"WAAAAAAAAAAIT!!!" Pixel flew as fast as he could towards the train station. The warm wind flew by his ears, he dove, riding the highest adrenaline rush of his life. He was doing this. He was really doing this! It was totally crazy but he was DOING THIS! He almost couldn't believe it! Granted, he was still freaked out of his mind, but this wasn't a time for thinking, this was a time for doing. He probably would have had another breakdown if it weren't for the adrenaline running through every molecule of his being.
"ALL ABOARD!" The conductor yelled. Pixel continued his mad dash for the train station. He landed less than gracefully, and broke into a gallop. "HEEEEY!" he yelled, almost out of breath. Sunlight turned from the open doorway of a carriage and broke into a massive smile. She watched him approach and come to a dusty stop beside the platform, waving back to her friends before turning to the pegasus collapsed in the dirt.
"I knew you'd come." she said, lowering her head to his. Pixel breathed heavily, but said nothing. The little horse was a little hoarse. "C'mon. The train's about to leave!" she laughed. Pixel let his wings lift him up and over the platform and onto the train, setting down in one of the empty seats, resting his head on the table. He sat in silence for a while, letting his breath return. Rubbing his eyes under his square glasses, he sat up and looked around. It was the standard deal, just what you would expect on the Equestrian express. Few rows of seats with some tables, the essentials. And it always smelled like berries for some reason. He never could figure that one out.
"Pixel!" He looked towards the end of the carriage, where Sunlight was waving to him. "Come on! The rest of the gang are in here!" Pixel slowly got up and trotted over to the door. Inside, there was what seemed like a small lounge of sorts. Pixel lopped himself down on the couch that surrounded one side of the carriage. Sunlight scooted over to sit next to him. "Nice place, huh." She said quietly. "Hmm…" Pixel nodded. "Turns out that a personal referral from the princess can go a long way, huh." She said almost whimsically. She squealed. "Urk!" She grabbed Pixel in the biggest hug in equine history. "You're here! This is so amazing! We're going to go on adventures, and save Equestria, and maybe die, but it'll all be worth it!" Pixel was trying not to linger on the 'die' part.
While he awaited his release from the insane Sunlight, he looked around the room. Okay. So, including himself and the mare currently crushing his ribs, there were two unicorns, two earth ponies, himself and… Was that a bat pony? Yeah. Probably best to stay away from her.
Sunlight eventually did release Pixel, and left with little more than a pat on the head, leaving him feeling a little weird. Grabbing a book out of his saddlebags, he got comfortable against the wall of the carriage and started reading. 'Daring Do and the Dagger of Truth'. Pixel was out of his adventure story phase, now preferring more slice of life stories, but he still pulled out a copy every once in a while if not just for the nostalgia alone. "Chapter 1…" he mumbled quietly to himself. Adjusting his glasses, he stuck in.
It had been about an hour since he had left the station, and boredom was beginning to set in. "Chapter 9… Thrilling…" He slammed the book closed and popped it back in his bags, now hanging from the edge of his seat. He sat in a fairly secluded section of the carriage near the front of the train, but there were still a few ponies there with him. The bat pony snoozing on a table, drooling a bit, and an earth pony with a sketch pad sitting by the window, watching the scenery go by. He recognised this mare. She had been in the throne room when that old guy told them that they were all going on a kamikaze mission to save Equestria.
The mare seemed a bit bored as well, so he considered striking up a conversation. No something he would normally do, but hey, boring times called for desperate measures, and the only things he had bought with him were his journal, a quill and Daring Do. He scooted out of his seat and padded quietly over the red carpeted floor and sat next to the mare. Light blue coat, light pink and yellow braided mane. She looked nice enough. He sat quietly for a bit, just thinking about how to start. He cleared his throat. The blue mare's ears perked up and she turned around a little too quickly, scattering a few pencils on the ground, sending them rolling around the carriage. "Oh! Uh… Damn it. Okay, uh…" She slid under the table and ran around the car, tossing every loose pencil she could get her hooves on into her bag. As Pixel watched the mare skitter around, he felt a little guilty. He never was one for first impressions, and he had seriously botched the whole Sunlight thing, but this was ridiculous. If things kept going like this, pretty much the entire group would hate him before the even formally met.
The mare stopped in front of him and gave a bit of a nervous chuckle. "Sorry. Just a bit jumpy. Kinda been freaking out lately." Pixel watched as she slid back into her seat after ducking under the table. He tried to at least give a bit of a smile. "Sorry about that." He considered going back to his book and just forgetting that any of this had ever happened, hoping she would do the same. The earth pony turned back to him after messily shoving her bag closed. "It's fine, it's fine. I think we're all a bit skittish. Only natural. I mean, this has got to be the weirdest thing I've ever been asked to do." Pixel smiled weakly. "I'm Pixel, by the way." He fluttered his wings nervously. "Pastel Paints." She replied. "Kinda ironic. I'm more of a pad and pencil kind of pony." Pixel glanced down to her flank. A paint pallet.
Pixel lanced out the window at the gradually changing landscape. Gone were the blizzards of the outskirts of the Crystal Empire outside its protective shield, replaced by calm forests filled with various little critters. "Soooooooo…" Pixel said. "Do you actually know exactly where we're all going? I just kinda jumped on the train last minute." Pastel raised an eyebrow. The pegasus chuckled. "Yeah…" "Well," the cyan earth pony replied, "hold on to your flank, because we're going to Ponyville!"
Pixel pulled a blank. "I'm just going to go back to my book now." He stood up and walked back to his booth. It was official. His worst fear had been confirmed. Sitting down and removing his glasses, he slammed his face straight down into his book. He regretted every life choice had ever made that may have led him to this moment. He closed his yellow eyes and waited for the noise in his head to die down. He focused on his breathing. In, out. In, out. In… Yep. Not helping. As he continued his quiet panic attack, Pastel looked over her seat to see her new acquaintance repeatedly thumping his head into the cover of his book.
She probably could have handled that better, telling some random stranger that they were going directly into the belly of the beast. Right into enemy territory with little more than the mark on his flank. For now, she decided to just let the situation die down. And hopefully he wouldn't have permanent brain damage from slamming his head on his book so much. Yeah. She decided to just go back to her drawings. Ignoring the thumping echoing around the train car, she went back to work.
Pixel kept at his cranial assault of his book. He knew that he might eventually knock himself unconscious, but he welcomed the fact, if anything. The same thing kept echoing through his head. Over and over. He couldn't stop it. It was maddening.
He was going to die.