“So far so good,” muttered Slip ‘n’ Slide nervously as he and his friends walked toward Ponyville. “No guards on patrol, no wanted posters that I can see.” A loud whistle made him glance back at where the train was pulling out of the station. “Nopony staring at us wondering why we just climbed out of a freight car.” He let out a slow breath. “I think we’re in the clear,” he pronounced, before adding, “you know…for now.”
As the train pulled away, Hopscotch stood up on her hind legs and waved at it. “It was really nice of Coal Hopper and Ticket Stub to help us out,” she murmured as she fell back onto all fours. “I really hope we can see them again later and thank them properly for everything they did for us.”
“I’m sure we’ll get the chance,” smiled Granola Bar, reaching a hoof out to hug Hopscotch gently. “They’re railway ponies, so it’s probably just a matter of time before they’re on another train to Vanhoover.”
That earned her an incredulous look from Slip ‘n’ Slide, who started to open his mouth in reply, but thankfully Funshine beat him to the punch. “Okay, so…we made it this far. Now what do we do, Garden?”
Garden Gate – or rather, Fencer – didn’t answer immediately, thinking back to the dream she’d had last night. Princess Luna’s appearance in her nightmare had been beyond unexpected, but while her advice had been helpful, the way their meeting had ended had left Fencer deeply concerned. If I’d known that she knew who Lex was, and already had a negative opinion of him for whatever reason, I never would have mentioned that he’d cursed me. No matter that Fencer now appreciated Lex’s actions, since they’d snapped her out of the dark path she’d been on; upon hearing that Lex had cursed her, Princess Luna had grown visibly upset, vacating her dream with all possible haste.
After she’d woken up – finding that dawn had already broken, and that the train that Coal Hopper and Ticket Stub had helped them stow away on had begun to move, minimizing the chances of them being caught – Fencer had told her friends what had happened. While all of them had shared her worries about what her dream meant, along with some general grumbling about Luna finally appearing in their dreams after they’d already made it out of Vanhoover and no longer needed help, none of them had been able to determine anything conclusive from it. “Lex, the princesses, and everypony else are all going to do what they’re going to do,” had been how Granola Bar had put it. “So we should just focus on doing what we’re going to do.”
It was sound advice, but even so Fencer couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. The way Princess Luna had spoken had made it sound like she had been looking for a reason to condemn Lex, and if that happened Fencer felt sure that he wouldn’t take it lying down. And if worse came to worst and a fight broke out between him and the princesses…
“Garden?”
Funshine’s voice brought her back around to their present circumstances. “We stick to the plan,” she said at last. She’d kept walking while she’d been ruminating, and the others had followed her, the result being that they were already walking through downtown Ponyville. “We look around and try to find work that will get us enough bits to buy five tickets to Vanhoover.” Fortunately, there wouldn’t be any problems with that last part; as they’d walked by the Ponyville train station, one of the ponies who worked there had been putting up a hastily-written sign announcing that service to Vanhoover was up and running again, apparently having heard it from the railway ponies on the train they’d come in on.
“I know I said this before,” ventured Hopscotch hesitantly. “But if it’s really important that we get back to Vanhoover as quickly as possible, we could just stow away on another train.”
But Granola Bar was already shaking her head, surreptitiously glancing around to make sure that nopony was listening to their conversation. “This isn’t a big city like Canterlot, Hopscotch. You saw how small Ponyville’s station was, right? They don’t have a big train yard that we can sneak around in. They just receive one train at a time, which means all eyes are on it. We’d have a hard time sneaking on board.”
“Besides,” chuckled Funshine, “the next time we get on a train, I’d rather have it be with cushioned seats and complementary meals.”
Slip ‘n’ Slide rolled his eyes at that, before looking back at Granola Bar. “Hang on. Cozy and her boyfriend were able to sneak on board that train we took to Canterlot. And Vanhoover only had one station too, even though it’s a big city.”
“That’s because Vanhoover always focused more on its ports than its railways,” interjected Fencer. “The Hoofingfords didn’t want overland shipping to threaten how much influence their monopoly on maritime trade gave them over the city, so they made sure to shoot down any plans to expand Vanhoover’s rail services.”
Hopscotch’s eyes widened a little. “I didn’t know that.”
A nostalgic smile crossed Fencer’s lips. “My father did. He explained it to me when I asked him why nopony ever built a train line through the swamp between Vanhoover and Tall Tale.”
Granola Bar raised an eyebrow. “If the Hoofingfords knew that expanding the city’s access to trains would have diminished their influence, I’m sure the Banks and the McNeighs knew it too. How come they never made a push to make that happen?”
“They probably did,” shrugged Fencer, glancing around. So far none of the stores that she’d seen had posted help wanted signs. “But you know how politics are. I’m sure some of the McNeighs worried that more trains would mean more imported food competing with local farmers, or maybe the Banks balked at how much building a proper train yard would cost. Either way, it didn’t happen.”
The conversation tapered off after that, as the five of them wandered through Ponyville, looking for any place that seemed to be in need of new employees. But after a few minutes of no luck, Slip ‘n’ Slide let out a breath. “Okay, look, I know that everypony shot this idea down before-”
“Oh not this again,” groaned Funshine. “Let it go, Slip.”
“I’m just saying,” protested Slip ‘n’ Slide. “She lives right here in Ponyville. If we go to her place and say that we need some help, I bet we’ll have five tickets to Vanhoover faster than you can say ‘Element of Generosity.’”
“She’s also best friends with Twilight Sparkle,” pointed out Granola Bar. “The princess whose brother married Princess Cadance, whom we just ran away from. You really want to risk that?”
“Maybe we should all split up?” ventured Hopscotch, wanting to change the subject before a fight broke out. “We could cover more ground that way.”
But Fencer immediately shook her head. “We’re sticking together. I know this isn’t Vanhoover, and that going off alone isn’t a death sentence the way it was there, but splitting up while we’re still on the run would just be asking for trouble.”
“Yeah, well, maybe that bakery needs taste-testers then,” sighed Funshine, pointing at a nearby building whose sign read “Sugarcube Corner.” “Because right now I’m so hungry I could eat-”
“-a helping of deep-fried gems for me. Now we just need to pick up dessert and- OOF!”
Having been looking at the bakery instead of where he’d been going, Funshine stumbled as he felt someone walk into him as he rounded a corner. Fortunately, whoever they were had been small enough that they had bounced off of his bulk, and Funshine gave an apologetic smile as he came to a halt, holding out a hoof. “Sorry about that! I wasn’t…uh…”
The rest of what he was going to say got lost as he stared at the trio in front of him, only vaguely aware that the rest of his friends had come to a halt and were also looking at the people he’d just literally run into. Despite everything he’d seen in the last few weeks – the ghoul ponies in Vanhoover, a princess who could bring the dead back to life, and the fearsome power that Lex Legis commanded – the three individuals in front of him were some of the most bizarre things he’d ever seen. Or at least, two of them were; the green earth-mare with the cutie mark of a patch of grass looked fairly normal.
The same couldn’t be said for the pint-sized purple dragon that was currently picking himself up off the ground, a picnic basket – of all things – clutched in one talon. The remaining member of the group was even weirder. Standing upright, her lower half looked like a pony, her back legs and tail having the same green color as the mare standing next to her. But that was where the resemblance to anything equine ended, as her upper half was clad in dusky-colored skin rather than a coat. Her upper limbs weren’t hooves either, the appendages ending in several digits that looked like talons without the pointy bits at the end. And her face was lacking a muzzle entirely, being more flat than a pony’s. She still had a mane, albeit one whose color didn’t match her tail, being a chocolate brown instead of green. Clad in a skirt (which covered her cutie mark, presuming she had one) and blouse, it took him a moment to notice that there was a film over each of her eyes, leaving them near-totally white and giving the impression that she was blind…which made it all the more disconcerting that she was staring right at him with a scowl.
“Uh…” sputtered Funshine, continuing to stare as he tried to figure out just what he was looking at. “I…I…uh…”
“Why don’t you take a picture?” snapped the part-pony thing in front of him, her voice angry. “It’ll last longer.”
“Aw, c’mon Soft Mane, he doesn’t mean anything by it,” soothed the tiny dragon as he stood up. Dusting himself off, he checked his picnic basket for a moment before picking it up with a relieved smile, looking up at Funshine. “Right?”
But Funshine’s brain was still trying to reboot. “Uh…”
“That’s right,” offered Granola Bar, managing to smile as she took a step forward. “He’s just surprised, is all. We all are.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s okay to gawk at me like that,” huffed Soft Mane, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Sweetheart, calm down,” chided the green mare gently before looking at Funshine and company. “You’ll have to forgive my daughter. It’s been a bit of a stressful day for her.”
Funshine’s eyebrows rose. “Daughter?”
Soft Mane frowned sharply, but Hopscotch spoke up before she could, looking at the tiny dragon. “You’re Spike, right? Princess Twilight’s assistant?” She smiled shyly. “I read about you in the newspaper a while back. Is it true that you saved everypony at the Equestria Games?”
Spike’s chest puffed up. “Aw, that was nothing,” he chuckled, clearly pleased to be recognized. “You should hear about how I saved the Crystal Empire from King Sombra.” He seemed ready to start in on the tale, when a gentle cough from behind him made him blink. “Oh, uh, and this is Grass Patch,” he pointed to the green mare, who smiled at the polite introduction, “and her daughter Soft Mane,” he pointed to the half-pony creature, the proud look reappearing on his face as he did. “My girlfriend.”
Funshine’s eyebrows were in danger of being lost in his mane. “Girlfriend?”
“It’s very nice meeting you.” This time Fencer was the one to jump in, giving the three a polite smile. “But we really should be going.” None of her friends missed that she didn’t offer their names in return.
Grass Patch didn’t miss it either, cocking her head, but fortunately didn’t push the issue. “We should too. The treats at Sugarcube Corner are best when they’re fresh out of the oven.”
“We’re going on a picnic,” added Spike helpfully, holding up his picnic basket as if to prove his claim. “When you’re helping everypony plan for how to deal with an emergency, it’s important to find time to relax and de-stress.”
“I don’t see why you’re not more stressed,” groused Soft Mane. “You’ve been sending scrolls back and forth the whole afternoon, all about that awful stallion and what he did to Princess Luna.”
Fencer’s ears perked up. “Wait, what?”
“I’m sorry, we really shouldn’t say anything,” replied Grass Patch with pained smile.
But Spike was more focused on his girlfriend, reaching up to put a claw on her side reassuringly. “It’ll be fine. Twilight’s the Princess of Friendship, remember? And she and Lex even went on that date one time. She’ll come back, talk some sense into him, and work everything out.”
Now it was Slip ‘n’ Slide’s turn to gape. “Lex?!” he echoed. “Did you say L-, ow!” Wincing, he rubbed his sore shin, shooting a hurt look at Granola Bar.
“We should really get going,” repeated Grass Patch. She wasn’t smiling anymore, instead giving the group a look that was tinged with suspicion. “Come along, you two,” she insisted, ushering Spike and Soft Mane toward Sugarcube Corner.
But she didn’t get more than two steps before Spike suddenly stopped. Letting out a loud belch, he barely missed a beat as a scroll accompanied the release, grabbing the paper out of the air with deft ease and unrolling it with a flourish. “It’s from Twilight!” he announced a moment later, apparently uncaring of who was around.
“What’s she say?” asked Soft Mane, moving around to peer at the unrolled paper despite the condition of her eyes.
Grass Patch, however, was looking back at the five ponies they’d been speaking to. “I think we should-”
But Spike wasn’t listening. “She says she hasn’t been able to find Pinkie Pie, Diamond Tiara, or Silver Spoon yet, but she’s coming back anyway.” His eyes moved left and right as he scanned the rest of the letter.
“She, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack will be back tomorrow.”