Disclaimer: See other chapters.

Opening Comments: Whe~, we love reviews.  The closing comments hold an announcement that shall—I think—please all.

Shout Outs~

Princessred: Didja know?  Because of her proportions, if Barbie was a real person, she'd have to walk on all fours?  XD XD 

Dreamcoat: Patience, patience.  You'll really love those CC.

Skitch: ^^;;; Enjoying having possession of Beamer's key, ne?  Don't worry about that little 'gimme' this or 'gimme' that thing…you can have your cake and eat it too.  THIS IS FANFICTION!  WOO!

Title: Miles Away

Authors: Stage and ToT

****

"Pst.  Stage, wake up." Skittles whispered, shaking her by her shoulder.  "Come on, lets go.  Get up."

"Huh?" Stage sat up, hitting her forehead against Skittles', and tumbling out of the bunk.  "SKITTLES!"

"Shut up." Skittles hissed clamping a hand over her mouth.  "Get dressed, we're going for a raid."

"Next time you wake me up, don't lean down that far." Stage muttered, walking to the drawers.  She pulled on her clothes and stumbled into the bathroom.  "Gimme three minutes, I need to wake up more."

"Alrighty.  Your turn, Moppie."

"Don't call me that.  Its bad enough I have to deal with the bitchy one." He growled, climbing halfway up the ladder. "ToT!  Get up!"

"No.  G'way, Stage." ToT mumbled into her pillow.

"I ain't Stage.  Get up, let's go." Mop Top dragged her down from the bunk and tried to set her on her feet.  ToT just crumpled back onto the floor.  He sighed.  Mop Top went over to where the drawers were and felt around, pulling out a shirt and pants.  He went back over to where ToT was snoozing on the floor and dragged her up.  Mop Top then tried to dress her.

"Ow!  Hey, that's the sleeve!  Stop that!" ToT exclaimed, trying to get her head out of the sleeve.  "STAGE!  What're you doing?"

"I'm not Stage!  She's in the bathroom!" Mop Top hissed.  "We're going for a midnight raid so get dressed."

Stage reentered the dark room and groped blindly.  She crossed the room without much problem and found her bed post.  Stage sighed silently and flopped back down on to the bed.  Except…it wasn't the bed…

"Why Stage!  I didn't know you cared." Skittles teased.  Stage turned to face him and found herself a little too close for comfort. 

"Skittles, what are you doing in my bed?"

"Making sure you don't crawl back in it."

"That isn't fair." She grumbled, sliding off the bunk and onto her rear.  "Ouch."

"Hey, we're here." Penny's voice came from the apparently open doorway.

"Skit, get a lamp, would'ya?" Mop Top called.  Skittles went back over to the door and picked up the oil lamp they had left.  He lit it.  Everyone took one look at ToT and fell into hysterical laughter.

Mop Top had mistaken her pants for her shirt and her shirt for her pants.  ToT stomped off—as well as one can walk when one's wearing their shirt for pants—and into the bathroom, planning to fix her clothes.

She came back out a little bit later.  Penny had a still-sleeping Sparkles over one shoulder.  Dottie was dead on her feet and kept swaying back and forth.  Every so often, Tag or Beamer would reach out and prevent her from falling flat on her face.

"Where's Red?" Stage asked.

"We think she might be a reversed vampire.  She was like, dead or something." Skitch replied.  "And Ivy didn't feel much like getting into trouble.  Besides, she's in that mood again.  The one where she goes on about what kind of boys may be in Manhattan."

"So anyways, lets get going before Windy wakes up." Belle stated.

"Pink fuzzy bunny go hoppity-hop." Dottie mumbled, grinning foolishly and following something that wasn't there with her finger.  Beamer leaned forward and raised an eyebrow at Tag.  Tag shrugged.  Dottie fell forward with a thump.

And the pink fuzzy bunny hoppity-hopped away…

"What d'you suppose she had with that dinner of hers?" Beamer asked, raising his eyebrows at the now sleeping Dottie.

"Who knows."  Belle replied.

"Maybe we should just leave her here.  I mean, it wouldn't exactly look good, dragging around a seemingly lifeless body." Skittles pointed out. 

"Hey, I didn't have the top bunk…whoa, the floor's spinning." Sparkles had woken up.  "Feet?  I'm flying!"

"No, you're falling." Penny replied, dropping her.

"Ow."

"Anyway, lets go." Belle covered Dottie with a quilt and then stepped over her.  The others snuck out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind them.

****

"What exactly are we raiding?" Sparkles whispered.

"Any and everything." Beamer replied matter-of-factly.

"And whose idea was this?" Skitch asked.

"Mop Top's," Penny, Beamer, and Skittles all said, pointing at the Greek.

"Good.  Now I'll know who to blame when we get into trouble."

"Aw, you're so pessimistic." Mop Top told her, waving a hand in a vague manner.

"No, you're too optimistic.  Especially at two-thirty in the morning!"

"Who isn't optimistic at two-thirty in the morning?"

"Skitch." Everyone else agreed.

"People who had a shirt for pants." ToT grumbled.

"No that was funny." Beamer grinned.

"I'd like to see you walk around in—never mind."

"Shut up.  We're nearing the restaurant car," Penny said.

"Yes, oh captain, my captain," Sparkles mumbled.  Stage dramatically snuck up to the door, flattening herself against the wall.  She peered around the corner and slunk inside.  The others followed with sighs.

"Drama queen." Belle said, flatly.

"That's why y'all call me Stage," Stage winked.  "And who're you to talk?"

"She has a point." Skitch said with a slight shrug.

"For once." Mop Top muttered.

"I's gonna soak ya, ya bum." Stage replied in an NY accent.

"Nawk it off." ToT shot back in the same accent and pushing her friend.

"You'll 'soak ya'?" Skittles asked, raising a single eyebrow. 

"Hey, we're going to Manhattan, aren't we?" Belle shrugged.

"Gotta walk da walk."  Skitch did a funny little strut.

"And tawk da tawk." Mop Top added, leaning on Skitch's shoulder.

"Too bad you suck at it." Beamer said dryly.

"Dat hoirts, Beamah…really, it does."

"No, seriously.  Shut up." Penny said, pulling his head out from one of the cabinets.  "I've hit the jackpot, y'all."

"Ooh!  Ooh!  Whadd'ja find?" ToT bounced up.

"Shut up, ya idiot." Sparkles said, whacking her over the head. 

"Sparkles, check the ice box, huh?"

"Shoa t'ing." Sparkles replied, so far having the best NY accent.  "Ooh…roast beef, turkey, potatoes…and…ICE CREAM!" She squealed in delight.

"OOOH!  What kind?!" Skitch shoved Sparkles aside and peered in.

"No way." Stage's muffled voice floated out from the cabinet she was half in.  Skittles squeezed in beside her.  The others heard his low whistle.

"What is it?" Beamer asked, taking up the last few inches of room.  "Whoa."

"Is that legal?" Skittles asked.

"Now I have to know what this is." Belle mused.  "Anything interesting?"

"We found the liquor." Skittles told her.

"I found the liquor." Stage told him.  "We've got vodka, gin, beer, champagne, tequila, schnapps, stuff for mixed drinks, and…ooh!  Vintage wine!"

"Really?" ToT exclaimed, her eyes growing large in anticipation.  "Red or white?"

"Both!  French and Italian." Stage replied.

"I'll drink to that!" Mop Top grinned. "Bring the nectar of the Gods on out!"

"Mop, d'you even know who the Greek god of wine is?" Skitch asked, raising her eyebrows doubtfully.

"Uh…erm…Circe?" He took a guess.  Sparkles fell over when he said that.

"One, she's a goddess; Two, that's the one that turned men into pigs." Sparkles told him.  Mop Top shrugged sheepishly.

"Beamer, you're going to have to move.  We're kinda stuck." Stage announced after a few minutes of struggling.

"Kinda?" Skittles muttered.  "Somebody get him out of here."

Penny grabbed Beamer's legs and yanked.  He popped out of the gap and Skittles and Stage we soon to squirm their way out as well.  Stage held armfuls of samples of every liquor in the cabinet.  Everyone watched in disbelief as she stuffed them under her suspenders, in the waist line of her pants, in her pockets and a few smaller bottles under her hat.  Those, of course, were the ones with high-alcohol content.

"Isn't that kinda cold?" Belle inquired after a long silence.

"Nah, they're all warm."

"Makes you look chunky." Mop Top commented.

"Blunt, as always.  I'll have to hide these in my room."

"In what luggage?" Penny sneered.

"The unmentionable drawer!" ToT exclaimed.

"What are those?" Skittles wondered aloud.

"Think 'bout it." Skitch replied, dryly.

"Oooh…" The four boys chorused.

"Maybe under that mattress in my bed?" Stage mused.

"I don't think that'll work." Skittles told her.

"Oh, so you got a good look when you were in it this morning, huh?"

"WHAT?!" Everyone else demanded.  Stage rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that's right…I'm a whore." She walked out of the room.

****

After the much stuffing and sneaking and hiding of the load of extra liquor, the troupe headed up onto the top of the train.  They set out their food and sat down comfortably on the wide and barely slanted roof.

"A fest fit for a king." Penny grinned.  "A king with his many queens."

"…I'm not a queen…" Mop Top mumbled.

"And lackeys." Penny added.

"Hey!"

"I'll shove you off the train." Belle growled.  Penny stuffed his big mouth full of food—which fit amazingly in around that foot of his.  Or maybe not…

"Much to ado about nothing." Skitch grinned.  "Stage, stop hoggin' the schnapp!"

Stage took one last gulp and tossed the bottle over to Skitch.  She grinned, and took a swig of it.  Sparkles, Belle, and ToT were sharing a vintage bottle of French wine.  Stage had hoarded the Italian bottles.  Penny had a bottle of vodka to himself, Skittles had the gin, Mop Top had a bottle of beer, and Beamer was staying well out of the whole drinking matter.

After a nice feast and everyone had eaten their fill—and sufficiently intoxicated—Beamer guided them across the train one by one.  At one point, he got in a small argument with Sparkles over the matter of whether she could fly or not.

Each was put to bed and Skittles remembered through his cloudy mind to drink a few glasses of water before he passed out.  Beamer sighed and dragged himself to bed…he was going to be sore tomorrow.

****

Closing Comments: MANHATTAN NEWSIES!  NEXT CHAPTER Y'ALL!