Prologue

“Ow my head.” A small ethereal stallion whimpered as he stood up and rubbed his forehead. Keeping his eyes closed to the midday sun that illuminated the interior of a passenger cart, he shook his head, his mane becoming dishevelled from the motion. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around, squinting in an effort to avoid the sting of the light.

“Well fuck not this again,” he grumbled. His eyes ran to each pony that sat on the train with him, none of them seemed to be paying attention to him despite his rump being firmly planted on the walkway floor. His rump! That's a thing. “Guess I have to check up on the basics.” He lifted up his hooves and looked down them, tilting his head to check out his body. “Okay I have a red coat a messy green main and THAT cutiemark... oh... I'm still 'Crescent Moon'.” He said, talking to himself habitually. Still Crescent... shit. He glanced out the window of the train, watching the scenery fly by. Looks like he was on a train going to... he had no idea where.

Standing up, the stallion began to rifle through pony's bags for any indication of today’s date.

“Nope.” Crescent grumbled. No newspaper, darn why couldn't it be easy. Where to go now? “Eani-meanie-miny-mo, catch a Manticore by the toe, if it roars let it go, now which way shall I go?” His hoof pointed. Okay through that door we go we go. He casually trotted to the end of the cart where he opened the door and stepped out. Immediately looked down he noticed the ground quickly passed underneath his hooves.

“AAAHH!aaaaah...” Crescent Moon screamed as he looked down. His brain eventually caught up and he stopped his scream, somewhat thankful nopony could have heard him. “Oh I forgot, I'm ethereal.” He reminded himself, facehoofing in an effort to somehow make himself remember that fact this time. It wasn't something that was good to forget. Then something occurred to him, “-how did I open the door then?” He floats over to the following door and tried it. He phased through it.

This cart had very few passengers compared to the last one. Only three. Maybe going this way wouldn't turn out as useful as he thought. The red stallion poked his head into the various bags littered around the cart and found a wonderful collection of... nothing. Crap. He glanced up at the pony whose liuggage he'd just rifled through and grumbled silently to himself. This pony even looked like a business stallion. He'd been sure he'd have a watch or something.

“Buck!” He swore aloud. I don't have anything. He slipped into the next cart, this one looking better maintained than the last two.

“Mama?” A small olive colored filly with emerald hair aid as she pulled on the sleeve of her mother's coat.

Aww, so cute. It looked like her mother had been fussing with the little cow lick in the filly's hair for hours but it’d totally failed. It still stuck right up like a flag on the little ones head. Heh-heh, oh, and now she tries again to tame said beast, but of course, to no avail. He-he... crap, the mother said something and I'd totally missed it. Distracting adorable filly was both distracting and adorable. Need to focus. He moved into the next cart.

“Hey!” Crescent Moon heard the yell and looked over as he passed. “Hey Streak!” A stallion nudged his friend in one of the booths.

“What?” A white Pegasus responded with a grumpy expression. He didn't look happy at being disturbed.

“Don't you think the train is going a bit fast?” His friend commented, his face pressed up against the window, watching the scenery outside fly by in a blur.

Crescent stopped and turned to a window. The colt was right... they WERE going too fast. “Not good.”

“If there was a problem the train conductor or one of the engineers would fix it. Now let me sleep we have a long trip.” The pony refereed to as Streak, grumbled as he tried to get comfortable in the booth, tucking his face into himself in an effort to sleep.

“Alright, Jet, just worrying.” His companion whispered with a pout.

“You worry too much.” Said the one named Streak... or Jet... whatever it was. “I'm a Wonderbolt, no one would try anything stupid as long as I'm here. Especially since Celestia herself made it public that the I was on this trip.” He mumbled. His companion took the statement on the nose and stopped talking. Within seconds the Wonderbolt had fallen back asleep.

Well, now I have an idea on how to figure out the date when whatever is happening will be taking place. “Thank you Celestia.” Crescent said to himself as he passed from that cart into the next. He paused the moment he stepped inside.

“Wait what the hell is this?” He was shocked to see the whole cart in disarray.

Benches upon benches stacked up against the door he'd passed through. It was a barricade. They'd barricaded the Wonderbolt in, blocking them off from the rest of the front. But why? It seemed pointless. He could just fly out the window if something were to happen, surely. Whatever the reason for this, Crescent had a gut feeling that he wasn't going to like it.

He started to run. He passed through the next two carts without letting anything distract him. He burst through into the third and tried his best to keep going. But the contents sorta floored him mentally. Zebras. A lot of them. They filled this cart, every seat taken, and many of them were armed. Hey was that...? No... No that can’t be, was that the Zebra's Caesar!

“Damn.” He muttered. He had no clue how this all fit together, but there were now two key people in one location and that bad feeling in his gut was turning into roiling snakes. He needed to get to the front immediately.

Crescent Moon ran past the next few carts as quick as he could.

Shit, shit, shit! He just passed through another barricaded cart! Wait... that meant... Oh! It's not to block the Wonderbolt! It’s to trap the Ceaser... wait... why did they want to trap the Caesar? Wasn't that a bad idea?

He looking out the window. The left was blocked by a cliff-side that flew by, but it seemed expansive enough that'd it'd take up a good portion of the journey. The other side however was a very long fall down a very tall mountain. He wasn't sure the Caesar would survive such a fall if he was thrown out the window. This entire situation felt like a powder-keg. And it felt like that powder-keg was linked to another even bigger bomb. This didn't just feel like a disaster waiting to happen... it felt like he was walking through the precipice of something with consequences too big to imagine.

“Should I go watch him?” He asked himself. “Is he the event?” Talking to himself helped him think, helped him figure things out. Also it was habit by now, so stopping wasn't a viable decision. “No if it were, I would look like him.” He concluded. “Who I need to find is 'me'.”

If the Caesar had a talisman of bat-wings, he could escape. But would he carry such a thing? No, he probably wouldn't have one randomly. Who would want to do this; Changeling's? No, he'd checked. They weren't going to attack anyone anytime soon, especially not key people in Equestria or the Zebra lands. Zebra? Would Zebra kick off their own Caesar? No, he didn't think that was likely. The Tavach clan however... they were the only ones stupid enough to actively go after the Caesar. Also the Yuatem were definitely strong enough to do this too, but they had too much respect to the Caesar and wouldn't likely ever raise a weapon to him.

As he entered the last cart before the coal cart he froze. His musing stalling in his brain as his brain processed the sight in front of him. Bodies everywhere, the train engineers and pullers all lay unconscious on the floor, deep cuts and multiple small bruises covered their bodies. From what he could see though... none of them were dead. Some would think that a good thing, for Crescent it only cemented certain fears.

“No,” he whispered to himself, trying to keep himself calm. He didn't know anything yet. This was all coincidental. His eyes moved to the cuts and bruises again... telltale signs... no. NO. He was starting to shake. His hooves felt like jelly below him, and hey, ethereal or not he was pretty sure he was hyperventilating. He began backing his way back out of the cart slowly. The train horn blared. His mind snapped back into focus.

“Okay Crescent, take a deep breath.” He told himself. He closed his eyes and did just that. Breathing in deep, feeling his non-existant lungs fill with non-existant air. He began walking. Just one hoof in front of the other. That's all, nice and easy. Don't look at the bodies. Nope, don't look... was that mare a teenager? NOPE! NOT THINKING ABOUT IT! Still shaking, he slowly advanced to the other side of the cart. He was almost at the end of the cart now, which was when he decideed to force himself to look. He had to make some educated guesses. He glanced to them, feeling a lump form in his throat as he did. “This is recent.” He concluded in a strained voice. He took another deep breath. Don't worry ponies I'm going to find who did this, and break them. “THIS IS NOT RIGHT!!!” He yelled out. His voice was full of barely suppressed fear. But the edge to his voice showed that it was quickly turning to anger. “WHERE ARE YOU?!” He yelled, running from the cart. The sound of the train suddenly became deafening. He looked up at the large truck full of coal. The rock was piled up on itself, jerking a little with the heavy vibrations of the train beneath. He charged up it, scrambling over the rocks. It was good that being ethereal meant he wouldn't dislodge the coal, but could still use it to climb. Because this would be awkward if he- “OUCH!” He'd tripped, somehow, and landeed face first.

Crescent Moon grumbled at his luck. He opened his eyes and pulled his face from the coal only to pause. Something was off about the coal, he'd seen it for a split second... Slowly he leaned over and pushed his face into them. His ghostly form slipping through their corporial-ness.

“Are these crystals?” He asked himself in confusion. He sunk in a little more, phasing through more of them to get a better look. Yup, definitely crystals... but why?
The crystal parts weren't the only thing strange about them though. Looking at one that glinted just right, he noticed the carvings over them. Etchings. Markings. Symbols.

“I know that pattern.” He mumbled, thinking about it. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't place where he'd seen it. “Another thing for me to look up later.”

He pulled his face from the coal and looked around himself. The mountainside still rushed past, the valley below still gave a panoramic view of gorgeous hills, lakes, and Equestria's lovely green fields. The beautiful sunny sky and the white puffy clouds, all promised a day of perfect weather and contentment. It was all a farce. Something terrible was about to happen. Crescent could feel it. I need to find the person who is doing this. The longer I'm here the more my body outside might be suffering.

Getting up he carefully ran over the coals, this time managing to not fall flat on his face. He ran up to the front of the cart, finding another truck of coal. A quick check told him it was like the other one, crystals and etchings. He was getting angry. Something was terribly wrong here and some asshole was responsible. His anger flared when he heard laughing. Charging over the coal he passed through finally into the main engine area. He stopped.

The train conductor lay on the floor. Blood pooling around his body with a dragon bone spear buried in his chest. Runes etched into its handle and blade, they almost seemed to sparkle in the light.

“Luna no.” His voice was quiet as he stared in shock. Beside the dead conductor was a dead engineer, his throat slit open, blood still flowing from the recent wound. It was horrific, but it wasn't what had captivated Crescents sight. He could handle bodies... well, not really. He was feeling queasy. But something much more terrifying had his brain so stalled and his stomach so riled, he felt like his real body might have threw up over itself in reaction.

In-front of the engine stood a stallion with an all too familiar red coat. He viewed himself laughing and crying.

“NO, no, no, no, no, this is wrong, this can’t be.” Crescent slowly backed away from the image of himself. The red coat of the 'him' before him looked unwashed. The mane was greasy and in need of a light trim. It was dishevvelled. And his eyes... they were manic. Filled with the madness of despair. Why why would I do this, no, no, no, this isn't possible.

He watched himself pull a crystal from the cloak he wore. The runes engraved on the crystal almost shimmered in the light. He knew what it was. Just a dash of fire and it'd explode. Like TNT.

“SHIT!” He said, watching the non-ethereal Crescent Moon gently hold up the crystal.

“Heh, heh, none of you will know.” He said, his face twisted into a despairing smile as tears ran down the stallions cheek. He sniffed, wiping his nose on his other hoof as he stared at the crystal in his hoof. “None of you. Not the Wonderbolts, not Celestia, Luna or the Caesar. None of you will understand why.” He sniffed again, the tears falling quicker now. The stallion was shaking. “I'm sorry to all of you. I'm sorry to all of the ponies that will be hurt today. I'm sorry sister.” The last one was said in almost a whisper. “You will never understand.” Crying he tossed the crystal into the fire of the engine. Casually almost. Despite the tears, despite the shaking, despite the apology's... he did it. Without hesitation, and without a second thought. Like he was resigned to do this one thing that seemed to be destroying his very spirit. “I'm sorry,” he said quietly, his eyes closing, “but I can't keep my promise.”

An invisible force pulled the ghostly stallion away from the scene as all time seemed to stop. He didn't resist, he didn't fight it, he only looked horrified at was about to happen. He watched himself pleading for this to stop for the wind to pick up and the Crystal to miss. The invisible force pulled him away till he could see the whole train going across the tracks on the side of the cliff. All he could do was watch in fear. Time crawled by. Maybe the crystal was a dud. Maybe the markings hadn't been etched right. It was complex. A hundred things could go wrong. A flaw in the crystal, a marking wrong here, a mistranslation there. It could be a different one, he could have read the runes wrong and misunderstood what was about to happen. There was always the chance he was wrong... he wasn't. Crescents heart stopped as the Crystal exploded.

The pony that tossed it was instantly vaporized.

“NO!” He screamed as he watched the front of the train explode. He watched as metal shot in all directions, derailing the train. The coal and crystals, thrown by the force, flew back towards the rest of the train. In some sick and twisted chain reaction the first Crystal started setting of the crystals that were hidden in the coal. The entire first two carts were gone in a half second. He could see everything. Not just from his vantage point above them, but also in his mind. He saw all the ponies that were injured in the explosion. The ways they all died before being tossed in all directions. Some missing limbs, others torn apart, their forms wiped away entirely. The rest of the train soon followed, one after another.

How many crystals were there? Had they been planted? Set to cause the most damage?

He watched as the carts were blown to pieces, wheels torn off, metal rendered asunder, passenger carts catching fire... so many ponies screaming. Not everyone died instantly. Some ponies tried to jump and Pegasus tried to fly away, but they were either falling down the mountain to their deaths, or their wings were burnt off in the fire, or torn apart by bombarding shrapnel. The caboose of the train finally erupted, setting whatever was left aflame. The train finally derailed entirely, starting to fall off the cliff's edge. Time still moved slowly so Crescent could see every detail, and a lot of it played in his mind as much as his eyes, so he couldn't stop himself from seeing it, even if he wanted to. He saw as the olive collared filly screamed, her scream becoming a gurgling bloody mess as she was pinned to her seat by a pole piercing her gut. She yelled for her mother, the girls eyes wide in abject terror as she watched her mother fall away from her, her body being cooked alive by the violent fire of the explosion. The train became a giant fiery serpent, devouring anyone that was in its way or slowly killing every pony near or in it. It fell far down the mountain, the screams seeming to last forever... Crescent was almost relieved at the final... BOOM.

*

The void. A vast nothingness surrounded the sobbing Crescent Moon as he curled up into a ball. “Why?” The single word was all he could blubber out repeatedly. He felt broken. He laid there, feeling his own self shame and guilt over an action had yet to even do, over an action that for now, was little more than a dream... until he remembered something.

Slowly, Crescent stood up and a small patch of gravel appeared under his hooves. Tears still ran like hot knives down his cheeks. He took a step forward yelling at the top of his lungs. “FUCK YOU! I WILL NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN!” It was a vow to the universe. He began galloping and a path appeared in front of him. “SCREW YOU I WON'T KILL ANY PONY!” He vowed to himself. He cried as he ran down the path until it split into two, a wooden path and a steel path. Without hesitation he ran down the steel path. “YOU DON’T GET TO DO THIS!” He yelled at his future self. He could barely see through the tears as he ran. Soon a stone door with black edged metal and handles appeared. “I WILL FIND A WAY!” He told those that died, slamming into the door, forcing it open. “I WILL SAVE EVERY PONY, NOPONY WILL DIE!” His screams burned his throat as the tears dried on his cheek. Crescent ran with a heart of steel, and a vow to the heavens. He ran into the light.

Author's Note

Thanks Kkat for making the fallout equestria universe and Almanac Pony for help editing the prologue.