A/N:  Remember, feedback is an awesome thing! :D*

“What were you dolts thinkin’?!”

Malcolm flinched as the angry figure of his boss slammed a powerful fist into the topside of his desk.  Ben nearly fell from his chair with an expression of complete horror plastered on his features.  Aside from the small instinctive reaction, the boy wasn’t moved by Boss’s outburst, knowing it would pass soon enough.  The crime lord never stayed angry at them for too long, especially considering they were his best employees.

Ben tried to readjust in his seat casually while stammering, “W-we’re sorry sir!  I-it won’t happen a-again, I p-promise!”  Beads of sweat started to form on the thug’s forehead as his heart began beating faster in fear.

Malcolm chuckled, “Calm down, Ben.  Grow a pair, would ya?”  The angry glare delivered to him by Boss nearly made him regret his words.

After a tense few seconds of silence, Boss’s frown flipped upside down and he burst into laughter.  He clapped his hands in enjoyment as he cheered, “You got guts, Mac!  I ain’t ever had a thug that wasn’t on the verge of pissing his pants when I called ‘em to the office!”  The employer’s tone was light and carefree, causing Ben a slight bit of confusion.

The white-skinned thug shook his head and sighed, “I’ve heard it a dozen times, Boss.  You get pissed and put on a show for any eavesdropping rookies, then you shut the hell up and have some coffee.”  He waved a smug hand at the small coffee-brewing machine against the wall of the room.

His dark-skinned partner was on the verge of warning him to shut up, but Boss’s wide grin told him there was no harm done.  He instead asked, “So…we’re off the hook?”

“Haha ha!” the crime lord’s smile fell into a frown, “No.  However, the thousand bucks your fuck ups cost me will be repaid tenfold by this next job I have for you.”  The frown immediately shifted into a sly smirk.

Suddenly, nervousness sprung up deep within both of the young thugs.  Malcolm swallowed hard and asked, “What job would that be, sir?”

Boss chuckled, “A river can be a cruel mistress, can’t it?”  He sent a glare directly at Ben and sighed, “One could even drown, if they’re not careful…”

The two thugs exchanged very concerned frowns as they waited for their somewhat-scary employer to continue…

“The foreshadowing is poetic…”  Malcolm mumbled as a loud fit of giggles rang out from the next car over.

That morning had flown by way too fast for the human to recall everything in clear detail.  He was awakened by a gentle shove from Spike, who was persistent in his task of getting the humans ready to depart the library immediately.  Malcolm remembered a moderate-sized bag of items being forced into his hands as he was corralled from the tree house and toward an awaiting mechanical contraption at the far end of town.

After a series of pushes and shoves, he was shut in a room with Loralee for nearly ten minutes.  He groggily plopped down onto a small bed he assumed was his stomach-first to get a little more sleep.  Just as he began to doze off, he saw Twilight escort his sister from their room for what he assumed was breakfast and some social activity.

Everything between then and now was blank.  The giggles from the other train car had seemingly awoken him from his slumber.  He stretched and yawned as he attempted to regain full consciousness.  After just relaxing in bed for a few minutes, he pondered the dream he had the few hours prior.  Another fit of giggles interrupted his thoughts, so he decided to join the sources in whatever they were doing.

He was greeted in the other car by six mares and his sister, all gathered around a table of fruits and drinks and giggling innocently.  They carried on their conversation, not noticing the new guest in the car.

“So you really got them to play the ‘Hokey Pokey’ at a royal ball?”  Loralee tried to wrap her mind around the thought of such a silly song and dance being performed at such a formal party.

“Sure did!  It was super fun!  …Until everypony started freaking out, and then it was super-amazing fun!”  Pinkie Pie giggled excitedly and clapped her hooves as she recalled that night in Canterlot a while back.

Twilight giggled, “The best part was how the princess reacted to all the chaos.  She absolutely adored how out of hoof things got!”

The six ponies all shared nostalgic smiles at the memory of the night.

After a short pause, Malcolm decided it was a good time to make his presence obvious.  He chuckled, “Let me guess, some stories about Celestia?”  Twilight sent him a somewhat-annoyed glare as he finished his question.

She snapped, “Princess Celestia!”

Applejack quickly lightened the tone by adding, “Not really talkin’ about the princess, just some o’ the fun we had in Canterlot a bit ago.”  She smiled warmly at Twilight, who quickly dropped her annoyed expression for a more reminiscing one.

The human boy took a seat beside his sister and sighed, “My bad…  Sounds like you got some interesting stories to tell.  Got anything a bit less party-related?”  The memory of his last party flooded into his mind for a second time.

The ponies stopped to think of any different stories about Canterlot they could tell.  From almost out of nowhere Spike called, “What about Shining Armor’s wedding?”  The six ponies immediately snapped back to that visit as the little dragon climbed up on a chair beside Twilight.

The purple unicorn gasped, “How could I possibly forget that day?!  That was only one of the most important days ever!”  She clapped her hooves in excitement as the events of those few days played vividly in her head.

Malcolm asked bluntly, “Who’s Shining Armor?”

The bookworm unicorn’s eyes lit up and a smile immediately stretched across her face.  She cheered, “He’s only the best big brother ever!”

The baby dragon added, “Yep, he’s Twi’s BBBFF, after all!”

The two humans exchanged confused looks as the other seven members of the company started chattering about the aforementioned stallion.  After catching a few split phrases about a wedding, Princess Cadance, and some things called Changelings, the humans decided they needed a little bit of clarification.

Loralee waited for the chatter to die down slightly before asking, “Why don’t you tell us the whole story, Twilight?  We’re new to Equestria, after all.”

And there it was:  no more freedom.  The ponies were absolutely determined to explain every last detail of those few days in Canterlot, starting from the second Twilight received the wedding invitation.  Every time Malcolm tried to leave the car for one reason or another, one of the ponies would immediately stop him to continue with the story.  The humans were pretty much forced to listen at this point.

Which, come to find out, wasn’t too bad.  The story was mildly interesting, especially to Loralee.  Her childish wonderment kept her absorbed in the amazing tale of a ‘wedding of deception’ as Rarity called it.  It wasn’t until the suspenseful action showed up that Malcolm got interested in the story.  Fighting in the streets and magical duels between Celestia and the Changeling Queen kept him waiting for more.  

To think that such a peaceful world still had action nearly confused the humans, but they managed to accept it as a rare occurrence.  Either way, both humans were eventually absorbed in the mysterious tale of a kidnapped lover and her plight of rescuing her groom from the clutches of the Queen of a maniacal invading army of shape-shifting monsters.  It was something straight out of the storybooks back home, and this time it was a real series of events.

The story dragged on for a good two or three hours.  By the time the tale reached the end, the train was reaching its destination.  Absorbed in the wonderful tale, none of the passengers even realized they were entering Canterlot until the conductor of the train announced they had arrived at the final stop of the day.

With extra excitement and anticipation of the audience with the princesses, the ponies started gathering their things to depart the train.  The humans did the same, not having too much to actually pack up.  Before long, everyone was corralled from the train and into the station on the far edge of Canterlot.  

The new arrivals greeted the city with mixed emotions.  The familiar color and layout of the buildings reminded the ponies of their last visit and the battle they had with the Changelings.  On another hand, the tall spires and buildings of the town vaguely reminded the humans of their home, a resemblance that severely unnerved them and nearly caused a sense of regret to swell up inside.  A cold emptiness seemed to find its way into them… Next Chapter: Welcome to the Castle Estimated time remaining: 34 Minutes