Early next morning, Artemis was sitting on a train, nursing a hot drink. It wasn't exactly coffee, not that he minded, he hated coffee. It was a rather sweet drink, but had similar waking up properties, another gift from Fluttershy. Her attitude had improved massively over the night, her eyes were still red in the morning, but at least her muzzle wasn't stained with tears. It had been a rather interesting night for him, determined to at least spend some of Fluttershy's day with him, with her. They had stayed up late taking, nothing big, mainly small talk. But, it had done wanders for them both. He was able to see beyond her simple caring and see some of her hopes, and she was able to see he was much more like them than she previously thought.
They had slept in the same bed again, while Fluttershy had kindly offered him to stay there, it seemed she hadn't thought properly. She only had one bed, the camper bed been trashed two months previously by a very angry Angel. Not that either of them minded, Artemis enjoyed her gentle touch, especially her soft wings. Whereas, she enjoyed the hold, normally the one giving care instead of receiving.
Brought back to reality by large thud, he looked across at his traveling companion, a very grumpy Rainbow Dash. "Look, I'm sorry alright." He said to her, for what must of been the tenth time that day.
"Stop saying your sorry, it doesn't change the fact we had to get up this early, nor the fact we are going to see Trixie."
"Well, if you didn't want to come, you could have said no."
"What, and leave you at her mercy? no way. If she sent you a letter a mere week after you arrived in pony ville, then something is up, and I wouldn't be the element of loyalty if I abandoned my friends."
"Thank you," he said, nearly burning his tongue on another sip of the strange drink. He offered her some, but she politely declined, well declined at any rate.
"No thanks," she exclaimed shoving the cup away with a hoof, nearly spilling it all over Artemis. "Can't drink that stuff, never sat right with me. So anyway, why do you even want to come to this? You should know as well as any of us that, Trixie, is a total blow hard."
He chuckled, he hadn't expected her to take it well, in fact, he hadn't expect her to come at all. It wasn't hard to guess that her pride had been hurt by Trixie, the show mare besting Rainbow in her own challenge. "Well, to be honest, we all deserve a second chance. Besides, if her show has back stage passes, it probably means she has a theater of some sorts in Canterlot. If her show has grown that big, maybe she has actually become rather powerful. And, whats the point of being stuck in Equestria, if I don't go see what it has to offer?"
"Fine," she said, crossing her fore legs. "But, I'm telling you now, she won't have changed. That bitch can't change her attitude, the same way a gryphon can't change it's feathers."
Artemis pulled her into a quick hug, causing her to blush profusely and struggle against his grip. "Well, I'm glad I have the fastest flyer in Equestria with me. If you can't protect me if she tries something crazy, then I doubt anypony could."
Rainbow quickly pulled himself from his grip, glaring at him rather grumpily, such display of affection hardly helping her mood. Although, she did seem to have a tinge of reds to her cheek after the compliment.
"Yeh yeh, anyway, I need some sleep. Gotta catch up what I lost from waking up earlier, wake me up when we get to Canterlot will you?"
The rest of the journey passed in quiet contemplation for Artemis, sitting thinking about the week as well as his family, nothing but the rattle of the train and her snoring to accompany him. For a while he stared at Rainbow, all her tomboyish arrogance lost, replaced by a gentle grace. The colours of her mane framing her face, he had to admit she did look quite cute. He could even see the muscles, well toned from constant use, as her legs twitched in response to some unknown dream.
A couple of hours later, the train rumbled into the Canterlot station, the sudden stop sending the unprepared Rainbow flying to a floor. The sudden shock waking her up with a start.
"Who's there? Who pushed me?" She asked angrily and bleary eyed, as she looked around. Coming to her senses, she quickly stood up, hastily arranging her mane. "I guess we're here then?"
"Yes, It seems so. It will be nice to actually see some of Canterlot."
"See Canterlot? I thought you came to Ponyville from Canterlot." He eyes narrowed accusingly.
He laughed and patted her on the side as they exited the train together, "Don't need to be so accusing all the time, Rainbow. Of course I came from Canterlot, but I wasn't allowed out of the palace, the first time I left was when then teleported me to Ponyville."
As he laughed, her face fell again, she felt ashamed. Always assuming the worst of him, she felt weird about it, after all she was the element of loyalty. "I'm sorry..." She was interrupted by a hand gently touching the side of her face, the heat coming through her coat easily. She felt the hand move away a few strands of her mane from her eye, then it lifted it up to meet his gaze. There was something about his eyes, the green of the iris gazing at her with no judgment or prejudice. She felt a small flush run to her face.
"Rainbow, I've already said I don't mind how you treat me. I don't like it, but it's fully understandable, they are your friends and you don't want me to hurt them. You don't need to say sorry to me."
She smiled slightly as he said that, suddenly she realized his hand was still on her face. She pulled away, halfheartedly pushing his hand away, for some reason it didn't bother her as much as contact like that usually did.
Slightly nodding their heads to the train engineers and conductors, they left the station. The immediate area was deserted, they were the trains only passengers after all. Looking towards the center of town, they could see it was about 9 AM. 'Wow' Artemis thought to himself, 'We really did get up early.'
There was a clear purpose for such an early rise, while the invitation mentioned where, it never mentioned what time, or where actually in Canterlot the show was. So they had to arrive early to find out the details. It did help to convince her, that the Wonderbolts training center was in Canterlot, that and he promised to get her one of the programs from the last derby. They continued down the road into the center of town, Rainbow moaning, and a bag of coins jangling as they went.
A short while later, he and Rainbow were standing outside the Wonderbolts store, she was caught up in staring at the large window displays. In particular, she was staring at a mannequin displaying a replica Wonderbolts uniform. What was interesting, he noticed, was that her reflection looked like she was wearing the uniform. It looked good on her, then again she was already blue.
Reluctantly she was able to tear herself from the display, but perked up inside, the entire store was blue. Wonderbolts merchandise, absolutely everywhere. Artemis chuckled a little as he entered behind her, noticing her mouth open as she gawked.
"You never been in here before Rainbow?"
Realizing she had been asked a question, she shook herself out of her excited stupor, although he noticed she maintained a look similar to that he had when he was really hungry and looking at a plate of food. "Huh? No, I haven't. I've meant to, but, every time we're in Canterlot there is one life threatening event or another. So glad to finally be in here."
The door shut behind him as he brought his whole wheel chair in, causing a bell to chime somewhere out back, an elderly stallion came out from back in response. He noticed the two potential customers and smiled. "So, what can we do you for today? A Wonderbolts plushie, or a poster perhaps?"
"Actually," began Artemis, noticing Rainbow was back to staring at the wide range of merchandise. "Could we get a program from the last Wonderbolts derby, if there's any left that is?"
For the first time, the shop keeper noticed the wheel chair bound pony wasn't in fact a pony. Nervously, reaching a hoof under the counter top, he was tempted to call security. The strange creature wasn't something he was used to, however, he or at least the shop keeper assumed it was a he, seemed nice enough so let it slide.
"Certainly sir," he responded, beads of sweat running down his neck. He was being extra careful not to offend the strange creature, not that he knew what could offend him. "Would that be a standard, or a collectors version?"
"Is there much difference?"
"A standard costs five bits, and is the basic program. The collectors, is twenty five bits, and contains a random signed poster of one of the Wonderbolts themselves."
Artemis thought for a moment, he could definitely afford the collectors, and he knew Rainbow would probably enjoy it immensely. However, he only had thirty bits from the work Lyra had done, and twenty five was a lot for one book. In the end he decided to save his bits.
"I'll go for the standard please," he said, the store keeper beginning to bag his selected purchase. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know how much the replica Wonderbolts uniform is would you?"
The stallion looked up rather quickly, surprise rather showing on his face. "Eh, that thing?" he asked, nodding towards the display. Artemis nodded, "Well, its three thousand bits, but I doubt it would fit someone of you, stature."
Artemis looked at the store keeper in stunned silence for a second, then chuckled nervously. "Oh you mean it wouldn't fit me? It wouldn't be for me, I was just interested on behalf of my friend here."
The stallion looked at Rainbow Dash, who was now floating over and drooling over near the life size Soarin plushies. "Ahh yes, your companion. Well, I'm certain your mare friend would enjoy it."
This caused the human to blush and stutter profusely, "E-eh, n-no she's n-not m-my marefriend, w-w-we are j-just friends."
The shop keeper, who had by now finished packing the program, chuckled. He had seen many reactions to that kind of accusation in his life, and if anything that kind of reaction meant, it wasn't they were just friends. He handed the program over to Artemis, collecting the five bits in return. "Of course sir, well at any rate, I'm sure she would enjoy it as a gift."
Smiling back, his cheeks still bright crimson, Artemis replied. "Of course, I shall keep it in mind." Then he turned and began to leave, calling Rainbow, several times. And they left together.
The way she eagerly thanked him as he handed over the program, a rather large squee involved. Made the Shop Keeper laugh, yes, there was definitely something more than friends between the two.