Ch. 2: The Friendship Festival

"YES!" yelled Rainbow Dash as she shot through a large group of clouds. "Sky's cleared and ready for the festival." Then she shot back down to the terrace where the stage was being set up. Pinkie Pie was on the side blowing up balloon animals and had just finished one that resembled Discord when, out of nowhere, it started deflating and flying away pushing Pinkie away from it. Quickly, she gave chase as Fluttershy was tuning her songbird choir, which the balloon promptly shot through.

"Heads up, Fluttershy," said Pinkie as she jumped across the rails, scaring off the birds. "Out of control ballooooon!"

Fluttershy let out a breath of relief as she saw the last bird still there was still okay. "I don't think it's the balloon that's out of control, Pinkie Pie," she said.

"Hey Y'all," said Applejack as she trotted up with a cart of cider casks. When Pinkie and the balloon almost hit her, she just ducked and let them shoot over her head. "Anypony up for some free samples of my family's apple cider?" This sparked Rainbow Dash's interest as she always loved the Apple Family cider.

"Thank you!" she said quickly, zipping past and grabbing the mug from Applejack's hoof. Then she shot back and put it back where it was. "Loved it!" Applejack was surprised as she looked into the mug and saw it empty.

Over near the stage, Rarity was humming while centering a diamond-shaped gem in a bow on the side of the gem.

"Wow Rarity," said Applejack. "It's a fine job yer're doin' there." Then she looked down the stage and saw she had only finished one bow. "'Course it might not get done 'til after the concert."

"Applejack, Darling," said Rarity. "Anypony can do 'fine'. Twilight asked me, so clearly she's going for fabulous. And fabulous takes time."

"Fabulous takes forever," said Rainbow, clearly bored. "But awesome…" Then she shot around the stage, loosely setting up the same bow and gem decorations, even tying Fluttershy up in one. "Can get done in four seconds flat. Faster if I do my Sonic Rainboom."

"Aah! Nono, oh no! Don't you dare, Rainbow Dash," said Rarity, looking at the decorations. "It looks wretched enough already!"

"Oh come on, it's fine," said Rainbow.

"If you were raised in a barn!" said Rarity, before she caught her words and cleared her throat. "No offense, Applejack."

"None taken," said Applejack as she filled up flagons of cider, all of which Rainbow Dash quickly emptied. "'Specially since I wasn't raised in a barn. My family just happens to have a barn. Where I was born. And… spent most of my formative years…"

"You were raised in a barn!" said Rainbow quickly as she emptied another flagon.

"Okay, just 218 more things to do and we're ready," said Twilight, stressing over her checklist.

"Hey Twilight," said Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy.

"Hello Spike," said Rarity.

"Uh, hi Rarity," said Spike as he gave a nervous chuckle and blushed.

Sonic let out a wolf whistle as he slid up. "Am I detecting a little bit of a crush factor here?" he asked sarcastically. Then he looked at the others who had all stopped dead in their tracks upon seeing him. "Howdy. Sonic the Hedgehog, nice to meetcha."

"Uh…" said Rainbow weirdly.

"Relax girls," said Twilight. "He's with me."

"Oh okay," said Applejack as they all unfroze. "So how'd it go with the other princesses? They like your idea?"

"I bet they loved it!" yelled Pinkie as she kept chasing the balloon.

Twilight sighed. "Not exactly," she said. "They think I can make today perfect without their magic."

"And they are absolutely right, darling," said Rarity as she retied a bow and recentered a gem that Rainbow had failed to set up. "This festival is your brilliant idea, and we know you're up to the task."

"But what if I'm not?!" asked Twilight terrified. "What if Songbird Serenade hates the stage?! Or nopony makes a new friend?! And if I failed the festival, then who am I?!"

"You do realize that's a worst-case scenario, right?" asked Sonic.

Then Pinkie hopped up and smooshed her face into Twilight's. "Twilight. Look at me," she said seriously, pushing Twilight down into the pavement. "This will be the biggest celebration Equestria has ever seen! As the Princess of Friendship, you cannot fail! This day will define who you are! The pressure is intense! It's almost too much for any single pony to handle!" Then she let out a huge scream and drew the attention of basically everyone in the square.

"Okay, so do you not understand sugarcoating things or what?" asked Sonic.

"What do you think I just did?" asked Pinkie. Sonic just stared at her dumbfounded. Then she hopped back to the others. "But you have us! So stop worrying!" Then the ribbon around Fluttershy fell, Rarity went back to work, Rainbow Dash burped and Spike ate the gem from Fluttershy.

Musical Number – We Got This Together

"Can we worry now?" asked Sonic. Then Applejack grabbed Twilight off the ground.

Applejack: It's time to show 'em what you've got

Rarity: It's time to go and get things done

Fluttershy: But you don't have to do it on your own

Pinkie: 'Cause you've got friends right here to make it fun

Mane 5: We got this
You got this
We Got This Together

Then Rainbow grabbed Twilight, Spike, and Sonic off the ground and flew them up past the clouds as she and the Wonderbolts cleared them away. Then they all swooped back down to Fluttershy's little petting zoo in the plaza.

Rainbow: Sometimes the pressure gets you down
And the clouds are dark and gray
Just kick 'em off and let the sun shine through

And scary as it seems
More help is on the way
'Cause friends have friends that wanna help out too

Rainbow and Wonderbolts: We got this
You got this
We Got This Together

Crowd: It's the Festival of Friendship
And we can get it done
A festival that they won't forget

A party to be proud of
A day of games and fun
Just you wait and see
A magic day in perfect harmony

Fluttershy: You got this

Bird: (whistles with melody)

Fluttershy with bird whistle accompaniment: We got this together

Then Applejack and her family rolled in and started setting up a huge banquet. Sonic had a taste of the applesauce and instantly backed off until he poured a whole bucket of sugar into it, mixed and tried it again. "Perfecto!" he said.

Applejack: With friends and family, you are never alone
If you need help, we've got your back
You can be honest, let your problems be known

Apple Family: 'Cause you got us to pick up the slack
We got this

Big Mac: "Eeyup!"

Apple Family: We Got This Together

Rarity was lining the stage with diamonds until Sonic sensed energy coming from one of them. He saw Spike moving to steal it until Sonic smacked his hand away from it and took it, revealing it to be the light blue Chaos Emerald. Then Rarity slid Spike a gift basket full of gems, which he promptly dug into.

Rarity: Pay attention to the details
Every gem even-spaced
Make the colors perfect

Spike: Takin' one or two to taste

Sonic: "No! Bad dragon!"

Rarity: Inside and out, beautiful throughout
Generosity is what we're all about

Spike (Mouth full): You got this

Rarity: You got this

Both: We Got This Together

Then Sonic ran up to the top of a tower next to where Twilight had flown. "You okay?" he asked. Twilight sighed and explained in song before the two started coasting on a river in the east courtyard.

Twilight: Today needs to be perfect, it all comes down to me
I don't know if I'm ready
For all the things they need me to be
I am the Princess of Friendship
But that is more than just a crown
It's a promise to bring ponies together
And never let anypony down!

Pinkie: We got an awful lot to bake
Each pony needs a piece of cake
Oh, wait! There's something better we can do.

We're gonna need some more supplies
To make a really big surprise
She'll be so shocked – she's sure to love it too!

You got this!
We Got This Together

All: It's the Festival of Friendship
Together we are one
A day we will never forget

And now everything is ready
So when the day is done

Rainbow: The weather

Applejack: The banquet

Rarity: The style

Fluttershy: The music

All: All will be in perfect harmony!

Then Sonic saw a shadow rising above Twilight. He looked behind her and saw a huge light blue cannon going upward. Then five huge layers of cake shot out of it. "Incoming!" he yelled and bolted. Twilight, unfortunately, wasn't so lucky as she was trapped under all five, yelping in pain as they hit her. Then the cake dissolved into a big pink puddle of frosting.

Twilight stuck her head out and looked behind her angrily. "Pinkie!" she yelled. Then a lit candle fell and hit right on Twilight's horn. Then Pinkie stuck her head out of the cannon.

"Oopsie!" she said. "Guess my easy-bake confetti-cake cannon needs a little bit more fine-tuning."

"Ya think?!" asked Sonic. Twilight just nickered and blew out the candle. Then the ponies surrounding them started freaking out.

"Songbird Serenade!" said one. "Is it really her? It is, it is!" Then the crowd parted to reveal two ponies who looked like they belonged in the Secret Service along with a Pegasus mare with a huge head of twin-colored hair over her face. One half was blonde, the other was black, and she had a huge bow in it along with her black clothes.

"Hiya," she said. "I'm looking for the pony in charge." Then Photo Finish shot in out of nowhere and took shots from several angles. "I need to set up for my soundcheck."

"Wow," said Sonic. "The best of timing, the worst of timing huh?"

"Uh, Songbird Serenade?" asked Twilight slipping out of the cake. "Um, I was just going to check on you." Then she gave a nervous laugh. "I'm Princess Twilight, and sorry about the mess. I'm usually not so…" Then she accidentally splattered some of the cake onto Songbird's jacket.

"Caked in… cake?" she asked. Twilight gave a nervous laugh. Then the two guards started talking to each other through earpieces.

"You have visual on buttercream?" asked one.

"Visual confirmed, go for cleanup," said the other as he scrapped it off with his hoof.

"Okay, that's two more concepts that apparently mean absolutely nothing in this universe," said Sonic, taking notes. "Basic physics and overkill. I think I'm starting to like this place."