"WAIT! Hold that Train!" Sunset shouted as their train started to pull away from the station. Twilight and Spike were right behind her, running as fast as their hooves and feet could take them. Sunset was the first to jump on the train's caboose platform, followed by Twilight as she levitates Spike and their luggage.
"Well, that was a close one, wasn't guys?" Sunset said as everyone was catching their breath. Sunset then burps as she rubs her belly with a weak groan. "Not a good idea to run after a train with full bellies."
"Well, we wouldn’t have to if somepony didn't have to stop by the donut shop before our train would leave, now would we?" Twilight said as she stared at her small companion.
"Hay, nothing can ever go wrong with one or two donuts, right? Besides, you seemed to enjoy it yourself."
Twilight then puts a hoof to her mouth, stopping her from throwing up. "Point taken,"
Spike looks back, a little embarrassed as he rubs his belly. "Hehe, *Burp! * but hay, we made it, didn't we?" he said with a sheepish smile.
"We are just lucky Twilight thought ahead of time to buy our tickets before we decided to have a donut eating contest. Otherwise, it wouldn't have mattered if we made it or not, Spike." Sunset said as she tried to get on her hooves.
Twilight then put a hoof to her chin in thought. "You know, if I recall, you were the one who insisted on our little contest Sunset," Twilight said, opening the door into the train.
"Hay! No pony in their right mind would have turned down free food, Twilight." Sunset said as she entered the car with the others right behind her.
"Right. We are staying in cart three, and I would love to find a place to set down to settle my stomach." Twilight said as the others groaned in agreement.
They found the conductor, and he showed them to their sleeping courters. They were surprised that they were going to share the same bed cubby, and when they asked about it, they were told their tickets were the family plan sharing the same bed. Rather than arguing, the trio climbed to the bed and got as comfortable as possible. Before long, they fell asleep.
In the morning of the next day, Spike got up and looked out his window and had his eyes lit up with excitement. "I can see it!" he shouted. This causes Sunset to wake up suddenly as she stretches out her forelegs, pushing Twilight out of their cubby. With a loud thud as she hits the floor, yelping in surprise. The two remaining occupants of the bed looking down at the mare to see her glaring right back at them with hatred.
"Heehe, Sorry about that," Sunset said with an apologetic smile before she turned to the dragon. "So, what is the deal, Spike? Why the rude wakeup call?" she asked as Twilight right herself up.
"I can see the Ocean outside!" he said, making everypony forget earlier events; as they rushed to look out the window. However, that is very hard to do when everypony tries to get front-row seats.
"Really! Let me see!"
"Ow, stop pushing!"
"Hay that my tail!" The three ended up in a mess of hooves and limps with Spike sandwiched somewhere between the mares where they tried to look out the window.
“Can’t breathe!” Spike said weakly. The girls noticed this and tried to untangle themselves, but they fell on the floor with a loud thud.
Before the trio could do anything else, a new voice was known nearby. "Excuse me."
The trio looks to their left as they can see a unicorn mare with a light green face and indigo-colored mane coming out in a pink robe, staring at them. "I am not sure if this is your first time riding a train, Darlings, but I do believe I speak for everypony here when I say this *ahem* would you please be a little bit more QUIET!" then the other ponies agreed, coming out of their beds before they all went back inside.
"Sorry." The trio said softly as they slowly retreated into their bed. Soon after, they stared out the window to see the ocean; however, it was mostly dark outside, not getting anypony much idea what was out there, let alone an ocean. "Spike?" Twilight whispered to him. "I can't see a thing."
"But I can see it. It is right over there." He replied.
"Spike. Our eyes don't have a vertical slit pupil like you have, so we can't see in the dark." Sunset said.
"Oh, I forgot about that. But it looks very bi..." Twilight cut him off.
"You know what, Spike, I will be quoting you right now. *ahem* 'Wake me up when the sun is in the middle of the sky.'” Sunset agreed with her as they got comfortable again to go back to sleep.
“Huh! But I never said…” a double glare by the mares quickly hushed him. Fearing their wrath, he hushed up and went back to sleep.
The train stopped at the station, waking up anypony that was asleep. Everypony started getting out of their beds, and thankfully, the trio got out of bed without any more incidents as they made their way on over to the luggage cart.
“Well, here we are at….” Sunset started but stopped with a surprised look before looking at her companion. “Uhm, Twilight, where are we at exactly?”
“Oh, this is Equestria’s Port City Number 5.” She replied, but the others stared at her with an unbelieving look.
"Is that the name of this town?" Spike asked,
*Sigh* “Also known as Pony Ville.”
“Now that is better. For a second, I thought you were serious about that name earlier.” Sunset said as she looked through the pile of suitcases in front of her for hers. When she found it, her case was lifted away from her in indigo-colored magic and multiple identical cases that didn’t belong to them. She turned to see a white unicorn mare with curly indigo mane and tail moving the cases onto a cart. Before she could stop her, the mare removed all the tags on the cases and proceeded to leave the station.
“Excuse me, miss,” Sunset said as she walked towards her. “But I do believe you have my suitcase.”
The white mare looks back at her and then to her cart. “Oh my, ah, which one.”
“Umm. No, not this one.” She lifts three in her magic, looking at them all. “umm, nope.” She repeats this several times before she gives up. “I have no idea which one I can’t tell them apart. But I know it is here somewhere.”
The white mare put a hoof to her face in thought. “Oh, well darling, the answer is simple we will just have to open them all up to see which one is yours.” She levitated them in the air before stopping and looking around.
Sunset looks back in confusion. “Is something wrong?”
“No, dear, but a lady does value her privacy, and I would like to take this matter to a more private location. My boutique isn’t too far from here. We can go there to find your case.”
“Alright then. Hay Twilight something-” Sunset could only stare at her companion as she saw her talking to an orange stallion with a blue mane while looking embarrassed.
The white mare followed Sunset's gaze before sighing then walking closer to Sunset. “You know, I know you are new to town, so I am going to tell you this. That stallion right there will break her heart if you let him.”
“What!”
“Well. Not so much has a heart breaker but rather more like a disappointment. Trust me dearly; he is not worth it.”
“Well then.” *Ahem* “Hey, Twilight!” Sunset said as she walked towards them, which startled them.
“Huh! Oh, hay Sunset, I would like you to meet-”
“Twilight. We are on a tight schedule here, and we need to be on the boat bound for Las Pegasus in ten minutes.”
“WHAT! But I thought-”
“No time to think this through Twilight; if we don’t hurry, we will be,” pause for effect. “Late.”
Twilight eyes widen in horror. “NNNOOOOO!” Then, there was a bright flash of light, and she was gone.
Everypony blinks in confusion, then the stallion turns to look at Sunset. “Uh, what just-” but she holds up a hoof silencing him.
“Give her a second. Oh, and Spike, would you join us over here.” She said as she walked back to the white mare. She then notices Spike seems to be in a trance staring at the mare beside her, but she drops it. “She will be coming back in three, two, one-”
And on cue, Twilight reappeared in front of her friends, startling the white mare. “SORRY I FORGOT ABOUT YOU TWO!” she said as they all disappeared from the station, leaving an empty cart behind and one confused stallion.
They reappeared at the docks of the town with Twilight out of breath. Spike somehow wound up on the white mares back and Sunset under the pile of suitcases. As Sunset got out of the pile, the mare wasn’t happy about being ponynapped.
“My word, it is not polite to just go and teleport a lady across town without her consent first and not to mention what if it didn’t work and you send us all over town instead.”
“Sorry," Twilight apologized, "I guess I wasn’t thinking, but at least we made it right?”
“Maybe so, but there is still the matter of finding my suitcase,” Sunset said before she noticed something on the floor. “And what is up with the yellow lines here?”
Everypony looks down to see what she is talking about. Multiple yellow lines ran across the floor in straight lines going diagonal, along with something written in yellow. The white mare lifted Spike off her back as she looked closer.
“What does it say, Miss?”
“It says… ‘Caution Unloading Zone!’” Before they could do anything, they heard a loud cry from above.
“Look Out!”
Crash!
“Ow ow ow ow,” Twilight said as she laid down on a bed as Spike puts an ice pack on her back.
“Well, now we know it is a bad idea to teleport three mares, a dragon, and twenty-five suitcases in the middle of an unloading zone.”
“Easy for you to say, Spike,” Sunset said as a nurse pony was warping some bandages on her middle section. “Some of us here don’t have armor on them twenty-four seven. Just in case a tactical retreat isn’t an option.”
“To be fair, miss, I do believe you are the one who got us all in this mess in the first place.” The white mare said, nursing a bruised hoof. Sunset was going to say something, but she cut her off. “Now now, what done is done, so why don’t we start over. Hello, my name is Rarity.”
“Hello Rarity, I am Sunset. This here is Twilight and Spike.” She said as the others replied with a nod or a wave.
“It is nice to meet you all despite what has happened earlier. So, why are you three doing here, might I ask?”
“We are on our way towards Las Pegasus,” Spike said, getting another ice pack for the other one he had earlier melted.
“Really now? Not that I am complaining, but why might I ask. It is not the best place to visit this time of year.” Rarity said as the nurse finished with Sunset.
“We are on our way to retrieve an important item that was discovered there,” Spike said.
“Oh! Really? Fascinating.” Rarity said with a hint of excitement in her eyes. “And might I pry what is it that you all are retrieving?”
“Actually, we have no idea what it is, only that it is important.” He said, sitting down.
“Oh, how mysterious.”
“Regardless, we have to be on our way now,” Sunset said, getting up from her bed, “and I am sorry for trouble earlier, Miss Rarity.”
“Don’t worry about it; it’s nothing a good hot bath can’t fix. And are you sure you are ready to get up right now?”
“I don’t have much choice in the matter,” Sunset said as Twilight got out of bed, wincing when she touché the floor.
“You know, Sunset, maybe we could get some rest before going on the ship. I may not have been on a boat before, but I am sure it is bad to go on a ship when we can barely get up ourselves.” Twilight said as she sat back down.
Sunset looks back at her to say otherwise, but it was at that moment her left hoof gave way, and she fell onto the floor with a quiet thud. “Ok, you win Twilight, but I got a solution.” She then turned to look at the nurse in the room. “Can we have some wheelchairs, please?”
Spike struggles to push both mares and their luggage up the ramp to the ship. Sunset and Twilight would have helped, but there was little they could do in their condition without their magic. Before he lost control of them, he was assisted by some of the sail ponies on the boat. Once onboard, they thank the sailors before returning to their duties.
“Well, that was nice of them,” Twilight said as Spike put the bags on the back of their respectable mare chair.
“Yes, it was. Now let’s find the captain of the boat, so we can know where we will be staying for the duration of the trip.” Sunset said, using her hooves to move the wheels of her chair. Twilight was right behind her with Spike.
“Come on, slowpokes, or you are going to be left behind,” Sunset said
“Hey, wait up!” Spike said, trying to catch up with them before some guard ponies stopped them.
“Uh, can we help you?”
“I am afraid you all will have to come with us.” One of them said.
“Look if this is about the dock incident earlier. It was just a miss understanding.” Twilight said,
“No, this is not; however, we strongly advise you to comply with us.” Another one said, causing Sunset to feel uneasy about what was going on before Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder.
“Look, Sunset, we did nothing wrong; let’s see what they want. Then we can be on our way.”
“Alright, Twilight.” Before turning to the guards. “Ok then, lead on then.”
They led them into the depths of the boat, passing by many ponies and rooms until they were led to the storage room. The Guards then took their bags before addressing them. “He is waiting for you all inside.” The guards said before leaving with their luggage.
Sunset looks to Twilight and Spike with a nervous look. “Twilight, can you walk yet?”
Twilight then tested her hoof on the floor. “Yes, but I don’t think we'll be making a quick escape anytime soon.”
“That’s good enough. Let’s go on in then.” She said, getting up from her wheelchair but wincing and sitting back down. “But let’s use our chairs, though.” Twilight nodded as they entered the room. The room was filled with barrels of supplies and crates of who knows what. But what stood out the most was a stallion sitting at a table in the middle of the room.
“Please come join me.” He said to them.
Sunset looks at her companions before they did as he says.
“My apologies for the sudden detour from your cabins, my ladies, but I have some urgent business to attend to with you.”
“What kind of business?” Twilight said
“Oh, I am sure you are aware that we are on our way to recovering an important artifact. But where are my manners? My name is Stormfront, Captain Stormfront of this vessel you see before you.”
“I am Twilight Sparkles, and this is Spike and Sunset Shimmer.”
“Nice to meet you all. Now for the reason, I brought you all down here. From this point on, you, ponies, listen to what I say and do it without question when the time arrives; any questions?”
“Now hold on a minute Princess Celestia said that I was to oversee the voyage,” Twilight said, ignoring the pain and getting up from her chair.
However, Stormfront wasn't phased by Twilight’s outburst and replied calmly to her, “Do you want to see your families and friends at the end of this voyage?”
“Oh, course we do-”
“Do you know the way to Las Pegues?”
“Well, no-”
“Do you know how to stay away from the danger in the seas?”
“Uh no-”
“DO YOU even know what we are risking our lives for?”
Twilight lowered her head in defeat. “No.”
“Then I expect your cooperation from this point on when the time calls for it. Everypony on this ship has a reason to be here. There is no dead weight on board this ship, and it will stay that way throughout this voyage. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal clear, sir.” Sunset said as Spike tried to comfort Twilight, “You can count on us when the time calls for it.”
“Good”
“And this will be your room for the duration of the trip, my ladies.” Stormfront said, opening the door for the mares as they entered, followed by a strong ‘ahem’ behind them. “My apologies Sir, but your courters will be in another room.”
Sunset turned to face the captain. “It is ok, sir. Spike will be staying with us.”
“Are you sure? It's rather improper for a stallion to be staying in the same room as two mares.”
“Yes, I am. This is how we normally do things anyway.”
“Very well then, and I hope you all don’t mind sharing the room with another guest for the evening.”
“Oh, somepony else is staying here as well?” Twilight said.
“Yes, we weren’t prepared for your sudden arrival. Thus, we ran out of room onboard the vessel. Thus, you three will have to make do until more room is made until then.” The captain said.
“That won’t be a problem, sir. We are very good at being roommates, and I believe we can get along with whoever we are sharing the room with.” Sunset said, finding her suitcase against the wall.
“That is good to hear. We will be on our way shortly, so I suggest you all get comfortable. It will be a two-day journey to Las Pegasus we should be arriving there in the morning if the sea is kind. Let me or any of the crew know if you all need anything, within reason occurs.”
“Yes. I was wondering what’s going to happen to our wheelchairs,” Sunset said as Twilight was staring at one of the hammocks in the room.
“Oh, they are in one of the storage rooms below deck and will remain there until needed.” Storm said as Twilight struggled to get in a hammock but spun around in it a few times before getting tied into a knot, stuck.
“That makes sense,” Sunset said, not noticing what happened to Twilight as Spike tried to help her, “If I may ask, sir, was there a reason for meeting the way we did earlier?” she asked him while Spike tried to get Twilight out of her prison by pulling on her forelegs.
“That was for my satisfaction, honestly. I was hoping that Celestia would send some dummies in need of a reality check so that I could have some fun with them.” He said before the sound of a window blind wrapping around itself could be heard behind them. They turned their heads to see Spike and Twilight stuck in the hammock.
“How did you two end up like that?” Sunset said.
“Never mind that just help us get out,” Twilight said, struggling to get out but only making them turn upside down.
Sunset turns to face the captain with a nervous smile, “We will have to continue our discussion later.”
“Lets. Good day to you all.” Storm said, leaving the room closing the door behind him.
Sunset then turned her attention back to her friends. “Ok, let’s see, maybe if I just pull this here-” Sunset said, touching the hammock before she too ended up stuck with them.
“Glad to see you deiced to hang out with us, Sunset,” Spike said, snickering at the end.
“Not helping Spike!” Twilight said, moving her head back and forth and hitting Sunset. “Sorry”
“Well, this is just great. Anypony here got any ideas.” Sunset said as they got quiet for a second.
“Well, we could always join in a choir of help,” Spike said. As they were going to, the door to the room opened, revealing a cobalt unicorn mare with a silver mane wearing a purple hat and cape filled with stars.
She didn’t notice them as she entered the room as she yawns while taking off her stuff. “Um, excuse me,” Sunset said, but the mare didn’t pay her any mind as she went to another nearby Hammock. “Excuse Me.” She tried again louder but got the same results as the mare getting on the hammock with ease before sleeping. “HAY!”
“Huh?”
“Finally, Hay, can you help us out, Miss.”
The mare turned in her hammock to stare at her neighbors with half-open eyes. “That is The Great and Powerful Trixie to you." She yawns, "And Trixie needs her beauty sleep right now. If you ponies got yourself into that mess, you can get yourself out.” Trixie said as she turned her back to them.
“Wait! You can’t just leave us like this.” Twilight said but got no response. “Trixie, please, it won’t take a minute.” Still no response “Trixie?" still nothing, "Oh, come on, no pony falls asleep that fast!” Nothing, “TRIXIE!”
Meanwhile, a shadowy black figure could be seen making its way onto the ship as it leaves port.