//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: Dreams and Disasters // by Quillery //------------------------------// Dreams and Disasters by Quillery Chapter Six How I Became the Sea A bumpy ride was the least of Rainbow Dash’s problems. She lay on her back on the stiff carriage seat as it rattled along on the uneven Buckingham streets. Twilight sat across from her as she read a book on the seat next to her. Dash attempted to watch the street go by from the window above her, but the bright morning sun did its worst to dissuade her eyes. She groaned, hiding behind a foreleg to blot out the offending light. “Bluh,” she mumbled. “So early.” “That’s what you get for staying up late watching the stars,” Twilight said, not looking up from her book. “You did it too!” Twilight flipped another page aside. “Late night study sessions have been a common occurrence since I learned to do magic. Last night was nothing.” Dash chuckled. “Says the pony who fell asleep on my roof.” Twilight finally looked up over to Dash with a smirk. “Oh, hush. We had fun didn’t we?” “I guess. At least it was a good save from last night.” Twilight’s smile wrinkled. “Yes. Last night was… unfortunate. I’m glad most of it was salvageable.” “Let’s hope that dude learns his lesson.” “Considering the shouting match you and his wife gave him, I doubt he’ll be forgetting it anytime soon.” The carriage came to a stop. The driver popped the door and peered in with a smile. “Buckingham station, ladies.” Twilight nodded to the driver, returning all her books to her bags. Dash rolled over and slowly stood back on her hooves, stretching out her tired legs. The driver hovered by the door, reaching in a hoof to help Twilight and Dash out of the carriage. The station was fairly quiet. The occasional sound of whistles rang out in the distance, as well as the bustling hooves of a morning rush. Dash could see a few other groups of ponies milling around the many walkways outside the station proper. They moved around at an excessively mild pace, moving along stiffly as she had been exiting the hotel. “At least it’s quiet. I should be able to catch up on some sleep.” “Well… there might be a few reasons to hold off on your nap, at least for a little bit.” Dash raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?” She watched Twilight step away from the carriage into the street and over to a staircase. Dash followed her up a catwalk that went high above the entrance to the train terminal. She looked out over the rows of tracks that housed dozens of train cars idling in the massive yard. She whistled at the impressive sight. “What do you see, Dash?” “A lot of train cars. Way more than I’ve ever seen in one station.” “Yes. Great Brayton has a fairly large train system, even bigger than Equestria’s. What else?” “Uh… Not a lot of ponies?” Twilight giggled and pointed her hoof towards the forward tracks. “Those trains are used in the country, going back and forth between here to other cities in Great Brayton, and even the Shirelands to the north.” Twilight swung her hooves to a separate line. “But we… are going east, on those trains. Notice anything?” Dash examined the trains Twilight had pointed out, as best as she could from her perch at least. They looked like completely normal trains, sitting on completely normal tracks. She followed the polished steel rails down the yard, stopping when they disappeared into a darkened tunnel at the far side. “Still not seeing what you mean, Twi.” Twilight giggled again. “What do you see behind those tunnels?” Dash shuffled down the catwalk to get a better view of what lay behind the structure housing the darkened tunnel. If there was something there to see, that is. Behind the building was nothing but an endless expanse of water. Dash’s eyes widened and she turned back to Twilight, who had an amused look on her face. “Water? Where does the tunnel go then?” “Under it, of course.” “Under it?” Twilight smiled. “Yes. The Buckingham to Cheval transit line goes underneath the channel that separates the two countries.” “That doesn’t sound too good to me, Twi.” “You aren’t scared of getting wet, are you, Dash?” “N-no! Can’t I find it a little bit weird that we are willingly getting on a train that goes underwater? Wouldn’t a submarine be smarter? Or maybe a bridge?” “Well… there are bridges and ferries that would serve the same purpose, but I thought this would be more fun. But if you don’t want to, I could exchange the tickets.” Dash noted a drop in Twilight’s tone. “N-no, it’s fine, really. It just… caught me by surprise is all.” Twilight perked up immediately. “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want you to be uneasy about it.” Dash waved a hoof. “Psh. It’s not like a little water bothers me. Plus, it might be kinda fun in a big underwater tunnel.” “Well, wait until you see the observation portion.” Dash tilted her head. “The what?” Twilight grinned slyly. “You’ll see.” She turned back down the catwalk towards the stairs. Dash followed quickly as they went inside the station. There were a few more ponies inside, most of them wearing blue uniforms. They moved about quickly in between the narrow queues of ponies waiting in line. These waiting travelers approached the booths, reminding Dash of her entrance to Great Brayton. “Ugh. Can’t anypony in stations have a smile on their face? Pinkie would go all out to liven up this place.” “Look at it from their perspective, Dash. These ponies deal with thousands of travelers each week, at all times of the day. They don’t have much time to waste to make sure our travels go smoothly.” “Yeah,” Dash sighed. “You’re right. I guess I would be pretty ragged trying to make trains work on time too.” “Tickets…” a voice called. Twilight offered him the sunburst booklet. Like their entrance into Buckingham, the customs agent offered his kind regards to Twilight and Dash, before they moved on. The two mares moved past the booth and further into the train station. They entered onto a balcony that overlooked a large room. Down below them past several staircases were the numerous platforms that ran the length of the building. Many of them were filled with dozens of bright red train cars, except for one. At the far end, they could see a car that was painted blue. Where the tracks of the other routes emptied to the west, and back into the city, this one’s track led east. The engine was a far sleeker design, devoid of a boiler or smokestack that they knew was an integral part of the train back home in Ponyville. “So how does that thing run without a boiler?” “I believe that type of train is powered by magic. It doesn’t produce exhaust like a coal-fueled engine would, so it doesn’t foul the air we need to breathe down in the tunnels.” Dash felt a nagging feeling clawing at her gut again. “Okay…” “Oh, don’t worry. Air is pumped magically into the tunnels. The coal-less train is just an added feature to ensure the trip is as relaxing as possible.” “If you say so… I’m still not so sure about the whole ‘underwater’ bit.” “Once we get down there, you’ll see why I wanted to give it a try.” “Yeah, we’ll see.” A whistle sounded loudly from within the room. They spotted a mare pacing beside their train, shouting. “All aboard! The train to Cheval departs in ten minutes! All aboard!” Twilight and Dash descended the stairs and crossed the platforms towards their train. They mixed in with the many other travelers heading for the same vehicle, only one of them unprepared for the next step in the journey. ***** The morning express to Cheval chugged along vigorously through darkness. Immediately from leaving the platform and exiting the train station, the five-car locomotive sunk into the depths of the underwater tunnel that Twilight had so affectionately mentioned. Dull lamps lit the small cabins in a gentle glow, drowned out by Twilight’s much more potent light spell as she used it to continue her reading. Dash yawned and rolled over in her seat, facing Twilight across from her.  “Twi, how long is it to Cheval, anyways?” “About two hours at this speed,” Twilight said. Dash groaned. “Well, it’s better than three days, I guess.” Twilight giggled, turning another page of her book. Dash proper her head on a hoof and stared in Twilight’s direction. “Is that the book we got in Buckingham?” Twilight nodded without looking up. “Yes. It’s very interesting, and far more detailed than anything I had back at Golden Oaks. The duchess was very generous to offer me a second copy. Dash rolled her eyes and rolled over, when something knocked at the compartment door. She sat up to see it slide open and a stewardess poke her head inside. She had a bright smile on her face and indicated a small cart just beside her. Dash noted rows of food and candies on its shelves, as well as a pot of steaming coffee. “Quelque chose à manger, madames?” Dash tilted her head. “Huh?” She turned her head to Twilight. “Twi, I don’t know what she’s saying.” Twilight giggled and turned to the stewardess. “Non, merci. Est-ce que vous avez une journal?” “Bien sûr.” She nodded and plucked a roll of bound paper from the trolley and offered it to Twilight, who grabbed it with her magic. “Merci beaucoup,” she said. The stewardess bowed and slid the door shut behind her. Dash blinked as Twilight took the roll of paper and pulled at the band that bound it. Her eyes wandered from it for a moment and met with Dash’s. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What?” “You… speak Prancy?” Twilight nodded.          “Since when?”          “Rarity taught me. I initially started researching the language after Apple Bloom caught the Cutie Pox. You remember that, right?”          Dash scratched her head. “Yeah… A little bit. Applejack rambled about it for a few days, but I never really got the gist of what happened.”          “Well, one of the fake cutie marks that Applebloom received was the Crest of Cheval, a symbol used to denote Prance and its capital. I was amazed that even a cutie mark could bestow an entire language’s worth of information, which led me to learn that Rarity is a certified teacher of the language.”          “Huh. You think you know everything about a pony.”          Twilight giggled. “Rarity definitely does have an interesting set of skills.”          Dash shrugged. “I bet.” She stretched her body and stared up at the ceiling of the cabin. The roll of paper in Twilight’s grip rustled as she removed the band and opened it.          Dash turned her head to see what Twilight had opened. “Is that a newspaper?”          “Yes,” Twilight responded from behind the sheet of paper. “This one covers news from both Great Brayton and Prance. It never hurts to stay up to date on current—oh my…”          Dash sat up. “What’s up, Twi?”          Twilight lowered the paper, just enough for Dash to see her face. Her eyes were downcast and darting as she scanned the page in front of her, and began to read.          “Buckingham officials are baffled that the Duchess of Cranberry has allowed a pair of Equestrian tourists to leave without questioning after one of the visitors verbally and physically assaulted the Duke of Cranberry, yesterday evening. The circumstances of the event are still under question, as well as the names of the two individuals, believed to be diplomats for the nation of Equestria. “News of Princess Celestia’s personal student arriving in the country has ponies wondering if the two events are related, but the Duchess has assured that the two events are coincidences.          “Eyewitnesses claim to have seen a pegasus fleeing the palace late last evening, but no further information is known at this time…”          Twilight took a quiet breath as she allowed the paper to fall even further to the ground. Dash stared at her for a moment, before letting out a quiet chuckle. “Heh, one day in Buckingham and we’re already on the front page…”          “Dash, this isn’t funny.”          “What do you mean? I thought everything was ok.”          "We might have salvaged our own reputation with the Duchess, but ponies still talk. I expect at least one of the other nobles at dinner last night were responsible for this article. They even mentioned me!”          “But it said the Duchess didn’t link you to it. You’re fine.”          “There will be plenty of ponies who won’t see it that way. Tabloids are ruthless like that.”          “Pfft. Tabloids are more useful as goat food than reading material, Twi. The stuff they print about the Wonderbolts? It’s a riot. My favorite is the one about Soarin’ and Spitfire breaking up. Those two are as inseparable as the sun and the sky.”          “Dash, you are missing the point. This paper is printed in both Great Brayton and Prance. The odds of the queen seeing this are fairly good. Even if we got out with a brief mention, we might have tarnished our reputation before we’ve even got to meet her.”        Dash waved a hoof. “You know, Twi, I thought you said you were gonna try and not worry so much about stuff like this.”       “This is a perfectly normal thing to worry about!”        “Is it on the same level as disaster-proofing Equestria?” Dash smirked.        Twilight’s eyes widened. She had completely dropped the newspaper now, and stared at the floor. After a while, she slowly raised a hoof and brought it to her chest. She took a quiet breath, and released it with a flourish of her leg.         She looked at Dash with a weak smile. “I guess you’re right. One of these days… Maybe I'll stop stressing over every little thing.”        Dash nodded with a smile. “One day at a time, Twi.” Dash rolled onto her back and returned her eyes to the window. The curtain had been drawn, not that it needed to be. Outside was a void of black, an occasional flash of light from the many magical sconces that lit the deep-sea tunnel. She drummed her hooves on the wooden panel above her head. As she lay there though, a flash of blue outside caught her attention. She rolled over, turning her full attention to the window. The flash of blue whizzed by again and again, the intervals growing shorter with each pass. It wasn’t long until it became a constant blue glow coming from outside the train. Twilight roused from her seat, stowing her book and rose to her hooves. “Looks like we’re there,” she said cryptically. “We’re where? Are we on the surface already? I thought you said this was a two hour trip.” Twilight laughed. “Take a look for yourself.” Twilight took the curtain in her magic and tugged it aside. She stood by the window and peered outside, giving Dash plenty of space to do the same. Dash crept up to the window. She placed her snout just up to the glass, swallowing a sharp breath of air. “What the…” Dash could hardly understand what she was seeing. On one hoof, she had every reason to believe she was at the bottom of the ocean, speeding along to yet another leg in her journey with Twilight. She also expected said two hour trip to take place in an endless tunnel of black that wrung out any hope of enjoyment of the ride. Yet all of this seemed moot at the sight of giant black and white fish swimming alongside them. Dash backed away from the window. She glanced at Twilight, who watched her the entire time and held a hoof to her mouth with a wide smile on her face. “Oh, Dash. You aren’t scared of an orca, now are you?” “A w-what?” “An orca, or better known by sea-faring ponies as a killer whale; a seaborne mammal indigenous to colder oceans like those surrounding Great Brayton.” “Ok, cool, whatever, so why are we racing it on a train? At the bottom of the ocean? In a glass tunnel?!” “Don’t worry. The shell of this tunnel is made with the strongest crystal magic can enchant. It even glows enough to illuminate the sea floor so we can see what’s out there. Isn’t it impressive?” Dash slowly made her way back to the window. She glanced at the arches holding up the tunnel as the sped by. She was no engineer, but they looked to be doing their part. When she traced the sea floor before her, she found it harder to quell the tugging sensation at the bottom of her stomach. “T-that’s kinda cool, I guess…” Dash gazed out the window. She felt a calm wash over her as she peered into the deep, dark blue of the ocean waters. The orca’s were whirling through the depths, and the train vibrated with their wailing song. Her ears twitched at the sound of quill-scratches. Twilight had returned to her seat and was hastily writing on a piece of parchment. “Uh, Twi?” Dash asked. “What are you doing?” “I’m just going to write a letter to Celestia to be safe.” She shrugged her shoulder. “You know, explain why you did what you did, and how the Duke provoked you. I just don’t want her to get upset.” “Didn’t we just go over how you were going to stop worrying?” “It’s just a letter, Dash. And besides, I think she would appreciate a little status report . Like how we are doing on the trip. I think she’d like that.” Dash raised an eyebrow. “Okay… But how do you plan on sending it to her?” “I’ll just get Spike to… send…” Twilight blinked. “...it?” Twilight let out a loud groan and rolled onto her back, dropping the letter in the process. She shook her head and flailed her forelegs around, swatting her own head occasionally for good measure. “How could I be so stupid?!” Dash smirked as she watched Twilight unravel. She snickered to herself and reclined onto her back. “You’re just too adorable when you’re angry, Twi.” “I—uh, what?” Dash froze. Oh ponyfeathers… She cursed inwardly at letting herself slip. Drawing all her resilience, she fought back the flustered feelings that welled up inside her and glanced at Twilight. She was looking at her oddly. It was a look that Dash had seen before, one she had known that Twilight was utterly confused. She wracked her mind for a way out as she had done many times before. You got me out once before, brain. Now I need you to do it again! “W-well…” she tried. “You got this look that would have Fluttershy beat for being the most flustered-looking pony. It’s kinda funny to see it on you is all.” Twilight’s eyes seemed to bore into Dash. The two ponies held their ground, and as the time went by, it seemed that Twilight was doing far more than digging out a simple answer from Dash; she was searching through her entire soul. Dash felt her resolve failing as beads of sweat trickled down her head, when Twilight shut her eyes and sighed. “I’m not sure I believe you, Dash. I know I’m a little excessive sometimes, but flustered?” Dash cleared her throat. “Well, maybe not flustered. But you gotta admit, Twi. You do tend to get pretty intense about stuff, like the time with that doll…” Twilight winced. “Don’t remind me,” she muttered. Great, now I’ve made her feel worse. Dash stood up quickly and went to Twilight’s side. “I didn’t mean to be mean about it; I was just kidding around. I’m sorry.” She looked out the window again. A group of sea turtles whirled about in a torrent of water, bringing a smile to Dash’s face. “The train was awesome. you were right about it being a good idea.” Twilight brought her head up to gaze out the window with Dash. She smiled at the sight of turtles drifting by. “Well, if you liked this, then you’ll love the art galleries in Prance.” Dash’s eye twitched. Art galleries?