//------------------------------// // An Autumn Twilight // Story: Friendship is Revolution // by ultiville //------------------------------// Rarity loves Ponyville, of course; she'd hardly still live there otherwise, with so many of her clients in Manehattan or Canterlot. She isn't as vocal about it as Applejack, perhaps, but in her heart she knows she never plans to leave. Still, though, she can see how Annie-Jane's parents might say the same for their farm, out here in the farthest reaches of Massachusetts. Twilight's told her a little about her own experience of it in the summer, about the endless trees on the hills, compared to Ponyville's plains, about the night rising out of the dark valley. She wouldn't say the normally precise alicorn had quite hit poetic, but she'd certainly aspired to it. It had done Rarity proud to hear. Now, in early November, it has an admittedly different kind of beauty, stark and windswept. The last bright leaves of Earth's chaotic autumn still cling to the trees like the few streamers intact after one of Pinkie's wilder parties, but the dense trees are mostly bare and ghostly-gray against the pale blue autumnal sky. It looks, she thinks, like the cover of a particularly delicious romance novel; all that's missing is a bleak stone keep inhabited by a brooding vampony or misunderstood noble. A pity, really, since those things are missing in her life, as well, but a lady makes do. It's hard for her to resent it, in any case, because her heart is full with one massive thought: they're going home. She hasn't been here all that long, of course, in the grand scheme of things. Certainly nowhere near Twilight's near six-month ordeal, much of it scared and alone, merely trying to discover what sort of world she'd come to. Still, she's felt the months keenly, and in the way of those displaced, her new routine's replaced the old completely enough to feel like a new life entirely, essentially eternal. Like she's always been a pony in a human world, dreaming of being Rarity. But now they're going home. In triumph. Well, something close enough. They've helped the humans make a start, anyway. Lost in her own silent musings, staring out the window to the hills, covered in those wonderfully bare, grasping branches, Rarity barely notices the short November day pass in comfortable if contemplative silence; apparently her friends are just as content to look inward as she is. Even Pinkie says nothing, though when Rarity notices the sun nearing the hilltops and looks up, she notices her exuberant friend wearing her earbuds, grinning and nodding along with whatever's playing. "Shall we go?" She says to the room at large. Twilight nods, Rainbow cracks her joints and stretches her wings as she stands, and Pinkie bounces to her hooves as she sees the others moving. Applejack and Fluttershy are already outside, along with their human friends, wandering the farmland. Still silently, they walk out to meet the others, and together they head up into the hills. Rainbow Dash told Twilight she was silly when the princess first said she wanted to leave at sunset, but even though she'll never admit it, now that she sees the darkness rising from the top of the hill, she thinks she understands. She can't say why and, being the Rainbow Dash certainly doesn't care that she can't, but it feels right. The humans have found a hot-air balloon somewhere, one similar to the one Twilight used to travel in before she got her wings, and everypony except Twilight - and, of course, Rainbow herself - is getting in, struggling with the unusually high basket, clearly designed for humans. The cheering section is pretty small - just Twilight's first five human friends, Mary of course, and Polaris, who no one had the heart to turn away. Rainbow understands why the others wanted it that way, but she still kind of wishes for another giant, cheering crowd, like the one that erupted after their victories in the elections and Twilight's speech, and that greeted her when she emerged, slightly confused, from the empty apartment where she'd found that Gray and Lasombra, of all the humans, had for once beaten her to the heroic punch. Still, the important ones are here, and she's glad she let her friends have this one. She's already said goodbye to Mary of course, several times, and quite enthusiastically. Still, she finds a tiny, unwelcome tightness in her chest, and turns to her human friend. "It's been great. Take care of yourself, y'hear?" "I'll miss you," Mary says back. "You too," Rainbow whispers back. "If there's a way we can come back and visit, I will." Twilight's not far off, saying her own goodbyes, and then the last of their friends tumbles into the basket. With the night beginning to gather in the deepest parts of the valley, they're out of time and excuses. Rainbow slips into one of the makeshift harnesses attached to basket, and Twilight into the other, and then they're off, pulling their friends along into the air just like in the good old days. Rainbow's eyes are watering a little - solely from the speed and her lack of goggles, of course - but flying free again, she can't help but wear a grin. She glances over at Twilight and finds her friend grinning back as they soar into the darkening sky, homeward. Polaris always feels a little small, staring into the sky, but now, watching her Princess dwindle, purple coat fading into the purpling sky, aiming to leave the world, she feels microscopic, a nameless observer of something vast, lucky to rate a footnote. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone, fully intending to record their flight for history. Then she reconsiders, and thinks that, maybe, it'd be just as well if people imagined this one for themselves. She lets her phone sit heavily in her hand, and just watches. The tiny ponies fade quickly into the sky, but the large, bright balloon barely seems to shrink at all, a bright bubble seemingly suspended as the sky goes dark. In her palm, the phone vibrates once. Reflexively she looks at it and sees Rainbow Dash has, of course, just posted a status. The text reads: so long, Earth, it's been real, and is accompanied by a photo of the Princess flying high above the dark earth, with a blue wingtip visible in the foreground. She looks back up, smiling slightly, and the balloon is gone. Twilight's almost ready to decide they've gone too high, that they need to head west rather than merely further up, when she feels a tickle pass over her body, and the near-darkness of Earth's lingering dusk is replaced by the warm, blazing glory of Celestia's sun. She looks up and finds that this is more literal than she expected: the Sun Princess herself flies just before them, seemingly glowing in a brilliant sunrise as only she can deliver. When she sees them, though, her smile does its best to keep up. "Welcome home, my little ponies," she says, and then it feels real. "Please, come tell me all about it."