//------------------------------//
// Train Rides are Boring 
// Story: How a Man and His Friends Helped Save Equestria 
// by FinInfinite 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 5


Train Rides are Boring


“This is one boring ride,” Mitch said to his friends.
“It sure is,” Eagletone agreed.
Josh’s expression was that of boredom, but his words were that of hypocrisy.  “Come on guys, it’s not that bad!”  He shrunk down a bit as everypony in the cart gave him a flat look.
Spitfire had been flapping around worriedly in the car.  “I never liked trains.  No offense, Josh.  It’s just that a pegasus wasn’t made for this.  I feel claustrophobic here.  There’s no room to fly!”
Soarin’ had seemed on edge a while after he had gotten on the train as well, and could only agree.
Cache had been asleep, practically for the entire trip.  He was still so.  Eagletone commented on this saying, “I guess he doesn’t get much sleep back on Earth.”
“Actually,” replied Josh, “He took most of the night watch for all of the nights.” Several eyebrows raised in surprise.  “He deserves a rest.”  The other ponies had to agree.
Eagletone cracked a smile.  “He reminds me a bit of a certain purple pony I know of,” he said with a touch of humor.  The bronies in the car also smiled at that.
They had been travelling on the train for a number of hours with Aaron’s and Jed’s relentless pulling hardly even winding the enormous war ponies.  Eagletone, Mitch, Josh, Cache and the two Wonderbolts, Soarin’ and Spitfire were on the train.  They had removed the majority of the cars to lighten the load - there was no use in carrying useless weight.  Seeing as the group of four pegasi were on the train, it would seem that they had joined with the other group of four, though nopony had officially said so.
Hours passed by with little to do in the traincar.  They were often reduced to looking out the window and watching the terrain.  It had changed considerably, from fir-filled forest to desolate desert.  The tracks went on for miles - it was a good thing that they had packed large amounts of food and water rations before leaving.  Little could be seen besides hard, sun-baked dirt, a mesa here or there, and a good amount of cacti.  Even less could be seen since the sun was setting and it was getting dark.
That was one thing, Eagletone reflected, that he loved about being out here in Equestria’s wilderness - he was practically alone to enjoy nature at its purest.  He had always loved nature, though he could never remember the various names of plants and animals.  He mostly enjoyed looking on.  The sky above was often equally impressive, with indescribably complex cloud structures, the unimaginably vast reaches of space, and the breathtakingly beautiful sunsets.
Despite all this, a small amount of questions resonated in his head, seeming to bounce around and repeat into his mind’s ear.  How are we going to defeat this monster?  How long will it take to get to Appleoosa?  Who is the third?  As Eagle thought these, he drooped off into sleep.

***

He woke up in a rather awkward position, leaning against a sleeping Spitfire, and her against him, as before he had gone to sleep, Spitfire had settled down on the bench he and and Mitch were sitting at.  The time it took him to register this was the time it took for her to wake up.
“Wuagh!” The two said in unision as they jumped a bit apart.
Eagletone was blushing through his red coat.  Both were looking away, embarrassed.  A moment passed and they out of the bench.  Eagle noticed that the train was not moving and that the car was vacant with the exception of him and Spitfire.  It was morning.
“So... Should we see what everypony’s doing outside?” Eagletone asked, standing awkwardly.
“Yeah,” responded Spitfire, looking away.
The two trotted onto the ground to be met with snickers.  Of course they had seen the two like they had been.  And they had to rub it in their faces just a little bit.
“Sorry man,” Mitch said to Eagle.  “It was just too funny to pass up!”  Everypony was laughing now, even Eagletone and Spitfire.
“So you two,” Eagle said to Aaron and Jed, “stopped pulling?  It must be pretty darn heavy.”
“We rested for the night,” Aaron replied with a powerful voice.  “Pulling a train is hard work, you know.”
“Ha, I could only imagine!” said Eagle with his eyes in the air.  Suddenly, his stomach growled - to everypony’s amusement.  “Oh yeah.  About breakfast...” he started expectantly.
“Just get what you need from the food car,” Josh jerked his head, pointing.
He, Mitch, Cache, Soarin’ and Spitfire all went over to eat, the other three having already done so.
“A nice day to not be out here,” Soarin’ commented sarcastically.  Cache agreed between bites.
“All the more reason to finish quickly,” he said, stopping conversation and replacing it with food, which was gladly taken by the others.
They finished their bland but filling meal of whatever horses eat - Eagle didn’t really care, as long as he stayed alive.  Or if it was bacon.  He missed being able to eat bacon.  Six went inside the train while Aaron and Jed stayed to pull.  They didn’t mind, such was their mindset.
As the train started moving, Eagletone started watching, mesmerized by the passing of the terrain, which soon became a bit of a blur.  All the ponies settled in.
“So,” began Mitch as he layed back, “Humans in Equestria.  Pretty cliché if you ask me.”
“Totally,” Eagletone smirked.  The joke had gone over the other ponies’ heads, as they were unacquainted with fanfiction.  “And talk about way of travel, I mean, through a wormhole in our dreams?  So overused!”
Josh cut in at this moment.  “Wait a second, wormhole?  Me, Jed and Aaron found a portal up at camp and came in through there, although I’m not sure about Cache.”
“A portal?” asked Cache, seeming to go along with the ‘dream wormhole’ mode of transportation.
“Well, that’s weird,” Mitch commented.
Spitfire also came into the conversation.  “Okay, so there’s two ways to get to Equestria?”
“I guess so,” Cache replied.
Soarin’ cradled his skull.  “Ugh, my head...”

***

“... Which is really stupid, because you’d think he would have ducked!”  Eagletone’s punchline was met with a confused moment of definitely-not-laughing, followed by uproarious laughter.  They had fallen into silence for a while, but lacked any way to entertain themselves.  Any way that is, except for themselves.  And so they did various things as a group to keep from terminal boredom, and telling jokes just so happened to be one of them.  I feel sorry for Aaron and Jed, Eagletone had thought as he told his masterpiece.
But so was their role, it seemed.  They didn’t mind.  And so, the six ponies spent another day along the track to Appleoosa, slightly less bored than the last, and definitely eager for the next and final day of their journey.
On the thought of their journey, Eagle had to point something out to the pony who had been leading the four pegasi, Soarin’.  “Hey, Soarin’?”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“According to an official map of Equestria I’ve seen, the only place we could have been that had forest, train tracks and caves was way northwest.  In other words, the opposite direction of Appleoosa.”
“Oh.  Well to tell you the truth,” Sorain’ answered, embarrased, “ I have no idea why Spitfire chose me to pick a direction, I just might have the worst sense of it in the history of pegasi.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Eagle nodded, satisfied.
He suddenly realised how dark it was getting - Jed and Aaron had been pulling almost all day, only stopping for food and to refill on water.  He also realized how tired he was getting from being lazy and sitting around.
Once again, he looked out the window to behold the glorious sunset.  He remembered something about why the reason the sunset was red instead of blue was because the wavelengths that the eyes saw during the sunset were longer than during the day.  The usual thoughts crept into his mind, taking it over.  Why are train rides so boring?  What’s up with this ‘two ways to Equestria’ thing?  How will the monster be defeated?  Who and what is the monster?  Who is the third?  Always, his train of thought ended at that question, bouncing around his head, repeating endlessly.  He had no answer, and he needed one.  As he was puzzling this, once again he drooped into sleep’s wispy arms.
Unbeknownst to him, if Cache hadn’t had to get a drink in the middle of the night, then in the morning, Eagle would have found himself close to Spitfire again, due to her tendency to move in her sleep.  Except this time, it wasn’t the sides of their heads that were touching.  Fortunately, for the two’s prides, Cache was merciful, moving them away with his magic and telling nopony of the event.

***

Eagletone was awoken by a shout to wake up.  He obliged, unwilling to endure anything more extreme.  Opening his eyes, he saw Jed him.  Eagle assumed that it was that pony’s voice who had made the noise.
He also heard the groans of an unwilling awakening around him.  It seemed that he was not the only pony who had slept in.
Eagle trotted out with Jed, Soarin’ and Spitfire, the others following more slowly and zombie-like.  He ate his breakfast of whatever; Cache, Mitch and Josh coming along a little less than a minute later.  They conversed, woke up more thoroughly, and once again assumed their appropriate positions:  Aaron and Jed pulling and all the others in the passenger cart.
One thing the brothers had been asked was how they stood pulling the train for so long without getting tired or bored.  Aaron had replied happily that they had their ways.  Another question they had been asked was how long until they reached Appleoosa.  The answer, though, came from Spitfire - they were only a few hours off, from what she could tell.
There was a considerably more jovial atmosphere in the train car today - they were finally going to get to Appleoosa!
Chatting, along with all the other things they did to keep from boredom were used.  Mitch was surprised that there weren’t more trains.  The mood suddenly grew somber as Eagle realized and explained something - there was only one track in Equestria, as far as he could tell, and it ran right through Canterlot, and Ponyville.  They hadn’t noticed any buildings, or any sign of habitation, save the track itself.
“Oh.  That’s not good,” said Mitch, his usual smile gone.  The others agreed.  This was definitely not good.  They were suddenly a little less eager to see what was in store for them in Appleoosa.
There was one good thing, though - Appleoosa was the most decentralized of any pony civilization - there was a chance that the monster hadn’t gotten to them yet.  They could only hope for the best as they waited to arrive.
Josh decided to lighten the mood.  “So Eagle, Spitfire,” he called their attention.  “You a couple now, or what?”  His attempt didn’t work.  At all.  The expression of the arc blue earth pony drooped.
Little besides time could lighten the mood at all; it stayed somber for a number of hours.  Eagle returned to his usual spot by the window, watching the endless desert go by, focusing on one crack, shrub, cactus, or sand dune at a time, until it passed from the view of the aperture.
It was noon when he saw a familiar mountain pass.  This pass was the one next to Appleoosa!  He remembered because the buffalo had thundered down here to attack the town in the show, only, this was the other side.  In fact, he even saw a familiar sign, a little dented from an impact some time ago.
Eagle smirked and pointed it out to Mitch.  He smiled, then showed it to Spitfire, saying, “Hey, you see that sign?  Rainbow Dash crashed into it.”  Spitfire also grinned.
They passed the sign.  Eagle’s smirk turned into a beam of happiness - they were only a few hours from their destination!  “YES!” he suddenly yelled.  “We’re only a few hours away, now!”
Now everypony was smiling.  “I’ve gotta’ admit, even I’m a little sick of riding on a train,” Josh said, relieved.
Their joy soon turned into apprehension as they awaited their arrival.  “I just hope the Appleoosans are okay,” Cache said, worried.
The small rest of the trip was fairly uneventful; they sighted Appleoosa a small time before they arrived, and they saw that it was actually intact.  In fact, there seemed to be more houses than before - a good thing, to be sure.
Half an hour after the sighting of the town, they finally arrived. Mitch seemed especially excited as they came to a stop, exclaiming, “YES.  YEEEEESSSS.  SSSSSSS.”
Now that they were closer, Eagle could see the ponies gathered around the boarding station confused.  He picked out a certain number of familiar faces, not from Appleoosa.  Some of these were ponies from Ponyville, Canterlot, even Derpy was present - he smiled at this.  There also appeared to be some ponies who were unfamiliar, though they looked unfamiliar with life in the Wild West.  Or, in the case of Equestria, the Savage South.
All had the same look on their face; one that clearly said that trains were not expected in the least.  Perhaps they had all ended up like this one, he mused.
As they all stepped out, some took note of Soarin’ and Spitfire, who had exited onto the boarding place first.  Then they noticed four stallions who looked a bit more like they were watching a good movie than at a train station.
One, Twilight Sparkle, actually (for the rest of the Mane Six was there at Appleoosa, it seemed,) spoke up.  “I know you two are Wonderbolts,” she said, obviously referring to the two Wonderbolts, “but who are you six?”
Eagletone was quick to reply.  “We,” he paused for dramatic effect, “are men.”  There was a slight collective gasp.  Eagle lowered his tone.  “And we’re going to show everypony how a man and his friends help save Equestria.”  His small speech was met with whispering, chatting, and all-around skepticism.

***

All except for one pony, a stallion who looked to be a bit older, though built strong.  He spoke with a soft, low, and just barely gravelly voice.  “Ah, I didn’t think that I would have previously known one of the Three Heros of Balance, Carson.”
Eagle’s eyes widened in surprise.  “Rob?  So that’s where you disappeared to months ago!  We even held a search party!  That fiasco almost went national!”
“It’s Spry Canyon, now.  For the same reasons that you are Eagletone.”
“Well,” Eagle said, walking up to him and giving him a brofist, “It’s great to have another friend.  I’ve got a lot of questions, old man.”
Spry’s answer was quick.  “Well, I’ve got a lot of answers.  Let’s see if they match up.”


End of Chapter Five