"What do you mean he's dead?" A stallion asks in a stern tone, seeming somewhat upset.

"Kicked the bucket? What the hell do you think dead means? He died from something and fell on the emergency brake it looks like."

"How did he die? Nopony was up there with him." Rainbow says as she slowly trots up behind me. I push her back with my foot, closing the door to the locomotive as I do so to cover up the gruesome scene.

"I don't know, maybe a heart attack or something. Whatever it was, it's keeping us from moving forward."

"Seriously? Somepony just died and all you care about is getting the train moving again?" Twilight states in an angry tone.

"N-No, that's not what I meant. I'm just trying to figure out what happened, alright? I need to think about this."

"Could it have been a heart attack? Possibly a stroke?" Rarity asks curiously.

"The guy looked pretty young, so I doubt anything like that happened. There weren't any physical injuries as far as I could see, so murder is probably out of the question."

"This is just horrible." Applejack says, holding her hat against her chest. "We can't just leave the fellow up there, can we?"

"No... Applejack's right, we need to get the body out of here." I say as I toss my backpack onto an empty booth. I re-enter the locomotive, and grab a shovel probably meant for feeding coal into the train. I toss it behind me, hoping someone would catch it. Apparently ponies have shitty reflexes as I hear the shovel clang against the floor behind me. "Someone pick that shit up." I say in an annoyed tone.

I lean forward and lift the conductor up, slinging him over my shoulder. I turn around to see all of the ponies looking at me with sad, mournful eyes, especially the softer ones like Pinkie and Fluttershy. Seeing that nobody is going to help me, I reach down with my empty hand, and pick up the shovel, holding it at my side. Everyone watches my movements carefully as if I'm going to lash out at them at any second.

"What?" I ask sternly.

"It's just... he died Zack, and you barely seem to care at all." Twilight says quietly. Everyone else nods in agreement, causing me to huff as I start making my way for the exit. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Gonna bury him, duh. I'm not just going to let him rot in here."

"He has family, he should have a proper burial."

"Yeah? And where do you want to do that Twilight? Because all I can see for miles are plains and forests."

"I could teleport him to Ponyville, maybe Canterlot. We have to let his family know what happened."

"We will, just not now. He needs to buried here, where he died." I say as I head for the exit. I slide the door open, and slowly step out onto the tracks. I start walking in a random direction, wanting to get away from the train.

I walk for a good ten minutes, covering a lot of ground before hearing the light padding of hooves against grass. I turn my head back slightly to catch a glimpse of something, or someone, with a cyan coat and multicolored hair.

"Need something?" I ask in a flat tone.

"Yeah, I want you to explain."

"Explain what?"

"How you're so calm about this! It took you less than three minutes to decide to bury somepony that just died! What is wrong with you?"

"I'm just doing what I feel is best."

"How is this the best? Twilight could have taken him back to Ponyville where his family could have seen him! This is wrong Zack, you can't do this, it's sick. You're carrying a dead body for Celestia's sake."

"If I had a coffin I'd use it, I swear. Do you think this is fun for me Rainbow? Because it isn't." I say, my voice cracking a bit as I feel a burning in my eyes.

"No, this isn't fun for any of us, not by a long shot. But what you're doing is wrong Zack." I stop in my tracks, looking down at my feet and letting out a sigh. I drop the shovel and gently place the conductor on the ground.

"I'm sorry this happened..." I whisper mostly to myself. I stand back up and look Rainbow in the eyes, noticing a couple of tears in them. "Take him back... let Twilight deal with it." I say quietly in a defeated tone. Rainbow nods silently, hoisting the body up in her forelegs. He looks at him mournfully for a second before flying back towards the train in the distance. I watch as she starts to fade into the sunlight peaking over the train, when all of a sudden a voice scares the absolute shit out of me.

"Zack." A female voice says sternly. I spin around, hearing it come from behind me, only to see nothing. I shake my head, and turn back towards the train. But when I turn back, I come face to face with a woman with dark black hair, giving me the most evil little smirk I've ever seen.

"What... Oh God... you?"

"Oh, I'm not God, not exactly. You should know this by now Zack." The woman says to me as she starts to slowly walk around me in a circle.

"It was you wasn't it?" I ask angrily, not daring to look her in the eyes.

"What was me?"

"You killed the conductor didn't you? Squeezed the life out of him like it was nothing!?"

"Zack, I don't kill, I only help souls to... move on, if you will. Now, that doesn't mean I don't have friends in high places that do..."

"You bitch." I hiss through my teeth, grabbing the woman's collar. "What the hell did he do to deserve being killed by the likes of you, you worthless piece of sh-"

"He was a warning." She says quickly, cutting me off. "A warning of what is to come to you should you not follow our little deal."

"What the hell do you want from me."

"You already know all too well Zachary. I told you to kill Hendricks, and you haven't even attempted to do so. You were a dead man Zack, and I brought you back. You owe your life to me."

"If you have your little demon friends out and about doing your killing for you, why the hell do you need me!?" I whisper angrily.

"Because... dumbass... Only you and your little pony friends could do it."

"Why? Why can't you do it yourself? Why do you need me?"

"First of all... You're driven, Zack. You're filled with hate, anger, a hunger for revenge so great that there's no room left for anything else. You want Hendricks dead more than I do. There's also the fact that you're close to those ponies, those stupid, useful ponies."

"What does that have anything to do with it?"

"Hendricks is being kept alive by a very powerful spell, a spell that could only be cast by a god himself. Me? I can't interfere with that kind of power, but they can."

"You're trying to tell me God has something to do with this?"

"No no no, I said a god, as it a deity, a kind of a spirit."

"Well who's keepin' Hendricks here, huh? Who's his life support?"

"I believe they call him... Discord, if I recall correctly. He is the god of chaos itself, a very powerful being, I envy him."

"And remind me again, how I stand a chance against him when you don't?"

"You have them, the Elements."

"Right, that. Whatever that means..."

"It means that those six in that train are able to stop Discord, break the spell, and kill Hendricks."

"So what about me? Where do I come into all of this?"

"You can track him down, Hendricks that is. He's hiding somewhere out there, and you know him best, you'll figure out how to track him down."

"You really want this guy dead huh?"

"You can't cheat death Zack, not easily anyway. Hendricks should have died thousands of years ago, and all the blame is on me that he's still kickin'."

"What about me? I'm still here, you gonna kill me?"

"You? You're... different Zack. You haven't been living all these years, you've been in a frozen state. I'd hardly call that living. Hell, you're still twenty years old in my books."

"So I'm not supposed to be dead?"

"Well you are, just not because of your age. Head trauma's a real bitch isn't it?" She says with a smirk. "Now, are you going to stick with your deal this time, or will I have to come back for you?"

"I'll need time, you have to promise me that."

"You've got a year. If Hendricks isn't dead by this time next year... Well, it won't be all that fun for you, will it?"

"Deal."

"Alright... I'll be seeing you Zack. Try not to get yourself killed, that's my job." She says with a smirk. I blink my eyes, and suddenly she's gone, vanished into thing air. I place my hand behind my head and let out a breath I'd been holding in for who knows how long.

"Son of a bitch..." I break into a full sprint back towards the train, taking only a few minutes to get there. Once I finally arrive, my lungs are on fire, as well as my legs. I really need to start working out some time soon, sheesh.

"Zack, where the hay did ya go?" Applejack asks as I walk back into the train.

"Nowhere... Where's Twilight?"

"She took the conductor to Ponyville with her magic... What a tragedy." Rarity says as she hangs her head. I give her my best sympathetic look, but notice Rainbow giving me a stare from behind the group. I push my way back to her, and she leads me to a booth without saying a word. When we sit down, she only continues to stare at me with a slightly annoyed, yet wondering look.

"What?" I ask in a monotone voice.

"Do humans usually not care when somepony dies?"

"What? Of course I care! What makes you think that I don't?"

"Well you seemed more worried about getting the guy out of the train and starting it back up than actually doing what was right. How could you just carry him out there and expect to bury him and be done with it?"

"Because I know what it's like, okay?"

"Know... what?"

"I watched my grandpa die in front of me as a kid, and it still haunts me to this day. I wish that I had never seen it, or even his body after he died. Maybe I'm different from other people, but when somebody that I love dies, I don't want to see them again, especially in... a state like that. It would just be too painful I guess."

"You... I'm so sorry." She says as her ears drop to the sides of her head. "I didn't know... but still, it's the right thing to do to bring him back to his family. It should be there decision about how to deal with it."

"I know... I reacted off of instinct I guess, and I shouldn't have. What I did was wrong, and blah blah blah. I just hope the family will be okay. Heh, I almost feel responsible for it all..." I whisper under my breath.

"How is it your fault?" She responds, much to my surprise. She wasn't exactly supposed to hear that.

"Oh, it... never mind, I just feel bad about it is all." I say with the most fake smile I've ever conjured up.

"Well, I'm glad I know your side of the story now. C'mon, wanna help me and AJ fix the train? Someponies gotta get this thing rolling again." She says, though there's still a hint of sadness in her voice. I'm upset about it myself, mostly because I know why it happened, but these ponies... I could learn a thing or two from them about empathy.

"Yeah... Let's go."

Author's Note

I'm back from my break, so I'm really out of practice, so sorry if this chapter sucked.

Anyway, thanks for sticking around, and stay tuned for more updates!