A train of myth and legend pulls into Canterlot Station
During a normal afternoon at Canterlot station, a gigantic train pulls in from the sky. It meets the ground with a loud clang and the rails buckle under the train's weight as it pulls into the station. The train stops with a hiss of steam and the cry of a whistle. The passenger car doors open but no one leaves the train. And with the arrival of the enormous locomotive it raises a few questions. What is a flying train doing in Equestria? And was this all by chance or was it a scheduled stop?
(This is my crossover idea on an old anime by the title of Galaxy Express 999. Brace yourself for less than stellar grammar.)
"EVERYBODY STEP BACK!" The station master screamed, along with other conductors who were also trying to make the crowd move back. Everyone wanted the chance to see. Just sheer minutes ago a gigantic train pulled in from above the clouds and slammed on to the rails. Nearly everyone in the station turned to the platform when the train hit the ground and eased into the station. At first the locomotive remained still and everyone approached it, curious as to its arrival, but when the grey beast let out a huge whiff of steam the conductors and other station employees began moving in and slowly edged the growing crowd back to the other side of the platform.
The station master yelled again. "CAN WE PLEASE HAVE EVERYONE MOVE BACK!!!!" The crowd continued to resist. New people had arrived and wanted to see the train themselves which added to the force of the mob. The station master shook his head to the ground, inhaled, tilted back and gave off one final holler. "WE WILL INFORMED THE ROYAL GUARDS IF YOU DO NOT CORPORATE WITH US!!!" Soon the crowd backed off and were huddled in the building's main lobby area, inside the station. The station master waved over an conductor and asked him to call the royal palace, he acknowledged him with a head nod and ran to find a phone.
The train let out another whoosh of steam, covering the platform near it. The station master let out a sigh, took his hat off, and ran his hand through his hair. "What the hell are you?" he thought. But soon he decided to wait for the royal guards out in the lobby with the rest of the crowd who were just as confused as he was.
30 minutes later....
"Alright the last group may leave now." announced a guard. And soon the lobby was empty. The guard turned to the station master. "Can you explain that hunk of metal out on the express line?"
The station master shrugged. "It just came from the sky. Theirs nothing more I can really say about it. Is their something wrong?"
"I just don't have a good feeling about this train. Its been sitting there with the car doors open and no ones left the train." The guard looked out a window to make sure the train was still there. He stumbled back when the train let out another wisp of steam.
"Maybe there is no one on board." suggested the station master.
"Then we will just have to check it out ourselves." said a voice from behind. The guard turned, then immediately snapped to attention.
"What's the deal sir?" asked the station master, but he too snapped to attention when he looked over his shoulder. Princess Celestia had managed to walk in without making any noise. She made a soft smile as the two snapped to attention. The idling train made another whoosh of steam, which grabbed her attention.
"Has their been any developments in regarding this train?" Celestia moved closer to the window and observed the train. The size and shape was very remarkable. Its silver steel reflected the sun from the top of the engine. Labeled on the tender was 999 in bright yellow paint.
"As far as we can tell princess, the train hasn't shown anything to us that would suggest it being dangerous. It might just possibly be a flying train. But we can't know everything until we take a look inside." The guard looked to the front door to the train station, then looked back at Celestia. "If you want I could have someone go and check."
The princess waved her hand. "No, there won't be a need for that."
"Why?" asked the Station master. Celestia motioned her hand toward the window.
Princess Luna was waiting on the platform scanning the train. She leaned back and forth on her feet looking for anything that stuck out. And after a minute of thinking, Luna crossed her arms and walked on to the train.
The guard looked back at princess Celestia. "Are you sure you don't want me to escort her?"
Celestia laughed. "Luna can handle herself. I don't think a train is going to get the better of her besides she---"
AHWOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Everyone immediately looked out the windows. The engine had a huge pillar of smoke leaving the funnel. All the passenger car doors began to shut simultaneously. CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG The train let out another scream.
AHWOOOOOOOOO!!!!
The huge train began to pull slowly away from the station. It soon let out a enormous cloud of steam that covered the entire platform. The guard ran to the platform doors but Celestia grabbed the back of his armor. "I said she can handle herself." The guard looked back.
"What are you saying? Just let that thing pull away!?"
Celestia stared directly into the guard's eyes. " I'm not comfortable with this either but if we try to chase, restrain or stop the train. The owners will see it as an hostile act and might harm Luna. So for now we'll wait and then call the station down the line and talk to them about the train. We'll see if we can get Luna off of it."
"Um......Princess.....that might not be possible." Called out the station master in a shaky voice as he slowly pointed out the window.
The princess walked over and tilted her head to look out the window and gasped in shock. The train wasn't following the tracks. It was heading back up into the air. Tracks began appearing in front of the train out of thin air as it climbed into the sky. And as the train became smaller it gave one more holler good-bye.
AHWOOOOOOOOO-WOOOOO-WOO-WOO
Celestia placed her hand on the window. "Luna....." she said softly.
Everyone remained silent as the train disappeared completely. The whistle echoed through out the train station. Celestia began to fear the worst of what could happen to her sister.
"Whoa! Nice timing Stacey. The attendants didn't even catch a glimpse of us sneaking on here." said Henry as he closed the door and dusted his pants off.
Stacey gave Henry a glazed view. "Look it's only a matter of time before they call the royal guards in and put that crowd in the lobby. Let's just get a quick look around then get out of here. I'm already getting a bad feeling about this." Stacey looked out a window. The station master was waving his arms frantically trying to keep the growing crowd at bay.
The two began searching through the dim car. It was mostly all boxes. Only the area around the doorway had space to move about, there was however a small aisle up the middle between all the towers of boxes. Henry began quickly checking the boxes to see if any of their tops were lose. Stacey on the other hand was merely trying to read the labels on them. None of the symbols looked nothing like the Equestrian alphabet.
After awhile Henry clapped his hands together and started to walk to the exit where Stacey was still trying to read. "Okay your little treasure hunting pep talk you gave before hopping on here is starting to lose its effects. Face it, we can't get into any of these boxes the other door at the end is locked and you haven't said one thing since you started looking at the markings. Let's just get out of here and cut our losses." Henry opened the back door and looked around. "The crowds gone man. I'm gonna head out. You with?"
Stacey looked at the box then out the window. "No I'm gonna stay for about five or ten minutes. I'll meet you later if I find anything cool, alright?" Henry waved and hopped off the car and left the station and Stacey continued to look at the writing, but started to think of something else. "Why the heck does he call me Stacey? I know Star-Crosser is not the best name to have in casual conversation, but I'm a guy. He could have spent the thirty extra seconds to come up with a more masculine name. Really, Stacey!?"
With a sigh and a shaking of his head Stacey stood up and began to open the door until something outside one of the side windows caught his eyes. Stacey snapped behind one of the boxes that covered most of the view and slowly edged his head to the side, just so he could peak his eye around the corner to see the platform. "Oh no!", he thought. "Of course it would be her!" It was unmistakable. Her blue hair stood out tremendously against the white platform, making it extremely obvious on who it was. Why you!? Why now Luna?
Stacey smacked his head against the box. "Out of all the royal officials it had to be her." In reality it was unfortunate. Stacey's parents worked in the palace, which allowed him to get into all kinds of adventures and what not. But every time something went wrong she ended up being a victim. This often put the two of them at ends whenever they were around each other.
Luna began moving toward the train which sent a scare into Stacey. "Aw crap! If she catches me in here.... Oh I'll never hear the end of it!" He began to weigh his options. "If I go out back and she catches me there, she wouldn't know I was on the train. But on the other hand I could try to wait here and sit this one out, but I don't know how long that would be.
Stacey looked out the window and noticed that Luna moved toward the front of the train. He glanced at the back door and made his way. He held his breath and slowly turned the knob, but his heart quickly sank when it didn't turn all the way. "No....NO!" Stacey started jiggling the handle hoping it would turn all the way, but the door stayed shut. Stacey looked to the side hoping to climb out one of the windows but they were nearly all completely covered by boxes.
Tsssssssss!!!!!!
"What was that!? thought Stacey as he whipped his head around trying to find the source of the noise. He could feel his heart rate speed up. The door at the other end of the car was the only other way out but was already locked. Stacey ran to the other end of the car and moved the door knob to check. It was still locked. "Shoot!" said Stacey under his breath. "This is not going to end pleasantly."
Crrrrank.....Tsssssssss
The car jerked a little bit nearly knocking Stacey off balance.
Click
"Was that the door?" Stacey grabbed the handle and turned it. This time it went all the way and the door glided open. Stacey hoped that he would be able to slip out from the train in between the cars, but the space was in cased in some kind of mini tunnel. "This was probably so passengers can't fall out." thought Stacey as he opened the door to the next car. This next car was absolutely different then the rear-caboose car. It was very well lit and had open booths with its seats wrapped in dark green leather.
"I guess that last car was for storage." said Stacey out loud as he ran his hands over the seats. All the windows were blocked out with something but Stacey was a little too preoccupied to investigate. He quickly paced over to the other end of the car and open the door and jumped to the next train car.
It was exactly identical to the previous one. Same seats, same colors, and the windows were all blocked. "I guess i'm in third class." Stacey commented. "I'm sure theirs a way out of here. If I just keep-"
AHWOOOOOOOOO
"NO! This is not good!" Stacey ran to the other door and tried to open it. The handle turned but the door was jammed. "C'mon......C'MON! OPEN DAMMIT!"
AHWOOOOOOOOO
Stacey hit the door with his hand and began propping his legs on the door frame. He grabbed the handle and pulled as hard as he could. He could feel the door budging under his force.
Pop!
The door came unstuck and the door was thrown on top of him. The door felt heavy...a little too heavy. It soon became clear why. An all to familiar voice came from up top. "Oh my goodness is someone under there?"
Stacey tried to catch his breath. "Huff....Huff Three guess who your highness."
The princess picked up the door. "I'm really sorry I was... Star-Crosser! What are you doing here? And you better have a good reason too!"
"Well you see Luna I was-"
"AHWOOOOOOOOO-Crrrrank-Tsssssssss
The car jerked, knocking Luna against the wall. She looked at the ground and began to touch the floor. "We're moving," she said softly. The car began to tilt upwards. Luna grabbed Stacey's shirt and shoved him into a seat and sat next to him. "Hold on to your seat." Luna said as the force of the train pushed the two back into the seat. "We're going for a ride."
"That's what we do." Flash said. "We explore the unknown in hopes of better understanding the world-no excuse me, the universe."
From: SE-Atlantis
The car shook violently, throwing Star-Crosser around in his seat nearly knocking him off, but Luna grabbed him again and held him back. She had her feet against the seat in front her; pinning herself in the bench. The rattling continued for minutes on end. Star-Crosser's breathing started to hurt as Luna kept her arm across his chest.
When the car began to decelerate to a slow shake Luna loosened her grip on Star-Crosser. "I think the worst is gone." said the princess with a deep exhale. "Let's just try to figure what's going on here."
Star-Crosser let his head fall back on his seat and let out a deep sigh. "What's there to talk about? We've been kidnapped by a train, and an old train at that!" He walked over to the window-shade and tried to open it, but it was still shut. "Well if people wanted to trap us they certainly accomplished that!" He slammed his hand on the wall as he finished his sentence. The car reacted and jerked; knocking Stacey to the end of the train car and forcing Luna to hit the seat in front of her.
"I'm getting real sick of this train, and I will be covered in bruises by the end of the day!" Luna called out from her seat.
Crreeeeeeeak!!!!
The air in the room began to get colder and Stacey tasted iron in his mouth. Luna whispered to Star-Crosser. "Sit. Down. Now." Stacey turned around. Luna slowed her breathing and gave a stern look to Star-Crosser. A look that only he ever saw a few times when Luna caught him doing something stupid in her castle. She waved him over again and motioned for him to be quiet.
The lights in the car dimmed and flickered. And soon the light in the cabinet zapped off. Luna's voice whispered again. "Star-Crosser can you hear me?"
"What do you think?"
"I'm just trying to keep us together. The least you could do is work with me!" The car jerked around again. The lights turned back on. "I'm only asking that you would quit arguing and get back here."
Star-Crosser complied and returned to Luna's seat. "I fail to see what your deal is! We're obviously stuck in this compartment and aren't leaving anytime soon."
"Because..." said Luna as she tried lifting the window shade up herself. "Even though you have seem to forgotten , I am still princess of the night and you're still on of my subjects and therefore it is my responsibility to keep an eye on you!"
Gzzzzap!!!
The lights shut off again. "I'm getting real tired of this train." said Star-Crosser with a huge amount of detest in his voice.
"Someones coming!" said Luna who was still trying to keep her voice down.
A door clicked somewhere and a figure walked into the dark room. Stacey poked his head from behind the seat. A light from behind shown his long blue uniform and cap but his face was nearly invisible. The only other thing that was showing were his two glowing white eyes. He began to walk down the other end of the hallway with his boots clunking on the ground.
Thump* Thump* Thump* Thump*
"He knows that we're here! I know it!" thought Stacey as he tried to keep himself from panicking. "He's just waiting for us to let our guard down!
Thump* Thump* Thump* Thump*
The blue coated man reached the other end of the car. The man took in a deep breath. ".....H-H-Hello!? Is s-s-s-someone in here?" Stacey heard him open something. "We know someone's here! M-M-M-Make th-this easier for yourself and come out!"
"Goodness! This poor sap is more scared than me!" he turned back to Luna with a quizzical look on what to do next. But she shrugged her shoulders.
Thump* Thump* Thump* Thump*
Star-Crosser sucked in his breath and stood out from the seat. "Look I'm right here. Now could you please explain what-"
CLANG!!!
"OW! What the- Did you just throw something at me!
CLANG!!!
"Hey cut it out! I'm not gonna hurt you!" Stacey's head was throbbing with pain.
Gzzzzb
The lights came back on and the blue man was back against the door, but even with the lights on, his face was still dark. The lights lit up an arm band. It was a solid orange with black bars on the top and bottom. A stylized number 999 was in the middle. Star-Crosser moved his focus to the ground to see what was thrown at him. It looked like some metal bar, but it had a real nice shine to it. He picked it up. It felt snug in his hand. "What is this?" Stacey said aloud to the man who was still shaking out at the door.
"It's a t-t-t-ticket puncher." The man stuttered.
Star-Crosser looked at the ground and saw another one. "You have two?"
"I come p-p-prepared for work."
Star-Crosser picked the other one up and walked to the stranger. He pressed his back harder against the door as Stacey approached him.
"Look I'm not gonna hurt you! Just try to relax so we can work this out."
The blue coated man leaned off the wall and took the ticket punchers. "Thank you." he said.
"What do you do here on the train?" asked Stacey as he pointed to the florescent orange arm band.
Oh...I'm the conductor."
"Does Mr. Conductor have a name?"
"My name is a little abnormally long, so I ask that y-y-you call me F-F-Fern."
Star-Crosser smiled. "Nice to meet you fern. My name is Star-Crosser, but people sometimes call me Stacey." he stuck his hand out trying to shake the man's hand. But Fern jumped back. "I just wanna shake hands. That's how we greet people." The conductor shoved his hand in awkward manner towards Stacey. He grabbed his hand and moved it. The conductor's glove felt really soft, as if it had been worn for centuries.
"Interesting...." said Fern, as he pulled his hand away. "We normally bow to each other." he leaned over and made his gesture. "All employees of the 999 express must bow to passengers. The railway has done this for centuries. Except for recently..." The conductor sighed. "Well we've had new employee and she tends to do things her way."
"She?" Stacey asked.
SCREEEEEEEEEEECH
The car shook violently again, throwing conductor Fern and Star-Crosser on to the floor. "What is she doing now!?" grumbled Fern. He stood up and pounded his chest. "I've had it with her! This time I'll tell her that she can't go throwing the brakes on like that!" He stomped his way up the hallway mumbling to himself. He was almost out the car when he noticed the door knocked on the floor. "Oh now the door is unhinged! (I wonder how l didn't notice that earlier?)." he leaned over to pick it up and set it aside, but he saw something else.
"Hello." said Princess Luna nonchalantly.
The conductor threw his hands in the air. "ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!"
CLANG!!!!
Luna was knocked back against the side of the car. She rubbed her head as she groaned. "Did he just throw a metal rod at me!?"
