//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4.1 (Part II: The Journey) 
// Story: Apostle 
// by EquestrianKnight97 
//------------------------------//

Ponyville quickly disappeared in the distance behind the mobile train as it sped across the tracks without fault. The sky above the small town and surrounding countyside was illuminated with a dark purple glow as Celestia's sun began to set down, allowing Luna's moon to arise within the next few hours. Besides the diminishing orange glow around the setting sun, the only sources of light present amidst the growing darkness were the faint lights from Ponyville and the distant mountain city of Canterlot, and the blurring lights of the train that Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends were aboard. 

The purple alicorn stared outside the window to observe the ever shifting landscape that the train displayed to her. Her assistant Spike sat right next to her, preoccupying himself with one out of the many comics he had managed to grab before they left Ponyville. Twilight's mind was wandering throughout the details of the letter that brought her and her companions to take this journey, and as she thought harder on those details a conversation rose up from the seat across -- started by a female groan.

"I still can't believe I'm missing out on that Cloudsdale party," Rainbow Dash groaned. The upset and pouty cyan pegasus slouched in her spot on the train seat with her forelegs crossed against her chest. "I was hoping to spend some time with Soarin' and Spitfire after they were finished congratulating the trainees and reservists. But now we gotta go to some stupid swamps."

"Ah'd like to think that perhaps ya'd be more worried our responsibilities as the Elements of Harmony," Applejack said to the pegasus sitting beside her. "Ah'm pretty sure this party of yers isn't mandatory as for ya bein' a Wonderbolt and all. And considerin' how big of a friend Steven Magnet is, Ah see it as fair that we sacrifice our leisure to help him out."

Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack. "I know how important our duties are, AJ," she said with a sigh. "If this is as serious as Twilight said, then it makes sense why we all have to go. But still, it's a bummer to be taken out of something you've been preparing for for a long time."

The orange earth pony nodded. "Ah can understand,' she commented with sympathy. "Ah was just in the middle of organizin' the next family reunion when Twilight came around the. Ah hope it ain't so, but if this mission takes too long, Big Mac and Apple Bloom will have to take charge of things if we can't make it back in time."

Behind Twilight, Pinkie Pie, sitting next to Fluttershy, leaned over the aisle of the train car to look across at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. 

"I know the reunion's a big deal for you, Applejack," the energetic pink earth pony said with her usual bubbly tone, "but I think it's good that we're getting to see Steven again. I know a while ago he was here in town for Cranky's and Matilda's wedding, but we didn't get a catch to really talk with him. Hopefully when this whole thing is taken care of we can catch up with him."

Sitting by herself behind Applejack and Rainbow Dash, Rarity turned her head away from the window and looked at Pinkie Pie across the aisle. 

"It would be interesting to hear what he's been doing," the white unicorn commented. "I know he's been traveling through river towns down south the last time we've corresponded letters, doing odd jobs here and there while getting a sense of adventure." 

"Um, Twilight?" said Fluttershy with a soft, polite voice, though still audible to get the alicorn to turn around. "I know Steven Magnet is in trouble, but could you tell me what's going on? When you came by the lake to find me, after I wasn't at my cottage, you were in such a hurry to get me to go that there wasn't anytime to explain."

Using her magic, Twilight levitated a folded letter out of her bag on the floor and gave it to the yellow pegasus.

"All of the details are in there," Twilight stated. "but to summarize, the town where Steven resides is next to the Troll Confederation, a small nation between the Badlands and the Hayseed Swamps near New Horseleans. For decades, the trolls have kept dangerous insects from invading the pony settlements in the swamps in exchange for trading, but all of a sudden a conflict has broken out between the tribes of the confederation, with none of them focusing on keeping the bugs at bay. If the trolls don't cease their hostilities, New Horseleans and other nearby towns might be infested with these creatures."

"And bein' the Princess of Friendship, it makes sense that Steven would write to you to solve this issue," Applejack said, with her getting an nod from Twilight. 

"This letter was written around three days ago, and if what I've read is true, then we have around five days left until the recent protection spell the trolls casted goes away. Luckily we'll be at the town of Miracle Song by tomorrow morning, or at least by noon."

"No offense, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said. "We're all here to help you out and all, but why did you need the whole gang to come with you? I mean, you mentioned in the letter that Steven only called you for help, not the rest of us."

A troubled frown formed on Twilight's face as she looked down at the floor. "Did you guys felt any weird sensation on your flanks anytime today? I mean anytime, not just when I got you all together?"

The other five mares in the train car gave their own individual responses, all of them indicating that they did not experience such an event. At this, the purple alicorn sighed, which was enough to draw even Spike's attention and concern.

"When I read Steven's letter, I felt this faint vibration near my cutiemark. It was the same feeling that would occur when the Cutie Map would summon us on a friendship mission, but it felt much weaker this time, like I was being bothered by a feather tip. And there wasn't a glow present on my cutiemark either. But though I was the only one who felt, it felt safer to bring all of you along with me, in case this issue requires more than just me."

Gasping, Rarity placed a worried hoof to her lips. "Are you saying that the map still isn't working after that time-travel mishap you went through with Starlight?"

"It's been weeks since that's happened, though," Applejack interjected, addressing Twilight. Like Rarity, the orange earth pony was bothered by the news. "Ya tellin' me it hasn't rebooted itself after all that time?"

Twilight shook her head. "I've tried everything that I could with the spells I know, but so far there's been no progress. I've sent a letter to Celestia asking her to look for books centered on repair spells or ones that mention the Tree of Harmony to any degree, but given the unique design of the map it could take a while before I get any hint of where to start next."

From behind, Fluttershy placed a hoof on the shoulder of her worried friend and gifted her compassionate teal eyes. "That has to be very taxing on you, Twilight. With all the potential missions we could miss as time goes on, I understand the rush to fix this map for the sake of those going through a hard time."

Though she could not return a smile, Twilight placed her own hoof on top of Fluttershy's in a similar warm manner. "Thanks, Fluttershy. I really appreciate it."

When she felt her friend's hoof slip away, Twilight resumed her practice of staring outside of the train car window. Fluttershy's last words weighed heavily in the alicorn's mind -- for the subject was one that she had unfortunately been torturing herself with over the past weeks. 

Until the map came into existence with the creation of her castle, Twilight was unsure of what her duties as a princess were supposed to be, and she clearly remembered how anxious her thoughts were concerning her future. When the map did arrive it was a blessing to her, as it made it crystal clear that she and her friends were meant to spread the value of friendship throughout Equestria and her neighbors.

But now that the map was defunct, and may remain so for some time, Twilight's anxieties for the future were ramped up more than ever before. Despite the many nights she spent tiring herself out over researching a solution, when she was not coming up with teaching material for Starlight, she could not find anything that would guide her on fixing the map. 

If the map was not going to get repaired any time soon, than whatever friendship missions that Twilight and the others were meant to have done will no longer be available, and the ponies who were supposed to be helped might be left to struggle with their own problems. Though those hypothetical events would be of no fault of her own, Twilight felt a sense o self-blame overtaking her like a dark shadow, as the thoughts of those who needed her being left to suffer pester her. If anything, her inability to solve this problem seemed to reflect how good of princess she truly was. 

Before further thoughts of self-loathing over took her, the purple alicorn felt a claw tugging at her foreleg. "Twilight? Is everything alright?"

Shaking herself out of her daze, Twilight turned her head to Spike and blinked a few times. "What did you say, Spike?"

"I asked if you were alright?" the dragon asked. "You've been staring out into the open for sometime."

Twilight chuckled, hoping that it would be enough to distract her assistant from asking more questions. "I'm fine, Spike. Just daydreaming is all. It's been a while since we've all been this far down south. Hopefully I'll be able to understand the politics of the area well enough before starting negotiations with the troll tribes."

Spike suddenly beamed a toothy grin. "So this train is stopping at New Horseleans, right?"

The alicorn nodded. "Yep. Then after we leave the station, we'll all take a taxi wagon to Miracle Song."

"Well, if this whole thing with the trolls ends up alright in the end, I was thinking maybe we could take a tour of the city. Maybe we can even join the Festival at night?"

Confused, Twilight cocked her head to the side. "Why would the Festival be going on in the city right now?"

Spike's bright smile remained glued to his face. In fact it might have shone a bit brighter. "Isn't that how New Horseleans is? I heard the whole city is just a non-stop party every night when they host the Festival. I don't know how I would do with all the costumes and masks, but I know I'll just love all that food!"

The enthusiasm he displayed was enough to draw a genuine giggle out of Twilight. "Spike, we're too late into the year for the Festival to happen. New Horseleans only holds it during late winter or early spring, and right now we're in the last month of summer. I don't know who told you that, but the whole of New Horseleans definitely isn't a non-stop party at night."

The young dragon's ears drooped down at the time same his smile went away. "Oh...," he said with a disappointed tone. "Well that stinks. I had a whole schedule planned out and everything. I was even planning on taking pictures."

Twilight giggled again and patted a gentle hoof on Spike's back. "Sorry about that. Even it you don't get to partake in the Festival, maybe if this conflict ends on good term we can tour the city a bit."

"Sure. I mean guess that would be nice," Spike said before retreating into his comic book reading with discontentment.

Twilight could see that Spike did not receive the news as well as he hoped to have conveyed otherwise, but she saw it as best to leave him be instead of trying to comfort him. In all honesty, she saw the scene of him trying to hide his disappointment as a bit cute and delightful. With all the stress swimming around her mind, it was relieving to have a brief moment of humor, even if tomorrow was full of potential problems.

Without warning, the door at the car's rear sprang open to allow a unicorn mare, wearing a railroad employee suit, to enter with a trolley of food, plates, bowls, napkins, and utensils following her. When the trolley pusher stood in the aisle between Rarity's seat and Pinkie's and Fluttershy's seat, she released her magical grip on the trolley's handle bar.

"Hello, everypony!" the trolley pusher exclaimed in a happy, polite greeting. "You guys are all from the recent station at Ponyville, right?"

Rarity was the first to respond. "We are."

The trolley pusher levitated several bowls and plates full of food to the counters present in from the four seats, followed by utensils, napkins, and unoccupied plates and bowls. At Twilight's and Spike's counter, they received a plate of steaming hot carrots with herbs and mustard, a plate of fried bananas topped with vanilla ice cream, and a bowl full of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. When his eyes twinkled at the food in front of him, Spike dropped his comic book and with greedy haste assembled himself an empty plate and spoon to prepare a helping of the fried bananas.

"There's not enough room to put all of this in one place," the trolley pusher said, "so just share and pass stuff around if you're feeling a craving for something else."

Looking around, Twilight could see that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, just like Spike, had no hesitation in collecting their servings unlike everypony else. As Rainbow Dash made a plate full of radishes and honey-glazed tofu slices, Applejack turned around to look at the caterer.

"No offense, ma'am," the orange earth pony said. "We truly appreciate all this food, but Ah don't remember any of us orderin' anythin'. Is this some special occasion or whatnot?"

The trolley pusher gave a small smile. "Well, there are this purple unicorn half an hour ago who ordered off the dinner menu when she came to the kitchen car. She told the cooks to just send the food over here when it was done, since she would be busy in the rear of the train."

Seeing that Twilight and the others were served, the unicorn mare resumed her magical hold on the the trolley and proceeded towards the front door of the car. 

"If you need any refreshments, just head back to the kitchen and ask. Goodnight!"

"Goodness, that sounds like Starlight," Rarity said. "I thought she was just taking a while to finish up in the little fillies' room. At least that's what she told me was she left."

"But why would she take so long to come back?" Fluttershy asked. 

"She's probably still bummed out over that scene she made at the art and music contest," Pinkie Pie said as she looked intensely at one plate full of veggie bacon and steaming herbed potatoes, and another plate holding a single square carrot cake. Taking a butter knife in her mouth, Pinkie titled her head and made a horizontal slice across the cake, removed the upper half, slid a few portions of bacon and potatoes on the bottom half, and then returned the upper half in place before taking a big bite out of the carrot cake. 

"Oh, yes," Rarity said with an embarrassed frown. "I forgot about that. I guess she hasn't completely gotten over it."

Fluttershy held up a timid hoof. "Excuse me, but what happened with Starlight today?"

After a few bites of her recently constructed cake were made, Pinkie Pie lifted her head and gave out a satisfied "Mmmmmph!" before turning to Fluttershy, who was surprised by the amount of crumbs and frosting left on the pink earth pony's lips.

"Well you see," Pinkie Pie said, "Twilight brought Starlight to the schoolhouse to help with the art and music contest for the Foal and Filly Fair tomorrow, as a start for her friendship lessons." She leaned in closer to Fluttershy, oblivious to the bits of carrots, bacon, potatoes, and frosting falling from her mouth to the seat. "And just out of nowhere she starts using magic to make everything better. But that only made things much worse. Like, reeeally worse."

Rarity interjected herself into the conversation. "Being there myself to witness it, I must agree that it was quite an embarrassing affair. I have no doubt Starlight had good intentions for giving everypony an equal chance of winning, but using magic to interfere with others' hard work was just... excessive."

By now everypony in the car was listening in to the conversation concerning Starlight, including Twilight, though her eyes trained on the rear door down the aisle. 

"Geez, that's a letdown," Applejack said. "Here Ah was hopin' that she would turn over a new leaf with how she interacted with other ponies. Ah'm sure she's tryin', but Ah guess it's gonna take a bit more time to adjust."

"Well, of course it's gonna take a while," Rainbow Dash said after finishing her tofu slices. "You don't just spend several years subjugating ponies under a bogus message of equality and then immediately leave all those controlling aspects behind -- especially after less than a month."

"Oh my," Fluttershy said with worried sympathy. "If that's the case then it's no wonder she doesn't want to see us. Oh, I hope she doesn't beat herself too hard over it. I know she has to be trying her best, like Applejack said."

Turning to Spike, Twilight poked the dragon on the side and politely motioned for him to get out of his seat. When he did just that, Twilight scooted across and began to walk down the aisle towards the rear of the car.

"Twilight, where're ya goin'?" Applejack asked as the alicorn continued to walk.

Without stopping in place, Twilight turned her head around to address her confused friend. "I just need to find Starlight and talk to her about today."

"What about your food?" Spike said, having not returned to the seat. "It's gonna get cold if you take too long."

"I'll be fine, don't worry."

With a purple glow of her horn, Twilight opened the door and entered the corridor connecting to the next car ahead. When the alicorn had left the light of the car and stepped into the outer darkness, she closed the door behind her.