It was Saturday morning, and instead of being at the Carne Den, I was on the train station platform with Twilight and her friends. There were a number of other beings on the platform as well, a few of which looked like guests who were on the patio last night. Rarity had what looked like all of her suitcases with her, I had my suitcase and a custom made backpack (100 bits. Thanks, Rarity) loaded mainly with clothes and some snacks respectively.

“Are you alright, Yang?” Fluttershy asked. “You seem a bit antsy.”

“I think she’s just anxious, Fluttershy” Rarity said. “She’s leaving her business behind for this trip. The first trip is never easy to take. I remember the first time I left the Carousel Boutique to go to Manehattan. I was a total worrywart for the whole trip, but the boutique was still whole when I got back.”

I was about to say something when Applejack did. “Ah know what that’s like. Ah get that feeling every time Ah leave the farm, though Ah’m more worried about Granny Smith. Apple Bloom and Big Mac can handle the farm and dessert orders, especially with the added help.”

“I’m more worried about the kitchen staff” I said. “Saturdays are always busy, and I’m usually right there with them.”

“Then why did you choose to leave today instead of earlier?” That hurt a bit, especially since I was the one keeping everyone else waiting.

“I just had to get another Friday grill day in. I just couldn’t bring myself to not do it, especially since Twilight said we should leave by the end of the week, which means Saturday. She never said it had to be as soon as possible.”

“You’re a bit of a workaholic, Yang” Twilight said. “Not a total workaholic, since you do give yourself days off, but a bit.”

“And I’m a total partyholic!” Pinkie added.

“I can see where Yang’s coming from” Rainbow said. “Anyways, the train’s almost here.”

A minute later, the train pulled into the station. Most of those coming off were ponies, but there were other species mixed in as well. Griffons, minotaurs, and even a couple changelings. I also thought I saw a pony with bat wings in desperate need of coffee.

The seven of us got on a car and grouped up. Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie took to one side while I sat with Rarity, Twilight, and Fluttershy. I think I chose the better side. It didn’t take long for the train to start moving. “So, what’s the plan?”

Twilight enlightened me. “We’re taking this train to Canterlot, we’ll be there for about half an hour-”

“I’ll get us some donuts while we wait!” Rainbow shouted.

“-Then we take the train straight to Los Pegasus. It’s bigger than this one, and there are sleeping compartments on it. I was only able to get three compartments for us, so we’ll have to double and triple up.” That didn’t sound too bad.

“Unfortunately, there aren’t any showers on the train” Rarity added. “On the plus side, the Los Pegasus station has shower stations in it, so if we really need to, we can take a quick shower there.”

I’d rather not use a public shower. “Good to know. Hey, why is it called Los Pegasus anyways?” It sounded a lot like Los Angeles.

“Los Pegasus and Las Pegasus were founded by two pegasi, a brother and sister, each competing to see whose city could make the most money. The brother made Los Pegasus as a place for businesses, trading, and industry. The sister made Las Pegasus a place for thrills, excitement, and fun. They both died a long time ago, around the same time, but their sibling rivalry carries on to this day. Both take jabs at each other, but if one is damaged somehow, the other will jump to their aid.”

“And we’re skipping Las Pegasus?”

“Yes. At least on the way to Los Pegasus. Depending on how we’re feeling, we might spend a couple days in Las Pegasus on the way back. There’s enough bits among us for that if we decide to do that, we’ll be able to afford it. I think.”

“Las Pegasus does have some unique fashion stores found nowhere else in Equestria” Rarity said. “That said, they tend to be a bit more. . . Intimate in their design though, so I doubt you’d want to go there, Yang.”

10 points to House Belle for the correct guess. “Is there anything else in Las Pegasus?”

“Casinos, gambling, shows, and things not meant for the eyes of foals.”

Just like Vegas. “Anything else?”

Rainbow piped in. “I think I remember some competitions there. Daily races and other things like that. Anyone, regardless of species, can participate in them. There’s a small entry fee, and the winner gets a bit prize. I don’t think you’d do well in the races, but the more strength based events should be more along your skills.”

“Ah even won over there once in a tree bucking competition” Applejack added. “Five bits to enter, and Ah made 100 back.”

“They also have some very nice petting zoos there” Fluttershy added. “Really, there’s something for everyone.”

The petting zoo sounded very nice, though the potentially easy bits I could get just from my physical power sounded good too, especially if I could have Applejack hit me until my aura was close to gone. Was it performance enhancing? Sure, but there were no drugs, chemicals, or magic to be involved anywhere in the process either since it was just a natural function of my body, so it had to be fair play, right?

Finally, we got off at Canterlot station. “I’ll meet you guys over at the platform” Rainbow said before taking off to grab us some donuts.

The rest of us gathered our luggage, myself volunteering to take Rainbow’s, and followed Twilight to the next platform. This one had a clear division on each side of the tracks: one side for the passengers, and the other for the train’s own supplies.

“So, what now?” I asked. “Do we just sit down and wait?”

“Wait, yes” Twilight said. “Sit down, not necessarily. As long as you don’t cause a disturbance, you can do whatever you want.”

“Then in that case, could I ask you to secure my shoes to the pavement, Twilight?” I took my backpack off and set the suitcase and Rainbow’s luggage to the side.

“Of course.” I got my feet in the right position I needed them in just as Twilight cast her spell. “What for?”

“Crunches.” I started on them as soon as I was down on the ground. “I’ve got energy I need to burn off.”

“Sitting for too long?” Applejack asked as she got next to me and started doing pushups. “Or are you just used to bein’ on your, uh. . .”

“Feet?”

“On your feet all day?”

“A bit of both, I guess. And I’m also still worried about the Carne Den. And my house. And my employees. Nervous energy, I guess.”

“It’s good that you’re expressing that now, Yang” Rarity said. “Certainly better than becoming a nervous wreck while you’re gone.”

“On the bright side, you’re not far from the train station, so you’ll be able to run right there when we get back and see that everything is alright” Pinkie cheerfully added from her spot on Applejack’s back. When did she. . . Yang_Xiao_Long.exe is experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by while crunches continue and recovery operations begin.

What finally snapped me back to reality was when I did a crunch and my legs came up, hitting my eyebrows with my knees. Hard. “What just happened?”

“I freed your shoes from the pavement” Twilight said. “You were also not responding to verbal stimuli for a while. You had this distant look in your eyes. Anyways, Rainbow’s got our donuts and we’ll be boarding in a few minutes.”

I stood up and gathered my things. “How long was I doing those crunches?” My abdominal muscles felt tired in a good way.

“Just over twenty minutes. That’s pretty amazing, but also amazing was your pacing. You were consistently doing one crunch every three seconds. I was counting, but I stopped. You’ve done over 400 crunches at the least.”

Wow. I didn’t even notice that. “And when did Applejack stop her pushups?”

“After 15 minutes.”

Conclusion: My body is more powerful than I thought if I could do crunches for that long without much regular exercise. Speaking of exercise, the calories I burned-

“Can’t hold me down!” Pinkie sang.

-were calling for replacements. I would have gone into my backpack for a snack, but it was too close to boarding for that, so I waited.

I followed everyone’s lead on what to do, since I was in a new situation. We found a booth and table that could seat all seven of us, and we kept our luggage close. Not all of it though. Rarity had hers put on the luggage car. Our smaller things went overhead, including my backpack. Then the conductor came by, figured out which group we were, and gave us what looked like seven slap bracelets, two numbered 101, two numbered 102, and three labeled 103.

Once again, Twilight explained. “These work like the enchantment on your uniform’s sleeves for the door to your office. All we have to do is organize who sleeps with who. Fortunately, we’ve developed a pattern over time for this.” Twilight floated one of the ones labelled 103 and put it behind one of my Ember Celica. It was a slap bracelet! “The six of us are sticking to our usual groups. The question is who you will choose to sleep with.”

“What are the options?”

“Rainbow and Pinkie-” Nope, no Pinkie for me. “-Myself and Applejack-” Plausible. “-Or Rarity and Fluttershy.” I didn’t bother with a verbal answer, instead grabbing the other 103 bracelets and holding them out for Rarity and Fluttershy. “I’m not really surprised you went that way.”

“Well, we are the quietest sleepers, after all” Rarity said. “I’ve heard many accounts of me not snoring, and Fluttershy, well, she’s quite the quiet sleeper. Pinkie and Rainbow, on the other hoof, could wake the dead, and with Pinkie, I wouldn’t be surprised if she actually did that.”

“Hey, it was just that one time!” Pinkie defensively said. “And they told me to go somewhere else because that they had to keep pushing up daisies so they could afford the rent.”

“So, how about we go put our luggage away and come back here?” Twilight suggested. “I have a game we can play.”

“Is it War Time Strategy?” Rainbow asked, her voice being made more of excitement than words.

“Yes, it is. And I’ve even come up with a human unit. It looks balanced, but I haven’t tested it out yet. Applejack, could you take my other things to our cabin while I set up?”

“Sure thing, sugarcube” Applejack said as Twilight gave her her things. If I’d known we would be doing this, I wouldn’t have put my backpack overhead.

We came back and Twilight had a large map on the table, along with a box of other things. “I was thinking we could team up for this game by our own species. Sorry Yang, but you’re alone for this.”

“Just let me see the instructions” I said as the mares grouped up. I looked over the instructions and saw how everything worked. Start with drawing a card, play a card if you want, do what the card says, move pieces, attack, make any last moves you want, and go to the next person.

The species were something else though. There were no alicorns, which kind of made sense since it would be the three pony races in one, which would be a bit of an issue mechanically. With that in mind, Twilight and Rarity’s lavender and white forces was unicorns (more status and range options), Applejack and Pinkie’s orange and pink forces were earth ponies (more durable against nearly everything) , Rainbow and Fluttershy’s blue and yellow forces were pegasi (flight and extra speed), and my gold forces were humans (more upgrade points). There were also minotaurs, griffons, changelings, dragons, and yaks, but I wasn’t concerned with them right now.

“We will each start off with our own species in their own cities” Twilight said. “All of them are provoked to war with the others for dominance of the valley. Unicorns from the north, pegasi from the east, earth ponies from the west, and humans from the south. Our first turns will be spent making preparations.”

All of us made our preparations, though quietly so no group knew what anyone else was doing. My strategy would involve avoiding the plains in the middle of the map. Mobility might be better there, but that also left my forces exposed, and humans weren’t super durable or fast in the game. If anything, they were squishier than unicorns.

Eventually, the metaphorical gates were opened and the equine forces, their players eager to get to the fight, rushed out. As for me, I kept to my area for the time being. With the extra upgrades I could make each turn, I was already at more advanced crossbows, better melee weapons, and tougher armor. And with everyone fighting, I could continue upgrading before picking them off.

Some turns into the fighting, something came over the fighting forces. It looked like a truce was forming among them. They noticed that I was fortifying instead of going out and attacking, and seem to have decided to bring their collective forces against me.

As they moved their forces towards mine, I sent some of mine out, armed with shields, crossbows, and a small assortment of melee weapons, out in front of my base. The crossbows were high grade, quick to reload, damaging, and had excellent range.

Three forces, united into one, were coming my way. Due to the earlier fighting, they didn’t outnumber me 3 to 1, but it was still greater than 2 to 1. The odds were very stacked against me.

“How did we lose?” Rainbow asked. “Seriously, how did we lose?”

“I’m not quite sure myself, dear” Rarity said.

“A small force should always be beaten by a large force” Applejack said.

“Are humans overpowered?” I wasn’t quite sure how I won so easily either.

“Maybe Yang won because she didn’t go out and attack immediately?” Twilight suggested. “With her staying, she would be able to take more time to upgrade before having to fight, and with the extra upgrade points, she would be able to advance quickly.”

“What if we all go human?” I suggested. We’d been snacking on donuts the whole time, so even though it was nearly suppertime, we weren’t hungry. “Same teams, same number of units, only all human.”

“Let’s try that.”

“Well, that was interesting” Twilight said. The game had ended in a Mexican showdown with all four armies firing their crossbows at each other and everyone died. “How about we go get some food?”

We all agreed, packed up the game, and went to the dining car. Thanks to the second game, we got there almost under the wire.

The menu was designed more for the equine palette than anything else, so I ordered a fairly plain salad. While we were waiting for our food, we talked. I wanted to know what was in store for the trip and who Princess Skystar was, but I couldn’t get a straight answer. Apparently, they wanted to keep it a surprise. I don’t like surprises.

After supper, the general consensus was to talk a bit more, then go to sleep. I declined on the talking part, went straight to the car with our cabins, and went into mine. As I changed to my robe, I noticed just how small each cabin was. My bed would barely be able to fit in here, and that was perpendicular to the way the one in here was set up.

As I got some tender steak bites out of my backpack and snacked on them, I realized I would be part of a small pony pile, which would be about as easy to get out from as it was to stand up while a cat was on your lap: nigh impossible. Especially with Fluttershy there.

I’d better make a trip to the bathroom before I go to sleep tonight.

Author's Notes:

This wasn't really a fun chapter to write, but I did get something in that I wanted: War Time Strategy. It's made by a griffon and unicorn from Neighpon.