The depths of the gray night sky echoed the sound of thunder across the Equestrian plains. Over Ponyville, a certain electricity was building up in the air as the trees and grass began to sway under the increasing shear of the wind. A volley of lightning in the distance sent another wave of thunder through the city.
Lights were turned off throughout the town as the citizens of Ponyville drew their shutters closed in preparation for the storm. In minutes, all of the houses had gone dark with the exception of Lyra's.
Shielded from the brewing storm outside, she sat slumped over her table in the kitchen, waiting for her pot of water to boil. Hollow boxes and empty bags of tea lay scattered around the room, an open cabinet appearing to be their point of origin. A few full boxes remained in the cupboard, although that would change within a few days. One box stood open, next to a teapot.
The kettle came to a boil, bringing Lyra back to the world of awareness. Ugh, this is just going to be one of those nights. Not bothering to raise her head, her horn lit up and began the procedure. From rote memory, the stove was turned off, the kettle was lifted, and the water was poured into the teapot. Five minutes and a bit of stirring later, the tea was poured into a cup, and the cup brought up to Lyra.
Lifting her head, she took a sip. The bitter taste of caffeine shot through her, followed by the familiar warmth of a good cup of tea. The world returned to clarity and Lyra huffed out another sigh.
Lyra dropped down from her chair and trotted over to her sitting room. Laying down on her couch, she gazed out into the storm forming just beyond her window. The lightning had grown more frequent, drawing her attention to the otherwise invisible shadow of Canterlot in the distance.
How far she had fallen... From a life in a Canterlot high-rise as a respected pony, down to a tiny house on the outskirts of another part of Equestrian suburgatory. A part of her demanded she stop pitying herself, the other part of her pointed out that nopony else would, and took a sip of tea. Another barrage of thunder shook the town.
A jolt of lightning illuminated the airship hanging over Ponyville. Lyra laughed a little to herself knowing she wouldn't be the only one awake tonight. Airships and thunderstorms weren't the best of friends. She, of all ponies, would know; after all, she had designed that very model.
She entertained the thought of just how much the Griffon Federation would pay a disgruntled Equestrian airship engineer. Silent engines and active armor mitigation alone would be invaluable.
Her reverie was shattered by an explosion. The first possibility that ran through her mind was the airship, but a quick glance proved it was intact. Lit up, but intact. Jumping off her couch, she grabbed a coat and prepared to head out onto the streets in search of the source. As her last act, she downed her entire cup of tea, and left.
With the door shut behind her and out of the protection of her house, the gusting winds bore down on her. Her mane became a plaything, flung this way and that at the whimsy of the cool night's air.
Undeterred by the constant gale, Lyra squinted through the darkness seeking the source of the explosion. Another blast sounded across the night, this time, however, Lyra saw it herself. It had come from the old Ponyville train station, the only building further on the outskirts than her own home.
Driven by curiosity, she took on a full speed gallop heading straight for the station. The sound of two gunshots made her question the soundness of this plan, or lack thereof. If anypony had a gun, there was a good chance the government was involved, which was the last thing Lyra wanted or needed.
Closing in on the building, she watched as a final burst of magic gave way to silence. Whatever fight had ensued, it was over. The storm above had managed to get a steady drizzle going by the time Lyra had reached her destination. She slowed to a cautious pace and took note of the fact that the front door was gone, its former location surrounded by a ring of charred wood. Entering in as discreet of a manner as she could, she peered around the entrance.
Littered across the floor alongside debris from the forced entry were pictures and candles. Not the new, crisp looking photographs, but the older ones back before photography became standardized. The content varied, but all of them contained one filly in particular.
An orange and purple form just down the hallway stirred, bringing Lyra's horn to a glowing attention. Working up some form of courage, she entered the train station and confronted the fallen mare.
"Alright, I don't know who you are, but breaking into this train station is against the law, so..." Lyra started, cut off by her counterpart.
"Chill, Jack," the young mare responded, standing up and flexing her wings, "I'm not the one you're lookin for."
The mare before her was strange, but familiar. What first struck Lyra was the mare's lack of a cutie mark. She had never seen a pony that old without one. Despite being unable to place the face, Lyra did recognize the mare as the filly from the photos.
"You live here?"
"Oh, ya think? Now, if you'll calm your horn, we can go get the real law-breaker." The mare finished, standing up and brushing herself off before making her way down the hallway towards some unseen objective.
Lyra followed, putting more focus onto the snapshots of the mare's foalhood. While she didn't recognize a lot of the photos' contents, she was able to recognize Rainbow Dash. Each one with Dash was taken before her glory days, which made these photos valuable, very valuable. This made Lyra wonder why none of them had been taken.
"Do you even remember me?" The mare asked, taking a turn down a different corridor.
Lyra gave it some thought, and did recall one filly who used to hang out with Dash all the time, but the name still eluded her.
"It's Scootaloo." She finished, coming to a stop in front of a few windows overlooking the old platform.
"I'm sorry, it's just been so long." Lyra offered, leaning on one of the doors to the platform.
Scootaloo was about to respond before a train engine roared to life outside. Just out of the windows, it could be seen trudging along the tracks, carrying a single passenger car behind it. The shadow of a unicorn was visible through the window of the lit engine car. Both Scootaloo and Lyra knew it wouldn't be long before the train was going too fast for them to catch.
In a hurry, they rushed out through the door and onto the open platform. A gale of wind threw itself against them, and the drizzle had turned into a light rain. Amidst the flurry of excitement, the train was picking up speed.
Scootaloo ran past Lyra and jumped into the nook of the passenger car's rearmost entryway before turning and extending her hoof in invitation. Lyra followed suit, jumping and grabbing onto Scootaloo's hoof.
Eager to continue, Scootaloo pushed the rear doors open and made way for Lyra. With the both of them inside at last, they took a second to breathe, Lyra observing the light reflecting off of a rain-soaked Scootaloo. A few seconds, and Scootaloo was the first to talk.
"Heh, that wasn't so ba..." Power to the passenger car was cut off, and the door to the engine car flew open, revealing a magically held pistol. Firing off three rounds, it forced Scootaloo to duck behind a seat to the left and Lyra to take cover behind some seats on the right.
Lyra's awkward position on the ground put her in just the right position to see out through the window. From what she could tell, the train was going at least ninety miles per hour and climbing, which exceeded the normal limits of a train this old.
"Who is that unicorn?" Lyra asked, her voice escorted by the sound of two more gunshots.
"I'm not sure. I couldn't get a straight look at her in the fight. My eyes just wouldn't focus on her..." Scootaloo returned, with some additional gunshot accompaniment.
Lyra's first thought was a stealth spell. Anypony powerful enough to cast one that strong is bound to be dangerous and government. The apparent impossibility of the train's speed only served to add to this proof.
"I think it has something to do with this train hijacking..." Scootaloo yelled over the sound of more gunshots.
"Well of course it does; we are on a hijacked train, you know." Lyra pointed out.
"No! I was listening to the radio in the station's control office. Some train coming out of Canterlot was hijacked."
That would explain why the airship was lit up, but what about that other train? Is that where we’re going? An audible crash could be heard as the train shuddered. Lyra figured they had just smashed through the gates of Canterlot station. Apparently so...
She thought about getting up just to check, but another pair of gunshots made her think otherwise. Lyra was content with being able to look out the rain-stricken window while keeping her various limbs attached to her body, even if that meant she couldn't get a look at the beautiful scenery.
Shifting her thoughts, she noted that the storm outside the window was gaining strength. Streams of water running along the sides had obscured the view beyond the window, and removed any hope of seeing the outside. Lightning and thunder had become the only obvious facets of existence out of the insulated passenger car.
That was until the train began to tremble a bit, the unmistakable hiss of air-brakes confirming that they were indeed coming to a halt. The engine cut off, and with its noise now extinguished, the torrential rains could be heard in earnest. Their barrage of a thousand continuous tiny muted taps became the sole sound in the darkened passenger car.
Feeling a bit brave, Lyra got to her hooves. A quick look, along with the fact she stayed in one piece, confirmed that their unknown enemy was no longer watching them. Lyra opened her window, and peeked outside. Despite the annoying prick of the raindrops against her face, she could make out a train, not too far ahead of them.
"Lyra! Look at this!" Scootaloo called. Lyra pulled her head in and went to the other side of the train to see what Scootaloo was going on about. She was not prepared for what she saw.
Princess Celestia herself was running towards the train ahead of them. Making it even worse was the fact that their foe had just exited the engine car, and was walking straight towards her, yelling something that got drowned out by the rain.
Celestia stopped, and turned towards the approaching mare. Instead of running, or attacking, Celestia stood there and began a casual chat with the mare, starting to run towards the other train again, the unseen pony by her side.
There was only one pony in all of Equestria who wouldn't startle Celestia at a time like this.
"Twilight Sparkle." Lyra muttered.
Twilight's stealth spell nullified, unable to continue with her identity known, and revealed the unicorn in whole, including an archaic looking engraved knife tucked just out of Celestia's view.
A feeling of dread set in on Lyra as she realized what was happening... No. An assassination? The thought was unbelievable. The repercussions would be catastrophic. War, anarchy, an end to Equestrian peace...
She wanted to believe that it was just some misunderstanding, but every part of her screamed that it wasn't. Whether this was just some caffeine induced delusion or not, Lyra was already living with being an abject failure. Adding 'bore witness to the end of civilization' to her already shining repertoire might just drive her over the edge.
"Oh no..." Scootaloo muttered, dragging Lyra back to reality. "We need to get out there!" And just as she had said it, the doors on the train flashed purple. Scootaloo stood in silence for a second, yielding the floor to the noisy storm before asking the obvious. "We were just sealed shut, weren't we?" Lyra nodded. "Wait, you're a unicorn, get us out of this!"
If it weren't for the fact the princess' favorite student was about to make an attempt on a world leader's life, Lyra would have stopped and given Scootaloo one of her signature 'really' looks, but that could wait.
Her horn lit up as she began to work her magic. The persistent beat of the rain commented the otherwise silent soundscape as Lyra scoured the car in hopes of finding any sort of weakness in the spell's mesh. She knew from experience that Twilight was one hell of a caster, but this was plain ridiculous.
"What's happening?" Lyra asked offhoof, still searching for any possible exploits.
"Celestia's moving towards the other train, but Twilight keeps trying to stop her or delay her or something. I think she's trying to catch the princess off guard, but Celestia just moves so fast..."
Why hasn't she just killed her yet? The questions just continued to pile up as Lyra kept on with her fruitless search.
She stopped. Lyra had felt something. Just a flutter, over one of the windows, but it might be enough. She went over it again, and found she was right. A point of constant fluctuation: one of the spell's polar ends. With a burst of magic, the purple glow left the train car.
Lyra pushed her way past Scootaloo, and out of the rear door. As soon as her hooves hit the ground, Lyra took off towards the princess. The sound of hooves behind her and the rain around her grew faint as she focused in on averting another bad paragraph in the history textbooks.
Though Lyra wasn't aware of it, she had drawn nearer to Celestia and Twilight, close enough that she could hear them arguing over the roaring torrents of rain.
"Why aren't you on the train? I thought I gave you tickets... Well, at least you're safe." Celestia uttered, the rain doing its best to make her speech indecipherable.
"It doesn't matter. Celestia please, stop right now! You can't go over to that train!" Twilight cried.
"Twilight, I understand your fears, but I am not going to let a situation like this be handled by anyone else." Celestia declared, barely audible above the roaring winds.
"No, please, just stop!" Twilight was screaming now. It was plain to see that Celestia was intent on continuing.
They had just reached the train's caboose, water running off its side, when the rear door flew open and revealed the back of a pissed off Fluttershy dragging some uncooperative hostage at gunpoint. Twilight's magic wrapped around the strange knife at her waist. Lyra's mouth was halfway open and on the verge of screaming until she saw who the hostage was.
Everything began to happen all at once. Fluttershy snapped around, bringing her hostage into full view of all present. It was none other than Twilight Sparkle. Celestia's eyes widened as she turned to the pony next to her, bringing her wing up just in time to take a painful knife blow, sending her down to her knees in a painful fit.
Lyra screamed something incomprehensible, her words lost somewhere amongst the rain and chaos. The assaulting Twilight turned around, responding with a blast of magic that knocked Lyra off her feet. Scootaloo took to the air, preparing some impromptu assault on the the traitor in hopes of stopping her. Despite Scootaloo's best efforts, she was too late.
A single member of the Royal Guard had beaten her to the chase. He tackled Twilight to the ground, allowing the now useless knife to fall into the mud. Twilight put up a fight, but her skills could not match those of the well trained guard. In a few short seconds, her hooves were cuffed and her horn was shackled with a magic inhibitor.
Time returned to normal, the surroundings giving back into the sounds and smells of the storm. In time, several more guards arrived, followed by an ambulance.
Somewhere along the line, Fluttershy had receded into her hijacked train, using whatever time this incident had bought her to re-evaluate her situation. With Celestia down for the count, the ensuing political paralysis might give her just the time she needed to form a more solid plan.
Lyra was still laying on the wet ground, trying to find some sort of pattern in all of the information. Fluttershy, a terrorist? Two Twilights? A failed assassination? Nothing was making much sense anymore.
Scootaloo's hooves touched down on the mud. With the help of a few kind guards, they lifted Lyra back onto her hooves. One of the EMTs even came over to check on her.
"Everything alright?" He yelled over the rain.
"Yeah," Lyra waved him off, "I'll be fine. Take care of Celestia."
The EMT nodded before turning back towards the ambulance. With a little hesitance, he went over and tried helping his friends load Celestia into the ambulance. After succeeding in the arduous task, the EMTs packed up and set off for Canterlot.
More ponies had made their way onto the scene as both the Ponyville and Canterlot airships weighed anchor over the area. They had begun to drop down a continual train of supplies and soldiers. Emergency lights were set up, a mobile command tent was being erected, and a company of troops had been deployed. Throughout this entire charade, the rain refused to let up.
In time, the victorious guard led Twilight back to the train she had arrived in. Another one of the guards walked up to Lyra and Scootaloo.
"Now that we have Twilight secured, we're going to head back to Canterlot. You should come with us; the police will want to talk with you two." He shouted, doing his best to be heard over the rain. Scootaloo and Lyra nodded in return, following him back onto the train.
Lyra wasn't going to argue. This was just going to be one of those nights.
