"So, Shy, how's it working out for ya?"

Though Rainbow Dash only addressed one of her friends, the other three looked at her as well. Well, the other three that were there. Six months after the incident around Twilight and Fluttershy, Twilight was called to Canterlot for "special business" regarding... something. Truth be told, none of them remember if Twilight told them what she was going for. Over the year she was gone, very little changed. The biggest thing?

"Oh, with Moonstreak? It's incredible! She helped me find that treat I've been looking for. Angel will be so happy. He really likes her."

"That's great! I figured she'd be your type, after hearing how spoke of Twilight."

Their three friends exchanged glances. They heard Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash talk about Moonstreak often, but had never met her, making them suspect that she may not be real. After months of discussion, they finally decided to confront the pegasi about the truth.

"Fluttershy, we-"

"FLUTTERRRRRRRRRS!!!!!!!!!"

As if on cue, a violet and cyan streak collided with the golden Pegasus. Immediately her friends got up to check on her.

"Hehehe! Moonstreak, stop! Th-that tickles."

They found their friend getting nuzzled like mad by a violet Pegasus with a cyan mane, her cutie mark resembling a decorated crescent moon. Fluttershy didn't seem to mind, her hooves wrapped around the surprise mare.

"Aww, you know you like it!"

"I like it, but- eep! But my friends are right there!"

At that, the mare stopped and looked at Fluttershy's friends. "... Hi?" The mare shrunk off of Fluttershy, watching her friends like they would leap at her at any moment.

Which Pinkie did.

"NEW FRIEND!"

"EeeeeEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Before Moonstreak could run, she was pinned to the ground.

"YAY!"

"HELP ME! PLEASE!"

Fluttershy could only giggle. "How did I know this would happen?"

"Uh, 'cus this happened when you first met Pinkie?"

Applejack and Rarity could only watch, jaws hanging. "She's real?"

Dash and Fluttershy gave Rarity a blank look. "You had your doubts, didn't you?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "Incredible as she is..." Fluttershy tugged at Pinkie's mane to get her up and off of Moonstreak, who promptly rushed to Fluttershy for safety. "... she had some... issues, let's say, with other ponies, making her anti-social." Fluttershy started speaking softly into Moonstreak's ear. "It's okay. That's just how she is. She isn't bad."

Dash cleared her throat. "She has a nasty track record of causing huge scenes just because she was paranoid. Her early years at flight school were pretty nasty, and things just got worse after that."

Applejack cautiously approached the pegasi, stopping just short. Moonstreak looked her in the eye, like a foal looked at their mother's friend. Applejack gave a small smile, which Moonstreak returned after a moment. Rarity followed suit.

Pinkie should have. I'll leave it at that.

"Thanks, girls. And good job getting your cutie marks."

"Yup! No more destroying the library for us."

"Unless Scootaloo decides to crash into it."

"Or Sweetie Belle singing until it breaks."

"Or Apple Bloom painting over it."

"So nothing I'm not used to by this point."

"Hahaha!"

"Good point!"

"See you, Twilight."

"So, the girls are having a picnic on top of the hill. I bet they'll be surprised to see me. Hmm... Now whe- oh. Oh."

"And that's how Equestria was made!"

Moon opened her mouth, then let confusion cover her face.

"That's how she usually ends her stories. Don't worry about it. She's just being herself." Rarity suddenly perked up.

"Oh. That reminds me of the time when Fluttershy-"

"Hold on. Fluttershy, you said there where six of you. Where's the last-" As if on cue, an aggravated voice spoke up.

"I see how it is! I've been gone so long that you want nothing to do with me! I thought you cared about me, but I guess not!"

All of Twilight's friends looked at her panicked.

"Twilight!"

"We weren't trying to replace you!"

"We have our own lives, Twilight!"

"Please don't be mad at us."

"Hardy har har, Twi." Well, almost all of them were panicked.

Rarity turned to her friend, ticked off. "Applejack!"

"You know, I expected Dash or Pinkie to catch on before you."

All of them looked back to Twilight. "Huh?"

"I guess they're getting rusty."

Dash scratched her head. "Wait, so that was all-"

"A joke! I know you girls better than that."

Moon let out a sigh. "Nice to see you too, professor Twilight."

Everypony turned towards Moon. "Professor?"

Twilight giggled. "That's how I passed my time in Canterlot. Working as a substitute teacher. A nice way to get my mind off of things."

The girls all laughed, then went right back to their usual chatter. Except one of them quite couldn't.

About an hour later, Applejack gave Twilight a stern look. "Twi? What were you in Canterlot for?"

Everypony looked at Applejack. Dash took a shot at things. "Uh, didn't she say she was teaching?"

"That's how she passed the time, but that's not what she was there for." Their attention turned to Twilight. "So then, what was it?"

Twilight gave them a nervous look, then opened her mouth.

"Momma?"

At that moment, she felt her heart drop. She turned around to see a three month old dragon-pony hybrid behind her. His mane was green, his coat and scales a night-like purple, and his eyes looked just like Twilight's. Spike, who looked older by a good bit, stood a few yards behind, his face deprived of color. The girls let their jaws drop as Twilight saw her life flash before her eyes.

As this happened, in the colt(drake?)'s grasp, the fox writhed and nuzzled the child.

Author's Note

FINA! FRIGGIN! LY! This is over! Why did I keep putting this off? Also, short gap between the first and second scene chronologically. And yes, that's the same fox from the last chapter.

Future projects; I'm working on Psychosis at about the same rate that I worked on this (So you can expect it in a few years or so.), and I've got two crossover fics that I'm working on, one on my writing app, the other on this very site. I'm not expecting any of these to be done soon, but who knows? Maybe I'll suddenly start writing a whole lot.