//------------------------------// // Warm Hearts // Story: Little Memories // by Skijarama //------------------------------// The next few days passed in a wonderful blur for everypony involved. Each iteration of the play went better than the last, and the following time spent with Rainbow’s adoptive family proved to be a fantastic way to ease any lingering stress. But alas, the visiting mares and dragon could not remain in Canterlot forever. A fact that Twilight wished wasn’t the case as she and the rest of them stood by the train platform, awaiting the arrival of their ride back to Ponyville. It was fairly early in the day, the sun having only come up an hour ago. There were a few other ponies scattered around the platform, all of them keeping to themselves and looking like they, too, were not yet ready to be up and about. Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were all seated comfortably on a nearby bench, chatting amiably amongst themselves with Spike was seated with them. Rainbow Dash was conspicuously absent, although the loudly-snoring snow cloud that was hovering a few yards above the platform could probably point the way to where she was if asked politely. And then there was Fluttershy. Twilight watched the usually quiet pegasus pacing back and forth by the platform’s exit, her eyes periodically darting to the streets beyond before looking back down at the floor. “Is something bothering her?” Twilight wondered to herself, her wings twitching on her back. After a few moments, she decided she wouldn’t get any answers by standing still. She slowly made her way over, tilting her head to one side. “Fluttershy? Is something wrong?” “Huh?” Fluttershy jumped in place before turning to her with a confused expression. “What do you mean?” Twilight gestured vaguely at Fluttershy, one of her eyebrows taking a journey up north. “You’re just pacing a lot. You’re not usually so restless, is all,” she explained before taking a position next to the pegasus. Fluttershy hesitated, her wings ruffling on her back before she glanced off towards the streets again. “...Uhm… last night, Squall, Wind, and Thorax promised they’d come and see us off. But… they’re not here, yet,” she finally admitted, sounding unsure of her own words. “I don’t want to leave until they’re here. There’s something I forgot to ask Thorax last night.” Twilight slowly nodded, joining Fluttershy in staring at the streets beyond the platform. “I heard from Rainbow that you two were close,” she said softly. “But I didn’t think you two were quite this fond of each other.” Fluttershy blushed slightly and looked away. “Well, uh, I mean… we did go through a lot together…” “I know,” Twilight replied simply, trying to ignore the fact that she had been there for it all, but still had no memory of any of it. “I’ve heard the stories. He helped us defeat Chrysalis, saved Squall, took care of Wind…” “He was very brave,” Fluttershy confirmed after a moment with a nod. “He had to give up everything he had ever known just to do the right thing.” “Heh,” Twilight chuckled weakly under her breath, shaking her head in dismay. “I’m not sure I could do something like that if things got bad like that.” Fluttershy frowned at her, surprised. “Huh? What do you mean by that?” she asked incredulously. Twilight turned and gestured back at their friends with a smile. “Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot I would do for all of you,” she began, her eyes going distant as memories of when she first awoke began to fill her mind. “When I first woke up without my memories, I was so confused, lost, and scared. I had no idea what I was doing. All I could do was let Rainbow Dash lead me and hope that we were as close as she was claiming.” Her smile faded, replaced with a more somber frown. “But there’s still a lot that I don’t know about myself… and I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know how well I could handle it if we faced some big crisis.” Fluttershy was quiet for a few moments, tilting her head to one side. Then, with a sigh, she draped a wing over Twilight’s back in a comforting side hug. “Don’t worry, Twilight. You are a wonderful mare, and I just know you’ll do your very best, no matter what,” she whispered in assurance, giving her foalhood friend an affectionate nuzzle. Twilight smiled and leaned into the gesture gratefully. “Thanks, Fluttershy.” As they separated from their embrace, the sound of several pairs of hooves crunching through the snow reached their ears. Twilight turned to see who it was, and was pleasantly surprised by the sight of not just Thorax and Squall, but also Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Shining Armor, and her parents. Celestia smiled as the group drew near. “Ah, I see we arrived with time to spare,” she commented before sweeping her gaze across the platform. Her smile disappeared. “Hmmm… where is Rainbow Dash?” The cloud snored. “Ask Puffy White, over there,” Twilight deadpanned with a roll of her eyes before glancing at her own family as they approached. Celestia tittered in amusement before glancing at Luna. With a shared nod, the sisters unfurled their wings and flew off towards the cloud where Rainbow was taking a nap. As they left, Thorax and Squall made their way for Fluttershy, the former looking quite relieved. “Fluttershy, there you are!” he exclaimed in relief. “You made it,” she replied, giving him a quick hug. “I was starting to get worried.” “Wind was being uncooperative this morning,” Squall explained with a shake of his head. “Took Thorax and I working together to get her to go to school. She wanted to come say bye as well, you see.” Fluttershy grinned. “Aw, how sweet of her. Let her know I said bye, and that I hope she has a good Hearthswarming.” “I’ll do that.” As that conversation carried on and the sound of Rainbow waking up and unceremoniously glomping her family echoed around the platform, Twilight’s attention became focused solely on her own family as they approached. She put on a warm smile. “Mom, dad, Shining Armor. I didn’t think you’d be here.” “Why wouldn’t we be?” Velvet asked skeptically before reaching out and giving Twilight a warm hug, one which was returned without even a moment of hesitation. “Yeah, we needed to see you off and tell you that you did just a wonderful job playing Clover the Clever in the play!” Night Light added in enthusiastically. “They went three times,” Shining pointed out with a roll of his eyes. “I only made it for the last one, though. Guard duty can be a cruel thing.” Twilight’s smile grew, her heart fluttering in her chest from her father’s praise. “Thanks, dad. I did my best.” “And it showed,” Velvet stated before drawing back and staring into Twilight’s eyes. “Ooh… look at you. You’re looking so much better, now.” Twilight blinked, her smile wavering. “Huh?” “You look a lot happier. When you first came to see us after you got your condition, you were so… shy. It was pretty clear that you were scared and lost,” Velvet clarified, her smile growing and her eyes shimmering. “But now… you’re smiling. Oh, and I know that it’s a real smile. You’re recovering, Twilight, and I am so happy for you.” “We all are,” Night Light clarified, coming up to their sides and ruffling Twilight’s mane with a hoof. “You’re getting your sparkle back, that’s for sure.” “Daaaad,” Twilight protested before swatting his hoof away and leveling an indignant pout at him. He met her pout with a cheeky grin that made her blood bubble. Luckily, this was the warm, fizzy kind of bubble. The sort that tickled her from the inside out until she broke down into a fit of giggles. Shining chuckled and mirrored his father’s earlier action. “Y’know, he’s not wrong. I don’t think you’d be laughing like that if you were still in a bad place.” “My mane!” Twilight protested, trying and failing to push Shining’s far thicker and stronger hoof away. “Don’t mess it up!” “Oh, stop picking on your little sister,” Velvet chastised Shining with a nudge to the ribs, making him back off. After that, she leveled a more playful smile at Twilight. “So… how are things with Rainbow Dash?” Twilight’s good mood immediately turned a few shades darker. She shifted on her hooves and glanced back at the pegasus in question, who was currently in a very energetic discussion with Luna about something. How were things between them? If Twilight was being honest with herself, she had absolutely no idea. They were close, yes, but were they anywhere near what they had before? And more than that, how did Rainbow herself feel? Twilight’s thoughts on their old relationship were hard enough for her to juggle whenever they came up, but she could only imagine how bad it was for the pegasus princess. “She still remembers all of it, after all,” she thought to herself, her smile being replaced with a dour frown. “She has a lot more to have feelings about than I do.” “Twily?” Shining’s voice cut through Twilight’s mind, snapping her attention back to her family. They were all looking at her with worried looks, especially Velvet. She was quick to compose herself. “O-oh, sorry. Uh… well…” she glanced back at Rainbow again. “To be honest… I… don’t know, really. I mean, we’re close, yes. She’s my best friend out of everypony here. But…” her ears lowered. “I don’t know where we’re at compared to… well, before. And I don’t know how she feels about it, either. We don’t usually talk about it…” “I see,” Velvet said regretfully, her eyes lowering slightly. She was quick to recover, though, perking up with an encouraging smile. “Well, you’re both still young. You have plenty of time to figure it all out.” Twilight smiled again, some of her tension being eased. That was true, wasn’t it? If nothing else, they had time. With that sobering thought in mind, she then turned to her brother. “So… on the topic of love lives, how’s Cadance?” Shining Armor turned his eyes to the north, a look of longing on his face. “She’s good. The Empire’s still trying to get caught up on all of the modern technology they’ve missed out on, but aside from that, they’re doing well.” “When are you going to move over there and be with her, though?” Velvet asked curiously, redirecting her attention to the guard captain. “It’s been several months. I know you two don’t like being so far apart…” “You’re right, we don’t,” Shining replied with a nod before turning back to this family. “But I still have to keep an eye on things back here. There are a lot of ponies counting on me to do my job and make sure Canterlot’s safe in case of any other attacks.” “Well, just don’t leave her hanging for too long,” Night Light advised him with a slow nod. “I had to be away from Velvet once for a long while when we were dating, and it almost ended our relationship.” “I know, you’ve told me,” Shining replied simply. “Don’t worry, I won’t. I’ll go to her just as soon as I’m sure everything will be alright without me nearby.” Twilight raised an eyebrow as he said that. He had looked at her specifically, and the way he had spoken made it seem an awful lot like he was talking about her. Before she could ponder it any further, the blaring whistle of the train reached their ears, and all eyes turned to see the vehicle pulling up to the platform. Ponies were rising to their hooves, ready to board and be on their way. “That’s us!” Rainbow called out from the center of the platform. “We’ll be right over!” Fluttershy called back before turning back to Thorax. Twilight glanced over at the two, her attention having been completely soaked up by her family. She caught sight of two sheets of parchment held in Thorax’s green magic, a quill scribbling furiously on one of them. “Okay, uh… is that right?” he asked after a moment, showing Fluttershy the sheet. She studied it for a few seconds before smiling brightly and nodding her head. “Yes, that’s right!” she declared excitedly. Thorax grinned and then passed her the other one. “Okay, and here’s mine. We’ll talk soon, okay?” “Okay!” Fluttershy replied, giving him one more hug. “Goodbye, Thorax. Take care of Wind and Squall, okay?” Squall snorted. “Pfft. We’re not the ones that need to be taken care of.” Thorax turned to Squall with a scandalized gasp. “Wha- Squall!” The thestral chuckled and took Thorax’s head into his foreleg, giving him an affectionate noogie. “Ah, you love it and you know it, you funny little bug.” Twilight’s smile returned in full force at the endearing sight before she turned back to her own family. “Well, I guess this is goodbye for now?” she asked timidly, drawing their attention back to her. Shining nodded. “For now, yes. But we’re only ever a short train ride away if you need us.” “Or a letter,” Velvet added with a wink. “Spike can do that Dragonfire thing he does. I know how the spell to send him things, so do make use of that and keep in touch?” Twilight nodded before reaching out and giving Velvet a hug of her own. “I’ll do that. Thanks for coming, you guys,” she said in a hushed voice, basking in the warmth. “Anytime, kiddo,” Night replied quietly, joining the embrace, followed shortly by Shining Armor. The family remained like that for almost a minute before Twilight determined it was time to go. With one last squeeze and a few more whispered goodbyes, she turned and cantered onto the train, her eyes searching for Rainbow Dash. It didn’t take her long to find the colorful pegasus seated next to a window, waving through the glass at the two alicorns still on the platform. “Is this seat taken?” she asked rhetorically. Rainbow glanced back at her and grinned. “No, please, feel free,” she said politely, scooting over to make room as Twilight got comfortable. Once she was settled, Twilight leaned over to look out the window as well, catching sight of her parents. She smiled and gave them another wave, one they sent right back. “Did ya have a good chat?” Rainbow asked after a few seconds, prompting Twilight to sit upright and look at her. “Yeah, we did. How about you?” Rainbow shrugged her shoulders. “As good as saying goodbye to my adoptive mom and aunt can be,” she replied before shooting them another smile. Twilight hummed and looked around at the other passengers. It was mostly their friends in this car, the groups from before more or less reforming. They were all quite happy by the looks of it, smiling and chatting with enthusiasm and renewed energy, no doubt eager to get home to Ponyville. They still had their own holiday celebrations to get through, after all. A few seats ahead of where Twilight was sitting, much like before, Fluttershy was on her own. However, instead of anxiously pacing around in a fit of nervous energy, she looked far more peaceful and content. In her hooves was the parchment, and a warm smile adorned her face. “...I told ya they were close,” Rainbow whispered from the side, making Twilight jump. She glanced at the pegasus to see her wearing a knowing smile directed squarely at their buttery-colored friend. And then the train began to pull into motion. Fluttershy lowered the parchment and looked out the window at Thorax, and the two waved at each other one more time. Twilight smiled. “Yeah… they really are, aren’t they?” With that sentiment voiced, Twilight fell into a tranquil silence as the train carried her and her friends back to their home, their hearts alight with a fiery warmth.