//------------------------------// // 1 - Setting in Train a Series of Events // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Ticket Stub had always loved trains. Ever since the first time he’d ridden on one, when his parents had taken him on a trip to see his grandmare in Whinnyapolis, he had been utterly entranced by everything about them. From the sound of the train whistle to the way the cars swished lightly as they raced down the tracks, everything about trains was wonderful. But even all of that paled in comparison to the absolutely best thing about trains: the ponies that rode on them. Being on a train was, to Ticket Stub, like looking at a snapshot of all of Equestria. Here, ponies from all walks of life gathered together, joined in the common experience of traveling from place to place. Brought together in the comfortable train cars, you got to make new friends that you’d likely never have run across otherwise. He’d earned his cutie mark on that trip, and ever since then he’d known that it was his destiny to ride the trains and make sure that everypony enjoyed them as much as he did! “Next stop, Pineville,” he announced as he stepped into the fourth passenger car, repeating the announcement he’d made as he’d strode through each car. “Next stop, Pineville!” He always announced the next stop twice, just in case the passengers were so engrossed in their conversations that they didn’t hear him the first time. It wasn’t really necessary in this case, though, as there were only two ponies in this car. Smiling, Ticket Stub trotted towards them. “If this is your destination, I’m happy to help if you need anything.” It wasn’t his usual policy to offer assistance unless it looked like a passenger needed it, but in this case he had reason to make an exception. That reason being the earth pony mare – she had no wings or horn, so she had to be an earth pony – that smiled up at him in response to his question. Just like every other time he’d made this offer, the sight made him go weak in the knees. She was gorgeous! Her soft white coat was tinged with a blue shading so light that you could have stared at it for hours and still not have been sure it was there at all. It was perfectly accentuated by her mane and tail, whose gentle arctic coloration was interspersed with darker blue stripes that seemed to shimmer as she moved. And her eyes…their soft raspberry-red hue contrasted perfectly with the rest of her, giving them a captivating look. Even her cutie mark was beautiful, being a bright red heart with a jagged blue musical note in front of it. “Thanks! We’re all good here,” the mare replied cheerfully. Her voice matched her looks, having a clear quality to it that made its high pitch all the more enchanting. “W-well, if there’s anything I can do for you, please let me know.” Ticket Stub tried to fight down a blush, hoping that his attendant’s uniform was on straight. “My name’s Ticket Stub, and I-” “We know,” cut in a sharp voice. It came from the unicorn stallion sitting next to the mare, and who could not have been more different from her. His coat was a dull grey, the color of a cobblestone road. The bland coloration was broken up only by his cutie mark, depicting a podium in front of an amphitheater. His mane was cut awkwardly, as though the barber had decided that nothing could enhance the plain brown coloration and so had simply cut it at random. That same brown could be found in the stallion’s eyes, which were currently filled with irritation. “We know your name is Ticket Stub, and that you’ll help us with whatever we need if we’re disembarking here. We know that because you said that before we arrived at Hoofington, and Pinto Creek, and Bronco Downs, and Neighton. For three days, you’ve made sure to tell us who you are and what you’re here for every single time this train has pulled into a station! We get it, so just go away!” The voice was thick with annoyance, and Ticket Stub couldn’t help but wince as the stallion looked up from the set of scrolls he’d been perusing. It wasn’t the words that caused him to take an involuntary step back at the rebuke, though. Rather, it was the stallion’s only two notable features. The first was his horn, of which only the base had the stallion’s natural grey coloration; everything above that was a stark, blood red. The other was his shadow, which despite the soft lighting shining in from the windows, was darkly casting the unfriendly pony’s silhouette. More unnerving was that it wasn’t falling away from the light, but rather was casting itself up on the interior wall of the train car in complete defiance of normality. Between the stallion’s acerbity and his unnerving features, it was easy to see why – when they’d exited the sleeping cars – the couple had invariably wound up with a car all to themselves in short order. “Ah, well I’ll, um…I’ll just, be off, then…” Ticket stammered before heading towards the next car. Behind him, the mare was giving him an awkward wave, an apologetic look on her face. It was only after he had left that she turned to her companion with a sigh. “Lex, was that, like, really necessary? He was just trying to be nice.” The stallion, Lex Legis, had already gone back to his scrolls, not bothering to look up as he replied. “Yes, Sonata, it was. We only have another day left before we arrive in Vanhoover, and I need to use that time to try and come up with a plan to put the city back in order. Every minute that I’m distracted from doing that by that obsequious dimwit is a minute longer that its citizens have to suffer.” Sonata Dusk tilted her head to the side, a confused expression crossing her features. It wasn’t just because she had no idea what “obsequious” meant. She had gotten Lex to explain the details of what he was working on several times over the last few days, but it still didn’t make any sense to her. “But we have a plan. We take that big bag of bits that we got from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and we go use it to fix the city. With your brains and my charm, we’ll start running things and have that place cleaned up in no time!” Leaning across the hoofrest between their seats, she nuzzled the red-horned unicorn in a way that would have made it obvious to anyone watching that they were more than just friends. “And once we do, everyone will see how awesome your ideas are, until even those stuck-up princesses will have to admit that you’re, like, a total genius.” An exasperated expression flitted across Lex’s features, but he couldn’t sustain it in the face of his girlfriend’s affection, and he gently nuzzled her back. “I’ve told you, it’s not that simple. Between the severe flooding that Vanhoover experienced, and the attendant influx of aquatic monsters, the damage was likely severe, if not catastrophic. Even if both of these disasters have since ended, that doesn’t mean that the situation has improved. In fact, based on what Twilight told us, it’s likely gotten worse.” Two months ago Equestria had been the victim of what had since become known as “elemental bleeds”: instances of the heretofore-unknown Elemental Planes superimposing themselves over patches of Equestria. While that alone had been a disaster of unmitigated proportions – one rumor had it that an entire city had caught fire! – what made it worse was that these phenomena were always accompanied by monsters of a similar elemental bent. These creatures, either because of their alien nature or simple malice, had only made bad situations worse. The elemental bleeds had lasted less than a week, but the damage they’d wrought had been severe. Even so, the heartland of Equestria had bounced back fairly quickly thanks to its proximity to the alicorn princesses. In contrast to that, the outlying areas were still struggling to recover from the disaster. And few parts of Equestria were more of an outlier than its northwestern-most city, Vanhoover. Nestled between the Frozen North, the western ocean, the Unicorn Mountains to the east, and White Tail Woods to the south, it had been all but ignored during the recovery. Or at least that’s what its citizens seemed to think, according to what Twilight had told Lex and Sonata before they’d set out for the city. “Aww, I bet it’ll be fine,” smiled Sonata. “You’ll tell me what to tell them, and I’ll make a fun song out of it, and I bet we’ll have everything high and dry by dinnertime!” Lex sighed. “Again, it’s not that simple. Even if we had more resources to draw on than the measly one thousand bits we were given, minus the cost of these train tickets, there are still all sorts of logistical issues to deal with when trying to coordinate a rebuilding effort of this scope and magnitude. Furthermore, when you consider how…” Lex trailed off as he noticed that Sonata had closed her eyes and started humming, swaying back and forth lightly in her seat and murmuring something under her breath. “What are you doing?” “I’m, like, trying to make up the lyrics. Okay…what rhymes with ‘magnitude’?” Unaware of the nonplussed expression on her boyfriend’s face, Sonata continued to mutter to herself, waving a hoof in the air as though conducting an imaginary band. Lex briefly considered bringing her back to the subject at hoof, but decided against it. She was keeping herself occupied this way, and that made it easier for him to concentrate on figuring out the best course of action. That…and he had to admit that hearing her voice, especially when she was singing, was always pleasant. The two of them spent the next hour lost in their own little worlds, until the feel of the train stopping shook them from their respective reveries. “Hey, I’m famished,” Sonata piped up suddenly. “Let’s run into town and grab something to eat while we’re here.” Receiving an affirmative grunt from Lex, Sonata jumped down from her seat and stepped into the aisle to stretch, making sure to moan softly as she did while glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes. Much to her chagrin, he hadn’t noticed, instead focusing on putting his scrolls away. Huffing, she waited for him to finish before they headed toward the nearest exit, which was at the back of the train. They had almost reached the door to the next car when it opened, and they very nearly collided with Ticket Stub. “Oh! I’m sorry!” he exclaimed. His eyes flickered between the pair before fixing firmly on Sonata, finding her to be the more preferable pony to speak to. “Will you be disembarking here?” “Only to get some lunch. Then we’re right back on all the way to Vanhoover!” Sonata pumped a hoof in the air, almost cheering the last part. Ticket’s brow furrowed in confusion at her proclamation. “Well, the train will be here for a half-hour while we load some more coal, but what do you mean by ‘all the way to Vanhoover’?” Both ponies froze in response to his question, eyes widening in horrified realization. An uncomfortable silence fell for several long moments before it was broken by Lex. “What do you mean ‘what do you mean’? We’re taking this train until it reaches its last stop on this line, which is Vanhoover.” His voice was tense, hoping against hope that the response wouldn’t be… “…I’m afraid there’s been a mistake. This train doesn’t go to Vanhoover. The last stop is Tall Tale.”