Dear Darren,
we will be happy to come along to Ponyville. White Alloy took the liberty of picking the connection.
Please join us tomorrow at 8:30 at the Central Station, track 2, next to the information panel.
With best regards,
Feather Rush
With the folded note in his hand, Darren let his gaze wander across Central Station. The clatter of hooves on stone echoed troughout the gigantic hall. He wondered how long it had taken the blacksmiths and crystal carvers to create the intricate ceiling. Hundreds of crystal rectangles covered the sturcture of woven iron. The light danced over the passengers in white, pink and yellow. Darren read the sign that told everyone where to find Track 2 and nodded. As he descended the stairs to the tunnel connecting the entrance and Track 1 to the rest of the station, Darren had to be careful not to knock anybody over with his rolled-up carpet. His sword was sheathed and secure on his back. The last time he had carried it around had been over two weeks ago. He had never thought it would feel strange to bear it again. He was not used to the stares anymore. Or was it just that the ponies in the neighborhood had gotten used to seeing a human around?
He climbed the stairs to Track 2. The echoing noise from the tunnel subsided a little. Everything was incredibly clean, very much unlike the Deeprun Tram, the only means of public transportation - besides ships - Darren had used before. He had to admit that the absence of Gnomes felt like something of an improvement. The ponies were taller than Gnomes; it was easier not to run them over. Nobody liked walking with their eyes on the ground all the time.
The information panel was right between the tracks Two and Three. White Alloy, Feather Rush, Peridot and Eclipse stood huddled together. Feather and Peridot were wearing light cloaks; White was equipped with a pair of slightly worn saddlebags. Darren was confused by the lack of further baggage; then he realized that the ponies only needed to bring snacks for the journey and probably a blanket or two. He, on the other hand, had brought a spare set of clothes along with food and water and a few things he never parted with. It was force of habit after not having his own place for years.
"Darren! Over here!" Eclipse had spotted him and waved at him enthusiastically.
Darren waved back with the hand holding the note. He set the carpet down like a pillar, leaning the cloth against his chest, and bumped his fist against the hooves of the parents. Feather's eyes wandered to the hilt of his sword. Darren smiled apologetically.
"It's the safest place to keep it when I'm out of town."
She frowned, then nodded. "Let's go, the train leaves in ten minutes," she said.
They all approached the edge of the track. Feather pulled Eclipse back with her foreleg. "No closer than three steps, honey," she warned him, pointing at the line that was drawn on the ground. Darren raised an eyebrow.
White squinted his eyes. "There she comes," he said.
Peridot flinched when an array of crystals next to the panel suddenly buzzed. In a mechanical voice, they declared: "Track 2, arrival: The train to Baltimare via Cloudsdale, Canterlot, departure eight-fourtyfive. Mind the gap."
"What the hell was that?" Darren stared at the array.
Peridot giggled when she saw that he was more surprised than her.
"They enchanted the crystals to tell everypony the schedule," said White, unable to hide a grin.
Darren looked at White. "Couldn't a pony do that?"
"What kind of job would that be, sitting at a resonance crystal all day and saying the same stuff over and over again? Nopony in their right mind would do it. It's way less effort to just install a few crystals that can read the information aloud."
Darren considered that for a moment as the train approched the platform. It was a noisy monster of steam and metal but at the same time it looked... fast. The design was smooth and, of course, included crystals. Everything about it said, "I am new, I am tough and you better sit your rump down before we roll out." The train stopped with a hiss and all along the wagons doors sprung open. Ponies poured out of the train like ants from a corpse. Most of them had little to no baggage. Darren noticed that not all of them were crystal ponies. He even spotted a griffin further down the track. With a pang of guilt, he remembered leaving Bane behind when he had turned his back on Azeroth.
"Come on, everypony, and don't get lost," said Feather, herding her two children towards the train. White followed suit. Darren quickly put the carpet back on his shoulder and stayed on their tail. When he stepped onto the train, he noticed a gap between the train and the platform. That was probably the one he was supposed to mind. It was not even that big; only a very clumsy pony with small legs would have gotten their hooves caught in it.
The train compartments were separated by chest-high wooden walls. Feather and White sat down next to each other in the way that ponies sat on blankets. Peridot and Eclipse had a little fight over the window seat. Their parents exchanged a look, then White switched over to the opposite bench so both children could look outside. Darren occupied two seats: His carpet was put down on one and he sat down on the sixth. He hoped he would not have to pay for an extra ticket. Feather had told him they could be bought on the train itself which was probably an advantage if you were in a hurry.
The inside of the train was surprisingly quiet due to soft carpets that covered the floor and wall space between the windows. The excitement of Eclipse and Peridot was contagious. They pointed at things they saw in the station and invented names for them. Darren smirked when he saw how much fun they had. Feather and White urged them both repeatedly to sit down. That was when Darren heard a shrill whistle, then the thumping of closing doors. A slight jolt went through the train as it accelerated. The train station went sideways and disappeared from sight, replaced by houses that flew by at an ever increasing speed.
"I'm beginning to think this is bigger on the inside." Abrasive Paper's voice echoed through the cavernous hall. The dark stone made everything look much smaller than it really was but there was so much space to begin with that it did not make that much of a difference.
"It's big enough on the outside," said Sombra, annoyed, and kept walking. It was cold but not as icy as outside where the relentless winds kept blowing. They could hear their howls and sighs all throughout the castle. That and the fact that everything was so dark and abandoned made one shiver after another run down Sombra's spine. He could have sworn there were voices in the winds. He did not like it one bit.
"Any idea who lived here?" Abrasive Paper asked.
"No."
"Must have been some megalomaniac villain. The vibe sure fits. Sure it wasn't you?"
Sombra rolled his eyes in an effort to cover his nervousness and pushed the door open that marked the end of the hall. He almost stumbled when he saw the garden.
The glass house was tall; it covered an entire courtyard. Sombra suspected that it was not really glass but crystal or maybe even enchanted ice. Long rows of fruit-bearing trees and bushes were lined up from wall to wall. Little bits of sunlight that reached the garden were somehow multiplied by the panels above, tinting the garden in a bright, clean light that left few shadows. Birds were chirping somewhere, the only sound in the surprisingly windless garden.
"Are those fruit I smell?" Abrasive Paper had entered the garden. He cantered around Sombra and disappeared behind the next bush. "Yep, plums." He slurred the words as if he was chewing on something.
Sombra followed the voice and found the guard eating fruit from the closest tree. The tree was special: It bore not just fruit, it was blooming at the same time. The tree next to it looked the same. Sombra suddenly realized how tasty it smelled. The food he had brought was already used up. Being in the cold had made him hungrier than anticipated. Using his magic, Sombra pulled ripe plums from the tree.
"So you have never been outside the Empire before?" Darren asked Peridot.
"Nope! This is my first train ride ever! Our teacher said we would visit Canterlot in half a year but that's still sooo far away."
"Why aren't we going to Canterlot?" asked Eclipse. His mood had soured when he had realized they were traveling to a small town in, as he said, the middle of nowhere. "I bet it's much more interesting than Ponyville."
"Ponyville isn't that far from the Capital," said White patiently. "In fact, it's only two stations away. We need to change trains in Canterlot. So we'll get to see the train station, at least."
"Small consolation," muttered Eclipse under his breath. "And why did Darren get to bring his sword if I can't bring my shield?"
Feather sighed quietly, her chin set. She raised her eyebrows at White, who just shrugged. Darren suppressed the urge to chuckle and said, "I did not want to leave it unattended in case of Sombra visiting while I was away."
"Oh." Sobered up, Eclipse sat up straight. "Sorry, I forgot."
"Don't worry, it's unlikely that he would do it. It's still better to err on the side of caution. At least this way, I always know where it is: There." He pointed at the sheathed sword next to the rolled-up carpet with a grand gesture, making Eclipse laugh.
"I can see Cloudsdale!" cheered Peridot. "Look! Awww, it's really made of clouds!"
"Did you learn about it at school?" guessed Darren.
"It's a pegasus city," explained Eclipse. "They have enchanted roads and stuff so non-pegasi can live there and visit, too. I wonder if anypony has ever fallen off their yard."
"Let's assume not," said White uncomfortably. "I'm sure they have some ponies that keep an eye on the city and if anypony ever falls, they rush over and catch them," he added cheerfully.
"Or they put up nets," offered Darren. Or the ponies just die, he added in his mind. Like Levinia.
"Tickets, please!" The train conductor had just entered the compartment. "Thank you. Tickets, please..."
A general buzz and shuffle started when everyone rummaged in their bags to find the short piece of paper. Darren just pulled out his wallet and said, "One to Ponyville, please. Or two, if the carpet counts as one seat."
"One ticket, then. Ten bits," said the conductur, turning around, "Here you - ah, er -" His eyes went up to Darren's tattooed face, the rolled-up carpet, and the sword next to him. "- go." The conductor's face flushed and his ears went down as he accepted the bits, trying in vain to conceal his embarrassment by smiling nervously.
"Thank you," said Darren evenly, even though he felt annoyance at the predictable response. He took the ticket from the conductor's trembling hoof and stored it in his wallet. Feather showed the conductor her four tickets and gave him a rather cool smile when he checked and returned them. As soon as he was gone, her stiff smile turned into a frown.
"I'm sorry, Darren," she said warmly. "You must be tired of this by now."
Eclipse and Peridot grimaced awkwardly as they realized what had just happened.
"That pony was scared of you, wasn't he?" said Eclipse quietly. There was some kind of plea in his voice as he looked up to Darren.
Darren nodded, his throat feeling dry when he said, "Yes." He raised his brows. "It's a natural reaction; he has never seen a Dea-, a human before."
Eclipse grumbled something to himself, then he looked at Darren and declared, "Well, I'm not scared of you!"
Darren smiled. "I know." He ignored how his stomach twisted when Eclipse showed the same expression of confidence his oldest son had once worn.
White cleared his throat. "I think it's time for a game," he said cheerfully. "Anypony got any requests?"
"I would have brought my cards, but -" Peridot stuttered when she remembered she had given them to Darren.
The knight reached into his bag with a crafty smirk. Peridot beamed as he pulled out the ridiculously colourful pack.
"Do you know any good card games?" she asked, excited and wide-eyed.
Opening the pack at the bottom, Darren swiftly caught the cards. He shuffled them with a speed that made White and Feather exchange looks, then he used one hand to split the stack in the middle and turn one half around the other. Eclipse and Peridot gaped at him in awe.
"Kid," he said, "I used to serve. I know all the card games."