//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: The Long Road Home 
// by Tealove 
//------------------------------//

Ponyville. Home. They say it's always easy to go back home. It's where your roots are, where there's safety and familiarity. It's the one place you can let your guard down and know that somehow, someway, everything is going to turn out just the way it's meant to. Yet the idea of home was anything but comforting. In fact the closer the train got to Ponyville, the more anxious the pale gray unicorn at the back of the compartment felt. Her eyes were closed, her two-colored mane a mess from so many hours traveling. She was breathing slowly, intentionally, trying to keep herself from running to the bathroom and getting sick. It wasn't easy but somehow she managed to catch on to the sound of the tracks the train passed over. It was an easy cadence to follow, hypnotic in a way that she couldn't ignore once she recognized it. And so this steady rhythm was what held the nervous mare together for a little while longer.

When the train began to slow she sucked in a sharp breath. This was it. Ponyville was before her. She was home once more. How different would it be? How different would her friends be? The ponies she used to know so well? How many of them would still be there?

They pulled into the station and she spotted someone familiar at first glance. Laying happily on one of the many benches outside the station was Twilight Sparkle. She didn't look very different, just a little older. She wore her mane differently, pulled back away from her face. There was a smile on her lips as she watched a little lavender colored colt with a navy and black mane and tail play magically with a ball. Her attention was only torn from the colt when the train fully pulled in. She looked up as if searching the windows for the pony she was there to greet.

Inside the train, the anxious unicorn took a deep breath and stood. Her horn glowed softly and her single bag came down easily from the overhead compartment to float just beside her. She fell in line behind other disembarking ponies. A glimpse through the windows showed Twilight on her feet, waiting. When she saw who she was looking for she rushed forward to embrace her friend. "Sweetie Belle," she said softly, squeezing her tightly. "It is so good to see you."

Sweetie Belle returned the hug, somewhat startled at the realization that she was now a few inches taller than Twilight. It really had been a long time. As the two separated, Sweetie Belle smiled stiffly. "It's good to see you, too, Twilight."

"My goodness, you've gotten tall. And your hair is so long! Where did the curls go?"

She laughed quietly, touching her mane in a manner reminiscent of Rarity. "It's still there. Sort of. The longer I grew it the more wavy it became and the less frizzy curls." The colt she saw earlier trotted up to stand beside Twilight. "Hello."

"Oh!" Twilight looked down at the little unicorn. "Sweetie Belle, I'd like you to meet my son, Lucky Star. Lucky, this is Sweetie Belle."

"Pleased to meet you!"

Sweetie Belle's smile grew more genuine. "Likewise. What a polite young stallion. My goodness, does he look like Clover."

Twilight beamed. "But he's got his mother's magical abilities. The best of both of us really." She returned her attention to Sweetie Belle. "Any more luggage I can help you with? Surely that's can't be it."

But Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Just the one. I...don't know how long I'll be staying."

The happy expression on Twilight's face dimmed some, and she nodded slowly. "I understand. Well, let's get going then."

With her bag still floating beside her, Sweetie Belle passed through the train station with Twilight and Lucky, heading out on the path that would take them into Ponyville proper. They talked about the train ride, how glad they were that it wasn't raining, about Sweetie Belle's Bridleway career and the shows she just completed. It had been so long since she'd been home that Twilight had to get a good appraising look at her cutie mark: a pink treble clef with a purple heart on the tail.

"Scootaloo and Apple Bloom will be so excited to see you!"

She wasn't too sure about that and decided to change the subject. "Does anypony else know I'm here?"

Twilight shook her head. "Nope. Clover is the only pony I told. I still don't really understand why you wrote to me and not..."

"I just thought it would be less complicated this way." Whatever had been in her tone made Twilight stop talking. Instead she simply nodded and watched Lucky Star trot on ahead of them. The pair walked in silence for quite awhile and it gave Sweetie Belle time to reacquaint herself with the scenery. The road to the train station wasn't one she took often when she was little, but it was something to get used to all the trees and nature again. She'd been living in Manehattan for so many years now, the busy, thriving city, that she'd almost forgotten how green Ponyville was. And quiet.

"Sweetie Belle, may I ask you something?"

She blinked, pulling herself from her reverie to look at Twilight. "Um...I guess so?"

"What made you decide to come back? After being away so long, I mean. We'd all just assumed you wanted to forget about us."

There it was, that first twinge of guilt. She knew it would come sooner or later but to have it first given to her from Twilight? That had been unexpected. Sweetie Belle swallowed and looked at her hooves as she walked. "Honestly? I did want to forget about you all. I wanted to forget about Ponyville all together. I'm happy in Manehattan. I love what I do, the ponies I get to work with." She blushed a little. "I even kind of like the attention now. Which I know is so different from when I was little. But no one on Bridleway knew that Sweetie Belle so I got to sort of reinvent myself."

"Then if you're so happy...?"

She shook her head. "It was one night during a performance. I'd just got done singing Hard Trot Life and as I went off stage to get ready for the next scene I just had this sudden...weird...need to be here. For a few minutes, all I wanted to do was come here, to be with everyone again, for it to be the way it was when I was a little filly."

Twilight gave her a sad smile. "I know this is going to be hard for you, Sweetie Belle. But I think it's going to be good for you. You need this closure in order to really heal. I know you said you're happy in your life now but I have to wonder if there isn't still a part of you that's harboring hurt and sorrow."

"There is," Sweetie Belle admitted quietly. "But I've always found ways to push it aside and ignore it. Coming back here would mean I'd have to face it and let myself come undone. And that's really scarey."

"That's the thing about old wounds," said Twilight evenly. "You can cover them up and pretend they're not there all you want but they're still festering under the surface. Sometimes you have to reopen what has been poorly healed over to make sure what has been hurt can heal properly."

Though it was sage advice, it was hard for Sweetie Belle not to smile. That was definitely the Twilight Sparkle she remembered, the pony who always had an answer and could quote solutions from books she had in her collection verbatim. She could just picture Scootaloo walking beside her and rolling her eyes.

"What's that smile for?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing."

Twilight shrugged. "Well, Clover and I have the guest room all made up for you. You know you're welcome to stay as long as you want to and I promise you'll have your privacy. I'm at the library all day, Clover's at the cafe and Lucky has school so you'll have plenty of time by yourself if you want it."

"Is Miss... is Cheerilee still teaching?"

"She is. Though I daresay her technique has changed some since your time at the school house. Once Morning Glory was old enough to start going, Apple Bloom marched herself over there and told Cheerilee that if she heard of anypony giving her niece as hard a time as she was given in school, she'd be forced to take matters into her own hands."

"Glory," Sweetie Belle breathed. "She was just a tiny little thing when I left."

"She's not so tiny anymore. She's bigger than you were when you left, and very much a daddy's girl. Did you know Fluttershy had twins after Glory? Well, not right after but a few years after. Sundance and Suncrisp. Whereas Morning Glory is an Earth pony like Big Macintosh, the twins are pegasai like Fluttershy. And Big Mac couldn't be happier in a house full of girls."

Sweetie Belle chuckled. "I'm glad to hear it. Wow. Seems I've missed a lot. A growing Apple family, you and Clover have Lucky Star..."

"Oh Sweetie, you simply have no idea."

They were drawing up close to town now; the thatched roofs and cottage style houses and apartments brought back a flood of memories. Chatter and laughed drifted out toward them on the breeze and Sweetie Belle and to concentrate on her breathing once again. This was now. She was an adult, not a helpless little filly. This was now.

She stayed close to Twilight as they trotted down the street, passing by the fountain in the main square. There were quite a few faces she recognized though none seemed to take any notice of her. It didn't take long at all for her to get her bearings and when she did, she realized they were heading toward Clover's cafe. As they moved by Sugarcube Corner, Sweetie Belle tried to glance inside to see if Pinkie Pie was there but didn't see anypony.

"Mom, can I go play with Jubilee?"

Twilight looked at her son. "Yes, as long as you're home in time for dinner. And please don't forget your manners. Say goodbye to Sweetie Belle."

"I'll be home in time, I promise! Bye Sweetie Belle!" The little colt took off in a run and the two mares shared a laugh before continuing on.

"How is Clover doing?" Sweetie Belle asked, the sign for "The Four Leaf Clover Cafe" becoming visible in the distance.

"Oh, you know Clover. He's just fine. He's training sompony else to manage the kitchen now, though. He'd never admit it but I can tell he's starting to feel all those years of doing everything for everypony."

Sweetie Belle smiled fondly. "He was always there when anypony needed him. I liked living next door to him because he was so carefree and fun. Rarity used to tease me for having a crush on him."

Twilight's eyes glittered in mirth. "I never knew that!"

"I never really had a crush on him. He was more like a father figure to me. Rarity was Mom and Clover was Dad in my little fantasy world. I shared a lot of silly childhood secrets with him."

"No wonder he's so excited to see you. I knew he lived next door to you and Rarity but I never realized the extent of your friendship." Twilight pushed open the door to the cafe and the two of them went inside.

This place was also just as she remembered it. All wooden beams and polished floors, rustic and somehow classy at the same time. And at the far end of the room behind the counter was a gray stallion. His spiky once-jetblack mane was going ashen at the roots but there was still the same mischievous sparkle to his blue eyes. When he looked up to see who'd entered and he spotted Sweetie Belle, he grinned.

"This can't be my little buddy." He rounded the counter and came forward to hug Sweetie Belle just as tightly as Twilight had. "Look at you. You're so grown up."

She clung to him, feeling her throat tighten. "Hey, Clover."

"It's good to see you, kid."

"Good to see you, too." If every greeting was going to be like this, she had a long visit ahead of her. As the embrace was broken she reached up to quickly wipe away a tear, trying to laugh it off. "I've been on a train all day so I'm a little over tired."

"Well what are you doing here? We've got a room waiting for you. Go get some rest!"

Twilight nuzzled Clover and he leaned into her instinctively. "I wanted to let you know she arrived safely before bringing her back to the house. How much longer do you have here?"

He sighed and glanced at the clock. "Maybe another hour or two. Not long. I'm ready to go home, though." He dipped his head, placing a gentle kiss on Twilight's muzzle. "What's for dinner?"

She smiled up at him sweetly. "I guess that all depends on what you're bringing home tonight."

Sweetie Belle chuckled inwardly, watching them banter back and forth with so much obvious affection between them. For some reason it made her feel more at ease, like staying with them had been the right choice. "I'd be willing to cook."

"After your long day?" Clover balked. "No, I'll bring something home. Besides, I seem to remember stories about a certain little filly who once almost burned down a kitchen..."

"Hey, I was a lot younger then and couldn't do magic!"

The gray stallion grinned and gave her a wink. "Sure sure. I'll see you two ladies at home later."

"Bye, love." Twilight giggled as she and Sweetie Belle left the cafe. "See? Same old Clover."

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Some things never change."

If only ever reunion would be that easy. She looked forward to some sleep and a relaxing evening with Twilight and her family. Tomorrow would be a very, very long day.