I marveled at the sight of Ponyville. When I had lived here, the tallest buildings had been town hall and Twilight’s castle.
Now, three and four story homes packed the inner streets and the sprawl of the town made it seem even more organized that the broad open streets had.
“So many homes,” I whispered as I looked down from the elevated tracks as the train travelled down the mountain from Canterlot.
“Actually, a good number of those are actually shops,” Echo said. “Ponyville had a mercantile revolution around sixty years ago. With it being a good hub for trade with many of the neighboring lands due to it’s important history, merchants started setting up shops left and right. It’s been a booming industry.”
I saw a small cottage set off from some of the urban sprawl, a large amount of grass surrounding it.
“Fluttershy’s cottage is still standing,” I whispered.
“It’s been made one of the historical sites of the town,” Echo said. “The immediate lands were made part of a memorial by the Lunar Diarch upon the passing of her friend. One of the highest requested jobs for young ponies is tending to the homes of the former Element Bearers.”
I blinked away tears. My friends had a legacy that had still had an impact to this day.
“What are the other sites?” I asked.
“The old Carousel Boutique,” Echo replied. “The original Sugar Cube Corner, Fluttershy’s cottage as you saw, and the Golden Oaks library.”
I whipped my head around. “The golden Oaks?” I asked. “But it was destroyed before I had even moved to Ponyville.”
“Princess Twilight had it rebuilt by some of the best Unicorn architects forty years after her placement on the throne,” Echo told me with a frown. “But I thought you lived there for a short time?”
I shook my head as the train continued to rumble down the tracks. “Twilight and I never even met until after the Oaks was destroyed and her castle created,” I said. “It was actually the happiest moment in life looking back at the day she asked me to stay as her student.”
“You were her last student, too,” Echo said. “She has refused to take on any other learners, despite there being many applicants each year.”
I looked down. That made me feel uncomfortable, for some reason. I saw the sparkling towers of the Castle of Friendship start to draw closer.
“And Sweet Apple Acres?” I asked.
“Still family run,” Echo said. “Though it’s a fair bit larger than it used to be. It can’t be harvested by two or three ponies anymore. Takes a full ten to get the whole of it done once the season comes down.”
“There are that many Apples living there now?”
She shook her head, my mind having trouble assigning the studious and straightforward nature to somepony that looked like the showpony I used to know that was practically the opposite of her great granddaughter.
“Not just Apples, but a few Pears and Oranges as well,” she said. “The farm now raises all three.”
I let all the information tumble in my head as the train pulled up to a new stationhouse in Ponyville, the platform larger than any I had ever seen before.
“So, where to first?” my guide asked.
“The castle,” I said. “I want to see my home.”
The doors swung open as the two Pegasi that stood watch put their backs against them. I strode inside, the sight and feel of the crystal beneath my hooves casting my mind back to when I had lived here. I knew every twist and turn.
But what I didn’t remember was the rows of stained glass windows set in the walls. I could tell they were lit by globe crystals from behind as opposed to sunlight, but I wondered why they were even here. I saw the ones that I had walked by in Canterlot several times. Twilight’s coronation, the defeat of Nightmare Moon, of Tirek, of Discord, the defeat of the Changelings at the Royal Wedding and more.
But there were also some that I didn’t recognize. One was obviously a memorial to Rainbow Dash, and I walked by one for each of the Elements. I also saw one memorializing the wedding of Rarity and Twilight. But the further in we walked, the less I recognized the ponies or the events depicted.
Come to think of it, I couldn’t remember any of the windows when I visited Sunset containing their standard images. It was as if she didn’t want the reminders…
“Starlight!” a voice cried out, and a loud pop from a teleportation sounder just before I was grabbed up in a pair of hooves.
“Oh, I am soooooo glad to see you!” the Alicorn that held me cooed, her wings flapping excitedly behind her lifting us into the air. “I’ve heard so many stories of you from Mom and Aunt Twily and Aunt Sunset…”
My eyes widened. “Flurry Heart?” I whispered.
A yellow flash enveloped us and we were on the ground again, the youngest princess of Equestria practically prancing in excitement.
“It’s so nice to actually meet you,” she said. “Well, I’ve met you once, but I was a foal, but I would sit with Aunt Twily when she would sit with you, but you were asleep, so of course that doesn’t really count either…” She shook her head and fluffed her wings, giving me a glimpse of her cutie mark, a snowflake with a heart shape inside the lattice of the flake.
“So you’re the Princess of Joy, huh?” I said. “I see you took over Twilight’s old digs.”
“Oh, not just her castle, darling,” the excitable Alicorn said, immediately cementing who she reminded me of now. She spoke like Rarity and acted like a subdued Pinkie Pie. “All of the Elements still meet here to answer calls by the map, just like we have since the map was formed.”
I saw the map room behind her and walked towards it. It still held six thrones, the cutie marks of my friends still cresting the seatbacks, but below each was a set of other marks, Flurry’s sitting just beneath Pinkie’s triple balloon. Rarity’s was adorned by a trio of cherry blossoms, a set of gears, paired daisies, and a shooting star.
Rainbow’s caught my eye next, the first mark beneath hers was a shield shape with a lightning bolt within.
“Scootaloo?” I whispered.
Flurry nodded. “The Second Element of Loyalty,” she said, her tone tempering as she recognized the somber moment. “She had Dash’s spirit. Maybe not quite as fast, but certainly no less determined and willing to stand by her friends.”
“How…”
“I don’t really understand the science behind it,” Flurry spoke up as she walked around the thrones, gazing at each. “That’s more Aunt Twily’s area than mine.”
“I remember them all,” she said. “Just because the Pillars had returned and the Pony of Shadow’s locked away didn’t mean that friendship problems stopped cropping up too.” She passed by Twilight’s old seat, and I saw Trixie’s mark just below hers, making my eyes mist over.
“Aunt Sunset said she didn’t want to see those reminders everyday and neither did Aunt Twily,” she said as she glanced at the stained glass windows depicting the Bearers in order. “But I think it’s important to remember not just the friends that came first, but all the friends that have sat in those seats. To do less is to dishonor those that have come before and after.”
She shook her head and her cheery mood returned. “I bet you want to see your room,” she said suddenly, wings twitching with excitement.
“My…My room?” I whispered.
“It was kept exactly as you left it, you know,” she said as she turned and capered over to the door leading to the stairs.
“Exactly?” I squeaked.
“Down to the extradimensional space by the bed,” she said, winking at me. “Clever place to hide those, by the way. Aunt Twily never would have found it.”
My face was burning so much I’m sure I could have set fire to the tapestries I passed by.
I stared at the ceiling, the softness of my bed awash in memories. Somehow, there had been no decay or even collection of dust in chambers I had once called mine. I lit my horn and opened the pocket of extradimensional space and reached in, withdrawing the items I had stashed within.
A battered journal with a much tattered and faded bookmark ribbon. A rock candy necklace. A battered old conical hat with several rips in it.
And a stack of letters, bound with a white ribbon. I took the top one, the note in a much opened envelope, one bearing a circular mark with several rays coming off of it.
Opening the envelope, I withdrew the much folded bit of paper and gingerly read the words inked onto it.
Starlight,
While I know that things are still in a bit of flux for you, I just want you to know that my offer to you last week is a standing one.
So, when you are ready and willing to try again, you know where I’ll be.
With much love,
Sunburst.
I felt tears forming as I looked at the letter. I had intended to give him an answer after we had dealt with the Pony of Shadows. I had put it off for weeks, months even. Ever since the incident with Chrysalis I had been struggling with my feelings for my first friend sorting out what was seen through rose colored glasses and what was true, what had changed and what had remained the same from the colt I knew when I was young.
And now…
Now I never would. I clutched the stack of letters tightly as I cried.