In Fine

by Elegy Fermata

Introductory Speech

“It has been stated many, many times that friendship is magic. That, I believe with great clarity, is not false.

“Throughout foalhood, I have lived under the foalish presumptions that friendship will only ever get in the way of my ambitions in life. My ambitions were great, yes, but did friendship ever get in the way? Absolutely not.

“I have come to learn that a pony has the ability to become great on their own, but friendship is what makes a pony truly special. I had felt this the moment that I had realised that the five ponies who were nothing but strangers in the very beginning of my life in Ponyville were indeed my friends. It was through the power of our friendship that we had saved Princess Luna from the dark clutches of Nightmare Moon. Not one of us, on our own, could have done that.

“Unity, I feel, is an undervalued force, and I say force because that is precisely what it is. There is a force in wind. There is a force in waves of the sea. There is a force in a snowstorm. There is a force within us. I am not saying this force is within a select few, no. This force is within everypony, and this force will only grow stronger the more of us that come together in unity. In friendship.

“It is not a destructive force by any means, but it is a force nonetheless that banishes the darkness of corruption, of selfishness and of inconsideration to each and every pony. It is a force to make every single one of us to become capable of reaching further than ever before. Even further than our ancestors.

“Some of us have lost the vision and hope of what friendship can do, and I empathise completely as I have gone through it before; but remember that no matter how bad things become and how down you are feeling, there is always hope.

“That is what I want to talk to you about today. There is hope in peace and unity, and there may very well be conflicts from time to time, but we can always pull through our troubles if we stick together through dire times. I guarantee that every single one of you stood before me will have gone through troubling times, or will do in the future. I can also guarantee that you all will have the ability to pull through whatever comes at you when that time arises, but only with love and unity can this be guaranteed.

“What I plead to you today is: be there for everypony else. Do not presume strangers are threats to you as it may well turn out that they become your greatest friends. Let us mark this day as the beginning of the era of unity, and let us on this day become one unbreakable force. Together.

“Thank you.”