BC+SL: A Nightmare to Remember

-Movement One

The sky stood frigid, darkening quickly caught in the grip of the strange but wonderful time of twilight. As the air stood thick and still, a piercing bullet flew across the horizon. A bright eye light was lit up before it, illuminating the long silvery tracks that it followed. Along the black serpentine form shone a twinkling of light that revealed itself to be windows. And facing out of the window was a unicorn who was gazing intently upon the bruised and black clouds that were amassing high above.

Twilight Sparkle, stifling a shiver, turned away from the window and instead embraced the warmth that came off the figures inside the cart. Her friends, amassed about the train’s seats haphazardly, were napping, talking, or minding their own time. Cracking a smile, she thought back to the moments of the day that enraptured her most. Her coronation, her friends' dazzling smiles, the pangs of heartache knowing she was no longer Celestia's student… It had been a very, very long day, and Twilight was glad it was over and done.

Letting her eyes drift, she spotted her parents, who were together in their own way. Her father, as stoic as usual, was looking out the window thoughtfully, and her mother was snoozing gently upon his shoulder. Another smile found its place on her lips, and she let the feelings of joy envelop her. Truly, these were the best of times. A little notion came up in her mind: Save this moment forever. Shooing it away, Twilight buried the thought and smiled wider.

Certainly there wasn’t a reason she needed to capture the moment. She had singlehandedly fixed her friends' destinies, had gone through the fire and come out a brand new pony. She figured she deserved a moment to feel content with the seconds that ticked by her.

Settling deeper into the soft cushions of her seats, she allowed her mind to drift away from the here-and-now. A voice, however, pulled her away from the grey stillness.

“Hey, Twilight; Pinkie, Applejack, Flutters and I are gonna go to the back cart and sit on the porch to watch the stars. You wanna come with?” Rainbow Dash’s voice was soft and heavy like a thick blanket. Stifling a yawn, Twilight considered it for just a moment.

“No, thanks, Dash. I’m not really feeling it right now— you all go on without me.” She added a tired smile to her words. Dash’s face fell, however, as she hovered near the doorway to the rear cart.

“C’mon, Twilight, come with us. It’ll be fun!”

“Yeah Twi, you know you wan-na!” Pinkie’s high voice called out from the next car over through the doorway. A bit of annoyance burned up as Twilight shifted her wings to get comfortable once more.

“No, thanks. Really girls, I’m content to sit here. You can go on without me.” And looking out the window, she ended the conversation shortly.

With a shrug and a sigh from the four ponies, she was left in peace. Letting out a long sigh, Twilight settled down and felt the weight of the day flow off her body and fell into the drop of consciousness.

A piercing shriek flung Twilight into the land of the tangible.

“Rarity, wha—?” was all that came out of Twilight’s mouth as the backwards force shoved the air out of her lungs. Sent careening into the seat opposite her, she felt her nose break on the hard metal bar and cringed as the moaning squeal of iron being bent and shattered into a million different directions rasped into her ears. The last thing she caught a glimpse of was a flash of purple hair and a thick flow of blood that shimmered in the instant of zero gravity across her vision. So suddenly, the lights of the train went out in a harsh buzz and the train car was thrown in the opposite direction she had been pushed before. An explosion resounded near the far end of the car, and flames erupted inside the cramped cabin as greasy smoke began to coalesce inside.

Barely able to gasp in air, Twilight was tossed and thrown into the window. The cracking glass threatened to break as she smashed bodily into the side of the train. She spotted, through the facet of cracks and pooled blood, the ground rapidly rolling up and pushing away. As the ground underneath her disappeared suddenly, she was thrown against her will into the other side of the cart. Round and round it went, with the piercing screams and cries of her parents and Rarity being tossed about violently around her. Shutting her eyes tight, Twilight’s mind could do nothing as she rolled around and around in a twisted, inescapable iron trap.

Moments seemed to fuse and divide at the same time, and before she knew it, Twilight’s body had stopped moving inside the car. Her face against a broken window, she looked out the vast plain to see the dancing of flames across the grass and the winking of lights that spun around her head. Off in the distance, a lightning bolt crackled, and the roar of thunder screamed mercilessly in her damaged ears. Heavy drops of rain began to drop all over, and soon sheets of water were punctuated by the overzealous screams of thunder.

With nothing but the cry of a sobbing mare somewhere and the far-off wail of sirens to comfort her, she screwed her eyes tight against the acrid smoke and gasped in ragged breaths as her mind gave up on her body.

Blacking out, she became a victim of the dead stillness. Wrapped in silence, there was no more screaming, and no more cries.

No more pain.