Tom reached out to pat Eric’s shoulder. “Cheer up, I’m certain they’ll be fine. And, even if we cannot come back here, I know a surefire way to get them to come to us…” he trailed off a bit conspiratorially with a grin. “More sit down time with a certain lovely temple guardian, and her newly minted priest, yeah? Footnote would follow us in an instant, and Lost Chance would follow him to make sure he didn’t leave his wings behind!”

Eric looked up at Flash, before pulling off his backpack and digging in it. “Can you deliver something to her when she gets back here? Along with a brief message?” he offered Flash the festival hat. “Tell her I said ‘everything is okay’. I think she’ll know what it means. If not, she can always ask when Footnote does finally drag her down to see us again.”

Flash accepted the hat, even as he looked at it a bit oddly. He hadn't held a festival hat in person before, and he seemed to find its curious construction amusing on some level. He put it on his own head, where it added no dignity to him. "No problem. Do you remember where the train station is?"

Wave pointed in its basic direction. "Can we take some food with us?" Flash had no objection, and Wave reached for the table. As soon as she was close enough, she scooped up a big selection and started chewing. "Ready."

Snickering a bit, Tom stood up and looked over to Eric. “If I didn’t know any better, Wave, I’d say Eric would like Lost Chance to be his family, too,” he teased Eric, finally being the one to jab for once as he carefully lifted Wave so as to not disturb the massive amount of food she’d decided to swipe. “And, I believe we do, yes. A guide to make sure we don’t get lost wouldn’t hurt, though.”

Eric flushed brightly, stammering a bit. “I don’t even, maybe, I don’t know. I don’t know her that well, I just feel I owe her an apology for what I did wrong, and want to make sure she didn’t get hurt on my account. Though… I wouldn’t mind getting to know her better.”

Wave perked an ear curiously. "Do you like her?" She didn't have much in the way of jealousy in her tone. "We know her less than we even know each other, and we're still working on that."

Flash excused himself. "I'll be sure to tell them you stopped by. Good luck!" And off he went, returning to his other guarding duties.

Walking towards the door, Tom smirked at Eric. “You don’t need to justify yourself to me, I just saw an opportunity and took it… and it was oh so sweet, I must say,” he finished, chuckling. “So, train station, then a train ride to Ponyville. If we’re lucky, it’ll be a calm visit?”

Eric followed along, slipping his backpack back in place as he walked. “I, well… I like her a bit from what time we’ve spent together, but as you say we barely know each other. I’m not in a rush to drag her into our crazy family, though at least I know she’s not completely averse to travel and exploration. We couldn’t exactly make anything work with a homebody at this point.”

With their words shared, the group set off from the castle/palace. The guards saluted them in a friendly enough fashion as they went. Without the shadowed eyes or obvious taint, the crystal ponies were polite enough to wave and smile as they went by. Wave smiled back at them, intimidating no few with her sharp fangs.

“You know, one day… it’d be nice to actually come here and relax, I think. It really is a gorgeous city,” Tom mused aloud as they made their way to the station. “I’ll admit, one of my guilty pleasures was art, and this looks like it came straight from an artist’s imagination.”

Eric’s demeanor and posture was much brighter walking away as a guest than it had been arriving as a suspicious prisoner. He returned a few of the waves as well, enjoying the positive feedback. “I kind of see what you mean Tom. Hey, do you suppose they have like… banks here? It’d be great to have, like, a checkbook or something instead of a backpack full of heavy coin. As great as it is to not be broke, it’d be nice if the space were available to carry other things.”

Wave looked a little confused. "What would you get here, if we're leaving it? Shouldn't we check in the new town?" She seemed to know not what a bank was or why one would want the services of one.

Turning to look at Eric, Tom shrugged as well as he could. “Honestly? We can probably ask Princess Twilight about that. Wave’s right, I’m sure they’ve got some sort of banking system in place, but it’d make more sense to have it closer to where we’ll be. I want to say that the Empire is pretty far removed from Equestria.”

“Alright. I’ll carry our load as far as Ponyville, and then we check into it. I guess expecting an international banking system without an internet is a bit much. Besides, I’m kind of getting used to having the weight there,” Eric replied. “I guess we don’t have much else we need to take care of then… any supplies you want before we get on the train?”

Wave held up one of the little pastries she nabbed. "Nope, I have what I need." She chewed on the flakey little thing and looked pleased. She had been appeased with baked goods and was ready for a journey on the train.

“Eric, relax… it’s just a bit of a train ride to Ponyville, and then when we’re there, we’ll make sure to do everything we can think of before moving on to Baltimare, okay? It should be a nice, relaxing ride there, I hope.” Tom remarked, snatching a smaller pastry from Wave with a grin.

Eric nodded, and then just let everything go, enjoying the sunshine and absolute lack of life threatening danger. He didn’t have anything more to say, or do, or help with for now. Nothing to do but be.

With everything settled, they soon arrived at the train. The tickets got them aboard and to even their own private room to relax. Wave was happy with the presence of a tub, and spent the trip there in the water, splashing and generally making merry as Equestria went by in the window.

Tom took up a spot near the tub, letting his feet soak for a bit, eyes drifting between the world outside, those fins on his legs as they rippled in the water, and Wave and Eric. He hadn’t been on a train in well over a decade before getting to Equestria, and this second ride was much better than the first had proven to be. One thing bugged him more than the rest, however. “So, Wave… this being a priest thing. She ever gonna tell me what it is she wants me to do?” he asked, looking to her and Eric both.

Eric looked up curiously from where he was seated, and had been trying to focus on his own magic, trying to replicate his early success at conjuring diet coke. As his most practiced spell he expected it would be the easiest to relearn. The complete lack of response was getting a bit frustrating and, frankly, boring so he turned his focus to his friends with a soft “hmm?”

Wave shook her head. "I honestly don't know, but!" She lifted a hoof high. "I can think of where to start. The priests always did a water dance, right when the sun was setting. I'll show it to you, when we have a pool large enough. Do you think Ponyville will have a big pool?"

“A water dance?” Tom asked with a laugh, nodding. “I’m sure they’ll have a lake or something around, I should probably get a feel for what I can do. Who knows when it’ll come in handy?” he questioned, reaching over and scratching at one of her ears, smiling. “Glad to see that you’re enjoying yourself, Wave, and Eric?” he questioned, looking over. “What you thinking about?”

“Diet coke, and my regrettable lack of it. Or more relevantly, my inability to conjure it. It’s the only thing I did more than once with the magic other than teleporting, and I figured I would start there. So far… nothing. I’m not terribly surprised, but I’ll just have to keep trying on occasion until I can get something to work.” Eric shook his head. “Still glad to be shadow free, though.”

The threat of shadows become more of a distant thing as they drew out of the snowy north and the terrain became green and fertile. They had time to sleep and to awaken and eat. Their tickets, as it turned out, included meals on the train, so they were well-cared for by the time they approached Ponyville. The scenic little town stood ready to receive them, or at least its train station did as they came in for a smooth stop in front of it.

Departing the train, there was a single person waiting for them, a purple dragon by the name of Spike. He raised a claw and waved excitedly on spotting the lot of them, a gesture that Wave returned with a hoof from where she rode along in Tom's grasp.

“Hey there,” Tom greeted Spike, nodding his head since his hands were once again full. “I’m guessing you’re our greeting party, hey?” he questioned, smiling at him. “I’m Tom, this here is Wave, and over there is Eric.”

Eric was grinning uncontrollably at Spike as he approached, too distracted to wave. “Nonhostile dragon,” he managed to say quietly, as his eyes drank in every detail.

Spike tilted his head at Eric curiously. "Sure am. Hey Tom, Wave, Eric?" He paused a bit to make sure he got the names right, then pointed way past the station itself at the huge crystal castle. "That's where Twilight lives. Welcome to Ponyville. Um, she wanted me to ask if you wanted a more 'modest' place to hang out for now?"

Wave squinted a little at Spike. "You're much nicer than the last dragon I ran into."

He flashed a big thumbs up. "I'm a pretty nice guy, or I try to be."

Tom looked to the castle, where Spike had been pointing at. “Nah, I’m sure we’ll be fine for the moment waiting to meet her, Spike. Speaking of, it’s good to meet you,” he offered up, chuckling a bit. “The last dragon we met wanted to eat us, and Eric there seems to have a fascination with them. So, forgive his staring? He’s harmless,” Tom finished, grinning at Eric.

Eric finally shook his head. "Sorry. Don’t mean to be rude. We have legends of dragons, but you're the first I've gotten to meet properly. Lead the way, I'll be good."

Spike was fairly accustomed to rough treatment, and the group had been mostly polite so far, so he had little issue leading them along towards the castle proper. "Is it, uh, true that you're a siren, Wave? I met a few of those, once, but I didn't really get a chance to have a conversation with any of them."

Wave bobbed her head. "The tail didn't give it away? Were they nice? Awesome? What did you think of them? Are they close? Are--"

Spike held up his claws. "Woah woah woah. They're not here, and I don't know too much about them, sorry. Maybe Twilight will know more."

Tom laughed that Spike had beaten him at stopping Wave's tide of questions. “Wave, dear, it’s a bit more polite to ask one question at a time, and then wait for an answer,” he humorously chided her, grinning still. “I think I can safely speak for all of us that we’re looking forward to meeting Twilight, Spike.”

Eric nodded. "Any specific advice to avoid offending her? I'm hoping my dealings with Princesses remain consistently positive."

Spike frowned a little with thought. "Uh, don't call her a nerd or a geek. If you like books, you're off to a good start; just be polite."

Next Chapter: 28 - Meeting the Herd Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes