March 23-24 [Southwest Chief]
March 23-24
Miss Parker stopped at a little stand at the front part of the train station because she said that she wanted to get some aspirin. She said that being out in the sun all day sometimes gave her headaches, and she didn't think that there was any in her bag and she didn't know if she could buy it on the train.
I guarded our luggage, what little there was. She had her duffel bag and that was all, and I had my saddlebags. I knew that she had more luggage than that, because she'd had her own bag yesterday when we went to the van. I suppose Mister Barrow was going to bring it for her.
There were all sorts of candies and magazines and newspapers arranged around the stand, I suppose to interest me in buying something I might not have thought of otherwise. I saw that they had USA Today which is the same newspaper that they have in the Kalamazoo College dining hall, and I thought that was pretty amazing.
It had a big headline that said 'Terrorist Attacks in Brussels Send Shock Waves Around World.' I didn't really know what to think about that, so when Miss Parker was done buying her aspirin I asked her what it meant.
She tensed up and picked up her duffel bag and my saddlebags and said that we couldn't dally because we might miss the train, and I was pretty sure that she was just going to pretend I didn't ask the question.
I thought about how Peggy had reacted to the man in Kalamazoo who was shooting strangers, and I was afraid that I'd said something I should have kept to myself.
Miss Parker asked me what I knew about religion, and I admitted that it wasn't much. I knew that the Bible said that God had created everything, and then He'd made humans in His own image and given them some rules to follow, and that they weren't very good at following His rules, but I hadn't gotten much farther in the Bible than that. I knew from what Liz had told me that those people were Jewish, and later on God had sent Jesus to make a new covenant and those people were called Christians, but I didn't know much more than that because I hadn't read all that far in the Bible yet.
She said that there were other religions as well, and sometimes people did terrible things because they thought that their religion was right and the others were wrong. She told me that a terrorist group called ISIL had done it.
I wanted to know why, and she said that I wasn't the only one who wanted to know. She said that the simple version was that they believed anybody who didn't think like them—which she said was basically anybody who wasn't a member of their group—was an infidel, or an unclean person and that in their eyes that justified anything that they did.
That really didn't seem like much of an answer to me, and Miss Parker said that it wasn't much of an answer and if I wanted to, I could talk with her and Mister Barrow more about it on the train, or with Mister Salvatore and Miss Cherilyn in Kalamazoo.
When we got into the lobby, everybody else was there: Aquamarine and Cayenne and Gusty, and Mister Barrow and Peter and Maggie.
Gusty opened up her saddlebags and proudly floated out a picture of a dark-haired man posing with her who she said was Tim Stern, a well-known actor who had been in a whole lot of movies. So I smiled and said how wonderful that was, and she asked if I'd had a fun day as well, and I told her that I'd gone to the beach and gone surfing.
Then it was time to get on our train, and we all hugged Peter and Maggie and then went to the platform and got aboard the train.
Our room was familiar; the names of the trains might all be different but the cars were all the same inside.
As soon as we were settled, Gusty wanted to go to the Viewliner car so that she wouldn't miss a bit of California, but I could tell that she also wanted to tell everypony about her day in Hollywood.
I didn't want to let her down, so we all went to the Viewliner together, and she'd just started telling us about her day when the train pulled out of the station and she immediately got distracted by all the buildings.
I think that Los Angeles is bigger than Chicago was. We spent the first hour on the train still in it, and even after the sun went down there was plenty to see with all the lights. But after San Bernardino, we suddenly went up into mountainous terrain, and then there weren't as many lights.
We stayed up in the Viewliner until the train left Barstow, and then Cayenne finally managed to convince her that she wouldn't see any more from there than she would in our room, and she reluctantly agreed.
Gusty stretched out on the bed where she could see out the window, and the three of us talked about our days, getting interrupted every now and then when Gusty saw something interesting.
I told them about my day at the beach, and Aquamarine said that she'd gone to the Los Angeles Botanic Gardens. Cayenne had spent the day at UCLA, visiting their physics lab. That didn't sound all that exciting to me; I'd thought that part of the point of being on vacation was doing things that were fun and not schoolwork. And of course Gusty had gone to Hollywood.
Even after we got in bed, we kept talking for a little bit until the motion of the train put us to sleep.
March 24
Waking up was weird—since we were going east now, the sunrise was earlier. It was already a little bit light when I woke up. Gusty was asleep on top of the covers, still in the clothes she'd worn the night before.
By the time we got out of the shower were were nearly to New Mexico. We gave Cayenne our blankets so that she could cover up Gusty, and then waited around in our room until Cayenne was done with her shower before going upstairs for breakfast. It was a little bit later start to the day than I'd have preferred, but it was good enough.
Outside, the land was pretty dry, and there were rocky flat-topped hills that are called mesas. There weren't a lot of houses or people out there.
We were following along with a highway, and sometimes we'd be close to it and other times farther away. A lot of times when we got close it meant a small town was nearby.
We'd just finished breakfast when the conductor announced that we were about to stop in a town called Gallup.
Cayenne got it in her head that it would be really funny to gallop in Gallup, so we went down to the lower level and asked the conductor how long the train would be stopping.
He said it was a short stop, and that we had to stay on the train. Then Cayenne just looked up at him and asked if he could keep the train there for a couple of minutes so that we could gallop and he chewed on his lower lip for a minute and then nodded. He crouched down and told us that we could go all the way up to the locomotive and then back to this car, and that was it, and we had to be quick about it.
We promised that we would, so when the train stopped he set out his stepstool and first Cayenne got out and Aquamarine followed her; I flew over the two of them and then we galloped down the platform all the way to the locomotive and turned around and galloped back and jumped up into the train and fell on the floor in a fit of laughter.
The conductor thought it was funny, too. He said that since the train was probably going to be late, it might as well be for a good reason.
I felt really bad that we might have made the train late, and Cayenne did too because she apologized to him, and he said that it was okay; we had a good engineer and we had over three hours to make up those few minutes, and he was sure that the engineer would.
He kept his word; we got into Albuquerque on time. It was the biggest city we'd seen all day, and we had a chance to stretch our legs again, because this time the train was supposed to stop for a while.
Right after we left, the train started going more northward, and I looked at the timetable to see where we were going next and realized that we were going to go to Colorado, which is where Peggy lives. So I asked Cayenne if she could see on her map if we were going to be close to Colorado Springs, because Peggy lived there.
It took her a few minutes to check her map: it was really tiny so that it would fit in her telephone, and she had to make it bigger but then she couldn't see much, so she had to make it smaller and move it and try again.
She finally figured out where Colorado Springs was and where the train was going and they weren't very close at all, which was a disappointment.
We met Mister Barrow and Miss Parker for lunch. Gusty was still sound asleep in the room, and we'd debated on whether or not to wake her up, but decided that it would be rude. Cayenne said that she didn't think Gusty had gotten much sleep in the last couple of days.
After the train left Lamy the next stop was Las Vegas, and Cayenne got really excited until Miss Parker said that it wasn't the Las Vegas she was thinking of.
We spent most of the day skirting around the tops of mountains. Gusty joined us just before we got to Las Vegas; she looked a bit tired still but a lot better than she had looked in a while. Mister Barrow told us that we were coming up on Raton Pass, and told us a bit of the history of it and my ears fell when he said there was a tunnel.
And just then we went into it, but it wasn't all that long. I still didn't like it at all. Being in the Viewliner was even worse, because I could see flashes of light off the walls all around us and I just closed my eyes and leaned my head against Aquamarine's neck and didn't open them again until we were out of it.
Mister Barrow thought that was funny, and then he told me that when I'd closed my eyes I'd been in New Mexico, and now I was in Colorado.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raton_Pass
How do I know Miss Parker's a government employee? She calls it ISIL.
Trying to figure out Tim Stern's relevance and not seeing it.
7229028 I wish everybody would have to begin with. Then Archer wouldn't have had to change.
Butbutbutbut!
Visiting physics lab IS fun!
That poor train conductor couldn't fight against the hilariously cute of idea of ponies galloping in Gallup.
"This is not the Las Vegas you are looking for."
Wait, who is writing this now?
And how did Aquamarine learn to fly?
and that in there eyes that justified anything that they did. -- their. (Assuming that isn't an error on Silver Glow's part.)
Those damned time zones again ! If humans are so smart, why don't they have a flat world? Then, Celestia could raise the sun for them & it would be the same time everywhere. That is how sensible folk's do things - none of this round world nonsense. Besides, how can the world be round if all of the pieces are flat?
CV
If they had a vacuum chamber at the physics lab they could've had her levitate a small object in a vacuum and see if the glow is from air fluoresceing.
(That wouldn't explain why each unicorns' glow is a different color.)
A wild BAGGAGE THIEF appeared!
Silver Glow used Puppy-Dog Eyes! It's super effective!
Baggage Thief fainted!
Looks like they aren't coming to Texas. Bummer, because the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex has a LOT to see and do! That all would eat up the rest of the time they had, though, so I suppose it'll have to wait for some other time.
7229135 Say, that is rather interesting...
Aught to come down to San Antonio Texas. The Alamo is pretty close to the train station and a mall. Plus there are all kinds of fiery hot sauces for that local kick.
I hope Silver is taking pictures of her trip...
Poor Gusty. Sleepy sleepy.
I feel the second hand shame radiating off that attempt at explanation when it got to ISIL. It's been kind of nice how not appalled she is by the inhumanity of man, if nothing else in that it's comforting.
7229372 How do?
I think you meant Lamy here. Laramie would be a bit of a detour.
7229296
Plus the river walk is beautiful.
Sorry for the lack of comments up until now; had to play catch-up. In any case, I love your portrayal of Cayenne. I wasn't sure what to expect at first, but "party nerd" was not on the list. It's also interesting how unicorns seem geared for a more nocturnal activity cycle, though given the small sample, it's unclear whether that's a trend or a coincidence.
7229296 Too right! Let Cayenne get of taste of some REAL chili while their here!!
7229411 Too bad they would be a month too early for Fiesta though.
7229411 That goes without saying.
It's too bad Amtrak doesn't have any stations in Roswell. I would've loved to see Silver and company visit the UFO museum.
I just finished binge-reading most of this. I'm a big fan of Silver Glow's optimistic whimsy held in contrast to human cynicism.
Also, here's a thought. While we consider depictions of sex and nudity to be taboo, ponies are probably more inclined to censor violence. The pony version of GTA would probably be more of a hookup simulator.
Extra "I" there.
Gusty's suffering from Attention Deficit, Ooh Shiny disorder.
Depends on your interests Silver. Some people wish to explore potential careers and hobbies during their free-time.
Pretty much. Gusty had been enamored so much with California that she got attained a near limitless supply of energy. Reminds me of some people in fact...
I don't know... I'd like to see an action movie where some big city cop is unwillingly partnered with a unicorn.
(The film's McGuffin: A Magic Artifact on loan to Earth, stolen for nefarious purposes. (It's the Twicane.))
7229476
Yeah, I wasn't expecting Cayenne to be a party nerd either. I was anticipating a more "fiery" nerd personality. The Unicorn behavior could be chalked up to be a coincidence with the given sample size of 2. Though, it appears that Silver mentioned that Unicorns are not morning ponies. Then again, we also have thestrals who are night ponies...
7229632
Indeed. That's one of my favorite parts of this story, Silver's optimistic and a little-bit misguided impressions of human technologies, culture, education, and life. As you said, I would also be curious as to how ponies would censor media. Probably more lenient on sex, but more restrictive against violence and gore. But, would it also vary based on the pony tribes?
7229476 I would like to add exhibit Twillight Sparkle, staying up late at night too.
7229257
Hmmmmm.. That's odd.. Someone else replied with the same comment and a link to an article about just that... But now that thread seems to be missing.
Anyway, check your sources. Sure, they loosened guns laws.. On everybody but Jews, gypsies, and other undesirables. In short, anybody who would disagree with the government and who would want/need to protect themselves from it. You may as well point out how the government also expanded gun ownership by issuing millions or rifles and pistols! You know, to the Wehrmacht.
Still, I suppose current gun control schemes are more progressive than the Nazi's... They don't target groups based on race, color, religion, or any other protected category. They treat the entire population as undesirables! You know, except for the politicians themselves, who receive government protection. Or the extremely wealthy or connected, who can somehow get concealed carry permits in places like New York City or California, or hire armed body guards.
But hey, at least we're all equal! All this equality is making my sides tingle! Oh, no, wait... That's just a giant '=' sign appearing on my hip...
Yikes, her phobia is worse than I thought. Poor Silver...
None can resist the cuteness!
And no one was petting the poor pegasus to help her feel better?!
For shame! 
7229837 And Rarity when she gets 'in the zone'.
7229028
Do you know who he is without IMDb?
7229045
Someone who needs more sleep.
If you hang out with a pegasus long enough, you learn to fly. True story!
(Corrections made, thank you!)
7229049
Nope, author error.
7229406
And I was looking right at the timetable when I wrote that. Um, autocorrect did it?
7229797
Oops, thanks!
7230414
Correction made, thank you!
7230585
Awesome! Now, where can I find a pegasus to hang with?
7230585 Do you know who he is without IMDb?
Nope, and that didn't help.
7230297
Yeah. I suppose Pegasi dislike enclosed and/or underground spaces like these. But, it seems that Silver has a phobia of them. Perhaps she had a traumatic experience related to these during her childhood.
7230705
He's been in dozens of movies, though. Surely he's a famous actor.
7230819 I was trying to figure out the why him. It wasn't a name I recognized, and I figured that if you were going for someone more obscure there must be a reference in there, but after looking at his history, I didn't see anything.
I'm overthinking this.
7230903
I initially wanted to use the guy who got killed by a Unicorn in Cabin in the Woods, but I couldn't figure out who that was, then I spent an hour googling for an actor who's been in a lot of movies but that no one has ever heard of.
It's really hard to Google someone nobody has ever heard of.
7230585
Does this also hold true for Earth Ponies and gardening, and Unicorns and using magic? If so, I suppose that's how new Alicorns are made...
7230585
I'll buy the autocorrect explanation. I had no idea that Lamy even existed, and neither does Chrome's spellcheck. I only caught it because I've driven to Albuquerque (passing Las Vegas on the way), and I've driven to Laramie, so while I had no idea what stops were between Albuquerque and Las Vegas I was fairly sure of one that wasn't.
7229808
It's not exactly what you're looking for, but you'd probably enjoy Whip and Wing, if you haven't read it. Daring Do/Indiana Jones crossover.
Tim Stern...I'm guessing the joke here is that he's a z-list actor with more quantity than quality to his name?
7236179 not hyperlinking recommandations !!! the horror !
also nice chapter
i wonder how many youtube videos are there of silver by the time. because someone surely has taken one of her on the beach, or at least pictures
7229125
[youtube=SyKwyAWJZcI]
7229005
The strange thing is I've been through it twice on the Southwest Chief, and I don't remember it. But it was a good 20 years ago.
7229045
Well of course he couldn't.
When my brother got a job in Albuquerque, someone told him that it was only an hour away from Las Vegas. Which, technically, it is.
7229125
But if we had a flat world, boats would fall off the edge.
7229135
Just think of all the experiments you could do with a unicorn's magic. Probably there are a whole lot of physics labs performing those kinds of experiments.
7229194
7229200
It was one possible route (the southern border route), but it would have taken too long, especially factoring in potential train delays.
7229296
Cayenne would like that; the rest of the ponies might not like it as much.
7229323
She didn't. She's not very much of a picture-taker.
7229338
Well, the ponies have their own monsters, both present and past. But the human side (and presumably the pony side) is trying to shield the exchange students from that as much as possible.
7229411
Never been further south in Texas than the panhandle. It's not really my kind of state: I prefer cooler and tree-ier.
7229476
More of a coincidence here. Both unicorns are already one time zone to the west of Silver and Aquamarine, which is one factor, and then both of them have hobbies that keep them up at night.
7229501
I think she'd like Texas.
7229558
"Hey, look, there's that weird saucer that Starswirl lost a thousand years ago."
7229632
Oh yeah. You wouldn't win it by being violent, that's for sure. Maybe ask people nicely if you can borrow their car so that you can drive to the donut shop and get the nice police officers some donuts?
The hardcore pony gamers would be really, really good at games like 'The Sims.' "My character is friends with everyone in town!"
7229797
New places will do that to you.
Yup. I didn't do that in college, though. Just took a couple weeks off in the summer for fun, and then worked in a factory for the rest of the summer.
And she's paying for it now, poor girl.
7229815
Parties are a good way to make new friends.
They'd likely be very against gore, and restrictive on violence--it would only be as a last resort; they wouldn't like a character who solved all his problems with violence. There'd be no nudity rules at all, and on-screen sex would probably also be okay, as long as it wasn't too graphic.
7230039
It's probably not missing; it might be buried a ways back in the comments. Unless the OP deleted it/edited it.
7230297
Pegasi don't like being in confined spaces.
7230414
And no one was petting the poor pegasus to help her feel better?!
Mister Barrow and Miss Parker (and all the other helpers) aren't supposed to get too friendly with their ponies, because of potential conflicts of interest.
7230627
Kalamazoo College, of course!
7230786
Not significantly more than any other pegasus. It's the thought of not being able to fly away if she has to that triggers that fear.
7231135
I suppose it might. Maybe Peggy's suddenly going to have a desire to go hang gliding, or Jenny is going to start a second garden on her side of the dorm room.
7231185
I've also driven to Albuquerque, although I went through Texas to get there.
7237181
Yup, that's why.
7240645
I was on my cell phone, and it sucks to put in links on a cell phone.
Presumably lots and lots. While Silver Glow herself isn't very good at remembering to take pictures, there are lots of people with cell phones who are making up for that deficit.
Religion just leads to murder and strife.
7434656
If people weren't fighting about religion, they'd simply fight about something else.
Religion doesn't cause violence in humanity; humanity uses religion as an excuse for their own selfish desires.
7229135
Celestia: "More like it's Cherenkov radiation. ♪♫
"
"
Physicist: "Oh, that's even bett....uhoh....
Colorado has a Las Vegas too?
7434656 uh huh. Not the charity, not the care, not the purpose in life it gives. Just death. Sure.
7523606
Exactly!
7687524
I think she's call it Celestial radiation. In this universe, somebody's gonna win a Nobel Prize when he or she figures out how auras around things work, and why they're different colors.
8019940
No; the fake Las Vegas is in New Mexico. And the train really does go through there.
Walabio is rather anti-religion. Or at least anti-Christian.