— Devan —

“-fucker.”

I tried keeping the flashlight steady on the opened engine block. Both Vinyl and Spark were hovering over it, trying to see what caused it to blow.

“I think it's the regulator valve,” Spark told her.

Vinyl backed up so Spark could get a closer look inside. “I’m not gonna pretend I know what you’re talking about. Do you think you can fix it?”

“Hmm, I might be able to. I need the right tools though.”

“What kind?”

“The train has its own set, usually they store 'em in the caboose, if you could check.”

“On it!” Vinyl stated before taking off down the tracks. I watched her for a second and noticed my eyes were getting a bit fuzzy. I yawned as tiredness was taking over yet again.

“Devan!” Spark shouted.

I looked back, realizing I was pointing the light at the wheels below the engine now. “Sorry!” I said, raising the light back up. I saw Candy look up at me in my peripheral vision. She reached up with a foreleg and rested it on my hand.

“Devan, why don’t you go lay down? This might take them a while.”

“Okay …”

I was too tired to retaliate, handing her the flashlight and making my way back to the second train car. I opened the door between the cars and walked inside. Closing the door offered a cozy, quiet space that was already lulling me to sleep. I walked past a few and sat down on the second bench before kicking my feet up on it. With my head close to the aisle, I bent my legs slightly to accommodate my oversized height. The quiet train car allowed me to fall asleep easily, as expected, with the quiet darkness of it taking over.

“Devan,” I heard Candy’s voice. I slowly opened my eyes, adjusting to a new, weird sense of movement. When I oriented myself, I realized the train was slowly accelerating now. The train car was still dark, and I looked outside the window to see a dark, cloudy sky that was slowly getting brighter. I would have checked my watch to see what time it was, but I realized earlier on the cart ride that I had lost it in our plunge off the mountain. Regardless, I knew I had slept for a lot longer than I'd planned to. Dawn was arriving soon, and with it, the third day of this shitshow.

I looked up to see Candy above me in the aisle, and I noticed Trixie lying on her stomach on the bench across from me. She had her head resting on her forelegs, looking up with one eye open at Candy as if she had been awoken too.

“I’m up,” I replied, sitting up on the bench.

“No, you can sleep. I just wanted you to know we’re moving again.”

“Oh ... okay ...” I replied, "Do you know what time it is?"

"The train engine's clock said about ten to 6. Whether or not that's right, I don't know."

"Geez ... how long was I out?"

"You've been out for a while, dear. We just now started moving though. The engine was a hot mess, and on top of that, the tools from the caboose weren't the right set for the problem at hoof. We debated resting along with you and giving up the train so we could walk in the morning, but Spark insisted that she could fix it. It took her a while, but she got it."

"Is ... is she alright? She hasn't slept in forever. Actually, now that I mention it, neither have you!"

"I did get some rest in. We've all been taking turns. Spark did get an hour in too."

"Y'all need more like 12 after what we've been through."

Candy smiled. "You're sweet, Devan, but we're okay. I promise."

"If you say so ..." I replied, shifting in my seat and stretching out my arms and back.

"We'll be in the first car if you need us," she said.

She side-eyed Trixie before turning around and leaving the car. I looked across the aisle at her, who returned my stare.

“Your friend’s a bitch,” she sneered.

“Oh come on ... she is not. Y'all just don't get along.”

“Yeahhh ... she's a bitch.”

“You’re a bitch.”

Trixie looked back, a tiny smile entering her lips. “I can be. But that’s bold coming from someone with no magic defense.”

"Yeah, whatever ..." I replied, looking out my window at the dark forest.

"So," Trixie said from behind, "You still think we should check out the castle, right?"

Oh for fucks sake.

I turned back to Trixie annoyingly until I saw a hopeful glimmer in her purple eyes, reminding me of Twilight, causing me to stop and sigh.

“Trixie, please. We really should consider skipping Canterlot until we get more ponies or something.”

Her smile faded. “Not you too. You’re the one that backtracked and suggested trying. I was hoping you would stick to that opinion. Even Vinyl and Split were hard to convince.”

“Look, I’m sorry everybody is against your idea. I see why you're so adamant about it, but personally, I just want you and your magic to stay safe. If you saw what we saw at Canterlot, you wouldn’t be so keen on trying it.”

“Your group didn’t experience Manehatten. We saw some shit.”

“Like what? Mobs? We have seen them grouped up too.”

“Try a hundred of them! Shithead,” she huffed, averting her eyes.

“I- okay ...” I replied, realizing the mobs I saw were substantially smaller than what she was mentioning. The biggest mob I had seen was the Canterlot mob, and that was only a couple dozen. I couldn’t even imagine one hundred. “... I’m sorry.”

“Honestly ... if my group got out of Manehatten, I don’t see how all of us couldn’t handle Canterlot. You didn’t see mobs that big, right?”

“N- no. Candy mentioned the big mob at the castle, but I haven’t seen one that big.”

“Good. Then it’ll be fine, trust me. You all have me on your side now. We’ll go to Canterlot after we get the others to stop doubting themselves.”

“Jesus. You are one stubborn ass mare.”

She smiled and lit up her horn. It had been a long time since I saw magic, so I looked on in muted fascination. A second later, my face was smacked by a quick-moving orb, throwing my head sideways. I turned back to Trixie just to find her pretending to be asleep again.

I decided that I was rested enough now to get up, so I stretched my arms above my head. I scooted to the end of the bench, where somepony had set my backpack. The baseball bat, that I hadn't used in forever, was still attached to the side with the hitting end tucked inside the tight netting. I noticed Trixie opening her eyes again as I stood up and grabbed the backpack. Thinking of the sudden magic attack she had just unleashed on me, I held back a smirk as I awkwardly flung the backpack on my back, intentionally whacking her forehead and horn in the process.

“Oops, my bad,” I said as I put my other arm in. I looked down at Trixie, expecting retaliation. Instead, she stood up on the bench and stretched out her back before hopping into the aisle behind me.

“Come on, you tall asshole, let’s convince the others,” she said, pressing her head against my lower back to push me.

Instead of arguing with her, I continued through the car until we were at the door of the first car behind the engine. Inside, the benches had been rearranged against the wall, making it look like a subway car. On the left side were Vinyl and Split, sitting across from Candy. I could see part of Spark’s tan body through the doors to the engine. All three of the ponies in the car looked up at me until Trixie barged her way to stand beside me.

“Devan thinks we should check out Canterlot still,” she stated.

“Oh, yeah?” Candy replied, “What magic did you threaten him with?”

“None. His opinion, not mine,” Trixie answered calmly.

I did not feel up to this battle, even after getting rested. Instead of joining in the conversation, I decided to sit on the bench next to Candy. There was enough room to fit with my backpack still on, so I leaned against it and crossed my arms. Both Candy and Trixie were staring at me demandingly. After a few seconds, I felt pressured to speak.

“Look, why don’t we just go to the railway gate and see what we see? We can take this a step at a time you know …”

“But Devan,” Candy said, setting a hoof on my thigh. “It may take some time to reverse the train out if we have problems. If we do spot a mob, it may be too late.”

Trixie stepped forwards, her chest almost touching my other thigh. She eyed me before glaring at Candy. “It won’t be. We can hold them off if that happens. Right, Devan?” she asked, her purple eyes still glued on Candy.

Before I had a chance to respond, Candy shot back, “Why, oh why are we wanting to risk it? What good comes from this? Even if we find them, what if they can't do anything either? How do you plan to find them anyway?! We have a better chance of finding the princesses in fucking Cloudsdale.”

Trixie squinted her eyes. “Then go there and look for them,” she instigated.

“Trix,” Vinyl called, stepping up to us, “Please. Why don’t we just reconsider?”

Trixie closed her eyes and huffed, clearly agitated at the thought of everybody going against her. I started to say something until the train started accelerating from its steady speed. A few seconds later, the same damn bang emanated from the engine.

“Not again,” Vinyl sighed, turning to make her way back to the engine. The train started to decelerate as Spark burst the car’s door open.

“MOB!” she screamed, “WE’RE HEADED RIGHT FOR 'EM!”

“Are you serious?!” Vinyl responded.

“Yes! And the engine busted again! We gotta go!”

“Can we not stay in a car?” Split suggested.

"There's too many of 'em!"

"How many?" he pushed.

"TOO MANY! DOZENS!!!"

While the two of them bickered, Trixie rushed across the aisle to a window beside Split, using her magic to lower it and stick her head out to see. Beside me, Candy turned to the window behind us and lowered it with her hooves, glancing out to see for herself.

"How's it look?" I asked her. Before she could answer me, she pulled her head back in quickly. New bangs rattled the front and sides of the car as I saw glimpses of pony outlines moving by the windows.

"A fuckton!" she exclaimed, rushing to the corner to grab her battle axe. The others stopped bickering and followed suit. It was clear we needed to go now. I stood up and unstrapped the top part of my Beretta’s holster to make it easier to pull out when I needed it. I also pulled out my baseball bat, hoping it would be the only thing I would have to use, if at all. When doing so, the lighter Celestia had packed me dropped out of my bag. I picked it up, thinking of ways I could use it to help us get past the mob outside.

"LISTEN UP!" Trixie exclaimed, "I’m going to shoot off a wind tunnel spell towards the forest on the left. We'll all follow it out. Got it?!” she commanded the others.

“Sounds good! Everypony against the door!” Candy ordered. I followed the others to the door behind the engine and looked back to see Trixie partially sticking her head out the window. Her horn glowed a brighter and brighter blue as she charged the spell. I looked on with awe, thanking our lucky stars that we had a unicorn capable of magic now. As she charged it up, I watched her head jerk to the side, bringing her horn with it. When her head recoiled back, the spell was released in a bright blue flash of light.

The train was almost stopped now, so Spark threw the door open again and the others bolted out one by one. Before it was my turn, I heard Trixie yell, “Wait! Misfire!” over the groans of a very large mob outside growing. I turned to see her holding a hoof to her head.

“What?!” I hollered.

“Just go!” Trixie yelled, jumping off the bench and chasing after me.

“Hey! I’m gonna toss this in the engine! Can you make it burn faster or something?” I called, holding up the lighter in my one hand. The train was apparently done for anyway, so I thought it might make for a good distraction from the zombie ponies outside. Whether or not a fire would lure them away was debatable, but I believed it was worth it, as we wouldn't really need the lighter anyway since Trixie was with us now.

"Okay!" she replied, "I’ll hit it with an ignition spell!”

Great.

I sped out of the door and took a sharp turn to exit between the cars. Outside, the light blue tint of Trixie's powerful wind tunnel spell illuminated the pale, bloody zombie ponies scattered about. All of them eagerly fought to push into the corridor she made, but it was too powerful for them to cross. Any of them that got so much as a head inside the flashy blue wall of wind was quickly blown along before getting tossed back out. While gazing at the corridor she made, I realized what she meant by misfire. Instead of the two-pony-wide tunnel leading toward the forest as planned, the tunnel led straight down the tracks ahead of the train engine. Despite this, the others were galloping down it, passing the engine now.

“Wait!” I yelled over the roar of the spell’s wind. They could not hear me from this distance.

“There’s no time!” Trixie replied, “Ten seconds!”

I panicked, not aware that there was such a short time limit. With the train engine beside us, I pulled my arm back and chucked the lighter, attempting to toss it in the smokestack. When it started bouncing on the top rung, a blue orb flew up to meet it. The orb hit the lighter, igniting it in a bright orange glow that illuminated the smokestack. However, the glow was followed by an even bigger one as flames shot out of the smokestack. As they did, a bright flash came from the engine as an explosion erupted inside of it. The blast's shockwave flung both of us to the ground, right on the outer edge of Trixie’s tunnel. A big fireball rose above the engine as the heat from its blast fried my exposed hands and face. Alongside this, the wind at the edge of the tunnel buffeted against me.

I squirmed on the ground, attempting to recover quickly from the shock. The sounds of the mob entered my ear as the ponies struggled to reach through the powerful winds that were now slowly starting to move my body along. Trixie had fallen next to me, the wind pushing her body against mine. Using all the strength I could muster, I pulled myself back into the tunnel with both of my legs. The heat from the new engine fire was intense, but it was worth not being eaten alive. I used my hands to get back up, picking up my baseball bat again.

Next to me, Trixie stood up as well. The second we were up, the dim light from the spell faded as the powerful sound of its wind softened.

“Cover me!” Trixie yelled, lighting her horn up with, presumably, another wind tunnel spell. She was facing the front of the train, aiming in the direction she had accidentally shot the other one. Behind her, a few zombie ponies were making their way forward again. I readied my baseball bat.

The first pony was one from behind. I swung the bat hard, whacking him across the face. His glazed eyes shut as his body fell sideways. The mob was rushing us now, so I charged up another swing over my non-dominant shoulder and swung it against another mare's face. I stepped forward as I swung again from the right shoulder, hitting a third one. As I did, I noticed Trixie was getting closed in on by two ponies from the side. I realized that the bat was not fast enough to hold them all off, and while I wanted to reach for my gun, there was no time left. Trixie’s spell had to be close to finished, so with the bat tightly gripped in my hands, I dove down against Trixie’s left side.

As I fell beside her, one of the pony’s teeth, intended for Trixie, instead made contact with my chest. I could feel the other pony’s head knock into my thighs. When I hit the ground, they decided to continue their assault on me. The first biter strengthened her teeth's grip on my chest while the other tried biting my leg. I kicked my legs out, raising my left knee to my chest before slamming the bottom of my shoe against her face.

With my bat still gripped in my right hand against the ground, I rose my left and pushed back on the first mare's face, failing to get her off of me. The pale, beige-colored mare threw a glazed-over stare at me for a moment before returning her attention to my chest and shaking her head like a dog to pull me toward her. While she had some strength on her, I was in enough of a panic that adrenaline had me pulling back harder. As I scooted back, she loosened her bite briefly, causing me to fall back as her teeth were unclenched from my chest. When I did, I unintentionally pushed up against Trixie’s side. I felt her body shift as mine forced her sideways, nearly causing her to lose balance.

A moment later, a bright blue flash lit up the mob right in front of me. With it, a very powerful wind blew over my head and smacked the two attacking mares away. I watched them get tumble over the grass before getting tossed to the side of the forming tunnel, as if a tornado had blown in. Shortly after, I got smacked with residual wind as the tunnel solidified. It pushed me forward, but it was only strong enough to shove me to the ground beside Trixie. When I pushed myself up, I realized the tunnel was headed straight for the forest, beside the tracks, as opposed to where the others were heading.

“Mi- misfir - miss,” Trixie stuttered. I turned back after standing up to see her soaked of energy. She lit up her horn slowly, pointing it toward the front of the train where the previous tunnel had been.

“Trixie, come on! Let’s just go!” I yelled over the wind circling us. She didn’t listen at first, so I grabbed her by the ear and pulled on it. This threw off her aim, so she reluctantly dimmed her horn and ran beside me as we made our way down the tunnel.

“5 ...” she said as we ran.

I was about to ask her what it meant when the light from the spell dimmed again. This time, the tunnel lasted in a much shorter time frame. As it disappeared, I realized there were two more zombie ponies in range to get us before we were in the forest. I swung my baseball bat yet again, socking the closer one across the head and dropping her. As I got ready to recoil it back, Trixie dropped the other pony with a buck. The path to the forest was clear now, so we bolted into the tree line. The left side of my chest stung as stabbing pain flowed through it. I felt a raindrop fall against my cheek as we made our way through the dark forest and away from the sudden mob.

Author's Note

Hey y'all! Hope you're enjoying the book so far. For anybody keeping up with this story as its posted, I may be publishing the next chapters a bit less frequently (nothing serious, probably every other day or two). The daily chapter release worked well to give me time to make my final edits, but my life has gotten busy so I've fallen a bit behind. Regardless, thank y'all for reading through my story so far! I didn't expect this much engagement, and it is refreshing to see. Have a good rest of your day!