//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2, Training for the Visit. 
// Story: Written to Tears 
// by Kittyluvr 
//------------------------------//

Novel slowly got up, his desk long forgotten. He had finally sorted out the torrent of thoughts that had filled his mind enough to move. He decided there was nothing he could really do besides let this play out.

Novel didn’t know what to do the remainder of the day. He couldn’t do his normal routine, because he did not have one besides writing. He couldn’t write until he had thought through the recent revelation. He could not go to work because he was self employed by his fiction.

Novel barely considered these things. Instead it spent the afternoon coming up with every possible way the visit could go wrong. He paced for hours, before sitting in one of his chairs. He was so wrapped in his thoughts that he barely noticed the time. Nor did he notice when his cat, who had been curled up next to him, got up and left his house.

Meanwhile, not very far away, a train was chugging along. The ground was whirring past it at 65 miles per hour. It was a relatively short train, pulling three cats and a caboose.

The first cat contained a kitchen with a couple chefs moving around. Preparing the evening meal for the train’s important passengers. The dining room that took up the other half of the cat was empty.

The second cat was filled with seats. The cat was almost entirely empty, except for seven ponies who were talking excitedly.

The third and final cat had bedrooms for the train’s ten passengers. Three of the rooms were occupied. Specifically, they were the rooms with the names Spike the dragon, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo posted on the doors.

The ponies on the second cat were talking excitedly about the train and it’s destination. One of the ponies, a white unicorn named Rarity, sat down on one of the seats. She then exclaimed enthusiastically, “Wow Twilight, this train is amazing! How did you manage to book it?”

Twilight turned to look at Rarity, then sat down across from her next to the window. “Well, it turns out being a princess has many advantages. More than being a princess’s protègè.”

Pinkie Pie bounced over to Twilight. “Yeah, but this train is still super funerifical!”

Just as Twilight began to answer, the train hit a huge bump. The outside world jittered, then stopped rushing past. There was a couple thumps from the following cat, then the separating door opened. Out of it walked two ponies and a dragon. All three looked groggy and confused, as if they had been rudely awoken and thrown across a room.

The smallest pony, Scootaloo, walked over to her two friends, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, and all three began talking. Rainbow Dash and Spike walked over to the other five ponies.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy had been knocked over, as all three had been standing during the vibrations.

Applejack slowly stood up, then carefully sat down next to Rarity. “What in tarnation was THAT Twilight!?”

Twilight turned back and replied, “I don’t know! This train is supposed to be state of the art!”

Fluttershy quietly said “Um… Girls?”

Rainbow Dash, not quite hearing Fluttershy, turned to Twilight. “Yeah, but didn’t you say it was a prototype.”

Twilight replied slightly sharply, “One that’s been tested before! It was about to go on the market, but they needed a little bit more testing as well as some marketing!”

Rainbow retorted, “So that’s how you got this trip free! You put us on a not fully tested unsafe thing! Just so some business pony could say a princess and her friends rode the train.”

Twilight returned, “This train was supposed to be safe!”

Before Rainbow could reply, Fluttershy spoke up “Umm… Instead of arguing, shouldn’t we go see if anypony is hurt?”

Twilight took a deep breath. “You’re right Fluttershy.” Then, she took on her leaderly demeanor. “Ok! Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Pinkie! Go to the kitchen and see if anypony is injured! Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash! Go check the locomotive! Spike, you search the Caboose. Applejack, Applebloom, go to the cabins and check each one for injured. I’ll go to the very front of the train with Fluttershy to see if we hit anything.”

As each pony ran off to their assigned areas inside the train, Twilight and Fluttershy flew out the window and started flying to the front of the train. Twilight hovered down to the tracks and examined them, while Fluttershy flew ahead. There were skid marks against the tracks, as if the train had suddenly applied all of it’s brakes, and one of the wheels was dislodged.
As she started to examine the tracks closer, Fluttershy, flew past at top speed and darted into the window. A few seconds later she flew back out the window carrying a tightly coiled piece of cloth.

Twilight abandoned her investigation and flew up to meet Fluttershy. “What is it!?”

Fluttershy, who didn’t bother to slow down, responded curtly. “The train hit something. I think it’s injured.”

“Well let me help! We can’t just leave it there!”