• Published 12th Nov 2016
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Grief is the Price We Pay - Scyphi



Spike thought he could get them to trust and befriend Thorax. But they didn't.

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All Aboard

Their wait for the next train continued on without major event. As the time for the train’s arrival drew closer and closer, the station grew to be more and more filled with waiting ponies planning to board it. As their numbers increased, the more Spike and Thorax feared they might be noticed. But nopony seemed to pay any attention to them, and the guard monitoring the station, presumably on the lookout for precisely them, never seemed to notice them either. It appeared that luck was still favoring them, but they grew increasingly undesiring to not press that luck, and so when the train finally pulled in, they quickly made their way to board it, eager to get out of here at last.

But before they could board, the train conductor supervising the boarding needed to check their pass. Because it was a season pass, good to be used as many times as necessary until it expired at the end of the season, still a good while off, Spike merely needed to show him the pass and upon insuring it was valid still, the conductor would let them aboard. However, given the fact Spike was banished, the dragon was very afraid that his exiling meant his pass would be rendered null if the conductor noticed whose name it was under. Spike really couldn’t know for sure without checking in advance, something he briefly considered doing while they waited for the train to arrive by asking the ticket pony inside the station to check on it. But that meant the ticket pony would have to check the pass in their recordbooks, which meant checking whose name it was under and thus revealing it belonged to an exile, so Spike opted not to.

Instead, insuring Thorax stayed close in case they needed to flee, Spike led the disguised changeling as confidently as he could muster right up to the train conductor and held out his pass for the mustached pony to see, gripping it in such a way that the pass’s expiration date was clearly visible, but Spike’s name printed at the top was hidden by the dragon’s claws. He said nothing to the conductor except to affirm that the apparent pony beside him was with him. Spike thought for sure the conductor would notice he was hiding the printed name and insist he see it too, or several other worse-case scenarios, but thankfully the dragon’s fears were unfounded. The conductor simply glanced at the pass briefly then nodded, allowing Spike and Thorax aboard.

“Enjoy your trip,” he said automatically to the pair as they boarded.

Spike didn’t respond as he hurried aboard, feeling the tension rapidly uncoil out of him like a released spring, feeling relief flooding upon him and fought the urge to giggle as his fears loosened their hold on him. Thorax also relaxed, but for entirely different reasons as he excitedly looked around the train car they boarded in utter excitement, a big grin on his face.

“You seem eager,” Spike noted aloud as he sought a seat for them.

“I’ve never been on a train before,” Thorax reminded cheerfully, peering around at the busy car full of passengers more interested in finding a good seat before they were all taken than being courteous like it was the most exciting thing in the world.

“Well, the novelty wears off pretty fast, so enjoy it while you can,” Spike recommended as he found a seat, and motioned for Thorax to take the window seat while he took the end.

Thorax seemed to take the dragon at his advice and continued on absorbing as many details as he could about the train while Spike kept an eye out for any last minute trouble that could stop them. It would be just their luck to get this far and then have somepony finally catch onto them and halt their escape attempt before it could even really begin. But nothing of the such took the place, and as the last of the patrons started to climb aboard, Spike started to let himself think they might actually get away with this utterly unnoticed.

“Everypony please be seated!” the conductor requested as he stepped aboard, closing the car’s door behind him. “We’ll be leaving momentarily!”

Spike leaned back in his seat a little while Thorax peered out the window, engrossed. “You know, we really are pulling the wool over the crystal guard's eyes yet again.” He couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Maybe it serves them right, then, for being so oblivious they can’t even catch what’s sitting right under their noses.”

“Hey, we’re moving!” Thorax suddenly and eagerly declared.

And sure enough they were, the train creaking and groaning faintly as it gradually started to move forward. Thorax’s grin doubled in size as he felt the train moving beneath him, a sensation that intrigued him immensely. Spike, however, quite used to riding the train, dismissed it, and joined Thorax in watching the Crystal Empire train station slowly start to slide aside with gradually increasing speed as the train started to pick up momentum.

It was about then that they both spied Shining Armor, leading a whole squadron of crystal guards, step onto the platform.

Spike let out an involuntary yelp and ducked down, pulling Thorax down with him, hiding behind the window edge and praying they weren’t noticed. They didn’t seem to be as Shining Armor’s attention went straight to, not the train, but the station’s director that was overseeing the train’s departure and engaged in an apparently urgent conversation with him. Of the guards that were with him, only one really even looked in Thorax and Spike’s direction, and it was more to watch the train on the whole than to pay attention to who was onboard. Soon, as the train continued to pick up speed, the station slipped out of view entirely, and the train was well on its way. Gradually, the two exiles in hiding slowly raised their heads again, hearts beating urgently.

“Well that was close,” Thorax muttered in a whisper.

Too close,” Spike agreed, rubbing his claws together nervously. “Something tells me it wasn’t a coincidence that they turned up on the platform when they did.”

“What should we do, then?”

Spike thought for a moment, weighing their options. Finally he shrugged. “Getting out of the Crystal Empire is still the best thing we can do, and they can’t really stop us now, so for now, I think we should just keep going as planned.”

Thorax nodded his head. “You think they’ll chase after us?”

“Only if they know for certain we were aboard this particular train.” But Spike inwardly knew he had no way of proving if they did or not.

Thorax still nodded in agreement. “So we take the train and get out of the frozen north,” he summed up. “Then what do we do?”

“I’m still working that part out. I’ll get back to you on that.”

“Okay.”

The train ride proceeded onward uneventfully for a while after that. While Spike sat and mulled on the dilemma of what they should do next, Thorax spent most of it staring out the window, watching the terrain speed past with fascination. It was clear the changeling was enjoying his first train ride, despite the seriousness of their situation. They were not bothered much by the other passengers on the train either, most of whom appeared to be tourists leaving the Crystal Empire area and didn’t seem to think twice about the two. Which worked for them as this gave them the opportunity to plan their next move.

Eventually, having watched the terrain scroll by for a long while, Thorax had a thought. “Where is this train heading, anyway?” he asked, glancing at Spike.

Spike realized that they had been so focused on getting on the train to escape the Crystal Empire in the first place that neither of them had really stopped to think about that. They just wanted to get on the first train that got them away, and at the time it hadn’t mattered to them where it’d go. Fortunately though, the dragon was able to glance outside at the still-icy landscape and pick out a few key landmarks as they scrolled past and work it out. “South,” he deduced simply.

“Okay, but where in the south will we be getting off at?” Thorax pressed, wanting more details.

Spike, however, wasn’t too concerned about that just yet. “Anywhere we want, really,” he explained. Seeing his changeling ally still didn’t understand, Spike pulled out his season pass. “Because this season pass is set to be used to travel to any destination as many times as one wants before it expires, it really doesn’t have a set destination for it. That’s why it was so great that we were able to make use of it. As long as we have this pass, we can go anywhere the train goes. So if we wanted, we could ride this train all the way to the end of the tracks before we absolutely have to get off.”

Thorax stopped to consider all of this for a moment. “So…just how far is that, assuming that’s what we do?”

Spike racked his brain for a moment. “If I remember correctly, this particular train will go as far as Dodge City before it has to turn back.”

“I passed that not long after I left the hive,” Thorax noted aloud. He frowned. “But that’s still in Equestria…and aren’t we technically banished from Equestria as well? Shouldn’t we find someplace to go that’s outside of Equestria?”

“Probably,” Spike agreed, who had already been considering their options for that. “We’d probably want to head for someplace like Griffonstone or maybe even as far as the dragon realms.”

Thorax blinked. “The dragon realms?” he repeated, sounding alarmed by this suggestion.

“I’m friends with the Dragon Lord down there,” Spike explained. “She might be willing to take us in.” Maybe. It was always hard to tell with Ember. But Spike shook his head. “Either way, we’re on the wrong train for either of those destinations. We’d have to be on the northeast bound train to reach either of those locations, not the southbound.”

“So we need to change trains.”

“Yeah, but I was thinking we’re probably going to want to stop someplace here in Equestria first before we do that. You know, to get supplies for the trip. Maybe some money if we can. We just can’t stay too long in case ponies from the Crystal Empire do try to follow us.”

“But I guess that doesn’t really answer my question. Where are we going to stop?”

“I’ve been thinking about that, and I guess it doesn’t really matter, so long as it’ll have the basic things we need to get.”

Thorax considered this for a second. “We should probably stop in a big city then, and not a little village,” he advised. “That way it’ll be easier to hide in the crowd.”

“Good idea,” Spike said. Reaching across Thorax to pull out one of the complimentary maps of the Equestrian railway network the train service provided, he unfolded it and searched for the nearest large city the train would be stopping at. He tapped one sitting on the southwestern coast. “How about Vanhoover? You ever been to Vanhoover?”

“No.”

“Me neither.” Spike folded up the map again and pocketed it in case they would need it again. “Seems like a good place, then.”

Thorax grinned as the plan was settled. “Vanhoover it is, then.”

Author's Note:

This is the way we leave the Crystal Empire, Crystal Empire, Crystal Empire, this is the way we leave the Crystal Empire, so early in the morning...

...actually it'd be more like late afternoon by this point for Spike and Thorax, but who's counting? :ajsmug:

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