G5 Adventures in Garfield's Fun Fest

Our heroes were well on their way with their journey.

After arriving in the mystical forest, the Mane 6, Garfield, Odie, Diamond Heart and Jasmine Wildbloom met a beautiful rainbow butterfly named Shimmerwing, who offered to guide them to Freddy Frog’s magic pond.

However, not even a minute or two after this, they encountered a squirrel named Stan, who taught Garfield and his friends that in humor, it helped to be honest with your audience, and once they had shown this, the squirrel let them pass through the curtain and through the forest again.

Zipp and Sunny silently agreed that there would be a lot more things for Garfield, as well as everyone else, to learn on this journey. But… what else they would be taught was a mystery all its own.

XXXXXXXX

As our heroes passed through the forest, they walked along the trail, they noticed some dancing flowers with big smiles on their faces. “Wow…” Diamond said with eyes full of wonder. “I had no idea that flowers could be so… so cheerful!”

“They must be pretty happy about something,” Pipp said as she took some pictures. “Reminds me of one of those old black and white cartoons Zipp and I would sometimes watch when we were fillies.”

Zipp groaned at this, her ears pinning slightly. “Like you had to remind me.”

Soon, they came across a fork in the road, where Garfield pulled out the map out of confusion. “This isn't getting any easier,” he said to the others as Jasmine peered over his shoulder. “The map doesn't show a fork in the path, just this bear.”

“But why would they have a bear on the map but not a fork in the road?” Hitch asked as he looked at the map. “Yeah...” Zipp muttered with a nod, tapping her chin with her hoof. “Something about this just doesn't add up.”

“Uh…” Misty interrupted the silence with a fearful tone in her voice. “G-Guys?”

The others finally glanced up from looking at the map, and their eyes grew wide at what Misty had been staring at-- a gigantic brown bear growling at them, causing the Mane 6 to assume fighting positions while Diamond and Jasmine gulped and Odie and Garfield resumed looking at the map, the latter speaking out of fear. “It's only this big on the map!”

The bear growled at them a bit more, causing Garfield, Odie, Jasmine and Diamond to scream and cling to each other while the Mane 6 prepared to attack until…

…the bear pulled out some playing cards and held them out. “Pick a card, any card.”

“Hold it,” Hitch blinked while the rest of the group remained confused. “So… you’re not gonna eat us?”

“Not if you pick a card,” the bear answered cheerfully. “Oookay…?” Garfield cautiously picked one card from the deck before pulling back quickly, leaving the bear to put the rest of the deck away. “What card did you select, sir?”

“The seven of diamonds,” Garfield said, showing the card off. “You, sir, are absolutely correct!” the bear then exclaimed excitedly. “Give it up for the bear. Go, bear! Go, bear! How does he do it? It’s a gift!”

“That was amazing!” Izzy said, having enjoyed the magic trick even if nopony else did. “Okay, okay,” said the bear, “one more.”

“Well,” Sunny said with a bit of hesitancy in her voice, “I hate to say it, but we’re kind of in a hurry here.”

However, the bear chose to ignore this and proceeded to make several different shapes with his paws, like a fist and a V shape. “Viola!”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Garfield said sarcastically while the others looked confused, but played along anyway. “Just one more,” the bear said. “I’m on a roll!”

“Junior!” another voice called out nearby. “Yes, Mama?” the bear, now known as Junior, called out as his mother emerged from the bushes. “Come to dinner,” she said, “and let these nice ladies and gentlemen go on their way.”

“Aww, Mama…!” Junior instantly pouted. “Come on, or your berries will get cold,” Junior’s mother said sternly before turning to the group. “You kids headed to the magic pond?”

“How did you know?” Jasmine asked with wide eyes of amazement. “Everybody who comes here wants to drink the funny water. If you ask me, people rely on that stuff too much,” Junior’s mother explained. “Being funny should come natural, like with my Junior here.”

“Oh, he's something, all right, but not all of us can be as hilarious as Junior,” Garfield responded. “Uh, speaking of the magic pond,” Misty said, trying to be polite, “could you tell us the quickest way there? We’re on a bit of a time crunch.”

“Well, I suppose Junior could show you,” Junior’s mother said before pulling on her son’s ear. “And you come home, you hear?”

Junior nodded rather quickly at this. “Okay, Mama.”

Junior's mother hummed to herself as she retreated back into the bushes for dinner, causing Garfield and Zipp to turn to Junior once more. “Okay, Junior,” Zipp said, getting out her FlyPad in order to take some notes. “Do we go right or left?”

“To get to the magic pond tonight,” Junior recited, “follow your heart, and you'll always be right.”

“Uh...” Pipp blinked. “Say what now?”

“No no no,” Garfield immediately shook his head. “Don't do this to me, Junior.”

“Oh, I get it!” Diamond smiled. “It’s a riddle!”

However, Garfield was not amused. “I hate riddles.”

“I love riddles!” Junior said optimistically… just before his mother called through the forest again. “Junior! Dinner!” she rang out. “Gotta go! Bye, guys!” Junior exclaimed before running off to join his mother, leaving the group alone again. “Well, that practically left us with nothing to go on,” Zipp groaned, becoming irritated. “Man… I love a good riddle, but not when we’re on a strict time limit!”

“Okay… let’s think about this for a minute,” Sunny said as she thought out loud to the rest of the group. “To get to the magic pond tonight… follow your heart and you’ll always be right. That HAS to mean something.”

“It’s pretty obvious there, Sunny,” Garfield said before pointing to the right path. “I guess we go right.”

“Uh-uh…” Odie singsonged. “No?” Pipp blinked out of confusion. “What else could Junior have meant, Odie? ‘Right’ was literally in the riddle!”

Odie zipped up to the sign and then pointed to the left side of his chest before pointing to the left path, then back to the left side of his chest again. “Huh…” Diamond said in thought, thinking she understood what Odie was saying. “You're saying that since our hearts are on the left side of our bodies… then if we follow our hearts, we gotta turn left! Do you really think it's that simple?”

Odie simply nodded excitedly at the para-phrasing, but as Zipp began to protest... she stopped upon thinking it over for a few moments. “You know… that actually DOES make sense when you think about it. And hey, since we’re on a bit of a deadline, I guess it’s worth our best shot.”

“Okay,” Garfield shrugged as they turned down that path. “Let's hope this is quicker than that crazy squirrel and his curtains.”

As the gang went left, Junior saw this and celebrated to himself-- they had solved the riddle really fast!

Now, the rest of the journey was up to them, and with little Shimmerwing as their guide nothing could get in their way...

...at least... that's what they hoped.

XXXXXXXX

Meanwhile at the comic studio, the auditorium was being set up for Fun Fest. Seats were formed and the stage turned into that of an elaborate setting, seemingly made from that of a school play. However, as Charles began to run through the final rehearsals, he noticed that one act was missing. “Where’s Garfield?”

“I’m not sure,” Arlene answered back with concern. “Well, I’m making up the list of acts,” Charles said, looking at the clipboard he was holding, “and…”

“Just schedule him for the end,” Arlene then interrupted. “I'm sure he'll be here in time.”

“And hopefully,” whispered Lily worriedly to Cobalt, “the others will be back with him by then.”

“But, he's supposed to be the master of ceremonies!” Charles pointed ou to Arlene. “We start in one hour! Who are going to get to host?”

“Well… I think Lily and I could try and do it,” Cobalt volunteered with a small smile. “We’ve been watching Garfield rehearse for it for a while, and I think we’ve got it down.”

“No offense, kids,” Charles said gently, “but I think we could use someone else with a little more… experience at these sort of events.”

“All right then…” Lily sighed irritably. “Who did you have in mind?”

“I could not help but overhear,” Ramone said, approaching with the tip of his hat. “I would be honored to be master of the ceremony.”

But as Ramone chuckled, Lily and Cobalt couldn’t help but feel rather nervous. Not only was Ramone planning on stealing Arlene from Garfield, but also his Fun Fest winner title and the roll of Master of Ceremonies!

Lily sighed worriedly and glanced around. “Garfield, Jasmine? Wherever you guys and the others are,” she said, “you need to hurry! Oh… where is Nermal to scratch my ears when you need him? He knows that always calms me down!”

“I’m sure everything is gonna be fine, Lily. Trust me,” Cobalt said, trying to reassure his friend in this desperate situation… when the real pony he needed to reassure was himself.