"Did you hear?" They were having an interesting outing. Diamond and Silver had ambushed him. "The news."
Diamond glanced over at Silver. "I hear a lot of news. Can you narrow that down a little?" She didn't move her hooves, being worked on diligently by Aloe. "How are you holding up over there, Dry?"
Dry's mane was a mess of bubbles, Lotus working busily to get his mane clean and proper. "This is new... I heard of such things, but didn't think I'd ever afford such luxury."
Silver quirked an ear at her luxuriating boyfriend. "Take it as one more perk of being with me. But the news! They say a town got attacked."
Diamond rose a brow high. "Like a dragon or chimera or something?"
"Attacked attacked," emphasized Silver Spoon. "Details are kinda out there, but like they're still fighting, I think."
Dry's eyes widened. "The danger has arrived! We should stop... this." Not that he could sit up with his mane all full of soap, and a kind mare's hooves.
Diamond made a placating downward gesture with her free hoof. "Calm down there, colt. This is a Grown Up thing. We pay guards for a reason."
Dry wanted to shake his head, really he did, but that nice spa pony was still tending to him. "We could help them. I didn't get that warning for no reason... What kind of cleric am I if I don't pay attention when the gods go so far out of their way to speak to me?"
Silver clucked her tongue. "You have a point there. They may take away our library card if we're not paying attention. Tell you what, Dry. After this, we'll see if the train's running there. If it is, we'll hop on one."
"You have one of those?" He sounded impressed. "That would be good... thank you. Sorry. I know you're here to relax."
Silver melted back into her seat. "I'm being pampered with my colt. I'm relaxed."
With the matter settled, Dry tried to enjoy the rest of the session. His mane, at the end of it, was strangely... straight. Instead of fluffy and cloud like, it ran down his left in a sheet. "Hm." He hadn't thought too much about his mane before. It was just kinda there. "Hm..."
Silver came up behind him, draping over him from behind and hugging him gently. "You're looking great."
"Do you think so?" He considered his image a moment more before he turned, stealing a kiss from her on the way. "We should go."
"Where? You have something in mind?"
"The train. You said we could use it." He pointed to nowhere in particular. "We should."
"Ah, right..." Silver waved into the main room. "Diamond!"
Diamond came trotting up. "We heading out?"
Silver nodded softly. "To the train. But while we go check that, could you grab the crusaders?"
Diamond lifted an ear. "Them? I thought you'd want some quality time." She waggled her brows with meaning.
Silver shoved at Diamond. "Cut that out! If Dry is right, we'll want the backup. If not, then we just take a field trip, maybe some pictures and notes to make Cheerilee happy. Oh, be sure they ask their parents."
Diamond rolled her eyes. "I'll be checking with mine. I don't need that kind of trouble." She turned way with a flip of her tail. "Meet you at the train."
Silver waved her off, then nudged against Dry. "Get your things if you don't already have them" She tossed her head at Drys saddlebag, a hint that he was carrying something at least. "Meet you at--"
"--I don't know where that is," he cut in, coloring faintly. "Sorry."
"Alright, then we'll meet at your house." She offered a hoof.
He met it with a clop of unity and scampered off to home. He tucked away his prayer book and some supplies. "I'll be away for a little while, I think." He approached the larger, adult, pony. "If I don't come back for dinner, that's why."
Aunt Holiday considered the beanpole of a colt. "I'm not your mother, so I don't get to tell you what to do. That doesn't mean I won't worry about you. You going somewhere important?"
"I think so," Dry sighed out. "It may be dangerous... I want to hide... But I can't..." He tapped his hooves in bare-touches that made no sound. "I can help, but not if I'm hiding, this time..."
"Those are some very brave words you're saying." She reached to muss Dry's newly straightened hair. "Interesting look... You're handsome either way, just so you know."
Dry smiled at the chubby mare. "Thank you. I will try to be safe... But the safest thing to do would be not to do it at all..." He clearly worried the two opposing ideas in his hooves. "But I have to... Hiding won't fix it."
"Look at you." She opened the stove and reached inside with a one-fingered mitt, grabbing a cookie and bringing it over. "You deserve this."
For just a moment, he was a foal chewing a cookie, not a young adult about to march into battle. It was just him and the sweet crumbs he was nibbling on, in the presence of the kind mother figure that had provided it. "Thank you..." He sniffed softly. "I know... you're not my mom, but I needed--"
She hugged him gently from the side, and there was quiet, save for his little sniffles. He was far from too old to just enjoy having a motherly hug.
"I should go." He shook his hoof free of the last bits of the cookie. "I will try to be safe, promise."
"I'll be waiting here." She quirked an ear. "Hold on a moment. Are you going alone, or is Scootaloo going to run off after you?"
He went rigid. "Um..." How had he forgot that!
"That's answer enough." She leveled a hoof at his nose. "Which means you have to protect her too. Keep her safe. I can't keep up with her hijinks... so I'm glad there's another pony there that'll keep their eyes on making sure you all get home safely. Will you do that for me?"
"Yes'm!" he squeaked, just in time for Holiday's nose to boop him firmly on the snout. "Promise!"
"I know you do, Dry... That's why I gave it to you." She took the tray from the oven and set it out to rest. "It's your specialty, and I know you care for her. You two are friends." She sat at the table. "But you have someplace to be, and I bet she's already there... If she is, tell her that you told me, so we won't be worried, knowing you're there with her."
Trust was being given, and responsibility. "I will," he assured breathlessly. The option to hide had been removed entirely, well, unless he got Scootaloo to hide with him. It was, perhaps, not the time to hide... "Be safe."
"That's your job," she gently taunted. "Travel well."
He walked to the door and through it, closing it behind himself. He patted the building. "Be back soon." The building had no words of encouragement for him, but it felt like it needed to be said. He bolted, not hiding, just running. In a spirited gallop, he made it all of about 20 feet before it hit him. He sheepishly turned back to sit next to the door. "That wasn't too long, was it?"
It was there, waiting patiently, that Silver Spoon arrived. "All ready?"
"Ready," he assured, hopping back to his hooves. "Everyone else is there?"
"Should be." She waved him along and they headed off together for the train station. They raced through the town, past ponies going about their idle day's efforts. Some nodded or waved at them, pleased to see scampering foals about, but they had no idea what was up.
At the train station, the others sat on the platform close to the station. "There you are," called Diamond. "There's a train headed that way, but the pony made me sit and listen to this big disclaimer." She rolled her eyes. "Like I don't know what danger is."
The crusaders cheered in solidarity. Apple Bloom raised a bottle at the end of a hoof. "We're ready! It'll be nice gettin' into trouble with more backup."
Scootaloo suddenly winced. "I forgot to tell them!"
Dry's cue! He put a hoof on her chest. "I told her."
"You did?!" She shook him harder than required. "What'd she say? Which of them did you talk to?!"
"A-aunt Holiday," he got out, unable or unwilling to battle free of her grip. Equestrians could have mighty fine grips without fingers being involved. "She said they wouldn't worry."
Scootaloo released him, blinking. "She did? That's not... like her."
Dry pointed at himself. "She said she trusted me to make sure you got back safely."
"Aw!" Scootaloo burst into giggles. "Watch out, saying things like that. Your girl will get mad."
On prompt, Silver casually dragged Dry away with a yelp. "Just like that." Scootaloo didn't try to follow. Some things had to be worked out between a couple.
Silver Spoon plunked down bits to get a ticket, enough for them all. But when Sweetie got the ticket, she gazed at it with confusion. "This ticket has an odd appearance. Are you sure it's valid?"
Silver smiled brightly, pride showing through it. "Never saw a first class ticket?"
Diamond snickered at the confusion. "Really? Well, prepare for a treat! Anypony can get a coach ticket and wait with all the other ponies. We'll have a car to ourselves." She tapped at her own chest. "With accommodations if I know Silver right."
"You do," she agreed in a sing-song. "Just because we're traveling doesn't mean we can't be comfortable."
Dry looked to the tracks, at least no longer being grabbed or chastised. "The train will come there?"
Apple Bloom pointed to the same tracks. "That one right there. You hear ah trains afore?"
"Yes." Dry nodded firmly. "There's a big train in Everglow. Never saw it, but heard of it. The Lightning Rail. Is yours powered by lightning too?"
All the fillies there blinked at the idea. Scootaloo raised a hoof first. "No, but that sounds awesome and I want to try it."
They began to gossip about riding a train that was on a lightning bolt. It was, perhaps, for the best that a train came in to a smooth halt. It had no electricity on display, instead chugging smoke into the air. The conductor accepted their tickets one by one, point them down the hall of the train. "Your room's back there."
"Thank you." Silver rushed ahead, leading the others past the other ponies who were finding seats on benches. "Right here!" She threw open the door into the well-appointed room that had room enough for them all. It helped that they were small ponies. "Have a seat, grab a drink, or a snack. It's all included."
Dry sat next to the drink bar and poked at it curiously. "Hm..." He hefted one into view, but he didn't know what most of the words meant, specifying where that alcohol came from. "Hm." He turned it towards Silver Spoon. "Is this good?"
Silver raised a brow at it. "Hey, woah. My parents would flip their lids if they saw me drinking that." She gently swatted the bottle free of Dry's grip. "What are you thinking?"
Dry blinked softly, running headfirst into where he was an adult in one world, and a child in another. "Well, um... we are warriors. We may get hurt..."
"That won't help." She clapped his cheeks between her hooves. "So let's keep our heads on straight."
"Right! Yes, that's a good idea." His girlfriend was doing better at thinking of survival! The shame. "We should focus on getting this done without being hurt. Very good thought."
They were on their way. They just had to defeat whataver as causing all the trouble.