It had only been a week since the Legion of Doom's assault on Equestria that had very nearly succeeded in bringing about its destruction. But you'd never have guessed there had been an attack of any sort given how quickly ponies had recovered and made repairs. Even the town of Ponyville seemed none the worse for wear, almost as if the Legion of Doom's assault had never happened in the first place.
So things had more or less gone back to normal now. Life went on the way it always did in Equestria, and Ponyville was no exception.
Well, there was one thing that was not going to be the same. It was by now a confirmed fact that one of Ponyville's premiere ponies, the one and only Princess Twilight, would be moving back to Canterlot to officially succeed Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as the supreme sovereign of Equestria.
Yet it was not until none other than Apple Bloom came literally bursting in through the door of the clubhouse she shared with her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders that any of the three fillies at all seemed to become aware of it. "Girls, girls!" Apple Bloom panted, struggling to catch her breath! "Oh, thank goodness I found ya here! You're never gonna believe what I just heard!" After pausing only a moment to compose herself, the farm filly blurted out. "The rumors are true!"
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle blinked a bit in surprise, and Scootaloo questioned. "What rumors, Apple Bloom?"
Apple Bloom had to resist the urge to groan. "Have you been livin' under a rock for the past year or so, Scootaloo? Everypony in town's been talkin' a lot about how Twilight's supposedly gonna move back to Canterlot and take over the throne. And just this mornin', I overheard Applejack talkin' about it too. I even asked her, and she said it was true."
"But that's no rumor, Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle pointed out whilst trotting over to her fellow filly. "I think Rarity was talking about the same thing recently."
"Yeah, and Rainbow Dash too, I think," Scootaloo chimed in. Then the realization struck her quite suddenly, almost like a bolt of lightning! "Wait, if that's true then that means we're never gonna see Twilight again, not even at the School of Friendship or at her castle!"
The bow wearing earth pony filly let out an unhappy sigh. "Yeah. That's why I had to come and tell you girls right away. Twilight's goin' away, forever. She'll be up on the throne, and we'll be here in Ponyville carryin' on without her. And there's nothin' we can do to stop it." She hung her head in sorrow and grief.
Sweetie then reluctantly asked the question lingering on everypony's mind. "So... when exactly is she leaving, Apple Bloom?"
At that Apple Bloom gulped and swallowed hard. "I don't know. Even Applejack didn't mention a date. She just said it was gonna happen soon. Ponyville's never gonna be the same without her."
Scootaloo groaned, kicking at the ground in frustration. "Man, that stinks! She's lived in Ponyville for so long, it's hard to imagine what it would be like without her around," And she hesitantly inquired. "Isn't there anything we can do to stop her from leaving?"
The farm filly shook her head from side to side. "Doesn't seem like it to me, Scootaloo. Twilight's leavin', and there's nothin' we can do to stop her. And there's no way we're gonna be able to move to Canterlot so we can see her every day," She glumly declared with a sorrowful expression. "It looks like we're just gonna have to get used to a Ponyville without Twilight whether we like it or not."
For a moment or two, a gloomy silence filled the clubhouse as the reality of the situation settled in for the three fillies. There really was nothing they could do to prevent Twilight from taking the throne and leaving Ponyville forever. They highly doubted that any amount of pleading or begging from them would change Twilight's mind. Faced with the inevitable fact, they really didn't know what to do.
That is, until suddenly Sweetie seemed to get an idea as she let out an excited gasp! "Hey, I know! If we can't stop Twilight from leaving, and we can't go to see her in Canterlot, then we'll just have to do the one thing we can do:" Beaming happily, she told her fellow fillies. "We'll just have to give her an extra special farewell gift. Something that'll show her how much she's meant to us, and something that'll ensure she'll never be able to forget us."
"That's... a really good idea, actually," The tomboyish pegasus commented whilst blinking her eyes. "Can't believe we didn't think of that sooner."
Yet the bow wearing earth pony then questioned the unicorn filly. "So, what are we gonna do, exactly?"
Sweetie Belle's joyful mood faded as she confessed. "I don't know. I just thought of it while we were all standing here," She blushed a bit. "Sorry." She apologized.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo briefly groaned. But after they recovered, it was Apple Bloom who said. "Well, we'd better think of somethin' fast! Who knows how much time we've got before Twilight's gonna have to leave? She's probably already packin' up her things as we speak!"
"Right, so let's put our heads together and come up with a plan!" Scootaloo firmly insisted. "We're not gonna leave this clubhouse until we've all agreed how we're gonna say farewell to Twilight in a way that'll truly mean something!"
Minutes seemed to tick by in agonizing slowness for the CMC once they had made up their minds about the farewell gift to Twilight. The hard part was going to be figuring out just what they could do that would ensure Twilight would understand how much she'd meant to them, and how much they were going to miss her when she went back to Canterlot.
"Got any ideas yet?" Apple Bloom asked as she and her fellow Crusaders remained huddled together in the clubhouse, still in the process of trying to brainstorm.
Sweetie Belle was slow to answer whilst looking across to Scootaloo. "I'm still trying to think of what we should do. It's hard to think of ideas on short notice."
Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah. It's really tough thinking of something that'll leave a lasting impression. Especially since we want it to be a good impression."
"Yeah." The farm filly replied and said nothing further, still deep in thought.
At last, it was Sweetie who spoke up and excitedly proclaimed! "I've got it! I know what we can do!" She briefly paused to make sure her fellow fillies were listening, then said with a smile! "We should write a song and sing it to her."
"Couldn't we just reuse the song we sang that one time at the talent show?" Scootaloo questioned. "Maybe it'll sound better if you're leading us, Sweetie Belle?"
The unicorn filly frowned and shook her head. "That's not going to work. We sang that song when we were trying to find our cutie marks. But we have them now, we know who we are. Plus, I don't think we want Twilight's last memory of us to be one that reminds her of one of our most embarrassing failures."
"Then what should we sing?" The tomboyish pegasus questioned. "It's gotta be something extra special," Then she blushed a bit. "And maybe something where I don't have to sing a lot. I'm just not as good at it as you and Apple Bloom are, Sweetie Belle. I'm sorry, I know you tried to give me some lessons."
"Come on, your singin''s not that bad," The bow wearing earth pony protested in what sounded like a sincere tone, before biting a hoof as she offered her own sentiments on the proposal. "But I don't know if we've got a whole lot of time to come up with a brand new song, rehearse it, and then sing to Twilight. Plus, with how often she and her friends sing, I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of 'em's plannin' a song to sing to her before she leaves. We want somethin' she's not gonna see from anypony else."
Sweetie impatiently swished her tail and snorted. "Fine, Apple Bloom! What do you think we should do for Twilight, then? What's your big idea?"
Apple Bloom stepped back a bit, a nervous look coming into her eyes. "I was thinkin' maybe we could do somethin' like bake a cake or a pie for her. We could each put in a special ingredient that'll remind her of each of us."
"And how would a pie or a cake help? Pinkie Pie makes those all the time." The unicorn filly grumpily retorted.
"It was just an idea. I thought it sounded pretty good." Apple Bloom admitted.
Scootaloo sighed. "If you ask me, I say we need to do something way more hooves on! Something jaw dropping, amazing, spectacular, totally awesome!" Then her eyes went wide with excitement as she briefly leaped into the air and shouted! "That's it!"
"What's it?" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both asked at the same time.
Buzzing her wings briefly, the tomboyish pegasus explained. "We should put on an amazing, one of a kind show with daredevil stunts! Sweetie Belle can do the scenery and the costumes, and Apple Bloom and I can do the dancing. I'm a lot better at moving around on my own hooves now."
But the farm filly swallowed hard. "I'm still not all that good at dancin'. I know I did it for Tender Taps and for that day camp we ran. But I don't know if I feel good about dancin' in front of Twilight," She blushed with shame. "I'd rather not have her last memory of me be me makin' a fool of myself."
Sweetie added. "Besides, what kind of play would we even put on that would have all of that? Plus, how do you expect us to have time to put it all together? We need something that we know we're gonna have time for before Twilight leaves."
Scootaloo groaned in frustration. "Well, fine! We don't have to do the play! I thought it was a good idea, especially since you two aren't keen on stuff like scootering or bungee jumping."
The unicorn filly then unhappily remarked. "Why is this so difficult?! All we wanna do is do something truly special for Twilight!"
"Yeah, but it seems like we have different ideas about what that something should be," The tomboyish pegasus admitted in a glum tone of voice. "At this rate, unless we can think of something good and fast, we're gonna have nothing to show when Twilight leaves. And I really don't want that to happen! I'd rather we do something rather than do nothing!"
"But how can we all find somethin' we can agree upon when we all have such different ideas?" Apple Bloom pondered aloud as she started pacing back and forth. "This is ridiculous! We've solved much bigger problems than this before. Even gettin' our cutie marks was harder than this is supposed to be. I mean, we all know how much Twilight means to us. She wasn't just a friend to us, she was truly one of a kind. We were even her students for a brief period of time, just like when she took on Starlight, or when she opened that School of Friendship."
All of a sudden, a gasp escaped Scootaloo's mouth as she seemed to suddenly think of something she hadn't thought of before! "Wait, Apple Bloom, your talk about students is onto something!" She put her hooves to her face! "Oh my gosh! I think I know the answer! It was staring us right in the face this whole time!"
"And what would that be?" Sweetie Belle questioned, still puzzled for the time being.
The pegasus filly gestured for her fellow Crusaders to come closer, and when they did so she pulled them in close and whispered. "Here's what we're gonna do."
Twilight, for her part, had no idea what was transpiring within the CMC's clubhouse. Even though she knew she wouldn't be taking the throne for at least another week, she was still already in the process of making final arrangements ahead of her big move. Much as it might pain her to say goodbye to the town that had meant so much to her for so long, she was not going to change her mind.
Yet early one morning, whilst still in the midst of packing up her things within her castle (which she would entrust the care of to Starlight), she was most surprised to hear a knock on the castle doors. Figuring it wouldn't hurt to see who it was, the soon to be supreme princess put down the boxes she'd been levitating and trotted to the castle doors to open them.
Upon doing so, Twilight Sparkle was most surprised to see none other than the Cutie Mark Crusaders standing before her. And each of them had a very particular object held closely: Scootaloo was standing next to her scooter, Apple Bloom had a potted plant and a potion, and Sweetie Belle was holding what looked like an old broom that had seen better days. To say that the princess was surprised by this unannounced visit would be an understatement. Still, she put on a friendly and welcoming face as best she could. "Oh, hello girls," She greeted the three fillies. "What brings you all here? Is everything alright?"
Apple Bloom spoke up first, glumly answering. "No, it's not. But we know we can't change it. We know you're leavin' us to take over the throne from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. And we ain't here to stop ya."
Twilight let out an unhappy sigh. "It's not a decision I made lightly. Believe me, part of me is very sorely tempted to decline. But Princess Celestia and Princess Luna clearly believe that Equestria is ready for a change in leadership. Nothing is meant to last forever," And she began to explain. "That doesn't mean-"
Sweetie Belle interrupted. "-We know, we know, it's not goodbye forever. We can still come to see you in Canterlot. But it just won't be the same knowing that you're no longer in Ponyville with us."
The young alicorn reluctantly nodded and began to speak up again. "Yes, girls, but that's-"
Then Scootaloo interrupted. "-It's okay, Twilight. We know you have to go soon. That's why we came here today, so we could properly say goodbye to you while we still had the chance," Then she cleared her throat. "And we decided the best way to honor you would be to show you what you taught us, how you inspired us to be what we are now. So, we hope this little demonstration will help you remember how you helped us grow and change."
And with that, each of the three fillies started performing their own little demonstration: Sweetie Belle lit up her horn and levitated the broom through the air with the greatest of ease, making it fly up, down, and all around. Scootaloo effortlessly disassembled her scooter until it was nothing but pieces, and then started reassembling it at a rather remarkably fast pace. And Apple Bloom carefully poured a few drops of her bubbling potion into the soil of her potted plant, watching as it quickly began to sprout up into a large, impressive flower.
Twilight was rendered speechless by the display and the affection behind it. Try as she might, she couldn't keep the tears from appearing in her eyes. "Girls." Was all she could bring herself to say.
The demonstration ended almost as quickly as it had begun: Sweetie set her broom down carefully, Scootaloo finished putting her scooter back together and rode it around to demonstrate that it worked, and Apple Bloom delicately plucked the flower from her plant and gave it to Twilight.
"So, I hope you enjoyed our little show," Sweetie Belle spoke up afterwards. "We'll never forget you, Twilight. You'll always live on in our hearts. And we hope that, no matter where life takes us, you'll always have the memories of the time we spent together."
"Well, Twilight?" Apple Bloom then asked. "What did you think? I'm sure you've probably gotten better farewell gifts from other ponies. But I at least hope you found ours to be special."
Twilight Sparkle's response was not what any of the Crusaders had been expecting. She lit up her horn and pulled the fillies close, then wrapped her wings tightly around them as the tears flowed from her eyes without end. "Oh girls!" She happily exclaimed. "I'm so glad to know I meant so much to you, and that you really feel strongly about me! I am so proud of the fine young fillies you are, and the fine ponies you're growing into!"
Apple Bloom nodded. "Yeah, we know. It's just too bad you're not gonna get to see us grow up."
But at that Twilight smiled and told the CMC. "Oh girls, I wanted you to be the first ones to hear this."
"Hear what, Twilight?" Scootaloo questioned with the most puzzled look.
The young alicorn explained. "I'm not going to be leaving Ponyville forever. I'm making it the friendship capital of Equestria. And I'm going to make it a habit to come back here at least once a month if I can. I'm also thinking of putting together a friendship council, so that way my friends can come to see me and talk with me even when I can't come to see them."
At that, a chorus of gasps escaped the lips of the three fillies! And all at once they asked! "You really mean it?!"
Twilight happily nodded, slowly wiping the tears away from her eyes. "Of course I do. How could I ever forget my roots? If it wasn't for ponies like you and all my friends, I wouldn't be the princess of friendship. I will always be a Ponyville pony at heart."
"Well, shoot," Apple Bloom remarked. "Now I feel kind of embarrassed. We put on that little Twilight Time demonstration for you, but now we know you're gonna come back to Ponyville as often as you can. So in a way, it'll be like you never truly left."
Twilight chuckled a bit, gently patting Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo on their foreheads. "I'm still happy you did what you did. It's never a bad time to let other ponies know what they mean to you and how much you appreciate them for who they are. That's just one of the many things that makes the magic of friendship so special," Then she smiled as she slowly unfolded her wings and stood up. "But you three aren't just my friends. In a way, it's like you were all a part of my family. So I feel confident in saying that the bond we have cannot be broken, no matter how far apart we might be!"
The CMC, for their parts, just beamed happily as they continued to stand in front of the alicorn. Much as they might have suspected their strong bond with her, it still felt good to hear her confirm it.
Author's Note
It may be a year early, but I still feel like it's never a bad time to have a story like this. Besides, this is the ten year anniversary of "Twilight Time", so why not call back to it in a way?
