Discoveries

Duskrider slumped onto the bed that occupied most of the small room that had been provided to him and the Changelings. They'd have to share, but the bed was definitely big enough.

"So, what do you guys like to do?" He asked, looking in the mirror mounted on the wall. A pegasus with a purple coat peered back at him. He put a hoof through his black mane, tracing the grey stripe that ran front to back.

"Uh..." Tom said. "We haven't really done anything." Dusk looked at him. "Well, since training of course."

"Training?"

"Yeah." Dave jumped in. "We got basic sword training and flying lessons. We're trained as frontline soldiers, so we're as good as you, if not better."
Duskrider smirked.

"Fat chance! I spar with my father every chance I get!" Dusk's smile faded. "At least, I did. Before all this." Unbidden emotions and images rushed back, and Dusk slid backwards, starting to retreat into the funk he'd been in since Nightmare Moon's return. Tom looked worriedly at Dave. Dave merely drew his sword and placed at on the ground in front of Dusk. He nodded at Tom.

"C'mon then." Tom said, realizing Dave's plan. "Let's have a go." Dusk blinked.

"What?"

"You heard me. One on one. Pony-a-Changeling. You say you're better," Tom stepped closer and tapped Dusk on the nose, "so prove it."

"Or are you scared that you'll be beaten by a Changeling?" Dave taunted. "Are you just a big chicken? Bwak-buk-buk!" Dave imitated a chicken. Dusk stood, angry.

"You wanna go? Fine. Let's go."

Beside the 'hotel' was an old sports facility, not used since Celestia and Luna first came to power. Inside were
various tracks and arenas. Dusk recognized a few, but not all, but he was too angry to care. The nerve of the two Changelings! Calling him a chicken for not wanting to fight! Couldn't they see that he wasn't in the mood? Whatever their reasoning, Dusk's blood was up.

"We'll fight here." Dusk said, walking towards an old boxing ring. He climbed through the musty ropes and into the ring. The cloth covering the ring was mouldy, but Dusk didn't care. A ring was a ring. He stepped to the opposite corner and drew the sword. It wasn't like his sword at all. The balance of the blade felt... off to him. The hilt was small, and felt as if it was about to fall right out of his teeth. He shook it off, determined to beat his 'partners' at their own game. Tom entered the ring, looking worried.

'Ha!' Dusk cheered internally. 'So now you recognize the threat!'

Tom looked over at Dave, then dropped his sheath.

"What are you doing?" Dusk asked around the sword.

"I'm not using real swords." Tom said, then motioned at Dave, who threw two wooden practice swords into the ring. Though not sharp, the blades would sting if they hit you. Dusk didn't plan on getting hit.

"Fine." The two squared off. Duskrider's eyes narrowed, then he lunged. The swords clacked together, and Tom pushed Dusk back, then threw a swing towards his side. Dusk blocked, and was forced to move back as Tom's strikes became regular. By the time Dusk's rump hit the ropes, Tom's sword was a blur. Tom stopped for a second, then swung at Dusk's head. He dodged, and realized too late that it was a feint. The sword changed direction, brushed past Dusk's sword, and smacked against his side. Duskrider dropped his sword in pain. Tom turned back towards his corner.

"Again." He said.

"What?" Dusk panted.

"Again." Tom repeated, then lunged at him. Dusk barely had time to pick up his sword and roll away. This time, before Tom could get any momentum, Dusk battered
his sword aside and hit Tom's neck with the flat of the blade. Dusk winced internally. He'd slowed the blade, but not enough to avoid some serious pain. If Tom felt any of that pain, he didn't show it.

"Again."

The pattern repeated. Sometimes Dusk would get a strike in, but most of the time he was on the defensive, and soon was covered in sores. Finally, both of them were panting.

"Thats... enough for... today." Tom gasped. As Dusk had realized, Changelings have a sort of natural armour, and Tom had taken harder hits than expected and remained standing. Tom realized that Dusk had been trained, but it wasn't much. But the potential was there, and even Tom could see that with more training, Dusk could be a force to be reckoned with.
Limping back to the hotel, Dusk apologized for his outburst.

"That was our fault." Dave said. "I saw you were slipping into a funk, so I put my sword down, and Tom challenged you."

"You've got potential." Tom said. "You probably know more than we do about sword fighting, but when you got mad you lost all of that. In fact, the more tired you were, the better you got. When you forgot how angry you were, your form returned."

Dusk nodded. "We'll do this tomorrow, then? We have all week."

"Sure, only next time it's my turn." Dave grinned.

The week passed quickly, and soon the three were called to the makeshift throne room once more.

"You wanted to see us, Princess?" Dusk asked, bowing. Tom and Dave also bowed. He'd been surprised at how Celestia seemed to have been improved. She no longer needed to be swarmed by nurses, and was sitting up eating some soup. Chrysalis sat on a stool next to her.

"Yes." Celestia brought the bowl to her mouth and sipped. Her magic still hadn't returned, so she had to do everything by hoof. "Your gear has been gathered. Three sets of armour, two swords, 3 saddlebags of food, and," she raised an eyebrow, "one small cloth bag of Yakistani sweets."

"We have also packed you three pairs of snow goggles. They will allow you to see through driving snow, and will reflect any light to give you better sight in the darkness." Chrysalis smiled. "Would you care to join us for dinner? Then you can get on your way after some sleep."

"We'd be honoured." Dusk replied, bowing once more.

"Excellent." Chrysalis clicked twice loudly, and a multitude of Changelings swarmed around the five, changing the room from a bedroom to a dining room. Steaming plates of food were placed on the makeshift table. Celestia stuck to her soup, but nibbled on some cake that had been brought it. Duskrider stuck to the soup too. After years of bland, nutritious rations, everything was far too rich for him. Chrysalis, Tom and Dave didn't eat much either, but the feast wasn't just for the five. The doctors, nurses, and the guards all grabbed some food and joined the conversation periodically. A pair of fillies bounced in and hugged Tom and Dave, then Chrysalis, to give them some nourishment. After that, the Changelings swarmed back in and cleaned up. Dusk, Dave and Tom excused themselves. Back in their room, Tom quickly fell asleep, but Dave and Dusk were both sitting up.

"Hey." Dave whispered. "You worried about tomorrow?"

"Not a chance." Dusk's eyes twinkled in the darkness. "You?"

"Kinda, yeah. This'll be the first time we'll have been outside of Canterlot. I guess I'm just worried something will happen here if we're not."

"Don't worry." Dusk grinned. "You've got me!" But Dusk's cocky exterior hid a troubled mind. It was Duskrider's first time out of Harmony, and he hadn't been asked to leave. Now he'd been tasked with stopping Nightmare Moon and bringing back Princess Luna, not to mention making sure his partners, his friends make it out alive. Dusk's mind was racing with different plans. Something was nagging at him. Why had Celestia emphasized the Yakistani candies? He'd requested them because they'd keep moisture in their mouths and provide energy and salt. Then an idea popped.

"I got it!" Duskrider shouted. Tom jerked awake.

"Got what?" Dave asked, a little confused.

"I got the plan that we'll use to get Luna back!" With excitement rising, Dusk told the two of his plan.

Dusk sighed through his scarf and peered through his goggles at the snow. The goggles had been created for the sole purpose of seeing through the snow, but the blizzard was getting worse. He could barely see anything, and the fear of being separated from his companions had driven him to tie them all together. He felt a tug on the rope looped through his saddlebags and stopped. The wind shrieked past. Duskrider cursed the weather ponies who promised that the blizzard wouldn't be too bad. The only good news was that this storm couldn't get any worse.

"There's something up ahead!" Dave shouted over the wind. Tom said nothing, but just shivered where he stood. Dusk felt bad for the pair. Changelings are more susceptible to the cold.

"What does it look like?" Duskrider fiddled with his scarf.

"I don't know! It's boxy at points, but smooth at others!"

"Okay! Keep your head on a swivel, that might be the Wall!" Dusk shouted back. Visibility in the day would be bad, but at night... coupled with the cold and their exhaustion, they needed shelter soon.

After another half-hour of walking, Dave slammed into the side of something with a clang.

"Found it!"
The trio swept around before finding a gaping hole in the side of the thing and climbing in.

"Oh no." Dusk muttered.

"What is it? What is this?" Tom ground out through chattering teeth.

"This is a train car." Dusk knelt down next to the upturned seats. Must've derailed in the storm. Why would they be out here, though?"

"Bootleggers. Smugglers." Dave said. "Look at the boxes."

"Sweet Apple Acres Cider?" Dusk read the the label aloud. "Why'd they be running cider of all things?"

"I don't know." Dave looked at the sideways door that led to the next car. "C'mon. Maybe the next car doesn't have a hole in it."
As they picked their way through the mess of glass, seats and boxes, Tom's hoof broke through a crate.

"What the..."

"What is it?"

"These aren't crates of cider at all." Tom withdrew a large metal tube out of the box, then a triangularly shaped piece of wood with a lever, piece of flint, and a metal disc attached to it. "Wait a sec. There's a note here."

"Whats it say?"

"Uh... it says 'Urgent. NM building army equipped with musket/cannon. Advise next actions." Tom squinted at the note. "There's a drawing here. I guess this thing is a 'musket'."

"What does it do?" Dave asked, looking at the disassembled musket warily. Dusk broke into another crate and withdrew another note, but this one was attached to the musket, along with a bag filled with black powder and metal balls.

"According to this, you have to attach that wood thing to the musket, called here the 'stock'. Then you load it by pouring this stuff in," Dusk shook the powder bag, "and tap it down with the 'rod'." The rod was clipped onto the barrel, and was made of brass. "Then, you pull down on the lever, called the 'trigger', and it causes the flint to strike the 'pan' and send sparks onto the powder, causing an explosion to send one of these balls down the tube..." Dusk stopped. "Dear Celestia, these are weapons! And if Nightmare Moon is prepping an army with these..."

"We'd better get back and warn Celestia and Chrysalis!" Tom exclaimed.

"Or hurry up our mission." Dave said. "We'll have until the storm breaks to figure it out. No army will be able to march properly in this weather."

Dusk nodded his agreement. "Yeah. Let's keep going through the cars. Maybe one isn't so banged up." The trio went through the next two cars, both of which were mangled. One was completely obliterated. Fragments of wood and glass were spewed all over, and looked like something had smashed through it. Dusk felt a sick sense churning through his gut. Looking at the damage, it was clear this train hadn't derailed. Something had destroyed it!
Finally, they made it to the coal car. The coal had spilled out onto the snow, but the hatch to the engine remained unblocked. Dusk looked at the Changelings, then opened the hatch. Immediately, Dusk retched.

"What is i... Oh Celestia." Dave sucked in a breath.
Inside of the crew compartment were five small cots. One was occupied. The stallion or mare in it, Dusk and Dave couldn't tell, was quite dead. Their head had been smushed by a large metal ball, which was frozen to the floor. Of the occupants of the other cots, there was no sign.

"That settles it, then. This was no derailment." Dusk said shakily, wiping strings of drool off his mouth.

"Who could have done this?" Dave whispered.

"Them." Dusk nodded towards the East, in the general direction of Nightmare Moon's territory. "To stop Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis from getting this stuff."

"But... what are we going to do?" Tom asked from below. "Shouldn't getting these things back be priority?"
Dusk was torn. On one hoof, getting the information and material back was priority. The earlier they got back with the information and tech, the quicker Celestia could raise a similarly equipped army to combat Nightmare Moon. However, if they continued on their (now admittedly more dangerous) mission, they could stop any conflict that might occur. Dusk recognized that he'd have to choose one or the other. One Changeling wouldn't last long enough to make it back to civilization even if the storm broke, and even if he sent both, it wasn't a guarantee that he'd make it, let alone accomplish what he needed to do.

"Let's get some rest, in the car that was pretty much intact. We'll make a fire. The smoke won't be noticed in the storm."

The three made it back to the car and patched the few holes that were in it. While Tom made a fire, Dave and Dusk inspected the black powder for the muskets.

"How much did those ponies take?" Dave muttered. They'd found a huge stockpile of the stuff in the car, and Dusk saw even more bags in the other cars.

"As much as they could, I guess." Dusk said. "The more they got, the more we could reverse-engineer it."

"Gah!" Tom shouted from across the room as the small pile of kindling smouldered for a second, then went out. "I give up!" He abandoned the two sticks he was using and grabbed a musket 'stock'. He rapidly depressed the lever, sending sparks showering all over.

"Tom! Wait! Don't!" Dusk shouted, but it was too late.

The sparks bounced off of the wooden floor and landed amongst their saddlebags, igniting them. Dusk grabbed their swords and a couple cans of food, including the bag of candies, before everything was burning. It wasn't long before the flames began licking at the top of the upturned car.

"Well, nuts." Tom said.

"You moron!" Dave yelled. "You just burned up all our stuff, and soon our car! What in Equestria were you thinking!?"

Before Tom could say anything, Duskrider slammed into both and launched them out of the car, along with the food and the swords. Then he raced back inside and grabbed a stock and tube of a musket.

"Get out of here!" Dusk yelled as he galloped away from the train.

"Why?" Dave said, even as he and Tom were beside Dusk, matching his pace. They had the food and weapons.

"That powder! Once the fire gets to it-"

A loud BOOM drowned out his next words, and rumbled through the snowy drifts. The ground heaved, as if some giant had yanked it up and down to clear dirt off of it. The trio slammed the ground and bounced. Unable to hear anything past the ringing in their ears, they turned and saw the massive plume of dirty black smoke rising from where the wreckage was, silhouetted by the moon. As wood and metal rained down around them, Dusk realized that the storm had stopped. Then he noticed beams of light shining towards the train from the Wall. Seconds later, massive strobes of orange light began to flash along the wall. Then Dusk noticed the carcass of the train twitching, and more wood flew into the sky. Massive balls tore through it and slammed into snowdrifts.

"Oh, buck!" Dusk screamed. "Cannons!"

That's when a big chunk of something slammed into the side of Duskrider's head, and everything went black.

Author's Note

Well, crap. This is taking longer than I thought it would. Thank God spring break came when it did, or else this wouldn't have been finished.

Next chapter coming whenever it's finished!