3. The Journey
Of Sky and Snow
Chapter Three
The Journey
Twilight hummed a merry tune to herself as she triple checked her suitcase for the second time. Methodically reading off each item of the list she checked them against the contents of her rather small lavender bag. Ordinarily, a bag the size of the one she was currently using would never fit all the items she would need, but magic could be a wonderful thing.
She smiled as the final item was checked off for the final time, her bag closing with a swift tug of the zipper. In a glow of magic it was lifted from her bed a placed by the door beside Spike’s even smaller one. Her list was rolled and a ribbon was wrapped around it before being deposited onto a shelf. One never knew when an old list could come in handy.
Taking a final glance around her room, Twilight made sure she had not inadvertently dropped something while organizing. After she had determined everything was back in her bag, she picked both Spike’s and her own bag up and walked down to the main room of the library, setting them gently next to the front door before glancing at the clock. She still had a half hour before any of her friends would be arriving, and Spike was running some last-minute errands before meeting them at the train station, leaving the library all to herself.
On a normal day, the idea of a silent, empty library would thrill her; nopony around to disturb her while she read, studied, or even re-organized. Today though, she had too much energy to sit around and do nothing. After all, this was her last day before a week of skiing down sparkling slopes of snow. It was her final day of boring, monotonous Ponyville before the shimmering white grounds of the resort.
For a time she wandered aimlessly through the tree. Looking for something to occupy her mind until her friends arrived. Eventually she found herself wandering through her room for what felt like the millionth time. With an exasperated huff she trudged back to the main floor and forced herself to sit still on her couch, bringing over a random book from a random shelf. Examining the cover she gave a frustrated grunt; ‘Advanced Magical Field Theory and Manipulation’. While it was one of her more advanced and interesting texts, it was also one of her most-read because of how interesting it was. Everything became routine after enough time, and this book had reached its limit long ago.
She shoved it back onto the shelf a bit harder then was strictly necessary, and was about to pick out another when a knocking sounded on her door. Though her clock confirmed she had barely used up ten minutes of her leftover time, there was no doubt that somepony had arrived. It wouldn’t be Spike; he didn’t need to knock, and none of her friends should have been there that early.
Another couple knocks roused her from the couch, mildly excited at the prospect of something unpredicted happening. Whatever it was would save her at least a few minutes of boredom.
In a flash of magic the door was flung open, and behind it sat Rainbow Dash, saddlebags across her back and an obvious grimace on her face. But what really got to the unicorn was the fact that she was, once again, early. Everything Twilight knew about the pegasus was shattered to pieces then and there.
“Hey Twi, listen, I-’ Rainbow started nervously, eyes glued to the ground at her hooves as she spoke before realizing that Twilight was unnaturally silent. “Uh, Twilight?” Rainbow asked again, quirking her head up at the befuddled unicorn.
“Rainbow? Alright, what’s going on? This is two days in a row,” Twilight asked, concerned and confused at her friend’s sudden change in punctuality.
“What? Something has to be wrong for me to be early?” Rainbow asked defensively, crossing her hooves and giving Twilight and expectant glare.
“Two days in a row? You? Yes, yes there does have to be something wrong,” Twilight said as she stood to the side, allowing the surprise pegasus to enter her home. She did so slowly, shuffling her hooves along the ground and keeping her eyes straight forward. With a quick buck and flap her bags were rocked off her back and fell to the floor beside the door.
“Actually, I kinda wanted to talk to you about something,” Rainbow started nervously as she walked past the unicorn into the main room of the library. Twilight tilted her head as she closed the door and followed the pegasus.
“What about? Did something happen with Scootaloo?”
“No; her parents were fine with her coming since they don’t have to pay.” Rainbow took a brief glance around the room before locating two cushions. Walking over, she took one to herself and motioned for Twilight to join her.
“Well then what’s wrong?” Twilight asked again as she settled down into her seat, concern colouring her voice. Despite the caring look in the lavender mare’s eyes, Rainbow still couldn’t gather the confidence to say what she needed to say, not without a bit of extra precaution.
“We’re friends, right Twi?” She started slowly, earning a rather odd look from Twilight.
“Of course we are, why wouldn’t we be?” Twilight was starting to get worried now. Twilight had noticed for a while that something had been bothering her pegasus friend, but she couldn’t put her hoof on what. But now that she seemed ready to tell somepony, she wanted to make sure they were friends?
“And we’ll always be friends? No matter what?” Rainbow pressed, almost pleading with Twilight.
“No matter what,” Twilight assured confidently, taking a page from Dash’s book and puffing her chest out proudly.
“Right, good. That’s… good…” Rainbow trailed of nervously as the subject came closer and closer to the one she was dreading. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she blew it out slowly as she lifted her head to look directly into Twilight’s eyes. For a moment she held her gaze there. Then another, and then another, until she lost what nerve she had and dropped her head back down.
“Never mind, it’s not important,” Rainbow said quickly, silently cursing her own fears.
“Dash, you know you can tell me anything, right?” Twilight asked, extending a foreleg and placing a comforting hoof on her cyan shoulder. Rainbow fought down a blush as she stood up, Twilight’s hoof falling back to the floor.
“I know, Twi. But it was something silly, just forget about it. How long do we have until the rest of the girls get here?” Rainbow asked quickly, hoping to change the subject before Twilight could press any harder.
“About half an hour still. Are you sure you’re alright?” Twilight answered slowly, eyeing the pegasus suspiciously.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Rainbow insisted, giving an unconvincing smile. Twilight kept her gaze for a moment longer before shrugging it off. If Rainbow wanted to talk about something, she would talk when she was ready. Twilight just hoped Dash would trust her enough to tell her.
“Alright. Well, Spike’s out running a few errands, so we’ll be meeting him at the train station before we leave. Have you packed yet?” Twilight asked as she picked herself off the cushion and walked over to a shelf, grabbing a random book to tide her over until the rest of their friend’s arrived.
“I don’t need to pack anything, except what’s in my bags,” Rainbow said breezily, motioning to the pair of light blue saddle bags resting by the door.
“Are you sure? It might get pretty cold, I’d hate for you to catch a cold.”
“I’m a pegasus, Twi, we’re kinda built for cold weather. Being at a high altitude so much, we need to be well insulated,” Rainbow explained. Twilight just shrugged.
“Alright, if you’re sure.” Twilight, having found a suitable book to distract herself, walked back over and laid on her cushion, setting the book down in front of her and opening it. Silence fell as Twilight read her book, Rainbow still sitting quietly on her cushion, watching.
“You know, you can always grab something to read,” Twilight offered without glancing up from her own reading material. Rainbow started, caught off guard at the sudden break in silence.
“Uh, sure, what would you recommend?” Rainbow asked, rubbing her hooves together nervously. Twilight, however, seemed unpraised by the motion.
“Wait, you mean you actually want to try something other than Daring Do?” Twilight asked suddenly, more than a little shocked.
“Well yeah, I figured it was pretty good, so why not others like it?”
“Oh Rainbow this is great!” Twilight exclaimed gleefully, leaping off the couch, completely forgetting her book as she began pulling books off her shelf, quickly building a rather impressive pile behind her.
“There are so many other series I think you would like. There’s this one, where a group of ponies finds a ring and are tasked with-” Twilight’s rambling was cut off by a hasty hoof shoved over her mouth.
“Yeah, that’s great, but can we pick just one to try for now?” Rainbow asked, slowly removing her hoof from Twilight’s lips.
“Uh, right.” Twilight smiled sheepishly, returning the books back to the shelf in a magical glow. All except one, which floated its way over to Rainbow.
“Try this, it’s similar in pacing and style to Daring Do, and is written by the same pony,” she said as the pegasus pulled the book from her magic.
“Huh, seems interesting,” Rainbow muttered as she read the summary on the back. Giving the book and approving nod. “I’ll give it a try. Thanks Twi!”
“Of course, Rainbow,” Twilight giggled as Rainbow quickly went about devouring the new book. She herself returned to her own piece of literature, passing the time until their friends arrived.
Approximately twenty minutes later, a round of knocks sounded on the door. Twilight looked up from her book, having gotten a fair way into it. She glanced over to Rainbow, not as far as her, but thoroughly enjoying her own story, totally oblivious to the knocking. Twilight smiled slightly as she stood from the couch and opened her door, Applejack walking in a second later.
“Howdy Twi!” The farm mare called, before stopping and raising an inquisitive eyebrow, “And, uh, Rainbow Dash. What’re y’all doin’ here so early?”
Rainbow finally dug her nose out of the book, taking in her surroundings and seeing Applejack giving her an odd look.
“Shut it, Apple-head, I can be early when and if I want to. Besides, I came to get a new book, right Twi?” Rainbow said, turning to Twilight for an answer.
“Uh, right, for the book…” Twilight trailed off. She may not have known Rainbow’s real reason for coming so early, but she was fairly certain it was not for a book.
“Uh-huh…” Applejack said slowly, glancing between the two ponies, seemingly having a silent conversation with nothing but their eyes.
“Well the rest o’ the girls should be here soon, so I reckon we’ll be leaving for the train in a bit.”
“Yep. You all packed?” Twilight asked, forcefully snapping her gaze away from Rainbow and to Applejack. The farmer nodded, motioning to an average sized suitcase by the door.
“I’m all set.”
“Helloooooo?” Rarity called in a sing-song voice, poking her head into the open library door. Upon seeing her friends, she stepped inside, leaving her own suitcase by the door with the others.
“Well I’ll be darned; I don’t think I’ve ever seen you pack that light,” Applejack commented with a chuckle.
“Oh no, darling, this is just my carry-on. The rest is outside with Sweetie,” Rarity explained, glancing back outside to her sister and the leaning tower of luggage. Rainbow rolled her eyes, returning to her book and shutting out the surrounding world.
“Speaking of, where’s Applebloom? She can make it, right?” Twilight asked, suddenly noticing the absence of a certain filly.
“She said she made arrangements to meet Scootaloo before coming over. They should be here soon,” Applejack explained. Twilight nodded.
Over the next twenty minutes the rest of the group slowly trickled through the doors of the library. Eventually all of them were gathered, sitting around the living room and going over last-minute preparations before the train. Rainbow, meanwhile, continued to read her book, totally absorbed in the pages. So much so she didn’t even hear Twilight calling her name.
“Rainbow?” She tried again, waving a hoof in front of the pegasus’s face. Still she remained intent on reading.
“Rainbow!” Twilight snapped suddenly, giving her a rather hard shove. She got an instant reaction as Dash’s wings flew open, her hooves quickly launching her to a standing position.
“What? Who? Where?” She asked desperately, throwing her gaze all around the room. That was strange, when had the rest of her friends showed up? Why were they all snickering at her?
“I was asking if you wanted to take the book with you,” Twilight explained, still trying to stifle her laughter. Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief as she lowered herself back to a sitting position.
“Yeah, it’s actually really good,” Rainbow said, trying to ignore the not-so-quiet snickers of a certain apple farmer.
“Glad to here,” she said, glancing up to the clock, “well, I guess we better get going if we want to make the train.”
-_-_-_-
As promised Spike met them at the train station when they arrived, having already picked up the pre-reserved tickets. The train was due to depart in ten minutes, once they were done offloading all luggage that needed to be unloaded and refueling. The blaring of train whistles fill the relatively busy train station, the ponies milling about paid it no mind, however, as they continued about whatever business they were on.
“Wow,” Twilight commented, glancing around at the fairly impressive crowed, “There are a lot of ponies here. I wonder why…”
“Yearly harvest census,” Applejack explained, “every year a bunch of fancy business-types come down from Canterlot and other cities to gather information on last year’s harvest, and the predictions for this year. Normally I’d be helping Mac get ready, but I got everything ready for him.”
“Huh,” Twilight said casually, watching as a particularly high-class pony in an expensive looking suit cantered past the group, briefcase held aloft in a magical grasp.
“We have kind of the same thing, only with the weather; things like clouds ‘n stuff. Ours isn’t for another couple months, though,” Rainbow mentioned, noticing a particularly snobby looking mare cantered off the train, nose held high as another pony followed with her bags. “And our people are from Cloudsdale; not as snooty,” she added with a sneer.
“I’ll have you know-” Rarity started, only to be cut off by a loud whistle.
“The train to Coltensburgh, Canterlot, and Manehattan is now boarding.”
“That’s us, let’s go,” Twilight said, quickly maneuvering through the crowd of ponies to the train. She flashed her tickets to the conductor as they boarded, the stallion taking their luggage and loading it into the storage compartment. They walked through the car until they found an empty compartment large enough to comfortable seat all ten of them. Though the three fillies quickly got bored and decided to roam around the train.
“Don’t go causing’ trouble, ya hear!?” Applejack shouted down the hall after them, earning nothing more than a faint ‘we won’t’ as a response. Rolling her eyes with a chuckle, she stepped back inside and slid the door closed.
“So how long is this trip gonna be, Twi?” Rainbow asked curiously, already fishing her new book from her saddlebags.
“About two to three hours; not quite as long as Canterlot,” she answered. With an approving nod Rainbow quickly went about finding her page and continuing to read, taking up the window seat as she held the book against the glass while she read. The rest of the group took up their seats; Twilight sat across from Rainbow at the other window seat, Rarity sat next to her and Spike practically dove for the seat next to Rarity. Applejack and Fluttershy took their place next to Rainbow, Pinkie having followed the Crusaders in their train-exploring mission.
“We’re going to be in Coltensburgh at about 4 PM, correct?” Rarity asked, receiving a nod from Twilight as a response.
“And how long will the carriage to the resort take?”
“About an hour, so we’ll be there at five. Check-in closes at six so we should have enough time. We probably won’t get much skiing in today, but I figured we could use day one to take a look around the place and see all that they have to offer,” Twilight explained, watching through the window as ponies continued buzzing about the small station platform. Rarity nodded, satisfied with the explanation, and turned her gaze towards the yellow pegasus sitting opposite from her.
While the others in the small, relatively cramped space chatted idly about this or that, Rainbow kept quiet, instead choosing to focus on her reading. Though, if she was honest with herself, the absolute last the she wanted to be doing right now was reading. Though she couldn’t do what she really wanted; she couldn’t even do it when she and Twilight were alone, never mind when the rest of their friends were all crammed into the same train car. Still, unable to actually talk to the unicorn about her problems, she resigned herself to taking quick, longing glances at the unicorn seemingly focused out the window.
A sharp whistle bellowed thought he station as the outer doors of the train slid shut. Another whistle blast and a puff of smoke from the engine signified the beginning of the train’s journey. Slowly it pulled out of the station, its smoke stack billowing thick black clouds as it struggled to build the momentum to pull the passenger cars away from the station. Eventually they were free, and the train was allowed to go at full speed, barreling down the tracks towards their first stop.
Twilight watched through the window at the shrinking town of Ponyville Eager to be free from the monotony of recent times. Excited to once again be free, out on the pearly slopes and sparkling hills.
Stats
Page generated in 0.032 seconds
Total duration
1,024 users online
1,698,600 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
shame you couldn't make the contest, but if it means you can flesh the story out more, I'm ok with it.
Poor Rainbow, confess your feelings! Then you and Twi can roll in snow, snogging :3
Liked the Lord of the Rings reference and it is a shame that you couldn't make the contests deadline. Oh well!
You use the wrong spelling for some words, for example, you used by instead of buy, and many other things, but other than that this story is going really good!
For some reason, Coltensburg makes me think of St. Petersburg.
Will it beangst will it be fluff? thats the real mystery of this story. Anyway another really good chapter hope you keep it up, hoping they get aliiitle longer, but thats just me not wanting to click the next chapter button more than anything.
Hmmm…