Dash stopped for a moment and stood motionless; a cool wind on her left ruffled her coat, while the warm sun on her right chased away its chill. The twin faces of autumn, together for the equinox. She closed her eyes, rested in silence, and basked in the warmth and the chill and the scent of hay and the food and the quiet babble of hundreds of ponies living their lives in the quiet contentment of a small town rich with love.

I never should have left.

But she had, which made moments like this all the more important.