TCB: Rails and Dreams

A cave is a hole in the ground
Berry Pony

It was three weeks later and I had not heard anything from Brandon Ford. I probably needed to give the mail more time - but the waiting was beginning to wear on me. Each evening, I'd arrive at Baritone and Bottlecap's hay farm, check the day's mail and end up disappointed.

This afternoon after finishing at work, I headed to the bookstore for my weekly lesson. I arrived at the shop, opened the door and walked past the stacks of books to the back of the store. Seeing my teacher, I said, "Hello, Miss Colophon."

"Hi, Cherry, how is that primer on Unicorn script working out for you?" she asked, looking up from her preparations.

"It's helping somewhat but I find the going still very difficult. There are a lot of archaic words and spellings used throughout the book."

"Well, stick with it. Knowing how to read Unicorn script well will help you later." The orange unicorn laid out several small items on the table.

"Oh, I almost forgot." I reached into my saddlebags and levitated a small bag of bits onto the table. "Here is payment for the next month of lessons." I spilled the bag's contents onto the table and began pushing bits towards her.

"Thank you, child," Colophon responded. Her horn glowed and a major part of the coins suddenly rose into the air and descended one by one into a coinbox.

I watched in wonder as the last of the coins dropped into the coinbox. After shaking my head, I gathered the rest of my coins - one or two at a time - and returned my small bag to my saddlebags. After paying for Colophon's tutoring, and other minor expenses, I had saved... 10 bits to pay for filing the paperwork on Equestria Railway.

"I wonder where Written Dreams is? She should be here by now," said Colophon as she finished her preparations.

The front door chimed. Written Dreams and a light brown pegasus with a black mane walked down to the back of the shop. "Hi, Cherry," she said. "Hello, Miss Colophon. This is my boyfriend, Windstorm. Can he stay if he promises to sit quietly and watch?"

"This is a bit unusual," Colophon replied. She turned to the pegasus. "This will be tutoring for unicorns. It will be boring for you. However, do you still wish to watch?"

Windstorm nodded.

"Windy's my boyfriend. I knew him as a student in London," Written said. "We got converted together. He was curious as what I was learning - so he got a day off from the weather team training and came to see me drop teacups and push books around." She laughed.

"I was wondering what was so all important that she would miss a date with me to go do instead," added Windstorm.

"Children," Colophon said, calling us to order. "Windstorm, if you could go there, out of the way, and if Cherry and Written would join me at the table - we can get started."

A few hours later, I was tired from my efforts. We had been pushing ourselves, trying to keep more and more items in the air. I felt a pressure around my horn as if trying to do any more would make it fall off.

"That is enough," Colophon said.

A small rain of objects clattered onto the table. Written quickly used her magic to stop a bobbin that was rolling off the table. Windstorm slowly stood up and stretched his wings.

"Next week, we will continue this lesson," Colophon said. Then she turned to me. "Oh, Cherry, I have your paperwork finished."

"That... is wonderful." I replied.

"I'll need five bits from you for a share."

"Five bits? Share? One moment."

While I struggled to get my small bag out of my saddlebags, Colophon placed the scroll of paper, an inkwell and a quill on the table. Windstorm wandered on over to take a look.

I spilled the bits in the bag onto the table again and levitated five bits over to Colophon.

She set them aside, wrote something on the paper and rolled it up. "There. You now own one share in Equestrian Railways Ltd. I've also subscribed - I trust that is satisfactory?"

"What? Oh yes," I said gathering up my few bits and returning them to my bag.

"I'm confused," said Windstorm. "Equestrian Railways?"

I explained - once again - my dream of building a modern railroad in Equestria.

"Cool," said Windstorm, looking interested. "Electric locomotives?"

"Steam locomotives at first. I plan to electrify later."

"Same kind of locomotives as they have here?"

"Heavier, faster. They'll be pulling heavier cars. At higher speeds."

"Cool."

"Windstorm was a major fan in Germany when I first met him," Written Dreams said. "He was going to all the steam meets and events and knew all the people in the big railroad clubs."

Windstorm nosed around in Written Dreams' bag and put five bits onto the table. "Sign me up. I'd like to get in on the ground floor too."

Written Dreams glared at him.

Colophon took the papers from me, filled out another entry in her elegant copperplate and rolled up the papers. "That's 15 bits in the company treasury now. Shares will printed and distributed once the company papers are filed at the town hall."

"Thank you, Windstorm," I said.

Written Dream said, "Next week, same time, Miss Colophon?"

"Practice at home - only through practice will you get better."

The unicorn and her pegasus boyfriend left as Baritone entered the bookstore. I put the papers and my small bag into my saddlebags and left with my escort.

The next morning, much to the surprise of Bottlecap, I got up very early. It was my day off from work and I had plans. Plans that I did not want anypony to know. I had explored much of Ponyville on my other days off, visiting the park, touring the varied streets and looking at the scenery.

"Going hiking?" asked Bottlecap.

"Yes. I'm going to with Written Dreams," I said quickly.

"Make sure you come back early. Days are growing shorter and the sun sets quicker now. I don't want to have to send Baritone out to retrieve you."

I packed some hay pellets, some apples and a juice box into my saddlebags and took off. The sky was dotted with small clouds, the sun was shining through early morning fog. It looked like it was going to be a gorgeous day.

Trotting down the country lane, I saw Cannonball standing outside the Ponyville station. I waved and then trotted up to him. "Hi."

"Hi yourself. Where are you headed so early in the morning?"

"Hiking. Exploring. Say, Cannonball, do you know who makes the locomotives for the railroad?"

Cannonball frowned at the sudden change of subject. "Locomotives? Why do you want to know."

"Just curious."

"Well, all of our locomotives have been built by Ball-Windy Machine Works of Fillydephia."

"Oh, really? Anyway, it's nice to run into you. Have a nice day."

"It looks like it'll be a nice one," said Cannonball. "Enjoy it."

I left him standing outside the Ponyville station, trotted across the railroad tracks and through Ponyville. This early in the morning, the farmers were still coming into town and the marketplace was filled with wagons and ponies setting up their stands. I stopped at the Shamrocks cafe to let Written Dreams know that I'd be hiking with Lyra and Bon-bon. Then, I crossed the stone bridge and headed out of town. My destination was the peak that Lyra had pointed out.

The muddy road ran south, crossing fields and skirting the woods. At a shady spot, I pulled out a map that I had bought at Colophon's bookstore a week ago. From here, a trail ran from the road up into the mountains. If I was reading the map correctly, I should be able to climb to the peak in a half day. I rolled up the map and returned it to my saddlebags.

I left the road and followed the trail. The trail began easily, turned into a series of switchbacks and then became very steep. It was hard going up the slope and I'd have to rest often. At the top of the slope, I found a trail running along the side of the mountain. At least, it was easier to walk along than the steep slope. There was one spot where the trail stopped and I had to jump across a deep crevasse. As I climbed higher and higher, the sun warmed the landscape and burned off the fog.

The old remains of an avalanche forced me to carefully climb over it. The trail switched back and forth before ending in a broad ledge. From one side of the broad ledge, I could see all of Ponyville's valley - the distant towers of Canterlot, the green orchards, the plowed fields, the darker green forests and the faint glimmers of light reflecting off the lakes and streams. A faint thread of white showed the noon train running to Canterlot. The sun was high overhead.

The other side of the broad ledge had a cliff face with a enormous cave. Rocks had fallen and partially blocked the opening. I walked over to the edge of the opening and listened.

Silence. The air coming from the cave smelled cold, stale and wet. I took a deep breath and stepped past the fallen rocks into the cave. It showed signs that it had once been occupied - there still were massive furrows in the ground, left by huge claws. Markings high on rocks showed the size of the creature. Stalactites were broken off and left where they had fallen. I slowly walked to the center of the huge chamber and looked around.

Of the dragon's hoard, I could not see one gold coin, not one tiny gemstone. From the description that I had heard, this surely was the site where Fluttershy had told off the dragon. But of the dragon and his immense hoard, there was no sign. I started to use my magic to light my horn when something stopped me.

Did you ever face a written examination, not having prepared for it? Or be asked to turn in a lengthy homework and realize that you haven't even started it. It is a slow feeling of fear and dread that sneaks up on you, leaving you feeling helpless. I started to back out of the cave. Step by step, I made it out onto the broad ledge. The sense of fear and dread slowly left me. But I did not want to go back into that cave for anything.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. The dragon was long gone. Time was passing. Shadows showed that the sun was past high noon. It was time that I needed to be off the mountain.

The trip back down the mountain was pretty uneventful - except for the long steep slope near the bottom. A few rocks slipped from underneath my hooves, I lost control, started to run, picked up ever more speed, fell, and slid to a stop. An examination revealed no injuries but I now had scrapes and cuts along my legs and flanks. Groaning and stiff with pain, I got onto my hooves and limped the rest of the way back into Ponyville.

The sunlight was turning gold as the day came to an end. Trees and bushes cast long shadows as I slowly made way back to the hayfarm. When Bottlecap saw my injuries, she was horrified. Over my protests, Baritone was told to draw a warm bath while she grabbed a first aid kit off the shelves and popped the lid.

"Lie down, Cherry. On your side," the grey earth pony ordered. "Ah, what a mess. What happened?" She took a bottle of a strong smelling disinfectant, opened it and placed it on the floor.

"I fell down a slope."

Bottlecap poured the disinfectant onto a piece of cotton. "This is going to sting a bit. I've got to clean out your wounds." She took a pair of tweezers in her teeth and picked up the cotton swab.

"It's just... ouch... scrapes... ouch... and OUCH!"

She teased some gravel and dirt out of my skin. "That Written Dreams should have watched out for you," she said as she prepared another cotton swab, "To let you come home in such a state. Really!"

I didn't want to get Written Dreams into trouble. "Written couldn't come along," I quickly said. "So I decided to continue exploring by myself. There was this slope. It was bit steep for me. Ouch, ouch, ouch... ouch."

"Mmmm." Bottlecap gave me a long studying look. "I do wish you had found somepony else to come along." She discarded the dirty cotton swab and grabbed a fresh one. "After I finish cleaning your injuries, you will get into that warm bath that Baritone's drawing - and afterwards, it's straight off to bed!" Pouring more disinfectant on the swab, Bottlecap prepared to pick up the tweezers again. "Hold still. There's a nasty cut alongside your hock."

"Ouch!"

In the morning, I felt somewhat better. I left the hayfarm with only twinges of pain from yesterday's misadventure and trotted down the country road.

At Barnyard Bargins, I dropped off my saddlebags, slipped into my apron, and went to find out what needed to be done. Pine Shavings, Filthy Rich and the other ponies working at the place were all gathered at the swinging doors leading out to the store floor.

"I'm not going out there," one of the sales ponies said.

"We can't all be in here," Filthy Rich said. "Somepony has to go out there and find out what they want. Sell them something."

"Hi," I said. "What's up?"

"Cherry!" Filthy Rich fell on me as if I was a rescuer. "You're a newfoal."

"Yes but -"

"There are humans in my store. You've dealt with humans before. Of course you have, stupid of me to forget. Go out there and find what they want."

Pine Shavings gave me a powerful shove and I was propelled through the swinging doors.

"And sell them something," came Filthy Rich's voice through the door.

I straightened out my apron, took a deep breath and started to walk through the stacks of canned and bottled goods.

Standing at the cashier's stand was a man and a woman. He was in his middle forties, powerfully built with reddish hair and beard. He was wearing khaki hiking shorts, expensive hiking boots, a plaid shirt and tinted sunglasses. She was in her late thirties, a dishwater blonde with jeans, shirt and expensive hiking boots. Her sunglasses were perched backwards on her head.

"Hi and welcome to Barnyard Bargins," I said.

"Oh look, Mike," said the woman. "There's one of them cute ponies now."

"Where're you guys hanging out?" Mike said. "We've just got into town and the place is like a ghost town."

"Err," I started, drawing a hoof back. "Ponies... are naturally skittish. They are... I mean, we are not used to you yet. Give them time and we'll grow accustomed to you."

"I'd like to touch one. They look so soft, so cute," mused the woman.

"Sell them something," came a whisper from the swinging doors in back.

"Can I help you?" I asked. "Perhaps you would to bring back something as a souvenir of your trip?"

Mike looked around. "What would you suggest?"

"Why not try our regional speciality, Zap Apple Jam?"

"What's that?"

"Zap Apple Jam is made from the apples from a kind of magic tree that grows only -," I began.

The woman reached down and stroked my neck. "So soft, so pink."

I flattened my ears and stepped back. "I'm not a teddy bear," I protested to the woman. "I'm a pony, a person, just like you."

"Lay off, Ashley," Mike warned. "It doesn't like to be touched."

Closing my eyes, I started to speak in a restrained voice. "I have a name. Cherry Shine. I'm a mare. A unicorn mare." I opened my eyes. "I work for my living at Barnyard Bargins, stocking the shelves. I live in Ponyville in Equestria. It is a real country, just like Austria, Spain or even America. It is not a toy place like Disneyland with cute animals for you to play with."

Reaching around to my side, I took off my apron. "I got these cuts and bruises yesterday while climbing in the mountains. You can get hurt here, even killed. This is not some little girl's fairyland."

"Gee, we're sorry," Mike apologized. "Can we start again? I'm Mike Roberts and this is my wife, Ashley. I'm a lawyer for Apple patents and intellectual property and Ashley's a web designer. We're from Mountain View, California."

"And I'm Cherry Shine," I said in turn. "How about that souvenir?"

"We'll...." Mike said, looking at his wife, "take two jars of Zap Apple Jam."

My horn glowed and two jars rose from their shelf, floated across the store and settled next to the cash register. I rang up the sale.

Mike counted out the bits while Ashley secured the jars of jam in their enormous backpacks.

"Will there be anything else?" I asked.

"Is there anyway to get back to Canterlot quickly?" Mike asked. "We left our tour group to go hiking in the countryside and really need to get back."

"Mike heard a rumor about a dragon flying outside the forest here. The forest had a name like Ever Tree Forest or something." Ashley said. "We don't have any dragons in California - we love dragons and so we came to check it out. We didn't see anything but the countryside is so beautiful."

"We could hike back but we'd miss our departure date," Mike continued. "I see that you have a railroad, but I can't reach the internet to check for schedules. No bars." He reached into a pocket and pulled out an Apple smartphone. Turning it on, he showed me the screen. "No bars at all. And GPS doesn't seem to be working either."

I turned to Ashley. "A dragon in the Everfree Forest? How interesting. It is really a shame that you couldn't see one for yourself." Then I returned to Mike. "There is a train leaving at noon for Canterlot. The schedule for the day should have been posted outside the station."

"There was no one at the station - I looked already," Mike said, putting his Apple phone back into his shirt.

"One moment, then I'll come with you," I said.

I walked back to the swinging doors where the rest of the Barnyard Bargin ponies were waiting. "I'm just going to the station to help Mike and Ashley get on the noon train to Canterlot. Why don't you come out? They're perfectly safe."

Pine Shavings pawed the ground. "If it's alright with you, I'd prefer to stay here."

Filthy Rich looked troubled. "I'll... come out. I saw you make the sale and... it'd be foolish to fail to tap into... new markets."

I turned around and together we walked back to the two humans. "Hello," Filthy Rich said as he saw Mike and Ashley. "My name is Filthy Rich. I own Barnyard Bargins."

"Hi," Mike said. "This is a nice business that you have, Filthy Rich. And a really helpful employee in Cherry Shine."

Filthly Rich smiled. "Thank you. Best prices in Ponyville. Tell your friends. And Cherry is doing very well for a newfoal."

"Very well. Let's go over to the station and try and get you on your way to Canterlot, Mike," I said.

The two humans picked up their enormous backpacks and easily swung them onto their backs. I waved to Filthy Rich and we walked outside. I led them across the railroad tracks and up to the station. From inside, I could hear the clatter of the telegraph.

I knocked at the station door. "Cannonball," I said. "We need to talk.

The door slowly opened. "What?" Cannonball asked.

I told him that the two humans were really nice and only wanted to buy tickets for the train. After some further explanation, Cannonball finally sold them tickets to Canterlot. Saying that he was needed at the telegraph, Cannonball made his escape. The station door closed.

On the platform, Mike and Ashley sat down on waiting benches. I was still troubled by the reactions of the ponies in Ponyville so I walked up and down, swishing my tail. "Ponyville is really a nice place," I began. "The ponies here aren't used to strangers."

"It's okay," Mike said. "You don't seem to be typical of the ponies here." He thought for a moment, then said, "Forgive me for asking." He pointed to my blank flank, "but what are those bright tattoos or markings on a pony's hindquarters? I've seen them on unicorns in Canterlot and that brown pony has a tattoo of three money bags."

"They appear on a pony's coat when the pony discovers what his or her special talent is. For example, Filthy Rich's special talent is making more money."

"So, you're saying that once a pony knows what they are good at - that marking appears."

"Yes. We call it a cutie mark. Unlike a tattoo, the markings are only in the colors of our coat - not in the skin underneath."

"Then where's yours," Ashley asked. "You haven't found out what you're good at yet?"

I nodded.

The distant sound of a train whistle echoed off the hills and mountains.

"Why?" she asked.

The train whistled again, closer now. A rapidly moving cloud of smoke and steam could be seen above the trees.

Mike made a fist and slammed it into his palm. "I knew it. Why would a pony know anything about Disneyland, Austria and such? I've been looking around and I have yet to see anything about the rest of the world anywhere we've been. It all makes sense now."

The engine of the train was approaching the station, bell ringing and brakes shrieking. Cannonball came out of the station and was waiting.

Mike leaned down to me. "Cherry," Mike asked, "what is a newfoal? That brown pony called you an 'newfoal'.

The train rolled into the station in a cloud of steam and smoke. Ponies appeared at the windows of the passenger cars, looking at us. As the train shuddered to a stop, the conductor swung down off the engine and walked to Cannonball.

"A newfoal... is someone who's become a pony and emigrated to Equestria," I said slowly.

Shocked, Ashley stared at me. "That's why you have no problems with humans - you were one - once."

"Yes."

Around us, ponies were leaving the train, others were hurrying to board the cars. Cannonball talked with the conductor for a moment. All the ponies were giving us a wide berth as they moved to and fro.

"And that's why you don't have a - what did you call it? - cutie mark?"

"Yes," I replied.

The conductor nodded at Cannonball, glanced at the station clock and moved to his engine. The last of the ponies boarded the train.

"So, really, you aren't a pony at all," Mike stated. "but a human in the shape of a pony?"

"Why?" Ashley asked. "I don't understand. Why did you give up your humanity?"

The engine gave a short, sharp whistle.

"Your train," I shouted. "It's leaving. You'd better get on it."

Mike stood up. He grabbed his backpack. "Ashley, we'd better get going."

Ashley took one last look at me, picked up her own backpack and followed Mike. They hurried onto the passenger car platform, and opened the door to the car's interior. From the station platform, I could see a few ponies getting up and leaving the car.

The conductor blew his own whistle and stepped onto the engine. Doors slammed shut. The engine's cylinders blew a rush of steam and slowly, the train began to move. I caught of Mike's tinted sunglasses looking at me through his passenger car window. Ashley was looking straight ahead. Mike waved once at me. The engine started to pick up speed as the train left the station. Within moments, the train was gone.

Cannonball returned to his telegraph, closing the door.

I was left at the station with some disturbing questions.