Seeing that they still seemed to be brooding over it, Aurora thought for a moment and decided to let them in on a secret.
"Alright, I think I've always forgotten to tell you. Actually, for the books on that shelf, I kept three copies of each—one for preservation, one for appreciation, and one for proselytizing. The ones I had in the cottage before were just one of the three sets, specifically for display or lending."
Thinking about it this way, they had to be thankful that they burned that shelf and not the others; after all, Aurora had only taken the aforementioned insurance measures for that specific shelf.
"What?!" ×2
However, upon learning this information, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle were clearly quite shocked; they hadn't expected things could be like this.
But thinking about how Aurora's personality included being meticulous, it made sense that she would take overprotective measures for things she cared about. And this certainly alleviated the guilt they felt for last night's accident.
"Stop worrying about those unpleasant past events; we're about to arrive in Ponyville!"
Although in this timeline, she might not be able to see the legendary Mane 5 yet, just being able to see familiar buildings was enough to stir up Aurora's feelings of pilgrimage.
"Does it make you that happy?"
Sunset Shimmer teased.
"Happy? I'm absolutely ecstatic! Because this is about going to Ponyville, along with Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer!"
As she spoke, Aurora happily leaned against Twilight Sparkle. And although Twilight Sparkle didn't quite understand the logic of Aurora's words, she believed that as long as she was with friends, even doing silly things was fun, so she simply followed the force coming from Aurora and happily leaned against Sunset Shimmer.
"Hey, you two are squishing me!"
Sunset Shimmer protested symbolically, but from the corner of her mouth that she couldn't suppress, it was clear that she also enjoyed this seemingly meaningless physical interaction.
"Wow, you three seem like such good friends."
While the three ponies were playing around, the pony sitting in the row behind them couldn't help but poke her head over.
"Sorry, did we disturb you?"
Thinking that their interaction was too loud and affected other passengers, the three ponies quickly sat up straight.
"It's fine, it's no bother! I just heard that you three are also going to Ponyville, so I was curious."
"'Also'? Are you going to Ponyville too?"
Twilight Sparkle caught the keyword in the other pony's words.
"Aha, Ponyville is my hometown!"
"Your... hometown?"
Aurora looked at this tan-colored pony who had struck up a conversation with them, ripples of surprise rising in her heart. Before she could carefully question the other's identity, the pony probably felt that talking while leaning over their heads was inconvenient, so she took the initiative to leave her original seat and sat down in the seat opposite them. This also allowed Aurora to see the cutie mark on her flank, which consisted of three red apples.
'Holy cow! AJ! I didn't even recognize her without her hat!'
Although Aurora had a premonition that they would meet Applejack in Ponyville, she didn't expect to meet her on the train.
"So that means you're a local resident of Ponyville. We three came from Canterlot, preparing to do some research in Ponyville. If it's convenient for you, could you chat with us about Ponyville?"
Twilight Sparkle took out paper and pen from her bag, just like a reporter.
"Then you've certainly asked the right pony; you should know that the founders of Ponyville are my ancestors!"
When mentioning this honor, one could clearly hear the sense of belonging that she felt as a descendant, which caused the surrounding ponies to cast glances.
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