Pearl's Travels 2: Canterlot

I tried to focus on my breakfast instead of the feeling that the world should swallow me up and hide me away so I wouldn't cause another problem to manifest around me.

"Maybe we can talk about something else for a bit, hmm?" Camellia suggested to the group, noting my discomfort.

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" Forsythia agreed. "Those are some great sandwiches by the way. Thank you for making them."

"Yes, great sandwiches," I agreed. "What's on them?"

"They're just hay, daisies, and jackson brier, nothing special," Camellia responded.

"I swear the food here is just so much better tasting than back home, even something as simple as this," I suggested, motioning at the quickly-disappearing number of sandwiches still on the table.

"I'm glad to hear that my sandwiches are up to another world's standards," Camellia joked.

We chuckled at her joke and the conversation devolved into idle banter, every one of us trying to steer clear from the heavier subjects for a while.

I noticed even Aly had warmed up to Camellia's presence and had fallen into a more casual conversation pattern I was sure she had adopted for living in Ponyville.

Before long the light of Celestia's sun rising in the East shone into the room and the mood soured again; the time for parting was upon us.

It was decided that we would all walk over to the carriage warehouse where Forsythia would retrieve their flower cart, then we would walk as a group to the station where we would all part ways; Burst being quite eager to get on board of the first train to Hoofton now the problems were all dealt with.

Aly and Forsythia were no longer leaning as heavily into one another as the previous day, and I blamed it on the both of them just being overly tired.

We retrieved the cart and walked on over to the station together, with Forsythia expertly maneuvering the sizeable thing through the crowds which were starting to fill the streets.

It was easy to see why certain members in our group wanted to leave early.

The amount of ponies on the street just seemed to double between breaths as the city was waking up to a new day, and we soon stood outside the station with the cart as a barrier to allow us to say goodbye to one another.

"We'll be seeing you, Pearl," Forsythia offered to me. "Don't get into too much trouble over in Hoofton."

"I'll do my best," I promised.

"We'll have that chat when I come visit you in Ponyville, Syth?" Camellia remembered.

"What chat?" Sweet Alyssum wondered.

"Yes, if you ever end up actually visiting us, Mel," Forsythia countered, ignoring her mare's question for the moment.

"I'll be in Ponyville about five or six months from now to visit Pinkie Pie, and princess Twilight Sparkle, so maybe I'll see you there too then?" I wondered, "Could be a nice reunion?"

"Oh no, don't tell me Pinkie Pie is going to throw you a party?" Sweet Alyssum groaned. "I can't keep up with her. Flowers don't grow fast enough without magic to be placed at every single party she throws."

"Fortunately she has her party balloons and streamer cannon, right?" I suggested with a wink, to which Aly nodded heavily.

"Speaking of," Hammer Hoof coughed, motioning down the road leading up to the palace.

I turned and looked where she was pointing to see the Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friend Applejack walk in our direction, everypony else making sure she had enough space to walk.

"We need to get us a princess to part the sea of ponies here next time we visit, I swear," I remarked dryly.

"Or just haul a cart, like I do," Forsythia replied with a gentle hoofpat on the wood side of her cart.

"Either case, it beats getting bumped into by random ponies passing by me," I suggested, then perked up as I was sure I just heard my name being called out.

I turned away from facing in the direction Twilight Sparkle and Applejack were approaching us from to spot a familiar Earthpony accompanied by an equally as familiar Pegasus.

"Meadowsweet, Aurora!" I called out to them, waving them over.

"I'm so happy to see you, Camellia, we lost sight of one another at the palace grounds and I had been worried about what might have transpired on your side of things," Princess Twilight Sparkle addressed the Unicorn we were with as she walked up.

She took a glance around the group, then lingered on me and clearly looked straight at my pearl necklace.

I gave her a slow nod. "Nice to meet you, princess Twilight. I'm Pearl."

Applejack laughed heartily at that. "Well shoot, look at you! You’re lookin’ downright adorable, Pearl."

"Hear, hear," Forsythia agreed. "Are you both heading back to Ponyville as well, Applejack?"

"It seems all of us are getting ready to depart," Hammer Hoof pointed out, then added in a flat tone. "What a coincidence."

"I'm sure you'll find a lot of Ponies are making their ways out of Canterlot today," Aurora spoke as she and Meadowsweet joined us. "I'm headed home myself, as well. It's good to see you before that, Pearl."

"And you are?" the Princess asked, confused at all the new faces surrounding Camellia and Meadowsweet.

"Aurora, princess," Tizzy / Aurora offered with a respectful bow toward Twilight.

"I feel like I'm missing something big here," the Princess noted.

"Let's say she's family of mine, Princess Twilight," I hinted, and I saw she picked up on it.

"Well now, that's certainly a surprise," she replied.

"May I ask, Princess? How did you find the princesses Celestia and Luna? You obviously defeated the Tantabus?" I wondered. "We didn't really have much of a part to play in that, I guess."

"Oh, don't say that, Pearl. Your words helped me get through to Luna; she felt so guilty that she had been weakened by her time spent in the moon that she could not protect Canterlot against a Changeling invasion that she gave the Tantabus an open door to bleed into this world," she explained.

"What's a Tantabus?" Aurora wondered.

"Basically a dark cloud which makes you feel guilty about every little thing you've ever done wrong, and a couple of things you never technically did wrong but could potentially do wrong if you're waylaid by it," Meadowsweet explained. "It was very unpleasant."

"And it made us attack our friends," Camellia noted, smiling in my direction after. "Fortunately not to such extent that it left lasting damage."

I lifted my right foreleg and moved it about a bit in the air to feel the muscles in it. "No, not to any lasting damage I can feel."

"I'm happy to hear that," Camellia suggested with her smile broadening.

"Looks like you two are walkin’ home, huh?" Applejack noted to Forsythia and Sweet Alyssum. "Why don’t ya stash that cart here in town, and just haul your flowers back and forth by train?"

"I like the walk, actually; keeps me young," Forsythia returned with a grin. "I'll bet you you can't guess my age."

"Now that's cheating, Syth," Camellia prodded.

"Shush, Mel," Forsythia snorted. "Let me have my fun."

"Now hold on just a minute, are you sayin' she's one too?" Applejack caught on.

"Aaaand we're moving towns tomorrow, there goes my cider fix," Sweet Alyssum groaned.

"Actually, I am pretty sure most of the Ponies on the street right now are family," Hammer Hoof remarked, his thick eyebrows pulled into a thoughtful frown. "But that's beside the point. It's probably not wise to have this conversation out in the open."

"I did say you'd find a lot of 'Ponies' leaving town today," Aurora coughed uneasily.

The princess looked around herself with a look of amazement. "This is ridiculous. I can't tell who's who."

"Let's keep it that way," Sweet Alyssum decided. "Now, we're burning daylight. How about Tia and I get on the road? You all have fun with your respective train rides and I'm sure I'll see you in Ponyville, Applejack."

"Right, that's my cue. Feel free to come visit us when you're in Ponyville, Pearl," Forsythia tagged on. "And you as well, Mel, if you ever do."

"Would you stop it already, Syth? I'm going to schedule some vacation time and visit you next week, see if I don't," Camellia threw back. "I take it you won't be on the market tomorrow?"

"No, I don't think we'll be preparing any flowers these coming days. We'll need to calm down from all the hubbub first," Forsythia agreed.

"Who's this 'we'?" Sweet Alyssum protested. "I'll be the one putting them together, you just make sure I have a batch of fresh flowers in and I'll be right at it again."

Forsythia grabbed hold of her cart and started to maneuver it so she could pull it along to the city gate nearest to Ponyville.

"Remember what we told you, Hammer," Aly spoke to Oval, prodding him in the shoulder. "She's your responsibility."

"Don't I know it," Oval sighed.

I watched the pair break away from us, then looked over at the remainder of our group. "None of our trains go in the same direction, do they?"

Princess Twilight shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Pearl. Even if I'm extremely curious as to what happened on your side of things."

"Maybe Meadowsweet could fill you in?" I suggested. "You did say you were going to keep in touch with her more often again, if it's not too bold of me to say?"

Meadowsweet perked up at hearing her name mentioned. "Oh, yeah, I would like that, but I'll be out of town for a few days first. Aurora said she'd show me what her home looks like."

I remembered what my early days in the Hive were like, and must have made a face as Camellia started to giggle at my expense.

"Not a fan of the idea, Pearl?" Camellia wondered.

"I'm not so sure how well she'd be able to take it. It might be more crowded than this street here," I suggested.

"My personal house," Aurora pointed out, putting the emphasis on the word 'personal'. "Not the family home."

"Oh," I responded as the penny dropped. "Okay, I was thinking family home. Yeah, my bad."

"No, don't take Meadowsweet to the family home," Hammer Hoof agreed. "Maybe if there's a good enough reason for it... but not just for a visit."

I noticed that the princess Twilight Sparkle was just observing us, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Is something wrong, princess?" I wondered.

She shook her head at me in response.

"No, Pearl, nothing's wrong, but I am going to have to ask Thorax so many things when I next see him," she replied.

"The poor guy," I spoke empathically.

"Should we venture into the station so we can see when our respective trains go?" Meadowsweet suggested.

"Ah, you could do that, but I am going to have to go to work," Camellia informed us. "It's been an interesting few days. I honestly never thought I'd have a princess over as my guest."

Princess Twilight Sparkle smirked at being mentioned. "Ah, I'm sorry for having dropped in like that, Camellia. I will be sure to teleport outside of your home and knock next time I visit."

"It would be appreciated, honestly," the Unicorn returned before turning to face me. "Remember what I told you, Pearl. You all stay safe and take care of one another out there. You know where I live if you need me."

"Thank you Camellia," I answered gratefully. "I am sure to come by if I visit Canterlot again."

While Meadowsweet had asked me to be her friend, I didn't know where the Earthpony lived. I had visited Camellia's house twice now, and I could probably find my way to it a third time.

Her offer to drop by any time it was needed gave me a safe place in Canterlot, a listening ear, and a place to rest. Very welcome indeed.

With Camellia walking off to work, the rest of us walked the short distance to the station and I found myself in the main terminal again.

With the masses going this way and that, I tried to read the signage explaining which train would go in which direction.

One train went to Baltimare, leaving in ten minutes, and I nudged Hammer Hoof. "Is that ours?"

He gave me a nod in return. "Yes, it looks like we're going to need to hurry to the platform if we want to catch it. Oh, that reminds me; we have no tickets on us right now."

I stared in shock at Hammer/Oval. This was something I hadn't thought of before now myself, but she was supposed to be the elder of the two of us.

I planted my right forehoof firmly against my forehead.

"Oh come on... Don't tell me we're going to have to drop by the family home to get some resources to travel?" I worried, making sure to describe the Hive in a pony-safe manner.

"Meadow, would you mind? I'll pay you back once we're at my place," Aurora asked.

Meadowsweet rolled her eyes at the request.

"You didn't have to ask, Aurora. I was going to offer that anyway since it's Pearl we're talking about," she spoke in return.

Meadowsweet gave a wink in my direction before ducking her head down to pull a wallet out from a pouch which had been hidden under her barrel, the straps holding it there hidden by her fur.

After passing some coins to Hammer Hoof so he could run off to get us both some tickets, she turned to the princess Twilight.

"Do you two need tickets as well, princess?" she wondered.

"Ah, thank you Meadowsweet, but Applejack and I were already taken care of by Celestia," the princess answered with a smile to her longstanding friend.

Applejack touched her Stetson hat and pulled a pair of train tickets to Ponyville out from under it to illustrate Princess Twilight Sparkle's point.

"The princess just wouldn't take no for an answer," Applejack chuckled.

"I guess Celestia still wants to take care of her student somehow," I pondered out loud, and noticed a hint of a blush on Twilight's cheeks.