For the first part of our trip, everything seemed to be going well. The sun was shining, it was getting to be hot as balls, and since we were in the desert, there was no breeze; only lots of sand, rocks, cacti, sagebrush, and of course, a crap-ton of holes, indicating shell/bomb impact craters, plenty of destroyed vehicles, and even undetonated ordnance. Yep, the deserts of Nevada were going to need to undergo a MASSIVE shakedown once the war was over!

As we were going along, Alex suddenly turned to me. "What? I see it, but I don't believe it!"

I turned to him. "Huh? Don't believe what?"

"Your face! You're not wearing your Kitsune mask anymore!"

I felt my face. Sure enough, I wasn't wearing it. "Huh. Guess I left it back on my nightstand." I thought. To Alex, I said, "Well, it was actually because of Todd."

"Huh? What did I do?"

I turned to him. "Remember? Last night, you told me that I needed to learn to live without the mask. However, if you guys don't believe that, technically, I forgot it in light of our meeting with Major Don."

Alex nodded. "Well, I'm glad that you're not wearing it. It always creeped me the f@#k out, and whenever I saw you wearing it, it always reminded me of Face."

Todd, Fred, and Andy agreed with him.

I nodded. "Yeah, I could see the comparison there. However, I'm still here, while Face is dead as f@#k!"

We all laughed at that, and we kept the engine moving forwards.

However, at 10:45am, about 10 miles outside of Lund, there was trouble.

Suddenly, Don's voice came over the intercom. "Attention, attention! Our radar crew have just picked up a cluster of aircraft bearing Point 5, and coming in from about our 8 o'clock. Be advised, there are no friendly aircraft in this area. All hands, man your battle stations now! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill! Get all anti-air weapons online now! All hands, prepare to defend the train!"

With that, alarms all across the train began to blare, as all windows were closed, doors and bulkheads were closed and sealed, weapons were uncovered, guns were manned, and all eyes were on both the radar screens, and the skies.

"Welp, here we go again!" Fred and Andy both got ready to man the machine gun and two anti-air guns on the cab roof.

Meanwhile, Alex and I closed the cab windows most of the way (we had to leave a slot to poke our rifles out of!), and with help from Todd, we closed the heavy metal doors at the back of the cab, and locked them securely. After this, the 3 of us grabbed our trusty rifles, and made ready to fight.

"We may be engineer and firemen, but we're still soldiers, and we're not taking this lying down!"

"Got that right Leopard!"

Even Todd, as nervous and shy as he was, made ready to fight and defend.

Then, from the intercom, we heard Don's voice again. "PCC to Big Boy, come in Big Boy, do you read me?"

Todd grabbed the intercom phone. "PCC, this is Big Boy. We read you loud and clear, over."

"BB, get us to Lund as fast as possible! Do not slow down, do not stop for anything, just get us there in one piece! Do you understand?"

"Yes Sir, we understand!"

"Good! PCC out!"

The next couple of minutes were some of the most tense in recent memory. It had actually been a few weeks since we'd last had enemy action. According to DELCI, (pronounced "DELL-see”) the train's resident AI who helped run everything, the enemy aircraft seemed to be patrolling around.

"They haven't spotted us yet, but that could change very shortly." DELCI then suddenly stopped. "Oh shit! Some of the aircraft are breaking off from the main group! 10 in total, coming in at 8 o'clock high! We've been spotted!"

Don then took over. "Oh Jeezums! ALL HANDS, PREPARE TO DEFEND NOW!!!! I NEED ALL WEAPONS ONLINE NOW!!!!"

I turned to the others. "This is it Guys. May God be with us."

"Amen to that." Alex whispered.

"No kidding." Todd agreed.

Just then, over the steady chugging of the engine, we all heard it; the loud droning of both helicopters, and possibly jet engines as well. I began to think over possible attack scenarios.

Most often when this happened, they would come at us from the sides or rear, strafe us with machine guns, and then bug out before getting killed. Other times they tried to do a bomb run. A popular target was the engine's smokestacks, however, we saw this coming a mile away when the train was being built, so the tops of the smokestacks were covered by a reinforced metal grill to prevent anything from being dropped down. Once in a blue moon, somebody would try a Kamikaze, or suicide attack, but fortunately those were rare.

Moments after I thought about this, I heard it; the unmistakable sound of machine gun fire. Unfortunately, it was not coming from our train. However, not to be outdone by a couple of aircraft, once the order had been given from Don to fire at will, our machine guns, Phalanx cannons, AA guns, and even a few missile batteries all opened up on the aircraft. By DELCI's count, there were 4 helicopter gunships, and 6 jets defending them; 10 aircraft in total. In short order, our guns quickly saw one gunship put down, and two jets blown up in midair.

"Woo! Yeah! That's 3 down, only 7 more to go!"

One more gunship was blindsided by a missile, and spun out of control before slamming into the ground and exploding. However, as it fell, the gunship clipped another, and as the Futa pilot struggled to regain control, she accidentally knocked down two more jets, before completely losing it, and crashing the gunship onto the tracks. After skidding for a bit, the gunship came to a very rough stop.

"Whew!" The pilot muttered, "That was too cl...." She never got a chance to finish that thought. Just before she could, this happened,

and then everything went black.

(Also, for the future, whenever the train hits something, just imagine this video and song!)

After mowing down that gunship with ease, the Futas were down to just one gunship, and two jets. Unfortunately, this was all it took to make a run for the engine. With the two jets providing covering fire, the gunship came right for us!

"SHIT!!! F@#K!!!" Todd screamed.

As quick as a flash, both Fred and Andy were up close to the roof, firing the AA guns up there. Heck, even Alex and I got in on the act, firing our own rifles at the intruders!

"YEAH, TAKE THAT YOU SICK FREAKS!!!" I screamed.

Thanks to a lucky shot by Fred, one of the jets bit the dust, but not before it could fire two missiles at us!

"MISSILES INBOUND! DEPLOY FLARES NOW!!!!"

At that command from Don, someone towards the middle of the train deployed our countermeasure flares. Luckily, this was enough to take care of the missiles, before a shell took care of the other jet. Now the lone gunship turned to flee, but was quickly blasted out of the sky by another plane!

"Look!" Someone cried. "It's F-16s! It's the Air Force! They're here to help!"

"Battleship Express, Battleship Express, this is Bravo Leader of AF Unit 12. We're here to lend a hand!"

Don shook his head. "Bravo Leader, you're a little late to the party, don't you think? There were once 4 gunships, and 6 defending jets. By the time you showed up, there was only one gunship left!"

"What? Oh, well still. Glad to lend a hand. What's your current status, over?"

Don quickly did a roll-call, as well as ordering a systems check. Everything came back as it should. "Bravo Leader, all systems are functional, and all personnel are present and accounted for. Are the skies cleared, over?"

"Affirmative BE. You're all clear to head to Lund. Good luck!"

"And good luck to you boys as well on taking the Hoover Dam, and hanging on to Nellis AFB. You'll need it."

"Roger that BE, Bravo Leader out!"

Once the dust had settled, Todd turned to me. "Wait, I thought that we were helping with the Hoover Dam."

I sighed. "We were supposed to, however, scouting missions revealed that the tracks close to the dam were not strong enough to hold our train's weight. Plus, the dam mission is a heavy stealth one. That's why it was left up to the Night Stalkers and the Marines."

(The Night Stalkers were like Navy SEAL’s, although they also closely worked with the Marines as well at times).

Todd nodded. "And when was that attack supposed to take place?"

"On June 1st, so in about 5 days from now."

"Oh, well, I guess that that makes sense."

I nodded, and with one hand on the throttle, and the other on the windowsill, I kept the Battleship Express on course for the railyards in Lund.

About half an hour later, our radio came to life.

"Battleship Express, Battleship Express, this is the Lund Railyards. We see you on our radar scopes. Please respond, over."

Todd picked up the radio. "Lund Railyards, this is Todd Davis, 2nd Brakeman on the Battleship Express. We read you loud and clear, over."

"Ok Battleship Express, you're clear to pull in on Track 5. Just come on in when you get here. What's your ETA, over?"

"Well, our current ETA is about 10 minutes, over."

"Ok Battleship Express, we'll be waiting for you when you get here. We've got some new goodies for ya, and I'm sure that it's high time that you're train got a cleaning and shakedown, am I right?"

"Affirmative Lund. We're closing in fast, so be ready for us!"

"Roger Battleship Express. Lund out."

Sure enough, at about noon on the dot, Battleship Express pulled into the Lund Railyards. I pulled the train in slowly on Track 5, just like I'd been told to, and brought the train to a complete stop. Once everything was secure, Alex, Todd, Fred, Andy, and myself disembarked from the cab, and went back to get orders from Don.

Once we were off the train, railyard crews came over and began their preliminary evaluations. After walking back to the Primary Command Center, we were met by Jim and Don, as well as others.

"A fine piece of work boys! You've done your country a great service. Thanks to your quick actions, our train lives to fight another day. I would also like to say, you've not only made me proud, but you've made your families proud as well. Look at all of you. The youngest of you is 19, and most of you are in your early 20's. Young kids, managing the deadliest weapon in the US arsenal! Even if your families aren't here anymore, I know that they're looking down from Heaven, beaming with pride. None of this would be possible without any of you, so I say again, thank you!"

"No, thank YOU!" Someone yelled. "Without leadership from you, Jim, and others, none of this would have been possible!"

Don smiled. "Thanks. Thanks all of you. Now then, the train is in good hands, so now I ask you, who's ready for their shore leave?"

"We all are!" We cheered.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you! I said, WHO'S READY FOR THEIR SHORE LEAVE?!?!?!"

"WE ALL F@#KING ARE!!!" Some of us screamed. Others just stuck with, "WE ALL ARE!!!!!"

"Ok then, all I have to say is, enjoy yourselves, but don't really stray too far. If anything goes wrong, we may have to deploy again to provide heavy firepower."

We all grumbled a bit at this, but then we all began to go our separate ways. I began to walk down to meet Amanda Lindsey so that I could get Aurora back. As I walked, I thought back to the day I found her. It was in the woods of North Dakota, during the Battle of Lake Sacajawea in the early Fall of 2027. During the battle, out of nowhere, she came bounding up to the train, and jumped on board. Some tried to get rid of her, but she wouldn't leave. In the end, I adopted her, which did prove to be beneficial for my mental state. I kept saying that she was a wolf, even though the evidence was moderate that she was a wolf mixed with a German Shepherd.

As I walked, I was joined by Alex and Todd.

"Hey Leopard?"

"Yeah?"

"How are you going to spend your shore leave?"

"Well, first I'm going to go get Aurora from Amanda, and then I'm going to go pay Jack a visit so that I can see about getting a haircut, then I'm heading back to my cabin for a good shave!" (Jack Daniels was the train's barber. He was also a member of the medical team).

Alex laughed. "Sounds good to me! I'm going to go hit the nearest bar. It's been a while since I had me some good alcohol!"

I turned to Todd. "What about you Todd? What are you going to do?"

Todd shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm going to head to the forward dining car for some chow, and then maybe head over to the train's library and read a bit."

Alex and I both said to go for it, and then we went our separate ways, agreeing to meet up in our crew common room later on.

One collected wolf, haircut, and shave later, I was back in my cabin. Aurora was eating from her dish, and I was lying on my bed. While I was lying there, I looked over at the wall next to my desk. On it was a poster; not just any poster though, it was one of my waifu, Rainbow Dash herself! I'd had it commissioned a while back. It depicted her as an anthro, and she was standing up, her wings were outstretched, she had a smirk on her face, and she was also nude. Yes, that poster was definitely NSFW! I also had a similar one of Spitfire.

"Yep", I thought to myself, "Those two, are hands down, the hottest mares in all of Equestria! It's my honor to share my cabin with my two waifus!"

(Yes, I am mentally unbalanced. However, truth be told, it was actually Ponies that got us through the tough times. MLP FIM was THE show to watch. In fact, I had the full collection of seasons 1-9 on dvd, as well as the MLP Movie. Ponies were the cure for depression. I used it, and so did others. We all had our favorite ponies, and some of us had posters, plushies, T-shirts, figurines, and even waifu/body pillows! Yeah, we're all pretty messed up!)

After Aurora was done eating, I took her outside to do her business, and once we were back inside my room, she went to sleep, and I, um....well....."took care of some personal business", shall we say. (and yes, the "business" did involve my poster of Rainbow Dash!)

Meanwhile, while all of us were enjoying ourselves, the railyard crews were hard at work. With Jim supervising, from one end of the train to the other, everything was being inspected, cleaned up, parts were replaced where necessary, damage was repaired, and a few new weapons systems, radar, and fire-control radar were installed as well. Jim however insisted that most of the train stay the same, including the whistle.

"Don't repair that whistle boys! It needs to retain its Banshee-like shriek! Also, leave that pillbox on the front platform above the cowcatcher. It does need to be removed, but yet it's become a staple feature of 4009, and it’ll be the mounting block for the new mini Phalanx cannon for the front of the train once it’s ready, so leave it in place."

The crew looked at each other, and some were even wondering if Jim was starting to go senile. However, Don reaffirmed Jim's decisions, so with some shrugs and queer looks, they did as they were told.

Eventually, the crews reached the Big Boy’s tender. After buffing out as much damage as they could, a few last pictures were taken of the “Union Pacific? Nope! United Panic!” Before everything except the “Union Pacific” was scraped off, and painted black. Then the white lettering was touched up, and the tender simply said “Union Pacific” once again. Some of the crew were sad to see the extra wording go, but it had to be done so that the train met RWD regulations. They still had pictures of it, but it wasn’t the same as seeing it in person like they used to be able to. I myself didn’t mind the change too much, though I was glad that I had taken a few pictures of it before it was changed back.

The next day, which was Sunday, Father Francis Charles, our battalion's chaplain, did his usual Sunday Services for any who wanted to attend. Truth be told, most of the crew of the Battleship Express did indeed call themselves Christians. Most of this was because of the world wars. "There are no Atheists in foxholes!" as the old saying goes. Some were Agnostics, though only a few were non-religious. It was actually quite a mixed bag. Alex, Todd, Don, Jim, myself, and many others were Christians, Andy and Fred were Agnostics, and others fell on both sides of that spectrum.

However, even if we didn't see eye to eye on religion, there was one distinct fact that brought us all together. We were crewmembers of the Battle ship Express, the deadliest war train ever to ride the rails. The train that was the flagship of the RWD, who's weapons claimed the lives of over 950,000 Futa. If that's not a combining factor, then I don't know what is!

Oh, and 5 days later, on Friday, June 1st, American forces successfully took over the Hoover Dam and the surrounding area with minimum casualties. Vegas had just lost its primary power supply, the Futas there were now being almost constantly harassed by Army and Air Force forces from Nellis AFB, and our Vegas invasion was now one week away.

Meanwhile, a number of miles away, in the city once known as Las Vegas, Futa leadership was in turmoil. Empress Demetria sat in front of a digital map, surrounded by her advisers.

"Ok people, I need a solution, and I need it now! We've lost the Hoover Dam, and now our power supply has been cut off, on top of the near constant harassment from US Forces out at Nellis Air Force Base! What do we do?!"

"The American forces will be on top of us in a matter of days Empress. Should we begin Operation Fireball?" One of her military advisers asked.

Demetria shook her head. "Absolutely not! That contingency plan was for a last resort, and I mean an EXTREME last resort! I want no part in creating a legacy of bitterness like that!"

"So then, what do we do? Almost all of our best military commanders are dead, our agent, Sally Face, is dead, and the Americans are practically on top of us. I see no further options other than to evacuate the city now, and retreat West into California before all our escape routes are cut off."

Demetria pushed her long, thick brown hair out of her eyes, before looking out of a window of her palace, formerly known as the Hotel Luxor. "For so long, I tried to build an empire." She thought. "I succeeded, but at what cost? Now everything that we do seems to be a disaster, and now the Americans are out to wipe us off of the map." Eventually though, she turned back to her advisers. "Ok, now I think that I have a plan."

They all looked at her. "Ok, what is your plan, Empress Demetria?"

"My plan is to prepare for city-wide evacuation, and then, once the city's been evacuated, and all vital personnel are on their way to our strongholds in California, then we take the gloves off for an all or nothing battle for Southern Nevada."

"So, does that plan include 'Operation Fireball'?"

Demetria glared at the commander who asked that question. "For the last time, I said that 'Operation Fireball' was ONLY to be used as an EXTREME last resort, IF AT ALL!!!!! I DO NOT WANT TO BE A PART OF AN OPERATION LIKE THAT UNLESS THERE ABSOLUTELY IS NO OTHER OPTION!!!" Once she'd taken a moment to calm down, she added, "Just......begin the civilian evacuations, and get our military ready for a no holds barred battle."

Her advisers all stared at their empress in shock. None of them had really thought of the plan that she had just laid out, and they weren't sure that it was going to work. Nevertheless, they began the necessary preparations.

Across the Multiverse, in the land of Equestria, the situation was seemingly growing worse by the day. The stalemated trench warfare had begun to turn into a slow retreat for the Equestrian forces. They continued to try and hold the lines, but their forces continued to become depleted. The enemy was relentless. In fact, it once got so bad that a major breakthrough almost occurred near Appaloosa. Fortunately though, a band of warriors under Chief Thunderhooves, as well as those in the Appaloosa Sheriff's department managed to hold the enemy off until they retreated.

Once again, General Shining Armor, as well as his wife Princess Cadence, met with the other two princesses and the Elements of Harmony.

"The situation is at its most critical point I'm afraid. We're holding the enemy in place, but the lines could collapse any day now in some places. Our forces are badly depleted. If we don't get help soon, our options will either be fight to the death, or surrender. There's simply no way we can keep two empires in check by ourselves!"

Celestia put her hands over her face. "By the Sun", She muttered. "This is the worst war in Equestrian history. There HAS to be a way to win it!" She looked out over those in the room. "A few nations, such as Saddle Arabia, and the Griffon Kingdom, have tentatively pledged support, but they said that if victory cannot be secured soon, then they would withdraw."

Shining shook his head. "That's not good enough. From the way I see it, only a miracle would save us now."

The Mane 6 were deeply concerned as well. They had been helping with the war effort, and they knew how vital Euqestria's survival was.

"Yes", Twilight said softly, "It would take a miracle. But why? Why would one ever come our way?"

"Um, duh, it would come because we need it too!" Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight with annoyance.

"Yeah, I KNOW that Rainbow, I was just thinking out loud! But I think that I speak for all of us when I say that we need a miracle, and we need it now, or else all is lost!"

They all continued to ponder new war strategies, and wish for a miracle, completely unaware that you should be very careful of what you wish for, as what you want, isn't always what you get!

Author's Note

Ok everypony, here it is, Chapter 2! Now the train is being cleaned and repaired one last time before the big battle of Las Vegas. How will that go? How does the Battleship Express wind up in Equestria? What will everypony's reaction to it be? Well, the only way to find out, is to keep reading!

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, and questions, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 3!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!