1400 Miles Remain
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1000 MILES TRAVELED
1400 MILES REMAIN
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The situation was getting more complex as the train moved at its steadfast pace, the Bogie Mountains where Canterlot resided coming into view. Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rarity, Apple Crumble, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were all crammed into Rarity and Applejack’s cabin, where they were heatedly discussing the unusual problem before them.
“This thief is gettin’ outta control!” Applejack yelled as she stomped a hoof violently on the ground. The cabin shook upon contact with the powerful stomp, throwing off the rest of the ponies in the room off their balance. “We need to stop ‘em before we get to Canterlot!”
Apple Crumble looked at her cousin. “Why d’you say that?”
“Canterlot’s a big city!” Applejack elaborated, “ The moment this here train stops, the varmint might up’n try to bail! It ain’t hard to hide in a big city, after all.”
Twilight stepped in between the farmer mares. “You have to remember that we don’t know whether or not it’s one person doing all of this. After all, there are different reasons for wanting the items.”
Rainbow Dash aggressively flew up toward the ceiling. “Well I say we should get going! It’s like Applejack said: We only have until the train gets to Canterlot! That means there’s no time to waste!” She bolted out the door, but was stopped abruptly by a purple aura encasing her tail and a cyan aura that tightly shut the cabin door.
“Y’ain’t goin’ anywhere outside this room, sweets,” said Apple Crumble, “I know how you feel, but trust me, you’ll feel a hay might better if you calm down.”
“But they’re out there!” Rainbow protested loudly, “I gotta go find Tank’s flying machine!”
“In due time, Rainbow,” Rarity assured her anxious pegasus friend. “First we have to review what we know. Pinkie Pie, Twilight, I assume you have some notes from Bon Bon and Amethyst?” Twilight and Pinkie both gave a nod of confirmation. “Good, let’s pool our notes. Rainbow Dash, I promise you may leave when we’re done.”
After a bit of conversing, their notes were synchronized, and Rainbow Dash bolted out the door.
“Rainbow!” Twilight called after the pegasus with whine of annoyance. The purple mare gave a loud, hearty groan. “We have to plan this out!” she whined.
“Don’t worry, Twi,” Pinkie chirped as she bounced casually after their rainbow maned friend, “I got this.” The purple unicorn opened her mouth to protest, but Pinkie Pie was out of sight before she could say a word.
Twilight turned back to the others in the cabin. “I’m going to have to take her word for it, huh?” The others nodded, and Twilight sighed. “Oh, well,” she said, “let’s plan our next move.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash shouted, Pinkie Pie now caught up with her and by her side, “Open up! It’s us, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie!”
From behind the door, the two ponies heard some panicked shuffling, and something snapping shut. After a few moments of this, Fluttershy slowly opened the door, facing her two friends with a sad, sleepy look.
“Oh,” Pinkie said quickly, “Did we wake you up? Sorry, we just need to come in.”
Fluttershy sighed, “No, it’s . . . Okay. I couldn’t imagine being able to sleep right now.”
“Well, we need to ask you some questions, is that okay?” Rainbow Dash asked. Pinkie knew for a fact that it wouldn’t matter what or how Fluttershy responded; Dashie was dead-set on getting in the cabin.
“Um . . . Sure. Is this about Tank’s machine? I’m really sorry I lost it, there was . . .” Fluttershy paused and looked down again. “. . . Something distracting me.”
Rainbow and Pinkie attempted to enter the room, but Fluttershy blocked them. “Um,” she said quickly, “Do we have to talk about this? I . . . Kind of want to be alone right now . . . You know, if that’s okay with you . . .”
“Actually,” said Rainbow Dash, “It really isn’t. Tank’s flying machine was stolen, Shy.” The timid pegasus’ ears perked in concern at this. She lifted her head slightly. Rainbow had her attention. “That’s right. And it wasn’t the only thing. Applejack’s hat and Apple Crumble’s necklace are both MIA as well.”
“So we need information, and you just might have some delicious nuggets of the stuff!” Pinkie added with gusto.
Rainbow rolled her eyes at the earth pony beside her, and looked Fluttershy in eye again. “So, can we please come in?” she beseeched. Fluttershy mulled the question over nervously, and finally, with reluctance, let her friends inside the cabin.
The cabin was exceptionally neat. The entire vicinity seemed pretty much untouched, giving an air of tautness about the room that convinced Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to be extra careful not to screw anything up in fear of altering the slightest detail. The only two areas that seemed different were the messy bed were Fluttershy supposedly slept, and the far corner of the room, where Fluttershy’s belongings lay in a tiny heap.
Among the objects was a small box, about the length of a hoof and the width and depth of half of one. It was made of a deep, rich, well-sanded chestnut-colored wood, with a sleek, polished finish.
Pinkie zipped over to the heap and picked up the wooden box as she examined it with great intrigue. “OOOO,” she marveled, “What’s in here?” She put it up to her ear and started shaking it violently. Fluttershy was mortified by this.
“NO!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, reflexively rocketing into Pinkie and forcefully smacking the box out of the pink mare’s hooves.
“Geez,” Pinkie said with a light mumble, “what was that for?”
Fluttershy suddenly came to realization with what she had done. She blinked. “I’m . . . Very sorry, but that box . . . Means a lot to me.” She went over to where it had landed and gently picked it up. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to . . . What was inside.”
“That’s rather suspicious,” Pinkie remarked, squinting her eyes and fully taking on her detective persona. She whipped out “Tell me, Flutters, what exactly is inside that there box?”
Fluttershy couldn’t bring herself to look into the eyes of either of her friends. “I . . . Don’t want to talk about it,” she murmured softly.
“Perhaps that box has a hat?” Pinkie inquired, “Or maybe a necklace? Or even, I don’t know . . .” The carnation mare leaned into the yellow pegasus, their snouts touching, and Pinkie’s pressing and accusatory stare penetrating Fluttershy’s delicate soul.
“. . . A flying machine?” Pinkie finished, leaving so much tension it was almost physically present. Fluttershy would have never considered a breath that smelled of cake and candy to be an intimidating thing, and yet here she was, paralyzed with terror from the sweet stench that clung to the venomous words her friend uttered. She started to tear up ever so slightly and gave a whimper.
“Lay off her, Pinks,” Rainbow Dash demanded, “Y’ain’t going to accomplish anything short of making her faint with that kind of approach.”
Without unlocking her glare, Pinkie Pie brought her pipe up to her mouth and blew some bubbles. “Perhaps,” she admitted.
“It’s alright, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said soothingly as she tried her best to comfort her fellow pegasus, just like she had done so many times before in Flight School, “we won’t talk about the box. Just sit down and answer a few questions and we’ll be out of your mane. Does that sound okay?” Fluttershy, now being cradled in Dash’s hooves, whimpered and managed to nod shakily. Rainbow Dash set her down on her bed and signaled for Pinkie to start taking notes.
“Now,” Rainbow began, “Can you tell us how you’ve been doing on this train ride so far?”
“W-well,” said Fluttershy, “I haven’t really done much. I’ve just been sitting in here . . . Thinking.”
“You never left your cabin?” Rainbow Dash asked, a bit surprised.
“Um . . . Not really.”
“You didn’t talk to anypony at all?”
“Well, that Horstralian fellow came in here and tried to talk to me, but he wasn’t the kind of pony I’d want to talk to.”
“No interactions besides that?”
“Um . . . No. Is that bad?”
Rainbow Dash hesitated to answer, unsure of what exactly to say. “Erm . . . No! Not at all!”
“Well,” Pinkie Pie remarked, reviewing her notes, “I don’t think there’s anything else we need. Unless, you know, you changed your mind about talking about that b-“
“PINKIE!” yelled Rainbow Dash in aggravation.
“What? A good detective like Sherlock Hooves leaves no stone unturned!”
“Well for the love of Celestia, MAKE AN EXCEPTION!”
Pinkie gave a harrumph as she and Rainbow Dash walked out the door, closing it behind them. Fluttershy gave a sigh and looked at the box. She picked it up and looked at it with the saddest possible face. Her eyes started to tear up, but she stopped herself from crying, managing to choke the tears straight back into her system.
No more tears, Fluttershy, she thought to herself, no more tears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight and Apple Crumble trotted towards to Pinkie Pie and Irwin Wranglem’s cabin. Twilight, feeling awkward from the thick silence between the two ponies, determined it would be best to strike up a conversation with the earth mare.
“Soooo . . . Apple Crumble!” Twilight started to say, “I still don’t know that much about you! What can you tell me about yourself?”
“Well, there ain’t that much to know. Let’s see . . . I work at my ma n’ pa’s tavern, “Grapevine Ranch” in a small town called Wickington. Ya heard of it?”
Twilight wracked her memory for something containing the name. “It rings a bell,” the unicorn said. “Where is it?”
“Just north o’ Ponyville, and a might chillier. It’s why we started makin’ candles. Well, that, and the forests around us have a whole dang lot of incenses. A good lot of ponies there are proud that they live in the ‘Candle Capitol of Equestria,’ or some dumb manure like that.” Apple Crumble laughed, and Twilight gave an amused smile.
Twilight and Apple Crumble talked for a bit longer, not making an advance on Pinkie and Irwin’s cabin, not wanting to end the friendly conversation. The topic had shifted slowly from Crumble herself, to Wickington in general. From what Apple Crumble said, Twilight gathered that it was a lot like Ponyville. It was also relatively near the Everfree Forest, northwest of it instead of southwest like Ponyville. It was surrounded by conifers that dotted the land, and was elevated on a hill.
When they finally decided that they should check on the cabin, and went up to the door, they heard a mare shouting rather loudly from inside. Twilight and Apple Crumble exchanged looks, and Apple Crumble grinned in a cowardly fashion.
“I just remembered! I need to use the little filly’s room!” the yellow earth mare said quickly. “Why don’t you get started with them in the meantime?” She bolted off before Twilight could stop her. The unicorn groaned loudly and reluctantly entered the cabin. The first thing she noticed was Irwin Wranglem, square on his flank, getting his face chewed off by a fearfully livid Bon Bon.
The second thing Twilight noticed was the boxes. The cardboard boxes that the cupcakes had been traveling in laid strewn about, some of them beaten up, but all of them empty, save for some remaining crumbs inside them. Twilight had a pretty fair idea of what had gone down in the cabin, but she tuned in to Bon Bon’s rant to try and confirm it. While taking in what the raging earth mare was shouting, Twilight noticed that she was letting her Manehattan accent slip, something she rarely ever did.
“OF ALL THE POSSIBLE FLITHY LOW LIFES THAT I HAVE TO MEET IN THIS WORLD, YOU OUTDO THEM ALL, YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTHING, HORSTRAILIAN, REDNECK, SPINELESS, GLUTTON!” Bon Bon spat with venom and hatred as she rattled off insult after insult. “I GET THAT YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THE SLIGHTEST SLIVER OF ACTUAL CIVILIZATION IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE; THAT’S EASY ENOUGH TO GET FROM YOU’RE STUPID ACTIONS EVERY TWO MINUTES; BUT LEMME TELL YOU A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT THE REAL WORLD, THE WORLD YOU’RE IN RIGHT NOW: EATING 500 BUCKING CUPCAKES IN ONE SITTING THAT YOU DIDN’T PAY FOR IS NOT GOING TO GET YOU ON ANYPONY’S GOOD SIDE! YOU WOULDN’T KNOW THAT THOUGH, BECAUSE ALL YOU’VE EVER DONE IS . . .” Bon Bon blinked and, without moving her body, looked at Twilight, who gave a sheepishly awkward hello.
“WHAT!?” Bon Bon asked with a harshly shrill shout, her accent at full throttle, “WHADAYA WANT!? I AM BUSY RIGHT NOW!”
“M-m-miss Twilight . . . You’re Twilight, right? Miss Twilight . . .” Irwin stuttered with childish terror embedded in his adult eyes, “Might you help me out? I’m in a bit of a p-pickle . . .”
“DANG FLIPPIN’ RIGHT, YOU’RE IN A PICKLE, BUCKO!”
“Bon Bon, please!” Twilight shouted, “Can we do this without shouting!?”
“I AIN’T SHOUTING, YOU’RE THE ONE WHO’S SHOUTING! MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, YOU STUCK UP . . .”
Bon Bon was unable to finish the sentence, because Twilight had decided to zip the earth mare’s mouth shut with a zipper using a magical spell she had learned while attempting to keep several secrets from her friends.
“Now Bon Bon,” said Twilight, both calmly and sternly, “In sixty seconds, I’m going to uncast that spell and let you speak again.”
“Why in Tartarus would you do that!?” Irwin asked with panic, which prompted Bon Bon to swiftly bring her forehoof up and slap him clean across the face while glaring daggers at him. “Oh, come on!” he complained whilst he rubbed the sore spot on his cheek, “It’s not even tomorrow yet!”
“Huh? What’s tomorrow?”
“Ugh, it’s nothing, Shiela.”
“. . . Alright, then. Anyways, when I uncast that spell, do you promise to go about this in a calm manner?”
Bon Bon gave a series of muffled protests, but Twilight’s stern gaze didn’t falter. “I want to solve this while listening to both sides, but I won’t let you get a word in if you don’t go about this calmly. I know you can do calm, Bon Bon.”
Bon Bon sighed grudgingly and submitted to Twilight’s offer.
“Land sakes!” Apple Crumble cheered, entering the room, “You sure are quite the talker, Twi!”
Twilight looked at Applejack’s cousin with annoyance. “Crumble! How long have you been out there waiting for me to solve this!”
Apple Crumble’s eyes shifted and her nose scrunched up, reminiscent of something Applejack would do when fibbing. “Three or four,” she responded quickly.
“Three or four seconds, or three or four minutes?”
“Maybe five.”
“Apple Crumble!” Twilight tried to get angry at her, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so, and instead burst out into a small giggle. “You are a piece of work, you know that!?”
Apple Crumble followed suit, sending the two adult mare into a cute little giggle fit on the floor.
“HHMMMMWWMMMMMMMM!” Bon Bon shouted through the zipper. Getting up and uncasting the spell, Twilight apologized, swallowing the last few giggles bubbling up from within her.
“That was more than sixty seconds!” Bon Bon grumbled. Twilight just rolled her eyes.
“Alright, let’s get some data!” Apple Crumble declared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“. . . And so after that, we all just took Miss Crumble’s advice and sacked out.” Irwin went on to explain the details of his actions on board, as they already had Bon Bon’s. “So I went to my cabin here. I had a little bit of a rough meeting with two of your friends; the yellow one and the white one, the latter of which smacked me. That ain’t really all that important, though. Anyways, I came here, and the pink Sheila . . . What was her name again?” Twilight informed him. “Yeah, that’s right. Pinkie was already in here, putting the cupcakes into a little pile. We had a nice little talk about what we each did for a living, and after a minute she started acting weird.”
“Wait,” Bon Bon interrupted, “you mean she wasn’t being weird prior?”
“No.” Irwin shook his head. “She was an intelligent lass, and she held up a nice little conversation.”
“Well, there’s our answer,” Bon Bon said matter-of-factly, “Pinkie’s a changeling.” Everypony in the room gave a chortle at the joke, save for Irwin, who was not amused.
“Very funny. May I continue?”
“Sorry. Of course.”
“So, she started saying that her left ear was hot and her right eye was tearing up, and that that means that ‘somepony just underestimated a problem,’ or something.”
“What?” Apple Crumble looked confused.
Twilight stopped writing and explained, “Pinkie Pie has this thing called Pinkie Sense. Depending on different signs she gets, she can predict the near future with ease.”
Bon Bon gave a short nod and added, “It’s also rather arbitrary at what it predicts, so just because she doesn’t predict it doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”
“Does it let her jump into the lampshade and disappear?” Irwin asked. “Because she did that. Right into the lampshade.”
“That’s just Pinkie Pie,” said Twilight with a sigh. “She’s just like that sometimeS. I’m pretty sure that’s how she got into Applejack and Rarity’s cabin earlier. You just have to go with her randomness. Go on, then.”
“Well, then I actually took that nap. When I woke up, the boxes were like this, and Sheila over here came walking in right as I was checking one of them. It must’ve looked really bad. She started tellin’ me off like there was no tomorrow, and then you lot came in here. I didn’t do it, I swear. They were like this when I woke up.”
“Horseapples!”
“Bon Bon, please!” Twilight scolded the earth pony mare, “If we don’t do this in an organized fashion, we won’t get anywhere! Anything else, Irwin?”
“Not really . . . I just don’t want you to think I would do something like this. Just because I’m Horstralian –“
“Trust me,” Twilight quickly reassured, cutting the stallion off, “I’ve learned my lesson with jumping to conclusions about somepony from somewhere else.” Her thoughts trailed to the rhyming zebra living deep in the Everfree Forest. “In that case, I think we’re done here.”
“G’night, you three.” Irwin tipped his hat. He went over to his own luggage and took out what appeared to be a science kit. Opening it, he looked at the three mares, and asked, “Now, I hate askin’ this, but could you uh . . . Leave the vicinity? I want to get some private work done while my cabinmate comes outa the lamp again, and this is secret work for the Horstralian Embassy.”
Bon Bon gave the stallion a look of powerful doubt and suspicion, but left the room regardless. “I’m watching you, cowpony,” she muttered with a final grimace, her accent coming through ever-so-slightly. Twilight muttered a quiet apology and left with Apple Crumble. The librarian knew the importance of solitude when it came to doing scientific work, top secret or otherwise. Plus, it was getting late.
“Well alright, then. Do ya think we could go get some shuteye now that we got this, or do ya think that Rainbow’ll want to do even MORE searchin’?”
Twilight sighed. “I don’t know, Apple Crumble. I’m kind of wanting to sleep right now. I’m not very good at analyzing data with a heavy head. I usually have Owlowiscious to help keep me up.” She yawned heavily.
“Owlowiscious?”
“Owl. Helps run the library at night.”
Apple Crumble gave a chuckle. “Heh. An owl running a library. That sounds right out of a foal’s storybook.” She looked over to see that her new friend was not in the mood to laugh, and gave an awkward cough as her eyes shifted away and upwards. The rest of the trip to Rarity and Applejack’s cabin was made in thick silence, the only noise coming from the unfaltering klickity-klackity of the train and the scratchy intercom music. Neither helped the discomfort.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash sat square on their rumps on either side of Fluttershy’s cabin door, their backs against the wall. Pinkie smoked her faux pipe again, her furrowed brow matching Rainbow’s. Both looked rather defeated.
“Whelp!” Rainbow Dash declared, “That sure could’ve gone smoother. And I still don’t know where Tank’s flying machine is.” She flew up and gave the carpeted floor a hard stare of aggravation. “That thing cost me a feather-ton of bits! We can’t just give up! We have to stay diligent! Come on, Pinkie!” She flew towards the car door, only to halt at the sudden sound of a familiar, stern tone.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Twilight called out sharply from the other end of the train car, “We have to go to sleep, Rainbow Dash.”
“But–“ Rainbow started, only to be wrapped in a magenta aura and hurled across the car, halting just before coming into what would have been painful contact with the wall. She hated it when Twilight did this.
“Uh-uh! I’ve heard enough unnecessary ‘buts’ today!” Twilight kept a strong telekinetic grasp on the squirmy pegasus as she trotted towards Bon Bon and Rainbow Dash’s cabin. “If Bon Bon and Apple Crumble can go to sleep with missing stuff, so can you!”
“Bons lost something, too?” Pinkie asked, bouncing up behind Twilight. The purple mare nodded and telekinetically handed Pinkie her newest batch of notes. Dash saw this as an opportunity to escape, but Twilight’s hold didn’t waver in the slightest. Pinkie dramatically gasped as she read the notes.
“SOMEPONY ATE ALL OF OUR CUPCAKES!?” She shouted. Shock turned to rage as steam literally blew out of her ears. The whites of her eyes turned yellow, and her carefree cyan irises turned red, along with her previously pink face. “THEY’VE CROSSED THE LINE!” She raved in a slightly demonic voice. Neither Twilight nor Rainbow Dash would have been even slightly surprised if Pinkie started foaming at the mouth right then and there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Soooo . . . Apple Crumble! I still don’t know that much about you! What can you tell me about yourself?”
Applejack, Rarity and Spike watched from afar as Twilight made a poor attempt to break the ice with Apple Crumble. They couldn’t make out Crumble’s response, but her tone sounded a bit uncomfortable.
“Man, is she awkward or what?” Spike snickered once his caretaker was out of earshot.
“That’d be a big yes, I reckon,” Applejack said with a playful smile of amusement. “Though I gotta say, it’s a might adorable.”
“Agreed,” Rarity chuckled in concurrence.
“Hay, ten bits says they’ll be awkwardly silent when they come back.”
“Oh, you are on, cowgirl!” Rarity and Applejack shook hooves on it, each wearing confident grin. She was very thankful that Applejack had had the courtesy not to spit on her hoof before the shake, like she did when making bets with Rainbow Dash.
“Alrighty, then,” Spike said, “let’s head out! Time for some mystery solving! Trixie’s cabin ho!”
The dragon moved in a half-waddle, half-jog that kept him and his stubby legs from falling behind. He lead the motley team of three over to the cabin that belonged to the shady magician aboard the rocketing train. Not even one of the three were happy to be doing this, but Trixie had been a prime suspect from the very beginning.
Spike readied himself to knock, but was having trouble. He wasn’t looking forward to this, and it blatantly showed thanks to his hesitant body language.
“Spikey,” Rarity said soothingly, “none of us want to do this. It’s best if we simply . . .” she sighed, “. . . Get this over with.”
*Knock*
*Knock*
*Knock*
The scaly purple knuckles of Spike’s fist rapped upon Trixie’s cabin door. Spike, Rarity and Applejack waited.
And waited.
“Maybe she’s a heavy sleeper. Maybe you should knock again,” Applejack suggested with a small shrug.
Spike nodded and faced the cabin entrance once more. He struck the thick wood three times more.
Still no response from the other side.
Rarity leaned against the door, pressing a single white ear to it. She made a face of concentration, trying to listen for anything. Applejack and Spike followed suit.
“I don’t hear anything,” Spike remarked. “Do you guys?”
“Eenope,” muttered Applejack. Rarity simply gave a light and plain shake of the head.
“Sooooo . . . Do we give up now?” Spike asked, “Or what?”
“I reckon I got an idea of sorts,” said Applejack. The farmer sported a slightly smug smile, and her two friends backed away.
Moments later, Spike and Rarity stared at the giant hole where the door had formerly stood, and then to Applejack, rear legs still up in her applebucking stance.
Spike shrugged. “Eh,” he said, “that’ll do.” He and Applejack strolled through the giant hole. Rarity gawked for some time longer, then shook herself back into full awareness and trotted through the opening as well.
On the inside of the cabin, the three informal detectives looked high and low. They saw numerous different things scattered across the cabin. Broken, used quills with dried ink caked on their tips; unkempt sheets far off of either of the mattresses of the bunk bed, in scattered clumps and balls; used fireworks coated with a slight singe, one of them still producing a slight wisp of smoke; weathered pieces of parchment with written ideas and plans for performances, as well as a few written rants about various aspects of life. Among all these things, they failed to find the one thing they were actually in the room looking for.
“Where the hay could she have gone!?” Applejack inquired angrily with the stomp of a hoof that rattled the cabin.
Rarity looked around. “She could easily be the culprit. Hiding everything in this kind of mess would be a cinch.”
Applejack cracked her neck and gave a glare at the room in shambles before her. “Might I suggest a full-on search?”
Spike toddled over to a parchment in the corner in the room. He gripped it with his two claws, and looked at it, reading it over with a concerning glance. “Um . . . I don’t think that’s necessary. You two might want to take a look at this.” He waved it in their general direction, peaking their curiosity. They stood over the dragon’s shoulders and examined the parchment as Spike read its sloppily written message aloud.
“I know not who will read this, or if anypony will even bother picking it up, but this train and all of its passengers are in mortal danger. If this train is to reach its destination, the entirety of Equestria is doomed. There is evil aboard this train, and somepony isn’t who they say they are. They have tampered with my ability to use magic, forcing me to write this by hoof, and have taken many objects that my fellow passengers hold dear. If one of you is to read this, I beseech to you to finish what I have started. It is far too late for me. However, whatever you do, do not trust–”
The note was cut off there. A final stroke was made, but it seemed to have been interrupted midway through being made, and was thus illegible.
Looking around the cabin, it was now apparent from the urgency with which the note in Spike’s claws was written that the room’s messy state of disarray was not Trixie’s inability to keep the area clean, but that it was a sign of a struggle.
Rarity magicked the note out of Spike’s clutches with a baby blue aura and glanced over the note for herself. “This is bad,” she said, “This is very, very, without a doubt bad.” She looked up at Applejack. “We have to find Twilight.” Applejack nodded. The farmer motioned for Spike to hop on her back and the three of them sped out of the cabin, leaving its disheveled state and unnerving air in whatever little dust they were able to kick out of the relatively clean hallway carpet. Trixie’s room was left just as it had been found, save for the showmare’s vague letter of warning, which was still in Rarity’s magical grasp.
Applejack and Rarity galloped towards the front of the train, passing cabin after cabin in hopes of intercepting Twilight as soon feasibly possible. Spike struggled to stay atop Applejack. Upon passing one cabin in particular, however, something reached out of the door as it swung open abruptly. It grabbed Applejack, Spike and Rarity in one swift motion.
The inside of the cabin was unimaginably dark. Upon looking up at whatever had grabbed them, the only thing any of the three Ponyville residents could see were two bright, blood-red eyes staring back at them with evil delight.
“’Ello, again,” Sheen said with sarcastic softness, a menacing grin slowly sprouting from his pitch black face and gleaming in the dark, “How lovely of you lot to come by for a visit.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
REVIEW THE FACTS
There were thirteen ponies and two dragons on the train when it left Ponyville Station. Nopony exited or entered the train at any time, as it was in motion the entire time.
The passengers on board were:
Pinkie Pie, who was delivering and going to sell 500 cupcakes at the Canterlot Rodeo. She boarded with the cupcakes.
Twilight Sparkle, who was going to do some shopping for magic supplies not found in Ponyville and to see the Rodeo. She boarded with a book on advanced magic recipes to help her find what she needed, and two tickets to the Rodeo.
Applejack, who was going to compete in the Canterlot Rodeo. She boarded with a bushel of apples, her hat and her lucky rope.
Rainbow Dash, who was going to a book convention in Canterlot where the author of the Daring Do series was to make an appearance. She boarded with a Daring Do book for the author to sign and a costume for the convention, as well as her pet tortoise Tank.
Rarity, who had been asked to be at Canterlot during the Rodeo by Sapphire Shores so that she could be part of her new fashion line. She boarded with several outfits for the fashion line and materials for dressmaking, and her favorite diamond earrings.
Fluttershy, who claimed she wanted to see the Rodeo. She boarded with a small box, whose contents are unknown, and a ticket to the Rodeo. She cares immensely about the box, but refuses to show any of her friends what it contains.
Spike, who was tagging along with Twilight Sparkle and Rarity. He boarded with a blueberry muffin and a field guide for rocks and minerals.
Dinky Doo, who had gotten two tickets to see the Rodeo, courtesy of her mother, Ditzy Doo. She boarded with the tickets as well as her favorite teddy bear.
Amethyst Star, who was foalsitting Dinky Doo while Ditzy stayed back to work. Amethyst had taken Dinky's extra ticket and was going to see the Rodeo with her. She boarded with a note she was instructed to send to Ditzy Doo when they got to Canterlot.
Bon Bon, who was working alongside Pinkie Pie. She boarded with a Moxipower Shake to help her stay awake during the train ride.
Sheen, a mapmaker from Canterlot who had just finished mapping out the land around Ponyville and was headed home. He boarded with his finished notes, which took several long months to complete, as well as his knapsack, whose contents are unknown.
Trixie, whose reason for boarding was unknown. She boarded with several large bags, whose contents are unknown but said to be her acting materials.
Apple Crumble, who was going to compete in the Canterlot Rodeo. She boarded with a necklace that had family heirloom.
Irwin Ranglem, an animal wrangler who was off to a swamp where an elusive species he was hunting lived. Canterlot was the closest stop to the swamp. He boarded with his equipment for catching the animal he was hunting, but he did not say what kind of animal it was.
Steamer, the engineer and owner of the Friendship Express, and Bon Bon’s uncle.
- - - - -
The room accommodations were as such:
- - - - -
One of the above passengers, save for Applejack of course, has taken Applejack’s hat. Reasons for taking it would be:
To claim the hat as their own. (Possible suspects: Rarity)
To spite Applejack. (Possible suspects: Trixie, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie)
To distract Applejack from the Rodeo. (Possible suspects: Apple Crumble)
To distract everypony from something else. (Possible suspects: )
- - - - -
One of the above passengers, save for Apple Crumble, also took Apple Crumble’s jade necklace. Reasons for taking it would be:
To claim the necklace as their own. (Possible suspects: Sheen, Spike, Rarity, Twilight)
To spite Apple Crumble. (Possible suspects: Sheen, Trixie, Applejack)
To distract Apple Crumble from the Rodeo. (Possible Suspects: Applejack)
To distract everypony from something else. (Possible suspects: )
- - - - -
Also stolen were Tank’s flying contraption, and Pinkie Pie and Bon Bon’s cupcakes. However, no clear motives have been established at this time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Special thanks to Yukito for editing.
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well, that escalated quickly.
I'm actually hoping for some interaction between the three and Trixie.
Trixie is dead! Long live- uh wait, forget it. Great Chapter!
1543403
Thank you, thank you very much!
I was seriously excited to see some interaction between Spike and Trixie. I would absolutely love to see those two shipped, and even though that's obviously never going to happen here, it would have been nice to see them interact.
But what they did find in the cabin was still pretty intriguing. Especially the possibility that Trixie was working against the forces of evil, and on a seemingly grand scale no less. It's possible she's just trolling everyone and throwing them off her scent, but if that's not the case, I hope she'll be making a dramatic reappearance at some point. And perhaps Spike will save her from whatever peril she's in (I can dream).