//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Departure // Story: Spiritus ex Machina // by wonderkid125 //------------------------------// Twilight gradually made her way through the many cars of the train on her way to join her friends. She looked around each car as she passed them, but many of them were empty. Other than her and her friends, there might have been one or two other passengers total on the train. It wasn’t surprising considering how late it was. Looking ahead, the unicorn could see Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy walking one car ahead of her through the window in the door. The first class cabin must have been near the front of the train for them to be still walking through cars. Finally, Twilight could see the two pegasi walking into a car with the rest of her friends. She quickly made her way through the car she was in so she could catch up. As the purple mare opened up the last door and stepped into the car, she was thoroughly impressed. Due to the small amount of space available on the train, even first class had its limitations with what it could have, but it was fairly comfortable looking. Instead of rows of uncomfortable looking seats lining the aisle, there were large and heavily cushioned seats set aside in various sections. There was more distance between each set of seats, but there were still enough rows to offer the large group a choice of where they sat. A few tables lined with drinks and small snacks were placed in the empty space between seats. Most of the others had already found their seats, but a few were still stowing their luggage in the overhead area and settling in. With a few exceptions, most of the group had an entire seat to themselves and sat across from each other. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were all sharing a single seat across from a reluctant Rarity. The white unicorn seemed to have her hooves full with attempting to settle the three fillies down. “Wow… this looks incredible.” Twilight said while admiring her surroundings. “Are you kidding? This is amazing!” Rainbow Dash stated while eagerly plopping her entire body on a seat and lying back on the fluffy cushions. “Considering I was expecting a dismal and uncomfortable train ride… this is a pleasant alternative.” Rarity said in agreement with the pegasus. Even if she did have three rambunctious fillies across from her, she was still enjoying the level of comfort and luxury of her surroundings. Twilight walked over to the section across the aisle from Rarity and the three crusaders. Spike had already sat down across from Tom and was waiting eagerly for the unicorn to join him. The purple mare sat down next to the dragon and levitated her suitcase up to join the others. Deciding to look at the flyer for the park again, the unicorn pulled it out of a small compartment on her suitcase before gently lifting it downwards and grabbing it with her hooves. She stared at the picture on the flyer while thinking back to her previous experience with the park. Although Twilight had only visited the park once, she was curious about its history. When she visited it as a filly, the resort was a water park, but it didn’t start out that way. She remembered tales of the park in its glory days back when it was a full blown amusement park. Ponies would come from miles around to try the rides and to see the shows that the mascots would put on for them, but those days wouldn’t last forever. Ever since most of the park was destroyed by an earthquake, it had been all bad luck and misery for the owners. After the park closed down a second time, Twilight never thought she would hear about it again, but apparently, she was wrong. “So Twilight… where is this park anyway?” Applejack asked while peering over the back of her seat to face the unicorn. Twilight turned around and saw the orange mare sitting one section behind her with Pinkie Pie across from her. “Hmm…” The unicorn hummed curiously while looking down at the flyer. Truth be told, she hadn’t even bothered to look at where the park was reopening at. “Looks like it’s in Trottingham… hey, isn’t that where it used to be?” Twilight asked curiously to no one in particular while thinking back to her childhood memories of the place. “Yeah, I think that the owner must be trying to restore the place to how she remembers it as a kid. What better way to do that than to use the original location?” Pinkie Pie chimed in with her knowledge of the suspect. “You said you were friends with the owner right, Pinkie? What’s she like?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously while glancing over to the pink mare. “Oh… Berry? She’s really nice. We would always try to find the best way to throw a party together. She always dreamed of taking over the park when her dad retired… I guess she finally realized her goal!” Pinkie explained with a cheerful smile for her old friend’s success. “So… what’s this park like anyway? I’ve never even heard of it.” Scootaloo asked curiously while glancing at the flyer Twilight was holding with an intrigued expression. “Well, here you go… I guess the best way to describe the park is with this.” Twilight said while levitating the flyer over to the three fillies. Scootaloo grabbed the piece of paper and read it while her two friends looked over her shoulder. “Hey… what’s up with this rabbit thing here?” Sweetie Belle asked while turning the paper around and pointing out the anomaly to her sister. Rarity glanced to where the filly was pointing, only to raise her eyebrows in surprise. The flyer itself was a picture of some of the more prominent features of the park. There was a resort building with some pools and slides in front of it, with Fun Land printed across it at the bottom. Standing in front of the resort building, however, there were three cartoonish looking animals that were waving at the viewer. The animals looked very robotic in nature. Each of them had joints and other individual segments that connected to each other to make up the bulk of their body. All of the animals had their jaws open in big goofy grins, revealing full sets of blocky looking teeth and the painted insides of their heads. All of the animals also had dimples on their cheeks and overly exaggerated cutesy eyes and eyelashes. They all had a shiny plastic appearance to them, almost resembling children’s toys. The one that Sweetie Belle was pointing out was a bipedal blue bunny with green eyes, a red bowtie, and segmented ears. He stood at about Tom’s height from the look of the picture. Next to him, there was a bear that stood on all fours and was smaller because of it. The bear had a black top hat on with red trim, as well as a small microphone clutched in his front paw on the ground. This animal seemed to be modeled more closely to pony physiology due to how it stood on four legs, and how its body was shaped. The last animal was another bipedal one around Tom’s height. This one was what appeared to be a female yellow chicken in a white tank top and red swimming trunks. The tank top had the words “let’s swim!” printed across it, along with a pattern of small life savers of various colors printed all around it. The chicken appeared to be holding a red life saver under her arm as well. “Hmm… well, Sweetie Belle… those are… umm.” Rarity tried to come up with an explanation as to the odd animals, even though she was failing. By this time, many of the others had gotten up and walked over to the white unicorn’s section to view the flyer. They looked at the depiction of the park with amazement, even though they themselves were also clueless about the odd animals. “Well? What are they?” Sweetie Belle asked again. “They look so weird…” Applebloom stated curiously while staring at the flyer. “That’s easy… those are the park’s animatronic entertainers.” Twilight spoke up to shed light on the strange topic. “Ani-ma… what? Scootaloo asked curiously while trying to wrap her head around the odd word. “Animatronic… you know, like a robot.” Twilight explained to the group. “Whoa… hold on a second. You mean to tell me that you have animatronics? I didn’t think your technology was advanced enough for that.” Tom stated in a surprised tone while glancing over to the picture. Scootaloo passed the flyer on to the curious human, who quickly examined the three robotic animals with an intrigued expression. “To be fair Twilight… I’ve never heard of robot critters either.” Applejack said while sharing a confused glance with the others. “I don’t think they actually have any complicated technology to them. I think that they used magical components to function back when I went to the park… and even then they didn’t do much other than sing and dance.” Twilight explained while thinking about how such a machine would actually function. “Oh, I get it… so they’re pretty much mechanical puppets.” Tom said in an intrigued tone. “Well… when you put it like that it doesn’t sound nearly as fun.” Twilight replied with a mildly offended shrug. She might not have gotten out much as a kid, but she fondly remembered her time watching the show that the animatronics put on at the park. “So… those are robots? That sounds kind of cool.” Scootaloo stated with an interested tone of voice. Twilight seemed to be pleased that the fillies were intrigued by the park. She almost felt like she was introducing them to a new world of amazement and wonder, one that she went to as a kid. “Yeah, that one there is Bonnie the bunny, and that one is… Chica the chicken.” The purple unicorn explained while trying to recall the animatronics’ names from memory. “Let me guess… that one is Barry the bear?” Tom interjected with a slight chuckle while looking at the ridiculous animals. “No… actually that’s Freddy. Your guess is as good as mine as to why they went with that name.” Twilight said in a confused tone. “Huh… that’s… odd.” Tom said while scratching his head with a puzzled expression. “I think it’s a nice name… he’s my favorite!” Sweetie Belle said eagerly while looking at the bear and smiling. “How can he be your favorite? You’ve never even seen him in person.” Scootaloo said while shrugging at the young unicorn. “Well… I like him. Don’t you have a favorite already from just looking at them?” Sweetie Belle asked while raising an eyebrow suspiciously. Scootaloo seemed to be uncomfortable about picking out a favorite animal. She felt like the animals looked a little too childish for her likings, or at least too childish for her to openly admit while the others were looking. “Uhh… I guess the bunny… he looks kind of cool I guess.” The orange filly admitted begrudgingly while trying to play off the question. “I think the bunny looks weird… I like the chicken better.” Applebloom chimed into the conversation in a condescending tone. “Hey! He doesn’t look that weird!” Scootaloo suddenly became very defensive as she glared at the earth pony. “Yeah, he does… he has buck teeth for crying out loud.” Applebloom replied while pointing to the picture. “At least mine has teeth! Yours doesn’t even… huh?” Scootaloo paused suddenly as she stared at the picture suspiciously. Sure enough, the chicken actually had teeth in her beak. Applebloom smirked at the young pegasus’s confusion before sticking her tongue out at her. “Well… that doesn’t make any sense! Chickens aren’t supposed to have teeth… yours is stupid.” Scootaloo said while getting in the yellow filly’s face and glaring at her. “Why do you hate chickens so much Scootaloo? You have so much in common with them…” Applebloom stated with a small smirk. “Oh yeah? How’s that?” Scootaloo asked suspiciously. “You’re both flightless birds for one.” Applebloom said with a devilish smile building on her face. “Why you little!” Scootaloo yelled angrily while preparing to strangle her friend. The two fillies were preparing to fight, while Sweetie Belle tried her best to keep herself from being struck by the two reaching over her to get at each other. “Now, now girls… settle down. Let’s just agree to disagree and pretend that we like each other for the rest of the train ride.” Rarity spoke up while separating the two feuding crusaders and giving them an icy glare. The last thing the white mare wanted was to listen to two bickering fillies for the rest of the trip. Suddenly, a series of mechanical noises started coming from outside. The ponies heard and felt the train starting to come to life as the conductors prepared to depart. Before long, the train was lurching forward as it started down the tracks. “Looks like we’re moving… I guess we have a long trip ahead of us.” Rainbow Dash sighed as she thought about how long it would take them to arrive. “*Yawn*… Maybe we should get some sleep? I’m all for curling up on this seat and taking a nap until we get there.” Spike suggested while patting the cushion next to him to test its softness. “I suppose it has been a long day… maybe some sleep would be good.” Rarity suggested while noting how tired she felt. The unicorn looked around, only to see that most of her friends shared her opinion. Fluttershy was about to fall asleep in her seat. Pinkie Pie looked like she could definitely use the sleep. Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders were collectively tired. “Well… I don’t know about you guys, but I’m definitely hitting the proverbial hay.” Sunspot stated while stretching and laying down across her seat. “I’m right there with you.” Glitterball said while reaching into her bag and levitating a small neck pillow and a sleeping mask down and settling in. “You brought a neck pillow?” Glimmer Shine asked with a raised eyebrow while watching the unicorn across from him laying down sideways and propping her head up. Glitterball smirked while lifting the mask off of her eyes a short ways to look at the stallion. “Yeah… a girl’s got to get her beauty sleep. Don’t get jealous just because you didn’t have the sense to bring one.” She stated while laying her head down and pulling the mask back over her eyes. “*Sigh*… Whatever.” Glimmer Shine shrugged while leaning back against his seat and settling in. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were glancing around as their friends all prepared to go to sleep. Spike was already somehow fast asleep next to the unicorn. The young dragon nudged into her every once in a while as he shifted around in his sleep, but Twilight couldn’t find it in her to wake him up to reposition him. “So… are you going to sleep Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked quietly to not disturb those around her. She looked across the aisle to see how her purple friend was faring. Twilight looked like she was trying to stay awake, but she was also unfocused and drowsy. “Umm… maybe… I’m going to try to stay up for a while, but at this rate, I might end up nodding off.” The unicorn stated while holding back a yawn and glancing over to the pegasus. “What about you?” She asked curiously. “Nah… I got some sleep earlier. I might take a nap before we get there, but for now, I’m going to enjoy the view. It’s not every day I get to ride first class, you know?” Rainbow Dash said while looking out the window at the passing horizon. “Heh… just be sure not to stay up too late. You don’t want to sleep through our first day there.” Twilight said with a slight chuckle at the cyan mare. “Oh, definitely not. What would you guys do without me at the pool to liven things up for you?” Rainbow Dash replied with a smirk. Twilight smiled at the pegasus’s statement before turning her attention down to the flyer in her hooves. She wondered what the first thing the group would do when they arrived. Surely there would be too many things to choose from. Glancing up at her human friend, she realized that even he had started drifting off to sleep. Other than Rainbow Dash, Twilight was the only one awake. Or at any rate, they were the only ones not trying to sleep. “*Sigh*…” The unicorn shrugged while leaning her head back against the seat. Suddenly, her eyes drifted to the window beside her. Although it was dark, the sight of the landscape whizzing past the train was mesmerizing. All the colors and shapes blending together into one single blur, along with the constant noise of the train had a sort of calming effect on her. Twilight felt a slight haze of drowsiness coming over her as she brought her hoof up to her mouth to catch a yawn. She didn’t think that she would be this tired so soon, but she was almost falling asleep against her will. The thought of fighting to stay awake crossed her mind, but she felt far too relaxed to bother. The purple mare continued looking out of the window, all the while growing progressively more and more tired. Slowly, her eyelids began drifting closed. Another yawn escaped her mouth as she nuzzled her head into the side of the seat. The fabric felt cozy and warm against her face. Finally, Twilight closed her eyes and felt her mind drifting away. A sudden jolt made Twilight sit up in mild alarm. She shielded her eyes as they strained under the light shining in through the window. The unicorn quickly realized that it was daylight. Not only was it daylight, but the train was slowing to a halt. “Ughh…” Twilight groaned while glancing beside her. There was a small damp spot on the corner of the seat where her head was just lying. A cold and wet sensation on her cheek told her that the damp spot was her own drool. “Finally… it’s about time you got up.” Spike said in an amazed tone. Twilight looked to the side, only to see that the young dragon was awake and staring at her musingly. She wiped the drool from the side of her mouth before stretching her legs. “How long have I been asleep?” The unicorn asked while looking around with a dull expression. Taking a look around the train car, she realized that all of her friends were awake as well. “You slept all night. In fact… you slept through the whole trip. We’re here.” Tom explained while motioning towards the window. Twilight glanced outside to see where they were. Sure enough, the train stopped moving, and it was plain to see why. The group had arrived at the train station in Trottingham. There were ponies walking around everywhere with bags and suitcases in tow. “Wow… the whole trip huh?” Twilight asked in amazement. She couldn’t believe that she slept for so long. “Yeah… we were starting to wonder if you would ever wake up.” Rainbow Dash said with a slight chuckle while looking over to the drowsy unicorn. “*Giggle* You snore a lot.” Pinkie Pie chimed in from behind the unicorn. Twilight glanced over her shoulder in surprise to see the pink mare chuckling to herself. “What? I do not!” Twilight stated defensively. She always slept silently, or at least she thought she did. “I hate to break it to you Twilight… but Pinkie is right. You darn near woke us up twice.” Applejack said with a slight chuckle as she watched the bewildered expression on her friend’s face grow. Twilight looked over to Spike and Tom for support, only to find them offering silently accusing eyes in return. “*Sigh*… well, I must have slept in a weird position because I usually don’t make a sound when I sleep.” The unicorn said while folding her forelegs and avoiding eye contact with her friends. Everyone giggled quietly while trying not to let the purple mare hear them. “Ok guys, I think we should start getting our stuff together so we can leave.” Glimmer Shine suggested to the others while pulling his suitcase down with his teeth. “Yeah, I want to get to the park as soon as possible so I can start having some fun!” Rainbow Dash said eagerly while looking around to see who would join in her excitement. As expected, the first three to cheer in response were Scootaloo and her two friends. “Yay!” The fillies cheered in unison while getting up and bouncing on the seat eagerly. If they had been tired the night before, they had gotten more than enough sleep to return their almost limitless enthusiasm and energy. “This is going to be the best week ever!” Sweetie Belle stated while laughing and jumping between her seat and Rarity’s seat. Before long, Applebloom and Scootaloo were following her example and bouncing back and forth in a line, much to the dismay of the white unicorn. “Now girls… settle down.” Rarity pleaded nervously while trying to avoid one of the excited fillies smacking into her by accident. “So, where is this park exactly Twilight? I hope that somepony knows where we’re going…” Applejack stated while glancing out of the window. She had never been to Trottingham before, so she was pretty much lost. “Princess Luna said that the owner of the park will meet us at the train station. It should be fairly easy to find her considering she is looking for us, and Pinkie knows what she looks like.” Twilight explained while glancing back to Pinkie Pie for confirmation. “Ooo! I can’t wait to see Berry again!” Pinkie exclaimed with an excited smile while gluing herself to the window to look for the park’s owner. She shifted her eyes around rapidly in search of her old friend. “Well, any friend of Pinkie’s can’t be too bad.” Tom said in a hopeful tone. “Heh… you seem to be forgetting that Pinkie Pie is friends with everybody.” Rainbow Dash said with a slight chuckle. “Good point… how does that even work? You can’t possibly be friends with everyone you’ve ever met…” The human replied while raising an eyebrow as he watched the pink mare. “Oh, that’s easy! You just have to play games with them, and invite them to parties, and tell them jokes, and-” Pinkie started naming off an entire list of explanations until she was interrupted by Tom speaking up. “But what about their personality? What if you don’t like them?” The boy asked curiously. “Don’t like them…? PFFHAhahaha! *Snort*” Pinkie started laughing heartily at the human’s question. Tom looked to the others, who offered a shrug in response. Meanwhile, Pinkie was still recovering from laughing so hard. “Hahaha… *wheeze*… oh, that was a good one Tom. You are so funny!” The pink mare said while getting up and repositioning herself. She had been laughing so hard that she fell back into her seat and held her sides. “Right…” Tom said while nodding his head uncomfortably. “Anyhow… let’s get moving. We don’t want to keep Berry waiting.” Twilight suggested while levitating her bag along with Tom’s and Spike’s down from the luggage rack. “Hold on a moment… hrk!” Rarity groaned while trying to lift her bag down with her magic. She was straining just to levitate the large suitcase a few inches off the ground. “Sweet Celestia, Rarity… what in the hay do you have in that thing?” Applejack asked in an amazed tone while helping the white mare get her bag to the ground. The suitcase fell to the floor with a sizable thud, nearly landing on the two ponies. “Oh, just a few of my summer outfits. I can’t exactly go to a water park without the proper attire now can I?” Rarity said with a slight smirk while getting the bag upright so she could wheel it around easier. “So you’re tellin’ me that you just have clothes in there? I don’t even want to think about how many pounds that thing is.” The orange mare stated while eyeing the bag uneasily. “Well, at any rate, thanks for the help.” Rarity said in an appreciative tone. “Anytime… just try to pack lighter in the future.” Applejack replied. Without further delay, the group gathered their luggage and exited the train. The early morning sun and clear blue sky perfectly complimented the excitement that the ponies were feeling. It was the beginning of a beautiful summer day, one that would mark the standard for what they would be enjoying all week if everything went as planned. The station was buzzing with life as several ponies walked around the area. Although there was a sizable crowd, the area still felt open and vacant enough to not be constrictive. Still, even with the relatively small amount of ponies walking around, it was a daunting task trying to find the owner of the park. Twilight and the others had no idea what she looked like. In fact, Pinkie Pie was the only one who had ever even met her before. “So Pinkie… do you see her around here somewhere?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously while looking around at the various ponies walking around. There were a few individuals standing around in various places, but only a few of them were mares. “Hmm…” Pinkie strained her eyes and put on her best focused expression as she scanned the area. Twilight and the others watched as the pink mare looked up and down in the search for her old friend. “I don’t see her.” Pinkie reported while continuing her search. “She has to be around here somewhere… It can’t be that hard to find a group as large as us leaving the same train.” Twilight said as she took a quick glance around, even though she had no idea what she was looking for. Suddenly, Pinkie paused as she looked off by the side of the station. She squinted her eyes while trying to focus on a pony that stood out to her. “Oh!” The pink mare exclaimed while rushing off in that direction. The others barely managed to keep an eye on her as she zipped away. The group watched as Pinkie rushed up to a lone earth pony mare by the side of the station. The mare was a soft and dark shade of purple, with a lighter shade in her hair and eyes. She had short hair with a pink band in it, and her tail had two pink bands on it as well. She was also wearing what appeared to be four pink leg warmers near the top of her hooves. Her cutie mark was a glass with light purple liquid in it and a tiny umbrella sticking out of it. “Berry!” Pinkie exclaimed while rushing up to the purple mare. Upon noticing the excited pony approaching her, the mare turned and smiled while opening her forelegs to give her friend a hug. “Pinkie!” The purple pony cheered excitedly as she caught the speeding pink blur into a friendly embrace. As Pinkie backed up and smiled at her old friend, she smiled back at her with a slightly confused expression. “Pinkie, what are you doing here? I thought you lived in Ponyville now?” Berry asked curiously. Before Pinkie could answer, she noticed her other friends walking up behind her. “Well, you did just hire my friends, silly.” Pinkie replied while backing up and letting the others step forward. Tom and Glimmer Shine stepped forward and walked up to the purple mare. “Oh… so you must be the ones that the princess sent. It’s nice to meet you, I’m Berry Swirl.” Berry said while reaching forward and shaking the pair’s hand and hoof respectively. “Yes, we’re the reigning experts in the field of unusual problems like yours. I’m Glimmer Shine, those are my teammates Glitterball and Sunspot, this is Tom, and those are our friends.” Glimmer Shine explained while pointing out the rest of the group. Twilight and the others smiled and waved at the purple mare, who smiled in return. “Well, any friends of Pinkie’s are okay in my books.” Berry said with a friendly tone of voice while glancing around at the group of ponies. “Here, let me introduce you to my friends, Berry.” Pinkie suggested while walking over to the others. “This is Twilight Sparkle, that’s Spike, over there is Rainbow Dash, that’s Rarity and her sister Sweetie Belle, over there is Applejack and her sister Applebloom, that’s Fluttershy, and that’s Scootaloo.” The pink mare explained while pointing out each member of her large group of friends. Everyone smiled and nodded to the purple pony as they were introduced. “It’s very nice to meet you all. I’m sure you can’t wait to start your vacation, so if you’re all ready, I can lead you to the park.” Berry suggested while noting the amount of heavy looking luggage the group was toting with them. “That sounds great!” Pinkie cheered happily while looking over to her friends. Everyone shared in her excitement as they prepared themselves to start their vacation properly. Once the group had settled down, they let Berry Swirl lead them out of the train station and into town.