Friendship

FOREWORD:

This is an interesting story. It is also close to me. Not only is this successor and essential "rewrite" to "Of All The Things We Love," but it is also a representation of something that I wish actually happened... or more accurately, happened more often.

More often than now, I find myself daydreaming about past friends I've had. Often as well, I have not spoken to them in years. And I always wonder what it would be like had we kept in touch.

This story is a story of love, hope, bravery, sorrow, loss, redemption, reconciliation, joy, and the future. Contained within these chapters is the journey of a lost friendship, yearning to be reborn into something stronger and brighter. Yet, it still remains realistic, and stresses the pain of making that journey. Alone.

Although many of you probably skipped this brief foreword, those of you who didn't will walk away with a deeper understanding of the higher significance of this story, and why I specifically wrote it. And maybe... just maybe...

...you may learn a thing or two about friendship yourselves. After all, Friendship IS Magic.

PROLOGUE:

It is amazing, truly amazing, just how strong the bond of friendship can be. Just how deep the connection can go. A friendship can be incredibly intimate, while still staying clear of the borders of romance. There are things a husband or wife will tell their friends, but not each other. Friendship is a bond so strong, that even after years apart, on the surface apparently shattered, that bond can resurface. Of course, as six friends stood at the train station together for the final time, none of them could have imagined that.

The ten years that they had known each other had come and gone; flown by almost as if it had just been a quarter of that time. However, today they stood there, about to part to their separate ways. Sure, it was likely that they would keep in touch for a few months. Some of them even years. But eventually, the letters would stop. The image of friendship herself would not be able to hold onto those tethers, and slowly, they would slip from her grasp. And her heart would feel the withering pain of each bond being individually shattered, one... by one... by one. Until all of them were gone.

Move to Canterlot to become a "professional" fashion designer. Opening an emporium in Manehatten for party goods. Purchasing a two hundred acre plot of land just outside Appleloosa to be closer to family after the death of her grandmother. Moving to Vanhoofer to join an international animal rescue agency. Leaving to Cloudsdale to join the Wonderbolts, and finally fulfill her dream entirely.

...staying in Ponyville as the Princess of Friendship and resident town librarian.

A multitude of reasons, all of which led to the sad end of being split apart from each other. And as the gradual force of time wore onward, it would only draw them further apart, widening the already painful distances. And one, lonely, heartbroken pony would learn the hard way that time does not heal all wounds.

No longer were they the "Mane 6." No longer were they the inseparable defense against the evils of this magical land. No longer were they the trademark group of friends. No longer were they the Elements of Harmony. No longer were they even... friends.

Friendship