Starry didn’t take too long looking around the shop. An oddly colored unicorn was dealing with a few difficult customers at one end of the shop. There was another pony in the shop that made Starry feel uneasy, and after a quick glance at the dresses she decided not to leave Edgy waiting too long outside. She picked out a small bag and quickly checked it out before heading back out the door.
Edgy just rolled his eyes as they headed toward the train.
Starry had remembered seeing a ticket listing for a time later in the evening, and she was relieved to see she remembered it right and paid for their tickets to board.
There weren’t too many ponies traveling at night. She saw maybe six other ponies walking around through the windows as the two trotted onto the station platform.
The two found a seat in a nearly empty train car. Sitting on a bench nearby was an older mare. Her coat was a sherbet orange and her mane was various shades of a banana yellow. She was covered as much as she could be in pearls: earrings, necklace, brooch. Her cutie mark was even a strand of pearls. She spent some time reading one of the magazines she apparently brought and didn’t pay attention to the two ponies that sat two seats away from her.
Edgy was still worried about what he was going to have to deal with in Ponyville. News would get around fast if Tempest had shown up, and what if she shows up right after they get there?
Looking at Starry, he could see she had already taken her notebook back out and was making some small doodles. She was oblivious to everything going on.
Starry had just finished up half the designs she thought of making when she looked to her right and saw Edgy staring at the orange mare. He seemed a bit dazed. Starry leaned over to get a good look at the mare from Edgy’s direction and noticed a mole on the right side of the mare’s face. It was a bit attention grabbing now that Starry had seen it. She almost felt herself going into a trance herself before she went to wave a hoof between them.
Edgy had been staring, but not at the mole. The orange mare wasn’t paying attention to them at all, yet he felt like he was being called to her. He couldn’t help but feel like something was off about her, and he suddenly felt himself going into a somewhat trance until Starry waved a hoof in front of his face.
“I think I’ll get something to drink and stretch my legs. These benches aren’t the most comfortable.”
Edgy nodded and started fiddling with the edges of his outfit.
She hopped off and trotted toward the car with a few booths and a late night server. It didn’t seem like anypony else was in the mood for a late night snack. The car was empty but for her and the server, and the server himself was already packing up and putting items away. He was just wiping down the counter when Starry walked up.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked as he continued scrubbing at the counter.
“I guess. I had a really busy day today and I guess it’s hard to shut it down,” Starry told him.
“I thought maybe you couldn’t sleep because of the ghost story.”
Starry’s ears perked up for a second.
The server put away the towel he was using and planted both hooves firmly on the counter toward her.
“We have a legend on this train. One night, the train was traveling through the Badlands. As you know, most of the pony towns there are new. The manager of the train lines had wanted the lines set up as soon as possible, but he didn’t fully check the terrain he led the train through. One area had a landslide and had turned into a massive gorge, taking the tracks with it. The conductor at the time, Straight Arrow, couldn’t see too far ahead, and didn’t know that the tracks were out. We lost the entire train that night and a dozen ponies.”
The server ended the story with a sad sigh.
“It happened maybe ten years ago. We eventually had the lines out there rechecked and fixed, but...”
Starry was going to comfort the serving pony when he looked back up with a grin.
“Some ponies say they still see the ghosts of those ponies riding the trains on late night trips,” he added with a flourish. “Of course, I’ve been working the night shift here my whole life and I have never seen one. I think they missed this train.”
Starry laughed a bit before ordering a blue fizzy soda and found a booth to sit at with her notebook. In spite of himself, Edgy was a distraction. Even as her friend, she still didn’t want him to see her doodles until they were just about right. She scrapped a few she had made in the other car and then touched up some of the others, but it was getting too late for her to stay up creating more.
She took a look out the window next to her. She wasn’t able to see much but she imagined what it was like in the darkness outside.
Equestria’s landscape had many empty plains and fields and hills. There were the occasional desert areas and forests, but the train hardly ever went near those. Of course, the train only stayed between the empty places going to and from the most populous areas. Main cities and such. It still had yet to make it through to Yak Yakistan or the Changeling Empire, and it was certainly going to be difficult to construct a line going to the southernmost of the Badlands. It was the weirdest thing to Starry that there was actually a line going toward the Crystal Empire during the years it was cursed.
With a sigh, she walked herself back to the car Edgy was sitting in. He was beginning to doze off. She had just made it to the bench when the conductor came by the other direction and, seeing how tired Edgy was, offered them one of the sleeper cars.
Starry literally leapt at the idea, and dragged Edgy along.
The sleeper car was empty. It was one of the normal sleeper cars, with two lines of bunk beds along the walls and curtains for each and a window onto the landscape at each one.
“I’ll take a top bunk!” Starry called out and made her way up the short ladder and began to snuggle under the blanket.
Edgy had to facehoof. If she was going to be so full of energy he knew neither one of them were going to get any sleep. He slipped into one of the bottom bunks and took one look out the window before settling down.
“You know what’s funny?”
Edgy opened an eye and saw a bushel of hair and what could only be Starry’s face leaning down in the dark and looking at him. It almost scared him a bit.
“What,” he said, and stared up straight over his head. He didn’t want to look back at Starry in hopes maybe she’d go away.
“Top bunks are cool, but they make me feel claustrophobic. It’s like I’m being squished against the ceiling.” Starry pointed up at the ceiling and started making gestures like she was measuring the width of space each bunk had.
Edgy took one exasperated breath.
“Then take another bunk, Star. There are about ten other ones in this car.” He turned over to face the window.
Starry saw him turn around and dropped her hooves back onto the ledge of her bunk. Looking around the car, she couldn’t see further than the bunks they were on. For a second she was worried she saw something move in the bunk next to hers.
Edgy could see the glow of her horn out of the corner of his eyes.
He had to squint as he turned to look at the glow. Starry hadn’t bothered to climb down from where she was at but had perched herself partly on the ledge and was turning around to look into the bunk next to hers.
With a cough he got her attention and she looked back down.
“I’m sorry. I thought I saw the curtain move, but apparently there’s just a vent above this one.”
Thank Celestia! He didn’t want to have to deal with another irritable would be sleeper. For a second he thought maybe he would make a minipone come out and scare Star half to death, but that would only make the situation worse and he didn’t want anything to go wrong and her to catch what he did. So he turned back around.
As Starry turned toward the center aisle of the car and started readjusting her bearings on the edge of the bunk, she noticed a pair of eyes staring back up at her from below. She scrambled backwards and hit the window of her bunk, pulling her mercury out in the shape of a crude knife and pointing it at the unknown, her panicked breathing and heartbeat the only thing she could hear.
Edgy heard the thump and turned and felt a little jolt himself.
The eyes turned upward and all of a sudden there was light in the car.
All three squinted as Starry and Edgy saw a stallion appear connected to the eyeballs.
“Will you shush? I have a very important meeting tomorrow.”
With that, he snapped the cord for the light once again. Starry fell onto her blanket again. She was definitely exhausted now. And hearing something so normal and mundane made her begin to tell herself that everything was fine. And when she finally calmed down, she fell fast asleep.
[Cutie Mark Enthusiast’s Note: The mare with a strand of pearls is a sophisticated mare of the world. She’s good at coating the ugliness of society and wears her accomplishments proudly around her. Postage Stamp has a postage stamp with a wood carving for an image on it and a mark for two bits, because of his hobby and how he likes to give his advice and help. And Edgy’s...]