Silver trotted sadly homeward, looking around her. In her mouth she carried a ticket to the city her parents were staying in. She’d miss this place. It’d been a short and sweet stay, and she had really enjoyed it, but... She couldn’t let her parents do this. Sighing, she opened her door to see Cherry come bundling towards her.
“Silver! There you are! I’ve been looking all over! Listen, Presspass is back in town and I was thinking maybe we can go out for a picnic and... Silver?” She broke off, seeing her friend close the door, blanking her out entirely. Cherry knocked on the door, trying the handle, to no avail.
“Silver, hun? What’s wrong?” She said, suddenly sullen. No response. Her face clouded with worry. “We don’t have to have a picnic today, if that’s what’s wrong?” Again, no response. Sighing, she knocked again, peering through the window.
“Cherry, what’s going on?” came a voice from behind. Presspass had came over to see what all the fuss is about.
“It’s Silver. She’s ignoring me entirely and won’t come out.” Cherry said, looking down.
“Maybe she’s busy?” Press offered, before knocking on the door. Hearing it unlock, he turned to Cherry once more. “See? She was just busy doing somethi-” He suddenly went quiet as Silver barged pass, not saying a word to the two of them, shedding a tear as she walked past. “Thing...”
Cherry gave chase, but to no avail. She came back heavy hooved, her golden tail dragging in the soil. “It’s no use... She’s really hurt about something... What did we do?” She sighed, looking up at Press, who was also very down.
“No... It wasn’t us. What could we have possibly done to cause that? You saw the tear.” He looked down, before turning his head to Silver’s open front door. Cherry did the same, before gasping.
“We really shouldn’t, she’s in a state as it is... Going through her stuff won’t help!” Cherry tried to stop Press, but he’d already walked in. “I guess we’re going through her stuff then...” She rolled her eyes and followed. It was blatantly obvious what was going on when they got inside, but neither wanted to accept it. On her bed lay the ticket and a bulging suitcase. Her room was bare. The only thing remaining was a tearstained piece of paper, the letter. Both read it, tearing up.
“She’s not thinking straight... Her parents want her to stay, but she’s going to them anyway...” said Cherry, wiping her eyes and sniffing. Press remained silent, turning back towards the door. You could see him planning the next step, scrapping ideas and making new ones. “We have to stop her.” He said simply after.
“Are you sure? We really shouldn’t butt in...” Cherry replied, despite her wanting to stop her too.
“We have to. She’s making a terrible mistake.” Said Press, looking back at Cherry with sheer determination.
“What’s the plan?” she asked simply.
Silver returned homeward once more, cursing in her mind that she’d ignored her closest friends like that. No no, it was for the best, she thought, rather than having teary goodbyes, it’ll be like I was never here. As she arrived, she saw the wide open door. Oh no.
Walking in, she saw nothing had changed, and her briefcase was still there on the bed. Picking it up, she was about to leave when she saw a note left on her bare desk.
“Come to the airport, now.”
Wondering the meaning, she carried her case out and made her way towards the airport, as it was the way she was leaving anyway. As she arrived, she saw... nothing. The buildings were baron and empty, no balloons were there, no ponies, no... nothing. Looking up, she saw no pegasi flying around. Something was amiss.
Then she saw it. A message written in a clouds. One that caused her eyes to go watery.
“This is how empty Ponyville will be to us without you, Silver”
Presspass and Cherry joined her side, hugging her from the side. “Please don’t go” Both said, sadly. The other ponies came out, including the mayor, all their faces seeming sad and upset.
“You... organized this all for me?” Silver looked at them all. Press nodded.
“All of these ponies are the ones you’ve met on a daily basis. Your friends. Your co-workers. The ponies you’ve bumped into and made happy conversation with. Your parents wanted you happy Silver. They wanted you to live away, with a job and a new family. They didn’t give you their address so you could join them. They wanted you to send them letters, to keep in contact, to let them know how happy you truly are here.”
Silver simply nodded. It was all so much to take in. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Looking around at the ponies surrounding her, she let the tears stream down her cheeks. She murmured something.
“Silv?” Cherry looked at her, nudging her slightly with the edge of her nose.
“I’m sorry!” sobbed Silver, closing her eyes and laying down, burying her face. The ponies moved closer, reassuring her, before moving back once more, leaving the mayor to step forward and offer her hood.
“Well, Silver? Are you still going? If you are, we’ll let yo-” Before she had finished her sentence, Silv had jumped up and cuddling the mayor tightly.
“I’m staying! I’m so sorry everypony... I was foolish... And scared”
The ponies gave a warm hearted, reassuring cheer and surrounded her, picking her up and carrying her and her suitcase back home, chanting her name over and over.
There was still much to enjoy here in Ponyville after all, thought Silver, wiping her eyes.