private Pony Mystery Theater: Exit Trixie, Stage Right.

[Clarity 3,094]

"ALL ABOARD! THE LOS PEGASUS EXPRESS IS NOW BOARDING!"

Clarity jumped in surprise. She had been quite caught up in her thoughts and writing with her quill, and had not been noticing anypony in her surroundings. It was a habit of hers that she had no intention of changing, for her current feelings always gave great ideas for her to write. At least in Manehatten.

 

She tucked the quill and parchment back in her bookbag. Then she searched for her train ticket through the depths of the large bag. Her ticket...

 

"Where's my ticket??"

 

The pouch where she kept the only pass to the Applewoods Magic Festival was empty.

 

"No!" she gasped. "This is a one-in-a-time opportunity. I couldn't have possibly--" She quickly dug more quickly, throwing out all manners of writing and paper tools, until the patch of floor around her was a mess. Soon, all the contents of the bag--none too less--were all around her. Frantically, Clarity flipped over every sheet of paper, but soon it proved too difficult--she brought way too many. Then it hit her.

 

"I wrote on it!" Clarity stamped her hoof down frustratedly. She'd been writing what she'd been feeling on that ticket all along. Quickly, she dug through the papers in an extremely undignified way. There it was, covered in messy, all-over-the-place black ink. It seemed wetter than usual.

 

Clarity took out a washing cloth and tried to wipe off the stains, but it was already too wet, almost illegible.

 

 

"ALL ABOARD! THE LOS PEGASUS EXPRESS IS NOW BOARDING!"

 

She heard the clerk repeat the shout. Clarity didn't have time to wipe off the stains now. Throwing the cloth into the bag with more force than necessary, she levitated the ticket quickly to the clerk's face, looking away. But before so she caught a glimpse of what she wrote:

 

 

Ponyville winfaownfaiwnfa App

lewoods gala Leafargument

train car 2 manehatten Los pegasus miss mommynopony cares

 

Clarity threw the ticket down and ran through the train doors, sobbing.

[Flow 1,628]

 

"Take it. You know, it's a pleasant day we're having, anyway. I'm Timeshift and there's my ticket, so take it and GOOD DAY." Timeshift yelled, pushing the pony waiting for the clerks answer aside.

 

 

Before the conductor made a response, Flow got pushed over and fell to the ground by a peach colored unicorn "Uh, Excuse me? I was here first!" she was a bit irritated till she apologized.

 

 

"Sorry kid, who are you? Sorry for pushing you aside, I have ADHD and apparently it's kicking in." Timeshift apologetically stepped back, holding out her hoof in forgiveness. "I'm Timeshift, from Ponyville."

 

 

When her mood changed after that, she responded "Oh! My name's Flow! I came from Ponyville too! Coming to Los Pegasus to attend the Applewood Magic Festival? That great!" She shaked her hooves.

 

 

Vim sprang into action. His smile radiated. "Flow, Timeshift - a very good morning to you both! Flow, you have room five. You're right across the hall from our special guest, Trixie! Timeshift, you have room thirteen. It's a lucky number!"

 

 

"Oh!, Thank you very much!" She said. Afterwards, she moved out of the way to think, "Room five, sounds like any other room, but across Trixie's room!?! The Dull and Lame Trixie?!? That Disgrace is on the train?? Not like I ever want to talk to her anyways," She then made her way inside the train, "Wow, The interiors look like it's meant for the upper class, reminds me of the orphanage in Manehattan, looks so......fancy," She continued looking for her room, "Let's see....room five.....Aha! Right over there!" At last, she found her assigned room, she was eager to open the door to see what the place looked like, and upon opening the door, she couldn't believe her eyes "Woah! This really does take me back to Manehatten! All these luxury...it feels so nostalgic...."

 

After closing the door, she stood there thinking about the striking similarities between her room and the room she stayed in during her time at the Manehattan Orphanage.

[Electrobolt 2,069]

@

 

Upon hearing the conductor speak up, mentioning the Equestrian Video Game Tournament, Electrobolt's eyes widened slightly. *He was one of the ponies in the audience?* pondered the young colt, as he continued to listen to the conductor speaking on. While he spoke on, about how his granddaughter had asked to take him along, and that he never saw an Earth Pony doing all the things he did, Electrobolt couldn't help but blush. He was not used to this kind of attention, nor was he used to this kind of praise.

 

As he got patted on the back by the conductor, who continued on, his blushing began to intensify. *I'm a hero to him and his granddaughter...?* he repeated mentally, genuinely surprised at this. He had gone to the tournament mostly to have fun, and possibly take home the prize. But to be considered a hero? And to top it all off, the conductor had told him that all he had to do was see him if he was interested in taking a job on the train. At this time, words could not begin to describe how he felt.

 

Just then, he heard the conductor add that, the next time he was in Canterlot, that Electrobolt should let him know he's there. He said it would be to meet his granddaughter, and she was apparently around his age. He even mentioned that she was a fine mare, and that he'd be a nice guy to be around more often. After hearing which room he would be staying in, the colt nodded as he responded, "A-alright... I will, and... Th-thank you..." Just then, he began to quickly walk into the train as he began to look for his room.

 

Once he located his room, the door having the number "10" in golden numbers, he opened it and walked inside. His already-beating heart was beginning to slow down as he saw how impressive it looked. "Wow..." he finally uttered out, as he placed his belongings down in the room, he then glanced around once more. "Heheh... This is a pretty nice little room here... I just wonder what the rest of the train looks like..." Now feeling calmed down from earlier, he turned around as he began to leave his room. "I think I'm going to like this trip."

[Magicon 468]

"If I wasn't heading to Los Pegasus, why in God's green earth would I be on this train?"

“Umm…well…I guess you wouldn’t be then,” Magicon stumbled over his words as he put a hoof behind his head.

 

‘Geese, somepony got up on the wrong side of the bed,’ he thought. ‘The nerve of them to be so rude. I try to be nice and look where it gets me. Stupid, Magicon, just very stupid.’

 

As he thought he lowered his head, trying to avoid eye-contact with this aggressive pony. Her eyes were menacing and Magicon felt a slight twinge. He suddenly felt really uncomfortable near her and was about to leave when he heard her scream,

"WHERE THE HELL IS THAT CONDUCTOR?!"

Magicon practically jumped from her outburst, his heartbeat skyrocketing as he felt her raw fury, frustration, and anger. Magicon couldn’t help but go into a defensive stance; she was already being aggressive and rude to begin with.

 

He saw her walk away and was about to let out a long sigh of relief when she quickly returned to Magicon, getting a little too close for his comfort. When he saw her about to speak he braced himself for a tirade of angry words and emotions. Yet he only heard a soft apology from her.

"Er... I'm sorry. Yes, I am going to Los Pegasus... what's a handsome pony like you doing, going to Los Pegasus?"

The sudden change surprised Magicon and caught him completely off-guard. He looked at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

 

‘What the heck is this pony trying to do? First she’s all angry and practically ready to attack me and now she’s all nice and even slightly seductive?’

 

“What gives?” he asked out loud, suddenly putting a hoof to his mouth instantly regretting what he just said. He could just hit his head against a wall right now.

 

‘Great, Magicon, just great. Now you really are in a jam.’

 

Doing the best he could to salvage what remained of his conversational abilities, he mustered “What I mean is…uh…err…Are you alright? You’re emotions seem to be a little…off today.”

Edited October 17, 2012 by Magicon

[Alex Night 870]

A Few Years ago in Ponyville...

 

A blue pegasus was watching the stage as the Great and Powerful Trixie performed her feats of magic, embarrassing Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity on the stage in front of the blue Pegasus. "Who does she think she is showing off like that? That just shows how much of a blowhard she is!" Alex said out loud. The Great and Powerful Trixie was just laughing at the reactions of the other ponies as she continued to show off her talents.

 

Later on in the evening...

 

Alex woke up at the sound of a roar from up high in Cloudsdale. He looked down to see a giant spectral bear was rampaging all over Ponyville. Alex jetted down to the town to help make sure that the other ponies aren't hurt. When he made it down to the ground, he saw Twilight Sparkle perform an amazing feat of magic to send a sleeping Ursa back to the Everfree Forest. Alex couldn't believe his eyes as he saw one of the most amazing ponies in all of Equestria just save their home. It was that moment he started to have a sort of attachment to Twilight Sparkle.

 

Three weeks ago...

 

Alex had been working with Rainbow Dash on the Ponyville Weather Patrol for as long as he could remember. It was good for Alex since it allowed to be able to go to the library and hang out with Twilight and listen to whatever Alex never knew. Alex was working on thundercloud detail again and as he got finished, he decided it was time to take a nap in the clouds. Alex got to close his eyes for just 5 seconds until something knocked him out of the clouds into the grass. Alex got up groggily seeing stars for a moment. "Oh, you okay, Alex?" Alex was hearing a familiar voice until his eyes cleared up to see that it was Derpy Hooves, the mailmare, that knocked him out of the clouds. "I'm fine, Derpy. You really need to watch where you're going, though." Alex said to Derpy as the remnants of the crash cleared from his head. "I'm sorry, Alex. I got a letter for you, though!" Derpy said slowly as she handed him a letter. Alex accepted the letter and gave Derpy thanks as he flew back to his home in Cloudsdale. On arrival, he opened the letter and gazed at the contents. Alex couldn't believe his eyes as he saw that he was holding an invitation for the Applewood Magic Festival over in Las Pegasus as well as a ticket for a ritzy train ride aboard the Las Pegasus Express. "No way am I going to pass this up! I better get prepared!" Alex said rather excitedly.

 

One hour and thirty minutes before the departure...

 

Alex had everything packed up and ready to go in his saddlebag. He already made sure to let Rainbow Dash know that he was going to the event. He also made sure to pack a nice pair of clothes as well since he is going on a train ride and attending a grand festival, after all. Once he had everything he needed, Alex strapped his saddlebag around him as tight as he could before placing his goggles over his eyes. "I love this part!" Alex yelled excitedly as he went into a freefall towards Canterlot. As he fell faster and faster, Alex was screaming his head off from the excitement of a High-Altitude jump. When he had enough, he spread his wings out into a glide in search of the train station. Eventually, he got close to the platforms where the trains are. He looked at the clock on top of a roof over a platform. He had only ten minutes left before the train leaves.

 

Alex landed on one of the platforms and looks to find the right one. "All aboard! The Los Pegasus Express is now boarding! Alex's ears perked up as he looked towards the source of the noise. He looked to see the conductor giving a boarding call for all Los Pegasus Express passengers to board. Already, he saw a group of other ponies including a blue unicorn and a green Earth Pony board the train. Alex grabbed for his ticket and held it in his hoof in front of the conductor with a smile before going through the doors into the train. Alex looked around at the luscious decor and he couldn't believe his eyes.

 

Clarity threw the ticket down and ran through the train doors, sobbing.

@@Clarity, Alex didn't admire the decor for too long when an ivory-white unicorn with a long blue mane rushed through the train and saw her throw her ticket down to the floor. Alex didn't know what to think seeing this, but he went up to the ticket on the floor and picked it up. Alex gave chase and called out to her. "Excuse me, Miss! Miss, you dropped something!" Alex yelled out to the white unicorn.

[Legendary Emerald 622]

Lock Heart watched on in bemusement as two over-eager ponies skipped the line entirely and head straight onto the train. To his dismay, the mares were not immediately thrown out on their plots.

 

“Thinking they're special, and getting away with it too. Disgusting” he muttered. He switched his attention back to the young filly and the gangly pony she was talking to. He only caught a few words of the conversation, but didn't much like what he heard. “Is Canterlot really so old fashioned that there aren't even laws of consent?”

 

"ALL ABOARD! THE LOS PEGASUS EXPRESS IS NOW BOARDING!"

 

“That's enough pony watching for now.” Lock Heart said absentmindedly. He reached into his saddle bag with his wing and produced a ticket before stepping on-board the train.

 

 

The inside of the train was mildly chaotic; already some ponies were bumping into each other, and one was loudly proclaiming his or her mental deficiencies as an excuse. Lock Heart did his best to ignore all the background noise and made his way to the cabin number displayed on his ticket.

 

Stepping quickly past everypony else, he reached the assigned room and jerked himself inside, locking the door immediately afterward.

[Key Gear 6,663]

Springer was making his way from the caboose back to the front of the train. Unknown to Vim, Springer always did his own check of things before the train departed. He trusted the station crew to have the rooms ready for departure, so Springer didn't bother to roam the rooms checking every nook and cranny. Instead, he just took a quick peek in a few rooms to make sure that everything was in place.

 

Efficiency. It was his favorite word. Springer's first job on train had been as a lowly coach attendant on the Manehattan Arrow. The Arrow was a crowded passenger train that ran the route between Manehattan and Baltimare; it was not very luxurious. As a coach attendant, Springer had to enforce seating arrangements, keep the area clean, and do all the little things that passengers tended to take for granted.

 

Springer shuddered as he remembered his time working on the Arrow. The train was a disaster. The conductor was new to the job and didn't like to make waves. The rest of the train staff could be best described as aggressively lazy; they did nothing and they did a lot to make sure that they continued to do nothing. Springer was appalled by the practices on the train and he worked like a madpony to raise the level of quality for the passengers.

 

In this way, Springer was able to master the skills that, he thought, made a conductor great. He knew how to effortlessly smooth things over with angry passengers. He knew how to save time and get the train moving without delay. He knew how to pick the optimal crew size for every train. He knew the exact size and weight specifications of the various train cars. He was like a walking encyclopedia of train knowledge. To Springer, it made perfect sense when he was promoted to assistant conductor.

 

And yet… No matter what he did, Springer just couldn't seem to impress Vim. Springer shook his head. Sometimes, he found it frustrating. Other times, he found it amusing. Most of the time, he just wished that he would get some credit. But then, here he was on the Los Pegasus Express. Springer stopped right before entering another car as a thought suddenly occurred to him. How exactly did I get transferred to this train? Did Vim... No, it's not possible. Springer moved on to the next train car.

 

She easily brushed off her anxiety and moved closer to the pony. "Er... I'm sorry." She winked and intentionally brushed up against him. "Yes, I am going to Los Pegasus... what's a handsome pony like you doing, going to Los Pegasus?" Even though it's quite obvious why he's going... Lord, even *I* can't lie to this dipwad's face without wanting to punch it!

 

“What gives?” he asked out loud, suddenly putting a hoof to his mouth instantly regretting what he just said. He could just hit his head against a wall right now.

 

‘Great, Magicon, just great. Now you really are in a jam.’

 

Doing the best he could to salvage what remained of his conversational abilities, he mustered “What I mean is…uh…err…Are you alright? You’re emotions seem to be a little…off today.”

 

Springer stopped in his tracks. There, right in front of him, were the two ponies that he had let on earlier, and, as far as he could tell, they seemed to be having some type of… Conversation? Springer was perplexed. They had both arrived at the train at different times, so he didn't think that they knew each other. Yet, here they were.

 

Springer was terrible at reading the emotions of other ponies, but he figured he'd give it a shot anyway. The red unicorn seemed awkward. The lavender colored earth pony seemed… Like she was in love? Springer shook his head. It wasn't making any sense to him, so he decided to stop thinking about it. Suddenly, he remembered. Both of these ponies had rooms that were locked. He had meant to ask the station master to get a locksmith, but he had completely forgotten after his encounter with Vim.

 

Springer cleared his throat loudly. “Ummmm… Hello there… I just wanted to apologize because I let you board the train without telling you that your rooms were… Well, your rooms are locked. We tried the master key earlier, but it didn't work. So, yeah, you might have to wait a few moments while we get a locksmith on board. Sorry for the delay. Uhhh… By the way, do you two know each other? I'm only asking because… Uhhh... Nevermind…”

 

Springer took a hoof and adjusted his hat while smiling awkwardly. A stray thought fluttered into his mind, and his awkwardness vanished while his smile broadened with enthusiasm. Addressing the red unicorn, he spoke excitedly “Hey, you're a unicorn? You look like you're really go with magic too. Maybe you could just unlock the room door with that? That would save me another trip to the station master and you'd be up to get into your rooms early. Follow me, let's try room 16 first.”

 

Springer decided to assume that the red pony would follow him. He turned around and started making his way to the back of the train again. He would've tried room 4 first, but he didn't want to take the risk of the unicorn's magic alerting Vim. He smiled as he tried to picture how Vim would react to the doors being unlocked without needing to wait for a locksmith from the station.

 

---

 

Dusky stood in the shadows next to the entryway that led from the train engine to the rest of the train. He always loved watching the passengers as they boarded the train. He liked to study them. “So many emotions, so little time.” He droned softly to himself in his pleasant sleepy voice. Of course, he was never sleepy, and, strangely, he was never tired either.

 

Dusky was, to put it mildly, a strange pony. He was a unicorn, but he never used any magic - nopony had ever seen his horn glow. Vim constantly raved about his work ethic, but nopony had ever seen him break a sweat. He seemed like he was always asleep, but he was always the first to notice when something was wrong. He had other eccentricities as well.

 

Every once in a while, a passenger would be spooked by Dusky's shadowy form drifting soundlessly through the halls of the train in the middle of the night. Station master's would grumble about his unusual habit of following ponies around train stations for no reason. Behind his back, other train engineers called him Shadow Shovel. None of this bothered Vim. Vim only cared about how much work Dusky could do and how quickly he could do it. Dusky was a workaholic, so, from the moment he started working with Vim, his position was secure.

 

Clarity threw the ticket down and ran through the train doors, sobbing.

 

Alex gave chase and called out to her. "Excuse me, Miss! Miss, you dropped something!" Alex yelled out to the white unicorn.

 

Interesting… Dusky thought to himself as he ambled after the two ponies. He didn't need to run, his long legs guaranteed that he could keep up with his normal, quiet gait.

[3005 332]

“Hey, you're a unicorn? You look like you're really go with magic too. Maybe you could just unlock the room door with that? That would save me another trip to the station master and you'd be up to get into your rooms early. Follow me, let's try room 16 first.”

 

Oh, sure, just leave me here by myself while you take that stupid unicorn to open his door... well, if he can open his door by himself, I should be able too! Indices watched after the two ponies until the ponies were successfully out of sight and in the adjacent car. She then spun around and unlocked the train door. She clopped down the steps and walked back out onto the concourse, eying a trailing line of ponies she assumed were waiting to enter.

 

What sap, she thought venomously. Why are they waiting in that unorganized jumble they call a line? She walked to the next car and waited a few moments, calculating the time it would take the red and orange ponies to go from Car 3 to Car 4. Finally, she opened the unlocked door and clacked on up. It was just as beautiful as the prior car, and she immediately saw a door with the golden, cleanly printed number 4 on it. The door was a glossy wood with opaque glass that obstructed the view directly into the wood. In a single, swift move, she thrusted all of her weight against the door; it splintered and crashed out of its frame. She cleanly recollected herself as it caved it, not stumbling. I should be some sort of gymnast, I have such stellar balance!

 

The room inside was gorgeous, and she was pleased as she surveyed its contents. She turned to face the shattered door laying on the floor and pulled it back into place. The edges were tattered, with one long piece of wood missing where the hinges had previously locked into it, but for the most part, it was fine... that is, unless it was opened. Dammit, that defeats it sole function! She grunted and did the best she could to position it correctly in the doorframe.

[Clarity 3,094]

Alex didn't know what to think seeing this, but he went up to the ticket on the floor and picked it up. Alex gave chase and called out to her. "Excuse me, Miss! Miss, you dropped something!" Alex yelled out to the white unicorn.

Clarity stopped sobbing and turned. She saw a blue pegasus running toward her, the ticket in his mouth. Did...did he see what I wrote there?

 

Lunging toward him, she snatched the ticket out of his mouth with her magic. The surface was even blurrier now, full of ruined and wet ink marks. All of a sudden, she wanted to just rip this piece of paper into shreds. Who cares if she couldn't see the Applewoods Magic Festival? All she wanted to do was to go home. For things to be back when they used to be. When she was in Manehatten, where ponies appreciated her art. Even back at Ponyville, her friendship reconciled with Leaf Shade.

 

She collapsed on her knees and let out a wail. Ponies turned heads to look at her; some annoyed looks were shot at her.

 

Clarity realized she must have looked like a mess, with the frizzy mane and tears caking her cheeks. Snapping out of her thoughts, she tried to smile at the blue pegasus. "I...I'm sorry. I dropped my ticket! How silly of me," she mumbled. Quickly thrusting the ticket to the clerk, she rushed inside the train without looking back.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Clarity

[Magicon 468]

@,

 

 

“Hello,” Magicon politely greeted, barely managing to hide his awkwardness with the lavender pony standing next to him. He was really relieved to see some other pony besides this lavender pony who obviously had some sort of issue.

 

He didn’t care if the conductor was being just as awkward as he was. He was allowing Magicon an escape from this lavender pony.

He thankfully trotted after the conductor, more thankful to be away from the lavender pony than using his magic to unlock his door.

 

‘Suggesting to use my magic to unlock my door? This conductor either knows what he’s doing or is willing to damage the train. Oh well, no harm in trying. Sheesh, if I had known I could’ve used magic to unlock my door I would’ve done it a while ago and avoided this whole mess. I could’ve just sat in my room instead of meeting these ponies. After all, it’s not the train ride that’s important. It’s the festival in Los Pegasus that is.’

 

As they walked, Magicon decided to strike up a conversation. There was nothing to do anyway.

 

“So, I figure you’re the conductor. Lovely train you have here. I’m sure the ride to Los Pegasus will be really nice. But may I ask, why is my door locked to begin with? I mean I don’t know if all the other rooms are locked but that lavender pony said, well, rather shouted, that her door was locked too. Is something wrong? Oh, I’m talking too much. I’m sorry; I tend to do that when I get excited or relieved. In this case I’m relieved.”

[Key Gear 6,663]

“So, I figure you’re the conductor. Lovely train you have here. I’m sure the ride to Los Pegasus will be really nice. But may I ask, why is my door locked to begin with? I mean I don’t know if all the other rooms are locked but that lavender pony said, well, rather shouted, that her door was locked too. Is something wrong? Oh, I’m talking too much. I’m sorry; I tend to do that when I get excited or relieved. In this case I’m relieved.”

Springer blinked. The reason for Vim's anger was apparent to him. This red unicorn thought that he was the conductor. As much as the idea flattered him, Springer knew that the it would be in his best interest to set the record straight. “Actually, I'm not the conductor. I'm only the assistant conductor, and I haven't even been an assistant conductor for very long. But, thank you. It's nice to know that I gave off that impression.”

 

Springer thought for a few moments before answering the questions that the red unicorn asked. “You know, I have no idea why your door is actually locked. To be honest, we've been having a number of minor problems like this ever since Trixie boarded the train last night. Only rooms 4 and 16 are locked, but we had some missing supplies and some issues with the train engine earlier today.”

 

Springer smiled reassuringly as he continued talking. “Of course, we have everything completely under control now, and I don't think that we will have too many more problems once things get moving. Hey, maybe we could get Trixie to put on a small show for us in the parlor? Anyway, I don't think you're talking too much. But then, Vim would say that I'm a bad judge of whether or not someone is talking too much.” Springer laughed softly. His laugh was rather like someone laughing awkwardly at their own joke while standing alone in the middle of the desert.

 

Finally, they had reached room 16. Springer tried the handle. Of course, it was still locked. He turned to the red unicorn. “Well buddy, looks like it's up to you. But, before you break the door down. What exactly is your name? I forgot. Oh yeah, and please don't break the door down. If you do that, then Vim may kill me. It'd probably be the first murder to ever happen on a train in Equestria, but the fame wouldn't be worth it. I'll never become a full conductor if that happened.” Springer laughed again.

 

(OOC, Alright, Magicon, feel free to unlock the doors with your awesome powers. Or, to fail to do so. Whichever way you write things is good for me.)

 

---

 

"A-alright... I will, and... Th-thank you..." Just then, he began to quickly walk into the train as he began to look for his room.

Vim continued grinning for a few moments after Electrobolt had made his way onto the train. He was completely oblivious to the fact that Electro had been somewhat embarrassed by all the attention. The only thing that Vim could think about was that Electrobolt had the makings of a fantastic conductor. Unfortunately, his pleasant thoughts were soon interrupted.

 

Clarity threw the ticket down and ran through the train doors, sobbing.

He was an old pony that had seen much of life, and he was a tough pony that was very rarely affected by anything. Yet, this sobbing pony running onto his train put a lump into his throat. Vim's smile wavered. He examined the ticket on the ground. It was a real ticket to the Los Pegasus Express, but it was worn. The ticket had been written on and he wasn't able to make heads or tails of what the writing said. A sequence of worried thoughts went through his mind. I wonder what happened to cause her to break down like that. I can't have weeping ponies on this train ride. We haven't even started moving yet!

 

@, @, “Hey, welcome aboard! Hello there, welcome aboard!” A rather distracted Vim greeted the light blue pegasus and the bluish gray earth pony with just a bit less gusto than he had been able to muster for the earlier guests. He was still distracted by the sobbing unicorn. I can't go check on the passenger without Springer here to stand in for me.

 

She collapsed on her knees and let out a wail. Ponies turned heads to look at her; some annoyed looks were shot at her.

Vim's ears shot up. Was that… Somepony… Wailing… On my train?! He looked around the station. He saw a few ponies still lingering and there was a young earth pony filly and a rather lanky unicorn making their way to the boarding platform. I could just have them wait while I step inside and figure out what's going on. After all, it's right around the corner by the sound of the noise…

 

Quickly thrusting the ticket to the clerk, she rushed inside the train without looking back.

Suddenly, the ticket that Vim had seen lying on the platform was right in front of his face, and there was the unicorn again. In the brief moment before she ran inside for the second time, Vim took a good look at her. Normally, she most likely appeared to be quite the beauty, but here and now, she looked like a disaster. Her mane was a mess. It was obvious that she had been crying. Vim made up his mind.

 

@, @@Dave247, Vim wave the hoof at the two ponies that he had noticed earlier. Speaking as cordially as he could given the circumstances, Vim said “Excuse me for one moment, I need to go check on an… Urgent situation. If you don't mind, could you wait here at the platform for a moment. I'll be right back.” Vim hurriedly trotted back into the train.

 

@,

 

As illegible as the unicorn's ticket had been, Vim had been able to make out the room number. Room 2 was located just across from the baggage car, which, strangely, was where the entrance was on this train. Vim was happy that he didn't have very long to go. Whatever the problem was, he was the conductor and he would fix it. He confidently knocked on the door to room 2. While he waited for an answer, he surveyed the train car. Room 3… That's the bluish gray earth pony. Room 1… That's the intellectual pony. Room 4… Room 4? Room 4!? Vim's gaze froze on the neighboring room's door. It didn't look right…

 

As he came closer and closer to the door, Vim's face assumed a more and more puzzled look. The door definitely didn't look right. The wood around the hinges appeared to be damaged. Maybe it's a trick of the light… Vim squinted. The door seemed to be ever so slightly askew. Gently, he lifted a hoof and applied a small amount of force on the door. He heard the sound of wood scraping against wood as the door started to open. Wait… That's not how a door is supposed to sound when it opens?! Not a door on my train! His eyes darted to the hinges. The piece of wood that they had been attached to was no longer connected to the rest of the door.

 

Vim's eyes widened until they were the size of plates. His mouth dropped wide open. Again, he pushed on the door. This time, with more force. The door fell inward and hit the ground with a dull thud. Vim stood stone still and stared at the fallen door. The only thing that moved was his face. It contorted through a symphony of expressions as he seemingly went through all five stages of grief at the same time. Finally, his face settled with a look of absolute serenity. He stepped into the room and spoke to the lavender pony within. “Sorry about this door, I have absolutely no idea how this happened. Don't worry, it will be fixed before we leave.”

 

He stepped back out and his serene facial expression deteriorated into one of pure, indignant rage. His eyes seemed to glow and his head swiveled around as though it were a searchlight. “Who in Hades? WHO IN HADES? WHO? WHO!?” His voice boomed. Vim caught a glimpse of a shadow shrinking back towards the train engine. “SPRINGY!DUSKER!WAHTEVERYOURNAMEIS!” Dusky cautiously approached Vim. "Yes sir?”

 

Vim recovered some degree of self-control. “Do you have any idea what happened here?” Dusky tilted his head to the side and stood in silence; his dark eyes seemed to sparkle. “Vim, why don't we ask the passenger?” Vim blinked, but before he could respond to Dusky, the lanky, dark gray unicorn had stepped into the room and was addressing the passenger. “Hello. Do you have any idea what happened here?” Dusky's characteristic soft, sleepy voice was friendly, it betrayed no emotion and no thoughts.

 

---

 

@@Dave247,

 

Key Gear put her ticket back into her saddlebag. She talked to herself in frustration. “Well, that figures. I had to wait for a sleepy detective, and now, I need to wait for a conductor that doesn't feel like conducting.” A butterfly decided to land on her nose. Key sneezed and attempted to swat it a few times before finally giving up. “Bugs.” She turned her attention to the detective. She looked over and was, once again, a little startled by his height.

 

Despite the various sounds of commotion coming from inside of the train, her thoughts began to wander. Wait… I never told Daylight anything about my appearance. How did he know who I was? I wonder what exactly you have to eat in order to get that tall without being big. Maybe he's so skinny because of some type of weird combat training. How can anyone be a detective and sleep in… Maybe he wasn't sleeping at all. I wonder if detectives ever go on adventures… Maybe I should just ask… Key took a deep breath.

 

“Hey, Daylight.” Key began cautiously before diving into a rapidfire sequence of questions. “What do you know about fighting? Have you ever been in any fights? Do you know any martial arts? What kind of magic can you do? What do you eat? Have you ever been on any adventures? How did you know who I was out of all these ponies? Did you really sleep in or were you scoping out Trixie and coming up with a plan?”

[Electrobolt 2,069]

@@Clarity

 

As Electrobolt stepped out of his room, the door closed behind him, he had thought he heard something, like somepony wailing. Curious, he decided to go and see who was making all that noise. Once he got to the first passenger car, however, the wailing stopped as he then noticed a white unicorn with a messy mane just rush into her room. Confused, but deciding not to bother pursuing matters more, the young colt decided to head back towards his room, just before noticing the door to room 4.

 

@

 

As he looked at the door, he noticed something was off about it. The door looked different than it was before, but what? As he looked at it some more, he saw that it looked pretty damaged. Shaking his head, he decided not to get caught up in this anymore, in case the conductor might think that he was the one who did that. As he proceeded into the second passenger car, however, as he turned his head back, he could see the conductor. Electrobolt looked pretty scared at how the conductor was reacting, and then...

 

He stepped back out and his serene facial expression deteriorated into one of pure, indignant rage. His eyes seemed to glow and his head swiveled around as though it were a searchlight. “Who in Hades? WHO IN HADES? WHO? WHO!?” His voice boomed. Vim caught a glimpse of a shadow shrinking back towards the train engine. “SPRINGY!DUSKER!WAHTEVERYOURNAMEIS!”

 

As soon as he heard the conductor shouting out those words, and seen the actions that accompanied, Electrobolt's eyes shot open. He knew he shouldn't linger around, or else he might get caught in a potential cross-fire. So with haste, he began to hurry past the second passenger car and swiftly open the door to his room, entering it and closing the door. Once inside, he let out a sigh as he rested against the door. "Well..." he began. "This is certainly going to be an interesting train ride..."

[Shift 4,272]

@Scootacool

 

"ALLLL ABOARD! THE LOS PEGASUS EXPRESS IS BOARDING!"

 

Timeshift jumped in surprise, spilling her coffee on her mane. She grunted in dissapointment and embaressment. Could this day get any worse?

 

Timeshift muddled through her purse [she used the Long-Extension Spell] and found her ticket. She slapped the conducter in the face with it to get a wake-up call, threw it at him, and then strutted inside like she was the overlord of Equestria.

 

@Clarity

 

Timeshift was no fool. In fact, she'd call herself less-er of a fool. She heard a racket going on in the first passenger car, and naturally, she was jerk-y enough to figure it out.

 

She strutted to the first passenger car, and sighed. A white, mad-looking unicorn burst into her room and shut the door. Timeshift couldn't resist it, but she had to put on this face..

 

Timeshift ran back to her section, and ran past other ponies [she used her magic to sneak a roll in the kitchen] and burst into her room, and shut it. She sighed.

 

"Really, Timeshift? Why are you SUCH a jerk lately?! Now you made a bad impression because of your ADHD! Wait...what was I talking about? What did I say? Where are we going? Eh, i'll find out later."

 

Timeshift, despite the Short-Term Memory loss, had the urge to cry, but held it back. She made it through much, much worse situations. After all, this train ride was hopefully quiet and relaxing, with no sort of bad luck. Timeshift rolled onto her bed, and looked at the ceiling. This was GOING to be a calm ride...or else.

[Dave247 568]

Key's face betrayed her confusion. She tried hard to remember the last time that anyone had ever told her “after you”. She drew a blank. She looked at the detective with a bemused expression for few, long awkward seconds before taking her ticket in her mouth and approaching the conductor. After a few steps, she stopped. She remembered something.She put down her train ticket, turned to Day and spoke. “Thank you!” She then picked up her ticket and continued towards the conductor.

Day was surprised when he noticed Key's confusion regarding his last sentence. As she stood there looking at him, he wondered what type of ponies she had met in her life, and if they were anywhere near as polite as he was. She then took her ticket and began to walk away without saying anything, until she stopped suddenly, put down her ticket and turned to say “Thank you!” to him, before picking it back up and continuing on towards the line. Day then smiled to himself, happy to see his kindness be rewarded, before following Key and lining up behind her.

 

Day then noticed some commotion happening on the train. He tried to look for the source but was distracted by the conductor when he said something to him and Key about going to deal with a Urgent situation before leaving them to wait on the platform to wait. "This would be the perfect opportunity to ask Key some questions." He thought. But as he looked at her he could tell she was deep in thought and most likely going to ask him some first. He tried to prepare himself for whatever she was about to say, but was distracted when he heard some shouting coming from the train. He would have liked to go and find out what was happening, but then Key blurted out a bunch of questions at once which caught him off guard.

 

“Hey, Daylight.” Key began cautiously before diving into a rapidfire sequence of questions. “What do you know about fighting? Have you ever been in any fights? Do you know any martial arts? What kind of magic can you do? What do you eat? Have you ever been on any adventures? How did you know who I was out of all these ponies? Did you really sleep in or were you scoping out Trixie and coming up with a plan?”

"Ummm..." was all he could say at first with a bewildered expression on his face. He quickly recovered though and carefully thought though everything that Key said.

"I expected a lot of questions but not that many at once." He said with a smile. "Lets start from the beginning then... I know enough about fighting to know that there are better ways of resolving conflict.

When it can't be helped though, I have been a part of a fight but I don't know any martial arts. I mainly rely on my magic which I use to blind and stun my opponent thus rendering them unable to fight. As for what I eat I don't see how that's relevant... but I can say that I'm fussy with what I eat which is why I'm so skinny." He paused for a moment to give Key time to absorb everything he had said before continuing.

 

"I have been on a few adventures... but they were mostly when I was still living in Ponyville. Nothing exciting happens in Manehatten that warrants a adventure." he sighed as he said this. Life in Manehatten had become rather boring of late. "Anyway, I was able to identify you in the crowd because I had read about you in old newspaper articles being the young daughter of the stacks. There weren't many filly's standing around the platform and the few that were only one was looking impatient like that they were waiting for someone. And for your last question... yes, I really did sleep in... but it was because I was up late the night before going through all the past information on Trixie that I found. Surprisingly there was a lot considering that Trixie hadn't been that active since... the incident in Ponyville..." He trailed off, sure that Key had heard of it as well as pretty much eveypony had. It wasn't talked much about anymore though and he didn't like being one to bring it up.

 

"Anyway, now I get to ask you a few questions. It's only fair." Day said changing the subject. "I want to know more about you Key." he said with a kind smile. He didn't want to scare her or give her a reason to think anything bad of him. "i read after you ran away no one knew what happened to you. What have you been doing all this time? I don't mean to be rude but I'm guessing that by how scruffy your looking right now your no longer living the high life, and don't worry, I've seen much worse as my time as a detective." He thought back to some of the things he had seen on the streets of Manehatten. All the ponies needed was someone to teach them right from wrong...

 

This gave him an Idea, but he didn't want to directly ask key as that would be rude of him. So instead he decided to take a different approach. "It must of been hard for you running away so young." He said caringly. "Unless you found someone else to take care of you, you would have had to learn to take care of yourself. That would have made you very strong, but also would have disconnected yourself from other ponies as well. How can I trust you that you'll do everything you can to help me?" This was a critical thing he asked all his clients as if he couldn't trust them then he couldn't do his job properly.

[Flow 1,628]

After glancing at the decorations in her room, Flow unpacked her luggage and went through her belongings till she found a packet of hay crackers that she bought in Ponyville, "Ah, there it is...my favorite snack!" She opened the wrapper and took a bite from it "Mmmm....That hits the spot! I can't wait to get to Los Pegasus, I guess it's time that I spend some nights in a city for a while, I've probably got too used to living in Ponyville." She paused a bit before continuing to munch on her snack, "Hmm, Why did I dream about that event in Manehattan? Also, I apparently forgot about that white filly...What's her name again?"

 

After sometime trying to remember her name, she decided to think about it later and continued eating the crackers till its gone, then she decided to think about the city of Los Pegasus "Los Pegasus must be really well known. I heard that the city is renown for it's sports teams, maybe I can meet the Los Pegasus Kings! Sure! I guess I'll do that after the Applewood Magic Festival, Oh wow! this is going to be great!"

 

She lied down on the bed and squealed without knowing that there are ponies around "This is AWESOME!!"

[Alex Night 870]

As Alex tried to catch up to the ivory-white unicorn, he saw her turn around. He started to slow down and was caught by surprise as she lunged for him. "Oh no." Alex thought to himself as he braced himself for an impact that didn't come. Instead, he felt the ticket he was holding in his mouth pop out. He sees that she was using levitation magic from her horn to relieve him of the ticket.

She collapsed on her knees and let out a wail. Ponies turned heads to look at her; some annoyed looks were shot at her. Clarity realized she must have looked like a mess, with the frizzy mane and tears caking her cheeks. Snapping out of her thoughts, she tried to smile at the blue pegasus. "I...I'm sorry. I dropped my ticket! How silly of me," she mumbled. Quickly thrusting the ticket to the clerk, she rushed inside the train without looking back.

It was at this moment that Alex saw her wailing uncontrollably and he started to feel somewhat guilty as if it was something he had done to cause her to be like this. To Alex, he could see that she was quite the mess, despite how her eyes betray the poor state of her mane. Her mane was a ice-blue color and looked long and strewn across her coat. Alex wanted to give her some comfort, but he didn't know how to make her feel better. Eventually, her wail settled down and Alex saw her giving a small smile back at him before giving an apology to him. Alex didn't get a chance to say a thing as she rushed off with ticket levitating in the air next to her and showed it to the conductor before boarding the train.

 

Alex still somewhat guilty and his thoughts were interrupted for a moment by the conductor before Alex returned his attention back to the train. "Poor lady... I wish there was something I could do." Alex thought to himself as he proceeded to board the train and headed towards his room, which was number 14.

[Magicon 468]

@,

 

 

Magicon blushed upon hearing that this pony wasn’t the actual conductor, but rather an assistant. He felt rather foolish and wished he could hide himself and never see this pony again. It was just embarrassing. He was comforted by the fact that he was giving the assistant unintended compliments but it didn’t disguise the fact that Magicon was making a fool of himself. The verbatim questions before didn’t help. He was making a terrible impression on this pony.

 

But Magicon wasn’t surprised that the assistant conductor didn’t know why the door was locked, but others not.

 

‘Must’ve just been an oversight. Darn, I was hoping a special surprise would be in my room.’

 

Just then, Magicon noticed that the assistant conductor mentioned the name Vim and the fact that Trixie might be performing on the train.

 

‘Vim must be the name of the conductor. I’ll have to meet him soon. Trixie’s on the train? Oh boy, this ought to be interesting, to say the least.’

 

Magicon had heard about Trixie. Her show magic was well-known and so was her failure in Ponyville. He had never seen a single show, nor was he inclined to see one. Magicon was never into show magic, believing it was a complete scam. He also believed that powerful unicorns don't need to show off their magical skills; true power and talent lies in silence and cunning resourcefulness. He couldn’t help but silently relish in her failure in Ponyville. She deserved it for being arrogant and a con-artist.

 

He saw the assistant try the lock and, sure enough, it was locked. He stepped aside to allow Magicon to try the door. Magicon couldn’t help but chuckle with this pony’s somewhat bad and corny jokes. It was just polite and avoided awkward situations. He also heard the assistant ask for his name.

 

“Oh, introductions, I completely forgot. I’m Magicon.”

 

Smiling, he turned back to the door. “Well, here we go. I must admit, I’m never a big fan of using magic on things like this. But with your permission I guess it’s ok.”

 

Magicon stepped up to the door, closed his eyes, and his horn began glowing a dark lavender. He carefully maneuvered towards the lock, carefully navigating the tiny gears, wheels, and springs to delicately unlock the door without breaking it. Within a few seconds he heard a distinctive click of the door being unlocked, as if a key had been inserted and turned. This wasn’t hard magic, by any means, but Magicon still felt uncomfortable using magic on simple tasks, even if he had permission.

 

Once he finished, he said, “Well, that was easy. Let’s try it shall we?”

 

He put his hoof to the doorknob and turned it. The door responded swinging open and leading into Magicon’s room. It looked just as elegant and plush as the other room he had seen and the rest of the train. Magicon smiled and set down his saddlebags on the bed.

 

Turning back to the assistant Magicon said, “Well, this is very nice. Thank you for your help. Oh, I didn’t get your name. How foolish of me.”

[Key Gear 6,663]

@@Magicon,

 

Springer watched in awe as Magicon effortlessly unlocked the door and entered. He was impressed. It might have taken him an hour to get a locksmith from the station, and it would've probably taken the locksmith at least a dozen minutes to get the lock open. This unicorn had opening the door in just seconds without even breaking a sweat.

 

Turning back to the assistant Magicon said, “Well, this is very nice. Thank you for your help. Oh, I didn’t get your name. How foolish of me.”

 

Springer spoke excitedly. “Hey buddy, that was fantastic! I bet you could put on a better show than Trixie! Magicon, my name is Springer and it is a pleasure to have you on board.” Springer happily took a few steps into the room and reached out to give Magicon a hoofshake.

 

---

 

He paused for a moment to give Key time to absorb everything he had said before continuing.

 

Key wore as neutral a facial expression as she could manage while Daylight spoke. She didn't want to upset the detective, so she tried hard to keep her disappointment from showing. She was very disappointed. Somehow, she had expected the detective to be more exciting. She had hoped to hear riveting stories of narrow escapes from certain death due to awesome fighting skills. She would have been happy to settle for just one story about a brawl with some criminal.

 

Instead of what she wanted to hear, the detective had given her the tired old axiom that there were better ways than fighting to resolve a conflict. She knew that, of course. Unfortunately, she never really had a chance to explain this philosophical point when other ponies were trying to crack her skull in a street brawl. Key had never seen a fight that could be talked out of once it had reached the boiling point. Her thoughts went to the wilderness.

 

In the wilds, there is no way that you can talk your way out of a fight with a dominant predator. If you are the prey, then you will have to try to outwit or incapacitate your enemy. If you are another predator, then you have to overpower the dominant predator and claim their territory for your own. Seeking to avoid a confrontation that you know is going to occur regardless would be weakness… With this thought, her disappointment deepened.

 

This detective is… Key's eyes widened as she realized that she had perhaps been too dismissive of the detective. Buried in her own thoughts, she had only vaguely heard him mention his magic and what he used it for - the ability to blind and stun opponents. This detective may not be too bad after all. Key figured that if Trixie was an illusionist, then Daylight's ability to shed light on things might be useful. She smiled. How dangerous is a blind, stunned illusionist, anyway?

 

He trailed off, sure that Key had heard of it as well as pretty much eveypony had. It wasn't talked much about anymore though and he didn't like being one to bring it up.

 

Key was intrigued by the reasoning process that Daylight had used to figure out which pony she was out of all the ponies in the station that day. She was so intrigued that she nearly didn't notice that Daylight had called her the daughter of the Stacks. She only noticed his misconception when he trailed off after mentioning Trixie. Key quietly panicked. What if he only accepted the case because he thought that I was some wealthy aristocrat?

 

"Anyway, now I get to ask you a few questions. It's only fair." Day said changing the subject. "I want to know more about you Key." he said with a kind smile. He didn't want to scare her or give her a reason to think anything bad of him. "i read after you ran away no one knew what happened to you. What have you been doing all this time? I don't mean to be rude but I'm guessing that by how scruffy your looking right now your no longer living the high life, and don't worry, I've seen much worse as my time as a detective." He thought back to some of the things he had seen on the streets of Manehatten. All the ponies needed was someone to teach them right from wrong...

Key's eyes widened, and she suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach. She had already been vaguely panicked, now she had a definite reason to panic. The detective had just asked her the one question that she was not prepared to answer. What had she been doing for all of this time? She looked down and nervously kicked at the ground with a hoof. She knew that the detective would ask hard questions, but she had hoped that the case would distract Daylight long enough for her to come up with convincing answers. Instead, her own youthful curiosity had opened a can of worms. Key winced. I just broke one of the most important rules of the wilds. When hiding, never put your nose out far enough to get bitten off.

 

Key tried thinking her way out of the problem. Well, I have two choices. I could lie to him, or I could tell him the truth. If I lie to him, and he figures it out, then there's no way that he'd help me. She took stock of what she knew about the detective. He would figure it out. I need to tell the truth. In her mind, she rehearsed what she could say. "I've been stealing, fighting, and breaking into places on the streets of Manehattan. Recently, I've been trying to mooch money from wealthy Canterlot ponies so I can lead a possibly suicidal expedition into the Frozen North. It's been fun, really." Key frowned. She couldn't say that. Key decided to try a third option - avoiding the question.

 

This gave him an Idea, but he didn't want to directly ask key as that would be rude of him. So instead he decided to take a different approach. "It must of been hard for you running away so young." He said caringly. "Unless you found someone else to take care of you, you would have had to learn to take care of yourself. That would have made you very strong, but also would have disconnected yourself from other ponies as well. How can I trust you that you'll do everything you can to help me?" This was a critical thing he asked all his clients as if he couldn't trust them then he couldn't do his job properly.

I'm saved. Key thought as she decided to take the opportunity to completely avoid Day's earlier question. “You can trust me to do everything that I can to help you because…” Key hesitated. This question was just like the questions that her teacher would ask her when she was still going to school. They seemed really simple when she heard them, so she would always blurt out the opening of her answer really quickly. Only about halfway through did she realize that she had no idea what she going to say next.

 

The silence became awkward… Key thought fast and hurriedly finished, “You can trust me to do everything that I can to help you, because I'm the one that sent you the letter and I really want to wrap up this case.” Key could almost feel her teacher's eyes glaring at her with disapproval through thick, hornrimmed glasses. She decided to get things moving before any more questions came up. Suddenly, she broke out a wide grin in Daylight's direction.

 

“Hey, enough with the questions anyway. I think that we should board the train and get to our rooms. Think about it, why should we stand around out here waiting? With all of the stuff going on, the conductor may just end up forgetting about us completely. We could be out here standing around the train finally gets moving. Or, worse, maybe Trixie would see you through a window and recognize that you're a detective. We would lose the element of surprise! Come on!” Without a backward glance, Key went trotting onto the train.

 

@,

 

She trotted right through the first passenger car. She saw that the door had been knocked down to room 4 and the conductor seemed to be having some kind of conversation with a couple of other ponies. So, maybe that's what all the noise was. No wonder the conductor was distracted. Wonder what happened here… As she made her way into the second passenger car, she heard a squeal coming from either room 5 or 6. Key kept trotting but, once again, wondered what in Equestria was happening on this train. Key was relieved when she was able to make it through the third passenger car, the dining car, and the parlor without hearing or seeing anything else that was weird.

 

@@Magicon,

 

Upon entering the last passenger car, Key froze in her tracks. There, right in front of her eyes was a unicorn picking a lock. Key's mouth dropped as the lock was elegantly, quietly undone and the unicorn opened the door. Key grinned with approval. That was classy! I couldn't have done it better myself… The green pegasus pony that had been letting passengers on board and checking tickets earlier was standing by looking just as impressed as she was. But, as the pegasus introduced himself to the lock picking unicorn, Key was troubled.

 

Wait, wait… Why in the world is he picking a lock on the train? Key didn't even dare to allow her imagination to run wild coming up with an explanation. Instead, she whispered out loud. “Hey. Daylight. Are you seeing what I'm seeing? What do you think is going on here? Should we investigate?” Right then, Key remembered that she hadn't checked to see if the detective had followed her.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Scootacool

[Clarity 3,094]

He confidently knocked on the door to room 2.

A loud knocking on her door snapped Clarity out of her reverie. Quickly, she pushed her mane out of her wet eyes. She dabbed her eyes with a tissue, but the redness under them still stayed. Clarity let out a groan. Why do things have to be so difficult?

 

The knocking was more insistent, louder, now. Trying not to rush, she combed her mane straight down; no point in tying it up with her numerous mane ties. Afterwards, she placed everything back into its place and opened the door to her train room.

 

There was the clerk, the one she was supposed to give the ticket to. Clarity tried not to show her surprise and alarm on her face. Am I going to have to get off? Did he see my ticket? His expression was one of concern, but Clarity did not feel any better. She didn't like to show her feelings to anypony who's a stranger, and lately, everypony's a stranger. If he saw her ticket, and what she wrote on it...

 

She shook her head. Stop being rude, Clarity! she scolded herself. Putting on a smile, she asked, "Hello, mister...somepony. I'm sorry that my ticket was so illegible..."

 

(OOC: Sorry for stretching this out.)

[Dave247 568]

I'm saved. Key thought as she decided to take the opportunity to completely avoid Day's earlier question. “You can trust me to do everything that I can to help you because…” Key hesitated. This question was just like the questions that her teacher would ask her when she was still going to school. They seemed really simple when she heard them, so she would always blurt out the opening of her answer really quickly. Only about halfway through did she realize that she had no idea what she going to say next.

As Key started to respond, Day payed close attention to what she said and what her actions were. He had a feeling she would avoid his first question, which is why he went on to ask another one. No matter what Key ended up saying, he would have to trust her regardless if he was going to get anywhere with this case. The question was merely a way to find out more about her character. Honesty and trust was a very important thing for him and he wanted to know if Key shared the same views that he did.

 

The silence became awkward… Key thought fast and hurriedly finished, “You can trust me to do everything that I can to help you, because I'm the one that sent you the letter and I really want to wrap up this case.” Key could almost feel her teacher's eyes glaring at her with disapproval through thick, hornrimmed glasses.

When she finally responded, he stayed silent as this was the type of thing he expected for a filly who had not yet learned the importance of honesty and trust to say. He did not want to look mean but he did not approve of what she had said so instead he made a stern but not too harsh face. Hopefully during the case... she would pick up a few good traits from him.

 

Suddenly, she broke out a wide grin in Daylight's direction. “Hey, enough with the questions anyway. I think that we should board the train and get to our rooms. Think about it, why should we stand around out here waiting? With all of the stuff going on, the conductor may just end up forgetting about us completely. We could be out here standing around the train finally gets moving. Or, worse, maybe Trixie would see you through a window and recognize that you're a detective. We would lose the element of surprise! Come on!” Without a backward glance, Key went trotting onto the train.

She was quick to change the subject, and did not seem to take what she had said to him seriously. He continued to show the same sternness, but as he wasn't going to get any more out of her now, he relaxed his expression to his regular friendly and kind one. He made a note to himself to keep that question in mind to ask again at the right moment. With that, he followed Key onto the train.

 

As he stepped onto the train, he looked around and noticed he was in the baggage car. He then remembered that the conductor was supposed to be there to show them their tickets. "He must will be busy with whatever urgent situation he was dealing with..." He thought. "Hey Key!" He called out to her. "Shouldn't we wait for the conductor?" He was met with no answer though as she had already trotted into the next carriage. He sighed, and continued into the next carriage. He had no choice to follow her as he didn't want her to get into any trouble. He hoped though that what they were doing wasn't already getting them in trouble...

 

As he walked though the baggage car and into the first carriage, he saw the conductor and what looked like to possibly be the train engineer gathered around a broken door, which he caught a glimpse was room 4.

"So that's what the urgent situation is..." He thought. "The conductor seems busy now so I'd better not bother him with my ticket. I can show it to him later when I ask him about what happened." He walked right by them without being noticed and continued into the next carriage.

 

Walking though the next few carriages was uneventful, but he did get to get a good look at the inside of all of the train though. He remembered not to dawdle to long though as he still hadn't caught up to Key and she would probably be waiting for him.

 

As he walked into the last carriage, he was surprised to see the last few seconds of what appeared to be another pony picking a lock to one of the doors by using his magic. he then noticed that standing next to him was the other conductor, which he assumed was the assessment, looking impressed. Day then heard Key whisper something to him.

Instead, she whispered out loud. “Hey. Daylight. Are you seeing what I'm seeing? What do you think is going on here? Should we investigate?

"Don't jump to any conclusions." He whispered back to her. He then started to think about what he had just seen.

There were several possible explanations to this situation, and he didn't want to accuse the possible criminal when a member of the train staff were standing right there next to him. It was most likely they he knew what was going on, and that this was by his permission. It is possible that the assistant was conspiring against the head... but he did not have any other reason to support that right now, so the first explanation seemed most probable. He couldn't find out any more information just by observing so there was only one thing left to do...

 

@@Magicon, @Springer

"Is everything all right here?" He said rather loudly to be sure to get both of theirs attention.

Edited November 1, 2012 by Dave247

[Key Gear 6,663]

"Is everything all right here?" He said rather loudly to be sure to get both of theirs attention.

Springer jumped, and his perfectly positioned conductor's hat fell right off of his head. He had been so absorbed by watching Magicon unlock the door that he had completely failed to notice that he was being watched. The sudden noise startled him considerably, but he quickly steadied himself and answered.

 

“Yes, everything is fine. I am the assistant conductor, and this pony had my complete permission to break into... Uhhh.... To gain access to this room. You see, it's actually his room, but it was locked.” Springer shifted his hooves nervously; he had began by speaking with authority, but he became less sure of himself as he continued to speak. He was troubled by a certain thought.

 

If these two ponies thought this was suspicious, then what would Vim think? What if they told him. Springer examined the two inquisitive ponies. Wait a moment... That unicorn is no older than I am and the Earth pony is just a filly. He picked up his hat, dusted it off, and placed it on his head. He was the assistant conductor, and these ponies were passengers.

 

He smiled reassuringly. “My name is Springer, and if you need anything during the train ride, then you should be sure to ask me. I'm the assistant conductor, so it's my job to make sure that all of the passengers are comfortable and have everything they need. Let me show you both to your rooms!” In the blink of an eye, Springer had, in his own friendly and insistent manner, walked both ponies to their rooms and shut their doors after them. He smiled, adjusted his hat, and went to inform Vim about the unlocked door.

 

 

---

 

Vim was peering into his coffee mug, examining the ripples that formed as the train made its way across the landscape. The train had just left the station about an hour ago, so Vim was allowing himself a brief moment of rest. As far as he was concerned, he had earned the privilege. Against all odds, the Los Pegasus Express had left the station on time, on schedule, and undamaged.

 

Vim took a sip of his coffee. Across many years, he had established a reputation for himself as the conductor that never made a mistake. His trains were never late to depart. His trains never arrived with damage that was due to anything other than the weather. His trains only rarely ran late to arrive, and his few late arrivals could be blamed solely on the weather as well.

 

Typically, the weather was his only enemy as a conductor. Yet, this train was different. Locked doors, destroyed doors, and a strange magician had made this the most complicated departure that he had ever pulled off. Especially the destroyed door. That had been one of the most obnoxious experiences of his life. He sat down his coffee mug and frowned as he thought back to the earlier event.

 

The doors on the Los Pegasus Express were no ordinary room doors, they were handcrafted by Earth ponies using wood from a rare tree that grew only in the White Tail Woods. Vim had actually swung by the shop where the doors were made so he could observe the process. He had some skills with woodwork himself, but he had never seen anything like this before. Los Pegasus had spared no expense on the train that was to be its namesake.

 

The designer of the train had made a point of saying that even the doors on the train were made with care and precision. All of these thoughts shot through Vim's mind when he surveyed the damage that happened on the door of room 4. There was no way he was going to arrive in Las Pegasus with that kind of damage and keep his reputation as a conductor. Ponies would talk, and he would probably find himself moved to a different train. That was unacceptable.

 

His first thought was to find out what had happened, but, even with Dusky's coaxing, the passenger didn't seem know anything about the event. His next thought was to just get the door fixed. Vim didn't want anypony in the station to know about the destroyed door, and he didn't know of anyone with the skill to fix it… Except maybe for one pony. A unicorn that lived in Canterlot, not very far from the train station. He decided to make the journey, but not before reassuring the troubled unicorn from earlier.

 

She shook her head. Stop being rude, Clarity! she scolded herself. Putting on a smile, she asked, "Hello, mister...somepony. I'm sorry that my ticket was so illegible..."

His mind was elsewhere, but he couldn't leave before he spoke with her. “You can call me Vim, and I'm the conductor on this train. Your ticket was a mess, but don't worry about that. I had a pretty good look at it, and I know that it's a real ticket. Don't worry, I'm not going to throw you off the train.” Vim laughed at his own joke before he continued. “Now look, this train ride is supposed to be fun. I don't know exactly what's bothering you, but you should let it go here at the station. Think of this as an opportunity for fresh new start. You know?”

 

“The train will be leaving soon, so you should take this time to clean yourself up a bit and freshen up.” Vim spoke confidently, but he was still nervous on the inside. If it took him too long to get the door repaired, then the train would not be leaving soon, and he knew that he would look like a fool to this unicorn. However, he forced those thoughts aside as he continued. “Once the train gets underway, dinner will be served. You should go out there, talk to some ponies, and make some new friends. You know, don't let your past ruin your right now. That's what I like to say. I need to go now, but I hope to see you at dinner with a smile on your face.” Without waiting for a response, Vim left.

 

Vim really didn't like unicorns very much. To him, it always seemed that they had easier existences than Earth ponies, but the sorrowful white unicorn had challenged his perceptions. Whatever had upset her, it was undoubtedly something serious. As he swiftly trotted through Canterlot, he thought about the fact that all ponies seemed to have problems every once in a while regardless of whether they had wings, horns, or just hooves. He would definitely have to check in on the sad unicorn again later.

 

He reached his destination within less than 15 minutes. Despite his age, he was still a rather fast pony. When he knocked on the door, he only had to wait seconds before he was greeted by the sight of a wizened old unicorn with a tan coat, a blue mane, and friendly, orange eyes. The unicorn's cutiemark was a blueprint. His face wore a quizzical expression.

 

The old unicorn greeted Vim cautiously. “Why hello Vim, you remember that I told you your granddaughter's game system would be repaired tomorrow, not today.” Vim meekly replied. “I remember that, but I have something else that needs fixing and I was hoping that maybe you could help me out.” The unicorn stepped outside and peered around. “Vim, there's nothing here to fix.” Vim smiled awkwardly. “Well, yeah, you know. Well... Look, Quick Study, I need you to fix a door, it's back on the train, and we really need to get moving quick.” With that, Vim started trotting back to the train. Quick looked confused but followed.

 

On the way back to the train, Vim explained everything. He described the doors and how hard it had been to acquire them. He described the damage that had been done to the door. Finally, he spent some time ranting about the other problems he had run into. Quick was a fast learner but not a very fast trotter, so the return journey took nearly twice as long. The old unicorn listened in silence. He knew that Vim was venting, and he wasn't worried.

 

When they arrived at the door, Vim stepped back and held his breath as Quick examined the ruins of the door. The unicorn looked over every inch of the debris. He poked, prodded. He shifted pieces of wood back and forth and tested the weight of some pieces with his hooves. After what seemed like an eternity to Vim, Quick grinned broadly. “I can fix it, and it will only take a few moments, but you'll have to pay me double my normal rate for dragging me out here to work on something so simple.” Before Vim could speak a word, the old unicorn's horn lit up with a bright glow and the pieces of the ravaged door were flying into place. After about a minute of whirling wood, the door was fixed.

 

Vim was completely taken aback. He had heard that Quick could fix anything, but he didn't know it that it had been meant literally. To Vim, the damaged door was anything but simple. Quick's grin broadened at the sight of Vim's confusion. “I started in life as a wood worker making doors just like this using just my hooves. Of course, magic makes everything just a bit faster. I know you have to get going, so I will add the cost of this repair to the bill for the game system. Safe travels, Vim!” Quick waved as he trotted off. Vim stood for just a few moments before shaking his head and bolting to wrap up the final preparations and get the train moving - he still had enough time to make the deadline for departure.

 

Vim took another sip of his coffee as he silently thanked Celestia that Quick Study had been able to help them out. He didn't mind having to pay, but he definitely would have minded not being able to get the door repaired or, worse, getting the door fixed but running late to his destination. Quick had, basically, saved his reputation. Vim looked thoughtful for a few moments as he pondered the possibility that maybe unicorns weren't so bad after all. He decided that he would definitely go and speak with the white unicorn from room 2 again. He normally didn't socialize with the passengers during dinner, but, today, he would make an exception.

 

Vim glanced outside the window at the setting sun and wondered how preparations were going in the kitchen. Normally, he would never worry about Ambrosia running into trouble, but this was definitely not shaping up to be a normal train ride. He shook his head and hoped that the young cook would pull off her usual flawless meal. After all of the shenanigans and disorganization that occurred earlier, he needed something to reassure the passengers that this train ride would be one to remember.

 

 

---

 

The cook was buzzing again, but, this time, the atmosphere was pure electric. Ambrosia had finished planning the evening's meal and was rushing to get all of the dishes prepared. She was never really a fan of serving meals with any specific theme, so she was planning her usual eclectic combination dishes. She was certain that the passengers would be hungry after waiting at the station, so she intended to make sure that she cooked more than enough food for the many passengers.

 

To save time and to ensure that she would be able to spend at least some time speaking with passengers, she decided to use a few of the tables in the dining car as makeshift buffet areas. The tables were now beginning to fill with food - vegetarian pizza, dinner rolls, berry pie, apple casserole, carrot cake, a giant Celestia salad, a tremendous variety of sandwiches, and, her personal favorite, lasagna with eggplant and spinach. Then, there were the drinks - water (of course), fruit punch, apple cider, and an unusual spicy jalapeno drink that was Vim's personal favorite.

 

Ambrosia was nearly done filling out the tables with food and drinks. In her mind, she ran down a quick calculation. She was using 2 tables to hold the food, and there were only 6 tables remaining. There were 14 guests, so some tables would probably have 3 ponies if everyone came to dinner. Perfect! She thought. She knew that Vim always preferred for his passengers to interact during the meals.

 

A sudden blur of green obscured her vision. Springer had arrived to raid the kitchen. “Hi Ambrosia! Dinner's ready?” The pegasus spoke as he reached for a roll. Ambrosia gave Springer's hoof a sharp pop with a ladle and glowered until he took a few steps away. “Yes, Springer, dinner is ready. Could you get the passengers for me?” She smiled, but Springer looked miserable. “I think I'm too hungry to get the passengers, you'd better ask Vim to help you instead.”

 

Ambrosia laughed, shook her head, and tossed a dinner roll at him. Springer snapped it out of the air and shot out of the kitchen and towards the last passenger car on the train. For each of the 4 rooms in the passenger car, he knocked on the door and loudly announced that dinner was being served. After finishing up with the last passenger car, he shot back through the parlor and kitchen and towards the remaining passenger cars.

 

Vim heard the sound of his assistant conductor rousing the passengers for dinner and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, the train ride was starting to resemble some type of normalcy. He would finish his coffee and wait a few moments before checking in on the passengers in the dining car.

 

 

---

 

Key Gear had been reading through one of her books on the subject of the Frozen North when she heard the call for dinner. She was starving, and just the thought of dinner was enough for her mouth to water. She tossed the book aside and galloped towards the kitchen at breakneck speed. When she arrived, she was happy to see that she was the first passengers there. The food looked so perfect that it seemed to practically sparkle. Key's eyes danced among the various delicacies.

 

A voice interrupted Key's reverie, it was the cook. “Hello there! My name is Ambrosia, and I…” Key was hungry and really didn't really feel like any formalities. “Hey! The food looks great! Where are the dishes?!” The cook didn't seem to mind Key's curtness and gestured towards the tables with an amused expression. Key was too hungry to be embarrassed. “Ok, thanks!”

 

She grabbed a plate from the table closest to the food and trotted to one of the buffet tables. She couldn't decide between all of the various dishes so she grabbed small portions of everything. She took her plate back to her table and immediately started diving into her food with no regard for either manners or cleanliness. The cook wandered over and asked her if she wanted something to drink. Key gestured absently towards the drinks, and the cook looked shocked. “Are you sure? You know, we actually have some nice fruit punch and…” Key stopped eating, nodded vigorously, and then continued with the business of sustenance. The cook shrugged, filled Key's glass with a rather interesting looking beverage, and then continued waiting for more passengers to arrive.

 

(OOC: It's dinnertime! This is a buffet style meal, so don't wait for service. Feel free to write your character as wandering in, fixing a plate of food, pouring themselves a drink, and having a seat. Nope, you don't have to wait on the cook or anypony else. Food is serious business!)

[Electrobolt 2,069]

The train was now moving, as Electrobolt began to look out the window, seeing the slowly-moving scenery slowly begin to fly by faster and faster as the train began to accelerate. While he was viewing the scenery, his mind went back to the train ride he had taken from Ponyville to Canterlot, for the Equestrian Video Game Tournament. He had been on a train only a few times, so each experience was still fresh to him. Looking at the scenery blazing past once more, a small smile was on his face. "I could see myself liking riding trains... Maybe I should take up that conductor's offer..." he spoke to himself, as he continued to observe the scenery.

 

Just then, however, Electrobolt's stomach began to give off a small growl as he looked down to it. "Hungry, are we..." whispered the colt to his own stomach as he was thankful nopony was nearby to hear. "Wonder when dinner will be..." Just as soon as he finished that sentence, a knocking could be heard, along with an accompanying voice saying that dinner was being served. Chuckling slightly, he mused, "Talk about timing... I wonder if my stomach's psychic or something... Heh, that would be interesting..." After shaking his head, he walked out of the door and started to head to the dining car.

 

And getting to the dining car took hardly any time at all, considering he was right nearby. As he looked around, he saw that a few tables were being set up and used as buffet tables, and that he was the only one there. Well, except for the chef, and the filly he had seen a number of times already. *Huh... No matter where I go... She always seems to be there...* he pondered to himself, before shoving those thoughts to the back of his mind. First, he went to grab some food from the tables.

 

It was then that he had to make a decision between the plethora of food that was in front of him. It all just looked so good to him, and some of this stuff, he had never tasted before. Electrobolt would certainly have to make a second trip, but for now he settled with a little salad, some of the pizza, a dinner roll, and a small serving of the lasagna. As he looked at the available seats, he looked back to the filly's table, seeing as she was just sitting there all on her lonesome.

 

Deciding to at least give her a bit of company, Electrobolt took his plate over to the table and sat it down there at an available spot, before going back to fix him a drink. After pouring himself a glass of fruit punch, he then returned to the table and sat down in front of his food, directly across from the filly. Although he was slightly surprised by her table manners and how she was eating, he pushed those thoughts into a far corner in his mind, as he took a simple bite of the dinner roll first. After finishing that bite off, he decided to finally break the verbal silence by saying, "Um, hello..."

[Bari 7,023]

Lapis Lazuli lay upon the bed in his room, reading the book between his hooves. There was a slight change, and Lapis knew the train was in motion. Having travelled quite a lot, he was used to it.

 

In the midst of his literature, there was a knock on the door, along with the announcement that was time to eat. With a soft sigh, he placed his book down on his nightstand and approached the door. Right before he turned the knob and exited the sanctity of his room, Lapis thought about what was to happen next. He'd make it down to the dining car, where he'd most likely have to sit with another pony and probably interact with them.

 

He sighed and left his room. Nopony else was out yet, so he made his way to his destination in silence, passing all the other passengers' rooms. Entering the dining car, he notice only two passengers had made it to dinner yet. A pair of earth ponies, one a blue filly, the other a green colt.

 

Thinking it best to eat by himself for the time being, he retrieved a plate from one of the buffet tables and piled on foodstuffs. He made sure to get his favorite food, berry pie, which so happened to be among the delicious dinner laid out upon the table. He nodded to himself and chose a seat near the parlor door. He secretly hope somepony would sit with him, if just so he didn't feel alone. Despite all his internal complaints, he needed the company.

[Key Gear 6,663]

After finishing that bite off, he decided to finally break the verbal silence by saying, "Um, hello..."

 

Key stopped attacking her plate and looked up from her meal. Seated across from her was another earth pony, a colt with green fur and a blue mane. Still chewing her mouthful of food, Key slowly looked around the room. There were plenty of empty tables. She finally finished off her mouthful of food, and her large, dark blue eyes began to, guardedly, survey the green colt.

 

As far as Key could tell, he was young, probably around her own age. His hair was… Unnaturally spiky. Key found herself wondering if this colt actually used some kind of mane-styling gel to achieve his gravity defying mane. Key's nose scrunched up as she squinted and leaned in to examine the colt's mane in greater detail. She could definitely see the faint shine that gave the stuff away. "Well, that's different." She thought.

 

The silence was growing more and more awkward by the second. Key leaned back and decided to say something, but she couldn't think of what to say. In Manehatten, she stole from and fought with the other homeless young ponies, but she never spoke with them. Casual conversation among young ponies was definitely not something that existed on the streets. Again, she found herself studying the pony across the table from her.

 

While Key was 15 years old, she was noticeably smaller than other fillies that were around her age. In contrast, the green colt seemed to be a little large for his age - nearly fully grown in size. He also seemed to have a rather solid build for a pony so young. To Key, he looked like he would make a fairly acceptable brawler. That earned her respect, it also gave her something to talk about. She smiled as she broke the silence.

 

“Uhhh, hi. You wouldn't happen to know anything about fighting would you?” Something in the back of her mind reminded her of the proper way to introduce herself. “Oh yeah, and my name is Key Gear, what's yours? And, how old are you anyway?”

[Flow 1,628]

Meanwhile Flow was just lying on her bed taking a little rest till she smelled something really good thanks to her strong sense of smell "Oh wow, that smells good! Hmm....What is that? Food? I-I guess it's getting pretty late now, so it must be dinner time. Sweet, I'm starving!"

 

After locking the door, she made her way to the source of the pleasant aroma: The dining car. Once there she couldn't believe how great pleasing the food smells, "Wow, This really is it! Th-the food.......It looks so good....so....mouthwatering." Seeing the place as a buffet even made her happier "It's great that this is a buffet, the freedom to get your food by yourself, I'm going to love this!"

After getting her plate and utensils, she took her time looking at the different kinds of foods, "This is amazing! They all look so good! They all look like they can't be bought in Ponyville! Should I get one of each? Err...maybe not."

 

Flow remembered the last time she ate one out of everything in a buffet, where she puked in the bathroom ten minutes after eating, not only that she caught a fever afterwards.

 

"Okay, I shouldn't, well it's time to eat" She moved on to get some lasagna, two dinner rolls, and a piece of apple casserole, "There! I guess this is enough," She then sat at a random table and took a bite out of the lasagna, immediately she fell in love with it "MMMm! Oh my god! This is so good!"

 

@,

 

She giggled as she chewed, then she realized that she was sitting next to a blue stallion, to which she immediately stopped in embarrassment, "Oh no... I'm sitting next to a Stallion?!? Dear Celestia...I hope he didn't hear me!!"