"Oh yeah! Can you believe it?! We actually went and beat Nightmare Moon!" Rainbow declared, doing a quick somersault in the air.
Fluttershy giggled. "I know, and I never thought I'd ever do something as brave as that!"
"You betcha, Fluttershy! And what's more, we get a whole new Princess out of it!" Pinkie added, hugging Fluttershy soon afterwards.
"Indeed, darling. Equestria will definitely never be the same again after today," Rarity mused.
"Heh, ah'll say! That were quite the adventure, eh Twi?" Applejack asked, turning to their latest friend.
Twilight smiled at the five mares before her, and then to the rest of the party. Princess Luna, despite her recent recovery from the dark powers that had made her into Nightmare Mon, nevertheless seemed to be settling in nicely to the festivities, with her older sister Celestia beside her the whole way. As for Twilight herself, she glanced upwards, looking as best she could to the Element of Magic that still adorned her head. "It was definitely an experience. And one I never expected to have when I left Canterlot."
Rainbow cackled, landing right down beside her and tapping the lightning-shaped jewel on her own Element. "You know it, bookworm! We're bucking heroes now!"
"Rainbow! Language!" Fluttershy said to her.
A blush on Rainbow's part. "Oh, sorry. But can you blame me? I mean, come on! We just brought out an ancient magical whatever to beat a monster of legend! You can't tell me you're not the least bit pumped about that, right?" The looks the other mares gave her certainly seemed to confirm that remark, leading to a smirk on her part. "See? Told ya!"
Twilight too giggled, then again considered the Elements. She had seen their power, and it was through her newfound friendship that it had been made possible. A being that mothers told their children at night to get them to behave was real, and she had been vanquished. And so her mind turned, to the horizon, to other possibilities, and she began to wonder. But as she did so, she felt a familiar hoof upon her shoulder, and looked up to the smiling face of Princess Celestia. "I'm so proud of you, my student. You have accomplished so much his day. And all of Equestria owes you thanks."
Twilight smiled to her. "Thank you, Princess. And I'm truly grateful to you for having asked me to come here. None of this would have been possible without your decision to send me to Ponyville."
A knowing smile came to the Princess. "Oh, I like to think I made the right call, and you certainly seemed to have shown that it was. My sister is returned to me, the Elements exist once more, and Equestria is at peace." She sighed. "I imagine you'll want something of a rest yourself after all this?"
Then, to her surprise, Twilight shook her head to that, all while maintaining her smile. "Actually, I've come to an important decision. I'm actually going to keep going."
Celestia paused here, blinking once, before asking the obvious. "Um...keep going? Where?"
Twilight pointed to her Element. "The Elements of Harmony are real. Nightmare Moon was real too. Equestria is filled with myths and legends like that, and if two of them can turn out to be real, then why can't others?"
Celestia laughed a little. "Oh, Twilight, you needn't worry about such things just yet."
Again, Twilight shook her head. "Apologies, Princess, but as the new wielders of the Elements, my friends and I have an important responsibility to uphold now. Whether mythological or otherwise, Equestria will be facing its fair share of danger, and with this power, it's up to us to see it through to safer times!"
Rainbow, having heard that, grinned wildly before zipping on over to stand by her friend's side. "Oh yeah! Now that's the kind of thing I'm talking about! Let's go be heroes again!"
The other mares soon joined her, along with Spike, who looked up to her with slight worry. "Are you sure about this, Twilight? It's a big world out there. And it could be dangerous."
Twilight smiled to him, giving him a friendly pat on his head. "I know, Spike. But so was the Everfree. If we can make it through there, we can make it anywhere." She turned to her companions. "And we'll do it together."
Pinkie bounced with glee, giggling happily. "Yay! Friendship squad is a go!"
Celestia looked with understandable concern at the decision being made, and so put on a smile, speaking calmly to her apprentice, closing her eyes before doing so. "I realise you must feel quite emboldened by your victory, but you needn't rush things, Twilight. Let things take their proper course, and you will find a rich reward of lessons and virtues that can be learned and enjoyed. True, you could go out now, use the power of the Elements to vanquish evil wherever you face it, but there is so much more to life than fighting evil and being heroes. There are the little things too. Things like learning to appreciate the flaws your friends have. Learning to enjoy moments of fun and calm and..."
"They're gone."
Slowly, Celestia opened her eyes, turning to see the somewhat deadpan face of her sister looking up to her. "Er...what?" Luna, smirking to her, pointed to where Twilight had been, and as Celestia looked over there herself, she discovered, to her shock, that the six mares were now gone. Spike was there though, and after looking to the left and right, the tiny dragon blushed and just gave her a wave, before finally realising that he should have followed the others. After seeing him run off to join them, and then standing in that spot for a time, Celestia sighed. "...They just up and bolted soon as I gave my speech, didn't they?"
"Oh yeah," Luna replied.
Celestia placed her hoof upon her own forehead. "Well, guess Equestria's got a brand new band of roaming heroes then."
As she stood there, pondering that new state of affairs, Twilight and her friends had already run so far away that they were practically outside of Ponyville entirely, big grins over all their faces. "Yeehaw! Let's get to it, girls! There's a whole lotta Equestria out there, an' only the six o' us!" Applejack shouted out.
"Quite! One can only imagine what other horrors might be lurking at the periphery to feast upon ponies when they least suspect it!" Rarity considered.
"Um...we'll be able to handle it, right, Twilight?" Fluttershy nervously asked.
Twilight smiled to her. "Don't worry, Fluttershy. If we can beat Nightmare Moon, we can beat anything!"
Rainbow smirked down to her. "You know, I heard a rumor that there was a hydra living in a swamp nearby. Maybe we can check it out?"
Twilight's eyes widened, and she giggled. "Perfect! A good warm-up before we go on to tackle the bigger fish!"
"There's bigger fish?" Pinkie asked.
"There's always a bigger fish!" Fluttershy responded with uncharacteristic slyness.
The mares, as well as Spike when he finally caught up, all laughed together, charging forward into the sunset, their Elements glowing brightly with the empowering feeling of their shared friendship and devotion to save Equestria from whatever menace it could face. And Twilight, leading them on, charged faster and more determined than any of them. "Look out, evils of the world, here we come!"
A long time had passed since Twilight and her friends had set out with their goal, and barely a day could go by before the local newspapers would report on some great accomplishment they'd done. Seems taking it upon themselves to be the ones to solve all of Equestria's problems had jump-stared a veritable wave of successes, triumphs and astounding feats of heroism and bravery. Equestria was abuzz with chatter over what those six mares and their little dragon friend would do next, and what golden age their selfless acts would bring about. Celestia, sitting at her breakfast table, casually sipped her tea as she glanced through the morning papers, reading every headline she could. And all of them, you guessed it, had a picture of Twilight and her friends. She sighed as she read the latest one. "Ponies rejoice as the Friendship Squad take down a Kraken off the coast of Manehattan. After-victory party photos on page seventeen."
"You know, you could be happy about all this, Tia," Luna said at the other end of the table. And when she was sure she had her sister's attention, he continued. "Ponies are happy, monsters are being stopped before they start, your apprentice is getting closer with her friends with every victory, it's everything you could have possibly hoped for."
Celestia slumped into her chair, pouting slightly, before looking to the nearby wall. Upon it were a collection of other newspaper articles featuring her beloved student. Twilight and her friends save small village from dragon. Twilight and her friends expose Changeling wedding plot. The Friendship Squad ceases hostilities between Hoofields and McColts. What's next for Friendship Squad? The last one featuring a big photo of Twilight and her other six friends standing triumphant over the "elemented" and limp body of some massive otherworldly horror. Though proud, Celestia couldn't help but feel down. "I'm happy for her, I am."
Luna arched an eyebrow. "Buuuuuuuuuut?"
Celestia's cheeks puffed up in a display that could only be described as adorable. "But...I had this whole plan and everything! It wasn't supposed to be awesome adventures all the time! I was meant to be slow, small moments of lessons and everyday troubles! I had this whole thing about her learning to be a respected leader for Equestria!"
Luna blinked, looking again to the newspapers. "You mean...like she's already sort of doing now?"
Celestia blinked, blushing slightly. "Well...yeah...but..." Then, after it all, she just slumped into her chair again. "Honestly, what's even the point of coming up with intricate and years-long plans if nopony's gonna follow them?!"
Luna giggled, then stopped as a nearby servant walked to her, delivering a letter. Luna took it, and after opening it, she smiled to her sister. "Ah! Good news, Tia! Seems Twilight and her friends will be visiting us here in Canterlot."
Celestia's eyes widened, and she leaned forward, her face full of hope. "Really?! Has she decided to settle down after all these adventures and successes and finally have a quiet and fun day?"
Luna shook her head, almost amused by this whole scenario now. "Nope! Turns out there's a Diamond Dog army gathering in the caves beneath Canterlot, and the 'Friendship Squad' is coming over to sort them out before they start a coup or something."
Celestia's eye twitched, and she again slumped into her chair, burying her face in her hooves. "You know what...let's just go and give her the flippin' crown when she arrives."
Luna giggled. "Agreed. I think retirement would suit you right now."
