That night in Canterlot Castle, five very exhausted but very happy ponies retreated to the hallway leading to their guest rooms. Word about their deeds and their assistance in Princess Twilight Sparkle’s training had spread rapidly, and Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie had each received a startling amount of attention at the coronation ball. Everypony wanted to know the five girls who had shaped Equestria’s newest princess, and all five had come just a little closer to their dream.
Rainbow Dash spun and twirled in the air as led the way to the guest rooms , a new medal with the Wonderbolt emblem hanging around her neck. Twilight had recounted her friend’s brave deeds when the Wonderbolts had approached to congratulate the princess, and the Wonderbolt Academy’s new recruit had been happy to share her brave deeds. A few pointed nudges from the nearby Applejack had kept Rainbow’s tales from drifting too far into exaggeration, and the bearer of the Element of Loyalty soon found herself being invited to the next stage of Wonderbolt training.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it! I’m really gonna be a Wonderbolt!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed over and over again, turning the medallion over in her hoof.
“No need to shove your head in the clouds just yet, sugar,” Applejack chided her friend gently. At Rainbow Dash’s disbelieving look, Applejack shook her head and continued, a fond smile on her face. “But you’re getting there, all right.”
“And so are you!” Pinkie Pie chimed in, bouncing over to Applejack and throwing a hoof around her friend. She tapped a large roll of parchment that was bulging out of Applejack’s saddle bag. “Look at all those apple fritters! You’ll be rolling in dough---wait, that sounds like fun! Can I come? Huh, Applejack, can I? It’ll be great!”
Applejack crossed one front hoof over the other, a pleased expression on her face. Her attempt to sell her apple treats had certainly gone much better than last time---with Princess Twilight’s hearty recommendation, it seemed like everypony in Canterlot wanted to try the famous Applejack’s apple fritters. She had an order list a mile long! She sure hoped Big Macintosh was up to the order---it’d be tough, but Sweet Apple Acres would never be in danger of closing again if this steady stream of orders kept up.
“I dunno, Pinkie, it’s kind of an Apple Family tradition…”
The four other ponies in the hallway cast Applejack a disbelieving look. The earth pony was the spitting image of innocence as she glanced between their faces for a moment, but she then nodded. “But all right, I could use some more hooves to get this all done. It’s a big ol’ doozy of a recipe, though, so you’d better pay attention! But I know you can,” she said fondly. “Sure you won’t be busy, though?”
“Huh. Well…” Pinkie Pie’s ears scrunched together as she thought. This year’s ball had been totally awesome! After Twilight’s tale about how Pinkie’s endless optimism and fun-loving had saved the ponies more than once, everypony had wanted to talk to her! They even let her show them how to dance the Pony Pokey! Nothing had fallen over this time, thankfully---she’d seen Twilight flash her a relieved smile from across the hall. But now Pinkie Pie was pretty popular. As the night wore on, she’d played with the younger ponies at the ball to keep them from getting bored and making a mess, and their parents loved it! Now she had a string of requests to organize birthday parties. She’d have to hustle to make all those balloon animals!
“I might have a few more parties than usual. But after the little fillies’ bedtime I’m free as a bird!” Pinkie said, making her highest bounce yet on her trip down the hallway. “Speaking of birds…Fluttershy, that song was AWESOME! How’d you get the critters in the gardens to go along?”
“Don’t be silly, Pinkie, Fluttershy’s a natural,” Rainbow Dash said proudly, floating back to gently bump against her fellow pegasus pony. Fluttershy blushed, briefly hiding her face behind her mane before greeting them all with a smile.
“It was all thanks to Angel Bunny! He’s been a real sweetie. He seemed happy about the good time he had with our other pets when Spike was babysitting! He was rolling over laughing, and soon they couldn’t stop! I worried that they might be sick, but Angel wasn’t worried. He hopped into my mane and he must’ve told them that I take such good care of him, and I guess they all wanted to learn how to sing! It was so beautiful,” Fluttershy recounted happily, smiling as Angel’s small head popped out from within her mane. The bunny smiled serenely for once.
“It was absolutely darling,” Rarity agreed, flicking her perfectly styled mane as they neared their rooms. “And I’ve just had the greatest idea for a new dress! I’ll have to sketch it out tomorrow---oh Fluttershy, I hope you love it!” Rarity gasped with excitement, the gleam of inspiration shining in your eyes.
“But Rarity, don’t you have all those other dresses everypony ordered to make?” Fluttershy pointed out. The other girls nodded.
“Yes, that’s true…Twilight explained that I’d made her dress, and most of her past dresses, and all of ours, and you wouldn’t believe the attention I got! The Carousel Boutique is a household name! I’m even expanding my suit business for stallions---there’s this really charming young gentlecolt I met on the dance floor, and he could certainly use something newer and fresher. Oh, I simply can’t wait to get started!” Rarity gushed, her curls swaying with her step.
“Best. Night. EVER!” Pinkie Pie declared quite suddenly, bouncing over to hug each of them in turn. The words brought them back to the same memory: the same ballroom in ruins, all of the girls’ dreams left in ruins, gathered together at Pony Joe’s where Spike had eaten all of their late-night snacks. Tonight was a far cry from back then: all of them were a few steps closer to their dream, they realized at once. The group shared a grin, and then they were a tangle of limbs as Pinkie stretched her legs around all her friends, Applejack laughed and did the same, Rainbow edged her way in with her wings, Fluttershy curled against them, and Rarity jumped on top---to keep her perfectly styled mane from being damaged, of course.
After a long moment of laughter, five bearers of the Elements of Harmony disentangled from each other and trotted to their doors. They’d be leaving on the first train back to Ponyville in the morning, but the four princesses had assured them that they were most definitely invited to a hearty Canterlot breakfast.
They all hesitated for a moment.
“You think Twilight’ll be up?” Applejack asked aloud, hesitating with her hoof on the doorknob.
“Yeah, we’ve gotta say good night to our new princess! The first night’s super important, gotta give her good dreams!” Pinkie Pie agreed, glancing down the hallway with a look of longing.
“I miss her too,” Fluttershy said softly, Angel popping out of her mane again to comfort her. “It’s not the same, is it?”
“No, it’s most certainly not,” Rarity pitched in, leaning against her doorframe. not caring whether her perfect mane was rumpled for the first time that night.
Finally, a certain pegasus pony had had enough of the melancholy. “Aww, come on guys!” Rainbow Dash complained, flying over to poke each of them. “Quit with the whining! Twilight’s a princess now! She’s got her royal duties to uphold and all that. We’ll see her in the morning, and then…well, then we’re heading back to Ponyville while she stays here and trains. But it’s not goodbye forever! I won’t let that happen.”
“You’re right,” Applejack conceded, walking over to Rainbow Dash’s door. “Twilight’s our friend and we’ve all gotta be there for her when she needs us. We’re happy for her, aren’t we?”
A chorus of “Yeah!” “Yes!” “Of course!” and “Duh!” followed this statement.
“And we’re going to write, obviously,” Rarity continued, her eyes now bearing a hard glint of determination. “We’ll sign every letter. And we’ll get Spi…someone to send them straight to her.”
That was right---if Twilight Sparkle was leaving them for a while, so was Spike. The gathered ponies sighed, and even Angel looked a little disappointed. Not that the bunny would ever show that to anyone, obviously.
“We won’t leave her all alone,” Fluttershy vowed.
“No way!” Pinkie agreed. “But…is it just me, or are you girls feeling like a sleepover would be totally awesome tonight?”
It took the girls only a moment of thought each. With a shared smile, all five girls piled into Pinkie Pie’s guest room. Rarity carefully folded their dresses, Fluttershy sorted out their manes, Applejack hung her hat in a place of honor on the door, Pinkie Pie scattered a few of her gathered balloons around the room, and Rainbow Dash shot across the hallway for her favorite night-time story
About an hour later, Equestria’s newest princess parted from Celestia, Luna, and Cadance on the staircase. Twilight Sparkle had great news to share with her girls…but were they already asleep? Should she wait until morning? Spike had fallen out long ago, safe in the care of Twilight’s parents for the night, so there was really no one to ask for advice. But that was okay, Twilight told herself. She was a princess now, she made her own decisions---with a little occasional help from her best friends.
But that was why she was coming here to deliver the news in the first place, she thought to herself with a tiny chuckle. And as a new princess of Equestria, her latest royal decree was this: she would wake the girls and inform them of their new appointment. But where to start?
She tried knocking on Rainbow Dash’s room first, hoping her friend’s excitement would counter any crankiness at being woken up. Strangely, it was empty---she couldn’t even hear her friend’s usual snores. She tried Applejack and Fluttershy next---both girls were gentle enough not to yell at her for waking them up, and Twilight knew they’d be excited. Those rooms appeared to be empty as well. The same was true for Rarity’s door. Finally, she moved to Pinkie Pie’s door. The bearer of the Element of Laughter seemed to be the biggest night owl of all of them, and surely she’d have some excitement to share with Twilight! Twilight pressed her ear against Pinkie Pie’s door, and she heard the strangest thing: Rainbow Dash’s snoring. With a faint smile, Twilight nudged the door open with one of her new wings.
The sight Twilight Sparkle found inside the room caused a lump to rise in her throat. All five of her best friends were curled together on the carpet, the bed entirely ignored. She saw a sock puppet on one of Pinkie Pie’s hooves, Angel curled on Fluttershy’s leg, Applejack snoozing against Rainbow Dash’s back, Rarity’s unstyled mane draped over Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash in the center of it all, an open Daring Do book sitting in front of her. She also saw that one of Rainbow’s eyes was cracked open—then both, wide with surprise.
Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash locked gazes. Twilight raised a hoof to her muzzle and smiled, assuring Rainbow that it was okay and that they could stay asleep. Rainbow had other ideas, for she immediately shoved the girls with the force of her wings and zoomed up into the air.
“Hey! Hey everypony, Twilight’s here! Wake up! Come on!” she groused, nudging each of them with her head.
“She’s here? Oh….SHE’S HERE!” Pinkie Pie was the next pony to fully awaken, tackling Twilight in her excitement.
“Pinkie, do you really need to be so loud? Oh…Twilight! Long time no see, stranger,” Applejack said with a fond smile, clearly exhausted but happy to see her.
“Twilight! You’re back,” Fluttershy said happily, floating over to fold Twilight under her wing. “We were hoping we’d see you tonight.”
The last to awaken, Rarity, certainly looked the most unhappy at first. “What is all this ruckus about? Some ponies need their beauty rest, you know…oh, Twilight, darling! We’re so glad to see you…but wait!” She slapped a hoof to her mane, a look of horror crossing her face. “I can’t look like this in front of royalty! It’s an outrage! A disgrace!”
“It’s just fine,” Twilight assured her unicorn friend, stopping Rarity in her tracks with a friendly smile. Before the new princess could even blink, Rarity was on her---forelegs wrapped around her neck, bawling into the princess’s shoulder. The other girls followed suit with far fewer tears. “Come on, guys, it’s the same old me!”
“We know that, Twi, but…it’s just that this is the last time we’ll be seeing you for a while,” Applejack explained, blinking to keep a tear from showing in her eyes as well.
“We all had a great time tonight, but we need to get back to Ponyville tomorrow! We’ve got so many things to do,” Fluttershy agreed, her expression sad.
“Yeah, Ponyville needs some parties! And I’m just the gal to do it,” Pinkie Pie added. “Not that this party wasn’t awesome, because it was! It so totally was!”
“But don’t think this means you’re getting away from us forever,” Rainbow Dash broke from the group hug, flying back to fix Twilight with a stern glare. “We’re writing to you every week. And you’d better write back, understand? Or I’ll fly up here and hunt you down until you do!”
The other girls nodded their agreement somberly. “But…wait a sec, do we have to start the letters with Dear Princess Twilight?” Applejack cocked her head, puzzled.
“No and no, no!” Twilight reassured them, throwing her hooves out. Her wings stretched to their full span as she addressed them, doing her best to project her new leadership. “Guys, that’s just it! I’m not leaving you! I’m going back to Ponyville with you!”
Twilight’s declaration was met with a chorus of confusion. The girls looked at each other, absolutely baffled. “But don’t you need to stay here and train to be a princess?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yes, I’ll be training, but not all the time!” Twilight explained. The girls shared a relieved smile. “I can teleport from here to Ponyville in two seconds flat, remember?” Rainbow Dash looked briefly miffed that her best friend might now outrace her in more ways than one, but happiness won out. But that wasn’t all Twilight had to say. She was bouncing from hoof to hoof, almost as if she was going to explode from excitement.
“And when I do come back to Canterlot sometimes, you’re coming with me!” Twilight yelled in an excited rush, earning her a few more blank stares.
“We’re coming with you? That’s great! That’s really super great! But wait a minute…why?” Pinkie asked her, momentarily thrown off balance by Twilight’s sudden imitation of her boundless enthusiasm.
“Yeah, why? Sorry to break it to you, but I ain’t royalty,” Applejack said embarrassedly, kicking a hoof back and forth.
“But I could be, Twilight dear!” Rarity chimed in, now satisfied with her fixed mane.
Twilight glanced around the room one more time, taking in all their faces: her best friends were tired, but happy for her. Yet they were going to miss her…they loved her, as Fluttershy had said just the other day. That was why they definitely weren’t leaving each other!
“Well, you’re all coming with me, because you’re my royal advisers!” Twilight started to explain, pushing onward before the girls could interrupt her with questions. “Remember what happened when we saved Princess Luna? The Elements of Harmony didn’t work until they were ignited by a spark. The spark was our friendship! Princess Celestia used the Elements all on her own to seal Nightmare Moon back then, but it’s different now. Their power only works when all of us are together, so…I need you,” Twilight finally whispered, meeting each of their gazes one at a time. She began a speech that she’d clearly been preparing for a while, clear pride in her eyes.
“Applejack, you teach me to stay true to myself and to everyone else. Rainbow Dash, you show me what true loyalty is like. Fluttershy, you’re the kindest person I’ve ever known. Rarity, you’re so generous. And Pinkie Pie, you keep everypony laughing. A leader needs to be all those things. And you’ve all shown and taught me so much that I want you to continue to advise me!” Twilight finished, clapping her hooves together.
“And you also want us to just keep being your friends, right?” Applejack said pointedly, giving Twilight a skeptical but fond look.
“But of course!” Twilight said in a feigned royal voice that could pass for an imitation of Rarity, clapping a hoof to her chest. “I would never, ever, EVER abandon my friends.”
“Hooray!” Pinkie Pie whooped, glad to hear it. She hopped clear across the room to embrace her best friend one more time, mussing up the royal hairdo. Rarity looked momentarily horrified, but at the funny face Pinkie made back in Rarity’s direction, even she managed to laugh.
“I’d be honored to do it,” Rarity said once the laughter started to fade. She looked excited: Lady Rarity, bearer of Generosity, royal adviser to the Princess. She could definitely get used to that!
“Gosh, do you really think we’re ready?” Fluttershy asked, casting a worried glance at Rainbow Dash.
“Of course we are!” Rainbow Dash cheered, flinging her wing around Fluttershy. “You’ve stared down dragons, you reformed Discord. I think it’s safe to say you’re one of the best there is. And I’m definitely not too shabby either…” Rainbow Dash started to say, but she broke off at the fond exasperation in her friends’ expressions.
“Then we’re all in. Five royal advisers, at your service!” Applejack declared, grabbing her hat just to sweep it with her as she bowed.
“Now now, none of that,” Twilight quickly corrected, lifting Applejack’s face with a hoof. “Look, if we’re gonna do this…no more bowing to me, okay? You’re my best friends first and foremost.”
There was a brief moment where the five looked at each other and all considered it, but they instead went for exaggerated nods, all in sync with each other. “Deal!”
“Great!” Twilight grinned, looking immensely relieved to hear their response. “The princesses will give you your official positions in the morning. Don’t worry, you’ll still have time to do everything you need back in Ponyville!”
The girls approved, of course, but that concern didn’t really feel significant anymore. What mattered now was that they recover from their amazing adventure, as Rarity announced with a yawn. “May we resume the sleeping portion of our sleepover now, please?” she asked.
“Mm-hm,” the others agreed. This time, six ponies settled to sleep on the carpet. Twilight stretched her wings around Applejack and Pinkie Pie, who snuggled next to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and Rarity eventually settled next to Fluttershy. As they slipped off into much better dreams, all six girls had a similar thought: they were absolutely certain that everything was going to be just fine.
