The Crimson Crusade

by PonyThunder


Chapter 2 ~ Train Travel

Rhythmic, mechanical sounds of the train filled the cabin as it swept through Ponyville's rolling hills and scenic vistas. Plumes of light smoke billowed out from the front, drifting lazily into the empty skies above, which were clear and dark, shaded with blue and a hint of orange warmth from the rising sun. They'd left early at just the crack of dawn, in order to save as much daylight as possible for the remainder of the day, as the Highlands were considerably far west of Ponyville.

And it wasn't often that ponies traveled westward from Ponyville either. That is, unless they were vacationing to a small fishing village on the coast for some reason. Other than the somewhat memorable landmark here or there, there wasn't much of interest to visit besides Vanhoover, which was far to the north, or Los Pegasus, which was far to the south. The route they would be taking was to head south at the westernmost junction, ending up in Los Pegasus. As such, it was unsurprising that many of the train's passengers were a combination of shady characters and thrill-seekers. Spread out in one of the cabins together, they stuck out with their hiking gear.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sat opposite each other, gazing at the scenery that passed by as the train rolled onward, trying to point out the Highlands as the horizon inched ever-so-slowly toward them.

"Is that it?" Sweetie Belle asked, pointing to a few lone mountain peaks to the north.

"No," Scootaloo replied. "Those are just the Smokey Mountains."

"Oh...What about those?" She continued, pointing through the window on the other end of the cabin. A mare who happened to be in their line of sight looked up from her newspaper and gave them a confused look.

"White Tail Mountains", Scootaloo replied. "Don't you pay attention during geography?"

"Ugh," Sweetie Belle pouted melodramatically, "are we ever going to get there?"

Scootaloo pulled out a map. "The tracks don't even go that far west. We're going to have to walk once we get far enough."

"Walk?" Sweetie Belle's hooves exploded outward. The mare on the other side of the cabin scowled and angrily covered her face with the newspaper. "You mean there isn't even a station or some place to eat once we're there?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. Sweetie Belle was different than her older sister in plenty of ways, but very similar in others. "No. Didn't you hear what they said? Twilight and everypony else are only going with us until we get to the barrier at the mountains. Then we're on our own."

"I know," she replied, sitting back down in her seat. Truthfully, she only had an outburst to alleviate her boredom. "I guess I'm just so excited to finally go on a real adventure."

"Yeah," Scootaloo sighed, smiling. "Me too."

Scootaloo put a hoof to her chin and stared out the window, her forehead pressing lightly against the cold glass. The sky seemed so big with such an expansive landscape beneath it to gaze over. The way the scenery closer to the train sped by and the scenery far off barely moved was mesmerizing. Looking far off into the distance, she found herself daydreaming, lost amidst the clouds that drifted idly by as her mind began to wander. She imagined what it would be like to fly among them, soaring above the ground with wind rushing to fill the spaces between her feathers. The freedom to move anywhere she pleased, to fly where she wanted to fly. As usual though, the daydream ended abruptly upon remembering her disability. She looked away from the window and brought her attention back to reality, deciding to daydream about something else instead.

Sweetie Belle sat back in her seat, staring blankly upward for several minutes until she blurted out a question to ease her boredom again. "Scootaloo, what am I supposed to do?"

Caught in a daze, she was slow to respond. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Apple Bloom has her family's farm, you have your...scootering...what do I have?"

Scootaloo wasn't sure whether to take offense to having her identity tied to a single activity, but decided now wasn't the time. "Well, um...that's kind of a hard question," said Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle wasn't usually one to initiate such thought-provoking conversation topics. "What about singing? Performing? Fashion?"

"Yeah, I guess. If I wanted to sell clothes forever like Rarity."

"What about those other ones?"

Sweetie Belle sighed. "I don't know...there's too many options."

Scootaloo didn't understand. She had felt like the options were always so limited. "Well...what about our cutie marks?" She replied, surprised she hadn't thought of that immediately. "Isn't that kind of what our purpose is?"

Sweetie Belle sighed. "I suppose. But that doesn't mean it's clear what it really means."

"I'm not sure what you mean. We help other ponies find their cutie marks...right? That's what we do."

"Right." Sweetie Belle sat back in her chair again. "That's all we do. I guess that's what I have then." A few seconds of silence passed until she decided to stand up. "I'm going to stretch my legs. It's getting stuffy in here." Sweetie Belle walked down the aisle, weaving her way through luggage towards the door that gave access to the outside.

Along the way, she passed by Apple Bloom and Applejack.

"Now, I want you to know -- we're all goin' to be waitin' for you outside that barrier until you get back," said Applejack.

"Yes, I know." Apple Bloom replied flatly. She was also looking forward to being left alone for awhile, but wasn't going to tell her sister that.

"And if somethin' bad happens then--"

"Then we come gallopin' without even lookin' back, I know."

"Okay, good. I just want to make sure y'all stay safe. To tell the truth, I've got a funny feelin' about this friendship mission."

"You get funny feelins' for lots of things," Apple Bloom replied, playfully.

"I 'spose," she shrugged. "But it don't never hurt to be prepared."

Realizing her sister was more worried than she was, Apple Bloom gave her a more reassuring response. "We will be. I promise, sis."

"What's this about the friendship mission?" asked Twilight, who'd just returned from a different cabin.

"Oh, it's probably nothin'," said Applejack. "I just had a funny feelin' about it. You know me."

Twilight pondered for a moment. "Perhaps it doesn't make sense for the map to call three fillies out to such a remote destination. But then again, it also makes sense, what with the barrier and all."

"Ugh," Rainbow Dash groaned. "Does it or doesn't it?"

Twilight ignored her.

"That's what worries me," said Applejack. "There is such a thing as makin' too much sense, you know."

Twilight gave her a funny look. "I'm...not sure I follow. The books I have on the Lirin aren't very extensive, but the barrier is something that is for certain."

"Maybe so. But sometimes you just gotta go with your gut," said Applejack. "These fillies are goin' somewhere we've ain't never seen ourselves. There ain't no tellin' what could happen."

Apple Bloom stood on her hooves. "We're not just fillies anymore," she tried to say as maturely as possible. "I mean...everypony has to grow older sometime. Maybe the cutie map knows that too."

Applejack briefly saw her in a different light. She suddenly seemed taller, more mature, and capable. It caught her by surprise. "You're right," she replied genuinely. "It's probably just some indigestion is all. Granny's cookin' has been gettin'...improvised."

Outside, temperate winds breezed by as the train continued chugging onward. Sweetie Belle stood on her hind legs, leaning against the railing at the back of the train as she watched the tracks disappear behind them. There was something about being on a train to somewhere she didn't know that made her contemplative. All her life up to attaining her cutie mark seemed so simple in comparison to what it became afterward.

Rarity walked up and stood beside her. "Everything alright, darling? You seem rather...somber."

"What?" She replied, somewhat shocked. "Yeah I'm fine. Just...getting some fresh air, is all."

"Same here," Rarity smiled. "I can only manage being stuck inside those cramped little boxes for so long. The air gets awfully stuffy."

Sweetie Belle sighed. Just another similarity between herself and her sister.

"Remind me again, Sweetie Belle, what was the upcoming school play you were going to audition for?"

"Macbeth."

"Oh? And what's that about?"

"It's a tragedy where a powerful pony receives a prophesy from three spell-casters that they'll be a great ruler, but is eventually consumed with paranoia and ends up as a tyrant and dies."

"Oh my," Rarity said, taking a slight step backward. "Ponies write plays like that?"

Sweetie Belle sighed internally. "It's an old classic. I was going to be one of the three spell-casters."

"Was? Didn't you audition?"

"They said my voice was too nice."

"Well, if that isn't a compliment, then I don't know what it is," Rarity replied.

A small smile grew on Sweetie Bell's face. "It's okay. They let me be in charge of props and lighting instead."

Two chimes echoed throughout the cabin, indicating that the train would be stopping soon. "Attention everypony, we will be taking a brief stop along the tracks in a few minutes to allow a few of our passengers to step off. Please remain seated while they disembark."

"I suppose we ought to get back inside," said Rarity.

The two of them headed back and regrouped with Twilight and the others. As the train gradually slowed down to a halt until finally letting go with a burst of steam, passengers around them gave them odd looks as they disembarked the train in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. Once they were all on the ground, the train slowly chugged back to speed, leaving them behind in a plume of dust.

The air was silent aside from the sounds of howling wind.

"Well?" said Rainbow Dash as she hovered in the air beside the group. "Let's get going, shall we? It's a long walk up those mountains. In fact, I could almost fly there myself right now--"

"Hold yourself there, Rainbow Dash," said Applejack with an outstretched hoof. "Here's your saddlebag."

Rainbow Dash took it and immediately found herself weighed down to the ground. She sighed and threw it over her back. Applejack smirked as they formed a single-file line and began hiking up the trail. The mountains ahead loomed over them, as if watching and waiting from high above.