Harmony was in the carriage again with her father. In her hands was a bag filled with some belongings. It had been two weeks and it was the day to leave for the journey. She had no idea what the crew looked like or their names, but she knew what each of them did. A captain for the transportation, an engineer to keep the transport working, a cook, Comet, and her as a representative for her father. There was also supposed to be a security guard to look after the products. Her father had reluctantly agreed to her kindness of taking his place on the journey. She had said goodbye to her siblings who were very sad, but neither of them protested. Harmony figured she was right when she told her father they need him more than her. Depression had still lingered along with the constant reminder of the unknown of what Discord had brought upon her. The carriage was taking her to the mansion where Comet lived. A nervous excitement was overwhelming for what this adventure would bring. Her hair was in a ponytail and she wore her red cape.
The carriage slowed to stop as the house became larger. Harmony stepped out of the carriage and into the sun. Near their ride was another vehicle unfamiliar to her. It had six parts to it. The first part was a square with a triangle at the front and some sort of chimney. The other five parts were rectangles with different types of roofs with some windows. There was a pony loading luggage and crates into the last compartment with a rectangular roof. Chancellor led Harmony over to the pony and told her to give the pony her luggage. "Excuse me I have some luggage," she told him.
"Glad to take your luggage Miss-" he asked.
"Harmony, and you?"
"Security Officer Coden," he introduced. Harmony nodded to the navy blue stallion. His eyes were covered by black sunglasses and his hair was slick black. Coden didn't seem to like his job at the moment with his suit on. She nodded to him and went back to her father.
"What do you think of Coden?"
"I hope the rest of the crew is as nice as him," she replied before father took her inside to the mansion. Comet was waiting for her inside with Red and Altair. They smiled and she smiled back but was especially nervous at the sight of Altair. 'What's going on with me?' she asked herself for the millionth time. She didn't visit either of them after the dinner party. In the parlor, three other ponies were waiting to be introduced. Two were male and the other was a mare. She had brown fur and black soot all over herself. She was concerning to Harmony because her eyes were covered by red and black goggles. Her hair was dark brown and dark green in a tight ponytail. She stood up to Harmony and took out a hoof, "Fira Caol." Harmony shook her hand and told her name. The pony next to her stood up and let out a hand. His hoof was far to the right of her's and so she had to move her's to shake his.
"Ranch, Ranch Dressing nice to meet you," he said with a smile. He was maroon with a green mane and french mustache. She stared into his eyes to realize that the unicorn was blind. His orange eyes weren't looking at her, but a little bit above her. She was about to say something when she moved on to the next pony. He had sandy yellow fur and dark red and black hair. His blue eyes were very circular and he wore a huge grin, cowboy boots, and blue vest.
"Howdy Ms. Harmony, I'm Buck E. Roo," he told her. She smiled and shook his hoof. They all sat down in the chairs in the parlor.
"So are you all ready?" Comet asked. They all nodded and got up. Chancellor handed harmony a sack of something.
"In case of emergency there is some money in here," he whispered in her ear.
"Thank you father," she said before walking out with the rest of the ponies.
"So what is this device?" Harmony asked.
"Its a train, I helped make it myself," Fira told her.
"Train?" Fira stared at her.
"What haven't you been here at all last month? We were building it all the time and made so much noise that even the comatose would awake!" she joked but Harmony didn't laugh. "Do you not like jokes or something?"
"Its not that," Harmony was about to explain but they were getting onto the train.
"So I'm the engineer and Buck is the captain. Ranch is our cook," Fira informed.
"But isn't Ranch blind?" she asked.
"As blind as a bat, but he knows where everything is in the kitchen so don't mess with anything," Fira warned. Harmony nodded and they got on the train. Fira showed her to one of the compartments. Inside were three beds nailed to the wall. Two were bunk beds. There was a door on the ceiling and Harmony assumed that the luggage was stored in the odd closet. A desk and a mirror were at the ends of the compartment and four rectangular windows with green curtains were separated on both sides. And finally two lights were one on each end. "I called the top bunk." Fira told her before turning to the exit.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm the engineer, I have to go to work!" she answered. Harmony nodded and she left to go to a different compartment. Harmony looked at the other beds and chose the separate one. A few moments later the train started to move. Harmony rushed over to the window to wave goodbye to her father. She waved to him but then her eyes widened as she saw Comet next to him. And just then the door opened.
"HELLO!" Red shouted with joy. Harmony, eyes glaring, pounced onto her.
"Are you kidding? I especially came on this journey so I would get away from you and your brother!" she shouted as they were on the ground struggling.
"Don't you remember? You can't leave without my brothers word or without my brother," Red reminded.
"Then why are you here?"
"Ahem, would you rather be stuck on the train with my brother or be here with your friend?" she asked. Harmony let go of her and got up.
"Sorry," Harmony said, guilty of what she had done.
"It's alright, I can understand," Harmony helped her up and then she left the compartment. She went farther down the train to what she found out was the kitchen. Ranch was busy away creating something with the ingredients he found.
"Ah, Harmony, nice to meet again," he greeted.
"How did you know?"
"You smell of lilac, also I felt a darkness arrive," the blind pony explained.
"Darkness?" she asked.
"I know for a fact that you are hiding something, but I will not pry. How are you doing?" Ranch asked.
"Fine," Harmony answered. Ranch stopped mixing in the bowl and turned to face her.
"That did not sound fine at all!" And he was right, but she couldn't decided what to tell.
"I am being forced into this marriage with a man I don't even know and to top it off he's here with us!"
"Ahh, Altair I believe, am I right?"
"Yes, how did you know?" she asked.
"He spoke highly of you earlier when he came to greet himself. I don't know about you, but he seems to know very much about you. Now I must ask how you know so little of him and he knows so much," Ranch replied.
"Ranch, Altair had followed me without me knowing for who knows how long!"
"I believe pay back is in order, will you taste this for me?" Harmony nodded and tasted the batter that was delicious.
"Chocolate! Oh its the most magnificent!"
"Really? Maybe I should teach you one of these days," Ranch told her.
"Nooo, I'm no cook or baker. I'm sorry but I must excuse myself." Ranch nodded and continued to work when Harmony left the kitchen and returned to her compartment. But not to long later did she move to the next room. It was just like hers except there were four instead of two. Altair was actually on his bed reading a book when she came in.
Harmony closed the door loud enough for him to hear. Altair dropped the book and he sat up to stare at her. "Harmony?" he greeted in confusion.
"I've got to know, how long did you follow me for?" she asked and he stared blankly for moments.
"Three days, and they were the most interesting days I have ever witnessed. I mean you Harmony! You were just so interesting," he told her but she one gulped in with her dry throat.
"What you may think you know about me is very different than what is real," her reply hurtful to both.
"What do you mean?" Altair asked. She wanted to scare him or think she is worthless so he'd leave her alone, but at the same time she somehow felt that she wanted in a small way, as in an overly crazy amount, to make her last response be erased and start anew in a deep loving way. These feelings to her were crazy and she wanted to shove them in a box and ship them to another dimension.
"I'm dangerous, so [stay away from me," she decided after choosing to scare him off with the truth of that may hide inside of her from Discord. Altair stood there motionless for a second before stepping closer to her.
"No," he said. One word, one word was all I took for Harmony to hit him to prove her point. Altair jumped from her burst in energy and quickly dodged another blow, shattering the belief that she would not have harmed him again.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Red was examining the compartment she would be spending a long time in. She wanted to believe that there was a hidden room here. She knocked on all the sides of the walls and even the floor. She let out a sigh as the red furred pony sat down on her bed. Red stared down at the floor for what seemed for hours to her before jumping up from the bed and accidentally hitting her head. "Ow!" Red shouted before looking up at the ceiling. She grabbed a broom and began to poke the ceiling. It was completely hollow; the ceiling, and so she opened her wings and tried to use her strength to push open a hatchet. Eventually she found and the door began to lift open as she entered the secret room.
Inside was a small room that could fit maybe fit a bed for two ponies. the floor was wooden and the walls were white. The only rays of light came from the round circular window that was very similar to a porthole. Red climbed inside and sat on the circular red carpet. Around her were two trunks that had a thin layer of dust acting as a blanket and a bookshelf with cobwebs. This surprised Red about the hidden room that was untouched because the train was the one of the newest trains around!
She continued to think about this for a while before she heard the door from below begin to turn. Red quickly got out of the room and closed the hatchet, unsure if she should tell her visitor of her discovery. Just as she landed the door opened and in came Altair. He was holding his cheek. "What is wrong?" she asked. Altair sat on the bed.
"Harmony."
"Oh my Celestia! What is going on between you two!?" Red quickly spat.
"I have no idea! One minute she hates me, then the next she's acting all weird, and now she's hurting me again. Its as if that fall did something to her-"
"Yes."
"In the head."
"No, there is nothing wrong with her head but maybe she's just having problems with losing all that time."
"I'm not so sure," he said just as the train began to slow down.
"Now arriving in Hollow Shades!" Buck shouted.