Chapter Seventeen: Train Adventures
The group of travelers continued on their adventure after the Parasprite attack, feeling as though getting Pinkie Pie's Element was taking a lot more time than necessary. Spike didn't want to actually mention that, so he remained quiet, usually just spending time in the dining car. On the third day of travel (which frustrated Spike since Pinkie Pie had only mentioned two days), the voice of the train conductor sounded on a speaker, bringing news which Spike was rather glad to hear.
"Good morning, passengers! Today we'll be arriving in Poshley Heights around three o' clock this afternoon! Until then, please feel free to explore the train until instructed to be seated right before we enter the station. Thank you for riding Excess Express!" Spike cheered silently as he nibbled on his donut. The door of the dining car opened to reveal Fluttershy, who came up to greet him.
"That's wonderful news, isn't it? I think it is. I'll be so happy when we can return and help Rarity, won't you be?"
"Of course! It's what I've been wanting this whole time!"
"Oh, yes, of course! Um, mind if I sit down for a little bit? I haven't eaten anything yet." He nodded and the mare took a seat across from him in the booth. She ordered from the waitress and began gazing out the window. "My, it sure looks dry out there. Maybe we're driving through a desert." Spike looked out to see that, indeed, the land surrounding them was quite barren. He dreaded the thought of the train becoming stuck out in a landscape like this. The waitress came up after a few minutes with Fluttershy's breakfast. As she lifted her glass to take a drink, the train suddenly jolted, causing her to spill some of the juice on her front.
"Oh my. I'll just clean that up really quick." She blushed and set down the drink, taking the cloth napkin off of the table and mopping up the juice off of herself. Spike continued to stare out of the window. There was a noise of static, causing Spike to look up at the nearby loudspeaker.
"Attention passengers! If you happened to feel that little disruption just a second ago, do not panic! Everything will be alright!" Spike sighed with relief. "However, we have to make a brief stop to check the engines for any foreseeable issues, so our original destination time will be later than expected. We do apologize for this inconvenience, but it is for our own safety, so we hope you find it understandable. Again, we thank you for choosing the Excess Express!" Spike hit his head on the table, causing Fluttershy to jump. She set down her napkin and pat him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, Spike. I'm sure they'll be able to fix things up quickly." Despite the barren landscape, the train rolled into a decrepit looking station and stopped. Spike groaned as the train's engines slowly died out into silence.
Fluttershy's prediction of quick was nowhere near what Spike was hoping for. An hour had passed and there hadn't been any word from the Conductor of when they would take off again. By now they had moved to a bench in a viewing car and were joined by the fillies.
"Think they'll let us get off the train for a bit? I'm bored." Spike shrugged at Scootaloo.
"We might as well look. Besides, we might be able to get there faster by walking." With a dismal expression, he hopped off of the bench and headed for the train's exit doors. Luckily, they were wide open, but allowed in a blazing heat. A train worker nodded and allowed them to step off of the train into the scorching sunshine.
"Oh my, it sure it hot out here. Maybe I'll stay inside and keep Pinkie Pie company." Fluttershy backed into the train once again and left without acknowledgement. Spike turned to the train worker.
"Do you know how long we have to be here?" She shook her head.
"Sorry kid, I don't. It looks like there were some pretty big complications, though, so we should be glad we stopped when we did. Frankly, I'm thinking we'll have to bring in someone from another town, though. This station's locked up and we can't find anyone." Spike groaned and kicked a nearby pebble.
"Yeah. Thanks. I guess." He walked further up the platform, followed by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. He looked over at some of the crew members examining the train and ignored them, walking into the shade of the abandon station. Scootaloo inspected the boarded up door.
"Think there's something really cool inside of here?" she asked, nudging one of the planks.
"Probably. Maybe we could break it down when no one's looking and look around inside!"
"Guys, that's vandalism!" Spike lectured. The fillies rolled their eyes at him.
"Yeah, yeah, but it would be more interesting than standing around here or sitting inside being bored." Scootaloo touched the wooden plank again. "This thing is ancient. I bet we could break it down, easy!" Sweetie Belle went up to her side to examine the door as well.
"Come on, Spike! I bet you could disintegrate this wood with some of your fire, easy!" She poked at the pouting dragon with a hoof. "Come on! You know you want to!" He pushed her hoof away angrily.
"Fine, fine, I'll do it! Just… I don't really want to get involved. I'll stay out here to make sure you guys don't get left behind by the train." The fillies grinned as they stood back to let him take over. "Is anypony watching?"
"Nope! You're good to go!" Spike sighed.
"Alright, here goes nothing." He took in a deep breath and blew his flames which instantly consumed the wood and burned it away. "I really hope that didn't get sent to Princess Celestia." The fillies high-hoofed as they cleared away the remaining debris holding the door shut. In no time, they had it open, though the inside was dark.
"Sweet! Let's go, Scootaloo!" The fillies walked inside like it was nothing, Scootaloo turning back to look at Spike.
"You sure you don't want to come with us? Maybe you're just too scared to?" Spike stomped a foot onto the ground.
"I am not too scared to go! I'll go, if that's what you want! Not that you could really survive without me, anyways!" Scootaloo snickered.
"Yeah, right, that's it."
The inside of the abandon station wasn't much to look at. It was dark, but that was easily solved by Spike creating a makeshift torch with a fallen plank. The floor didn't seem sturdy, so they were careful with their steps. After wandering around the main room for a little bit, they stumbled upon a staircase.
"Think it's safe?" Spike asked nervously. The fillies had already started climbing it, though. Spike took notice that it had no railing, but followed after them. The planks of the top floor seemed even less sturdy than the ones below, even with an occasion missing one. "Guys, I really think we should be heading back." Spike urged.
"Oh, come on, Spike. We'll be fine!" Sweetie Belle pointed ahead to a wall made of chain links. "Whoa, check it out!" They ran up to it and looked beyond where they could see the shadows of machinery.
"What kind of station is this?" Scootaloo asked in amazement. "We should totally get down there!"
"B-but wait, we don't even know how to!" The fillies ignored him again and ran along the length of the wall, finding another set of stairs leading down. This one was missing some steps. Spike was hesitant, but Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo easily jumped over them to the next step. Spike followed their lead, almost slipping off the side of the staircase.
"Be careful, Mister Clumsy." Scootaloo scolded. Once they reached the bottom, they approached the shadowy shapes to get a closer look at the large machinery.
"What the heck is it?" Sweetie Belle asked, inspecting the metal.
"Shouldn't you be the one to know that?" Spike pointed out, receiving a glare from the filly.
"I don't have to know everything, you know." The two looked around suddenly. "Hey, where'd Scootaloo go?"
"Boo!" The Pegasus jumped out suddenly from a thick metal pole, startling the two. Spike backed up in a panic, crashing into one of the machines. "Hahaha! That was hilarious! I can't believe you guys were actually scared!"
"Not funny, Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle said in annoyance. They heard a creaking noise and looked up. "What happened?" Spike began running in the opposite direction, pushing them in the same way.
"Run!" he yelled as the machine he had crashed into began to topple over. Despite its size, it was weak and crashed into another piece of machinery, causing a chain reaction. A tall pole fell into their path just before they could make it to the stairs. They backed up into a corner, covering their heads as they huddled together. Once the commotion stopped, a large cloud of dust filled the air and Spike's torch had gone out. They lifted their heads, but could only see darkness.
"…Hello? What's going on? Who's there?" They could see lights from above and, after a crashing sound, ponies picked themselves off of the ground after tripping down the stairs and came towards them carrying flashlights. "You aren't supposed to be here. Don't you know that you're trespassing?" Spike laughed nervously as the fillies remained silent. One of the other pony's jaw dropped as they shone the flashlight on the mess of metal.
"Whoa there. That is going to take a lot of cleaning up." The ponies glared at the three again. "You three are in a lot of trouble."
After the incident, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Spike were forced to stay in the sleeping car for the remainder of the trip. Luckily, their adventure wasn't a total failure as the train's engineer had found the necessary tools for fixing the train in the old station. They eventually started up again and reached Poshley Heights only two hours later than originally planned.
"I hope you kids know better now than to go into places you shouldn't be." One of the train workers scolded as they left the train. They stood sulking as Fluttershy helped Pinkie Pie remove the delicate dessert from the train onto the platform.
"I hate trains." Sweetie Belle muttered.
"Me too." Scootaloo agreed. They watched as Pinkie and Fluttershy lowered the rolling table onto the station platform.
"Careful… careful… perfect! Right there, Fluttershy!" The Pegasus squeaked as she let go of her end of the table, letting it settle onto the ground safely. Pinkie clapped her hooves. "Yay! We did it! Now we just have to deliver this baby and we'll be all done!"
Poshley Heights made them all realize why the Excess Express was so classy. The town reeked of riches and the high-life, something which made Spike and the fillies rather uncomfortable and out of place. They followed Pinkie to the customer's house feeling a bit self conscious.
"Delivery! Helloo! It's me, Pinkie Pie! Oh wait, whoops! I mean, I'm from the Rogueport Bakery, ready with your order!" An exquisite looking mare opened the door, wearing a posh robe the color of gold, a color which seemed to be the theme of the entire town.
"Oh, my. I was wondering when this would get here." She examined the dessert with a keen eye. "Looks wonderful! I suppose I should be paying you now, though. I'll be right back." She entered the house once again, returning after a moment with a small coin purse. "Hmm… this is the amount of bits agree on, correct?" She tossed the entire coin purse to Pinkie, who caught it expertly.
"One, two, three, forty-five…" Pinkie inspected the contents of the bag carefully, then grinned. "Yup! This is exactly what we agreed on!" She placed the coin purse into her own side bag. "I hope you enjoy your dessert, lady! I worked really hard on it!" She quickly put a hoof to her mouth. "Oh! I mean, they actually helped, too! Not with the cooking. That was all me. But they get credit too! They're my friends, you know?" The mare smiled, taking the dish and beginning to retreat into her house.
"Good night, dear. Thank you again."
"Nighty-night, lady!" The door shut, leaving them out in the growing darkness. "Well! Time to head back to the train!" She looked at Spike suddenly. "Oh, wait! What did you want to talk to me about earlier?"
"You mean, back before we even took the train to get here?"
"Yup!"
"Back before we went to get the berry?"
"Mhm!"
"Back before I even broke the berry?"
"Yes yes! What did you want to say?" Spike hit his face.
"Pinkie, we need your Element of Laughter to help Rarity. We needed it a while ago. I was trying to tell you that for a while now." Pinkie Pie laughed.
"Well, why didn't you just say so? If you needed it so quickly, I would have given it to you earlier, silly!" Spike balled his hand up into a fist. Pinkie reached into her bag and tossed him an object. "Here ya go! Just make sure to bring it back, okey dokey lokey?"
"Yes, Pinkie, we'll bring it back as soon as we're done with it. Thank you so much, though!" Scootaloo pulled back Spike, who was about to go into a fit of rage, as Sweetie Belle answered for him.
"Come on, Spike. We can sleep at the train station and wait until another train back to Rogueport comes through."
"Yeah! We'll all wait for it together and sing songs while we wait, right guys?" Pinkie bounced along with them as they headed back to the station. "Right?"