Man Alone

"The train for Canterlot will be leaving in 5 minutes."

Plenty of time, I thought, as I approached my train. After purchase of the ticket, I still had a fair amount of bits left. I felt compelled to buy a snack for the trip, but decided not to. You never know when you'll need a little extra cash. As I stood on the platform, I stretched, and went into the train. It was build for ponies, and I was tall, so I had to duck to not hit my head. I had gotten accustomed to that. I received a few looks, but nothing special as I found my seat.

"The train for Canterlot will be leaving in 1 minute, last call."

I yawned. I had woken up a good 30 minutes ago, and was still kind of tired. Nothing out of the ordinary. The interior of the wagon quickly got boring, and I decided to look out the window, nesting my head on the windowsill. The train began moving, and my journey started.

50 Minutes later. Appleloosa.

The train slowed down to a halt. A dozen minutes ago the outside had been grassy plains. Now it was desert, stretching for miles. I recognized the town, both from the train plan, and the show. Appleloosa. It had grown a bit since I had last 'seen it'. Ponies got on and off. But not just ponies, a certain baby dragon entered the train aswell. Not to mention, I had somehow missed a pretty famous unicorn sitting behind me..

"Hi Spike! I didn't know you were in Appleloosa."

"Hi Lyra. I was just visiting some friends. What about you?"

"Oh, nothing special. I heard about an upcoming performance in Hoofington featuring a biped. It was pretty exciting!"

"Do you mean the one right behind you?" Spike asked.

"Huh?"

Lyra turned around, and looked at me. Having heard her, I had turned to face her a bit before, and she nearly headbutted me. She would have, too, if I hadn't moved my head out of her path. She blinked a few times, before retracting her head to a less destructive position. As were the norm with me and close calls, I began chuckling.

"Hi!" Lyra exclaimed, loud enough for most of the cabin to hear.

Getting myself under control again, I replied, still chuckling a bit. "Hi there."

While me and Lyra had nearly collided, Spike had taken a seat and had begun observing us. I guess he didn't feel like breaking into the conversation, if you could call it that at that point.

"You were great on stage!"

"Hehe, thanks. Name's Casper, if you're wondering."

"Mine's Lyra, but you probably already heard that from Spike. He's a-"

"Baby dragon. I know. I met a dragon earlier."

"Oooh, what'd it do?"

"Nothing special. Helped me down the mountain that I was stuck on."

"You rode a dragon? That's awesome!"

I began chuckling again. "I guess.. But it's not like he did loops and the like."

As we continued talking, I failed to notice the train speeding up again. I just barely caught a glimpse of the apple orchard.

1 Hour later. Ponyville.

Lyra continued to barrage me with questions the whole trip, and I was almost happy when I saw the speck in the distance that was Ponyville. We said our goodbyes, and parted ways. Spike had joined the conversation a few miles out from Appleloosa, and was getting off too. Every sense in my body told me to get the hell out of the train and make friends with everypony in Ponyville, and while I'd love to, I had more important things to do. A little like choosing between gaming and homework. So I stayed on the train, which was now pretty much empty. Makes sense, the only remaining location was high class, why would they travel to Ponyville, Appleloosa or Hoofington?

With the emptiness came silence, and with that, my thinking began once more. What'd happen when I finally arrived at the castle? Would they even let me in? Finally, once out of the last tunnel up the mountain, I stopped thinking. There it was, Canterlot in all it's glory. Seeing it in the show is one thing, seeing it personally.. Well, it leaves you speechless for a few moments.

I got off the train, and looked around on the platform. A few ponies here and there, but mostly empty. After 2 hours of sitting, I finally had a moment to stretch out without slamming a limb into the roof. I began my trip towards the castle, walking slowly, and examining my surroundings. A dozen or so minutes, and I'd be at the castle..