The Sixth Element

by Lets Do This

The Two Trains

In the end it took a few days to wind everything up, but Derpy finally turned the key in the door, dropped it in the mail slot, and strode out the front door of the building with Dinky at her hooves. Derpy carried their suitcases in a heavy-duty carryall on her back, plus a smaller case in her mouth. Dinky was wearing a smaller carryall with her toys and books. Bean was tucked in the right-side pocket, poked up so she could see where they were going.

They walked down the block, then right at the corner, and a trot of several blocks finally brought them to the Fillydelphia train station. It was rush hour so the station hall was packed with commuters standing around waiting for trains. A few of the ponies they passed eyed Derpy's crossed-eye expression strangely, then quickly looked away. Derpy was used to the studied indifference in strangers by now and didn't pay it much attention.

Derpy led the way to the ticket window. Whereto-money-change-tickets, she repeated to herself as she went through the transaction. She could deal with anything, as long as she had a system.

Dinky waited patiently for her to finish before asking, "Where are going, Mama?"

"Canterlot, Dink!" Derpy said. She tucked the tickets and change in a side pocket of her small case. "After that... I dunno. We'll have to ask."

Dinky looked around nervously. "There's a lot of ponies in here!"

"Uh huh. Stay right with me, 'Kay?"

"'Kay."

"It's a jungle," Derpy suggested to her. "Like the book we read. A really thick, dark jungle, full of trees and vines. We're explorers, out in the jungle, marching single file. Stick close. I'll cut a path for us!"

"Okay, Mommy!" Dinky smiled. And Derpy picked up the small case in her mouth and led the way out to the platforms.

It was even busier out here. As trains arrived and departed, ponies pushed and shoved all around the two of them, hurrying to get on, hurrying to get off, or just hurrying to get out of the crush. Derpy found the right platform for their train and started along it, checking behind her with her Dinky Eye now and again to make sure Dinky was right behind her.

"Attention please. The 9:13am train from Manehattan is now arriving on platform 4."

Startled, Derpy looked ahead, and saw a gradually swelling herd of ponies disembarking from the newly-arrived train and heading straight towards them, spreading out so they filled the entire platform from edge to edge, leaving no room to pass. She looked around, spotted a nearby trashcan, and quickly led Dinky into the lee of it.

The advancing crowd stampeded past them, heads down, completely indifferent.

"Bean!" Dinky's shriek snapped Derpy's head around. The toy had been knocked from its pocket by the passing crowd, and was rapidly disappearing underhoof, being kicked this way and that by the unseeing commuters.

Derpy thought fast. She shrugged out of the carryall and let it spill behind her, creating a small fortress of luggage beside the trashcan. Grabbing Dinky, she set her inside it, then used her own smaller carryall to brace it.

"Stay here, Dink!" she said urgently, kissing her.

"'Kay, Mommy!"

Then she launched herself into the crowd, jinking this way and that, colliding with flanks and muzzles everywhere she went.

"Oof! Watch it!"

"Sorry!"

"Hey!"

"My bad!"

"Watch where you're going!"

"Clumsy me!"

"Ouch!"

"Oops, didn't mean that!"

She saw Bean ahead, flirting with the platform's edge. With an extra burst of speed she reached the toy and snatched it up in her mouth.

"Phah!" she said indistinctly. Bean would definitely need a bath after this.

Now she just had to get upstream again. But this was easier. She just looked at everyone. They eyed her, then looked away and went around her, pretending she wasn't there. She used that indifference, rapidly working a path through the crowd, heading back to Dinky.

WHAM.

She ran head-on into a conductor unicorn, who'd been tallying tickets as he trotted along with the crowd and hadn't been watching ahead of him. The tickets scattered on the ground.

"Hey! Why don't you look where you're going! You..."

Derpy turned her most innocent, vacant, cross-eyed stare on him. The toy dangling from her mouth was just a bonus.

"Uhm. Well. Fine. Just... watch it next time, Sister!"

"hOkay! hI hWill!" she said.

Leaving him muttering and gathering up the scattered tickets with his magic, Derpy returned to Dinky and proudly delivered Bean to her.

"Yay! You're the best, Mommy!"

"You're welcome. Tuck Bean away safe now. Lot more ponies ahead."

She rapidly re-kitted them in their carryalls, and picked up her own bag. By this time the crowd had thankfully thinned out, and they were able to board the train with no trouble.

As she did so, Derpy reluctantly took one last look at the city, wondering if she was doing the right thing.

Well, only one way to find THAT out, she thought, and got on.

After all the rush, the train pulled out ten minutes late. Trains were like that in the city.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When the train arrived in Canterlot, Derpy asked around in the station, and quickly gathered that whatever the explosion was, it had been closer to Cloudsdale. But she only had enough spare bits left for passage as far as Ponyville. Reasoning it would be easier to find work there than in aristocratic Canterlot, Derpy took the plunge and bought tickets.

The walk to the train this time was night-and-day different. The Friendship Express stood on its platform, looking like a cross between a cuckoo clock and a gumdrop factory. The cars had gaily colored, fretworked roofs. There were hearts painted on the train's cowcatcher. The pink engine gently puffed steam as if it was patiently counting to itself: One. Two. Three.

"Morning, Ma'am!" said the conductor, a chubby earth pony with graying mane and tail, touching his cap. "First class?"

Derpy set down her case. "I wish! Nope, coach for us."

"Tell you what," he said. "I had a couple deadheaders cancel last minute. You go on in and have a seat. If nobody else shows up, you can ride First the whole way."

"Thanks! C'mon Dinky!"

"All right! Thanks, Mister!"

He touched his cap again. "Not a problem, Miss!"

The train pulled out exactly on time, and they almost had the whole First Class car to themselves as the train chuffed its way along the track and down the slopes to the Canterlot Foothill Plains. It was a long ride but a pleasant one, with lots to see. Eventually they pulled into the station at Ponyville, which was basically a couple of small buildings with thatched roofs, one of which was the station office.

The conductor smiled to them as they got off and stood looking around.

"Are you new in town, Ma'am?" he asked.

Derpy nodded. "Where can we stay? And does anyone need work done?"

The conductor pointed up the road. "Your best bet would be to go on up to Mr. and Mrs. Cake's store. It's near the town square, you can't miss it. They take in lodgers -- oh boy, do they! And if they ain't looking for help, they could point you to who is."

"Thanks again!"

"Not a problem, Ma'am!"

As they trotted up the lane into town, Derpy realized the conductor had been looking at her Book Eye the entire time, and hadn't reacted at all when her Dinky Eye swivelled around to keep track of her daughter.

It certainly was different here.