"So, anycreature know why Sandbar called us here?" Gallus asked, clearly getting impatient.

Smolder raised an eyebrow to him. "Sandbar? It was Yona who asked me here."

"Same. I just thought she wanted to hang for the afternoon," Silverstream added.

"Sandbar came to me in the library and said he had something important to say," Ocellus finished.

The four youths, standing just outside their favorite place, the Treehouse of Harmony, had been here for some time, but with their two absentee friends still nowhere in sight, it became increasingly irritating for Gallus in particular to just be standing here. "Ugh! Whatever it is they wanted us here for, I hope it's good!"

"Trust me, Gallus, it will be."

All four heads turned to the owner of the second voice, Sandbar, who now walked through the crumbling and ancient gateway of the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters. As expected, Yona was walking beside him, and as they approached, Gallus smirked to the sight of them together. "Oh look. The group's 'royal couple' have finally decided to grace us with their presence."

Naturally, Sandbar and Yona blushed to this, much to the amusement of the others, but they managed to get past it, as Yona stepped forward to speak. "Yona and Sandbar have things to say. Important things. Things friends should hear and listen to."

Sandbar nodded. "With everything that's been happening, I got to thinking, and then I went to Yona to talk about it."

Yona nodded back. "Yona understand Sandbar's idea. And Yona think it good plan."

Smolder folded her arms, giving them both a curious look. "Oh yeah? And what's this big idea exactly?"

Sandbar stepped forward by a few steps before answering that. "Princess Twilight is the new ruler of Equestria. Her friends will always be there to help guide and protect Equestria from everything that might come its way. But now that they're doing that, there's something else we need to think about. Something that might get forgotten or left to the side now that they've got so many more responsibilities."

Ocellus seemed concerned. "What, you mean the school?"

Yona shook her head. "No. School in good care with Head-Mare Starlight and friends. That not what friends need to talk about now."

Silverstream, sounding far less bubbly than normal, looked to the two of them. "Then what?"

Sandbar and Yona took a moment to glance at one another, then looked back to the group. "Well...it's the smaller things," Sandbar answered.

A chuckle from Gallus. "What? What kinds of small things?"

Sandbar gestured to their surroundings. "I know they'll rule Equestria well, but before they did all that there was so many other things they did for ponies and other creatures. They'd go out on missions, find friendship problems, and even when they weren't being sent by the map they'd still help others and spread the ideals of friendship."

Yona nodded, her ears drooping slightly. "If Twilight rule Equestria now, will she still help friends who fight in Yakyakistan?"

"Would Professor Rainbow or Professor Fluttershy or any of the others still travel to some distant corner of Equestria because a community there just wasn't as loving as it used to be?" Sandbar added.

Now starting to see the problem they were worried about, Ocellus took a step forward herself. "You think they'd ignore those things?"

Sandbar sighed. "No. I know they'd do all they could if they knew about it. But with the roles they have now, do you really think they'll even have time to go and do the things they used to? At least as much as they used to?"

There was silence all around as each of the children looked to one another, perhaps thinking one of them would have something to say to assure Sandbar that his concerns wouldn't actually be the case. But when it turned out that nocreature had any such response, Gallus sighed. "Well, thanks for that, Sandbar. I wasn't expecting to feel bad today, but here we are."

Yona smiled to him. "Friend Gallus no be sad. There answer to problem!"

Gallus smirked slightly, clearly sceptical. "Oh yeah? What?"

Yona turned to Sandbar, and after the two blushed at each other for a moment, it was the latter who addressed the remaining four. "If Princess Twilight and her friends aren't going to be the ones to do those things...then perhaps it might be worth having others do it instead."

As before, there was silence, and during it Gallus slowly rolled his eyes. "Okay, think I see where this is going."

Sandbar and Yona stepped forward. "Guys...I think we should be the ones to carry on the role Princess Twilight and her friends used to have," Sandbar finally announced.

His other friends looked to him with shock over that declaration, with the exception of Gallus, who had apparently already figured out this was what would be said. "So, what, you want us to go around, helping ponies and other creatures with friendship problems?"

"Ooooooh! That sounds fun! How do we do it?!" Silverstream asked excitedly.

"Are...are we even ready for something like this? We're still students after all," Ocellus added, her voice clearly a nervous one.

"Heh, gotta hand it too ya, Sandy, when you dream, you dream big!" Smolder conceded.

Yona looked to her other four friends. "Sandbar right. There hole in world now where Twilight and friends used to be. If friendship problem happen, it still need help. We can help fill hole!" she stated firmly.

Gallus sighed, quickly flying closer to Sandbar. "Look, Sandy, I get it. Things are changing and we probably have to change with them. But do you really think this is a good idea? Not to put too fine a point on it, but we're not as good as they were when it comes to this sort of thing."

Sandbar smiled to him. "Do you think they started out being really good at it? They had to learn, just like we do. It wasn't something that happened overnight, Gallus, it was something they built up for themselves over years, ever since Princess Twilight first moved here to Ponyville all that time ago."

Yona happily nodded. "And friends already have good start! We help save Equestria twice now!"

Ocellus considered that. "She's not wrong. We were all newcomers to friendship, yet we were still able to help bring different peoples together. They were ready to just abandon one another, yet we told them how wrong it'd be to do that."

"And they listened!" Silverstream merrily declared.

An amused snort from Smolder. "They got ya there, Gallus. We're not exactly novices anymore."

Sighing, Gallus smirked back to his dragon friend, but then turned more serious as he once more regarded Sandbar. "I'm as willing as any Griffon to do the right thing and help out. But let's not kid ourselves here, people. We've got some big horseshoes to fill. Do you really think we can live up to what Princess Twilight and her friends have done?"

"Yes...I think you can."

All eyes turned upwards, and to their shock, they saw that it was none other than Twilight herself, descending down from the sky amid the bright sunlight of the day. The moment she made landfall, all six of her students bowed respectfully to her, prompting a giggle on her part. "I appreciate that, but you needn't bow. You were my students long before I became a ruler, remember?" She watched them get back up, nervously laughing among themselves, before then turning to Sandbar. She approached him, smiling, and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "My friends and I have done many amazing things over the years, but even if we never said it, we always knew there would come a time when somecreature else would have to carry the torch." She looked to all of them warmly. "And I can think of none more worthy to take up that torch than the six of you."

Six blushes were her response, with Gallus chuckling about it soon afterwards. "Heh, no pressure, right?"

Twilight gave a quick laugh of her own, but looked to him and spoke encouragingly afterwards. "I know it can be a daunting thing, but believe me when I say you're all up for it. I remember what it was to be your age after all. I wasn't much older when I arrived here in Ponyville. I met many challenges, and I overcame them with the help of my friends. And if the six of you are truly committed to carrying on what we did for all those wonderful years, then I am truly honored."

Yona grinned even wider than before. "Friends not let Princess Twilight down! Friends do good work in her name!"

The other students all smiled and nodded in agreement, much to Twilight's delight. "I know you will. And whether it be Equestria, Griffonstone or anywhere beyond, I know you all have it in you to do good for the people there, just as me and my friends once did."

Smolder chuckled, glancing behind her to the Treehouse of Harmony. "Well, if nothing else, we've got a decent headquarters for this new little club of ours."

Twilight looked up to it, the last gift the Tree of Harmony had ever given, and smiled, fondly remembering that ancient being and all it had done for them. "The Treehouse will forever be a haven and refuge for those who value friendship and wish to preserve it. A legacy of the great Tree that came before." Then she looked down to her students with just the teensiest bit of slyness. "But I think we can do a little bit better for this new role you've set for yourselves."

The students didn't know what she was talking about, but they watched as she stepped forward, lifting her hoof and offering it to Sandbar. There, in its palm, was a key of some sort. Accepting it, Sandbar looked to his Princess with about the same amount of confusion as the rest of them. "Um....a key?"

Twilight giggled. "Yes, and a very important one at that. Gather around." The students were hesitant, but they all trusted her, and so they did indeed walk close to her. When Twilight was satisfied that they were close enough, her horn lit up brightly, and soon engulfed them in one of her now-famous teleportation spells. It was a new experience for many of them, and when they emerged at their new destination, several of them were a bit hazy from the journey. But after Twilight had given them all a moment to recover, she gestured to the side. "I think this might suit your needs a bit better."

The students turned, and their eyes widened with shock. For they had arrived at the doors of the Palace of Friendship. Twilight's castle, just next to where their school was. It glistened in the sunlight, looking as impressive as it always did, and after the students had gawked at it for a time, Silverstream gasped, smiling with excitement at her teacher. "You...you mean...?"

Twilight nodded. "I do. This place has served me and my friends well over the years, but it will no longer be my home. Not now, when I will be living and ruling from Canterlot." She looked to each of them. "But like your Treehouse, it too was a gift from the Tree of Harmony, and I have no intention of letting it simply lie abandoned on the edge of Ponyville." She paused, then smiled softly to the six of them. "It served as a place from where my friends and I could work for the betterment of Equestria and those beyond. And I can think of no better thing for it than to have it continue to aid that goal, with a new generation." Taking a step forward, she again focused on Sandbar in particular. "I'm proud of you. All of you. For those as young as you to want to help others in the same way my friends and I did? It gives me great joy."

Sandbar, perhaps out of some sort of instinct, gave a salute to her. "Don't worry, Princess, we won't let you down!"

"Especially if we're getting a castle in this deal!" Smolder commented, earning her looks from the others. "Hey, we're all thinking it, right?"

Twilight giggled. "I know you'll do well. I have faith in each and every one of you. And remember..." She again placed her hoof on Sandbar's shoulder. "Should you ever need help...my door is always open." Taking a step back from them, Twilight looked to the smiling faces of her students. Those six souls whom she had taught the ways of friendship, and who would now go on to use that knowledge to aid those who were still in need of it out there in the wider world. It brought her both happiness and pride, and as her eyes filled with happy tears, she spread out her wings, launching herself into the sky before the first fell, until she was too far away for the youngsters to be seen.

Now alone with their new base of operations, the students, at first, were unsure of how to react to all this. But then Sandbar looked to Yona, who smiled warmly to him, and he knew what needed to be done. He faced the rest of the group, stretching out a single hoof. "So...you guys ready?"

Yona didn't even hesitate, as she put her own hoof onto his. Smolder rolled her eyes, but approached all the same. "Kinda cliché, but it's the good kind at least." She too stepped forward putting her claw on the hooves of the other two.

"Eeeeee! This is gonna be so great!" Silverstream said, going forward and putting her claw down on the mix.

"I never thought my life might have this going for it...but I'm happy to help," Ocellus added, placing down her own hoof.

Now it was just Gallus, who looked to all of his friends, and then smirked. "Pfft! Yeah right! Like there was ever a chance I wouldn't join in?" He added his claw, completing the union.

The group, now standing in the shadow of the castle that would serve their noble goal, smiled to one another, silently knowing they'd be there for one another as they undertook this quest. And as a sense of pride in this gathering swelled in Sandbar's chest, he couldn't help but say it to them all. "Alright then...here's to the Friendship Squad!"

Instantly, Gallus scowled at him. "Okay, first order of business, we've got to get ourselves a better group name than that!"

Ever since they first arrived in the show, I've always liked the idea of the Young Six serving as a sort of successor group to the mane six, and now that Twilight has gone on to be the new ruler of Equestria, I think it stands to reason that a new generation will be needed to go out on adventures and help people, just as she and her friends did.

Now, I have no idea if this is actually going to be a multi-chapter story, but if I do go that route, then I wanted to make sure that I at least had a decent start for it