“There is a land, far from Equestria, a land without Harmony, not like what we have here.” Princess Celestia had summoned Twilight and her friends to her castle in Canterlot and now she was pacing back and forth along the passageway.

“Princess Twilight” Celestia stopped pacing and looked at her fellow alicorn. Twilight readied herself, this was the part where she was charged with leading her friends to unknown lands to save the...

“You are to remain in Ponyville whilst your friends travel on their mission with my sister Luna and Princess Cadence.”

/Cue theme song\

Twilight's features dropped like a hammer, she never got left behind, never. Not she, no Princess Twilight Sparkle. And yet, the look in Princess Celestia's face was not playful, nor in jest.

“But...but why?”

Celstia's features softened as she looked down at her former student.

“I believe that it is time that your friends learnt to act without you, they need to trust in their own strengths and not always have your careful planning and calm mind to save them.”

From her friends there was a muffled sound of “hush” and “Shut up Rainbow” and “Oh, I'm so so sorry, I mean, I hope you don't mind.” Her friends were recalling the many adventures they had all had, and whilst it was true that Twilight had always been the one to save them in the end, 'calm' was not a term they would use to describe the purple alicorn. Celestia ignored their murmured argument and continued on.

“And you Princess Twilight, must learn to work with others. The Princess of Friendship though you be, you have only worked with one group of ponies. I am trusting you understand what I am saying?”

The Princess smiled graciously and their meeting was over.

The ponies were gathered in a circle, sharing a teary goodbye, Celestia stood atop the stairs at the entrance to the castle and looked down on them. This was never the most pleasant thing to witness but it was necessary. She turned and began walking to her throne room, Princess Luna joined her, her sister was slightly smaller than she was, but Celestia had learnt long ago not to take her sister's smaller stature for granted.

“They will not take kindly to being led by myself and Princess Cadenza” Luna spoke up finally.

“Whyever would you come to that conclusion my sister?” Celestia replied, “They have worked with you before.”

“They have worked with Mi Amore before, and they have met me once, but I do not believe that they trust either of us. Not after Mi Amore turned out to be Chrysalis and my um... change.”

Celestia smiled, “Then they will learn to trust you little sister.”

“Octavia! Come on in! Usual I take it?” Came the cheery voice of Bon Bon, the owner of the Ponyville Cafe. Octavia had entered moments before and had been greeted by the cafe owner with the usual joyous call.

“I think I'll try something different today Bon.” Octavia replied, setting herself down in front of her usual table. The cafe was crowded as usual, it was  popular meeting place for the ponies of ponyville and travellers passing by were always walking in the door. But Octavia was one of the regulars, one of the first to stop by at Bon Bon's Cafe and one of the first to help work there.

Bon Bon remembered when she had first met Octavia all those years ago, she had just opened up the Cafe, and it had been a success from the get go, however there were so many customers that Bon Bon could hardly keep the bussiness going on her own. Until one day, a dissheveleld musician arrived on her doorstep asking about work. Bon had taken her in and showed her the ropes, in return, Octavia had helped bake and wait tables and even performed on her Cello during the nights. Eventually the conductor for the Royal Canterlot Sympony Orchestra had been sitting at one of the tables, to see Octavia's performance had melted his heart and soon Bon Bon had lost her helper, but soon gained another. And whenever Octavia was on break and back in Ponyville, she always leant a hand.

Octavia looked around at the ponies and tried to see if any of the other regulars were enjoying breakfast. Vinyl was on tour in the Crystal Empire, so she wouldn't be here, Dr Whooves never showed up except for dinner and... ah, Lyra.

Lyra must have been helping Bon Bon out today because she trotted over to Octavia's table wearing the grown on her flanks that all Bon Bon's helpers wore. She flicked back her hair and smiled at Octavia.

“Bon said you wanted something different today, make life harder in the long run but for a friend, I guess it's all fine.” Lyra smiled through her fake grumpiness and Ocatavia returned it, placing her order, which Lyra shouted back in the general direction of the kitchen before sitting down on a chair in the strange way she did. “So what's up?”

Octavia sighed, “You are lazier than Vinyl sometimes, you know that”

Lyra laughed as Bon Bon brought out the food, the three of them remained seated at the table, all picking at Bon's amazing cooking. Finally Octavia looked up from her food, having stuffed her face in the most elegant ladylike way possible, she spotted some of the customers waving for a bill and she jerked her head in their direction. Lyra rose, “I got this one” and left.

“Have you seen James in here at any point Bon?”

Bon Bon raised an eyebrow at Octavia and smirked.

“You have a reason to see him Tavi?”

Octavia rolled her eyes as Bon Bon erupted into laughter, she stuck out her tongue at the laughing pony, once again, in the most ladylike way possible.

“Actually I was hoping for some company from a pony who's mental age exceeded four years.” Octavia retorted.

“Then you'll have to look somewhere else dear, cause you won't find it here!” Bon blasted laughs and smiles at Octavia, who hadn't noticed the Pegasus Pony that had just entered. He was short for a stallion, his fur stripped with  brown and green and his hair stuck out in every direction, defying gravity itself, and somewhere in that mess of mane he managed to balance a red fez. He looked around for somepony familiar and spotted the two mares at the table, waving a hoof and letting out a pleasant greeting in their direction.

“Wotcher!”

Octavia froze. Bon Bon laughed.