The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse

There weren't any curves in the tunnel, so we could clearly see the fast approaching light of a train. "Wave and flash your flashlights or something!" Twi yelled. We flashed our three flashlights at the fast moving train. The guards began shoving the cart back as we backed away.

"Leave the cart!" Redheart grabbed her saddlebag and clumsily hopped off. There was nothing in the tunnel, just walls and one straight railroad track. There was a mere 2 feet space between the wall and tracks, so we'd have to squeeze tightly to not get hit by the train. "Get up against the wall!" one of the guards ordered. We all hunkered down, pressing ourselves against the wall in the hopes we'd be passed.

I looked back to see that the train seemed to pick up speed, as if it were actually out to pass or even kill us. The once dark and creepy tunnel would soon be filled with light and sound. I quickly examined the walk space and train size. There was still a possibility we'd be skimmed. "Inhale!" Dash shouted over the train whistle as it sped into the tunnel, casting its bright light over the tunnel's walls, floor, and ceiling.

We all squeezed against the walls and inhaled, willing to turn into pancakes to avoid getting cut and sliced by the train. I closed my eyes after securing my arms over Redheart, pushing her further against the wall than she already was herself. Wood from the cart cracked immediately, and bits of it flew past us. I heard AJ scream as wood pieces skimmed my legs. A burst of cold air punched my face as my arm was skimmed violently by the rough sides of the less than colorful train cars.

I pushed Snow further in as another train car sliced skin right off my arm. I gasped in the immense pain, but kept holding my breath. Even though it was moving quickly, it was taking forever to pass. But finally the caboose whooshed past, allowing us to breath safely again. AJ collapsed on the tracks after it did.

"AJ!" Dash yelled.

She was laid out on the track, breathing profusely, and I noticed a hunky piece of wood sliced into her leg. I cringed at the sight, and couldn't imagine the pain she was experiencing. Redheart and I ran to her immediately and she dug through her kit furiously.

"Do you need help?" Dash asked her.

"Yes! You and Twi can help. Twi! Devan, take the others outside please."

Despite my overwhelming desire to stay and help with AJ, I forced myself to gather the others and have the guards help me lead Rarity and Spike outside. It wasn't too far, but it was still night time. And with all the crap going on, I didn't know what to expect when we exited. Soon, we were away from the sounds of AJ's wheezing. We'd already lost Pinkie and Flutters. When would it end?

"Do you think she's okay?" Spike asked me.

"I don't know."

I saw his eyes tear up before he turned away. Poor guy. For his age, this must have been difficult on him. At least he still had Rarity by his side. Rarity hugged him while the guards and I waited. The breeze outside was warm compared to the coolness of the tunnel. The night was moving along slowly; the moon slugging through the gloomy sky.

After a while, the others in the tunnel lifted AJ, started hauling her to the outside. There was no light from the tunnel, and our flashlights weren't too powerful, so I'd assumed they needed light. When they pulled her out, she was breathing quickly and clenching her teeth in pain. The wood was still in there.

"Get that out of her already ..." I said.

"We're trying!" The nurse replied, "We don't want her to die from blood loss." They laid her along the side of the tracks. "Devan ..."

"Yes?"

"I need your help."

I was by AJ's side in a split second. "What can I do?"

"You have hands, which I need right now. I'm going to pull out the wood, but you need to secure the skin around the wound and apply pressure when I say. The more blood we lose, the less time she has. Can you do that?"

I observed the wound. The wood chunk was an inch wide, and I didn't know how far it had gone through. Clenching my teeth and sucking it in, I nodded. I placed my hands around the bottom of the wood, holding down the skin. Blood was seeping through my fingers already, which worried me. My right wrist was also bleeding, so I moved it back to not get my blood and hers mixed. Last thing we needed right now was infection by blood.

"Keep it steady. 1 ... 2 ... 3."

She started pulling it out, and I hadn't expected the skin to pull up that much. I pushed down on it as she ripped out the piece, and blood oozed out. She rapidly set down the wood and wrapped the wound in cloth before pulling out a tourniquet and wrapping it around her thigh, above the wound. AJ was squeezing with pain every second, and all I could do was tell her to hang in there.

Redheart sighed. "Damn it, we should have pulled the cart out front. What were we thinking?"

"It was the heat of the moment. Is AJ gonna be alright?"

"I don't know!" she snapped at me, but frowned just afterwards, "Sorry ..."

"It's fine."

"The tourniquet should work. I'm gonna get the wound patched and tightened to prevent more blood loss, but you might need to talk to Twi about camping out here. She's not going to be well enough to walk for a while, and we lost the cart. Can you speak with her for me?"

"Sure."

I got up with my hands covered in blood from AJ and my skims. "Devan?" Twi said, "Are you gonna have her look at your arms?" I stopped face to face with her. "Twi, we need to camp out here."

"Yeah, I was thinking we'd probably have to." She glanced around before pointing to some nearby shrubs. "We'll set up camp behind those, in case anything comes to get us. I don't know who was running that train but I know damn well I don't want to find out. And if that other guy on the hills comes through, we don't want to be seen."

"Good idea, I'll tell the nurse."

"Alright. I'll get everybody caught up and we'll meet you over there."

The moon was now plop in the center of the sky. Because summer wasn't quite over, the night felt nice, and near Ponyville, not too cold. But tonight, there was quite a breeze rolling through. The leaves on the trees moved with the wind, awaiting their fall in autumn. This side of the tunnel was considerably better than the drama happening on the other side. Redheart had wrapped my skim up after working on AJ, and I'd helped carry her to our camping spot.

Twi and the others had set up a few tents and sleeping bags for all of us near a tree. The guards denied sleeping in the tents or on the sleeping bags to save more room for us. They offered to switch watches every few hours between the two of them.

"Can I take a watch, too?" Dash asked.

Through lots of persistence, they finally gave in and let her take one of the early morning shifts. Hopefully we'd be on our way soon, but with AJ's wound ... I wasn't so sure.