The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse

After a few hours, I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. I gave up after trying the next twenty minutes. It was still dark outside. I checked my watch, that read 1:22.

"Guh," I sighed.

I was already fully clothed with shoes, so I decided to walk back to the caboose and watch Equestria go by.

We'd agreed on stopping by the hospital to see if there was anything left of it. After that, we hadn't decided. Celestia had told us that she didn't know the exact spell to end the apocalypse, but she knew there was a book about it.

Thankfully, I was in the car right in front of the caboose, so I didn't disturb anybody on my way out.

I sat down outside the caboose, allowing my feet to fall over the edge. The train wasn't moving outstandingly fast, so it was a peaceful ride. The stars in the sky were breathtaking. Back on Earth, the lights from the city hid away most of space, leaving a plain black sky and occasional clouds.

But here, you could see the endless stars. The lights in Equestria didn't block out many of them, even in Manehattan. As long as you didn't have a light near your face, you could see them.

I was caught off-guard by Twi, and nearly fell off the train. I quickly backed away from the edge.

"Whoa. Just me," she said, "Sorry to startle you."

"No ... no, that's alright ..."

She came over and sat next to me. "What are you doing up so late?"

"Can't sleep. Not like I need it anyway ..."

"Sure you do. Everybody needs rest. Especially when we're given the opportunity at a time like this."

"I know, I know. I just can't seem to get it."

"Yeah. I know that feel."

We just watched the stars for the next ten minutes. The night seemed darker than usual. The quiet click-clack of the wheels on the track was the only sound.

"How have you been?" I asked.

She sighed. "I really don't know. So much has been going on that I don't know if I should grieve or not. Celestia said that she wasn't sure if there was a book or not."

"She did?!"

"Yes. I've been feeling anxious ever since."

"Really? I'm gonna talk to her."

"If you insist. She's still awake I think."

I went through the door and the next car to get to Celestia, and knocked on the door when I reached her room. A faint voice whined awake before telling me to come in.

"Sorry Celestia ... Twi told me you were still awake."

"I was ... what is it? Something wrong?"

"Well ... in a sense." I closed the door.

"What's troubling you?"

"Twi said that you don't know if there's an end to this. Is that true?"

She stretched some more before getting up, meeting face to face. "It is. I'm sorry, Devan; I'm not omnipotent, and I don't remember seeing a zombie cure before. I had thoughts about it, and I might have seen one when I was young, but that's not the case anymore. I’d never thought that anything like this would go down. That’s why I panicked and brought in those boys. So I don’t know for sure if there is a cure."

"But there's a possibility?"

"Yes."

"Alright ..."

"Is that all?"

"No."

"What else?"

"I had an appearance back on Earth. They said I was in a ten month coma. When I came here, you said you brought me here. You didn't say I was some sort of clone."

"Devan ... you're not a clone. Due to science back on Earth, your body was frozen, or, in a coma while I brought you here. You have to understand that this world is in a whole different dimension; we're not in your universe right now. It's like an interference of time and spiritual presence. A whole lot of science and physics goes into it. I suppose ... when you passed out from the shots, the balance of pain weighed more here than on Earth, which led your soul to being awoken on Earth."

This was a lot to take in. I thought some more about it. "Then ... then how did I wake up back here?"

"Hmm ... that's an interesting question," she said," let me think about it for a second."

I thought about it to, but not as deeply as she was. She stood up and started pacing the room. After a few minutes, I stopped.

"That's okay. At least I'm still here. Good night, Celestia."

"Alright. I'll keep thinking about it. Night Devan."

"Just don't stress yourself."

I walked out and shut the door. There was a new stress on my shoulders now. If there was no way to bring them back, we'd have to live with that. My courage in magic decreased substantially. I didn't have as much faith in it anymore.

I walked back to the caboose as Twi was coming in.

"You going to bed?" I asked.

"Yeah. I think you should too."

"Fine ... fine ..."

"Did you talk to Celestia?"

"Yeah."

"You alright about all that?"

"Bleh. I'll think about it."

"If you ever need to talk, get me. Night Devan."

"Night."

She headed off to her room. I stood watching the stars for a little while before walking back and laying down. It was a long half hour until I fell asleep.