The Secrets of Caduceus

After emerging from the hidden tunnel, the grey filly and I find ourselves under a glass ceiling and on a train station platform. But there's one thing missing, a train.

"Damn! They really did take off without me."

"Th-They'll come back right?!"

"I can only hope, let's look around and see if we can find something to call the train back."

Two steel pillars on the train station platform hold up the glass ceiling above us. The linoleum tiled floor that the platform is made of is torn up and chipped.

"Looking up, I guess I never realized that Caduceus' asphalt streets were painted onto this all this sand." The filly says, looking upwards in amazement.

"I guess I never realized it myself… Tch, it doesn't look like there's anyway to call the train back. No button or control panel or anything."

"Have some faith Apollo. Maybe they just had to go back to Asclepius to do something?"

Well, we did just kidnap the niece of one of the two dictators running Caduceus. But with no other option, I decide to close the hidden passage and wait patiently for something to happen.

After about half an hour of waiting, I slowly become more and more frustrated.

"Argh! This is mind-nummingly BORING!"

After venting out some steam, I notice that the filly is sitting with her back up against one of the pillars, nearly half-asleep.

"Oh, sorry." I apologize.

She turns her head and speaks softly, "Haha… It's okay. I'm bored too."

"What's with the overdramatic head turn?"

She turns silent, and then playfully sticks her tongue out. I chuckle, and then decide to pace around the platform. I wander over to the train rails, and look down. Nothing but some garbage and litter, it seems those four mares don't care much for recycling.

Suddenly, the filly behind me says something that I can't understand.

I turn around and begin walking towards her, "What was that?"

"You know that part in my dream where we had kids?"

"W-What-- Woaah!"

*thud*

Surprised, I lose my footing and accidentally trip over my own hooves.

"A-Are you okay?!" She asks, concerned.

Climbing to my hooves, I reply, "I-I uh… I, uh, I-I… Yeah It's just that, um…"

"Oh! I didn't mean to creep you out or any--"

"N-No, it's not that it's creepy! It's just I… Well you're great and all…" Flustered, I attempt to construct a sentence, failing miserably.

"I'm sorry! I didn't think you met another--"

"No no no! I haven't really talked to any other fillies… Unless you count my potential mothers…" I didn't know she was concerned about that!

"Wait… What?!"

"Huh?"

"You're… Mothers?"

"Oh yeah, actually there are four of them. But only one of them could be my real mom right?"

She pauses, steps back with a disgusted look on her face, "I… Didn't know you were into that kind of stuff."

Looking at her with a blank expression on my face, I calmly reply, "You got this… All wrong."

*BEEP BEEP*

"Please stand back from the yellow line on the train platform. The next train arriving in five seconds." A strange, robotic voice begins to speak from nowhere.

"Haha! Look, it's the train! Come on let's go." I say, laughing to cover up my clear escape.

She squints at me in distrust, and slowly follows me towards the yellow line.

A long white train car slowly arrives at the platform with a quiet 'screech'.

The doors open, and a mint green blur quickly flies at me.

*THUD*

"Oh my gosh! I thought we'd lost you there!" A green pegasus says, hugging tightly me on the ground.

I see the look the grey filly is giving me, and I couldn't feel any more uncomfortable.

"Give it a rest Dove. I told you he'd be fine right?" A familiar voice sounds out from the train door.

"H-Hi… It's good to see you guys again. It's also good to see you didn't leave for dead."

"Funny." The grey filly says sarcastically.

I look past the green wings, still hugging me, to see Ace leaning on the open train doors.

The earth pony finally asks, "Hey, who's the girl? You pick one up off the streets?"

"W-What do you mean?" I ask, not understanding what the earth pony meant.

"Uh, never mind. You two are probably too young to get it." She chuckles.

"Anyways, let's go. The party's almost over back at base."

"Party?" I ask, while gently pushing Dove off of me.

Dove begins to hover above me, "Haha, sorry. Yeah, we're having a little party to celebrate the completion of our mission. You're friend is welcome too! Oh, uh, just as long as she's not… You know."

The grey filly begins to look uncertain, almost scared.

But before she can say anything, I jump in and interrupt her, "Oh yeah, she's uh… A fellow prisoner! Yeah, we escaped our captivity together over at uh… What was it again…"

"Clef Industries." She says quietly.

Ace continues her sentence, "For all your miscellaneous needs."

"You know it?" I ask.

"Yeah. I do."

Did I touch a sore spot? Hopefully not.

Finally, we get on the train and sit down on one of the seat on the wall.

"Where are Thorns and Strings?" I ask.

"Another one of your moms?" The grey filly leans towards me and whispers.

"Shut up."

Ace answers after pushing a bunch of buttons on the dashboard of the train, "Oh them. They're in the next car having a little dispute. Hey, here's an idea; maybe you can go and settle it for them?"

Me? I suppose I could try.

"Sit tight. I'll go and see what's happening." I instruct the grey filly, before I make my way to the next car.

Opening the doors between cars, the first thing I see are two blades slashing through the air. Thorns is going absolutely crazy with her Roseblades! But what could have caused this?!

"They occasionally have this type of falling out. It's best not to get in the way." Dove explains, still floating behind me like some sort of fairy.

Behind the flurry of blades slicing, I can see another pony; who I can assume is Strings.

Then I notice, Thorns isn't slashing at nothing, she's slashing at…

"Sharp notes. Or whatever Strings calls it. Her harp is magical, see? It can send magic notes flying from the instrument. It's some kind of magical instrument from her homeland."

"Thank you Dove dear. I would explain myself, but I'm sort of busy." The white unicorn mockingly says in a melodic and harmonic voice.

Thorns, on the other hoof, remains absolutely silent and concentrated. I would imagine she would have to be, since slicing music out of the air would require some level of precision. Wait, what am I saying?!

"Look, could you two stop it? You're eventually going to hurt somepony. Maybe me…"

"Oh very well then dear." The unicorn says, as she plucks her final note on a string.

And with a final slash, I vaguely spot the magic note splitting in half by the hoof of Thorns' Roseblade.

"Hmph." The blue earth pony scoffs, as she turns around trots out of the train car and into the next.

The unicorn begins to speak up again, "Oh I do wish she'd stop being melodramatic. It's ALL JUST FUN AND GAMES DEAR!" She shouts at the earth pony leaving the cart.

Thorns responds by sending a rose with a pointed tip at the bottom of the stem towards Strings. The rose flies into the ground, mere centimetres away from String's hooves.

"Tch." Strings makes a final mocking noise, before trotting towards me.

"It's great to see you again Apollo. Do tell about your little adventure in Clef Industries." She says, while placing her hoof on my chin.

"Wait… How did you--"

She answers before I can finish questioning, "Little miss Borealis told us. She was inside your mind the whole time, and told us when you had arrived at the train station."

"Oh. So did she, um… Tell you anything else?"

She smiles, and then pats me on the head, "Nothing else." She giggles, before proceeding into the next train car.

"She knows…"

Suddenly, the train begins to move. And with that, I find myself escorting a filly, trapped on a train filled with her enemies, back to a city that is also made up of her enemies. Won't this be fun?