Fading golden sunlight caught the glass-paneled walls of the new apartment complex, making homebound travelers squint in the sudden light. Carts-for-hire streamed by on newly cobbled roads, shepherding ponies away to homes sprawling beyond the city limits. Another ordinary day in Ponyville was coming to a close. What was once a little town was growing up; no longer just a quiet farming hamlet, it was a bustling city vibrant with growth and progress.
“Ain’t natural.” Applejack glared ahead at it all. “Ponyville was jus’ fine the way it was. No need to make it all fancy and modern like Manehatten.”
“That’s just progress, darling.” Rarity’s voice carried on the wind as the unicorn took her usual place on the bench beside her friend. “Things grow and things change. Did you really think it’d stay the same forever? Especially after all the fame we brought it?”
Applejack grumbled and scuffed a hoof. “No. Still, Ah didn’t think it would be this fast. Ah hardly recognize the place anymore.”
Rarity nodded sadly. “At least your farm is still around. Can you imagine how I felt when they demolished the Boutique for that new mall?” She sighed. “Though I suppose it was selfish of me to think that Sweetie Belle would one day take it over for me. She has her own life after all.”
“How’s she doin’, by the way?” Applejack asked.
“Oh, good, good. She’s expecting her first grandfoal soon.”
A genuine smile cracked through Applejack’s mask of discontent.“Oh! Congratulations! That makes you a great-aunt then, huh?”
“Hm?” Rarity’s attention had drifted away from the conversation, focusing instead on a group of foals --both pony and reformed changeling-- playing as they headed back to the comforts of their homes for the night. “Oh. Yes, thank you. Though I wish I could congratulate her myself.”
“Rares…”
“I know, I know. I can’t.” She sighed again and let her lackluster mane fall across her vision. “Still, a mare can dream, can’t she?”
Silence fell between them as they watched the small city wind down for the night. In the distance, the flashing lights of countless nightclubs and music halls indicated that the new downtown area was only just waking up. It was a far cry from those early days, just before Twilight Sparkle moved in, when the whole town went to sleep by nine o’clock sharp and woke with the coming dawn.
“Applejack,” she asked after a time, “Do you ever think about leaving?”
The former farmer turned to her in surprise. “Leaving? Leaving Ponyville?”
She nodded.
Applejack thought for a moment and hung her head. “A- Ah’d be lyin’ if Ah said Ah hadn’t. But Ah’d never do it. Ah’m here fer life.”
“Such as it is.” A pair of young ponies, a couple, passed them by with nary a glance. Rarity watched them go. “I find my mind coming back to it more and more these days.”
That caught Applejack’s attention. She turned, struck by the firmness of her friend’s tone. “Y-Yer serious?” A terse nod. “But… you can’t! The others’ve long since left and then that leaves-”
“Just you. I know.” Her voice was quiet, but not lacking strength. “But look around us. What’s left for me here?” She gestured to the city that ignored her. “My boutique is gone. My parents have long since left. Even Sweetie Belle has grown up and started a life of her own. What’s still here?”
“...me.” Applejack said quietly.
Rarity loosed a short huff of frustration. She knew the conversation would eventually come to this point. She just didn’t like it. “And what’s holding you here, Applejack?”
Her response was immediate. “Family.”
Rarity had a response ready. “To what end? Apple Bloom’s a mother twice over and if rumor holds any truth is nearly a grandmother herself. Big Mac’s son and his family keep the farm well and secure even as Ponyville grows around it, and Big Mac himself has long since left. Are you going to stick around until they all leave as well? Until the farm is run by ponies so many generations removed that they wouldn’t know of you if they were told?”
“Stop it,” Applejack glared. “That’s my family yer talkin' about. Ah won’t abandon my family.”
Rarity placed a hoof on Applejack’s shoulder, who was unmoved by the touch. “You’re not abandoning them. You’ve done all you can. They’ve grown and thrived thanks to you and everything you did for them.” She stopped and gathered her strength. This was the argument she’d spent too long now trying to get right. Everything she had left, she poured into her words. “But you have to let them go. Everyone’s waiting for us. For me. For you. And someday, Applebloom herself is going to leave Ponyville.“ Applejack flinched and Rarity knew she’d hit the right nerve. “How do you think she’ll feel when she gets there and can’t find her sister waiting for her?”
“Rare-”
“If you ask me,” Rarity powered on, refusing to be interrupted, “You’ve been there for your family as much as anyone could ask of you here in Ponyville, and even then some after that. Now, you need to be there for them somewhere else.”
Applejack took a moment to process this. The light was fading quickly now, and street lights around them began flickering to life one by one. Rarity could see the war going on behind her companion’s eyes as she struggled to justify her competing beliefs. She could only hope she’d been convincing. As the very last beams of daylight started to dissipate, Applejack’s expression settled and Rarity knew what her answer was going to be.
“Ah’m scared,” she admitted.
“Me too,” Rarity agreed. She held out a hoof. “Shall we leave together?”
It was taken without question. “Will it hurt?” The fear in her voice was unmistakable. Fear of pain. Fear of leaving. Fear of making the wrong choice. Fear of the finality of that decision.
“I shouldn’t think so,” Rarity assured her with a smile. “The painful part is long past. All we have to do is let go.”
Applejack nodded and closed her eyes. Rarity, giving the hoof on hers a squeeze, did as well.
In Ponyville Plaza, as night finally engulfed the city, a passing mare glanced up at a park bench. For a moment, she could have sworn that there had been a pair of ponies there. But that was impossible; it was clearly empty. And besides, everypony knew that you weren’t supposed to sit on the memorial benches. They were considered a part of the Monument to the Elements in the Plaza’s center. It must have been a trick of the light. Shaking off the silly thought, she continued on her way, unaware of the final exodus to which she’d nearly been witness.
