Chapter Three: Almost Part Eight
“Oh fer cryin' out loud! Are ya kinddin' me?” Applejack stomped a hoof on the ground. The guard before her gave her a slightly sympathetic look, but did not move. “Just let me in, would ya?” she asked again.
“I'm sorry mam. I can't let anypony in.” The guard said, shaking his head. “Well, just anypony off the street. This is the royal palace after all.”
“I've been here! I've met with the Princesses a' bunch ah' times! I'm friends with Princess Twilight!” Applejack protested.
“I'm sorry miss. I simply can't. I have my orders.” he shook his head once again.
“Oh for cryin' out loud! You gotta let me in! Twilight sent me here to talk ta Princess Celestia!” Applejack pointed a hoof at the grand castle that lay beyond the front gate.
“No can do miss.” The guard eyed her carefully. She wasn't sure why, but it almost looked like he was getting ready for something to happen. Something like a fight. Granted, if Applejack had been aware of the growing frustration and anger on her face, then she might have been a bit more understanding. As it was, she didn't have a mirror, so she was unaware of just how hostile her mug now looked. Then of course, there was the bit where she had to somehow convince the ponies at the crystal train station that her bits were real bits and not counterbits. After that there was the debacle on the train where the conductor had come by several times to check that she had a ticket, and nearly stopped the train several times to 'make her walk the rest of the way'. Then there was the part where she had to argue with the luggage ponies at the end that her bags were indeed hers and that she would not need to ride all the way back to the Crystal Empire to get the bags she might have left behind (spoilers: she didn't leave any behind). After that she had to deal with a surprising lack of taxis in Canterlot (there were plenty, but for some odd reason, they all seemed to be filled) as she tried to make her way over to the palace. And now that she had finally made it, there was a guard pony who refused to let her in.
This day just kept getting better and better.
Oh, and did we forget to mention that it was an overnight trip to get here? And, for some odd reason, every, single, bed on the train was taken? It was simply the darnedest thing! But we digress.
“Look, I've gone through too much trouble to turn back now. You'd best be lettin' me in!” she pointed a hoof at the guard, who straightened up and narrowed his eyes slightly.
“And if I say no?” he asked, a clear warning in his voice.
“Then you'll be answerin' to the Princess as 'ta why you didn't let one of Twilight's friends into the palace when she had somethin' important to talk to them about!” Applejack stomped a hoof on the ground and gave him a glare.
“Yes, I'm sure.” He kept his gaze on her, but relaxed slightly. “And it wouldn't matter if I let you in anyway.” he shrugged.
“What? Why?” Applejack demanded.
“I don't know if you heard, but Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza are holding a private conference and are allowing no visitors until they conclude it, no exceptions.” he sneered at her as he said that last part, clearing rubbing in the futility of her request.
“But this is important!” she shouted.
“No. Exceptions.” His grin grew even snider and he leaned back, clearly enjoying himself.
Applejack nearly blew a fuse. “FINE!” she screamed, and turned around and walked back to her massive pile of luggage, which was some distance away from the front gate. She was normally a light traveler, but she had been told to pack heavy because she was going to be gone for a long time. She let out a sigh and sat down on the paved sidewalk. Now what? She had come this far, and now it seemed like she was stuck. Could she perhaps sneak in? She could wait until dark. Though where would she put all of her stuff? She neighed, angrily.
“Whatcha doin'?” Pinkie asked.
“Oh nothin', ju-PINKIE?” Applejack looked up and jumped back with a start. “Wha-what in tarnation?”
Pinkie cocked her head in confusion. “What? I just saw one of my best buds lookin' blue, so I thought I'd just come on over and see if I could put a smile on her face!” she said happily.
“Well, I mean, what are y'all doin' here in Canterlot?” she asked, looking around to see if there was a party or some such that needed throwing.
“Oh, you didn't know? There's this pony duo that's flying around looking for the five of us! Ooh! Did they talk to you too!?” Pinkie hopped up in down, far too cheery for Applejack's foul mood.
Wait, was she talking about those two? “Are y'all talkin' about a yellow pegasus and an Earth Pony?”
Pinkie nodded. “The Earth Pony even had a magical lolipop around her neck! It was grape!” Pinkie smiled.
“Uh, Pinkie...” Applejack hesitated for a moment, “How'd you know that? Did you taste it?”
“Huh? What? No! It was purple colored! Unless it was Twilight flavored...” she put a hoof to her chin and looked into the sky, “I wonder what that would taste like...”
“Magical, I'm sure.” Applejack said flatly.
Pinkie looked off into the sky for a moment or two more before looking down at Applejack once more. “So, whatcha doin?” she asked again.
“Well, Imma tryin' ta get into the palace here, but that guard over there won't let me in!” Applejack pointed a hoof over at the gate, and a guard who gave them a cheeky grin.
“Well that's weird! I wonder what's up with that?” Pinkie looked over at the guard curiously.
“Somethin' about the Princesses not allowin' visitors or somethin'.” Applejack sighed.
“Humm...” Pinkie rubbed her chin with her hoof some more, and her eyes narrowed. “HUMMM...” she said even louder as her eyes got even narrower and her gaze more intense. “HUMM-” she said even louder, though was stopped by Applejack placing a hoof on her shoulder.
“Whatcha thinkin', Pinkie?” Applejack asked.
Pinkie jumped a little and looked over at her. “Nothing!” she grinned.
Applejack let out an exasperated sigh. “Well now what?” she asked, looking at the gate once more.
“I guess we could wait for the others-WAIT! We could have a waiting party! A 'waiting for everypony to show up at the castle gate and talk to the guard to let us in to talk to the Princesses' party! Ooh, Oooh! I'll go get the streamers!” Pinkie said excitedly, then shot off like a rocket into the city.
“Wait! Pinkie!” Applejack shouted, but too late. She was gone. “Well, shoot. Whatta am ah' gonna do now?” she leaned up against her luggage and looked up to the sky. “Wait for everypony else, huh? Well, if Pinkie's sure they're commin' then I guess I'll just have to be patient.” she snorted. “Just wish I had some place to store all my stuff...”
*****
“Oh, my gosh! I. Can't. BELIEVE IT!” Rainbow cried as she shot through the sky. Her excitement was as intense as her speed. “ME! The Wonderbolts want ME to show them my Buccaneer Blaze! Oh my gosh, I can't believe it!” she squealed loudly. Loudly enough for a nest of ducks far below her to object to the sudden noise that split their ear drums. Though she had no idea, nor would she have cared. All she knew was that the Wonderbolts themselves had send an emergency message to her telling her that they needed to see her perform The Buccaneer Blaze, RIGHT NOW. Like, RIGHT NOW, right now. Like, she couldn't come quick enough right now.
Well, goodness knows she didn't need to be told twice. The moment she finished the message, and before the messenger could even finish explaining how strange the way he got the message was, she shot off faster then Opalescence out of the bath tub. So fast, that the pooy pony's hat got blown clean off and lost to the winds. Poor hat. May it rest in peace.
That was roughly a day ago. She'd been flying at top speed through the entire day, and through the entire night, and even now she sped as fast as her wings could carry her. Now, you see, the reason why she wasn't chillin' with the wonderbolts right now wasn't because they were far away or something like that, no.
She had no idea where they were.
She had stopped in, briefly, at Canterlot. Not there. So, she zipped over to Cloudsdale. Not there either. She, however, would not be deterred! They said that they needed her to show them her stuff, and by Celestia, she was going to do it!
So on she sped, tearing through the sky at break-neck speeds. Her wings ached, and her body was sore. Her eyes were becoming bloodshot, but on she still flew. She knew that it was only a matter of time until she'd find them! She just had to keep fly-
And then there was a sudden jolt of cranial pain, and all went dark.
*****
When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a cloud, rather haphazardly. In in all reality, it seemed as though she had just been tossed onto it. That, or perhaps she had fallen onto it, or even thrown into it. Whatever the case was, her limbs were all poking out at odd angles and her head was partly in the cloud, and partly hanging out. This was all beside the point, however. The biggest problem was the massive headache she suddenly found herself with. Not just that, it felt as though her whole body just got hit with a train. She twitched a few times. Yep, that smarts. She let out a low groan of pain. “Ow…” she moaned.
“You okay?” a rather pained, yet familiar voice said from nearby.
“Peach-” a shot of pain made her twitch, causing even more twitching. “No.” she said.
“Aw man, I hoped that cloud would break your fall.” the voice said, somewhat sad, and filled with pain. It was also a stallion's voice.
“Yeah, it did. Into a thousand pieces...” Rainbow groaned.
“Sorry about that.” the stallion also let out a painful groan, though he tried to conceal it.
“So, who are you?” she asked, trying to pull her head out of the cloud (not as easy as it sounds).
“Oh, you didn't see me? It's me, Soarin'.” he said painfully.
“SOARIN'?!” Rainbow shouted excitedly, shooting immediately to her hooves and looking around. On a nearby cloud, she saw him lying on it looking rather worse for the wear. Though at least he was simply lying on his side, rather then looking like he had crashed landed. “Oh my gosh! I'm so excited!” she zipped right over to his cloud, and hovered over him with the biggest smile she'd ever worn. “Were are the other Wonderbolts? Are you guys ready right now? Where do you want me to do it? You ready to see it?” She asked with great speed and excitement.
“Whoa! Slow down. One question at a time...” his visible eye rolled in pain.
“Okay, okay, okay.” Rainbow said more to herself then him. “Take a deep breath Rainbow.” she inhaled sharply, and suddenly remembered the terrible pain she was in. As well as how sore her wings were, and how tired her poor body was.
She took her breath, froze in the air, promptly dropped like a rock, bounced off of poor Soarin', rolled, then fell right off the side of his cloud.
“Rainbow!” Soarin' cried and jumped to his hooves. He, with great effort, pushed himself off the cloud. He then grabbed it, and flew with it after Rainbow. For her part, Rainbow was trying to flab her wings in an attempt to slow herself down. It didn't amount to much, but it did just enough to allow Soarin' to gain the ground he needed to catch her.
She landed hard on the cloud and yelped in pain. Soarin' landed on it next to her, and sat down. “That hurt...” she said softly.
“Tell me about it.” he said, flexing his wings, and his face contorting in pain as did so. “Man, you really know how to fly fast. You nearly knocked me clear out of the sky.”
“Wait, that's what happened?” she asked as she tried to glance over at him, but closed her eyes in pain.
“Yeah, I saw you coming and I flew up to say hi, and you plowed into me at full speed. Knocked us both right out. Luckily I recovered pretty quick.” she couldn't see it, but she was sure she heard a smile in that. “So I grabbed the closest cloud I could find and kicked it right under you. Then I passed out on a cloud that happened to be under it.”
“How long was I out?” she asked.
“No idea. I mean, I was out for a while too, I think.” if her eyes were open, she would have seen him shrug, and then wince.
There was silence for a moment, and she felt the cloud shift and he finally laid down on it as well. “So, where's Spitfire? Where's Fleetfoot and Rapidfire?” she asked, slowly. “Shouldn't they have taken us back to Cloudsdale or something?”
There was a long pause.
“Uh, Soarin'?” Rainbow asked.
“They're not here.” he said softly.
“Wait, what?” Rainbow's eyes shot open. She was a little confused, why wouldn't they be here? “You're out here by yourself?”
“Yeah, something like that.” he answered.
“Why?”
“… because I'm training.” he finally said.
“Training?” she asked. “By yourself? Wait, did you want to see my move so you could steal it?” Rainbow tried to raise her head to look at him, but couldn't. Another long pause. “Well?!” she asked, getting annoyed.
“No.” he said quietly.
“Then why were you training alone? Don't you guys normally do that as a team?” She was getting more and more confused, and a fair bit more irritated. “Well? What's going on?!” There was no response. “Soarin'?” Rainbow asked, suddenly concerned. “Soarin', you awake?”
“Yeah. I'm awake.”
“Well, you gonna answer me or what?” Rainbow said, very much annoyed by this point.
There was another pause. “Hey, do you remember the Best Young Flyer competition? The one where you saved our lives?” he said, his voice a bit distant.
Rainbow didn't notice and cracked a huge grin. “Do I? That was the best day ever!”
“Do you remember the day we all hung out after you flew with us?”
“Yeah. That was so awesome! I never knew you guys could fly like that! It was such a great day...” her eyes drifted off into the sky, as her mind's eye began to see her and the other Wonderbolts flying across it.
“And do you remember the GGG?”
“The Gala? Where you guys totally ignored me the entire time?” she playfully jabbed.
“Oh, yeah.... Sorry about that...” he said, clearly feeling bad about it.
“Hey, don't sweat it. I'm totally over it.” She (almost) shrugged. “Besides, I think you were a bit too busy with that pie of yours to notice anyway.” she would have given him a wink if she could.
“Oh yeah, that pie...” he said, his voice trailing off. Then he said no more. The two of them lay there, quiet, and in pain. Rainbow could feel a gentle breeze pass them over. It felt nice. But still he said nothing more.
“Hey, Soarin'? You alright?” she asked after some time.
“Do you remember when we were in the hospital together?” he asked.
“Why do you keep asking if I remember things? It's annoying!” she rolled her eyes (ow).
“Uh, sorry. Just … do you?”
“Yeah, I do. Why?” the concern that had begun to build up in the silence began to become irritation.
“You know, you really helped me out there. And, I just wanted to say thanks.” his voice was strange. It was a lot softer then normal, and it didn't have that playful edge to it.
“Wait, is that why you came all the way out here? To thank me?” she asked, trying her best to roll over. Not just yet. Just a little too much pain.
“Well, kinda...”
“Wait, was it YOU who sent me that message?” she asked, her eyes opening wide.
“Uh … yeah.” he said as though admitting guilt to a crime.
“Hold on. So you're saying that the Wonderbolts don't actually want to see me perform the Buccaneer Blaze?” her irritation was beginning to rise.
“Well, uh, I mean, I'm sure I could convince them...” he said, his mind clearly thinking about something else.
“Alright Soarin'. What's going on? Why are we here? And why didn't you just, oh I don't know, just tell me you wanted to talk or whatever?” Rainbow was getting rather upset that all of her energy had gone to waste.
“Well, uh, it's because...” he trailed off.
“Because what?! I've been flying around for two days! TWO DAYS STRAIGHT, looking for you guys, and all because YOU wanted to say THANK YOU?” Rainbow's anger was becoming stronger then the pain that kept her down, and she was slowly turning to look at him, her eyes rather intense. “WELL?” she forced herself to her hooves, and saw that Soarin' lay on the other side of the cloud, with his back to her.
“I, uh, it's just that...” he said, curling slightly. If he could have, he would have curled into a ball.
“WHAT IS I-” she said as she walked up to him and looked at his face.
He was blushing. He was blushing hard. And when his eye glanced up at her, it suddenly shot away from her and he blushed even deeper.
“Soarin', are you okay? You don't look so good.” she said as she brought her face closer to his to get a closer look. He nodded feebly. “So, what's going on?”
His visable eye looked back up at her. “Rainbow...” he hesitated, closed his eye, took a deep breath, then looked at her again. “Rainbow, I sent that because I really wanted to talk to you.”
“About what?” she asked as she pulled he face back, to give him some room.
“Well, the thing is… Rainbow, I-I l-”
“LOST! I TOLD YOU WE WERE LOST!” another pony's voice shouted, drowning out Soarin's words.
“Well, if you had listened to me and stuck with the coast like she said, we wouldn't be lost!” another voice yelled back.
“Don't you tell me how to follow directions! It's YOU who forgot which way was north!” the first shouted.
“Don't Pegasus Ponies always know which way is north?!” the second shot back.
“That's just a myth! And I'll have you know that I specialize in doing paperwork! Not navigation! I'm not a cartographer!” the first said, clearly upset.
“Well, it's not my fault we got all mixed up! I'm not the one with wings!”
“HEY! HELP!” Rainbow cried. “HELLLP!”
“Wait, did you hear something?” the first said.
“Yeah. I think it was some pony crying for help. HELLO? WHERE ARE YOU?” the second cried. Now that they were speaking louder, Rainbow could tell that it was a mare shouting. And now that she was paying attention, she could tell that it was coming from below them.
“We're above you! Look up!” Rainbow cried as she looked over the ledge. She blinked. Was that an Earth Pony in a garbage pony outfit in a harness that was strapped to a yellow pegasus?
The two ponies below them looked up, and looked quite surprised to see them. The mare pointed up at the cloud, and the pegasus nodded, and flew up. “What's wrong?” she asked as they got closer.
“Me and Soarin' here are hurt pretty bad. Can you go get some help?” she asked as they got close.
“What? What happened?” she asked as the two of them lifted over the edge of the cloud.
“Soarin' and I ran into each other pretty hard. I don't think either of us can fly right now.” Rainbow said, her own body suddenly remembering her fatigue and injuries.
“Wait, is that THE Soarin'? The Soarin' of the Wonderbolts?” the mare asked she caught sight of him, both worried and excited.
“Yeah, it is. And I'm Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow smiled.
“Wait, you're Rainbow Dash?” the mare asked, her jaw suddenly dropping a bit.
“THE one and only!” Rainbow said proudly. “Heard of me, huh?” she smiled even more.
“Yeah! Princess Twilight told me all about you!” The mare said, a bit stunned and a bit excited. Though Rainbow got the feeling that she wasn't excited because of her awesomeness.
“Wait, you know Twilight?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah! She sent me on a mission to find you and your other friends!” she said happily.
“A mission? From Twilight? Why didn't she come herself?” Rainbow asked.
“Not to be rude, but can we hurry this up? You're rather heavy.” the pegasus said.
“Sorry! Yeah, my name's Litterbug, and Princess Twilight is being held prisoner at Vanhoover and she wants you and the others to ask the Princesses why. I've already talked to Pinkie Pie, Applesauce-”
“Applejack.” Rainbow said flatly.
“Er, right, sorry. Applejack, and Fluttershy. Anyway, Princess Twilight also wanted me to tell you that the Princesses gave all of you fake tasks to keep you apart.”
“Why?” Rainbow found all of this too be a bit fishy to put it mildly.
“I don't know. But the others we've talked to are already on their way to Canterlot.” Litterbug said, pointing behind her. (She didn't actually know where Canterlot was from here, but that was beside the point.)
“Wait, hold on, if that's true.” she turned to Soarin'. “Did Princess Celestia put you up to this?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, it was Princess Cadence.” he admitted.
Rainbow blinked. Wow, he admitted that fast. “So, wait, you're telling me that what they're saying is true?”
Soarin' gave a very slight shrug. “I guess so.”
“WHAT?” she stepped back and looked between all three of them. “I gotta go help Twilight!” She said as she turned to fly off.
“But she wants you to meet with the others!” Litterbug said. “Besides, I've seen the place they're holding her. If you're gonna bust her out, you're going to need the help of your friends!” she waved her hooves about frantically (just as Twilight had told her to do. She had even recited the words she had taught her to say perfectly).
Rainbow paused and looked at her. She had a really good point. Plus, she was in no condition to fly to Vanhoover. In fact, she would be lucky enough if she could glide down to the nearest town, or train station. As much as she didn't like the idea of abandoning Twilight, meeting up with the rest of their friends was better then nothing. She let out a sigh, then turned to look at Soarin'. “Can you guys take care of him?” The two ponies looked at her with a bit of surprise, but nodded. “Thanks! I hate to leave ya like this, but my friends need me!” she opened her wings, and jumped off, quickly sliding into a long glide.
As she disappeared from view, Litterbug looked at Soarin'. “Can you stand, or fly?”
“Not really.” he said,
“Anything broken?” she asked.
“Just my heart...” he said sadly.
“Come again?” the pegasus asked.
“Princess Cadence told me that Rainbow liked me, and that if I told her how I felt, then...”
“You two could be a couple.” Litterbug guessed.
“Yeah.” he nodded.
“It is well known that she has command over the power of love. Did she perhaps use that to get to you feel this way?” the pegasus asked.
Soarin' hesitated. “I-I guess she could have.”
“Well then, I guess that solves that mystery. Looks like you were just acting under her influence.” the pegasus shrugged.
“Hey!” Litterbug turned to the pegasus that carried her. “Can we push his cloud to the closest town?”
He let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine. But you're going to have to follow along on the ground! I can't both carry and push. I'm no Iron Pony!”
“I can do that!” Litterbug smiled, and focused on the amulet, disappearing and telepoting to the ground. “Just say in sight!” she cried from far below.
“Get comfy. This is going to take awhile.” the yellow one said to Soarin', who simply nodded. He said nothing more as they pushed him along. He simply lay there, sad that his words had been lost to the wind. 'I love you' he had said, and, he hadn't wanted to admit to the two strangers, but Cadence had nothing to do with it...
*****
A great explosion rocked the skies of Equestria, and the whole of the earth shook violently. Or, rather, it might as well have, for Rarity was not pleased. Not pleased at all. She ground her teeth as she tried her best to suppress the memories of the past few days in Manehatten. It wasn't easy, but she was sure she could do it if she tried hard enough. She let out an anguished cry as a memory from 5:32 in the morning came back to her from yesterday. No! No!! She was NOT going to think about that! The sooner she left all of this behind, the better!
She sat down, angrily, upon the giant pile of coal behind the train engine. It was the only place they could spare for her, for the rest of the train was booked solid, and she was NOT going to take 'no' for an answer. She needed to get out of that city and to Canterlot that very moment, lest she crack and perform some unpleasant violence on somepony. Oooh, she couldn't WAIT to get to Canterlot. She couldn't wait until she was able to get her hooves on Princess Celestia. Oh, did she have words for her. So MANY words to say to her! She was not a happy pony. No she was no-Was that Rainbow Dash flying through the air? She squinted her eyes. Why, yes it was! And she was headed right for the train!
Oh rats.
She turned to the coal pile and tried to dive into it, for there was no way she could let Rainbow see her like this!
“Hey! Stop knocking the coal everywhere! I need to shovel that stuff!” the trainpony shouted at her. She poked her her head up at him and shot him a glare, then desperately looked around for a hiding place. There was nothing. Why, why was there nothi-THERE! A BARREL! She dove behind it, and curled into as tight a ball as she could, hoping that Rainbow hadn't seen her.
“Hey! You can't just fly into here! This is the coal cart!” she heard the trainpony say.
“Look buddy, I'm pretty beat up at the moment, okay? So cut me a break!” she heard Rainbow say. There was a sound of small rocks tumbling. Rarity guessed Rainbow had landed on the coal pile.
“I don't care if you're one of the Princesses! No pony is allowed in here except for me, the conductor, and her!” the trainpony pointed a hoof at Rarity's hiding spot, and her eyes shot open in horror.
“What? The barrel?” Rainbow said. Rarity could almost hear her roll her eyes.
“No you idiot! The gal hiding behind it!”
“Wait, what?”
Rarity tried to dive for the window, figuring death to be the best option at the moment, but she was too slow. Just as she turned to make a leap for it, the barrel was pushed over, and there was Rainbow, staring right at her.
“R-Rarity?!” Rainbow said, taking a horrified step back.
Rarity looked at her for a moment, then sadly nodded.
“Rarity, why is your coat rainbow colored? And why do your eyes look like a snakes? And, are those WINGS?” she asked, looking her up and down, dumbfounded.
Rarity swallowed hard. Then opened her mouth. Large bubbles came out, and then popped. “look me! at Don't” the bubbles popped. She covered her mouth in horror. She had hopped that would have cleared up by now.
“What… What happened to you?” Rainbow asked, dumbfounded.
Rarity looked over, and picked up a chunk of coal with her hoof. 'I don't want to talk about it!' she scratched onto the floor, with perfect hoofwriting.
“Hey!” the train pony angrily shouted.
“Oh give us a break!” Rainbow said, shooting him a look. He glared at her back, but said nothing as he went back to shoveling. Rainbow turned back to Rarity. “Seriously, what happened?” she looked her up and down with a shocked expression.
'I don't want to talk about it, and that's final!' Rarity wrote.
“Oh come on, you can't NOT tell me what happened! Are you hurt at least?”
Rarity shook her head. 'I am perfectly uninjured. Though not quite as I should be, if you must know!'
“Alright, fine! If you don't want to talk about it, then don't!” she shook head. “But can you at least explain the wings?” she asked, pointing at them.
Rarity let out a sigh, that was expressed via popping bubbles. 'They are temporary, I think. They should either fall off soon enough, or burst into flame. I'm not sure which.'
“Wait, those things are going to catch on FIRE?” Rainbow shouted.
“WHAT? GET OUT OF HERE!” The trainpony shouted. “You wanna blow this whole place apart?!”
'Tell that cretin that it's going to be Magical flame and that his precious coal will be perfectly alright!' Rarity gave a little 'humph!' motion with her head as she scratched out the last word.
“Hey, so, uh,” Rainbow began, “she says that it's gonna be magical fire so there's nothing to worry about.”
“What kind of fire do you think runs this thing?! Get out before you blow us all up!” he shouted.
Several growling bubbles came from Rarity as she angrily lifted a block of coal (with her hoof) into the air. She stomped over to him, looked him in the eyes, and then slammed the coal onto the ground and wrote, rather angrily, the following: 'AnD wheRe do YOU sUggEst wE go?!'
He paused for a moment. “Uh...” he looked left and right. “Anywhere but here!” Rarity's veins began popping out of her head as she glared at him, then turned around and walked to the exit of the car. She promptly threw open the door, and pointed a hoof at the stuffed train car behind it. He blinked a few times. “I don't know! Just get out of here!”
Rarity looked at Rainbow, and struck as regal a pose as she could. 'Come, Rainbow.' she wrote, 'I hear the roof is a lovely place to sit and wait.'
“Are you kidding me? How are we gonna stay on?” Rainbow asked.
'Simple. Tie yourself to me. I'll be able to stay on the roof.' She nodded.
“You're kidding. You are gonna hold both of us on there?” Rainbow clearly didn't believe a word she was writing.
'To keep it simple, let's just say I'm something of an electromagnet at the moment.'
Rainbow blinked as she looked at her. “Seriously, what happened to you?” she asked in disbelief.
'I'd rather forget. Now, come, we have a roof to occupy.' Rarity wrote, then walked out the door, and up a ladder to the roof. Rainbow came up shortly after with a rope, that Rarity tied around herself. She then channeled her magic, felt the terrible backlash that she knew would come, and promptly faceplanted into the roof. As painful as that was, at least neither she nor Rainbow would be going anywhere for a while.
“Okay then...” Rainbow shouted over the noise as she sat down. Then, as though a train of sleepiness hit her, she promptly passed out, and nearly fell off the roof. Thankfully, the line was quite short, so Rainbow was in no danger of falling off any time soon. As Rarity lifted her head (with great effort) she saw that her poor friend was now asleep, and thought that perhaps she too should get some rest. It was a long train ride to Canterlot after all...