A Celestia-sized Twilight trotted with Moondancer, who looked the same as before, into her castle's main room.
Twilight stopped as they came to the cutie map. "You're sure you're alright? I mean...it took a lot longer to get all your pieces than we expected, and you've only been up and about for a few days, maybe some time to obs-"
Moondancer put a hoof to her lips. "Trust me, I'm fine, Twilight. Now I've got a date with Minuette to keep, and unlike me, she's not exactly a young pony anymore. Thanks for reading to me and seeing me in my dreams all these years, I would've gone crazy otherwise. You know, I had to pee the whole time!" she said with a giggle.
Twilight giggled a bit herself. "Well, it's what any good friend would do. You know, I wonder if the torture of being petrified is what made some villains a little harder to reform, and all the good it did was kick the can down the road for somepony else to deal with."
"Maybe, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable if Cozy was a statue instead of working for Spike. That filly always seems like she's up to something," Moondancer replied.
"Let me worry about her, you should probably get to Minuette before you're late," Twilight said with a smirk.
"Oh horseapples, I nearly forgot! See ya, Twi!" Moondancer said as she galloped out the doors.
"Well that takes care of that..." Twilight cleared her throat before making a loud call. "Oh, Luster Dawn! Where is my favorite student hiding?!"
A pink young teen filly unicorn with an orange mane and most of her tail burned off zipped down the stairs. "Yes, your highness? I was just, uh, studying. I figured you and Moondancer needed space, you know..."
"You can just call me Twilight. Studying and not sulking about the latest little incident, I hope? I heard a dragon student caused the um, bit on your tail," Twilight replied.
Luster Dawn rolled her eyes. "We were just having a friendly argument about who should own Flash Magnus' shield, and she got all...flamey."
"Uh uh uh, calling it his shield assumes you're right to begin with!" Twilight remarked before booping the unicorn's snout.
"Ugh, whatever, I'm going to go find the big orange loaf and ask him about a tail-fixing spell, he's always eager to help me," Luster Dawn said as she began to trot away.
"Just don't cause an international incident on the way!" called Twilight before sighing and sitting in her throne, staring at the cutie map.
"No promises!" replied Luster Dawn as she reached the door.
Just as Luster Dawn open the door, a large, beefy Spike opened the other, with Rarity in a fabulous purple coat trotting to his left, and an adult Sweetie carrying a teapot and cups to his right. The dragon cleared his throat. "Speaking of international incidents, you'll be happy to know that the Diamond Dogs have a trade agreement with Klugetown!"
"Oh that's wonderful! Well...as long as the Diamond Dogs aren't catching ponies to sell as slaves anymore..." Twilight trailed off as Sweetie Belle poured a cup of tea on the table.
"Darling, there's nothing to worry about," Rarity said as she flipped her mane and took a seat at her throne. "And you need to relax after dealing with all the fires caused by the new dragon and kirin students."
"You'd think we would've gotten fireproof chairs and desks earlier, after that time Smolder got sick and melted both at once," remarked Spike.
Rarity shuddered. "It just had to be in my class..."
"Right...but, what about the Yaks? They still refuse to accept being educated by ponies...what if they're planning a war?" asked Twilight as she nervously put her hooves on the map table.
"Oh puh-lease, Sandbar's married to their ambassador, I don't think there's any chance of a big stomping war anytime soon, especially with dragons about, and Tirek on our leash," replied Rarity.
Pinkie suddenly sat up behind Rarity, who went wide-eyed as the pink pony put her hooves on Rarity's mane. "Hey, stomping wars are fun! The spider ponies will never see it coming when the GREAT YAK ARMIES turn them to PASTE!"
Rarity rolled her eyes and sipped from her teacup. "You've been listening to your foal too much."
"Li'l Cheese is a special treat! That's why I brought him and Gummy this time!" Pinkie cheered.
Rarity spat out her tea as she looked to the door and saw a giant Gummy with Li'l Cheese and Fluttershy on his back coming in. "Darling, really?"
"The more the merrier, I suppose," said Twilight.
"Just make sure he doesn't eat me again, this coat doesn't clean easy," said Rarity as she eyed up Gummy with suspicion.
"He Pinkie promised," replied Fluttershy with a smile as she took to her throne.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack soon came in the door, the former in full Wonderbolt ritual dress, and the latter in a hat and Granny Smith's cowl. "We ain't late, are we? Rainbow was ramblin' on about her 73rd attempt at findin' a special somepony."
"Hey! You had your chance, no complaining just 'cause you're stuck with a cousin and jealous now!" Dash quipped.
"He is a hard-workin, family-lovin', do-goodin', upri-" AJ started yelling before being muffled by her hat, levitated down with blue magic.
"Ahem...you're right on time, darlings," Rarity said, sipping more tea as she let go of AJ's hat.
"Oh, but Starlight will be late," said Fluttershy. "Her and Sunburst are having a special evening together."
"Well, it'll be just like old times, then!" said Twilight, before Li'l Cheese flung himself onto her face suddenly.
"PURPLE PONY PROTECTOR PRINCESS!" he declared as Twilight groaned.
"Oh my, sorry, when me and Discord were babysitting him, he might've gotten into some of our tea, and Discord was trying to teach him about puns and other fun things with words," Fluttershy said with a Discord-like chuckle as she grabbed Li'l Cheese.
"I wouldn't have it any other way. We'll need a new generation with good energy, now that we're getting a little...old. Say, how are your own foals, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked with a smile.
"Let's just say pony-draconequus hybrids are best kept away from animals," Fluttershy replied with a slight eye twitch.
"They're really cute though," Sweetie squeaked. "I hope pony-dragon hybrids are like that," she added, nudging Spike while Rarity looked uncertain.
"R-right, well anyways, I hereby bring our monthly round table meeting to a start!" Twilight said cheerily.
"Say cheese!" said Pinkie as she snapped a picture, her head barely in frame with everyone else, who had various levels of surprise showing on their faces.
Zooming out, the photo was in a storybook, and the page flipped to a photo of Luster Dawn with Twilight and friends in Ponyville, as they began to sing The Magic of Friendship Grows.
Finally, once the song was over, things zoomed out again, and the storybook closed, with many pages remaining.