Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 11
The hill had gone feral, as most of Sweet Apple Acres had by now. Weeds and brambles grew all over in between the apple trees, and even other kinds of trees were beginning to be interspersed in with them. They still bore fruit, but there was nopony around to care for them or harvest them. Twilight and Sunny had only been able to keep a small portion of the orchard kept up, and now that they were ready to leave, even that small part would become wild like the rest.
Twilight looked to the tombstones in front of her, but when she looked around, she thought that actually the orchard, abandoned as it was, would be more of a memorial to the Apple Family. Even centuries later, apple trees would still grow here, brightening the lives of anypony who stopped by. That would be the Apple Family's real legacy... their real mark on the world... thinking of it that way made Twilight's burden of guilt a little easier to carry.
Sunny Daze stood by quietly, not wanting to interrupt Twilight's reverie, but getting visibly impatient. If they wanted to get to Cloudsdale before dark, they needed to leave very soon. She was very impressed with Twilight's magic now that she had fully recovered – and more, she claimed. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger,' she had said, and indeed, her ordeal with the long-distance teleportation had already apparently made her stronger once she recovered. Twilight claimed to be able to teleport anywhere now... and even planned to do it with Sunny in tow as she searched for her lost friends.
Sunny couldn't wait for the excitement of visiting new places all over the world. The burned-out Ponyville was depressing, and while Sweet Apple Acres was huge, the farmhouse she spent most of her time in was really pretty small and dull... after over a year of staying there, she was growing bored with the place. It was finally time to leave though, if only Twilight could quit staring at those graves and move on!
Twilight began to turn away, but then turned back one last time, to give one last goodbye to the stones: one marked with a moon in a shadowy cloud, one marked with a sun-in-glory... she stopped to wonder for a moment, is this really where the princesses should be buried? She was sure that some Canterlot survivors would disagree, but she thought no place could be more fitting than the peaceful little hill in the apple orchard. Next to those, there was one marked with an apple pie, and one with only text... Applebloom never had gotten her cutie mark, poor little filly. Next to that was a more crudely made one... neither Sunny nor Twilight had much skill in carving, but they had managed a crude representation of a big apple half for Big Macintosh... And finally, the one that still haunted Twilight the most, marked with three simple apples.
Twilight turned away resolutely. Applejack was lost, it was true... but her other friends might still be out there... might still need her. She had to go find them. Seeing Sunny's hopeful face as she turned melted her grief away, and the tears that had been threatening to flow receded. She scooped the filly up into an embrace, holding her tightly... only partly out of a desperate need to hold on to the ones she had lost.
Setting Sunny down, she asked, “Ready?”
At this, Sunny looked a little nervous... she had never been teleported before, and the prospect scared her a little. She tried her best not to show it, not that she was very successful in hiding it – her face had always been very transparent in giving away her emotions. “Ready!” She replied.
Twilight again held Sunny close, this time more for the filly's sake than out of missing her lost friend. Twilight's horn began to glow brightly, and Sunny winced, but Twilight touched the filly's cheek bringing her up to meet her eyes. As she looked into Sunny's eyes, the look of fear was replaced by one of trust and affection, and a smile crossed Twilight's face.
With a violet flash and a pop, the two ponies vanished, leaving the empty grove silent and peaceful once more, broken only by the occasional falling leaf or cricket chirping as the sun began to set.
* * *