Of Donuts and Train Rides
‘Of Donuts and Train Rides’
written by TheApexSovereign
* * * * *
Sunset Shimmer watched Equestria’s countryside raced by her window, as nothing but a blur of green pastures powdered with batches of milky-white fog clinging low to the ground. Grey crags in the distance were like jagged teeth of the valley, creeping slowly underneath the horizon; a streak of amber accompanying the sun began to make its ascent across the sky. In the corner of her eye, the illustrious silhouette of Canterlot perched high atop its mountain deterred the sun from shining upon this broad, empty landscape. Its brilliant aura filtered through the castle’s prominent towers, casting rays in every direction across the dull morning sky. In no less than an hour, the sun would have pushed away dawn’s vibrant lavender entirely, extinguishing the millions of stars dusted across the sky. But until then, they were staggeringly numerous within the lingering darkness up above, which Sunset got a perfect view of when resting her head on her shoulder.
The morning twilight; many considered it to be the most beautiful part of the day, and for good reason. Sunset’s ego, on the other hoof, was more partial towards the evening dusk. With this in mind, she suddenly grew apathetic towards nature’s display. As she released a large but soundless yawn, Sunset picked her head up and took a brief glance around the train car: a couple ponies filled the benches, most of them sleeping; one mare who looked like she’s been up for days was tiredly flipping through a newspaper.
Sunset had tried sleeping, as she always did on these long, uneventful train rides. But for reasons she deemed weren’t worth pondering, Sunset found it difficult to do so over the train’s dull, aged chugging thumping like war drums in the back of her head. While its rhythmic bumps, rattles and whines would bring a comforting sense of nostalgia, for this time in particular, it made her restless. It was easy to shift the blame towards her reason for being on the train and its final destination; her destination.
Sunset looked to the floor, her upper lip stiffened; she altered her position, bringing her hind legs up to the bench and folding them underneath her stomach. Sunset shot several glances to a text book ogling her from the side pocket of her overnight bag: Advanced Spells and Incantations for Level Four Unicorns. As she mulled over the idea of re-reading the current chapter, her ears perked up at the sound of a car door sliding open in the backend of the aisle.
“Donut trolley!” a gruffish voice cried. The stallion’s announcement was met with a few ponies smacking their lips, others mumbling befuddled gibberish before resuming their sleep. Sunset heard him grumbling under his breath before pressing on with his rounds.
As the trolley and its ever-squeaking wheels neared Sunset, the alluring scent of freshly baked donuts wafted ahead, past her bench. A few discreet whiffs caused her stomach to let out a low rumble and her mouth to water; she rose a hoof veiled in red-and-yellow striped stockings.
“I’d like one,” she called out meekly, not wanting to disturb the car’s tranquility.
Upon seeing her, the trolley pony quickened his pace with widened eyes and a large grin spread across his face; his amber coat seemed to be glowing underneath the dozens of hovering lanterns containing a dim orange flame.
“Sunset Shimmer!” he said, slowing to a stop. “So good to see you! Why, I haven’t seen you in ages. Where have you been all this time?”
“Donut Joe,” she acknowledged, offering him a greeting smile. “It’s always a pleasure.”
Joe gave a hearty laugh. “And manners! She knows manners! It only took you, what, fifteen years? And I can see they’ve been kind to you! Heh, can’t really say the same about me, though.” Joe’s remark punctuated with a light smack on his bulging gut; the silver in his untidy, dirt-colored mane was sparse, but still symbolized the start of his slow descent into old age.
Looking at it placed an odd sort of weight on Sunset’s heart, though she couldn’t understand why.
“Naw, but really kid, you’re looking alright,” he said, dropping his voice to a quieter but still friendly tone. “What is it? Twenty-two? Twenty-three?”
Sunset felt as though her entire face was aflamed; despite knowing full-well of what Joe was trying to do, she still fell victim to his ways of making mares feel like they were on top of the world, even in the cheesiest ways possible.
But Sunset knew better, and, despite the flattery gained after being “out of the game” for some time now, she still managed to answer proudly, “No, no. It’ll be thirty-four in August.”
Joe swept his hair back in a blatantly overdone manner. “Huh! Well, could’ve fooled me! Now I just feel plain old.”
Sunset couldn’t resist snorting a laugh at his comment, a bit more loudly than she would have liked, as a dry-looking stallion further down the aisle eyeballed her from under his hat.
She dropped her tone a hair before saying, “Oh, please, Joe. I’m the one that feels like Death every morning. Do you see these crow’s feet?” She gestured to the thin lines running outside the corner of her eye.
Joe leaned in with his eyes nearly squinted shut. “I’m not seein’ them,” he stated. “Yeah, you must be seein’ things, kid.”
Sunset playfully shoved him away. “Cute,” she snickered.
“Eh, I try.” Joe rubbed the back of his head while flashing Sunset a devilish smirk. It must have been the shadows cast by his scruffy manecut, but she could have sworn he looked fifteen years younger.
“Hey,” he asked suddenly, “remember what you always said back in the old days?”
Joe’s energy was contagious, and Sunset found herself smiling as wide as he was when the memory immediately came to her. “Oh, you mean, ‘Cruller. Coffee; sugar, no cream, dark?’” she recited in a familiar, bombastic tone.
“Yeah, that’s the one!” Joe laughed, slamming his hoof against the trolley cart. “Every day, nine o’ clock sharp, you’d come in with the morning paper reciting that same thing over and over and over again! Then you’d sit down at Table Nine and just keep to yourself. Why, you ordered that so much that I always had it pre-made and set aside, just before you came.”
As Sunset laughed into her sock-sheathed hoof, Joe commented with a sprightly grin, “And after all this time, I see you’ve still kept that messy ‘ol mane of your’s.” He leaned forward, hoof outstretched, and gave it a short ruffle before Sunset playfully swatted it away. Blushing, she ran a hoof down her mane to straighten it, only to have it bounce back into its messy, unkempt form.
Joe’s grin receded into a puzzled smirk. “Oh, stop. It’s fine!” Sunset grew relaxed to his words, but still found some solitary comfort in combing away the lock of red hair that always stuck to her forehead.
“It’s fine, kid,” Joe repeated, more earnestly. While giving a brief pause, Joe’s smile vanished entirely, but the warmth in his dark green eyes remained as he asked Sunset, “So, what happened to you, kid? For real?”
Joe glanced down the aisle, eyeing the few ponies that were still somewhat awake, and leaned forward, continuing in a loud whisper, “I mean, you up and vanish one day, and a week later I’m hearin’ that Princess Celestia, bless her soul, has got herself a new student. I just thought you, I dunno, graduated or something, y’know? But then I never saw you again. So, did you move? Or…” he trailed off, eyeing Sunset in a way that he wanted her to clarify.
Sunset knew Joe would ask this; there was simply no way around it. But she didn’t want to tell him the truth, not entirely. But she didn’t want to flat-out lie to probably the only friend she ever had. Nibbling on her bottom lip, she hesitantly answered, “Well… I just went… traveling. I abandoned my studies with the princess and traveled the world, looking for… something.”
Joe raised a brow. “Looking? For what?”
“I…”
‘Ultimate power? World domination?’ a voice in her head sneered. With a sigh, Sunset leaned her head against the window, letting its frigid surface relieve her burning cheek. “I don’t even know,” she sighed, half-honestly.
‘Hmph, a purpose?’ Sadistic chuckles echoed in the back of her mind.
Sunset ignored it, allowing the valley’s beauty to engross her senses; it was beginning to fill with light, giving the whole picture of Canterlot Castle overlooking the land an almost surreal look about it.
It made her stomach turn, but she couldn’t understand why.
“Eh, don’t fret over it, kid.” Joe reeled back, fiddling about with the coffee maker on the topmost tray of his trolley. “I’m sure you’ll find it someday. Whatever ‘it’ may be, I dunno.” A brief pause allowed both ponies’ words to sink in. Though she couldn’t see for herself, Sunset heard Joe fidgeting with what sounded like a paper bag and the pouring of a second coffee.
Above their heads, one of the lanterns’ flame had begun to dim. Without even moving a muscle, the tip of Sunset’s horn lit up a bright orange, then dissipated soon after; the lantern, bobbing in the air, started to burn brighter than all the others.
Looking up at it, a grin formed on Joe’s face. “But now you’re back home,” he said, “and that’s what matters.” While bringing a steaming cup of coffee to his lips, he asked, “So what is it that you’re up to these days?”
Sunset peeled her face off the window and turned to him. “Oh, just a little bit of this, little bit of that. I’ve returned to my studies in Canterlot. I’m… I’m Princess Twilight’s protege now. She’s sending me to Ponyville to begin a new chapter of my studies.”
Joe’s eyes, peering over the styrofoam cup as he took a sip, widened. “That’s great!” he exclaimed. “Yeah, good for you kid!”
Sunset offered a weak smile. “Thanks, Joe.”
“Don’t mention it. I’ll see you around.” Joe downed the rest of his beverage and set its cup back on the tray. As he pressed on down the aisle, leaving Sunset for his own separate path, he looked back to her and said, “I left something by your duffle bag! Take care, kid!”
Sunset craned her head to the side, looking over the seat to find a brown paper bag set beside her suitcase, just as Joe said. Lips pursed, she levitated it up to her level and magically unfolded its crudely-sealed opening. A subtle flick of her neck, and out floated a large red thermos and something wrapped in wax paper. Sunset hastily unraveled the poor wrapping job. While she did that, the thermos hovering beside her unscrewed its cap; a plume of steam escaped upon opening.
Sunset looked into the thermos, and then her unwrapped gift; her smile faltered, started quivering uncontrollably. She took a long sip of creamless black coffee, drinking in its bitterness as if it were water from the Fountain of Youth, and then levitated the cruller up to her mouth and took the smallest nibble possible.
It tasted like heaven. It tasted like the best cruller she’s ever had. But for the life of her, she couldn’t understand why.