The day after Aurora finished celebrating her birthday, she boarded a train to Ponyville.
Outside the window were Twilight Sparkle and Spike, who had come to see her off, along with her parents.
Oh, and her little sister, who was in a stroller, licking a candy while looking at her with teary eyes, trying to act cute to make her stay.
She was named Aurora Glow (Aurora Lumina).
"Aurora" was decided by Aurora and her parents together, while "Lumina" was given to her by Aurora, as her big sister, alone.
Aurora hoped that her little sister would be like gathered light, able to bring warmth to the ponies around her with her own brightness.
Of course, Aurora would never admit that this word was something she associated with when she saw "lumen (lm)" while studying physics.
Because that was just too unromantic.
Now, little Aurora was already learning to walk, though she wasn't very steady yet and was still a baby who needed to be taken care of.
Moreover, this baby was different from Aurora; she was just like a normal baby, very exhausting to take care of, which made Meteora and Aster rediscover the pain of being parents they had originally envisioned.
Isn't that also quite nice?
Spike, on the other hand, could already walk on his own now, and that sapphire teething stick had been chewed down to a fragment the size of a fist.
Later one day, he seemed to have a flash of inspiration; he refused to chew on those remaining fragments anymore and instead went back to biting the wooden furniture in Twilight Sparkle's house.
So, on his birthday, Aurora had no choice but to give him a whole chest of gems, but she handed most of them over to Twilight Sparkle, letting his "pony mother" allocate his monthly rations and rewards.
Time felt like it was passing so quickly; their brother and sister were gradually growing up, which also meant that the time they had been separated from Sunset Shimmer was getting longer and longer, so long that Aurora was starting to get used to days without her.
It was just that occasionally, in the dead of night, Aurora would worry about how she was doing in the Human World.
Her knowledge of that world was limited to what she had seen in movies, and as a former human, she had an instinctive wariness of the human species, which would only evolve into worrying more the more she thought about it.
However, compared to the world she lived in when she was a human, that world must certainly be a peaceful place like a utopia.
So, Aurora thinking so much was actually just scaring herself.
But worrying about the ponies she cared about was as natural as breathing.
She didn't know if Sunset Shimmer, while over there, would occasionally think of the ponies here.
Even if she was completely disappointed in her, she should at least think of Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike.
"..."
Alright, if Sunset Shimmer really didn't miss her at all, Aurora would still feel sad.
But considering that the flow of time in the Human World was slower than in Equestria, perhaps Sunset Shimmer was still busy dealing with the trivialities of her life as a human.
For Sunset Shimmer, the passage of time might not have accumulated to the point of tasting the bitterness of longing.
Aurora looked at the scenery outside the train window with a dazed gaze, thinking about these possibilities in her heart.
This was the second time Aurora had taken the train to Ponyville, only this time she was the only pony going.
Princess Celestia had originally wanted to use a royal chariot to send Aurora to Ponyville, but Aurora had politely declined.
Because she might be living in Ponyville for a long time, only returning to Canterlot to reunite with family and friends during holidays.
If Aurora arrived in Ponyville riding in a golden royal chariot driven by royal Pegasus guards, that would be far too high-profile.
Aurora hoped that her life in Ponyville could be as peaceful and low-profile as possible.
Upon arriving in Ponyville, Aurora had already rented a house here in advance, located roughly in the vicinity of the Golden Oak Library.
Celestia had once suggested that Aurora could move directly into the Golden Oak Library; after all, the librarian who was originally there was nearing retirement, and Aurora would be just right to take over her job.
This suggestion was, to be honest, very tempting, but Aurora declined again.
She did indeed like the Golden Oak Library, but living in it herself was out of the question; then it wouldn't be the Golden Oak Library she loved the most.
It was better to wait a few more years until Twilight Sparkle moved in with Spike; that would be the complete Golden Oak Library.
The fans would be ecstatic.
Speaking of Twilight Sparkle, before preparing to leave Canterlot, Aurora had also provided her with a key to her cottage.
Now, all three of them had their own keys to that place.
After all, since she wouldn't be staying in Canterlot for long either, there had to be a pony to occasionally check on the cottage, to give it some life so it wouldn't be completely abandoned.
Besides that, Aurora also asked Twilight Sparkle to help keep an eye out for a colt named Sunburst among the future students who might enroll in the School for Gifted Unicorns, and to give him a letter she had written, saying it was a greeting from an upperclassman.
Although Twilight Sparkle didn't know what this was for, she had no intention of getting to the bottom of it and agreed directly.
Aurora really liked this about Twilight Sparkle; she was both obedient and understanding.
The content of that letter was roughly Aurora's congratulations to Sunburst on his enrollment in the School for Gifted Unicorns, wishing him to make like-minded friends at the academy, and incidentally, subtly reminding him not to forget his friends back home.
In short, Aurora had done her best; if she had written it any more clearly, Sunburst, the theoretical genius, would have become suspicious.
If she could avoid Starlight's "equalization" by changing Sunburst, that would be best; this was Aurora's first line of defense against Starlight.
If that didn't work, then she would just have to rush to Our Town before the timeline of Season 5 arrived.
Although Starlight was the villain who caused the worst impact on the world, she wasn't a bad pony by nature.
Out of pity for a genius, Aurora didn't want to do anything too excessive to her.
She would help her where she could.
Thinking from another perspective, if Starlight didn't become a villain, but could instead get along peacefully as a friend, then studying magic with her—Aurora felt that might be so good it would make her roll her eyes.
It was just some intellectual mutual appreciation, containing no instinctive impulses for pleasure or breeding.
The train pulled out of the tunnel, and Ponyville was already right before her eyes.
Aurora had been keeping in touch with Rarity, and before setting off this time, she had also written a letter in advance to tell Rarity that she was moving to Ponyville.
Rarity's reply had also come quickly, expressing a warm welcome for Aurora's arrival, saying she would come to the station to pick her up, and would introduce a few new friends to her.
Aurora guessed exactly who these new friends were in 0 seconds.
But she didn't intend to make a fuss, only hiding this excitement in her heart, looking forward to what unexpected surprises she would encounter in Ponyville.
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