At Dawn the next morning, the shattered remains of the Caribou Navy arrived at Bindleton. Located at the southernmost end of the Caribou Empire, it was a small fishing city, as well as a base for the Caribou merchant fleet. The city was relatively untouched by the war, and the more reports that came from up North about what was happening, the more worried, upset, and disillusioned by the war that the citizens became.

The city's governor, Price, was also extremely critical of Danin, and his actions. "That old fool is going senile!", He kept saying. "The longer this war goes on, the closer that we ALL come to certain destruction!"

He was planning on surrendering the city to Equestria, but while he was still contemplating that, Commander Burns, and the remains of the Caribou Navy arrived. After explaining what had happened at Lake Town, Price's mind was made up.

"This.....GODS AWFUL war has gone on long enough! How does that stubborn fool still think that he can win?! I say, NO MORE!!!!!" He then began to address the citizens of Bindleton. "Citizens of Bindleton, this is your governor speaking. I would like to inform you that, as of this moment, the war is over for us. We will NOT be fighting anymore!"

The citizens were shocked. They had heard the horror stories of the war and what we Humans were capable of, so how were they going to be safe?

"We must first destroy all of our military supplies. Whatever cannot be burned safely will be taken out to sea, and dumped overboard. All soldiers will lay down their arms, and be ready to surrender when the time comes. Also, all garrisons will be stripped of all military hardware, which will also be disposed of. We then keep watch at all times, awaiting the Human's arrival. I would say that we try to reach out to them, but I do not believe that we are in range of their radios. I do not want for all of you to die. If we surrender willingly, then there is the chance that we might live."

All of the citizens, and even the soldiers knew that standing against us was pointless. If we had laid waste to most of their cities already, then what chance did they stand? After quietly breaking all ties with King Danin, Governor Price, with Commander Burns as his right-hand, took full control of Bindleton for the remaining duration of the war. And true to their words, the citizens did what they were told. All weapons were taken, and in trips by the merchant ships, were dumped into the ocean. This did take a good while, but after full disarmament, all ships were impounded in Bindleton Harbor, and the citizens went about their lives as best they could, waiting for any news from the outside.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, something very interesting was happening. While the Battleship Express was dealing with most of the Caribou, behind us came a number of other battalions. Their jobs were to take possession of the former lands of the Caribou Empire, and oversee them. The also captured prisoners and sent them to interment camps, as well as dealt with areas that we had left behind.

From Hell's gate, they moved on to Marrow, Rendale, Dock Town, as well as the large numbers of villages, settlements, and small towns that were bowled over during our drive to Rendale, and later Dock Town. They were awaiting the word from us as to when they could move in to take Lake Town as well. As of then, they had captured 2,034 Caribou males, and were helping nearly 5,000 slaves, political prisoners, and POW's. Refugee camps were set up for them so that they could be taken care of. Any political prisoners found would be taken to interment camps so that the soldiers could figure out who they were, and what their crime was.

The interment camps were mostly just prison/labor camps. The goal was for the prisoners inside to build back the cities, towns, villages, and settlements that had been destroyed. So far, it all was going according to plan. Every now and again though, they would stumble across a real troublemaker, or somebody guilty of more than a political crime against the Caribou Regime. Slave traders, slave hunters, bounty hunters, corrupt military officials, rouge officers, and gang members all fell into this category.

Their punishment? Whatever the females that they had wronged felt like doing to them. Some were killed, while others were beaten senseless, mutilated, raped, and had a number of other horrors done to them. 3 of the worst were sent our way. Ol' Jazzia, (Aka Zakia), was given a few friends to play with. "Daisy", (formerly 28 year old Commander Blyth, guilty of mistreatment of POW's), "Puzzle" (formerly 23 year old slave hunter Danford), and "Kylie", (formerly 27 year old Captain Wydan, guilty of torturing prisoners.) All of them were given treatments to allow them to grow breasts, as well as longer hair, be a bit chubbier and curvier, as well as having their antlers removed. Some were even given bows for their hair, as well as makeup. They were now proper Caribou cows. All 4 of them were treated much the same way as Zakia, and were sort of babied along, even though they were now our sex-slaves.

Kylie was always my favorite. Even though I never really had sex with her, I still would hug, and cuddle with her a lot. Her fur was so soft and warm. "It's so hard to believe that you were once a Caribou soldier who tortured prisoners", I whispered to her, "Now you're the perfect cuddle-toy! I mean, aside from you still having a dick and balls, you look like a pure-blooded Caribou cow!" Kylie giggled a bit in response, before blushing, and hugging me again.

"Yeah, I know Master! I LOVE being your cute pet!"

I then saw her starting to get hard. "Aww, does my little Cow have a stiffy?"

She nodded. "Yes. Please help me take care of it!"

I then sighed, and after reaching down, I helped her "take care of business", before letting her ejaculate on herself. Once I helped her clean up, and then cuddled her to sleep, before leaving to return to my station. I also told her that I would return to see her again soon.

"Ok, add 'helping a sex-slave masturbate' to the list of things that I need to talk to Dash about soon, and hope that she doesn't kill me over!"

I then went to help prepare for the next phase of our plan to get to Donneth, the assault on Rendon.

Ever since our campaign into the Caribou Empire began, all of us had been collecting war trophies. Some Caribou heads adorned walls, while others collected hooves, tails, antlers, and even hides. Caribou fur was a very valuable prize. Not only could it be used to line coats, boots, and hats, but you could also makes rugs, and even blankets out of it. In my room alone, I had 4 sets of antlers, 6 tails, a Caribou fur rug, some hooves, and 2 Caribou fur blankets, in addition to my other war relics.

Some of us collected enemy weaponry. Guns, bullets, and even swords, maces, axes, and spears were proving to be very hot items. Some of us tagged our caches, and placed them in various storage cars. Another thing about the Caribou, we could eat them! We tried to eat the Zebras, but their meat almost killed us. Caribou meat on the other hand has been eaten by Humans for centuries. We jerked it, fried it, salted it, ground it, turned it into sausages, and a bunch of other foodstuffs as well. We had enough Caribou meat to last us for a good long time.

The Ponies, especially Applejack and Twilight, began to express their grave concerns about what we were doing.

"Caribou were meant to be killed, not to be used as trophies, be chopped up for souvenirs, and ESPECIALLY NOT EATEN!!!"

Don looked at her. "I can see where you would be weirded out Twi, but back on Earth, Humans have been eating Caribou meat for centuries. It's a staple part of the diet in some far northern and far southern regions, such as Siberia. Also, we're soldiers. It's kind of a thing to take war trophies. While I don't exactly condone doing it, I don't really see a problem with it either."

"The problem is that Ah can't go anywhere on this gosh-darn train without running into some creepy Caribou body parts! They're everywhere! Heads, tails, hooves, even their hides! It's insanity, I tell ya!"

Alex laughed a bit. "Yeah, I know that it's a little bit weird Applejack, but don't worry. Once the war ends, then we'll all take our war trophies out of here."

Applejack just glared at him. "And if y'all thinkin' Ah'd allow ya to bring ANY of that stuff to the farm Alex, yer dead wrong! Once his gosh-darn war's over, THAT'S IT!!!! No more Zebras, and no more Caribou! AND NO WAR TROPHIES EITHER!!!!"

Alex looked sad. "Aww, do you really mean that?"

"YES!!!"

"And the same goes for you Don, no trophies at the Library!"

Don shrugged. "Aside from a few guns, I don't even have any trophies Twilight."

Twilight shrugged. "Well, I guess that a few weapons could be displayed, PROVIDED that they never be removed from the cases that they are displayed in!"

"Eh, well, whatever you say Twilight. You're the boss."

I laughed a bit. "Heh, you guys......I don't even know what to say. I know that Dash'll let me display a few trophies!"

Twilight turned to me in disgust. "Rainbow Dash is about as messed up in her head as you are, you sick......whatever you are! That's WHY you two are so perfect together; you're both screwed up!"

I winced. "Ouch, that kinda hurt Twilight. I hope that you don't really mean that."

She shrugged. "I don't know. You're such an anomaly Leopard. I can usually read others like a book, but not you. Dash can be a gray area too. I just....can't really get a full handle on how you operate. I've never seen another Human like you, even if you are only half-Human."

"50% human, 45% Bat-Pony, and 5% wolf, to be exact. Sometimes I wish that I could be exactly 50/50, but yet, without my wolf percentage, I wouldn't quite be as good of a soldier as I currently am."

Twilight shook her head. "After this war is over, I'm going to PERSONALLY see that that 5% wolf is removed, and replaced with 5% Bat-Pony!"

I shrugged. "Eh, whatever Twilight. However, that reminds me of something I was going to ask you. If I were to ever bite Dash, would she turn into a Bat-Pony as well, or does it not work that way?"

Twilight looked at me like she was trying to determine if I was joking or not. Finally, she said, "Actually, I'm not sure. Some reports on Bat-Ponies say yes, while others say no. They are a rare Pony sub-species, so they have not been fully studied. However, since you are a hybrid, then I would most likely have to say most likely not. Assuming that you DID bite Dash, then most likely all she would have would be two bite marks, and you of course would probably have a few slap marks as well."

"Eh, well, yeah, I guess that that would happen. Anyway, the sun's almost fully up, and we have places to be, so let's get our campaign underway again."

About an hour or so later, we were all ready to move on. Unfortunately however, the weather began to change, and not for the better. It began to get cold, cloudy, and it started to snow again.

"Wow", Don muttered, "Do we even want to risk this? That train line through the Highland Mountains would most likely be treacherous at the best of times, but now? In weather like this, it could be an absolute death trap!"

"I know what you mean Boss. I'm kinda worried too. What if the tracks can't hold our weight? Or what if the Caribou decide to do away with the Highland Trestle Bridge?"

Don shook his head. "Yeah, it's a really scary thought DELCI. The next couple of hours will be the most important of this entire campaign to date. if we screw up now, the consequences could be fatal. And if we don't so this now, the consequences could be fatal as well."

"So, what are we going to do?"

Don looked at the maps. "Well", He said at last. "Even though it does look like bad weather, I'd say that now would be the perfect time for us to attack Rendon. They wouldn't be expecting us to attack during a snowstorm."

"Just like the Battle of St. Louis!"

"Exactly DELCI! Just like St. Louis, and the surrounding areas. The Futas never expected us to attack during that blizzard, and I don't think that the Caribou would expect it either."

"So, when do we move out?"

Don looked at his watch. The time was 7am. "Right now. We should do this right now."

He then called us together to lay out the plan.

"OK guys, so here's the deal. We HAVE to get past Rendon, and we have to do it now! The weather's only going to be getting worse, so we have to go now! My plan is for us to head to Rendon, then blast through the city center, and hopefully destroy the city before any alarms can be raised. Then, once we're out of there, then we take the tracks through the Highland Mountains until we reach Donneth."

All of us who heard that were very surprised. Up until that point, it didn't seem very likely that we would be taking the tracks through the Highland Mountains.

"So basically what you're saying is that we blast Rendon before they knew what hit them, and then move on?"

Don nodded. "Pretty much Leopard. We'll leave them for the other battalions, as we have much bigger fish to fry."

Shining looked concerned. "But what about the tracks through the Highland Mountains? Are those even safe for us to use?"

"That's what I'm concerned about too. While we're fighting though Rendon, my plan is to send a drone out to scout around. If the tracks are clear, then we go for it."

"Yeah, but what if they aren't?"

Don had to think about that. "Well, then we just do what we can, and see if we can't find another way to Donneth. Now then, does everyone understand the mission?"

We all nodded slowly.

"Ok then, to your stations everyone, let's do this!"

We all cheered a bit, and then we got to our stations.

I was picked to drive, so I had Alex, Todd, Fred, and Andy with me in the train's cab.

"Let's just hope that this'll work." Alex muttered.

I looked outside. "Yeah, I know what you mean Alex. The snow's really starting to fall around us, and even though it's 7am, it's still so dark. I don't know how light it'll get, but this may be the best that we have."

"That's what I'm afraid of. My biggest fear is that they'll knock that trestle bridge right out from under us."

"That's what Don's afraid of too. That's why we'll HAVE to remain vigilant! If we're not, then we all could be clocking out for good!"

Alex nodded slowly, and once we had the signal from Don, we all got the train moving. For a while after we did, nothing happened. We trundled along, with the Plow-Catcher pushing snow out of the way as we went along. The wind blew, and the snow flew. From our research, there weren't really any villages or settlements in this area.

"This reminds me so much of the Rocky Mountains", I thought. "In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that these WERE the Rocky Mountains!"

However, about an hour or so later, we saw lights off in the distance.

"Ok people, look sharp!" Don warned. "We're coming up on Rendon now. We still have the element of surprise on our side, as well as the weather. Plus, the enemy STILL doesn't know that we're here! We HAVE to make full use of that!" He then switched frequencies. "You guys up in the cab?"

"Yes Don?"

"Be ready with the forward 8in artillery guns. The train tracks run right through Rendon's front gates. We'll blast through those, and then blast everything inside of the city. Once we're out the back, then it's on to the Highland Mountains!"

"Roger that Don, I'm increasing the speed now." While I did that, Fred and Andy began to load up the front 8in artillery guns.

Closer and closer we came, each second ticking closer and closer. When we were in range, I blasted the whistle, just as Fred and Andy fired the forward 8in artillery guns.

*BOOM!!!! BOOM!!!! BOOM!!!! BOOM!!!* They managed to put 2 rounds apiece into the front gates just before we impacted.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!!" I yelled back to the rest of the train.

Moments after I yelled this, our train plowed through the front gates. Once we were inside of Rendon, the rest of our guns took out everything that they could. Caribou were shot right and left, buildings were blown to pieces, and fires were started wherever they could be.

"YEAH, THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT BOYS!!!!" Don yelled. We were also yelling and screaming as well.

Once we blasted out the other side, we continued on our journey, letting the city burn behind us. What we failed to realize though, was that not only had we been spotted before we attacked, but a message had been sent ahead as well!

For the Caribou, it was just another day of watching; watching for the enemy that they felt was close. The Caribou in charge of Rendon, Colonel Ryke, had a suspicion that we had to be in the Caribou Empire somewhere, and that Gregor's forces hadn't won all of those victories on their own. Danin, and even Rodin had called him paranoid and crazy, but he didn't listen. Suddenly, from somewhere out in the snowstorm, there suddenly came the sound of a train.

"Hey, are we expecting any trains today?"

Ryke shook his head. "No. At least, not to my knowledge."

Then, from out of the snow storm, there came the ghostly silhouette of the one train that all of them had prayed that they would never see.

"IT'S THE BLACK LEVIATHAN!!!!"

Ryke turned to the nearest solider. "Get me General Rodin, IMMEDIATELY!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!" When Rodin heard the news from Ryke, he had to sit down he was so shocked.

"Yes General, the Humans are here! They're currently tearing this entire city apart! They're getting too close......" Ryke turned to look at something off to the side. "They're......OH GODS!!!!" The transmission then abruptly ended. All further attempts to contact Rendon after that point were hit or miss. A few Caribou answered, and they did indeed confirm that Colonel Ryke had been killed.

Rodin knew that he was going to have to report this to Danin. And, as he predicted, that conversation did NOT got well.

"WHAT?!?!?! HOW COULD THEY HAVE GOTTEN THIS CLOSE TO US WITHOUT US KNOWING ABOUT IT?!?!?!?!"

Rodin sighed. "That's the thing, My King. If the working theory is correct, then on the same night as Gregor's coup, they invaded. This would definitely explain how Gregor and his forces were able to do some of the things that they were able to do; they had help from the Humans, most likely unknowingly. After that, the humans just made their way from one city to the next, and are also probably responsible for the disasters at both Dock Town, and Lake Town."

"And why have we been unable to access those areas General?"

Rodin sighed. "Because Sir, once they've secured an area and moved on, then Equestrian soldiers come in, and take over. We've now lost nearly 45% of our empire in this way. I fear that we will not be able to hold on much longer."

"And where is the Black Leviathan now?"

Rodin sighed. "According to the latest reports Sir, it was last seen leaving the ruins of Rendon, and was heading for the Highland Mountains."

Danin knew how serious that was. The Highland Mountains were the only way to Donneth. "And how would you recommend that we stop them General?"

Rodin pointed to a map. "Right here is the Highlands Trestle Bridge. As quickly as we can, we need to burn that bridge, so that it collapses, and hopefully takes the Black Leviathan with it!"

Danin smirked darkly. "Yes, that is a VERY good idea General! Get your forces out there, wait for the Black Leviathan to try and cross the bridge, AND THEN BURN IT OUT FROM UNDER THEM!!!!"

Rodin nodded. "Yes Sir! I'll send troops to get on that right away!"

Before Rodin could though, another transmission came through. "GENERAL RODIN, ARE YOU THERE?!?!?!"

"Yes, I'm here. Who is this?"

"THIS IS LT. FRINK OF UNIT 3!!! MY TRAIN WAS CARRYING WOUNDED TROOPS FROM THE BATTLE OF LAKE TOWN, AND NOW WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!!"

"Who's attacking you, Lt. Frink?"

"THE BLACK LEVIATHAN!!!! IT'S CHASING US!!!!"

Rodin looked up at Danin. "Ok, now this could complicate your plan, My King." He then turned back to Frink. "And how close are they to you Lieutenant?"

Frink then turned his communicator, revealing that the Black Leviathan was literally only a few feet behind his train.

"Ok, um yeah, that's REALLY close! Ok, well then, you have to get clear of them! We're about to burn the Highland Trestle Bridge, and hopefully send the Black leviathan crashing down once and for all!"

Frink said something, but whatever it was was lost as the transmission cut out due to poor connections, and the weather.

"So, what do I do, My King?"

"Proceed with the original plan, General. Burn the bridge, and take out the Black Leviathan! If a few more of our soldiers are lost in the process, then so be it. Their sacrifice will not be in vain."

Rodin nodded, but yet, he felt a twinge of guilt knowing that those soldiers were having their lives put in jeopardy because of his actions. "As you have willed it, My King, it shall be done."

Rodin then left to go oversee the operation.

On our end of things, we were beginning to think that something was wrong. We did pick up long range static, most likely meaning that a message got through!

"Oh gosh, this is bad!" Don was worried. "WE HAVE TO HURRY!!!"

Nobody had to tell us what that meant. If we'd been spotted, AND a message was sent ahead, then not only did that mean that the enemy knew where we were, but also it most likely meant that they were going to do whatever they could to stop us! However, before we could really think about this too much, we all suddenly heard a loud, and all too familiar sound.

"Huh, what's that?"

"I don't know, it almost sounded like a steam engine!"

I suddenly looked out of the front window. "Hey, it IS another engine! In fact, it looks like an entire train!"

The others in the cab looked, and sure enough, there it was; out on the tracks ahead of us, there really was another train!

I radioed back to Don. "Hey Don, there's another train up ahead of us! Caribou by the looks of it. What should we do?"

"Whatever you can to maybe NOT destroy it! Just keep them fleeing!"

I was confused. "Huh? Why don't we want to destroy it?"

"Because, if we don't, then there's a greater likelihood of us NOT getting attacked by the Caribou! That train might act as insurance for us. The enemy already knows that we're here, but as long as that other train remains in front of us, then we might be safe!"

I nodded. "Ok, roger that Don. We'll keep following, although we might occasionally try to ram the other train."

"Ok, but be careful! Mountain tracks are nothing to fool around with! We may need to slow down here before long!"

"Ok, Roger that."

We then resumed our chase.

Before long though, we did indeed come to the Highland Mountains. Also by this time, the weather was getting worse. It was still dark, the wind was howling, and the snow was still falling pretty heavily. All around us were dark peaks, and large mountains. Treacherous at the best of times, in this kind of weather, the Highland Mountains could easily be our tomb.

Don tried to warn me about this. "Leopard, you need to slow down a bit. This route is really getting dangerous."

Unfortunately though, because of the weather, I wasn't able to hear Don very well. "What? Oh, yeah. This can be dangerous. Don't worry though, you have the best people manning the engine!"

On and on we went. The train continued to get bumped, and things shifted as we continued to move along. The route was steep, curvy, and worst of all, there were no guard rails anywhere! One wrong move, one brake failure, one corner taken too fast, could derail our train, and send us all crashing into the mountain ravines below!

"Leopard, seriously, SLOW DOWN!!!"

"What?! I'm having a really hard time hearing you Don, you're breaking up! Please repeat!"

"I SAID SLOW DOWN!!! YOU'RE GOING WAY TOO FAST!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

Then, the connection died. I tried to contact Don, just as he tried to contact me, but it was no use. Even though it was just a train-board intercom, the connection was too poor. As the train continued to lurch from right to left, Don decided that it was a good idea to contact the Princesses again, even if only to say goodbye!

"Princesses, Princesses?! Are you there?!"

After a few moments, Celestia appeared. "I'm here Major, although you're signal's getting a little glitchy. Anyway, what's going on?"

Don sighed, and then he explained the whole situation. "And that's where we are right now! We're currently racing through the Highland Mountains, and this train is going way too fast! We're most likely going to crash here soon!"

"But...why didn't you just radio the engine, and tell them to slow down?!"

"I tried to, but the intercom went dead! And I can't send anybody up there due to the weather!"

"It what?! Your intercom is dead, AND you can't get anyone up to the engine?!"

"Yes! That's why I contacted you, so that I wouldn't have to die alone!"

Celestia didn't know what to say to that. However, Luna spoke up. "Major, according to what I'm seeing here, you're rapidly coming up on the Highland Trestle Bridge. Most likely, since the enemy does know that you are there, then they will most likely try and destroy that bridge! You HAVE to get there before they can do that!"

Don nodded. "Yeah, I KNOW!!!"

Meanwhile, out ahead of us, General Rodin's forces were trying to set fire to the bridge. However, due to the weather, they were not succeeding very well.

"Come on! What's taking so long?! Why is that bridge not on fire yet?!"

"We're trying to General Rodin, but it's not so easy to light a bridge on fire during a snowstorm!"

"Ugh, just use a flamethrower if you have to, BUT BURN THAT F@#KER TO THE GROUND!!!!"

"We're trying Sir!"

After fumbling around for the longest time, one of the soldiers finally got the bridge to light up.

"Sir, we've got it! Now we just have to keep it burning until the Black Leviathan shows up!"

"Excellent! You're doing a great job, keep it up!"

Back on the train, a combination of bad weather, twists and turns, as well as our speed, coupled with our chasing of the train ahead of us, all caused us to go a little bit crazy, especially those of us in the engine. For some reason, we all seemed completely oblivious to the danger ahead. Eventually though, after leaving a tunnel, we saw it, the Highland's Trestle Bridge. By that point, we had managed to fix the intercom, even if only for a little while longer.

"Don, we're coming up on the bridge!"

"And what does it look like Leopard?"

I looked, and almost fainted. "Oh lordy, it's burning! They've torched it!"

"How bad is it?!"

"I.....I can't tell!"

"LEOPARD, STOP THE TRAIN RIGHT NOW!!! IF YOU DON'T THEN WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!"

For some reason though, I refused to stop. Instead, I only opened the throttle up even more! The train continued to sway and lurch. The worst part about the bridge, (aside from it being on fire!) was that it curved to the right; it wasn't in a straight line.

Also by this point, there were no more atheists, or agnostics on the train. Indeed, all of them were praying to God!

"Oh Lord, please do not let us die for Captain Leopard's sins! It's his fault, not ours!"

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, forgive your servant Leopard, for he knows not what he does!"

Ironically, it was little better for the train in front of us. Lt. Frink and his crew were beyond terrified. As if being chased by the Black Leviathan wasn't bad enough, now the bridge that they were about to cross was on fire as well!

"OH GODS, WHAT DO WE DO FRINK?!?!?!"

"I....don't know!!!!! BUT WE HAVE TO MAKE IT ACROSS THE BRIDGE!!!!"

The train only had 6 cars, and none of them were full. By the time that they reached the bridge, it was still structurally sound. They managed to make it across, even though the bridge creaked, groaned, and a few parts of it fell off.

"WHEW!!!! THAT WAS CLOSE!!!!"

"We're not out of the woods yet!", Frink muttered. "We still have the rest of this route to contend with!"

They then turned back to see how we fared, hoping with every fiber in their being that the bridge would collapse, sending us all plunging into the ravine below!

It was at this time that we reached the bridge. Now, I knew off the bat that our chances of actually making it over the bridge before it collapsed were extremely slim. Most likely, the bridge had never even been rated for an engine as large as the Big Boy, and that wasn't even counting the rest of the Battleship Express!

When we reached the bridge, I guess that I expected it to collapse instantly, but it didn't. It did however begin to sway, as well as have multiple pieces break off of it. The creaking and groaning of the bridge was hideous. Back and forth the bridge continued to rock and sway. Each time it did, more and more pieces of the bridge continued to break off. Because of the fires, the bridge was getting weaker by the second.

Eventually, the Big Boy made it to the other side, then the cars carrying it's coal and water, then the bunk car with the SCC, then cars 5, 6, 7, 9, 11....the bridge seemed to be at the collapse point. 16, 17, 21, the back end of the bridge collapsed, just a few feet behind the caboose! The bridge's inner structure was about to break loose. 25, 27, 29.....*CRASH!!!!!* half of the bridge collapsed! The rest was not far behind! 30, 31, 32. Then, just as the last wheels on the caboose touched the rails on the other side, the bridge leaned over, and then finally completely collapsed. All of the burning debris fell down into the mountain ravine below, although the Battleship Express was safe!

Unfortunately though, even though we'd made it over the bridge before it collapsed, we were not out of the woods yet. What we didn't know about, were the last sections of the line before the tracks left the Highland Mountains. These sections of the rails were not only all downhill, but they were twisty, and they were almost straight down!

To make a long story short, the smaller train in front of us was able to make it all of the way down. They braked to a stop in an area at the bottom surrounded by trees, snow, and a few other smaller mountains.

"Hmm", Frink muttered, "Well, that was close. At least we were able to escape from....."

He never got a chance to finish that thought. Before he could, from higher above in the mountains, the chugging of our train got louder, and louder, until we were charging down the mountains, heading straight for them!

"OH F@#KKKK!!!!" Due to heavy snow, they were unable to go forwards. Not too long after, our train reached them, and the last thing I can remember before my head hit the Big Boy's backhead in front of me was the sound of metal grinding against metal, as well as snow flying about, but then, nothingness. I only saw blackness as I succumbed to unconsciousness.

Author's Note

And, that was Chapter 21. Sorry for it being delayed, but I got back from school yesterday, and I fell asleep without writing anything. Today, I had to work, so I wasn't able to write very much until early this morning. Anyway though, here it is, so I hope that you enjoy!

So now that the Caribou know that we're here, how is that going to play into the next battle? Do they know that we made it through the mountains, or do they still think that we died in the bridge collapse? And what about our collision with the other train? Was the other train destroyed, or did we destroy our own train? How close are we to Donneth now? And what about Bindleton, the city that was preparing to surrender? What will happen to them? Well, you all know the drill, stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

As always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 22, which will involve more major battle scenes, so don't you dare miss it!

ScarFox out for now!