Thankfully, the trip back to Equestria's capital was much less exciting than the one from it. Once again, the ponies spent much of the ride resting and relaxing, knowing full well they had no idea what the coming days would bring. Alpenglow had said nothing the entire way, and as the pointed domes of Canterlot finally came into view, Twilight decided it was safe enough to ask him more questions. He was sitting by himself at the front of the car, a few seats away from everypony else. Taking care not to wake up a napping Rainbow Dash, Twilight stood up and gingerly sat next to him.
"Are you alright?"
Alpenglow glanced at her before turning back towards the window. "I’m fine. What can I do for you, Twilight?"
"Nothing, just wanted to see how you're doing."
"I'm fine, thanks. Why are we stopping at Canterlot? I...forgot."
"I wanted to see how Cadance is handling things, and if Discord or Jade has anything new for us."
"Sounds good. We should also grab supplies while we’re there."
"Yes, definitely," Twilight replied, wondering if he knew what she would certainly ask next. Several uncomfortably silent seconds passed. "If you don’t mind my asking, Alpenglow, have your memories started coming back to you?"
"Some," he replied, turning his head from the window to the seat in front of him. "For the most part, they’re memories from when I was the princesses’ student."
"You really can’t remember anything about your mission or your friends? Even after reading the letter?"
"Right after I did, I started remembering bits and pieces about them, but no matter what I do, it's hard to remind myself that we were friends. Their faces are muddy, and their voices aren’t clear, if that makes sense. I guess I can...feel them." He shook his head. "But I can’t remember them."
"I’m sorry, Alpenglow. If there’s anything we can do, just let us know."
"Yeah...thanks, Twilight. Sorry, I know it doesn’t make any sense. I just feel like I'm missing something, like there's some little, random memory that would make it all meaningful again." He pursed his lips. "If you don't mind, I could use some more time to myself to think about it."
Twilight left him and sat again with her friends, who were quietly talking amongst themselves. Applejack leaned over in her seat and glanced towards the front of the car. She frowned and muttered, "Don’t think I’ve ever seen somepony less alive. Not a lot we can do about it, though."
"I guess not," said Twilight in a low voice.
The train lurched to a stop, and everypony quickly stepped off and onto the platform where, of all ponies, Cadance was waiting.
"There you are! When Quicksilver sent word that you didn’t arrive yesterday, I was so worried. What happened?"
"It was Blight, Cadance," answered Rainbow Dash. "He tried to stop us from reaching the empire, but we handled it."
"Thank goodness you all weren’t hurt. I’ve been receiving reports from all over Equestria about these seeds. I just don’t understand why Blight keeps sending them out. So far, every single one has been destroyed."
"He’s probably trying to keep us off balance so we can’t focus on gettin’ rid of him," Applejack suggested.
"That makes sense. Whatever he’s planning, Princess Celestia has asked me to join them in Ponyville to help with the shield. Her last letter made it sound like something is wrong. I’ll be leaving soon."
"More guards?" asked Spike.
"Just to be on the safe side," the princess assured.
"We should go with you," said Twilight. "We’re going to the Appaloosan Mountains next. Ponyville is on the way, and we need to talk to Princess Celestia and Luna."
Cadance nodded. "Feel free to take care of whatever you need to do here, then we can leave together. Oh, I almost forgot, Jade Singer wanted me to tell you that she found more on the Elements of Heroism. She said that not just anypony can use them, and they still need a spell to make them work."
Twilight nodded. "We know, Cadance. But it’s good to be sure. That’s what we’ll be looking for in the mountains."
Cadance tapped her lips with her hoof. "Good. And I haven’t heard anything from Discord, but the last time I checked on him, he said he found something ‘interesting,’ but wouldn’t tell me what it was."
"Hopefully it’s somethin' good for us," said Applejack.
The Princess of Love nodded, then pointed out a group of crystal guards standing on the far end of the platform. "I’ll let you all go. Alpenglow, could I borrow you for a moment? I was hoping you could share what you know with them. They only arrived from the Crystal Empire early yesterday."
"Of course, ma’am." As the two of them walked away, everypony gathered in a circle.
"I think I’m gonna go check on Applebloom, see how she’s doin’," said Applejack, turning to make her way towards the camp.
"I certainly wouldn’t mind doing the same for Sweetie Belle," added Rarity, turning to follow.
"Hey, wait up!" said Rainbow, "I gotta make sure the squirt’s doin’ okay!"
The three quickly faded into the panorama of the tent mini-city, leaving Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike on the platform.
"My goodness, where did the last two days go?" Fluttershy wondered aloud.
Twilight shook her head. "I have no idea."
"What do we do now?" asked Spike.
"How about we go make sure we have everything we need for the trip?" Twilight suggested. "Pinkie, Fluttershy, is there anything either of you need to do before we go?"
Fluttershy anxiously rubbed her hooves together. "Actually, I was thinking I could go to the castle garden and ask the birds if they’ve seen any of my animals. Some of them might have escaped from Ponyville."
Twilight smiled. "That’s a great idea. If any of them did, then we can bring them back here. I bet that'd really cheer up everypony."
Fluttershy's face brightened as she asked, "Pinkie, do you want to come with me?"
Ponyville's resident party pony flung her hooves around Fluttershy. "You betcha!" she said, and the two of them took off for the castle.
For the next half-hour, everypony went about their business, eventually finding their way back to the platform, packed and ready to go. Cadance and her guards had already boarded, and as Twilight, her friends, and Alpenglow went to do the same, a familiar voice rhymed from behind, "Off again to save the day, but first a goodbye, if I may?"
Everypony spun around. "Zecora!" exclaimed Twilight as she hugged her. "Thank you! Sorry for not finding you earlier, we’ll be back as soon as we can. We just need one last piece of information to stop Blight."
The ponies' striped friend warmly returned her hug. "You will succeed, I have no doubt, and put this dreadful beast to rout." Zecora turned to face Alpenglow. "And as for you, my fine young knight, thanks for the rescue that dire night."
He nodded. "It was Twilight who realized you were in danger, ma’am. I was only there to help." He turned his head towards the train a moment. "I apologize, but if you’ll excuse us, we need to be going now." He donned his helmet before disappearing into the train.
Zecora cocked her head. "Though he is but a stranger to me, a little shy and sad of eye, but very wise, seems he."
Twilight frowned. "We're not sure what to do, Zecora. Princess Celestia said Alpenglow used to be one of Equestria’s greatest heroes. He’s been fighting Blight for so long, he’s forgotten who he is and who his friends were. And I can’t shake the feeling that we’ll need him back to normal if we’re going to stop Blight." Everypony nodded in agreement.
The zebra tapped her hoof thoughtfully. "To lose oneself is quite a plight; friends are a must to see the light."
"Uh, sorry to break it to you Zecora," said Rainbow, "but his friends are all kinda...statues."
"And if we woke ‘em up, chances are we’d have five monsters on our hooves on toppa Blight," added Applejack.
Zecora smiled and shook her head. "Of his friends of old I do not speak; you must bring back the pony you seek. If you are in need of the knight of yore, friendship is key so he may war no more."
Twilight almost stumbled from Zecora's couplets, for in their own, helpful way, their message had stung. Looking back, Twilight saw she truly had done well in following Princess Celestia's instructions: look after Alpenglow, keep everypony together and focused on Blight, feats the last two days proved to be less than easy. Yet to her surprise, and regret, she hadn't done anywhere near enough. In all the time she and her friends had spent with Alpenglow, Twilight couldn't see that she had never really talked to him, and not merely in the familiar, friendly sense. She couldn't. She was simply incapable of talking to him- not by any shortcoming of her own, but for one simple reason: for Alpenglow, the mission had never ended. He was still in the griffin kingdom, still writing that letter, still fighting in that cave. He wasn't here with everypony; he lived there. He existed there. And that gulf between them was as real and inexorable as the years that separated him from his former life.
Yet, as Twilight looked at each of her friends, she realized something else, something much more important: there was a time when she never would have dreamed of being so close with ponies that were once so different, so distant and alien to her. Now, she challenged herself to imagine a world where they were anything but her family, unconcerned by the petty rules of space and time.
The ponies said their goodbyes to Zecora and boarded the train with newfound conviction. Sitting down next to Cadance and Alpenglow, they all looked at each other and wordlessly agreed: they might not be able to give this errant knight his friends back, but they could- and would- do the next best thing.