Thunder's voice brought me back to attention. I had zoned off a little bit, thinking about how I got to this point. I still thought that their lateness was a prank on me, and I was getting very impatient.
" So, you ready? I mean, you've not been here very long. Sure you're ready to go?"
"Yeah, well, no. But do I have another choice? If I do, please tell me. All I want is to go back to normal." I said. I didn't really pay attention to his reaction. Instead, I decided to get a better look at the train station. It looked like... Well, it looked like a train station. It had rails extending off in either direction, and the actual station itself was more like a sun cover over a few benches for waiting. I was very familiar with those benches, as I was sitting on one for well over an hour waiting for everyone.
"So, everypony here and accounted for?" Thunder said, breaking the awkward silence that my last comment had left.
" Unless you found another pony laying in the grass and decided to become his friend randomly, or you suddenly have a new imaginary friend that isn't here yet, I think we're all present." Stormy remarked in her usual sarcastic way. I could really get along with that girl, when she wasn't snapping at me.
"Yeah, I think everypony is present." Thunder said, ignoring Stormy's sarcasm as usual.
"Okay, so the next train will be here in like 30 minutes. You already missed one, so we coulda been gone earlier." I remarked, unamused.
"Sorry 'bout that, but I saw a scene I really had to paint. It was amazing, I mean it was really, really cool. You would've had to been there." Canvas said with a stupid looking grin on his face. He really wasn't on my good side, ever since the plank to the face, and this didn't amuse me much more then that.
" We tried to make him move, but we couldn't. We also don't leave friends behind." Stormy said with a grin on her face. Her heart was in the right place, I guess. It all just sounded like excuses to me, however.
" Yeah, there's a reason why pain is a major part of paint. Next time, get here on time, okay?" If they hadn't noticed yet, I really didn't like people being late, and the feeling was mutual towards ponies. They didn't have much of a response to this, just to roll their eyes and come sit on the various benches around me.
"So, thirty minutes, huh." Thunder said, obviously not wanting to wait. I had done plenty of that. He should really be grateful that I didn't just leave and then come back thirty minutes later.
I let out a deep, frustrated sigh. I just let the feelings roll off of me and I looked towards the sky. I had to admit, the sunsets were amazing here in Equestria. I mean, earth had some good sunsets, don't get me wrong, but here it was amazing. Probably something to do with the lack of pollution. But that's aside the point. The sunset itself was an amazing orange that seemed to penetrate the blue of the sky and turn it purple to the furthest reach of the orange rays, and the blue that survived would deepen to a darker blue which seemed to mourn the loss of it's lighter brethren. The sun itself was large, much larger then how it would look on earth, even on the most beautiful of oceans in which the sun would reflect against the water, making it look like a complete circle with half of it rippling and exploding with orange light. This was comparable to it, if not better. The sun itself was surprisingly less bright than I anticipated, as I could look at it without covering my eyes or flinching or something like that. The sun itself seemed to move like a freaking clock when I looked at it closer, which was kind of odd. I was used to the sun kind of slowly moving across the sky, so slowly that you can't see the movements with the naked eye, but this would just kinda snap down every once in a while, just like the hour hand of a clock.
My eyes began to burn like hell, so I looked away from the sun quickly and shouted out in pain. Thunder and stormy stared at me, this weird blank expression on their face.
"Did... Did you just stare at the sun...?" Thunder said, beyond any ideas of why I did that, but truthfully, I didn't know why either.
"Wow, just when I started to think you were somewhat normal, you turn around and shock me again. Good job!" Stormy said. I could tell she wanted to laugh, but was holding back. I knew they all wanted to laugh. So naturally, I defended myself.
"I, uh, I meant to do that. I thought it was a good idea. At the time. I thought it was a good idea at the time." I didn't realize I was blushing like mad, but I was. I mean, my cheeks, or whatever ponies call them, were bright red. The others seemed to noticed.
"Well, I'd say we've embarrassed the poor fellow..." Picturesque said with a slight chuckle at the end.
"Maybe we should call him 'Sun Starer' instead of High Wing!" Fleet flier said. I cut him a glare, but he seemed to be unaffected by it.
I began to just ignore them and go off into my own world for a time. Looking at a cloud, watching it slowly drift from one point in the sky to another, really helped me zone out and think about things. Things like, 'why the hell am I here?' and 'No, seriously, why the hell am I here?' and don't forget 'Why, in the name of all things good and holy, am I at this location at this time, and not at my location in my time?' Those questions, however would likely go unanswered, as I couldn't find any pony around that could answer that for me. That's one of the reasons we're taking a train to Ponyville, see if anypony knows what the hell is going on with me, and to see as well if any of them think I'm nuts and back away slowly, only to break out in a run a second later. Wait, better yet, to see if any of them don't do that. I know that I would of some person came up to me and said that they were actually a pony and they became a human. I remembered that Thunder said that at one point, but it didn't really register at the time. Now it kinda does, and it makes more sense to me then it did before.
The cloud I was looking at suddenly burst as a pegasus rammed into it, and that was enough of a wakeup that it made me jump slightly, and look around only to see Treble shouting like a madman... uh, mad pony... mad mare? Anyways, I saw Treble shouting at me, and I realized the train had arrived, and it might've been there for a minute or so, I don't know. I didn't want to make them miss this train after I made a big deal about them making me miss the last, what, five trains for a painting, a picture, some food, and whatever else they did for those hours they kept me waiting.
"You almost made us miss the train, High Wing" Treble said as I walked into the train
"Yeah, forget about it, okay?" was my quick response.
"Hey, no need to be so hostile. You're the one who-" Stormy started, but I quickly interupted her.
"I said forget about it. Let's just sit down... it's been a long day, I'm not really in the mood for talking."
They seemed to understand, which was an honest shocker to me. I didn't think they could understand anything about me, ever. We walked in silence, aside from one of the ponies quietly talking to another about something. I didn't really care at the time. There were some seats in the train that weren't taken, and suprisingly enough, there were also beds in the train. Those beds looked inviting, and much more comfortable than the bench I was sitting in. Speeding up a bit, I walked towards the bed and jumped in when I arrived.
"Whew, it feels good to relax after a long day like this..." I said, putting one leg over the other and putting my, uh, other legs to my sides.
"That sure is a weird way to lay down" Fleet said, a funny look on his face.
"Yeah, well, it's what I do, okay?" I said, with a frown on my face. He didn't really have a response to that, so I closed my eyes, only to be woken by the sound of hooves on metal.
"What the- What is that?" I said with a start, suddenly much more awake.
"The train is heading off... What did you think?" Stormy quickly responded
"Shouldn't it sound... Different? Like, I dunno, a train starting up?" I offered in return
"And what else would that sound like?" She frowned.
"The sound of coal burning... the whistle of the train that it's starting... the clunk of the wheels. That kinda thing."
"Well, we got all that 'cept the coal. Why would you burn coal?"
"To power the train?"
"That's awfully wasteful... and dirty."
"So you get other ponies to pull the train?"
"Yeah, for a good pay that is."
"Talk about horse power..."
"What?"
"Nothing."
With that last statement, Stormy stopped talking and I went back to my thoughts, my heart slowing down from my sudden wakening. My mind began to drift, and I closed my eyes and faded to sleep.
It was night time when I woke again, a loud screaching reverberated in my ears, making me attempt to cover them, but I hit the sides of my head with my hooves, expecting my ears to be there, but they weren't.
"Ow! Mother of..." I started, but I didn't have time to finish it, because I saw all my other friends were up too, their faces equally as confused as mine.
"What in the name of Celestia is going on?" Picturesque said, rubbing her eyes, obviously not amused by her sudden wakening.
" Who's Celestia?" I asked
"This isn't the time for your jokes, High Wing..." Stormy said, cutting her eyes at me.
"I was serious..." I said, but it fell on deaf ears as a loud screaching sound, followed by a crunching sound blasted through the room. These ponies were confused as to what was going on, but I had a pretty damn good idea. We were wrecking.
Almost in time to this last thought, the train began to tilt to the side, knocking all the ponies in the cabin off their hooves, myself included. Shouts could be heard from them, their obvious confusion having them flailing around, but I know what to do, as I had rode trains in my world, and I guess accidents happen more often there then here. wrapping a leg around a bench that was screwed into the ground, I pulled myself under and then used my other legs to steady myself and hold on with all I had. The train went completely upsidedown, and I knew were were rolling. I could hear thuds around, and I knew it was the other ponies. I could only hope they were okay, but I gad no guarantee. I guess this is when I began to really accept them as my friends, because why else would I care about them?
The cabin made a crunching sound, then a horrible squeal as it began to split in half like a tin can. I felt myself bieng shaked from the bench I was grasping on to for dear life, my heart racing like mad. I saw a matress get shaken loose and fly out of the now gaping hole showing the side of a hill we were rolling down, and my legs gave in to the massive ammount of force bieng put on them. I felt myself bieng thrown out of the train, and I began to kick around in the air as to control myself. Remembering my wings, I attempted to open them as to fly, but I forgot I was no good at flying, in fact, I was horrible, so I only managed to make myself spin out of control and crash into the ground.
Everything was blurry. Nothing seemed to make sense to me right then. I could see a tree in the distance, but it seemed like there were two dancing around in my vision. A distinct ringing sound echoed in my ears which made me consider that I had a concussion, but I didn't think ponies got those. Suddenly, a light appeared in front of me. I thought for sure I was dead, remembering all those 'don't go into the light!' lines from movies and what not, so I began to freak out, but my body wouldn't respond to my urgent want to flail, attempt to stand up, stand up, then run. Suddenly, I felt an energy come over me, and a voice as well.
"Hello, George."