Luna and Bon Bon's Day Out

by jz1

New Jersey

Fifteen Minutes Later

The Tannoy crackled as the train rumbled out of Harrison station. “This train is now departing - the next and last stop is Newark Penn Station.”. Luna’s camera clicked one final time as the station receded from sight, before she rewound the film and popped the back open to change rolls. Crowds at the previous stations had meant that humans had finally started trickling into their car, and several humans sitting near them raised eyebrows as rolls of Ektachrome flew through the air in the Princess’ dark blue magic, but said nothing.

Loading the film and snapping the back of the camera on, Luna returned the exposed film to her bag and stood up in preparation for their arrival at the next stop. Half the carriage did so as well, before realizing that they probably didn't need to follow any sort of Royal Protocol in the middle of their commute.

Bon Bon did have to follow Royal Protocol, and was on her hooves before Luna had fully stood up, bracing against the braking train to remain in position by the Princess' side.

The train ground to a halt, and the doors slid open with a chime. Luna and Bon Bon joined the flood of commuters leaving the rest of the train as they cleared the fare control area and made their way out into the station concourse.

Now outside of New York City's hustle and bustle, crowds really began to notice the Princess, and Bon Bon's hackles raised as the humans parted around them like water around a ship. They were drawing a lot of attention, which was never a good thing to a protective service agent.

As if sensing her growing unease, two police officers materialized out of the crowd, flanking Luna and Bon Bon and projecting a sense of calm and order as they ushered people to either side. With the addition of the two humans, Luna and Bon Bon were able to quickly exit the station.

Never one to ignore a subordinate - even if they weren't from her government - Luna went to thank the officers. Bon Bon paid little attention, instead scanning the streets outside. New York City had paradoxically felt more secure, the hustle and bustle providing a somewhat insulating atmosphere in regards to threats, while Newark was emptier and felt more dangerous somehow. The city's run-down and dingy streets did little to alleviate those fears, and Bon Bon was not looking forward to escorting the Princess through the streets of this town.

A disgusted noise escaped one of the police officers. Luna had apparently told him their destination, and neither human was very impressed with it.

"Ma'am, with all due respect, you two should not be going down there by yourselves." The higher-ranking of the two men said. "It's a shithole."

"Distasteful it may be, but we have made an appointment at that locale, and we must make it." Luna stated definitively.

We have? Bon Bon thought to herself as the officers continued trying to convince Luna to not go into Newark.

After a few more back-and-forth exchanges, the superior officer threw his hands up in defeat. "Alright. I see that we can't stop you, so we'll take you there ourselves." He turned to his junior. "Go get the car."

The younger officer walked off to collect the patrol vehicle, and Bon Bon sagged in relief. Additional security and an official vehicle? What more could a protective services agent need?

After another minute or so, the patrol car pulled up. Much to Bon Bon's surprise, it was not a Newark Police vehicle, but instead one belonging to Amtrak's police force.

Amtrak Police was very well known to the Equestrian military, and even Bon Bon knew that they had no jurisdiction outside of passenger rail services. That they were doing this out of the goodness of their hearts was not lost on the mare, and she shot the officers a grateful look as the door to the car was opened for them.

Clambering into the back of the car, the ponies sat back as they were driven towards their destination. While Luna snapped pictures of the sights out of her window and chatted with the officers, Bon Bon tuned out the small talk and watched the buildings go by with increasing levels of relief - the city's industrial areas grew increasingly more dilapidated block by block, and the secret agent would have been jumping at every alleyway if Luna had insisted on walking through this part of town like she did everywhere else.

The environment around the police car continued to get worse and worse until they finally crossed under a massive bridge. Their destination was heralded by a small, dirty sign proclaiming the location to be NAPORANO IRON & SCRAP - NO TRESPASSING. The officers stopped the police car outside of a small building on the property, and they disembarked from the car.

“Would you like us to wait for you two?” The older officer asked, raising his voice to be heard over the cacophony of sounds.

Bon Bon swallowed nervously as she shook her head - this was not a happy place, but the officers weren’t needed, no matter how much she’d want them here. Looking over at Luna, the Princess appeared unbothered, but looking closely, her tells were on full display - subtle twitches of her wings, a tightening around her eyes, and her ears pinning themselves back against her head. She voiced no oppositions - both mares understood that this place felt wrong, in a way that the humans clearly couldn’t understand.

To start with, the noise was unbearable - the human road on the bridge was packed with traffic, which echoed off of the underside and into the open area they were in. A few furlongs away, another massive roadway bordered the industrial area, throwing more noise their way. The industrial area itself was also bursting with new and unpleasant sounds: high pitched squealing of metal on metal, loud motors of heavy machinery, shouting of laborers, and the blaring horns of railway equipment.

But underneath all of that, there was a definite sense of wrongness that permeated the very ground. Bon Bon could feel her Earth Pony magic cringe at the sensations caused by trotting over the broken and stained patches of ground that poked through the material of the building’s parking lot.

Leaving the police officers at their car and walking towards the building, a human in stained flannel and denim protective clothing met the mares at the door. “You the ponies?” he asked, his accent nasal and grating. A lit cigarette dangled from between his fingers, and he looked decidedly unimpressed by the arrival of a visiting dignitary.

“We are indeed.” Luna was speaking in the firm tones of her “Royal Voice” - another sign that this place was getting to her.

“Right. Mr. N said to take ya back to ‘im, come on.”

Without waiting for a response, he set off around the side of the building. Following in his wake, Bon Bon noticed that both she and Luna unconsciously stuck to the concrete pad the building was placed upon - the earth here felt wrong, and standing on something artificial lessened the sensation significantly.

As they walked away, Bon Bon heard the police car finally drive off. She swallowed her concerns at the thought of being out here alone - she was an Agent of S.M.I.L.E. for Celestia’s sake! She could do this!

Then they turned the corner, and were led past a razor-wire topped fence and into the facility. Bon Bon’s eyes widened immensely as the scrapyard came into view, and she could hear Luna unsuccessfully stifle a gasp.

No wonder it feels so bad out here. Bon Bon thought to herself as she took in the mechanical charnel house. The scrapyard dealt primarily in railway equipment, and was packed from end to end in locomotives in varying states of dismemberment. Paint schemes from American railways that she had never heard of (and the briefing packet had been unusually thorough, thanks to Princess Celestia’s interference) gave the yard an incongruously colorful appearance, in comparison to the grisly scenes of mechanical destruction.

Everywhere they looked, broken locomotives and railcars looked back, huge holes cut into their bodies. Over in one corner, a pile of diesel engines were stacked like so much cordwood. Engineer’s cabs were strewn about in a line by a crane, which was loading a freight car with piles of loose metal - the bright colors of the individual pieces giving some hint to whom they’d been.

What, not who. Bon Bon reminded herself, trying to bring her emotions back under control. Here in the human world, trains weren’t alive - at least, not really. She shuddered as she looked over at a line of yet-untouched locomotives. Several stood out to her - she knew some of their kind from her daily commute in Equestria. A few she even considered friends. Living, speaking, friends.

Here, though, they were just metal.

Hopefully.

Unaware of the mare’s discomfort, the human led them up to two trains in the back of the yard. They were mostly obscured behind a towering pile of scrap metal, but they looked like nothing else in the yard. They were long and low to the ground, with only a few hooves of space between the the top of the tracks and the bottom of the body. Bright yellow paint and a blue stripe, grimy with dirt and muck, and covered in scuffs and dents, still managed to stand out from the drab surroundings. Each train had a large glass dome on the roof of the lead carriage, and big front doors that opened like a clam shell.

They looked like spaceships from another world, and Bon Bon got the distinct impression that these two trains were more alive than most. There was a definite air of sadness around these trains, one that was different from the aura radiating from the rest of the yard - these two knew why they were here, and her heart went out to them.

In front of the two trains were two muscular humans. One had a thick mane of dark hair and a thin white shirt, with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. The man standing next to him looked like a carbon copy of him, save for a few scars and wrinkles, grey hair, and a massive cigar instead of a cigarette. The older one - presumably the proprietor - turned as the employee called for “Mr. N”, his cigar never leaving his mouth as he greeted the Princess.

Bodyguards were best seen and not heard, and Bon Bon tuned out most of the conversation between the two, instead keeping her back against the train closest to her. This allowed her to keep an eye on the younger human and the rest of the yard, but also meant she could lay a hoof on the battered yellow skin of the train.

It felt like cold, dead, metal, but deep underneath the plating there was a bare flicker of something more. It felt like she could just reach out and touch it with her Earth Pony mag-

Nope. She broke herself out of her own reverie, yanking her hoof off of the train’s plating and planting it firmly on the gravel beneath it. She was here to protect the Princess, not bring trains to life. That was something best left to the eggheads back in Canterlot, if it was to happen at all.

Bringing her attention back to the Princess, she just managed to catch Luna making a sweeping gesture at the rest of the yard.

“And what, pray tell, whilst thou be doing with the rest of thine railway fleet?” She asked imperiously.

“Lady, I run a scrapyard.” The older human said in total defiance of every Royal Visit Protocol Bon Bon had ever heard of, his oversized cigar puffing like a chimney. “Take a wild guess.”

“So thoust will kill them?”

“I don’t know what happens in Magic Fairy World, but they ain’t alive.”

“We understand.” Luna said slowly, inspecting the yard. Her horn lit up, and a sizeable bag of bits was deposited on the ground in front of them with a decisive CLONK. Bon Bon raised an eyebrow - unless the Princess was paying in small change, there was no way that a bag of that size would be necessary, unless-

Bon Bon’s eyes shot open just as Luna announced. “We will take everything.”

Later

It took some time for Luna’s new purchases to be dealt with - it would take several days for transportation to be arranged, and the scrapyard had turned into a veritable hive of activity as plans were made. This took most of the morning, and the sun was high in the sky by the time Luna and Bon Bon left.

Their departure from New Jersey was much simpler than their arrival - Luna had decided that seeing the city from the air would be preferable to returning on the subterranean PATH train, and was therefore flying back to Manhattan, her camera clicking away the whole time.

Quite naturally, this meant that Bon Bon had to go with her.

Bon Bon is an Earth Pony.

Earth Ponies don’t like flying.

“The views art most astounding!” Luna shouted over the rushing wind, her camera clicking away. “Look, there is Ellis Island!”

“Why couldn’t we have teleported?!” Bon Bon shrieked into Luna’s ear as she clung to the Princess’ back, her eyes screwed shut as they soared high above New York’s harbor.

Comments

[Cerulean Blue]

Sometimes the best solution is a bag full of cash

[Frazikar]

“I don’t know what happens in Magic Fairy World, but they ain’t alive.”

They will be .... soon enough ...