Into the Twilight

Twilight's brain was addled. She replayed the events that had transpired over the last hour, from when she had been spending a relaxing day meddling with her friends, to crying over her former teacher's dead body.

She couldn't cry, she wanted too, but she couldn't, not right now. Not when so many ponies depended upon her. She had time to mourn later, when she knew that her friends and family were safe.

The train to Ponyville would take some time, and in the meantime, Twilight kept herself busy by tending the wounded, who were trampled over during the mass evacuation. She answered anypony's questions as best she could. Even then, she only knew so much. She didn't know why Princess Celestia was dead, she didn't know if Princess Luna had fainted from the shock or if it was something more severe, she didn't even know when exactly Canterlot would fall.

This bothered Twilight, it bore into her more than anything. She loathed, even resented ignorance.

Twilight tried to think of the next step, what would happen after she found her friends, assuming they would all still be there, but she couldn't.

Twilight was so fixated on getting to her friends, that she couldn't even predict that what would happen next.

"They're going to die, aren't they?" a filly suddenly asked Twilight.

Twilight thought she couldn't be anymore surprised, she thought wrong.

"Wh-what? What are you talking about? Is who going to die?" Twilight asked her, feigning ignorance.

The filly looked past Twilight, a blank look glazed across her face, fixated on the red velvet-lined carpet. "You don't have to lie to me Princess Twilight, I felt the air get colder too. I don't know what's going to happen, but it's not going to be good."

Twilight stared at the filly with morbid curiosity. The filly reminded her of herself in Twilight's younger years, how remarkably intuitive she was, always searching for the real answer. Twilight recalled a fond memory of showing her mother empirical evidence proving that the Hearth's Warming Eve Wendigo wasn't real. She wasn't easily fooled, and hardly held onto fillyhood innocence for very long.

The mother of the foal looked at Twilight sympathetically before picking the filly up and holding her in her hooves. Twilight couldn't tell that filly the truth, even if that filly knew it already. Part of her did it because it was the politically just thing to do, the other part of her did it because she didn't want to believe it herself.

Canterlot was gone.

All of her time spent there, remnants of her past and present life, erased in an instant.

The eerie silence that had built up within the train car had become uncomfortable. Twilight didn't recognize most of their faces, but a few stuck out. Fleur dis Lis and her husband Fancy Pants were near the back of the train car, looking worse for wear, his expression a sympathetic one as he gently comforted Fleur. Twilight winced, how many of the ponies had lost someone already? She prayed to a higher power that she wouldn't be placed in that category.

Fancy Pants looked directly at her, "Princess, I just want to say, thank you for what you did. If this train didn't start moving quickly, well, I don't know what would have happened."

Twilight gave him a soft smile, "I did what I had to, and I'm glad I did it."

She felt humbled. She knew Fancy Pants from the Gala, he was one of the more tolerable nobles that existed within Princess Celestia's close circle. He was living proof that money didn't dilute integrity. Twilight's smile faded as soon as it came, money wouldn't be an issue for a while.

The train shook just enough to jerk everypony back to reality. Fancy Pants resumed the conversation, "I know that you probably don't know everything Princess, but would you please enlighten me as to what's happening?"

Twilight gazed out the window. This wasn't nightfall, it was black outside. This wasn't a serene night in Equestria, it was as if all colors had been sapped from the world, and replaced with this sickly black abyss.

"All I know is that Princess Celestia is dead, Fancy. If we stayed in Canterlot for much longer, the harsh winds of Canterlot Mountain would have ripped through the city," Twilight sighed and sat down, "I think there's- there is something else out there, that Princess Luna warned me about. I don't know what it is, but I know it's coming."

Fancy Pants stared at the ground, a morose expression clearly showing. "Do you think that we'll be able to stop it once it comes for us?"

Twilight breathed in sharply, "I don't know."

Kerchink!

The train shook again, this time throwing Twilight off-balance. The train ride was becoming more and more erratic, even the lights from inside the train car were flickering.

"Excuse me Fancy, I think I need to speak with the train conductor, something's not right," Twilight said, trotting towards the front of the train car while at the same time attempting to steady her balance.

When she finally got to the front of the train, Twilight felt panic start to build up. The train conductor was sweating profusely, he was jittery and it seemed like he was about to faint at any moment.

"Princess Twilight! Thank Celestia you're here! Something- or someone is interfering with the train."

"Someone?" Twilight questioned, glancing out of one of the windows, only to notice shadows creeping in her peripheral vision.

"I don't know what they are, but at the speed we're going, the train is going to flip on its side!"

"What!? No, that's impossible!" Twilight exclaimed. Canterlot's trains were made of steel, it would take an insurmountable amount of strength, or hundreds of ponies to tilt the train, let alone capsize it.

Screech!

"Well it looks pretty damn possible to me Princess," the conductor mumbled in fear, "I have no choice, I need to slow down the train. That way even if it does crash, less will likely die."

Twilight bit her lip, he made a good point, but at the rate they were going, it was going to take several hours to reach Ponyville. "Can't you just, speed up? Try to lose them even?"

The train conductor gave her a stern glare, "We're going as fast as we can Princess, we're already short on staff as it is."

Crash!

Twilight felt a stinging sensation as chilling air blasted through the front of the train and shattered glass serrated her cheek, "Shit!"

The front window of the train had been smashed open by something, the train itself was swerving back and forth rapidly. The howling winds kept Twilight from hearing the sounds of the train conductor being dragged out of the train's side window.

Twilight willed herself to cast the most effective shielding spell she knew, and braced for impact.