Being Lyra

"All aboard, last call for Canterlot!" a loud voice shouted.

It certainly woke up the pony on the bunk above me. Steam pipes on the train started roaring and the broad connecting steel wands on the wheels started spinning. Gears started spinning and the exhaust pipes were fuming. You could hear a horn sound off from the front of the train as well.

"Wow, I must have slept like a stallion. I slept the whole day away," she said as she yawned in astonishment.

"It seems we're departing, I haven't been in Canterlot for a while," she continued.

"You obviously don't look any better than before, even worse I'd imagine," she said as she let out a big sigh.

It was not too long before the train started taking motion, the staff on the train started offering free beverages and Bon Bon insisted on getting one.

"This may sting a bit due to intense heat, that is if your share of the brain still connects to your sensory nerves," she warned.

She carefully tipped one of the hot beverages over my face and unfortunately widely opened eyes which were still incapable of shutting.

"Ah! What's your problem?!" I said in response to the thousands of burns from my eyes feeling, it's as if I poured salt on an open wound.

"All it took was some good measures; however you probably can't even comprehend what you said or what I am saying right now, if you can then answer this question: 'What is the answer to this question?'" she replied.

"The answer? I think, I don't know," I answered.

"Yes, that is something Lyra would say, you still got a bit of Lyra in you! I think as long as I have some sort of intense heat, I can temporarily remove you out of stasis, but that leaves me with a couple of questions 'why does it remove your from stasis?' and 'how long does it last?'," she replied.

"How am I supposed to know? I don't even know what you're talking about!" I replied.

"Here we go again, I can already tell this is going to be one heck of a trip to Canterlot," she responded.

Meanwhile...

"We just got a memo report from the local pegasi weather team, doctor. It seems the two convicts you are after went through the dangerous Everfree forest. Also, might I ask of what wrong doing were they accused of?" Mayor mare asked.

"That is none of your concern, just make sure you guard the entrance from the Everfree to Ponyville, we have to make sure they don't come back. If they don't come back, then I am sure of where they are headed," he responded.

"Where would that possibly be?" Mayor replied.

"There headed to Dodge Junction and taking the train to Canterlot, we'll cut them off when the train arrives at the train station in Canterlot, they're cornered whether they retreat from the clutches of the forest, die from whatever is in the forest, or when we catch them in Canterlot, and to just to make sure they don't get far, send one of your pegasi out tomorrow to get to that train to stop it. No pony would be able to reach the train without wings, so we need one of your fastest pegasi to stop the train and catch those two," he chuckled letting out a slight grin.

The early morning...

"Very well done making it through the forest, I see," I complimented as I got out of the bed.

"A little too early for another acquaintance, don't you think?" she asked with a tired groan.

"Heh, sorry about that," I replied.

"Anyways, how are you feeling?" she asked.

"I honestly could not feel any worse, you were right; I can tell that something is happening to me. I wish I knew what was going on," I responded.

"Shut up, already!" a noise came from the room next to us, banging on the wall.

"I do too, but we have to focus, we've only got four days left, later today you and I will discuss this further but as of right now it's probably a good time, so get some sleep," she whispered finishing the conversation.

"Ugh, my back feels like a brick wall and my eyes are sore to such a giant extent," I complained.

"You were lying inert for a whole day with your eyes wide open the entire time, I wouldn't be surprised, but seriously, get some sleep," she responded.

Later that morning...

I decided the best thing to do was to visit other train cars and see what everypony else was doing, which was a much better idea than sitting in this room all day. So I quickly got off my bed and silently walked passed Bon Bon to avoid waking her up, knowing she was an afternoon kind of mare. As soon as I got close to the door to exit our room, I heard voices.

"Stop right there, you need a train ticket to board this train!" a voice sounded

"It doesn't matter, we need to stop the train right now, we have fugitives on board!" another voice from in the hallway sounded.

I peeked through the eye hole in our door; it seemed to be a male pegasi and the conductor having an argument.

"We can't just stop the train without solid proof of fugitives being on board and you illegally boarded this train," the conductor responded.

"Look, I got direct orders from my mayor in Ponyville to stop this train, I even got her hoof signature along with photos of these fugitives," he responded pulling out a slip with his mouth out of his saddlebag.

"Bon Bon, we've got a problem!" I said panicking.

"Five more minutes!" she said letting out a groan.

"We might not even have five minutes, let alone the three days until the transformation is complete and I become Lyra, that crazy doctor sent somepony to stop the train to catch us! He knows we are here!" I said worryingly.

Reminder for readers: 3 days (including current day) in the story remain until 'Shane' becomes Lyra. The train ride predicted a 72 hour train ride from 6 P.M. yesterday when the train started moving to 6 P.M. 3 days from then. IF they make it to Canterlot in time via train avoiding the current issue at hand along with the issue waiting for them at the Canterlot train station, they would still only have six hours to get to the princess before his fate would be permanently sealed.