"Folks! Ponies! Hi, everypony! What a crowd! What a special night! Quite a star-studded crowd!" Pointing into the crowd, Gallowaz said, "I see we have none other than Julienne Fry here, from Manehattan. Why don't we give her a hand?"

There was some polite applause for the famous chef.

Pointing again into the crowd, he went on, "And if I'm not mistaken, are you, sir, over there... oh, you're shaking your head. Well, if I ever want a look-alike, I know who to ask. And up in the boxes, we have Rainbow Dash! Winner of a recent Young Flyers competition, and the only living pony to perform a sonic rainboom."

Rainbow Dash waved, grinning, though with a little confused twinge about the 'living' qualifier. As the applause died, she whispered to Twilight, "Guess he doesn't read Daring Do!" Twilight Sparkle merely looked at her in confusion.

Gallowaz went on, "And Rarity, the only unicorn to ever enter said competition!" Skipping over Twilight, he added, "And, if I'm not mistaken, that is Applejack, who got the most medals ever awarded to a single pony in a single meet of Equestria's Wranglers? And, could it be... Pinkie Pie, one of the chefs behind the winning entry in a recent Canterlot dessert competition? And it seems we have a dragonlord in attendance - I can see your mane peeking out, Fluttershy. Yes, my fellow ponies, she's not just a fashion model."

He stopped. The audience was silent, and half of them were doing their best to supplicate to Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow Dash's grin had evaporated, and aside from Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie they were looking to each other in confusion.

Gallowaz asked, "What?"

Silence, but for Pinkie's giggle. Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow.

A pony up close said something that didn't carry. In response, Gallowaz pointed to Twilight Sparkle. "Her?" He spread his wings and flew straight up to come even with her. "Excuse me, miss. What do you do for a living?"

Twilight saw where he was going with that. "I run the library in Ponyville!"

He slowly descended to the stage and said, "All right. Why don't we all give a round of applause to Ponyville's head librarian!" He himself supplicated for a second as the crowd released the obvious tension with applause.

Once it had wound down, he continued. "Seeing you takes me back three years, to last Summer Sun Celebration, when we almost met. I've never told this story before. Do you have any objections, princess?"

Twilight frowned - he'd put her on the spot. He was being released from service, but the elements were still secret. So she simply said, "How about something else?"

So he went on into the story of what he was doing when Fillydelphia was invaded by parasprites.

Applejack looked to Twilight and whispered. "He knows a whole lot 'bout us. Why is that?"

She said nonchalantly as if there were nothing to it, "Oh, he was on the alternate team in case we failed."

You could have heard a pin drop. Actually, you could have heard him telling the story, and Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down lightly in her seat.

Rarity pre-emptively stuffed her hoof in Rainbow Dash's mouth, just in time.

Twilight Sparkle mouthed, "Later."

Gallowaz stuck his head in the box door around 2 seconds after stepping off stage. "Your highness, esteemed others - I presume you are here to meet us?"

"That is correct. I have a letter for you all."

Pinkie giggled. "You would have made a great Laughter."

"Laughter? I was lined up for honesty. 100% true." A wink. "We're outside whenever you're ready."

"All right, as long as no one bows." Twilight was not too nervous about being heard since the applause had not yet died.

"I can arrange that." They stepped out of the box, and indeed there they were. Twilight hadn't really expected it even though she'd read their files - they were all a solid five years older than her friends. Gallowaz quickly added, "I think I need to go give a quick encore. Keep the crowd off your back anyway." He zipped back to the stage.

Twilight, catching Milky Way's eyes, said, "Hello again!"

Milky way's eyes widened with appreciation. "Hello again, your highness. You didn't know about me when we first met, did you?"

"No - but it's funny to think that if things had gone slightly differently, it'd be me saying that to you."

"I... don't think I could have."

"Oh, don't be harsh on yourself."

"No, really. I could never wrap my mind around Starswirl. I'm more of a Trottingham School type."

Backing up a few moments, Rainbow Dash's eyes had gone wide when she caught sight of Mistral, a wispily striated blue and white pegasus about as large as Big Macintosh with wings slightly above scale, and a tornado cutie mark the same shape as a lightning bolt.

Mistral purred, "You may have me beat on speed..."

"What can you pull? Sixty wingpower? Ninety?"

"A hundred and twelve."

Rainbow Dash swooned. "Aww, could really have used you at the reservoir last year." After a moment she amended, "Fluttershy pulled it off in the end, though."

Meanwhile, Applejack snorted in surprise when she saw Roots Toots - he was birch-bark off-white, tall and wiry-thin, with long mustachios. His overlapping-pair-of-truffles cutie mark definitely could have fit the apple spot on the tree of harmony. Applejack regained control and said, "Ye aren't what I was expecting."

"I'm afraid that reaction is rather what I was."

"Sorry 'bout that."

"I understand."

"Thanks."

Rarity seemed to be meshing better, quickly understanding Rose's cutie mark - "You made the windows I've seen around the town, didn't you? They're gorgeous!"

"Oh, thank you. I hope you recognize my dress?"

"Of course." It would have been gauche of me to point it out, she left unsaid.

Meanwhile, Emma peeked into the box and found Fluttershy. "Hi." - "Hi."

Then the encore was over and ponies began filtering out of the other boxes. Mistral stood in the way with wings wide, and the eleven of them headed down and backstage.

The theater manager was arguing with Gallowaz - "What if she hadn't?"

"I knew enough about them to do it, can't you trust that I knew she would?"

"It's not the same!"

Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, and the manager supplicated deeply. "I'm so sorry, your highness."

She sighed. How to handle this? Her instincts were to argue that it was okay, to order him to stop supplicating... and, if she looked deep enough, she found what worked. She solemnly stepped forward, touched his forehead with her horn, and warmly said, "All right." There have to be better words than that. She pulled back and found that her poor word choice didn't matter - he was nearly ecstatic as he pulled away. In moments they were alone.

Twilight Sparkle turned to the B-team. "So. The six of you are gathered. I have a royal decree from Princess Celestia." She levitated it out. "It's a little long, and it doesn't really explain. In short, the elements are no longer directly available."

Rose hazarded, "The tree needed them?"

Twilight blinked a few times and sighed. "I really should have gotten you on board last week. How did you find out about that?"

She pursed her lips. "Well, I kind of fell on it. We were in a rush when we saw the lights flashing in the tower."

Mistral added, "And by the time we'd found her and Emma had patched her up and I'd ferried everypony across the chasm, the sun was up, you were back in Ponyville, and Cadence was explaining everything." A moment's pause. "How did you get across?"

Rainbow Dash elbowed her. "The bridge?"

Facehooves all around on the B-team as half of them said, "So there was a bridge".

Twilight Sparkle continued, "As a result of not having the elements anymore, Princess Celestia is dissolving your team. Sorry."

Gallowaz' jaw dropped; the others were similarly affected, though less so.

I can only imagine what that would be like. At least we weren't formally a team.

And then Milky Way said, "Roots?"

"Yes, dear?"

"It occurs to me that we are no longer barred from dating each other."

"That thought had occurred to me as well. Shall we?"

"Definitely."

Ah. I'd been wondering what it would be like with stallions on the team, and that answers it. Twilight glanced at her friends; Applejack was looking at her funny (and not like she was suddenly discovering romantic feelings of her own).

Pinkie threw a forehoof across Gallowaz's shoulders. "So, who's next?"

That provoked some snorts all around. Mistral said, "He's all yours, if you want him."

Gallowaz opened his eyes in alarm. "Hey, don't I get a say in this? If anypony, I'd go..." He stopped.

Rarity coughed. "You were saying?"

"Erm. Cadence. Yes. Totally Cadence. You have a very lucky brother, Twilight."

That aimed Twilight's thoughts where she didn't really feel like having them. "Well! I guess that wraps it up..."

Pinkie nodded. "Yup! Now we're ready to go to our PARTY!"

And they had a very nice and not at all awkward party, and several months later they were invited to the wedding, where Gallowaz totally tried to hook up with Rainbow Dash and she totally shot him down, and after that the two groups never really met, except that very occasionally Twilight Sparkle would encounter Milky Way (and much later, her son) on business.

Author's Note

Okay, NOW I'm done.