Navigate

by Sleestack

The Train

“I really don’t see why we couldn’t have just bought tickets,” Rose said, trying to find a comfortable position on the cold, metal ground. “We could have been riding first class right now.”

Trip was leaning against the wall, next to a huge pile of hay. “Well, I don’t see how we could have bought tickets, on account of me not having any money.” he retorted, matter of factly.

“But I have money!” Rose yelled.

Trip nearly fell off of the wall. “You do? How much?”

She put her hand to some unseen part of her body and pulled out a small pile of gold pieces. She looked at them for a second, and said “At least enough for two tickets. I know that for sure. And probably enough left to buy us dinner somewhere. Oh gosh, I’m so hungry. I haven’t eaten since this morning.” She looked up at Trip. “And I don’t think you have either. How are you not starving?”

“You learn to get over it after awhile. Besides, I have other things to worry about than food.”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think anyone would mind if I had a little bit of this hay.” She walked over to the pile next to him and picked up a handful... a hoofful... ugh... of the yellow stuff.

Trip stuck his tongue out. “How can you eat that? That’s... oh yeah. That’s normal for you. My mistake.”

“What? Hay? Look, I know I probably shouldn’t be eating random food I find in the caboose of a train, but I don’t think it’s spoiled or anything. I’m not sure if hay even can spoil.” She grabbed another wad and held it in Trip’s direction. “You want some? It don’t think anyone’s poisoned it.” she giggled.

“No. I’m good. I’d rather... I’m on a strict no-hay diet.”

“Really? You don’t really look like you need a diet.”

“Well, hay messes with my regularity. You know. I have a delicate stomach.”

Rose didn’t know how to respond to that one. “Um... okay then. More for me, I guess.” She grabbed a few more handfuls and chowed down.

After she was done, Trip asked her “So, what’s with the whole gardening thing?”

She attempted to lay down on the train floor again. “What do you mean?”

“Well, when we first met, you said all you liked doing was taking walks.”

“Actually, when we first met, you screamed at me and said I was impossible.” She retorted.

“Okay, true, true. But when we talked for the first time, you made it sound like you never did anything ever. But then, all of a sudden you started gaining an interest in plants and stuff. Why is that?”

She deliberated that question. “I don’t know. I guess, since no one ever asked me to do anything before, I never felt like doing anything.”

Trip looked down at her. “That’s strange. Has anyone ever talked to you? Like, just carried out a normal conversation with someone?”

“You.”

“I mean, other than me? With people... ponies that you’ve seen all your life.”

“No. I don’t see why you keep asking that. I don’t really do anything. I’m just not important.”
Trip’s eyes went wide. “How can you say that just so, like, nonchalantly? How can you just be okay with the fact that you were born to do nothing?” he yelled. “You didn’t even have a name before I showed up! Didn’t you ever get angry about that?”

She jumped a little at his sudden change of tone. “Actually, I never really felt anger until you showed up, actually, now that I think about it.” She said this with only a hint of mild realization in her voice.

Trip stood up from the wall and began to walk in circles. “I don’t like that. You have no life, Rose. You’re just a background character. And you’re just completely content with that? If I were in your position, I’d get-” suddenly, the train bounced, throwing Trip onto his side, right in front of the bale of hay. His muscles screamed at him as he stood back up. He inhaled deeply. “Ow.”

“You should really stop getting so worked up about things. It’s not healthy.” she stretched her entire body. “Listen, I think we have about forty five minutes left on this ride. I’m gonna try and sleep. We can find somewhere to spend the night when we get there, too.”

“Sleep.” Trip absent mindedly repeated. “I forgot that’s something people can do. You do that. I’ll wake you up when I think we’re there.”
“You’re not going to try and sleep?” She said, curling up.
“We’ll miss our stop if we both do.” he said. He backed up against the wall and sat down,
so that his back was leaning up against the cold metal. Before long, he could hear quiet, cartoonish snoring coming from where Rose was laying.

Trip looked out of the opening in the ceiling. He saw the purple-blue night sky, but the moon was out of sight. He only saw a few stars. Eventually, he saw the tears in the sky, like the ones he saw when he first arrived. But they didn’t seem to be ripping in his general direction, so he wasn’t alarmed by them.

Technically, he thought to himself, I am sleeping right now. And I’m probably being fed through a tube. Assuming my body is still at the hospital. That’d be freaky, if my body disappeared from my hospital bed. God, Ren is probably freaking out right now. I wonder how long it’s been. What if I’ve been gone for months? Years? Oh god, this is not okay. No, I’ve only been here for less than a day. I’ve been gone for a day. Time should relatively equate. I wonder if she watched that new episode without me. Well, can I really say without me? What if she’s seen me? Seen me but didn’t notice me? No, I haven’t seen any of the main characters in that town. But we are headed to where the main characters live. We might get some screen time there. Especially if we’re going to be asking them for stuff. Would Ren recognize my voice? Would she... would she see a... facial sim... similar...

He had begun losing track of his thoughts. Everything around him was growing even darker than it had before. His eyelids felt like cement and he couldn’t keep his head straight. Eventually, his vision faded out to black.

He had no body. His physical form was gone, and around him, everything was white. White with cracks, like dried mud, revealing shades of silver. He turned his non-existent head and saw more of the nothingness. He expected to see something. Some kind of plant. Had he been there before? It seemed familiar, but empty.
He gave the mental command of moving his arm, but instead of seeing his arm, a giant black tentacle sprouted of the corner of his vision. He tried moving his fingers, and the tip of the tentacle wiggled accordingly.

He tried the same thing with his other hand, and another tentacle appeared. He experimented with them for a little bit, before he looked down to try and see the origin point of the appendages. He saw a small body shaped black lump with what looked like a yellow snake perched on its shoulders. Trip lowered his arms, and as he did the tentacles retracted into the lump.

The snake looked up at Trip’s general direction and scanned above it, as if it were looking for him but couldn’t see him. The snake moved its head so that its mouth was approximately where the lumps ear would be. It opened its mouth, and in Trip’s one ear, he heard a feminine voice say the phrase “Stable Condition”.

“Trip! Trip, wake up!” Rose was whispering loudly. “I think someone’s here!”

“Wh-what?” he muttered, rubbing his eyes. His hoof-hands were dripping wet with what seemed like sweat. “Sh-darn, did I fall asleep?”

“Yeah, but we gotta get out of here, I think the conductor knows we’re here!”

“What?” he got up on all fours, and realized he was laying in the hay pile.. “How?”

“I don’t know, but the train’s stopped, and from what I can tell, we’re not at Ponyville,” she started breathing heavily. “And I’m pretty sure I heard train doors being open and shut and I think whoever’s doing it is getting closer to us, and...”

Trip grabbed her by the shoulder. “No, listen, it’s gonna be fine.” He looked up. “You see that hole up there? Lift me up and I’ll...”

“What? No! You’re heavier than me! You lift me up, and then I’ll...”

“No, what I’m saying is I’ll stand on your back, lift myself up, and then I can lift you up. You’re lighter than me, you won’t be able to...”

“I won’t be able to hold your weight though!”

“Rose, I’m not lifting you up. I am not putting you in a position in which I have to hold any part of your body above my head.”

“What? What is that supposed to mean?”

“It would just be an awkward position and I don’t think either of-”

He was interrupted by the sound of metal clanging and hooves walking on the ground, and from not too far away. They both looked in the direction of the noise, then back at each other.

“Come on, Rose, we don’t have much time. Just stand here.”

“Fine. Fine. Just hurry.”

She stood still as he tried to maneuver himself onto her back. He had to keep his two back feet on her spinal area and his left front one on her neck. “Ow. Ow. OW. Hurry up! This really hurts!”

“Sorry!” He reached for the edge of the opening and just missed it. He pushed up with his left arm and stood up on his two back legs. He grabbed for the edge of the opening again, and missed it by less than an inch. He fell off of Rose as he came back down, causing a large CLANG to reverberate in the car.

The hoof sounds paused for a brief moment, and started moving again, definitely in their direction. “No, no, no...” Trip said under his breath.

Rose was rubbing her neck, and Trip tried climbing on her back again. “Hurry up! They heard us!” She whispered.

Right away he stood on his two back feet. He reached for the edge again, but this time, he fully extended his legs and leaped off of Rose’s back, and he firmly grasped the metal, despite his lack of fingers. He reached up with his other hoof-hand and started hoisting himself up. As he was, he felt two hooves push him up. Soon, the upper half of his body was completely outside of the train. He pushed himself up and out of the car.

He looked in the direction the footsteps were coming from, and instead of seeing a pony comically dressed up in a conductor’s outfit, he saw one dressed up like the guards in front of the Archive. He laid down flat on the top of the car and turned himself around so that he could reach his hoof into the opening. He felt Rose grab onto it, and he pulled her up to the point where she got a grip on the metal. She let go of him and pushed herself up.

“Quick, get down!” Trip whispered, spreading himself as flat as possible, soon followed by Rose doing the same thing. Soon, the sound of the metal door being opened could be heard below them. Trip stopped breathing, and he was fairly certain Rose did, too.

The guard seemed to take a longer time examining this one than he did the others. It sounded like he was moving the hay around for a while. But eventually, he let out a frustrated huff, left the train and slam the door shut.

“Is it safe now?” Rose whispered.

Trip paused. “Wait til the train starts moving again.”

“What?”

“It’s going to take a while before it gets back up to full speed.” he lifted his head slightly, and saw no sign of the guard. “We’ll get back in the train when we’re sure no one’s going to come back on.”

Rose paused. “What if we just got off right now?”

“What?”

“They might check the train again at the station. And Ponyville isn’t too far away, I think I can see some lights over there in the distance.”

Trip just responded with a stare. He lifted his head again and looked in all directions for the guard. Instead, he heard the train blew its whistle and started moving forward slowly.

“Rose, I like the way you think, sometimes.” Trip put his hoof-hands to his chest and allowed himself to roll off of the top of the car, and onto the ground with a loud THUD, which was thankfully covered by the sound of steam and pistons being turned. Soon, Rose jumped off and landed gracefully on her feet next to him.

“What was with that?” She asked as he was getting up.

“I didn’t want to be seen, just in case.” he said, brushing himself off.

“Okay, I guess... so-” the whistle blew again as the end of the train rolled past them and into the darkness. “So should we get going now?”

“Yes. Sounds lovely.”

Comments

[DuqFedora]

(Just read all the chapters at once)

Well, this story gets my Canadian rating of : Renjoy it!

Renjoy it means that you should read it and enjoy it at the same time! AMAZING !

[kragor]

1077695 so, you watch the completionist? also canada ftw.

[Halo Prime]

This chapter needs some slight rewriting, with bits at the beginning and hand where you say things like hands or feet, instead of hooves or... well hooves. Still glad to read some more though

[Sleestack]

1084627
Thank you for noticing. It's hard for me to notice such things, as I'm not accustomed to using words like 'hoof'.