John sat at a small desk aboard the train, a cup of coffee in one hand and a pen in the other, slowly scratching away at the report he was writing for Shining.

It had taken several hours to clean up the mess that was caused at the crash site, and the final piece of the aircraft hadn't been loaded onto the train until well after the sun had set. The majority of that time had been spent making sure that none of the other pieces had been stolen, which was rather hard to do if you didn't have a list of all the items to begin with. The ordeal was made even more stressful when Princess Luna herself decided to make an appearance to "oversee" the remainder of the move. She wasn't very happy when she found out about the stallion that tried to steal the rocket, but she appeared to be more angry with the thief than the Marines.

As he finished the final line of the report, his attention was drawn to a knock at the door to the compartment he was in.

"Enter."

The door slid open and a guard stuck his head into the small room. "Sir, we'll be arriving in the freight yard in about ten minutes."

Due to being on the side of a mountain, real estate in Canterlot was expensive, and there wasn't a whole lot of room. It was also a heavy tourist location, so the train tracks going up the mountain were used almost exclusively for passenger trains. As a result, there was a small freight yard at the base of the mountain where freight trains would unload and store their cargo, which would later be brought up to the city via airship. It was easier to manage and more space efficient that way, and came with the added bonus of less grumbling from the "nobles" about industrial eyesores.

"Alright. Is that all?" John asked.

The stallion shook his head. "No sir. I've been told to inform you that Captain Armor will be there to oversee the transfer to the airship, and Commander Spitfire will be providing escort once you're under way."

"Any particular reason we need an escort?"

The guard's brow furrowed. "I don't really know. All I know is that the airspace around the Wonderbolt HQ is heavily restricted."

"Huh. Anything else?"

"No sir, that's all."

"Ok, thanks for the info."

The stallion saluted and left.

John stood and stretched, as much as he could in the small cabin. Spending almost the entirety of a two hour train ride hunched over a desk writing a report probably isn't the best for one's back. Exiting the compartment, he made his way toward the back of the train until he reached the last passenger car before the flatcars carrying the wreckage. The car was relatively empty, only containing a few Marines and a handful of guards.

"Any change?" He asked one of the Marines looking out a window toward the flatcars.

"No sir, everything's strapped down tight. It's a shame to see her like this though."

"...Yeah." He sighed and looked out at the smashed up pieces of his aircraft. "She's a tough girl though, she'll pull through."

"Damn straight, sir." The gravelly voice of the Gunnery Sergeant sounded out from behind him. "If she can make it out of the Diamond Valley, she can make it back from this."

"I really don't see what the big deal is." A voice sounded out from the direction of the seated guards. "I mean, it's just a giant hunk of metal."

All the eyes in the car instantly snapped to the poor soul that had opened his mouth.

"Care to repeat that, boy?" The Gunnery Sergeant growled.

Sweat began dripping down the stallion's face. "U-um... I just d-don't see wh-"

The Gunny marched forward until their faces were almost touching each other, sending the guards sitting near the doomed stallion scrambling for cover. "Shut your mouth! Open it again and I'll shove my fist so far down your throat that I'll be able to use your asshole as a fucked up sock puppet." The stallion's pupils shrank in fear as the Sergeant's gaze shifted to all the other guards in the car. "If I ever hear of anyone else disrespecting that aircraft, or her pilot, I will personally make that sorry sack of shit wish they had never been born. Understood?"

A round of trembling "Yes, sir"'s were heard throughout the car.

"And don't call me 'Sir'. I work for a living."

Author's Note

Hey, look! An update. Certainly took long enough.

Gonna try to get back in the saddle here.

I'll be alternating work between my stories, so expect staggered updates between the two. I would LIKE to get a chapter out each night (which would mean each story updates every-other night), but we'll see how that goes. If I do decide to try and do that, the chapters might be kinda small (like this one) until I manage to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully I'll be able to get into a rhythm and start knocking chapters out.

Also, I might switch this story's rating from "T" to "M" so that I have a bit more freedom with what I can write, but I'm gonna re-check the rating details first to see if I actually need to. Even if I do need to switch it, there are still a few chapters until it needs to happen, so I've got some time.

Also Also. I changed the names for the past 2 chapters. They're the same chapters, just with an updated numbering sequence and altered names.

Also Also Also. I'm terribly sorry that it took so long to kick my sorry ass back into gear.

EDIT:
Well, apparently lightning does strike twice.
My other story made the Featured box last night, and this one made it tonight.
Apparently I'm doing something right.