Flight of the Broadway

Through wet grasslands, the frequency of the snowfall put quite a burden on the small tank engine leading the trip back to Ponyville. What put it at even more of a snail's pace were the mountains, but after coming out of Conformation Tunnel the train's slow speed made the most scenic part of the journey even more enjoyable. Filling the windows was a view of a fjord that gave way to the skyscraping peaks.

It got old pretty fast, which was quite a shame considering the air of relief that had swept through the group when they barely made this train; would’ve been nice to enjoy the ride on it as a payoff. Not an hour into the journey, and Pinkie Pie is now repeatedly asking, “Are we there yet?” which only increased the returning impatience of the five others, let alone everypony else in the train car.

“Um - pardon, ma’am?” a suited earth stallion from behind tapped Twilight Sparkle, who was sitting next to the noisy mare, on the shoulder. “Can you tell your friend to pipe down, please?”

“Ahem...PINKIE PIE, WERE NOT EVEN HALFWAY THERE!”

Aside from making everypony who was giving Pinkie the “evil eye” jump, Twilight’s yell had caused the pink pony to freeze, eyes wide and mouth gaping...then, she made a sound even worse in response. A sound similar but even worse than the one she made when she couldn’t handle babysitting her landowners’ children.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

Everyone got startled; especially Fluttershy who had jumped so high she hit the ceiling and landed right back in her seat, but now had a mountainous bump atop her head that was being orbited by tweeting dizzy birds.

“-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

An utter silence filled the car, ponies still gawking and everything. Just when it seemed she had burst her vocal chords with that awful noise, Pinkie buried her face in Twilight’s lap and continued the crying - fortunately, it was now muffled.

The scene began to die down, and so the passengers’ attention shifted away from it and back to the windows, which now displayed a bird’s-eye view of a thick forest. The Express was crawling along another cliff over which this view could be seen.

Rainbow Dash turned to her seat partner, Rarity. “You know, A.K. Yearling - hem-hem - Daring Do once ventured into that forest in Razor of Dreams. You can tell because it’s the only one near” - she pointed at a large peak across it - “Foal Mountain. Apparently, there’s some sort of haunted ghost town deep in there.”

“I can’t possibly imagine anypony wanting to go into that sickening swamp! So much mushy soil and wetness from the dew!”

“She didn’t want to; she had to so she could obtain the Bronze Key that would unlock the Rhodium Gate where she can access the Ruby Key to get through the Platinum Gate where she would finally...”

Rainbow caught onto Rarity’s disinterest, realizing the germaphobe she was dealing with.

“You know what? You’re no fun. I try to have a friendly conversation with you and all you can care about is the potential dirtiness that can occur.”

“Well maybe so, but I don’t ramble in the face of somepony’s clear distaste.”

And then, she stuck her nose in the air accompanied by a light “hmmph.”

“Celestia, what a high-society wannabe.”

“I heard that, Ms. Dash. And I shall inform you that I am well on my way to achieving sugar mare status!”

“And what are you gonna do with that outstanding allowance of yours? A dildo to fuck yourself with?”

“Oh, po-lease! The more I add to my collection, the more Sweetie Belle has a chance of busting my...naughtiness.” She gave a slight chuckle. “Sweetie always finds a way to get to my stuff. Time will only tell 'til she reaches the confidential.”

Rainbow smirked. “Bad Dragon’s the way to go, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yes! Makes me want to sleep with the little guy to - you know - see what he’s got.” She ended that sentence with a wink.

“You mean...Spike?”

“Of course, dear.”

Taken aback, the frown that was on the pegasus’ face grew to a display of pure discomfort.

“No need to worry. I got him seduced ages ago! It truly was love at first sight!”

“Um...”

Her voice trailed off just like the smoke that had been billowing out of the locomotive's stack did; the Friendship Express was gradually slowing, and has reached a dead stop.

Applejack looked out the window to see what's up; she caught a glimpse of the engineer speaking to the conductor from the window in the cab.

"Darn engine's smokin' in places it shouldn't be."

Her comment persuaded other passengers to look out the window, including Rainbow Dash. "And I thought this trip couldn't get any more gruesome; I was wrong."

"You know, I think we all need a quick break," said Twilight Sparkle, who had her hoof being suckled by the sleeping pink pony.

Now Twilight was the one getting dirty looks from everypony who had turned their heads in her direction to see what she had to say, to which she gave an awkward smile and blushed in response.

"And what are you suggesting, Twi?" said Applejack.

"Let's just go outside and get some fresh air. Maybe go for a walk."

Applejack raised a brow. "And what if this train leaves while we're on that walk?"

"Just a suggestion, heh - heh."

"I have no problem with a walk," Fluttershy interjected. "We might meet some cute animals during it. I read that there are quite a few bighorn sheep up here in the mountains."

"Attention, passengers," said the conductor through the door. He entered the passenger compartment and continued as he walked through it. "First, I want to apologize for the interruption in our journey. It has been brought to my attention that - to put it simply - the mountainous terrain put quite a strain on our little engine, resulting in a breakdown. We here aboard the Friendship Express ask that you remain patient as we further try to identify the problem so we can fix it. Thank you." He then left the carriage to repeat the same, scripted-sounding dialogue.

"Perhaps going outside isn't a bad idea," said Applejack.

"Fine, you five can go. But I opt to stay in here to prevent the snow from getting my hooves wet. I just got them hooficured, you know," Rarity said.

"Germaphooooooooobe!"

"Shut it, Rainbow Dash!"

Her yell had awoken Pinkie just in time.

"Wha?"

"We're going outside to unwind, if you wanna join us," Twilight said as she helped the sleepy pony off her lap.

"This sure is a weird place for a train station to be at."

"We've broken down, actually."

The others were already heading out; Twilight followed them, with Pinkie right behind.

It had stopped snowing, and the sun was peaking through the clouds. The day began to become warmer and brighter; as did the spirits of the ponies who had just disbanded, sitting in a row next to the train. Not only had their mode of transportation stopped, but so did their problems. For the first time in this entire day, there was no more of an urge to be someplace at a certain time; nor were there any more complaints or arguments. Just the relaxing silence that was only filled by the hypnotic chirping of birds and this lush, beautiful view of a vast forest ahead of an enormous mountain.

But all of that would be ruined by a sudden red flash that emerged from the trees, flew into the sky, and finally exploded with an earsplitting "BOOM!" to form the letters "SOS."