(Rainbow Dash's POV)
I don’t wake up this early in the morning very often. But on the rare occasions that I do, I like to go out for a quick flight to stretch my wings and watch as the sun rises from the east. It’s always so much more beautiful up here than when I’m on the ground. The clouds slowly shifting from orange to their usual white. The long beams of light being projected from the great orb whose ascension marks the start of a new day.
When I flew in the sky at this time of day, I almost felt like I was part of it all. Like I was the sunrise, bringing light to a land that had previously been shrouded by the night not but a few moments before. Like I was the one moving the sun with my wings, and not Princess Celestia with her magic.
Indeed, the sunrise is truly beautiful.
…
Not that I would say any of this out loud, of course. I have a reputation as a cool mare to uphold. I couldn’t drag it down by talking about the sunrise like I wanted to marry it. The day I do that is the day Spitfire starts writing poetry, and that’ll never happen!
Shaking the thoughts that would make Rarity proud out of my head, I got another look at the town below. When I asked the conductor why we stopped earlier, he said that we were refueling, and that we were gonna be here for a good hour or two as they got the coal loaded on the train. I took the opportunity to get some air time before being crammed into a train car again. I may be the fastest flier in Equestria, but even I couldn’t keep up with a train going at full speed on mostly flat ground twenty-four seven.
It was a fairly small town, just barely bigger than Appleloosa. All it had was a town hall, a motel and a train station, with the rest of the buildings being houses. I heard there was a diner somewhere from one of the train workers who used to live here, but I hadn’t seen any sign of it.
“Maybe I’ll have better luck looking for it on the ground.”
A new course of action decided, I moved to make a landing on the platform of the train station, where I found Applejack waiting for me. That wasn’t much of a surprise. She always woke up super early. Something about work on the farm. I never paid much attention whenever she told me about it.
“You're up early. You feeling alright, Dash? You don’t usually wake up before noon.” Applejack teased me.
“I have my early mornings.” I retorted. “One of the train ponies said there was a diner somewhere in town. Wanted to see if I could find it.”
“Yeah, I heard something about that too. So did you find it?”
“Nope. Couldn’t see it from the air. I was thinking about going on a walk into town to see if I could find it that way.”
“Well, let’s get going then. I’ve had a hankering for anything that isn’t train food or Pinkie’s sweets since we left Ponyville.”
“Hey, Pinkie’s sweets are awesome!” I defended the pink mare’s confectionary treats.
“They are, but I don’t want them to be a cornerstone of my diet.” AJ responded.
“Speaking of Pinkie, shouldn’t we get the rest of the girls before we head out?”
“I already checked. Pinkie says she’s busy ‘learning everlong’, whatever the hay that means, Twi and Rares are still fast asleep after their late night study sessions, and Shy said she and Spike would meet us here once you landed.”
Sure enough, almost as if on a hidden queue, the yellow pegasus and purple dragon exited the train and stepped on the platform, trotting/walking over to us the moment they spotted us.
"Hey girls!" Spike called out.
"Mornin' there, Spike. Ready for some real food?" AJ questioned the dragon.
"You bet! I'm starving." He emphasized his point by patting his stomach with his paws, which his stomach responded by growling so loudly I was sure my parents back in Cloudsdale could've heard it.
Finding the diner didn't take that long. Turns out the reason I couldn't see it from the air was due to the fact that it was built into the first floor of somepony's home, so it looked just like any other house around here. That was a little strange to me. Sure, it was pretty common back in Ponyville to live where you work, but every restaurant usually had a sign that could be easily seen from the air.
Here though? The only sign was a small piece of wood in the window, the faded text advertising one "Grill Bit's Family Diner", supposedly the best diner in all of Jewell Valley, Macintosh Province.
"More like the only diner in Jewell Valley."
Entering the establishment, there really wasn’t much to write home about. Hay, the place barely looked like a diner. It was more like an old style bar you would find in Manehattan. All wood furniture, a few tables scattered around the single room. All empty. Not a single pony in sight. There was a stage off to the right, a single sign promoting a karaoke night for nine pm tonight.
“Better not tell Pinkie about that. She would demand that we turn the train around so we could participate.”
Walking up to the bar itself, the four of us took our seats and waited for the bartender to arrive. In the meantime, we got to talking. While we started off talking about Ponyville and how everypony back home was doing, our conversation soon veered towards our mission and the creature of the hour.
“I just don’t think we should be trusting this Jackson so quickly. I mean, he just shows up out of nowhere and starts helping out?” AJ once again stated an argument she had been repeating since we had gotten on the train three days ago. “Doesn’t that seem a bit odd to you three?”
“I mean, I guess?” Spike was the first to, rather hesitantly, speak up this time. “But what if he’s just scared of Sombra? I know I would be in his situation.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” AJ seemed to almost demand. When Spike didn’t provide an immediate response, Flutters stepped in.
“What I think Spike was trying to say is to think of it from his perspective. What would you do if you were ripped from your home, away from your family and friends, and into a place you knew nothing about with no way to communicate with those around you.” Flutters took a moment to let that set in before continuing. “Add on the life threatening situation he’s in with Sombra, I wouldn’t blame him for being scared.”
“But if he’s really so scared like you say, then why did he agree to help out?” Applejack shook her head. “From what little Princess Luna’s told us, he doesn’t seem all that scared.”
“Maybe he offered to help out so he could use his fear to distract himself from something else.” A new voice spoke up, startling the four of us. Behind the bar stood a white unicorn stallion with deep blue eyes and bright red hair, a cutie mark of a simple sun on his flanks.
At our collective looks of surprise, his only reaction was to smile a little. “Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. Figured I would throw my two bits in. Names Solar Flare, and I’ll be your bartender for the morning.” He pulled a notepad and a pen out from somewhere under the counter with his magic. “Can I start you off with some drinks? Keep in mind that the bossmare has a strict ‘no alcohol until five pm’ rule.”
“Probably for the best, what with how much cider Dash here likes to drink.” Before I could retort, AJ placed her order. “I’ll just take a water.”
“Same here.” I said, which was responded to by a hum of agrement from Flutters.
“I’ll have some milk.” Spike said.
“Alright. Three waters and one glass of milk, coming right up!” Solar Flare turned around and started grabbing our drinks.
“So what did you mean by what you said earlier?” I asked. When his only response was a simple “Hmm?”, I clarified. “About distracting himself, I mean.”
“Ah, that.” Solar Flare placed our drinks on the counter and seemed to take a moment to think before he continued. “Well, I was speaking from personal experience there. When I moved here from back east, the first thing I tried to do was find a job and distract myself with work. I might have left home of my own accord, but I still missed my family." Solar Flare let out a sigh. "I wanted to distract myself from the fact I missed them, is what I'm saying. Maybe that's what your friend is trying to do. Distract himself from his grief, at least for a while." He flashed yet another small smile as the four of us absorbed the information.
"My brother did something similar, after our ma and pa died." AJ spoke at last. "He threw himself head first into his work and didn't look back. Took months of Granny and I slowly trying to convince him before he finally took a break." AJ took a sip of her water. "Considering the circumstances, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he would do something similar."
"My condolences." Solar Flare spoke up. At the questioning look AJ gave him, he clarified. "For your parents, I mean. It's never easy losing a loved one." He then cleared his throat. "Anyways, I'll leave you four alone to take a look at the menus if you need it."
"No, no." I stopped him. "We've already got our orders ready." After taking our orders, Solar Flare stepped back into what I could see was a kitchen area and gave the piece of paper with our orders on it to a dark blue earth pony with a light brown mane at the stovetop, the cutie mark of a spatula on his flanks. The pony nodded and began to prepare our orders as Solar Flare stepped back behind the bar. We talked again for a short while before he excused himself to help some other customers who had entered the building while we were talking.
Not long after, our food arrived. Flutters, Spike and I spoke about anything that came to mind while we ate. AJ, on the other hoof, had stayed mostly silent after we got our food, and she had this look on her face like she was thinking long and hard about something.
"I guess that stallion did give her a lot to think about."
We made it back to the train about an hour after leaving the diner. Now that we knew where we were going, the trip was a lot shorter. AJ and I were carrying some takeout we had gotten for the rest of the girls. Spike assured us that, at the very least, Rarity would be awake by now.
On the way, AJ finally spoke up with an interesting question.
"You think that bartender was right?"
"Um… what?" I asked, genuinely confused about what she was talking about.
"Do you think Solar Flare was right? About Jackson trying to distract himself from his grief by confronting his fear?"
"I… I don't know, AJ." I responded honestly. "I mean, it's not like we can just walk up to him and ask the guy. He's hundreds of miles away right now and he speaks a different language."
"Just tell me, Rainbow." AJ pushed. "Do you think he could've been right?"
"I… I… I dunno? Maybe? I guess?" Then an idea came to my mind. "Maybe you should ask Rarity about this? I mean, she has a tendency to go all 'workaholic mode' when she's stressed or anxious."
"I guess that is a good idea. I'll talk to her about it some other time." That was the last thing she said before we entered the train and found Twilight fully awake, with her nose pressed into a book.
"Twilight, we're back!" Spike called out. "And we brou-" he was interrupted by a scroll manifesting itself from the green flames of his dragons breath. "-ght food! Oh, and there's a scroll for you!" Spike set the scroll on the table next to Twilight, while I placed the food on the table, making sure to be careful to place it somewhere it wouldn't even touch her notes. I really didn't want her going twilly-nanas this early in the morning.
"Thanks Spike. And thanks girls." She said, moving some of the papers around so she could place her breakfast closer to her. "So who's the scroll from?"
"Princess Luna, if the royal seal is anything to go by." Spike answered. Her breakfast suddenly forgotten, Twilight practically ripped open the letter to see what the princess had sent her.
"Whoa, Twi. With how fast you opened that, you would think you just got a letter from your marefriend." I teased her. The sputtering and red cheeks I got in response from the purple unicorn were reward enough.
"Now now, Rainbow. No need to tease the poor mare." AJ admonished me, to which I responded with a scoff. "So what's the letter say, Twi?"
"Oh, right! The letter!" Twilight levitated the letter up to her face and began reading.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I had another conversation with Jackson about the language barrier, and after some interesting experiences with a selection of extinct animals from his world, I mentioned your attempts to break the language barrier between us and him in the waking world and he proposed an idea to me. You see, he would spell out a word in his native language and I would then memorize it and copy it into the written word in the waking world.
While it took us multiple attempts, and some creative usage of my magic to get around the dream realm's translation properties, we managed to work together to get a few basic phrases and an old folk song from his world fully translated. Included with this letter is a secondary parchment with the translations, as well as the original English version of each phrase, copied as to the best of my ability and memory, with the assistance of a memory spell. I hope that this will help you in your attempts to crack the language barrier.
I wish you luck with your mission,
Princess Luna
P.S. Your brother says hello and that he can't wait to see you again.
…
I think the letter broke Twilight.
She just kinda… sat there, unmoving. If I didn’t see her chest moving up and down, I would think that she wasn’t breathing either. I was kinda concerned for her.
“Um, you alright there, sugarcube?” AJ asked, the concern in her voice matching mine. When she didn’t receive a reply, she asked again. “Um, Twi? Can ya hear me?” Still no reply.
…
“Twilight…?” Fluttershy nervously asked.
…
Spike looked on with concern clearly written on his face. Before he could say anything, however, the librarian finally spoke.
“... I can’t believe it.” She finally said, her voice barely a whisper. “I can’t believe it.” She repeated, this time slightly louder. She pulled the second piece of parchment out and stared at it, repeating the same phrase over and over again, each time a little louder. A small almost manic smile formed on her face as she finally seemed to snap out of her trance.
“RARITY! GET OVER HERE!” She practically screamed in the general direction of the bunk car. “I’VE GOT A LEAD!”
We left the station a few hours after Twilight got Princess Luna’s letter. Since then, Twilight and Rarity (well, mostly Twilight) had been obsessing over the small piece of parchment Luna sent. I had gotten a glance at it earlier, but I only got a few lyrics. Some song about a mare named Clementine, but I didn't pay much attention to it.
Applejack seemed interested, though. She seemed really interested. Interested to the point that Twilight had to make a copy of the lyrics for her just so she would stop trying to steal the parchment whenever Twi and Rarity weren’t looking. Now she was reading over the paper for the… I don’t even know anymore. I lost count after nineteen, and that was an hour ago.
“See something you like?” I questioned from the other side of her booth.
“It just reminds me of the songs Ma and Pa used to sing me when I was younger.” Applejack replied, clearly understanding that I was talking about the paper. “I should stop obsessing over it so much. I’m acting like Pinkie does when it’s someponies birthday.” She folded up the paper and placed it under her hat.
“Hey, I don’t mind.” I replied. “Just wanted to make sure you're doing ok.” I added. “I know your parents are a bit of a sensitive spot for you, and-”
“Dash.” AJ interrupted me. “I’m fine. Really, I am. Just some old memories is all. Nothing more.”
I could tell she was lying, at least partially, but I didn’t want to press her on it. “Alright. If you say so.” I finally said, while trying to mask the unease in my voice.
"And just like how I could tell she was lying, she can tell that I'm lying."
I let out a yawn, making sure to make a big show out of it. "Well, I'm gonna go back to the bunk car and take a nap. I'm sure you can handle things if they get a bit hairy, right?"
"Of course I can. What, are you doubting the mare who saved you from a changeling back in Canterlot?"
"Oh, har har." I sarcastically retorted, a small chuckle escaping from my lips. I got out of my seat and started making my way to the bunk car. "See you in a couple hours?"
"I better. I don't wanna have to come in there and wake you up again."
"That was one time!"
"Are you also gonna count all those times I caught you napping in one of my trees when I needed you for something?" Applejack verbally jabbed, the newfound smirk on her face getting just a little bit wider.
I didn't respond, instead making my way to the opposite end of the car to the door. As I was about to leave, I could faintly overhear a conversation behind me.
"Say, Twi, can I ask you something?"
"Sure Applejack. What's up?"
"Well, I was just wondering, if Luna's in Canterlot and Jack's in the Crystal Empire, how are they tal-"
That was the last I heard of that conversation as I finally left the main passenger car and entered the bunk car, claiming one of the higher up ones for myself and settling in for a mid-afternoon nap.