The Equestrian Apocalypse

— Devan —

The inside of the train was still dark as I looked down, admiring the new leg Luna just gave me. A tear rolled down my cheek as I realized my decision was final. I had to make the most of it now. When I looked back up, she was already gone. A slight tickling sensation fluttered up and down my new leg as the rest of my body figured out what had happened. Despite still being in the dream, I could feel all of the weird feelings in my leg as if I was awake.

The train horn sounded in the distance. I looked around, but the train car was still empty. Outside the window, I noticed the trees and grass were moving faster. The train horn blew again. I could feel an acceleration through my body as I was pushed against the back of my seat. The trees started flying by, and the train car bounced unsteadily. The train horn blew louder now. The shaky train car reminded me of the cart ride down the mountain before we derailed. I grew anxious as my body started pulling to the side, despite the train continuing forward. It was then that my face was smacked hard by an invisible entity, causing me to close my eyes.

I reopened them to see a patchy night sky, feeling the cold of the rail cart from before against my back. My cheek burned as I looked over to see Candy pulling my arm and Spark tugging on my new leg.

“DEVAN! MOVE!!” Candy shouted.

I tried to sit up as they pulled me along the cart. My heart stopped when I looked down the track. Ahead, not very far away, three very bright lights were approaching rapidly. I heard an intense whining sound alongside the growing rumble of a train engine. With both Spark and Candy pulling at me, I kicked my other leg, propelling me off the side of the cart. Once down, they helped pull me back even farther. I collapsed on the cold grass as I heard the train whiz behind me and crash into the cart. The whining sound grew louder as the cars passed us. I looked over to see the cart being pushed down the track and watched as the train slowly came to a stop in the distance.

“Sweet Celestia,” Spark said.

“No shit,” Candy replied. She turned to me, looking me over. “Are you alright, Devan?”

“I- I ... Give me a sec.”

“I’m sick a' damn trains,” Spark commented.

“Me too,” I replied, rolling on my back and sitting up. I looked down to see my regrown leg and reached down to feel it. The tickling sensation had stopped, and there was no more pain troubling where my stump used to be. Spark turned to look at it as well.

“How in blue blazes did your leg just grow back?” she asked, “Is that just ... somethin’ y’all humans do?”

“No … no, it’s not.”

“Then what happened?” Candy questioned, “It almost looked like magic …”

“It was. Luna did it. She came to me in my dream and fixed it.”

“Wait, so Princess Luna is alive?” she responded, “and she still has magic?!”

“She is. And no, she doesn’t … unfortunately. She had some magic left, but … she decided to use it to fix my leg. I was so caught up in the dream that I didn’t get to ask her where her and Celestia were.”

“It wouldn’t matter,” Candy replied, “She can’t give you that information. It’s one of the dream rules.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes. Doesn’t matter how bad of a situation a pony is in, she cannot break dream rules.”

“That explains why she didn’t mention how she looked. She looked torn up … as if a mob attacked her …” I said, beginning to ponder what her appearance meant.

“That is interesting to note. But it still doesn’t really help us. Given she is alive, it probably means she escaped the castle. She could be anywhere though.”

Candy looked down at my leg and observed me for a few more seconds before setting a hoof on my forehead. She grew a surprised expression on her face before removing it. “Devan, your fever! It’s gone!”

“So, we don’t have ta go to Manehatten anymore, then?” Spark asked.

“I … I guess not,” Candy answered.

“We need to go back for the others. Catch them on their way to Ponyville,” I said.

“We will," she promised.

The two mares looked on at my leg for a second before returning their attention to the stopped train. It was hard to see in the dead of night, as its tail lights had been busted out. Still, we saw the train’s bright front lights illuminate its surroundings a few train lengths ahead. The train that had collided with our cart was a typical Equestrian train that was hauling ten cars and a caboose. It was a bit more sizable than the other trains we encountered, and I wondered how many ponies were on this one.

“Guess we oughta see who it is ...” Spark said, turning to me. "At least they stopped this time, huh?"

"I guess that's a plus."

"Who do y'all think it is?" she asked.

Candy stood up and brushed her hooves off against the grass. "It’s probably just a bunch of evacuees from Manehatten.”

“Alright, let’s just be careful,” Spark replied.

The mares helped me stand up. I swung my new leg around as I readapted to it. Luna had done such a good job that it was almost like my leg was never cut off. If I wanted to, I could chalk it up to, ironically, some weird dream. I wondered if the rest of my leg was still sitting underneath Canterlot’s gate, cringing at the thought that somepony, later on, would be unfortunate enough to find it.

Once I was situated, I followed the mares toward the train. As we approached, a bright white pony hopped out of the train beside a darker pony. Another bigger pony followed. We started passing the caboose when I could tell who it was. The bright white pony was Vinyl Scratch, the DJ pony, who was missing her signature glasses. Beside her was Trixie, the magic one. There was also another dark blue stallion pegasus I was not familiar with. Once we got close enough, they too stepped forwards until we were within talking distance.

“Sweet Celestia, are you guys alright?!” Vinyl yelled, “I tried to stop the train in time, but it wasn’t having it.”

“We’re okay,” Candy spoke for us.

Both Trixie and Vinyl looked up at me curiously. Despite being in Equestria for a while now, and most ponies hearing about my existence, I still stood out to most of them. It was almost like being a worldwide celebrity, but nobody could quite figure out if they actually liked you or not.

“Where were you guys headed?” the pegasus asked us.

“We were going to Manehatten,” Candy answered.

“No,” Vinyl said, “it’s a shitshow. I wouldn’t go there if I were you.”

"So … there's no safe zone?"

"Safe zone?" Trixie repeated, glancing at the others. "If there was a safe zone, it wasn't all that safe."

"Yeah," the stallion joined, "There ain't a safe zone in sight. That city is done for."

"That bastard," Candy replied, shaking her head. "Well, that's alright. We don't need to go there anymore anyway."

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“We- ah, how do I even explain this?” Candy asked, looking up at me.

“I, uh, I guess I can … briefly,” I offered, “Long story short, my leg got cut off in Canterlot after I got trapped under the front gates. I got sick from it and the only real solution we had was to see a doctor in Manehattan, in the supposed 'safe' zone we were told of.”

The mares looked at me dumbfounded, struggling to understand my story. They exchanged a confused glance with each other before looking me up and down.

“You what?” Trixie asked.

“How did you get stuck?” Vinyl added.

“We were trying to enter Canterlot, but the gate fell on me in the process.”

Trixie eyed me confusingly. “They ... didn’t let you in?”

“I ...”

Oh boy. I realized they were in the same mindset me and the others had been in earlier, thinking that Canterlot would be some sort of safe haven.

“ … Are y’all headed to Canterlot?”

“Well, duh. That’s where the track goes. Why?”

I exchanged a glance with Candy before she took over for me.

“I’m afraid Canterlot is done for. We barely made it out of there alive.”

Trixie raised her forelegs before stomping them forcefully on the ground. “FUCK!” she exclaimed, turning away from us to pace.

“Like, fully done for?” Vinyl asked, “Like game over?”

“Yes.”

Vinyl facehoofed as she took in this information. She looked back up at me a few moments later, eyeing my leg suspiciously. “You said you got your leg cut off? How did it come back then? Is that normal for … um … humans?”

“It isn’t. Princess Luna came to me in a dream and fixed it with magic. She had just enough to fix it,” I explained again.

“So Luna is alive then?” Vinyl questioned me curiously, looking up at the cloudy sky temporarily blocking the moon.

“Has to be. With how bad Canterlot was, I don’t know how, but she is.”

Vinyl nodded slowly, thinking about this as I looked over at Trixie. She had her back to us, rubbing a hoof under her chin as if she was deep in thought. Candy spoke again.

“Is there a reason you all were headed to Canterlot? Or were you just trying to get out of the city?”

“Well, we did wanna get outta the city, yeah, but Trixie still has her magic,” Vinyl explained.

My eyes lit up when I heard this news. “SHE DOES?! Does she know a cure??”

“Well ... she has magic, but we don’t know about a cure. We were hoping to see the princesses in case they could guide her or something. But if they aren’t in Canterlot … I don’t know what the next move is.”

“We do,” I spoke up. Everypony’s eyes turned to look at me, including Trixie from a distance. “Ponyville. We were originally headed to the Ponyville Hospital, but the bridge was out. That's why we were heading to Manehatten. We were with others earlier before being separated. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Cloudchaser. We were in a rush because of my fever, so we had to leave without them. They are headed to Ponyville now. There are a few more obstacles ahead, but once Trixie helps us clear them, we are good to continue. The only reason we left Ponyville was because of a letter we got from Celestia asking us to go to Canterlot. I guess she spoke too soon. Ponyville was dangerous too, but not like Canterlot. There are probably ponies still alive there, and Twilight might still be there as well.”

“Devan …” Candy said, “You’re being a bit ambitious, dear. I don’t know if her magic alone could fix that messed up bridge …”

Trixie walked up to join our conversation again. “I probably could, but … I’m still curious about Canterlot. How do you know the princesses aren’t still locked up in their castle?”

“I know they aren’t,” Candy replied, “I went by there not long after this thing started. I had to get on rooftops to avoid zombie ponies, and from the vantage point I got, I saw the front doors were busted in. The only royal guards I saw were zombies.”

“The front, front door? You know their thrones are in a separate room of the castle, right?”

“Of course I know that. I live in damn Canterlot. But if the mob could bust through the front door, there is no way the separate rooms of the castle did not follow.”

“Then how is Luna alive??”

“She must have gotten out of the castle somehow,” Candy emphasized.

“How though? If the mob was strong enough to get through the front door, there is no way the princesses could have gotten through them, even if they had the whole royal guard protecting them.”

“I’ll admit it is a bit of a stretch, but she must have made it out.”

“Maybe not. They could have some kind of underground shelter, or maybe they barricaded in a part of the castle we don’t know about,” Trixie suggested.

Candy sighed. “Look, regardless of whether they made it out or not, we can’t risk going back there for them-”

“And why the fuck not?”

“It’s a shitshow! I already told you, we barely made it out of there! A royal guard died so we could escape!” Candy answered, her voice growing.

“We can help you!” Trixie argued, “I’ve got magic to do so!”

“There are too many!” Candy hissed.

“There’s too many EVERYWHERE!”

“Girls! Girls! Please …” Vinyl said, stepping between them, “Let’s just chill for a minute.”

Candy sighed, sitting down on the grass beside me and rubbing her forehead with her hoof. I crossed my arms, trying to think about our options. I was leaning more towards heading back to Ponyville, as I wanted to rejoin the others, but Trixie seemed adamant about trying Canterlot. From what I had seen, I really did not like our chances in Canterlot. However, the magic I had seen before this mess started was intriguing to me. Twilight herself showed me some amazing stuff. While she was a very powerful alicorn, even regular unicorns like Rarity still impressed me.

“I don’t know, Candy,” I said, “Maybe we should do a quick sweep of the castle, just in case.”

Candy looked up, side-eyeing me disapprovingly. She thought for another moment before replying, “We still have some time before we have to make a decision. Why don’t we all get on your train and get headed to Canterlot mountain?”

“That works,” Vinyl said, elbowing Trixie with her foreleg, “right?”

“Fine. We will discuss this on the way.”

After the six of us worked to remove the cart, using Trixie’s magic to help unwedge the bent front end, we all hopped in the spacious front train car and sat down while Spark and Vinyl worked to get the train moving again. As we started talking about the trip, we heard an audible bang before the quiet rumble of the engine stopped. We then heard Vinyl’s voice.

“Mother-“