//------------------------------//
// 75 The Train Ride Home 
// Story: Moonie shorts [Filly Nightmare Moon] 
// by Eighth 
//------------------------------//

The train carriage rocks and rattles along the tracks as the scenery whizzes past in an ever changing sea of colour. Moonie stands on her hind legs as she peers out the window, amusing herself somehow. So, as all busy bodies seem want to do, you take it as a chance to get some paperwork done and pull out your glasses. Just as the rim sits upon your nose, Moonie whirs around to glare at you.

"How is it that you always have paperwork? I swear not even Minister Mare did this much when she was the mayor."

"I've got a few other roles, not just as mayor." You eye over a few 71T's and sign a quick 45S.

"Like what?"

"Confidential," you tease, tilting the forms blatantly out of her view.

"You need a hobby," grumbles Moonie from the sides of her mouth.

With a sigh, you firmly slap your paperwork into your lap and remove your glasses to shoot a scowl at her, "I have work and you, where abouts could I fit in a hobby?"

"You could take a day off work," she replies with her back to you.

"I do if you recall. That's when you and I go for lunch, muck about, or go on a trip. I took that extra day in Canterlot for the two of us to wander about."

"As I recall, you weren't going to take me on this trip to begin with."

Now her words are biting a little. While at first you thought you were doing a playful back and forth to make light of what could be a serious topic, now that you've caught on a bit, you quickly harden your tone.

"Look, I know I work a lot. Back where I came from I had many distractions so I never did much really."

"What do you mean?"

"Like TV," Moonie gives you a blank gawk until you add, "The slideshow box?"

Moonie nods when she fishes the recollection from the deepest recesses of her mind.

"People used to make millions of movies and so you could watch these stories unfold as the hours drip away. There's none of that here, so l... I guess I learnt how to distract myself in something productive instead."

"What is the point of a movie anyway?"

You give it some thought. It was hard enough to explain what a TV was to her the first time around, let alone the purpose. Moonie often seems to have a limited attention span, if things can't be explained simply then she doesn't find a reason to listen. A trait you have since been conditioned to. So many explanations and lectures cut short once you felt you said enough as you knew that was all you needed to say.

"Okay, you read a book and you imagine the scene right?"

Moonie nods.

"Well, no two will imagine the same scene. You might imagine ponies while I'll think of humans for the characters. Some people add in a background, with curtains and the such while others won't as they want to focus on the foreground, plot, or who knows what else."

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, if you made a movie, I could see how you see the world. Even the angles you want me to see show how you want to illuminate certain scenes or ensure how I follow something."

"Oh, so you watch a movie to let someone else's mind do the imagination?"

"Uh, yeah, more or less."

"Are all humans so willing to be unimaginative?"

The remark catches you off guard as you realise as per usual, Moonie has found another meaning in what you were trying to say. The issue with this, as you give it some thought, is that her summary isn't what you meant at all yet isn't entirely inaccurate. And that rubs you the wrong way in the sense that there is always a sense of pride from where you come from, even if the people can be dim. Sometimes you like to forget the idiot part of the idiots you're related to.

"Some, yes. And to be perfectly honest, I used to be one of them. But here," you gesture to the wider world, "I don't get those distractions, so I need something to focus on. I'm not trying to justify my constant working, I just want you to understand where I'm coming from."

"So... You don't have the same distractions here... On the train?"

The two of you chuckle a little then the conversation seems to find itself at one of those impasses. Neither of you can really think of what to add but there's that hanging feeling like there's more to be said. So instead the conversation seems to hang overhead in a form of stagnation until one of you speaks.

"What was that meeting for anyway?" Moonie asks as she turns back to you. Her tone does a good attempt at appearing flat and uninterested, but there is the underlying accusationt to it that can't be removed no matter how well one might bluff.

"Public relations," you reply quickly.

In Moonie's mind, she recalls Princess Celestia talking about fiscal reports while in yours, your mind glazes forward to think of a blurry future.

"What do you want to do?" You state, eager to move onto another subject.

"Like, now? I dunno... Track down the food cart?"

She shrugs and you wonder if she deliberately dodged that question. If there was one thing that Moonie was good at, aside from tyrannical rule, it was putting on airs of blissful ignorance.

"School ends in a few weeks," you add.

Moonie groans and slumps onto the chair in an annoyed heap. Internally, you sigh as you try your hand at the same subject you've been trying to approach for a few months now.

"Come off it. You know I'm not letting you dodge it this time. You're stuck in this train with me."

"There are other carriages," she grumbles in that familiar tone of potential disobedience that lacks any real conviction.

"Yes, and if you get caught then you'll need a job to pay that fine," you explain as you point to a sign.

"Only staff may move between carriages whilst train is in motion. Fines apply. 100 bit minimum." It reads.

"100 bits for moving, like, a metre?"

"Now, speaking of jobs."

Moonie's eyes roll as she knows it'll take much more than what she currently has to avoid this topic. And she had done well until now.

"A job, huh? I thought you were just going to drag me into your office."

"Why would I do that? I only take you there when I don't have someone to watch over you in my stead," you note, genuinely confused and very slightly hurt.

With a groan and exaggerated emphasis on her struggle to sit up, Moonie looks at you with deadpan eyes.

"Oh, really? Her tone oozes sarcastic disbelief.

"What, did you really think I would MAKE you work with me? If you want to, that's a different matter, but I want you to do something that you want."

Moonie pauses, her eyes are unblinking as she examines you. Then they narrow as she tries to search for something deeper before widening in shock.

"Wait. Really?"

"Yeah," you nod slightly as you wonder what sort of slavedriver Moonie imagines you to be.

"Anything I want?"

"Of course. I have some money saved up, so if you'd like to go onto further education, travel, or start a business then you're welcome to. Well, within reason on the business. I'm not investing in nonsense here."

"But why?" She asks, still looking like she was struck by lightning.

"What do you mean why?" You scoff, a little affronted still, "it's my role to make sure you're cared and provided for. Which includes your future. So what you want to do, is your choice."

In a huff and display that you feel matches the offence you've received, you give the papers a flick and put your glasses back on to peruse the contents. Moonie finds herself locked in thought and while she looks to be staring out the window, however her sight is looking beyond it. You can almost feel the heat of deep contemplation. Moonie imagines all sorts of possibilities, argues the pros and cons with a little internal court system before moving onto the next idea. And these cogs turn for some time before she utters anything.

"What... If I'm not sure?"

Her face is still locked into whatever far off plane she found herself in and her tone is distant.

"That's fine. Even I'm not sure what I want to do."

This statement grabs her attention. She spins back to you.

"But you're the mayor?"

Her eyes try to hold your attention suggesting that, like a snake or vampire might do to prey as they try to assess the threat before a strike, that looking elsewhere would be unwise.

"Yeah, but I got that job as Mayor Mare's assistant because I lost the one at the bakery, remember?" You shrug.

"You mean Minister Mare."

"She was Mayor Mare at the time."

"I always thought Mayor was her first name. That she'd be minister Mayor Mare now."

"So did I," you rub your eyes as they strain from the thought, "I still don't get half the things you ponies do."

"So, you don't want to be Mayor?"

"No," you sigh as you return your paperwork to your lap once more, "I want to be Mayor... But I'm not sure if it's something I'll always want to be doing. Maybe a few years I'd like a more hands on job, or something artistic, or maybe I'll keep going until I retire... Oh god, what will I do with myself in retirement."

The image of you kicking back in some rocking chair, surrounded by various pets for company, as you count the days gone by until "the big one" flash before your eyes. A chill runs down your spine until you shove that thought deep down where you hope you'll forget it. Once you return to reality you notice Moonie has gone back to staring outside again.

"You could work until you croak, most rulers do it that way," Moonie suggests awkwardly with a wry smile.

"I don't think I'll be planning that far ahead," you chuckle sorely as you try to put it out of your mind once again.

"So... It's fine if I don't know?" Moonie flatly asserts.

"Of course, but you need to do something. You can always change your mind later. Just don't go wasting time."

"Then what should I do?"

"You know... When I was very little, I thought of all sorts of things that I'd like to do. Be a builder, write a book, a doctor maybe, or even be a detective in those crime noir books I liked reading sometimes. And know what I ended up doing?"

Moonie shakes her head.

"I worked in a restaurant, waiting tables."

"That's rather lame. You could have been a great tyrant. That was my first job," Moonie interjects with a swell of pride.

"Well, I had to wait for Mayor Mare to become a minister first," you laugh but turn it into a muffled snort as soon as you see Moonie still in deep thought in the window reflection.

"What did you do then?"

She now turns to face you, genuine curiosity etched on her face. You take a deep breath as you recall.

"Well... I got a second job. Working nights at a mall, as security. Which I then found a third job," your eyes glaze over as you fall back into history, "I didn't get much sleep."

"You worked three jobs at once?"

"Yeah... It was a living. And then after saving a little bit, I decided I still had no idea what I wanted out of life... Let alone what I wanted to do. So I decided to go travelling, not for of that find myself nonsense, I thought worldly experience might help me decice," you add distantly before shaking your head until you came back to the present.

"How was that?"

"I'm sure you can guess how well traveled I became," you remark with a knowing smile.

Then Moonie curls up once again, in thought. As you turb back to the forms once again in what you hope is the final time, you add, "If you do decide to start a business or something, please include Trixie in it. I really need her out of the house more. Doesn't need to be anything important, just like... An executive role or something."

"I thought she was going to be staying temporarily."

"What can I say, most creatures I let into my house seem to stay permanently."