//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Growing // Story: The Magic of Friendship - Part 1 // by johnerose126 //------------------------------// It was the start of something new, yet something old. If one were to send their foal or filly away to a new place, where he or she had to learn most of their lessons alone, it would send the parent into a whirling storm of stress and worry, and that's not mentioning that that said parent thinking about this very thought was experiencing déjà vu, reliving how she went through those same hooves that their foal will soon experience. Yes, feeling that déjà vu, that nostalgic feeling of watching her own prized pupil walk down the hill with her soon-to-be-new-and-apparently-first best friends was slamming her like one of Applejack's apple cider, as it reminded her how she first met her new best friends many moons ago. No, she wasn't going to freak out. She was far too mature, far too wise to do so. Instead, she just stood there and smiled, alongside her friends, smiled at what she had just accomplished. She still couldn't believe she sent her prized pupil away to the same village that she learned that friendship is magic. The sun lowering down, revealing a beautiful, purple horizon and the start of what promises to be a starry night, the lights of Ponyville lighting up and the Castle of Friendship shimmering in the distance, Princess Twilight Sparkle continued to stare at Luster Dawn and her friends from the distance, still at awe and confidence that she had made the right decision as her own mentor did. She still would've continued to look down upon her as she entered the Friendship School if a voice hadn't broken the silence. "Um... Twilight? You ok?" Breaking her trance, the tall, purple Alicorn blinked once and looked down around, finding the source of the voice, and noticed that all six of her friends were staring at her. "Got teary-eyed or somethin', sugar cube?" A different voice than the previous one, but welcoming. The orange Earth pony looked at Twilight with a comforting, yet playful look, as if she knew what Twilight was thinking up the top of her head. Twilight sighed, hoping to keep her composure together. It was still ringing in her head that she had just set Luster Dawn away toward a similar path that she took. That sentimental feeling was slowly rushing in over her, surely enough for her to tremble and finally break down. But she still kept it together. "Yeah, I'm fine, Applejack. Just..." she took a quick look back to see if she could still notice Luster Dawn and her group, but to her surprise, she and the others were gone. Her mouth opened and out came a sigh, ever so fragile. "... well, you know... amazed..." "You're telling me," replied a confident voice. The floating blue Pegasus with her dark blue hoodie and an orange shirt underneath landed down aside Applejack on her left and the pink pony with crazy mane on her right. "I'm not all for feels, but that journey was something." "Something?" replied the pink pony in a shocking voice. "It was completely, over-the-top, nostalgically, wonderfully, supercalifragilisticexpialidociously, pretty-sure-somepony-might-have-cried-somewhere, AMAZINGLY SOMETHING!" Pinkie Pie was jumping around as she shouted out her excitement among her friends, ending finally in front of the yellow Peagsus's face, who didn't even flinch during the entire outburst as she stared at Pinkie Pie with a smile. "It really was a nice, special way to spend the day together," added Fluttershy. "A nice trip back to memory lane, if I do say so myself," added the white Unicorn with a fur coat. "Though I have to agree with Pinkie, it's enough to make a grown mare cry." The group chuckled at the small joke Rarity made for a while as the sun was continued to set, barely visible at that point, revealing in almost its full glory the stars and constellations from above. The small chuckle died off and the girls just stared at each other, hoping that some specific pony would break the silence before awkwardness ensues. Usually Twilight was the one to steer the ship, but Twilight actually had no idea what to do next. She didn't really plan on spending the entire day showing Luster Dawn everything about the potential friendship had today, nor even head back to Ponyville of all places. That and she was busy trying to not let a wise decision break her down. Before she could do anything about it, a voice spoke up, just in time to save the atmosphere. "So... now what?" The tall, bulk purple dragon asked with such a genuine tone that the question itself sounded like a mystery. Everypony looked up at Twilight, waiting for her answer. Twilight didn't need to look around to know they were looking at her, as she felt the presence of six pairs of eyes looking at her. She closed her eyes and released another small sigh. "Well, I think we did enough for today. For her, at least. Unless if you girls want to hang around at Canterlot and just... well, chat... I mean, we didn't get a chance to have some time for ourselves because of Luster Dawn- not that it was a distraction or anything, oh no, because the whole experience really was supercala... frabalit- what Pinkie said. So... you all just want to head back to Canterlot for the night? Spend whatever time we have left together?" She looked around her friends and saw disagreements on their faces. As she figured. She just remembered what was coming up in a few days. "Oh no, I'm afraid not, darling," started Rarity," with the Festival of the Two Sisters coming up, orders are starting to pile up around my boutiques, and its the special ones that are making their way through my main office. I'll be very busy for the next few days, unfortunately." "Y'all need the apples for the Festival," added Applejack, "and Big Mac, Sugar Belle, and ah are doin' the best we can to harvest enough for the Festival. Even with Applebloom poppin' up at times, it's still gonna need a lot of time and effort for us to get the deliveries correct and in time." "The animals need a bit more coordination with the parades, marches and the sunrise, so I need to make sure my little friends are all well and prepared for the day," said Fluttershy. "Me and Cheesy are planning the biggest, funniest Festival there was yet, Twi! We got all sorts of food and big surprises and food and prizes and food and- wait, did I mention food again? But, hey...," Pinkie Pie was going to continue on with her happy mood, but she as looked around, she started to realize that she probably wasn't helping anypony's case, let alone Twilight. "... yeah, you get the idea, right, Twi?" Rainbow Dash nodded head. "Yeah, with the Festival coming up, I've been prepping the Wonderbolts to make this year's the best Festival of the Two Sisters ever! This means hard work and practice is a must for us sadly... sorry, Twilight." She said the final parts of her sentence with such solemn regret as she and the others looked at Twilight with melancholy eyes, truly sorry to disappoint their busy friend. Twilight looked at her friends, not surprised by how they were busy, yet she couldn't help but think for a bit about their preparations for the upcoming holiday. "No, no, that's all right, Rainbow," replied Twilight. "I should've realized that we would be very busy with the Festival. Sorry, girls." A moment of silence. Awkwardness has ensued. "Hey, if it helps, we get to be together again during the holiday, right? That'll be fun, right?" pipped Spike. The girls turned to look at Spike as they processed the idea through their brains. Instantly, they smiled a small smile as the thought of hanging around and just talking about their lives from the past month came to mind, especially during a holiday. "You're right, Spike," said Twilight. "We'll be together as the festivities go on. That'll do for us, right girls?" The rest of the Mane 6 nodded their heads and spoke in agreement. Any time of hanging out was fine and hanging out during a holiday like this was a definite plus for them. "Then it's settled," said Twilight. "We'll come back together around the day of festivities as we get things ready for the event." "Sounds like a plan, Twi," replied Applejack as the Mane 7 huddled around each other and hugged. Breaking apart after a moment, the group began to part ways. Applejack and Rainbow Dash walked beside each other, heading toward the farm ground that was right ahead of them. Pinkie Pie was hopping away, toward the bridge that connected toward Ponyville's Town Hall, with Rarity following behind her. Fluttershy made her way toward a different path, away from Ponyville, as she started to make her way back to her cottage. As the group departed, they waved and gave their goodbyes to their friends until it felt right to stop. And they did all that while Twilight and Spike stood their ground in the middle still, watching their friends leave off to their destinations. As Twilight continued to look, she could feel the feeling that was hanging around her for quite some time beginning to rush over her again once more, this time in such a brute force. Her watching her friends leave her once more in the many moons that she had made the decree to meet once per month with her friends was a way for them to connect with each other, sure, but, especially in light of what she just did, it felt... off. Like, way off. Like, it wasn't seemingly it at all for her and the rest of the gang to just meet once per month now. It was almost as if Luster Dawn herself just taught her what friendship is just now ironically and - "Twilight? You okay?" Yet again, another voice broke her train of thought and she looked back at Spike, who was looking at her with some concern. "You okay? You look like you have something troubling you on your mind." Twilight shook her head. "No, nothing's troubling me, Spike," answered Twilight. She didn't want to tell Spike that she just now was experiencing doubt over the values of friendship. Not now at least. "Come on, Spike," said Twilight as she opened her wings. "Let's fly back home." With a nod, Spike opened his wings and the two took off from the ground, flying slowly up in the air as they made their way toward Canterlot. As the two drifted in the sky, Twilight couldn't help but look down and stare upon the lights reflecting back at her. Ponyville was lit up and it seemed that nopony was going back in their homes to sleep anytime soon. A subtle, but big change that Twilight couldn't help but smile. A change that then put an idea on her mind. "Hey Spike," spoke Twilight. "Yeah?" answered Spike. "What's up?" "How would you like to spend a night back at our old castle?" asked Twilight, hoping for a favorable response. "Um... didn't you give the castle to Starlight, Trixie and Sunburst so they can live next to the school?" asked Spike. Twilight was aware that Spike might ask that question, to which she responded "Yeah, but I don't think they'll mind. That and its been a while since we've talked to them, don't you agree?" Spike was considering for quite a while as he slowed his flying into simply hovering around in the air. After a moment of pondering, he shrugged and said, "Sure, why not?" Twilight couldn't help but let out a small squee as she immediately made her course toward the giant crystal castle. Spike just hovered around the air as he stared at her. He had an idea of what was bothering Twilight at the moment and her request made the answer an open-shut case. He planned on talking to her about her little debacle over her decisions but he decided to talk to her about her little debacle later tomorrow so she could calm down tonight. He didn't want to make Twilight worry over small things before the festival, so he had to give in to help her out a bit. With a sigh and a smile, he followed Twilight toward the Friendship Castle as the moon started to make its way up to the top of the sky, shining bright before the stars around it. A perfect way to end a perfect day, the two thought as they landed before the giant oak doors of the castle. What could go wrong at this time? They couldn't expect anything as Twilight used her magic to open the right side of the door. They didn't seem to care of anything at all as they entered the dim main hallway of the castle, with Twilight closing the door behind them. Nothing didn't seem to give off that something big was going to happen as they climbed up the stairs of the castle. Not when they entered Twilight's old room, seemingly clean and tidy as if time stopped in the room and waited for her. Not when Twilight conjured up a spell to teleport Spike's bed from inside the castle and laugh when they realize how terribly small it was. Not even when she used magic to make the bed bigger for him and they both said their good-nights to each other. The one thing that seemed to bother Spike away from noticing Twilight's cutie mark was how he was going to talk to Twilight about her little problem, a friendship problem of some sort. The one thing that seemed to bother Twilight away from noticing her cutie mark was lighting up ever since she laid down on her bed and started to drift was what was in her mind, a little sentence that kept repeating in her head until she finally fell fast asleep. Everything's going to be just fine.