " I just can't believe that I didn't know about it and didn't prevent it. Just how?"

I stared at Chrysalis with a frown. Although she doesn't ask questions, it's obvious that it would be very awkward if I just kept quiet. Uh, I'd like to learn the skill of asking a question without asking a question, too. Ah, I'm getting distracted!

I hugged my head with my hooves, copying the Chrysalis pose and began to say uncertainly: "Well, um, maybe some other, wrong and very evil changeling created the disease? Like, the one that has nothing to do with you at all."

It seems to sound normal.

Chrysalis rubbed her forehead lightly and said with a sigh: "I am the queen of all changelings. So no, your words are absolutely not appropriate for the situation."

I bit the inside of my cheek, clearly embarrassed by this answer. It seems too big. What am I supposed to say in response to this? What does she want to hear in response to her words? Does she want to hear my answer or is she already disappointed with me?

After a few seconds, I suggested cautiously, "Maybe you just, like, bit off more than you can swallow? Maybe you should do something else?"

What am I even saying?

Chrysalis stared at me with the most intimidating look and brought her face as close to mine as possible before saying slowly, "Do you think I should just shrug my shoulders in response to everything that has happened and decide to do, I do not know, growing flowers?"

I looked away and felt moisture welling up all over my body as I tried to come up with a decent answer. In the end, I hesitantly said the best I could: "Well, yes? After all, there's definitely no way you can fix your mistake right now. And in the end, it's not really your fault."

For just a moment, my eyes caught Chrysalis's eyes wide open. But after just a second she snorted and said getting up from her chair: "Okay. I should have known right away that pony wouldn't be able to give a reasonable enough answer. I'm going to think about everything myself. "

After these words, she took the bottle with her magic and slowly walked towards the sea. After a couple dozen steps, I saw her sit down and stare somewhere ahead, towards the approaching cloud.

Uh, success, I suppose?

I stared at Chrysalis's motionless figure for a while before slowly walking away from the bar. But I quickly realized that I had no idea what to do or where to go. Maybe look for Ember?

No, it's a bad idea. It will be very awkward to talk to her about how I was so scared of the crab. Plus, I talked to her yesterday. I think she's had enough of social interaction.

"But I haven't really talked to Twilight yet!" I remembered out loud before running forward along the trees. But after a couple of seconds, I braked, leaving a long streak in the sand.

I have no idea where she is.

I stood awkwardly for a couple of seconds, rubbing the back of my head with my hoof while I tried to come up with a solution. I don't want to distract Chrysalis from watching the cloud. Ember is generally unclear where. So...

"TWILIGHT! Where are you? I asked loudly, putting one hoof to my mouth to sound louder. Well, that's probably how it works.

"Eh? By the shore." Twilight's voice answered from somewhere far ahead of me. To my surprise, by the way.

Hmm, I never thought that loud noises lead to something good.

I started walking along the trees, towards where Twilight's voice was answering. Along the way, I couldn't help but glance towards the trees, or rather at their branches. There is only one problem - there is no fruit there. Or coconuts. Nothing at all. Where did everything go?

For a while I kept walking and looking at the devastated palm trees, until something appeared in the corner of my field of vision. Focusing on the new object, I saw a small yellow hut that was probably made of dried leaves. In front of the entrance there were two baskets filled with fruits and coconuts, one on the left, the second on the right.

Okay. I realized where everything had gone. Now the question is why it is here.

"More questions." I sighed as I slowly walked to the entrance of the hut. From this distance, I could make out Twilight's purple silhouette and Ember's blue silhouette. Oh, that's a nice bonus!

I quickened my pace and when I reached the entrance to the hut, I asked quickly: "Hello, Ember! Hello, Twilight. What are you two doing here?"

The two quickly turned their heads towards me and focused their gazes. This instantly slowed down my thought processes, forcing my gaze to slide around the room to find a topic of conversation. There was a strange orange crystal in the ceiling that illuminated the room. On the left and right, there were tree trunks tied together, which together formed a kind of table. On the right-hand table were various test tubes, fruits, plants and, oh, a motionless crab.

Brr, what a nasty face.

Finally, Twilight's calm voice broke the silence: "I'm developing a cure by experimenting with different types of organics."

"You could have marked me," Ember muttered, forcing my gaze to focus on her. She's sitting on the left-hand table. Without a raincoat, so her crumpled wing is clearly visible. And by the way, if my eyesight is not deceiving me, the pale and crumpled area has become a little larger and even slightly grazed the second wing.

Hmm. I'm afraid to overestimate myself. But maybe it was because of my conversation with Ember that she dared to become a test subject?

While I was thinking, Twilight rolled her eyes and said with a forced smile: "Thank you so much, Ember, for allowing me to take samples of a virus for further experiments. Are you satisfied?"

Ember nodded slightly and said, stroking her shoulder, "I'm quite happy. But could you poke me with your needles in a more gentle way? "

Twilight clicked her tongue and said, turning to the right table, " Well, turn your nonsense into soft skin and then I can do it gently. "

Ember did not respond to this in any way, and my gaze focused on the unicorn. Twilight grabbed the syringe with her magic and gently injected it into the crab, which was not moving at all. As soon as she pulled out the syringe, Twilight muttered softly: "I'm really sorry, Fluttershy."

On the one hoof, I'm afraid of crabs. And on the other hoof. . .

"It's a pity, the little animal." I muttered, my eyes following the syringe that Twilight was holding.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot you were here. Uh, Amber, right?" asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow. Did she forget my name?

Although, I'm not judging. It's happened to me too. I nodded slightly and took a couple of steps towards Twilight before asking, "So, what exactly are you doing? Experiment is too complicated a word to be an answer."

It's not that I'm completely dumb. It's just, well, uh, yeah.

Twilight snorted and asked, waving her hoof, "Do you see this crab?"

I reluctantly glanced at the motionless creature before answering cautiously, "Well, yes. I see it."

Twilight also looked at the crab and said taking a deep breath: "I took samples of the virus from Ember and stuck it in it. As you can see, he doesn't even think about turning into slush. So the option that magic in the body causes mutations of the virus is questionable. "I raised my front hooves uncertainly and said, feigning amusement: " Hooray, we are getting closer to solving the problem! "

Unfortunately, Twilight destroyed my hope by shaking her head and saying in disappointment: " I would also jump for joy if I had at least a little understanding of what to do next."

Oh.

I dropped my hoof to the ground and quickly turned to leave the hut. The cloud is still blocking most of the sunlight and seems to have gotten even closer to the island since I woke up.

I swallowed nervously and asked, returning my gaze to Twilight: "Well, um, let's tell me why you need plants and while you're talking, can you come up with a solution? Is it a good idea? "

She watched for a while and nodded slightly before Ember broke into the conversation: " Well, ponies, you discuss your stuff, and I've already done everything I could. I'm going to get some sleep. At worst, it won't hurt so much to die, huh."

It's not fun at all.

Before I could think of anything to say in response, Ember got up from the table and walked past me. And so, Twilight and I were left alone. She sighed and said pointing with her hoof at the right table: "Do you see this plant?"

I followed Twilight's hoof with my gaze and saw a small pot on the right table, in which grew the same strange bird-like grass that I found yesterday. After a few seconds, I nodded and said with a small smile, "Yes, I see, beautiful. I don't want to brag, but I was the one who found this herb."

Twilight took a deep breath and said, looking at the potted plant, "Yes, but that's not the point. The fact is that I tried to infect this and many other plants to see how they react to the virus. But their internal processes don't slow down at all! Plants are living creatures like us, but they completely ignore the virus. The animals are simply paralyzed. And we're turning into slush."

And you're trying to figure out why it's like this.

I awkwardly rubbed my neck and suggested cautiously, "Maybe it's all about magic? Like, is there magic in plants at all? "

Twilight stared at me and frowned very hard, making me tense up. With difficulty, I straightened up and asked with my head bowed: " That's not how it works, is it? "

In response, she shook her head and said, putting a hoof to her chin: " Well, there is a possibility that the virus clings to the magic of creatures. Like, magic works like a trigger here. After all, even a rabbit has hundreds or even thousands of times more magic than an ordinary flower. But what if this hypothesis is wrong? "

I pointed with my hoof at the approaching cloud and nervously said, biting my lip, " Do we have any other options?"

Twilight closed her eyes and covered her face with her hooves, as if trying to process the information or come up with some kind of plan. Although it's probably both.

In any case, it is necessary that the planning is completed as early as possible. I don't want my nightmare to become real! I don't want to turn into a puddle and. . .

"You're right, Amber. In this situation, at least something is better than a complete void. Will you help me with the preparation of the medicine?" Twilight asked after her slow nod.

"Me? Uh, how can I help?" I replied uncertainly, awkwardly rubbing my front hooves.

" We need to brew a tincture that dries up magic as much as possible, or better yet, turns it off altogether. Something with a high alcohol content is just useful for this, as it slows down the movement of magic in the body, especially in the brain. And the alcohol you're brewing on a massive scale is just right," Twilight said quickly. Uh-uh.

The fate of new friends and me will depend on my brewing skills!? It's-it's just too much!

"Uh, that's not a good idea. I don't have labels, we just won't be able to find drinks at my place! We basically won't find any good drinks at my place!" I replied, shaking my head and wings from side to side. Although the latter looked a little strange.

Twilight looked at me for a while before taking a small step forward and asking, "Amber, what's wrong?"

I bit my lip nervously and silently looked away. That didn't stop Twilight, and she took another step before asking firmly, "What's wrong, Amber? Why do you refuse to use your skills to save everyone? What's wrong with you? "

" Because I don't want to make a mistake! I shouted, putting a hoof on Twilight's chest to push her away from me slightly.

I've already started. . .

I took a scared step back and said with my eyes closed, "I'm constantly making mistakes! She left her family in the city and started a business. Failed and went bankrupt. I went into the jungle to find items for you. Failed and lost consciousness after seeing a crab! Even with my talent, I failed, against the background of ALL my relatives! "Twilight wrapped her wings around my face in just a moment and said harshly, " Amber, calm down. It doesn't matter how many mistakes you've made before. Zero or a thousand. Now you have to do what needs to be done. And I... I believe in you. "

Slightly embarrassed by Twilight's slight hesitation, I looked away uncertainly and muttered: " You do realize that I can't handle this kind of responsibility, right? Like, nothing at all. "

In response, she just forced a smile and said, moving one hoof from my cheek to my shoulder: " I've known you for not so long, just a couple of days. But all this time you've been extremely positive and absolutely kind. In many ways, you remind me of my old friends. Maybe that's why I trust you. Ha. . ."

Old friends? It doesn't sound like anything good happened to them.

Before I could ask about it, Twilight quickly shook her head and asked, "How about being so positive and kind to yourself? Just give yourself a chance, at least this time."

Twilight's words brought my gaze back to her to study her expression. And in response to my gaze, she forced a shaky smile. Obviously, it's not only hard for me. Taking a deep breath, I took a step back and asked quickly, "So, what exactly do I need to do? Find the strongest alcohol that I've already brewed?"

Twilight nodded quickly and said, turning to her many scientific possessions, "Yes, that's it. It is advisable to find something with an alcohol content of fifty percent or even more. You can see for yourself how much time is left, so I'll fly to you with the most necessary things when I get ready. "

But there's nothing in my bar where the alcohol percentage exceeds fifteen percent.

I swallowed nervously and said, carefully retreating from Twilight's hut, "Uh, okay? I flew."

Without waiting for her answer, I abruptly flapped my wings and rose a dozen hooves above the sand. After that, I began to fly quickly towards my bar and at the same time watched the approaching cloud with one eye. It has already blocked out the sun to such an extent that the water began to look black. I'm not sure I'm ready to drink it at all.

I grabbed my head with my hooves right on the fly and asked myself: "And what should I do? There is no time to cook something powerful. And I don't think I can do it. Then can I lie?"

And be responsible for the fact that the medicine will turn out to be non-working? No. . . I need to do something. To do something, somehow.

Taking a deep breath, I began to dive down to the bar and muttered: "Just do something. And don't be afraid."

A few moments later, I landed on the sand in front of the bar, causing a cloud of dust to rise into the air. But they were too small now. My hooves took a few steps across the already noticeably cold sand and finally carried me to the shelves with alcohol.

"Uh, well, which of you is at least partially suitable?" I muttered, looking at the many bottles. Why did I cook so much?

I probably did it. . . to prove something to yourself?

"It doesn't matter! Let's check you out!" I exclaimed, quickly grabbing one of the bottles on the top shelf with my wings. After the blow that removed the lid, I carefully bent down to the top of the bottle and sniffed.

I clenched my teeth and mumbled with my eyes closed, "What am I even doing? I'm trying to smell the alcohol. But I can easily confuse it with fruits! Not to mention distinguishing where there is more alcohol. "

" KNOCK! " Suddenly it sounded from my side when a bottle was abruptly placed on the bar counter. Glancing quickly to the source of the sound, I saw Chrysalis with a devastated expression on her face.

I opened my mouth slightly to say something, but Chrysalis said without even looking at me, "The birds started falling. It has become unbearable to look at such a sea."

Just for a second, I turned to look at the sea. And I immediately regretted it when I saw a lot of black spots on the water, some of which had already washed ashore.

Think, Amber, think! Come up with something!

For a few moments, my eyes darted fearfully from side to side before a decision appeared in my gloomy mind. Absolutely crazy, but the solution. I quickly grabbed a bottle of Chrysalis with my other wing in response to which she coldly said: "I was actually drinking."

"I'm sorry! I just urgently need to make a cocktail of beer and beer. Maybe a beer on top. " I replied nervously before carefully starting to pour the drink from the first bottle into the Chrysalis bottle. After that, I awkwardly closed the opening of the bottle with one wing and began to shake it violently.

It's not going to work. I'm not going to make it. Why am I doing this at all?

"To at least try!" I shouted, abruptly putting the bottle with a peculiar cocktail on the table. Despite the fact that I felt Chrysalis's gaze on me, I grabbed two more random bottles and slammed their tops against the table with all my might. The applied force was so great that instead of elegantly removing the lids, the top of the bottles simply splits and flew off to the side.

"I didn't think a pony could have two feelings at the same time. Chrysalis commented with a brief chuckle. It made me stop for a moment. What exactly does she mean by that? Why was that said? And in general, how did she determine this?

Although I don't think it's very difficult.

I quickly shook my head and started pouring drinks from broken bottles into the whole one. At this time, my gaze slowly shifted to the things around me. Chrysalis is sitting to my right, staring blankly at the line of palm trees. To my left, next to the tree lies Ember. Probably asleep.

Suddenly, I shuddered when I felt the cold liquid on me. Looking down, I saw that the liquid had already begun to pour out abundantly of the bottle. So adding even more beer to a beer cocktail won't work. We can only hope that it will work.

It won't work.

Before I could convince myself, Twilight's voice came from behind: "I'm here! Is everything ready yet, Amber?"

"Uh," I muttered, trying to gather my strength. Not very successful.

"Who called me? Oh . . ." Ember asked quietly, but suddenly froze when she noticed the cloud. Not that I blame her.

The corpses of birds brought ashore do not look attractive.

I felt Twilight move to my left and heard her ask worriedly, "Amber, do you hear me? Is everything ready?"

I swallowed and said in a trembling voice, handing the bottle to Twilight, "Y-Yes. Here's the strongest cocktail I've ever created."

Twilight stared at me for a moment, in response to which I very slowly broke into an awkward smile. Noticing this, she took the bottle with her magic and carefully placed it on the bar. Then she put some of her devices there.

It's good that she realized that my smile is a plea not to ask questions.

I nodded slightly to myself and asked cautiously, "So, what now? How long will it take you to prepare the medicine?"

"As fast as possible."" Twilight replied, carefully picking up one of the test tubes and pouring in quite a bit of my cocktail.

Then she turned to me and said urgently, " Chrysalis, I need your chitin."

Oh, oh. She wasn't turning to me.

Chrysalis stared at her in response and asked slowly shaking her head: "First of all, no. Secondly, why?"

Twilight replied, completely unperturbed and coldly, "I know that your magic-absorbing throne is created from chitin changelings and magic. So give me some of yours to make up for what happened because of you. "

Swallowing, I carefully spread my wings and said uncertainly, " Maybe you shouldn't say that? She's actually sorry. And I'm sure she really didn't know that anyone was doing this. "

After my words, there was silence in the air. Twilight stared at me with wide eyes before slowly frowning. Ember stopped next to the bar and raised an eyebrow in embarrassment. Finally, Chrysalis quietly said, " Thank you. "

You're welcome.

"But it's still my fault. " Chrysalis continued, taking a deep breath. I turned my head to her in disbelief, and to my surprise, she smiled slightly.

" You'd better turn away. I don't think you want to watch me rip out chitin. " Chrysalis advised as her smile widened a little.

"Uh, yeah, probably. " I muttered as I turned away from her and folded my wings. Both Twilight and Ember looked at me with some embarrassment, but fortunately they didn't say anything.

Great, because I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of this whole situation.

After a few moments, slurping sounds started coming from behind me. Doing my best not to hear them, I asked, "So, what's next on the list, Twilight?"

She looked behind me for a while before blinking quickly and replying, "Well, how should I say, I have a plan to crush the piece that Chrysalis will make and add it to the medicine. Thus, it turns out that the magic-absorbing stones will remain in our bodies. "

" Oh, I don't need to make a full-fledged throne? Great. " Chrysalis commented before, the slurping sounds returned.

" Yeah, that's great. Just do it faster. " Ember said, crossing her paws.

It's so hard not to turn around.

"Here you go, Princess. Chrysalis said, emphasizing the last word as she placed some kind of black stone on the bar. Before I could see him properly, Twilight tried to lift him up with her magic. And the stone didn't even move.

" Ember, smash the stone. As much as you can. " She said in an almost commanding tone.

In response, Ember snorted and walked around Twilight before standing next to me. Even without looking at me, she hit the crystal hard with her fist, which split into four parts with a loud crack.

Twilight almost instantly ordered once more, "Keep hitting. It's not enough."

I don't really like that it's being done right in front of my nose.

Taking a deep breath, I looked away and looked at the approaching cloud. It's almost hanging over our heads. The water seemed to become even darker, having already assumed an absolutely black color. And the light sea breeze has already turned into a bone-chilling stream. Although my spine was already shaking from the cold, at the sight of many black spots on the sand. And all these are paralyzed birds and fish stranded on the shore. I don't even want to think about the smell.

"It will do. Throw it in a test tube," Twilight ordered, suddenly pulling me away from my observations. And I am very grateful for that.

My gaze slid to the bar and I saw how Ember was holding in her paw a lot of black grains of sand, little distinguishable from sand. Then she carefully began to pour them into a test tube, which had previously contained only my cocktail of beer, beer and beer.

But there should be a high percentage of alcohol, right? Wrong.

I sighed ruefully as Twilight lifted the test tube with magic and took out a small wand from somewhere, which she began to mix quickly. Then she put down the wand and ordered again, "Ember, warm it up. The main thing is not to melt the test tube."

"You know, you're not the most important one here. Ember replied before snatching a test tube from Twilight's magic and opening her mouth. Suddenly, a small, but still warming stream of fire burst out of him, which rushed at the test tube.

Just a few moments later, Twilight waved her hooves and shouted: "That's it, that's it, that's enough!"

Uh, why was that?

"What was that for?" asked Ember, handing her the test tube.

When Twilight grabbed the test tube with her magic, she awkwardly looked away and muttered: "I have no idea. I'm just throwing all the possible ways to block magic into one vat. And we've run out of stock right now."

" So you don't even know if it's going to work!? " Ember asked irritably.

"Are you saying that I tore off a piece of my own chitin, for the sake of perhaps NOT working medicine!?" Chrysalis exclaimed loudly with a hiss in her voice.

Twilight responded by pointing her hoof at the cloud and said, it seemed, on the verge of a breakdown: "Don't you see? I literally have no normal alternative!"

They're fighting again. Even when a deadly cloud is hanging over us. Is this how it's going to end?

Nervous twitching my eye, I quickly climbed onto the bar and shouted, spreading my wings: "Enough!"

All three rulers stared at me, but this time it didn't stop me. I took a deep breath and continued, "At least some option is better than none! Maybe it's time for us to accept the situation and ourselves as we are? "

Chrysalis took a brief breath to reply, but I interrupted her by pointing at her with a hoof: " You feel guilty that some of your changeling may have created a virus. But you didn't know anything about it! "

Then my hoof moved to Ember: " You're stressed because your dragons flew in all directions as soon as they found out you were sick. But you dared to tell Twilight about it! "

Then my hoof moved to the previously mentioned pony and said, with a slight tremor: " And you, I suppose, have lost friends because of this disease and now you miss it. But at least you're trying to develop a cure to save future friends!"

Oh, now the scariest part.

I took a deep breath and pointed a hoof at myself before saying, "Even me. I just came to this island to escape from collectors and more successful family members. And now I'm worried that all my relatives might not have survived it. But, there's nothing I can do about it right now, except accept it! So can we all finally just accept the situation and do only what we can do here and now!?"

All three of them, to their surprise, looked down when they heard my speech. As I looked down at them all, I could feel the chilling wind fluttering my hair and blowing purple strands into my eyes. But I just couldn't help but follow the results of my activities. Which should appear at any second, right?

Finally, Twilight nodded slowly and said with a sigh, "Yes, you're right, Amber."

"Perhaps your fantastic naivety still has a benefit." Ember said, putting one hand on her side.

"You're a useful pony in this situation, Amber." Chrysalis muttered, looking away.

Thank you.

After a brief pause, Twilight quickly picked up the test tube and evenly poured it into other, smaller test tubes. Then she handed one of these smaller tubes to each of us and said with a sigh, "Well, here we are."

"Yeah. " Ember commented, grabbing the test tube but not rushing to drink it.

" Either life without magic or death. " Chrysalis muttered, looking at her reflection in the medicine.

I also took my little test tube with my wing and said, lifting it up: " Well, a toast to a good future and a successful bar!"

Just like the very first day with them.

All three of them laughed briefly before silently picking up their test tubes and drinking, almost at the same time as me. The taste was disgusting, and the urge to spit it out was extremely strong. Similar feelings were visible on the faces of my friends. Finally, after swallowing the drink, I looked at the cloud hanging over us and asked, "So how do we know this is going to work?"

As if in response, a few sparks flew from the horns of Twilight and Chrysalis before they went out and dropped the test tubes in the cold sand. After that, there was a couple of seconds of silence in the air before Ember said: "It's going to rain from this cloud soon. And just one drop is enough to get infected like me. "

Just as she said that, a rainstorm even colder than the wind poured out of the cloud, which loudly knocked against my bar. And me. It seemed like forever, the rain mercilessly beats me and my friends, until Twilight asked: "Are any of you feeling weak or very tired?"

"I have a feeling that the wings have become weaker. I said, lifting my wing with difficulty. I'm not sure I can grab things so easily now.

"I have a feeling that my throat has become colder. Ember said, rubbing her neck.

"This is normal. The wings and fire of dragons are also manifestations of magic. So it looks like we've won." Twilight reported with a big smile, despite the rain that was running down her face.

Well, it seems that even in the new world, my bar will always be open. Perhaps, some day other ponies will come to this island? And I can treat them too! But how will they pay? I don't think the usual bits are relevant right now.

"Maybe bottle caps will do?" I muttered, but decided to just remember the idea for now. I carefully placed my hoof on the notebook, which was soaked with raindrops. But I couldn't do anything meaningful, because only two thoughts were spinning in my head.

We're friends now. And we won.