//------------------------------// // Ch.2: A Day In The Life // Story: At The Edge Of Sanity // by Apollo and Artemis //------------------------------// On the streets of Fillydelphia, two stallions spoke of the mare they kept hearing about at a local bar. "I dunno, man. She doesn't seem your type." The pale blue pegasus said as they trotted towards the bar. The red Earth pony raised his brow and held his hoof to his chest in an expression of mock shock. At least, that's what Clear Sky thought it was. "Not my type? She can down an entire bottle of Antonov in one sitting! How could she not be my type?" He asked as they neared the bar, the lights of its neon signs flickering slightly. "You've never even been to this bar before! How would you know what she looks like?" Clear retorted and Thunder scoffed. "From what I heard, she's a real beauty. But she rejects every stallion that tries to even come near her." He said as they stood in front of the bar. To many stallions in the city, this bar was a test of strength, courage and wit. They all usually failed. And failure was punished harshly. Usually by getting put in the hospital, unable to speak or eat properly. "Then why go after her?" The pegasus asked. "To show I'm a babe magnet. No mare can resist me!" He boasted as he puffed out his chest with pride and Clear facehoofed. He hadn't changed at all in the twelve years they've been friends. But in all the attempts he made to change him, Clear failed every single time. He would never change his attitude, but he had grown on him. He was used to this. Clear let out a loud sigh of defeat. "Fine. If you get Maced, it ain't my fault." He said as they entered the bar. Little did he know, Thunder would be getting more than he expected. Unlike most bars in Fillydelphia, this one was rather quiet. There was no blaring music and it wasn't crowded. Of course, that was to be expected. This bar wasn't particularly popular, since it was quite small. What it was famous for however, was a legendary mare. She was said to be able to drink more than ten stallions and her attitude was twice as nasty. This contrasted her fabled beauty heavily. Thunder and Clear Sky trotted up to the bartender, who was a dark brown Earth pony stallion with a grey mane. He took notice of the duo quickly. "Hey. Welcome. What can I get ya?" He asked with a gravelly voice as he leaned on the counter. "Two Red Bulls." Thunder said and the bartender acted quickly. He fished two bottles from under the counter and simultaneously popped the caps with his hooves. Clear whistled lowly to compliment his speed and grace. "Three seconds. Fastest time I've seen." He said and the bartender gave a smug look. "I've been here for 8 years. I know that when my customers want their booze, they want them fast. Name's Grey Matter, by the way." He said as Thunder and Clear took a swig of the ice-cold beverage. After making a sigh of pleasure, Thunder voiced his reason for entering the bar in the first place. "So, I heard a pretty mare comes here often." Thunder said and Grey sighed. Then suddenly, he laughed loudly, as if he just heard the funniest joke ever. Thunder saw this as an insult. "What's so funny?" He said with a scowl. Grey waited for his laughter to subside before answering. "Is this your first time here or something?" Grey asked as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. "Yeah. What about it?" Thunder said as he downed the bottle and asked for another. Grey obliged him with another bottle of Red Bull. "Since it's your first time here, I'm gonna give you some advice. Don't try hitting on the grey mare over there." He said as he pointed to a lone mare sitting at the end of the bar with a bottle of Antonov in her hoof. She stared blankly ahead as she downed the remaining liquid inside as if it were a bottle of water. Then, she called Grey over for another bottle. "Grey! Another bottle please!" She said, her voice not slurred as Thunder had expected. "Coming right up." He said as he trotted over to her and gave her another bottle of Antonov. She quickly popped the cap and chugged down a fourth of the bottle's contents, the bored look on her face refusing to leave. This shocked Thunder. His jaw hung limp as Grey returned with a smile on his face. That smile turned into laughter at the sight of Thunder, left slack-jawed by the mare's tolerance for alcohol. "How many bottles has she had?" He quickly asked. "Tonight? She's had 3 bottles now, including that one." Grey said and Thunder suddenly felt less confident. How was he supposed to hook up with a mare who could drink more than a sailor and not look even a little tipsy? But he would not falter. He already said that no mare could resist him, so he had to see this through. He took a deep breath and slowly made his way to the end of the bar, where the biggest challenge of the night was waiting for him. --- Elcia was bored. Having gotten nothing done the entire day, other than playing a couple rounds of video games with her roommate, Tibbles, she was very bored. So, she went to the bar. She didn't like the rest of the bars in Fillydelphia, due to the blaring music and the abundance of assholes in them, so she went to her favorite: Grey Matter's. The music wasn't all too loud, there were few assholes and the drinks were great. The only things she looked for in a bar. But now after 2 bottles of Antonov, she was bored again. She drank the remains of the contents of the bottle and quickly asked for another. "Grey! Another bottle please!" She called out. "Coming right up." Grey answered as he trotted over to her with a bottle of Antonov in his hoof. She looked at him with sunken, bored eyes and quickly took the bottle. She popped the cap with a quick bite with her jagged teeth, spit out the slightly chewed metal and took a swig of the sweet, memory erasure liquid. At least, that is what most ponies thought it was. To her, it was drink. Nothing more. As she lowered the bottle from her face, she noticed that Grey had trotted back to the other end of the bar. She shrugged as she took another swig of the Vodka. When she pulled the bottle from her face again, She saw a red stallion next to her. She sighed internally as she drank from the bottle again, leaving only enough for one last sip. "Oh Faust, not this shit again..." She thought as the stallion spoke. "Hey, baby. What's shakin'?" Thunder said in a well-practiced voice as smooth as smoke as he leaned on the edge of the counter and Elcia snickered. "Really? That's the best you can do?" She chuckled as she put the nearly empty bottle on the counter. Thunder smacked himself in his head. "Good job, you idiot. You just used the most plain and lackluster greeting possible. Real smooth." Thunder thought, his dismay not apparent on his face as he continued. "So... you come here often?" He said and Elcia's expression changed from amused to annoyed in less than a heartbeat. This drained his confidence even more. He wasn't usually the nervous mess he was right now. In fact, at this moment, the mare he was hitting on would be all over him. But something about this one made his skin crawl. Was it her beauty? The legends were definitely true. She was beautiful. Her long, dark mane. Her glittering green eyes. Her slender body. She was definitely the mare he was looking for. Was it her attitude? He had seen sassy mares before, and this one was no different. But, she seemed to radiate an aura of anger. She constantly seemed to be seething with barely contained rage. Her glare was also worth mentioning. A stare that punched straight through you, rather than slowly degrading you. One that repelled all but the most courageous, or the most stupid. "What do you think I am, some kind of toy for you to play with? I'm not gonna sit here and be toyed with." She said as she gripped the neck of the bottle on the counter and drank the last of the vodka. "I-" Thunder began, but he was interrupted by a bottle slamming into his face. Broken glass flew from his face and some shards were lodged in his cheek. He staggered backwards and he gripped his face in pain. He looked towards the mare in shock. Did she just hit him with a bottle? Before the thought could completely sink in, he was grabbed by the neck. Elcia slammed his face into the counter. The force broke his nose and blood gushed from it like a faucet. Elcia threw him backwards and looked around for another weapon, while Clear let all of her actions register. "Holy shit! She's beating the crap out of him!" He thought as he dropped his bottle and rushed to Thunder's aid, while Grey looked on with mild interest. He had seen this before. Stupid stallion ignores his advice and hits on Elcia. Stallion fails to impress her. Stallion gets beaten to a pulp. Thunder crashed to the floor, unable to think clearly with the glass lodged in his face and the unbearable pain. His vision was halved, with the right side of his face damaged. Even then, everything was blurred and he could barely make out a grey mare with a chair raised over her head. Elcia quickly grabbed a chair from the bar and raised it over her head. Without a second thought, she brought it down on the unfortunate stallion with a loud crack. Wood splintered as it impacted flesh. The chair hit Thunder squarely in the chest, breaking his sternum, knocking the breath out of him and leaving him unconscious. She gave a grin of satisfaction as she threw the broken chair aside and walked towards the exit while Clear attempted to revive Thunder. "Grey." She said as she reached the exit and the stallion looked to her. She threw a small bag of bits onto the counter. "For the drinks and the chair." She said and she exited. "No problem." Grey said as he watched the pegasus try to resuscitate his friend, only getting groans of pain in response. "Told ya not to hit on her, ya dumbass." --- Elcia walked through the dark streets of Fillydelphia with a grin on her face. Another asshole shown that not all mares were easy prey. She was a legend in this city, and she knew it. Those who were smart avoided her. Those who had the IQ of a slice of bread were much more unlucky. Soon, she reached a small apartment building and she stepped inside. The hallway was bathed in yellow light, showing the antiquity of the apartment. That, or it's horrible condition. Paint had peeled off and mildew grew on the corners of the hallway. She could see insects scurrying around on the floor, but she didn't mind. Having been a resistance member, she was used to living in horrible living spaces. She walked up the wooden staircase, her every step making creaking sounds on the ancient wood. As soon as she reached the second floor, she moved to the room that was one door away from the staircase. Room 21. She knocked and spoke to her roommate. "Tibbles, I'm back. Open up." She said. Soon, the door opened to reveal a bleached white pony with a blue Santa hat perched atop his head and a monocle on his right eye. He smiled at the sight of Elcia. "Elcia! You're back from the bar!" He said as he ushered her inside the small room. He seated her on the small couch and sat beside her. "So, any stallions you beat up today?" He said in a playful manner. Despite his tone, he was asking a serious question. Elcia chuckled as she gave her answer. "It was a pretty slow day. Just one today." She said with a smile on her face and Tibbles laughed. "Really? What'd he do?" He asked and Elcia rolled her eyes. "He went with the most plain sentence in the book. 'What's shakin'." She said in a mocking tone and Tibbles laughed. He didn't know why, but he enjoyed hearing about Elcia's day. He knew that he didn't have feelings for her, but he always seemed to want to hear whatever had happened to any poor saps who had been unfortunate enough to meet her. "Then, he said 'You come here often?'. Hah! What an idiot!" She said, prompting more laughter from the white pony. "What'd you do to him?" Tibbles asked, his voice dripping with curiosity. "I smashed my bottle on his face, slammed his face into the counter and beat him with a chair til it broke." She said without so much as a hint of remorse in her voice. Tibbles flinched at this, but quickly regained composure. This story was a bit more brutal than the last one, wherein she simply knocked him out with a quick blow to the temple. "Ouch. That must've sucked for him." He said and was quick to change the topic to avoid any awkward silence. "Want to play video games?" He asked as he moved towards the TV. Elcia waved him off in response. "Nah. I need to sleep. I'm leaving for Canterlot tomorrow, remember?" She said and Tibbles frowned. "Oh yeah... And I'm heading to Hoofington." He said as they made their way to the bedroom. Their beds were on opposite sides of the room, to avoid any bad ideas and awkwardness. Elcia slid into her small, stiff bed and drew the thin sheets over her. She looked to Tibbles, who placed his blue hat on the corner of his bed, revealing his bleached white mane, and he dived into his stiff bed. "How can you just dive into these beds?" She asked. While she was used to sleeping in bad places, she knew that diving into a stiff bed must have hurt. Tibbles scratched his head for a moment and shrugged. "Eh, it's not so bad. I've slept on worse." He said and Elcia laughed. "Yeah, I hear ya. What've you slept on?" She asked. "Hmm.... Dirt, logs and rocks, mainly. You?" Tibbles asked and Elcia closed her eyes to remember the last few places she had slept in. "Sewers, trees, caves and hay, just to mention a few." She said and Tibbles' jaw dropped. "Did I hear you right? You slept in a sewer?" He asked with an incredulous tone. Elcia nodded. "Yep. It ain't so bad once you get used to the smell." She said as she laid back on her bed. She was known to be very honest, even when her honesty was completely unnecessary. "Why would you ever have to sleep in a sewer?" Tibbles asked, worried for his friend. "The sewers were the only place that was safe for me to stay." She said as she sat up and looked to Tibbles with her recently characteristic blank stare. He opened his mouth as if to ask something, but Elcia beat him to it. "Don't ask about it. It's a rather sensitive topic." She said before falling back on her bed. "Ah. I see." He said as he laid down on his bed. "Good night, Tibbles." Elcia said as she promptly closed her eyes to drift into the mad world that was her mind. --- As Elcia drifted into a deep sleep, Tibbles lay awake in his bed, thinking of the mare on the other side of the room. He thought of her words. "The sewers were the only place that was safe for me to stay." Elcia's voice echoed in his head. His mind was bogged with questions. Questions that seemed to be far too personal to be answered. What made it so unsafe that Elcia would have to sleep in the sewers? This thought danced in his head ceaselessly, pushing him to sate his curiosity. Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him. He slowly got out of bed and silently made his way to his luggage that he had packed earlier. He slowly opened the bag and rummaged through its contents until he found what he was looking for. It was a pair of horn shaped devices. They were Link Cables. They were used to bring the minds of two ponies together to see what the other was thinking. He had bought them sometime during his stay in Trottingham. He only had one problem with them at the moment: He needed the receiver to be on another pony's forehead for it to work. He gulped and steeled his nerves. Elcia had problems and he wanted to be the one to help her. He silently approached the sleeping mare and slowly brought his hoof up with the Link Cable. The moment he placed it on her forehead, he felt a crushing grip on his foreleg. "Gah!" He grunted in pain as he dropped the cable and he tried in vain to pry his leg free. He must have woken her up. Her grip was incredibly strong, as he could feel the blood in his veins being restricted and his bones beginning to feel intense pressure. "Sweet Celestia, she's got one hell of a grip!" He thought as his knees collapsed underneath him, Elcia's death grip not weakening. Just as he thought his hoof would be pulverized, Elcia let go. He massaged his aching hoof as he looked to Elcia, who was now awake with an annoyed look on her face. "Tibbles, what the hell? What are you doing?" She demanded and the stallion in question tried to get the feeling back in his foreleg. As the blood began to flow into his foreleg again, he answered her question. "I wanted to know why you had to sleep in a sewer. Nopony should ever have to do that!" He answered and Elcia sighed. She laid a hoof on his shoulder and her gaze lightened. For once in all the time Tibbles had known her, she didn't seem troubled. Her shoulders didn't droop and the corners of her mouth weren't pointing towards the ground, instead they were curled into a small smile. Usually, he saw her eyes as a pale green, but now they were a radiant gold. In this moment, he saw Elcia in a new light. He didn't see the dark, brooding psychopath who wouldn't think twice about strangling you if you looked at her funny. Instead, he saw a mare who had everything she could ever want in life. A caring family, trustworthy friends and a loving coltfriend. For the first time in a very long time, Elcia looked happy. But it was only for a fleeting moment. As soon as it came, it disappeared and he was left with the morbid mare he had come to be roommates with. "Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but it won't end well for you. There's a reason why I always look like a zombie." She said as her eyes darkened once more. "I don't want anypony to know what goes on up here." She said as she pointed to her head and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. This confused Tibbles. "Well-" He opened his mouth to speak, but Elcia cut him off. "Nuh uh. I'm not going to show you what goes on in my head. It wouldn't end well for you. Now, go to bed. We both have to leave tomorrow." She said and Tibbles trotted back to his bed and slid into the covers feeling defeated. Elcia drew the covers over her again. "You'd better go to sleep this time." She said and Tibbles chuckled. "Alright, alright. I will. Sweet dreams, Elcia." He said and Elcia turned over. "Heh, not possible." She mumbled as she fell asleep. --- Tibbles opened his eyes and he was astonished and horrified. He stood in the middle of what looked like a street in the Crystal Empire, but he could barely recognize it. The buildings were damaged in varying degrees, some having only shattered windows while others had crumbling walls. The sky was filled with blackened clouds, the streets littered with the corpses of ponies of all ages. Some corpses hung on the lampposts, their intestines strewn across the roofs. Some lay in burning pits, the stench of burning flesh wafting into his nose and causing him to shiver in disgust. He heard several cracking sounds in rapid succession in the distance, possibly indicating small explosions. He strode amongst the corpses with the horror not leaving him. "What in Celestia's name happened here?" He whispered to himself as he heard faint sobbing coming from one of the houses. "Is somepony crying?" He asked himself as he moved to investigate. He crawled into the crumbling wreckage of a house and took in the sight. The roof had caved in, destroying most of the furniture and opening a large hole in the floor. He looked into the floor and his heart wrenched at the sight before him. Four Crystal Ponies were sitting in the bottom of the hole, crying over the corpse of what he assumed was one of them. It was impossible to tell, though. Most of the skin of the pony had been stripped away, leaving its muscles exposed, blood pooling around it and its dead eyeballs staring at the wall. The survivors of whatever had happened were a single mare and three foals. Most of them were covered in blood, fearful looks plastered onto their faces as they cried. Tibbles heard loud cackling coming from down the street, causing the fearful ponies to look up in horror, somehow oblivious to his existence. He looked behind him to see a large stallion in black armor entering the building. He stood at least a foot taller than him and he carried a massive battleaxe on his shoulders, its edge bathed in fresh blood and shining in the firelight. He grinned a wicked grin, revealing sharpened teeth and his black, soulless eyes. Tibbles clapped a hoof over his mouth as he scrambled backwards, trying to keep his scream from coming out. He strode over to the hole, heedless of Tibbles' presence. He looked down onto the remaining ponies and they screamed, causing him to laugh. "Looks like we got some stragglers!" He shouted as he jumped into the hole, causing its inhabitants to scream, but those screams were soon silenced and several slashing sounds came from the hole. Soon, the screams were replaced by horrified cries. The stallion climbed out of the hole with the mare in tow, her face contorted in an expression of horror. "My foals! Oh Faust, MY FOALS!!!" She screamed as she was dragged away. Tears slid down her face as she struggled against the stallion's grip. It was all in vain. He was too strong. She eventually gave in and wept in silent despair as she was dragged off. When they left, Tibbles hesitantly walked to the hole. Fearing what lay inside, he braced himself. Then he looked. Instant regret. Inside lay three corpses, one with its head chopped off, the neck stump still spurting blood. Another split in half, innards spread out before it. And the final one was completely hacked to pieces. Limbs torn off, body a bloody lump of torn flesh and crushed bones and tiny skull shattered like a shorted out lightbulb. Tibbles backed away, his breathing and heart rate soaring. He only stopped when he hit the wall. "Who would do something like this to foals!?" He screamed. "Whoever they are." He thought to himself. Whoever these ponies were, they couldn't give two shits about the lives of others. In fact, they seemed to enjoy making others suffer. He quickly made his way outside, wanting to be as far away from the corpses as possible. Out on the street, he saw no sign of the murderers. Not that he wanted to. Suddenly, he heard the clanging of metal on metal from further down the street. "Somepony must be fighting against these monsters." He said to himself as he followed the noise. As he progressed down the street, more and more gruesome deaths appeared. Some had been flayed alive, bare muscles showing as they hung by their hind legs from a pole. Some had been pierced by metal spikes, a few of them still clinging to the last vestiges of life as they tried in vain to free themselves. Others had been torn apart by racks, their separate halves still dangling from the sinister devices. A few had even been crucified, their bodies bloodied and wounded by previous torture as they hung on their wooden graves, writhing in agony. The few who had been left alive let out harrowing moans of suffering. The sound filled the air, forming into a collective howl of sorrow and pain. The cries of agony also seemed to hurt Tibbles. It shook him to the core. For a moment, he thought that this was all some nightmare. A nightmarish hell conjured by his mind. But the horrors he saw felt so real. No nightmare could ever be this graphic, this brutal. The smell of death buried itself in his nose, unwilling to let go of the terrified stallion. A sense a despair drifted around him as he gazed upon the soon-to-be corpses of the suffering, the pained expressions unable to change under the heavy veil of suffering that hung over them. He tried to look away, but his eyes only met another who either died in a more gruesome fashion or seemed to be in even more pain. Unable to take the sensory barrage, he laid on the bloodsoaked streets in surrender. He wanted to leave this hell. Finally, when he thought he would be driven insane, he heard a voice. A beacon in the dark. "Eve!" The voice shouted. He brought himself up and his ears twitched, wanting to hear the voice again and not the sorrowful wails of the dying. Again, the voice came. "You fuckers are going to pay! You hear me!? You're going to PAY!!!" It screamed and he heard the dreadful sound of steel on flesh. He turned his gaze towards the sound and saw a grey mare killing some of the armored stallions. He moved closer and what he saw shocked him. There, in the center of the crowd, was a lone, grey mare. She wore a black hoodie and goggles around her neck, both stained with blood. She was bloodied, but unbowed. Her eyes burned with anger as she ignored the worst of her wounds and continued fighting. She swung her combat knife into the nearest soldier with the fury of a dragon, embedding the blade hilt-deep into his neck. Before he could slump to the ground, she yanked the blade out and moved to the next enemy. A soldier swung his battleaxe down on her, but she sidestepped and slashed his throat. She punched another guard in the face and embedded her knife in his skull. She pulled the sword from his sheathe and prepared to use it. It was heavier than what she was used to, but it would have to do. She parried a strike from a soldier before hacking the offending stallion's head off. Behind her, she noticed a guard charging at her with a spear. She parried another blow and put him between her and the charging psychopath. The spearhead pierced through him and she reversed her grip on the blade. She stabbed behind her, killing another guard. She grabbed the fallen guard's knife and took aim at the guard who had charged at her. She quickly threw the knife, the blade embedding itself in the skull of the guard and causing him to drop dead. Tibbles was in awe at the grace and speed at which she executed her foes. She moved as if she knew what the enemy would do. Her grip never seemed to falter as she fought. Her anger never seemed to diminish. And he could swear that she looked exactly like Elcia. The long, black mane. The shining golden eyes. The silvery grey coat. But he couldn't know for sure. While he was busy staring at her, he failed to notice a soldiers had approached him with a wicked grin on his face. He raised his sword and the mare looked to him, her irises mere pinpricks. The soldier swung the large, bloody blade into him as the mare screamed at him, knowing that she would be too late. --- "TIBBLES!!!" Elcia screamed and Tibbles opened his eyes. His breathing was rapid, his heartbeats a thousand miles a minute and his body drenched in cold sweat. Elcia was sitting beside him, her hooves clasped firmly around his shoulders. Her expression was one of worry. "E-Elcia?" Tibbles said, confused. The hell he experienced was nothing more than a nightmare. But it still shook him. Was that really Elcia he saw? Elcia sighed in relief. "Oh, thank Faust you're alright." She said. "Elcia, what was I doing?" He asked. He wanted to know why she has been screaming at him. "You were thrashing around and you shouted a few times. I got worried, so I decided to wake you up." She said. "Yeah, that sounds about right." He thought to himself. "I had a really bad nightmare.... Do you mind if I tell you about it?" He asked. He hadn't asked something like this since he was 12, but he had to know who that mare was. And he thought Elcia would know. "Not at all." She said as she sat closer to him. "I can listen." "Okay then." Tibbles said as he recalled the nightmare. "I seemed to be in a street in the Crystal Empire." He said, causing Elcia's ear to twitch slightly. "There were corpses everywhere. Some looked like they were tortured before they were killed." Elcia bristled slightly at this. This was beginning to sound familiar.... "I looked down a hole and I saw four ponies crying over a skinned corpse. Moments later, a soldier with a battleaxe walks in and kills them all, except for a mare, which he abducts." Elcia began sweating. "I walk down the street and I see somepony fighting the soldiers. That pony looked a lot like you. It disturbed me." Elcia's eyes darted around the room, searching in vain for a way to end this conversation. She had no doubts now. The question was, should she tell him or should she leave it? The answer was quite obvious. "Damn, you have some fucked up dreams." She said. Evasion is how she got this far in life, so why stop, right? "I'm glad you agree." Tibbles said, rather suspiciously. He never had any experience that could have forced him to dream that up. He figured it had something to do with his capricious roommate. Not wanting to dwell on the subject, Elcia looked at the clock. 9:45 AM. "Oh shit, the train leaves in 15 minutes!" She said as she scrambled off the bed and ran to her bags. She hastily threw in all her belongings and zipped it up. She slung it over her back and looked to Tibbles. "Bye, Tibbles! I hope we see each other again!" She shouted as she galloped out the door and slammed it in her hurry, leaving Tibbles alone. His train was leaving at 12:00 PM, so he still had time. And he had to think. Why did he have such a horrible nightmare? No experience he ever had could match up to the horror he experienced in the Dreamscape. He had multiple theories. One, is that it was brought up when the news of his parents' death in the woods reached him when he was 16. He could have imagined their deaths. But the racks and crucifixions did not make sense. Another was that he had recalled some very disturbing art he saw somewhere on the Internet. But he quickly disregarded that. He would clearly remember recalling art like that. His final theory was that he had somehow connected with Elcia and they shared dreams. It made sense. While he failed to use the Link Cables, he must have cast an unconscious spell that allowed him to enter Elcia's dream. "Those are my only theories. I guess the last one makes the most sense. And if that's the case, then there is something terribly wrong with Elcia." He said to himself as he kicked the covers off of him. He couldn't do anything about it. Whatever was wrong with Elcia, it was very deep rooted. Whatever that had happened to her, he hoped that she could resolve it without him. With a heavy, tired sigh, he readied his things for his train ride to Hoofington. --- Elcia sighed. 2 hours on the train was boring. There was little to do other than sitting down and sleeping or looking out the window and watching the scenery roll by. She had to admit, though. The scenery was beautiful. Long blades of grass rolling under a gentle breeze. A baby blue sky dotted with specks of clouds here and there. Trees standing proudly in the fields. Beautiful. But, 2 hours of the same scenery was still boring. Having little else to do, she resorted to planning. "Alright I can't exactly take the train all the way to Canterlot. They probably already know about me." She thought to herself as she looked out the window once more. The long blades of grass had been replaced by much shorter, but much greener grass. "I'll have to find the nearest town and hoof it from there." She reached into her bag and pulled out a map of Equestria. She lazily hoofed around for the town nearest to Canterlot. Eventually, her eyes settled on a small town, only a few kilometers away from Canterlot. "Ponyville, huh? Not a very original name." She snickered as she closed the map. "I guess I could stop by to get some supplies before heading out." She thought to herself and she grinned. "Ponyville, here I come."