//------------------------------// // 1. Train To Nowhere // Story: The Shadow Over Seagift // by Monsignor Gabriel //------------------------------// 1. Train To Nowhere "Who am I? When I am hidden, mortal minds gleefully seek for me; when I am revealed, mortal minds fearfully flee from me," said she. "You are the truth," said he. "Indeed," said she. "But you do not flee, and yet you are mortal." "I am still afraid," said he. CELESTIAL DIALOGUES, 33:42-33:51, "Starswirl the Bearded Answers the Riddle of Truth Spoken by Celestia" I remember almost everything. I remember now how it all began, and how ironic that beginning is, considering how it all ends. The thought of it manages to calm me down. It was a good day, that day. It was a time before I knew all of this. I shouldn't go back; that would be willful ignorance. But I want to. It's part of the story, isn't it? I don't care if it makes me happy. It was a bright, beautiful, warm, windy summer morning; graceful, kind, comforting, welcoming, coronated by the rays of the sun, rather like a certain someone I thought I knew. My heart felt illuminated when she sent me a short, compact letter at the same moment I was thinking of her. I was doing my usual research when Spike coughed it up with his usual burp of arcane fire. I remember finding this unusual. I wrote letters to Celestia all of the time, and I knew I hadn't written any to her recently. I was too embroiled in researching the Dialogues and texts like it, and I assume she knew after I mentioned the arrival of the collection from the Canterlot library in the mail. That's 146 volumes of books I had to read. And it was the overly-wordy Starswirl Editions, too. When a faint twinge of worry vibrated through my chest, I immediately thought I was already worrying too much; certainly she only wanted to ask me what my opinion on the Dialogues was (they're marvelous, by the by, though she does come across as too forward with Starswirl. Like she wanted to jump his hat or something). Besides, if it was an emergency, she would have sent a cadre of guards to escort me to Canterlot and meet up with her and her advisors. I asked Spike to read me the letter, but he said he couldn't. "Why not?" I asked. I was still entranced with the Dialogues at this time. "Because the first line after 'Dear Twilight' is 'This is for your eyes only'," said Spike, a little miffed. "Oh... Sorry about that... Well, fold it up and don't read it," I commanded. "I wasn't going to," he said, sticking his tongue out at me. He can be such a big baby sometimes, my oblivious redundancy notwithstanding. And that's saying quite a lot, him being a baby dragon and all. I unfolded the letter in front of me on the desk and read it quietly. Spike, in the meanwhile, had run off to another part of the house, which gave me enough privacy and security to read it under my breath. It helped me concentrate on the letter, my mind having been absorbed in my research beforehand. The letter went so: Dear Twilight, This is for your eyes only. Try as much as you can not to let Spike read it. I'm afraid that some dire situations have arisen in the past couple of days, part of the reason I haven't written to ask what you think of the Dialogues. Personally, I think Starswirl's aide made me sound rather forward. But never mind that. As soon as you get this letter, I want you to consider how quickly you can come to Canterlot by yourself and reply to me as soon as possible with Spike's help. I would send the usual cadre of guards, but I'm afraid that would bring too much attention. This is something that requires the utmost discretion. I await your answer. Celestia. The strangeness of the situation overcame my thought processes, and I forgot that I wanted to write Celestia immediately back after I had finished reading the letter. I wondered what situation would make Celestia require me to operate in complete secret. She didn't mention any of my friends and said, specifically, to come by myself. What if I hurt myself? Or what if something happened to me on the way to Canterlot? Why couldn't we correspond via letters? Why didn't she just send a single guard? Or would that have been too conspicuous? What the hay was going on? At that point, Spike had climbed up behind me and was looking over me, trying to read the letter. His curiosity almost killed me. "So, what's Celestia want?" he said, breaking the silence of my thoughts. I yelped. He started, startled as well. "Sp-Spike... That's none of your business... Oh, Sweet Mare in the Moon, don't sneak up on me like that!" "Jeez, sorry. I just wanted to ask if you wanted some lunch," he said. "Sorry, sorry... I can't. I have to go to Canterlot," I said. "Canterlot? ... Did something happen?" asked Spike, fishing for clues. "Sorry, Spike. This looks serious. I can't tell you anything," I said. I picked up my quill and scrawled a very quick answer to Celestia: Dear Princess Celestia, I'll be on the first rail out. Should we really be using our names? Or is this threat you can't tell me about some kind of evil unicorn wizard that can intercept magically sent messages? Sincerely, Princess Twilight. "Here, message for Celestia. You can read that if you want," I said. Spike immediately opened it and read it. "Aww," he said, before sending the letter to the Princess. "That letter didn't say anything about anything, Twilight," he complained. "Oh, it didn't? That's too bad. Maybe the next one," I said, smiling at him. "Ah, I don't care anymore. It's probably silly, like a river overflowing or something," he said. "Lots of ponies can loose their homes because of that," I said, going to my closet. "So they'll just build their houses again. We do it with Ponyville all the time," he said. "True... Spike... Oh my... A little help here..." I squealed, trying to remove my baggage from the closet. "Wait... I feel..." he began, before burping up another message. "That was quick," I said. This answer was even shorter: T. If it makes you feel better. It's rather difficult to reproduce dragon breath. But it does make me feel better. C. I remember finding the futility of it rather amusing. Nevermind we use our names all the time, but even if we used only our initials, it's rather obvious who is talking to whom. I decided against replying, instead focusing on packing a few essentials for the train: some food, enough bits for the rides, my documentation, and a coat, just in case I need to hide myself from ponies or the rain. I needed to make the Noon Express on time. "So... Will you be back soon?" said Spike, rather disappointed. "Yeah. These meetings can't be too long. I'm supposed to be her liaison in Ponyville. I wouldn't make a good liaison if I weren't here. Besides, she has her advisors to give her advice. You and Owlowiscious get along now, understand?" I said, walking out the door waving goodbye. "Yeah yeah. I'll bake him a pie or something... Jewel pie," he muttered, closing the door behind me. The day was ahead of me, so I promptly galloped to the train station as fast as I could without drawing attention to myself. Hopefully, nobody but Spike and Owlowiscious would miss me. Spike, while he wasn't a very good liar, could come up with something to at least reasonably account for my absence. Despite his lazyness in the morning, he at least understood when to be serious and when things depended on him not goofing off. Or, at least, that's what I thought. And as naive as it was, it would pay off. Hopefully. A train was departing the station, but the noon rail hadn't arrived yet because it wasn't noon, which meant I had plenty of time to get things straight. I bought my ticket, keeping my wings tucked, my back to the bench, making sure nobody was staring at me. Luckily, the station was empty, thanks to the train that had already left. Which meant I could relax a bit and take the situation in. I wondered what Celestia needed me for. What couldn't wait? It had to be something minor, seeing as how I hadn't even been an alicorn or a Princess for a couple months yet. Was I ready for official business? If that was the case, where was she sending me and what did she want me to do there? Did I have to quiet down a riotous town? What would they even be rioting over? Snake-oil salesponies? Ursa Majors? I only dealt with an Ursa Minor, so that couldn't be it. Dragons? Maybe it was a dragon. But wouldn't she ask Fluttershy or a dragon expert in general for help on that? Ponies began to arrive a few minutes before the train had arrived. I hid behind a nearby beam, pulling the coat over me. I somewhat regretted the decision: it was odd for a pony to wear a coat in the middle of thesummer, after all. I wondered whether I was being followed, and who might be doing the following. I'd seen the ponies on the platform before; they all lived in Ponyville, but I didn't know them by name. And, evidently, they were either too tired to care or they didn't know me at all, since none of them seemed too interested in the fidgety mare wearing a hood. "Welcome aboard, ma'am. Your cabinet's right down that car," said the conductor. "Thank you," I replied. I trotted a bit to my private quarters, trying to hide where I was staying. I settled in rather immediately, placing my saddle bag in the net above my seat and plopping down, staring out the window. I sighed, my nervousness somewhat leaving me. I waited a while. Eventually, the conductor gave a last call and the train began to chug along. I could only stare at the countryside as it passed me by as the train slowly picked up speed. Usually, I like trains. My cabin was rather comfy, and I had a lot of privacy. I found myself, however, wishing the conductor were up for a chat. Trains can grow torturously boring when there's nobody to talk to. I jumped in my seat when I heard a knock on my cabin door. "... Who is it?" I said when nobody spoke before me. "Guess," said a very familiar voice. I opened the door and saw who it was. "... P-Princess? Wha... How... You..." I was flabbergasted, to say the least. "I have ways, my little pony," said Celestia, sitting on the seat opposite mine. "... Well... Okay... You look... Good," I said, trying not to laugh. Celestia had cast a spell on her mane and coat, making them look black and tan, respectively. She was also wearing dark glasses and a large coat that seemed to hide a hump from the outside. A disguise so conspicuous it was genius camouflage? Maybe. "Don't I always?" she said, giggling. "Besides, discretion and all." "Right, discretion... This is discreet?" I would hardly call it that, even to this day. "More than you'd think; it's all part of a ploy I'm executing," said the Princess, clopping her hooves together. "A ploy? Why would you... Do you think I was followed?" I whispered. "Maybe, maybe not. It could be some Ponyville resident forced or persuaded to follow you. It could be the conductor. But, just to be sure, I'm glad you were spotted boarding a train to Canterlot by so many. Did you sign your name in the passenger manifest?" she asked. "OH... Sweet Celestia, I knew I was forgetting something." I slapped my forehead at my stupidity. "You did good, Twilight. Besides, I don't think a false name was going to throw anybody off." Celestia giggled. "... I don't get it." I honestly didn't. "Well, you see, my student, you were SEEN boarding a train. Anypony with any kind of political clout knows who you are and what your traveling plans mean. If they're pro-active, they would follow you everywhere. If they weren't, they would at least check the passenger manifest to make sure you had boarded," Celestia explained. "So..." I started, waving my hooves around my head. "So, if you, say, jumped off the train mid-way and went back to Ponyville and then left somewhere else, they would be confused for several days if not a week as to where exactly you are." A few seconds passed before realization finally reached me. "Oh... Oh! That's clever." I smiled, pointing my hoof at her. "Thank you." she smiled back. "Plus, this cabinet gives us relative privacy to discuss what we need to discuss." Her voice lowering, her tone changing completely, I followed suit. "What's going on, Princess?" I asked. "Something... Strange, to say the least. Where do I begin... Maybe at the beginning? Many years ago, before you were born, there was a little village far to the north-east of Manehattan founded by ocean-going ponies called Seagift..." began Celestia. "That's not very clever," I interrupted. "Maybe, but back to the story, my little pony," said Celestia. "Oh, right, sorry." I waved my hoof around, signalling her to continue and disregard my interruptions. "Where was I... Yes, Seagift. Seagift was a unique little town, much like all of the little towns in Equestria, one could argue. But Seagift was special because a special kind of seaweed grew along the coasts of where the town was built; it grew taller than any trees on land and tasted just as good as the sweetest apple. It inspired an algae farm boom, and algae farmers all moved there looking for a piece of the pie." "I hear algae salad tastes really good," I said. "It's alright," said Celestia, shrugging. "Anyway, Seagift grew and grew, and it made other towns around it grow and grow thanks to all the algae it farmed. But then... About 5 years ago... The town stopped sending algae to it's buyers." "... It just stopped?" I asked. Celestia only nodded. "... Why?" I asked. "Nobody knows," said Celestia. "When people went inquiring... The town was discovered deserted. A boomtown, deserted overnight." "... Well, that is weird, but so what? Maybe they just got sick of algae and just moved away or something," I said, though I admitted to myself that it sounded really ignorant. "They didn't. About a month ago, a trader speaking on behalf of the township of Seagift visited some of the outlying hamlets, asking if anypony wanted some of Seagift's famous algae. Some denounced the salesman as a phony, but then he procured a signed, sealed, official Seagift residency document, signed by the mayor who was the mayor of the town 5 years ago. It's almost like the town had gotten stuck in time and had never disappeared. It's like the ponies lost 5 years' time. The thing is, the traders have admitted they know about the strange occurrences in the town. They just don't care because they're being paid very well by the current Mayor of Seagift." "... That's really weird," I said. "Indeed," said Celestia. "The ponies from the surrounding hamlets say there's something wrong with Seagift, and nopony wants to find out what. Some ponies claim it's haunted." "Pfft... C'mon, Princess, you believe them?" I said. "Maybe they're just superstitious... But it doesn't explain what happened to Seagift 5 years ago and why they're resurfacing now. I want you to find out. I want you to infiltrate the town, introduce yourself to the mayor, and, under my authority and your own as a Princess, procure and secure evidence as to what happened 5 years ago... If the authorities and the townsponies won't cooperate and just tell you outright," said Celestia, pointing at me. "You can count on me, Princess!" I muttered. "I won't let you down. Those weirdos won't know what hit them when I come there." "Now, now, Twilight, take it easy... You didn't think I was going to send you there by yourself, did you?" said Celestia. "Oh... Right.. No... That's... That would be silly," I stuttered, somewhat crestfallen. Celestia laughed. "Not that I don't trust you or anything. It's just that we don't know the situation. We don't know what happened, nor whether there might be bandits or something in the town. I trust you and your abilities entirely, Twilight. Why else would I give you this assignment?" "Yeah... I understand," I said, feeling a little better. "I have two parties involved already, but they're waiting for your arrival. One are two natives I managed to contact that were willing to cooperate. They're usually part of the trading caravans Seagift sends out. Their names are Booker Gnat and Private Ike. They said that they would know when you were in town and expect you in the town library. If ever you go there, they'll be there, ready to brief you on any happenings in the town. The other is the Fourth Cavalry, stationed out of sight of the town about two miles to the northwest. If ever, ever you feel in danger, tell Nat or Ike. They'll send a magical signal to the Fourth, and the Fourth will proceed to raid the town and evacuate you. Any more questions?" said Celestia, opening the door and checking to see if anypony was eavesdropping. "... Seriously? Booker Gnat and Private Ike?" I asked, snickering. "Evidently, their parents weren't too creative. Gnat is the mayor's accountant and runs the library in her spare time... And is rather small for a mare her age. Private Ike is a retired private investigator, and freelances for the mayor" said Celestia. "Remarkable for such a young stallion." "Do you know who the mayor is?" I asked. "No... But I met the mayor from 5 years ago. His name was Matchmaker. His father ran a factory that made strike matches, you see, and he grew up making them. He was among the townsponies that disappeared. I wonder if he's returned... The current Mayor claims to be the same pony," said Celestia, struggling to remember details, or at least unsure if the details are accurate. "Can I bring my friends?" I asked. "I would prefer if you didn't... Actually... It would be preferable if you did. Tell them you're... Going on vacation or something. I'm paying for everything. It's a gift... Or something... When you meet the mayor, tell them they're your royal entourage or something. Use them as a cover. Now that I think about it, a group of young mares on vacation appears more benign than a single pony fidgeting about town... And an alicorn princess at that. But leave Spike here. If they believe you're taking your time with leaving, then all the better. Besides, he might just be too much of a distraction and would stand out" said Celestia, pondering the question and changing her mind several times. "Anything else, Princess?" I said. Knock knock. I gasped. Someone was on the cabin door. Celestia made sure her costume was set straight and I pretended to sleep, hidden by my hood and facing away from the door. "Tickets, ma'am?" I heard the conductor say. "Ah, yes, of course. Let me fish my son's while I'm at it" said Celestia. She made a convincing old lady. "That's fine... There ya go! Marked and stamped. Sorry for botherin' y'all. Thankfully, this'll probably be the only time y'all will have to put with me!" said the conductor. "Oh, that's fine, dearie. Yer a handsome colt. I wouldn't mind seeing ya later" said Celestia, smooth and grandmotherly. The conductor let out a hearty laugh. The door closed. "You sound like Applejack's Granny Smith" I said, holding back my laughter. "Well, I am thousands of years old. I could be her great-great-great-great... Well, you get the point," said Celestia, haughty and slightly embarassed. "Well... Is that everything?" I said, giddy. "One more thing. Take this sack of bits, just in case. Forgive me for making you pay for your ticket with your own money. THAT should be everything. Write this all down when you get home so you don't forget, OK?" said Celestia. I detected worry all over her voice and expressions. "Princess... You can count on me. I will not fail. I promise." I meant it. I grabbed my saddle bag, placing the sack of bits inside. It felt heavy. The thought of whether the sack would impede me from flying floated through one of my ears and out the other. I tied my coat's ropes to make sure it was nice and tight and under the saddle bag, so that it wouldn't whip about in the wind. "I know you won't... I know you won't. Good luck, Princess Twilight. My dearest student..." said Celestia. Her smile was the last thing I saw as I left the cabin. I looked up and down the car. It was empty. The conductor had moved on. I heard no other voices. The car was empty entirely. I walked to the nearest connecting door. The train clinked and clanged along at a medium pace, slow enough that I could jump off of it but fast enough I would whip by so fast no one would notice. A chain that acted as a railing separated me from falling underneath the train and quite certainly grinding me into the rails. I went underneath it, pushing from behind so that I could put some leverage on the two connected cars' platforms. I pushed on the platforms as hard as I could. I hurled my entire body forward. I put my forelegs forward in front of my head. I extended my wings. The wind immediately whipped at me, sending me flying against the train's roof. Rainbow Dash taught me well when I instinctively tucked my wings to stop the wind from whipping me about. My right hindleg's hoof clanked down on it, but I then pushed myself off of it, jumping up once again into the air, extending my wings once again. The momentum allowed me to gain some serious air, though my pastern felt a little sore. I forgot about the slight pain almost immediately as the wind allowed me to glide quite high above the train and the terrain around Ponyville seemed to embrace and caress me, like a lover; red, green, brown, blue, a pastiche of beautiful color extended before me. The wind beat against my face and muzzle, making me numb to the sting of the cold air. My eyes watered at my attempts to keep them open, but, thankfully, Fluttershy had helped me get used to the wind by fanning my eyes for extended periods of time. I flapped them once or twice. The sack of bits Celestia did indeed feel heavy, but hopefully wouldn't fatigue me too much. Flying made me feel free, liberated, revealed. It was so much, it frightened me. I understood why Rainbow Dash loved it and Fluttershy didn't. It was scary, but fun.