//------------------------------//
// Rocky Starts 
// Story: Onwards! 
// by Lofty 
//------------------------------//

   From the train, Rarity watched as the four ponies left the station and let out a small sigh. Here we go. Another day, another adventure to get roped into.

Twilight pulled out their tickets from her saddlebag. "Booth 14." she said.

Rarity nodded and followed Twilight down the cramped hallway. Ponies they recognized were packing their suitcases into the compartments above, and Rarity couldn't help feeling down. Was that Flitter in the corner?

"I'm sorry Miss, but your turntable just cannot fit in the luggage compartment. It has to be brought by a separate train."

"Aw, come on!"

Rarity and Twilight turned their heads. In the doorway was a train attendant arguing with a very familiar looking DJ. She was lugging a turntable behind her. 

"It's gotta fit somewhere here!" Vinyl tried to push through, but was blocked.

"It won't." The attendant stomped his hoof, and Vinyl flinched. "We are truly sorry for this inconvenience. Rest assured, it will arrive at your destination safely."

Vinyl was about to retort when a refined voice sounded behind her. "Vinyl, we are delaying this train by a substantial amount. I had to part with my instrument, you will have to do likewise."

"But Octy-"

"No buts. Let the stallion take it. No harm will come to it."

Vinyl grumbled and dropped the rope she was pulling it by. She glared at the attendant, who remained stoic. "If something happens to it..."

He nodded and she pushed past. The attendant blew a whistle hanging around his neck, and two ponies came and took it away. He resumed his patrol on the train.

"'Scuse me," Vinyl muttered as she pushed past the two onlooking ponies.

Octavia stepped onboard, scanning the train. She looked at Rarity, and smiled. "Look who it is."

Twilight looked at her, then at Rarity. "You know her?"

"Indeed I do," Rarity said. She stepped forward, and shook hooves with Octavia. "Odd seeing you here. I suppose you're leaving as well?"

"You know me. I go where the business goes, and right now, that's not here." She looked past Rarity's shoulder. "And Vinyl decided to go along with me. She's not handling it so well."

Rarity turned to see her idly making circles with her hoof on the plastic tray in front of her. "It would seem so. Are you two...?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. A ridiculous proposition.The real question is, what are you two doing here? And where are the other Elements?" She looked at Twilight. "Don't you have princess duties to attend to?"

She grumbled. "I wish."

Rarity decided to respond. "Princess Celestia sent us on a quest to fix this dreadful-"

Octavia waved a hoof, stopping Rarity mid-conversation."Forget I asked. If you ask me, these adventures you ponies take on never end well. Somepony always ends up getting hurt." She looked at Vinyl. "If you'll excuse me, I have an irritable DJ to take care of. It was nice to speak to you both." She went past the two and sat down next to Vinyl, who was tapping her hoof to some generic dubstep Rarity couldn't identify.

Rarity watched Octavia leave, her eyebrows narrowed. Of all trains, of all times they had to go on the same ones. And she just had to mention her "business". That was just rubbing it in her face. Was this her punishment for not tipping that waiter that one time?

"We should probably get to our seats too. Come on." She went down the hallway past the two nusicians, and Rarity followed. "How do you know her anyway?"

"She's a regular customer. Probably my main source of income." She remembered Octavia struggling to get into one of her most complicated dresses yet, and almost smiled. Then she remembered the incident. She bit her lip. She didn't want to think about the incident.

"Well, good for her." Twilight stopped, Rarity almost collided into her back. "Our seats should be here."

Twilight sat on one side of the booth, Rarity on the other. She heard the doors close. She tensed. Here we go... The train jolted, and they were off. She braced against her seat, expecting a more violent start to an adventure.

Twilight was engrossed in some astrology book. Rarity, meanwhile, was left staring out the window, daydreaming. Why didn't she bring a book? That would have been nice. Maybe Twilight brought more. No sensible pony would only bring an astrology book to keep themselves entertained.

"Twilight?"

She didn't respond.

"Twilight."

"Hmm?" Twilight looked up from her book. "Hey. Need something?"

"Did you happen to bring any more books?"

"No. Sorry."

"Oh, that's uh... that's fine." Rarity looked out the window at the landscape. They had just crossed the edge of the Everfree Forest. From there on out would be unfamiliar territory. Ponyville was fading from view. "I think I'll go stretch my legs for a bit."

"Gotcha."

Rarity slid out of the booth. What to do now? Perhaps she'd just look for somepony to talk to. There had to be a pony with some tragic story somewhere on the train. She started walking, looking at each booth for somepony interesting. There were parents with crying foals, stallions laughing and joking with each other, but mostly just bored ponies waiting to get to their destination.

"What did you leave your booth for?"

"Hmm?" Rarity turned to see a lone unicorn stallion in a booth, with a suitcase next to him. How did she miss him? "I'm sorry?"

"What did you leave your booth for?" he repeated, gesturing towards Rarity's booth. "You're bored, I'm assuming."

She sighed. "Very. How on Equestria do ponies stand these arduous train rides?"

He shrugged. "We just talk to our companions, mostly. You and Twilight don't seem to get on too well."

"We don't, do we?" She smiled, but it faded. "How do you know I'm travelling with Twilight?"

He pointed to the seat opposite him. "Sit," he said.

Something compelled her to follow his order. She slid into the booth, keeping a wary eye on the stallion.

"Miss Rarity," he leaned forward, his stare intense. "We don't have much time." He looked at his watch, and his eyes widened. "Fifty seconds, in fact. You need to go back to Ponyville and round up the rest of the Elements. It won't function with just the two of you. He doesn't realize that."

"What won't function?" Rarity was bewildered. "Who doesn't realize?"

"Please, just listen." He looked out the booth down the hallway. Rarity followed his gaze, but couldn't see anything other than a little filly with a chocolate ice cream cone. The stallion pounded his hoof on the table, and Rarity jumped. "Out of sync," he muttered, looking at his watch.

"I'm afraid I don't-"

"Listen to me!" He hit the table again, and Rarity winced. "I don't know how, but you have to find a way to get back and get the others. If you don't, your quest will fail, and the famine will never leave." He grabbed the suitcase in his magic and stood up briskly "Oh, and there's a towel underneath the sink. Good luck." He walked away.

"Now wait just a moment!" She slipped out the booth, but he was nowhere to be seen. She bit her lip. That was certainly a very cryptic conversation. She hated cryptic. Cryptic meant you had to go and figure things out on your own, which was a great inconvenience. Then again, there was a pony on that train who very much enjoyed this type of thing.

Twilight was still reading her book when Rarity walked back to their booth. She slid into her side of the booth. "Twilight?"

"Yeah?" She didn't take her eyes off the book.

"Something very odd hap-"

"Are you a princess?" came a squeaky voice.

Twilight and Rarity turned their heads to see the filly with the ice cream standing there, staring at Twilight's wings.

She smiled, setting down her book. "I am indeed."

"Ca-... Can you give me an autograph?" The filly excitedly took out a pencil and notepad out of her little saddlebag with her free hoof, handing them to Twilight.

Twilight let out a little laugh. "Sure." She took them in her magic and signed her name on one of the pages. "Here you go!"

"Thanks!" The filly tried to take them with the hoof that still had the ice cream with it, and the scoop ended up flying into the air, and squarely on Twilight's head.

"Oh my!" Rarity dabbed at Twilight's mane with a napkin on the table. "Are you alright?"

Twilight didn't respond, her eyes staring straight ahead as streams of chocolate ran down her face.

"Twilight?"

She blinked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just let me go to the bathroom." She staggered out of their booth on her way to the bathroom, past the filly who was staring at her hooves.

The filly tried to offer the empty wafer cone to Rarity, but she declined. "Can... can you tell her I'm sorry?"

Rarity smiled. "I'm sure she knows it was an accident."

The filly's eyes were downcast, and she trudged away. Rarity watched her go. And now she was alone. Admittedly, Twilight wasn't the chattiest of companions, but she was good at just being there. She looked at the astrology book she'd left behind. It couldn't be that bad of a read, right?

She took the book, wiping off bits of chocolate. She skimmed through it, and she realized something. It was a textbook. Twilight read textbooks on her spare time.

Rarity groaned and set it back on the table. It was hopeless.

"Are you okay?"

"As good as I'll ever-" She looked up to see Octavia standing there, her eyes wide. Rarity stiffened. "-be," she finished.

"Do you mind if I sit?"

She fixed an unblinking stare on her. "Please do."

"Thank you." Octavia sat on the seat opposite Rarity. She looked at the book on the table, raising an eyebrow. "Astrology?" She laughed nervously. "Mother would be ashamed."

"It's not mine."

"Ah. Where is Twilight?"

"The bathroom."

Octavia fidgeted under Rarity's stare. She adjusted her bowtie, and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. For what I did."

Rarity grit her teeth. "I would imagine so."

"It wasn't like you think," Octavia pleaded. "I mean, it's not as if-"

"What is it you want?"

Octavia averted her eyes from Rarity. "For you to forgive me."

Rarity gave her a closed smile. "Don't hold your breath."

"Can you please just tell me what I can do? I'll do anything!"

"Lower your voice," Rarity said. Ponies were starting to look towards her booth, and she shuffled.

Octavia blushed. "Look, how about tickets? I can give you tickets to my next show. Front row too."

"Oh, yes. Because tickets to watch you bask in your success is exactly what will get me on the path to forgiving you. Honestly. A plus. How did you think of that one?"

Octavia buried her face into her hooves. She stayed like that for a minute before standing up. "I hope you'll be able to understand, one day." She walked back towards her booth, her head hung. Good riddance.

Twilight walked back from the bathroom, muttering something under her breath. Her mane was completely wet. She pulled down her bag from the luggage compartment and started rifling through it.

"What are you doing?" asked Rarity, not looking at her.

"Getting my towel. Honestly, a bathroom without a towel, what's wrong with these ponies?"

"There should be one under the sink." Rarity was still staring at the empty seat in front of her.

Twilight raised her eyebrow. "... Right." She put the bag back in the compartment. She looked at Rarity. "Are you alright?" Rarity didn't respond. "Hey." She waved her hoof in front of her, and she blinked. "Are you okay?"

Rarity blinked and looked at her. "Err... yes. Perfectly fine, thank you." She gave a smile she was sure didn't seem convincing at all.

"Well, you looked kinda shaken up there." Twilight looked back at the bathroom. "Anyway, I'm just going to dry my mane. Be right back."

"Indeed."

Twilight left, and Rarity was left alone once again. She tried to read the astrology book again, to no avail. Maybe there was something in her bag. She had to have packed something under than perfumes and hair tonics. She brought down her bag from the compartment, and looked through it. Nothing to entertain her.

She yawned and put it back up. Maybe she should just get some sleep. It would be so easy to just doze off... No. She was a lady. It wouldn't be fitting for her to take a nap on public transportation. Maybe she should have some coffee from the refreshments car. If there was any.

Rarity stood up. She started walking down the hallways through car after car. It felt like she'd been walking for hours when she found the refreshments car. Her eyelids threatened to close. Where was the coffee? There was no one else in there, other than Vinyl, who was munching on something.

There was a coffee machine on the end of the table, with ceramic cups stacked next to it. She sighed in relief. Finally. She walked over to it, took a cup, and filled it. There was no sugar or cream anywhere, but she could manage. The cup was filled, she took a sip, and sighed. Coffee was coffee. It was still good.

"Hey, itsh you! Howsh it going?" came a muffled voice.

Rarity looked to her left to see Vinyl stuffing her mouth with pastries. "Very well, thank you," she said, smiling.

Vinyl put down the pastries, and swallowed before responding. "Oh, uh, sorry if I was, like, mean back there. Kinda having a bad day right now."

Rarity raised a hoof. "No apology needed. I'm not having the best day myself."

Vinyl scanned the table for more snacks. "What's wrong?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind." She paused. "How's Octavia?"

"You mean Octy?" Vinyl shrugged. "She's cool. She's been acting weird lately though. Especially since we ran into y'all. Ooh, cookies!" Vinyl had found her next target. She began demolishing the plate of cookies.

"I see."

"I guess you guys know each other?"

"Yes. It's rather complicated."

They heard an ear-piercing screech of metal. Rarity bent over and covered her ears with her hooves. "What on Equestria is that sound?"

Vinyl was still standing straight. "Huh..."

"Can't you hear that!"

"Hell yeah I can. But it's nothing compared to my new album."

The sound halted, and so did the train.

Hesitantly, Rarity took her hooves off her ears. "We've stopped..."

Vinyl was about to respond when the lights went off.

Rarity fought the urge to scream, which the ponies in the other cars clearly weren't doing. Their shrieks contested the metal screech they'd heard. It was pitch black. She couldn't see Vinyl, who was standing ten inches from her.

She heard a grunt and saw an orb of light float up from Vinyl's horn to the ceiling. It morphed from a blue light into a multicolored flashing eyesore that filled the room. "Ack!" Rarity covered her eyes.

"Sorry, sorry! It's still set to disco! Gimme a sec." Vinyl closed her eyes and the orb slowly turned back into the blue orb. It filled the room with its light.

"I have to get back to Twilight." Rarity made for the door.

"Hang on..."

Rarity turned. "What is it this time?"

Vinyl was looking out the window. "Check it out."

It was completely pitch black outside. They couldn't see a thing. The orb's light didn't even shine through the window.

Given the situation, Rarity would have likely asked what was going on, yet was unable to, due to the train's sudden and unforeseeable explosion.