Twilight looked over the wooden figure, she would have to restart now, she thought. The wings she had made for Rainbow Dash were once again whittled too small. She was starting to run out of little logs, and the spear tip she was using would probably need to be sharpened again. She stopped and placed down the little wooden figure and turned to face the polite rapping somepony was placing onto the library door. Minty stepped in and closed the door behind her, whipping a bead of sweat off her brow as she stepped into the air-conditioned library. “Hot out today, isn't it Twink- Twilight. Sorry.”
Twilight smiled at her and shook her head. “Minty, you can call me that name if you want to. I don't mind, tell me you have some good news for me at least.”
“Well, I have a lot of news. The good news mostly outweighs the bad.” Minty stopped closer, looking over the little whittled figures on the desk Twilight was sitting at. “You’ve gotten very good at that; I might have to ask you for one someday.”
Twilight blushed as she turned to face them, she saw a lot of little errors in the work, Applejack's hat was too big, and Fluttershy’s cutie mark was a single butterfly when she knew it should be three. “Come on Minty, don't stall. Tell me the news, good or bad.”
“Alright… Cotton's mother, Fruit Seed, is stable again. The doctors say there's no brain damage from… the lack of oxygen.” Minty looked away, guilty she was probably ruining Twilight’s good mood.
“Are the lacerations on her neck permanent?” Twilight asked as she avoided looking at Minty, pretending to look over some papers on the table of sketches for future figures.
“No, no… but there's a chance she could try again.” Minty put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, more for her own comfort than Twilight’s.
“Well, we’ll need to be vigilant. And remind her that we are looking out for her, that we don't blame her for anything she did.” Twilight turned and looked and gave the green earth pony a smile. “Now you promised me some good news?”
“Right, Yellow is leading the last caravan from Ponyville here. They should, if nothing goes wrong, arrive here early tomorrow morning. We already have the tents and a few little houses for the families to stay in.” Minty took her hoof away and walked over to a shelf, looking over all the comic books Twilight had stashed.
“Well, that is good. With the unicorns here we can have them all in houses in under a month.” Twilight levitated out one of her favorite comic books and placed it into Minty’s saddle bags.
“Thank you, Twinkie. Um, Toolbelt wants to talk to you, still.” Minty gave her a knowing frown.
“He wants that statue for one reason, Minty. I don't care what he says about the ‘benefits’ of idolatry. Cake told us to move on from the past, she would have hated it if we even made a plaque on a park bench for her.” Twilight groaned, looking at the spear tip in her magic before placing it back into the little shot glass she kept it in.
“I’ll tell him you’re saying no again. Still going to have time for tea with Inkwell later?” Minty said, making her way out the library.
“Of course, I wouldn't miss it.” Twilight said, giving her a smile that quickly left her as Minty made her way back outside. Twilight stood up and looked out the window. Ponies were going about the summer day as usual, some beating the heat having picnics and drinking lemonade or whatever fruit juices they could make under the shady trees, watching the foals play tag and hoofball in the town’s square. She wanted to go out and join them and find a nice spot to whittle her next statue. But the inside of the library had its own appeals, she did like the smell of old books that come with her much more filled bookshelves, and of course the occasional visitor who would come in looking for some old childhood book with a vague description that should would have to entertain before handing them a picture book on frogs, they had found a ton of those for some reason in one of the houses from their expedition into what remained of the suburbs and bombed cities where Tide Turner and Yellow Diamond taught them to scavenge from. Instead, she decided to do neither. She opened the desk and pulled out a small wooden box, then quickly made her way out of the library.
It was a fine spot, overlooking the growing town from a distance. The grave only bore her name on it, not any of the sacrifices she had done for them. Yellow and Twilight disagreed a lot on the next steps to make after they had fished the boiled corpse out of the reactor room, but this was something they had both agreed upon. She opened the box and placed the small statue next to the tombstone. She couldn't help herself, she would have probably liked it however. Cake wasn't a monk, anypony would have like a little wooden figure of themselves posing heroically. She pressed the little base into the dirt, putting tiny pebbles around it to work like a weight so it wouldn't get blown away in the summer winds. The valley was calm, no sounds of gun fire in the air or the sound of soldiers kicking down doors. The blue-sky overhead was almost empty with the exception of some white puffy clouds. Twilight felt, for the first time in a while, calm. Relaxed. It wasn't the short burst of happiness one would get from a joke or a song, it was real joy within. Of course, it was only a slight fulfillment. She looked down at the stone. She had lost her. One of Twilight’s last friends lost to time, she sighed and picked herself up and began the walk back to town, the future was uncertain, chaotic, but she knew that the past was set in stone, unforgeable. Another adventure was out there, another story waiting for her. It was time to let go of her pain and seek it out.