The day was like any other day, Fluttershy was feeding her animals, Applejack selling apples, Rarity making some new clothes, Pinkie planning a party – as always – Rainbow was doing something to challenge herself, and Twilight was in the library. The town was quiet and in peace, and in Ponyville Hospital, Yibble visited her newest friend, Trixie; Trixie has been slowly healing over time, but she’s strong enough to go on strolls with the baby slime. On one of these strolls, the two go by town to see the sights and sounds of the morning… but today was going to be different, as the smell of ash and smoke was coming to the town.
Ponyville, Ponyville Square; Yibble and Trixie sat by the statue in a conversation.
“So I was at Manehattan and there was this amazing restaurant, their salad was truly delicious. Maybe when we go there I can show you,” said Trixie.
“Yemmy food?” asked Yibble.
“Ah huh; though I’m not sure what you eat… what kind of food do you eat?”
Before Yibble could answer, some commotion was going on near Twilight’s library after seeing Fluttershy and the Mane 6 enter inside. Yibble found this strange activity interesting, and went to follow but first saying goodbye to Trixie. “Bye-bye Twixeh,” said Yibble, with a little wave of one of her tendrils.
Trixie waved her friend goodbye, as she made her way back to the hospital. “See you later Yibble, we’ll continue our conversation later.”
Yibble made her way to Twilight’s place, and after knocking on the door with her tendril, it took a few seconds before the door war answered by Spike. The small drake opened the door, and welcomed Yibble inside.
“Oh hey Yibble, Fluttershy is here if you’re looking for her,” said Spike, widening the door for her to enter.
Yibble crawled inside and spotted Fluttershy amongst her friends; they were talking about something that involved a mountain and smoke. Not sure what sort of relation those two words have, wasn’t thought up much by Yibble. Deciding to ask than listen, Yibble approached Fluttershy and tapped one of her legs to get her attention.
“Hmmm; oh Yibble, I didn’t see you down there. Is there something you need?” asked Fluttershy, absentmindedly.
“Wha ah you talkin abot?” asked Yibble.
“Well… something is happening up the mountain, and we need to go and fix it… but...”
Now Yibble has been wit Fluttershy for a few weeks so she knew Fluttershy and her interests. Having her be this anxious is a bit odd for the baby slime, as she’s not used to her looking this worried… well not without a good reason. Rainbow was the one to finish what Fluttershy was unable to say, approaching the two mid-air.
“Hey Yibble; we’re going to the mountain to stop a dragon, smoking up the skies. You wanna come with us?”
At that moment, Fluttershy went a full one-eighty from scared of going, to scared of Yibble coming. She grabbed Yibble in a hug – which only ended up getting her front legs covered in slime – and glared at Rainbow for thinking of the idea.
“WE CAN’T BRING YIBBLE! The dragon could hurt her!” shouted Fluttershy, louder than her meek voice.
Fluttershy’s voice was so loud, everypony rubbed their ears from the earful Fluttershy gave to Rainbow. Rainbow shied down and rubbed the back of her head with embarrassment.
“Eh heh heh hehhhh...”
Twilight approached Fluttershy with a calming tone, as she put her hoof on her shoulder to calm her nerves. “Don’t worry Fluttershy, Yibble can stay here with Spike until we come back. It won’t take long for us to deal with this problem.”
Fluttershy looked down at Yibble, who looked up at her with a toothless smile. She sighed and rubbed the top of her head as she purred quietly.
“Okay… Now Yibble, you’ll stay here with Spike until we come back from some… ‘business’. Don’t cause too much trouble for him, alright.”
“Okey-Pokah!”
Everypony left Twilight’s place to get ready, leaving only Twilight and Spike inside the library. “I’ll see you in the afternoon Yibble.”
Fluttershy waved goodbye to Yibble as she went back to her cottage. After that, Yibble gazed at the various books, and Spike putting those books away. Coming down the steps was Twilight with some saddlebags, but before she left she went to the kitchen to get an earlier snack.
“Remember Spike, organize the books by alphabet order, and check if we received any new order of books,” said Twilight, speaking from the kitchen.
“I remember Twilight; don’t worry, I’ll handle everything here while you’re busy!”
While Spike wasn’t looking, Yibble glanced at the saddlebags, one of the flaps opened to reveal some items inside said bag, but enough space for her… then an idea came to her. Through the genius of the mind of Yibble, she sneakily made her way inside the saddlebag and closed the flap. When Twilight came back from the kitchen, she didn’t notice Yibble wasn’t in the room, as she levitated up her saddlebags and placed them on.
“Okay Spike, I’m heading off; remember to watch over Yibble.”
Twilight left the library, and as Spike turned around to say goodbye, he looked around the room to notice something. “Bye Twilight; now then, Yibble do you want any… thing? ...Uhhh, Yibble… Yibble? Where did she go?”
At the foot of the mountain, the group began to climb the mountain, as Yibble hid in Twilight’s bag unnoticed.
The Mane 6 were mid-way up the mountain, seeing the smoke coming from the summit of the mountain, meaning they were closer to the dragon. Each of the mares had mixed reactions to this endeavor – Pinkie was excited to see an adult dragon, Rainbow was ready for some action, Applejack wanted to stop this dragon from blocking the sun so her crops would grow properly, Rarity was doing what she believed to be right, Twilight followed Celestia’s orders and curious of meeting an adult dragon, and Fluttershy was afraid.
Fluttershy kept having the shakes, the closer they neared the dragon’s nest, and she wasn’t the only one worried. Rarity approached Fluttershy, and placed a hoof on hr shoulder, feeling her nerves going overboard. “Darling, you need to calm down. We’ll talk to this dragon sir, and explain why he needs to move, and after that we’ll go back and you can play with Yibble in your cottage.”
Fluttershy sighed, taking in a deep breath and continuing the climb; after going up, they reached the summit. A cave that a stream of smoke coming out was the source of their problems – the dragon’s nest – and with that, each of the girls removed their saddlebags off and were preparing for their plan of action.
“Okay, is everypony ready?” asked Twilight.
Everypony showed they were ready and each done a different action. Before Twilight could continue her plan, something started wriggling in her saddlebag; everypony neared her bag and popping out was Yibble.
“Hoi!” said Yibble, waving one tendril.
“YIBBLE?!” shouted everypony.
Fluttershy moved up to Yibble and picked her up, before she slid off her hooves. “Yibble what are you doing here?! I thought you were staying with Spike?!”
Yibble gave a side glance away from Fluttershy and the others, and looked back with a pleading look. “Yibble woted to elp; Yibble cen hep weh wha yu doine too.”
Fluttershy was upset Yibble didn’t listen to Twilight, but sighed, rubbing the top of her head. “Ohhhh Yibble, you weren’t coming because you couldn’t help, but because we… I was worried you get hurt.” Fluttershy nuzzled Yibble, which caused her to giggle back.
Rainbow trotted up to the two to speak. “Oh come on Shy, Yibble is practically indestructible; what can a dragon do to her?”
“Rainbow, let’s not forget that Yibble is just a baby, and weren’t sure if she’s resistant to fire,” said Twilight.
“Well… she can still do something… right?”
Everypony thought of this, but the decision was made to let Yibble watch from the side, while Fluttershy stayed by her side. The girls then grouped together and went inside, Fluttershy who stayed with Yibble, spoke with her.
“Yibble… Why did you want to help us so badly? I know you really want to help, but you’re a baby… There things out there that you need to be careful of,” said Fluttershy.
Yibble at first did not speak, but instead she placed one of her tendrils to Fluttershy’s had, and started to speak to her telepathically. While Yibble can speak, she still has issues speaking, and often uses her telepathic ability to speak for longer durations.
I wanted to be helpful to you and the others… All I’ve done for the past weeks was assist with feeding the animals, and the occasional visit to Trixie. Its been difficult for my size, and more difficult that I know nothing about my kind… I sometimes wonder why I was alone when I hatched, did my birth parents cared for me… I just… want to do something meaningful.
Fluttershy frowned after the connection ended, and nuzzled Yibble deeply. “Yibble… what your doing is the most meaningful thing ever; if you never came to our lives, I don’t know what sort of outcome would of happened to everypony… You will, and for always be something to us… to me.”
Yibble was happy for the small talk, when a roar so powerful a strong blast of wind came from the cave. Twilight and the other girls came running out; following them was a dragon… but he was different from what many of the girls thought. The dragon was a sleek black with crimson lines going across his belly, the dragon looked more ruthless the dragons that are occasionally seen in Equestria as they are often tamer than dragons from the dragon lands. The greatest defined thing about the dragon was the fact that he had somepony in his claws – it was Rainbow Dash, screaming.
Fluttershy gasped in what has happened and flew up to save her friend, her personality changing completely.
“Let go of my friend!” shouted Fluttershy. As she flew up to the dragon, she glared into the dragons eyes, and as the dragon let go of Rainbow – who tumbled down to the ground – Flutershy continued to stare at the dragon, before turning to her friend.
Everypony approached Rainbow, who had some scrapes and scratches on her but was okay. Applejack and Twilight helped her up to her hooves, as she dusted herself. “Are you alright Rainbow?” asked Applejack.
Rainbow coughed, a bit dirty from being dropped to the ground, she grinned back to her friends. “Yeah I’m fine...” said Rainbow.
Fluttershy sighed happy she was okay, but as she turned her attention back to the dragon, a massive claw came upon her. Fluttershy was suddenly in the dragon’s clutches, as he snarled back at the ponies, fiery drool slithering come out of his jaws.
The dragon showed no signs of sentience and was ruthless to a point that from simply staring at the beast’s eyes was enough proof. The dragon did not crush Fluttershy, but kept a tight hold on her as she struggled to get out.
“P-Plea-se; wh-y-y are yo-o-u doi-in-g this?” asked Fluttershy, breathing through compacted lungs.
The dragon did not spoke, nor did it showed any signs of responding; with a sudden beat of it’s wings, it roared to the very heavens, shattering the hearing of everypony nearby. Everypony had to hold onto the ground tightly, as the dragon flew upward, leaving the top of the mountain with Fluttershy.
Everypony watched with a shocked stare toward the dragon that took their friend in mere moments. Without hesitating a single bit, Rainbow began to flap her wings but was forced to land again from having one of her wings bent the wrong way; hissing out in pain, she screamed for her help.
“FLUUUTERSHHHAAAAHHHH!”
The dragon disappeared to the dense clouds above, before the faint sound of it’s roar was heard. The remaining Mane 6 shook away their stupor and prepared to save their friend, when Twilight stopped them all. “Hold on everypony, we need to think of what we should do next before we go ahead blindly.”
“Twilight! That lizard just snatched poor Fluttershy! We can’t just stand here and do nothing!”
“I must agree with Applejack; we must do something before that foul beast does something to her.”
“I know I know, but Rainbow has a broken wing, and we have no idea where that dragon is going. I’ll teleport us back to the library, and get help from the princess, until we get a response from her, we should prepare once she comes with more help.”
Before everypony got ready to leave, Pinkie spoke up, mentioning one slight detail everypony has not noticed. “Uhhh, girls? Where’s Yibble?” At the mention of the baby slime, a thin trail of slime that led from where she was to where the dragon was before vanishing afterwords.
Putting two and two together, the sheer silence to fall upon them was enough to shatter a palace made of glass. For some odd reason – yet fit the situation – a tumbleweed blew by as it rolled past them. It was Rarity to speak first and spoke what everypony else wanted to say about this whole situation in their heads.
“Oh dear… Fluttershy won’t be happy about this.”
Back at Canterlot, the Throne Room; Celestia busied herself by listening to the words – or bickering in this case – of the nobles.
A stallion noble came before Celestia to request some funds from the treasury for his crops being destroyed through mysterious occurrences… that is what she was told of course. She sighed in bored tone – though not for anypony else to notice – thinking back to the welcoming party for the baby slime.
It has been a few weeks and so far nothing of interest has appeared, other than those sightings of that dragon near Ponyville on the top of that mountain. I wish something of interest were to happen, though from past experiences, I should be careful what I wish for.
At that very moment the throne room doors opened wide by the guards posted by it; came running in was a messenger who frantically sprinted on the carpet to Celestia. Running so quickly, he did not notice the bump on the carpet and tripped on it. Sliding on his muzzle, the messenger came to a halt before Celestia until he stood back up with a quick bow – which caused him to bump his head on the floor.
“My highness! A message has been received by the lord of the Dragon Lands; it is urgent you read its contents as it involves the sightings of the dragon that was spotted recently!”
Celestia became intrigued and rose up from her seat. “What is this message from the lord of dragons? And how does it involve the sightings of the dragon?”
The messenger nodded after being given permission to give the message; heading for his saddlebags, he pulled a scroll with his mouth, before making sure to balance it on his front hooves. Sitting on his hindquarters, the messenger cleared his throat and spoke as loudly as he could.
“
‘From the Lord of Dragons; Dragon Lord Torch,
I give you warning Princess of the Sun; Celestia, for a rogue dragon has left my lands and ended up somewhere in your kingdom. With that said, this dragon has become feral, but the cause is unknown, as a strange influence has come upon my dragons, and has effected a portion of them. I have tried to keep the influenced dragons in a small area of my lands, but all efforts have been useless. I only ask for your assistance as I do not wish for any mistrust between our races, as some sort of attack. I hope you understand, and you help retrieving the capture of the rogue dragon.
May my wishes help in your endeavor.’
That has been written in the scroll; should we send a group to capture this dragon and… Is something the matter your highness?”
Celestia became silent, her eyes becoming shrunken as a great realization came to her; appearing beside her in a poof of green flames was another scroll. Most likely from her apprentice, she levitated the scroll to read it… and like that she dropped the scroll, and teleported to the doors leaving the throne room.
Before anypony could respond, Celestia spoke in an even but loud voice to everypony nearby. “Cancel all my appointments for the afternoon, a great urgent emergency has occurred that I must go to! Guard, call upon Captain Shining Armor and at least twenty royal guards with me to Ponyville; tell him that one of the elements has been taken by the rogue dragons – immediately!”
At that moment, the two guards posted by the doors saluted and ran off to the captain. “Yes your highness!” They ran off a different direction from Celestia; Celestia ran off and approached a nearby balcony, before opening the doors and spread her wings. With two powerful flaps of her wings, she was in the air and heading straight toward Ponyville.
This situation has gotten worse than I thought, I knew something was off when the sightings of this dragon was spotted. I must reach to Twilight, who knows what has happened to her friend… but not only that, but how Yibble must feel. I have not encountered a slime with emotions for over centuries, and the last time nearly destroyed Manehatten, back in its beginning years as a city. The backlash from this sudden incident could cause unseen consequences; I must get to Ponyville, with haste!
Princess Celestia flew off in the distance, her form slowly shrinking from the distance; from the top of a tower that had a dark blue coloration. The Princess of the Moon; Luna, who was assumed to be resting was seeing her sister from her telescope. With a raised brow, she curiously wondered what all the commotion was all about. With an interested look she rubbed her chin in thought before leaving her room to find out for herself.
Ponyville, Golden Oak Library; the other members of the Mane 6 await Princess Celestia, and a small escort to arrive.
Rainbow begins pacing back and forth, after her wing was bandaged; the others who either sat down or busied themselves by thinking, awaited for Princess Celestia. Of course Twilight told Spike to get her books on dragon behaviour.
Spike came down the steps with a pile of books on his claws, wobbling from side-to-side from carrying so many books. “Why do you need these books, Twilight?” asked Spike.
“That dragon we encountered wasn’t like the dragons that usually end up in Equestria. Since there are so many jewels under the ground, especially in the outskirts of towns, dragons tend to avoid any populated areas to eat these jems. That dragon though… it was as if it had no interest on the jems but the ponies – specifically Fluttershy.”
This was when Rainbow stopped pacing, and turned to face Twilight. “Which is why we should be out there and find her! Not standing here doing nothing; we can handle this dragon, with or without the Princess’s help!”
“And do what Rainbow? It’s just us six, against a fire-breathing lizard,” said Applejack.
“True, but we must do something quick, who knows what that dragon has planned for poor Fluttershy.”
Rarity sighed, worried for her friend; Pinkie – who stood by the door – heard knocking and was the first to answer. Outside the door was Celestia, who lowered her head to enter and greeted those present.
“Hello my little ponies; now what did this dragon look like, and which direction did he went?”
After several minutes of explaining toward Celestia, everyone awaited for her response as she mulled through the information she was given. The dragon that was reported and sighted, was a black sheen with a red underbelly, and was spotted flying north and passing by Canterlot soon. A yellow figure was seen clutched in one of the dragon’s claws, but no mention of Yibble or anything similar to her was seen on the dragon.
“We’ll head back to Canterlot if we can intercept the dragon; before we go, I must send a scroll back to the castle, I believe there’s no reason for me to call the captain and his guard to come here after all.”
The captain… Wait, she doesn’t mean-
“ALRIGHT! Come on everypony, let’s save Fluttershy!” With that, everypony headed to the train station – which came by at the right time – and made their way to Canterlot in a hurry.
Somewhere in the sky, high above the plains of Equestria…
Fluttershy was still unconscious, even though the powerful winds that were blowing pass her mane; the dragon that took her flew with powerful strong wingbeats. The dragon stared ahead without a thought nor observation to any of its surroundings. Unbeknownst to the scaly beast, he had a small stowaway – Yibble held on tightly to the dragons back, slowly inching closer and closer to one of it’s eyes… until…
Yibble was before the dragon’s eye; the dragon at first did not notice Yibble, but when it did, it glared back with a violent stare. It continued to fly, but attempted to swipe at Yibble with the other claw that wasn’t holding Fluttershy… all it did though was give the dragon a headache from hitting his head. The dragon tried his best to stay airborne, and after shaking away the dizziness, he stared back at Yibble with burning hatred.
“Wah uo tek mumma?” asked Yibble.
The dragon did not respond, but continued to fly forward as he was unhindered by Yibble. The baby slime became grumpy from being ignored, and doing something she has not done before, she started to expand her size; her gelatinous slime began to slowly crawl and cover the dragon, inch by inch. The dragon wasn’t bothered by such an action… that changed when it reached it’s wings. With it’s wings covered in slime, it was unable to flap them as they became heavier over time… what came next, caused the dragon to plummet down.
Right before the dragon came crashing down, Yibble said one thing as she covered her slime over Fluttershy to protect her. “Bede dwagen! Yu gew neiet neiet neow!”
The sound of a dragon crashing to the ground, smashing against the ground, echoed the surrounding area; dust and dirt enveloped the area, as nobody was able to see what became of those who crashed.
Back at Canterlot, Canterlot Station; after the group arrived at the station, a small squadron of guards awaited for Celestia and those with her.
The second they stepped out of the train, one guard came forward; the guard wore a unique armor than the others, and was both familiar to both the princess and Twilight. “Your highness, the dragon was spotted crashing some distance down the mountain. We’ll head straight down there with you from the mountain’s pathway down.”
“Excellent Captain Armor; come, we must make haste!” shouted Celestia. With that, everypony made their way, but before everypony could leave, the captain stopped Twilight in her tracks. None of her friends saw this, and the second they were both alone, the two siblings hugged each other.
“Its good to see you BBBFF!”
“You too Twily! What’s this about a dragon anyway? I was told something about one of them gone rogue, and somepony being kidnapped?”
“You’re somewhat correct; one of my friends, Fluttershy was snatched by the dragon Celestia sent us to check. We assumed it was just another dragon that gotten to close to a pony settlement, we didn’t expect something this serious. We should catch up on the others; I just hope Fluttershy is alright.”
“Indeed… You should also introduce me to your new friends sometime.”
“...Maybe later...”
“Ahhh, alright, but you gotta come visit sometimes.” The two siblings talked nonchalantly, before catching up with the others. Once coming down the mountain through a pathway used by those you climb the mountain by hoof or wagon, a sizable cloud of dust covered where the crash would be.
Using her magic, and the help of all the unicorns, the dust was cleared enough that a detailed silhouette could be seen through the dust. Slowly but surely, the somewhat dazed form of the dragon was visible. He was covered in a very familiar slime when another figure came climbing out the crater.
“Fluttershy!? Is that you!?” shouted Rainbow, approaching to get a better look.
Slowly, the dust began to clear away and as the figure came closer and closer, the one to come stepping out of the dust… was Fluttershy. She was covered in dust and dirt from head to tail, caked in the surrounding debris, she coughed loudly for a puff of dust to come out her snout.
Everypony immediately came up to her, as all the girls came up to Fluttershy and hugged her tightly. “We were so worried darling!” “We thought the worst!” “We’re going celebrate the best ‘Survived a crash’ party, ever!” “You’re the bravest pony I’ve ever met, Shy!”
All the girls began clamoring around her, when a strong realization came to her; turning swiftly around, she came running to the crater and began searching the area. Moving rubble out of the way, and the occasional rock, Fluttershy went from moving debris to outright digging holes, while screaming a certain name.
“YIBBLE! YIBBLE! WHERE ARE YOU YIBBLE!”
Everypony started to think the worse, when a certain tune that started to come out of nowhere, began to play. One of the guards gave a raised brow before speaking his opinion about where the tune was coming from. “In the name of Faust, where’s that music coming from!?”
“Its kind of catchy.”
That was when everypony looked up, and saw a small figure came sailing – slowly on a makeshift parachute – to the ground. At the last second, right before the dragon crashed, Yibble came off the dragon and made herself a parachute made of her own slime, and while the idea seemed a bit impossible, there was an explanation.
As Yibble landed, and was outright smothered by Fluttershy – out of worry and happiness – Twilight checked the makeshift parachute, and saw that this slime was different. The one difference was it was thinner than the other slime examined by her, making it very aerodynamic, which caused a current of air caused by the crash to be blown upward, making her landing smoother… though being made of something indestructible, the reason for making a parachute was a bit counter-productive.
“NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EEEVVVEEERRR, DO THAT!” shouted Fluttershy, trying her attempt to hug Yibble, only getting herself covered in slime.
Yibble nuzzled Fluttershy under her chin, and cooed back. “Ohwa-kwah, mumma.”
After everypony rejoined for a group hug, the royal guard made a perimeter around the dragon, and placed some restraints to keep the dragon from making anymore havoc. Celestia relaxed, and checked the dragon for any signs of this influence… and she saw it; under the dragons scales, was a strange sickly glow – it gave off a faint putrid gray light, and seemed to course through the dragon in a vein-like pattern.
It appears I may need to make a visit with Dragon Lord Torch sometime in the future about this new dilemma in his kingdom… I wonder how his daughter, Lady Ember is doing… I could bring Luna with me to meet them.
“Captain; bring the dragon to the lower caves of Canterlot, and place anti-flame and anti-strength shackles and runes around this dragon. While we are unsure if this influence can effect ponies, I want to make sure nopony goes near the dragon unless they have protective wards on them on all times. Bring some researchers from our scientific department here in Canterlot, and see if you can call the ‘professor’ from Manehatten… he may be interested about this.”
Shining Armor bowed, as he directed them to a nearby guard. “Of course Princess Celestia; you heard her, I want the unicorns to get those runes placed, and for apple’s sakes don’t go near the dragon, especially it’s jaws!”
With that, the group returned back to the top of Canterlot, while the royal guard handled bringing the dragon from anypony else.
Canterlot, Canterlot Castle, Guest Room; the girls, Spike, and Yibble relaxed in the room after coming from the foot of the mountain.
Sometime the girls busy cleaning up Fluttershy and Yibble – especially her considering she kept on climbing the room, due to a bunch of mares chasing her – where they ate afterwords. They enjoyed their time together, when Twilight asked Yibble a question that had been bothering her for awhile.
“Yibble… I’ve been wondering… When you were on the dragon, how exactly were you able to bring that dragon down, while making sure to not harm it and Fluttershy?” asked Twilight.
Yibble was busy nibbling on some sweet bread, before looking up at her with said bread halfway in her mouth. Swallowing the bread whole with a loud “gwomp”, she looked answered Twilight’s question.
“I spwad miself; I swoftin thae dwagon and Fwuttsha… Dwagon was bwad, soe hie gow nep nep.”
Everypony had a little difficulty understanding but got the message clearly; while everypony was happy Yibble was able to be helpful to everypony, this however has answered all her questions with that one sentence.
My research on Yibble so far has showed one constant detail – a strange energy or magical power keeps seeping out from her and her slime… if she’s capable of secreting that much slime to cover a dragon and soften the crash… How powerful is Yibble… and if this her magical strength and stamina as a baby… what would she be like as a grown adult?
Everypony smiled happily around Yibble, and while Twilight’s small frown was only for a second, it disappeared as she put away her worry for another day. But for now… all we need to know is that Yibble saved Fluttershy, and possibly more ponies by her actions today… Right now, she’s a hero and that’s enough to keep myself from doubting.
“What you mumbling about Twi? Get over here!” Rainbow pulled in Twilight, and caused her and Twilight to tumble down and trip over the others. The girls ended up in a pile as they laughed away their worries; they all enjoyed each others’ company, happy they all became close friends through whatever matter or reason.