The Journey

It was a bright and sunny summer day in Ponyville, the skies were blue, the air was warm and every pony seemed to be having a wonderful time swimming, sun bathing, and just relaxing.

The main six were at the train station, waiting for the train heading to the Crystal Empire. They were not alone, there were around thirty more ponies in the station also waiting.

“I hope this royal duty isn’t extremely important.” Twilight said a little worried. “I hope I don’t need to fly anywhere. I did just get my wings yesterday after all.”

Rainbow Dash looks at Twilight, then smiles.

“Don’t worry Twilight! In a few days you will be performing awesome stunts in a flash!”

That phrase made Twilight slightly smile.

“I don’t think performing awesome stunts is my main priority at the moment.” Said Twilight giggling.

They saw a train arrive. It was very colourful with three different wagons, the first wagon was white in colour and the windows had golden frames, clearly indicating that it was for first class passengers only. The other two behind it were painted pink with some purple and red paint around the sides and roof. The wheels were all the same shade of blue.

The main six entered the first wagon while the rest of the ponies entered the other two behind them.

The first class wagon was extremely decorated with all types of furniture. There was a crystal table in the centre and four red couches on each side of the wagon. The walls were white and shiny, so was the floor. And they were so clean and sparkly that the ponies were able to see their reflection.

“Oh my goodness!” Rarity said with an open mouth. “Just look at the furniture on this wagon! The windows, the walls, the crystal table… And don’t get me started with the shiny floor!” Said Rarity while hugging the floor. After a few moments, she looked up and saw her friends staring at her with a confused reaction on their faces. “Oh, I mean… to the Crystal Empire!”

The train started to move and the main six started to take their seats. Considering that each couch could hold two ponies each, and there were four couches on each side of the wagon, all of them sat on the same row of couches on one side. Pinkie Pie with Twilight, Rarity with Applejack, and Fluttershy with Rainbow Dash.

Since Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were siting together, Rainbow decided to start a conversation with her.

“So Fluttershy, how are you feeling about this trip?”

“Oh, I am really excited to go to my favourite restaurant and see all of those nice waiters. Too bad Spike couldn’t come.”

“Oh yeah, hey, why didn’t he come?”

“Well, he needed to take care of my animals.”

“Of course.”

Everypony in the wagon started talking and were having a wonderful time.

But, fifteen minutes after the train started, the conductor busted through the door and asked loudly.

“Does anypony know how to fix a broken lever???!!!!”

All of them gasped, but Twilight came to her senses and asked…

“What happened?”

“The brake lever is stuck I can’t move it, do you know how to force it to move with your magic?”

“Forcing the brake lever to move could make it much worse. Some important parts of the train could fall off, breaking the train completely.”

“What do you suggest we do, your Majesty?”

All of the seven ponies thought for a few moments until Rainbow asked Twilight…

“Is there any threat awaiting ahead of us?”

Twilight used her magic to summon a holographic map of Equestria that she memorized before. She concentrated on looking at the map and then gasped.

“Conductor! How fast are we going?

“I don’t know, everything in the conductor room went up in smoke as soon as the lever broke. And it would be a death wish if somepony entered, they might suffocate on the fumes. The only thing I know for sure is that we are going much faster than we are supposed to go normally.”

“Can we make any slight turns?”

“Any slight train movements to the left or to the right in this speed will have enough energy to tip over the train, we would not make it.”

“Why are you asking this Twilight?! What do you see?” Rainbow asked.

“We are about to fall into a cliff if we don’t stop the train in the next 10 minutes!”

There was silence for a few moments in the wagon but Rainbow knew that there was no time to waste.

“I will try to slow down the train, in the meantime, you guys should start counting how many ponies there are on the train. Find a way for the pegasi to fly out of the train while I slow it down. Twilight, sent a telepathic message to Princess Cadence to prepare the pegasi guards to evacuate the remaining ponies out of the train.”

“Wait Rainbow, wait…!” Twilight tried to stop Rainbow but she was already outside the train to try to slow it down. “Do what she says, everypony start counting. Fluttershy and conductor, count the pegasi and tell them to fly out of the train. Pinkie Pie and Applejack, start counting the earth ponies. Rarity, count the unicorns and ask them if they can perform a teleportation spell out of the train, and I will send a telepathic message to Princess Cadence to tell her to prepare the pegasi guards to evacuate the earth and unicorn ponies out of the train.”

“But princess, I am not sure the pegasi can fly out of the train in this speed.” Said the conductor. “It is way too risky, the train speed and wind can catch them off-guard and make them stumble to the ground injuring them badly and maybe even causing death.”

“As Rainbow said she will try her best to slow it down, my guess is that she is going to fly in front of the train to try to push it back while flying the opposite direction. Now everypony, move out!”

All of the ponies in the first class wagon including the conductor started to move to the next wagon.

Rainbow Dash did exactly what Twilight expected her to do. She flew in front of the train then tried to push it backward by flying to the opposite direction.

Rainbow Dash gave it her all but it seemed impossible to do. She managed to slow the train down a bit but it wasn’t slow enough for the guards to get on the train and evacuate the rest of the ponies or for any Pegasus to fly out.

At this point Rainbow Dash is really trying her best to make it run even slower but it still didn’t work. Two minutes passed, she could see the Crystal Empire in the distance with around fifty guards waiting in the train station to prepare the evacuation team.

“Oh no, it’s all over.”  Rainbow thought.

Suddenly she saw a Pegasus stallion fly through a thunder cloud. His coat is bright yellow, his mane is of darkest black and so is his tail with a light blue stripe in the interior, that has more or less a shape of a lightning bolt. His cutie mark is three dark clouds with a light blue lightning bolt in the middle.

He was heading to Rainbow Dash’s direction. He flew next to Rainbow and then started to help her, doing the exact same thing she did.

They managed to slow down the train much more than before.

While they were slowing it down, Rainbow Dash did not see many unicorns teleport themselves out of the train and only a few pegasi were able to fly out. She could only guess that the rest of them left on the train were earth ponies, unicorns that were not able to perform a teleportation spell because they’re either too scared to concentrate or too lower ranked to have the ability to do so and, fillies.

The train passed through the Crystal Empire station then all of the guards waiting there suddenly flew to the train. Thanks to the two pegasi slowing down the train, the guards were able to evacuate the earth ponies and unicorns. They also evacuated the fillies.

There were some guards that couldn’t enter the train because of the wind pushing them away or smashing them into the train walls. They fell to the ground but thanks to the armour that they were wearing they were fine but couldn’t continue flying because the speed of the train increased drastically. Only the elite guards were able to evacuate the ponies.

When Rainbow thought it was all over and all the ponies were saved, she turned to the mysterious stallion.

“Thanks, I don’t think none of them would make it out if it weren’t for…”

“Shh!” The stallion interrupted Rainbow mid-sentence. They were still in front of the train trying to push it.

Rainbow looked at him in confusion to why he said that.

“Listen.” The stallion says.

They could hear a faint sobbing coming from one of the carriages. Rainbow then said,

“It’s a filly we must save… Ugh!!!” Her wing bashed into a train sign, she fell down to the ground then disappeared into the distance.

The stallion didn’t seem to care about Rainbow Dash. He didn’t get surprised. He didn’t even look for her when she disappeared from his side. He knew that it would be a waste of time. He needed to concentrate.

The stallion then flew next to the train. He knew it would be extremely hard to rescue the filly since there is nopony to slow the train down for him. He looked in the carriages.

He checked the first class wagon. Nothing.

He peeked through the second wagon window. Nopony.

Then he looked through the last wagon window. He saw a filly sobbing in a corner.

The train was at least going at a speed of 200 km/h.

The main six were the last ones to get out of the train because although Twilight’s teleportation spell was powerful enough to teleport Fluttershy, Pinkie pie, Rarity, Applejack and herself all at once, it took longer than normal to perform it.

When they were finally out of the train they found Rainbow Dash lying down on the ground. All of them approached her and asked if she was okay.

“Filly… still… in the… train...” Rainbow Dash struggled to say.

They could see the train in the distance but they didn’t see any Pegasus holding a filly, they didn’t see anypony at all.

After an eternity of waiting, they now see that the train is just barely visible in the horizon. Then they saw it fall and explode.

There was nothing after that but a giant patch of black smoke.

Even though they didn’t know who the filly was, they still felt like they lost a perfect healthy young life.

Some ponies cried, some were angry and there were even some who fainted at the horror.

Then they saw a black silhouette coming through the smoke, it was the stallion who helped Rainbow Dash. He was carrying the filly!

When he landed, all of the ponies cheered.

He landed with the filly on his back so happy but the stallion’s face didn’t show any emotion. He looked in extreme concentration, almost sad.

He gave the filly to her parents.

“Thank you! Thank you!” Said both of the parents.

“No problem.” Said the stallion still with no show of emotion on his face. He bended to the filly trying to force a little smile. “Next time, be sure to shout help, okay? Crying never solves the problem, trust me, I know.”

“Okay, thanks again mister.”

“You’re welcome.”

When the stallion got right back up, his fake little smile disappeared and he went back to his serious face.

The main six walked up to him.

“Wow that was amazing!” Said Rainbow Dash. “Hey, I never got your name.”

“The name is Thunder Shield. Call me Thunder for short.”

“Thunder Shield?! You mean THE Thunder Shield?! You are fourth in command for the Wonderbolts!!! I am a huge fan! Why didn’t I see you in Ponyville?”

“I was in a mission in Las Pegasus then I needed to go to Saddle Arabia to perform a flight show with the rest of the team.”

Rarity walks up to him.

“I must say, your appearance looks awfully familiar.”

“You made me a Wonderbolt outfit a few years ago. As a matter of fact, I met all of you except Rainbow Dash.” Thunder Shield volunteered to say.

“I met Twilight a few years ago when I was still studying to be a Wonderbolt. She had a library back in Canterlot and I went there to borrow some books to study on.

I also met Applejack a few years ago when I purchased a few apples from her.

Then I met Fluttershy not long ago because she helped me adopt an animal.

And Pinkie Pie, well, who in Ponyville have not met Pinkie Pie?” Thunder still had no happy expression on his face.

“So, tell me, what was your final exam test for your first year at the Wonderbolt academy?” Rainbow Dash asks.

“Listen, if you think I am in the mood for talking, you are dead wrong.” Thunder says with an annoyed face. “It was nice meeting all of you but I got to go.”

“But don’t you want to partyyyyyy???” Pinkie Pie asks with a smile on her face like always.

“I am not one for parties.” Says Thunder right before taking off quick as a bullet.

“What is wrong with him?” Rainbow Dash asks.

“I am sure he was just in a bad mood today.” Twilight responds.

“There aren’t many ponies in the world that just saved 25 other ponies but finishes the day with not one single smile on his face.” Applejack intervenes.

“Well, maybe he was just being himself.” Says Fluttershy.

“Well if himself is straight up grumpy and always bored with no enthusiasm then that is just stupid!” Rainbow Dash bursts.

“Girls, girls!” Twilight intervenes. Everybody went silent. “You don’t know his life. Maybe he is having troubles with something or somepony but we can’t change how he is at the moment. We don’t know him.” The rest agrees. “Now let’s get something to eat, I am famished.”

“There must be a reason to why he is like that.”

Rainbow Dash thought to herself.

“And I am planning to find out.”