Pilgrimage

A purple figure burst through the bottom of the cloud, leaving a trail of mist behind her as she flared her wings in the cool Fall air.  She glanced up at the great cumulus heading south as the northern wind pushed it away, seeking warmer weather.  She could tell the pegasus ponies were hard at work herding the Summer and Fall clouds away with their massive factory-produced winds to make way for the clouds that would bring in the snow.

Leaving Equestria.  Twilight Sparkle’s heart hammered once at the thought before she propelled herself forward.  Her wings made slight adjustments to the changes in air and speed, and wind whistled about her horn.

Below her was a patchwork of more clouds, and yet beneath them was a small, glistening city.  Ponyville.  No longer was it the quaint town she had lived in for several years, it had updated its cottages to tiled houses, its town hall and courthouse to four story buildings, and had expanded with more houses and ships.  Yet for all of that, it seemed to maintain its homeliness and friendliness.

Twilight turned her head to scan the clouds some more and spotted a light yellow blip about a mile off to her right.  She pounded her wings and galloped through the air, the movement coming naturally to her.

A few moments later the alicorn drifted down quietly as to not startle the pegasus mare.  Twilight’s hooves alighted onto the cloud, and she approached Fluttershy from the side.  Fluttershy was busy staring over the cloud edge at a flock of starlings weaving back and forth near some trees.

She glanced at Twilight.

“Oh, hey Twilight…” she murmured, starting to get up.

“No, stay,” Twilight urged.  Fluttershy flopped down.  The lavender mare laid against Fluttershy’s flank and eyed the birds below. “How are you, Fluttershy?”

“I’m...okay.”

Twilight looked at the way the pegasus laid back her ears and ducked her head under her long pink forelocks, trying to hide her pained expression.

“Thinking of Rainbow Dash?” Twilight said softly.  Fluttershy was silent. “I’ve thought about her a lot too...but maybe she’s still flying about in her own way, in the wind as it crosses Equestria.”

Fluttershy’s whole body jerked, and she stared at Twilight.

“You mean like a ghost?” she demanded with a quaver in her voice.

“No, I mean...ah, I don’t know what I meant.  I’m confused right now.”

Fluttershy took her turn to observe Twilight as the Princess of friendship let her eyes slide westward.

“You look...worried,” Fluttershy said.  She tried to smile. “Don’t be worried, Twilight.  At least...the rest of us are still here, as friends, always.”

Twilight smiled at Fluttershy’s kindness and climbed to her hooves, shaking herself.  Her wings unfolded with the movement, and she flapped them a few times.

“I was on my way to Sugarcube Corner,” Twilight told her friend. “Want to come?  I’ll race you!”

Fluttershy stood and stretched her wings as well before Twilight dove off the cloud, the pegasus in hot pursuit.  They laughed as they spiraled around shredded banks of vapor, sunlight reflections from windows and metal from Ponyville reflecting onto their stomachs.  Some ponies pointed as they recognized Twilight and Fluttershy, and foals and fillies gave high pitched whinnies as they passed over the elementary school playground.

Twilight passed between two hotels, wings tucked in tight, and felt a tug on the end of her tail.  Fluttershy had bitten it and now pulled Twilight back.  The alicorn barked out another laugh and flailed her hoofs, pretending to stall in mid air, as the yellow pegasus arced over her and dove for the porch of Sugarcube Corner.

Other ponies coming and going from the shop started as the alicorn landed heavily next to her friend, and they broke down into giggles.

“You win,” Twilight admitted as they entered the store.  Her nostrils flared at the scents of frosting and cake and fresh bread and hard sugar, and she glanced around a store filled with several tables and patrons.  Fluttershy made her own way to a table where Applejack sat speaking with Filthy Rich.  Both were looking at a graph paper with numbers and pictures of apples and other produce, almost invisible among the crowd of ponies.

At the cashier’s counter, she saw a deep pink mane bobbing around as its owner rushed to please five customers all at once.  Plates of waffles and crumpets and muffins and slices of cake popped up onto the counter, as well as jugs of hot and cold apple cider.  Twilight felt and heard her tummy grumble, and she moved to the counter to get a place in line.

Twilight tried to ignore the multiple gazes of ponies as they combined the sight of her horn and wings and deduced that one of their Princesses had come for a visit.  Some of the ponies ahead of her actually tried to get out of line, but she quietly insisted that they go first.

Reluctant to disobey, the ponies stood in line with legs quivering and nervous tilts of their heads.  Twilight resisted a sigh, keeping her head high and her legs straight but loose, just as Celestia had taught her.  Her very posture gave her confidence and radiated it, and the customer just ahead of her relaxed with a breath when she gave him a warm smile.

A few minutes passed before Twilight finally made it to the counter.  Pinkie’s head shot up, her wild, frazzled hair bouncing.

“Twilight!” she shrieked, reaching out with her hooves and grabbing her cheeks.  Ponies gasped. “Twilight, what took you so long?  Here I thought my cookies were going to rot away and the nuts were going to go on strike, and the flour disappear, and ---”

“Ponkey!” Twilight gurgled.  The Princess gasped as the pink earth pony released her, and she tried to smile. “I would love your cookies.  In fact, I need to speak to all of you today; do you have some time?”

“Do I!” Pinkie cried, jumping onto the counter.  She looked at the kitchen door. “Pound!  Come here QUICK!”

A young pegasus stallion bolted out of the door, balancing a platter of tarts on his head.

“Is everything alright?!” he demanded, searching for trouble and flaring his tan wings to appear larger to a possible enemy.

“Oh, everything’s fine, I’m just going to go have a chat with Twilight,” Pinkie said innocently, hopping off the counter and making the floor shake with her landing.  She waved a hoof. “Everyone, Pound Cake is in charge until I’m back!”

Twilight twitched her ringing ears, still wondering after all these years why Pinkie got so excited over the smallest things.  Of course, that was one of the things she loved about her; she could laugh in the face of death itself and give strength to her friends.

Filthy Rich left Applejack’s table, shaking her hoof briefly before trotting out of Sugarcube Corner with the paper tucked into his saddlebag.  Twilight led Pinkie Pie over to the table.

“Oh hey there, sugarcube,” Applejack said with a warm smile. “Didn’t expect ya down here so soon.  What’s up?”

“I need to speak to everyone,” Twilight began.  She glanced around, rotating her ears at the same time. “Where’s Rarity?”

“Why, she’s at her shop, of course.” The light brown pony tapped a hoof on the table. “She’s hasn’t spoken to anypony since that funeral.  Ain’t been warm to any company of late.”

Twilight grimaced.  She still had a situation on her hooves that needed to be dealt with before she left; who knew if she’d even come back alive?  It was a terrible thought, and shouldn’t have been there since Celestia and Luna themselves had gone and come back from Pilgrimage dozens of times.  But still, it was a possibility.  She shook her head, returning to the present.

“Come on girls, let’s go for a visit,” the Princess urged.  Pinkie whooped, bouncing on all four hooves at once towards the exit.  The others followed in a much more reserved manner.

In about ten minutes they found Rarity’s boutique in its small green yard, now surrounded by other clothing shops and fabric stores, all trying to surpass the white unicorn’s superb talent in fashion and design.

A neon light sign in the window blared “Closed.”  The ponies leaned against the windows to peer inside.  The main floor was dark, with a fly buzzing around inside.

“Maybe in the back?” Fluttershy suggested.

The group rounded the store and found Rarity using her aura to move damp clothing onto a multitude of clotheslines.  Although she had a mechanized dryer inside, some of her more delicate fabrics required air-drying; she also did it to take time to work out her thoughts, something Twilight had discovered soon before Rainbow Dash’s death.

The white unicorn jumped when they came into view, and two shirts fell onto the grass.  She groaned and lifted them up, shaking off grass shavings.

“Need any help?” Twilight asked, trying to sound chip.  She moved to the laundry basket.

“That’s kind of you, Twilight, but I have everything under control,” Rarity said firmly, lifting the basket and moving it closer to herself.  The lavender alicorn cocked her head.

Somehow I doubt she has “everything under control,” Twilight thought with concern.

“So we’re all here!” Pinkie exclaimed, examining a pink silk skirt fluttering in a breeze. “What’dya want to talk about, Twilight?”

“Let us all sit together,” the Princess invited, gesturing with a hoof at a patch of soft grass away from the clotheslines.  The companions save for Rarity headed for it. “Come, Rarity.  This is very important.”

Rarity glanced at Twilight, and then set down her clothespins and clothes in the basket and slowly plodded to the group.

Once they had all settled, Twilight met their expectant eyes and was grateful for their support and love.  She wouldn’t be the mare she was now without them.

“The beginning of next year, I’ll be leaving Canterlot,” the alicorn explained. “I’ll be gone for a long time, but I promise to come back.”

No matter what, she mentally added with a frown.

“Where ya going?” Applejack asked casually.  Twilight flicked her ears.

“I’ll be traveling west.  Far, far west.”

“Appleloosa?” came Applejack’s suggestion.

“Dodge Junction?” Pinkie ejaculated.

“Further than that.  Farther than anypony here has ever gone.”

The Companionship murmured among themselves.  Twilight admired them for their simple thinking, their innocence.  It seemed that she kept thinking and thinking, reading and learning, and as a Princess, she had gotten to know both the dark and light parts of her society much more intimately.  Her friends led simple lives in their trades and hobbies, and although they too learned day by day, Twilight had to learn at a quicker pace to keep up with her destiny...including Pilgrimage.

“However, I don’t want anypony here spreading word about it,” Twilight went on. “I trust all of you, and I didn’t want you to worry when for some reason I never visited or wrote, or if you went to Canterlot and I had vanished.  Is everyone clear?”

“Why won’t you tell us where you’re going, dear?” Rarity said.  Twilight sighed, laying her ears back.

“It’s...it’s sacred.”

The others glanced at each other.  She half expected sarcastic comments over the idea, or more demands for explanation.  However, they only nodded, accepting the cryptic answer, and Twilight smiled and relaxed her tense wings.

The ponies gave her hugs and nuzzles before heading out.  Rarity moved back to the laundry, and Twilight waited for the others to go before she approached the white unicorn.

“I have a favor to ask, Rarity,” the alicorn started as Rarity magically clipped a shirt to the line.  Twilight felt the atmosphere about them strain when Rarity didn’t reply. “Will you...keep an eye out for the others?  Keep them together, should things begin to fall apart?”

Rarity met Twilight’s gaze, and then laid her ears back.

“You think I would let down my friends?” Rarity demanded.  Twilight shook her head, taking a step back. “Just because ----just because I have before?”

Rarity growled and turned away.  Twilight took her drama patiently.

“Rainbow Dash was just trying to protect you and Spike,” Twilight tried to explain. “Rarity, that jewel mine was a great find, but when you got involved with that jerk Sparkle Eye, who wanted to cheat you out of everything you found, Rainbow couldn’t stand for that.  That’s why she destroyed the mine, and fought Sparkle and drove him out of Equestria.”

“I invested everything into that mine,” Rarity snapped, facing her back door.  She stomped a hoof as she spoke.  “She almost killed Spike, the...the fool!  Why didn’t she check the mine, find he was still in there, just trying to earn me a little more profit...because he loves me?”

Twilight trotted up to Rarity’s side, head low as she tried to meet the unicorn’s eyes again, but Rarity kept them closed.

“Rainbow Dash wanted what was best for you...but she didn’t want a thug pushing you around and taking that mine and using the bits he would have gotten out of it to make you miserable,” Twilight argued. “He would have closed down your business, left you on the street.  He wasn’t the pony for you, Rarity.  He was a crook, a two-faced wild horse...she didn’t mean to hurt Spike.”

Twilight dared to press her muzzle against Rarity’s neck in a friendly gesture.  The unicorn was tense, rock-still.

“At least you still have the boutique,” Twilight tried to amend.  Rarity finally turned her own head and laid her cheek against Twilight’s neck.  The alicorn Princess felt tears dampen her fur.

“I’m...I’m trying to forgive Rainbow Dash, the poor dear,” Rarity said. “She didn’t deserve the death the winds gave her that day.  It’s all so sudden for me, Twilight.  I just need more time.”  She pulled away, bucking her head back and giving Twilight a small smile. “Of course I’ll look after the others.  We’ll wait for you to come back...maybe I can persuade Pinkie Pie to give you a ‘welcome home’ party, hm?”

“I don’t think it’ll be hard to persuade her,” Twilight laughed.  She gestured with a wing. “C’mon, Rarity, I’ll buy you a mug of cider.”

“Well, if you insist,” Rarity said with a wink, and together they left the yard and headed on over to Sugarcube Corner.