I slept in that cave for I don’t know how long?
I don’t normally remember my dreams anymore…
They’re often scary and I’d rather not think about it…
Didn’t they specifically say it was a “dreamless sleep in stone” though?
Well, they lied about that!
Yeah uh, heh heh! I thought about things uh, pretty VIVIDLY in fact! Since uh, there’s not really anything else to focus on when you’re in stone and literally ZERO distractions!
After many many years and I’m not sure how long, I finally thought about all the ponies I had hurt… I finally thought about what I had taken from them and that reminded me of why I was doing this... Why I had become this monster in the first place… I actually thought about what was like to be hurt…
I don’t like to think about that…
<*****>
It’s almost time to begin… I need to get to Canterlot…
I ate my last apple and drank some river water for breakfast! I also found some berries between here and the forest, but I know I need to head to Ponyville now!
As I was flying over the grassy plains, I saw a glint in my eye coming from the left…
I glanced over and saw a shack down there!
I thought this would be a good chance to learn something…
<*****>
The magenta unicorn widened her green eyes to me underneath her stringy neon blue mane, “Oh, wow! Why would you wanna know about Princess Twilight Sparkle? She’s mean and nasty!”
I smile and nod, “Well, right! I just wanted to know for sure! Now, she reigns from Canterlot Castle, correct?”
She nods and I notice her watching me carefully, “Well, duh! Where else would the ruler of Equestria be?”
“Okay! Good to know! Um…” I sniff the air, “uh, what are you making, anyway? That smells really yummy!”
Her eyes widen again and she squeals, “Oh! I just got a brilliant idea for a chimi-cherry-changa! Or maybe I should just call it a cherry-changa? Chimichanga el cherry, maybe?” before her eyes go skyward and her snout narrows while deep in thought.
I hear a timer going DING DING DING in the back and her eyes widen!
“Uh, come on in and sit at a table sweetie! You gotta try this!”
After a few hundred years, any sort of dessert sounds pretty good! “Um, yes ma’am!” I say before I begin trotting in and make extra sure to close the door behind me…
She snickers while trotting back towards the kitchen and opening the oven with her magic, “Oh, call me Scarlet Eclipse! Well, just Scarlet is fine!” before she lowers her neck to peer into the oven and forces the metal tray inside to glow blue and for it to float out and onto the top of the stove…
“Oh, golly! Uh, nice to meet ya Scarlet! My name is Cozy Glow!”
She turns her head right and squints at me, “Cozy Glow, huh? Why does that name sound familiar?”
I widen my eyes, “Oh, it’s really hard to tell! I mean, pony names all kinda sound a lot alike, you know?” before beaming at her in a completely non-nervous fashion…
She smiles, “Well, yeah! I guess you’re right! Wanna try the cherry chimichanga thingies now?”
“Don’t you think they’re still kinda hot?”
Her eyes widen and mouth flattens, “Oh, yeah! Probably need to wait on that, little filly!”
I smile and giggle anxiously, “Uh, yeah! So anyway, how could I get to Canterlot?”
Her gaze to me adjusts, “Why do you want to go to Canterlot again?”
“Well uh, I needed to get close to or near Princess Twilight Sparkle for uh, research!”
Her eyes widen as she frowns, “Oh, well why didn’t you just say so? I guess this is for a class project or something?”
I widen my eyes and tell a little fib, “Uh, that is correct! I need to get there and do a uh, report for my special class, uh, yeah!”
“Oh, wow!” She nods. “Well, count me in! Let’s go!”
I stare at her intently, “I uh, didn’t say you could come!”
She stares back at me and grins widely, “Yeah, but you never said that I couldn’t come, either!”
I frown when I realize that this strange unicorn is coming with me, whether I want her to or not… However, she could still prove useful? But well, first thing’s first! “Uh, I bet the cherry whatevers are cool enough now!”
Her eyes widen again, “You’re probably right! HOORAY! Let’s eat!” before turning her head back right towards her stove and forcing the metal tray to glow blue and float towards us…
I stare at her and so, “You know, I should probably just ask the obvious question? Why do you wanna come with me?”
Her eyes widen while focusing back on me as the baking pan lands on the metal holders on the table… I’m guessing that’s so the wood won’t get burned? “Well uh, I just don’t want you to get hurt little filly! I mean, uh…”
“Cozy Glow!”
She nods, “Cozy Glow, you’re just a little filly and I need to protect you!” she says before forcing her horn to glow blue and plates land in front of us from the cabinets…
I’m silent for a moment while glowing cherry pastry thingies land in each of our respective plates… “You don’t have a lot to do out here in the middle of nowhere, huh?”
She quickly levitates her cherry-changa to her snout and takes a mighty bite of the warm pastry before humming from her lips, “Hmph hmph hmph!” and then smiling while continuing to chew her food…
“I have no idea what you just said!” I say before deciding to try it myself and taking mine in my forehooves and bringing it to my snout for a timid bite…
I then bite into the most delicious morsel I’ve ever tasted as Scarlet explains, “Okay, FINE! I’m bored! You’re the first pony I’ve seen in uh, two weeks I think? Maybe three?” her eyes go toward the ceiling,”I don’t know! I don’t exactly mark my calendar! That is to say uh,” and her gaze goes back to me before she blinks, “well, it’s been awhile! Yes! A LONG time has passed since I’ve seen another pony!” before smiling REALLY nervously at me…
At that point, something else clicked inside me… I swallowed the scrumptious food in my mouth and smiled at this unicorn because I kinda know what that’s like! “Oh, golly gee Scarlet! I sure am sorry! You know, you can travel with me if you want! I don’t mind!” before flashing a big toothy grin at her…
<*****>
“So uh, I guess we’re heading to the train station to buy tickets?” I say to the unicorn at my right as we trotted towards the station away from Ponyville…
“Maybe if we were gonna do it the stupid way?” She replies while continuing to trot next to me with a demented grin on her face…
“What?”
Her eyes widen, “Follow me!” she says before breaking into a gallop across the front of the station…
The ticket pony didn’t even seem to notice her as I take off and fly closer to her with my little wings… Uh, my legs aren’t that long!
She turns right quickly to begin running behind the station towards the dusty train yard on the other side!
I continue following her from the sky and see her go through the opening in a chain link fence as she races across the dirty ground towards the trains and cars on the tracks some 30 feet away…
I then see her gaze around to make sure nopony is around, she bounds and springs over to sets of tracks before finally hopping into a car with an open door!
I turn my course in the sky and fly towards the open door of this dimly painted red wooden rail car.
I start flapping away from me to slow my speed as I begin to lose altitude and I land on the wooden floor of the car with an almost inaudible clack!
I see Scarlet there smiling as she turns her body around and forces her magic to glow blue and the car door slides shut behind me!
The room is now illuminated by her glowing horn and I ask her, “Why are we in this car?”
Her eyes widen, “Oh, this is the 109 to Canterlot! We just gotta hide in here until it stops and then, I open the door and we come out!”
I stare at her intently, “How do you know which train this is?”
“I just looked at the sign as I was running in! It’s the fourteenth one down!”
I stare at her curiously… “So uh, too bad there’s no food, huh?”
She smiles wider, “Well, I do have a chocolate pie in my floof?”
My eyes widen, “How do you fit a chocolate pie in there?”
She giggles slightly as I see a pie magically float out of the hair on her chest, “Well, I dunno? I somehow always find the room for whatever I want in there!”
“You got anything to drink?”
“Just this small carton of milk!” She says as an ice-cold carton somehow floats out her chest floof and I see the moist condensation dripping off of the glowing container…
My eyes narrow… “Let’s do this!”
And so, that’s how I ended up stowing away on a train to Canterlot and pigging out with a weird unicorn mare…
<*****>
I open my eyes, “Oh, golly! How long was I out?” I ask the strange magenta mare holding me in her hooves as lay there in the empty rail car…
Scarlet gently replies, “How would I know? I don’t have a clock! Anyway, the train just stopped and when it gets to the yard in a few minutes, it’ll be time to go!
“Is it really hard to sneak out of a rail car after the train stopped?”
“How would I know? I’ve never done this before!”
At that point I could only squint my eyes in confused befuddlement at what this strange mare had just gotten me into!
(To be continued…)