It spread like a plague.

A plague of hate.

It started slowly, small arguments turning into vicious fights. The Cutie Mark Crusaders tearing apart their capes and swearing to never be friends again.

And then it kept growing. Pinkie Pie being throw away Sugarcube Corner, no longer welcomed in the family. Stick and stones throw at Zecora who ran off into the Everfree.

It eventually reached Canterlot, where the love their subjects once had for Celestia was turned into a furious lynch mob who attacked the castle doors demanding their Princess to surrender.

Everything turned grey and silent. Even Discord, with all his malice, couldn´t stand the state of Equestria and disappeared with a snap of his fingers.

Days later, when the plague had took over almost all of Equestria, a solitary unicorn concentrated her magic. She was all alone, no assistant, no friends, not even a caring brother. She had nopony to turn to but she kept trying. She kept focusing her magic, making a call, asking for the one pony in all of Equestria, in the whole word, that could still save them.

And then, her call was answered.

She covered her eyes as the magic engulfed the library and once it was done, one pegasus stood there. Her hat, her jacket, her compass Cutie Mark; all undeniable proof that the spell had worked

"All right Ahuizotl, you won´t get away this tim-wait, where in the hay am I?"

"Oh my gosh, it worked! Oh Rainbow Dash is going to be so happy!"

"Who are you?"

"Oh right sorry. My name is Twilight Sparkle. Big fan, mrs. Do," Twilight said, wearing the goofiest grin.

"A fan, uh?"

"Oh of course, I should start explaining this. Now listen well, this may come as a big shock but I invoked you from this book, you are a fictional character."

"...I know."

"You do? Oh that´s...strange I thought that the realization that you are simply a character of a series for children may startle you."

"...don´t tell her folks."

"Who are you talking to?" Twilight asked looking around at empty space.

"Nevermind that Why did you call me here, Sparkly?"

Not very thrilled with her nickname, Twilight summarized the situation of the hate plague.

"I see..." Daring Do said, rubbing her chin. "What I don´t see is why you called me?"

"Well, I need help from somepony who could still feel love and it says right here in the cover you have an unlimited love for adventure."

"...seriously? That´s the reason?"

"Hey, I was desperate! My friends aren´t here, our Elements don´t work, I even asked the Changeling Queen for help but she told me that, aside for prefering to see us all rot that help us, her magic only works in love not hate! I´ve no more ideas!"

"Calmn down Sparkly, I guess you could argue my love for adventure is a sign of my strong will and desire for new challenges." Daring said while moving to the window. "I just thought that since this revolves around emotions you were thinking about a more traditional form of love. ever thought of your coltfriend?"

"I don´t have one..." Twilight confessed blushing.

"Oh sorry. Fillyfriend."

"I don´t have one of those either!" she screamed, blushing even more.

"Hey relax, I´m cool. Have any idea how many times I´ve been paired with Mare-do-Well?" Twilight stuck her tongue in disgust. "But I´m afraid you made a mistake. This isn´t about hate at all..."

"What makes you said that?" Daring Do pointed at Twilight´s flank who screamed upon realizing her Cutie Mark was slowly vanishing. "Wha-wha- when?"

"Basing on what you told me this started in a very small scale. Students failing on their team assignments, co-workers unable to stand each other, no sense of community. This isn´t a plague of hate, it´s a plague of frustration. Think about it, Twilight Sparkle. If one pony is unable to love itself, how could that pony accept the love of others and give it back?"

"You...you are right. When this whole thing started I got so frustrated because I couldn´t find a solution that I shone all my friends away, even Spike. I yelled at him, I told him I never want to see him again. Oh Celestia what have I done?"

"Relax. There´s still time to fix this..." Daring said placing a hoof on her shoulder. " But you need to make the ponies recover the faith on themselves. Make them remember the things they loved to do the most and how that love gives them strength."

It took time but slowly the colour returned to Ponyville. The animals no longer liked Fluttershy but with the support of Twilight she insisted and finally was able to show them she still loved them. Applejack was convinced to return to work at the farm, even if she had to do it all alone. She endured for days and when she was about to give up her siblings showed up to help her.

As joy and friendship returned to the ponies in one dark cave, hidden in the depths of the Everfree Forest, one little dragon cried. His sobs were interrupted when the giant boulder that covered the entrance was suddenly removed by a magic force.

"Spike! Spike there you are!" Twilight said and rushed to hug him.

"Twi-twilight?"

"Ho-how did you find me?"

"I got a little help." she said and Daring and Zecora behind her nodded. "And now that you are back we can fix this whole mess."

Spike however removed himself from her hug. "But you told me you dind´t want to see me ever again!"

"I´m sorry Spike. I was just too frustrated...no, that´s no excuse. I shouldn´t had done that," she said while nuzzling him. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"..."

"Come on."

"All right. I forgive you" And he returned the hug. "And I sorry for burning your favorite copy of the Princess Biography. I was so mad."

"You did what?!" Noticing the other mares looking at her, Twilight let it go. "Nevermind that. The Princess needs our help winning the citizens back. I wrote a speech for her and I need my number one assistant to send it for me."

Spike gleamed and proceeded to transport the letter. Meanwhile Daring Do had somepony to apologize. "Sorry that I kicked you back there. Zebras are usually the bad guys in my books."

Zecora was not amused.

The speech did its work. It wasn´t so much the words as the emotions Princess Celestia conveyed in her words. Hearing their ruler remind them how each one of them, no matter how small, no matter what mark their flanks had, they were all important and she loved them all as a proud mother would. The crowd cheered, chanting the Princesses names.

"You were right, Daring Do. A pony cannot open to others love unless it has a love for itself. Once the ponies accepted themselves, they recovered their genuine desire to live with each other. But one questions remains, where did all of this started?"

"Who knows? When a tree falls in the woods which squirrel threw the first nut?"

"...what?"

"I don´t know. The new writer is really bad at this. Kind of a weirdo. But not as weird as this one." she pointed at her back.

"Daring Dooooooo...I touched her...."

"Can you please take me back to my book, Twilight? This story is already five minutes over the time limit!"

Not entirely sure of what she said, Twilight returned Daring back to her word of adventures. She landed right in the entrance of a temple where Ahuizotl laughed while holding a magical idol, surrounded by his army of cats.

Daring Do smiled and adjusted her hat.

"Boy, I love my job."