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Prologue: Dreams252 words
Chapter 1: Unrest in Canterlot1,352 words
Chapter 2: Nightmares and Breakdowns3,244 words
Chapter 3: Friendship Lessons2,642 words
Chapter 4: Return to Canterlot1,603 words
Chapter 5: The Whole Truth3,659 words
Chapter 6: Twilight's Trauma2,469 words
Chapter 7: Goodbye, Twilight1,669 words
Chapter 8: Morning of Farewells758 words
Epilogue: True Friendship is Magic802 words
Chapter 8A: Morning of Farewells782 words
Epilogue: There's No School Like Old School1,628 words

Epilogue: There's No School Like Old School

"There's always a difference between friends and true friends."

Twilight came to Minuette's house first and knocked on the door. "These ponies have probably been suffering ever since I left," she said. "They're probably wondering why their supposed friend would treat them so badly!" Minuette answered the door. "Minuette?"

"Twilight Sparkle!" laughed Minuette. "You old so-and-so! What are you doing here? I mean, I know you're here all the time, but you never come to see me. Hey! I just had the greatest idea! You wanna go see Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine?"

"Of course!" replied Twilight. "My old friends!"

"It'll be great!" Minuette giggled. "Come on!" Soon, Twilight and Minuette got together with Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine and all four ponies along with Spike were sitting at a table enjoying some refreshments.

"To think," said Minuette. "Our old friend Lyra, myself, and Twinkleshine were thrown out of the wedding all because we just wanted to meet Canterlot royalty! How bonkers is that?!"

"Tell me about it!" said Twinkleshine. "That was some shindig!"

"You remember our old friend, Lyra, right?" Minuette giggled. "She lives in Ponyville too. We're always over there visiting her. Or she's coming over here! We've thought about asking you to join us from time to time, but we just sorta figured you'd moved on."

"Oh..." murmured Twilight. "Well... about that. You see..." She sighed. "I came to apologize."

"For what?" asked Minuette.

"Before I left Canterlot, I didn't really appreciate my friends," Twilight confessed. "And that's because I didn't know how important friendship was. But I've learned so much since I moved to Ponyville. I learned what it means to be a good friend and that I certainly wasn't one to the three of you. So for all the pain I caused you, I am truly sorry." But her three friends just looked at her like she had two heads, or grew an extra horn for that matter, and just giggled.

"Oh, come on, Twilight!" said Minuette. "Sure, it might've stung a little bit when you ran off to Ponyville without saying goodbye, but it's not like we weren't used to that from you!"

"Yeah," agreed Twinkleshine. "We didn't take it personally."

"But it's really good to see you now," said Lemon Hearts. And then Twilight remembered.

"Hey, whatever happened to Moon Dancer?" she asked. "You know, our other friend."

"Yeah, I always liked her," said Minuette. "We just sort of lost touch after you left."

~ Day 7 ~

"Come on, Twilight!" Spike sighed. "We've been watching her for three days! Library, house, library, house. That's it!"

"Nopony looks at her or says hello or even gives her a smile," said Twilight. "It's like she doesn't even exist. Was she always like this?"

"Well, she always was a little shy," answered Minuette. "But for a while there, she was really starting to come out of her shell. Remember when she threw that party? Oh, right. I think you might've been busy that day. We thought she finally might be letting her guard down a little with that party. We invited her out a few times after that. But she was always too busy studying. So, eventually, we just stopped asking."

"I had no idea that party was so important to her. I'm gonna go talk to her." So Twilight gathered her courage and approached Moon Dancer while she was heading for the Canterlot library. "Moon Dancer?" The young recluse turned her head and saw Twilight Sparkle, her old friend from years ago, but pretended not to know her.

"What do you want?" she said. "I have a lot of studying to do."

"It's me, Twilight Sparkle! I'm here with all your old friends!"

"Oh... it's you." Moon Dancer turned away. "Sorry, but I don't do friendship anymore. It just doesn't work for me."

"I know," said Twilight. "And I think it's my fault. Back when we were in school together, you invited me to a party. I was so focused on my studies that I didn't show up."

"Big deal!"

"It was a big deal. And now that I realize how important friendship is, I'd like for us to start over. Please, don't let my mistake be the reason you can't be friends with anypony else." Moon Dancer ignored Twilight, so she tried again. "Please! I know what it's like to be hurt!" This stopped Moon Dancer and Twilight went on. "I did learn so much about friendship while I was living in Ponyville, but my friends, the ones who first taught me... they hurt me in the end. And I--"

"Well, now you see why friendship isn't worth my time, don't you?" snarled Moon Dancer. "You take big risks, but in the end, it just comes crashing down on you! I never wanted to let myself be hurt like that again!"

"Neither do I," agreed Twilight. "And it doesn't have to be that way. I'm here to stay in Canterlot now. I want my old life back... and I want you back too."

"We were your friends then and we'd be honored to be your friends now," said Minuette, joining in.

"Minuette?" said Moon Dancer. And soon Twilight's other friends showed up too, including Lyra from Ponyville. "Lemon Hearts... Twinkleshine... Lyra... You're all here."

"You've got a lot of friends, Moon Dancer," said Minuette.

"I'm sorry, Moon Dancer. Seeing how my actions affected you is one of the worst feelings I've ever had. I've missed so much since I left Canterlot and after what I went through at that royal wedding, I think me staying here in Canterlot and catching up on old times is the right thing for me to do." Moon Dancer was touched by the genuine affection of her friends and wiped away a single tear.

"Thank you, Twilight," she sniffled. "I never realized how much I needed to hear that."

"Um, Moon Dancer?" said Spike. "It got kinda banged up, but here's a little something I wanted to give you back at your first party." Spike handed her a somewhat wrinkled present and she opened in. Inside was a photo of the original Mane 6, consisting of her, Twilight, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and Lyra. Moon Dancer was moved to tears.

"Friends forever?" said Twilight.

"Friends forever!" Moon Dancer agreed, the two old friends sharing a warm hug. "Gee, I'd better get myself fixed up. I look awful!"

After Moon Dancer got herself tidied up, the six friends of Canterlot went out to dinner that night. And while waiting for their orders, Twilight quickly dashed off a letter to Princess Celestia.

"Dear Princess Celestia, these past few days may have been miserable for me, but it taught me one of the greatest lessons about friendship I could ever hope to know. Friendship is such a wonderful thing, but it can be easy to break apart and hard to put the pieces back together. However, being there for each other no matter what happens can always make a pony feel rest assured, even if it takes being overwhelmed to get somepony to notice your problems. It is said that sometimes when friends do so many good things that when they do one bad thing, they're showing their true colors. But I learned that this is never the case, especially when friends are truly sorry for their mistakes. And although there's always one or two things that just can't be agreed on, differences make our friendship so much stronger as long as we learn to embrace them and discover what us ponies are truly made of. I still feel down every now and then. Just thinking about bad times we've had makes me sad, and sometimes I just wish that they never happened because of how much they hurt. But I know this. My good friends will always be there for me... to love me... to comfort me... to show me how much they truly care for me. And they make me happy. I'm glad that I got to learn so much about friendship and how much of a difference it made in my life. I'm happy. And even though I can't be with everyone I love all the time, I don't think I'll ever feel alone again. Always, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

"Hey," said Moon Dancer to Twilight. "You know something?"

"What?" said Twilight.

"You've still gotta teach me that Hayscartes technique!"

"Deal!" Twilight laughed. She then looked out of a window towards the evening sky and smiled. Visionary images of her Ponyville friends appeared in the stars.

THE END

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