Jurassic-Questria

WHOOoooooo! The trains whistle blew as it chugged into the station. Fumes of steam and the charcoal-scenting, burnt wood like smell of coal filled the air with unnatural aromas. The heat of it all made Moonshy feel uncomfortable, for the air around him felt polluted with dust. His lungs felt like they were getting clogged or jammed with the unclean steam.

I swear, If I have to feel like this the whole train ride than I’m going to-

“What’s the Matter sugar cube?” Applejack asked, noticing his scorn for the air around him. “Not like of the smell of trains in the morning?”

“Can’t say I’m all that fond of it… no.”

You’ve spent most of your life traveling the wilderness. Why not just do it again, if you’re so distasteful of machine travel?

Well, If I don’t, I won’t make it to… the park at the time my invitation says I should be.

Why do you care what the invitation says? I thought you weren’t planning on going.

Yeah, and then curiosity got the better of me. It happens.

“Oh relax Moonshy, Train travel is Super FUNERIFIC!” Pinkie invaded, “Besides, you won’t even smell it inside the train cars. Just the… delicious train food.” Pinkie looked as though she was swooning over something, then her mouth watered and she licked her lips.

“Sorry we can’t go with you this time Moonshy.” Twilight said, a bit of friendly remorse in her voice. “But, heh, you know, duty calls.” She gestured towards her cutie mark. It was pulsing with flashes of white, after each one, about six smaller copies traveled into the main cutie mark. It made a magical sounding Bleweep type of noise when it did, sounding like a signal of some sort. It was odd… but he did remember Twilight mentioning that she had a map which summoned them to certain locations every so often.

Handy as magic may be sometimes… it is incredibly weird.

“It’s… um, fine.”

“Do you really think that Moonshy? I mean, you’re a really… shy colt. And, well, there’s going to be thousands of people there. I just don’t want you feeling like we’re thrusting you out of your comfort zone is all.”

I’m twenty-one! I’m older than you! Why are you acting like my mother?

Their just concerned for you is all. Their your friends, their allowed. Besides, she has a point.

I’m pretty certain I’ll be fine. Positivity is key.

“Twilight, I’ll be fine, I eh…” Moonshy paused for a second, looking for some way to make sure the promise he was about to make was more meaningful than just “I promise.” That was when he looked at Pinkie Pie. Perhaps he could pledge in the same sort of way she did. “I cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” He finished out the right gestures, Pinkie nodding with enthusiastic approval.

“HE WILL! HE MADE A PINKIE PROMISE! HE HAS TO NOW! HE’LL BE A-OKAY!”

“If you say so.”

“Twilight, perhaps you’re the one that need’s to relax.” Moonshy stated with a friendly chuckle. “Go on, duty calls. That is what you said isn’t it?”

“OH MY STARS! The summon, I almost forgot! Come on girls, we need to get going!” The next few goodbyes came in this order. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy

“So-long.”

“Farewell!”

“Bye bye!”

“See ya later Moonshy!”

“Remember to run if something chases you. Oh, I mean, stay safe!”

“Remember to run if something chases you”… Eh…

The way she said it was absolutely adorable. Oh no wait! I didn’t mean that as in invitation to- … well you’re doomed.

This thought ran through his mind for a brief moment, but a certain impulse forced him to ignore it. For a fleeting instant, his love for Fluttershy clouded all reasonable judgement. He stepped forward, ready to close in on her, but then stopped. For he realized what he was about to do. He wanted to kiss her, that was the long and short of it. But doing that would have answered everypony’s question regarding who he was in love with to have such power against Chrysalis. The reason he didn’t, was because he knew how she felt about fan attention. If everypony found out who he was in love with, they would start to pester Fluttershy in the way they pestered Moonshy. He didn’t wish that upon her, for he knew that she wouldn’t much enjoy the attention. When the impulse was forced back last second, it decided to transform itself into words, words which he almost blurted out before he forced them back too.

“Fluttershy uh…” I love you. The others turned around as he spoke, Twilight in particular seeming to get a sudden thrill of excitement. She was the only one who knew how Moonshy felt about Flutter, and simply loved using that to torment him with. Playfully and in good fun, of course.

“Th- Thanks for the warning.” With that, Moonshy let loose a nervous titter, smiling in kind. “Er… bye guys.”

“Twilight, what the hay is going on here?” Rainbow asked in response to Twilight’s snicker.

“Oh, Nothing. Come along girls, let’s let Moonshy catch his train.”

WHOOOOOOoooooo! “All aboard!” The conductor bellowed, waving a hoof to gesture everyone to get on. Catching himself staring a Fluttershy once again, Moonshy shook his head and dashed towards the nearest train car.

Not far away, three little fillies had found their way onboard the train. The apparent ring leader in this situation was a tiny-winged pegasus of orange coating and dark magenta mane. Hair combed upwards and around like a short haired Rainbow Dash. A white coated unicorn filly fallowed sheepishly, trotting sluggishly a fair distance away, along with a yellow coated earth filly who was doing her best to keep up with the hasty pegasus.

“Are you sure about this Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked, brushing a bit of dust out of her curls.

“TOTALLY! Think about it, a tropical rainforest exploration cutie mark. How cool would that be?!”

“I doubt our sisters would be alright with this.” Apple Bloom objected, looking for a good place to inconspicuously bail.

“I think they’d be fine with it. I mean, they go off on adventures all the time. Why would they keep us from doing it?”

“Um, because we’re younger than they are?” Said Sweetie Belle

“And because they think we can’t take care of ourselves.” Added Apple Bloom

“Well don’t you want to prove them wrong?”

The other two didn’t have much to say in reply to that. They looked at each other and shrugged, knowing full well that they, in fact, did want to prove themselves. Such is the way of the minds of children. Their unwavering curiosity forces them to do many things. Not all upstanding. But hey, that’s how they learn.

WHOOOOOOooooo! The train whistle blew one more time, signaling that it was about to depart.

“Oh shoot! We got to go! COME ON GUYS!”

“Hey! Scoots… WAIT UP!”

Hisssssss! Steam pushed its way out of the pistons, and with that, the wheels started chugging. AND THEY WEREN’T EVEN ON THE TRAIN! Booking it as fast as they could, the Cutie Mark Crusaders zipped through the crowd at the train station. Their diminutive size allowing them to slip through the legs of other ponies as if they were air, but the train was gaining speed. Now the cars were going a tad bit faster than they were. Panicking, Scootaloo searched franticly for a way on, getting an idea so impractical… that it just might work.

“FALLOW ME!” She barked, moving her little form closer to the cars themselves. The other two did what they were asked and managed to speed up and get right next to her.

“Scoots? What are you doing!?” Apple Bloom asked, next to terrified at the train’s massive wheels.

“We’re going to jump onto the caboose! Ready, one!” The end of the train was coming up fast. “Two!” If the caboose had some sort of bar extending from the wheel, it would be pushing their rears right about now. “THREE!” Scootaloo jumped, using her wings to give her any extra inertia she could get. With a sloppy skill roll, she reared herself up onto the back terrace of the train. Apple Bloom, managed to get three of her four hooves up, the other slipping and nearly forcing her off, but she made it too.

“AHHHH!” Sweetie bell screamed, she was the furthest away from the car, and hence, was the one who couldn’t quite make it. SHE WAS DANGLEING FROM THE BACK! And upcoming, a mail post was coming in hot!

Seconds before the sign post would have ended Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom rescued her. They pulled her up and set her down gently. A few moments of heavy breathing and relief took place before Scootaloo stood back up energetically.

“Let’s, never do that again.” Sweetie Belle said half-heartedly.

“ARE YOU KIDDING!” Scootaloo argued “That was the COOLEST thing ever! We pull off a few more stunts like that and we might just get our cutie marks in extreme risk taking!” Sweetie and Bloom groaned at this, flopping back down onto the terrace like dead fish.

“Hey, come on guys. What’s the matter?”

“The matter of it is, Scootaloo, is that you three shouldn’t even be on this train.” A cheery colored earth pony with a light rose mane came up to the three little fillies, a look of seriousness expressing itself through her lime colored eyes. The CMC knew this face well, for it was the warning look of their teacher, Cherilee. All their little hearts sunk. They knew they were in trouble now.

Pinkie was right, thankfully. He could no longer smell the rancid fumes of the coal, nor the grungy infection of the steam in his lungs. He was thankful for that at the very least. He ran through a mental checklist before looking down at his Jurassic-Questria ticket. Weather out of temporary boredom, or repeated curiosity, he read what was on the ticket for the umpteenth time. This time, something got caught in his attention, creating force-fed food for thought.

The UJRC would like to remind you of how young a race we ponies truly are, how new we are compared to the creatures from the most ancient of days.

Ticket No: 7293: Moonshy Art plus one guest. May you never be silenced.

“May you never be silenced”? That’s a rather odd thing to put on a ticket, that doesn’t even make sense!

Maybe not now, but it might later. I’m sure they will explain it to you once you get there.

They can’t even explain WHO THEY ARE in a letter! I seriously doubt they’ll explain anything like this.

Do you doubt that they’ll explain what their resort is?

That’s something we’re going to have to find out for ourselves- Moonshy’s train of thought stopped. It was interceded by a voice that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Not so much out of fear as nervousness, for his last experience with that voice didn’t go quite so well. With subtle haste, he pulled a magazine out from under the seat and hid his face with it, acting as though he was enthralled in the… pictures… Well crap, any observant pony would notice this and become suspicious of my behavior.

Please don’t look at me, PLEASE DON’T LOOK AT ME!

“You three, give me one good reason why I shouldn’t inform the conductor of your nonsense and have him kick you off at the next stop.”

Huh? Well that’s… different. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Cherilee get mad at ponies before. She’s generally nice and encouraging. Perhaps… just one peak. I’m curious as to what’s going on.

“Please Miss Cherilee! Don’t kick us off. We were just- Uh…” Apple Bloom struggled to find an excuse.

Growing up with Applejack, element of honesty. I bet that filly doesn’t have the slightest Idea how to lie.

“Our sisters are out of town!” Sweetie Belle picked up the slack “We have no one to go to back in Ponyville right now!”

Nor do you have a ticket to catch the train back home. They would just have to stowaway again. I’m assuming that’s what’s going on here. WAIT!? Who watches you guys during the other times Twilight and her friends are out!?

“Now I know that’s not true Sweetie Belle! Rules are rules, and I’m afraid that stowing away on a train is against them. Even if I were to use my plus one, that would still leave two of you unchecked.”

YOUR plus one… does that mean… oh no. The other reason I wanted to go on this trip is so that I could GET AWAY from the ponies who know who I am… Now it seems they’re coming with. Ugh, just my luck I guess. Hang on… “that would still leave two of you unchecked.” You can’t kick any them off Cherilee! Their just children… They probably don’t know their ways around any train stations beyond the one in Ponyville. THEY COULD GET KIDNAPPED!

“Err…” Moonshy pulled the magazine from his face, setting it down casually and trotting over to the scene. “Perhaps I… could, use my plus one.”

What the buck do you think you’re doing!? Not only will that still leave ONE filly on her own, but Now Cherilee knows you’re here! You know she’s going to sit next to you and ask you personal questions now!

I have to help somehow!

Cherilee’s look was that of confusion, then it turned into cynicism and went straight to correction mode.

“You do realize, Moonshy, that that still leaves one of these three fillies unchecked right?”

“Um… yeah. I was kind of… just thinking that. Well what should we do then? I mean… this isn’t good. The conductor is going to be here to check tickets any minute now!”

“Then I suppose it’s only right, That I use MY plus one then. You know, to avoid any battle that might take place.” A low and friendly voice called out from behind them. It belonged to a unicorn of charcoal black coating. His mane was gold of color and his eyes red of hue. His muscular body type and well trained physical stature gave him the look of having some sort of Military background, young though he may be. It wasn’t until Moonshy saw his signature cutie mark, a fancy crest with twin swords crossed behind it, that he realized who he was. This was-

“VALIANT!” Apple Bloom perked up excitedly, jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck. Supposedly ‘Valiant Charge’ spent a lot of his time around sweet apple acers. (Though he was unsure why, Moonshy had a pretty good guess. He just didn’t want to jump to that conclusion, seeing as it’s a longshot) Despite his duties as a royal guardsman for Princess Celestia. Hence, Apple Bloom viewed him like any other filly would an older brother, even though Valiant wasn’t related to her in the slightest.

“Hey there Bloom!” Valiant smiled, Excited to see his little sister figure again. “I haven’t seen you in ages!”

“I know! It’s been like… FOREVER! What are you doing here?”

“I got an invitation to Jurassic-Questria as well. So, tell me, what are you doing here.”

“Um… well…”

“Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and I are trying to get our tropical exploration cutie marks! Um… We didn’t have any tickets, so we jumped onto the train.”

“A MOVEING train… If I MIGHT add.” Cherilee said, sternly stomping the ground as to get more attention. A common trick used by teachers when a class or group of student’s doesn’t cooperate. “That dangerous stunt could have severely hurt you three.” Her strict voice faded into concern as she said the last part.

Valiant stood up in the CMC’s defense, keeping a positive can-do attitude about him. “It’s fine miss Cherilee, this is how kids learn.” He turned his head look back at the CMC “Just, next time, don’t chase a moving train, got it guys?”

“Uh-Huh!”

“Yep!”

“Will do!”

Moonshy listened to the rest of their conversation. Finding a nice shady corner to sit in, hoping not to be noticed as easily. It was ponies like Valiant, Moonshy had a certain degree of envy for. How they managed to stay cool in social situations, while still maintaining the right amount of verbal charisma, impressed him. Most times, he wished he had that ability. It would help him dramatically by reducing his nervousness, thereby allowing him to communicate himself better. That way, he wouldn’t have to leave other ponies in the dark all the time when it comes to his emotions.

More than that, what struck Moonshy higher attention was Valliant’s relationship with Apple Bloom. A sibling bond like that is hard to come by these days. Or maybe that’s just in Moonshy’s case. Nevertheless, it was something he envied even more. He longed for someone to look up to him like that. Just, without any memory of siblings, that seemed an impossibility. Unless…

You could have kids of your own you know.

KIDS!? Um… well, that would be a bit nice… I guess, if it weren’t an impossibility.

Impossible!? What happened to “positivity is key?” You did think that, practice what you preach!

Is it negative if it’s fact?

It’s negative that you think its fact. It’s really not. Not when you’re young and still have passions burning.

The only pony I have any passion for is one that turns more and more impossible by the day.

She’s… not impossible. YOU just haven’t talked to her much! Besides, that’s not exactly what I meant. Just like there’s more than one kind of love, there’s more than one kind of passion. You’re watching Valiant talk to Apple Bloom right now, even Sweetie Belle and Cherilee are joining in. But, look who isn’t. Scootaloo. She’s busy staring out the window, probably fantasizing about flight—You know… because of her wings—why don’t you go to her and-

Valiant’s figure passed in front of the sunlight, the sudden change in lighting distracting Moonshy out of thought once more. It took a second (and a bit of pupil adjustment) before he realized… Valiant was trotting towards him. Already close enough to speak and not let Moonshy out. “Hey Moonshy. How’s it going?” Valiant spoke rather casually, as though he had known Moonshy like a friend would another. This, is sort of true. They had met briefly in the past. Moonshy once helped him train his squires and Prince Blueblood by setting up a survival challenge for them. Not much more than that though.

“Oh, n- nothing. Just… uh… thinking.”

“About what?”

“Um… Dracosaurs.” Moonshy lied.

“Makes sense… I mean, how can you not!?” Valiant exclaimed excitedly “I’ve seen creatures similar inside the Un’Goro crater back on Azeroth. There the most magnificent, and dangerous, things you’ll ever see, aside from dragons… and demons. Though they,” Valiant emphasized “they”, expressing that he was talking specifically about the demons. “lack in the magnificence domain.”

Azeroth… Un’Goro… I know you came from a different world… but those names are just the weirdest thing’s I’ve ever heard.

“Interesting. Um, can you tell me more about them…? The dracosaur-like things, I mean.”

With that, Valiant went on a long… well, ramble—for lack of a better term—though Moonshy listened to it, doing his best to give him his full attention. His introverted nature making it impossible NOT to think about other things on occasion. When this happened, Valiant interrupted that thought process with friendly taps on the shoulder. While this annoyed him a little, Moonshy was grateful that he was able to, more or less, talk to someone for once.

The rest of the month-long train ride went by basically like that, sleeping and eating here and there to mix things up a little. Valiant’s intriguing stories made the time pass by quicker. Every chug from the engine up front drawing them ever closer to the mysterious new park. One supposedly full of creatures from ancient times. A constant nagging worry… that this might not be the most pleasant trip ever. After all, not even the ponies who studied dracosaurs for a living understood them to any half-decent extent. But hey, unicorns have magic. Powerful magic at that, assuming it aligns with their special talents. Things can’t possibly get too bad… can they?