The next morning went by smoothly, both Spike and Twilight got up early to go take care of some last minute errands in town, while Gale took some time to get ready for the day. Phew, okay. You can do this. It’s only a few . . . thousand . . . feet up . . .
Once he calmed down to a state of minor annoyance, since no one thought to let him know Canterlot sits on the side of a mountain, he had some time to think about things. Less that three weeks. It feels like it’s been closer to three months . . . Snatching his phone off the bedside Table, Gale decided to head downstairs and get himself off the train of thought. Might as well make some breakfast. I think we’re supposed to leave around noon.
Twilight returned not too long after he’d finished eating and the three of them started out for the train station. Only barely paying attention to their conversation, his mind being occupied by myriad other things, Gale almost failed to notice when they’d arrived at their destination. In fact, it was Spike poking him in the leg that brought him back to reality. Taking only a few seconds, he caught himself up on what was going on. I guess the gang’s all here then, aren’t they?
Looking around, it was becoming more and more obvious to Gale that he’d been left out of the loop. He was certain the odds of all Twilight’s friends having business in the capital were low. Possible, yes, but rather low. Having come to the conclusion that Twilight must’ve planned this, he asked. “I take it the intent the entire time was for everyone to come along, and you just ‘forgot’ to tell me?”
After a few moments of nervous shuffling, Rarity stepped forward and offered some form of explanation. “Well, I can’t speak for the others, but I have some personal business to attend to while in town. This appears to have been a happy coincidence.”
Following her example, the rest of the group followed suit. “Well pardner I wasn’t really planning on coming, but I don’t go on too many trips as of late. ‘Cause of that, Mac’s told me he’s got the farm for the week.”
“I’ll only be there for a day. It was hard enough to get the weather bosses to let me skip two days, let alone a whole week, so close to a team member getting injured.”
“Twilight sent me a message, and it sounds like this’ll be fun!”
“Oh, I need to get some, um, specific foods for the animals. Some of it’s not available here.”
The time to board the train came shortly after their arrival, and the group quickly made their way onto the train. Having seen inside some of the other cars when they first arrived, it was obvious to Gale why this car was selected, and he has his suspicions as to why they were the only ones in it. Twilight, however you pulled something like this off I do not know, but I am glad. While the other train appeared to have been built with only ponies and maybe griffons in mind, this one seemed more suited to someone of Gale’s size. He guessed Minotaurs. Still odd to know those actually exist here in some way.
It was only as the train started to pick up speed that Gale realized the situation he’d just put himself in. Seven of them, one of me, in a train car . . . how did I not think about this? As the train picked up speed, Gale sat and listened as the group of friends next to him all chattered away about anything and everything. He eventually started thinking back to a few of the times his family had taken long trips by train, and how stark of a contrast there was between those trains and this one.
Continuing to look out the window, he then went over possible ways to avoid talking to any of them until they were getting off the train. Sleep or headphones really, those are about it . . . Unfortunately for him, he was never given the chance to enact any plan as Rarity tapped him on the shoulder.
“So how are you doing today, Gale?” Though the question seemed innocent enough, Gale had a suspicion any conversation would eventually turn in a direction he didn’t want it to. That said, he replied.
“I didn’t get too much sleep, and I was kinda hoping for a real quiet ride so I could catch some Zs.” How that isn’t obvious, I don’t know. Repositioning himself on the bench, Gale found a position in which he was comfortable enough to sleep. Still a better sleeping arrangement than that motel in Kentucky. . .
Though he had managed to fall asleep, it was a restless one. This became immensely apparent when, as before, Rarity used her magic to poke his shoulder. Though she’d simply been trying to get his attention, she’d unintentionally shocked him wide awake.
As soon as he felt something push into his shoulder, Gale’s eyes snapped wide open and he sat up almost instantly. He looked around briefly, seemingly afraid of something, before realizing where he was and who he was with.
“What about you, Gale?” Rarity started, unsure if he’d heard her original question.
Now finding himself quite annoyed, and still incredibly tired, Gale restrained himself some as he replied. “Look, I get that you’re all friends and want to talk about whatever, but I really just want to sleep for now. Please, just wake me up when we get there.” he said, returning to his sleeping position. God-dammit horse-woman, would it kill you to just let me sleep? For Christ’s sake, I already feel like shit today . . .
Finding it increasingly difficult to block out enough sound for himself to go to sleep, Gale opted to simply appear asleep, and listen in on whatever conversation was being had across from him.
That worked for a few minutes, until Twilight looked over towards him and said. “Gale, it’s more fun to be part of a conversation than to just listen to one. It’s not as rude either.”
How the fuck? Slowly, Gale sat up and finally faced the group. “What’s going on now?” he asked, trying to keep the illusion that he’d been asleep going. Even as he said it, he knew they’d all caught up by now. Seriously though, how? The look he received courtesy of Twilight let him know that he’d definitely been caught. “Okay, so I wasn’t asleep. I still have no idea what you said though. I must’ve zoned out.” You can thank me later.
The eight of them spent the next hour discussing various things, though it mostly ended up with them all asking Gale his opinions on a vast number of things that he knew next to nothing about. Eventually, as he’d feared, the topic seemed to shift towards families. How all the ponies’ families were doing, and if they’d seen them recently. It was right about now that Gale started to get extremely uncomfortable with the whole subject. Partially because of his own past, yes, but also because it seemed that he wasn’t the only one hiding things. Twilight, in particular, her left ear kept twitching whenever she’d talk about her home and her parents. Just her parents.
He already knew from Mac what had happened to the Apple family, do he wasn’t surprised at all by the omission of her parents. What did catch him off guard, however, was Fluttershy’s mentioning that her brother was going back to college. His surprise wasn’t directly to her relative but rather the other ponies’ reaction to this news. It seemed to him as though Fluttershy must only rarely mention her brother.
Pinkie didn’t say much about her family either, just that they were rock farmers. And that her sisters were all doing alright. She planned to visit them in a month or so.
Of her explanation the only thing that tripped Gale up was the mention of being a rock farmer. How the hell does that even work?
Rainbow Dash and Rarity were similar in that they both haven’t seen their parents in a while, though unlike Rarity, Dash didn’t make any mention of going to visit them any time soon.
After everyone else had given an update, the group became rather quiet, looking amongst themselves and trying to decide how to continue. None of them really wanted to be the one to bring up Gale's parents. Everyone except Applejack had assumed that he must’ve been treating them as if they were dead at this point. She, thanks to her brother, was aware that one of them actually was. Though, that didn’t make asking about the other a good idea.
Although Gale had hoped it wouldn’t, the conversation stayed on family related subjects for several minutes. Moving from the last time anyone had visited their parents to their best memories. Though Gale had actively tried to stay out of the conversation, it eventually became apparent that he wasn’t going to. It was mere moments after their last conversation finished that Twilight ventured the question he’d been hoping she wouldn’t have.
After a moment of struggling, trying to find how best to word it, Twilight asked him. “Gale, we’ve all been talking about our foalhoods, would you consider joining?” It was worded nicely enough, and Gale had long since realized that he wasn’t getting out of that question should she ask it here.
“Seven of you, one of me . . . I should’ve known this would end up happening . . . ” Repositioning himself, Gale took a moment to consider how he should continue.
“For the record,” he began, looking between all the ponies present. “This conversation never leaves this train car.” All the ponies shuffled a bit in their seats, as Gale began. ”I’ll start off by saying that I didn’t have the best childhood. No, I’m not saying it was a long list of terrible events, but it could have been better. We moved around maybe three or four times so it wasn’t the easiest to keep in touch with friends.
I moved from a major city to a town way out ‘in the sticks’ if you will, then back to a somewhat large town. Spent a fair amount of my life there, 9th grade clear until I left. Yes, I know that statement doesn’t make sense to you.
We moved there because my dad had been looking for a new job. He was a police officer and he didn’t mind staying one. He and my mother just wanted to live somewhere else. So, when we moved into town my dad got himself hired by the local police force. Within a year he was the new chief. Not everyone was happy about it, but no one really objected.
A couple of the officers’ kids started a group during high school. High School was a bitch, to tell you the truth. I had gone from a town where everyone knew your name to essentially a city where you were just a number.
That’s not to say the staff didn’t care, but with so many students it was a certainty that something would happen. So, like I said, a bunch of us decided to stick around each other. Even if we never really talked, the fact that there was a group of us made people less likely to try something.
A bunch of those guys are real pragmatic about things like that. Anyway, that dropped off in the summer when I became closer friends with chi- officer Lundz’s kid Ritchie. The two of us were practically infamous during junior year. His dad bought him a T-type and I had an old Duster. Again, I know those mean nothing to you. Roll with it.
A few weeks after I met him Rich introduced me to a friend of his. A girl maybe 4 years younger than myself, and only 2 years younger than him. The three of us would still be friends today if not for certain events . . . “ Glancing away gave the ponies a chance to see that he’d started tearing up about the subject. Though they were unsure of exactly why.
“At the start of junior year, even though I had a car, my dad woke me up one day and brought me outside. Loe and behold, there sat the Challenger you all know. She didn’t run, looked like someone had hit ‘er with a semi, and had probably been left in a field for over a decade, with the windows down.
We got the car rebuilt in time for senior year, which was good because we had to sell the Duster to pay for it, and I started driving it daily.
During senior year a couple of different things happened, Rich made the football team, captain even, so we didn’t talk to each other as much at school. He and his dad hired me to work at an auto shop they inherited when his, Ritchie’s, grandfather passed a year prior. Oh, and that girl I mentioned earlier? She was a year behind me in school so by the time she hit senior year, I was already graduated. Anyways, over the summer I went full time at the auto shop and even got an apartment on the other end of town. About midway through the year, after her 17th birthday, she and I started dating openly. The way we figured, my parents had a 6 year difference between them, so what’s the issue if we’re both at least 16?”
He paused for a moment, heaved a sigh and continued. “I should probably mention that, while this was happening, my dad’s lungs were starting to give out. We all knew it would happen eventually, he’d been too heavy of a smoker for it not to. So a few weeks into this last summer and I get a call from my dad. Surprisingly enough, he wasn’t calling about his lungs. No, apparently my mother had recently done another cancer screening, and her leukemia had started to come back. That . . . was not a fun week. She spent the next 2 at the hospital before the doctors decided she would be okay to go home and come back often to undergo chemo.
It’s a good thing mom was able to stay at home too, because dad’s lungs were getting bad enough that he finally had to retire. Somehow, someway, Richie’s dad, Mr. Lundz ended up as the new chief. Shortly after that, is when it all really started going to hell.
A week after my dad first went into the hospital, the doctors were hopefully they could keep him in good shape long enough for a transplant but I know enough about medicine to say it probably wouldn’t have done much but give him a few years. Well, like I said, a week later I get a call from chief Lundz, on my personal phone. Ritchie's dad knew it since he and my dad were friends as well as Ritchie and myself.
He tells me that dad might have taken a collection of files with him when he brought all his stuff home the day he retired. I was informed that they were needed for an ongoing investigation into . . . well, he never really said but I think it was a murder case.
Someone saw me go into the station carrying said box and reported it to their boss. I didn’t even know this had happened until I got home from work the next day. Walking up to my apartment I saw that someone had stuck a note to my door, with a kitchen knife. Truth be told, I haven’t told anyone what was on it, and I still don’t plan to now.” Though I bet Twilight’s figuring it out right about now.
“Less than five minutes later and I get a call from Jessie. She says she needed to come to my apartment as soon as possible. I distinctly remember asking if I should come get her and her snapping back something like ‘No, don’t leave your fucking apartment.’ That got me worried, she rarely swears about anything.”
As they listened, both Rarity and Twilight raised an eyebrow at the mention of the name. Rarity, ever the romantic, was more confused about who that was, while Twilight was surprised he’d even said it, especially given his reaction when she asked him about her the day prior.
“She gets to my place and tells me who it was that left me the note I mentioned. Apparently her father has been doing some under the counter business for awhile, and is linked to the murder case I mentioned earlier. As it turns out, one of his ‘men’ saw me walk into the station and he finally put 2 and 2 together.
Since she’d overheard him say this, she didn’t feel safe either and we both agree to skip town. She’d be 18 in three weeks and there wasn’t a thing he father could do at that point. As for me, I just wanted to fucking disappear.
We agreed that she should leave a few days before me, claim it was a camping trip or something, since it would look incredibly suspicious if we both were to leave at the same time. We agreed on a general area to meet at. I didn’t want to nail down a specific town and she didn’t want to have to hide in one. We agreed that I’d call her from a payphone once I got to Barstow and we’d figure out the rest from there.
I don’t know if it’s a thing here, but we have a sort of ‘witness protection’ program back home where basically, you disappear. As in, you can and sometimes have to have some plastic surgery and are given a new identity. You pretty much have to leave everyone and everything behind. We both agreed that, if we were to go and explain everything, we could still be with each other despite the possible risks.
About a week later . . . I was almost killed. A leading statement, I know.“ he said, seeing the looks of confusion on the ponies’ faces.
“A guy walked into the Lundz’s shop claiming to be an officer. Said he wanted to bring me in for questioning about . . . oh lord, I don’t remember what it was. Rich and me, we know all the officers, and this wasn’t one of them. In a moment of genius, Rich asked who the guy was and like an idiot he went for the first name he could think of: Chief Lundz. Ritchie was in his dad’s office when the guy said it, a few moments later and he walked out carrying an AR-15 and I swear to god I have no idea where that had been. I thought I knew that office like the back of my hand.
So we stood there, a fake officer with a gun to my back, and Ritchie with a gun pointed directly at his right eye. It took a few minutes, the the actual police finally showed up and arrested the guy. His name’s not important to you guys, but he’s a member of the Jones family. in my area, that family had been linked to several very suspicious deaths over the years but seemingly there was ‘No evidence to be found.’.” Air quotes showing how he felt about it.
“So, after that happened we went to the station, gave a description of events, and after we were dropped back off at the shop I told Richie that I wasn’t waiting, and I wouldn’t be coming in tomorrow, or ever again for that matter. He walked back to his dad’s office and came back out with a check, for around $2,000. Said his dad would understand. Now, I don’t know what your pay scale is here, but . . . that’s a decent amount of money to just give to someone.
With that in hand, I went home and packed everything I could out of my apartment. I went to my mother’s house and grabbed everything I could from there, too. I had already explained to her that I was planning on leaving for reasons she didn’t necessarily need to know about. Mom knew about dad’s habit of digging into cases and she understood the idea. She also knew with me leaving, and her having cancer, she would probably be alright for now.” Glancing out the window, he paused for a moment, shedding a tear for his, now completely alone, mother.
“I got on the freeway headed out of town and hit it. I broke my previous record of 145mph, I got up to 160mph. Which is completely ill-advised in a 40 year old car, by the way. I zig-zagged up and down the country for a few days, leaving a paper tail only at specific locations, to throw off anyone who might have tried to follow me. Would’ve worked too, had I not brought my damn phone by reflex.
They did catch up to me once. Once. It wasn’t easy but I got away from them and back to my car fast enough to get away. From what I understand, they caught up a second time. This time, however, instead of going for me, they loosened all the bolts on the back half of my car. The roads around that part of the country are not kind and should definitely be redone if possible. They must’ve figured I’d crash and die. Again, 40 year old car. No real safety features.”
After a moment, he wrapped up his tale by adding. “I got going down a road next to a lake when the back end finally gave out, I swerved off and that’s probably when Dash, who has yet to explain just how she was there saw that and tried to ‘help’.” he said that last part staring directly, at her.
Intentionally shifting the focus onto Rainbow Dash gave Gale a moment to relax. Of course, that moment dissipated when it occurred to him that he had absolutely no idea how long Dash had been following him for. That realization scared him to no end and he quietly hoped she had only just caught up to him as he’d crashed. This . . . could end poorly for me.
As she gave an answer, Gale was surprised to hear that, Rainbow Dash said just that. That she’d appeared, flown around briefly, and that’s when she saw him go flying out over the lake. immediately Gale could tell she was hiding something, the time discrepancy was obvious to him, but considering the events leading up to that, he was in absolutely no rush to push for that information. If I noticed, I bet Twilight must’ve. Oh, do I hope she doesn’t ask . . .
The remainder of the train rider passed without incident. Gale sat back and listened to some music while the others continued their conversation. The eight of them arrived late into the afternoon and were brought to the castle, by a group of royal guards no less. Three of them headed off into town, two on business and one just because she could. The other five, however, stuck to the palace grounds. Applejack went off to the kitchen to talk to the cooking staff, she wondered if she could strike up some sort of deal where they’d buy the farm’s apples.
Dash flew off the the far end of the palace, she had some friends in town who usually hung around that area. Twilight, Gale, and Spike however, walked further inside. They started for the throne room before Twilight realized what time it was. With that knowledge, she redirected them all towards a seemingly unassuming room located along the back wall.
The entire time they were inside, Gale noticed that there were royal guards stationed about a football field apart from each other. Standing in place, they almost seemed like statues. In fact, he was only about to tell that they weren’t when one of them started slouching briefly before snapping themselves back awake.
And here I thought that British royal guards were good . . . I could’ve sworn these guys were actual statues.
As they walked down the hall, Gale noticed that there seemed to be more guards than anywhere else in the palace, and they were considerably closer together. I get the feeling something’s up . . . The reasoning for the guards became clear as they reached the room. All three of them were stopped by two guards at the door briefly. Thought they initially wanted to have both Gale and Spike wait outside, Twilight was able to convince them that neither of the two were of any threat.
Stepping through the door, Gale saw that this room, while unassuming from the outside, must be some sort of hidden dining area. He presumed it was so that princesses could eat both eat in peace and discuss any topics that they pleased, without having to worry what any ponies might hear. It also occurred to him that the guards in the room must be some of the princesses most trusted. Especially when taking the aforementioned topics into account. I wonder what happens if one of them lets something slip . . .