The Adventures of Rosaline Sparks
Chapter 1
Rosaline Sparks laid across her red train set. It was a window seat, but for the moment, she couldn’t find the enthusiasm to look out of the window. As she shifted herself in her seat, Rosaline sighed and knew deep thoughts about the anxieties of leaving her home town for the first time troubled her.
There was no way of knowing what would happen once she got off the train in Ponyville. Even with much rumours and speculation feeding a strong reputation for being a welcoming and friendly place, some stubborn doubts refused to go away. She worried that the ponies who lived there wouldn’t be so accepting and welcoming of new ponies as the constant bantering about the town suggested.
Questions remained like would they accept her, would she like the new town and how easy or difficult it would be to make a friend all did their work to her poor mind. Rosaline sighed as all these questions served to dampen her spirits.
The train seat buckled as the train remained in constant motion. The slight jolt caught Rosaline a bit by surprise. The slight bump on her flank hurt as she reached out her front right hoof to rub it. However, the diversion also caught her attention of the passing countryside.
Almost instantly, the brightly lit, clear blue sky caught her attention. There wasn’t a single cloud in sight. Its openness called out to the adventuresome types as it beckoned for her to want to explore it. At least in her mind. Rosaline found herself wanting to experience the countryside breeze and the calm, peaceful, serene air, but she knew opening the train window would only result in air rushing in. The motion of the train would whip up any wind nearby and would cause a gale to blow through.
However, then the healthy green leaves of the treetops of the nearby Everfree Forest caught the attention of her deep jungle green eyes. Past some of the leaves, she could spot some old and proud tree trunks that had withstood many wintry challenges and the fresher bark of younger trees as well.
Rosaline thought to herself, how she could had ignored the scenic views for so long as she marvelled at the thought the trees provided a home for many wild animals like cute squirrels and wild birds.
Rosaline sighed in awe of nature’s beauty as she decided to see if she could spot a wild bird flock flying over the forest. As she began to look up, she hoped not to spot a playful and adventurous Pegasus pony enjoying himself or herself in the openness of the sky. The commotion caused by the pony might scare any wild flock away and spoil the scenic admiration of seeing an undisturbed wild flock following the natural path to a new destination.
“Ticket please,” called out a voice.
Rosaline was so distracted, she ended up turning her head in confusion. She almost wondered if she had even heard a voice.
“Your ticket, please, ma’am,” the train conductor pony insisted.
Rosaline noticed the deadly seriousness of his light amber eyes and turned and levitated her gold train ticket over to him.
“Hmm, first class, one way ticket to Ponyville, not half-bad,” the train conductor commented as he searched his eyes over the ticket.
Rosaline growled as she thought he was accusing her of being fancy or a high-class unicorn mare. She knew her father had been a hard-working earth-pony stallion his entire life and because of that she hated to be judged as sophisticated.
“Thank you,” the train conductor pony ignored her growl and hoofed her ticket back over.
Rosaline snatched it from his outstretched hoof with a scowl on her face, but he turned and resumed his duties without causing a further fuss. After retaining her scowl for a few seconds, Rosaline huffed at his rudeness to assume things. Plus, he had interrupted her enjoyment of the countryside views. Still, she decided to start things off in a foul mood when arriving in Ponyville for the first time was a bad thing to do. So, she forced stroked her dark cobalt blue mane in a failed attempt to get calmer. It didn’t help as she could feel the anger vibes in her right front hoof flow through her mane and return to her body.
Then, she found a thought in her head that her father would be disappointed in a daughter who so easily became agitated. This caused her to frown and sigh. She was her father’s daughter and he along with her mother had taught her better than to resort to a quick temper.
Then, the brakes squealed on hard. The screech of metal on metal soon had Rosaline defending her ears. The scraping roar of the brakes boomed through her carriage until the train came to a complete standstill. A thought flashed her mind that the train driver was likely displeased he had just overshot the platform. The hard braking suggested he had somehow become distracted and had only put the brakes on at the last minute. However, the train remained stationary as her ears recovered. Rosaline rolled her eyes in shock and the vibration from the seat was still shuddering from under her flank. A little luck was with her that she was not thrown from her seat as she slowly tried to re-compose herself.
After, taking the time to dust her over and to stand up in the carriage, Rosaline noticed the shakiness feeling of shock had worn off. Her legs were standing still again and her hooves could feel no movement beneath them. Looking toward a window to see her reflection, Rosaline noticed the vibrations had caused a few hairs of her raven black fur coat and her dark cobalt blue mane to stand on end. She quickly decided a shocked appearance wasn’t what she wanted when she left the train and groomed her front left hoof over the left side and then the right over her other side. Then, to see if it had worked, she exchanged another look toward a window and saw her mane and fur coat had been smoothed out. After, making a full recovery, Rosaline looked up and levitated her luggage bag from the high compartment above her head and onto her back. Only after, the magic from her horn faded, did she realise it was heavy. She briefly wondered if she had put bricks in her suitcase as her legs strained to take the weight.
Still, she soon found a bit of stubborn strength and then moved to leave the train before anything else would go wrong. As she stepped onto the platform, a sigh of relief escaped her lungs that the train ride was over. She had arrived in Ponyville…
