"Oh wow, I can't tell you how good it is having Ponyville back to normal!" Rainbow declared as she eagerly chugged down a large chocolate milkshake. Her friends all giggled to this ravenous display, all while carefully sipping their own drinks. Well, with the notable exception of Pinkie Pie, who was downing hers even faster than Rainbow was. And speaking of the latter, after wiping away some stray chocolate from her lips, she looked around, smirking at her surroundings. "Can you just imagine how twisted Discord was in the head to turn our homes into...whatever it was all that was supposed to be?"
The others nodded, fully agreeing. The incident with Discord's chaotic rampage through their town was indeed a difficult time for them, but now, things were back to normal. Ponyville was safe yet again, and everypony was looking happier than normal as they passed each other by in the streets, no doubt relieved that this bizarre situation was behind them. Twilight and her friends were off to the side, sitting outside together at the town's local café. Twilight herself, taking in a deep breath, sighed with contentment as she looked to her fellow ponies. "I'm just glad it's behind us now. Discord is a statue again, Equestria is safe, and we can all just relax for a bit."
Pinkie, by contrast, seemed somewhat deflated. "Awwww, it would have been nice to have chocolate rain just a teensy-weensy bit longer!"
Fluttershy leaned over, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "Chocolate rain always sounds good, but it would be quite a mess to clean up afterwards."
Pinkie looked to her, then to Rarity, who spoke next. "Indeed. One can only imagine how difficult it would be for me to stage my outdoors fashion shows with that kind of weather as a constant."
Applejack chuckled shortly afterwards. "Well, ah'm jus' happy we get a moment like this to ourselves. Say what ya will about Canterlot, but ah much prefer jus' bein' in a quiet place like this." Then she realised what she'd said, and looked over with a blush to Twilight. "Erm, no offense, sugarcube."
Twilight giggled. "None taken. I know Canterlot's not for everypony. Heck, why do you think I chose to live here all this time?" The group had a good laugh at that, ended only when the nearby waiter gave them all replacements for the drinks they'd finished. Twilight gave him a thankful nod, and only after seeing him leave did she make a start on hers. "In any case, I'm just happy we did what we did. Saving Equestria once was certainly an experience. But twice? Definitely wasn't expecting that."
Rainbow chuckled. "Meh, what can we say? Guess heroism just kind of our thing."
Twilight raised an eyebrow to that, but before she had a chance to refute that point, she was distracted by the sound of approaching footsteps, and ones she knew well from years of having lived with their owner. She smiled, turning to see that it was indeed Spike here. "Glad to see you here, Spike. Care to join us? I can call the waiter back to get you a drink if you like."
But Spike shook his head, smiling to her. "Thanks. But I'm not actually here for that. I just needed to tell this colt here where to find you."
Only now that Spike had said that did Twilight and the other mares notice that, yes, he did have a young colt walking right next to him. He couldn't have been any older than Apple Bloom, possibly a touch younger, and he bore a light blue coloring in his fur with a mop of unkempt dark-blue mane atop his head. And as he looked to them, he was grinning widely, like he was looking at the most astonishing thing he'd ever seen in his life. The way his voice wobbled as he spoke to them certainly added to that notion. "Um...hi. M...my name's Blue Sky."
Twilight smiled to him, turning in her chair to be able to face him fully. "Well hello there, Blue. Can we help you with something?"
Spike tried to hold back a laugh, prompting Twilight to look to him with confusion, after which he waved her off. "Trust me, this is gonna be good."
Twilight, of course, had no idea what he was going on about, but instead looked to Blue, who took a nervous step forward. "Um...well...I'm from Canterlot, and when my Mom said she was coming here to visit a friend, I asked if I could come along."
Twilight nodded. "Okay. What for?"
Blue gulped. "Well...er..."
Then Spike, who rolled his eyes, nudged him in the side. "Go ahead. Ask her. It'll be fine."
Twilight looked from her faithful assistant to Blue, growing more and more confused as to what was going on here. After a while, and after taking a deep and calming breath, Blue reached into the saddle-bag he'd been carrying with him and pulled out what appeared to be a quill and parchment. He took a step closer to the older unicorn and after gulping loudly, offered it to her. "Could...could I get your autograph?"
Now, if ever there was a statement that was going to take Twilight aback, it was that, as she slowly blinked to the young colt before finally managing to get some words out. "Um...pardon?"
Blue blushed a little. "I'd...I'd like an autograph, if it's okay. You don't have to if you don't want to!" he hurriedly added.
But Twilight shook her head. "No, it's just...I'm sort of surprised. I mean, why would you want my autograph?"
Blue looked to the others. "And from them too, if they're okay with it."
Twilight tilted her head. "But...why?"
Blue stared at her, looking utterly flabbergasted that anypony would ask such a question. "Because...you're Twilight Sparkle! Twilight Sparkle and all her friends!"
Twilight nodded. "...Yes?"
"You helped beat Discord!" Blue added.
"...Yes," Twilight confirmed again.
"Well...that makes you a hero" That makes all of you heroes!" he said while looking to each and every one of Twilight's friends. The latter mares all looked to one another, sharing in Twilight's apparent surprise at this unexpected situation. Blue, for his part, was becoming increasingly confused about all this. "Don't...don't you all know you did something really great for Equestria?"
Twilight smiled to him. "Oh, we do. It's just...well...I wasn't expecting somepony to just...come up to us like this."
Hearing that, Blue's ears drooped slightly, and he looked away from her. "Oh. Well, if you don't want to..."
But before he got the chance to finish, he was suddenly surprised when Twilight used her magic to levitate the quill and parchment out of his hoof. He looked back to her, eyes wide, as she smiled to him. Taking the quill into her hoof, she put down her name, making sure to get her signature just right of course, before offering it back to him. "Well, far be it from me to deny the request of our very first fan."
Blue looked like he was about to explode with glee over that, and when Twilight offered him the parchment again, he eagerly accepted it, looking to it with the same kind of excitement a colt his age would usually reserve for opening a Hearth's Warming gift. He leapt into the air, laughing giddily, prompting a smile from all the mares watching. Then, when he finally came back down to the ground, he rushed over to Rainbow. She already knew why he was with her now, and so gave a quick cackle. "Heh. Sure thing, kid." And just like that, Blue had his second autograph. "You're friends are gonna be so jealous when you go back home with this thing."
But barely had Blue got the parchment back when it was taken from him again, this time by the blue magical aura of Rarity, who cleared her throat before adding her own signature to it. "One must always make time for their admirers. Especially the polite ones."
Pinkie was next, who giggled as happily as she usually did before putting her respective mark on it. "You know, a fan is just like a really devoted new best friend when you think about it. SO HELLO, NEW BEST FRIEND!!!" she screamed out, much to Blue's delight.
Fluttershy came afterwards, and while she was her usual calm and quiet self while writing, she nevertheless smiled to Blue when she gave the parchment back to him. "Thank you for your appreciation. I honestly wasn't expecting it."
Chuckling, Applejack was the last to add her name, and as she wrote, she glanced down with a sly look to Blue. "It's always nice when folk are willin' ta say 'thank ya' fer a good deed. Yer a good'un, Blue."
Now with all six names, Blue looked to the parchment like it was the most precious treasure in the world. He did his best to contain his excitement, but his youth finally managed to let that excitement loose, and he rushed forward, catching Twilight in a surprise hug. "Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"
His enthusiasm was infectious, as all of the mares smiled to this youthful display of joy. Twilight, after Blue had eventually parted from her, eventually reached forward, patting him on the head. "I imagine you've got quite a story to tell your mother when you see her next." Blue himself squealed loudly over this whole encounter, then began to run off, with words of "thank you" being called back with every passing moment. After a while though, he was too far away to see, and Twilight looked back to her friends. "Well, that was certainly interesting."
Rainbow leapt out of her seat. "Heck yeah! You hear that, girls? We're heroes! Bet you anything we're gonna have tonnes of ponies knocking at our door for autographs!"
Fluttershy let out a little "meep" over that prospect, with Rarity holding her close soon afterwards. "Don't worry, darling. She's just exaggerating."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "You serious? Where there's one fan, there'll be more!"
Applejack tapped her own chin, looking where Blue had run off. "Ah know we did somethin' big fer Equestria, but ah never thought we'd have ponies comin' up ta us ta ask us stuff like this."
Pinkie giggled. "It'll probably happen a whole bunch now, AJ! If Princess Celestia called us once to save the word, she'll probably do it again someday! And then we'll be even more famous and popular!"
Twilight looked to her, then back to the road Blue had run down. Spike sat beside her, taking hold of the milkshake she'd long ago forgotten about and giving a quick slurp. Looking to him, Twilight smiled, giving him a pat on the head much like she'd done with Blue. "Pinkie's not wrong. Things changed when we first acquired the Elements. They're part of our lives now, which means there's every chance that world-shaking events like Discord or Nightmare Moon might happen more and more in our future."
Her friends looked to her with concern. "Do you really think so, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked nervously.
Twilight sighed. "I'm honestly not sure, Fluttershy. But if it happened once, or twice in our case, then it can happen again." It gave them all pause for thought, even Spike, who looked to his lifelong friend with worry. But after a while, Twilight started to smile again. "Still, on the plus side, at least we know we'll get ourselves a few admirers out of it," she remarked jokingly.
Laughing, Rainbow raised her glass. "I'll drink to that!"
