On The Train

"All aboard!" Typer felt a burst of renewed excitement as the conductor called the last of the ponies onto the train. The blue pony smiled incessantly, and took out the train ticket that was tucked away in the purse that hung around her neck. 'Ponyville. One Way'.

"Out on my own, eh?" Typer whispered under her breath and was overcome with a sadness, and she wondered briefly if she had spent enough time giving her farewells to her past life. She looked around the cabin and thought on her fellow passengers, this cabin wasn't too full, though there were many ponies boarding on the platform. What time did the dining car open?

A tired, dark blue stallion was slumped in seat, straddling the boundary of sleep and conciousness. His dull eyes stared emotionlessly out of the window, but the rest of his body was uncomfortably still. The only sign of life was a small stream of tears that were trailing down his cheek, but he made no effort to remove it. An expensive pack occupied the seat adjacent, secured by a single hoof.

If any pony asked if he was well, he'd have only weakly waved them away, saying nothing. But he didn't remember if anypony did. Not that it mattered anyway. Nothing seemed to matter.

Typer, having never before been on a train, found the wavering and rocking to be quite disturbing and conjured images of the train falling from the track. Watching the other ponies calmed her slightly, there wasn't a single one screaming about how the train was going to blow up so she took it as a sign that all was normal.

Pony watching had always been very interesting to Typer, and now was no exception. Many of the ponies in her carriage were already here when the train came into the station and her imagination wandered, thinking of the places they might have come from, and where they might be going. Unfortunately Typer was just mature enough to recognise that their travels probably didn't involve princesses or evil, ancient unicorns to be battled, but she would always find it fun to pretend.

In her pony watching, a dark stallion caught her eye. He wasn't the only other pony to be travelling alone on his journey but he certainly seemed the saddest, had she been any closer she would have been sure that he was crying.

Remembering the caramel shortbread that her mother had packed for the trip Typer stood and began an almost trot towards the stallion, determined to cheer him with sugary delights.