The journey through Canterlot was overwhelming for Mavis. Extraordinary sights greeted her at every turn. Ponies of many different colors populated the city, chatting and working like the humans would on the rare occasions she traveled beyond the quarry. Upon leaving Canterlot Castle, she’d glanced back and was amazed by how incredibly massive it was, easily dwarfing every building on Sodor, as well as every other building she, Twilight, and Applejack passed on the streets. And she was walking on actual streets— they seemed to be constructed with rocks and cement. The other engines would never believe this if she told them!
Just like inside the castle, every now and then a pony would look her way and immediately set their eyes upon her flank. This irritated Mavis, but the sorrowful looks they would give her at least showed they weren’t mean. Cutie marks, as the ponies called them, were clearly important, so anyone who saw she didn’t have one would assume she wasn’t important. But the only thing she needed to be important was to be useful, and the way to be useful was to show she could work hard.
The three of them journeyed through the city for a short while before reaching what Mavis immediately recognized as a station platform. There wasn’t an engine present, but dozens of ponies were milling about, some with suitcases and various other luggage and even a couple of guards helping haul some around on a trolley. A clock on display near the ticket booth showed the time was nearing two o’clock. They made their way to the ticket booth and Twilight used the bag of money to purchase three tickets.
“Two-fifteen, that’s when our train arrives,” Twilight said as she floated Applejack and Mavis’ tickets to them— it took a second of fumbling with her hoof before Mavis decided to grab the ticket in her mouth. “Without any delays, we should arrive in Ponyville at around six o ‘clock.”
They wandered onto the platform amidst the crowd of ponies. The air was filled with the constant chatter of everyone. A funny-bad kind of feeling settled into Mavis’ stomach at how enclosed everything was, which was strange as she’d never had that problem before in her life. Ponies moved to and fro, bobbing around the three of them with their eyes focused ahead, but the thought that some of them were looking at her funny took root in Mavis’ mind all the same. She tried to suppress these worries, turning her attention instead to the tracks as they reached the edge of the platform.
The tracks looked no different from those on Sodor, but seeing them from this new perspective was both amazing and a little scary. Mavis instinctively took a step closer, only to feel something grab her tail, prompting a sharp yelp out of her. She turned to see Applejack spit out her tail.
“Land’s sakes, girl!” she said with both panic and annoyance. “You’re gonna get yourself killed if’n ya get too close at the wrong time.”
Mavis suddenly realized she’d done something wrong. “I’m sorry,” she quickly apologized. “I won’t do it again.”
“Now may be a good time to tell you this, Mavis;” Twilight said, “pony bodies aren’t as sturdy as trains. You can crash and derail and easily get fixed up, but ponies can’t, so make sure you don’t go anywhere ponies aren’t going. Okay?”
Mavis remembered what her driver said about humans not being fixable like she was; ponies weren’t any different, apparently. “Okay, Twilight,” she said around the ticket in her mouth. Secretly, however, the thought of doing some exploring on her own was appealing.
“Good to hear,” Twilight replied.
They waited in silence for the train to arrive after that. Finally, at exactly two-fifteen, the distant sounds of puffing smoke sounded through the station above the din of noise. The crowd’s chatter quieted as they turned to the left. A distant pink shape appeared around a bend, chuffs of smoke billowing into the air. The Friendship Express rolled into the station gradually, coming to a slow, controlled stop perfectly aligned with the platform.
The pink livery of the engine wasn’t what threw Mavis off the most, nor all the hearts built into its shape or the unusually tall funnel, but the complete lack of a face. In its place was an unlit headlamp. Mavis’ jaw dropped, the ticket falling to the ground.
The doors to the coaches opened and a steady stream of ponies spilled out, maneuvering through the crowd towards the station entrance or towards loved ones. An older stallion bumped Mavis, issuing an apology before continuing on his way. Mavis snapped from her trance and turned beside her to see that Twilight and Applejack were looking at her worryingly.
“It really doesn’t talk?” she said.
“Yep,” Applejack said as she picked up Mavis’ ticket and held it up for her to take. “Hope that won’t be a problem. Will it?”
Mavis took the ticket back. She looked down, her attention going elsewhere in order to organize her thoughts. It still didn’t make any sense that an engine couldn’t talk, but she couldn’t disbelieve her own eyes.
“I… don’t know. Everything is so strange.” She suddenly felt dizzy, her vision losing focus. “Why can’t I see!?”
“Calm down, Mavis,” Twilight soothed, resting a hoof on her withers. “Don’t think about it too hard and you’ll be fine. Just take it for granted that things work differently in this world, like trains not being able to talk.”
Mavis did as instructed, pushing all thoughts about the strangeness of everything around her out of her mind. She instantly felt better, her vision coming back into focus. “Thank you, Twilight,” she said.
Twilight just smiled.
“But why is the Friendship Express painted such a que— I mean, weird colour?” she asked.
“Probably so it stands out against the landscape in case it derails,” Twilight said.
“Oh, that makes sense,” Mavis said. Now that she thought about it, that might have been why the Fat Controller had all of his engines painted in such bright colours.
“What about you, Mavis?” Applejack asked. “Why’d they give ya that yellow-striped paint?”
“I don’t know,” Mavis replied. “I guess the Ffarquhar company decided upon it when they purchased me.”
“That actually sounds really bad taken out of context,” Applejack said, holding back a laugh.
“Why?” Mavis asked.
Twilight lightly jabbed Applejack in the withers, earning her an apologetic expression from the earth pony, and gave Mavis a sincere smile. “It looks nice on you,” she said.
“Thank you,” Mavis said with a smile. That was the second time these ponies had complimented her livery.
“All aboard!”
“Well, that’s our cue,” Twilight said.
The three of them joined the line of ponies looking to board the train. One by one, they gave their tickets to the guard who punched and returned them. Mavis giggled when she got her ticket back. She was going to be a passenger! She followed behind Twilight and Applejack into the coach and followed them down the aisle, taking a seat next to them when they sat down.
Mavis looked around, taking in all the sights of the coach interior. It wasn’t as colourful and smartly-kept as the interior of Canterlot Castle, but it was clearly well-maintained all the same. The cushion she was sitting on was soft and comfortable, and there was plenty of wiggle space between her and the others. The backrests had a swirling green design that she found very appealing. Lights were built into the walls throughout the coach, presumably for night trips. Mavis wondered how similar this all looked to coach interiors back on Sodor.
“You excited, Mavis?”
She turned to Applejack. “I’ve never thought about what it would be like to be a passenger before. Is there anything I need to know?”
“Nah, nah,” Applejack said, waving a dismissive hoof. “All ya gotta do is sit back and enjoy the ride, maybe look out the window and enjoy the sights while yer at it.”
Mavis nodded and turned to look out the window. Ponies were still filing into the train, the station clearing in turn. A few minutes later the doors to the coach closed and Mavis saw the guard walk past them toward the brakevan. Her anticipation built with each passing second. This would be yet another story the other engines would either never believe, or be supremely jealous of her over
Minutes passed and nothing happened. Mavis’ excitement slowly gave way to confusion. The train should have started by now unless something happened to the driver and fireman, or firepony she supposed was appropriate here. She glanced around the coach, noticing some of the other ponies were looking just as confused as she was, including Applejack and Twilight.
“What’s happening?” she asked them.
They shook their heads. “Some kind of delay,” Twilight said. “We just have to wait for them to sort it out.”
A few more minutes passed. The other passengers were getting noticeably antsy. Twilight, especially, with how her wings fidgeted every few seconds. Applejack’s brows furrowed in annoyance, which was more in line with how Mavis reacted whenever she felt similarly. She wondered if there were anything else ponies without wings did when they got impatient.
She looked out the window for a moment and caught a glimpse of a pony wearing dirty overalls galloping through the mostly empty station. His eyes were wide and panicked and he had a sandwich in his mouth.
Realization hit Mavis and she said, “Disgraceful.”
“What is it?” Applejack asked.
Mavis pointed out the window. The driver stayed in sight for a few more seconds before disappearing in the direction of the engine.
Applejack laughed. “Must’a lost track of time.”
“I’d be mad if my driver was ever late,” Mavis remarked. “The Fat Controller doesn’t like confusion and delay.”
“That makes sense,” Twilight said. “But it’s okay to make a few mistakes every now and then.”
Mavis looked downcast, thinking back to some of the silly things she’d done in the past. Most of the time whenever she acted out of line she was scolded by either her manager or the Fat Controller very severely. But then there was the time one of her mistakes almost sent Toby, his driver, and fireman off a broken bridge into a raging river before she rescued them, and the Fat Controller hardly acknowledged it. She never understood what made that time different from the rest.
The train took off a few minutes later. The station gave way to the bustling streets of Canterlot, then green foliage, and finally the rocky face of the mountain. Mavis kept her eyes rooted to the window the entire time, enjoying the new point of view. Then everything suddenly turned dark. She let out a small yelp, but quickly realized they were in a tunnel and relaxed. The lights built into the walls came on a moment later, allowing her to see everything again.
“Scared?” Applejack said.
Mavis shook her head. “No, I was just surprised; I don’t go into tunnels very often.”
The train exited the tunnel a few minutes later and the lights went off as sunlight filtered through the windows again. A sprawling green landscape stretched far into the distance outside the window. Distant farmland and cities dotted the land, little puffs of smoke rising from chimneys in tiny villages. Unlike Sodor, Mavis couldn’t see any visible roads, only a sparse few rail lines leading to most of the settlements. She did see a few dirt trails, but nothing made from cement meant for cars or buses. That was sure to delight her friends back home once she told them.
Then her jaw dropped. Off in the distance, way up in the sky, she saw the outline of a city resting upon a giant cloudbank. The buildings were as white as the cloud itself, which made her think it was just part of the cloud and it was shaped oddly at first, but a closer look revealed distant shapes flying to and fro. The thought that they were birds at first was squashed when she realized she wouldn’t be able to see birds from this distance.
“Applejack? Twilight?”
They met her gaze. “What’s up, Mavis?” Applejack asked.
Mavis pointed out the window. “What’s that on top of the cloud?’
Applejack peered out the window. “Oh, that’s Cloudsdale,” she explained. “It’s the home to a lot of pegasus ponies and the center of weather control for all of Equestria.”
Mavis blinked. “What?”
“Actually, that reminds me;” Twilight spoke up, “we still need to explain the differences between all the different pony races to you.”
“What did you mean by ‘weather control’?”
“We’ll get to that, don’t you worry,” Applejack promised.
Mavis huffed, not liking her question being brushed off.
“First of all,” Twilight started, bringing a wing in front of her, “there are a total of four pony races—” she ticked the list off using her wing feathers, “—pegasus ponies, that can fly and make and control weather; unicorns, that can utilize far more varied and complex magic with their horns; earth ponies, that have incredible strength and agricultural skills; finally, alicorns combine the talents of all three types, and there exist only four in total: Princess Celestia, her sister Princess Luna, my sister-in-law Princess Cadence, and finally myself. You got all that?”
Mavis slowly nodded. It was a lot to take in, but she understood everything she was told. “So, then you turned me into an earth pony?”
“That’s right!” Twilight said gleefully. “Specifically, your body is modeled after Applejack’s, so your strength is equal to hers.”
“I don’t like to gloat, but I like to keep in shape what with all the work I do on the farm,” Applejack said, holding her chin up proudly. “So you’ve got some real legs of steel there.” She pointed at Mavis’ legs.
Mavis looked down at her legs. “They used to be steel,” she said sadly.
“Oh, uh, sorry, Mavis,” Applejack said. “I didn’t mean it like that; it was just a metaphor.”
Mavis met her gaze. “A what?”
“Not important,” Twilight said with a dismissive wave. “Basically, you’ll be using your legs a lot for your work over the next week.”
“It takes a strong pair of legs to properly buck apples off from their trees,” Applejack explained. “So you’re good to go on that front, but I’ll make sure to train you on the best techniques for the job.”
“Well, thank you,” Mavis said, but secretly she figured she wouldn’t need much help. How difficult could it be to shake apple trees? “Is there anything else I need to know?”
“A few things, yes,” Twilight said. “We’ll be staying by your side to help you get used to your new bodily functions. There are two important ones we still need to educate you on: eating and excreting. But we’ll fill you in on those later.” She smiled. “Right now, let’s just talk. I’d love to know more about what life is like for you on Sodor. I’ve heard some things from Thomas already, but new perspectives are nice to have.”
Mavis cast her gaze upward in thought for a moment, thinking about what interesting stories she had to tell them. No way was she going to tell them about the accident that got her here in the first place. But thinking over it some, she couldn’t recall a time where she’d done something that made her particularly proud, at least, not without some detail which she was embarrassed about in hindsight. But it was better than nothing, she supposed.
“Well, one time I saved Toby and his crew from plunging off a bridge into a raging river,” she said proudly.
“Wait, really!?” Twilight said with a gasp.
“You saved your friend from dying?” Applejack questioned. “Or, I guess being scrapped would be more fitting, huh?”
Mavis smiled; she was feeling very important right then. “I did. He was pulling a goods train along his line when the trucks bumped him at a level crossing. He got pushed all the way onto a bridge that had collapsed because the river was overflooding. The rails were almost completely gone; he compared it to walking a tightrope. I brought some workmen and helped get Toby to safety.”
“Wow that’s amazing,” Twilight breathed.
“Do y’all get bumped often?” Applejack asked.
“Well, no, but…” She cast her gaze downward. Now she was feeling more ashamed than important. “They were supposed to bump me because I was originally supposed to take the train and I asked them to.”
There was a moment of silence before Twilight asked, “Why would you ask them to do that?”
“Because I wanted to see more of Toby’s line,” Mavis explained. She peeked her gaze up, feeling relieved to see they weren’t looking at her disapprovingly. “But using his line makes my job so much easier! I was just a little curious!”
“Hey, hey, relax Mavis,” Applejack said, holding her hooves up. “I ain’t gonna judge you. Bein’ honest is all I need outta you.”
Mavis took a deep, calming breath. “Sorry,” she said.
“I think it’s admirable that you’re willing to admit to your mistakes, Mavis,” Twilight said with a smile. “It shows you’ve got a good heart and are trustworthy. That’s the kind of person that I’d want to have as a friend.”
Mavis felt a small tingly feeling in her stomach. She remembered Twilight and Applejack saying something about that indicating happiness, which she was definitely feeling right now. “Thank you,” she said softly.
There was another stretch of silence before Applejack said, “Well, how about we take a turn tellin’ some stories? I’d hope ya find them interestin’.”
Mavis nodded. “I’ll listen.”
The rest of the train ride was spent with Twilight and Applejack telling Mavis stories of their lives both before and after they became friends. There were a lot of things they mentioned that she couldn’t make sense of, like the ‘Elements of Harmony’, or things she thought sounded like rubbish such as ‘Nightmare Moon’ and ‘eternal night’ but didn’t voice her disbelief. Right now she was just happy to have friends in this strange new world with her strange new body. She wasn’t going to do or say anything to risk that.