It had been a busy weekend for Twilight Sparkle and Spike. With her moving into the Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville, there had been a lot of things to do. Or so Twilight Sparkle had thought, until Celestia had sent her a letter telling her that all of the relevant paperwork would be dealt with.
Still, that left Twilight to physically move her belongings, and of course, say goodbye to her parents. That had required a trip up to Canterlot. While she had been living away from her parents for years, she could still go over anytime she wanted, as it was only a ten minute trot.
Fortunately, Twilight Sparkle didn’t have many personal belongings. Just a few telescopes, some books, and a few dresses for formal occasions, though Twilight was doubtful that she would need them. Nopony in Ponyville seemed to ever wear clothes. Not that that was a bad thing.
But still, it had required her to spend a weekend in Canterlot, organizing. At Rainbow Dash’s curious insistence, Twilight had chosen to send her goods by Ponyville Freight, and had drawn a muffin of all things on the bottom of the form. When Twilight had asked about this detail to Rainbow, the pegasus had just chuckled, and muttered something about favours to friends.
With her belongings on the way, and familial obligations out of the way, Twilight had visited her favourite place in Canterlot one last time: The Royal Library, where Twilight had immediately thrown herself into a study of the founding of Ponyville. Just so that if anypony ever asked her if she knew about the history of the town, Twilight could confidantely say that yes, she did.
It wasn’t until late Sunday that Twilight Sparkle realised that she had to go home.
And it wasn’t until she realised she was looking at the train times and ticket prices that she realised that she didn’t think of Canterlot as her home anymore.
Twilight paused. Spike bumped into the back of her.
“Geez, Twilight,” grumbled the dragon, walking around her, “if you don’t hurry up, we’re going to miss the train.”
“The train,” murmured Twilight, “right. The train. Spike, why don’t you go on ahead. Get our tickets, and get yourself a snack.” Twilight levitated a small bit purse over to the young dragon. The moment it landed in his claws, he dashed off to the train station.
Twilight simply stood in the square. It was getting late in the day, so the main rush of ponies coming home from their jobs was finished. She could see lamps lighting up, both the ones in ponies homes and the bigger ones that lit up the streets. She had studied the spell, once, and the mechanism by which they were kept lit and-no. She was trying to distract herself.
In the air, the cool breeze that always started around dusk (Twilight if she was being facetious and a little narcissistic) had started up, washing over her coat. With it, it brought the smells of Donut Joes, book pages and burning candles. Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes, and she was back in her tower, hunched over a book on a research bender. A box of donuts rested beside her, along with a mug of coffee. She could almost hear the soft impact of wax on the brass holder, hear Spike’s gentle snores.
She knew that at any time, she could wander into the Royal Library, and look up any subject that she wanted. Well, except the Dark Magic, but that was because Princess Celestia had said that she wasn’t ready. And because Twilight didn’t want to have her soul eaten by a monster.
Twilight opened her eyes, staring at the white stone of Canterlot, tinged with oranges and blues form the setting sun and she had a realisation.
She was going to miss Canterlot. She was going to miss having unlimited access to the biggest library in Equestria, she was going to miss going on a midnight run to Donut Joes’, or walking down the road to visit her parents. And that was odd, because Twilight had more or less left home before her brother had. She’d been overjoyed at leaving her parent’s house, to live in her tower full of books and equipment and with Spike.
And it wasn’t like she was going far, either. Ponyville was only a few hours away by train. She could see Canterlot from her window in the Golden Oaks Library. But suddenly confronted with what she was losing, it seemed much further. They were trivial things, Twilight knew. She was trading Donut Joes’ for what had amounted to an offer of a lifetime supply of apple-related foods, switching out her parents for a library full of books that it was her job to manage; exchanging 24 hour access to the Royal Canterlot Library for the most extraordinary group of ponies she had met.
Twilight was broken from her internal reverie by Spike tugging on her forehoof.
“Twilight, I’ve got the tickets. What were you doing?”
“Just saying goodbye,” said Twilight, “now come on, number one assistant. Let’s go home.”
And somehow, mused Twilight, saying those words felt right when it was about Ponyville.