Guardians of Friendship

by James Pwyll

Returning Home

The mood during the train trip back to Ponyville wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but there was nevertheless an air of silence hanging over the six friends after their encounters in Griffonstone. After all, they'd found a friendship problem, even if it wasn't the one they'd expected to find, and it had been given a resolution. By all rights they should have been happy that their task was a success, and yet, they instead found themselves deep in thought over the exact kind of problem they'd witnessed, as well as the fact that the resolution hadn't been what they'd probably had in their mind. Sandbar, looking to each of his colleagues, could see just from their expressions that those thoughts were going through the minds of every single one of them, and so, after letting out a long sigh, he turned to face them properly before speaking up. "Okay, I think we can all agree that this big quest of ours might not be going the way we expected it to."

The others, as if having waited for one of them to say that very thing, all breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally! I thought we were gonna sit in silence the whole time!" Smolder remarked.

Silverstream, who of course was sitting next to Gallus right now, gave him a private look, which he returned with a smile, before looking to Sandbar herself. "I was kinda expecting big adventures, tonnes of fun, that sort of thing. You know, like what Princess Twilight and her friends usually had?"

Yona smiled to her. "There no reason we can't still have that, right?"

Ocellus nodded, putting on a smile of her own. "Yona is right. We'll still be able to do what they did. It's just...well...this first task didn't go according to our expectations."

Gallus chuckled drily, but otherwise seemed to be in a far better mood than he had been during this particular mission of theirs. "That's putting it mildly, Celly. Still..." He pondered the last couple of days, then softened in his tone. "I can't say I'm unhappy with how things turned out. There was a problem, or at least important stuff that needed to be done and...we did it." He gave a quick shrug. "Can't really ask for more than that."

Given that Gallus had a very personal stake in the mission they'd just come back from, the others all silently looked to one another before deciding that he was right. They were successful and had managed to do some good. And with that thought in mind, the children all seemed more satisfied than they had been minutes before, looking out of their respective windows as the train station of Ponyville finally started to come into view. There was the usual screeching of the brakes of course, and after watching many of the other passengers disembark, they began to walk off themselves, with Smolder giving herself a quick stretch. "Okay, was that trip longer coming back than going there? Because it definitely felt like it."

Yona smiled to her as she too stepped off. "Long or not, Ponyville never change," she remarked, looking fondly at the town they once more found themselves in.

Sandbar gave her a smirk. "Well, aside from the school, the palace and the gaping crater where the old library used to be."

Yona blinked, then blushed. "Yes...besides that."

The group all laughed together, making their way towards the palace in question. During that time, Ocellus pulled out some papers she'd stored in her saddle-bag, looking over the notes she'd written on there. "I wonder if it's worth sending letters to Princess Twilight about what we've been doing? She tasked us with this role after all so should we keep her abreast of how things went?"

Sandbar looked to her, appearing to have things on his mind as he spoke. "It's worth thinking about. Kinda like how she used to send letter to Princess Celestia back when she first moved to Ponyville."

Gallus arched an eyebrow to his pony friend. "Wait, she did that every day? Even when she became a Princess?"

Sandbar shrugged. "Nah, she sort of stopped doing that after a while." He looked back to Ocellus, smiling to her. "But yeah, it's definitely something we should maybe do. I know she'll be interested in hearing what's been happening."

Ocellus beamed to that, but Gallus groaned. "Could we maybe wait until we have a friendship mission that didn't involve me in some personal way?" Ocellus and Sandbar coughed nervously, but Gallus eventually mellowed out, giving them both a wink before walking ahead of the rest. Eventually, and after walking in silence for some time, the children all arrived back at their new home, with Gallus sighing with content at seeing it. "As cliche as it may be to say this, it's good to be home."

"Race ya!" Smolder announced, charging forward.

Yona laughed. "Yona accepts challenge!"

Before long all six of them were running as fast as they could, all in the hopes of being the first one to reach the door. After a minute of solid sprinting though, it was the race's instigator, Smolder, who reached the door first, pushing it open as soon as she got there. "Ha! I won! Victory for...me?" She fell utterly silent, and as her friends reached her, so too did they. For as they looked on to the inside of the castle, they saw that they were not alone here. Not Starlight, but another mare, and one very familiar to them. "Princess...Twilight?" Smolder asked.

The mare before them, so much like the new ruler of Equestria, smiled to them, taking a step forward into the light that now poured in through the front door. And as she did so, the youths could see her sparkle in the sun. This newcomer, seeing the recognition on their faces, smiled to them. "No, I am not the Princess. But it is good to see you all the same."

Yona smiled widely, jumping forward a few steps before bellowing out her enthusiasm. "Tree of Harmony! Yona so glad to see you too!"

Seeing all the other children gather beside her, the avatar of the Tree looked to each and every one of them, before finally speaking up in that not-quite-used-to-speaking way of hers. "Long have I listened to you, to your worries, your fears and your hopes. You have taken a great task, and the one whose image I now use was wise to leave you with this great role in your world."

Smolder looked to her with interest. "Yeah, we were kinda wondering if you were gonna show up." Then her eyes widened. "Wait...are you here because you have a friendship mission for us? Like, a real official one and not one we just made up for ourselves?"

The spirit of Harmony smiled to her. "I have no quest for you, Smolder. But I want you to know...I am proud of the efforts you have made thus far."

Gallus scratched the back of his head, looking uncertain about that. "Er, I dunno. We didn't exactly fix a friendship or make one happen, ya know?"

The spirit shook her head. "Perhaps not, but you devoted yourself fully to the cause of trying to mend what was once broken. And through friendship itself might not have been born that day, you still succeeded in doing something good." A pause, and then the spirit looked upward, to the sky that she could see through the still-open door. "You must think I wish for all to be friends with all others, but this is not so. I know, as you now do, that not all can live with love for one another. It is something I have long come to understand in my many centuries in this world. But though your hearts still bear doubt over the question and possibility of failure, know this..." She looked back down to them, resuming her smile. "There was no failure in your journey to Griffonstone. And indeed...it proved that you were truly worthy to bear the mantle that Equestria's Princess has passed down to you."

Silverstream clapped happily, looking to her friends with a smile so big it looked like it was about to burst off her face. "Hear that, guys?! We're worthy!"

Again, the spirit looked to them all fondly. "Yes, and I foresee you retaining that worthiness long into your futures. I see you passing on the lessons as they were passed onto you. And in time, though you may not yet see it in yourself, a day may come when you eclipse even the greatness of the one you have succeeded."

Sandbar blushed, gulping. "Eclipse Princess Twilight and her friends? I dunno, that seems like a big ask, Miss Tree."

Yona patted him on the shoulder. "Early days, friend Sandbar. Princess Twilight no know she meant to be big Princess one day. We no know what our futures be either."

Ocellus too looked to her pony companion. "Yona's right. There's no telling what might happen to us. Glory might not be something we're seeking, but if there's good we can do in the world, then you can all bet we're gonna give it our all!"

As befitting a group of friends such as these, Ocellus' words caused all of them to confidently put their paws, claws and hooves together, giving a loud "yeah" as they did so. The spirit, seeing this sense of unity and camaraderie, gave a nod. "Truly, friendship is alive and well in you, and should fate smile upon us, Equestria and the world beyond will be truly blessed to have you there to safeguard all that is good in the land."

Gallus chuckled. "Well, no pressure, eh?"

The children watched as the spirit began to turn, her image starting to fade, but before it vanished completely, Sandbar quickly moved forward, stretching out his hoof to her. "Wait!" Fortunately, the spirit listened, and turned to look at him, though she said nothing, instead waiting for the young stallion to get his own words out. "It's just...what do we call you? You're probably gonna visit us again one day, right? So...what's your name? I mean, you can't just expect us to keep calling you 'the tree' all the time, right?"

As had happened often today, the image of Twilight smiled to them. "I possess no name, nor do I have any desire for one. If there is a title you wish to grant me, then grant it, if that is how you choose to speak to me."

Sandbar thought long and hard on that, and then, at last, smiled back to her. "Then we'll see you next time...Harmony."

The spirit, though at first looking like she was uncharacteristically taken aback, eventually returned to her smile, giving a quick bow of her head before, finally, fading entirely. Now there was silence in the castle, and all the children gathered together to just stare at the spot where Harmony had been. They all soon looked to one another, and though no words passed between them there was definitely a renewed sense of confidence and purpose among them. However, that silence was brought to an end when a familiar voice called to them from behind. "Oh! You're back!"

All eyes turned to see that it was their Head-Mare, Starlight, now approaching the castle from outside, looking to them with eager curiosity. "Soooooo...how was Griffonstone? Find any friendship problems? How'd it all go?"

Again, the group looked to each other, but after a while Ocellus simply blushed and gave a shrug. "Well...it's complicated."

Gallus rolled his eyes. "To say the least."

Starlight chuckled. "Well, I'd love to hear it." A smirk soon came to her. "And I know Twilight would too." As she saw them look to her with confusion, she began to elaborate. "I sent word to her about where you were going after you left, and she wrote back saying she'd love to know what you've been up to."

Hearing that, the group considered what they'd been talking about earlier, and after giving each other another knowing looks, Ocellus turned to Gallus. The latter saw her look to him, and knew instantly what she was thinking. He considered it, and without even saying a word, he nodded, granting his silent permission. Looking back to him with appreciation, Ocellus then cleared her throat. "Sandbar? If you would?"

Giving her a salute, the stallion whipped out a sheet of paper from his saddle-bag, along with a quill, then looked to her again. "Raring to go, Celly!"

After nodding, Ocellus began to speak in her most professional tone, all while her friends looked to her. "Dear Princess Twilight..."

Author's Note:

And I think there would be a good place to leave off. I might think of new ideas for these kids in the future, but as of this posting I think this is a decent place to cut off the story

Comments

[Melody Song]

That was a nice ending chapter. I'm glad everything worked out for them.

[Yoshifan30]

They maybe not the most successful mission but what harmony said they did what they can do and it all it matters And I'm sure a lot of people made about the name for the tree of harmony just say harmony lol But this is a really nice story so far can't wait to see the next one Till next time 😊

[Late_Night]

that's it?
that's it?
there's so much more that can be done with this!

[James Pwyll]

10246378 Don't worry, I have other ideas for its future, but this arc with Gallus was the only one I had anything concrete for right now

[Comickook]

REALLY good job on the exchanges, characterizations and future arc set-up in this epilogue to your first arc. Yeah, I can see where they would all be in thought concerning the bittersweet ending to that mission as well as the discussion of "mission progress" with Twilight. Plus, yeah, Twilight's "Tree of Harmony" image reassuring the group was a wonderful touch.

Definitely looking forward to more of this, but can definitely understand why you might need some "thinking time".

[SpikeSmolder fan]

Kinda ended suddenly but I understand the need of creating more friendship arcs for our Young Six to tackle after this one. It felt nostalgic seeing them sending a letter to Princess Twilight at the end there, very fitting!

Looking forward to see more stories with the students when they come back, thanks for sharing!

PS : Ever think of expanding your Kids in the Clubhouse story? It would be fun seeing Spike & the CMC sharing their adventures together at certain points in the show (earning their cutie marks, spike's molting, etc.)

[Scyphi]

Ocellus nodded, putting on a smile of her own. "Yona is right. We'll still be able to do what they did. It's just...well...this first task didn't go according to our expectations."

Well, to be fair, the resolving of friendship problems was never really about the big adventure anyway, even for the Mane 6--that part just happened incidentally. So it really wouldn't be unreasonable to expect there to be friendship problems to resolve that aren't that...well...dramatic. If anything, this taught them to temper their expectations a little. It won't always be big, glorious, and epic adventures all the time. Sometimes...they'll be more down to earth like this one was.

And I dunno...I could see still referring to the Tree of Harmony avatar as just...Tree. But hey, to each their own.

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

That seems like a big ask, Miss Tree."

"task" I think was what you meant there?

Still, this was a very nice way to conclude the story, and I really enjoyed reading it all the way through.

[Cyning Horsa]

Nicely done! Everyone was in-character and nothing felt contrived.

[MLPFollower]

This is an excellent spin-off series you're developing here! I can't wait for the next chapters you write and I look forward to seeing more adventures of the Young Six in the future!