My Little Pony Friendship is Magic The Movie: What If?

by SuperPinkBrony12

Part 1: The Festival of Friendship

The town of Ponyville, the self proclaimed "Friendship Capital" of the kingdom of Equestria, was facing the biggest celebration it had ever known in the entire history of its existence. Princess Twilight Sparkle, herself a resident of Ponyville, had chosen Ponyville to have the honor of hosting the first ever Festival of Friendship. It was an event that had been heavily touted and heavily promoted since its announcement, and the word spread quickly. Ponies from all trots of life were now flocking to the small town, taking in the sights and sounds of the place Princess Twilight and her friends called home. Heck, some non-pony creatures had opted to visit, creating quite a stir and a buzz of attention when they arrived.

However, since Ponyville had not been the original intended location for the festival, there were still some last minute preparations that needed to get done. Mostly, it involved decorating a large stage in the center of town. And so it was that two of Ponyville's most famous residents (besides Princess Twilight herself, of course) were currently heading towards said stage with decorations in tow. They were none other than Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, and Pinkie was currently humming a cheerful little melody to herself which went something like this.

Pinkie only ceased in her humming to call back to her pegasus friend. "Come on, Fluttershy! We're almost there! We promised Twilight we'd have the whole stage decorated before the festival official begins. In fact, we 'Pinkie Promised'. And you know a 'Pinkie Promise' is never broken, never!"

Fluttershy tried to smile back, even as she was straining under the heavy load of boxes containing the decorations. "I remember, Pinkie," She replied as the stage itself came into view. "Sorry I'm not as fast as you."

Pinkie's smile grew brighter. "Aw, that's okay, Fluttershy. It's great that you're helping out like this. That's what friendship is all about. And don't forget, this is a friendship festival." She then resumed her cheerful bouncing, soon reaching the stage where the decorations were needed.

When Fluttershy arrived about a moment or so later, Rainbow Dash came swooping down out of the sky in dramatic fashion. "It's about time you two got here!" She seemed to complain ever so slightly. "Just set the boxes down and leave the rest to me! I'll get the stage decorated in no time!"

But it was at that very moment that Rarity came trotting around, shaking her head and making a tsking motion. "Now Rainbow Dash, you simply must learn to be patient. You can't rush art or perfection. Besides, you already did more than your fair share of decorating, as did I."

"If you're still lookin' for a place to help, why don't ya help me with the refreshments?" Applejack asked as she approached from the other end of the stage. "That was supposed to be Pinkie Pie's job. But my family and I, we have almost everythin' covered. 'Course, we could always some extra hooves for an occasion like this."

Pinkie Pie set one of the boxes of decorations down near the stage, then turned to Applejack as she said with a grin. "It's okay, Applejack. I don't mind helping you out. We are family, after all."

Applejack gave a hearty chuckle. "Yeah, and so are the rest of our friends."

Fluttershy, meanwhile, commented with concern as she set the remaining boxes of decorations carefully down. "I'm more worried about Twilight right now. When she was planning for this festival, she wanted it to be held in Canterlot."

Rarity waved a hoof. "We all agreed it made more sense to host something like this in the place where our friendship is the strongest. Canterlot has plenty of fine festivals to its name already. A special occasion such as this warrants a special location like Ponyville."

And Rainbow Dash remarked. "Twilight tends to get all worked up before things like these, but she always finds a way to calm down. It's why she's the princess of friendship. She hasn't met a problem yet she couldn't solve, either on her own or with us," She let out a faint chuckle. "I can't imagine what our lives would be like if we'd never met her. And now look at her, planning a festival of friendship all on her own."

Rarity nodded. "Yes, it's truly wonderful what Twilight is capable of. She's come such a long way. And to think, when we first met her she was just a unicorn," She put a hoof to her chin, pondering. "Has it been so long already? It still seems like only yesterday we were meeting her for the first time."

Pinkie Pie's smile grew bigger and brighter by the minute. "Well, that's why this friendship festival is going to be the bestest thing ever! It's falling on the anniversary of when we first met Twilight and became friends! And she doesn't even realize it!" She put her hooves together, and a shower of confetti burst out from between them! "We need to find a way to make sure she realizes just how much we appreciate her friendship!"

The fashionista unicorn declared. "Well, I think a good start would be to finish decorating the stage and making sure the rest of the festival preparations are complete. Knowing Twilight, she'll want the Festival of Friendship to go off without a hitch."

And with that, the five friends set to work on moving the various colored banners, ribbons, and streamers from the boxes to the large, circular stage.

---

As her friends were all currently chatting amongst themselves and finishing up the festival preparations, Twilight Sparkle was currently standing in the main hallway of her crystal castle. The young alicorn princess was taking some deep breaths to try to steady herself, least she start to lose her cool under the pressure. "I can do this," She said, giving herself a pep talk. "Everything's going to be fine."

"Twilight?" A familiar voice called out from the distance, soon revealing itself to be none other than Spike, her baby dragon, faithful companion, and adopted son. "Is something wrong?"

Twilight spun around, locking eyes with Spike. In a calm, cool, collected tone of voice, she told him. "No, nothing's wrong, Spike," She then gave off a faintly nervous laugh. "I mean, why would anything be wrong? I'm not worried. There's no need to be nervous. Things are going just fine."

Spike was anything but convinced. He knew Twilight better than most, and that meant he could easily see when she was trying to hide how she really felt. "Twilight, it's okay if you're a little stressed," He tried to reassure her. "I know this wasn't your original plan for the festival. You wanted to hold it in Canterlot. But we all agreed to move it here to Ponyville."

Twilight shook her head from side to side. "That's not the problem, Spike. Really," She sighed and swallowed hard. "I've arranged for an audience with the other princesses, and it's supposed to take place very soon."

The little dragon blinked his eyes and gave a sort of sideways glance. "Why would you do that, Twilight? This isn't a formal event. The fate of Equestria isn't at stake."

The young alicorn nodded back. "I know that, Spike. That's not why I asked them to meet me here," She paused, taking a deep breath. "I've just had a really good idea about how to make the festival even better. And it involves needing to use some of the princesses' magic."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Spike inquired. "As I recall, you could barely control all that magic the last time you had."

"I'm not going to use all their magic, just a little bit of it," Twilight explained. "The Festival of Friendship could really use something to make it look as grand as it should be. I'm convinced my idea is just what's needed. But I can't do it unless the other princesses agree."

The little dragon just replied. "This is because of that incident from a while back, isn't it? The one where you unintentionally unleashed a literal pony of shadows on the land."

Twilight frowned, looking at the ground in deep shame. "I shouldn't have made such an obvious mistake, Spike! I'm the princess of friendship! I'm supposed to be better than that! I'm supposed to be protecting Equestria, not putting it in danger! Which is why it's all the more important to me that the Festival of Friendship is a complete success! Nothing can wrong! Everything has to be just right!" She started pawing at her mane with her hooves. "Oh, here I am getting all worked up, and the meeting hasn't even started yet!"

Spike could only shrug his claws. "Just relax, Twilight. So what if the festival isn't perfect? As long as everypony and non-pony has a good time, that should be all that matters. And one festival shouldn't reflect on your skills as a princess anymore than one honest mistake should. Even the other princesses have made mistakes. You know that just as well as I do."

The princess of friendship gave a slow nod. "I guess you have a point, Spike. Still, it would be silly of me to send the princesses away after I went through all the trouble of asking them to meet me here," Just then, she heard a knock at her castle doors. Plucking up courage, she trotted over with a smile. "That must be them now." She said to Spike, then lit up her horn and thrust the doors open!

In trotted Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence, all of them unaccompanied by anypony else. And not one of them suspected the reason for their abrupt summons.

"You wanted to see us, Twilight?" Princess Celestia asked in that warm, gentle tone of voice she was famous for.

"...Yes, your majesties," Twilight bowed to the other princesses. "Er... forgive me for asking you to meet me on such short notice."

Princess Luna waved a hoof. "Twilight, you don't have to be so formal with us. We know each other so well by now."

And Princess Cadence chimed in. "This is about your festival, isn't it?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes. In particular, there's something I'm hoping to ask of you. All of you."

Princess Luna arched an eyebrow upward. "Whatever would that be, Twilight? Shouldn't you be getting ready to greet Songbird Serenade. She is the headlining act for the festival's concert, isn't she?"

Princess Celestia then chuckled. "Honestly, I think most ponies might be here for her more than they are for anything else. Hardly anypony seemed to notice my sister and I, let alone the select few other creatures that are in attendance."

Plucking up courage anew, Twilight lit up her horn. "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. What I want to do is creating a little... display of sorts when Songbird Sereneade takes the stage," She soon produced a diagram, presenting it to the princesses. "If I could borrow just some of your magic: I believe that I can move the sun and the moon into just the right positions to create a brilliant contrast of light and shadow. And that contrast will be just the sort of thing to make some reflective crystals shine bright. They'll create a dazzling display that will leave everypony and every non-pony speechless," Putting the diagram away, she concluded by saying. "I promise, I'll return the magic I've borrowed as soon as the concert is over. You won't even know it's gone."

---

But the other princesses did not seem persuaded by either Twilight's speech or her diagram that detailed what she was hoping to do. Princess Cadence was the first to voice her disapproval. "I really don't see why that's necessary, Twilight. The stage already seems decorated quite nicely if you ask me. Moving the sun and the moon just for a few crystals seems like overkill to me. In fact, it might end up being more of a distraction."

Princess Luna nodded in agreement. "I must side with Cadence on this one, Twilight. I too fail to see why you believe such a display is really needed. From what I can tell, you and your friends have done an excellent job as it already is when it comes to decorating. I've never seen Ponyville so vibrant and full of life like this."

Princess Celestia was surprisingly silent for several minutes, or so it seemed. She appeared to be deep in contemplation, almost as if she were torn about what to say.

Twilight didn't bother to wait for the sun princess to speak. She hung her head in shame. "It was a pretty silly idea, wasn't it? And after all the times I've messed up when taking matters into my own hooves, it's no wonder you don't trust me with any of your magic."

"Twilight, that's not what we said." Cadence insisted in a sympathetic tone of voice.

Princess Celestia nodded and spoke up. "You're already a great princess as it is, Twilight. Not just anypony could've thought of the idea of a Festival of Friendship, let alone gotten it planned and organized on such short notice. There's no need to do even more. Besides, Songbird Serenade isn't scheduled to perform until sunset anyways, correct?"

Twilight looked up very slowly. "... Yes, she is. And I'd completely forgotten until now," A deep sigh escaped her lips. "Forgive me, all of you. I haven't been feeling like myself lately. Having to move the festival from Canterlot to Ponyville so suddenly has really thrown me off my game."

Celestia trotted over, lifting Twilight's chin with a hoof. "Well, you've done an excellent job adapting to such a change, Twilight. I have every confidence in your abilities. This festival will be a big success, regardless of what you do. So stop worrying and enjoy yourself. After all, Equestria has been at peace for quite a while now, hasn't it?"

Twilight nodded to her fellow alicorn. "I suppose it has."

The sun princess flashed a warm, cheerful smile. "Then there's nothing you need to worry about, Twilight."

Luna then spoke up, clearing her throat. "Well, if that's all you wanted to see for us, Twilight, then we shall depart."

Spike (who had been silent up to this point), saw fit to ask. "Are you sure it's really a good idea for you to all be here by yourselves?"

"Relax, we've got the royal guard running security detail," Cadence pointed out. "If anything does happen, which it won't, we'll be ready for it. We're not letting down our guard. Even Shining Armor believes there's nothing to be worried or concerned about. So if he says there's nothing that poses a danger to us, I'm going to trust his judgement. After all, he's not just my husband, he's captain of the royal guard."

` Celestia trotted back over to the other princesses, all the while saying to Twilight. "If you're really doubting yourself, Twilight, don't forget that you have your friends to support you. I've seen for myself what you can accomplish when you're all together," Her smile grew brighter and wider. "The bond you have is one that can't be broken. As long as you're with your friends, I know you can accomplish anything you set your mind to." And with that, she, Luna, and Cadence all departed from the castle.

---

Once the other alicorns had left, Spike looked to Twilight. "So, what now, Twilight?" He asked her.

Twilight was silent for but a moment, before she smiled. "Princess Celestia is right. I've got my friends to count on. And I know they won't let me down! With their help, we can make this Festival of Friendship an event to remember for all time!"

Spike clapped his claws together in approval. "Alright! Now that's the Twilight I know and love!" He raced to the castle doors. "So what are we waiting for?! Let's get out here and get this show on the road!"

The young alicorn nodded back. "For once, I agree with you, Spike. We'll do this the way we've always tackled any challenge in our lives: Together!" And with a confident stride in her step, she flung the castle doors open and trotted outside. She soon gave a whistle, calling her friends over. "Okay, everypony, listen up! The Festival of Friendship may have begun, but there's a few more things I'd like to see taken care of before Songbird Serenade gets here!"

The five friends all gathered around the alicorn, eager and ready to help however they could. And soon, they began to sing.

Author's Note:

I typically use the author's notes section to explain why I rewrote a particular episode in my rewrite series, or what I felt needed to be done differently. This time, since I'm rewriting the big 2017 movie, I'm going to go part by part to explain my decisions here.

First and foremost, moving the Festival of Friendship from Canterlot to Ponyville is a personal decision. Canterlot being invaded or attacked is something that happened very often throughout the show's run, so it being invaded in the movie was far from a big deal. Ponyville, on the other hand, has very rarely been in danger when there's some big catastrophe threatening Equestria. Hence moving the festival to Ponyville.

Second, not for the last time, I'm trying to rework the script of the movie to accomodate for when in the show's timeline it's supposed to take place. The script obviously was written with a post Season 4 worldview in mind, but when canonized to take place after Season 7 that requires a lot of additions that have to be addressed.

And third and finally for here, not only did I want to take out the lazy ponyfication of "We Got the Beat" that does not start out the film on a good note, but I also wanted to change up the context behind Twilight's audience with the other princesses. I also wanted to do more with Twilight's concerns and self-doubts, so as to try to give more weight to some of her actions later on.

Comments

[Comickook]

Greetings. Thanks very much for getting this started. And, yeah, really appreciated the work going into the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Yeah, I really appreciated all the chats between the characters - particularly Twilight with the other Princesses. And, yes, it DOES make sense to move the Festival to Ponyville instead of Canterlot AND to make it after Season 4 but before the rest of the series.

On to the next chapter.

[BlackMumba]

I gotta say, I was not expecting you to rewrite the movie. And it's no surprise that you make some improvements to the original film. I was wondering when you'd publish your next volume of What If. Now I see that it's been delayed because of this rewrite. I'm gladly waiting for the next volume. I wonder if you'll integrate elements from your movie rewrite into the next What Ifs. Particularly since The Storm King is part of the legion of doom. I also did some calculations on how many volumes you'd have left before you finish the series. You only have 21 more episodes to rewrite. That's two or three more volumes. Your series could be done by 2025. Of course, the release schedule is entirely up to you.

[BlackMumba]

Fun fact, the movie was supposed to open with an epic orchestral song. It's very catchy, it actually relates to the movie, and it even matches perfectly with the camera movements and character actions in the scene.

Here's the scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oMY5YRdhAQ

I imagine they replaced the orchestral song with a pop tune to be more trendy. Ironic, as We got the Beat is not included on the official soundtrack.