chapter 8: Staring down the machine

Princess Celestia was in her throne room feeling especially happy today. Today was the anniversary of a very special day near and dear to her heart. She asked her guards to leave the room for the day and deemed that no one would bother her. Plus she didn't want anyone to see her giggling and dancing around the room doing twirls and flying around the columns. On this day exactly 5,660 years ago when she and her sister ruled Equestria after imprisoning Discord, was the day that changed her whole life and made her into the caring, majestic, princess she is today. She would always start the day by suspending all her royal duty's, then she would enjoy a nice hot bath singing a special song to her hearts content. After that she would enjoy a lovely feast with her sister and other guests, she would then thank them for their visit and politely ask them to not disturb her in her throne room.

So far the day had gone nice and smooth and the moon light luna made illuminating the room made her feel like the way she did on that day with that special pony in her life. Before she could sing a special song however, Princess Luna burst through the doors. When she turned around to face her little sister, Luna spoke "something terrible is about to happen to Ponyville!" she said with a look of concern. "why? What happened?" she said now interested at this "We've just received a report from the train factory up the mountain , the Experimental Alpha series train prototype has broken away from the factory and is on a non-stop course directly for Ponyville's train station!" Celestia was in shock at this. She had seen the train during its early stages and something of that size could possibly destroy a small town like Ponyville. "order the guards to prepare a chariot for my arrival. Only powerful magic can stop that beast train from destroying the town." They left the throne room in a hurry and the guards had already prepared a chariot. "Fly fast to Ponyville!" she ordered the pegasai guards and they flew off in a dash.

Even though she doesn't get to enjoy her day, her royal duty as princess of Equestria was to protect all under her rule. She

had too for the sake of her ponies and to honor the memory of him. He would have done it.

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The bright flash, the loud noises's, and the mob of ponies waiting for his arrival, it was the kind of scene he was all too familiar with. Unfortunately for them, they had the bad luck for ambushing a psycho and the worst psycho of them all, the king of psychos. He only needed a split second to come up with five different attack planes. He could take Applejack hostage and demand for a way out of this mess, he could throw Applejack and Applebloom at them for a good distraction to attack, he could easily bash and gore his way through the ponies and out the wall, he could run outside lock them in and burn the whole place down, or he could make this simple and easy by using That unnatural ability. All and all he was completely prepared for whatever they would throw at him. that is, until he feels that strange feeling again, that same warm feeling that he got when he met her. It threw him completely off and he had lost his intention of killing them.

Before he could say anything, a Pink pony appeared out of nowhere and put a party hat right on top of his head. " HIYA I'm Pinkie Pie, wow you really are big , I heard you where tall but I didn't think you'd be This tall, sorry about the party hat not being big enough for your head but they didn't have extra extra large."  She snickered "And the cake too, so what's your name?" she said finally finishing her long sentence that Tavo got lost in "uh, Tavo" he said still a  tad bit confused by the hyperactive pony. "Tavo, i've never heard that of name before did you get from your parents, does it have something to do with your cutie mark, how'ed you get so tall anyway, why is their tomato juice on your cutie mark, i feel silly now because these questions are incoherent and i don't know what that means!" she giggled.

"Have we met before?" asked Pinkie Pie "uh i... don't think so."   said Tavo who was impressed. Hes never seen anyone who could say that many words in one breath.  "You really like to smile Tavo, and that's okay because a smile's always fun to share with friends." She added " I'm not smiling that's, just my scar." he pointed to his mouth and then his stitches to point out the difference between them "Oh silly me I guess I didn't see it there." she said giggling all the while. Before he got anymore confused by the girl, he noticed that none of the ponies had attacked. He stared at his surroundings, unsure of what to make of it. Confetti's, balloons, party hats, a cake, a banner that said welcome, he was puzzled by whatever was happening here. He turned to the pony who was already conversing with Twilight about something that he didn't understand he asked "uh Pinkie Pie, what is this" he pointed at all the things mentioned "why, it's a surprise welcome party I threw for you with some help from my friends" she said with a smile as wide as his scar. His face went blank.

His great grandfather had once wrote how a party was a celebration of something or someone. A welcome party for example was the celebration of someone being welcomed into a place or group and being accepted and celebrated as such. And if it is a surprise party,that just means that they care and want you with them.

He's never had a party before in his whole life, especially a surprise party. He was generally never welcomed anywhere. Hell, the nicest thing anyone has ever done to him was throw a rock instead of a brick at him. But this was the best thing anyone has ever done to him. It made his heart beat even faster and a joyful feeling was overcoming him. He wish he could have enjoyed it forever, but sadly he remembered what happens if he does.

The six ponies got nervous at what was happening. They stared at Tavo who was biting hard on his lips  and fought back tears. His eyes had dilated and looked more like dots, he was sweating hard, he was trembling and they were starting to get worried. Soon all the ponies were staring at the odd display. Applejack trotted over to him "you alright sugar-" before she could finish her sentence, Tavo suddenly vanished in thin air leaving behind a cloud of dust. "how did he do that? He's not a unicorn." Asked Twilight who was among the crowed of ponies trying to comprehend what had just happened. Then Applejack noticed Skid marks on the ground and a twisted dirt trail "He didn't disappear. That giant ran like a lighting bolt" she said pointing out the marks and trail. The others were confused on how such tall guy can run so fast.

Tavo was looking for something to get the smile already conforming off his face. He used one of his unnatural abilities to run as fast as he could out of there. (Which in retrospect was at a speed way above the speed of sound.) He needed the speed in case "He" got out. He noticed a large mountain side that looked strong and thought he can use that. He slowed down his speed just enough to slam head-first directly into the side of the mountain. It wasn't enough to get it out. Before he ran again however, a giant boulder fell on his head, knocking him on the ground. As he lifted the boulder off, he noticed he didn't have that feeling anymore and sighed peacefully. He looked out at ponyville, which was a few yards away from him. He then got back up and took off into the direction of Sugar Cube Corner without cleaning himself up.

As the ponies where about ready to go find him, a gust of wind hit them and there standing at the door way was Tavo. However they're expression turned from happy to shocked. Tavo noticed how their faces changed when he got back and how a few of them fainted on the spot. "what?" he asked wondering what the problem was when Twilight and Rarity brought out a mirror to show him. In his reflection he saw his face was dripping with blood where the boulder hit. "Didn't even noticed that" he said amused at his appearance. "Doesn't it hurt?" Twilight asked nervously "nah these kinds of things are normal for me." He said like nothing was wrong. Rarity handed him a towel "well you should at least clean yourself up. your leaving icky blood droplets all over the floor." She added being grossed out by the amount of blood. Tavo didn't understand but he did as told not wanting to start an argument. When he finished wiping his face Pinkie Pie Shouted "Alright now that the guest of honor is back and clear faced, lets get this party started!"

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Princess Celestia and Luna were soaring in the sky hoping to reach their destination. They were half way to ponyville hoping to warn them about the impending danger when they saw it. The alpha series prototype rode through the mountain side at top speed, crushing anything in its way. This was Celestia's chance to stop that thing before it reached Ponyville. She ordered her guards to stop miles enough ahead of the train. When they reached a far enough place, she jumped up and began building up energy in her horn. She aimed to destroy that train before it reached them. Luna got out of the chariot and stood near the guards at the side. She watched the train speeding up its pace and was worried for her older sister. "Are you sure you can do this on your own Celestia?" She asked seeing the train approaching. "I can't risk getting any of you hurt so I must." She said still charging up her magic. She focused her magic at the approaching giant and was ready for it when it appeared. A smile as wide and grotesque as anything she's ever seen. It spoke to her in a deep demonic voice " They will burn, you and your sister shall be mine." This shook Celestia to her core and caused the magic buildup to weaken. When it disappeared, the train was now only 20 feet away. She had to act fast, so she shot out the premature beam of magic to stop that thing. When it hit, it caused a flash of light that should have gone through, hitting the engine stopping it in its tracks.

However it kept going and was only inches away from hitting Celestia, Luckily though she flew quickly up into the air before it hit her. However it did run over the chariot completely destroying it. they were dismayed at their failure, especially Celestia who couldn't stop that thing. "how could this be? even that amount of magic should be able to destroy any form of giant." She said to herself feeling ashamed. But she still at least had to warn them about the impending danger, "We have to fly as quickly as possible to warn them of this crisis." She ordered and they flew off towards the direction of the tracks as fast as they could. But the train was faster and was already a few meters from the town.

She was growing more and more concern and worried she'd never make it. but she had to at least evacuate them, to keep them safe and to keep the promise she made.

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Even though the guest of honor vanished for a few seconds then appeared again all bloodied and unaware of it, the party went great. Tavo learned the names of the ponies he saw during his walk, they played a game he didn't quite understand with the fact that they were pinning the tail on an image of themselves, drank a cup of some kind of red stuff Pinkie Pie gave him and didn't understand why they were amazed, and a lot of ponies asked him why he smiled a lot, but he answered that he wasn't smiling, that's just a scar. As they danced to the music playing (except Octavio who didn't know how to dance) Fluttershy left, unsure why but she felt like she had to. She probably still didn't want to meet him for fear of the horrid images.

Outside it was already dark but the streets were lit by street lights. As she began walking home, she heard a distant Raptor-like calling. She searched for where the squawking came from and it sounded like it was coming from the train station. Even though she knew not to go there at night, she had to see what was making the noise. In the far distance she heard a rumbling metallic sound and felt the ground shake. Now the call was getting louder.

It was getting late and some party guests where already leaving. The remaining guests were the five ponies and Tavo who was already about to leave. "thank you for the Party Pinkie Pie" he said to the still hyperactive pony enjoying a piece of cake " aw it was nothing." She said joyfully "no i mean it, where I come from, nice things like this never exist so thank you for the party." He said leaving the Sugar Cube Corner happy on the inside(luckily not on the outside)hoping to have a good night sleep at the gazebo. As the party was winding down, they all began to leave the bakery but Rarity noticed that Fluttershy wasn't with them, "has anyone seen Fluttershy" they all shrugged. Than Pinkie Pie came outside with them "She left when everyone was dancing" .they asked how she knew and she answered that she saw her leave. Before they could say anything else the ground started shaking and they could hear in the distance what sounded like a train but slightly harder. Rainbow Dash Flew up to see what it was. When she did see it her jaw dropped at the sight of a giant train that had a hole in the front."look at the size of that thing!" It didn't look like it was slowing down at any rate so they started worrying. "if it doesn't slow down it might crash into something." Twilight said and the others agreed. They shared the same worry but shrugged it off, thinking it might slow down at some point.

Fluttershy found the source of the call, a large hawk had got it's left talon stuck in the front plow of a train. it had brown feathers and white thunder-like patterns on its wings. it was slightly bigger than regular sized hawks and upon close inspection it had bright blue glowing electrical like patterns on its chest. she wasn't aware of the runaway Prototype train at the time so she jumped right on the tracks to help the large poor bird. the bird was startled by the pony as it was trying to escape "don't worry little birdie, i'm here to help." she said calming the bird down.  she tried pulling the talon out but to no avail. so she then stuck her hoof in the slits of the plow and pushed the talon out. The bird stretched its wing out and began flapping its wings which made a light electrical sound and lifted up into the air. It cawed at Fluttershy like saying thank you "oh your welcome, now go on home little bird." She said to the bird and it flew off into the air and disappeared in a flash of lighting leaving behind it, rain.

she was amazed at the spectacle the bird did and vaguely remembered reading something about that kind of bird. When she was about to leave she couldn't move. She turned around to notice that her left hoof was stuck in the slit. She struggled pulling herself out but to no avail. she tried and tried but it didn't come out. "Is any Pony around Please help me!" she called out hoping that someone would hear her. After a few calls no one came and she thought she'd be stuck there in the rain, but then a voice called out "Fluttershy, what's happened to ya" the voice sounded like Appleblooms voice and as she looked up, AppleBloom, Scootalo, and Sweetie Bell were standing right on the platform above her." Oh thank goodness, girls I need you to go get some-" before she could finish her sentence a loud horn blasted out startling everyone. "what was that?" asked Scootalo rubbing her ears. The ground rumbled and they could hear what sounded like a train. The CDC couldn't see it but Fluttershy could. Her eyes widened at the Alpha series train that was approaching at top speed on the same track she was on. She panicked struggling more and more to pull herself out but her hoof wouldn't budge. The CDC noticed this and jumped off the platform to help. "no girls get off the tracks and go get help!" she begged "no, Fluttershy were gettin you out of there." Said Applebloom. They tried pulling her out from all angles but she couldn't move. They tried and tried but she was stuck good and the train was finally in view. The CDC panicked and kept trying too free her. She was even more terrified now than before, not only was she in danger but now she's put the three fillys in danger, and when that thing hits the train their will be a large explosion that could destroy the town. In a last ditch effort she breathed in deeper than she's ever done before and let out a loud scream.

"That sounded like Fluttershy and it's coming from the train station!"

The others gasped. Now they were fully aware of the danger, as it started to rain. They feared for their shy friend "I'll go on ahead!" Said Rainbow Dash and she had already dashed off into the direction of the train station. She feared for her friends' life so she flew fast hoping to reach it in time. The train was already approaching and she was too far away. I'll never make it she thought, already giving up hope. But before she did, a big blue flash going faster than she was, knocked her out of the way sending her crashing into a tree. "What was that!"

Tavo was speeding up his pace hoping to reach the tracks before the train got close. A few minutes ago, Tavo was about to go to sleep when it started raining. he suddenly heard a train horn blast out. He got up and watched the giant approaching the train station thinking it was more Ponies. But before he could go back to sleep, he heard a scream. His Pulse pounded, his muscles tensed, his eyes widened, and he knew exactly who it was. When he figured out where it was coming from, he got up and ran towards it. But he was too far away. Then he came up with an idea. Even though he used it to much and he knew what could happen to him, he couldnt let anything happen to her. so he used his unnatural speed which he dubbed "Psycho Lighting" and shot across the fields, through the forest, across the streets accidently knocking Rainbow Dash out of the way, and made it to the entrance of the station.

Fluttershy gave up all hope, the train was only 10 miles away but was approaching faster and she despaired in grief stricken sadness and tears began flowing down her face. "Please, Please move out of the way!" she Pleaded but they wouldn't move  She wasn't strong enough to throw them out of the way, they were too stubborn to move, and above all else the town would be destroyed. There was no hope, and in this horror, the three filly's panicked and clung to her like she was their mother and also started crying. "girls please go." she whimpered but they where too scared to listen to her. This made her sadness grow deeper, now they lost hope and she wasn't a good enough friend to protect the family of her friends. She did what anyone in her state would do and held them closer and wrapped her wings around them.

She hoped that by wrapping her wings around them they wouldn't see their death approaching. she closed her eyes and she saw her life flash before her eyes. She held them tighter. She cried harder not noticing the gust of wind that hit her.

Tavo had reached the train station and suddenly everything seemed to slow down. He was positioned in between the train and Fluttershy who was clinging on to something. He didn't know what to do the train was only inches away and he'd never tried stopping something this big and in his current form he didn't think he could. But he turned and saw Fluttershy crying and holding on to the three filly's that reminded him of the little girl in the village. Weak or not he couldn't let such a kind spirit and three innocent girls die. He faced the train breathed in deep and reared up. He had to time this right or he could end up dead and they would die as well. How can I stop this thing he thought he knew he was too weak anyway he was already loosing hope. But he remembered a passage from his Great Grand Fathers letters and read it in his head: "life is a valuable thing and the life of someone you care about should always be on top of yours so no matter what, you use every bit of strength, energy, and power to keep them alive no matter what the cost."

time went back to normal When the train was only inches away and using all his strength Tavo Lunged his hooves forward.