For Lack of a Better Title: Riley Goes on an Eating Spree

The train was still on its course to Manehattan fifteen minutes later, and Riley still hadn't gotten so much as a morsel to eat. A thought that had crossed his mind was asking Cookie to let him try some dog food, but seconds after that idea, he had remembered an incident back when he was a colt. He had tasted some dog food on a dare from his little brother Reece, who apparently wanted to challenge Riley's attitude that "food was made for eating".

For a few minutes afterward, whenever the older colt had tried to speak, it came out as dog noises, such as barks and whimpers.

'You don't need to resort to that,' he told himself. 'Just a little longer, then we'll be back home. Then you can eat to your heart's content!'

Like a house which had just had a train run through it, his thoughts were interrupted by the low-pitched jingle that played through the intercom of the train, signifying an announcement.

"Attention passengers. Due to unexpected weather conditions, the train will have to stop here for approximately fifteen minutes."

Riley turned around and looked out of the window. The landscape was coated in white, and more of the fluffy snow was pouring in flakes out of the sky.

Having seen it too, Cookie tilted his head and made a whimpering sound.

"I know, right?" agreed Riley. "When did all that get there? I didn't even notice it!"

His mind was currently playing "eeny, meeny, miny, mo" with the two choices he had.

"We've got two choices, Cookie," he told his faithful canine. "We can stay on this train and wait ages to get some food..." He held out his left hoof. "...or we can go outside and freeze our butts off in order to get home quicker and grab something to eat." He held out his right hoof.

Cookie stayed on the spot for a few seconds, attempting to pick a choice. Eventually, he set his paw on Riley's right hoof.

"Then it's settled!" said Riley, placing Cookie under his wing and holding him tightly - but not so tightly that he struggled to breathe - to keep him warm.

The passengers just moved their heads to keep their visions locked on the Pegasus as he exited the train... then returned approximately ten seconds later, his coat colour looking like it had had a subtle hint of light blue added to it, and his hooves covered in white.

"O-or perhaps i-it's best t-to wait..." he decided, his teeth chattering, as he released Cookie and plopped back down onto the seat.

~~~

Now that a unicorn had cleared away the snow to make way for the train's journey, it was back on its way.

And Riley still had an unsatisfied belly.

He leaned back, his mind and thoughts wandering freely.

He felt a hoof on his shoulder.

"Um, excuse me, sir, just out of curiosity..." came a mare's voice. "Why do you have your arm in your mouth?"

Riley tilted his head. "I don't ha-" He stopped as he realised his teeth were locked on to the flesh of his arm. He released the limb from his grip. 'Whoa, I don't even remember doing that!'

"Oh, uh, hehe..." he replied to the mare as he rubbed his arm on his lap to clean off the saliva. "I guess you can make some silly mistakes when you're not paying attention!"

The mare looked at him blankly, then returned to her magazine.

~~~

"IT'S HOPELESS!" he cried loudly as he kneeled in the middle of the train. "I'm gonna starve to death! People will find my body and wonder why it's so thin! The manager will be all like, 'Why didn't we just price food cheaper? It could have saved a life!'!"

"Kid, you're blocking the way out," came the agitated voice of a stallion.

Riley looked up, then at the back of the train. The vehicle was no longer moving, and ponies were making their way out.

"We're home free!" he exclaimed happily. He stopped in realisation, then looked back at the homeless pony. "Er, no offence..."

"None taken," replied the homeless pony.

Riley picked Cookie up and happily slowly flew out of the train, placing some Bits in the other stallion's hat as he did so.

~~~

After going through the streets of Manehattan (which did not have any snow), the door to his house was knocked down by said Pegasus as he flew in, clearly enthusiastic to get something to eat.

"FOOOOD! GIMME!" he yelled as he sped towards the kitchen. He swung open the doors of the food cupboard and began to stuff his mouth with bags of chips and packets of cookies.

Realising his blunder, he spat out the packaging and continued to savour the things that were actually edible.

Soon enough, he was done.

"Good meal!" he said, and wiped the crumbs from his face and his belly, the latter of which was now rather distended and made a gurgling sound when he poked at it.

"But it's still not enough," he decided.

Cookie looked up, in disbelief of what his master had just said.

"Please excuse me, Cookie," said Riley, heading towards the door. "I've got some food to eat. Make up for lost meal time, right?"

And with that, he exited the house, and set on his way.

Well, this isn't going to end normally, that's for sure.