All Things Go

“Maybe a sabbatical would do me some good. Maybe a sabbatical would do me some good. Maybe a sabbatical would do me some good.”

Ears repeated the phrase to himself, his voice growing ever more mocking with each new sentence. The first time he said it - to Princess Celestia herself, no less - he stated it with confidence that was at least mostly genuine. There were always the nagging doubts. If he had not had those, he wouldn’t need the sabbatical in the first place. But Ears had certainly managed to convince himself that stepping away from the Canterlot School for a semester would clear his mind.

The train’s brakes screeched, and Ears winced. There was something about the rails leading in and out of Shearcago that made them noticeably louder than in other cities. Even towns like Appleloosa, which clearly had fewer resources than the bustling metropolis, somehow managed to have transportation that didn’t set his teeth on edge. In all fairness to the city, Ears had been in a funk since he passed a certain unicorn on his way out of Princess Celestia’s court.

He had even gone into his books when he got home, searching his dictionary for the definition of irony. He was surprised to find his own picture was nowhere to be seen, and he ended up packing in a huff. Of course he would run into her on the day he left for the express purpose of forgetting about her. Of course of course of-

Ears halted as he felt the first prick of cold against his withers. When he looked up, a snowflake landed on his nose. He had been so lost in his own thoughts, that he hadn’t noticed the change in the weather. The coolness of Canterlot’s shadow did more than just give Shearcago a softer tone. It also lowered the temperature enough to provide a perfect home for some late autumn snowfall.

For the first time since he left Canterlot, Ears smiled. He readjusted his saddlebag and trotted down the street, enjoying the brisk cool air and the flakes that stuck to and subsequently melted against his pelt. The walk to the hotel was a long one, but he enjoyed every minute of it.

Once Ears had checked into his room, he headed straight for the balcony. His room was on the eighth floor, and while that put him only at a medium height by Shearcago standards, it still gave him a very good view of the city that stretched out before him. He sighed, feeling the tension in his muscles already beginning to dissipate, making room for the relatively clean city air.

“Maybe I’m looking at this all wrong,” he mused to the city. The sun had escaped from the grip of the snow clouds, and now hovered just above the tops of the tallest buildings. Luna still had some time before she needed to be roused from sleep. Ears nodded, squinting into the sun. “I’m tearing myself apart over Twilight, and what has it accomplished? I’ve forgotten what this feels like.” Ears knew that in his determination to banish the image of this former student from his thoughts, all he had succeeded in was cementing her onto a pedestal from which he couldn’t topple her.

He had recognized the spark that Princess Celestia had seen in Twilight. Certainly countless others had seen it in her as well. And like any other pony, he remained in awe of both her talents, and her ability to keep cool enough to apply them when the time came, which seemed more often than not. But Ears had allowed his admiration to take on a different form, and the distress over it had robbed him of any joy he once held for life.

And as that thought crossed his mind, he felt the familiar sensation of the Celestial magic stretch across the sky. Ears looked out towards the horizon, feeling his hairs bristle as the magic that coursed from just beneath his Canterlot home brought down the sun. For a moment, the shadows stretched for miles, and Ears found himself eclipsed in darkness from Shearcago’s crown jewel, the 233. The edges of the 233 glowed as if the unseen side of the building were on fire. As darkness swept in, the white of the snow became even more prominent, and Ears marvelled at the blanket that covered the city. He considered sleeping out on the balcony.

But as he gazed out into the emptiness of the night air, speckled with falling bits of white, he felt the chill of the melted snow from earlier. There was a mild sting in the bottoms of his hooves, which had spent the most time in the crunchy snow. He went back into his room, and was beginning to slide the door shut when he caught a glimpse of the moon, already pushed into the sky by Luna’s magic, already hiding behind the clouds.

On the other side of the mountain, perhaps Twilight was looking in the same direction. Maybe in that instant, they both wanted to look at the same square inch of the heavens. But while Ears could see the entire panorama of the sky, all Twilight could do was gaze into the mountain. They were worlds away, and they always would be.

Ears fell asleep easily that night, and thankfully did not remember his dreams in the morning.