She smiled as she took in her familiar surroundings. Rows upon rows of bookshelves within a carefully organized carved tree. Twilight Sparkle, newly-crowned princess of Equestria, had gone through many things in recent weeks, from her unexpected coronation, to a journey to another world, and, more recently, saving Equestria yet again from a great danger. But after all that, after all the hectic goings on and the dangers she'd been though, she found comfort in this simple thing. Just being here, in this tree she had called home for the last few years, here in Ponyville.

Most ponies would expect a princess to be more comfortable in a palace, or overseeing some grand view, but not her. For Twilight, this small and often unused library of the town was more important to her than any palace could be, and she revelled in the silence of it. Well, almost silence anyway. For Twilight was not the only occupant of the tree-house at this time. Looking to her left, the young princess looked upon two of her closest friends, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who were busying themselves with their own reading. Dash was in the middle of yet another book in the Daring-Do collection, while Pinkie Pie was here on request from the Cakes, who'd asked her to find a cook book for new cake recipes.

Twilight smiled to herself as she saw them. It was just her and her friends. A moment that, if one ignored the obvious wings on Twilight's back, would perhaps lead one to think the last few turbulent months had never even happened. Still, Twilight couldn't enjoy the peace for long, as she had important business to get to. She looked away from her friends and down towards an old tome on her writing desk. She used her magic to levitate the book and open it. Like a professional, which many would call her, she began pouring over it's contents in a speedy manner. The rather loud sound of her flipping through the pages quickly caught the attention of Pinkie Pie.

"Whatcha up to Twilight?" She asked.

The alicorn looked up from her work and towards her friend.

"I'm looking through this old book of magical artefacts. You remember the gift given by the tree of harmony?" She replied.

Pinkie nodded at that, clearly interested. And Twilight couldn't blame her. Not only had they only just discovered a hitherto unknown source of their once-trusted weapons, the elements of harmony, but the tree itself had granted them a gift after their safe return. It was, needless to say, a rather jarring experience for all of them. The elements were what first brought Twilight and her five friends together, and they had served them well against the many dangers they'd faced since. Losing them was a high price to pay, but they had no choice if they wanted their homeland safe.

The mention of the tree, however, had caught Rainbow's attention, who now looked up from her book with a raised eyebrow.

"You mean that big diamond thing with the keyholes? What about it?" She asked.

Twilight looked back towards her book.

"It's probably something really important. I need to find out if these old books can tell us anything about it."

Rainbow nodded at that, clearly understanding the need for Twilight's research, and so got back to her book. With her friends' curiosities sated for the time being, Twilight got back to her research. She flipped page after page, but to her dismay there seemed to be no mention of what that strange object was, nor any mention of the tree itself, which was even less helpful. It was with that disappointment that Twilight eventually closed the book. She planned to get another, but was interrupted from doing so by the sound of knocking on the door. She turned, looked upon it and, rather than opening it herself, used her magic to turn the knob on the door.

Once open, Twilight smiled once again, as her other friends, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy, were now also here. She gestured to them, wecloming them in, and they entered the tree-house, politely closing the door behind them. Under normal circumstances, Twilight would be very happy that they were here, yet another chance to spend time with her friends after everything else that had been going on. But she soon noticed that all three of them had rather troublesome looks on their faces.

What's wrong?" She asked.

The three mares looked at each other before Fluttershy spoke first.

"Um, Twilight? Are you busy right now?" She asked.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Rainbow answered Fluttershy's question on her behalf.

"I'll say! She's spending her day trying to find out stuff about that thing from the harmony tree. Even as a princess, Twilight never changes."

Twilight frowned over at her rainbow-maned friend, who quickly hid her face behind her book upon seeing the angry look. Nevertheless, Twilight sighed and nodded at her friends, confirming what Rainbow had told them.

"Whatever that object was, it's unquestionably related to the elements in some way, which makes learning about it a priority."

She turned away from her friends and back towards her now-closed book.

"All I need to do is find out what it is. With the elements gone now, we need something else to help defend Equestria. Perhaps this gift from the tree will enable us to use it's power without removing the elements like Celestia and Luna had to".

Twilight knew that, as a princess, she was charged with defending their land from whatever threat may come their way in the near future. And with the elements now gone, they would need something else to help them do that. Perhaps some strange monster would appear one day, or perhaps Discord would revert to his old ways. Whatever they would need to deal with, that object from the tree might help, so Twilight had pretty much requested this of herself, even though Celestia had not officially asked her to do this.

With her attention on book however, she failed to notice the increasingly worried looks on the faces of Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy. After waiting for a few uncomfortable moments, Applejack stepped forward, clearing her throat and thus gaining Twilight's attention once more.

"Twi? If ya'll are right, and this thing does let us use the elements power again? What're your plans?" She asked.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. As far as she was concerned, the answer to that was obvious. But she answered the question anyway.

"Well.....I plan to give each of us our elements back, so we can defend Equestria."

The three mares looked at each other nervously. Rainbow, who had been quietly keeping out of this conversation after Twilight's earlier glare, looked up and over her book, somewhat annoyed by her friends' continued behaviour.

"Okay, what's up with you guys? Is there some kind of problem?"

This time, it was Rarity who spoke, though from the tone of her voice it was clear that she took no joy in saying this.

"Well, Twilight, we were wondering if, if you do somehow get the power of the elements back, if it might be possible if you could, you know....."

She gave her two friends a nervous glance, but the two merely remained silent, gesturing to her to carry on. Rarity looked back towards Twilight before speaking again.

"....if you didn't give the elements back to us".

The room became as silent as a crypt with the uttering of those words. Even Pinkie Pie, usually known for being loud and bouncy, had stopped what she was doing to join Twilight and Rainbow in staring at the three other mares. Twilight especially couldn't believe what she'd heard. They didn't want the elements back? It wasn't something she could understand. Those artefacts had become an important part of their lives, as well as being essential for saving Equestria many times. It boggled her mind that they would make a request like this.

It was a confusion she did not hesitate to voice.

"What.....what do you mean you don't want them?"

This time, it was Applejack's turn to speak.

"Listen sugarcube. We know the elements are important. We know they're what brought us together. And we know most of all that, if they returned, we'd be asked to use em. But....."

To the surprise of everypony there, it was Fluttershy who spoke next, quickly stepping forward and speaking louder than most would expect of her.

"We don't want to be heroes!"

All the ponies, Rarity and Applejack included, looked at her with shocked expressions. The usually soft-spoken pegasus quickly realised what she'd done, then gained a massive blush on her face as she retreated a few steps backwards, trying desperately to use her long pink mane to hide her face, as she was often one to do in embarrassing situations.

"Um, well, you know, if that's okay with you".

The group continued to look at her with surprise until Rarity broke the silence by deciding to elaborate on Fluttershy's unexpected outburst.

"Yes, well Fluttershy's heart is in the right place with that. As important as the elements are, none of us ever went out of our way to be their wielders. We were honoured certainly, but I for one would never seek to become some kind of saviour of ponykind".

Rainbow Raised her eyebrow at that before stepping forward and speaking in a rather aggressive manner.

"Are you ponies crazy? It's awesome, being a hero! Remember when Celestia threw that big celebration after we put Discord away? Having all those ponies cheer us on? That was great!"

Twilight couldn't help but roll her eyes at Rainbow's words. After all, it was expected that she of all ponies would have that reaction. Her dream of being a Wonderbolt, and all of the attention and fame that would bring, undoubtedly played into her role as an element bearer, as a hero to the people of Equestria. Still, the concerns of her other friends were not something that sat well with her, and there was something in particular that bothered her about all of this.

"Girls.....not once have you ever told me about this. If you didn't like being bearers, why didn't you say something sooner?" She asked.

Applejack looked down at that, looking somewhat ashamed.

"You're right Twi, we should have. But what could we do? As long as we had em, we'd be called on to save the day whenever trouble appeared. We never had a choice. Those elements were bound to us, and us to them. If we refused, ponies everywhere would think we'd be shirkin our duties and such. But now...."

The farm pony looked over to Rarity, who nodded before finishing Applejack's words for her.

"But now we have a chance. The tree of harmony has taken the elements back, and with them gone, we're no longer the one's that the people of Equestria will come to if they need help. We're....."

She hesitated, unsure of how her next words would be taken.

"......for lack of a better word, Twilight, we're free."

Upon hearing that, Twilight's eyes narrowed somewhat, as she began moving towards her friends.

"Free? Is that what being an element-bearer was to you this whole time? A prison you can't get out of?"

It was here that Applejack frowned at her alicorn friend, stepping forward to defend Rarity.

"Now don't y'all go an sayin stuff like that Twi! We were happy to help when we could. Really. And if we're asked to go again, we'd probably do so. But it's not just about us. It's about everypony we know. Like our families."

Twilight stopped moving towards them and focused her attention on Applejack, her face one of confusion. Seeing that clear expression, Applejack explained herself.

"Do y'all know how worried my sister, brother and granny have worried about me since I took the element of honesty? They tell me every time I come back from usin it that they were afraid it'd be the last time they'd ever see me. With those things around our necks, we were pretty much sent to the front lines."

The earth pony turned to her nearby unicorn friend.

"It's the same with Rarity. Her sister, Sweetie Belle, was always upset when Rarity was called away to do stuff like this. Heck! She actually ran off to the farm to stay with Applebloom cause she was worried she'd be left alone!"

After that. Applejack faced Twilight once more, pointing her hoof at her.

"And you? Don't tell me there hasn't been a time when your family's been worried about you, bein sent off to do all that dangerous stuff. Haven't you ever wanted to not have to put them through that anymore?"

Twilight wanted to answer back to that, to tell her she was over-reacting. But to do so would have been a lie on her part. In truth her family had indeed been frightened for her whenever she'd gone on one of these Equestria-saving missions from Celestia. When she first visited her parents after her decision to move to Ponyville, the first thing they did was hug her so tightly that she had a hard time breathing. Her mother had gone on and on about how worried she'd been and how afraid she was that she'd never see her daughter again.

Her brother, Shining Armour, had also not reacted well to her frequent dangerous excursions. When news had reached him about the kinds of things she'd been asked to do during her time in Ponyville, he'd gone to Celestia herself and, in a blatant violation of his duties as a captain of the royal guard, actually berated her for willingly putting his younger sister in such peril. The princess had not chastised him for the outbursts fortunately, as she knew all too well how emotional ponies can get when siblings are involved.

But still, these instances were all the evidence Twilight needed to realise that, as shocking as this might have been for her, Applejack and the others were right. This life they lead, being called on to save the day, was not one that any pony would ever walk into willingly. Indeed, Twilight herself had experienced similar fears when she was younger, back when her brother was first recruited into the royal guard. Being there meant that he’d have to face many dangerous missions, and with the two of them so close, she would often spend her days wondering if her BBBFF would ever walk through the front door of their home again. She could not blame them for wanting to not have that responsibility anymore, if only for the sake of their families. Twilight herself would do whatever it took to ensure that her parents and brother didn't have to go through such worries and fears ever again.

Realising this, she looked down at the ground and sighed.

"You're right."

Her friends, Rainbow and Pinkie included, pricked up their ears upon hearing that. It was obvious that none of them had ever expected Twilight to agree to this. She, above all, had been a stanch defender of Celestia and everything she'd ever asked them to do. Maybe it was because she too was a princess now, capable of making choices herself in these matters, or perhaps because she felt the same concerns as them. But whatever the reason, they listened intently as she continued.

"You're right. Having those elements put us in danger, time after time. And our loved ones and families have probably experienced things none of us would ever want them to go through when we've been tasked with defending Equestria. I cannot deny that you have every right to not want this duty again."

She looked up from the ground, her expression was hard to read. Disappointment? Worry? They could not say.

"If you don't want this......I won't force you."

Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy looked at each other, still somewhat taken aback over how well Twilight seemed to be reacting to all of this. Deep down, all of them were glad that she'd consented to releasing them from this responsibility. But they could not smile over it, for they now looked upon the expression on her face. It was one they recognised all-too well, for she had worn it before, only a few days ago. When Applejack and the rest of her friends had elected for her to return to Ponyville, she'd been utterly crestfallen over it. It was a look that told all that she feared for their union, their friendship.

The thee mares gave each other a glance before Applejack stepped towards her, catching her attention.

"Twi.....listen. What you said before was true, back when we gave up the elements. They may have brought us together, but our friendship is strong. Strong enough to endure losing them. And it's the same now. Me and the others might not want to be the ones to save the day anymore, but that don't make us any less your friends. If y'all need us, we're here for you. Just like we've always been."

Twilight looked up at her, and knew that Applejack was the bearer of the element of honesty for a reason. There was no lie in her eyes as she said those words. And, as she looked to her other friends, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, all of whom were now gathering around her, she knew that they all felt the same. That knowledge lifted her heart from the low it had been feeling, and she understood now that her friendship with these five extraordinary mares was not dependent on any magical jewellery they found one day, nor in their once-shared duty to defend their homeland, but on much deeper bonds that nothing, not even this, could break.

As she looked upon each of her friends in turn, she smiled at them, and they to her. No more words need pass between them over this. They did not know what the future might bring for them, or what the secret of the tree of harmony might eventually lead to, but all of them knew that they would be there for each other when they were needed, elements or no elements.