The little girl was frightened, so she knocked on the door of what appeared to be a farm.
When they came to open her, her amber eyes opened to pure amazement: they were horses!
Not even on the Boiling Isles had she ever seen such creatures.
"What's going on, little one? You got lost?" asked the mare, who seemed to have a kind face, even though it was dark and the light behind her cast several shadows on her profile.
"Y-Yeah..." Amity was voiceless in her amazement, so she had the strength to whisper a single word.
"Come in. You will tell us everything." told her the stranger, stepping aside. Amity was fearful, but by now she had found herself catapulted into a place she didn't know, and being out there alone in the middle of the night was a bad idea.
When the little elf entered that beautiful house, her eyes could rest on whoever was hosting her, consisting in two small brightly colored horses.
While she examined the mare's stunning curly hair and the stallion's sweet gaze, warm tears formed in her eyes: her parents had never looked at her with such tenderness, never had they given off that warmth. The two adults noticed her tears; they immediately went beside her and told her that it was all right, that she was safe.
Soon after, Amity was sitting at their table, while Pear Butter, as the mare was called, made her hot tea.
Bright Macintosh, the stallion, sat down near her.
"Ya look a lot lak the humans of the legends. Are ya a human?"
Amity shook her head.
"I'm an elf."
"Oh... ya look alike, ya an the humans."
"Yes."
"So ya made a wish tuh the Moon, an ya soon found yourself here?"
"Yup."
"Um..." Bright Mac was intensely immersed in that strange phenomenon.
Pear Butter, while serving the hot drink to the little girl, shed light on another aspect of the story:
"Why did you want to leave your house?" she asked her.
Amity felt like crying again.
"Because mom and dad don't love me. They never listen to me and they only think about money." she replied her, brutal, and she startled the couple.
In that instant, hoofsteps were heard and the couple's two children stepped forward.
"Oh, guys… Did we wake ya up? Thus little girl got lost an we gave her shelter... By the way, ya haven't told us your name yet!" Bright urged her, with a big smile.
"Amity." she replied, smiling faintly at him.
"Amity... It's a pretty name, it recalls friendship."
The little girl was flattered by the compliment on her name, but she couldn't help but wonder why her parents had given her such a delicate name, as they were far from the idea of disinterested friendship.
Pear Butter and Bright Mac's two children stepped forward: the first, Big Macintosh, was a twelve-year-old red pony, while the second, Applejack, was a nine-year-old orange filly.
Both were fascinated by Amity's uncommon appearance, and were even more surprised to see her use her magic to carry the teacup inside the sink.
"It is as if you wuz a unicorn!" Big Mac exclaimed. He wasn't all wrong.
"If you are gifted with magic, I think you should go to a suitable school. There is a good one in Canterlot, we could try asking there." Pear Butter suggested.
Those words caused a pang of pain and excitement in the child's heart: would she really never return to the Boiling Isles again? Would she really never see her siblings and parents again? Was her desire final?
However, she nodded and asked the family if they could host her for a while. The two adults looked at each other for a few seconds, while the kids huddled around the elf, and Amity felt a squeeze in her heart again: Edric and Emira had never been too close to her, and to feel that those two strangers already loved her paradoxically made her feel bad.
"Of course you can stay here. We don't know if you will be able or want to return to your family, so we propose a pact: in a year, if you are still here, we will formalize your adoption. For now, we'll just be your guardians. What do you say?"
Amity looked all the members of that happy family, and accepted without hesitation.
Thus began her new life in Sweet Apple Acres.
As the months went by, helping the Apples pick apples or making jams, letting Applejack push her high on the swing, attending the School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot, Amity realized more and more that her life of before was absolutely lacking in affection and happiness compared to what she was leading now.
In her child's heart, she made the decision not to return to the Boiling Isles again.
In the evening, when she laid her cheek on the pillow, she could think of Odalia's caresses or Alador's sweet goodnight words, but they were soon replaced by their rigid pattern of behavior, their harsh reproaches, and the unpleasant people they wanted to impose on her.
She didn't miss Edric and Emira, they never gave her anything, they were more strangers than Big Mac and Applejack.
So, little by little, a year passed and Amity was legally adopted into the Apple family.
There was a big party and Granny Smith, her paternal grandmother, made her a delicious tart of Zap Apples, the rainbow apples pride of Ponyville.
Those were unforgettable moments.