Book 3: Equestria Abides
Chapter 36
Princess Twilight Sparkle walked away through the castle gardens with a few of her friends: Cheerilee, Sunny Daze, and her husband of years now, Hair Trigger. “I still can't really believe it.” She said thoughtfully.
“I know,” Trigger replied, “He was just always there... and it seemed like he always would be.” Even Trigger was showing his age, having grown a little bit of a paunch and gained a few wrinkles... but his senses and his mind were just as sharp as ever... that was the important part.
Twilight hadn't aged a day of course, besides having grown to full alicorn stature. Neither had Sunny. “If there's one thing I've learned, it's that things change,” Sunny said... admittedly, she had grown more, well... regal over the years, losing her foalish exuberance, but gaining a calm, but still cheerful demeanor... As much as Twilight might hate to admit it, Sunny began to remind her of Celestia more and more. Again, she wondered just how much of the old princess's essence had been held within the sun itself...
Cheerilee was creaking along with them still, but slowly beginning to fall behind. “Do you think you could do an old lady a favor and take a rest for a moment?” She asked, making Twilight cringe in chagrin again... she had overexerted the aging mare again... she kept forgetting that Cheerilee wasn't as young as when they first met anymore, despite a few non-aging years spent as a tree. Even back in Ponyville, she had been middle-aged, of course, and now her age was truly starting to show.
“Summer Bell?” Twilight called out, the servant pony appearing in front of her instantly, “Do you think you could bring some seating cushions out please?” Twilight smiled as her eager new head servant zipped away on the errand. She was the daughter of the pegasus mare she had rescued from the trees, and had now taken over as head servant when her mother was getting too old to keep up... and she seemed to like the job as much as her mother had. Summer was back with the cushions before Twilight had hardly even begun wondering if this was how Celestia had felt, watching all her closest servants... and her closest friends... come and go. “Thank you my dear,” Twilight was sure to say before the pony disappeared again... how did they manage to disappear all the time, yet stay close enough to hear any request?
Twilight helped her aging friend onto one of the cushions before taking one herself. They were in a small circular clearing in the new castle gardens. They had been Cheerilee's idea in the first place, anyway... All the ponies who had settled in the castle courtyards had been moved out – and compensated handsomely for the inconvenience of course – making room for an intricate and compact system of decorative and functional gardens within the walls... a private hideaway for anypony allowed inside what some ponies were already starting to call a palace rather than a fortress. The coat of white paint over all the old stones didn't hurt, she supposed.
Looking in the right direction, she could just make out the tops of the Las Pegasus towers over the inner wall... Between the freed slaves, the rescued ex-trees and the ponies' own inclination to repopulate, Las Pegasus had become a bustling metropolis again. Even from this distance, she could make out the shapes of a few airships moving around the upper levels of the city. The city itself was in good repair now, no longer falling apart at the seams now that they had enough pegasi here to take care of it; even the weather was back under control now, at least in their little corner of Equestria.
Las Pegasus was now the de facto capital of Equestria, once again united under one rule and – almost – as expansive as it had once been. The lands to the southeast still remained largely lost, either reclaimed by the buffalo or simply abandoned... but it didn't bother Twilight much... She knew that given time ponies would expand back into them... maybe a hundred years, maybe a thousand... but some day. For now, even most cities in the heart of Equestria were still ghost towns, including and especially the old capitol. It would be some time before ponies even meaningfully reclaimed towns like Hoofington or Trottingham, much less anything towards the borders like Stalliongrad or Dodge Junction. Why, even now they had just barely progressed to making their own food and goods again rather than salvaging from –
“Princess?”
“Huh?” Twilight said, only barely regretting having responded to the title of 'princess' yet again.
Cheerilee smiled at her. “It's nothing, Trigger here was just asking if we'd like to move over to the dining hall... it's getting late and a youngster like him must be getting hungry.” Trigger just rolled his eyes irritably at the joke... he was by no means a youngster anymore, but here surrounded by elderly and immortals, he might as well be. Sunny Daze scooped him up into a hug, which seemed to make him fell better anyway.
Twilight nodded, rising and heading down the path towards the fortress's entrance, sparkling mane and tail billowing behind her. Looking back, she could see the now-rested Cheerilee following along with her, keeping up with Sunny and Trigger more easily now... and further behind, the seating cushions were already gone from where they had rested, left without a trace. How did those servant ponies do that? Shaking her head and walking on, she noticed it was getting late. Apollo would be up in the dining hall waiting for her.
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Apollo pushed around the food on his plate listlessly with a magically levitated fork. His mind was far away, certainly not focused on the food, no matter how skilled the new 'palace chefs' were. He had known this day would come sometime, but he still didn't enjoy presiding over the funeral of his old friend, Quartermaster.
He sighed and rolled a piece of carrot to the other side of the plate yet again. Being immortal was hard. He knew someday he would go through this with every member of his crew... how could he possibly handle that? What would he do when the last of them were gone?
Rolling the carrot back to its original place, he propped his chin up with a hoof and stared listlessly at it. Quartermaster had been his very first crew member, and though he would never have admitted it before now, the old earth pony had done a lot of the work of raising him... he had be awfully young and naïve when he first set out, after all... and now the old pony was gone, taking his wisdom and his old stories with him.
The doors to the dining hall opened, the other two alicorns walking in along with a couple of their friends... just seeing them lifted his spirits a little. He could make it through this... he had to go on... and with these ponies at his side, he was sure he could. His wife just sat next to him and wrapped a hoof around him, thankfully seeming to sense his dark mood and not trying to interrupt with light conversation. He leaned against her, wrapping a hoof around her in turn. Other ponies might come and go, but at least Twilight would always be there.
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