Dusky Rose was sitting at the edge of the balcony with a book in her hoof. She was gazing at the stars in the night sky when a familiar voice came from behind her.
“You wanted to see me, mother?”
Dusky Rose turned around to see her young daughter standing in the doorway to the balcony. “Yes, Rose Blossom. Earlier today you said that you still didn’t want to go to the Friendship Festival tomorrow. Why?”
Rose Blossom approached her mother. “It is a silly festival that will only distract me from my studies. It is pointless to go if it interrupts me from what I should be doing.”
“It would seem to me that you still have things to learn about friendship. There is no better place to learn than at the Friendship Festival.”
“Mom,” Rose Blossom said with a long face, “I have friends.”
“Yet you didn’t join them when they invited you on the school field trip a few weeks ago, did you?” Dusky Rose asked with a pointed expression.
“Well,” Rose Blossom said with a frown as her head dropped, “no.”
“You have been doing this more often since the start of the school year. Haven’t you?” Rose Blossom nodded in silence to Dusky Rose’s observation. “Friendship is something best learned by experiencing it, not by studying books about it.” Dusky Rose slid the book that she had in her hoof down in front of Rose Blossom as she said, “Let me show you something.”
Rose Blossom looked at her mother cockeyed. “You are going to show me something about friendship with a book after you said that it is best learned by experiencing it rather than studying books about it?”
Dusky Rose smiled, “You wouldn’t believe me if I had simply told you this story.” She pointed at the book. “This is no ordinary book about friendship. It is a one of a kind book that can only be found here at the Castle of Friendship. It is the Book of the Magic of Friendship.”
Rose Blossom’s eyes grew wide as she gasped at what her mother said. She looked down at the book and brushed the golden silhouette of a unicorn on the cover as if the old, rugged book would fall apart at any moment. With care, she opened the cover to the first page and whispered the only words written on them, “Once upon a time.”
She turned the page over and froze with a gasp at the moving illustrations that the next pages held. After watching for a moment, she turned the page again to a new set of moving illustrations. After watching the illustrations on the pages before her, she looked up at her mother amazed. “This is the magical memory book that tells the story of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s journey to becoming the Princess of Equestria.”
“Yes,” Dusky Rose said with a smile. “Only two other memory books exist in all of Equestria because of the extreme magical requirements that go into making them: one each to Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Sunset Shimmer. The reason I brought you to see this book is to show you that when Princess Twilight Sparkle was a young unicorn she wasn’t too different than you are in how she saw friendship.”
“But she is the Princess of Friendship,” Rose Blossom pointed out.
“She wasn’t always the Princess of Friendship,” Dusky Rose said with a grin.
With Rose Blossom's doubtful look, Dusky Rose turned to the next page in the book. Dusky Rose pointed a hoof at the top picture on the next page. The picture had a young unicorn Twilight walking when three other ponies approached. They briefly talked before Twilight bolted off.
“I do not run away from my friends like that.” Rose Blossom contested.
“Not exactly like that, no. You don’t join them for any events though, do you?”
Rose Blossom quietly looked down at the book. Her eyes stopped at the bottom picture of the same page. It had the young Twilight in a room full of books going through them looking for a particular book with a young Spike helping her.
“Like young Twilight, you are avoiding your friends for books. Wanting to learn is admirable but it isn’t worth throwing away everything else for. Friends are just as important.”
Rose Blossom looked up at her mother with a flat expression, trying to hide how annoyed she was. Dusky Rose’s only response was to point back at the book with a knowing smile. Rose Blossom’s eyes returned to the book, going to the top picture of the next page. In the picture, Twilight and Spike were in a chariot landing in a small town. The picture underneath that had Twilight and Spike meeting Applejack and the Apple family.
After a brief moment, Rose Blossom turned the page over to four more pictures. Three of the photos were meeting three ponies; Rainbow Dash entering the town square, Rarity inside the town hall and Fluttershy outside of town with her chorus of birds, while the last was a large group of ponies greeting Twilight and Spike in a library.
“This is how she met her closest friends,” Rose Blossom observed before turning the page once more to see four more pictures. The first started with Twilight alone in a bed with her head under a pillow.
“And yet she…” Rose Blossom’s voice trailed off as she watched the scene in that picture continue until it ended and started over. She watched it a few more times in silence before raising her eyes to her mother and asked, “Does she miss those friends?”
Dusky Rose stifled a chuckle before responding. “I asked that very question many years ago on this very balcony when I was one of Princess Twilight’s personal aids. She misses them a lot every day.” Dusky Rose raised a hoof to her daughter motioning Rose Blossom to approach, “Let me show you something.”
Rose Blossom took a seat by her mother as Dusky Rose raised a hoof to point above the horizon to what, at first glance to Rose Blossom, looked like an empty part of the night sky.
“Do you see those five stars?” Dusky Rose asked.
As her mother asked the question Rose Blossom could make out five stars roughly in the shape of a circle, the top of the circle missing, with the same color to them as those five friends that she saw in the book.
“Yes,” Rose Blossom replied.
“That is Orbis Amicitia. The Circle of Friends. A constellation of stars Princess Twilight made in memory of her friends. One day she will groom a successor and step down, letting that successor take over. When that happens, Princess Twilight will then join her friends wherever their journey took them.”
Shocked by this revelation, Rose Blossom turned to her mother and asked, “Princess Twilight will die?”
“Just like Celestia and Luna did a long time ago, so will she when she chooses her time. If she gets to make that choice.” Dusky Rose said with a soft smile.
“But I don’t want her to die,” Rose Blossom said with growing concern.
“Relax dear,” Dusky Rose said as she gave Rose Blossom a reassuring hug, “I don’t think that Princess Twilight is going to go anywhere any time soon.”
They both turned their attention back to the five stars and sat in silence.
After some time, Dusky Rose spoke up, “Princess Twilight created the Friendship Festival from the Festival of the Two Sisters the year after Princesses Celestia and Luna passed. Before that, the festival was the Summer Sun Celebration.”
Rose Blossom turned to her mother and asked, “Does Princess Twilight have any friends now?”
“Of course she does,” Dusky Rose said with a laugh before looking back at the five stars, gaining a solemn attitude. “But, new friends can never replace her old friends and how much they meant to her. She only has three friends left from those times. Spike is still her Royal Advisor, but he is getting up there in age. She has her niece, Princess Flurry Heart in the Crystal Empire. Finally, she still has Princess Sunset Shimmer ruling Equestria with her. Those two will do everything for each other.”
Dusky Rose then looked at her daughter, “The Friendship Festival is a reminder to every creature of what friendship is and how powerful it can be. Each year the princesses give a speech giving examples of how friendship has made, not only Equestria but the whole world a better place. That is why I want you to go to the festival tomorrow. So, are you willing to go to the Friendship Festival tomorrow?”
Rose Blossom looked away from her mother to five stars in the sky and sighed. After a moment, she looked at her mother with a smile, “Yes.”
The Friendship Festival was winding down, as it was getting late in the afternoon. The banquet hall had about half of the creatures still in it. Rose Blossom was one of those still around and she finally found what she was looking for: one of the princesses. Rose Blossom approached Princess Sunset Shimmer, who was wearing an elaborate dress and standing next to a dessert table. With the princess were two guards and a pony. Rose Blossom stopped a few feet away from the four of them as they turned to her.
“Umm, Princess?” Rose Blossom said as she bowed.
“Yes, my little pony, how can I help you?” Princess Sunset Shimmer said with a smile.
“Umm. I…” Rose Blossom hesitated as she rose from her bow, “I was wondering if I could see Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
“She has retired for the night to prepare for herself for royal duties,” the Princess said. Yet as disappointment became clear on Rose Blossom’s face the Princess continued, “What would you like to see Princess Twilight for?”
With a low voice, Rose Blossom replied, “I was hoping to talk to her about how she started making friends when she was young. Last night my mother showed me how she struggled with it in a similar way to how I am now. I was hoping that I could ask her for some advice.”
Princess Sunset smiled. “Well, I can grant you an audience with her,” she said as she grabbed a plate from the dessert table with her magic. “I don’t know that she will be able to give you much time,” she said as she filled the plate with several treats from the dessert table. “But I think these will buy you more time,” she said as she approached Rose Blossom with the plate in her magic. “She loves them, trust me,” she said with a wink and a big smile as she laid the plate down on Rose Blossom’s back. “Now, go to one of the guards standing at the base of the stairs and tell them that I sent you to deliver these treats to Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
Rose Blossom crept to the guard, trying to keep the plate on her back from falling off as she went. As she got closer, she could see the guard glaring at her. The guard’s piercing gaze made her look away. Yet looking away wasn’t enough as she could still feel the guard staring at her. By the time she stopped in front of the guard, she felt as if she was no bigger than a speck of dust. She took a moment to breathe before she spoke up.
“I was told to take these to Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
The guard looked over Rose Blossom for a moment before returning their intense gaze to her. “I will take you to the stairs that will take you to her room. Follow me.”
The guard led Rose Blossom through the castle at a comfortable pace. They stopped at a spiral staircase. The guard turned to Rose Blossom and gestured to the stairs, “This is your staircase miss. Be careful on your way up.”
Rose Blossom was excited as she started climbing the stairs. She was going to get to meet Princess Twilight Sparkle in person. She had to focus on keeping the plate balanced on her back as she went through, which was only slowing her down. When she finally agreed with her mother to go to the Friendship Festival last night, it was with this very goal in mind. Somehow, it worked and she got a chance to meet Princess Twilight.
She stopped at the door to Princess Twilight’s room. With great care, as to not disturb the plate on her back, lifted a hoof to knock on the ornate golden doors. Before her hoof touched the stone floor, the door opened up. The room had no light inside and was illuminated only by the light from the stairway behind her. A large bed dominated the center of the room. The end facing the door had an elaborate carving. Canterlot Castle was in the middle. The left half was an engraved night scene with Princess Twilight’s cutie mark in the top left corner. The right half was a day scene with Princess Sunset’s cutie mark in the top right.
In the shadows to the right, she could make out a dresser. Six geodes, of different colors to the one Princess Sunset was wearing, twinkled in the dim light atop the dresser. To the left of the room was a desk. On the far side of the desk was an open door that led to a balcony. On the edge of the desk were three large books stacked on top of each other.
“Come in,” she heard a call from the other side of the open door that led to the balcony.
She slinked through the dark room to the balcony door. There was enough light that she could see the cover of the top book of the stack. As she passed the desk she took a closer look at its cover. There were five symbols. Two of them she recognized as the cutie marks of Princesses Twilight and Sunset. The other three she didn’t recognize at all. They were a purple and white star with jets, a crystallized tree, and a pair of bug wings.
She continued to the open balcony door. She paused at the entrance when she saw Princess Twilight sitting there with a gentle smile, looking right at her. Her golden hoof boots, chest piece, and crown still gleamed in what light remained of the evening light. Her mane and tail waived as if blown by a wind that was not otherwise heard or felt.
“Hello, my little pony,” the princess said.
“Hi. I...” Rose Blossom stammered in hesitation before thinking about the plate on her back, “Somepony suggested I bring these up with me. They said that you would love them.”
Princess Twilight picked up the plate with her magic and set it down beside her, gasping when she saw what the treats were. Small bowls of various puddings. “Oh, I do. Thank you. Come and join me. Have a few yourself if you would like.”
With the invitation, Rose Blossom sat on the other side of the plate of Princess Twilight. She only took one of the bowls after the princess grabbed one of her own, “Thank you, Princess.”
They each enjoyed their pudding in silence. Rose Blossom observed Canterlot before her while the princess enjoyed her pudding in silence. The princess finished her bowl first and turned to look at the young pony before her. “You requested to see me?”
Finishing the bite in her mouth, Rose Blossom turned her attention from Canterlot to the princess. “Yes, Princess,” she said, “My mother wanted me to come to the festival today.”
“I take it then that you did not want to come?” Princess Twilight asked.
“Mmm muh.” Rose Blossom admitted, trying to finish the last bite of her bowl.
“Why did your mother want you to come?”
Rose Blossom gulped down the last bite as she turned to look at the constellation that her mother had pointed out the night before. With a sigh she said, “My mother says that I have been ignoring my friends too much for my studies. She wanted me to come to the festival and hear the speeches that you and Princess Sunset Shimmer give each year. She thought it would encourage me to spend more time with my friends.”
Princess Twilight followed Rose Blossom’s gaze to the stars that she created in memory of her friends. She smiled wistfully as she said, “Those speeches we gave aren’t why you wanted to see me tonight.”
“No,” Rose Blossom admitted, “Mother also told me about you. How, when you were young, you also ignored friendship for your studies. I wanted to talk about that,” Rose Blossom then looked at Princess Twilight, “If you don’t mind that is, Princess.”
Princess Twilight looked at Rose Blossom with a smile as bittersweet memories of her long passed friends ran through her mind, “I would love to. Anything in particular you would like to ask?”
“Well,” Rose Blossom paused before looking down at the plate of pudding, “How did you change so easily?”
“It was anything but an easy change,” Princess Twilight said, “Please, have more pudding and make yourself comfortable.” Princess Twilight took a thoughtful glance at those five stars. She closed her eyes, sighed and looked back to Rose Blossom, “I have a long story to tell you.”
