The chug and chunk of the rolling train didn't sound any different from other trains while inside it but many of the passengers were too wrapped up in exploring the amenities to notice. The engine hauled them steadily down lesser traveled tracks and towards more remote parts of Equestria, descending from the mountains of Canterlot and charging across windswept plains. Through the windows, the waving grass stretched off to the blurred horizons on both sides of the tracks, bringing an isolation to the cozy, upscale carriages.
Not every guest probed the depths of their ride. Twilight immediately realized that the public space's first class seating, with its provided tables and booths, was a spacious enough place to set down her many rented books. In short order she got to work and began dissecting them and scrawling notes on a long roll of parchment. Helpful Spike, ever doting, offered his assistance and picked through some of the books, relaying anything he thought she would find noteworthy. James elected not to retreat to his private room at first. Staying in the public seating, he focused on the passing scenery and hoped its hypnotic motion might help him recover some of his lost rest. However, even tired, he couldn't quite fall asleep with the excited scampering of the others occasionally rushing through the car on their way to another part of the train. Sometimes they made quick stops and held short conversations, with or without him, and when he was invited to participate he did so as agreeably as he could manage. Lastly, because James had stayed in the car, Rainbow Dash in turn also found a seat elsewhere and pretended to rest, though she would stare longingly at the others as they came racing through with laughs and smiles.
After about a little more than an hour, the man accepted that the occasional commotion wasn't doing him any good, nor was his immediate presence helpful to anybody else. Wordlessly he left for one of the two cars with private quarters. In a thin hall with rows of sliding doors on either side, he found the room he had dropped his bag in upon boarding and slid the door open. The room was nothing fancy by its selection of furnishings: a thin bed, a long and cushioned seat that curved around a squat table in one corner, a shallow closet, and a window with an ever-changing view. Each individual facet was of course done up to be as impressive as it could be, with immaculate carvings in the wood, precious stones adorning the window, and more, but at its heart it was a simple room.
He eased down on the seating and fruitlessly tried to decide if he had made the right choice in tagging along. Contrary to what Princess Celestia might have suggested, it certainly wasn't to the others' benefit that he be present; it was too much of a gamble that he wouldn't understand enough of the pony world and culture to avoid causing trouble if he tried to intervene. The most he hoped to do was stand aside and dodge being troublesome. He had never agreed with the Princess's take on it. No, he had changed his mind in order to make a selfish retreat. The days had been passing one by one in Ponyville without much pain so long as he had kept his head down or his nose in something relatively irrelevant. It was only in the past few days that the safety of his unconsciously and impulsively selected ignorance had begun crumbling. He was never able to be too cognizant of all the painful things in his heart because the more he tried to bring his thoughts around to it, the more agony he inflicted upon himself until he backed away fearfully. It had gotten worse in Canterlot. Somewhere inside himself, knowingly or not, he had come to believe that in being left behind, without the release of distractions, his anguish would consume him.
The soothing bubble of uninformed hope, his constant telling himself that his pain and loss was no different than any other experience of tragedy he had previously had in his life, his unsupported belief that it could be ignored until it went away, his imagination that he was handling it well enough by stretching the emotions until they became imperceptibly thin... that bubble, surrounded by the comforts of books and oddities and other diversions... it kept him going. He could go on as long as he was safe. And when darkness crept by all the distractions, when it penetrated his bubble, he didn't know what else to do but run. He felt safe running. And so, though his rationality had resolved not to go on this trip so he could protect the others from his inexperience, when the opportunity had come to keep running he had instinctively reversed his choice without ever himself realizing why.
Even as he sat there on the train his mind only briefly considered why he had decided to go. After a few swiftly generated excuses it became too much to bear and he dropped it, dismissing the matter as irrelevant. He was here now and there was no going back, so whatever.
Immediately he looked to what he should do to keep himself occupied. To have a rejuvenating nap would be ideal but nowadays even when he slept for a time he never felt rested anymore. The scene outside the window hadn't changed for a while; these plains probably went on for quite a distance. He supposed that he still had the books in his bag. Perhaps he could merely read until he got hungry enough to go get-
"Oh, hey, there you are," Rainbow Dash greeted from just beyond the still open doorway, feigning surprise.
James kicked himself once for not remembering to shut the door. Best see what she wanted now. "Hey," he returned as he shifted himself up in his seat. "What's up?"
"Nothing," she answered peculiarly. Her eyes refused to settle on him, glancing about, and she rambled with diverted attention, "Just... checking... what's up."
"Nothing," he repeated her.
"Oh. Cool. Nothing's cool."
He leered at her but she still didn't look straight back at him. "Is it now?" he asked, laid heavy with accusation.
"Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah, it totally is. I do nothing all the time," the evasive pegasus hastily generated.
James continued to stare without response as a silence fell between them. The unprepared Rainbow Dash didn't quite choke under the pressure of his gaze but the man couldn't tell if she honestly thought she was doing a good job with her improvisation.
At last, the pegasus tried again, hardly innovating, "So... what's up?"
"... Rainbow Dash... is there something you wanted?" he asked directly.
"Oh, uh, just... you know... haven't seen you for a while," she tried responding. As his look remained unconvinced, she added onto her words, though her voice choked a tiny bit, "I mean, since... like... yesterday?"
"You didn't see me for days at a time before that," he reminded her, starting to grow weary of their exchange.
"Yeah, well... that was... before, ah..." Her composure started to give as she struggled openly to come up with a plausible response. "Before... I knew... you..." She sprung up suddenly, hitting upon what clearly sounded to her like the most clever cover ever, "... LIKED TRAINS! How about this train, huh? Preeeetty awesome, right?"
Honestly, he had a hard time believing this was even happening. "Yeah, it's a classy train," he answered dryly.
"Yeah. And hey, I even heard some of the girls talking about a sauna car they have in the back." She came off as forceful and rushed when she invited, "Hey, here's a crazy idea. What do you say you and I give it a try? We could... uh... you know... sweat, and uh... whatever, and use the time to talk about-"
"No thanks," he quickly interrupted. "I'd really rather just read or something right now."
"Oh, okay, sure," she loosely accepted. But as the seconds ticked by, she didn't budge from the other side of the doorway, oblivious to his hint.
"By myself," he had to emphasize.
"Oh! Okay. Uh-"
James stood up, walked over to the door, and gripped the inverted handle. "Thanks for checking up on me. Later."
"Sure, no problem! But-"
He slide the door shut with one smooth pull. Turning back towards the room, he gazed up at the ceiling with a tired sigh. For a minute he stood there and tried to let the disturbance fade away while at the same time he laughed about it on the inside. What did she think she had been getting away with?
Eventually he picked up his bag, fished out his three books, and then tossed the satchel back onto the floor with a thud. He sat back down with the tomes and deliberated over which he should read. It wouldn't be bad to dive into the adventures of Sidlesong and her friends; to escape into that fantasy. Then again, maybe "A Brief History of Equestria" had some tidbit of information which could come in handy with-
Three rapid knocks came against his door.
For a moment he sat still. Not because he believed that if he did nothing the visitor would go away but because he was certain he knew who his visitor was and he scarcely believed she would try again so soon.
Another triplet of knocks rang.
Pushing himself up, he went and opened the door. And sure enough (unbelievably enough for him,) Rainbow Dash was there on the other side.
"Hey I thought I heard something in here, everything alright?" she rattled off quickly. She shoved a hoof in and took a step forward, pressing her face into the room and rapidly looked about. "Maybe I should-"
He moved into her way, blocking her entry, and demonstrated his doubt of her by questioning intently, "You heard a noise coming from an occupied room? What are the odds?"
With a sheepish smile, she asked innocently, "So... everything's alright then?"
"Yes. Thanks," he replied sternly before seizing the door handle.
"Wait!" she objected in a panic. "Uh... so... what... what're your plans?"
His grip tightened, but he asked, "Plans?"
"Yeah, uh, like... how're you going to spend the trip? What are you going to do when we get there? Things like that." The wishful pegasus began to lift another hoof, hoping to take another step in.
"I can't make any plans for there because first we'll have to assess the situation once we arrive. And as for the train ride..." James placed his palm right on top of Rainbow Dash's face and gently moved her back out of the doorway with one solid push. Then he slammed the door shut.
Now so frustrated it actually ached a little, he sat back down and rubbed his eyes. He had to push the books to the side to blow off some steam. What had that nosy pegasus even wanted? She was digging for something. At that thought he was very suddenly not in the mood to care. It was more stunning to him that, for all her swagger, she sure couldn't swing a bit of bluffing. Thank goodness this train even had personal rooms because if he had to put up with that behavior in a sardine can there would've been-
There was a fast tapping that suddenly broke his thoughts. He looked to the door but it wasn't the familiar bang of a knock at all. The tapping repeated and, listening more sharply this time, he traced its origin to... the window?
Dipping and moving his head about, James peeked beyond the glass. No way. Oh, NO WAY. Against his better judgment, he undid the latches and lowered the window.
Racing against the wind, Rainbow Dash cut her way through the air alongside the train, matching speed for speed. She shouted in short bursts to overcome the roar of the wind, "SO ANYWAY! I WAS THINKING! WE'RE ON THIS MISSION THING! FROM THE PRINCESS! TOGETHER! SO! WE'RE BASICALLY! LIKE TEAMMATES NOW! RIGHT?"
He really couldn't do anything but stare back in response. One part of him was angry with her stubborn refusal to give up, another part was concerned for her safety, and yet another just couldn't come to grips with how crazy this stunt was. Well... it was impressive as hell too, but it was also crazy.
"RIGHT!" the pegasus yelled, as if he had agreed. "BUT! WE DON'T REALLY! KNOW EACH OTHER! LIKE TEAMMATES SHOULD! SO WHY DON'T! YOU AND I! SIT DOWN AND! HAVE A LONG TALK! ABOUT HOW YOU-"
Placing his hands firmly on the open window top, James leaned out slightly and shouted back, "Can you please just leave me alone?"
"WHAT?" She brought a hoof up to her ear.
"Leave! Me! Alone! Thanks!" he enunciated. With drippings of anger, he slipped back inside, threw the window back up, smashed the locks back into place, and dragged the shades closed.
His ferocity echoed in how he slammed himself down into the seat. What if she came back again? He wasn't sure what he would do, or what clearer way he could shove his message into her dimwitted, thick skull. Looking for escape, he swerved his eyes to the pushed aside books, just barely within reach. Maybe she simply would stay away this time and he could fall into their pages. However, like a cataclysmic vision, he fatally knew that the instant he reached for a book it would somehow invoke another interruption from Rainbow Dash. He held himself back for several moments, long enough for his sensibility to remind him how absurd his linking of the two events was, and then his hand cautiously stretched for one of the books...
Before he could even lay a finger on it, there was a faint knocking on his door.
Slapping the table hard, he rose up. Angrily, he marched over and grabbed the door handle, and as he ripped the door open he shouted, "I'm getting really tired of-"
On the other side of the open doorway, Fluttershy cringed down. Her head fell low, her wings clutched in tight and shook, and her tail drooped between her legs. "I-I-I'm sorry...," she hoarsely whispered. With frightened speed, she gripped her teeth on the handlebar of a service cart she was bringing through the hall and started to push it away.
"No! No, wait!" James called after her in a hurry. "I thought... that you were someone else. I'm sorry."
Nervously, the shy pegasus paused and looked back, still just a little shaken. Her voice came unsteady but clear, "Oh... Well, I... I brewed some tea and... I thought that you might like some..."
Peering past her, the man could see that her simple pushcart, draped in a long, white tablecloth which nearly dragged on the floor, did indeed have a silver teapot resting upon it. A gentle steam, barely visible, leaked out of the spout and its sweet aroma wafted even to where he was standing. With several teacups stacked upside down and more than a few accessories on the side, she was certainly ready to serve.
His eyebrows bounced in surprise. "Thank you! You didn't have to-" He stopped to pinch the bridge of his nose and tried to rub the rainbow disturbances away. A warm drink could go a long way here. "Yes. Yeah, I'd love some, thank you. Could really use it right about now." Then, almost spontaneously, he decided to stand aside and gestured for her to wheel her cart into his room, rather than take a tea delivery.
With recovering geniality, Fluttershy was able to smile again and she grabbed her cart. Careful in the narrow hall, she rolled it backwards until she could swivel it into his room. After she entered, James hung out of his door for a moment and glanced up and down the hallway with watchful eyes. Satisfied by the lack of colorful intruders, he closed the door.
As he slipped around the pegasus and her cart to sit back down, she delicately flipped two teacups and placed them on the table. The light and creamy tea that she carefully poured out flowed like an easy brook and the filling cups steamed like a hot bath. She explained that she had been browsing the train's kitchen when she saw they had a large and varied stock of teas, so she had selected a delightful looking white tea to try. After she poured and securely placed the teapot back down, she made sure to politely point out every last one of the overly abundant choices of additives she had brought: sugar, more than one kind of milk, ginger and other spices, and so on. She herself squeezed only a bit of honey into her drink before she took a spoon and sat, stirring gently.
He thanked her with every step of her preparation since she always looked worried that she was doing something wrong. As he wasn't really a connoisseur of this new habit, he didn't bother enhancing his tea in any way. Fully wrapping his hands around his teacup, he enjoyed the melting warmth that came from it and he bent forward to let the rising, savory scent fill him. Sighing with closed eyes, he felt substantially better. Although he was waiting for the drink to cool a bit before taking a sip, it didn't actually matter at this point if he got to try it or not; it had done its job.
Fluttershy withdrew her spoon and set it down, letting her beverage swirl smoothly on its own. Now ready to relax herself, she was able to give James a more scrutinous look for the first time. Her notice was immediate. It was hard to slip some things by such an experienced caretaker. "You look really tired," she softly observed with generous, but not overly worried, concern.
He sighed again. "That obvious, huh?" he groaned wearily.
Without even a breath of hesitation, she backed off, again showing downcast eyes, and she murmured in apology, "Oh, I'm sorry. Were you trying to sleep?"
"Not really." He pressed himself up, sitting slightly straighter and stretching his back some. As much as he could manage, he tried to drain his agitation away to help put her at ease. "Just... tired." The word came out heavy and profound. He was tired, but not as a description. He WAS tired. He had become the concept. Idly, he brushed the side of his hand along the table twice, like sweeping away crumbs, as if he could wipe away that thought.
She seemed to understand what he meant by his words and she relaxed some as she wished to him, "Well, I hope you get some rest during the train ride. We may be a little busy once we get to Hamestown."
"We may," he nodded in uncertainty. Just not for the reasons these ponies were imagining. He took another look at Fluttershy. She was still bothered by something. It wasn't as direct as before but something definitely nagged at her. He had probably spooked her pretty badly with his yelling. "You alright?" he asked her.
"Ooo... I'm just nervous," she said in a low tone. There were the tiniest quaking shivers in her, and she blew a baby cushion of air over her tea before taking a sip to calm her nerves.
James was remorseful. This wasn't unlike the situation with Rarity; she had never done anything to truly bother him in any way, so his rudeness hadn't been right, no matter how much a case of mistaken identity it had been. "I'm sorry," he offered sincerely.
But instantly she popped up, more worried and strained, lamenting, "Oh, no, no! I'm sorry! I didn't mean that you're making me nervous!" She had to take another sip to settle completely, and then she glanced away weakly. In a silent tone, she stressed, "It seems like everypony expects me to solve everything when we get there."
It was a simple thing she had said, but it at last woke him completely up from his selfish focus; a sharp reminder that there were things going on that didn't revolve around him. Trying to be helpful and soothe her anxiety, he lightly hinted, "Well... that's if the problems are rooted in some upset animals." Then, to bolster her confidence, "From what I've seen, you're really the best suited for that kind of thing."
"I know," she gave up. But again she whispered with lowered, diverted eyes, "I don't like the pressure, is all."
He emphatically felt for her. "It's kind of a weird thing, being on the spot," he said. "Sometimes you just have to operate under a lot of pressure. Sometimes it even helps you; pushes you to get things done, even if you would otherwise ignore them. But it's never really comfortable, is it? Some people thrive under pressure... get a thrill out of it almost." Leaning in a little, he told her in solidarity, "But... I can't say that I like it either."
He remembered clearly the oppressive mindset of crushing stress, and even paralyzing fear, that came with being under deadlines or scrutiny for things that had seemed so important at one time. Now he could barely recall the specific details of those tasks and deadlines but the pressured feelings had be irrevocably branded into his memory. What that force felt like would never be forgotten.
Pressure comes and goes though. It can be struggled with for a time but it has to dissipate at some point, win or lose; when the deadline expires, when concerns move elsewhere, or even for no discernible reason at all. Those fights were just another part of the battlefield of life. That had been his experience. He liked to believe that when he was challenged, he rose up. At least... that was how he looked back on things retrospectively. There wasn't a time he could willingly remember where he believed he had been defeated by his life. After all... he was still here.
... And that counted, right...?
"I don't mind speaking with the animals there, if that's what I have to do," Fluttershy barely insisted. "I mean, I am worried that some poor little creature is hurt somehow and that's causing all this to happen. B-but... if i-it's s-something... m-meaner..." She had to stop and take another sip of her tea.
Her zoo of a home was one of the more impressive things he remembered ever seeing. It wasn't the ramshackle abode of a crazy cat lady; it was the perfectly made dwelling of countless families of critters, all superbly cared for. Her remarkable capability to maintain that place made her, in his eyes, an animal expert of incredible heart and talent, for all things big and small. But he supposed even a lion tamer gets bit every now and again. That was the danger with wild animals. He put forward another effort to relieve her fears, saying, "No need to really worry about anything yet. We'll hopefully have a better idea of what to expect when Twilight finishes with her research. Plus, even then, we'll still need to get there and see the situation for ourselves."
The agitated pegasus hummed discontentedly. Her power of belief couldn't overcome her jagged doubt.
She was a pessimistic one, he felt. But he recalled how, back when he had first arrived, she had really thrown herself into assisting all the animals that had been displaced from the portal's volatile collapse. Even as the work had pushed her to the brink of exhaustion, physically and mentally, she had kept giving all she had. Having had seen her in the middle of that draining burden, he could easily imagine that she had felt the same hopelessness then, too. But still she had stepped up to the task. She couldn't have NOT tried. That kind of despairing retreat, when all those animals were on the line, wasn't a part of who she was, no matter what her fear was. Realizing that, James tried adjusting his approach. "You take care of a lot of different kinds of animals. Have you ever had to deal with a really dangerous one?"
By her reaction it was plain to see that those memories weren't her fondest, but she replied, "Oh my, yes, several times." But then, strangely, she became almost conciliatory, telling him, "They're not... bad creatures. They just... aren't always as nice, or as patient, or as... f-friendly as maybe they could be." She tensed up again but not as severely as before, and she was able to take a relatively more casual sip or her cooling tea.
Her advocacy for the very critters she was hoping not to deal with actually reminded James of several people he had met. Rude, or grumpy, or hostile individuals who nevertheless found friends and others to love, and who loved them. Ways were found to interact with them since somewhere inside they were really human. And it seemed like Fluttershy, in her own way, hadn't experienced different. "So it sounds to me like, frightening or not, you could handle it. That special ability to talk with animals is really something."
"It's not really special," she opined rather plainly, disquietly rubbing a hoof on the table while looking away.
"Sure it's special," he countered in attempt to stop her defeatist descent. "That's part of why everyone believes in you. And, I mean, I certainly can't talk with animals like that."
"That's not true. You could," she told him. Something wistful rose up in her, like what she felt inside was the most obvious thing in the world to her yet it was always strangely hard to grasp for others. "Maybe it comes easier to me but there's no reason why you couldn't." Then something occurred to her and she popped up somewhat, blinking at him, and asked, "Didn't you say you used to take care of some little bunny rabbits?"
"Yeah. While I was growing up. Three of them," he refreshed her memory. "Not all at the same time. One after the other."
Like pointing out the obvious, she wondered, "So... didn't you talk to them?"
"Well... of course," replied James, but he wasn't completely following where she was going. He justified, "But that's just something you do with a pet. More like... talking AT them, most of the time."
"Oh, no, no... I mean, to get along with them," Fluttershy clarified herself. "Didn't you have to communicate with them?"
"It's not like I could speak with-" But he halted and thought a bit more deeply about what she was saying. He took himself back, put some of his past interactions with his three little buddies under a microscope, and reevaluated everything with the stronger form of mind adulthood had given him.
With a brightened change of voice, he suddenly said to her, "I remember... I could walk right up to them, a big (compared to them), excited kid, and they wouldn't mind one bit. They'd let me run my hands all over them, scratching behind their ears, scritching their noses, grooming their backs... but..." A half-smile emerged on him and nodded with remembrance as he related their cleverness, "But... if I put my jacket on FIRST and then went up to them in the same way... well, there was usually no getting close to them! They'd scurry and scamper away, hide under the bed, all that. They knew what that jacket meant. I was going out, and going to try to put them back in their cage."
It was a charming picture which made Fluttershy grin, a million of her own relatable experiences tickling her. "They knew what you were saying with your jacket," she giggled, "and they were trying to say something back."
"That they didn't want to go in their cage? Well, that wasn't their decision!" he chuckled. "Mom wasn't going to stand for them having an unsupervised run. Heh... and really, each of them had a different personality about it. One of them was a pretty mellow guy. He wouldn't always run from me so it wasn't always catch'em and cage'em with him. Sometimes he...," the man became very rabbit-like, showing what he was saying with his hands and body, "... he would see me coming and you could tell he knew, because he'd tense up, ball up a bit more, get really defensive, you know? But he wouldn't run. So, I'd stand over him and be like, 'Pal, I've got to go. You got to get in your cage,' and I'd point at the cage. Occasionally I'd have to tell him twice but eventually he'd get up and..." James had to break from his small story just to laugh and scratch his head. These behaviors had never struck him as unusual when he was just a kid taking care of his rabbit, but now... "He'd get up and just take the tiniest, saddest, slowest hops towards the cage. And sometimes he'd stop in front of the cage door and look back, and you saw it in his eyes and ears, that 'do I really have to?' I'd tell him again, or snap my fingers, and in he'd go.
And they'd do stuff to let me know other things too, when they had to," he carried on without pause. It was a wellspring of good thoughts, good times, and good memories. "One of them would come right up to me and tap me on the ankle with his nose if he was demanding attention. And the other, well, if I was too slow keeping up with his litter box he'd let me know by taking his business elsewhere, but only after he was sure I was watching him first! He wanted to make sure I knew. And the mellow guy, haha, I'll never forget this, one time my sisters were having some kind of argument in the other room and one of them really screamed and slammed something, and he just thumped the biggest thump and then bolted and hid behind my legs, heh." He missed those rabbits, but what a treasure of happiness they had left him with!
The pegasus was enamored with his bunny tales, as she often was with all things animal related. Her love of creatures and critters was far more broad than his was but it was still so easy to share his feelings because they were both purely touched by the same source. It was a bond that let them engage in more ways than their words could alone, and immediately she felt more stable and secure. She took a sip of her tea but this time, for the first time, it was just for the taste. "I think you really loved your rabbits, and really cared about them," she explained to him, "so you found a way to communicate with them." Her eyes wandered a bit, but not with doubt or discontent, and she said, "It's really not that different with me."
He felt better too, remarkably. Raising his teacup, he gave the warm beverage a try. It wasn't his favorite from the small sample size he knew but it still had all the fine qualities that he was quickly growing to enjoy in tea. "You know," he opened to her with utter honesty, "regardless of what you think, I'd say you're pretty strong. From what I've seen anyway. I don't think you have anything to worry about."
Now ready to believe, she inquired, flattered, "Do you really think so?"
"Sure. I mean, real courage is getting things done in spite of being afraid," he suggested. "It's not doing dangerous or hard things because you aren't scared or worried." Slightly more quiet and slightly more somber, he added, "I don't know what's out there. We'll find out more when we get there. But I think the others will be glad to have you around regardless, whether you're 'needed' or not."
"Thank you. That's very kind of you to say," returned Fluttershy with renewed aplomb.
The minutes moved forward, helped along by their paced drinking as their pleasantries shifted to mostly be about the tea itself. What was liked about it? What other additives would it go good with? What kind of tea should be tried next when an opportune tea time came around again? Eventually their cups ran dry and neither opted for a refill.
"Well, it was so nice to sit down and chat with you," the thankful pegasus said, "but I think I should head back now, if that's alright."
"Sure, sure. Thanks for coming by, and thanks for the tea." James stood up and skipped by her pushcart so he could slide the room's door open for her.
Fluttershy gently returned the cups and spoon to her cart before she grasped it and stepped backwards to pull it out of his quarters. Swinging it about to get it into the thin hallway, she stopped to mention, "I'm going to brew more for lunch. Will you...?"
"Yeah, absolutely. I'll be there just for it," he readily accepted.
"Oh, wonderful! Well, I hope you get some rest."
He mumbled lowly, "Yeah, me too." Then, after a shake of his head, more assertively, "Take care."
She wished him goodbye and he softly slide his door closed.
The chipper pegasus was about to begin pushing her cart away when a rainbow-maned face burst out of the cloth which concealed the lower tray. Fluttershy reared back with a huge gasp, ready to unleash a surprised scream. Her frightened screech was just barely cut off when Rainbow Dash plugged a hoof into her open mouth like a stopper. The more colorful pegasus crawled out from the cart's lower compartment, keeping her one shriek-blocking hoof in place. She pressed a stare into her squelched friend's eyes and, after a moment, Fluttershy's wordless face responded with an embarrassed look, acknowledging that she had it under control now. With that, Rainbow Dash withdrew her hoof.
"Eeeeek..." Fluttershy almost inaudibly let out, the dainty screech squeaking the instant her airway was open again. She gave a little puff of a cough and then, still in a small voice and with guilty eyes, she apologized, "Sorry." The bout of panic passed, the situation caught up to her, and she questioned quietly, "Rainbow Dash! What were you doing down there? You nearly gave me a heart attack."
But the cerulean pony didn't explain herself. She only rapidly looked over Fluttershy, side to side, over and under, inspecting the startled pegasus inch by inch. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, she brought a hoof up to her chin and hummed thoughtfully, looked back at James' door with another ponderous hum, and then silently drifted up and over the other pony, landed, and moved on.
Fluttershy blinked in confusion at the bizarre encounter but departed as well, pushing her cart slowly along with one eye peeking back behind her.
Rainbow Dash didn't even make it to the end of the carriage when she found her passage barred by a certain farm pony who stared at her with a mix of disapproval and intuition. "So... what were ya doing, if I may be so bold as to ask, huh?" Applejack questioned.
"I wasn't doing anything!" the pegasus defended herself.
"My beaten blisters you weren't! You've taken a real solo interest in Beanstalk, haven't you," The farm pony accused. She stamped a hoof. "Don't you go gettin' all Twilight on us! We were waiting to figure this out together. I seem to recall you being there and being AGREEABLE to all that!"
"What?" Rainbow Dash falsely retorted, but her composure was beginning to fall apart. "You're crazy. I was just... trying... to spend some quality time with my new friend is all."
Applejack rolled her eyes and stamped again. "Oh, for crying out loud! From the bottom of Fluttershy's li'l truck?"
Recognizing that things weren't going in her favor, the pegasus' tone changed. Not quite as secretive, she still didn't surrender anything and insisted, "Hey! I can handle myself, and I'm just looking out for everypony else."
But the tiny concession wasn't enough for Applejack, who drove a hoof right into Rainbow Dash's chest before pressing up nose-to-nose. "Now see here!" she protested, "We don't rightly know what exactly is rattling Beanstalk. But we done heard he's been nothing but a tumbleweed on a windless day, so Celestia knows what miracle got him to even come along with us! Might not-a been an easy thing for him to do! Maybe you mean well but all your reckless poking and prodding might just go rubbing him the wrong way and make things worse!"
She let up slightly, drawing her face and hoof back, but her hard stare remained direly serious as she continued, "But more importantly, this whole nasty fix is really pushing on poor Twilight. The Princess put her on the spot and now, surprise surprise, she's taking the responsibility real personal-like. We got her stable before, but what do you think happens if things go bad, huh? How's she gonna feel then? You upset him, you're likely gonna upset her worse! And I'll be a snowpony in summer if I'm gonna let you hurt Twilight like that!"
"I... uh... I didn't... think about it like that," Rainbow Dash admitted weakly.
Having at last broken through, Applejack calmed down. Somewhat repentant, and far more warmly, she said, "Listen... I'm trying not to be angry with ya. Heck, I already had to apologize to somepony else once this week for blowin' my lid, and I'd like to not ratchet that number up to two. Can you leave'm alone? For now?"
Rainbow Dash spun her neck and gazed back at James' door. Her stare lingered for awhile before, without concealment, she answered, "... Yeah."
"Gather round, everypony!" Twilight called.
The whole company was in the dining carriage savoring their post-lunch fullness. There were still unfinished dishes from table to table, the generous portions provided by the kitchen having had encouraged heavier helpings. The soggy remains of vegetable soup in the bottom of bowls, leaves and fruits and hay left in fragments on plates, cakes and treats and other delights abandoned in clumps and crumbs; they were found at all the tables, mixed with the spent napkins. It would've been considered a quality meal for a high class restaurant, but the affair here had all the noise, motion, and simple deliciousness of a community potluck.
Even James had come out to eat, as promised to Fluttershy, instead of stealing away some food to his room. But, as usual, he had never given anything more than necessary, selecting from what dishes he liked, sitting quietly at the table with the fewest other guests, and only speaking when spoken to.
Twilight's table was half lunch spread and half desk; bread stacked besides book and sweets befriending scrolls. The diligent unicorn and her faithful assistant had still toiled away at their task while eating. "We've been doing research all morning and I want to share what we've learned!" she said as she invited the others over. With the light of her horn, she shifted as much of her table's leftovers as she could, dropping the dishes at the nearest vacancy.
Every pony, and person, pulled closer to her table, taking seats near and far around it. Some sat at it; Pinkie Pie brought her surplus snacks and Rarity grumbled while she used a tablecloth to wipe down the place she had chosen for herself. Others set down at the neighboring tables; James for one, who sat with his back towards his chosen table and his front towards the unicorn. He actually anticipated her findings. Rainbow Dash sat slightly removed as well. The pegasus had at first thought about dropping herself closer to the man, where she might keep a better eye on him, but relented as she reminded herself of Applejack's words.
As Twilight organized her books and notes, Rarity commented, "You certainly work fast, Twilight dear."
"Well, unfortunately," the unicorn responded with glum hesitation, "it's more that there wasn't a whole lot to work with."
"I'll say," Spike quipped. He tapped a stack of books that was within reach. "For all the books you got, I'm surprised we didn't find more. A lot of boring records and letters and dumb reports about plants and bugs and-"
"Spike! There's more than that!" Twilight chided him. But to her staring friends she gave a heavy breath and a helpless shake of a hoof. "But... yes. These books are filled with lots of minutia that, while interesting, probably isn't going to be helpful to us in any way. So... we were able skim through a lot of it."
"So did you learn anything useful at all?" wondered a dismal Rainbow Dash.
"Oh, absolutely!" Twilight answered, recovering her vigor. There was no way to hide her general enthusiasm for learning. "It's really a very unique place! I kind of wish we weren't heading out there on such pressing business." She had to take a second to refocus herself and keep a sure hoof upon their task. Steady again, she told them, "Anyway, I think it's best if we start with a history lesson."
There were a few groans from the gallery. Here comes Professor Twilight. But some also leaned forward, listening.
"Explorers, surveyors, adventurers, and other travelers have been passing through the lands beyond the Pearl Peaks for hundreds of years," the articulate unicorn began. "By all accounts it's a very lush and beautiful place. Rivers and cool air come down from the mountains, Unicorn Spring Forest is right nearby, and the soil is noted to be particularly rich. It's in a temperate zone that supports a large assortment of different crops. Aside from not yet being a part of an established trade route, there could hardly be a more perfect place to set up a village, really. So, naturally, some ponies tried to set up there." Her words grew a little darker and sterner as she revealed, "And I mean TRIED to. But all attempts to settle on the land have failed, so for these past centuries it hasn't been much more than a realm for spirited travelers."
Pinkie Pie had to forcefully finish squeezing a thick piece of cake down her throat to be able to ask, "But I thought the Princess said there was a village there?"
"There is now," Twilight explained. "Hamestown is the first successful settlement after over half a dozen tries, over the course of hundreds of years."
The news caught most of them by surprise. It started spurring some original thinking in them.
"Goodness," Fluttershy gasped. "What happened to the earlier settlements?"
"Do you think it could be related to the trouble that is going on right now?" asked Rarity.
Twilight shook her head, saying, "Maybe, but we don't know." She propped up her notes with her magic and skimmed through them. "We do know that all the prior settlements failed due to strange and unexpected problems that the frontiersponies could never adequately explain. There are scattered reports of mysterious happenings that they thought might be caused by the local animals, especially more recently in history, but that's honestly not the big problem..."
She brought the scroll back down and said, "The big problem was that, despite the richness of the land, the earth ponies had a harder time than normal farming. Which was exacerbated by the pegasi having a harder time than normal manipulating the weather. And the unicorns couldn't help either of them because they had a harder time than normal casting spells."
"Harder than normal?" questioned Applejack.
"Yeah," Spike confirmed. "The things they could do elsewhere in Equestria they just couldn't do as well there, for some reason."
The farm pony's face contorted. "What? But why?"
"Nopony knows exactly," Twilight responded. She appeared thoughtful, reviewing in her head all the facts that she knew, and not for the first time this morning. She mentally stepped through her deductions again and again. "Personally, from all I've read, I agree with one of the theories put forward. There must be something in the area that disrupts the balance of magic."
None of the others seemed to follow her, lacking the same context she had. Magic never was a topic any of them got terribly engrossed in.
She tried to elaborate for them, "Magic is an inherent part of the world. It's in everything. It can even be controlled. You can build things, like a structure, to help channel the flow of magic energy, or assemble an artifact to hold magic power. But that happens in nature too. For an obvious example, the horns on a unicorn's head. Also, the site for Canterlot itself was chosen because the great crystal caverns beneath the mountain help attune magic more finely than most other places." Gesturing back towards all her books, she lead them back to her thinking, "Maybe there's something out there that has the opposite effect?"
There would have been the chirp of crickets if the little buggers could have beaten out the rhythmic rolling of the train. The logic had penetrated her audience to various depths but none of them whispered a word to indicate how much they had followed.
"In any case...," Twilight slowly proceeded, hopeful of her progress, "... about forty years ago, the Hamestown project got underway. They've had more success precisely because they've done a lot to account for past failures. They've found clever, alternate solutions to some of the problems that plagued previous attempts." She quickly retrieved one of the books and opened it to an earmarked page, holding it up and showing it to her friends. There were various notes and diagrams regarding the storage, use, and spread of water. "For example, since they can't always get it to rain when they want to, they gather water from several sources and store it in large containers before channeling it to all their farms via tubes and hoses and sprinklers. It's really brilliant."
It was stunning to James how she could talk about it like it was some kind of big innovation. Enough of the ponies heard his subdued laugh that they turned curiously to look him. He nonchalantly named it for them. "Irrigation."
"Yeah, it's irritating alright," Rainbow Dash picked at the inside of her ear with a hoof.
"No, no, EAR-EE-GAY-SHUN," Applejack spelled out for her inattentive friend. "It's when you bring the water to the crop by something other than raincloud. It doesn't happen often but sometimes at the farm we need to store a li'l bit of extra water in these tight ol' barrels for use later, 'specially if we know a drier season than usual is scheduled." With a casual consideration, she reasoned, "Reckon a pony could go bigger with it if they really had to."
But Twilight stared at the man, her thoughts caught in a sudden realization when she noticed how easily he had recognized the irrigation concept. He was from a place where they couldn't just make it rain when they needed crops watered. Of course they would come up with these kinds of alternate solutions. They made due living in a world they couldn't quite control the same way. In Equestria, magic was that control. If the ponies at Hamestown were operating under diminished magic... then James might be a bit more familiar with how things could work there than any pony might otherwise immediately realize.
Maybe it was a good thing he had come along? Could the Princess have known all this, or suspected as such?
An impatient cough from one of the other ponies snapped the dazed unicorn back to attention. Giving a brisk apology, she fumbled through her notes to recover her place.
"Let's see... settlements, magic, solutions... ah, right, the forest. Hamestown was set up, intentionally, against a vast forest that has become a big part of their life out there." Twilight shuffled her notes a bit before picking out an ounce of trivia on a whim, "'Unicorn Spring Forest' it's called. It gets the name from an old legend. Supposedly the travelers who came through the land would occasionally find baby unicorns all alone on the borders of the forest, as if the forest itself had spat them out."
Dreary, humorless grumblings arose among them. Some wondered aloud about what sort of mysterious force would create unicorns out of thin air, but others suspected dimmer possibilities. It was surprisingly Pinkie Pie who moaned, "What kind of pony would just leave a baby alone by themself at a forest?"
"Relax, Pinkie. It's just an old legend," Spike assured her.
Twilight backed the dragon's assertion, saying, "There haven't been any recorded accounts of it happening in over a hundred years. And all the older accounts are just unverified anecdotes." She shook her head, brushing away the speculative negligence. "I think it's a little much to assume somepony would be so cruel as to abandon infants like that.
"Anyway, that's all besides the point! The point is, the ponies of Hamestown live with a balance around the forest," she brought the spotlight back to her central message. "It's an ecosystem which already supports the multitude of creatures that live within it. The ponies have carefully and elegantly inserted themselves into that system. They collect what food and water it naturally provides, use the trees for lumber, and so on. But, they're always meticulous and deliberate about everything they do, being sure to avoid disturbing the balance of the forest." Again she displayed supporting data for them; a book whose flipping pages were filled with verbose notes on the life cycles and behavioral patterns of local wildlife, diagrams on the growth and distribution of the trees, and other deep, naturalist knowledge. She emphasized, "No tree is cut down until it's unoccupied and new ones are planted, no food or water source is taken from if it would affect local capacity, and so on. They've been managing things successfully like that for decades! And it has been a big part of their success."
She closed the book and set it aside. "That's also why the natural assumption is that the creatures of the forest are the source of the settlement's broken tools, missing supplies, and more. According to Princess Celestia, they've recently stepped up an expansion effort and, since the balance is really delicate, it seems logical to assume that if they've slipped up with that somewhere then there might be some response from the forest." Shades of doubt rose up and with low eyes and voice she mused openly, "The more I think about it, though..."
"Um, excuse me, Twilight?" Fluttershy meekly raised a hoof. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but, ah, I just... wanted to know, uh... what kinds of animals are over there?" Her face kept flipping between hopeful excitement and fearful dread, willfully wishing for one answer and praying desperately not to receive another.
Magically scooping up another of her parchments, Twilight flashed it towards the nervous pegasus and said, "Well, I actually started assembling a list of all the kinds of animals so you could be prepared. Gathering known species from every source I could get my hooves on, but... well, it sort of became... kind of pointless." The paper she showed had an organized list whose order began collapsing the further it went down, until eventually it was just hasty scribbles and then nothing. "A clear trend emerged, and it actually backs the diminished magic theory: all the animals are of a more... 'mundane,'" she stumbled in her phrasing, despising the word choice that came to her naturally, as if it forced itself in from an outside perspective, "variety. I don't think we'll see as much as a cockatrice out there. I mean, there are still some dangerous animals, but nothing with any seriously hazardous magical abilities."
"Oh..." The yellow pony sat still, almost baffled. She guessed that was good to hear? But it wasn't either of the extremes she had imagined and she found herself lacking any kind of response.
Twilight shrugged. "Try to be as prepared for that as you can be, Fluttershy. We'll need you to interact with anything the forest throws at us." Again the pony seemed to dip down into thought, whispering lowly, "... if that is what's going on... something just seems..." Off? She didn't say.
James caught her doubt. Curious to see if she would give up what more she knew, he purposefully asked, "So, what's your best guess for what you'll be dealing with out there?"
"I don't know," she replied. There was a certain quality of reserve in her. "The most recent letters and reports that I have here are almost five years old, which is before their problems started cropping up, and... well, I don't want to bias my judgment before we at least get to see things for ourselves."
The fact that she couldn't make herself commit to a hypothesis solidified it for James: what he had picked up from the Princess's behavior, she had stumbled upon through her research and intuition... even if she wasn't aware of it consciously. Hopefully, she expected the unexpected.