When I finally did come around again, I was lying on my side on the cab floor next to the firebox doors.

"Augh......wha.....what, happened?"

I made the move to sit up. Aside from a headache, and maybe a dent or two in my helmet, as well as a few scrapes from hitting the floor, I was ok. I then looked around, and saw the others were waking up as well.

"Ogh, where are we?"

I shrugged. "I don't know Alex. However, since we're all still on the cab's floor, I'd say that it's safe enough to assume that we're still right side up." I then looked towards the window, and to my surprise, all I could see was white! "Huh, what the.....?"

We opened the cab's doors, but when we did, all we could see was a solid mass of white!

"Is, is that snow?!"

"I think so Todd. We might have gotten buried a bit in the crash!"

"Should we try to dig outside?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I think so. We need to see what the situation is out there, and maybe see if we can figure out where we are."

We all agreed to this, and while Todd worked with the radio to see if he could reach the rest of the train, and Alex kept the fire in the firebox going, Fred, Andy, and I all grabbed coal shovels, and began to dig out through the doorways. It was hard work, but eventually, we were able to break through.

"Hey, I've found a hole! I can see daylight!"

Fred looked up. "How high is that? Can you climb up it?"

I looked at it. "I'd say that that's maybe 3 feet up. And yeah, I'll try and climb."

I then exited the cab, and began to crawl up through the hole. Once I poked my head out, as well as my hands, shoulders, and arms, I took a look around.

"What do you see up there Leopard?"

"Lot's of snow! I also see trees, and maybe a few rocks. Unfortunately, I think that when we smashed into the train in front of us, I think that that might have triggered a local avalanche, as the entire train appears to be buried in snow!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"Yeah. I can see parts of the train, but we're pretty well covered. This snow could provide us good cover."

Meanwhile, Todd was working the radio. "Attention all hands, this is 2nd Brakeman Todd Davis in the Big Boy. Does anyone copy, over?"

After a minute or so, a reply came. "Todd? Yes, this is Major Don, I read you loud and clear. Are you boys ok up there?"

"Yes Sir. We're bruised a bit, but overall we're ok."

"And we seem to be buried in snow. Any ideas on how deep down we are?"

"Eh, well, according to Leopard, who managed to get outside of the cab, parts of the top of the train are visible, so maybe 16-20 feet or so. Alex is building up the fires up here so as to thaw out the engine, and if you want my advice, I'd say get all of the heaters running back there was well, as well as the defrosters, so that we can get outside, and hopefully dig ourselves out."

"Affirmative Todd. And we also seem to be out of communications range. Most likely, this is due to either the weather, or our signals being blocked by the mountains. However, yes, we need to get to work on digging ourselves out right away."

"Roger that Major, Todd out."

The next couple of hour were some of the most strenuous in recent memory. Thanks to Alex getting the boiler hot, we were able to melt that off pretty quickly, but digging out the rest of the train was going to be a severe hassle. There was just so much snow covering us, and every now and again, our radars would pick up a Griffon patrol, (most likely looking for us) and we'd all have to scramble for cover. (We left snow on top of the train, so as to better disguise it from the air). Eventually, in a few places, we managed to reach the ground. To our surprise, the entire train was seemingly still on the rails.

"Huh" Don mused, "So we might have fared better than I originally thought with that crash. I thought that we surely would have had to have come off the tracks at least somewhere."

Eventually though, we did come to the wreckage of the train that we had plowed through. Most of it was unrecognizable. From our point of impact on the caboose, our engine turned everything from there, to just 3 cars behind the engine into twisted, shattered, scrap. Everything that hadn't been turned into scrap was lying on it's side in the snow. All of the crew were dead, either from the impact, or from seemingly having froze to death in the snow. It was pretty awful, all of that blood though. The front Plow-Catcher had several mutilated bodies impaled by the spikes mounted to it.

"Oh God!" Those of us who found that were fighting off the urge to throw up. As carefully as we could, we removed the bodies, and buried them in the snow. They were too damaged to really be of any use to us.

"This is so gross! I always hated having to clean the spikes after we've rammed something. Removing mutilated corpses was always the worst part!"

I nodded. "Yeah, I totally agree Fred. It's a hard job, but SOMEBODY'S got to do it!"

"Yeah, and at least we're almost done."

"Exactly! So let's just get this done, so that we can move on to something else!"

He nodded, and then we tried to wrap up the rest of our cleaning work before the next round of Griffons were spotted.

Back in Donneth, Danin was beginning to get extremely worried. He had lost contact with Lt. Frink, and that made him paranoid.

"The Black leviathan is out there General Rodin! We HAVE to find it! We also have to find out what happened to Lt. Frink, and his train!"

"And we will Sir. I've already dispatched Colonel Bruno, as well as his Griffon soldiers to scout the area, and see what they can find."

"And, do you think that they'll find anything?"

Rodin shrugged. "It's too early to tell, My King. However, if I had to venture a guess, then I would have to say that they'll find the train stuck in the snow, as well as the crash site of the Black Leviathan somewhere."

Danin nodded. "Hopefully so General, hopefully so."

The hours began to tick by though, and still no new reports came.

"We've scouted around this entire area General Rodin", Bruno reported, "And we STILL cannot find any signs of either of them! We've found where the bridge has collapsed, but beyond that, there must have been a recent avalanche or something, as we cannot even see the tracks on the other side of the mountain anymore due to extremely heavy snow."

Rodin sighed. "Just....keep looking Colonel. You know how King Danin can become when he's paranoid. If you find anything, just report back."

Bruno groaned. "As you wish, General." They all kept looking.

After 13 hours though, they decided to give up. "We can't take this anymore General! It's getting colder, and it looks like another snow storm is on its way. We've been out here for this long, and we STILL cannot find any trace of anything! As of now, I'd say that the Black Leviathan crashed somewhere, and got buried in the avalanche. Most likely, this same avalanche hit Lt. Frink's train, and buried it as well. Most likely they're all dead, and if they're not, I'd say that we let the Devil take them!"

Rodin sighed. "Ok then Colonel, you all can return to base now. I'll inform King Danin of your reports."

"Roger that General, Bruno out."

"So, they were unable to find anything, is that what I'm hearing?"

Rodin nodded. "Yes Sir. At this point, I'd say that one or both of them crashed, and were later buried in the avalanche. At this point, I'd say that it's safe to assume that they're all dead. Most likely, we won't find anything until the first thaw of Spring when all of the snow melts."

Danin looked at the floor. "Just so long as they're DEAD, General, then it doesn't really matter! Frink is replaceable, although I certainly hope that we do recover his train eventually."

Rodin could see that Danin was becoming more concerned with the collateral damage, instead of the lost lives. He sighed, and was getting ready to leave to go back to his post, but then Danin stopped him.

"General?"

"Um, yes My King?"

"Bring me all 3 of the prisoners. I want them to know for THEMSELVES that their 'saviors', are dead!"

Rodin sighed. "As you wish, My King. I'll have them sent on up."

Down below in the harem chamber, all 3 of the prisoners, as well as Missy, were sleeping. Pinkie and Dash were together, as were Cole and Missy. Suddenly however, they were all very rudely awakened.

"Hey! Wake up in there!" They were all suddenly dragged to their feet, and had leashes attached to their collars.

"Gaeesh!!! What's going on?" Cole was slightly annoyed.

"King Danin wants to see you, that's what!"

Cole rolled his eyes, and was promptly punched in the stomach.

"How many of the prisoners did King Danin want again?"

"Um, General Rodin said that he wanted all of them."

"And how many was that?"

The lead Caribou shrugged. "I dunno. I guess we grab all 4 of these, as they're always clustered together."

The prisoners were then picked up, and carried out of the harem chamber. After going up a few flights of stairs, they were dragged down a series of hallways, until finally they were brought to a large set of double doors. Once those doors were opened, they were dragged down a red carpet, with Caribou Guards all along the sides of it. At the end of the carpet, they were dropped in front of a series of stone steps.

"My King, here are the prisoners, as you requested."

They all looked up. At the top of the stairs, was a gray throne. Sitting on the throne was a Caribou bull, wearing a grey shirt, black pants, black boots, a metal breastplate, as well as a metal crown on his head. He looked to be in his early 40's, and he seemed to be tired.

"So", He said in a cold voice, "I asked for the 3 hostages taken from the Zebra Empire, why was I given 4?"

"Huh?" The lead Caribou looked at the prisoners. "Which one is the odd one out, this one?" He asked holding Missy by the collar.

"Yes! Why was she brought?!"

"Um, well, because....My King, she was sleeping with the other 3 prisoners, and we (mistakenly) thought that she was one of them. What do we do with her?"

Danin narrowed his eyes. "Well, what do YOU think that we should do with her?"

Missy began to quiver with fright, as well as cry slightly. This had happened to her all too many times before. "Please....." She whimpered softly. "Just..leave me alone."

"Heh, you hear that boys? This plump bitch wants us to 'leave her alone'!" Some of the other guards began to laugh.

"I would vote that you all stop laughing, and do what she says." A cold voice broke in. "Or you will face dire consequences!"

They all stopped laughing, and to their surprise, the speaker was Cole! He was now staring straight at Danin, and there was not a trace of fear to be seen on his face anywhere.

"You will leave her alone, or like I said before, the consequences will be dire!"

Now Danin's expression went from shock, to anger. "Fine then!" He grabbed Missy from the lead Caribou, "You want her so bad, WHY DON'T YOU TAKE HER!?!?!?!" Danin then threw Missy at him as hard as he possibly could.

The force of the impact not only knocked both of them out, but also sent them flying a good 5 feet back! Cole also hit his head on the red carpet, and came to a sliding stop on his back, with Missy lying face down on top of him.

"COLE!!!!" Dash screamed. She tried to make her way over to him, but was prevented from doing so by Danin's guards, and was dragged back beside Pinkie, who was also quivering with fright.

"Now then, I wanted him to hear this as well, but then he decided that he wanted to play hardball! Anyway though, last night, the unthinkable happened."

"What, that you're now 2 steps closer to having your asses kicked?" Dash fully expected to get what Cole got.

Instead, Danin just smirked. "Heh, you WISH! But no. Last light, at maybe 3:35am, your friends on the Black Leviathan went missing! We believe that they crashed, and got buried in an avalanche! They FROZE to death! They're NEVER coming to save you!" Danin then began to laugh cruelly.

Pinkie began to cry, but Dash just looked at Danin unfazed. "Um, yeah....about that. Where's the proof? It's so easy to talk about something like this, but show me the PROOF!!!"

Danin knew that that was going to be a problem. Colonel Bruno had repeatedly reported that he and his soldiers had found no traces of the train at all. Suddenly, his great speech meant to break the slaves suddenly came crashing down around him.

One of the guards spoke for him. "Actually, Slaves, their deaths are, as of now at least, unconfirmed. HOWEVER, last night, they chased one of our trains through the Highland Mountains. We tried to burn the Highland Trestle Bridge beneath them, but they made it over it. Eventually, they made it down the other side of the mountains, where they are believed to have crashed into the other train. The force of the vibrations is believed to have triggered a local avalanche. For 13 hours straight we searched for any signs of them, or the other train, but found nothing. As far as we can tell, they seem to have been buried in the snow, although we probably won't find any wreckage until the Spring thaw. So while we cannot confirm their deaths right now, what I can tell you is that most likely, they've frozen to death out there somewhere."

When Dash heard that, she broke down crying. "Oh Stud....!!!" She sobbed. "No. No...no...NO!!!!!!!" She kept crying.

"Guards, please remove them from here, and take them back to the chamber. Give them some time to think about it."

"Yes, My King."

Pinkie and Dash were then carried out of the room, while Missy and Cole were dragged. Eventually, they were returned to where they'd been found, and after being dumped on the floor, the other Caribou left.

A few minutes later, just as Cole and Missy regained consciousness again, Winston entered the room, and began to make his rounds. When he came to his favorite group of friends, he found them all crying.

"Hey, what's wrong you guys? Were....you...abused, again?"

Cole looked up at him. "No, Winston, much worse than that....." He then explained to him everything that Dash had told him that Danin had said.

When he finished, Winston could only sigh sadly. "Wow.....um, I.....don't even know what to say. Only that......I hope that they are indeed still out there somewhere. I don't think that they're dead though."

"Y-you, don't?"

Winston shook his head. "No, at least, I don't believe it. Maybe they are, but if you ask me, they're still out there, just waiting for the Caribou to declare them dead, before striking again."

Dash sighed. "I......want to believe you, Winston, b-but I....just don't know what to think right now."

He nodded. "I, understand, Rainbow Dash. I'll keep my ears open, and I'll tell you if I hear any news about the Black Leviathan, or its crew."

They all nodded, and after Winston gave them their food and water, he left the room again, leaving the group alone with their thoughts.

Back in Canterlot, the Princesses were starting to become very concerned that not only had they not heard from the Battleship Express since the previous night, but they were unable to contact them as well.

"Any word from them yet, Sister?"

Luna shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I still can't get any messages through, and I haven't heard anything from them either."

Celestia sighed. "This could be due to not only the weather, but also the Highland Mountains as well. Remember, they are some of the highest mountains in all of Equus. They could be blocking some of the transmissions."

Luna looked at her sister. "I really want to believe that Sister, but I'm not sure if I can. They made it over the Highlands Trestle Bridge, but what happened to them after that still remains a serious mystery. It's also possible that they could have been buried in snow, as Major Don did say that they were about to impact with that other train. Maybe they hit that train, and then the snow buried them."

Now it was Celestia's turn to shrug. "It's possible, I suppose Sister. But, I just wish that they would answer us. However, if the worst has happened, and they have indeed lost their lives, when......do you think that we should inform the public?"

Luna sighed. "I think that we should wait until the enemy confirms their deaths. That way we would know for sure. For now, I vote that we just keep waiting, and hoping that we hear from them."

Meanwhile, completely unaware that we had been declared dead by the Caribou, and missing by the Equestrians, we of the Battleship Express had finally managed to get our train free of the snow. There was still a large amount left on the roof of the train to act as a disguise, and to our dismay, it was starting to snow again too.

"Oh great, this is JUST GREAT!!!! First we get buried in snow, NOW we have to deal with MORE snow!"

I groaned. "Yeah, I know what you mean Don. Hopefully this time, we won't get buried again."

Don nodded, and got back to work on the radio. For hours we had been trying to reach Canterlot, but hadn't been having any luck. What we had been able to do however, was listen to some of the local frequencies. According to Donneth authorities, we had all been declared dead.

"And, in other news, as our glorious King Danin has reported to us, last night, at around 3:30am, the Black Leviathan, the central flagship war train of the Humans who have been destroying our great empire, met a grizzly end. At the hands of the snows of the Highland Mountains, this vast rail giant was smited by a mighty avalanche, and all of its crew perished with it!

There are now no more Humans on Equus. They all died with their war machine. Their spark has forever gone out, and now with them, and their weapon gone, Equestria is once again vulnerable to attack. Hopefully, with the thaws of Spring, the wreckage of the train can be found, so that its weapons can be mass produced by us. May the glory of the gods be upon us, and our beloved King Danin, and may our rule never end!" The broadcast ended with what appeared to be the Caribou's national anthem.

When the broadcast was over, Don and I looked at each other. "Wow, that was like a Soviet broadcast, mixed with one from North Korea! More propaganda than actual facts."

Don nodded. "Yes, but now that they believe that we are dead, we may be able to use that to our advantage."

"Yeah, but how?"

"Eh, I have an idea, but I think that we should talk to the Princesses about it first."

We kept tinkering with the radio, trying to get a signal out.

Eventually, with the two of us, DELCI, Jim, and Shining, we were able to boost the signal enough for another attempt.

Don sighed "Ok, well, here goes nothing." After switching over to a secured frequency so that he would not be overheard, Don began his transmission. "Hello? This is Major Don of the Battleship Express, calling Canterlot Castle. Is anypony there, over?" Don could see that his signal was beginning to go through again, so there was a chance of the princesses getting the message.

"This is Major Don of the Battleship Express, does anyone copy, over?"

Suddenly, the radio came to life.

"MAJOR?!?!?! This is Princess Celestia! IS THAT REALLY YOU?!?!?!"

Don smirked. "Heh, yep, I'm right here! We're all still fine, we just got a little buried in snow, is all." He then went on to explain what had happened.

"So, you made it over the bridge, and then went over the other side of the mountains, and then crashed into the train that you were chasing?"

"Yes. And then we believe that a localized avalanche occurred, which buried our train. Don't worry though, we've dug ourselves out, and aside from some snow that we left on the roof to act as camouflage, we're ready to go again."

"Well, I'm just so relived to hear your voice again Major. When your transmission just suddenly cut off, and never reestablished, we all feared the worst for you."

"Actually, the Caribou did too. While we were trying to contact you, our radio did pick up a number of local frequencies. Multiple broadcasts reported our train lost with all hands. They said that salvage teams would be sent out in the Spring to locate the wreckage, and that not only were we all dead, but also that Equestria would be theirs to rule over again."

"Which WILL NOT be happening! However, since they believe all of you to be dead, you should probably take full advantage of that."

Don nodded. "Yeah, and I have a plan for that. Here's the deal. Remember how some of us have the Bat-Pony genetics in them?"

"Yes."

"And remember how many Ponies, and other species think that Bat-Ponies are unnatural, and may be devil-spawns?"

"I think I may see where you are going with this, but please, continue."

"Yes, well, my plan is for some of them to go out, and basically play some of the greatest mind games that we have ever attempted. The enemy thinks that we're dead, so why not play into that? Have them run about, screeching like Banshees in tattered, worn-out, black uniforms, some with added features like hoods, so as to make them appear to be the spirits of the Battleship Express crew back for revenge? The Caribou may not quite be as superstitious as the Zebras were, but I know that they still fear the dead. What do you think Princess?"

Celestia was taken aback a bit by what Don was suggesting. However, she knew that if the Caribous could be made so scared that it would render them unable to fight, she urged them to go for it. "If you think that you guys can do it, heck, I'm not gonna stop you! The more fear that you can put into those heathens, the better!"

Don nodded. "Roger that Princess. and I'll have Leopard and a few other guys take their cameras with them so that they can record what happens."

"Ok, roger that Don, Celestia out."

Don then sighed, and began to draw up the rest of his plan.

3 nights later, he decided to put the plan into action. He selected 9 of us, myself included, who all had a mixture of human, Bat-Pony, and wolf in them, were close to, if not over 6ft. and looked threatening. We were then given all black and grey clothes that had been torn up a bit. Our faces were painted black, and our eyes, which did contain tapetum lucidum, glowed in the dark. (Tapetum lucidum is the layer in animal eyes that makes them glow in the dark.) We were also given hoods, so as to mask our identities. We were also given guns, as well as knives, and axes.

Just before we got ready to go and do some dirty work, Don and Shining looked at us. "God, you guys are REALLY creepy looking, and I'm not just saying that! You guys are scary as hell!"

"Yeah, what the Major said! Each one of you looks like a Battleship Express crew member back for revenge!"

We all *screed* in response to that, and a few of us hissed as well.

"Yeah, just like that! Now then, as I'm sure that you boys have heard by now, close by, is the town of Hilden, as well as a few villages. I want you boys to bag those for me. Do you think that you can do that?"

I saluted. "We'll do what we can Don. Although I can say that, even if we don't fully pull it off, if we can cause enough panic to induce a heart attack, then I think that we could call that a job well done!"

Don nodded. "Very good boys. Now then, get out there, have some fun, and show them WHY they shouldn't be afraid of the shadows, but should instead be scared of what's IN the shadows!"

We all smirked, and once Don let us outside, we all took flight, and disappeared over the tops of the trees.

"Well, here we go again!" Don muttered as he went over to the screen in the PCC so that he could track our progress via our tracking devices.

What happened next was said by many Caribou later to have been the most terrifying night of their lives. Many of them had been told stories about vengeful spirits coming back from the grave to seek revenge. Now, while many cheered the destruction of the Battleship Express, there were others who warned of impending doom.

"We will all fry for this!" They warned. "Now that the Humans are dead, they WILL return to get us!"

These reports were disbelieved, until that night in Hilden. From seemingly all around, there suddenly came an ungodly shrieking sound. A few of the Caribou who were still awake at the time looked up, and to their extreme horror, there, flying in the sky, illuminated by the light of the moon, were 9 of the most terrifying figures that they had ever seen. All of them were dressed in black, tattered uniforms, and had glowing eyes! They also all shrieked in the most terrifying way imaginable.

Accounts vary on what actually happened, but according to our camera feed, we had a real blast that night. Once we all landed, we went on our own killing sprees. Almost all of it was done with axes and knives. Caribou were slaughtered right and left by the "Human Harbingers". They all seemed to be able to dodge projectiles launched at them with EASE. One of them, (me) was even hit point blank in the chest by a shotgun blast! The blast knocked the Harbinger off of his feet, and after a whopping 4 seconds on the ground, he got back up, charged the shooter, before grabbing his shotgun, and beating him to death with it! (How did I do this? Well, as Sombra was kind enough to show me, his armor was enchanted, and was able to repel even things as powerful as shotgun blasts! I wore the chest-piece under my uniform for protection. However, I was still somewhat heavily bruised from the force of the impact.)

For a long time this went on. Don referred to this as "Operation Nazgul", since there were 9 of us. Since I was the leader, and the most powerful, I was "The Witch-King of Angmar". The other 8 also had the names of the other Nazgul. It was an extremely successful operation. In fact, it was so successful that, for a brief time, myself and 2 others found ourselves in Donneth! Yes, Donneth, the Caribou Capital!

The original plan was to actually try and rescue the hostages right then. We did manage to get close to the Imperial Palace, and although we were able to smash a few windows, grab a couple of soldiers and drop them to their deaths, as well as cause some mass panic, we were unable to get inside. The defenders were too strong, and we were forced to retreat.

Just as we did so though, I turned back one last time, and after shrieking again, from a special launcher concealed under my uniform, I sent a couple of balls of fire down into the city. We then retreated, and headed back to Hilden, and the surrounding villages.

By the next morning, the damage had been done. In just 1 night, 13,000 more Caribou lay dead. We'd smashed up a lot things, although we didn't set the city on fire as we knew that when we ultimately did attack Donneth, towns like that would have to be used as refugee camps for slaves, and POW's. When we returned to the Battleship Express, we returned to a hero's welcome.

"Bravo Nazgul, bravo! You REALLY put the FEAR OF GOD into our enemies! Striking from the shadows, killing the enemies, clearing out a whole town, and 2 settlements. 9 guys, taking down 13,000! Now how does that feel?"

I looked at Don, and sighed. "It feels, interesting. God's hand was REALLY protecting us tonight! We were tools in His hands, doing His work. We're now less than 40 miles away from Donneth itself!"

"Yes, and how close did you get to it?"

I sighed. "Well, we did manage to get to the Imperial Palace, but alas, due to simply overwhelming enemy weaponry, we were forced to retreat. We did smash a few things up, but we were unable to get inside."

Don nodded. "Still, good work boys! You've done all of us 'dead folks' a great service! The Princesses were watching your performance tonight, and I must say, that they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They really seemed to enjoy watching the Caribou get their asses handed to them! Anyway, that will be all for now. You boys can go get cleaned up, before getting some rest. You've all earned it!"

We nodded, and went our own ways to our rooms.

When I arrived back in my room, and once I was all cleaned up, I crawled into bed.

"Oh, hey Sweetheart", A voice cooed, "I see that you made it back to me safely."

I sighed, before rolling over, and hugging my coltfriend. "Hey Shadow, and yeah, I'm back. And thanks for letting me take some of your armor into battle. It saved my life from a shotgun blast!"

Sombra nuzzled me gently. "Mmm, it was my pleasure Sweetheart! Anything to keep you safe."

I then nodded, and with Sombra holding me gently, I fell asleep, dreaming of the day where once again, I would have Dash in my arms again.

"Just hold on a little bit longer Dash", I thought. "We're less than 40 miles away from you now, and we could strike against the Caribou at any time!"

I then fell asleep on that thought.

Author's Note

And, that was chapter 22. Sorry if it was a little bit boring at times, I had to set the mood for the upcoming Chapter 23, and it's multiple parts. I had to set a few things up, and get the ball rolling, and now that it has, I know that Chapter 23 will be amazing!

So now, we're less than 40 miles away from Donneth, and the Caribou think that we're all dead. Will they ever figure out that they're wrong? When will we attack Donneth? And when we do, how will the attack go? Will we be able to save Dash and the others in time? And how will I ever be able to explain my many "issues" to Dash? Well, you know the drill, stay tuned, and I'll tell you! We're starting to get down to the end here, with only a handful of chapters left. It's been a long journey, but it's not over yet!

Meanwhile, 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 23!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!!