It was they day they had been preparing for. Lea had gone and bought the tickets already and was working on giving them out. “Okay! We have an hour before the train leaves for Ponyville! So everyone make sure they have what they need.”
Everypony and everyone was scrambling around making sure everything was checked. Bluegrass was going to be coming to the Pokemon Center everyday to make sure the berry plants were taken care of and harvested while they were gone. As they were preparing to leave, Bluegrass was already up on the roof plucking the newest batch.
Midnight had made sure that Ben would be able to take care of his job while he was gone, since the pokemon had volunteered to take over the thestrals shift. Ben had even offered to do extra time if Midnight was a little late in getting back from his vacation.
Caddi had been resting much of the day before. Ever since she had basically used up all her energy and magic to same Lea and her family from Grumpig, she had been having some trouble with keeping her disguise up full time. She hoped that with the extra rest, it would be easier to stay disguised as Kiwi, since changelings weren’t as accepted outside of Hoofington as they were now.
Lea herself had gotten a few filly and colt size saddlebags to carry all the items they would have, which was currently mainly bits. Lea had heard that there was a boutique in Ponyville, and hoped she might be able to get the chance to something made there, though she wasn’t sure if she’d find the chance to visit it. She also wanted to visit the library there if she got the chance since she hadn’t been in one since she was kicked out of the Hoofington Library.
Matrix hadn’t thought of anything he needed to do, and was spending his time resting. While they had been able to get Lea to learn yawn, it was still unreliable and they didn’t want Grumpig to stay awake long if she failed to use it.
Angela had been making sure, for the hundredth time, that Cacturne had gotten the message that if he caused any trouble while they were gone, she would deal with him. She had also apparently had a discussion with him in private earlier she didn’t want to talk about, even though everyone knew it had happened. The grass type had come out of their discussion needing to be healed by Blissey from whatever Angela had done.
Kya and Sparks had packed a few things into a little sack that Sparks was able to carry around. Mainly in the bag were things like paper and pencils, but there was also a carefully wrapped candy apple or two.
Citrus hadn’t yet arrived because she had recently bought a place of her own and had called her in to fill out some last minute paperwork. When someone had complained that she should have been told to do this earlier, she brought up that it was fine as long as it meant she didn’t need to share an apartment with Specter to stay in town.
Linoone was focused on trying to get Ziggs to settle down. Ever since he had heard about the train ride, the young pokemon had been very excited to finally go on the trip. As the time got nearer, it had been harder to keep him in one place.
Lea herself had been doing a lot of work. She had spent half the day after Ire had come gathering anything the center might need while they were away. Unfortunately, when she had come back a little bit before lunch that day, she had been complaining about her one leg, and Blissey had looked it over to see that all the activity she had been doing was starting to fracture her leg again. Her leg had been put in a very clunky, makeshift cast, and was told she wasn’t allowed to take it off until the train arrived in Ponyville.
When Citrus finally arrived to meet up with the group at the station, the train was going to arrive in a few minutes. “Alright! I got everything taken care of! How much longer until the train shows up?”
“I think I can see some smoke from the train in the distance.” Caddi said. “It’s in the same direction as Baltimare, and since that’s where it’s coming from, it probably is. Should be her in about five-ish minutes.”
“You might want to touch up your disguise before it arrives. It’s pretty warm out and it might look weird if you wear a cloak.” Midnight told Caddi.
To make it easier to hold her disguise as Kiwi as they waited for the train, Caddi had only disguised her front half and covered her back half with a cloak to make any ponies who were wary of changeling not notice her odd appearance.
“Fine, give me a second.” There was a slight glow from under the cloak before she removed it showing a full pony body.
“Uh, Caddi, you might want to fix that.” Citrus said, pointing to where Caddi should have had a cutiemark.
“Oh! I almost forgot that!” Caddi exclaimed before fixing her mistake. “There! That’s better.”
A few of them jumped as the whistle blew. The train started to come into view through some of the trees near the station. As it slowed to a stop, Kya gave out tickets for Lea. The only ones who weren’t given tickets were Sparks and Ziggs since they were too excited already.
When the train finally came to a stop, the conductor called for anyone boarding the train to get on. Midnight was able to find a car that was a bit smaller than the normal seating cars, but just perfect for their group to fit in.
“Found this place the first time I went on a train. I remembered it in case I would ever go on with a large group. Glad I finally got the chance to use that knowledge.”
When everyone was situated in the car, a pony came around and took their tickets, with Lea giving the extra ones for Ziggs and Sparks. Before long, the train started to leave the station. Lea was the first one to look out the window and start watching Hoofington disappear.
“Hey, you okay?” Matrix asked Lea, still a little tired from being woken up from his nap to get on the train.
“Yeah, I guess. Hoofington is really the only place on Equestria I’ve been in so far, and even back on Earth, I hardly left town. I guess I’m just nervous something bad will happen.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. We’ll be back soon enough, just you wait and see.”
“Thanks.” Lea said hugging her brother. “I need all the reassurance I can get.”
“Hey!” Kya called out. “Anyone feel like this is sort of set up like the end of a movie or something?”
“Well then, if it is, I’m hoping we get a sequel.” Caddi responded.
“I don’t care as long and we’re all together.” Lea said to her friends and family. “Because that’s the way it should be.”
End
of book one