Amber puzzled over what she had seen in the Carousel Boutique as she wandered nowhere in particular. If she had seen something that Rarity hadn't, what did that say about her hallucinations? Amber had heard of ponies seeing hallucinations so vivid that they seemed real, but the condition should have started wearing off by now.

She was almost tempted to go back to the Boutique and investigate what she had seen, but forced herself to move on.

That's what Princess Amber Sands would have done. She reminded herself. You are no longer her. You are Amber. You must stop being Amber Sands. You are a different mare entirely, so you'd best forget her.

She picked up her pace a little, as if it would distance her from herself. She was violently jolted from her thoughts when something- no, three somethings- barreled into her, knocking her to the ground.

Amber grunted as a small hoof stepped on her wing. "Watch it!" she grumbled.

"Sorry," a filly's voice said, "But maybe you should watch where you're going. We tried to warn you."

Amber stretched her wing experimentally. "Oh. Then I guess it's my turn to apologize. I was kind of distracted."

"It sure looked that way." A little white unicorn walked around to face Amber. "Are you feeling alright?"

Before Amber could answer, she was interrupted by an earth pony, this one with a slight western accent, "Oh my gosh! Girls! Come look at this."

Amber grimaced. She knew what they must have noticed. Looks like the cloak wasn't so effective after all.

"Whoah!" The pegasus gasped. "You're a blank flank."

Amber stood up, brushing the fillies away a little brusquely. "Yeah? What about it? I am aware that it's blank. You know, most of us don't go gawking at other ponies flanks." She stormed away, humiliated.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Scoots?" The earth pony grinned at her friend.

The pegasus nodded eagerly. "This is gonna be so cool!"

"What are we waiting for?" The unicorn bounced on the tips of her hooves. "Let's go!"

The trio ran down the street, giggling like the ice cream truck was around the next corner. "Wait up!"

They skidded to a stop in front of Amber.

"Can I help you with something?" Amber asked, baffled by this sudden attention.

The earth pony nodded her head vigorously. "Yep! I'm Apple Bloom, this is Sweetie Belle, and that's Scootaloo. Of course, most ponies call us the Cutie Mark Crusaders. We're on a quest-"

"A mission!" Scootaloo burst in.

"To find out cutie marks!" Apple Bloom elbowed Scootaloo. "And we think that you would make a great member. Think of all the things we could do! We'll get cutie marks in finding cutie marks!"

"Well..." Amber wavered. It did sound like fun. It would look a bit ridiculous, an adult mare playing with three fillies, but that didn't seem to bother them.

"Please?" They begged and gave a unified adorable puppy-eyes gaze.

Amber tried to look away, she really did. But they were just too irresistable. "Okay!" She blurted. "I guess it couldn't hurt anything."

"Yay!" They bounced excitedly. "To the clubhouse!"


Amber had to hunch her neck to fit inside the tree house. Even then she was a bit nervous as the confined space seemed to press down on her. She tried to ignore the claustrophobia, but was hard-pressed to concentrate on other things.

"I would like to call our official meeting to order." Apple Bloom announced. Amber paid rapt attention to every word she said. "As the leader of the Cutie Mark Crusaders," Sweetie Belle raised her hoof and waved it wildly. Apple Bloom sighed. "Yes, Sweetie Belle?"

"Who made you the leader?" She demanded.

"Well it was my idea, and I decided on the name, so I think I should be the leader." She brushed a bit of dust off her podium. "Now, as I was saying- Yes, Sweetie Belle?"

"I have more ideas for cutie marks that don't involve tree sap." She said. "I think I should be the leader."

Apple Bloom stared for a moment. "Nope. Now, we have a new-"

"That's not fair!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Just because our plans have tree sap doesn't mean they're bad! You just don't want to get your hooves dirty."

"That's not true!" Sweetie Belle leapt to her feet. "I just don't like sap is all! And we're usually covered in sap because we fell out of a tree."

"What's wrong with that?"

"It hurts, you penguin!"

Amber crouched lower and felt all her muscles tense. It was such a small room, and they were so loud!

"Girls!" Apple Bloom banged a gavel on the podium. "Let's not fight about this now."

Reluctantly the two fillies backed away from each other and paid attention.

Apple Bloom nodded with satisfaction. "Good. I'd like to introduce our newest member, Amber Sands. Now, does anypony have any ideas for ways to get our cutie marks?"

A brief moment of silence settled over the room. "Matchmaking?" Sweetie Belle suggested.

"Sounds dangerous, no matter what kind of match you're making." Apple Bloom wrote the suggestion down nonetheless. "Anybody else?"

Amber thought for a moment, then raised her hoof. "I've got one."


"So what are we doing again?" Scootaloo asked.

Amber tied a string around her waist. "It's called pegasus kiting. It's like flying a kite, but a lot more fun."

"Oh." She looked at the ground.

Amber turned around. "What? Are you afraid of heights?"

Scootaloo shuffled her feet. "No, it's not that."

"Then what's the problem?" Amber pulled the bandage off her wing.

"I can't- I can't fly." Scootaloo blurted out.

Amber shrugged. "Can you spread your wings?"

"Well... yeah."

"Then up you go!" Amber handed Scootaloo's string to Sweetie Belle and lifted Scootaloo into the air.

Scootaloo closed her eyes tight, sure that Amber was about to drop her. Amber paid no mind, but climbed higher and higher. "This is the part where you spread your wings." She whispered in the filly's ear.

"Huh?" Scootaloo looked down in surprise to find that the ground far away, but she was entirely safe.

So this was what flying was like. The wind pushed against her feathers, keeping her in the air. The sky was a whole other world, full of surprises and freedom. The freedom was unlike anything she had seen before. The only thing binding her to the ground was the tether around her waist. She tilted her wings and discovered that she could steer this way. She laughed with delight and waved down to her friends holding the rope.

She had known that flying must have been amazing since Rainbow Dash loved it so much, but she had never imagined that it would be like this. Every sense was heightened in this bright, colorful world. The pond below her was just a puddle now. It was hard not to feel that she was on top of the world.

Amber smiled at the scene as she hovered between the filly and the ground. She had never seen one so enamoured with flight. Her sore wing was becoming less painful as she stretched it. She didn't care what the doctors said any more. In her mind, it was healed. A cool gust of wind kept the filly adrift.

Then the wind stopped.

That was the problem with pegasus kiting. The wind was unpredictable. There was no telling when it would stop.

A look of horror crossed Scootaloo's face as she plummeted towards the ground. She flapped her wings desperately, hoping to unlock the secret to flight before she was smashed to pieces.

Amber clamped her wings to her sides and entered a nosedive. "I've got you!" She called, hoping that the filly could hear her. "Just hang on!"

"Aaagghh!" Scootaloo screamed as the ground rushed closer and closer. Then a black and white mass of feathers grabbed her, halting her fall. The earth was approaching slower now, and she was lowered safely to the ground.

"There you go." Amber ruffled Scootaloo's bangs. "Safe and sound."

Scootaloo was on her hooves in an instant."Did I get my cutie mark?" She spun in circles to try and catch a glimpse of her flank. Unfortunately, it hadn't changed.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gaped in shock at Amber. "Could we have a moment?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Sure." Amber shrugged. Scootaloo sat at her side.

"We need you too, Scoots." Apple Bloom tugged her wing gently.

"Alright, I guess." Scootaloo joined her friends in a football huddle.

On her own again, Amber couldn't help feeling dejected. Even children shunned her from their circles. She had a feeling she knew what they were talking about. She pricked her ears forward and listened in on their conversation.

"... don't know about this," said Apple Bloom.

"She seems nice, but I don't know if she's a good addition for our club." Sweetie Belle interjected.

"Are you serious?" Scootaloo exclaimed. "That was amazing! I've never done anything like it. I didn't get my cutie mark, but I was getting close. I could feel it."

"You almost died, Scoots." Apple Bloom reminded her. "You won't ever get your cutie mark if you're dead."

"My sister's told me all about her." Sweetie Belle agreed. "She's different, and dangerous. She spent thousands of years in a war zone. She'll want to do dangerous things." Amber flinched when she heard that Rarity had described her as dangerous.

"She's a good friend and all, but I just don't think that she'd make a good Crusader." Apple Bloom concurred.

"But- But," Scootaloo spluttered. Then she sighed. "I guess you're right. But I'm not going to be the one telling her. I had the time of my life up there. I think you should be the one, Apple Bloom. You're the leader."

Apple Bloom sighed. "Alright then. Crusaders?" She raised her hoof up for a hoof bump that was returned softly by Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo looked away.

Amber pretended that she hadn't heard the conversation. "So what are we going to do now?" She asked, keeping up the pretense of not knowing what was really going on.

"About that," said Apple Bloom. She glanced back at her friends for support, but was only met by Scootaloo avoiding eye contact again. She cleared her throat. "It's not that we don't like you or anything, we just think that we- and you- would have a better chance at crusading without your help. It's nothing personal, it's just that Scootaloo could have gotten hurt back there. We can't afford to let something like that happen again."

Amber nodded. "I see. You guys have fun crusading. Good luck with your cutie marks."

Apple Bloom brightened up at her words. "You too. I'm glad you're not mad at us." She scampered off. "Come on, girls!" She trotted over the next hill, Sweetie Belle at her side. Scootaloo followed for a moment, then raced back and hugged Amber around her legs. "Thanks for everything!" She said, then hurried to join her friends.

Amber smiled as she watched her go, then let the smile fall when she was out of sight. There went another chance at finding a new life.

She turned around to leave, then noticed something strange in the pond. She walked over for a closer look. At first she saw nothing amiss. A few fish flitted back and forth in the shadows. Insects fed on algae and dodged the frogs' lazy attempts to catch them. Then she looked at her reflection and gasped.

A black, curved horn was beginning to show out of the top of her forehead.

She pulled her hood over her head hurriedly. She had dealt with this before. It wasn't a big deal, as long as nopony saw it. But Amber wasn't sure that she could make the potion if Twilight didn't have the ingredients.

She prayed that nopony would find out her secret.


A/N: I know, Apple Bloom was very out of character this chapter. I have a good reason for that, with an explanation that comes later. Much later.

Credit to the idea of Pegasus Kiting goes to deviantart's greviousfan.

Sorry this has been taking so long. I blame Doctor Who. Also my ask tumblr. It's pretty new, so feel free to check it out. It's ask iron-dash tumblr com. Replace the spaces with periods, naturally.