The Sun Has Fallen

The Sun has Fallen

Chapter 4: The Detour

By: Clue Tzes

They leapt off the nearest edge of Cloudsdale, spreading their wings as they began a slow decent through the night. Rainbow Dash began struggling, the weight of the radio throwing her off balance, causing her to begin descending quicker than the others.

"Dash, wait up!" Twilight shouted at her.

"I can't Twilight; this thing is way too heavy for me," she shouted back as her voice grew further away.

"Twilight, maybe we should help her," Fluttershy suggested.

Twilight groaned and focused her magic on Rainbow Dash, helping to keep her at a decent pace as she flew down. After a few moments she landed with Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike only moments behind.

"What happened back there? It didn’t seem too heavy for you in Cloudsdale," Spike said.

"Well, it wasn't actually. I could walk with it easily, but with only my wings I couldn't take this heavy thing. It’s probably heavier than the three of you combined. I can still fly, but just not for too long," she said, looking at the large radio that had rendered one side of her saddle-satchels filled.

"So we have to walk to Manehattan?" Fluttershy asked.

"No, we should be able to just take the train there. Ponyville is only about a few hours away now," Twilight told them, "Besides, Rarity can't fly so we might need the train."

"If it's even there Twilight," Spike said. "It could be anywhere in Equestria!"

"Well, we have a connection to a room full of pegasi with radios, so why don't we take advantage of that?" Twilight asked, flashing Spike a smirk.

"Alright, I think I can do this," Dash said, turning her head and pulling out the headset attached to her radio.

"Here, might help if it's on," Twilight told her, hitting a button on the front of the radio.

"Alright Twilight. Any idea how we can connect to Spitfire?" Rainbow asked.

"These radios have a three way connection Rainbow Dash," Spitfires voice said in her ears.

Dash jumped into the air in fear, “Warn someone about that next time! I about tore a wing you scared me so much."

"Adorable. If you need to contact the main base, I've sent Soarin' back to work with the Wonderbolts still there while we try to do a few things in Cloudsdale."

"Alright, good. Would you be able to track down a train if we needed to?"

"Not right now, but Soarin' has the ability to."

"Alright, how do I switch over to him?"

"There's a dial near the power switch with three numbers around it. One is me, two is Soarin', three is for any radios that might be nearby, but if there's more than one it'll be pretty messy. Spitfire out," Dash heard before there was a click.

"Hey Twilight, turn that dial to two for me. I've gotta talk to Soarin' to find out where this hunk of junk is," Dash told her.

Twilight nodded and turned the pointer on the dial to the number two, watching Dash as she waited for any noise.

"Uhh... Rainbow Dash to Wonderbolts? Come in anypony?"

After a few seconds she heard a click, "Soarin' here, what's up Dash? Thanks again for the pep talk earlier, glad it got Spitfire to use her senses for once," Soarin' said, getting a few laughs in the background.

Dash chuckled a bit before talking, "Can you tell me where the Friendship Express is?"

Dash heard Soarin' moving a few papers around, "Our last documented contact with them was yesterday afternoon, but we haven’t heard from them since. They were doing a trip from Ponyville to Appleloosa, a simple passenger one, but that was around the time Celestia came to Cloudsdale. So you're looking at somewhere between Appleloosa and Ponyville, sorry. Even then, the tracks from Ponyville to Manehattan were blocked by something since yesterday, so you'd end up going the long way even if the train was near."

"It's alright Soarin', thanks for the info. Rainbow Dash out."

"You know you don't have to do that right? Spitfire is the only one who takes any radio etiquette seriously here..."

"That figures, alright, see ya."

Twilight pressed a button next to the dial, rendering the radio off unless they were contacted, "What'd they say?"

"They lost contact with the train somewhere between Appleloosa and Ponyville, a little before Celestia attacked them. And going from Ponyville to Manehattan by train won't work."

"Well, aren't we between the two?" Spike asked, looking around.

"We should be, seeing as Cloudsdale s-sits in the general middle ground of the two. B-but we left on the side nearest to Ponyville, so if we take the tracks we’ll need to follow them northwest to Appleloosa," Fluttershy told them as she looked around. "S-sorry, I spent a lot of time on the ground when I lived in Cloudsdale..."

"Well, let's get going then," Twilight said without moving.

After a few awkward seconds without direction, Fluttershy sighed and began walking away, "The tracks should be this way..."

The others nodded and began following the yellow pegasus through the night. After a few minutes, Fluttershy looked down, making out the train tracks in the light of the descending moon.

"Now, we go this way," Twilight said, pointing with her hoof after studying the stars for a minute.

"Or we could go the other way to the train," Rainbow Dash said, pointing the other way where a dark mass sat on the tracks.

Twilight illuminated the direction with her horn, seeing the engine car of the train with a few passenger cars behind it, "Anypony else kinda worried?"

"Yeah, but maybe it isn't so bad, you know? They could've evacuated," Rainbow Dash said.

"Spike and I will wait out here, just in case something bad is inside," Fluttershy whimpered, clutching the baby dragon close, "Spike is um, really scared?"

Spike shrugged and looked at Twilight, "Shy and I will hang here, just be quick. I don't like how this is going."

Twilight nodded and began moving towards the train, Rainbow Dash right next to her as they approached the passenger car's side door, "You ready Rainbow?"

"Ready as ever Twilight," Rainbow told her, shaking a bit.

She pulled the door open with her magic, both of them moving inside slowly as she illuminated her horn, checking the empty car, "It's clean in this one, let's check the other two then head to the engine."

"Alright, sounds good to me."

They quickly moved through the dark car by the light on Twilight’s horn, opening the back door of it and the front door of the next one.

"Clean again, to the third," Rainbow Dash seemed to cheer.

Twilight giggled softly as they moved to the third car, losing focus on her light spell. After a few seconds she recasted it and immediately regretted it. In the third car, the seats were all uprooted and tossed about, shattered glass coating the ground inside. The back door was off its hinges and marks on the ground seemed to show that ponies had been dragged off the train. Blood splattered about, followed by a couple dismembered corpses told them not everypony had been as lucky. Rainbow Dash immediately bolted back to the first car, covering her mouth as Twilight stood there, letting the memories of the ruined castle sit on her mind.

She shook her head and began crossing through, doing her best to step around the blood and destruction.

Not here too... Were they just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

After a few more steps, she leapt out of the back of the car and found the rest of the passengers, along with a few extras. As she looked through the pile of bodies outside of the train, she noticed a few off to the side and moved towards them. The first face she recognized was adorned in a sheriff's vest along with a ripped hole where the badge would've been. Near him was a buffalo, with what looked like unicorn horn wounds on his body. Other ponies and buffaloes she recognized from the same place were randomly scattered near them

Appleloosans?! That doesn't make any sense though. They wouldn't have taken the train, unless...

She shook the thought away and moved back to the passengers, doing the best to look for any of her friends. To her unfortunate relief, there weren't any. She began walking back through the train, hoping Rainbow Dash had gotten the guts to come back. As she made her way back through, a few of the seats in the bloody car began shaking, causing her to step back and face them in preparation for combat.

"Come out with your hooves up, or I'll blast you right out of this train," she growled as her horn went dark.

"Please, I-I'll take you anywhere you need, just spare me," the conductor said, making his way out of the wreckage, taking a few steps toward Twilight before falling and yelling in pain.

Twilight immediately rushed to his side, "Are you okay? I don't mean any harm, I swear. I thought you were whoever did this!"

"Th-they broke my back hooves and said I'd be an example for others if I was found..."

"Who did?!" Twilight said, thinking the term seconds before the conductor said it.

"The Appleloosans... They blocked the tracks with the help of the buffaloes and attacked the train and everypony in it. We fought back and took a few out, b-but... It was useless... They slaughtered everyone but me... I thought they just meant to rob us, but I watched ponies I had once thought friends attack us... What happened?"

Twilight sighed, "Take a deep breath, I'm going to set and bind your legs together with a spell and help you get off here. My friends are waiting outside the train," she said as her horn glowed.

The conductor did as she advised before his grey, back legs let out a sharp crack and bound together, forcing a restrained yell from him, "Th-thanks, but I still can't walk."

"I know," Twilight said as she levitated him onto her back.

"Wings and a horn? You're Princess Twilight, thank Celestia you're here," he whispered to her as he held on.

"Don't thank Celestia just yet, we've got a story or two for you..." she said as they got off the first car and back to the trio in waiting.

Dash immediately went to Twilight and whispered, "I didn't tell Fluttershy anything, don't worry."

"Alright, she'll have to know anyways. I found the conductor alive by the way, but he was the only one..."

Dash gave her a stunned stare and nodded slowly, walking back. Twilight followed and set the conductor down, immediately beginning her story.

After both stories were shared, Fluttershy fainting midway through the conductor's revelation of car number three and having to be woken back up, they sat in silence as the sun began climbing over the horizon.

"So you need to get to Manehattan?" The conductor asked.

"Yeah, but as the Wonderbolts told us the direct way is blocked," Twilight told him.

"Yeah, something tore the tracks up pretty nicely. Saying it's blocked is just so ponies don't worry," he admitted.

"I think this is all connected to Celestia really," Rainbow Dash said.

The conductor shook his head, "Not this time. The tracks were torn up when an Ursa Major decided to migrate to another cave," the conductor said calmly.

Fluttershy smiled, "The Ursas are the most adorable bears when they migrate caves. They're so adorable as they yawn and drag themselves around."

Twilight raised an eyebrow in wonderment, "Wow, that's different. So what track gets us to Manehattan quickest?"

"You're not gonna like this after what you saw, but we go past the Appleloosa station and protocol demands I stop there for a little bit, but seeing as all protocol is out the window we can just speed by. But I'm still worried about the Appleloosans. Even then, Ponyville wasn't looking the greatest. Something had caused a schism among the townsfolk and well, I took all the evacuees to get out before things got worse."

"A schism in the town? Between who?" Spike asked in confusion.

"From what I overheard on the train, somepony attacked Ponyville and spewed some nonsense about a New Equestrian World Order, which had to be Celestia after all you've told me. Then the town broke between those loyal to the Princesses that remained and those who said to rule themselves. I heard they were labeled the Royalists, I didn't hear much about the other one though."

"We can check it out after we find Rarity. For now though, let's get going," Rainbow Dash said.

"I'm not going through Appleloosa without some form of protection, so I'll have to ask you, Princess Twilight, to be ready just in case. One of you will have to help me run the train too," he said as he glanced towards Fluttershy, "Meanwhile, Spike here can help us burn coal quicker and get past our normal top speeds."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Here we come my sweet Rarity!" Spike shouted as he leapt into the air.

As he got on the train, Rainbow Dash motioned towards it, "Should we detach the passenger cars? They'll only slow us down..."

He nodded quickly, "Definitely, it's the only way to do this... Plus, after what we saw on the third car it may be for the best..."

Twilight and Rainbow Dash exchanged a quick glance before nodding in agreement. The two went back to where the cars connected to the engine while the other three boarded and began getting the engine warmed up.

"I don't think the Appleloosans mean to just let us casually pass," Twilight told Rainbow Dash as they removed the spike holding the cars together.

"What gave it away? The dead ponies or the conductor with his legs snapped?" She asked in return.

Twilight glared at her as she turned to walk towards the engine car's door, "I'm saying if they start attacking that train again, we're going to have to ditch the saddle-satchels and do what we can to make sure we get to Manehattan."

"I know Twilight, and I'm more than prepared. First though, I should relay a message to Spitfire and let her know the Appleloosans have gone rogue and should be watched out for."

"Good plan; do that out here then get on. We should be ready by then," Twilight said before climbing onto the train.

Rainbow Dash sat on the tracks, putting the headset on as she reached back and turned the radio back on, switching the dial to Spitfire's signal.

"Spitfire, you there? How are things on your end?" She asked, searching for a reply.

"Dash, that you? We're trying to get as many as we can out of here, but we can't find anywhere safe. You know anywhere around here?" Spitfire replied, hundreds of quiet voices in the background.

"Everywhere from Ponyville to Canterlot is in turmoil, your best bet would be the forests, but there's another risk out here you need to warn everypony about."

"I think they already know about Celestia..."

"No, the Appleloosans have gone rogue. They attacked a passenger train of evacuees from Ponyville and massacred all but the conductor. We found him in with the bodies as a warning... Both of his back legs were broken too... He told us that most of the town was there, and they were working with a tribe of buffaloes nearby."

"What?! I was about to send those assholes some supplies! It was a damn trap, wasn't it? I'll warn everyone, thanks for the heads up. You all on your way to Manehattan?"

"Yeah, taking the train the long way."

"Hell... Good luck kid, let us know how Manehattan is. We haven't heard from anypony there for a while. Ever since the Oranges at least..."

"Alright, I'm dashing off here. See ya," she said, repressing a chuckle.

"Spitfire out." She was unamused.

Rainbow Dash boarded the train, watching Spike breathe fire on the coals while Twilight and Fluttershy flapped their wings slowly to grow the fire. All at the same time, the conductor was doing as good of a last check as he could.

"Thought this train had some kind of fuel," Rainbow wondered aloud.

"The Appleloosans siphoned what we had. Coal is our reserve fuel, just in case," the conductor said as he released the brakes, letting the train begin to move forward, “Just a lot more work to get started unfortunately."

"How much more of this is it going to take?" Twilight asked, panting softly as she kept flapping.

"You can go ahead and quit. I'll need Spike to toss some fire in every so often and Fluttershy to flap and shovel coal, but that'll be about it. We're all set to hit our top speeds, if not more. Going to be a half day trip at least, so here's hoping electricity works in Manehattan."

"How long u-until Appleloosa?" Fluttershy asked, beginning to shiver.

"About an hour, and when we fly past we might need some protection. I think you two already knew that though," he added, looking at Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah. We've already discussed it and are more than ready to fight them back," Twilight said with a stern nod.

"Your hooves might have to take a few lives if it gets dire enough Princess," the conductor said, causing Twilight to flinch.

K-killing ponies? I-I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that though...

"Y-yeah, let's hope we won’t have to do that," Twilight stammered, getting an agreeing nod from Dash.

"Well, only about half an hour til we're near there,” the conductor told them, "So the moment of judgment is close at hoof," he added with a smirk.

The rest of them exchanged confused glances before sitting against a wall of the car, watching out the front window as they waited for Appleloosa to come into view.

After twenty minutes of silence, the conductor turned towards them, "I need fire and coal if you don't mind."

Spike nodded and stood up, helping Fluttershy to her hooves, "About how much longer?" He asked before breathing into the furnace.

"Any minute now, so you two need to get ready quickly," he told Rainbow and Twilight.

"Good luck," Fluttershy told them as she put another shovel of coal in the furnace.

"One last thing," the conductor said, "If you fall behind, you're left behind. Don't screw up, or you better hope those sick... fucks... take mercy," he finished, a tear in his eye. "Those ponies wanted away from all this and they were slaughtered. NOT THIS TIME!" The conductor slammed the speed lever forward, sending the train ahead much quicker than before.

As it accelerated closer and closer towards the dusty town, the Spike and the mares moved towards the front window of the train to watch. The town started off as a speck, quickly growing larger.

"Wh-what's that?!" Fluttershy asked, pointing to a large mass on the tracks.

"Is that a..." Twilight began wondering aloud as the roadblock on the tracks grew closer, "STOP THE TRAIN!"

The conductor shook his head, "There's not enough time to stop. You're gonna have to do something quick! The best I can do is slow us down."

Twilight begin panicking until she felt herself lifted into the air, "What the hell are you doing!" She shouted up at Rainbow Dash.

"Quiet now my little bazooka, we've got some tracks to clear. You've got one shot at this Twi, so make it count," Dash told her, both of them leaving behind their saddle-satchels as she lifted her out of the train window and onto the roof.

Twilight looked at the massive pile of wood and rock on the tracks, a few Appleloosans on either side of it, and began focusing her magic. She let out a breath as she shot a powerful beam at the center of it, scattering both debris and ponies from the tracks, clearing them enough for the train to pass through. She smirked to herself and to Dash as the train began picking up speed again, knocking her off ofher hooves. As she began rolling down the length of the engine, Rainbow Dash grabbed her, barely flying fast enough to keep up with the accelerating train.

"Do some magic or something Twilight! I can't hold you here forever," Rainbow Dash told her as she did her best to keep Twilight on the train.

Twilight thought for a moment before casting a spell on her hooves, "There, I've magnetized myself so I'll stay right here. What's bad is I won't be able to move until we've slowed enough I can bare the wind."

"Alright, I'll do my best to help if you need it, but no promises," Rainbow said, turning her head away from the wind to speak.

Twilight nodded, casting another spell to shield them from the high winds a little bit as she looked around the train as they flew past the Appleloosa station.

"Are we clear?!" She yelled at Rainbow Dash.

She shook her head and motioned forward, "They had a plan B!"

Up ahead, Appleloosans were already saddled atop buffaloes and going full force ahead.

"Keep with the train!" She heard one shout at the buffaloes.

Out among the crowd, she saw few familiar ponies, but one thing did sick out; the Appleloosans were armed with various farm weapons in their mouths. Twilight watched as the train caught up with them, and began going past them until the buffaloes begin giving it their all. She watched as a grey earth pony leapt aboard the train, running towards her with a pitchfork, only to be tackled off by Rainbow Dash moments later. She watched as he hit the ground and was immediately left far behind the train and attackers.

"Aww yea! Take that you cowpoke!" Rainbow began smugly bragging before another Appleloosan leapt on top of her with a knife in his mouth.

"We warned y'all not to come around these parts!" The purple stallion growled as he stabbed at Dash, leaving a cut on the upper part of her hoof.

Twilight growled aloud, sending a blast of magic at him and knocking him off the train, "You okay Rainbow?"

She nodded, rubbing the fresh, bleeding cut, "I'll live! Just watch your plot Twilight!"

Twilight turned her head, coming face to face with....

"BRAEBURN?!" She screamed as he leapt at her.

"Take me with you... please!" He frantically whispered as he did his best to not hurt her as he pretended to attack her.

"Take this one in with the others!" Twilight shouted to Rainbow Dash as she levitated Braeburn into her hooves, "He's one of ours I think!"

Dash nodded and looked down at the awkwardly smiling yellow pony in her hooves before flying back into the train car and throwing him in, "He's good, but if he tries anything... Fluttershy use your shovel. Spike, you can eat him or something, I don't care!" She quickly flew back to help Twilight.

The group exchanged confused glances before looking at Braeburn.

Meanwhile, Twilight shot another magic blast at an attacking pony, blasting the riding horde whenever she could to thin out their numbers. She turned her head to shoot at another as one approached her from her side. Suddenly she remembered her wings and flung them out, knocking the pony to her left off of the train.

She heard a thud from behind tried to turn to look, but found herself still attached to the train, "Damn it; RAINBOW DASH I NEED YOU!" She began shouting as she saw the pony using all of his strength to move against the wind.

Just as she thought it was all over, she heard a loud groan as Rainbow Dash rammed into the stallion, sending him off the back of the car and onto the tracks, quickly being left behind. The rest of the assaulting Appleloosans began slowing down, retreating to their fallen comrades. Twilight and Rainbow watched the thinned horde fall behind and turn around, running back towards their home.

"That it?" Dash shouted to Twilight.

She nodded, "Grab me and let's get back in. We should be set for Manehattan and we need to talk to Braeburn!"

Rainbow grabbed her friend as she undid the spell, then flew them both back into the engine where Braeburn was shoveling coal, Fluttershy was fanning the fire and Spike kept it going. The conductor looked at them and began pulling a few levers, slowing down the train to a fast, yet comfortable pace.

"Good work out there you two," he told them, "The rest of you can stop for now, we've got enough in there for the rest of the trip."

They stopped their respective acts and moved towards Rainbow Dash and Twilight.

"Did y'all stop them?" Braeburn asked as he awkwardly toyed with his hat and vest.

"Yeah," Dash replied, putting her saddle-satchels back on, "Now why don't you tell us what was going on out there?"

"It's the least ah can do after y'all saved my hide out there," Braeburn told them as he sat down.

"It started out all good when we heard about Celestia. She never made an appearance there like the other places, but we kept it together. We didn't fight or tear each other apart or riot as we heard on the radios. That's when somepony realized it; we stayed the same even when something like this happened. We didn't need the Princesses, as they put it, to be Appleloosa; so why not be out for ourselves? At first ah was on board with the whole thing, because they had a point. Then they saw the train as a connection to the hierarchy we used to have and decided a point needed to be made. I was with them until then but ah knew if ah turned back now, they'd be anything but rational. Once they started killing the ponies on that train that were lookin for safety, ah saw what was left of Appleloosa die... Not its people, but its spirit... It was a dark day and ah'm eternally sorry for all that's happened... I'd give mah left hoof for it all to go back..." Braeburn finished, lowering his hat over his eyes as tears started to fall. "Ah'm sorry ladies, y'all shouldn't have to see a grown stallion cry like this..."

Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder and hugged him, the others joined as Twilight whispered, "We've seen enough to make us all want to cry these past few days... We just have to keep faith in ourselves that we can fix it and set things right. At least with Celestia it is possible, we hope... But as for the rest of Equestria, we'll have to work a lot for it to become like it once was. So many have already been lost, so I'm not sure if it can return to normal... Nopony will have the trust in the Princesses they once did... The Wonderbolts are trying to save what they can of Cloudsdale, but as for the rest of the cities..." Twilight trailed off, tears beginning to fall from her eyes as well.

"I'm worried we'll never find our friends again... Or that I-if we do... they'll... they'll... be like Discord," Fluttershy choked out before beginning to stand. "But like Twilight said; we need to have faith in ourselves which m-means we press on ahead, l-like trains on the tracks!"

"Fluttershy has a point you two, no offense, but we need a game plan for Manehattan. Now would be the perfect time to plan it, ya know?" Spike said, standing next to Fluttershy.

"I say we get in, get Rarity, and get the hell out. From what we heard on that radio when the Oranges died," Rainbow Dash said, "I don't think Manehattan will be too sa-"

"MAH COUSINS DIED?!" Braeburn blurted out in disbelief, interrupting her.

Twilight glared at Spike, Fluttershy, and the conductor, "Didn't you guys decide to fill him in on everything?!"

Spike nervously chuckled, "We might have left out that one part."

"Go figure," Twilight grumbled, turning and hugging Braeburn once more, "They are dead, but they'll be avenged. We're going to try to track down where they were when they... You know..."

"A-alright," he told them, still stunned from the news.

"As I was saying, Manehattan won't be safe. That can be guaranteed seeing how quickly two cities fell, and then with how quickly Ponyville has seemed to fall too, Manehattan has to have gotten the same way by now. Does anypony know how Manehattan is organized?" Rainbow asked.

"I do," the conductor spoke up, "It's an island as I'm sure the lot of you know."

Twilight nodded, "We've been before. We need the city layout, like districts or sections,"

He nodded in understanding, "Right. Well, there are small businesses to the south of it, while the larger ones stay north."

"North of...?"

"The center section, which is where the two sort of bleed out into one another, along with the hotels, theaters, restaurants, you know?"

Twilight nodded and looked to the others, "We'll need three teams to split and search. Spike, you and Fluttershy," she thought for a moment, "Would probably be too scared to do anything together. Spike, you and Rainbow Dash take the north section, Fluttershy and Braeburn can take the south. I'll take the center alone I guess. You're not able to walk, are you?" She asked, looking at the conductor.

He shook his head, "Find me a wheelchair or something among the wreckage and I'll go with you. Other than that, I'm probably out for a few weeks, sorry." Twilight nodded at him, "I can do one thing though. Behind the boiler is a box full of flare guns, just in case we get stranded near a city. Take them with you, but leave me one. There should be ten in there, so that's three for each of you, got it?"

They all nodded as Spike ran over, pulling out the box and opening it to reveal the ten small guns inside.

Twilight levitated one to the conductor, and then levitated three into her saddle-satchel, followed by three each to the other two teams, "Alright, if anypony finds anything, just shoot one into the air and we'll head there immediately."

"Actually, they can be used as a weapon too. They can burn or blind a pony and give you a quick escape. So keep an eye out for it, whether it's in the air or somewhere else. If you see one from me though, I'll probably be taking my last few breaths, seeing as I'm in no condition to defend myself. So I hope you know how to run this train you two," he said, looking at the pegasus and baby dragon who helped him on the way, "Because there's a good chance you'll be running it if things go sour for me. For now though, everyone needs to relax, we've still got a while until Manehattan."

The rest of them took up spots lying down around the car. Spike curled up next to Twilight as they all lied there, trying to organize the clutter of things in their minds that had happened that day. After a while, a few of them had dozed off, save for Braeburn, the conductor, and Fluttershy. The two who were capable moved closer to the conductor, taking their place on either side of him. They sat silent and watched through the front window, seeing the landscape fly by as the day turned to night.

"It used to look so beautiful," Braeburn whispered aloud.

"Used to?" The conductor asked in a confused tone.

"Seeing it every day makes it kinda start to get old, ya know? Shoot, ah even take the sunrises for granted at this point. Sometimes ah wanna quit the farm life and jus' sleep in. Maybe it'd remind me of what ah used to enjoy seeing most each morning. Ya never really miss it til it's gone they say, maybe ah should find out if that's true or not for mahself..."

Fluttershy nodded her head, "That happened to me with animals for a while. Then I started being with Twilight and the others a lot more and started taking time away f-from the animals and other things I take care of, and I began cherishing our time together a lot more. So maybe all you need is another hobby on the side, not just full dedication to one thing."

The conductor looked at them both, "I was in your hooves at one point... Braeburn?" Braeburn nodded to confirm, "This train used to be my everything, at least after the last of my family passed on," he whispered, fixing his glasses and navy vest, "By then I thought I'd seen it all, and running this thing became a chore rather than fun... After a while I gave up, let a rookie take over until, well, he screwed up big so I had to take back over. I still thought I'd seen it all, but I learned to enjoy the trips again."

"What do ya mean you thought you'd seen it all? What changed?" Braeburn asked, looking at him in curiosity.

The conductor watched the tracks fly under the train as he spoke, "I saw Equestria begin to fall."

Fluttershy and Braeburn exchange worried looks and quietly crawled back to their spots, taking what time was left to get some rest like their friends were.

"Hey, you all might want to see this!" The conductor shouted, waking the ponies and baby dragon.

"Where are we?" Twilight asked with a sleepy yawn as she climbed to her hooves.

"About to cross the bridge to Manehattan, but it looks like hell over there..." He told her as the rest of the group made their way to the front window.

"It can't be tha- SWEET MOTHER OF CELESTIA WHAT THE HELL?!" Rainbow Dash shouted as the others could only stare, their mouths agape in horror.

Ahead of them, across the long bridge void of working vehicle or pony, lay a city in wastes. Manehattan stood tall, but plumes of smoke ran up the city, the fires lighting it in the night time sky. Broken windows scattered the skyscrapers, while screams and yelling filled the air, from far across the bridge. Pegasi could be seen flying, their silhouettes fleeing from beams of magic that continued to lay waste to the still standing buildings.

Not too far ahead of them stood a skyscraper with a giant wooden horse head, resembling the knight from chess. They watched a pegasus fly around it as the train came closer, nearly underneath it as beams of different colored magic flew past it and barely missed.

Rainbow watched closely, noticing a light at the end of it, "Wait... They're aiming at the thing in its tail!"

They watched it fly to the base of the statue, where three of the numerous beams struck the giant wooden statue. They watched the base of it explode, sending wood in all directions. It began sliding forward when Twilight snapped out of the daze.

"EVERYPONY GET THE HELL OFF THE TRAIN!" She screamed as she bolted for the door, finding it locked.

"It won't open until the train is parked!" The conductor shouted at her, quickly becoming frantic as he abandoned the levers, "And we don't have enough time to come close to doing that!"

"Then speed up!" She screamed back.

"I-I can't!"

"WE'RE NOT EVEN MOVING!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

Twilight looked around, noticing the train car surrounded by numerous magical auras, "THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL US! LET GO OF US YOU SICK UNICORNS!" She kept shouting at the ears that wouldn't hear her, save for one lone pair, as the knight moved closer to the edge. "I could teleport us out... But I'll need the help of another unicorn and... We're short on those," she said with a defeated sigh as she slumped to the ground.

"I-is this it?" Fluttershy whispered, beginning to tear up.

Spike shook his head, holding her hoof, "N-no... It can't be... It always works out, r-right?" He asked, tears running down his cheeks as the statue began tipping off the building.

They all huddled close to Twilight, even the conductor who dragged himself over, and closed their eyes as Fluttershy whispered, "Here we come, Discord."

They kept their eyes closed as they heard one of the windows shatter and hoofsteps rush towards them as a familiar voice shouted, "SPARKLE. FOCUS. TELEPORT NOW!"

Twilight didn't open her eyes but did as she was commanded; forcing all of her might into working with the other unicorn. She began encasing them in a blue and purple ball of magic as they emptied all of the strength they had left into the teleportation spell. She felt herself fall a few feet, still held by the others as they heard the loud crash meant to end their lives. As she opened her eyes she began looking around, seeing the dark silhouette of their savior moving away slowly.

"Trixie.... Wait..." Twilight weakly called after her before passing out.

End Chapter 4