Will of Fire

Chapter 26 - Train to Canterlot

By: TheXIIILightning

"Good morning sleepy heads! Breakfast is ready."

Trixie and I woke up at the sound of Sunshine's voice. After rubbing the sand out of my eyes I got on my hooves and greeted her. Trixie also got up, with a small case of bed-mane that she quickly fixed with her magic, and greeted us both.

"Good Morning, Trixie slept like a foal last night." She said as she made her way towards the kitchen, I took her side.

"So did I, and it's been a while, I don't remember the last time I slept that well." I gave her a small smile, I was feeling great today.

"Trixie is happy for you." She smiled a bit, looking at Sunshine. "She missed both of you." Sunshine nuzzled her head.

"Yeah, we missed you too Trixie." Sunshine motioned us to follow her. "Now come, Spike and I made us some breakfast and you never tried my cooking, Trixie!"

After they were out of ear shot I gave a small groan, Sunshine just can't cook...

"Well? What do you think?"

Sunshine was eager to hear our thoughts on her cooking. The five of us were now sitting at the table, trying to enjoy our meal. It's easy to distinguish what Spike cooked and what Sunshine cooked, you just have to look for the burnt marks and the eggshells.

"Well..." I gulped at the sight of the pancakes, they were squishy and black. "The pancakes aren't half bad." I took another small bite, trying to keep the rest of the meal inside my stomach.

"Pancakes?" Sunshine looked at Spike. "We didn't make pancakes." What!?

Instead of spitting the stuff out of my mouth, I accidentally swallowed them. It tasted awful! It was a mixture of ashes and... oranges?

"Sunshine... is this, orange juice?" I seriously hoped it wasn't, but the sad expression on her face told me everything. "I'm sorry, I guess that I suck at cooking..." Her ears were now floppy, and her enthusiasm faded. It was a sad sight.

"Trixie enjoys it." We all gasped and looked at Trixie. "What?" She gave a dismissing wave. "When you live alone like Trixie has, you either learn how to cook or how to enjoy the filth you make." Her eyes bulged a bit at what she just said.

"Trixie meant no offense, Sunshine. Trixie hates to admit it, but she is a terrible cook." She gave a small, embarrassed chuckle.

"Thanks Trixie." Sunshine said, still a bit sad. "At least somepony likes my cooking..." Spike took a bite out of some charred eggs.

"I like the eggs you made. They taste funny, a good kind of funny." He took another bite, while rubbing his belly. Twilight looked up from her bowl of oats, she kept to them after almost choking on... I think it was a napkin, but whatever it was, it sounded crunchy.

"Spike, I mean no disrespect to Sunshine, but you eat gems." She pointed an accusing hoof at Spike, to which he just shrugged and kept eating.

"Hey!" Sunshine put a foreleg around Spike's shoulders. "Gems are beautiful! So I take it as a compliment." She gave us a smug smile.

"I hate to tell you this Sunshine." Spike started. "But I also ate poisoned cupcakes once, and I kinda liked them." He munched on another charred egg. Sunshine forced a smile on her face.

"How poisoned were they?" She cautiously asked. Twilight answered.

"Enough to poison half the town, and Spike still ate them from a garbage can." Twilight, and the rest of us, gave a small disgusted stare at the little dragon.

"Yeah yeah, you make fun of me, but I'm the best cook at this table." He pointed a finger at his own chest, puffing it with pride.

I took another bite out of my, now almost empty, bowl of oatmeal.

"Yeah, I give you that Spike."

We spent the rest of the meal laughing and sharing stories.

"So girls, and Spike, what are we doing for the day?"

Spike was doing the dishes and we were deciding our plans for the day.

"Well..." Twilight started. "The train is only scheduled to arrive in a few hours, so we have a few time to spend around Ponyville. I'm going to get the library ready for Spike, while we're away, since he volunteered to keep an eye on things." She gave an appreciative glance towards Spike. "So you three are free to look around town, as long as you meet us at the station in a few hours."

"Sorry, but I already have plans." Sunshine spoke. "Rarity invited me to join her at the boutique, so I'll meet you at the station later." She got up and made her way towards the door.

"You? In a boutique?" I said, trying to hide my grin. Sunshine isn't the more cautious of ponies, especially concerning her mane and coat. She huffed.

"Yeah! I'm still a mare after all." She pointed at me with a mock frown. "In case you haven't noticed."

"Riiiight, well see you later." I waved at her, chuckling a bit. She said goodbye to us and left.

"Well Trixie, I guess it's just you and me today." I gave her a smile but Trixie only shifted in her seat.

"Sorry but Trixie must refuse." She gave me a pleading look. "Trixie wishes to speak with Twilight about some... stuff. I mean, if it's alright with you Twilight."

"Sure, there's no problem at all." She looked a bit worried. "But, what do you need?"

"Trixie just wants to talk about the events surrounding that terrible night, you know, when the Ursa attacked. And she wishes to learn more spells, like the ones you used."

"Oh really!" Twilight happily clopped her hooves. "I have this volume by Starswirl the Bearded, it has tons of spells that I'm sure you'd enjoy. Oh, and I also have this encyclopedia about constellations, it has a great chapter on Ursa Minors! And I al-."

"OKAY!" I said. "This is getting way too technical for me." I got up and went towards the door. "I'll meet you girls by the station, have fun until then." Trixie already had a pile of books in front of her while Twilight was scanning the shelves.

"See you later Lightning, thanks!" She waved at me, a huge smile on her face.

I waved back and left. It's good to see Trixie's smile again.

"Ah, I missed this."

I was lying down in a fluffy cloud, finally I had my wing fully healed. It still hurt a bit but that's normal, I've been lacking the exercise for a long time.

This town is really peaceful, I flew around for a while and nothing special happened. I saw foals playing in the streets, ponies selling stuff at the market and even a few couples at the local park.

This town is perfect when compared to Canterlot, it's peaceful, friendly and the view is amazing. I wish that I could live here someday, maybe build a house on a nice hill, get a job that doesn't involve me almost getting killed.

Start a family...

Yeah, I wish that I could settle down somewhere, live a happy life and stop running. But wishing is easy, it's like Mentore always said. "If you want something, go get it! Don't look at your hooves until it hits you in the head!" Ha! Then he would always headbutt me to prove his point...

"I miss you, old bastard..."

I closed my eyes and rested for a few minutes, until I heard a train in the distance. I guess I better go, don't wanna keep the girls waiting.

I jumped up and flew through the cloud, getting a little water in my face to wake me up.

"At least I have my wings back."

A short flight later and I arrived at the station, everypony was there already, except for Sunshine and Rainbow Dash.

"Hey girls, glad to see I'm not the last one here."

I said while landing, flapping my wings a bit to remove that annoying sting sensation. Do you know the feeling when you have a really bad itch on your back, but can't quite reach it or scratch it? Yeah, imagine having that multiplied by ten. I'm gonna have to wait a few more days until my feather's regrow, but at lest I can fly.

"Where's Rainbow Dash?"

"Ah don't know, she was supposed to be here already." Applejack stared at the skies, muttering something while she searched for that pegasus.

"Ah swear, if ah was selling my cider today, she would have spent the night camping..."

"I bet." I chuckled a bit, turning towards Rarity. "What about Sunshine? Wasn't she with you today?"

I heard a loud growl behind me. "I'm right here you idiot!" That was Sunshine's voice, I can't believe I didn't notice her.

"Sorry Sunshine." I turned around to face her. "I was just a bit distra-... woah..." I got speechless.

Sunshine was completely different, her coat was a lot cleaner and shinier, and her mane was slightly trimmed, much like Rainbow Dashe's, but longer like mine.

Around her neck was a beautiful blue handkerchief, with her necklace proudly on top of it.

Her eyes were a lot brighter and she was wearing a tired and happy smile.

She looked like... well, she looked like a mare!

"Surprise?" Sunshine said, giggling a bit. She was giggling!?

"Let me guess, you spent the day at the spa?" I gave her a small grin.

"Ugh! Don't tell me about it!" She saw the hurt expression on Rarity's face. "I mean, of course I enjoyed it Rarity, every girl likes to be pampered from time to time. It was just a bit... over the top for my first time." Rarity gave her a look.

"First time? Does this mean there will be others?" She leaned closer to Sunshine, eagerly awaiting her response.

Sunshine looked into my eyes, judging my expression. Then she glanced at her flank and tail, appreciating the way it softly moved in the air.

"Oh, most definitely."

Twenty minutes have passed. Twenty. Minutes.

The conductor was getting antsy, after all he had a schedule to keep, and one can only wait so much time for one pony, even if she is one of the Elements of Harmony.

Thankfully Rainbow Dash arrived in time, to put it bluntly. The conductor was already yelling, "All aboard!!" throughout the station.

"Where were you Rainbow Dash!?" Twilight snapped. "We're going to be late!" It took us some time to calm down Twilight, let me tell you, that pony has a thing about following schedules...

"I'm so, so sorry!" Rainbow was panting a little. "I just had some, uh... weather pony stuff to take care off! Yeah, can't leave without taking care of the paperwork!" She panted a bit more. "And let me tell you, there's a lot of paperwork!"

Applejack and I traded glances, not buying what she was telling us. But we had to board the train now, so we let it slide this time.

"Ah don't know if ah wanna know, or even if ah care. Just get on the train missy." Applejack huffed and boarded the train, already in a bad mood because of Twilight's overreaction.

"Yeah, I'm coming, hold your saddles..." Rainbow muttered under her breath, thankfully Applejack didn't hear her. She passed by me with her head slightly low.

On a normal day I would have asked, "Hey Rainbow, what's wrong?" But this isn't a normal day. There isn't a normal day when these six ponies are together.

The best I can do is to sit still and think about my trial.

I poked my head outside and waved at the conductor that was minding the engine. he waved back and blew the whistle, signaling that the train was departing. I closed the door and made my way inside.

Everypony was talking with each other, any remorse they had towards Trixie seemed to be gone. Twilight also seemed to have calmed down, because she was talking with Trixie with a large smile on her face. Probably about some new magic tricks or something.

Sunshine was showing off her mane and new handkerchief to Fluttershy, even though she was nearly unintelligible when we met, Fluttershy seemed to open up to us.

I'll have to remember to properly thank Rarity, Sunshine and I had a pretty rough life lately, that spa trip was something she desperately needed.

I slipped away towards the bedrooms, I need to rest and practice a bit before my trial. Since I'm going to talk to a Princess, I'll need to be really polite and formal, but not too formal like Twilight said. Princess Celestia might be royalty and the most powerful pony alive, but she likes to be treated as anypony else.

Imagine if everypony was scared of me, I wouldn't have any friends or eve-... Rainbow Dash?

On the top bunk I could see a small rainbow colored tail, slightly twitching in the air. I chuckled a bit, she didn't hear me.

Rainbow probably came here for a small afternoon nap, hay, I could use one too. I carefully walked towards the bottom bunk and made it my own, I didn't make the slightest noise.

I couldn't ear anything, except for the sound of railroad and... is somepony crying?

"Rainbow Dash?" I heard her give a small jump on top of me, clearly she wasn't expecting anypony to be in the room.

"Light, is that you?" She poked her head on the side of the bunk, eyeing me on the lower one. She gave me a small frown. "I- I wasn't crying! My, uh... my throat just hurts!" Her voice was a bit choked and her eyes a little red.

"I didn't say you were." I gave a humorous chuckle at her terrible lie, even tough I was worried for her.

"Yeah, because I totally wasn't! I mean..." She sat down and smacked her head on the wall. "Darn it, I can't do anything right..." She muttered.

I got up from my bunk and flew up to hers, she didn't object, that could be a good or a bad sign. She didn't look too good, her mane was disheveled and her eyes lacked the spark they always had. But aside from the small redness in her eyes, nopony would know the difference.

We stayed in silence for two minutes, before I asked her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She didn't move, she kept staring at the ceiling.

"No..." Oh Celestia, she's gonna give me the 'one word' response. Might as well get this over with.

"Listen Rainbow Dash." I used her full name for emphasis. "We don't know each other for a long time, I don't know all of your friends, I don't know your family, hay, I don't know if you own a pet dinosaur!"

I saw a small smile on her face, that's an improvement.

"But I want you to know one thing Rainbow." She looked at me. "You have friends that care deeply about you, whatever you say to yourself you are not alone, you will never be alone. If there's anything troubling you, you just need to say so and we will be there for you... Ugh! I'm just not good with this sappy emotional stuff."

I scratched my head a bit, slightly embarrassed. Rainbow Dash seemed to have noticed.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad." What she did next surprised me, she hugged me. "I think I know what you meant." I hugged her back and we stayed like that for a few more seconds, until she broke the hug.

"Do you still want to talk about it?" I asked her, Rainbow just shook her head.

"Nah, I'm good." She hopped off the bed. "Let's just say it's something only I can do. Nopony else." She went towards a small sink to wash her face.

"Alright Rainbow, just remember what I said."

"I will, thanks!" She gave me a large smile and went towards the door. "Oh yeah, why were you here anyway?" She stopped and looked at me.

"I just wanted to practice a bit for my trial, since I thought nopony was using the bedrooms I remembered to come here."

"Oh really?" She gave me a big grin. "Are you sure you didn't just miss me?" Well, that looks like the Rainbow Dash I know.

"Yeah, as if!" I said in a mock voice, we both chuckled a bit.

"I'll tell the girls you're busy, we'll come and get you went we arrive to Canterlot."

"Thanks, see you later Rainbow." I said as I lay down on the bunk.

"No problem, later." She got out of the room and closed the door.

Well, that sure was interesting, I wonder if I did the right thing by telling her what I did. I'm not sure what happened, but I don't think anything small could make her act like that.

I mean... she's Rainbow Dash! A speedster and daring pony that doesn't fear anything! And she was crying...

Well, whatever it was she said she could handle it, the least I can do is trust her on that. For now, I should only have to worry about my trial.

End of Chapter 26

Canterlot awaits!
So does Rainbow Dashe's therapist!

Now for the Hype. *Ahem*

Guilty or Not Guilty!?

Find out in the next chapter of...
Will of Fire!