adventure The Festival of Friendship: Chapter 2

[DivineMist1000 71,102]

Chapter 2: Harmony's Call

Late into the night, Sunny decided to go for an evening stroll through the forest and she thought to herself about what to do about her plan to have a Festival of Friendship.

After hearing her friends argue about the location of the festival, Sunny was completely stumped on where to have it now, or if she should do it at all now.

"Can't do it here, can't do it at Zephyr Heights, can't do it at Bridlewood. I need... someplace that everypony can come together as equals, but where would that be?"

Sunny looked at her map of Equestria and looked around at the different landmarks that she had circled or crossed out.

"All of these places are either on one race's territory or the landmark isn't there at all anymore. Is there no place I can do this?"

As a sense of hopelessness overcame Sunny, she groaned out loud and ripped up her map in a fit of anger.

"Argh!! Why does this have to be so hard? No, it SHOULDN'T be this hard! I just... urgh, I just want everypony to see the magic and wonder that friendship really has. If me and my friends can do it, why can't everypony else?"

Sunny let out a loud sigh and looked towards the moon and stars above.

"This is something that it always there for everypony to see. A light... a light of hope. And could use some of that hope right now."

Just then, Sunny suddenly heard the sound of somepony yelling for help and Sunny looked around for where the voice was coming from. Sunny ran in the direction of the yells and she eventually came to a clearing with a big lake in the middle. 

Across the lake, Sunny saw a white unicorn pinned underneath of a wagon and she quickly went over to the pony.

"Hey, are you alright?" Sunny asked.

"Oh thank goodness you heard me! I-I got trapped under this cart and my magic isn't strong enough to move it."

"Hold on. I got you!"

Sunny pushed the cart away from the pony with her head and she eventually got the unicorn unstuck. The unicorn quickly got up and brushed herself off before turned to Sunny.

"Phew. Thank you so much for helping me! I owe you!"

"Oh, you don't owe me anything. Just helping ponies in need is my reward!"

"Ahh, a good samaritan in Equestria... There are sadly not too many of ponies like you. In any case, I thank you for the assist. What's your name, miss?

"It's Sunny. Sunny Starscout! Who might you be?"

"Dawnlight Dazzle is the name! I'm kind of a performer as you can see by the cart!"

Dawnlight stood next to her cart and Sunny saw the spitting image of Dawnlight with a picture of fireworks behind her on the cart.

"Wow! That's pretty awesome! So you do fireworks?" Sunny asked.

"That's right, it's my specialty. It's my duty to razzle and dazzle you and everypony you know... Hehe, you get the pun right? Dazzle? My name?"

"Yeah I got it. Hilarious. So uhh, weird question, but do you know any good places to have a party that's like... neutral? I'm trying to put this... festival together and I'm needing help with the location.”

Dawnlight scratched her head at Sunny's question and got out a map to help her look.

"Neutral? As in a place not associated with a single race of ponies? That is a tricky one..."

Sunny looked at the map with Dawnlight and Dawnlight pointed towards a tree in the center of an intersection of the road.

"Have you tried there? It's dead center in the middle of the map and it's not far from here. And I also know that nopony has claimed it as their territory. I get around a lot so I know a thing or two..."

"Hmm, interesting. But is it really just a tree? Well, it's better than nothing I suppose."

Dawnlight rolled up the map and put it back in her cart, but she had an idea come into her mind as she thought about Sunny.

"Say, if you're having a festival, I bet you could use some entertainment. I'd be happy to oblige with that!"

"Yeah, that's sound great Dawnlight! But I gotta go and take a look at that location first, so how about you wait for me in Maretime Bay and I'll get back to you?"

"Sounds good. I will see you later then, my good pony."

Sunny waved goodbye to Dawnlight and Dawnlight got her wagon ready to depart as Sunny walked away and went back towards the road.
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After another hour of walking, Sunny finally came to a crossroads and saw a sign nearby showing the paths leading to Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood.

"This is the place, but where is this tree?"

As Sunny looked around for the tree, she suddenly felt something bright shining in her eyes and looked off in the distance to see something glowing.

"Huh? What is that?"

Sunny went towards the light and it became brighter as she walked through the trees. As she got closer, Sunny saw a couple of rocks covered in moss along the way and knelt down next to one of them.

She removed the moss on the rock and saw a faded carving of a white cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt. Sunny looked at the carving in confusion, but still felt that this image looked familiar.

"Where have I... seen this?"

Just then, Sunny looked up from the stone and saw the same bright light ahead. Sunny got back up and walked towards the light until she saw the light dissolve and all that remained was the trunk of a tree.

Sunny looked at this huge tree and saw that all of the branches had different colors of leaves, several symbols were emblazoned on the tree and all sorts of different mementos and possessions gathered around the base of the tree.

"What is this? What are all of these things?"

A cool breeze began to blow around Sunny and the tree, but Sunny went towards the tree and saw a couple of hoofprints carved into the bark. Sunny turned her head in confusion and slowly placed her hoof over one of the hoofprints.

Suddenly, a burst of orange light exploded from the tree and Sunny quickly stepped back as she watched the orange light surge throughout the tree. The orange light then shot up into the sky and covered the tree like a bubble and was suddenly filled with orange flares swimming in the air.

As Sunny wondered what was happening, she suddenly saw a flash of light and the shapes of two ponies emerged from the light. Sunny looked at these two ponies and she tried to get their attention, but her hoof went right through them.

The two ponies then began to speak as they looked at the tree.

"Isn't it beautiful sister? This tree holds the key to true harmony..."

"Indeed. It is quite beautiful, my dear sister... and I am glad I could see this with you. Thank you Celestia..."

The two ponies then embraced and Sunny smiled as she saw this too. Just then, the two ponies vanished and Sunny was left confused about where they went and who they were.

"Celestia? As in... Princess Celestia? And that was her sister Luna too... What is this telling me?"

A moment later, another flash of light appeared and three more ponies came out of the light. These three were fillies and they all stood around the tree as they held hooves with each other.

"As long as we have each other, there's nothing we can't do! Nopony is gonna get to us and the three of us together will get our cutie marks too!"

The three fillies then brought their hooves together and uttered the name "Cutie Mark Crusaders" out loud. Sunny watched the three ponies hug each other before they vanished into the light.

"Who were they? I didn't recognize any of them... Hmm, this tree is something else isn't it?"

Sunny walked around the tree and remembered the words that Celestia said earlier.

"The key to true harmony? Harmony... and this tree. These are... memories I'm seeing, memories of harmony."

Once more, there was another blast of orange light and this time there were six ponies sitting next to the tree. Sunny saw these ponies and gasped as she immediately recognized them.

"I-It's them! The six legendary heroes of Equestria: Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity!"

All six ponies sung a song together and once they had finished, Twilight got up and glided over the tree. The other five ponies and Sunny looked at Twilight and she smiled happily at seeing Twilight.

"My friends, my family... my life. After ten years with the six of us together, I have never been happier to say that I thank you guys for always having my back and seeing each other through the hardest of times."

The five ponies nodded their heads to Twilight's words but Twilight continued talking after that.

"And here we all are now... the tree where all harmony sprouts and grows from. Even as the generations go by, this tree and every friendship will the one thing that remains eternal, because true harmony and true friendship comes from here."

Twilight pointed at her heart and Sunny felt a couple of tears coming from her eyes. As Sunny looked towards Twilight, she saw Twilight turn her head and look directly at Sunny as she smiled.

Sunny gasped when she saw this, but Twilight soon turned back to her friends and returned to the ground so that they could all hug each other happily.

"You guys will always be... my friends and you will always be in my heart!"

The six of them then vanished and the tree finally stopped glowing orange and all went quiet after that. Sunny processed all that had happened and looked at the tree with a renewed hope in her heart.

"Harmony... all we need is harmony. This place... this tree is where we'll have the festival! I gotta go and tell the others now!"

Sunny walked away from the tree, but the moonlight shined on the tree as she left and in the light was the faint shape of a pony that watched Sunny as she walked away.

Harmony is all you need...

A/N: This G5 story is coming along great! Hope everyone enjoys it!

Edited October 14, 2021 by DivineCurse1000

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

Oh wow, was that scene of all the heroes from G4 returning from the Tree of Harmony good! How I wish something like that had happened in the G5 movie! 

[DivineMist1000 71,102]

20 minutes ago, CloudMistDragon said:

Oh wow, was that scene of all the heroes from G4 returning from the Tree of Harmony good! How I wish something like that had happened in the G5 movie! 

I thought it was a good way to bridge G4 and G5! And it's the perfect place to have a Festival of Friendship don't you think?

Also, what do you of the Dawnlight Dazzle character?

Edited October 12, 2021 by DivineCurse1000

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

1 hour ago, DivineCurse1000 said:

I thought it was a good way to bridge G4 and G5! And it's the perfect place to have a Festival of Friendship don't you think?

Also, what do you of the Dawnlight Dazzle character?

She's okay, but the bridge between G4 and G5 captivated my attention a lot more. That really is the perfect place!