The Legend of Friendship - Harmony

18. Friendship

In the gardens of Canterlot Castle...

Ashgray, who got hit by the Elements of Harmony turned to stone. Princess Celestia thought it would be best to keep him close. The garden in front of her castle in Canterlot was a good place. Summershine, Happytrade, Brilliance, Crash, Lightbeam, and Nightsky were watching when Princess Celestia placed the stone statue, which previously was Ashgray, on an open spot in the garden.

Nightsky couldn't help but get a bad feeling about this. "Is it really such a good idea to leave him here?" The stallion asked.

"I agree," Summershine added. "What if he turns back to normal? He would be dangerously close to you, Princess Celestia," he pointed out as he looked at the princess in concern.

But Princess Celestia confidently shook her head. "He won't. The Elements of Harmony were what turned him into this. He won't be able to escape, trust me,"

It almost sounded as if Princess Celestia was talking from experience. Summershine half expected that some of the statues that were scattered around in this garden were created like this. One of those statues looked like a mix of a pony and all sorta different creatures. He played around with the thought that this thing could have been some evil creature that needed to be stopped by the Elements of Harmony as well. But of course, he had to admit that his imagination was running a little too wild. It must have been because of how the rest of the day was stressing him out so much.

Lightbeam took a look at Ashgray. Her face showed a frown. "I feel bad for him. Was this really the best outcome? Couldn't we have found another way?" She said after she turned around to face her friends.

"Yeah," Crash replied with a frown on his face as well. "I mean, he just pretended to be our friend but I feel really bad for turning him to stone. I know I wouldn't want that happen to me," the stallion said.

But Princess Celestia was making sure that the ponies would not regret their decision. "I know it was a difficult choice for you all," she said, again most likely speaking from experience since she had to banish her own sister to the moon. "But in order to keep Equestria safe, this was a sacrifice that was needed. Ashgray was dangerous and needed to be stopped, especially after he planned to destroy the Elements of Harmony,"

Summershine quickly remembered his previous task from the princess. He and his friends still needed the Elements of Harmony to fight Nightmare Moon once she returns so having them destroyed was not an option.

"Ashgray," the princess mumbled under her breath while being deeply in thoughts.

This caught Summershine's attention. "Your majesty?" He asked.

The princess then shook her head. "It's no use...I can't remember," she then said with some frustration in her voice. Once the group was looking over to her, Princess Celestia felt the need to explain herself. "Ashgray...he seemed to know me," she said.

Lightbeam could only chuckle after hearing that. "Of course he does! Who doesn't know the ruler of all of Equestria?" She figured.

But everypony else knew that this was not exactly what Princess Celestia meant. "No," she replied. "This pony seemed to know me...personally. The way he spoke to me...it was like I did something that caused him to end up the way he was..."

"And, you can't remember?" Crash asked confused.

Princess Celestia shook her head again. "He knew about the Tree of Harmony, the Elements of Harmony, and Winterglow..." she mumbled to herself. With the exception of The Elements of Harmony, the other two things sounded new to everypony. Not even Brilliance could enlighten the group about those things. Again, Princess Celestia explained.