Years Thereafter

"I KNEW IT!" Rainbow Dash says with a leap into the air. "Yes! I still got it! It took forever to figure it out, and honestly, I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get it off the first flip, but still. I WAS RIGHTTTTT!"

Twilight smiles a little bit and motions towards Rainbow Dash with a hoof. "Rainbow, I'm happy that you're happy, but this IS still the dinner table." She smiles, feeling a massive weight off her shoulders, regardless of her earlier mood. "I'm sure you all have many questions, so let's make sure this doesn't get out of hoof. One at a time, please?"

"That's asking a lot, darling. You dropped probably the biggest piece of drama and gossip you could have. Not to mention, you have kept this a secret for an entire year now." Rarity says, taking a little breath and trying to restrain herself.

"Then we should probably do this. Rainbow Dash goes first since she's most likely to not want to wait. Then Cadence and Shiny and finally anypony else." Twilight says after a moment.

The rest of the group nods and settles down, Rainbow Dash gladly taking the lead. She did feel like she earned it anyway.

"Normally, I'd be a bit upset, but this is so COOL! You founded the Wonderbolts, right?!" Rainbow Dash asks almost immediately, standing up from her seat again.

Twilight giggles a little, nodding in affirmation. "Sure did. Ah, it was so long ago that I can hardly remember it. It was sometime after we dissolved the legion after Flash Magnus and the others disappeared. I suppose that's pretty recent, all things considered, though. Still, they started off as a military detachment. I don't actually know when Celestia shifted their focus to what they are today."

Celestia blinks as she shifts her head from underneath Twilight's massive wing. "It was only about 1200 years ago. So, not long after you left. The only threats that existed were the Changelings since you did, ahem... Eliminate Grogar."

Twilight nods. "Well. That was a group effort. Still, worked out in the end. He won't be back anytime soon, if ever."

Rainbow Dash is stunned for a moment. "You... You knew Flash MAGNUS?!" She says excitedly as she leans even more forward on the table. "He's a legend! Like one of the Pillars of Equestria level of Legend!"

Twilight laughs. "Magnus?! Flash Magnus, is that famous here? He was kinda a dork back when I knew him. But that does make sense. He was a hero in his own right, so I GUESS I can give him a pass and say he fits the bill."

Cadence chimes in after a moment. "Did you know any of the other Pillars of Equestria Twilight?" She says with increasing interest that it was still on topic, so she doubted Rainbow would mind the intrusion.

Twilight sits back. "Uh... Honestly, I don't know who would have counted as that." After a second, Celestia whispers into Twilight's ear, causing her to perk up. "Oh yeah, no, I knew them all. Starswirl, especially for a while there, never meet your heroes is all I gotta say about that one... And since I know you're all super curious. Let me just go through them all."

Twilight shifts in her seat, and after making some paper, ink, and a quill appear, she begins to draw with her enchanted quills, each drawing a beautiful sketch of each of the Pillars. "Let's start with the leader, Starswirl. He's a jerk. That's about it."

Twilight then tosses said page over her shoulder. "Here we go, Flash Magnus. As I said, he had a good heroism stroke in him. It made him a little reckless, but he pulled through for everypony else."

Applejack chuckles. "Kinda like Rainbow. Cool." She says with a nudge to Rainbow's side.

Twilight giggles. "You'll find plenty of parallels between each of you. We even credited them for creating the elements so no pony would try to look into how they were made."

Celestia nods. "Mhm. It was a good cover story for that mess."

Twilight nods and taps her chin. "Mage Meadowbrook was a healer who discovered several cures for diseases that not even magic could heal. Yes, I know. Look, healing magic does exist. It's just dangerous to use, considering how thin magic has become. Medicine works. Anyways, she didn't care who needed help. She would give it out all in the kindness of her own heart. Just like Fluttershy."

The group all smiled at Fluttershy, who was curiously listening to the story. Twilight continued to speak after a moment. "Unfortunately, I didn't know the rest too well. Somnambula, Mistmane, and especially Rockhoof didn't really... Like me much." She mumbles a bit. "Honestly, fair on their part, though. Very fair."

At this point, Twilight was expecting another question, but with the silent stares of her friends, the nonverbal question lingered in the air. After some awkward silence, Twilight nudges Celestia a little bit before deciding to answer the question. "During that era, harmony and friendship had really taken off. After all, Unity was, as far as everypony knew, gone. Discord vanished to places unknown. The only thing left from that era was me and a few other leaders. Just uh. I was unique in that. I was the last creature of that era. I actually killed somepony. Sure, that was bound to happen throughout my lifetime, but well. That's something those three didn't understand, and honestly, I don't expect any of you to either. It was a different time, but there's still no real excuse. Especially as the Princess of Friendship."

Spike chimes in quickly. "Well, uh. Aside Sombra. Right?"

Twilight giggles. "Sombra isn't dead, Spike. The elements don't kill things. They banish or seal them. He's probably just sealed away in his own horn or something weird that got buried underneath the snow. Hopefully it stays that way. Still, that's why I didn't wanna talk about this stuff. I really do feel like I betrayed everything I was. But it was a trade, I guess. Princess of Friendship for being a mom to my daughters. I wouldn't have had it any other way."

There is a bit of silence, but Applejack is the first to speak. "Well, I can't say I agree with those methods n stuff, but as long as ya don't instantly resort to violence here and now, I don't think ah have the right to judge ya."

The rest of the group nods, although Shining Armor is still quietly watching his sister, having not said a single word yet.

Twilight laughs a little. "Relax. I might be out of touch, but."

After a moment, Twilight taps her chin and stares at the table. "Well, that's why we have Sunset at least. Look, I'm going to be completely honest with you, the last time I solved things entirely without violence was over 5000 years ago for me. Why do you think I don't come with on adventures much anymore."

Celestia is the first to perk up. "You don't go out with your friends anymore?"

Rainbow Dash instantly jumps on before Twilight can respond, "That's why you haven't come along on any friendship missions?! Because you're afraid you'll mess something up?"

Twilight smiles awkwardly. "That and I just wanted to relax. I did manage Equestria completely solo for several millennia. There were other heroes, don't get me wrong, but in the end, it was mostly me and... oh?" Twilight jerks forward as something collides with her free side. Looking down, she sees Shining Armor hugging her side.

Shining hugs Twilight's barrel tightly, holding onto her tightly. "You must have been so terrified at the start, Twilight. I can't imagine what it'd be like to be thrown into something like that without preparation."

Twilight silently leans a bit into her brother. His little act warmed her heart more than any fire could. "It was, uh. Well. Terrifying would be an understatement. I didn't expect the spell to work in the first place, and when it did, I ended up in jail. Then, I planned the first Grand Galloping Gala. I almost got executed... The King and Queen died because of poisoning. I got to adopt two adorable fillies, but I had no experience caring for them. I almost died like... every other day." Twilight leans forward and holds onto her head, not having thought about this stuff. In the past, her life consisted of constant action and movement, with little to no breaks. Taking care of the well-being of hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of ponies, taking care of a family.

Cadence and the rest of the group gasped. Cadence asked with bated breath after a moment, "What? Why would anypony want to kill you?!"

Twilight shrugs. "I dunno, you stop asking after the 20th time. It's not like the royal guards or even the guardship were any good back then. The nobility were there waiting to take power if the monarchy went down. It took generations to finally stabilize everything. That was just barely the beginning."

Shining armor holds onto his sister, clinging to her a little. "Well, it's alright. You're back now, and your big bro will make sure that you stay safe as much as he can. Sides, Equestria isn't half as bad as it sounds like it was, so you'll be safe."

Twilight laughs a little. "Equestria is basically perfect at this point. Thanks to this one and her sister." She says as she nudges Celestia, who's actually gone back to eating, a little embarrassed at herself for her earlier actions. "Celestia and Luna have both done a great job. Sure, there are a few things I'd have done differently, but in the end, they did basically perfectly."

Celestia blushes and looks away after hearing that. "Well, it would been upsetting if we couldn't keep up after asking you to leave. Even though we REALLY didn't want to, you did teach us well and enough." She says with a sigh. "Although we did still mess up more times than I can count. Sorry again, Sweetie." Celestia says as she gives Sunset a nuzzle on the forehead.

Rarity smiles and looks at Twilight. "Well, I'm sure you made a lovely Queen, Twilight. Out of everypony here, aside from the obvious, I couldn't think of anypony else who'd be able to handle such an important and difficult job."

Twilight breaks out in laughter. "Oh dear Faust, no, I sucked so much at it. Like I was TERRIBLE. Raising a family while also running a country? Do you know how many times I had to fight my kids? Twice! Technically, we did spar once before the big war, and there was the mind control incident. Not to mention, Celestia and Luna almost died at one point and were hospitalized for about six days after the entire Raident Empire thing. I nearly turned the world into a wholly cutie-markless and nonfree will, anti-fun zone. Celestia basically gave up her magic to stop me."

Celestia winces. "It was worth it, though. I don't regret it."

Twilight stares flatly at Celestia, sighing. "Don't act like it was okay, Celestia. You should have never had to go through that."

Celestia smiles awkwardly. "Well, at least it's mostly healed. I may not be able to cast ancient magic, but not being able to do anything but raise the sun would have made things super awkward when Luna was banished."

Pinkie Pie leans in. "No wonder Princess Celestia lost to Nightmare Moon then! It's like trying to bake a pie with one hoof behind your back!"

Celestia winces a little as she thinks back. "Yes, well, normally, I would have just put Luna into a bubble and been done with it, but when it comes to conducting magic, my sister is much better at it than I am. Even though I did avoid my horn being entirely rendered useless thanks to a certain Phoenix, the damage to my actual magic was done. After the Spirit of Magic left me, I became pretty pathetic magic-wise."

Twilight shrugs. "You're still much stronger than the average unicorn Celestia. Why did the Spirit of Magic leave you anyway?"

Celestia coughs a little and hums, "Why did they... Uhhhh... I dunno! Maybe they had something better to do? I dunno!" She says with an awkward, guilty sip of her drink.

Twilight and the rest of the group stare at Celestia. Most of the group just takes in how normal Celestia seems. Gone is the presence of an indomitable, perfect princess with an awkward adult who's had trouble growing up properly in its place. It causes plenty of mental whiplash for the group. Twilight, on the other hoof, along with Cadence, both stare at Celestia with the same stare, one that wordlessly says 'Seriously?' in the loudest gaze possible.

"OKAY FINE. I sorta... Had to give it up to use all six Elements of Harmony at the same time." Celestia says after a while. "I couldn't beat my sister even with the Spirit of Magic. Which is horrifically embarrassing, alright? I didn't expect Luna to practice that much..." She mumbles quietly.

Twilight giggles after a moment and gives Celestia a nudge with her hoof. "It's fine. She's your sister. No need to get competitive again." She sits back and leans back gently into Shining's hug. "Thanks, Shining Armor... I really appreciate the emotional support."

Shining doesn't move... and it's revealed that the young father is completely asleep. Twilight and Cadence both laugh a little at that revelation. Twilight then says after a moment, "You two really don't get much sleep, right? Luna was only a few years older than Flurry when I adopted her, and I BARELY got any sleep even then, mostly because of bed monsters. I can only imagine how it is with a baby."

Cadence slumps after a moment. "It's utterly exhausting."

Twilight nods and, after a moment, motions to Cadence and Shining. "You two should get some sleep while you can. Don't worry about being a host; I'm sure the others have a million more questions. Then we can keep chatting in the morning."

After a little more convincing and some effort, Cadence and Shining make their way to their bedrooms. With some help from Twilight, Shining can be transported without waking him up. Twilight and the rest of the group sit down in the reading room. Celestia and Sunset sit together, with Sunset relaxing underneath Celestia's wing. Twilight is sitting alone on a pile of pillows, or at least she attempted to do so, but her daughter and granddaughter sat with her immediately, preventing her from getting that sweet, sweet, soft, comfy spot.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group settled into couches, beanbags, or cushions, each relaxing in their own way. As they all settled, they quickly changed gears and looked at Twilight.

Rainbow Dash breaks the verbal silence, raising her hoof as she says, "I know this might be rough, but I think we all have the right to know. Why'd you keep this a secret for so long? When Celestia and Luna told us ages ago, we were kinda expecting you to tell us about being Queen like... three months in."

Twilight sputters a little, "Well, uh. I kinda just wanted to enjoy things as they were. Being Queen is cool and all, but I did do some horrible, terrible things as Queen, and I really didn't wanna like... alienate myself- WAIT." Twilight doesn't even ask for clarification. She immediately looks over to Celestia, who, to her credit, is already halfway out the door before she's dragged back in by Twilight's magic.

"NOOOOOOO! THEY WERE WORRIED I COULDN'T SAY NO TO THEMMM!" Celestia says as she's dragged back into the room, having almost made it out as she's pulled back inside.

Twilight smiles as she holds Celestia underneath one of her wings. "Anyways, it was mostly just me being scared of how you'd all react."

Fluttershy smiles and says, in response, "I think we all know that you're still Twilight, and we care about you all the same, even if you're a little more spooky or different." She nods.

The others nod in various stages of agreement after a moment.

Rarity taps her chin. "Actually, I think we would all appreciate something else too. How about the full story?"

Twilight coughs. The idea of doing that has Twilight on edge. After all, that story is long! "That's a big ask! It'd take all night to get through even half of it!"

Applejack tilts her head. "True, but come on, sugar cube, somethin' bout it clearly bothered ya enough where you kept it a secret this long. It'll do ya some good to talk about it."

Twilight nervously smiles. "Sure, I'll tell ya, but don't hold anything against me. You all asked for it."

The group nods. After all, everypony is curious about the story at this point. With a little sparkle of her horn, Twilight makes some hot chocolate appear for everypony to sip on, beginning to recount her time in the past. Initially, she starts off relatively light. After all, her time at the start of her misadventure was not too bad. The gala went well. It wasn't like she was in any significant danger, either. Her time spent with Celestia and Luna was terrific, and the only real thing hanging over her head was execution, which, in retrospect, she could have easily avoided.

At the end of the initial story, Rarity chimes in with a few questions, raising her hoof to get Twilight's attention. "Why didn't you just come back? If what you're saying is true, you were stronger than the ruling King and Queen."

To her credit, Twilight takes a moment before answering the question. It's not an easy question either, having had thought about that before. "Because I didn't know what they were capable of. Firstly, Eclipse and Solace never showed their power in front of me, and even after their death, I couldn't just up and leave when they asked me to protect their daughters. Eclipse basically had me watch 24 hours a day. It was safer just to go along with it and bite the bullet. After all, I was supposed to stay for only two months initially or something like that. After they were assassinated--"

Twilight takes pause to rest her wing on Celestia's back. Twilight doesn't talk about Celestia's birth parents with Celestia nearly ever, so this conversation dredges up bad memories for the Sun Alicorn. "Afterwards, I missed the return window, so I was stuck there for a minimum of a year. I just didn't realize how much longer a YEAR was back then. By the time the next return window showed up, I was already several hundred regular years old since the spell's relativity enchantment took my 24 years at the time and spanned them across 24 alicorn years instead."

The confusing magical theory goes over most of the ponies' heads to the point where even the unicorns have trouble processing it due to the difficulty and insanity of such a spell. Sunset, on the other hoof, was able to get the jist after a moment, and of course, Celestia was well aware of the dangers of time travel now. Starlight especially had direct experience working on such a spell, but even she was momentarily confused. "Uh... can we get that in non-Twilight speak?" Rainbow Dash asks after a moment.

Twilight thinks quietly for a moment. "Alright. So, time travel spells specifically usually have protection involved for the caster and anypony affected by them. Said protection is meant to keep you safe and stable in your time stream. That's why most of the time when I time travel now, I just appear in the same place not even a second later. It's just a better version of teleportation. That spell was old and still only partially complete, so the protection wasn't made to last longer than a week or two. Once the protection goes down, you adjust to the timeframe of the world if you're going backward, or just turn to dust if you're going forwards in time... Unless you're timeless like an alicorn, you just get older in that case."

Celestia blinks before staring at Twilight. "Wait. What? That means you had to live through that, like... 1500 years in an instant?"

Twilight smiles and sighs, "It certainly gives plenty of time to think. It was a very ramshackle spell. That's why I sealed that scroll away somewhere no one would find it. Starlight made a better time travel spell than I ever could predict a unicorn making! Hers was almost perfect."

"Almost? What was wrong with it?" Starlight says with a tilt of her head.

"Well, it was made to only target one point in time, so unless somepony wants to go watch the first Rainboom for some reason, it's pretty useless," Twilight says with a chin tap. "The theory is there, but it also requires power from Unity to cast, so the only pony that would even be able to dream of casting an advanced version of that is Unity herself and me."

Sunset hms. "I'm sure we could figure it out, but the matrix for the sustainment spell part was a mess."

Starlight nods. "It was based on Starswirl's theory of the unbreakable timeline. It's like taking a hammer to a brick wall. It takes a few swings."

Twilight giggles. "That's because time ISN'T supposed to let itself change. That's what makes your spell so impressive. It manages to break through one of the laws of nature."

Pinkie perks up after a moment, mostly silent the entire conversation. "WAIT, WE MISSED HOW MANY BIRTHDAYS?!"

Twilight blinks. "Uh, honestly, I have no idea. I stopped keeping track of my birthday a few centuries back. I don't even fully remember my birthday. I just sorta celebrated it when you guys had that birthday party for me a few months back."

Pinkie huffs. "If I had KNOWN it was that many, I would have done more! Also, your birthday is May 31st. How old are you now anyways?!"

Twilight tilts her head. "Uh... Timeless. Let's just go with that. I'm significantly older than Celestia, considering I got 24 Alicorn years, and that can be... ALOT or if there's a bad disease. Not much."

Celestia taps her chin. "I believe that period was when Alicorns still lived in their home village. Alicorn years were several millennia long at that point since generations were born so sparsely."

Twilight shrugs. "Let's just put an idle number to it. Consider me... Like 40 years older than Celestia."

Celestia smirks. "I consider myself 150 in the grand scheme of things. So that'd put you at 190."

Twilight bops Celestia on the nose. "Then let's do an even 200. Not like age matters when we're spanning thousands of years anyways."

The rest of the group quiets down. "How do you two do it?" says a quiet voice, everypony looking at Sunset.

"You've seen ponies come and go for so long, and you're still playing, laughing, having fun, making connections, and keeping up with friends. I can't imagine how many friends you had and lost throughout that time. Graduating and seeing my friends go to college worldwide made me feel alone enough to come back to Equestria. And DON'T get me started about the Anon-a-miss stuff. Ugh. That was just awful." Sunset says quietly, just stuck thinking about the future.

Twilight looks at Celestia, who simply nods. "Honestly, we didn't ever get over it or anything. There's a reason why Celestia has maybe three friends outside of her sister and me or why I'm so tense-looking sometimes. Sure. It hurts, but family is there forever, and you have the good times to reflect on. Those moments are worth everything, even though seeing and meeting each of your ancestors over and over and being there for them until finally, I just fully lost touch. Although, that mainly was Unity sabotaging all my relationships from the background."

Applejack grimaces. "Ah, I still don't like this 'Unity,' and I really don't like the idea that we keep using her power to protect the world. Feels... dirty."

Rainbow Dash nods. "Yeah. So... I kinda wanna propose that we avoid using the elements of harmony unless we really need them. Sides, Twilight even said she can't use hers anyways."

Twilight yawns. "Sunset qualifies to use mine. So that's not an issue. But that's up to you, six."

Rarity sighs. "Honestly though, Twilight darling, I still believe you can use your Element if you want to. You haven't changed so much that anypony here would believe in you any less."

The rest of the group nods in agreement, with Twilight defensively raising her hooves as she responds. "I've had enough Unity magic for a lifetime. I'll give it a shot if we really need it, but I'd also rather not find out if trying to use the elements when not worthy hurts. Still, I--"

Twilight stops as she perks up a little, her ears flitting upwards. "Hm... we should probably get some rest."

Celestia tilts her head. "Why? The night is still young. Literally and figuratively."

"There's a changeling in town. Just a drone, but we should get some rest. It will likely cause some panic just by being around. While one drone isn't nothing to worry about, especially one that's alone, the ritual must go flawlessly tomorrow to fix the Crystal Heart as it breaks." Twilight says with a stretch. "Let's just hope it doesn't cause any panic or leave before anything important happens."

The rest of the Mane 5 stare at Twilight. Spike said after a moment. "Twilight, we've literally never had a relaxing day here."

There's an idle silence before Twilight sighs. "Point taken. Let's just get ready for anything that can happen tomorrow.

The group nods and disbands for the night. Spike hopped up and hitching a ride on Twilight's back. "You think the changeling is here to cause trouble?"

Twilight taps her chin, thinking and just feeling out the air a bit. "Doubt it. That's why you're gonna be the one to find it, Spike. The Crystal Ponies listen to you. If anyone can convince them that somecreature is harmless, it's you. If it's friendly, make sure that they feel welcome. Okay?"

Spike tilts his head, smiling a bit. "You haven't changed at all, you know, Twilight. Sure, You're a bit more mature, but still the same pony on the inside. Sure! If you really think they're harmless?"

"I don't know what to think. I just don't sense hostility. Do what you think is best. Besides, you'll need to convince the others, and if they hear it from me, it'll be like forcing their hoof." Twilight nods sagely at her statement to reinforce how official it sounds. "They just found out I'm Queen. Even if they don't want to, they'll react weirdly when I ask them to do something for a bit."

Spike smiles a little and then laughs as he remembers something. "Yeah, even I was calling you Queen at the start."

Twilight rolls her eyes and shakes her head with a smirk, giving Spike a nuzzle on his cheek. "You were doing it to tease me.~ There's a difference."

With that, the two head to bed.