[Trottingham] Fairly Distant

[Imagination]

"Hi Chip, hi River! Nice to meet you all everypony!" It was always nice to make new friends! What ho? Somepony was recommending an activity? Pinchy seemed just as excited if not more than Valen, hopping up and down with an almost scientifically impossible smile.

Her smile is not scientifically possible!

"Yay, Merry-Go-Round!!"

Of course her enthusiasm wasn't hidden from the others, she just hopped along after Remington and Valen, her prize bear riding on her back. "Oooo this is gonna be so much fun! I'm making new friends, we're going on the merry-go-round... Eeeeeeee! What're we gonna do next?! Wait, don't tell me, we'll cross that bridge when we get there!" She just kept babbling with happiness as they got closer and closer to the ride. A pizza-faced teenage pony awaited them at the gate and let them in. Thankfully they didn't need tickets for this ride... though maybe they could sneak into some if the little ponies (and non-ponies) were feeling devious enough. "Enjoy the ride..." the ride operator droned in his cracking voice.

Edited April 1, 2012 by Imagination

[Davroth]

Chip jumped up and down, visibly excited by the prospect of a carousel ride. River gave a resounding sigh. The bits she had collected from the ground were safely hidden in her saddle bag, and it was already about as much as an hour of pickpocketing would have brought them. She would just let him have his fun, not that she could really keep him.

"Merry-Go-Round!"

He boarded a small fake boat, holding on the the mast. River all the while climbed on top of some boxes nearby, her eyes keeping careful watch of the carousel.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Snails finished gathering together the unicorn foal's bits with his tail and scooped what he could find back into the bag.

"Here ya go! Umm didja say yer name was Valen?" his excitement growing as he tapped Valen on the shoulder "Here's what ah could find of yer bits!"

Suddenly all the ponies around him got excited when the sleepy foal, Remington suddenly got excited at finding he was in a carnival and saying he wanted to go on the Merry-Go Round.

He yelled out "Awesome!" -Forgetting for a moment that he was supposed to stay outside the Arcade.

Snails giggled when even Valen forgot himself for a moment and yelled out "YAY!" and then calmed himself down to speak in a more normal voice.

Snails bounced on his hooves whn Pinchy smiled kinda like Pinkie Pie does.

Pinchy's excitement overwhelmed him and he followed Pinchy and the others to the ride.

[korok132]

Fleet was immediately torn. While the train offered adventure and going places and all the fun that brings, everyone else was going to the Merry-Go-Round, hooting and hollering the entire way. And as we all know, Merry-Go-Rounds are awesome. You know what? The train can wait, because "Merry-Go-Round!" Fleet let out a loud laugh as he barreled straight towards the carousel, hopping on the nearest seat while smiling like a complete idiot. "Onward!" He pointed a claw forward emphatically, as though that would make the ride start going somewhere besides a circle.

[Hippo]

Remington lead the way to the Merry-Go-Round, but was soon overtaken in an unscheduled race to the ride by the other ponies. After all, Remington wasn't a very fast colt, especially for just waking up from a free-falling nap. Eventually, he got there with all of his stranger friends. He climbed slowly on what looked like a giant plastic manticore. It didn't frighten him at all. Remington made small talk with the other foals as he waited for the ride to start. "Woah, cool! Mine's a manticore! It sure is a good thing this isn't real. What are you guys riding on?"

[Imagination]

Ruby, having the utmost consideration for her stuffed friend, decided to take the regal-looking top-less carriage, sitting the bear next to her. "Here you are, Sir Snugglesworth" she informed the bear as she set it down, using a snobbish sort of tone. She slid a hoof over to move the bear about, lowering her own voice to pretend it was responding "How kind of you, Princess Pinchy!" ... and she then proceeded to giggle at her own silliness. She even decided to sit up proudly, her chin up in the air, likely imitating Diamond Tiara, a filly from her class. Hey, she was allowed to have an imagination, right? Besides, who doesn't want to be a Princess? Celestia and Luna seemed to have it made!

But then she started giggling again. Calming herself from her gigglefit, she waited eagerly for the ride to start, answering Remington's question with a big smile. "I dunno. Some kinda carriage... Maybe I could be a Canterlot pony! Or... Or... A Gladiator!" Gladiators were neat, right? And they sometimes rode carriages! "Or we could just be riding a carriage. I'm not picky" she said with another shrug. She'd make it up as she went along. But hey, she was riding a carriage. Question answered. She'd probably be too distracted by the movement of said carriage when the ride got started anyway.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Imagination

[SteelEagle]

Valen launched himself towards the merry go round with greater vigor than he had any right to exude at that moment. he was, after all, a pony of class and education, not some ruffian given to extreme displays of emotion. Proper responses were in order and as the foals around him descended into, well, foalish behavior, the well-heeled Valen Orange thought it wise to try and bring them under control. However, the well-heeled Valen Orange was momentarily overcome by the sheer excitement of Merry Go-Round! He jumped on what looked like to be a kelpie and waited impatiently for the thing to start.

"Let's go! Go go go, GO!" Valen said with a smile from ear to ear.

"How kind of you, Princess Pinchy!" The small foal behind him spouted playfully, imitating the voice of her toy. How young was she? Valen at least had some validation as a foal on the verge of being a colt, but the small one behind him- Pinchy- was...well, a foal, really. It was unnerving.

Unnerving.

But Merry Go-Round!

[Davroth]

"Mine is a ship." He said, then added excitedly: "A pirate ship!!"

Chip struck a pose he thought of as pirate-y, shielding his eyes with his foreleg like he is looking out for something. "I'm Captain Chip, me pretties." He giggles bubbly, "Prepare ter be boarded, me hearties!"

All the while, River was actually keeping a look out, and to her dread, she found what she was looking out for. Guards. Though they were more nuisances then real criminals, they had a certain notoriety to their actions. She got up, running through the crowd towards the carousal. She had to act quick to keep her brother save.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Snails gave a goofy giggle when the ride started moving and Remington yelled out asking what everypony was on.

"Ah'm riding on a Awesome griffon!"

He suddenly remembered where he was supposed to be. Surely a quick ride while away from his parents would not get him in trouble would it?

He suddenly saw the brass ring despenser fr a free ride spinning closer. he stuck out his horn to try and catch it, and nearly fell off the wooden griffon "Whups!"

(OOC; Hmmm should the parents start getting a clue, or should that be the time everyone gets on the train?)

[Hippo]

Remington's face lit up behind Ruby Pinch. "Yeah! You could be a princess gladiator! And my manticore is chasing you! Rawr!" Remington looks over at the orange colt, "Yeah your kelpie could be a magical kelpie trying to save the day!" And then he looked over at the other colts. "And you could be fighting off that griffon while trying to steal the princess' bear companion!"

Remington smiled real big. He loved his livelihood, especially since it was always short lived from his random nappings. Remington stood up straight on his manticore while the ride started moving slowly. He began to sing out loud about the joys of using your imagination. As he did so, he was pretending that his manticore was trying to catch up to Ruby to eat her, using growling noises, and resisting the laughs at his own silliness.

http://soundcloud.com/mylittleponytales/imagination-as-remington

Imagination

It is where all the fun starts

Imagination

It's where our minds explore our hearts

Everypony plays a part

You don't have to be real smart

It is like a work of art

And we set the world apart

Imagination

((soundcloud had an outage.

))

Out of character: I have introduced a song, and I would encourage everypony's character to sing their own verse. You do not have to do it if you don't want to, and it does not need to be recorded. I simply made a sample based on lyrics I made up so that you guys would have an idea. If you want to make your own verse with a completely different melody, that's fine, too. Songs can sometimes have several different melodies for their stanzas. Please be creative. The point of the song is to establish two things: (1) to illustrate each ponies personality within their own imagination, and (2) to get the kids stuck on a train. The end of the song will be played by SteelEagle, so please skip him.

also...

Special thanks for MyLittlePonyTales for recording her voice for me. She comes a lot closer to what Remington's voice would actually sound like than I do. If you would like to hear my awful man voice version, please listen here:

http://soundcloud.com/riverhippo/imagination-demo-1

[Imagination]

"Cool!" Pinchy struck a valiant pose, picturing herself in a mighty arena and protected by some battle-worn exotic armor. Nothing was going to take this Princess down! She pretended to hold back this fearsome Manticorewith an imaginary spear. "Fear not, Sir Snugglesworth, I'll hold the beast at bay!" the bear, who of course could not respond, she pictured being a young knight who was way out of his league, taking cover and shivering with fear on the carriage.

With the imagination, anything was possible! Even a Princess Gladiator fighting off a Manticore while a pirate ship battling a gryffon is attempting to steal her bear friend! But the magical kelpie will hear none of it and comes to the rescue!

Imagination

Where your dreams come true

Imagination

It's something anypony can admire

Anything that you desire

You can walk a dragon breathing fire

Or strut about in rich attire

Bring your creative level ever higher

Imagination

[Davroth]

River made her way through the crowd, expertly dodging the other ponies. She saw her brother ahead, the carousal slowly creeping forward in front of her. She called his name again and again, but Chip didn't listen, too caught up in his pirate act to take any notice.

"Ahhr, me hearties." He yelled at the top of his lungs. The filly considered her options, then made a quick decision. She leaped.

She landed nimbly on the carousal, right next of his brother's boat. She tugged his mane with her teeth, then gave him a stern look when she had his attention: "Guards!" she began. "Let's cop movin'."

Chip gave her a pout, but he knew she was right. It was a little dangerous to be out in the open like that. They jumped off the little boat and turned to leave.

Imagination

I don't have the time to dream

Imagination

The others don't know what it means

To keep your family save and sound

Keep your hooves set on the ground

sneaking through a tight packed crowd

stealing bits, any amount (no time for)

Imagination

[Boss_Hoss1]

Snails giggled goofily as he got his balance back on the griffon and locked his legs tight around the plastic griffon.

"Yeah! I'm wrestling down this Griffon ta save Princess Pinchy's bear! Rarrr!"

Snails blinked as he heard two of the foals wanting to leave over some kinda trouble.

He started to sing to give them hope.

Imagination

There's always time ta dream

Imagination

You can be bigger than ya seem

Th' Explorers, Magicians, Scientists

Started out small and poor like us too,

Their dreams an hopes, they grew and grew.

Their fame and fortune grew bigger than their...

Imagination

[SteelEagle]

Valen was having a jolly time on his merry go round, though increasingly he was getting lost less and less in the motions and more and more in the sudden singing that had broken out amongst his peers. Internally, something clicked and he felt it rising within himself- only to fall off a moment later. He bruised not only his ego but his flank, standing up and looking at the whirl of colors before him, his brows furrowing as he contemplated them.

Imagination

"This should be something,"

Imagination

"This should mean something,"

Valen shook his head as he walked away.

Imagination

What a beautiful thing, where every day is a circus of sound

Imagination

But like a dog in a vet's sling, I might as well be in a pound

Imagination

It has eluded me

Imagination

They worry it may delude me

Every day I watch and learn

And read and study

No time to get muddy

Or to play in the fern

The texts they give me

They tell you what to be

Valen sighed, continuing a trot away from the merry go-round- and directly into the chest of his bodyguard.

"Orange! Your parents have told me to allow no harm to come to you. Obviously, we have been made a fool of, as our bits are missing and I have been knocked out. Come with me; this fair is over," He said, his well-educated mannerisms belying the scale of his forelegs.

"B-but, I'm just now having fun!" Valen protested, his fear growing.

"I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous," The bodyguard responded, reaching down to bite Valen by the collar- and getting nothing but air, as the young colt had took off at a full sprint, darting between ponies in the crowd as he made his escape.

Just one day without supervision

And maybe then I can see

With great clarity

What is this silly superstition

Called

He spots the train, which has been mostly emptied of the cargo and the travelling act. Out of blind desperation, he leapt on.

Imagination

Valen dove into the cargo hold, flanked by several barrels and a few stacks of hay. Nice hiding spot, at least for now.

[Hippo]

Remington saw a Valen be asked away, and then also spotted his dart into the crowd of carnival-going ponies. Remington thought Valen was being chased playfully. Remington hopped off the Merry-Go-Round which was no stopped. He shouted as loud as his little voice could at the other foals. "Come on guys! We gotta chase that orange kid, too! He's trying to get away from us!" Remington ran as fast as he could towards Valen, continuing the best manticore growl that he could muster. As he bolted towards Valen and where he was going, he sung his final notes with the other ponies.

Imagination gives us hours of fun

It's why all busted into this song

What if we could do this all day long?

I-M-A-G-I-N-A-T-I-O-N

On the train, Remington saw Valen, walked up to him and breathed heavily. "Hay! Where are ya-" Remington fell over on his side and began his soft snores comfortably. He held a pensive smile as he slept.

[Imagination]

Ruby was done singing, but only because of the distraction that took place oh-so-conveniently after the ride stopped. Quickly, she mounted her bear on her back and ran after Valen and Remmington! Whatever they were up to, it looked fun! A sudden game of tag she didn't get the memo for? Hide-and-seek? She loved hide-and-seek! "Hey you guys, wait for us!" she called after them, running off through the gate as the lackluster ride attendant wished them a good evening when they passed. "Come on, everypony!" She called after her new group of aquaintances.

Now where did they go? The train? Neat-o! Running up and hopping into the car, she saw Remmington asleep. Of course, the filly remembered he said he had some sort of condition, so wasn't quite so worried as she was when he just plummeted from the sky.She fought back giggling, thinking it might be kinda mean... But her attention soon turned to the orange pony, putting her prize bear on the floor. "So who're you hiding from? Are you playing a game?"

Though before he could answer, she spotted a collapsed box with some silly looking costume stuffs in it. "Oooo!" Immediately running over to it, she jumped on in, the force causing the box to tilt back right side up. When Pinchy emerged from the box, she had a colorful Jester's hat on her head. Her reaction? Rocking from side to side with a silly grin, listening to the bells jingle.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Imagination

[Davroth]

Chip was positively ecstatic. He had been worried that he fun was already over, but with this commotion, a cornucopia of opportunity opened up for him. Not only could he dodge the guards, he could play catch. Without even turning around, or waiting for River's reaction, Chip darted forward, running after the orange colt and the others.

River, ever watchful for the approaching city guards, didn't react quick enough to hold her twin brother back. As she turned, he was already in full gallop, chasing the other kids towards the nearby trains. Trains? Maybe it wasn't all bad. There was lots of opportunity to loose guards in among freight trains.

The green colt jumped without even looking into the open train door, landing surprisingly soft in a box of costume pieces. River, driven by her will not to lose sight of her brother, was nearby, climbing into the cart soon after. She looked back, but didn't see any guards coming directly in their direction. At least not yet.

"Where's yer?" She asked into the wagon in a slightly agitated tone of voice. Chip emerged from the box, curiously enough a pirate hat on his head and a bright smile plastered on his face.

[Boss_Hoss1]

(OOC; oops, I was waiting for Davroth to post and the thread mustve' been bumped off the bottom of the page before I noticed, while I was laid up with this ankle.. Sorry everypony! )

Snails thought again for a moment about his promise to stay near the arcade, but the sudden excitement of the song kind of pushed it out of his head.

He was still caught up in the excitement of the song when the foals started running after Valen, when an adult pony tried to make him come home or something.

The lanky orange foal broke into an excited gallop, making playful screeches like the griffon he was riding in his imagination as he was caught up in the galloping mini-herd.

When the foals jumped into the train, he whooped 'Yay! A train!" and hopped inside, tripping over his hooves and rolling into the costume boxes too, coming up with a cotsume knight's helmet on his head.

He fumbled with the visor and pushed it up "Oh hay! Lookit' these sweeet costumes!"

[SteelEagle]

Valen was not under the foolish notion that hiding on the train came with any assurances of privacy. It had been a move made in pure desperation while he had been singing, no less. So when the pegasus came up to him, Valen wasn't all that surprised by the situation. He expected somepony to come by eventually, but he sure as heck didn't want it to be some pegasus colt who would likely give away his position long before his appointed time. Luckily, before the colt could loudly end Valen's day by revealing his position, he collapsed to the floor. Valen poked his body a few times in slightly dull shock, at first trying to decide whether he needed to run from the body or alert the authorities. Then he felt the form breath and sighed deeply- at least he couldn't take the blame for whatever happened there!

His momentary reprieve was ended quickly when other foals, apparently having seen both Valen and Remington enter the train, followed suit. There was Ruby, who seemed good-natured enough. Valen couldn't summon himself to meet her with speech as she asked him who he was hiding from, afraid that at any moment even the smallest of noises could attract the attention of the guard who still roamed nearby in a slightly perturbed search. She was then quickly distracted by a collapsed box with costumes, in which a jester's hat with bells quickly found itself occupying the space on her head. She went about shaking her head to and fro, the jingling and jangling sending Valen's face into his hooves.

Then Chip arrived, though unlike Ruby, Valen knew nothing of this one. He fell into the box and emerged soon after appearing as a pirate, and a somewhat older filly then poked her head in, locking eyes with him. Siblings? Valen dove deeper into his hooves in an effort to hide, an inner panic swelling within him. Finally, a taller looking orange colt gangly wandered in, Snails having rounded out the current crop rather ably. His voice was more baritone than the rest, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

He was terrified of being found, though quickly his desire to continue having fun was being soured by the lengths he was going to remain secure. Dogmatically, he had tried to remain hidden silently with the hope that maybe after a few minutes the worry would pass and he could have fun. Sadly, this was not to be: Valen leapt up from his position and started galloping towards the door to the next cart, eyes closed.

"AHHHHHHHH!" He yelled, charging from one cab to the next, all the doors having been opened for ease of access by the performers outside, and the few engineers, coal shovelers, and the conductor currently outside in the fair finally relaxing. Proper safety procedures hadn't been followed and as Valen sped through th cabs, he reached the front while still galloping at full tilt with his eyes closed in panic.

His head slammed against a lever and then his body wrapped around in a warped sense, pulling the lever down and the device shattering in two closely after.

The train came to life with an ill-managed forward jolt that sent a screeching sound from cab to cab moments before the coal-dispenser, still stocked with enough coal for an hour of travel, burned to life, the train picking up speed faster than a pony could say, "Foalish Disaster at Trottingham Fair".

[Hippo]

Remington walked into a large empty room. Through the only doorway in front of him came a giant orange. The round citrus fruit grew limbs and began tickling Remington. Remington giggled. "Stop! Stop!" Remington was ticklish beyond all reason, apparently. Just as he looked up to see the orange that had made him giggle, it was gone. In it's place was a joker pony. The joker pony started running around Remington and made jingling noises with her bells on her hat. She started laughing insanely and started to scare Remington. Remington wanted it to stop. He wasn't normally afraid of clowns, but this was too much for him. The jingle became louder and louder as he tried to escape, running to all four corners of the room he was in, but no doorway could be found, not even the one the orange walked through. Remington spun around to find on the other end of the room a doorway that mysteriously appeared. Out of this doorway came a pirate pony, who with sword in mouth, began running at the joker. They chased each other in the room for about a minute until the room started growing a mysterious blue grass. The grass became longer and longer and longer until it finally broke through the walls and outgrew the room. The floor because a dirty range color and as Remington looked over what was now the edge of a huge cliff, he could see that he was standing on Snail's giant head. Snails' looked up as he could to Remington and shouted softly in his deep giant voice, "YAY! A TRAIN!" The deep baritone voice echoed through all the realm Remington was in. The whole area started to shake vigorously. He saw the pirate pony and the jester dancing with snails, who was now regular size standing next to them. Remington was shocked. The ponies, though, seemed to get farther and farther away. Remington tried to walk up to them, but it seemed that the harder he tried to walk towards them, the farther he got from them. By the time they were so far away that he couldn't see them anymore, a large noise could be heard that filled the realm and hurt Remington's ears. In haste Remington closed his eyes and started running as fast as he could.

"OUCH!" Remington shouted as he woke from his short nap. Having awoken, he saw himself face planted into the train car wall. Apparently, in his sleep, he had made a sprint towards the wall and hit it. Remington shook off the pain and noticed that the train was moving. He was slightly worried. "What's happening? Why are we moving?"

[Imagination]

-Meanwhile-

A couple of engineers were sitting nearby, enjoying a coffee and donut break while the performers were gone. They had loaded everything up, but they still needed to help break down the stage. "'Ey, 'ow long's dis fair goin' for?" one of them asked before taking a drink of his coffee, a grey stallion with a stubbly beard and gruff voice. The other seemed younger, yellow with an orange mane. He shrugged. "I dunno. Soon as the performers get back we-" *TSST* *CHG... CHG... CHG... CHG..CHG..CHG-CHG-CHG*

What was that? The younger Engineer looked out toward the tracks, and his eyes grew as wide as dinner plates!

"TH-THE TRAIN!" he shouted, quickly getting to his hooves and rushing after it. The other arched a brow and took a look, the sight making him spit out his coffee in surprise.

-Back on the train-

The jerk from the sudden movement of the train made Pinchy fall back into the box again, quickly sticking her head up, now free of the jester hat. "We're moving?!" she repeated Remington's question, quickly scrambling out of the box and rushing to the open door. "OhNoOhNoOhNoOhNoOhNo!" she trotted about by the door, the train moving too fast for her to have the courage to jump out. Looking out, she saw one of the engineers chasing after the train! "Mister Engineer! Stop the train!" she cried after him in desperation, but it was no use. Eventually was a yellow blob in the distance, a grey blob catching up and throwing his hat down in frustration. "What do we do?" she asked herself, the train still moving. There was great worry in her voice, tears building in her eyes. "What do we DO?!?!" she asked again, though to the group behind her.

Of course it never occurred to her to try and stop the train herself.

[Davroth]

River mustered her brother with an expression of blatant annoyance. Chip just smiled and dove back into the box, rummaging around in it as if searching for something. She sighed. From the looks of it, the city guards hadn't noticed where they had ran off to. In the distance, she could see them moving through the crowd of ponies enjoying themselves, like dogs through a flock of sheep. They could probably allow themselves a moment of rest.

The green filly climbed into the cart with little difficulty, sitting down next to the box with her brother inside. She tapped on the old wood with her hoof. "Come now, right, Chip. That's enough. We need ter get oray from 'ere."

From inside the box, she could hear the scrapping of a hoof against its walls. "Just a second, sis'. I almost got it."

"Got wot, eh? Don't make me come in there and cop yer."

Silence, aside from the sound of a colt rummaging through costume parts.

"I warned yer..." She said, leaning over the edge of the box, seeing his hooves only barely poking out of the different costumes. She grabbed hold of him and pulled. "Cop out of there! Oi!"

She pulled with all her might, but he didn't budge. It was like he held onto something. "Let go!" "Just a wee more..."

What they barely noticed was that a jolt had gone through the train and that slowly but surely it started to move, already speeding up. It was just as a second jolt hit the train that whatever Chip was holding on to dislodged, and both of them fell out of the box, tumbling over the floor. Chip instantly sat up, smiling brightly, a tacky and obviously fake, golden necklace in his muzzle.

"Cute" River said "Are yer gonna wear that?"

"No" He replied, extending one hoof, offering the necklace to her "I fought yer could wear it as me trusty pirate w..." He went silent when he saw her look. "We are movin.." She began, looking through the crack of he half closed wagon door. "It's already too fast ter jump off."

Around them, there was already a commotion caused by the other colts and fillies in the train. There was an unicorn filly and a pegasus colt already showing signs of panic, a lanky, orange colt was still fairly quiet. His brother seemed cheerful as always. In fact, this probably was far better then he'd anticipated. River sighed heavily.

"Calm dahn, evry pony." She began, walking a small circle around the other colts and fillies in the wagon. "We just 'ave ter find a way ter put the mockers on the train. Follow me." She said, making her way to the front of the wagon, looking for a way to reach the next wagon. All they had to do was reaching the locomotive, then they could surely figure out how to stop it. At least guards weren't a concern anymore.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Snails was happily playing knight, when the train suddenly jerked under him, banging his head on the wall with a clank.

After his head stopped ringing he saw Pinchy and some of the others looking out the door. Even Remington was awake and alarmed.

Snails gasped "Oh No! I'm gonna be in so much trouble! Mom and Dad cant find me now! Ah promised Ah'd stay near th' arcade!"

Suddenly a green fllly got his attention, along with everypony else's. ...well he thought she was talking about stopping the train.

Her accent was stranger than many he had heard from the Nimbusgait region his family had moved from, but he thought that's what "mockers" meant.

He trotted along with the others, a worried look on his face. "Ah hope we kin stop th' train..."

[SteelEagle]

Valen had wrapped around the now broken lever rather well, his body only slowly recovering from the dual shocks of both banging his head and wrapping around the lever with his form. The movement of the train did not aid him as he stumbled to his feet, woozy and shaken as much from the ill-got speed of the locomotive as the near-impalement that had sidelined him. As the train continued to gain speed down the tracks, steam power giving it a sense of acceleration that felt impossible when it was being pulled by workhouses, Valen stumbled out of the first cab towards the freight cabs that followed.

It was only as the wind blasted him across the face as he entered the open walkway between two cabs that the sensation of speed finally hit him. Immediately, the colt looked around himself in shock and horror before bracing himself against the sides. This was his fault, he was sure, just as most things inevitably crawled their way into his realm of responsibility. Usually he had nopony or thing to blame other than himself for the misfortune that plagues him ceaselessly, haunting him like a specter of failure determined to grind him into dust. This time however he had a far more enjoyable target of blame; that song and that indefinable thing that had spawned it, imagination.

"IMMMMMMAAAAAAAAGGGGGGINNNNNAAAAAAAATTTTTIIIIIOOOOOOOONNNNNNNN!" Valen screamed with all of the manufactured fury he could manage before his hooves fell limply to his sides, the wind stealing much of the impact of his voice. His head snapped back to the first cab and with hesitation lasting a mere moment, he entered. The problem was obvious; snapped lever. The solution seemed simple, getting on one's back and trying to force it up with the strength of one's hind legs. That failed. Either he was immensely weak or some sort of mechanism had been snapped. The second solution was to meekly place the broken half of the lever on top of the one still attached to the train.

When that failed, Valen very slowly backed away, turned, and trotted with an aura of panic that pierced his calm outside demeanor. He trotted from cab to cab until he ran across some other ponies, the make and colors of which were varied and confusing to his frazzled mind.

"So, uhh, the lever in the front is broke and I can't do anything about it. I don't suppose we have any pegasi amongst us who could fly us to safety before we inevitably run off of a cliff or something similar?"

[Hippo]

Remington rushed to the back of the train car he was in. By the time he got next to Ruby, he could see that the train had already started going fast enough for any jump off the train would not be a pleasant leap. He was afraid to jump to the next car so he yelled at Valen who was probably having an adolescent heart attack. "Isn't there like a hoof brake of something!?" Remington's voice, much like Valen's, was being washed away by the rushing amount of wind flowing between the train cars. No pony could hear anything clearly.

Rem then walked safely back into the coach car and pointed at the door that was wide open. He knew that if the turbulent air blew around enough inside the car, that there wouldn't be much weight on Remington's little body that would keep him from blowing away like the lightweight pegasus pony he was. If only he was strong enough to fly, none of this would matter. "Guys! We gotta push this door closed, help me!" Remington started leaning his weight on the door, but it was not moving, and he kept losing his footing because of the flow of air that challenged his balance.