private Pony Mystery Theater: Act II, Exit Trixie, Stage Right.

Bari · April 14, 2013

Asteria watched as Key happily took the book. It seemed as though the filly had chosen to accept her friendship. Well, she could only hope. It wouldn't be the first time she had been lied to. In her head, she made a note to remember what Lapis always told her. "Just because somepony seems to be your friend, doesn't mean you should trust them implicitly." he had said. It did make her think he didn't trust her, but his actions always proved those notions wrong. It wasn't in her nature to distrust somepony, but Lapis was one of the smartest ponies she knew. How could he be wrong?

She noticed Key never mentioned where she had found the book. She was running before they had met. And she had admitted to being a thief. it was likely she had stolen it. But it was a book, so she could forgive it if it meant knowledge could be obtained, especially if it might be used to make life better for ponykind. She didn't ask though. Why ruin a good thing?

"Um, Asteria, right? Do you happen to know where Ambrosia might be...?"

She had not forgotten where she had been only an hour before. "Oh, well, probably on the way back to the train, I suppose. I was with her not too long ago, shopping. But I... erm. Well, I got distracted by a butterfly. You know how it goes." she said nonchalantly as if chasing a little winged insect were a normal occurrence. Best not to let herself get embarrassed again. Behind them, the mare from earlier had appeared. Most likely not by magic of course. She'd simply snuck up on them. Key wasted no time in introducing them all. Asteria noted the use of the word friend. It seemed definite Key Gear wanted friendship. She tried her best to school her thoughts, though. Key had shown aggression, even though it was subtle. It meant something. Something about her character.

"Actually, I met this pony just a few minutes ago. This is Summerfall." she said, hoping the mare wouldn't be too upset a filly had introduced her instead of doing it herself. "Hi again. Want to join us for lunch?" Just then, the lemon mare whom Asteria had been accompanying entered the passenger car. She greeted them all with a big, bright smile. The guilt in her heart almost entirely disappeared. Ambrosia didn't look worried. Up until now, she hadn't given any thought to how Ambrosia might have felt when she didn't show up after finishing her task. But she didn't look upset or anything. Asteria happily followed after her, but stopped short. She turned around to see that her new friend wasn't following. "Hey, Key, what are you waiting for? Don't you want lunch? Maybe you could help make it, actually. I know Ambrosia would let me help, and perhaps she'll let you, too?" Her eyes sparkled with anticipation and wonder as she envisioned the two of them working together to make a delicious lunch for everypony.

But she didn't wait for a response. She merely beamed at the other filly and trotted after the lemon mare. She caught up to her in no time, and decided she might as well apologize now, even if she didn't need to. "Ambrosia. I'd like to say that I'm sorry for disappearing like I did. I don't know if you were worried, or anything, but it was wrong of me either way. I was actually chasing a butterfly." she concluded as if that was all the explanation that she needed. She gazed into the eyes of the mare before her and patiently waited for an answer.

Lapis had listened and watched as Magicon went about his magic thing. It was odd, like he was listening for magic in the air. Lapis refused to say a word though. When Magicon finally stopped, he explained himself. Dawn must have been the one causing the disturbance. The young mare didn't sit right with him. What purpose was there in having so many cats? Sure, 2 or 3 was an acceptable number, but she just gave off this feeling she had more than he had seen. It was something about the way she had looked at them. But of course, he had only seen it briefly.

"Well, we don't know where to go from here, do we? What purpose is there in just sitting here and staring at a paper that may mean nothing? I can't figure out what it means. It's just a story, and not even a complete one at that. While I doubt Springer's dream means anything, I am suspicious of Dawn. She doesn't sit right with me for some reason. I could be just paranoid here, but maybe Dawn planted the dream in Springer's head? She is his nurse after all. And I've met some pretty strange ponies before. What her motive might be, I do not know. But this is something, is it not?" he concluded, a bit weary.

After racking his brain trying to figure out what the paper meant, something different would be a welcome distraction. "Dawn might know something for all we know. What were the chances she put the note in the train? She had been here since before the search, right? Though any motive for such an act is unclear, the window for the events to occur is quite open in my opinion." he continued. "Unless someone else has some other idea, what's the harm in simply asking Dawn a question or two, eh?"

Arcanel · April 14, 2013

Arcanel watched as Magicon took a deep breath and relaxed himself. *I think that explaining things like this is not something he thoroughly enjoys... I hope he feels comfortable enough...* he thought, wishing that the unicorn is able to express himself well.

“Well…it’s difficult to explain, but I’ll do my best. Essentially, somepony just recently used a good ounce of magic near here and I was trying to figure out what the spell was and who might’ve conjured it. I have my suspicions, but I don’t want to give away anything until I gather more evidence. However, that being said, I feel like I should tell you my suspicions. My gut tells me not to, but we’ve all been working on this bizarre investigation and seen a few oddities. The more information I give you, the more we may be able to put these things together.”

As Magicon started explaining, Arcanel couldn't help but feel that the crimson pony was starting to act quite a lot like a detective. *A kind of secretive detective, but one nonetheless...* the mailpony thought as Magicon finished his pause and continued talking.

“From what I gathered, there was only one unicorn back here recently: Dawn, the young blue filly. Lapis met me in the parlor car and Dawn was there, with her cats I might add. Lapis and then went back to the dining car to decipher the paper with the bizarre story. Lapis then decided to head back here to talk to you, Springer. On the way through the parlor car Dawn was gone and so were her cats. We met up with Arcanel soon afterwards and then went to Springer’s room. As you guys just entered the room and woke Springer I felt the magic. Whether she was further inside the caboose or near the exits that we passed is unknown to me. But what counts is that Dawn used a good strong ounce of magic. Now as for the magic, I can’t tell exactly what the spell she did, but it was either a teleportation spell or invisibility spell. Either way she ended the spell near the front of the train. If I head over there I can figure out just exactly where she ended it. But, that depends on whether or not that’s related to what we’re doing. Perhaps this is entirely pointless and Dawn just used magic freely for some purpose. But tell me, perhaps there’s something we can figure out with this paper. Anything new that you guys figured out?”

As soon as the words left the magician's mouth, Arcanel now felt intrigued, and slightly confused again. *Dawn was the one who activated the "disturbance in the magical force" or something like that?... Well... I can see her doing something like that. She seems like a very curious, cheery pony, and I know she can do magic strong enough and that she likes cats. I should know, I flied one of them.* He mentally recollected, as he recalled when Dawn disrrupted the spell that was upon Springer and carried Flo when they were coming back to the train. However, before he could voice his thoughts, Lapis spoke first.

"Well, we don't know where to go from here, do we? What purpose is there in just sitting here and staring at a paper that may mean nothing? I can't figure out what it means. It's just a story, and not even a complete one at that. While I doubt Springer's dream means anything, I am suspicious of Dawn. She doesn't sit right with me for some reason. I could be just paranoid here, but maybe Dawn planted the dream in Springer's head? She is his nurse after all. And I've met some pretty strange ponies before. What her motive might be, I do not know. But this is something, is it not?

By the time Lapis had finished, Arcanel was now worried. He never liked it when they pointed the hoof at ponies he didn't really thought could do bad things. He wasn't naive or innocent, he just disliked it, because he knew he could think of the possibilities if he wanted to. He just wanted things to be fair. *(Sigh)... looks like everything is pointing to Dawn right now...* he pondered in sadness, now wanting for something to clear the name of the young nurse.

"Dawn might know something for all we know. What were the chances she put the note in the train? She had been here since before the search, right? Though any motive for such an act is unclear, the window for the events to occur is quite open in my opinion." he continued. "Unless someone else has some other idea, what's the harm in simply asking Dawn a question or two, eh?"

While Arcanel didn't want to admit it, he knew the earth pony was right. Dawn could have had time to put the note. But the question would remain. *Why would she even do that?* as soon as he finished his thought, he went to voice his own thoughts.

"Well... first things first, I'm sad to say that either of us were able to figure out something new Mr. Magicon. None of us can think of anything that can relate, other than Springer's dream maybe being related to it in some way." He started. "Second, in regards to Dawn, I know that she seems to be a fairly curious pony, and a very cheery one, and very fond of cats. I was with her a small time when I went looking for help to Springer. I wouldn't be surprised if she had teleported or done something similar just to investigate out of curiosity." Arcanel continued explaining, trying to get most things as detailed as possible.

@@Magicon,

"However... while I don't like to point the hoof at ponies, she MIGHT have an idea of what happened. Whether she was the cause or she saw who caused. So I say let's do this. We can't exactly go and ask Dawn 'Hello Ms. Dawn, did you by any chance forge Mr. Springer's hoofwriting and messed with his memories and dreams?' now can we?" he said in a rethorical tone. "So I say that if she felt something suspicious around, we could ask her that. And also, she casted a spell that would in theory counter the one that was already on Springer that was altering his memories. Maybe we should ask if her spell has any side effects? After all, she did a check up on Springer's status, but I don't think we ever thought if there could have been a medical side effect." He determined, as he recalled the actions of Dawn and Springer's current health. As he finished that sentence, the white pegasus turned to look at Magicon. "Ummm... Mr. Magicon? Ummm... before you said you used magic to 'trace' the magic that you felt, as if it was a radar, right? Er... forgive the vulgar word, I know that as a studious magician such as yourself probably like their spells to be properly called..." Arcanel apologized, feeling slightly embarrased to call what is probably an important spell in such a simplistic way.

"Well... I'm not sure if you could do it but... is it possible get a sample of somepony's magic aura, so to speak, or at least have it detected, and trace it back to any other places it might have been used before in the somewhat inmediate past? I mean... before when we were searching we came up with nothing because we didn't go looking for specific ponies who had done something and were mostly looking for that book which never turned up. Now we technically are looking for a specific somepony... I don't like thinking that Dawn is guilty, and mostly because I believe she deserves the benefit of doubt as much this should be fair, but at least this could dissolve any doubts any of us have about her, or maybe even, we could end up finding something in the end." Arcanel concluded, hoping that what he said made sense to everypony and that his idea resonated well within the group.

Edited April 14, 2013 by Eevee

Key Gear · April 14, 2013

"Um... my thoughts are the same his, to be honest. Can you tell what was all that about Mr. Magicon?" he asked, hoping that it wasn't something personal instead which would make the whole situation awkward.

Springer nodded his head at Arcanel's reinforcement of his inquiry. In fact, his desire to know about what had happened was growing by the second. He had the feeling, the same feeling that he had when he was about to take an inefficient process and make it efficient. Somehow, he was certain that Magicon had the answer to providing a course of action from their present circumstance. Certainly, the confusion that he felt in the room would soon give way to knowledge, efficient knowledge.

“Well…it’s difficult to explain, but I’ll do my best. Essentially, somepony just recently used a good ounce of magic near here and I was trying to figure out what the spell was and who might’ve conjured it. I have my suspicions, but I don’t want to give away anything until I gather more evidence. However, that being said, I feel like I should tell you my suspicions. My gut tells me not to, but we’ve all been working on this bizarre investigation and seen a few oddities. The more information I give you, the more we may be able to put these things together.”

Magicon's openness, however reluctant, was greatly appreciated by Springer. Just as the troubled pegasus had shared his dream, even though he understood nothing of it, the efficient thing right now was for Magicon to share his own thoughts. As Magicon spoke, Springer quickly went through the passenger list in his mind, sorting out the unicorns and trying to think of which would be capable of "a good ounce of magic". Asteria was too young. Dusky never seemed to use magic. There were no others, so it had to be Dawn unless one of the newer passengers had done so, which seemed unlikely.

He paused before continuing. “From what I gathered, there was only one unicorn back here recently: Dawn, the young blue filly. Lapis met me in the parlor car and Dawn was there, with her cats I might add. Lapis and then went back to the dining car to decipher the paper with the bizarre story. Lapis then decided to head back here to talk to you, Springer. On the way through the parlor car Dawn was gone and so were her cats. We met up with Arcanel soon afterwards and then went to Springer’s room. As you guys just entered the room and woke Springer I felt the magic. Whether she was further inside the caboose or near the exits that we passed is unknown to me. But what counts is that Dawn used a good strong ounce of magic.

He was well prepared to hear that it was Dawn that had triggered Magicon's senses, but he was not prepared for what Magicon said. The news was startling and it prompted Springer to question, silently, the nature of the medical pony. As he did so, it occurred to him. Dawn was, in many ways, an unknown factor. He knew that she was capable of rescuing him from his earlier state, but she had provided no details as to either the nature of the original spell or the nature of her own healing magic. Certainly, when his life was in danger, it was not efficient to stop and talk. She had done the right thing by acting quickly to save him. However, by not providing further details, she had left herself open to misunderstandings.

Now as for the magic, I can’t tell exactly what the spell she did, but it was either a teleportation spell or invisibility spell. Either way she ended the spell near the front of the train. If I head over there I can figure out just exactly where she ended it. But, that depends on whether or not that’s related to what we’re doing. Perhaps this is entirely pointless and Dawn just used magic freely for some purpose. But tell me, perhaps there’s something we can figure out with this paper. Anything new that you guys figured out?”

While Magicon ran through the details, Springer's thoughts focused elsewhere. The details, in this case, seemed secondary in significance to the possibility of Dawn being somehow involved with his dream. It had been so strange, so unusual. If she was responsible for the dream, then her movements, made sense and were extremely efficient. Most likely, she had acted without being aware that Magicon was extremely sensitive to magic, so she had optimized her own plan using magic. Yet... To what end? It still made no sense.

"Well, we don't know where to go from here, do we? What purpose is there in just sitting here and staring at a paper that may mean nothing? I can't figure out what it means. It's just a story, and not even a complete one at that. While I doubt Springer's dream means anything, I am suspicious of Dawn. She doesn't sit right with me for some reason. I could be just paranoid here, but maybe Dawn planted the dream in Springer's head? She is his nurse after all. And I've met some pretty strange ponies before. What her motive might be, I do not know. But this is something, is it not?" he concluded, a bit weary.

Lapis had given voice to Springer's lingering thoughts. Springer decided to continue listening. Simply repeating Lapis's remarks would have done nothing to further the investigation. However, he did make a note of Lapis's feelings regarding Dawn. In fact, they mirrored the thought that had occurred to him just a few moments before. There was something that seemed to be unusual about the unicorn. Springer was terrible at reading ponies, but one thing about his nurse had definitely concerned him. Again, he came to the spells. What had Dawn's spell done? What had the original effect been caused by?

After racking his brain trying to figure out what the paper meant, something different would be a welcome distraction. "Dawn might know something for all we know. What were the chances she put the note in the train? She had been here since before the search, right? Though any motive for such an act is unclear, the window for the events to occur is quite open in my opinion." he continued. "Unless someone else has some other idea, what's the harm in simply asking Dawn a question or two, eh?"

Going directly to Dawn might have held additional benefits, Springer thought. If nothing else came of it, having her aware of the process might ensure the input of an additional pony into the problem solving. Since she was magically inclined, she might be able to offer insights similar to Magicon's but slightly different due to her knowledge of healing magic. He spoke. "I agree. Asking her would be far more efficient than simply pondering her motivations. If we need to know about Dawn, then what better source than Dawn, herself?"

"Well... first things first, I'm sad to say that either of us were able to figure out something new Mr. Magicon. None of us can think of anything that can relate, other than Springer's dream maybe being related to it in some way." He started. "Second, in regards to Dawn, I know that she seems to be a fairly curious pony, and a very cheery one, and very fond of cats. I was with her a small time when I went looking for help to Springer. I wouldn't be surprised if she had teleported or done something similar just to investigate out of curiosity." Arcanel continued explaining, trying to get most things as detailed as possible.

After he had spoken, Arcanel spoke to Magicon. Arcanel's words made sense, but one thing caused Springer to doubt. He could accept that Dawn was a curious pony, but he couldn't figure out what was there to investigate. As far as Springer was aware of, Dawn was not aware of the details of their investigation. While she certainly knew about the search, she would only have known that the search had been fruitless. She would not have known the exact circumstances that required a search. She would certainly not have known about the paper. If she was taking action to investigate, then she knew more than she should have based on simply being a medical pony.

"However... while I don't like to point the hoof at ponies, she MIGHT have an idea of what happened. Whether she was the cause or she saw who caused. So I say let's do this. We can't exactly go and ask Dawn 'Hello Ms. Dawn, did you by any chance forge Mr. Springer's hoofwriting and messed with his memories and dreams?' now can we?" he said in a rethorical tone.

Springer frowned. Being direct was exactly what he had planned on doing. To him, it was the only way. If she was offended, then that would simply have to be a side effect. Regardless of her feelings, she had an obligation to ensure his care, so he didn't see the point in being anything other than direct. It wasn't like she would fail in her duties as a medical pony simply because she was offended by questions. What did they have to lose? If she refused to answer, then this would mean that their suspicions were justified. It seemed simple to him.

"So I say that if she felt something suspicious around, we could ask her that. And also, she casted a spell that would in theory counter the one that was already on Springer that was altering his memories. Maybe we should ask if her spell has any side effects? After all, she did a check up on Springer's status, but I don't think we ever thought if there could have been a medical side effect."

He was curious about the spell that she had used, and he had to admit that Arcanel's approach to questioning Dawn was better than his own. Springer's simple approach would result in no information if Dawn was offended. Arcanel's more nuanced suggestion had the potential to provide information without causing offense. Such broad inquiries would be unlikely to alarm Dawn, ensuring that she answered in her fullest.

"Well... I'm not sure if you could do it but... is it possible get a sample of somepony's magic aura, so to speak, or at least have it detected, and trace it back to any other places it might have been used before in the somewhat inmediate past? I mean... before when we were searching we came up with nothing because we didn't go looking for specific ponies who had done something and were mostly looking for that book which never turned up. Now we technically are looking for a specific somepony... I don't like thinking that Dawn is guilty, and mostly because I believe she deserves the benefit of doubt as much this should be fair, but at least this could dissolve any doubts any of us have about her, or maybe even, we could end up finding something in the end." Arcanel concluded, hoping that what he said made sense to everypony and that his idea resonated well within the group.

To Springer, tracing Dawn's trail of magic sounded like a lot of work with a fairly predictable outcome. Regardless of the steps taken, they would still have to confront Dawn at the end of the trail. Adding all of the additional work seemed inefficient to Springer. "I don't think that we need to go through all of this. We are not trying to discern guilt or innocence, I think. Ummm... What we are trying to do is to efficiently come to an understanding of what happened. For myself, I don't think that she is either guilty or innocent of anything, but the facts that we have now suggest that she may have had the opportunity to do something that pertains to my dream and the paper. We should act on this fact, discover if it is true or false."

He stopped to think for a moment, and then, he continued. "Then, there is another problem. The spell that she used to revive me was powerful. If we were to trace her magical aura, then we would end up retracing her path back to this original location or into Ponyville. The train is about to leave, Vim rarely runs behind schedule by more than a few minutes. We really don't have the time to search all of Ponyville. Why don't we just go directly to Dawn and ask her something? Lapis is right. We need the answers that Dawn can give us. Arcanel, I think that the questions that you derived earlier would be the efficient ones to ask.

"Since you are the other pony on this train with an interest in my well-being and the questions were yours, perhaps you should go to speak with Dawn? She would conclude that you were simply looking after me, as you have been. Her suspicions would not be raised. In fact... Because of Magicon, we know where she is right now. You could trace her path yourself. Leave through the caboose, fly to the train engine. If she is there, then you can speak with her, simply, ask your questions, gather her answers and return. It would be a paradigm of efficiency. While you did this, the rest of us could... Ummm... We could seek a meal. I'm rather hungry and it is nearly lunch time. Is this plan acceptable?"

Flow · April 14, 2013

Flow always felt some sense of relief at the sight of the conductor, To her he can be described as a dedicated pony who cares a lot about the health of the ponies he serves. She loves to see that kind of quality in somepony, contrary to what Dusky had been to her.

"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."

"That's great, and Vim huh...okay! I'm fine now really, but thanks for asking. Engineer?....Oh you mean Dusky, yeah ..." She frowned a bit, already starting to show signs of loathing the engineer for his words towards her near death experience "That stupid colt...he talks too much...he shouldn't have been allowed to work on this train, where's his sense of customer service or sympathy? If he has time to tell that to passengers, then he should be out there on the unemployment line... "

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."

When Vim had introduced her to the blue pegasus known to her as Alex Night, Her smile gradually returned "Oh! It's Alex, he's another good pony....he's very nice." She told Vim "Ah yes, we've met each other already, he's a very nice pony if you ask me."

"Good to see you again, Flow. How are you doing?" Alex asked her cheerfully.

"Oh hi Alex! I'm doing fine, how about you? Your staying in room 6? Across my room? That's wonderful! I'm sure I'll need some company." She spoke with great enthusiasm, looking directly at his face smiling "Gee....he's really...cute..err...how old is he?"

She looked at the two pegasus near them, whom she recalled as Flow and Alex. She would have to spend two nights sleeping next to their rooms. Summerfall held back a sigh, she hoped that they won’t make any ruckus at night. She smiled curtly at them, nodding slightly and spoke, “Good day to you two. I guess we will be sharing the same passenger car. As you may have heard, my name is Summerfall. Pleased to meet you.”

Just then an earth pony greeted, getting Flow's eyes of Alex' face "Hello there! Your staying in room 7 huh, that's great! Now I have more company!" She said, but saw her trotting inside the train, "Uh...did she hear me?" She thought.

King · April 14, 2013

"Sounds good! Trust me you'll love the journey. When you get back home, the weather team will hardly believe what you'll tell them. Particularly about Los Pegasus, that place is remarkable. I've been there a few times, it's a showy place, let me tell you." While talking, Vim exchanged Dawn's bits for a ticket and a room key.

Dawn listened intently to Vim trying to convince him that the trip was ever the more worthwhile, even thoug hhe already knew it would be, he didn't need convincing. Dawn took the ticket and the room key, placing them into his saddlebag, nestled beside the other things he had stored inside, including some of Ambrosia's suppliesshe had tasked him to carry.

Vim's enthusiasm was boosted significantly by having gotten rid of the last train ticket. He laughed loudly at Dawn's reprise of his own bad attempt at humor from just a few moments ago. "Neither can I, Dawn. Welcome aboard!" After a nod of her head to Vim, Ambrosia breathed a sigh of relief, and then she nudged Dawn Rider towards the interior of the train before heading in, herself.

"Thank you, it's a pleasure to be travelling with you" Dawn managed to say before being nudged into the trains interior by Ambrosia. He had hoped to speak to Vim a little more, but those hopes were dashed out fairly quickly.Ambrosia appeared to be in a hurry to go somewhere, but Dawn couldn't quite place his hoof where exactly, completely missing the fact that she was a cook and was obviously trying to get to the kitchen.

Dawn's first impression of the interior of the train was one of wonder, it looked amazingly well crafted and decorated, he knew he would enjoy this journey alot more being aboard such a train.

"Hi! My name's Dawn! And, I think that your name is Dawn, too! I heard everypony call you DAWN! That's so amazing! Do you know how rare it is to meet ponies that have my name!? Well, I wouldn't know. Because I haven't met any! Do you like cats! I like cats a lot! Hey! I actually have a lot of cats! Wait! You're not a Dawn like me, you have wings! I wish I had wings. I bet I could fly with magic! Are you any good at flying! I bet you are! Maybe?!" While talking, Dawn continued walking until her broadly smiling face was just about a half-foot away from Dawn Rider's.

Dawn struggled to keep up with this new pony, attempting to answer each question with no avail.

"Yeah my name's....I suppose its amazing...Is it rare, I havent noticed... Cats?...what about....my wings?...uh they're good....magic wings?....I fly alright" By the time she had taken a breath she was almost muzzle to muzzle with Dawn, whose eyes were as wide as saucers, this pony was certainly a...character. Before she could start again, Ambrosia stood between Dawn his new aquaintence...Dawn.

Looking confused, even as she backed up, Dawn stuttered while Ambrosia spoke. "Wait... But... I... Well, no! Rider sounds stupid. No! I won't call him that! I want to..." Ambrosia stared cooly at the unicorn until she stopped talking.

Dawn had to admire the similarities between Ambrosia and his own mother, who could rightfuly stop a buffalo stampeed with a simple look...a creepy but hypnotising look that just caused people to stop what they were doing...eventually. Dawn wasn't sure if he was looking forward to his next encounter with the other Dawn, one the one hoof she seemed like fun,on the other hoof he didn't know if he would get a word in edge wise if they were to talk.

"Hello everypony!" She greeting them with a grin, already recovered from her encounter with the unusual unicorn. "Anyone hungry for lunch? I'm just on my way to start cooking. Sooo, maybe you'd all like to join me in the dining car?" Without another word, assuming that the hungry would tag along with her, Ambrosia worked her way through the other ponies and carried onwards to the dining car.

Dawn didn't need to say a word, his stomach seemed to rumble on queue as Ambrosia spoke about lunch, so he simply tailed Ambrosia, looking forward to something nice to eat. Not to mention he had some of Ambrosia's supplied in his saddlebag, so he needed to unload them at some point in the very near future.

So far he was enjoying his time on the train, even though he had only just boarded he was ambushed by an extremely talkative pony and was now on his way to what would most certainly be a wonderful Lunch.

He wasn't sure whether he should mention that his Birthday was occuring the day after they would leave, he didnt want to interfere with Ambrosias cooking plans, but on the other hand...cake was good...really good...

Edited April 14, 2013 by Dawn♥Rider

Starshine · April 14, 2013

Replying to the stranger, Key welcomed her onboard, taking the opportunity to subtly share her thoughts with Asteria. "Ummm... Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Key Gear. This is my friend, Asteria, and my brother, Electrobolt, is the assistant conductor. You weren't really interrupting anything, actually. Sorry if we're in your way."

"Actually, I met this pony just a few minutes ago. This is Summerfall." she said, hoping the mare wouldn't be too upset a filly had introduced her instead of doing it herself. "Hi again. Want to join us for lunch?" Just then, the lemon mare whom Asteria had been accompanying entered the passenger car.

"Nice to meet you too," Summerfall smiled curtly to the group of ponies in front of her, nodding her head slightly. It was a bit odd for the mare to had her name introduced by somepony she had just met less than an hour ago, but she was not exactly the one who would protest about it. She kept her eyes locked on Key's cutie mark, trying to force any memory she might had about it to surface. "It's nothing. I can see that you three are talking about something before I arrived here."

It might sound silly, but Summerfall thought that Key Gear and Asteria would make a great pair together. Both of their color schemes complimented each other nicely. Or not, she was not an expert in the world of colors. She was about to excuse herself into her room when something in her mind finally snapped together.

Ambrosia swept into the first passenger car as if she was on a mission, but she stopped abruptly at the site of a small group of ponies, including the passenger that she had seen earlier. "Hello everypony!" She greeting them with a grin, already recovered from her encounter with the unusual unicorn. "Anyone hungry for lunch? I'm just on my way to start cooking. Sooo, maybe you'd all like to join me in the dining car?"

Summerfall suppressed a yelp, the sudden greeting from the cook nearly broke her train of thoughts. She quickly moved aside, almost pressing her rump to a nearby cabin's wall, to give a better moving space for the lemon mare. She pondered whether to accept the early lunch offer or not, but ultimately decided that she had better things to do.

Key Map and Travel Gear. Two of the best explorers to ever stepped their hooves on Equestria. More than a half of the wilderness of Equestria was charted thanks to their gallant efforts, and the stories about their daring adventures to the most secluded corner of the worlds were once a must-have in every campfire stories. When she was a foal, her aunt once recounted one of their seemingly unbelievable stories to her and her siblings when their parents left them alone to gather some food. Summerfall was not exactly sure how their tales really go, but she recalled reading in a journal that the legendary explorers went missing in their last journey to the North, and they left behind a blue filly. Summerfall bit her lips. She never thought that she would actually meet the filly in questions. Ambrosia's invitation to the lunch suddenly seemed to be the last important thing in her list.

"Um, Key Gear?" Summerfall called out to the persian blue filly. Now that she actually closer to the filly, she finally noticed the rough figure Key Gear had under that beautiful sheen of her fur. She inwardly sighed. She knew that she was not supposed to pull out a hasty conclusion from anything, but she couldn't help but to think that the filly was forced to live on the street since the tragedy years before. A filly should never had to experience anything like that. No, you shouldn't brought any of that here, her subconsciousness told her. She suffered enough without her parents, no need to play the hero. Summerfall bitterly agreed. But still, she would like to offer an assistance just in case the filly needed any.

"I see that you are doing fine?" Summerfall changed her approach. She gave the filly her most sincere smile in hope that she wouldn't give the filly the wrong impression. "You see, I was a fan of your parents. I can guess that you already heard about this a lot of times in the past, and you might had grown sick of it, but if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to tell me about it. It might not be much but I will try to help it as best as I could. Just think of it as a way to repay for all those wonderful stories of their expeditions."

Summerfall's eyes shifted around, afraid that she might had inadvertently said the wrong thing. Without waiting for reply, she excused herself and trot past Key Gear and the others straight to her room's door. Ambrosia's lunch could wait, she would have to secure her saddlebag in the room's confines before going further into the train.

Key Gear · April 14, 2013

Asteria happily followed after her, but stopped short. She turned around to see that her new friend wasn't following. "Hey, Key, what are you waiting for? Don't you want lunch? Maybe you could help make it, actually. I know Ambrosia would let me help, and perhaps she'll let you, too?" Her eyes sparkled with anticipation and wonder as she envisioned the two of them working together to make a delicious lunch for everypony.

She gave Asteria a smiling but quizzical look. She did want lunch, but she wasn't certain if she wanted to cook it. Key had never been much for cooking. Even warming food up was a task for her. She simply didn't have the patience necessary to sit around and watch things, it was much more useful to go and do something else while her food was warming up. Because of this, she usually burned things, lots of things, badly.

Despite her reluctance, the thought of helping to cook lunch was something that seemed as though it might be fun. Still, Key hesitated at the thought of cooking with Ambrosia... This was the very same pony that had been rather heated about Key's revelation that she was a thief. She realized though, that perhaps by having fun with Ambrosia and Asteria, she could change the cook's negative perception. She would ask her brother for his thoughts on things, after the other ponies had left.

"Um, Key Gear?" Summerfall called out to the persian blue filly. Now that she actually closer to the filly, she finally noticed the rough figure Key Gear had under that beautiful sheen of her fur.

With a glance, Key could immediately see that Summerfall was about to say something that went beyond a simple greeting. The mare had something to say, something important. Reading her body language, Key wasn't sure what to make of it. She didn't know who Summerfall was or what she did. In fact, she had never even seen the mare until just a few moments before, but Summerfall undoubtedly seemed to think that Key looked familiar, somehow.

Key started to worry. Quickly, she searched the depths of her memory. Key's thoughts went back to Manehattan. Was this pony a shopkeeper in Manehattan that she had wronged? Shopkeeper's hadn't been the only ponies that she had run afoul of. While she had told the ponies on the train that she had only stolen what she needed to survive, that had not been entirely true. Of course, it was impossible to develop the skills that she possessed by simply being a conventional thief.

"I see that you are doing fine?" Summerfall changed her approach. She gave the filly her most sincere smile in hope that she wouldn't give the filly the wrong impression.

She frowned, deeply. Summerfall's query rubbed Key the wrong way. It seemed probing, and it carried with it a familiarity that was, at this point, only one-sided. She was speaking as though she was familiar with Key, but this was plainly not the case. Even though she had tried to remember, Key couldn't recall ever having seen the mare before. Yet, Summerfall seemed to know something about her. Key replied, maintaining a neutral tone. "Yes, I'm doing well."

"You see, I was a fan of your parents. I can guess that you already heard about this a lot of times in the past, and you might had grown sick of it, but if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to tell me about it. It might not be much but I will try to help it as best as I could. Just think of it as a way to repay for all those wonderful stories of their expeditions."

At the mention of her parents, Key felt her stomach tighten. What did Summerfall know? Mercifully, the answer swiftly followed Key's unasked question. On the inside, Key was relieved. Far from being a pony that she had angered in Manehattan, Summerfall seemed to, literally, be a member of her parents' fan club. It had been too long since she had met a pony that remembered the stories that her parents had both written and been featured in.

The sad truth was that, after their failed expedition to the Frozen North, it was as if all traces of them had been wiped out from the memories of the average pony. They were only well known among the elite members of Equestria's larger cities, and then, only because of their association with the wealthy Stacks family back in Manehattan. A pony that was familiar with her parents, for their own sake, was both a rare and a welcome thing, indeed. Temporarily stunned, Key could only manage a simple response. "Thank you..."

Summerfall's eyes shifted around, afraid that she might had inadvertently said the wrong thing. Without waiting for reply, she excused herself and trot past Key Gear and the others straight to her room's door.

As Summerfall left the area, Key's curious blue eyes followed the mare's path. She had many questions that she wanted to ask Summerfall, but the mare had left before Key was able to say anything else. This action, leaving so quickly, only further enforced Key's positive opinion of Summerfall. The mare wasn't like the ponies that just wanted Key to spill as many stories and facts about her parents as possible. Summerfall was a good pony, she respected Key's privacy and she had offered assistance while expecting nothing in return. Key smiled.

Ambrosia had managed to make it through the first passenger car without colliding into anything or anypony. While making her way through the second passenger car, she wondered what could have possibly brought all of those ponies to the same car, just sitting around talking? Something must have happened, but at least it was not likely to have been anything like the weird happenings that occurred on the train prior to their current stop.

She merely beamed at the other filly and trotted after the lemon mare. She caught up to her in no time, and decided she might as well apologize now, even if she didn't need to.

Asteria had been there with the small gathering as well. Ambrosia had been slightly relieved to see that she was fine. However, Ambrosia had never truly thought that the filly would be in danger. She herself had wondered off many times in her younger years, and she was none the worse for it. The sound of a pony trotting up behind her, caused her to stop. It wasn't Dawn Rider, because he was right there with her and had no reason to trot. Ambrosia turned to see who it was, just as Asteria began to speak.

"Ambrosia. I'd like to say that I'm sorry for disappearing like I did. I don't know if you were worried, or anything, but it was wrong of me either way. I was actually chasing a butterfly." she concluded as if that was all the explanation that she needed.

Smiling warmly, Ambrosia responded without hesitation and without any trace of condemnation for Asteria's actions. "Asteria, it's alright. I accept your apology, and it was good of you to be concerned enough to offer it. The truth, though, is that I wasn't really worried. When I was your age, I used to wonder around sometimes, chasing butterflies and anything else that caught my attention. I was a bit absent minded, actually." Ambrosia laughed softly before continuing.

"That's why I wasn't worried. You see, no matter how far I wandered, I was always safe. I always came back home." She stopped to consider something. "Well, it only helped that the other ponies in my small hometown knew to look out for me. They would return me to my parents all of the time. It was quite funny, actually. Well, look at me, I'm just rambling. Asteria, look, it's ok. I was never upset at you." Without another word, Ambrosia reach out and gave the younger pony a reassuring hug, hoping that Asteria didn't mind its suddenness.

Releasing the filly, she turned to Dawn Rider and addressed both him and Asteria. "Hey, I have an idea? Maybe, the both of you could help me with preparing lunch? We could figure out a menu and then get to making it? Come on!" Ambrosia happily broke into a trot, only stopping when she ran across an unfamiliar face in the third passenger car. An icy looking unicorn was just about to enter the dining car.

With a final nod, and a growl from her stomach, she opened her door and began to make her way towards the dining car. She could start getting to know the other passengers on the train, as soon as her tummy stopped complaining at her.

Ambrosia came to a stop and addressed the new passenger cheerfully. Her cheer was only increased by the thought that maybe this pony would be good for keeping a healthy quantity of ice onboard. "Hello there! I'm Ambrosia, the train's cook. These are my friends, Dawn Rider and Asteria. And..." Ambrosia too a second to appraise Ice Storm. "You look like a hungry pony? What's your name, and are you from Ponyville, originally?"

Bari · April 14, 2013

Lapis nodded with some satisfaction as Springer agreed with him. He honestly had no idea what the assistant conductor would have replied, but Lapis didn't believe a yes from him necessary. He only needed Magicon's approval, considering he was the professional here, and he didn't agree with Lapis's last theory. But with Springer's support, though, Magicon had no choice but to go through with it.

Lapis listened to Arcanel give his point of view. Lapis felt Arcanel would just offer some reason not to go question Dawn. As he was about to sigh, though, the mail pony admitted that the young mare might know something, which was reason enough for Lapis. Investigation was almost insured. Even if Magicon disagreed, Lapis still had the other two. Would Springer get out of his room though? It could raise some concern, so it was doubtful. And Lapis didn't see what was wrong with just asking her directly? Going forward and getting things done saved time. Lapis hated to waste time beating around the bush. Some might call him a pony of action, but he preferred the term 'go-getter'. It just seemed more....aggressive.

It was Springer's turn to speak now, and he made it clear he didn't want to waste time either. The more effective plan would be one that went straight for their target. And he was right about Arcanel. He wouldn't raise an alarm with the young mare if he asked a few questions about Springer's health. At the very least, they could find out if the dream was merely a side effect of the medical magic. Lapis didn't want to jump to conclusions either, actually. If there was a reasonable explanation, he'd take it. But they would be back at square one then. It was something, though, and that was all that mattered.

Lapis liked this plan. He could give his mind a rest while Arcanel did their work for them. Truly an effective plan. "I think that is what would work best to get this done quickly." he said, addressing Springer, "And lunch is a wonderful idea." He then turned to Magicon expecting his answer. "So, does this seem like a good idea? You are the expert here. Nothing wrong with any of it, right?"

She had expected Ambrosia to at least reprimand her. But the mare just gave an award-winning smile and told Asteria it was completely and totally alright. The filly's shoulders sagged in relief. In fact, Ambrosia herself had a tendency to wander off when she was young. But her reasoning about why she wasn't worried was kind of silly. Who was to say nothing bad could've happened to her? Of course, this was Ponyville. One of the friendliest places in Equestria. So she really hadn't been in danger after all.

"Thanks miss Ambrosia for..." But she was cut off by a sudden hug. As Ambrosia wrapped her hooves around the filly, Asteria felt a warmth in her heart. The lemon mare seemed to care so much for her. She returned the hug without hesitation. Once she was released, Ambrosia addressed her and Dawn Rider, whom Asteria had just noticed had been next to Ambrosia all this time. She had been so focused on feeling guilty, she hadn't seen him until now. She giggled silently at her single-mindedness.

"That sounds like an awesome idea! Hey, maybe Key Gear could help too when she catches up?" she said joyfully, but Ambrosia had most likely missed what Asteria had said when she ran off. A look of confused crossed her feature before she ran after the lemon mare. Unfortunately, Ambrosia had stopped short in the next car, causing Asteria collide with her backside. Getting back up real quick, she saw what had caused her friend to stop. Before them was an icy looking mare. She held a quiet beauty, like a light snowstorm. The filly gazed at the unicorn in awe. Was she a new passenger?

Electrobolt · April 14, 2013

After Electrobolt had asked Asteria about where Ambrosia could have been, she had answered his question by saying that she was most likely on her way back to the train, before saying that she had been distracted by a butterfly. Just the way she had simply put it was enough to almost make him chuckle. However, he contained himself once his eyes caught a glimpse of a new pony, behind Key and Asteria. After she had asked if she could get through, it was clear to him that she was a passenger. Just then, Key had introduced herself, Asteria, and himself to the mare as Asteria then introduced the mare known as Summerfall to them all.

"It's nice to meet you, Summerfall," he greeted her. "Also, sorry about being in the wa---" he began, before hearing a familiar voice as Ambrosia entered the passenger car along with another new pony, this time a pegasus. After saying that she would be fixing lunch soon, she then began to head to the dining car, being followed by the pegasus, as well as Asteria. Before she did go, however, Asteria asked if Key would be coming along and possibly help in fixing lunch before she then went off to follow Ambrosia. As he turned his attention back to his sister, he could see that Summer was talking to her, as he heard what she had told Key.

Apparently, Summerfall had known of Key's parents from somewhere before, as she then told Key that she would try to help as best as she could to repay her for hearing everything she heard about Key's parents' expeditions. After that, he then moved out of the mare's way to allow her to get to the next dining car. As he looked around, he noticed that the only ponies around the room were himself and his sister, Key Gear. Feeling that now would be as good a time as ever, he closed the door to passenger car two behind him as he then approached his sister.

As soon as he was close enough, he looked around the room once more, to be sure that they were alone. Satisfied that it was just the two of them in the room, alone, he cleared his throat. Afterwards, he then said in a hushed tone, "So, um... Key..." he started, before looking around the room once more. He didn't wanna say anything around the other ponies, just in case they got the wrong idea. "About that book... Where exactly DID you find it...? And why did you literally run into Asteria...?"

Key Gear · April 14, 2013

Satisfied that it was just the two of them in the room, alone, he cleared his throat. Afterwards, he then said in a hushed tone, "So, um... Key..." he started, before looking around the room once more.

She had forgotten that her brother was in the room. At the sound of his voice, she turned her head to face him. She then realized that there was nopony else there except for the two of them, and the thought, combined with Bolt's furtive glance around the room, caused her some concern. Glancing down at the book that she was still cradling, Key believed that she knew where the conversation was heading.

He didn't wanna say anything around the other ponies, just in case they got the wrong idea. "About that book... Where exactly DID you find it...? And why did you literally run into Asteria...?"

In the presence of Bolt, alone, Key saw no need for deception. "Bolt. I took this book from Dusky. I ran into Asteria because... Well, she was in my way when I was trying to get the book out of there." Key shrugged, trying her best to appear nonchalant. "Look, it's not really what it seems to be. I knew that you had been on the search team earlier, but I thought that maybe Dusky was still hiding something, so I went to have a look." She started talking fast, picking up more speed as she went along.

"When I went in, the room was empty, basically. I looked in his toolbox. Nothing but tools. Then there were some empty cardboard boxes that were stacked weirdly. I looked in there, and the bottom of the boxes were fake. I figured it out, opened one, and there was this book. That's when I realized that the whole thing was probably a trap. I guessed that if that stuff had been there, a bunch of empty boxes in a strange stack, the search would have found them earlier. So, I started to put everything back."

"That's when this really weird thing happened. A unicorn, not Dusky, came into the room using a spell to make herself really shadowy. She was blue, not like me but lighter, kinda like Trixie, but she was younger than Trixie, I think. Anyways, she said her name was Dawn, but... Bolt. The first thing that she did was ask for this book. After that, she gave this bogus story about looking for her cat and she helped me to straighten the room out. I didn't know what she was going to do, because she was so odd. So, I started running, and she actually covered for me when I shot outta there. So, really, Dawn's crazy, who is she anyway?"

Key caught her breath, and then continued. "Anyways, that's when I ran into Asteria. Bolt, I think that the whole thing was probably a trap, either for me or for the unicorn. See, so... I didn't steal this book, by the way. The door was unlocked, the boxes were unlocked, the whole thing was just a ruse. Dusky had even emptied the boxes and put the stuff on a shelf way outta my reach, just so that the stack of empty boxes would look even more suspicious. So, yeah, like I said earlier. It's not what it seems like. The book was practically given to me." Key grinned at her brother. Her reasoning made perfect sense to her, and she figured that he would follow along with it.

Mindful of what Vim had told him, Dusky strolled towards his domain with a bored expression. Vim had departed to alert the stationmaster that the train would soon be departing and, probably, to smooth over any feelings that had been injured by Dusky's own queries. The shadowy pony didn't particularly care about angering others if it was the best way to go about achieving an objective. Emotions were intriguing to observe, but they were also a weakness, one that he was happy to have been able to overcome.

With his long stride, he'd reached the train engine in no time. He slowly opened to door to his area, fully expecting to see a mess. Instead, what he saw was far more surprising. The room was in perfect condition. In fact, everything was exactly how he had left it. Carefully, Dusky checked around the room for cats. The truth was that he really didn't like the creatures at all, they were curious and curiously competent at making messes of things and leaving no trace of their presence but fur. In this case, not even the smallest piece of fur was present.

It was odd. The room had apparently been cleaned with surgical precision. Perhaps, Vim's relaying of events had been completely accurate, but there was only one way that Dusky could make certain. Reaching for the third cardboard box in his stack, he carefully removed the top of it and then removed the false bottom. Then, he stared. Amazingly, right there, as if it had been completely undisturbed was the small book that he had placed there earlier.

Feeling a sense of silent frustration, Dusky retried the book and leafed through its pages carefully, looking for any sign that it had been disturbed. He found none. It was as if nopony had ever been there, and the thought made no sense to him. Surely, somepony had entered, retrieved the book, and exited. Everything had been so carefully arranged... "HELLO THERE!" A mare's voice suddenly boomed from the entrance to the train engine. Turning his head with deliberate slowness, Dusky focused a cold, unblinking stare on the unicorn that had just loudly proclaimed her presence.

She waved at him, mindlessly. "Hello Dusky! You like what I did to the place! I cleaned up a bit! Oh... Well, too bad you didn't see it after my cat had gotten lost in here. She knocked over a bunch of stuff! Don't worry though, everything is as good as new! So! Whaddya think!?" She waved a hoof, indicated the room's cleanliness. For a few moments, Dusky continued to stare, in his mind, he attempted to discern the motivations of the this unicorn.

Showing not even the smallest signs of discomfort, the unicorn spoke again. "My name's Dawn by the way! Could you believe that there are two of us on this train! It's amazing to me! What's your name, is it Dusky?" Masking his irritation with a monotone, Dusky finally spoke. "No. My name is Dusky Coal." The mare blinked in confusion as Dusky continued. "I appreciate your sense of cleanliness, but I have questions. First, this door was shut, how did your cat enter. Second, why didn't I see you when I made my way over to this location. Finally..." Dusky paused and continued to calmly stare.

Not waiting for him to continue, Dawn happily volunteered answers to his questions. "I don't know how she managed to get in here, maybe it was earlier when somepony else entered? And, maybe my cat just went in when the door was opened? Maybe? I'm sorry if that's not helpful." Dawn pouted for just a moment before a smile bounced back onto her face. "Don't worry, I definitely know the answer to your second question! I was invisible! It's a new spell that I've been working on. It's super fun! You wanna try it?!"

Allowing the hint of a frown to show, Dusky spoke with just a hint of menace in his voice. "If I may inquire, what was the point of your deception? And... No... I am not interested in your spell. I have no need to hide myself." Tilting her head to the side, Dawn answered more calmly than before. "Well, I guess there wasn't really a point to it, but I was kinda surprised to see that you had no idea I was there. You know, for a unicorn as intelligent as you, I'd guess that you were really good with magic, but you're not. That's pretty sad."

Not allowing himself to rise to the bait, Dusky remarked simply. "Indeed. I find your answers to be satisfactory. You're dismissed. Please, shut the door behind you. I must prepare the train for departure." Dawn shrugged, remarking over her shoulder before leaving, "Ok, fine. By the way, Ambrosia's making lunch, so whenever you're done being mysterious, you should come to get some food or something." She shut the door on her way out. After she'd left, Dusky took some moments to consider the exchange.

Magicon · April 15, 2013

Magicon listened to each of the three with their own responses about his own activities, his own questions, and what to do and where to go from this location.

"Well, we don't know where to go from here, do we? What purpose is there in just sitting here and staring at a paper that may mean nothing? I can't figure out what it means. It's just a story, and not even a complete one at that. While I doubt Springer's dream means anything, I am suspicious of Dawn. She doesn't sit right with me for some reason. I could be just paranoid here, but maybe Dawn planted the dream in Springer's head? She is his nurse after all. And I've met some pretty strange ponies before. What her motive might be, I do not know. But this is something, is it not?" he concluded, a bit weary.

After racking his brain trying to figure out what the paper meant, something different would be a welcome distraction. "Dawn might know something for all we know. What were the chances she put the note in the train? She had been here since before the search, right? Though any motive for such an act is unclear, the window for the events to occur is quite open in my opinion." he continued. "Unless someone else has some other idea, what's the harm in simply asking Dawn a question or two, eh?"

Magicon nodded at Lapis’s suggestion, acknowledging his suggestion. Talking to Dawn might help solve of these problems; she was the center of this whole ordeal and the most assured way to figure out these questions and mysteries. He had no doubt that she was involved in this to a great extent, the real question as how deep was she involved?

"Well... first things first, I'm sad to say that either of us were able to figure out something new Mr. Magicon. None of us can think of anything that can relate, other than Springer's dream maybe being related to it in some way." He started. "Second, in regards to Dawn, I know that she seems to be a fairly curious pony, and a very cheery one, and very fond of cats. I was with her a small time when I went looking for help to Springer. I wouldn't be surprised if she had teleported or done something similar just to investigate out of curiosity." Arcanel continued explaining, trying to get most things as detailed as possible.

Magicon blinked, but understood what the pegasus was talking about. The paper couldn’t explain anything more than what they already figured out. Only Dawn’s mind seemed to know what this paper meant. But Magicon felt that Dawn was sporadic and uncontrollable. She might’ve written the paper just to screw with everypony. It might mean nothing, and he felt that was the point. Her magic might also be an extension of that. She was just screwing with Magicon. He felt a small fire inside at the thought. Nopony screwed with Magicon. If he found that to be true…she would regret it.

@@Eevee,

Magicon listened intently to what Arcanel was suggesting. He knew his strategy and a small smile appeared on his face. Subtlety was one of Magicon’s greatest traits. Yet he had already confronted Dawn before; subtlety might not be appropriate for him right now. Perhaps Lapis’s suggestion was the best: direct confrontation might get the answers they needed. But as Arcanel kept speaking Magicon began formulating a new idea, but was unable to share it immediately because of Arcanel, who continued speaking.

"Well... I'm not sure if you could do it but... is it possible get a sample of somepony's magic aura, so to speak, or at least have it detected, and trace it back to any other places it might have been used before in the somewhat inmediate past? I mean... before when we were searching we came up with nothing because we didn't go looking for specific ponies who had done something and were mostly looking for that book which never turned up. Now we technically are looking for a specific somepony... I don't like thinking that Dawn is guilty, and mostly because I believe she deserves the benefit of doubt as much this should be fair, but at least this could dissolve any doubts any of us have about her, or maybe even, we could end up finding something in the end." Arcanel concluded, hoping that what he said made sense to everypony and that his idea resonated well within the group.

Magicon could easily answer his question. He could track Dawn’s trace to the front of the train, if he did it quickly. Magical auras faded over time. Yet if they confronted Dawn right now they might get the answers that the front of the train provided, thus saving time and energy. But Dawn might also lie or run away, wasting the groups’ time and energy to try and talk to her. It was then that Magicon’s idea truly began taking on more than a simple dimension, it was quickly becoming a plan.

@

Once Arcanel finished Springer spoke voicing his own ideas. Similar to Lapis, Springer ideas resounded with Magicon about efficiency thought the unicorn would never put it in the same terms as the assistant conductor. Lapis agreed with Springer about the need to be confrontational and aggressive while Arcanel wanted to be more discreet and subtle. Both dies had their merits and faults and Magicon formulated his plan based on those plans.

Speaking quickly Magicon began. “Guys, please! Look, it’s obvious that we need to do something about Dawn. I like the idea of talking to her directly, but my gut tells me she won’t like that. Dawn doesn’t seem like the type of pony to just answer questions willy-nilly. That’s why I propose this solution: we come up with a plan. Thankfully while you guys were explaining yourselves I formulated a plan. Here’s what we’ll do. First, we’ll head to the dining car. It’s a social place and its unlikely Dawn would do anything really crazy in front of many ponies. Plus there will be witnesses to observe her every move.

“To draw her to the dining car or to prevent her from doing anything crazy there, I will cast an invisibility making myself invisible just before we enter the car. She may detect it, and she’ll probably know it’s me, but it adds the pressure for her to either come to the dining car or answer our questions. Then, if she’s there or if she comes to the car, Lapis would you ask her the questions. She really doesn’t know you and therefore doesn’t know what to expect. You might be able to catch her off guard.

“Arcanel, since you know Dawn the most, I want you just to sit at a booth and listen in carefully, but discreetly. You’ll know if she’s lying or skirting the truth. As for you, Springer, fill free to grab some food; I’m sure Ambrosia is cooking up a wonderful meal. Then join Arcanel and listen carefully to Dawn and Lapis. If you feel you’ll need to interject yourself, do so. I will be near the conversation, invisible, but monitoring flow’s aurora just in case she tries anything bizarre. I know it sounds complex, but trust me, it’s not, but tell me, does this sound like a good plan to you guys?”

Electrobolt · April 15, 2013

As he started to hear Key Gear speak, explaining herself to him, Electrobolt's eyes popped wide open as saucers when she mentioned that she had taken the book from Dusky. If expressions could speak words, then his wide eyes would scream, "YOU DID WHAT???!!" As he continues to listen to her, explaining in more detail, he thought in his head, *What does she think she's doing??? Doesn't she remember that Dusky was the pony who THREATENED ME???!! Why would she even do this??? Doesn't she know what might happen should Dusky know that Key was in the engine room, snooping through his stuff?*

The memories of Dusky's threat suddenly resurfaced in his mind, as he suddenly began to feel a cold wave of fear wash over him. What would Dusky do to him, or Key Gear, if he DID find out what she did...? It was at this point that Key mentioned the unicorn, who she called Dawn, and described her as seeming similar to Trixie, only younger. This didn't exactly register in his mind immediately, as the concern about what Dusky might do to them had overriden his current thoughts. After she had continued to speak for a few more minutes, she stopped, finally done. But Electrobolt, he was still standing there, almost as if frozen in fear.

After a few more minutes, his mind finally registered that Key had finished speaking. Taking this time to collect himself, Electrobolt took in a deep breath before exhaling. After taking in another breath, he looked at Key Gear with concern, before speaking in a slightly-hushed tone. "Key... Do you know what might happen if Dusky does realize that the book is missing...? If he realizes that you took it... Who knows what he may do to you... Or even... What he may do to me..." Suddenly, his body shivered in fear. "I mean... He threatened me...! And this Dawn pony... She---"

Just then, his mind registered what Key had said about her, that she wanted the book too. "Wait..." he whispered, before shaking his head. "This Dawn pony... Why would she be wanting an empty book...?" Looking at the book that was in Key's possession, the gears in his head began to turn. Perhaps... Just perhaps there might be something hidden within the blank pages of this book that the unicorn was after. Taking in a quick breath, Electrobolt looked back to Key, before speaking in the same hushed tone again. "Key, I had thought this book was useless at first, being blank... But now... Knowing that Dawn was after it... Not to mention it was in Dusky's possession originally..."

When he said "Dusky", he felt chills run down his spine yet again. "Perhaps there may be more to this book, after all..." he concluded, before clearing his throat. "But still... We have to be careful with the book... Should Dusky notice it, then... I don't want to think about what might happen then..." With that out of the way, he turned around to the door leading to the second passenger car. "Anyways, perhaps we should join up with Ambrosia and Asteria for lunch? They might be waiting on us..." With that, he opened the door to passenger car two and started to walk through it, before stopping inside of the second passenger car and off to the side, waiting to see if his sister would join him.

Alex Night · April 15, 2013

Alex looked back at Flow as she was speaking to both him and Vim.

"Oh hi Alex! I'm doing fine, how about you? Your staying in room 6? Across my room? That's wonderful! I'm sure I'll need some company." She spoke with great enthusiasm, looking directly at his face smiling

Alex smiled back at Flow. It was good that he was rooming across the hall from her since he really didn't have many ponies to be able to talk or even relate to other than Electrobolt and Key Gear. He did wonder how she was doing. "Yeah, it sure is Flow. I'll be more than happy to give you some company if you wish it." Alex said to her kindly until he was interrupted by another Earth Pony calling herself Summerfall.

She looked at the two pegasus near them, whom she recalled as Flow and Alex. She would have to spend two nights sleeping next to their rooms. Summerfall held back a sigh, she hoped that they won’t make any ruckus at night. She smiled curtly at them, nodding slightly and spoke, “Good day to you two. I guess we will be sharing the same passenger car. As you may have heard, my name is Summerfall. Pleased to meet you.” Smiling once more, she excused herself and climbed onto the train.

Alex looked towards her as she introduced herself. He was about to give her a polite greeting until she just walked off onto the train. "Oh... Well, I guess we better get on the train then." Alex said aloud before accepting the key and ticket from Vim. He walked for the train door and stepped inside of the train before turning around looking towards Flow. "Come on, Flow. You wouldn't want to have the train leave without you." Alex said to her cheerfully, moving aside from within the car to allow her room to enter through the door onto the train.

King · April 15, 2013

"Hey, I have an idea? Maybe, the both of you could help me with preparing lunch? We could figure out a menu and then get to making it? Come on!" Ambrosia happily broke into a trot, only stopping when she ran across an unfamiliar face in the third passenger car. An icy looking unicorn was just about to enter the dining car.

Dawn was surprisingly delighted to help Ambrosia with Lunch, he used to enjoy making food with his mother so that could contribute to why he wanted to help so much. "Of course, id love to help.I used to help my own mother whenever she would cook, it was fun to cook for my sister too, she practicaly ate anything I made. Hey who knows, we could make my Birthday cake while we're at it too, I completely forgot that was tomorrow" Dawn laughed as he followed Ambrosia closely, hoping he hadn't talked out of turn about his Birthday.

Ambrosia came to a stop and addressed the new passenger cheerfully. Her cheer was only increased by the thought that maybe this pony would be good for keeping a healthy quantity of ice onboard. "Hello there! I'm Ambrosia, the train's cook. These are my friends, Dawn Rider and Asteria. And..." Ambrosia too a second to appraise Ice Storm. "You look like a hungry pony? What's your name, and are you from Ponyville, originally?"

Dawn looked on as Ambrosia talked with the unfamiliar pony. He himself was interested in talking to them, he had enjoyed talkign with Ambrosia nd Vim, so other ponies would be just as fun he hoped, even thoug hanother side of him wantedto be a little more withdrawn from the whole talking thing, luckily though his talkative side was showing itself alot more then his quiet side.

Dawn smiled at his thoughts and happily listened into Ambrosia conversation.

Ice Storm · April 15, 2013

~~Ice Storm~~

The journey back to the Dining car seemed to be a quiet one for the most part. Throughout most of the walk Ice was beginning to wonder if there were any other passengers on the train yet. Her quest was answered when she heard a few loud slams from the cars behind her. It was rather odd to hear the sudden slam, but it sort of sounded metallic in nature, so she presumed it was something on the engine. If they were making any sort of repairs, then it would make sense for loud slams to be heard.

She continued to trot back towards the dining car, moving rather slowly so that she could take in the sights of the train. The train itself looked as if it were a super fancy hotel on wheels. It was much more luxurious than the trains that she rode to Canterlot and back on occasions. Most of those trains were just an open car with some beds in it that everypony shared. Thankfully the train ride to Canterlot wasn't and overnight trip, otherwise there would be some very unhappy ponies underneath her the next morning. She shuddered at the thought. As she reached the dining car, three new ponies entered the room. One was an average-sized mare with a dandelion colored coat that appeared to contrast in an awe inspiring manner with her shimmering dark lavender mane and tale. On her flank, was that of a wooden mixing spoon trailing green and violet ribbons as if it had been stirred in a figure-eight motion. The two sparkles on the sides re-enforced the stirring motion.

The mare seemed to be speaking with a smaller filly that looked to have just been coming into adolescence, at least judging by her size. The filly was a deep purple in color, and her mane was a burnt orange in color, perhaps a bit darker. it seemed to have a tinge of red in it as well. She watched as they approached and had two suppress a giggle when the smaller mare ran into what Ice presumed to be her mother. The sun-coated mare spoke to her first, Introducing herself as Ambrosa, and introduced the others as her friends Asteria and Dawn Rider. Oh, so they aren't mother and daughter then... Good thing I waited to say anything until they got closer, she thought to herself, noticed the look of awe on Asteria that made her blush a small bit.

Shaking her thoughts mentally, she looked back to Dawn Rider as he had been introduced. He was a pegasus, and much to her surprise, he bore a remarkable resemblance to Rainbow Dash. The only difference was that he had a jet black mane with gold striping, and yet somehow looked even more wild that Rainbow's. She didn't even know that was possible! He seemed to just stand in the back though as the conversation progressed, and Ambrosa stated that she looked like she was hungry, before asking her name and if she was from here in Ponyville.

"Hi!" she started enthusiastically. "My name is Ice Storm, and hungry would be... a bit of an understatement. I was running behind this morning already because it took me longer to pack than anticipated. Mainly because I had to stop by the store on the way because I was out of some necessary essentials that I couldn't leave with out. So I never got a lunch," she continued. She glanced at the other two and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet the three of you, and well... I'm technically from Fillydelphia... but... through a long, long series of events that I'd rather not go into... I moved to Canterlot, and Eventually here to Ponyville. I own the Frozen Delights Parlor here in town. Basically, if it's a desert-ish Item, and it's frozen, I sell it. I even do ice sculptures for those who are interested in them. Thankfully though, most ponies understood when I told them that I was going on a my first ever vacation, and I figured that the best spot to go was the one place that everypony talked about," she finished with a smile. She was finally happy to have fun into somepony else on the train. She was beginning to get quite lonely walking through a train by herself.

Key Gear · April 16, 2013

"Key... Do you know what might happen if Dusky does realize that the book is missing...? If he realizes that you took it... Who knows what he may do to you... Or even... What he may do to me..." Suddenly, his body shivered in fear. "I mean... He threatened me...! And this Dawn pony... She---"

Key froze for a second. Throughout the entire thing, she hadn't thought about the possibility of her brother coming to harm because of her actions. In considering her own well-being, she was certain that she would be more than capable of evading Dusky should it come to that. Her brother, on the other hoof, was too large to hide capably and already had a high profile due to being the stand-in assistant conductor. Key's heart sank. She opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. She wasn't sure of what to say.

Just then, his mind registered what Key had said about her, that she wanted the book too. "Wait..." he whispered, before shaking his head. "This Dawn pony... Why would she be wanting an empty book...?" Looking at the book that was in Key's possession, the gears in his head began to turn. Perhaps... Just perhaps there might be something hidden within the blank pages of this book that the unicorn was after. Taking in a quick breath, Electrobolt looked back to Key, before speaking in the same hushed tone again. "Key, I had thought this book was useless at first, being blank... But now... Knowing that Dawn was after it... Not to mention it was in Dusky's possession originally..."

Her brother had highlighted something else that Key, herself, hadn't fully considered. She had focused on Dawn's wanting the book. She had never stopped to consider the unicorn's motivations. She had dismissed the book as being bait, nothing more than a useless thing planted by Dusky to distract. Now, she realized that her brother was right. The book had been important to Dawn, so perhaps it was important in general. Still, Key's thoughts wandered, and she considered a new alternative. She briefly considered the thought that Dawn and Dusky were working together or somehow connected, but she had no evidence...

When he said "Dusky", he felt chills run down his spine yet again. "Perhaps there may be more to this book, after all..." he concluded, before clearing his throat. "But still... We have to be careful with the book... Should Dusky notice it, then... I don't want to think about what might happen then..." With that out of the way, he turned around to the door leading to the second passenger car. "Anyways, perhaps we should join up with Ambrosia and Asteria for lunch? They might be waiting on us..." With that, he opened the door to passenger car two and started to walk through it, before stopping inside of the second passenger car and off to the side, waiting to see if his sister would join him.

As he finished speaking, Key looked at Bolt curiously. She was quite certain that she had already explained to him that it was a trap. Dusky had to know. The urge to mention this again was strong, but she didn't do so. Instead, Key decided to allow her brother to focus on something else for the time being. Earlier in the day, Dusky had rattled him. Now, she had unintentionally brought him back into conflict with the engineer. Key decided to, for the moment, focus on something else. Lunch sounded like a great idea. "Yeah, bro, that sounds great actually, I'm starving. Just give me a second."

Key went to her room, and then unlocked it. Rushing inside, she poured out the contents of one of her saddlebags and stuffed the book in it. She left her room, locking the door behind her, and then caught up with her brother. Trotting up alongside him, she explained herself. "Like you said, Bolt, I think that we should be careful with this book. I'm taking it with me in here so that nopony can see it unless we want them to." She gestured to her saddlebag. "Maybe we could see if Asteria can check to see if there is something hidden on the pages? She might be able to use her magic? If not, then we could check with Magicon, but... We'd have to be careful, I think, if we dealt with him. He thinks like me... Like I used to think..."

She trailed off and started walking, alongside her brother, to the dining car. A few moments later, she brought up something that had been on her mind. "Hey, bro... Asteria said that maybe I could help Ambrosia in the kitchen? Making lunch? I know that she was upset at me earlier, and she kinda took it out on you... Maybe if I help her cook something, do you think it'd help her to think of me as a good pony?"

"That sounds like an awesome idea! Hey, maybe Key Gear could help too when she catches up?" she said joyfully, but Ambrosia had most likely missed what Asteria had said when she ran off.

She'd caught the filly's words, but she wasn't really certain of what to make of them. To Ambrosia, Key Gear didn't seem like the type of pony that would be excited by doing kitchen work. Key seemed more like the type of pony that would make a mess while trying to cook even something simple. Just as she was reflecting on this, Ambrosia caught herself and gave pause to her thoughts. She had already been unfair to Key Gear once, earlier in the day. Perhaps Asteria's idea was a good one. It would give her a way to get to know Key Gear as more than just a questionably scruffy filly.

"Of course, id love to help.I used to help my own mother whenever she would cook, it was fun to cook for my sister too, she practicaly ate anything I made. Hey who knows, we could make my Birthday cake while we're at it too, I completely forgot that was tomorrow" Dawn laughed as he followed Ambrosia closely, hoping he hadn't talked out of turn about his Birthday.

Ambrosia didn't react immediately to Dawn's words. Instead, at the mention of the word "birthday", her ears perked up, and her mind's eye immediately filled with visions of all manner of cake's and other treats. A pink cake? No, that wouldn't work. It wouldn't match his style at all, so he wouldn't like it. Probably something green. With yellow and black frosting? No, maybe not. That wouldn't look good at all... Her thoughts continued in a similar vein even as Ice Storm spoke. However, to an outside observer, she continued to give the icy pony her full attention.

"Hi!" she started enthusiastically. "My name is Ice Storm, and hungry would be... a bit of an understatement. I was running behind this morning already because it took me longer to pack than anticipated. Mainly because I had to stop by the store on the way because I was out of some necessary essentials that I couldn't leave with out. So I never got a lunch," she continued.

Ice Storm had missed her lunch? At the thought of missing a meal, Ambrosia was horrified. To her, the only problem that a pony should ever have with meals was becoming overstuffed due to having too many of them. Her commitment to cooking a practical but fantastic lunch redoubled. If Ice had missed a meal, then Ambrosia would need to prepare a lunch that was easy to make quickly. Sandwiches were a good option, in this case. But, normal sandwiches were far too boring for Ambrosia's tastes.

She glanced at the other two and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet the three of you, and well... I'm technically from Fillydelphia... but... through a long, long series of events that I'd rather not go into... I moved to Canterlot, and Eventually here to Ponyville. I own the Frozen Delights Parlor here in town. Basically, if it's a desert-ish Item, and it's frozen, I sell it. I even do ice sculptures for those who are interested in them. Thankfully though, most ponies understood when I told them that I was going on a my first ever vacation, and I figured that the best spot to go was the one place that everypony talked about," she finished with a smile. She was finally happy to have fun into somepony else on the train. She was beginning to get quite lonely walking through a train by herself.

"Your first ever vacation?!" Wide-eyed at the thought of going for so long without a breather, Ambrosia let the question tumble from her mouth, and it was quickly followed by more concern. "And, you missed lunch today? Ice Storm, you poor thing! Let me get you something right now!" Slipping past Ice Storm, Ambrosia entered the dining car to make something for her hungry guest. She would make something a bit fancier later, but, at the moment she wanted to make sure that Ice Storm wasn't starving. A starving pony on a train where Ambrosia was cooking, that was a bad thing.

The dining car was quite a bit nicer than the standard dining car onboard most trains. The arrangement was simple but effective. Rather than the normal "booth-style" dining areas on most passenger trains, the Los Pegasus Express had been equipped with normal chairs and tables. The chairs were arranged four to a table, and the tables lined both sides of the car. Four tables made for a total of 16 seats. Despite being a train car and sharing space with the kitchen, the dining area was surprisingly roomy, owing a lot to the clever method that had been used to give the Los Pegasus Express just a few more inches of width to each train car.

Not wasting much time, Ambrosia went straight to the kitchen and fixed a quick but substantial salad for Ice Storm. It was a pear salad with pears, cheese, avocado, and some hazelnuts. It was topped off with a sprinkling of sugar and some pepper for taste. It only took her a few moments to complete the salad, and she set the finished product on one of the tables closest to the kitchen. With a broad smile, Ambrosia addressed Ice Storm. "Well, it isn't a full meal, but I made you a pear salad to tide you over until lunch is ready. I can't very well call myself a cook if I have ponies starving right next to the kitchen while I prepare a meal. That just wouldn't be right." Ambrosia laughed, her characteristic cheeriness was in full force.

Similarly to how Dusky considered the train engine his own domain, to Ambrosia, the kitchen was her kingdom. When she was there and ponies were hungry, it was time to start getting things done. After waiting for Ice Storm's response, Ambrosia addressed Dawn and Asteria. "I think that we should get started on lunch now. Just imagine... If Ice Storm missed lunch, then maybe the boarding time of the train messed up other pony's meals as well. We can't have hungry ponies on the train, so I think that we should make something that's quick but still filling. Maybe more salads? I'm not sure if they should all be pear salads though... What do you think about strawberry salads, lettuce wraps with mushroom, and for dessert... Well... Hmmm..."

Her thoughts went back to Dawn's birthday. A birthday cake would make a wonderful dessert, but there were a few problems with the idea. She wasn't sure that Dawn would want to have a party on the train, and she wanted to keep lunch simple, to allow the passengers to interact with each other. "Dawn, since it's your birthday, then maybe we could have a party for you on the train? We could probably cook the cake now, and we could celebrate your birthday around dinnertime, after the passengers have had a chance to get to know you? Otherwise, they'd probably wonder who you were and the party wouldn't be nearly as fun! To cut down on cooking time, we could make the cake a cinnamon cake and make cinnamon cookies for lunch at the same time, since they both use cinnamon? So, what do you think? Dinnertime birthday party?" Unable to resist, Ambrosia grinned when she finished talking. She loved a good party...

(OOC: Apologies if this seems a bit lacking compared to normal. Hand pains were bothering me and I was swamped with distractions of all types, so I had to "be efficient". Descriptions were made available both for the benefit of newer players and because something wonky is about to happen in the dining car. Good to know the layout.)

Edited September 15, 2013 by Luminescence

Starshine · April 16, 2013

After fumbling around with the hilariously small key, Summerfall finally managed to open the cabin's door. She quickly dashed into the room that she would occupy for the next two nights, eager to see whether the cabin's interior would match the post exterior of the train or not. What she saw in front of her was, to put it bluntly, not something she expected.

"Hmm," Summerfall hummed a monotone tune while she trotted to the shelf. She prodded the piece of furniture with a hoof. It was not a type of wood that she was familiar of. She wasn't even sure if it was made of wood or not. Other than the shelf and a mandatory bed, there was nothing else but a simple drawer at the other side of the room. The mare rolled her eyes. She silently scolded herself for expecting something fascinating from a free ride. "At least I got a bed," She shrugged. With a flick of her hoof she unlatched her saddlebag from her back and put it next to the bed, taking great care not to crush anything inside it.

The mare laid down her head on the bed. She was half expecting that she would have to spend the night on a particularly coarse bed, thus she was a bit shocked that the bed was actually nice and comfy. A bit too comfortable. She could feel that the muscles on her neck almost melted from the contact with such downy material, begging for a premature release from their duties of the day. "Not now, sleep can wait," She whined. It wasn't even evening yet. "I still have to get myself some lunch."

After making sure that her saddlebag was in a good condition and her room securely locked, Summerfall trotted to deeper to the train, away from the engine. She assumed that since Ambrosia and the Dawn pegasus walked to this direction earlier, the dining car would be somewhere deeper in the train. She came across @Key Gear and @Electrobolt. She smiled at them while she trot by. "Good day. Here for the lunch too?"

The dining car was quite lavish. Four tables with four chair each. There was a gaggle of ponies in the dining car, but Summerfall didn't made any attempt to introduce herself. She instead picked a chair near the window, putting the table between her and the ponies.

Edited April 16, 2013 by Starshine

Dave (RayFriedh) · April 16, 2013

Maple saw Electrobolt hurrying away, and turned back to her door. She'd have time to talk to him later, probably- for now, there was the matter of acquainting herself with her room- as she thought this, her belly let out a small growl- and, of course,the matter of food... she had forgotten to eat breakfast today, just like she always forgot to eat when she wasn't prompted to. She quickly shook herself to bring her attention back to the hinged portal. On it, the number 12 was written in an italic font, on a bronze-coloured metal screwed to the door. The doors were made of what seemed to be fine, smooth wood.

Bracing herself- for no particular reason, she pushed the door and- The door did not open.

She pulled the door, and it did not open. Confused, she kept trying to force it open, worry now beginning to flood her mind. She was about to try to buck the door open like she saw the Apple ponies at the farm do it, when, right before a major hindleg dislocation could occur, the key slid out of her saddlebag, making an abrupt cling on the floor.

Mentally facehoofing, she looked around to see if anypony was around to see her. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be. "Everypony must be in the dining room...", she thought, "I should go there after I leave my saddlebag here..." She carefully picked up the small key, and quickly inserted it into the lock. With a turn, with a push, and with a little less foalish excitement. she entered.

The room was occupied by two small wooden shelves with a few books- some of which Maple instantly recognized as classics in the world of literature, plus a few others-, a light-brown carpet which Maple noted felt great beneath her hooves, and a bed on which there was a cherry-red blanket resting neatly on top of it, as well as a fluffy white pillow. Maple resisted her urge to jump on the bed.

Leaving her saddlebag on top of the shelves, besides the novel "Dr. Pink and Ms. Amena" she began to leave for the dining room- only to stop and go back to her saddlebag to retrieve a pencil and some paper. Folding the paper, she put both of these behind her ears, the paper hiding behind her mane.

There! Now she was all set. She left the key on the bed and trotted outside, shut the door with a swift flick of her tail, and then made her way towards where she thought she saw the dining room. Carefully stepping to the car, (Thankfully labeled "Dining Room" on the frame of the door) she opened the door, and peeked inside- inside there were four ponies- among them was the icy-coloured pony from before. Three of the ponies seemed to be clambering to talk to one honey-coloured Earth Pony, whom, she noticed, had a cutie mark of a ladel! She must be the cook! Just who she was looking for- she'd get to know all the other ponies while she waited, maybe.

"Hi!", she called, as she trotted towards the ponies. "I'm Maple! What's happening?" She stopped when she was near the others, and gave her a smile, anticipating her own joke- "Are you the cook? You must be pretty good- you've a whole crowd here!"

Bari · April 17, 2013

Ice Storm's voice was like the tinkling of fresh snow. Not something easily put into words. She seemed like a friendly kind of pony, and a hungry one at that. Ambrosia wasted no time in fixing the mare a quick meal, and Asteria watched in awe at the lemon mare's speed. And once she was finished, she addressed Asteria and Dawn Rider. Her suggestions sounded delicious. "That all sounds lovely, Ambrosia. When can we start?" Asteria asked as her heartbeat quickened with excitement.

Asteria hadn't caught that it was Dawn Rider's birthday, so when she heard Ambrosia talk about it, her heart almost burst with excitement. A birthday was a once in awhile sort of thing. She never seemed to catch anypony's birthday since she was always traveling, and of course, her own birthday was once a year. This would be a wonderful way to spend the evening. And she would get to help put it all together. "Yay, cinnamon cake! So, will we start now?" she asked for the second time. It was clear she wanted to start cooking immediately.

Electrobolt · April 17, 2013

As soon as Key Gear started to join him, Electrobolt walked along his side, on the way to the dining car. However, once they entered the third passenger car, Key excused herself for a moment before entering her room. He was wondering what his sister was doing. Was she going to leave the book in there? If so, then Dusky would possibly be able to get into there and take it back himself. But then again, perhaps she might be trying something else. Just then, she exited her room and closed the door behind her as she wore her saddlebag.

After she had locked the door behind her, Key turned around and explained her plan to Electrobolt. As she spoke, he nodded at what she was saying. In his mind, he agreed, *Hiding the book in her saddlebag, and taking it with her as if she was carrying some other goods inside... Sounds like it'd make a clever plan...* After hearing about the plan to use either Asteria's or Magicon's magic to see if there was anything hidden on the pages of the book, he felt that was a rather reasonable plan. "Hmm," he began. "If there is something hidden, then perhaps magic would reveal it's secrets... But then again, maybe not. There's no way to know unless we try, however."

A few moments later, she brought up something that had been on her mind. "Hey, bro... Asteria said that maybe I could help Ambrosia in the kitchen? Making lunch? I know that she was upset at me earlier, and she kinda took it out on you... Maybe if I help her cook something, do you think it'd help her to think of me as a good pony?"

After having finished, Electrobolt continued to approach the dining car along with Key, before stopping near the door when his sister spoke up, asking him a question. After she had finished, he then thought on the subject in his mind. *She's right... Ambrosia did make quite a fuss earlier about Key... Perhaps it was because of the word 'thief' that she got riled up... She seemed pretty calm now, but... I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea to---* Just then, another pony had spoken up while he was in thought, as he looked to see who the pony was.

She smiled at them while she trot by. "Good day. Here for the lunch too?"

As he looked over, Electrobolt recognized the pony from earlier, known as Summerfall. She had asked them if they were going to eat lunch as well, before entering the dining car without waiting for an answer. *Heh... She must be quite hungry...* he thought, before shaking his head. Looking back to Key Gear, he smiled as he nodded his head. "I would think that it'd be a good idea to help her out, yes. Helping her out with lunch should be a good way to help improve her thoughts about you as a good pony." After answering his sister, Electrobolt then turned around to open the door to the dining car and walked in, Key following him in.

As he looked around, he could see a few ponies already in the room. There was Summerfall, the icy-blue mare from earlier, Asteria, Ambrosia, Maple Sands, and the pegasus that he had seen with Ambrosia. *Seems like this room is becoming popular... No surprise, what with Ambrosia's cooking! Heh...* As he looked over to Ambrosia, he noticed that she, along with Asteria and Dawn Rider seemed to be talking about something as they looked pretty excited over something while Maple was around the group. Curious, he decided to approach the small group of ponies. As soon as he was near the group, he spoke up, saying, "Hello Ambrosia! If I might ask, what do you have planned for lunch?"

Arcanel · April 17, 2013

"I don't think that we need to go through all of this. We are not trying to discern guilt or innocence, I think. Ummm... What we are trying to do is to efficiently come to an understanding of what happened. For myself, I don't think that she is either guilty or innocent of anything, but the facts that we have now suggest that she may have had the opportunity to do something that pertains to my dream and the paper. We should act on this fact, discover if it is true or false."

As much as Arcanel respected the devotion of Springer to efficiency, now he was starting to think that it was getting a bit out of hoof. *Oh Springer... I know that you want to act right now, as technically it is the best way... but... if Dawn's feelings get hurt in some way in this if she had nothing to do with anything, then this could turn into something much worse...* he thought, worried that Springer's wanton of efficiency might turn into something bad at the rate it was going. However, Springer wasn't finished talking.

"Then, there is another problem. The spell that she used to revive me was powerful. If we were to trace her magical aura, then we would end up retracing her path back to this original location or into Ponyville. The train is about to leave, Vim rarely runs behind schedule by more than a few minutes. We really don't have the time to search all of Ponyville. Why don't we just go directly to Dawn and ask her something? Lapis is right. We need the answers that Dawn can give us. Arcanel, I think that the questions that you derived earlier would be the efficient ones to ask.

As soon as the green pegasus finished telling the second reason, Arcanel agreed this time. *It is true... if there are traces, they would probably be more the main source of whatever tracer spell Magicon could use or even anypony else.* The mailpony determined. However, as Springer said that Arcanel had the questions that would be appropiate, he turned to look the assistant conductor directly in the eye.

"Since you are the other pony on this train with an interest in my well-being and the questions were yours, perhaps you should go to speak with Dawn? She would conclude that you were simply looking after me, as you have been. Her suspicions would not be raised. In fact... Because of Magicon, we know where she is right now. You could trace her path yourself. Leave through the caboose, fly to the train engine. If she is there, then you can speak with her, simply, ask your questions, gather her answers and return. It would be a paradigm of efficiency. While you did this, the rest of us could... Ummm... We could seek a meal. I'm rather hungry and it is nearly lunch time. Is this plan acceptable?"

*Wha...?!* was all Arcanel could think being left with eyes wide open as the thought of being himself the one who would have to, subtly, look for answers in Dawn, while also remembering that he didn't think she was guilty, as he also did not think that the plan was a bad idea overall. *Also... how come he can go ha-... well... Springer has been through a lot more than me... so I guess it would be okay. I wonder if Lapis could offer some support.* he pondered, wondering if said earth pony would offer assistance on what may be his new mission.

"I think that is what would work best to get this done quickly." he said, addressing Springer, "And lunch is a wonderful idea."

If Arcanel hadn't controlled himself, he would have protested outloud. *Wait, what? Oy! You're not the only one who hasn't had lunch in a good while!... (Sigh)... still, Springer's plan does seem like the best choice... even though I'm not sure how well would I do... oh dear...* the white pegasus lamented, not having imagined that he might be the one who would be in the direct course of action to take. Suddenly, another voice entered his ears.

“Guys, please! Look, it’s obvious that we need to do something about Dawn. I like the idea of talking to her directly, but my gut tells me she won’t like that. Dawn doesn’t seem like the type of pony to just answer questions willy-nilly. That’s why I propose this solution: we come up with a plan. Thankfully while you guys were explaining yourselves I formulated a plan. Here’s what we’ll do. First, we’ll head to the dining car. It’s a social place and its unlikely Dawn would do anything really crazy in front of many ponies. Plus there will be witnesses to observe her every move.

While Magicon started speaking, Arcanel couldn't help but feel that Magicon disliked Dawn more than he might have implied before. *Why is he so suspicious of her... did something happen between them?* Was the question that rounded the pony's mind as he got his attention back to Magicon's plan.

“To draw her to the dining car or to prevent her from doing anything crazy there, I will cast an invisibility making myself invisible just before we enter the car. She may detect it, and she’ll probably know it’s me, but it adds the pressure for her to either come to the dining car or answer our questions. Then, if she’s there or if she comes to the car, Lapis would you ask her the questions. She really doesn’t know you and therefore doesn’t know what to expect. You might be able to catch her off guard.

The more the crimson unicorn explained his plan, the more worried Arcanel felt about it. *I'm not so sure going into the dining room is such a good place to go anyway... And if that weren't enough... what if Dawn suspects something's up? I mean... if she's only supposed to detect Magicon... wouldn't she detect that there's something else going on as well? However, I have to admit... Lapis talking to Dawn seems like a better idea than me, given that I might be too biased... but...* he trailed off, unsure of what could happen if Lapis asked the question with the wrong tone and he didn't realize it.

“Arcanel, since you know Dawn the most, I want you just to sit at a booth and listen in carefully, but discreetly. You’ll know if she’s lying or skirting the truth. As for you, Springer, fill free to grab some food; I’m sure Ambrosia is cooking up a wonderful meal. Then join Arcanel and listen carefully to Dawn and Lapis. If you feel you’ll need to interject yourself, do so. I will be near the conversation, invisible, but monitoring flow’s aurora just in case she tries anything bizarre. I know it sounds complex, but trust me, it’s not, but tell me, does this sound like a good plan to you guys?”

As Magicon finished speaking, Arcanel now felt that he should voice his concerns about both plans that had been conceived. "Ummm... if I may... Mr. Magicon... I don't know about your plan, to be completely honest... I have my own worries about why the plan might not be the best idea that we could follow... however, I do believe that it's a good idea to get to the dining room anyway. We ALL need to eat something, I believe... for the record though, it's not that I think your plan is bad. It's that I want to make sure that you have thought of everything that could happen and be prepared for it. I believe I'd rather follow Springer's previous plan, but... I'm not sure either. Do you think we can finish discussing this while eating something?" he explained, now his stomach slightly corrupting his mindset as the pegasus hadn't much at all either. "Also... Mr. Magicon... if you don't mind me asking... you seem... awfully suspicious of Dawn... did something happen between you two?" he asked, hoping that he hadn't touched a sensitive subject.

King · April 17, 2013

"I think that we should get started on lunch now. Just imagine... If Ice Storm missed lunch, then maybe the boarding time of the train messed up other pony's meals as well. We can't have hungry ponies on the train, so I think that we should make something that's quick but still filling. Maybe more salads? I'm not sure if they should all be pear salads though... What do you think about strawberry salads, lettuce wraps with mushroom, and for dessert... Well... Hmmm..."

Dawn's stomach rumbled lowly as Ambrosia spoke about the lettuce wraps with mushroom, it was easily one of his favourite foods and he was most looking forward to eating soon. "Those sound absolutely wonderful right now, well to me anyway. And Im sure the other ponies would be quite hungry, so the quicker we make this, the quicker we get to dig in" Dawn smiled as he spoke.

"Dawn, since it's your birthday, then maybe we could have a party for you on the train? We could probably cook the cake now, and we could celebrate your birthday around dinnertime, after the passengers have had a chance to get to know you? Otherwise, they'd probably wonder who you were and the party wouldn't be nearly as fun!

Dawn cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out how Ambrosia knew it was his birthday, was she some sort of secret unicorn without the horn?

Dawn went over several theories before remembering his earlier chat with Ambrosia and his mentioning of his birthday, and shook his head, chuckling at his own stupid moment, he could be rather forgetful sometimes, especially when ti comes to his own personal life, like remembering Birthdays and other such events that should hold high importance to everypony.

To cut down on cooking time, we could make the cake a cinnamon cake and make cinnamon cookies for lunch at the same time, since they both use cinnamon? So, what do you think? Dinnertime birthday party?" Unable to resist, Ambrosia grinned when she finished talking. She loved a good party...

"You don't have to do that for me if you don't want Ambrosia, I wasn't really expecting any kind of party to be honest, but you know, if you'd like to do something like this then I'd absolutely love you...not in that way...you know what I mean" Dawn stumbled over his words and laughed it off awkwardly. He stretched his wings which were becoming quite stiff, showing off the underside of his wing which still bore a scar from an old accident.

"I do suppose it would be a wonderful way to have a party though, on a train headed for Las Pegasus, filled with interesting Ponies to talk to, not to mention I haven't exactly met everypony yet, so it would be great for socialisation. Just don't go all out or anything, there is absolutely no need to fuss over me, Im only a simple pony" Dawn smiled slightly as he brought his wings back into his sides and shifted the weight of his saddlebag from still holding all his stuff.

Dawn quickly remembered that he was holding some of Ambrosia's ingredients and cut in before Ambrosia could respond. "Oh where did you want me to put the ingredients in my saddlebag, cause I'd rather not be holding them the entire trip, I may eat them on you" Dawn chuckled.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Dawn♥Rider

Flow · April 18, 2013

For a minute, Flow thought about the pony that had just greeted her and Alex, "I guess she was really in a hurry, can't get mad at that," was all she thought. Soon then, she saw Alex step inside the train and told her

He walked for the train door and stepped inside of the train before turning around looking towards Flow. "Come on, Flow. You wouldn't want to have the train leave without you." Alex said to her cheerfully, moving aside from within the car to allow her room to enter through the door onto the train.

@,

She giggled before replying, "Alright then, I'm just happy that your um.....moving in into the car i'm staying in, the fact that you might have the same interests like me, I'm sure it'll be nice talking with you, I guess it would make up for the bad stuff that happened yesterday. Come to think of it...even though I live by myself in Ponyvile, I...I actually feel lonely in car that I sleep in....it just feels...different. I don't know why, maybe....maybe it was due to with what I had experienced in the past few days..." She paused to think about it, but she decided to save it for another time, she resumed talking "And that's the reason why I was very happy when I learned that you'll be staying across my room. I'm actually thankful that Mr. Conduc- I mean that Vim made that decision." She then wore a big smile on her face and stepped inside the train.

Edited April 19, 2013 by Flow (Naru)

Key Gear · April 19, 2013

Speaking quickly Magicon began. “Guys, please! Look, it’s obvious that we need to do something about Dawn. I like the idea of talking to her directly, but my gut tells me she won’t like that. Dawn doesn’t seem like the type of pony to just answer questions willy-nilly. That’s why I propose this solution: we come up with a plan. Thankfully while you guys were explaining yourselves I formulated a plan. Here’s what we’ll do. First, we’ll head to the dining car. It’s a social place and its unlikely Dawn would do anything really crazy in front of many ponies. Plus there will be witnesses to observe her every move.

Springer watched Magicon carefully as the unicorn spoke. He was extremely mindful of one very important thing, Magicon's plan was now the third or fourth in what had been a sequence of proposed plans to approach Dawn. He was beginning to worry, and his concern was simple. Planning was an important part of being efficient, but the planning itself had to be efficient. In his own experience, if the planning continued for too long, then it eventually became a session of planning about planning - an endless cycle of plans.

"Coming up with a plan?" He silently repeated the unicorn's words as his concerns redoubled. It looked like they had already slipped into a cycle of inefficient planning. He thought about saying something, but he decided to hear Magicon out. The unicorn was, from what Springer had seen, highly intelligent. It was worth hearing what he had to say and, perhaps, one response to it. After that, the time for action would be at hoof.

When Magicon mentioned heading directly to the dining car, Springer nodded. This actually sounded much more straightforward than his own idea of sending Arcanel to question Dawn alone, and it had the added benefit of providing safety. There was only one thing about this approach that Springer didn't quite like. Being observed by other ponies would limit both Dawn and the ponies confronting her. He made note of this to mention it later.

“To draw her to the dining car or to prevent her from doing anything crazy there, I will cast an invisibility making myself invisible just before we enter the car. She may detect it, and she’ll probably know it’s me, but it adds the pressure for her to either come to the dining car or answer our questions. Then, if she’s there or if she comes to the car, Lapis would you ask her the questions. She really doesn’t know you and therefore doesn’t know what to expect. You might be able to catch her off guard.

Gently, not enough to be noticed, Springer shook his head. He knew that it was near the time that lunch would be served, so it was strongly likely that Dawn would already be in the dining car or she would soon be joining it. Springer tended to think of unicorn magic as a resource that was depleted as used, so it seemed to him that to use magic to lure her there would be wasteful. That magic should be conserved in the event of an actual conflict, where it could be used to safeguard other ponies and possibly restrain Dawn if the worst should come to pass.

His thoughts took a different turn as he considered Lapis as being the pony to ask her questions. Springer appraised the studious earth pony. While he was not very good at reading other ponies at all, he was certain that Lapis was, in some way at least, similar to himself. Based on this, Springer thought of how he would approach Dawn. He would be efficient. He would cut straight to the point, ask the questions that needed to be asked, get answers and move on. Springer nodded his head vigorously, and he felt slightly ashamed that he hadn't thought of this approach. It was brilliant, clearly efficient.

“Arcanel, since you know Dawn the most, I want you just to sit at a booth and listen in carefully, but discreetly. You’ll know if she’s lying or skirting the truth. As for you, Springer, fill free to grab some food; I’m sure Ambrosia is cooking up a wonderful meal. Then join Arcanel and listen carefully to Dawn and Lapis. If you feel you’ll need to interject yourself, do so. I will be near the conversation, invisible, but monitoring flow’s aurora just in case she tries anything bizarre. I know it sounds complex, but trust me, it’s not, but tell me, does this sound like a good plan to you guys?”

With a raised eyebrow, Springer now appraised Arcanel. While he respected the mailpony greatly, he wasn't entirely certain that Arcanel was the right pony for this task. Again, he was thinking outside of his comfort zone, but he was pretty sure that it would be far more difficult to read the emotions of another pony than what Magicon had assumed. He thought of his own, continued, difficulties understanding the emotions of other ponies. While Arcanel was undoubtedly better than he was at this art, the incident that had occured earlier caused Springer to have some doubts.

Just a few moments before, a panicked Arcanel had disclosed that he was in danger of missing an assigned date to deliver a letter. The poor pony had talked almost as though he might be in danger of physical harm from failing in his task. His concern for disappointing his boss, Fast Post, had been tremendous. Plainly, Springer considered, Arcanel had not actually thought rationally about Fast Post's actual emotions. Springer doubted that the mailpony would have come to any serious harm even if no explanation had been given. It was, after all, his first long range assignment, there would have been leniency.

While smiling at Magicon's suggestion that he get food, Springer attempted to put a hoof on exactly why he believed that Arcanel wasn't suited for this task. After a few moment in thought, he found it. The fact was that Arcanel had a tendency towards exaggeration, and exaggeration was inefficient. If Arcanel misread Dawn's intent, and they took action based on this mistaken information, then they might err horribly. Arcanel's voice interrupted his thoughts.

As Magicon finished speaking, Arcanel now felt that he should voice his concerns about both plans that had been conceived. "Ummm... if I may... Mr. Magicon... I don't know about your plan, to be completely honest... I have my own worries about why the plan might not be the best idea that we could follow... however, I do believe that it's a good idea to get to the dining room anyway. We ALL need to eat something, I believe... for the record though, it's not that I think your plan is bad. It's that I want to make sure that you have thought of everything that could happen and be prepared for it. I believe I'd rather follow Springer's previous plan, but... I'm not sure either. Do you think we can finish discussing this while eating something?" he explained, now his stomach slightly corrupting his mindset as the pegasus hadn't much at all either. "Also... Mr. Magicon... if you don't mind me asking... you seem... awfully suspicious of Dawn... did something happen between you two?" he asked, hoping that he hadn't touched a sensitive subject.

The need for food was a practical observation, but Springer grimaced as Arcanel discussed finishing a plan while eating something. That would be the ultimate in inefficiency. Not only would Dawn be likely to wander in and overhear their plans, but also... It would be more planning about planning. Only, because Magicon had just made a plan about the plans, then further planning would be planning about planning about planning. His eyes widened as he tried to take it all in. "Ummmm..." Was all that he could manage to say. Just as Arcanel finished speaking, Springer put his hooves to his head and fell backwards into a slumped, sitting position. "No! No no no no! This is not efficient! None of this is!" He sat for a few moments, attempting to regather his thoughts.

Eventually, he took his hooves from his head and returned, unsteadily, to a standing position. As he spoke, his voice picked up speed. "I'm sorry, everyone, and... I hope that you are not offended by my outburst. However, I stand by my thoughts. All of this is inefficient. Magicon, using magic to lure Dawn to the Dining Car would not be needed. It is lunchtime, she will be there. Ummm... Besides. It would be better for you to be seen. The visible presence of another unicorn may deter her from even attempting anything unwise. Then, another thing. If she is spooked by your invisibility, she may react even if she's innocent of all wrong. That would give us bad evidence."

Now, he turned to Arcanel. "Arcanel. I don't think that you should be tasked with reading Dawn's emotions. You exaggerate far too much. If you read her intentions incorrectly, then again we would have bad evidence. Finally. The time for planning is over. We need to take action now. If we continue to plan, then we may be here until nightfall. I don't even think that I can stand that long. I am tired. I think that we should act. And, I know what we should do. After this, I do not think that we should do anymore planning. It is becoming dangerous - our plans are about plans. We need action."

Springer took a deep breath and let it out before continuing. "I think that we should all go to the dining car. Here, Magicon and Arcanel are correct. I think that Lapis should ask Dawn questions. And... I think that Magicon should accompany him for safety. Arcanel and I will sit at a different table, nearby. Lapis will, I think, ask direct questions. That would be perfect. We need information quickly... Ummm..."

Springer tilted his head to the side and was lost in thought for a moment. "Ummm... Wait... Actually, I will accompany Lapis. Dawn is here to safeguard me. If I am there, she would not harm Lapis. I am in a weakened state, so it would put me in danger. I think that this is something that she would not do. I would be a more effective guard for Lapis than Magicon. Then... There is another thing... If she is here to protect me and she suspects nothing of Lapis, then she would likely join us of her own accord. It would be a less confrontational setting. Magicon... You and Arcanel would sit nearby. If... If this course of action is acceptable, then, we should go immediately to the dining car and take our positions."

"Hmm," he began. "If there is something hidden, then perhaps magic would reveal it's secrets... But then again, maybe not. There's no way to know unless we try, however."

She couldn't help herself. It seemed to Key that it was magic or bust no matter which way they looked at it, and she knew something that her brother didn't know. The book would be valuable just as much for its abilities to tease out information from others as for whatever was actually written in it. It was a good thing too, because thinking about the tiny tome, she doubted that the information in it would be much value even when it was revealed.

An amusing thought occurred to her, and without thinking, she voiced it by speaking out loud, silently. "Or, you know... We could just ask Dusky what's in it. It is his book after all, so he'd know right?" She started to laugh but caught herself. Her brother was unlikely to be amused by the thought. She hoped that he hadn't heard it. She watched Electrobolt out of the corner of her eyes and she waited for a response to her other, earlier question. Unfortunately, before he could respond, Summerfall reappeared.

She came across Key Gear and Electrobolt. She smiled at them while she trot by. "Good day. Here for the lunch too?"

Her paranoia suggested that Summerfall had intentionally timed her exit from her room so that she could greet them. She, quickly, tried to dismiss the thought, but... She couldn't. It seemed to Key that perhaps Summerfall had more information or knew something that could help her. After all, Summerfall had both offered her help and she seemed to be familiar with Key's parents. With this chance reappearance, it seemed reasonable, to Key, to expect that the earth pony had additional information. Her mind continued to wander for some moments, until, finally, Bolt's voice interrupted the fog.

"I would think that it'd be a good idea to help her out, yes. Helping her out with lunch should be a good way to help improve her thoughts about you as a good pony." After answering his sister, Electrobolt then turned around to open the door to the dining car and walked in, Key following him in.

With Bolt's approval having been given, Key's heart jumped. It was a good idea. She followed Bolt into the Dining Car, but she shot by him when she caught sight of Ambrosia speaking to some of the other passengers. "Hey Ambrosia! Asteria said that I could help you make lunch! Can I, please?" Her voice betrayed a genuine eagerness. It had been a while since she'd done something simply for fun. Key couldn't wait to get started.

Her suggestions sounded delicious. "That all sounds lovely, Ambrosia. When can we start?" Asteria asked as her heartbeat quickened with excitement.

It did sound lovely, and Ambrosia was ready to start, right then and there. However, there was still the matter of a birthday party to attend to. Ambrosia hoped that it didn't take too long to do so. While she was trying her best to contain her enthusiasm, the truth was that she was just as eager as Asteria was to get things started. She always felt this way before cooking a meal, and with the preparations for a dinnertime party, she would be cooking almost two meals. Her joy and energy were doubled.

"You don't have to do that for me if you don't want Ambrosia, I wasn't really expecting any kind of party to be honest, but you know, if you'd like to do something like this then I'd absolutely love you...not in that way...you know what I mean" Dawn stumbled over his words and laughed it off awkwardly. He stretched his wings which were becoming quite stiff, showing off the underside of his wing which still bore a scar from an old accident.

She'd figured that Dawn Rider would protest the birthday idea, and she had already prepared a response. She started speaking almost as soon as he did. "Well, I do want to, a party would be fun for everypony. Not expecting it would make it even better, I thi..." She cut herself short as Dawn finished his own statement. Ambrosia blinked, and Dawn's awkward laugh was matched by her awkward smile. "Riiiight... I know what you mean." Thinking back to her parents' cautionary statements about "drifters", smooth-talking had definitely been one of the traits that she'd been warned about. Ambrosia figured that this was an example of that. She wasn't offended though; she thought that it was funny.

"I do suppose it would be a wonderful way to have a party though, on a train headed for Las Pegasus, filled with interesting Ponies to talk to, not to mention I haven't exactly met everypony yet, so it would be great for socialisation. Just don't go all out or anything, there is absolutely no need to fuss over me, Im only a simple pony" Dawn smiled slightly as he brought his wings back into his sides and shifted the weight of his saddlebag from still holding all his stuff.

"Uh huh..." Ambrosia remarked somewhat coyly while glancing away. In her head, she made plans to do exactly what Dawn Rider had told her not to. In fact, by saying that there was no need to make a fuss about it, he had virtually ensured that Ambrosia would give it her all. She liked parties, and she especially loved parties for modest ponies. Typically a pony that insisted on no fuss being made was the best kind of pony to have at a party - a kind and friendly one.

Dawn quickly remembered that he was holding some of Ambrosia's ingredients and cut in before Ambrosia could respond. "Oh where did you want me to put the ingredients in my saddlebag, cause I'd rather not be holding them the entire trip, I may eat them on you" Dawn chuckled.

She looked back towards the pegasus before responding with a cheerful laugh. "Well, you wouldn't want to eat that stuff! Since you are what you'd eat, you'd turn into a pile of cinanmon with wings. Just drop it off on the counter in the kitchen. Don't put it on the shelves yet, I kinda have my own way of organizing things for cooking. And... Yeah, we're gonna have a party! A big one..."

"Hi!", she called, as she trotted towards the ponies. "I'm Maple! What's happening?" She stopped when she was near the others, and gave her a smile, anticipating her own joke- "Are you the cook? You must be pretty good- you've a whole crowd here!"

A cheery voice caused Ambrosia to glance to her side. It was a friendly earth pony, a new passenger. The cook laughed at the passengers good cheer and cheesy humor. Contemplating Maple, Ambrosia couldn't help but think that the earth pony reminded her of a younger Vim. "Hello Maple, I'm Ambrosia! And, yes, I am the cook, but... I'm not the only cook." She grinned. "Anyways, we're getting ready to have lunch in a few moments. It's sandwiches and, probably, cookies, because I know that a lot of passengers are pretty hungry right about now. Feel free to take a seat and make yourself comfortable!"

This would be a wonderful way to spend the evening. And she would get to help put it all together. "Yay, cinnamon cake! So, will we start now?" she asked for the second time. It was clear she wanted to start cooking immediately.

Ambrosia looked down at the eager eyes of the filly. "Yes, definitely! I think that we should start now." The timing could not have been more perfect. Just as Ambrosia had spoken, a familiar voice spoke up. The voice carried the same eagerness and impatience that Asteria's did. With a glance, Ambrosia could see that it was Key Gear and, for once, the scruffy filly seemed to be behaving like an actual filly instead of a more seasoned pony.

"Hey Ambrosia! Asteria said that I could help you make lunch! Can I, please?" Her voice betrayed a genuine eagerness. It had been a while since she'd done something simply for fun. Key couldn't wait to get started.

She couldn't help but smile, broadly, and she decided to send the two fillies to get started on making sandwiches. "Certainly, Key Gear! Why don't you and Asteria head to the kitchen and get started with the sandwiches. Hmmm... Don't make boring sandwiches though. I mean, lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots? What's the fun in that. Why don't you two try something different? Try fruit sandwiches! Just get some cheese, some peach or strawberry, and some plums and use that as the base! It'll be fun! Think of some and I'll be right there in a few moments. Check the storage room for anything that you need."

Curious, he decided to approach the small group of ponies. As soon as he was near the group, he spoke up, saying, "Hello Ambrosia! If I might ask, what do you have planned for lunch?"

With a pleasant smile, she replied to the assistant conductor. "Hello Electrobolt! We're having sandwiches and, maybe, cookies. Probably a few other things too, but it just depends... In the meantime, could I talk to you for just a moment in the hall outside? Away from the other passengers for a moment?" Without waiting for a response, she stepped by Electrobolt and into the third passenger car, assuming that Bolt would follow her.

(OOC: Go crazy with it, Bari. You know Asteria wants to put anything and everything into a sandwich - all the cheeses, all the fruits, anything else. Key will take whatever is left and make sandwiches out of it. Let the fillies have their fun. Dawn Rider should be thereabouts putting up the stuff he was carrying. You could have Asteria stuff him into a sandwich if you wanted to. If not, then maybe Key will. I bet he tastes like grapefruit.

And... No... Ambrosia didn't notice the scar... She doesn't pick up on subtle stuff when she's on cruise control, and she's on cruise control right now, doing about 90 down the interstate.)

Starshine · April 19, 2013

Summerfall busied herself by fiddling around with her front hooves. Ambrosia, Asteria, Dawn Rider, and the new blue unicorn, were all talking to each other about somepony's birthday. Huh, what a lovely timing to have such important event, Summerfall mused to herself. She couldn't help but to be curious on how disastrous it would be for the birthday pony when the time come for him to try to blow the candle, what with they were all on a train that would soon be moving and all. And shouldn't such occasion be celebrated with his closest friends or maybe parents, not on a train with a bunch of strangers? Summerfall sighed in boredom. There was another mare that joined the cooking party, but Summerfall didn't pay any attention. She rested her head on the table, eyes drowsily scanned the room. The view on the car's windows was rather boring. She knew she was being silly, but now she couldn't wait for the train to start moving, or at least for Ambrosia to finish with the lunch, so that she could finally lock herself in her room until the nightfall.

She followed Bolt into the Dining Car, but she shot by him when she caught sight of Ambrosia speaking to some of the other passengers. "Hey Ambrosia! Asteria said that I could help you make lunch! Can I, please?" Her voice betrayed a genuine eagerness. It had been a while since she'd done something simply for fun. Key couldn't wait to get started.

Summerfall raised an eyebrow in curiosity. She didn't expect that Key Gear would be the cooking filly type. The mere mention of fruit sandwiches caused the mare to salivate. Now she finally realized that she was indeed quite hungry. There were some snacks in her saddlebag, but retrieving them and back would be a huge waste of time and effort. "Oh please just start cooking already," she whined under her breath, not loud enough to alert any other ponies in the room about her hunger.

With a pleasant smile, she replied to the assistant conductor. "Hello Electrobolt! We're having sandwiches and, maybe, cookies. Probably a few other things too, but it just depends... In the meantime, could I talk to you for just a moment in the hall outside? Away from the other passengers for a moment?" Without waiting for a response, she stepped by Electrobolt and into the third passenger car, assuming that Bolt would follow her.

Summerfall raised her head from the table, her eyes followed Ambrosia as the mare trotted to the third passenger car. Did the cook just abandoned her station to flirt with the... No. It couldn't be possible. Electrobolt was a bit too young for her. No, bad thoughts, Summerfall scolded herself inwardly. Just because the poor stallion talked for quite a while with Key Gear earlier didn't instantly mean that Ambrosia would get envious. She didn't even know if they're in a relationship or not.

Either way, with the cook well away from the kitchen, there was a good chance that the lunch would not come as soon as she would like it. With a sigh Summerfall stepped down from her chair and trotted to the nearby window. She tried to nudge the window open but it wouldn't easily open. Another sigh. Seemed like she would have to enjoy what view of the station she can get without the comfort of an open window. "Where are you...?" Summerfall asked to nopony in particular, her eyes scanned the surrounding area around the train for any sign of the conductor.

Edited April 19, 2013 by Starshine

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