The anniversary of Harmony
Canterlot Castle
"Why should we plan it?" Starburst asked. The orange-coated mare, who had a short mane very similar in color to her mothers, save for a blue stripe in place of a purple one, had been somewhat prone to 'bursts of anger,' as her mother called them. But this one she simply couldn't understand.
"Well, we figured, who else more qualified to plan the 20-year anniversary of when we reformed Nightmare Moon than our own children?" Twilight argued. They had already planned the 10-year, back when their children were just foals. But now that they were approaching the age that she and her friends were when they had first met, (Claire might have even been the same age that her mother, Rarity, was.
"I don't know. Maybe somepony like you six?" Starburst argued. Twilight wasn't sure why Star was so intent on not doing this. She thought it may have something to do with their previously... rocky? relationship, with Twilight often being too busy to help Star learn to fly and such.
Twilight sighed. "The Summer Sun Celebration is one of the most important events of my life. Of all of my friends' lives. I just want to give you the opportunity to experience that as well." Twilight simply wanted the best for Star, even if she couldn't always do that in the past.
Star was quiet for a moment, then took a deep breath. "I don't even have a choice, do I?" she grumbled.
"Sadly, you can't. We're far too busy these days to do it ourselves." Twilight explained.
Star sighed. "Alright. In that case, then what do I do?"
Fluttershy's cabin
"Really? Oh, of course, I'd love to!" Anthea exclaimed.
Fluttershy giggled. "I knew you'd love to." Fluttershy often remarked that, even though she couldn't see, her daughter was still the brightest pony she knew.
"I already told Twilight about it so everything's already being organized, so you can enjoy the rest of your day."
"Thanks, mom. I'm really looking forward to doing this with everypony."
That's when a knock came at the door.
Anthea opened it and was met with Turquoise Blitz, one of Rarity's kids. Antea had planned to spend the rest of the day with the dragon-pony hybrid.
"You all ready?" He asked.
"Yep! My mom already took care of everything for the anniversary so I'm free the rest of the day."
T was confused at Annie's mention of 'The anniversary.'
"Anniversary? Of what?"
"Oh? You haven't heard?"
"Heard about what?"
"I'll tell you all about it once we're out." Annie turned to her mother, who was heading upstairs, "Alright mom, we're headed out now."
"Okay, just be safe and be back before sundown." She replied.
"You know we always are."
Carousel Boutique
"That does sound like an interesting idea..." commented Crystal Clarity. The purple dragon-pony hybrid was the eldest of the seven who were going to organize this year, and also considered herself the most mature of them. "But I must ask, why us exactly? Didn't you six do it all last time?"
Claire, by no means, wanted to imply that she wasn't interested in participating, but she couldn't think of another way to word the question.
Rarity understood her intention and was happy to answer.
"Oh, of course, we'd be able to set aside time to do it ourselves. We did just that last time, after all. But we all reasoned that there were no better candidates for this than our very own children. And who knows, this could turn out similar to that initial Summer Sun Celebration."
While the ten, and soon twenty-year anniversaries were on the same day as the Festival of the Two Sisters, it had taken over the day last time and was planned to going forward, considering that it was a cornerstone in Equestrian History.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea. Did you talk to T about it yet?"
Surely if Claire was to be a part of this, then her brother would also have to be there as well.
"Oh well, I simply haven't gotten the chance. He's been out all day at Fluttershy's. Though I did plan to tell him all about it once he gets back. If her daughter hasn't already told him about it. I'm sure she's all over the idea."
Then, in another instance of Equestrian convenient timing, T, Claire's younger, yet thanks to a growth spurt taller brother, arrived home from his day with Fluttershy's daughter, Anthea.
And immediately after he walked inside, proving that he had indeed heard about the event, he announced,
"I'm in."
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Rarity exclaimed. "I'll tell Twilight immediately so she can work on a time for you all to work on the event."
Rarity then left to go to Twilight's.
"So, I assume Annie told you all about it?"
"Yep. It's an interesting idea, having us plan the event that brought our parents together is a great one."
"Well, I suppose I should get ready. See about some ideas for it. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly." Claire stood up and began upstairs.
"...and you jinxed it..."
Sugarcube Corner
Cotton Candy beamed with the biggest smile her mother had ever seen her muster at the news.
"you want me to help plan a party?" The very pale, pink and white mained mare asked with excitement only rivaled by her mothers.
"You know I do!" Pinkie replied.
"Oh! But I've never planned a party before!" Cotton realized. "And my first real party on this scale? What if It's too much, or I mess up? or... or..." She was cut off by Pinkie,
"That's no problem. And you wanna know why? Because your mama just so happens to be the best party planner in all of ponyville. Just a quick crash course before the bug day and you'll ace this thing!"
"You really think so?"Candy asked, now being on the fence between total confidence and a complete lack off faith.
"I know so! Right after I tell Twilight that we're in, I'll give you a crash course in partyoligy!"
As her mother always said, "Yeah! Let's do this thing!"
Cloudsdale
"I mean, I would if I could... But I have things to do." Claimed Prism Bolt. The dark-blue colt with his mother's mane was always like this.
"Like what?" Dash Inquired. This was nothing new to her, for as long as she could remember, her son was on the lazier side.
"Like... Homework. Yeah, Homework."
Prism was never a very good liar, either.
"Prism... It's summer."
"Uh..." Prism had dug himself into a hole with that one. "It's... extra work that I forgot to do."
"Uh-huh. Prism, you need to be more active with things like this."
"Why should I care about this? It's a pointless celebration you six made up so that you would have a holiday for... What again? Meeting each other?"
"It's more than the ix of us 'meeting each other.' It's about us becoming the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. And that's rather important to all of Equestria if you ask me."
"Why is it so important to Equestria? The elements haven't existed for years now!"
"Because there are ponies out there who are old enough to remember, and it's a lot of ponies. This is to celebrate the start of an era for Equestria. Just like the Summer Sun Celebration did with Celestia and Luna."
"Okay then, why don't you guys do it if it's so important?"
"Because we love you all and want you to learn valuable lessons."
"Why should I care about doing this with those other six anyways? I've only met each of them once in my life."
"You know who else would have said something very similar?" Prism had heard this one before, with many things. "Twilight. And now look at her. Look at us. And it's all thanks to us taking action and responsibility on this day twenty years ago. I don't want you to just live your life sitting around and practicing your flying. Yes, flying is important but there's more to life than it. So please, just go out there and try."
Prism sat silent for a while. He had to process the lecture that Dash had given him. No doubt she learned how to do that from Twilight all those years ago.
"...Fine."
"Thank you. Now I'll go see what Twilight wants you all to do and when."
Sweet Apple Acres
"It's been ten years?" Golden Delicious asked. AJ definatley wasn't expecting that response.
"Uh, yeah. Guess I wasn't expecting ya to ask that, but ya remember the last one?"
"Oh yeah, ah only remember it vaugely though. I remember there bein' fireworks?" The orange colt seemed to have a rather tough time remembering details. He was only a foal at the time.
"Yeah, lots of em'. Twi took care of those if I remember right. Even ah'm starting to lose the memory of it."
"Ah guess that's what ten years will do to ya. But I'd love to, I'll just have to clear some things off since this is a rather unexpected development."
"Don't worry about anythin' around the farm. I'll find others to do your jobs for ya." AJ looked back and remembred when Del wouldn't even eat applesauce.
"Alrighty then, that clears it up a bit. Just tell me when it's happening and what we're doin'."
"Ah sure will. I'll head to Twi's now since I've gotten most things done. I'll be back tonight and tell you everything."
Canterlot Castle
Everypony had arrived at about the same time, with the odd exception of Fluttershy and Twilight, the former of which said she'd be there shortly.
"So Dash, how much hassle was it to get Prism on board?" Rarity asked, knowing very well of Prism's... Habits.
Dash chuckled, "I still don't think he fully is."
"Well, that is why we all decided to have em' do it this time, right?" AJ Asked. "To teach em' a valuable lesson, like what happened with us?"
"That is what I remember." Added Pinkie. "But I'm sure my Candy will do just fine."
Twilight finally arrived as Pinkie said that.
"I'm sure they'll all do just fine in the end. It's getting there that will be difficult."
"Even Star? How does she seem to feel about it?" Rarity again inquired.
"Star doesn't seem like she's all that on board with the idea. But I remember when I was the same way with Celestia when I first came down all those years ago. How time flies."
"While getting Prism to actually show will probably be the toughest part of the day for me,I think you're right, Twilight. All they need to do is give it a shot and I'm sure that they'll end up fine.
The anniversary of Harmony
Ponyville Castle
Twilight had let the seven use the library in her castle to work on planning.
Everypony arrived eventually, with Prism arriving last, having to be taken over by Dash after sleeping in.
Though, Star may have been almost as much of a hassle to get over as him if she didn't live in Ponyville half of the time.
Once they were all in the library, sitting around a table, there was a moment of awkward silence.
"So then," Star began. "what kinds of ideas did any of you have for the event? I know it's being held in Ponyville town hall if that helps."
"Ooh! I have some!" Candy announced.
"Well, what are they?"
"I think we should have a whole lot of fun things! Like streamers, confetti, snacks, punch, music, games, lots of balloons, and, to top it all off, a great big cake!" Candy listed off rapidly, ending with a smile.
She really is Pinkie's kid.
"Yeah. That sounds good. Anypony else?"
"Well, I remember the decorations in town hall being done by Rarity," Annie mentioned. "So we could recreate some of that for the night. I think Rarity especially would like it."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea." T complimented.
"Yeah, sounds good," Star replied. "Any more ideas?"
"Well, there could always be an airshow," Prism mentioned.
"Lead by you I'm assuming."
"Well, yeah, of course. I'm the best flyer in the room."
"Up against some stiff competition I see. But okay, we can see about doing that somehow."
"I could help out with the decorations," Claire offered. "For obvious reasons."
"I would very much appreciate that, Claire. Thanks," Annie said.
"And I ould help by makin' some of the snacks Candy was talking about." Del offered.
"Aw, thanks Del. We'll need everything you can get us!" Candy said.
"Okay, fantastic. Was that everypony?" Star asked.
"Well, everypony except for you. What are you going to do for the anniversary?" Annie asked.
"Well... I could see about helping set up the royal guard organization."
"I suppose that works..."
"Yes, it does. Does anypony else have ideas?" The room kept quiet. "In that case then, I suppose we're ought to go out and do what we need to and get this done with."
Everypony stood up and sorta mumbled something like "Alright," or "I guess, okay," And headed home to work on their given tasks.
Three Days Later, Ponyville Town Hall
Everypony had been working very hard on their tasks. Star showed up last due to 'princess duties' and took a look around the area and didn't see much outside.
She head inside to see what work was like on the decor and party supplies Annie and Candy were talking about.
And was immediately, somehow, shocked.
There were ornate banisters just like the ones that night hanging from the roof, two snack tables that ad exclusively apple themed snacks and tablecloth, all with the overlay of a party.
"What happened here?" Star asked.
Del was standing at one of the snack tables organizing the snacks. "Well I was asked to bring snacks and ah figured that I may as well also bring some tablecloth to go along with em'," He explained.
"So then what's with all the party decorations? This looks like when Pinkie threw my birthday 8 years ago."
"Well, I was talking about all the things I'd bring, and you were okay with it," Candy explained, seemingly coming out of nowhere.
"What? I never- And what's with these banisters and ribbons? This is like three separate events going on at the same time."
"Well, we said that we'd make it look like it did that night, 20 years ago," Annie explained, walking over from the center stage.
"You had no problem with it and so we all just went along with that we agreed on," Claire added, talking from the stage.
"What? I expected- Wait, where's Prism?"
"Ah think he's out back doing whatever it is with the air show thing," Del explained.
"Okay, we'll get this all sorted, but I'll go check on Prism," Star said as she turned around and walked out and behind the town hall.
Star looked around and couldn't see Prism or anything else to do with what he talked about.
Until...
Woosh!
Prism whipped by. Star followed him and watched him doing random tricks in the air. What was he up to?
"Prism! Hey, Prism!" She yelled, getting his attention.
Prism flew down and landed, "Do you like what I've got so far?"
"What do you have so far?" Star asked. From the looks of it, he was just flying for fun.
"The airshow, of course. Do ya like it or what?"
"You're... flying around doing random stunts. I that supposed to be the airshow?"
Prism was taken aback. "It's a set series of grand stunts done with care and elegance. Can you not see that?"
"No, not really."
"Fine, then what do you want me to do?"
Prism wanted Star to tell him this? Why did everypony talk about how 'she seemed okay with it.' Since when was she put in charge?
Star thought back to what her mother said when she asked: "In that case, what do I do?"
Twilight had told Star, "All you have to do is make sure it all goes smoothly. And I know you'll be able to do that."
That's when Star realized, everypony talked as if she was in charge, probably because that's what Twilight had told them all... And told her.
"Uh, Star? You gonna say anything?" Prism asked. Star realized that she had been zoned out for a little there.
"Uh, yeah." Star boggled her mind for ideas. There had to be a reason that Twilight thought she was most suited for the task. And then it came to her.
"Instead of a tangle of stunts, I think you should instead wait for Twilight and the others to finish whatever it is they're going to do, and then fly up from behind the town hall, using that rainbow trail you leave behind to make the moon back when Luna was banished to it, and when that 's faded, cycle all their cutie marks in that location, finishing with the sun and moon together. I think that would be a wonderful tribute to what I've heard of those events." Star explained. After that, she felt energized, who knew that she could take charge like that...
Twilight knew.
Star was grateful to have Twilight as her mother at that moment.
Prism just stood in shock.
He blinked and could finally muster a reply.
"Wow... Okay, yeah. That sounds like a good idea... okay yeah I'll do that."
Prism then few off to train himself on the routine which had become much more elaborate than before.
Star watched him fly off and could only think: "Okay, let's do this again. Not like that, like this."
The anniversary of Harmony
No, not like that. Like this.
Ponyville Town Hall
Star walked back into the town hall, thinking about potential solutions for the problem at hand.
They still had until the beginning of the next day to fix everything. Hopefully, that would be exactly what happened.
"Alright everypony, I can tell that things aren't going as planned at all," She said.
"Really? I couldn't tell," Claire sarcastically remarked, walking over from the stage.
Star shot ger a glare. "...Anyways, as I was saying. I may have some ideas for how we can fix this and get things organized and ready for tonight, so that way it's not a disaster," Star announced.
"Well, I think we would all like to have anything but this," Annie commented.
"Yeah, I can tell. But let's try and put this behind us and get something better together."
"In that case, what did ya have in mind, Star?" Del asked.
Star would have a near-complete revision of the entire setup. The first step was to fix the clashing of theme within the building. Instead of having three separate events look like they're taking place at the same time, it would all try to be close to the original decor.
The apple tablecloth was instead replaced with one covered in stars and the Mare in the Moon.
A wider range of snacks beyond apple was added.
Rather than the birthday party decorations that Candy had put in, she would get dark blue balloons and cover them in white dots. Which would cover the ceiling, making it look like the night sky.
The changes weren't very big, but they sure made a difference.
And finally, after the changes were made, everything looked to be finally like a proper event for the anniversary.
Later that night
It was only an hour or so before sunrise and the anniversary events were to begin at this time, just as they did every year.
Everypony was outside the Town Hall, with Twilight and her friends standing center stage, and Star and hers off to the side, chatting amongst each other.
Twilight was having a speech about the importance of the day to her friends, as well as all of Equestria, but the seven had all heard it before.
Right after the speel was finished, Prism flew off to begin the airshow, which went along exactly as envisioned.
While Prism was cycling through the cutie marks, Twilight gave Star a wink. Maybe she knew this would happen all along.
After the show was over, they reenacted that night's events as best they could, what with them only being written down nine years after they happened and Mayor Mare's recent passing.
As everypony headed out to the Everfree forest, the seven opted to stay behind.
As they ran off, Twilight announced: "Come on everypony!"
But Star and the other stayed behind, thinking "No thanks. I'll spend the rest of the night with my friends."
Author's Note
I liked the idea that every ten years, the mane six would have an event held for the night when they first used the elements. And I thought that lended itself perfectly to the Kilalaverse. I'll be making more fics like this, 3 act stories that play almost like an episode of the show. I like what Kiala did with the snippets in the comments of many of her pictures, so I expanded on it.
If only she were still interested in the universe she created.
