Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash stepped outside the enormous doors of the castle of friendship. A blast of cold wind nearly knocked Twilight off her feet, and almost made Rainbow Dash fall down on the ground below.
"Brr!" Twilight shivered. The wind made the already cold temperature even colder.
"I know I'm not going out when it's this cold!" Rainbow Dash said with her teeth slightly chattering from the cold wind. "I'm going to grab my coat real quick."
"That sounds like a good idea. I'm going to grab mine too."
The two friends quickly stepped back inside to grab their coats off the rack next to the tall door. They quickly put them on, and in just a few seconds, they were ready to go back outside into the cold of the night.
"I wonder why the Cutie Map called us on a mission so early in the morning." Rainbow Dash said. She spoke a bit louder than normal to talk over the wind.
"I don't know either." Twilight replied. "But whatever it is, it has to be pretty important. Why else would it want us to get up at this time?"
"Makes sense."
Twilight and Ranbow Dash walked through Ponyville. It was still dark outside, and the streets were completely deserted, only accompanied by the sound of the howling wind. The two had never experienced Ponyville like this, so it was a bit unnerving. Almost as if they were the only ponies left in Equestria. They both ignored this feeling, too tired to completely think about it, and too worried about what mission they would be sent on.
"Maybe if we hurry, we can catch the train to Canterlot." Rainbow Dash broke the silence between the two with her question.
"Agreed." Twilight responded. "We'd have to go a bit faster though."
"Alright then, let's go fast!" Rainbow Dash no longer sounded tired as she started fly quickly. Twilight started flying to catch up to her friend. She knew she could never match Rainbow Dash's speed, but by the way she soon caught up to her, Twilight knew that Rainbow Dash was intentionally flying slower than she normally would so that her friend could catch up. The two flew over the houses of Ponyville. It was weird to be the only ones in the air at the time. Normally there would be other pegasi roaming the sky along with them, but they were all asleep in their homes. The lonely feeling was stronger than ever.
******
"Well, it looks like we're here." Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash had finally made it to the train station. It was currently 3:28am, and the next train to Canterlot was scheduled for 3:40am. They were 12 minutes early for the train, so that meant 12 minutes of waiting in the freezing weather.
When the two got to the bench to wait, there was already somepony there on the bench. He was alone, just like Twilight and Rainbow Dash were, except they had each other. The colt looked up at Rainbow Dash, not really paying any mind to Twilight.
"Well," The colt said in a friendly, soft voice. "It's nice to see that I'm not the only one who's up at this time." He looked to be a middle-aged colt, probably not much older than Twilight and Rainbow Dash. His fur was a light brown, and his mane and tail were deep black. He was wearing a brown fedora hat. He was an earth pony, unlike either of them.
"Tell me about it!" Rainbow Dash said. "It's like Ponyville is completely deserted!"
"Yup." The colt adjusted his hat slightly, pulling it back a little and ever so slightly bumping it to he right. "Nopony moving for miles. Well, not anymore, now that you two just showed up."
"True." Rainbow Dash sat down next to the colt. "So what'cha doing here so early?"
"Business reasons." The colt said. "I can't talk about it too much, but whatever." He stuck his hoof out to Rainbow Dash for a hoofshake. "I'm Comet."
"Rainbow Dash." She happily took his hoof and gave him a hoofshake. "Nice to meet ya! This is my friend, Twilight Sparkle!"
"Twilight Sparkle?" Comet looked behind Rainbow Dash to see the alicorn. He did a double take as he realized that it was Twilight Sparkle. The Twilight Sparkle. Twilight gave him an awkward smile and waved her hoof at him. Comet stared at her for a moment, and then put Rainbow Dash's hoof down and walked to Twilight.
"No way!" Comet said excitedly. "You're Twilight Sparkle!? The princess of friendship?" He instantly took her hand and shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness! My name is Comet!"
"Uh, hi..." Twilight said in her awkward voice. She still wasn't entirely used to her fame, and being the book nerd she was, attention completely unorthodox, not counting attention from her best friends, of course. "I'm Twilight...I mean, I guess you already knew that. Heh heh..."
"I honestly never thought I'd be shaking the hoof of royalty! Especially at a train station at 3:30 in the morning!"
"Heh, yeah..." Twilight blushed and was at a loss of words, as her awkward side took over. She looked over to Rainbow Dash, who just looked annoyed. She was just ditched by the pony she was talking to, so it made sense. "No, seriously. I'm not that great, I mean..."
"Am I making you uncomfortable?" Comet finally left go of her hoof and looked quite embarrassed. "Sorry for that. I kinda went starstruck there. Shall we try this again?"
"No thanks," Twilight said. "There's nothing to worry about. I get that reaction often."
Comet turned around to see Rainbow Dash was patiently waiting for Comet to come back to his senses. He noticed how annoyed she looked. "Oh, Rainbow Dash, is that right? Sorry about that!"
"No biggie!" Rainbow Dash let go of the situation and pretended like it never happened.
"So, what brings you two here to the train station at such an early time?" Comet asked the two friends.
"We still have no idea. The situation is really weird" Ranbow Dash replied.
"Okay," Comet adjusted his hat once again, this time tipping it slightly forward. "Strange. But it would be rude of me to pry into your business."
The three sat down on the bench. "I assume you two are going to Canterlot?" Comet asked.
"That's correct." Twilight replied.
"Cool, I am too! I've only been to Canterlot a few times. I technically live in Manehattan, but I'm hardly there anymore. My job has me everywhere."
"Sounds pretty crazy." Rainbow Dash said.
"You don't know the half of it!" Comet said. He then looked at the clock above them. "3:38am. In two minutes the train should be here. Unless, of course, it's late. Or early."
Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked up at the clock with him. "Looks like it." Rainbow Dash said.
A gust of wind hit the three with a loud 'woosh'. Comet grabbed his fedora just in time to keep it safe from being stolen off his head from the grip of the air. "Woah!" Comet said while still hanging onto his hat. "That was cold! Nearly blew off my hat too!"
"That would have been a shame!" Twilight said. She snuggled further into her coat to keep warm from the cold wind that was now steadily blowing.
"You two are lucky to have coats!" Comet said while shivering. "All I got is this fedora. It looks cool, but it doesn't do anything to keep somepony warm in weather like this."
"That's quite unfortunate." Twilight said with empathy. She took off her coat and levitated it with her magic towards Comet. "Would you like mine?"
Comet looked up at the coat, then at Twilight. He stared at her for a moment, his eyes widening with every second passed. "The princess of friendship is offering me her coat!?" He then snapped out of his starstruck trance. "Sorry, but I can't accept. I don't need it that much. You keep it."
"No no, I insist! You're cold, please take it!" Twilight gave him a warm smile.
Comet slowly took the coat. He smiled back at her, probably the warmest smile of the morning between the three. "Thank you very much! I really didn't need this!"
"It's my pleasure to help someone in need!" Twilight responded, still keeping her smile on her face.
Another pony walked to the station. It was a mare unicorn. She looked to be middle aged like the others. Her fur was light pink and her mane and tail were purple and white. Comet turned around with a huge smile on his face. "The princess of friendship just gave me her coat!" He said with extreme excitement in his voice. The mare just awkwardly smiled and went to sit down on the bench, never saying a word. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "That Comet guy is pretty weird." Rainbow Dash whispered to Twilight. Twilight just smiled, while her friend was wondering what Twilight was thinking in that moment.
Moments later, the train finally arrived at the station. It's lights shone in the four ponies' faces. They all blocked it with their hooves until it stopped at the steps. The conductor yelled "All aboard!" and the four ponies did not hesitate to step into the passenger car. Comet glanced back at the clock for a brief second, and then turned back and boarded onto the train with the rest. Once inside, there were a total of five other ponies sitting in the seats. Two were obviously a couple, as it was a colt and mare snuggling with each other while they seemed to be falling asleep. Another was an elderly colt, and the other two were two mares, just chatting happily but quietly among themselves. The pink mare from the train stop sat alone at one of the random seats, still staying expressionless as she did since she sat down after being greeted in the strange way by Comet. Twilight and Rainbow Dash sat down together at an untaken seat in the back, Comet following them.
"Is it alright if I sit by you two?" Comet asked Twilight and Rainbow Dash, his eyes kept on Twilight while he asked. The two friends looked at each other briefly, then looked back at him.
"I don't mind." Twilight answered, keeping an expressionless response. She turned to look at Rainbow Dash. "Is it fine by you?"
"Uh, yeah." Rainbow Dash said slowly, as if she was completely weirded out by Comet's question. "I guess."
"Awesome." Comet sat at the end of the seat. "Sorry if I'm coming across as unnerving. I just don't get to talk to many ponies during my business trips. It's been nice talking to you two."
"Seems reasonable." Twilight responded. "It's always nice for me to talk to new ponies every now and then. After all, that's how I met my best friends. Right Rainbow Dash?"
"Yup!" Rainbow Dash responded with a smile. "Remember when I cleared the sky in ten seconds flat?"
"How could I? It's still amazing just to think about it today, in all honesty!"
"You should have seen the look on your face!" Rainbow Dash let out a short laugh. "It was priceless!"
"That sounds like quite a feat!" Comet said. "Ten seconds flat?"
"Ten seconds flat!" Rainbow Dash proudly said.
"Is she for real?" Comet looked at Twilight. She nodded her head. "It still sounds a bit far-fetched, but I'm sure the princess wouldn't lie, right?"
Twilight lightly blushed and shrugged. Ponies would use the fact that she's a princess to believe her or listen to her, which was still foreign to her. Just about all the perks of being princess were foreign to her at the time.
"I remember this one great friend of mine." Comet said. He readjusted his hat for the third time, this time with both hooves. "First time I met him, he ran headfirst into me."
"How'd that happen?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I was in Canterlot on another one of my business missions." Comet started his story. "At the time, I was walking down the street trying to find the building I was needed in. When I heard the sound of somepony running as fast as they could behind me. I turned around, and wham!" Comet smacked his hooves together. "Head-to-head collision."
"That's sure a painful way to meet someone." Twilight said. "Were you okay?"
"Not entirely." Comet continued. "I was knocked out, and so was he. He hit me square in the chest, and after he hit me, he tripped and hit his head on the sidewalk. I also hit my head on the sidewalk after falling down from the collision. We were both sent to the hospital, and after we met each other in the hospital, we've been best buddies ever since." He lightly tapped his hat once again, bumping it to the side a notch. He smiled a new smile. It was mysterious, which was weird for his nature, and first impression. "To this day he's never told me why he was running so fast."
"Never heard a story like that before." Rainbow Dash said. "Pretty interesting way to meet somepony, though."
"Very true." Comet said.
The three ponies talked for the rest of the hour long train ride to Canterlot. They chatted about their friendships, their families, stories that they had heard before, and all sorts of different things. It didn't take long for Twilight and Rainbow Dash to start treating Comet as a normal friend, as they were outgoing ponies. Some stories were sad, some were happy. Some were funny, and some were serious.
******
After a while, the train arrived at the Canterlot train station. "Alright, we're here in Canterlot everypony." The conductor yelled. "If this is your stop, better get off now!"
"I guess that's us." Twilight said. The three got up from their seats and walked out of the passenger car. They stepped back into the cold weather, feeling another cold gust of cruel wind.
"Welp, it was nice talking to you two." Comet said. "I really have to get going now if I don't wanna get yelled at for being late."
"I understand." Twilight said. "Well, we don't want you in trouble either, so go on. Take care!" She shot him a warm smile.
"Okay, see ya around!" Comet stepped back and then stopped for a brief second. "Wait, here's your coat, Twilight Sparkle!"
"No, it's fine. You keep it!"
Comet did the exact same thing as he did when Twilight offered him her coat in the first place. First a moment of staring at her, then puppy eyes, then the huge smile. "Really?" Twilight nodded. "Well...thank you!" Comet tipped his hat at the two mares and said "Farewell!" As Comet walked away, Twilight noticed his cutie mark for the first time. It was a small notebook with a feather pen. It went well with his fedora hat.
"Well that's an interesting guy." Rainbow Dash said to Twilight.
"I agree." Twilight responded. "Now we had better get moving."
"Yeah, lets go."
The two friends stepped off the station, and towards the town. Twilight walked while Rainbow Dash flew a few feet off the ground next to her. They had no idea what adventure the map would lead them to. But they were nervous. Extremely nervous.