Key Gear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=684rBDc9gE8 His eyes were closed, but he couldn't sleep. It was impossible to do so, because his thoughts were still churning in his head, repeating the day's events in a never-ending sequence of futility. He was quite certain that there was something that was missing, something simple that he had overlooked. His eyes opened with a slight fluttering motion and glanced around the room, nothing but shadows, stillness. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the strange darkness. A sudden wave of red light washed over the room and dissipated, just as quickly. His eyes adjusted suddenly. The effect was uncanny. He was in a dark room, lit only by the light of a few small candles. It wasn't on the train, there were no windows. Instead, there was just a single desk, and on that desk there was just a single thing - a book. It was large, unwieldy. It was also closed, facing away from him so that only the spine was visible. It was worn with intense age, but it was still tinted by a forceful red hue. There was at least one other pony in the room, but only their unmoving shadow was visible to him. Slowly, he began to perceive a sound. At first, he believed that his ears were behaving inefficiently, but soon, he perceived that the sound seemed like speech of some type. The rhythmic noise of words taking shape was unmistakable. Indeed, the traces of some type of emotion were plainly present. However, the sound was guttural, far deeper than that which any pony could make. If a dragon could talk, he imagined that this was how they would sound. It was a language, but it was not one that he had ever heard before. For what seemed like hours, the voice spoke in its strange language. Then, there was silence, but it was as unnatural as the voice. The silence seemed to be a deafening roar of nothingness, a void. Soon, his ears began to pulsate violently with the force of the silence. Shortly afterwards, his entire being began to feel pressured. It was as though the very essence of the room was tearing him apart. The book opened. The room darkened. He felt a sting of pain, like an ant bite. He hated ant bites. The sting became a pulsating force. Weakened, he collapsed and his vision was overcome by darkness. Something faint, like the laughter of a small foal, could be heard. It sounded so close by and so familiar, that he thought, briefly, that perhaps he, himself, was the source of the sound. The laugh was halting, hesitant, awkward; however, it flowed freely. It sounded much like a Springer from an earlier age. Perhaps it was him? But, he dismissed the thought. How could he be the source of a sound when he could hardly move, much less talk? His thoughts became more abstract. He could feel himself fading away. It had all been a dream. With a jump, Springer was awake, and his eyes whisked across the room towards the noise that had awakened him. Blinking, he recognized Lapis, but he didn't recognize the paper that the earth pony held. Just as he was about to ask for information about the paper, it was in front of his eyes. He blinked with confusion. Of course, he could immediately see that the document was written in his own hoofwriting. The precision was unique to him. He shook his head to wake himself, fully, from his earlier stupor. It was obvious now. This was the paper that had, just a few moments before, been blank. Lapis and the others had succeeded in uncovering its secrets. But... It was written in his own hoofwriting? What kind of freakish secret was this? Cautiously, but with urgency, Springer took the paper from Lapis and began to read it aloud for the purpose of ensuring that all were aware of its contents. It was the efficient thing to do. It was a short story, barely taking up half of the page. It began, strangely, with no introduction. It described a place, cold and distant, dark. It was a lonely path on a mountainside, where all but the shadows feared to tread. An adventurer of some type made their way down from this path, avoiding the darkest shadows, cloaked in the twilight. The journey was slow, tedious, but the knowledge of their purpose kept them moving forward, despite the difficulty. This purpose, the only thing that gave them meaning, became an obsession, but the exact nature of this purpose was not described, only that it existed. Springer looked up from the paper. The story had ended, and he was tremendously confused. "I... I don't believe that I understand the significance of this. It seems to be, at best, incomplete. At worst, I would say that the story itself was completely meaningless. Instead, I think that this was perhaps some drivel designed to draw attention to the fact that this document was written in my hoofwriting. Well. I didn't write this. The story is inefficient. It conveys no information of any value, whatsoever. It's just a small part of a much longer story, something that..." He looked around the room and, for just a moment, his vision was strangely hazy. The effect subsided, and he looked around the room, again, fully aware of the brief vision that he had seen earlier. His eyes widened. The incomprehensible voice that he had heard in his dream... Suddenly, he felt so strongly that the words on the page were the words that the voice had spoken to him, but... It still had no meaning. To the ponies watching him, all that they saw was a Springer that was becoming progressively more confused, reading and rereading the written words, lost. Finally, after a few more moments had passed, he put the paper down. After shaking his head sorrowfully, Springer began, calmly. "Confusion is inefficient, so perhaps we can work together to understand this problem." He looked around at the ponies present, before continuing. "I didn't write this, but it is in my hoofwriting." After a shrug to indicate his lack of concern with the hoofwriting similarity, he continued. "I would never write something so inefficient, incomplete, without a beginning or an end. Everything that I have ever written always followed the same structure. Beginning, middle, end. You start with a description of the problem or context. Next, you walk through the content necessary to understand the situation. For the end, you describe the solution or resolution. There is no need for anything else." "This story. It is the opposite of how I would do things. It reads like a page that was torn from a book, in the middle of a story, but if that was the case, then wouldn't the words go all of the way down the page? If it was the last page in a story, then I would be able to understand; however, if it was the last page, then why is there no conclusion here. Then, there is... There is something else entirely, something concerning to me." He then described the dream that he had just had in as much detail as he could recall. Finishing his recollection, he added, hesitantly. "The dream, it doesn't concern me by itself, because a dream is all that it was. It wouldn't be efficient to place much faith in it... Ummm... But... These words on this page. The voice in my dream was speaking them, I believe. Even though I didn't understand the language in the dream, perhaps... If the dream was a memory? Perhaps, in my dream, the words were obscured to prevent me from recognizing them? I don't know... Are there any other theories? Ideas? I... Don't know what this means..." At the mention of efficiency, Vim did a quick double-take, and he watched Electrobolt carefully. However, on seeing Electrobolt address the passengers and then politely escort them into the train, his expression relaxed. There was no reason to fear, in fact, the younger pony had done nothing different than what he, himself, would have done in the same circumstances. Vim nodded with approval and gave a quiet chuckle. The exchange had concerned him only because it had reminded him of his first day working with Springer. The overly eager, young assistant conductor had been obsessed with efficiency. Rather than letting Vim escort passengers to the nearest cars, he had insisted on doing so himself, but his brusque demeanor had rubbed many of the passengers the wrong way. After the incident, Vim had to carefully explain that being courteous, while time consuming, had benefits that exceeded its cost in "efficiency". It had been like arguing with a golem. "Room 14?" Vim repeated. He remembered clearly now. On the previous day, when the first group of passengers had been boarding, there had been a pegasus that boarded the train while he was distracted by an emotional white unicorn. The entire sequence of events had gone by so quickly that Vim didn't have the chance to introduce himself to the pegasus until later in the day when they had both spoken to Clarity, the upset passenger. Now, Room 14 had been reassigned. "Alex, your old room was reassigned I'm afraid. You know, there's a situation with one of my crew right now, and he needs to have somepony on board to look after him. Well, they needed to have a room nearby. When we checked this morning, we didn't see any passenger there, and the only other available rooms were too far away. " Noticing the approach of a cream-colored pegasus, he turned to greet Flow. "Hey Flow! Call me Vim, no need to be formal. Things are going pretty well actually. I just wanted to check and see how things were going for you, since yesterday was so crazy. And, look, speaking of crazy, I heard a little about your discussion with my engineer this morning. That won't be happening again." Vim spoke to Alex. "Hey, Alex, this is Flow, I'm not sure if you two have met already, but I'm thinking about giving you Room 6, if you want it. Then, you two would be right across the hall from each other. The way I see it, you're both athletic types, I think, so you'd have something in common to talk about." She completely missed the fact that Dawn was attempting to redirect the conversation. It was the type of thing that she would have normally noticed, since Ambrosia was fairly skilled at reading others. But, caught up in the moment, meeting a new passenger, and enjoying the attention, Ambrosia wasn't really focused on making a critical observation of Dawn's behavior. She thought for a few moments before replying. "Not really, no. In fact, I haven't had very many interesting adventures at all. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've had a lot of fun as a cook onboard the train. I've seen quite a few places, and I've been to a lot of towns and cities in Equestria. The problem is that I've never really had anything fantastic happen to me. I mean... I'm a cook, so that's what I do. Sometimes, I get to help out by filling in as an assistant conductor, but that's really it. Other than that, there isn't much else." Ambrosia felt sorry for herself for just a moment as she reflected on this. The truth was that she'd always wandered about what it would be like to go on a grand adventure. She'd heard so many stories from Vim about some of his amazing journeys. As a railway pony, he'd had chances to make a difference, and he had always taken them. Even Springer had a few good stories. But, she'd never really had a decent story to tell, something that would amaze other ponies. Her life had been fairly boring, straightforward, except for her most recent journey. "Wait... That's not true, actually. I've had one interesting adventure! It's the train that I'm on right now, the Los Pegasus Express." When a wide smile, she gave a quick summary of some of the things that had happened. "Ever since we left Canterlot, and even before then, lots of strange things had been happening. I'd certainly call it an adventure. On the night that Trixie first came aboard, there was some strange light coming out from under her door, she had a magic show that went totally wrong, there was some weird darkness in her room. Actually, I'm just a little bit sad that Trixie disappeared. If things had kept going, I bet that this would've been the most amazing adventure on a train that anypony had ever heard." The station was now coming into view, and they would be at the train in just a few moments. She continued to talk. "It's too bad, really, because since you're traveling to find adventure, you are probably going to be disappointed on this train. I doubt that anything will happen now. Ah, well, you'll like Los Pegasus, anyway. It's a fast place but its not as bad as Manehattan and the ponies are a lot more welcoming than Canterlot. The music scene is great too! You like ponystep?" Dawn looked up from her food, just slightly, before she continued eating. She appreciated his words of warning, even if she was not sure of the spirit in which it had been offered. Still looking down at her food, she smiled pleasantly at his words. Her eyes sparkled with intense curiosity as she looked up to see Lapis giving a blank sheet of paper to Magicon. "Look at with magic?" Dawn mouthed the phrase, trying it out as if she was tasting a new dish. Her disappointment was clearly visible when the two stallions made their way over to the dining car; she couldn't follow them there. Pouting slightly, she ate the rest of her salad before making her way from the parlor car to the caboose, her cats seemingly dissipated, disappearing into various places as she made her way to her destination. He waited until after she had finished speaking. Her response, so simple, so clear, was exactly what he had expected her to say. However, she had said it in such a way that it seemingly precluded further detailed, friendly conversation. Much as he had been restrained when speaking with Summerfall just a moment earlier, Dusky felt as though he had a strong reason to avoid damaging his relations with Lapis's assistant through his normally incisive reasoning process. He spoke, choosing his words carefully. "Your answers are sound, Asteria, and I appreciate your reference to my mantra. With that said, I think that you should, when the opportunity presents itself, learn more about power. Particularly as a young unicorn, you should take care that you do not limit your studies in such a way that you rob yourself of knowledge that if vital for making the most of your own abilities. You see... There are certain realms of magic that are outside of the scope of individuals that do not teach themselves something about power." He stopped for a moment, realizing something. "Hmmm... But, I think that I should clarify one thing. Many times, when a pony speaks of power, they mean the ability to control. To alter the world, to build and to destroy. However, that is not true power. True power, Asteria, is simply the ability to act and to take action. When I speak of power, I reference the same forces that propel this train. Power is actuation. The powerful, those that posses and understand power in abundance, they are the actuators of change in the world around us." "Ah, but I digress... No, you needn't be concerned. Your reasoning is sound. Indeed, I would never accidentally harm a butterfly, much as I would never accidentally do anything. Hmmm... But... Even purposefully, I would be loathe to harm a butterfly. They are, as you say, beautiful. It would be a waste for me to destroy something such as that. I am one of the rare few ponies that do not believe in swatting at things that pester them. There's really no need to, I think. They have a purpose to serve, something that they must fulfill." Looking away for a moment, seemingly studying the busy train station, Dusky spoke absently. "Speaking of which, if the two of you would excuse me, I have some final preparations to complete before the train is ready for departure." With a bow of his head to both Summerfall and Asteria, Dusky made his way towards the entrance of the train. While Bolt seemed completely nonplussed by Vim's knowledge of her, Key thought it was great. The conductor just looked like one of those ponies that knew things, she was familiar with the type, and he didn't seem like what she had expected him to be. When she had caught a glance of Vim on the previous day, he'd looked like the typical, stern older pony, probably decrepit and holding on to outdated and needlessly formal ways of thinking. Now, as she observed him laughing and speaking with the passengers, she realized that he was a different type of creature entirely. As far as she was concerned, if Vim had any concerns about her, he would have brought them up right then. Instead, he'd called her "charming". She doubted that this was the case, as it wasn't a word that other ponies generally used to describe her. She did appreciate the gesture though, and she did her best to smile as charmingly as she could at Vim while the conductor asked her brother if he would escort some of the new passengers to their rooms. Key could barely contain her laughter at her brother's "efficiency", and the effort of stifling an outburst brought tears to her eyes. She managed to avoid even the sound of a snicker, though, which was good. Waving at Bolt as he took some passengers by her, she then went back to observing the conductor. He was talking to Alex, the pegasus pony's room had apparently been reassigned. She continued to watch until Flow approached Vim and started talking with him as well. A smile formed on her face, and she backed away from the goings on at the entrance of the train. She'd brought her lock picks with her for a purpose. It was something that she had intended to do later, but when Bolt had mentioned meeting the passengers, she had guessed that he would be distracted by his new job as assistant conductor. Now, Bolt was gone, depositing the passengers at the various points in the train. The conductor and the two pegasus ponies were distracted at the entrance. The other passengers were either out in the station or in their own rooms. Her pulse quickened. The train engine was, literally, right there. Moving quickly and silently, she sidled over to the door that led into Dusky's world and cautiously tried the handle. If Dusky was there, then it would be simply enough to wave and shut the door without much further incident. If he was not there, then she would be able to take a look around and, possibly, find something that the earlier search team had overlooked. The door was unlocked; the handle moved easily. She went in, and shut the door behind her. Dusky was nowhere to be found. Instead, her eyes were greeted by a minimalist room. Over in one corner of the room was a small toolbox, it was unlocked already. Over in another corner of the room, there was a small stack of neatly arranged boxes, ordinary cardboard boxes with no locks. She blinked. Given Dusky's demeanor, she had expected to see something, anything else than what she now saw. Unless he carried everything with him, it appeared that there was absolutely nothing of interest in the room whatsoever. She caught herself before she drifted into disappointment. Reasoning that the engineer was more clever than he seemed, Key guessed that perhaps there was a reason that nothing was locked. Maybe it was an attempt to convince a potential thief that there was nothing of value to be found within them. With this thought in mind, she quickly checked the toolbox first. Handling each tool with care, she emptied the box in under a minute. But, nothing was there, and none of the tools seemed out of the ordinary. She lifted the toolbox by grabbing the handle with her mouth, and then checked under and around it with her hooves. Still nothing. It was an awkward approach, but she didn't want to take the risk of making rattling noises by handling it any other way. Quickly, she put the tools back into the toolbox and moved on to the cardboard boxes. There were four of them, each roughly the same size as the toolbox. The were stacked unusually, each box alligned so that it's corners would match up with the straight sides of the box immediately below. Standing on her hind hooves, Key managed to lift the first box off the top of the stack. She then took the others down as well, hoping to save time by just taking the lids off of all of them in sequence. However, when she undid the top of the first box, a remarkable amount of dust drifted up from it. She jerked her head back and rolled to the side while covering her mouth and nose. The last thing she wanted was to either be covered in dust or to suffer a coughing fit. After waiting a moment for the dust cloud to settle, she went back to look into the first box. She stepped carefully to avoid leaving hoof tracks in the dust. She needed to avoid detection. It would have been obvious, just by looking at the size of any hoofmarks, that it was her. There were only two fillies on board, and only one of them was a self-admitted thief. She couldn't afford to leave any tracks. Dusky had already openly accused her of thievery, being caught would have played directly into his hooves. She looked in the first box. It was empty. Opening the second box more carefully, she saw that it, too, was empty. Becoming progressively more confused, she opened the remaining two boxes. They were also empty. Wide-eyed, Key scanned the room again. Dusky had to have someplace where he kept his possessions. It wasn't natural that the only thing in the room would be empty boxes. Unless, it was a trap. Key shuddered and started to put the boxes back into place. She stopped when, awkwardly, lifting the first one. It was far too heavy for an empty box. Carefully and awkwardly, she moved the third box out of the way of the dust on the floor and off to one side. She had remembered something, and it was something so simple that she was disappointed in herself for not thinking about it earlier. The floor of each of the boxes was probably false. In her earlier rush, though, she hadn't even tried to test the depth of the boxes. Now, using a lock pick, she reached into the box, measuring the depth of the box with its outside proportions. Sure enough, there was a difference of about three centimeters. With a smirk, she used her pick to feel around the edges of the inside of the box. Soon, she had found an opening to pry the cover off. She marveled at how well the disguise had been made. The bottom of the container was a marvelously crafted optical illusion, put together by combining cardboard, fabric, and something metallic in an unusual way. If the box wasn't empty, something that made it seem unusual, then it would certainly have gone undetected, perhaps even to her. Key's smirk became a grin as she saw a book in the box, a thin black volume. She snatched the book from the box with a single, quick motion and opened it. Her hoof span through the pages and her eyes scanned for anything of value. As she did so, her mouth opened in shock. The book, the whole book, was empty. Not a word was written on a single page. Unable to believe what she was seeing, Key flipped, as fast as she could, through the entire book page by page. "Buck!" She hissed the word through teeth clenched in frustration. She had just wasted a frightening amount of time and she was increasingly aware that, with each passing moment, the tall shadowy unicorn could make his return. A sinking feeling gripped her as her eye was drawn back to the box that she had just opened. Placing the book off to one side, she grabbed her pick and tried the floor of the box again. Her instincts had been right, there was yet another false floor in it. Sweating due to stress and frustration, she worked around the edges of the interior of the box yet again. Lifting this second guise, she found a framed picture of a delicate-looking green pegasus. The portrait seemed to smile mockingly at her. It was too much. Her sinking feeling became dread as her paranoia suddenly screamed out for attention. Returning to her earlier thoughts, she questioned why had the earlier search not managed to discover the boxes. The earlier search had been conducted by ponies that were quite intelligent, Springer and Lapis in particular would have been careful to investigate everything in detail. Surely, a stack of empty boxes, stacked at odd angles, would have attracted their attention immediately. The boxes, she thought feverishly. The boxes had either not been in the room, or they had been filled. The room, everything in it, was a trap, and she had fallen for it, fallen completely. Shaken badly, Key sat for a moment in thought. Even if she put everything back into place, there would still be the dust to indicate that she had been present. Of course, if there were no hoof prints, then it would hardly be conclusive that she had been the one in the room. She threw her hooves in the air in frustration, and the movement brought her eyes to the roof of the train engine. "Oh." It was the only thing that she could think to say. There, arranged neatly, significantly above the floor on a hanging shelf, were enough items to neatly fill the four boxes. The shelf looked brand new, doubtlessly, the engineer had made a special trip to the local hardware store just for the sake of this scheme. It was too perfect. Key stood normally and inspected the shelf's position. It was perfectly placed to have avoided her attention. She bit her lip, fiercely. Her heart rate was going insane. Any number of things could happen within the next few minutes, but at that moment, she had nothing to lose. Key took the thin, black book in her mouth, put her lock picks away, and quickly began to put everything else in the room just as it had been. Hopping nimbly to avoid dust, she stacked the odd boxes just as they had been before she entered. She dearly wanted to see what was in the other three boxes, but she wasn't willing to risk discovery in order to discover their contents. With one box remaining, a sudden sound froze her with shock. It was the door handle. Somepony was opening the door and opening it without hesitation. She'd thought about the risk of discovery, but the immediateness of the noise was something that she hadn't been prepared for. The door opened and an ominous shadow suddenly poured across the room's floor. A pair of dark eyes glistened spectrally against the backdrop of fur that was darker than the night. The massive shadow entered the room swiftly and the door shut behind it. While the shadow entered, Key dropped the box into position, locked onto the book with her teeth, and furiously scrambled to reach far side of the room. Her cerulean eyes blazed like sapphires, but the shadow made no further movement. Instead, as it stood still, it shrank, slowly revealing the form of a pony that Key had never seen before - a baby blue unicorn mare. The stranger spoke softly. "Can I have your book?" Still tensed, with her head lowered in a fighting position, Key shook her head slowly. The stranger looked disappointed, but she spoke again as though she was addressing an old friend. "I was coming here to look for one of my cats, I think that she might have jumped out of the train when I went to the caboose. I'm sorry that I entered the way that I did. I didn't mean to scare you, but I was trying out a new spell. I learned it earlier today when I saw an old unicorn use a similar trick to remain unseen. I just changed my approach a bit because it was so bright outside." It sounded ridiculous to Key, but she said nothing as the stranger stopped and looked at her curiously. "You're not going to let go of that book, I think. That's bad, because it means that we won't be able to talk. Oh well. My name's Dawn." Dawn quickly used her magic to clean up the dust that had spilled across the room. As her horn glowed, the dust vanished. "I'm just teleporting it outside. Nopony will notice it there; it's windy enough today." Key continued to watch warily. Dawn studied the stack of boxes and made some small adjustments to the top box, correcting Key's hasty placement. Finally, Dawn spoke again. "I don't think that you want me to use my magic to disguise us both, so we'll have to walk out normally. Or, if you trust me, I could use short range teleportation? I should warn you. The engineer is on his way, if we leave normally, he might see us." Squinting hard, Key stared at the unicorn. Dawn's face betrayed no emotion except for kindness, her voice had been sincere, and she had helped to disguise the remaining signs of Key's entry. It all worked against the unicorn's favor. To Key, it all seemed surreally saccharine. She shook her head to give a negative answer. Dawn shrugged, turned, grasped the door handle, and started to open the door. Key began to cover the distance between the two of them with a frightening, catlike swiftness. Key was well aware of the opportunity being there for Dawn to simply alert the conductor and cover with her cat story. Who would be believed? The sweet mare looking for her cat or the young thief? It was a calculus that Key was not willing to risk, she'd never really been much for pure mathematics. As Dawn opened the door, Key prepared to transfer her momentum into a leap over the unicorn and a run down the hall. The agility wasn't necessary. After a quick glance towards the rushing filly, Dawn swung just wide enough for both of them and stepped out into the hall. Not stopping there, Dawn trotted in tandem with Key as the filly sped towards the first passenger car, shielding Key and the small book from the view of anypony that would happen to be watching from the entrance of the train. When she was secure in the knowledge that Key was in the next car, Dawn returned to the door to the train engine and slammed it shut with a bang. Giggling slightly, she spoke. "Ooops, I'm sorry everypony, I didn't mean to do that." The conductor peered incredulously from his position just outside of the train entrance. In the distance, a tall unicorn interrupted his conversation with a rather irritated looking stationmaster to peer in the direction of the noise.

This cake is... A lie... I HAVE NEVER HAD RELATIONS WITH VEXX!!!

Maybe later?

I refuse to give in. :|

Dusky was intrigued by the mare's sense of self-reliance. The ability to make an examination of one's own standing and forego the possibility of assistance was something that he admired considerably. It spoke of a pony that was capable of self-examination, an essential trait of those that were destined to accrue great wisdom. As she continued to speak, he listened carefully. As she confirmed his earlier observations on her importance within the organization, Dusky silently nodded. However, his nod stopped visibly short at the mention of Summerfall's task. He had observed her cutie mark, an open book, earlier, and it had reminded him of somepony that he knew. Because of the cutie mark, the revelation that Summerfall dealt with finances caught him off guard. His surprise was visibly evident, if only mildly expressed. When she continued to speak, Dusky listened even more carefully... His thoughts were moving with frightening rapidity. The chances of encountering a pony like this, randomly, were so small. For once in his existence, Dusky was temporarily unable to come up with exactly the right words to say. He had been looking, unsuccessfully, for a pony with exactly this experience and demeanor for quite some time. Now, he had encountered her, but the timing, location, and manner of the encounter were all wrong. The situation was not to his advantage. After a few seconds of silence, Dusky regained mastery over his thoughts, but even then, he hesitated before speaking. In order to ensure that this avenue of approach remained open, he would need to alter his normal methodology. He would temper his normally rigid perspective when dealing with this mare. When he spoke, he chose not to reference the reason for his earlier surprise. In fact, he carefully chose to steer the conversation in a manner that would allow him to avoid getting sidetracked by any continuance of the previous line of questions. Dusky spoke pleasantly and sincerely. "Forgive my delayed response, Summerfall, I was distracted by a sudden thought. It happens to me sometimes, I believe, as a product of my profession. I must thank you for answering my questions. It is always a pleasure to meet a career-minded pony, similar to myself. Though, I daresay that you have find enjoyment in your task. Your summary of Harvest Union nearly entices me to visit one of these locations myself, and I rarely acquire my own food supplies. On the train, that's the cook's job, perhaps the assistant conductors. When I'm not on the train, I confess that I allow my parent to do most of the food-gathering, these days. Perhaps, I've been missing something of an experience?" "Hmmm... I would like to make mention of something, though. Earlier, you noted that your situation, perhaps, didn't meet the criteria of being an emergency journey for business purposes. As you say, nopony's life is being jeopardized, and, really, based on what little I know, it's doubtful that, given the nature of the problem, even a delay of a day would make much difference in the problem that you are being sent to resolve. With that said... If you wouldn't mind, I would like to present you with the personal gift of a ticket to this train. Speak with the conductor, mention that you heard this from me, and he will assign you a ticket and room key. Hmmm... Consider it a favor from a friend." Asteria's chirpy voice caught Dusky in the middle of turning to continue the task of surveying the train engine for the last time prior to departure. Her words stopped him in place, and he turned back and immediately noticed the flitter of a small butterfly's wings. Seemingly captivated by their motion, he held out a hoof towards the small creature. Without hesitation, the butterfly settled on his hoof, silent and still. Dusky spoke softly. "Asteria, I do nothing by accident." He watched the small creature as it remained, unstirred by the sound of his voice. After a few moments, deep in thought, Dusky answered her. "I believe that Summerfall will be joining us on the train to Los Pegasus. As to your first question... Hmmm... Tell me, Asteria, how familiar are you with the nature of the butterfly? They are elegant in flight, are they not? Their painted wings, while fragile, allow them to move with a grace that is generally beyond that of even the finest pegasus pony. Of all the airborne creatures... I think that only the most elder of dragons would compare to the grace of the butterfly in flight. Yet, of course, of what value is grace without purpose. None whatsoever." "However, the butterfly has purpose. Like bees, they carry vital pollens from flower to flower. Through their work, they contribute to the existence of another, while bettering themselves. When the time comes, they are destroyed, either by time or by becoming the meal of a predator. They do not persist past the point at which they are useful. Really, I find it intriguing that so many value the butterfly solely for its appearance rather than its functionality and strength. And yes... In addition to purpose, the butterfly has strength." "On these small wings, a single butterfly may migrate across hundreds and perhaps even thousands of miles. There are a considerable number of pegasus ponies that, despite their larger size, will never manage to match the distance covered by these small creatures during a comparable timespan. The butterfly is useful. To cripple the flight of a butterfly would be a pointlessly vile thing to do. Handicapping the strong, preventing them from achieving their objects, is the ultimate wrong." With a gentle motion of his hoof, Dusky dispatched the butterfly to continue on its journey. Watching it, as it flew away, he continued to speak. "If a butterfly were a component in a machine, they would be a reliable basic component. One that could be used, with prudence, to build a system of complexity and power that is far greater than the sum of its individual parts. Tell me, Asteria, only because I am curious, why did you wish to protect this butterfly? Was it out of appreciation for its beauty, respect for its power, or perhaps something else? And... If I may ask, is there any... Hmmm... Any particular reason that you believed I would harm it?" Springer laughed cheerfully as the mailpony embraced him without a word. He was terrible at reading ponies, but he had hoped that his words would have some measure of impact on Arcanel. Thus, in some way, he had been expecting a reaction. In contrast to his normally awkward laughter, his laugh as Arcanel hugged him was both free-flowing and genuine. When he was finally released, he retained a pleasant grin. To Springer, hugs were one of the more efficient ways to communicate emotions, which would naturally sometimes reach the surface. Certainly, they were far better than monologues for that purpose. Pleased that Arcanel had chosen the efficient method to express himself, Springer was not ready to continue with the task facing them, but unfortunately, the pegasus pony began to talk. After the 30 seconds, Springer's grin had already dulled into a slight smile. While Arcanel's words were well phrased and some of the information had been previously unknown, Springer failed to see the relevance of the information to the new task ahead of them. As time continued to pass, he slumped in his bed and glanced around distractedly. He wanted, direly, to ask Arcanel to be more efficient, but he contained his words out of the fear of undoing the good that had already been done. Instead, he waited, and after what seemed like an eternity, he finally heard the phrase. He silently thanked Celestia, while nodding vigorously. Thinking to himself, Springer doubted that he'd ever managed to sit silently through so much off-topic conversation before. He hoped that Arcanel would be able to clearly focus on the task ahead of them, now, because he very much doubted that he would be able to be so patient again. He was a pony that preferred to move quickly between objectives. Springer understood that emotions existed, but he always believed that, after their initial expression, it was time to get back to solving problems. Springer remembered Magicon from earlier. If anypony could get the job done, while avoiding the destruction of the document, he was certain to be the one. "I think that this is an optimum course of action. Farewell Lapis, Arcanel..." Feeling rather tired after the conversation with Arcanel, he added. "I actually think that the efficient thing to do now would be for me to get some rest... Perhaps with a considerable nap, I might be able to join you outside of this place..." As he trailed off, Springer waved a hoof at the departing ponies and settled in for his nap. Ambrosia watched for a moment as both Dawn and Asteria headed on their way. Then, she set out on her own. She needed to ensure that the train had enough milk, fresh water, cider and other beverages for the passengers. Gracefully, she navigated the busy market area until she reached an actual store. After stepping inside, she made her way directly to the shopkeeper with her order. While she didn't have a list for herself, she knew what the train needed, and she named the items, paid the clerk, and requested delivery in short order. After leaving the store, she set out to return to the spot where she had arranged to meet back with Dawn and Asteria. When she could see the spot, though, she saw Dawn, alone, with a small book of some type; it looked like a journal. Approaching Dawn slowly, while eyeing his book, she resisted the urge to ask him about the booklet. Instead, she decided to make her presence known in a way that wouldn't betray her curiosity. "Hello Dawn, I'm back! Did you have any trouble with the list?" She waited for his response before she continued. "You know, I think that Asteria might have made another stop or returned to the train. The shopkeeper would have taken the list and the payment, so she should have been back by now. She probably wandered off." With a wistful smile, Ambrosia remembered her own time as a filly. "Actually, I can understand that... I used to wander off all of the time when I was a filly, but I'd largely grown out of it by the time that I reached Asteria's age. My parents would always worry, but I was always fine at the end of the day." Ambrosia turned and started trotting to return to the train. She sought to satisfy her curiosity about the pegasus pony in the meantime. "Dawn, I bet you've been to a lot of fun places, and have a few stories to tell. For me, I didn't really do too much until after I became a railway cook. Before that, I just spent all of my time in Baltimare area and in my hometown. What about you? Have you ever been to Los Pegasus before?" Vim was happy to take the bits offered by the earth pony, and he was back with her room ticket and key quickly, as promised. "Welcome aboard, then! You have room 12." Turning to where @Electrobolt was still standing, Vim spoke. "Actually Electrobolt, could you take this passenger to her room? You know, the other two have rooms that are right by the entrance, I could take care of that myself."