szalhi

Right after she spoke her words felt like she might have gone out for a moment there because she felt a skip in her hearing. As strong as one could be there are still ways to get a concussion. Luckily this one wasn't so bad. "Hey... is that the light?" She joked to herself, that was the expression right? She was aided by the forces of the two pegasi as they pulled the rubble off of her. "Yeah, yeah... yeah... yeah... everything's fine. Not dead at all. Thanks. Yeah... yeah." She probably didn't sound alright, but she definitely was. Honest! "Is this stuff all yours? I didn't put anything up there. Just my luck to be standing under there." She wasn't really in the condition to investigate but she said she would. She got up off the ground and stumbled her way over to the door for a moment. Yeah, it was cold, in comparison to the indoor temperature, no big deal, for the moment. She could definitely hear the sounds louder. Sounded a lot like the connection. But she couldn't really tell in her current state, the wind was messing up her accuracy. She almost reached down to touch when she heard Daze's observation. She jerked her hoof back. No, she wasn't messing with it anymore. She went back inside. "So my random arbitrary knowledge has made me the expert in this situation? Man, you must totally be relying on my excellent observation skills. My conclusion? We might be hanging on barely. But maybe we'll be ok-" Wait, that didn't feel right. Were they slowing down? That might be a good thing actually if they're stopping to fix the connection. Although how would they know. Unless... wait, what two cabins? "Wait, what did you say?" She asked the Griffon.

"Ah gotcha. My random knowledge came helpful for once," she replied to Khamsa, (or Fiver, she honestly preferred Khamsa in this situation). Her mother was the type to often learn about and remember arbitrary facts that got passed down. "Well, more than once, this isn't the first time, but whatever." She shrugged. "I want to say it's Griffon's integrated into pony society, but that's just judging from my own knowledge. There's still much more for me to learn about Crystal Empire lore," she said to Zelda. "I didn't hear much about the griffon settlement you talked about, but maybe I did and I just forgot about it." She could feel a chill go through herself. The air from the outside seemed to be seeping through inside now. She wanted to trust the authority of the train service. There's no way they would travel in these conditions. However, it felt like the conditions were very borderline. She went through her bag again. A bunch of winter gear including a blindfold for the potential weather. Her eyes were not completely dead, they still had feeling, a bit too much feeling if you would ask her and that would not pair well with her habit of keeping her eyes open. No problem with sunlight, but in cold weather, the wind and frost can suck. "Right, well, it seems you better get used to it because I don't think they're gonna end anytime soon," she replied to the flying pegasus. She thought for a moment. "I think there may be a pattern to the turbulence. Haven't quite figured it out yet..." "I think the clicking is coming from outside. I'll go check it out. I don't see what could be so scary about going outside for a moment, not like you're going to fall off, and as if that would be much of a problem for you." She pulled on her blindfold and got up from her seat moving into the aisle. A moment not too later, the train started shaking and she went down flat onto the floor. It was not the shaking, but the sudden barrage of items on top of her. "It... would seem... that the inside is more deadly... yeah."

Pinkie's helmet was sealed off with no oxygen source. RIP

Lol, the best way to protect the crown is to stand near it. Who would have guessed? Nice work Shining Armour. The shards of the throne are supposedly anti-magic yet Starswirl just levitates them like it's nothing. Do they have some sort of toggle?

Yona's been so close to death so many times that she knows the 'death' of the tree better than any of the others. I don't know if Sandbar ever considered the functions of growing a biological tree underground. It's okay if he's there and can magic the hell out of it, but when he's not...

In b4 Mane six all become immortal.

Discord was the best part of the episodes.

"Maybe it wasn't always the coldest part? I don't know much about Crystal Empire history, I bet very few do outside the city itself. Maybe they were travelling by and something there made them stop and settle? I don't know why they would travel there in the first place but there are a lot of unknown variables," She mused mostly to herself. Everyone had different motivations for doing stuff that could be considered idiotic to others. "I live in Ponyville so I've had my fair share of crazy stuff happen around me. A little cold exposure in the city won't harm me too much. Of course, this is all assuming that the Heart is taken down while we're there. It seems pretty reliable so far." "Fiver huh? Where did they get that from?" A peculiar name it was. Five of what? Must be some sort of translation. "Is that a kind of translation?" she asked Fiver. She turned towards Golden Daze. "I don't know how special being from Appleloosa is supposed to be compared to Cloudsdale. I only spent like, a year or two there, I don't really remember before moving away. Outside of agriculture, there isn't really much else you can do there," She explained. "Oh it was really not that hard to tell. Maybe if I didn't know about the race, but luckily I've got my sources so I've got it all figured out." She just stared towards Golden Daze for a moment, it was clear the pegasus was actually affected by her weird statement. "They're just sides really." There was no indication of whether or not she was being serious or not in this instance. "Although maybe the right side might be better." "Hah, I would have thought you flying folk would enjoy being thrown up into the air the most. In the event that you don't, then maybe you can submit a very angry complaint?" She suggested. The train was kind of bumpy but it didn't phase her that much at that moment, if she really needed to she could focus on the ground and use her inner magic to keep her somewhat locked. "Yeah, most likely the old tracks. I don't think these tracks get as much maintenance as the other tracks. They probably just get enough to be up to standards. Let's just hope they are. I'm not particularly in the mood for anything going wrong." Oh speak of the devil. She heard the sounds of metal and it didn't sound particularly good to her. "Hey, um, I'm not sure if you guys hear it, but I think there's some sort of disturbance inside the train or something."

I want it to be Next Gen. Same universe, different set of main characters.

"As far as I know, It's just a single city, doesn't feel like much of a kingdom either. Maybe a Principality?" she mused towards the calm pegasus. "That's the word right? I don't know much of the independence of the Crystal Empire after its return." Her education from her mother was both a blessing and a curse. She knew more than she wanted to and it meant that the stuff she didn't know kind of hurt sometimes. She could totally become a scholar, but that wouldn't be very fun now would it? "The frozen North can be cold, but the Crystal Empire itself is shielded from its effects. Unless you're flying outside of the boundaries, then you won't have to worry about freezing yourself," she explained to the totally overprepared pegasus. "Unless you mean on the way there, in which I trust the heating of this train to stop us from freezing." "Yeah sure, it kind of is good to meet new people, but If I got back home and my house was on fire, I'd be very worried." There was only so much relaxing one could do before stuff would start to go wrong. "I hear that some get their kicks from just riding trains, like the destination is just a bonus to their trip, it's all about the special trains that they put out sometimes. Never ridden one of those before, just the regular ol' trains." When the train started moving, she thought for a moment. What if a train ride didn't feel like one, would that be a good thing or a bad thing. Impressive in the fact that they made it feel like a house, but then it didn't feel like a train so... "I heard some engineers are trying to make a really smooth train. You could basically live inside it all the time and just travel around. It sounds like it would be very expensive to produce and maintain though." "My bad side is my every side, so, really there is no bad side. So make sure you get my good side, which is also my bad side." Hah, let them try and process that. She tried to look serious about her request, but she really didn't care. She just talked a lot to fill the void in the silence. "My name is Loose Cannon, formally of Appleloosa, now Ponyville," She mused at the thought of titles. It was weird, especially hearing one from a Griffon. Was it a title, or was it just context? "That might be what it says on my birth certificate." Knowing her, someone might actually miss the joke and actually believe her. She didn't want to explain anything.

If it ends well then I won't entirely be.

Whenever she read a book, she always wondered to herself if her image of the descriptions in the book were close enough to the actual depictions that were supposedly on the cover of the book. Of course, colour was a weird concept to her, but there were still attributes that seemed to surround them. Of course, she was sure that the cover art was not actually entirely done by the author herself and as such the description in the book was sure to be more authentic to the author's mental image. Some thoughts that occurred in her when she started reading her novel was whether or not that Griffon over there was truly staring at her or not. It happened often when she read, ponies and such not being accustomed to the method of braille. Or maybe they figured out that she was blind? That was something that was sometimes a hit or miss. A pegasus mare came in shortly after her and she did not recognise her any more than the rest. The fact that they left her mostly alone instead of trying to greet her immediately was a sign that she was not supposed to know them and it was not a so-called 'brainfart'. She had to suppose that the pegasus was here for the same reason that the other one was, except they did not seem as well, nervous. Her reading was a bit distracted as she paid attention to the pegasus put away her stuff, a sharp sound echoing around the cabin that could be heard by the others if they did not instinctively flush it out. The calm pegasus was the first one to break the relative silence by starting the conversation. So it would seem that it was everyone's first time going to the Crystal Empire, if she understood the calm pegasus correctly. From the reply of the eccentric pegasus, it was clear to her now that they were actually nervous. Nervous probably about that supposed race? What was that word she had heard before, 'Nervouscited?" Quite the portmanteau. "Sure is my first time," She replied taking her attention away from her book. She probably wouldn't need it right now anymore so she put it to the side. "If you asked me a month ago, I would have said it would be crazy for me to go, but I decided that I'd probably go eventually and that time might as well be now. I'm mostly interested in the culture, not the crystals. Although at this point is it right to call it an empire?" She was nearly startled by the sound of the door closing, but her quick internal response stopped her from showing much of one externally. Maybe she wasn't as early as she thought? Or maybe there wasn't anypony waiting so they just decided to leave. Wouldn't be good for any latecomers so she decided on the first option. Ah right, so that Griffon was drawing. And now she was asking if she could sketch them. She personally didn't mind, but it had no real benefit towards herself. "Uh yeah sure I guess, I mean, you know, if you really want to. I mean it wasn't like I could really catch you out for doing it," She replied. She knew the Griffon was just asking out of courtesy. "How long do you think this trip is going to take? I'm not trying to sound bored already, but I've only got one book with me and it's kind of supposed to last me both ways."

Why the Crystal Empire? she thought to herself often over the past week. Besides it not really being an Empire, it was a city of crystals and gems, or at least they appeared to be, maybe they weren't really, she couldn't really tell. And as such begged the question as to why would she want to go to a place where she can't see the main attraction? Well, she had to remind herself that there was more to the destination than just its main attraction. The city was an ancient one, having been in stasis for essentially a thousand years, and that meant that a lot of its history occurred back then. Its culture could be considered a mix of ye olde times and modern Equestria. The most astonishing fact was that its mere existence is based on the power of all its citizens combined to protect the forces of the Frozen North, a force that as it seems, the ponies had not been able to fully tame for whatever reason that she doesn't know about. Maybe it's chaos magic, or maybe it's whatever magic is in the Everfree, is that chaos magic, or is it distinct? Thinking about magic hurt her mind. She was not supposed to think of such things. When Loose was planning her next potential journey for when she would be on leave, she had considered many different destinations, but one that she had overheard quite a lot was the Crystal Empire. She knew that she was going to get around to it eventually so she decided, why not now? Perhaps the most interesting part of the experience would be the train ride. The train went right through the desolate environment of the Frozen North so as far as she knew, the train was effectively the only way to get there and back safely. Except that didn't sound right at all, because who built that track? It was supposedly built before the stasis, but that just begs the bigger question of how is it still functioning? Ever since she started journeying big questions started to form into her mind, and they were too weird to think about. When she awoke that morning, her bags had already been packed from the night before. If her alarm was set correctly, then her internal clock which had developed over years of not really using physical clocks would be correct, she would make it over to the station and hopefully, would make it on board. No complications, she had done this a couple of times before and if she missed it, she could just give the booth manager a hard time. Nah she couldn't think that negative. She made it over to the station just in time to hear the conductor announce the train as hers. "Just made it," She whispered to herself. "Or maybe I'm early. Hmm." She smiled as she made it over to one of the cabins and trotted inside. Her ticket had been purchased the day before. If anything she totally could have left the day before, but she had missed the train, by a couple of hours. She bought the ticket early so she wouldn't have to deal with it now. When she was inside, she pulsed and noticed two individuals. A Pegasus mare and a Griffon. The Griffon appeared to be drawing... stuff, and the mare seemed a bit eccentric almost like she was extremely excited for something. Didn't Haste say there was something on, this week? Something about a race in the Crystal Empire? Maybe that mare had something to do with it. She didn't want to deal with any big reaction so she decided to ignore the mare for now. She made her way over to one of the seats and plopped herself down. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her book: 'Daring Do and the Eternal Flower.' It was unfortunate that braille books were naturally larger than regular books so she could really only bother to bring one. Maybe the others in the cabin would strike up a conversation? With as long as this journey was supposed to be, she was expecting it to happen at some point

I'll find a way to weasle Loose onto the train. She won't be going for crystals though. Totally not ditching her job. Totally not.

Loose's perception is pretty weird so she might not notice right away.

Nah, they actually hop onto a ghost train by accident and go onto the abandoned line which leads straight to hell.