//------------------------------// // Nostalgia (9/5/2016) // Story: A Pony a Day // by OfTheIronwilled //------------------------------// "Hey, Twilight, what's wrong? You're not still bummed about the whole Moondancer thing are you? I mean, she has friends now, and it was all because of your help!" Twilight gazes out over the balcony, the hard crystal cold against her hooves and the wind tickling her face. The air is chilled and smells like the faraway humidity of summer, and that... makes it kind of worse, actually. It reminds Twilight of last summer, when she sat underneath an old apple tree with her friends; they had lemonade, and her glass had one of those curly straws in it, striped like a candy cane. Considering Pinkie Pie gave her the cup, it might have actually been some sort of weird candy cane. Twilight smiles and sighs again: happy and bitter. "It's nothing, Spike," she says. Down in Ponyville she sees Roseluck packing up her stall for the day. "I was actually just thinking about... well, me. Seeing Moondancer today made me realize just how far I've come... just how much I've changed..." She twitches her wings without meaning to. Spike must see them flick, because he grimaces and pats her right wing softly. When Twilight then swishes her tail and fitfully adjusts her crown, his grimace grows into something ugly, before he walks forward to sling an arm around her neck. "Twilight, come on, we've talked about this. Just because you're an alicorn princess now doesn't mean you're not the same old Twilight! Trust me," he chuckles. "You're still just as strict about how the library should be organized, at least. And about when and where I can eat my gems, and about how I need to get along with Owlowiscious, and how I need to make those checklists just right and--" Twilight snorts and bops him on the nose; Spike just giggles and smirks. She leans down to nuzzle his scaly cheek with a grin, and then she shakes her hoof dismissively. "I mean, this time it's not really even about my status. I suppose it is a part of it, but I really mean more about how far I've come personally. How far my friends have come in such a short amount of time." Spike gives her a confused glance and waves her on. "I used to be just like Moondancer, Spike," Twilight sighs. "It was with the help of my friends that I was able to change, and to get to where I a now. I actually talk to ponies now, I go out of the library, I-- I'm a princess with political responsibilities and a protege under my care. Over the course of the past few years it's like I've grown to be a whole different pony. And I'm not the only one. Rainbow Dash is less cocky, and she's achieving her dream of being with the Wonderbolts. Fluttershy is battling her anxiety and making real progress. Rarity has her own boutique in Canterlot like she always wanted... even the Crusaders have finally gotten their Cutie Marks!" Spike scratches dully at his chin. "Uhh... and this is a problem... why?" Twilight lifts her hooves to the balcony railing and snorts. "It's not a problem, Spike. That's not what I'm saying at all! I'm proud of my friends and myself for achieving such successes, and for coming as far as we have." She turns her eyes over the expanse of Ponyville; the crystalline splinter of her castle is not the only change Ponyville has seen, even if it is the most sizable one -- buildings have different coats of paint, that roof was repaired a while back, that one over there has been renovated completely at least twelve times after a slew of adventures. "It's just... well, it's a lot." Her dragon companion hums and looks over the balcony himself, staring over Ponyville with sharp eyes; he picks up on the same things Twilight did, if his sigh is any indication. And when his tail drags on the crystal, he jerks it back as if burned, like he has since it sprouted. "Yeah. Yeah, Twilight, I guess it has. But it's not like everything is totally different now! The changes really haven't been... too drastic... I mean, your friends are still your friends, right? And the biggest changes is one of the best ones; you have more friends than ever now!" "Yes, I know," Twilight smiles. "And I'm so. So very grateful for that. For them. There's not a problem, and-- and I'm not really sad, Spike. I... suppose that so much has happened in only a few years... and I've just now given myself a few moments to really let all of it sink in. I'm not exactly sad, but... nostalgic, I guess." There's a quiet silence after that. It hangs in the air, but not heavily, and at the push of the breeze it's carried off. Spike taps his claws on the railing with little 'tinks', listens as Twilight breathes in the familiar smells of Ponyville, and... When Twilight looks down at him, he's staring to the ground and lightly clutching his chest with a sweet smile. "I get it," he breathes. "We have had a lot of good memories here in Ponyville, huh?" The alicorn rest her head gingerly to the crystal, and listens to the distant laughs of ponies going in for the night. There's a flash of memory -- Twilight and her friends giggling as they walked out of Pony Joe's on the night of their very first Gala together -- and Twilight almost feels like crying. She's not exactly sure why, but it feels... both heavy and warm in her chest. "Yeah. We have," Twilight says. "And I'm excited to make more new memories. Genuinely, I am. But sometimes... sometimes I can't help but miss first coming to Ponyville. When I was first getting to know some of... some of the best ponies in all of Equestria. I miss those first parties, that horrible Gala... I... I especially miss when I would write Celestia about what I'd learned, about how my friends taught me to grow into who I am today. I know I shouldn't, Spike, but..." Spike sighs. He leans on her side and warmly nuzzles his cheek into her shoulder. "But you do?" "Yeah." Birds chirp. Streaks of gold and orange slowly dull into the purple and black palette of dusk. From up here, in this castle, you can faintly hear and see ponies -- friends -- bundling up together in loving groups, laying down picnics and staring up at the sky. It dots with stars, with swirls of Cosmos that are all Luna. Twilight remembers when she set up her telescope, and she and her friends watched that meteor shower. Eventually, Twilight wrenches her eyes away and looks at Spike. Spike looks back at her. "Twilight?" he asks. "Yes?" "You wanna go look at those memory crystals again? Oh, and then we can call up Pinkie and our other friends for a late night party! You know, just like old times." Twilight sighs. Twilight smiles. And then she chuckles, affectionately rubbing her assistant's spines with a hoof. "Hee hee. Why not? I did say I was excited to make new memories... and something tells me Pinkie Pie would be more than happy to oblige."