Hotel
Giovenith remembered something. She pushed the floral arrangement over to Meri, along with the card that came with it. "It looks like you made some friends at the vigil. Trust me, ponies make the best friends."
The Friendship Express
It wasn't difficult to find the train station and buy tickets to Canterlot, but a few problems posed themselves once the crew actually got aboard. Normally, pony architecture was large and general enough to accommodate humans, but the seats on board the colorfully painted steam locomotive were clearly built for short creatures whose legs did not sprawl out in front of them when they sat, being only a few inches above the floor. The backs of the seats were, likewise, not designed with much actually leaning in mind: horses' backs curved forward when they sat, not backward, so the dainty shapes of the seats were geared more towards looking pretty and separating the passengers' personal space than being comfortable. The seats were essentially no better than sitting their bums down on a child's stepping stool.
Giovenith considered this before the train took off. It obviously wouldn't be fair to demand that express employees make an accommodation for such weird creatures as them, but she also didn't think it would be wise to deal with something so awkward for what was bound to be a somewhat lengthy trip. She knew she could just sit cross-legged or perch with her knees up to her chin on the seat, but she wasn't sure how flexible the others were. Finally, with permission from the conductor of course, she settled on pulling a few ottomans and pillows out from her pockets, pushing the ottomans up against the seat in order elongate its seating range (which was easy since the space between the seats was bigger than on a human train, once again to accommodate the ponies' wider size), and the pillows against the backs of the seats so that there would be more support to lay back against. Perfect.
Soon, they were chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-WOO-WOOOOO!ing along, and Giovenith watched out the window as the train pulled out of the colorful cottages of Ponyville and into the vast, spring-green valley that they had flown over just the day before. She looked up to see the whispy outlines of Cloudsdale hanging above, seemingly motionless like any other cloud. She smiled at the many flowers and occasional tree she saw in the valley, and tried to wave to the occasional group of ponies who were out having a fun summer day in the valley.
The base of the purple mountains that held Canterlot became steadily more imposing as they approached. Giovenith was used to mountains, the country she'd grown up in most was full of them, but none were as high or steep as these. Curious, she decided to open up her own copy of the guidebook that they had been given by Princess Twilight.
"The book says that Canterlot was built by the very first unicorns that ever came to Equestria," she explained to the others. "They picked these mountains as the territory for their tribe because of all the jewels that could be mined inside, and also because their old city had also been in the mountains." It seemed to be as Willow had said, that mountains were unicorns' 'natural habitat' the same way the sky was for pegasi. "It says that when the city was completed, they threw a huge celebration and invited the other pony tribes to it to celebrate their new unity, and that the event was so successful, it's still being held every year to this day, called the Grand Galloping Gala. The city was made the new capital of Equestria about a thousand years ago, after the royal sisters' old castle was destroyed in the Nightmare Moon tragedy. It was chosen for its strategic placement, since the mountains provide a strong natural defense against the outside. Because of its history, Canterlot is still known today for its considerable wealth, and is the epicenter of both high culture and academia in Equestria."
The train slowed and stopped briefly. Up ahead, permits were being checked, and once confirmed, the coaches were briefly consumed in darkness (still lit by the lamps inside of course) as the engine pulled into the first mountain tunnel.
Giovenith had also been in many subways before, so she knew what it was like to be in a train beneath rock, but this felt so much more... visceral, if that was the right word. This wasn't cement and dirt, it was natural rock, impenetrable and ancient. Ponies of millennia ago had chiseled their way through, and their work was still being used to this day. A few more chugs in darkness, and sunlight suddenly broke through the windows again, revealing a much higher up view than before. There was a loud roaring from the other side of the train, and Giovenith turned her head to see a giant, majestic waterfall spraying a light rainbow across the windows as they drove over it.
She looked back down at the book. "The mountains are home to a complex river system that ends in many waterfalls, resulting in great sight-seeing as well as natural technological and agricultural uses for the city."
This process repeated, with the Friendship Express powering on through dark, stony tunnels deep in the heart of the mountains, over ridges, over bridges, and over and past many waterfalls, until the spires of the city could be seen in the near distance. The view when looking down was stomach-twisting — even if it wasn't as high up as the clouds, something about the slippery steepness of the mountains (which were quite unclimbable by traditional means) made it a little more intimidating. The closer they got to the city, the more greenery started showing up too, beautifully cultivated patches of speargrass and clover and soft foliage. Finally, they exited another tunnel and the city itself came into view.
Canterlot was the opposite of Ponyville in many ways. While Ponyville consisted mostly of short cottages, Canterlot contained spires upon spires climbing high into the sky, almost defying gravity as some hung directly over the edge of the cliffs. While Ponyville's homes were mostly uniform, nothing in Canterlot looked alike to anything else, it was an eccentric splattering of twists, curls, windows, buttresses, bridges, and steeples, as if the architects had been competition with one another over who could be the more audacious and graceful. While Ponyville was stuffed with light, earthy shades, Canterlot was inlaid with deep purple, smooth ivory, and glimmering gold. Even from the distance, one could see the elaborate, swirling, starry patterns carved into the round roofs — heavenly bodies seemed to be a recurring theme, with many sharp star and sun shapes poking out from the poles and spires, and fittingly, the round form of an observatory telescope poking out amongst it all (Giovenith felt a pang.)
Another stop and check before the train was allowed through a series of heavy gates, and at long last, pulled up into a clean, fancy train station. The train stopped again, this time with a long toot signalling everypony that they had reached their destination.
The steam from the engine cleared, and Giovenith saw a familiar face standing at the loading bay.
"It's Willow!" she cheered, quickly collecting her ottomans and pillows so she could hurry to meet him.
