//------------------------------//
// Chapter 65: Journey for Friendship 
// Story: Children of Harmony 
// by Pinkie Pie Sweets 
//------------------------------//

Ever since midnight, Ace and the others have been walking on foot so they can find Naga's hideout and rescue Sakura. They decide to leave there and fast, but because the train station is closed and the trains are gone, they go on hoof. The next day after having some breakfast from their supplies, the gang continues on their journey to find the castle and their friend.

Ruby sighs in exhaustion, "This has to be the longest time I had to walk."

"I know Ruby, I never easy trying to roughin' it, and I done it all the time," Baked Apple replies.

Ace continues flying, says, "Hey, the long time we spend talking is the longer Sakura is stuck with that freak."

"Don't you think we know that," Baked Apple sternly replies.

"Indeed," Ruby agrees.

"Now now, this isn't the time to ague. Sakura needs us and arguing isn't going to help us find her," Eden calmly says.

"You're right. We need to find her," Ace says.

"Yeah. And hopefully she doesn't get married till then," Raspberry speaks up.

Ruby shutters at the thought of the idea, "Let's just hope it doesn't have to come to that."

"I agree. There's no way Sakura is going to be hitched by that rotten serpent," Baked Apple says.

Then Ace says looking determine, "Not if we have anything to say about it."

Ace and the others continue to walk down the trail. They are walking through a thick forest and has a lot of animals and 
plants around, but they have to be careful. There could be dangerous plants and animals lurking around. They also have to watch out for the ponies who are still under Naga's control.

Ace turns head head around and asks, "So what the map says."

Eden looks at the map, "Well, I we are going in the right direction, but we're not close to Foal Mountain. Naga's castle could be anywhere around the base of the castle."

"Yeah. Night Glider doesn't remember where exactly the castle is at the mountain," Baked Apple replies.

Eden begins to get scared that her teeth begin to chatter, "I-I-I hope we w-w-won't ran into anything d-d-d-dangerous."

"So do I. This place is almost as scary as the Everfree Forest," Ruby agrees with a scared look on her face.

"Ha! If anything try to attack us, they are going to get good bucks in the face, and kicks in the jaw, and punch in the stomach, and…"

"And shot them out of my mom's party cannon," Raspberry says, bringing out the cannon from out of nowhere.

Ace and the others are looking at Raspberry with confused looks on their faces.

Ace is the first to question, "Uh Raspberry, why in Equestria did you bring one of your mom party cannon on a rescue mission to save Sakura."

"So we can have a Sakura is Rescued by Her Very Best Friends Part!" Raspberry answers with a large smile on his face.
The four friends roll their eyes in response.

Ruby laughs while covering her mouth with her hoof, "Should have known, you're always want to throw a party."

"Well duh. It will be a great way to celebrate when we rescue Sakura and kick Naga's tail," Ace remarks in confident.

Baked Apple sternly stares at Ace, "First we need to find the castle and get Sakura out of Naga's scaley grasp."

The five friends continues to walk through the forest as they make sure to look at the map every once in a while. They hope they can save Sakura before Naga does something terrible to her, and they are very scared to talk about it.

Back at the castle, Sakura is still being imprisoned in the room. Without the ability to use her magic and her wings, she is grounded. Luckily, Starlight, Sugar Belle, and a earth pony mare name Soft Feather are in her room to keep her company, under Naga's orders of course. They are playing a board game called Dragon Pits and talking as they play. This is one game Starlight is familiar with.

"So Starlight, you and Sunburst used to play this game?" Sugar Belle asks.

"I did. Sunburst and I used to play this game for hours. It was so much fun," Starlight answers with a smile.

Earlier, Sakura is able to help Starlight about learning how to make friends, Sugar Belle and Soft Feather have been 
skeptic after what Starlight has done, but listening Starlight's story help them understand her. Playing games and talking seem to have worked a lot better.

Sugar Belle asks, "So Starlight, is there anything you like to do for your spare time. Other than studying magic?"

"Well, before I started making the village I used to make and fly kites. I like flying kites," Starlight answers feeling a bit embarrassed.

Soft Feather smiles, and says, "I love to make and fly kites too. That's what I got my cutie mark for."

"And your cutie mark has cute feathers on the kite," Sakura compliments.

Soft Feather laughs with a smile, "Thanks."

Then Sugar Belle turns to Sakura, "Hey Sakura, I've been curious about something ever since we met."

"What's that?" Sakura questions.

Sugar Belle starts to feel uneasy. She scratches the back of her head with her hoof and her cheeks are starting to turn red.

She then nervously asks, "Well, um, I'm curious about your… your appearance?"

"My appearance?" Sakura questions.

Realizing what Sugar Belle means, Sakura laughs, "Oh you mean my… unique appearance."

Sugar Belle nods her head in reply, and answers, "Yes."

"Yeah. I've been curious about it too. I know you have alicorn wings, horn, ears, and a long extended hair, but what about 
the rest of you," Soft Feather replies.

"Yeah. I know it's kind of hard to understand, but the simple answer I can give you is that I got the genes from my parents. My mother is a unicorn pony while my father is a human being who lived in another world," Sakura explains.

Then Starlight cuts in, "I remember interviewing your mother abou that. I am surprised to hear that she has been trapped in another world for twenty years. What's more surprising is to hear that she has fallen in love with a human at a young age, married, and have you and your brothers and sister."

"Yes. Sadly, my father died in an incident and is unable to see Equestria for himself. I sometimes wonder what my dad will think of Equestria and about me and my siblings new appearance,"Sakura says.

"I think he'll think it's cute," Soft Feather says with a smile.

"He might feel uneasy about it. Then again, he married a pony in a human form," Sakura says.

The four girls start laughing with smile on their faces.

Then Sugar Belle turns to Starlight and asks, "So Starlight, did you have anypony special in mind?"

"What do you mean like that?" Starlight asks looking confused.

Soft Feather giggles, "She's asking if you ever had a special pony you had a special relationship with.

Starlight face turns red and starts to panic, "Well, um, I mean I did have a friend name Sunburst, but I haven't seen him in 
years. And well, I never had anypony else who I have a certain feeling about in a long time."

"So you have a crush on Sunburst huh?" Sakura asks with a smirk on her face.

Starlight levitates a pillow and smashes it in her face, leaving out a groan in reply. Sakura and the others start to giggle to see the unicorn is so embarrassed that she is pressing her face against the pillow.

Sakura learns to Starlight, and asks, "So do you?"

Starlight removes the pillow off of her face, and firmly answers, "Yes. I had on a crush on Sunburst, happy."

"There's nothing wrong with liking someone," Sakura replies.

"I know, but it's a bit embarrassing, especially since I haven't seen him in years," Starlight says.

"That's okay," Sakura replies.

Then Starlight asks, "What about you, do you have anypony you thought was special?"

"Well, I do have many friends and I was kind of a popular student, but not enough to have many people asking me out. 
Then again, my old friends think the boys are scared to ask me out," Sakura explains.

She then begins to blush, "However, I did met a certain someone in Equestria, and I did develop a crush on him."

"Really?" The three mares asks looking surprised.

Then Soft Feather asks, "So who is the special pony?"

"Well, he's not a pony to be exact. He's actually a centaur and a prince. His name is Allan. He a bit distant, and a bit cold, but I can since him having a good side to him," Sakura explains.

"A centaur prince, huh? Sounds interesting. I never seen a centaur before," Starlight replies.

"Me either," Sugar Belle replies.

"He does sound a bit cold, but he does sound kind of nice," Soft Feather replies.

Yeah. I don't see him too much, but he does come to Canterlot Castle to visit once in a while," Sakura says.

"I guess with him being a prince, he must have royal responsibilities of his own," Starlight suspects.

"Yeah," Sakura sighs.

Sakura sighs, and aadly says, "I wish there's way we can get out of this place. I bet my friends would love you guys."

"As much as I want to get out too, but Naga pretty much have all of us under his control," Starlight sadly replies.

"Yeah. He pretty much rule over us," Sugar Bell replies.

"Well, if we can't get out of our own, I'm sure Princess Celestia, my friends, and the others can help us on this. I just hope they are able to find us," Sakura says.

The girls sadly say, "Yeah."

The girls feel sad that everypony including themselves are trapped within the castle walls. They are unable to use their 
magic and wings to escape from this prison. There is no way to get away as long as Naga is in control.

What the girls don't know, is that the girls are secretly being monitored from a magical orb. Watching the orb that has the vision of Sakura and the girls actions is Naga. He has been hearing the girls conversation.

Naga chuckles, "Ssssoon my dear, you and your magic will become mine. And Equestria will have a new ruler."

Naga maniacally laughs that soon his plan will be put in motion. It also means that his plan for Sakura will come soon.

Hours after getting out of the forest, Ace and the others are walking down the trail. They have been walking for a very long time and are getting tired.

"I'm tired, can we take a break?" Ruby whines.

Ace and Baked Apple sigh to see Ruby complaining for a rest. Then again, they can see that Eden and Raspberry are 
looking pretty tired too.

Ace says in defeat, "Alright, we can take a little break here."

The others sit down feeling exhausted.

Then Baked Apple says, "We've been walking four a very long time so we should stop here for dinner and camp here for the night."

"Sounds good," Raspberry agrees, slowly lifting his hoof up.

"According to the map, we're almost to foal mountain so it is a good sign. Sadly, we have no clue where Naga castle is at 
the area," Eden says, looking at the map.

"I'm sure we'll find a way to find the castle," Ruby says.

"Sure hope so. My wings are starting to get very tired… and starting to get cramps," Ace says, rubbing his wings with his hooves.

Ruby lifts her hoof to see it sore, and says, "And my hooves are very sore. I feel that I can't walk for weeks."

"Oh, if only we know where the snake's lair is. Then we rescue Sakura sooner, and get on celebrating with balloons, cupcakes, ice cream, sandwiches, juice, and other kinds of food," Raspberry says feeling tired.

Ace holds his stomach, "Can you please stop talking about food? You're making me hungry."

"I'm a little famished myself," Ruby replies.

"I could use something to eat," Eden says with her cheeks blushing.

Baked Apple chuckles, "Alright guys, instead of trying to think about food, how about we start making some food. Then we 
can start setting up camp for the nigh…"

Baked Apple yelps 'iiiiiiiiiiiiigggggggghhhhhh!' as he trips on a rock and falls down a hill.

The others gasps in shock.

Eden screams, "Baked Apple!"

Eden begin to chase after her fallen cousin. Ace and the others follow Eden as Baked Apple continues to roll down the hill. 
Baked Apple continues to roll down the hill as he screams and his world continues to spin like a top. The falling earth pony ends up going through the bush, and Eden and the others follow him. Finally Baked Apple stops by falling on top of his stomach and his eyes are spinning like he has been on a spinning pottery table.

Eden holds Baked Apple and asks in concern, "Baked Apple, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'll get up after the forest stops spinnin'," Baked Apple answers, feeling very dizzy.

"We're so glad you're okay, but you should really watch your step. You could have hurt yourself," Ruby replies, patting Baked Apple on the head.

Raspberry happily says, "Yeah. You look like your riding down the hill in a barrel. I';; bet it will be really fun."

Baked Apple groans, "Urgh! Yeah, but I feel a bit sick right about now."

"Um guys…" Raspberry says looking a bit surprised.

Ace asks, "What is it Raspberry?"

Raspberry points his hoof out in front, and says, "Look."

Ace and the others look up ahead and gasp in shock. They can see the base of Foal Mountain, but that's not what has 
them shocked. They see a large castle. The castle is gray color, and has flags at the top of the tower and at some parts of the castle walls. They see the flags has snakes on it. The gang know this can only mean one thing… this must be Naga's castle.

"Well, it looks like we found Naga's castle," Raspberry calmly speaks up.

"Yeah. I guess we did," Ace replies.