The bar is always open

"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.