The daily routine of Twilight Sparkle consisted of waking up in the morning as Celestia raises the sun, a quick breakfast, talking with friends, and burying her face into a book at the Golden Oaks library in Ponyville. However, lately she's been experiencing the heavy weight of stress induced by her new lifestyle. Even though she's a true princess, she doesn't have many duties as long as the two sisters are present. Despite being a princess, her friends treat her just as they always had, but deep in Twilight's heart, she knew something had changed about her. She longed for something that seemed to have been lost ages ago. Whatever it was, it is all but a distant memory.
Ponyville has been the place she's called home for years and it seemed like a lifetime ago that she once lived in Canterlot.
“Spike, do you remember the library in Canterlot?” Twilight asked, breaking what felt like an eternity of silence.
The little dragon raised an eyebrow, “Where did that come from, Twilight? I mean,” Spike scratched the back of his head, “I guess I do, we were there for so long. Why do you ask?”
Twilight let out a heavy sigh, “I was just thinking back on how much things have changed in our lives.”
“Don't tell me you miss that way of living? You weren't having any fun and it wasn't healthy for you.”
“Well, I certainly don't want to go back to that, but I can't deny that I do miss it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Back then, everything made sense to me. I didn't have to worry about others and the only thing that I needed, at the time, was silence and a book. It was a part of me that I threw away, admittedly for the better.”
“I still don't quite understand. What you're trying to say.”
“When I look back at myself, I see a unicorn that was blissfully ignorant of the world. Everything was simple and could be easily avoided with excuses like having a lot of studying to do.”
“Moondancer was pretty sore that we never went to her party.” Spike smirked.
Twilight put her arm around the dragon and pulled him close, “Spike, I apologized to both you and Moondancer.” Twilight smiled, knowing that Spike was just poking fun.
“Well, one thing is for certain, things are definitely not simple anymore.”
“That's just it,” Twilight lifted Spike onto her back with her magic, “I wish I could go back to a time in my life when things weren't as crazy so I could...”
“You could what?” Spike asked.
“I-I don't know. I'm not sure. I've just got this feeling of nostalgia that's tearing me apart from the inside. It's hard to concentrate with this unshakable feeling inside me.”
“Why don't we go back to the library? Since we don't want to mess around with time travel again, the only thing that we can do is go back and visit.”
Twilight giggled, remembering meeting her future self that one day, “That's a good idea, Spike. Lets go.”
Spike nodded and adjusted his position on Twilight's back as she made her way out the door of the library. As they walked to the train station, Twilight looked around at the buildings that she couldn't ever imagine appearing foreign to her now. Ponyville was her home but knowing that she once had another made her restless.
Twilight approached the ticket booth, “Two tickets for Canterlot, please. The train should be here soon, right?” She placed a small pouch of bits on the counter.
The pony smiled and shook his head, “Princess, you don't have to pay. You're royalty so the least we can do is offer our services to you and your company for free.”
“Thank you very much, but I'm still not comfortable with being given perks. I insist that I pay for the tickets just like any pony would. I may have wings, but I'm still the Twilight Sparkle that you remember.”
“Of course, Twilight.” The pony took the bits and gave Twilight the two tickets.
The train wouldn't be arriving for another ten minutes so Spike suggested that they just wait on the platform.
“Twilight?”
“What is it, Spike?”
“We didn't take the train when we first came to Ponyville did we?”
“No, we were flown by some of Celestia's guards, remember?”
“Oh yea. I sorta remember that.”
Twilight could easily recall how she rested her head on the side of the chariot and moped the whole way. It felt very surreal to imagine herself as an entirely different pony. From anti-social loner to a princess of Equestria. If anypony told her that when she was still living in Canterlot, she'd call them a liar, even if it was Princess Celestia, she still wouldn't believe something so far fetched.
A jolt shook Twilight from her thoughts and the next thing she knew, she was on the train.
“Spike, how long have we been on the train?”
“About twenty minutes I think. You were pretty quiet and stared at one spot the whole time.”
“I guess I zoned out.”
“Well, come back to reality because we're almost there.” Spike pressed his face to the window.
The train came to a screeching halt, signaling the time to disembark. The two got off the train and started heading for the library. Even though a lot of time has passed, the two had spent so much time there, that it'd be impossible to forget it.
Everything about the town sent Twilight speeding down memory lane at a velocity that Rainbow Dash could only dream about. The smooth, white paths, the abundance of purples and blues was very different than Ponyville which consisted of yellow and brown buildings. It all started coming back to her and she felt slightly more at ease being here. Canterlot was where she grew up. Even though she was anti-social, she did have many fond memories of the time she spent studying with the Princess and playing with her brother. That's when she was just a filly though. Now she's grown up and seeing her younger self smile made her heart sink a bit.
“Twilight, are you okay?” Spike asked, noticing the slight change in Twilight's composure.
Twilight sighed, “ I'm fine, Spike. I'm just remembering the fun times we've spent here.”
“Yea, I also remember the unnecisarrily long walk it takes to get to the library door.” Spike pointed up to a tower with a spiraling walkway wrapping around the sides.
“Oh come on, Spike, it wasn't that bad. Surly it'll be just as I remember it.” Twilight puffed her chest with a bit of pride.
“We'll see.”
“Alright,” *huff*, “you,” *wheeze*, “were right. This is a long way up. How was I able to do this every day?”
“Well, you didn't actually because you rarely left the library in the first place.”
“Oh, hehe.” Twilight giggled, slightly embarassed.
“Lets go in, Twilight.” Spike pulled the door open and ushered for Twilight to enter.
“Thank you...” Twilight took a deep breath and smiled at the sight of what used to be her home. Of course, some things were slightly different, but for the most part, things were left untouched. She walked over to the large bookcases and ran her hoof across the spines, recalling the familiarity of the books she grew so accustom to. She then flew up to the second level and did the same thing with a different set of books, but this time, she pulled one out at random.
“The Abridged History of Transmorgraphication.” Twilight read the title out loud, “I read this book so many times. I wonder if it still has that my notes in it?” Twilight began flipping through the pages until she found a small yellowed piece of paper with her writing on it. At the time, she had taken an interest in the subject of transmorgraphication and it's uses so she constantly read this book and took notes which she also used as bookmarks.
“What is it, Twilight? You alright up there?” Spike called, pulling the reminiscing alicorn out of her trance.
Twilight placed the piece of paper back in the book and gently closed it, “Just remembering a past life that made sense to me. I guess, a part of me really does miss it afterall.” Twilight carefully slid the book back onto the shelf where she found it and continued exploring the library.