An Alternate Track

[The Crystal Empire - Later that Evening]

Fluttershy watched from the balcony as Dinky played amongst the other crystal fillies and colts. It warmed her heart knowing her adopted daughter was in high spirits despite the ever growing concern of danger brewing. After confirming Discord was watching over them she turned to leave the balcony and re-enter the halls. As she walked however her ears twitched as she heard a sound from one of the rooms. It sounded like a steam locomotive’s whistle along with a male voice. “This is an engine of war.”

Curiously, she opened one of the doors only to see a dark room with a glowing screen. She then saw the silhouette of a pony. More particularly her friend Rainbow Dash. The rainbow manned pegasus was laying on her side on a bed staring at the screen that was showing vintage footage of trains. “Long before Pearl Harbor, the American railroads, ever conscious of the gathering clouds of conflict, worked out a plan of unified and immediate action should this nation be forced to accept the challenge of aggression.” Explained the narrator. “To their everlasting credit this careful planning was not to be in vain for suddenly the infamous blow was struck.”

Fluttershy cautiously stepped forward. “Rainbow?”

“This is an old war propaganda film Andrew showed me. I didn’t pay much attention because I was more impressed by the speeds of those earth trains,” she said, not taking her eyes off the laptop.

“Rainbow-“

“No, don't you dare say everything will be alright! My fiancé is out there and probably hurt. All that came back to Equestria was a pink loco and a changeling group according to the rumors!” Rainbow snapped, tears slowly forming in her eyes. “I shouldn’t have stopped him from leaving! First, it was a workaholic problem and now he’s on some adventure and probably in danger! I should be out there! Not here with this…this…” she trailed off as tears streamed down her now tightly closed eyes.

Fluttershy quickly embraced her and began stroking her back. “I know it’s hard for you, but you need to stay calm. This stress isn’t good for you or your foal. For all we know he could be okay. Let’s keep our hopes up. That’s what both he and Gregory would want.”

“But what if they won’t? Is this my price for having this scar removed or my flight back?”

“We don’t know that. All we can do is keep them in our thoughts and hopes,” Fluttershy said as she continued hugging her friend.

Rainbow nodded and looked up to her long time friend. Her face was still soaked with tears. “Thank you… can you stay here with me?”

Fluttershy smiled warmly. “Of course.”

The two then turned back to the laptop and continued watching the vintage film about a railroad loaded for war. Rainbow looked back to her friend. “When did you get so better at this? Dealing with the temper of grown ponies I mean.”

“It’s something I learned to handle over time,” Fluttershy responded smiling.

Meanwhile elsewhere in another room. Cozy Glow approached Ember who was looking at her wedding photo. Ember and Twilight had returned from Canterlot a couple hours ago by train, having been checked thoroughly by Princess Luna and Celestia for any other trackers. When none were found, they were released.“Mommy?”

Ember jumped a bit but looked down. “Yeah?”

“You think Daddy will be okay?”

Ember looked a little hesitant but answered with a smile. “Of course, knowing how stubborn he is he’s probably on his way back here.”

“Okay,” Cozy said before turning to leave but then stopped and turned to her mother who was still looking at the photo. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Ember perked up a bit confused. “For what?”

“For not telling you or Daddy about Tirek. It was my idea and my efforts that got him into his rehabilitation. Given what Daddy said, I thought he would stop me from trying.”

Ember placed the photo down and placed a claw on her head. “Kid, you are full of surprises. Yeah I would’ve stopped you and Gregory might have agreed with hesitation, but seriously no more doing these kinds of things behind our backs. If you were doing the same thing to Howard then yeah Gregory would’ve stopped you and burned whatever plans you had.”

Cozy then turned to Twilight. “What about you? Do you think I did the right thing with Tirek?”

Twilight was silent for a moment before smiling at the filly. “We’re already living examples of the worst type of pony we became,” she responded. “You, me, my friends, Jason, we all did things that were… extreme. But we came out of the darkness as better beings.”

“So, did you two see Tirek at some point while you were in Canterlot?” Cozy asked.

Ember actually let out a chuckle. “Yeah, we actually spared a bit. For a weak old centaur, he can actually hold a decent fight without much magic.”

“He’s actually proving to be better. In fact thanks to you he has a better goal and that is to one day earn the forgiveness of his old friend who he considered a brother, Scorpan.”

Cozy Glow smiled as she felt that despite going behind her parents back she knew deep down that her father would be proud.

[Crystal Empire Throne Room]

In the main throne room, Shining Armor was overlooking what looked like a holographic map on a table much similar to what Twilight’s old castle had. On it was Haven City. Part of the city was glowing red while the rest of it glowed blue. “Dammit, we lost the western part of town! Spitfire, what is your team doing?” he muttered to himself. He then reached for a communicator. “Striker, Status report.”

“Sir, it’s worse than we thought!” Striker replied. “We have monsters everywhere. We lost contact with Spitfire and her team! The lightning air strike never came!”

“What do you mean? How many are there?” he demanded.

There was a brief silence before Striker came back. “Sir I’m sorry this is too much even for the volunteer non ponies! We’re pulling out, we've lost too many already!”

“Wait, Striker, what’s going on?!” Shining shouted as the communication was cut. He looked back to the map to see that the red glow of Haven City was growing and spreading. He then threw the communicator against the wall, shattering it.

At that moment the door opened and in came Princess Cadence with Flurry Heart riding on her back. “Shining, what's wrong?” Cadence asked with worry.

“Take a wild guess,” Shining said, pointing to the map. Cadence gasped as the red slowly enveloped the town. “Many are lost already. Faust knows if any of the unaccounted for are either prisoners or worse,” he said as he hung in his head in shame. Cadence went over and slowly hugged her husband. “We’ll make it through this. I’m sure Twilight’s new boyfriend has a solution.”

“If he had, he would’ve done something already,” Shining said. “Where is that guy anyway?”

Cadence didn’t respond. Instead she only continued to hug her mate and hold Flurry Heart closer. “Papa?” Flurry Heart uttered.

Shining looked down at his first born daughter. “Yes?”

“Things be okay,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his as best as she could. All Shining could do now was hold his family close.

[Crystal Empire Train Yard]

The round house in the yard had enough stalls to house a total of five locomotives. Among the four already in were the Crystal Empire express locomotive, Connie, Raven, and a small six wheel tank engine. “So,” Connie began, trying to break the silence. “What’s it like walking on two feet? Heck what’s it like being human in general?”

“Oh…uh…” Raven struggled a bit to find the answer. “It’s an interesting experience to say the least. I don’t think it’s easy to describe to someone who hasn’t experienced it. Make sense?”

“Well, you mastered it quite well so far,” the tank engine right next to her said.

“Gregory’s been helping me,” Raven said before remembering something. “Hey when we first met and I was trying to change you told me to concentrate on Awdry’s voice. How did you know that?”

Connie perked up. “Yeah, you’re one of the earlier living experiments. How do you know this? What's your name by the way?”

“Oh it’s Georgie,” the tank engine responded. “Let’s just say I have seen many things. Even before being forged.”

“Like what?” asked Connie.

Georgie remained silent before answering. “Oh it’s…not important right now.”

At that moment Twilight Sparkle walked into the roundhouse. “How are you all settling?” she asked.

“Oh just fine but being next to this lifeless loco is kinda off putting,” Connie said referring to the crystal locomotive.

“Yeah I can see why, anyway Georgie you’ll soon be free to go back to Baltimare. Haven City thanks you for your volunteer efforts to help us.”

“My pleasure, Sparkle,” he said. Then another whistle sounded in the distance. Twilight looked in the distance in confusion. “That’s odd…no more trains are meant to be coming here and all of Haven City has been evacuated.”

Soon a passenger train came rolling into the station. Twilight watched as the train came to a stop then much to her surprise changelings came out. Many of them looked terrified. Chrysalis came off holding her daughter close. Twilight ran to the station to see the commotion. “Chrysalis?”

“Not now…” she said, not looking at her as she walked into the city where a few guards were waiting.

The locomotive uncoupled from the coaches and rolled towards the roundhouse. The other engines watched as the new engine, a Hudson class steam engine, rolled on to the turntable. “Oh, hey Harris,” Connie said.

“Connie…” the engine replied as he backed in after turning around on the turntable.

Twilight raced up. “You there! What’s going on? Are you and your passengers alright?”

The engine let out a wheesh of steam. “Do they look alright to you?!” he snapped, making the alicorn flinch.

“Okay I’m sorry I was just…” she trailed off as she looked back at the group of changelings that got off. “Sir? Where's Jason Wright?”

The engine then made a sound that made it look like it was nervous. “Oh…scrap…dear Awdry… I’m sorry… I couldn’t save him.”

[Changeling Hive - Two Hours Ago]

Jason stood on the balcony of the fully rebuilt changeling castle. Like before he watched the many drones fly around. In the distance he saw the flickering light of a train approaching the station with passengers. He then heard the door behind him open and there he saw his family. His wife holding their daughter in her anthropomorphic arms. “Jason, are you feeling alright?” Chrysalis asked.

Jason said nothing at first. These past few nights were not easy. No matter what he tried his nightmares wouldn’t stop. “No,” he said, “something’s wrong. I can feel it. I think we should get out of here until the situation calms down. Not just you, me, and little Suzie. Everyone.”

“What? Again? Okay, I know things are looking bleak but don’t you think maybe you’re getting a little paranoid like your friend Gregory?” she asked as she approached him. “Let me guess your nightmare last night was even worse than before right?”

Before Jason could reply there was a knock at the door. “Your majesties, it's Thorax, we have a problem.” Chrysalis opened the door with her magic and Thorax rushed in. “Forgive the intrusion but you two are needed in the infirmary.”

After putting Susie in her crib they both followed Thorax to the infirmary where their eyes widened as all the beds had changeling drones with many injuries. A medic flew up to them. “This patrol group came back with these injuries. They claim there is something really unusual along the southern border.”

“What do you mean?” Jason asked as another medic flew up.

“We have seen what looked like deep lacerations and even a large section of flesh that might have been ripped off by a wolf or some wild animal. But that's not the only problem with this group. Many have gone into toxic shock and these wounds have shown immediate infection.”

Another medic was checking a drone and sighed as he pulled a cover over the body. He then turned to the royals. “He lost too much blood and has no pulse.”

Jason looked at Chrysalis. “Paranoid? Perhaps we were too hasty. Time to get the hell out of here.”

“Wait a minute. We don't know what could be…” she trailed off as she then noticed something. “I thought you said that soldier was dead.”

Jason turned to see the covered changeling twitch under the sheet. The medic then raced over and reached for the sheet to pull it off. Jason’s eyes then widened. “Wait! Don’t-!”

Suddenly the supposedly dead changeling lunged out and bit the medic drone in the neck.

Jason turned and began pushing Chrysalis away from the area. “I thought this world didn’t have zombies!” he shouted as he pushed her out of the room towards the main hallway leading to the train station.

“Wait! Susie!” Chrysalis shouted as she quickly turned and flew down the opposite direction. Jason quickly followed but as he passed a window he heard what sounded like a scream. He looked out and saw what looked like an angry mob at first. But at a second glance it looked like a battlefield of cannibals.

When Jason saw that Chrysalis had Susie, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Get Susie out of here, and hurry! Get to the train and go to Haven City!”

“But isn’t that place on lockdown?” Chrysalis asked.

“It is, and it's all ours now…” said a voice in the halls.

The two slowly turned and there was Howard slowly approaching them. “My oh my, this place is looking spiffier than before I blew it up. You must have great insurance, Mister Wright,” he said menacingly. “Now how about a bit of walking dead roleplay?”

Jason pushed Chrysalis towards a nearby window. “Don’t fucking argue with me, Chrysalis, and get our daughter out of here.” His hands began glowing with magic. “GO!”

Meanwhile at the train station Harris was backing up to his coaches for the return journey. “So this is what the Badlands are like? Not too bad.”

There were sounds of screams in the distance, and then came an air raid siren. It echoed all over the place. The engine then felt something thudded on top of his boiler. “Ow! I’m not a landing pad!”

Chrysalis then got into his cab. “Get us out of here!”

“Why?” he asked, then he saw what looked like zombie changelings and to his surprise ponies. “Ah! Never mind!” he exclaimed as his wheels began spinning on the tracks. They slipped but soon he began speeding out of the station as many uninjured drones flew and tried to climb onto his coaches.

Meanwhile Jason was being dragged through his own hive as chains were tied around him. “You and your friends think you’re so clever,” Howard sneered.

Jason squirmed as he glared back at Howard before letting out his response. “Nah, we know we’re clever,” he quipped, channeling his inner Gregory.

“Oh really?” Howard said. “Then I suppose you haven’t heard the news that’s been happening. Your friend Gregory is…let's just say…out of the picture and in another one.”

Jason looked back at him with a bewildered look. “You’re lying.”

“No I’m not. If I was, I would've told you I outright killed him. Oh and did you know this world has its own Area 51? It's more like the SCP Foundation when you think about it. That’s what's attacking Haven City right now. You should be honored you are going to be on the front row seat to Grogar’s magic show.”

Jason continued to struggle as he was dragged further away. The only thing that gave his mind relief was the fact his family was safe.

[The Cave Near Ponehenge]

Gregory woke slowly. Groaning, he opened his eyes only to find himself looking into a pair of beautiful but tear filled blue eyes. A part of his sleep-addled brain was confused, but when he saw the pony the eyes were attached to, he remembered everything. “Styx…?”

“I-I’m sorry,” the mare said in a trembling tone.

“Nnng…sorry? What for?” Gregory slowly sat up, only to feel a massive headache, causing him to lie back down, only to realize his head was lying on a lap. Looking up, he saw the extraordinarily beautiful Mistmane. He was confused again as to why she didn’t look old, but decided it wasn’t important at the moment. “Mistmane…what…?”

“Relax, young Gregory, you just had another migraine,” she explained.

He nodded slowly, then looked up at the still crying Styx. The dark magical aura surrounding her was long gone, since he’d been the one to take the magic in. “What are you sorry for?” he repeated more quietly.

“For my display earlier, that's not normally how I act,” she explained. “So is it really true? My plans didn’t stop the bigotry of our society.”

“You saw what Jason did at The Trial,” Gregory said. “You’ve seen how far ponykind has fallen. I swear, if Megan Williams was a real person, she’d be piiiiised.”

“I let darkness consume me for nothing.”

“No, you wanted to help fix your nation. The others didn’t let darkness consume them, and they’re the failures.” Gregory looked at the other nearby Pillars before looking back at Styx. “Right reasons, wrong methods. One out of two is better than nothing out of two.”

“But I didn’t stop it all from continuing. My best friend tried talking me out of it with better ideas but I dismissed them as too time consuming! And because of that I pushed her away like her grandfather did! I’m such a hypocrite. Reckless was right to lose me after all was done.”

Gregory reached out and ran a hand through Styx’s mane, scratching behind her ear. “What’s done is done,” he said softly.

“Hey, what's this in my bag?” Stygian asked as he pulled something out. The human and ponies looked to see what looked like a withered notebook. “I never packed this.”

Gregory looked at it and noticed a strange rectangle symbol on the spine. Upon closer inspection it looked like the American flag. “Huh…where’d you get a journal from my world?” he asked. “And, wait a moment…that has to be an older book. Only…forty eight stars.”

Star Swirl levitated it and opened it. “What in the world are these?” He asked as he gave the book to Gregory. When Gregory looked at the page he saw what looked like polaroids glued to the page.

“Hmm…polaroids…and…huh, that’s a Marine unit,” he said. “Korean…the Korean War?!”

In the polaroid he saw what looked like a group of American soldiers with a horse that had ammunition attached to the saddle. He turned to the next page that had more polaroids of machines. “What the hell? Where did you guys get these pictures?”

All the ponies looked at each other confused. “We don’t know,” Flash replied.

Gregory skimmed through the journal until he saw what looked like a journal entry that had a typewriter font.

I still remember like it was yesterday. But it was countless years ago. After I lost my best friends to the darkness and insanity, society lost more harmony than ever before. But the new rulers took the throne and promised to prosper our nation however they can but then one day the elder sister sensed a cry from a far off place. A desperate plea for help.

We were a select and brave volunteer group of soldiers who were tasked and given the opportunity to explore a new world and aid a new species as a form of reincarnated life. She said we will never see our loved ones again. But I already lost my friends to either insane darkness or blind bigotry.

I spent my new life in a world of sapient life. At first I was treated like a house pet but a man who spoke my previous language took me in. He was a soldier and his troops treated me like one of their own and I returned the favor.

I was more than a horse to them. I was a Marine. After the battle I retired, had foals, and eventually my soul left that body and I’m now resting in my iron coffin. Just like the others.

No pony knows we’re still in this world. Smiling beneath the sun as we remember our leader. For we will forever be her soldiers of the sun.

Gregory put the book down. “How in the world did a pony end up in the Korean War?” he muttered.

“Keep looking through, there's gotta be a clue,” Meadowbrook suggested.

As Gregory looked through the journal he saw more pictures of horses. Some were in polaroids, others looked like paintings. “Ajax? Laili? Warrior? Bill the Bastard? Some of these aren't American.” He soon got to the last page. There was another message. He read it aloud. “‘If anyone finds this, go through Limbo. Through there, you’ll find the world we served. Find our metal soul coffins. Only then you can bring us home.’ The fuck?”

Stygian then started shifting through his bag again. He then pulled out a strange looking crystal. It had a small scroll attached that said ‘throw me’. Gregory snatched it and threw it at the wall. It shattered and then all of a sudden two ghostly pony apparitions started to materialize. One looked like Reckless, the other looked like a certain Alicorn. The group watched.

A younger looking Celestia was in front of a now slightly older Reckless. Both of them were sharing a look of concern and sorrow. “Are you absolutely sure about this? Even if by some miracle you and your team come back all your loved ones will be gone. What’s more hard is the fact you are being reincarnated as a species that can’t speak our language.”

“I already lost my loved ones. Please, your Highness. Let me and my team see the new world. We can adapt to the change. We all have.”

“Very well…I wish you luck,” Celestia said as her horn lit up. A golden aura started surrounding Reckless until she was surrounded by light. In a flash she was gone.

“My dear Student…what have you done to my granddaughter?” Star Swirl asked softly.

“Star Hurl, shut your dumbass mouth up,” Gregory snarled, letting some of his anger get to him again. “You’re in no position to make any sort of demands, you worthless old bastard!”

“I didn’t even make a demand,” he said.

“Just shut up!” he bellowed, before clutching his head and moaning “Fuuuck…”

“Temper, Gregory, your rage will only make it worse,” Somnabula said.

“He pisses me off so much,” Gregory muttered as he tried to calm down. “Okay…I’m feeling better now.”

“Okay, so you’re saying our kind has visited your world?” asked Meadowbrook.

“Not my world, per se,” Gregory said while stroking his chin, “but there is also another Earth. One that saw The Trial which led to a group of humans doing a witch hunt against Jason in this world.”

“It says to go through Limbo. How are we supposed to get there?” Flash asked.

“I can use the same spell that took us there in the first place,” Styx suggested.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Stygian said. “Your craziness got us trapped there and there’s no way we’re going back just to watch the world burn. It’s too risky.”

“As far as I can tell, finding my granddaughter in that world might be our best option,” Star Swirl said before turning to Gregory. “A pony with knowledge of your weapons might be the key we need to turn the tide of the war.”

“I agree,” said Styx as she fired up her horn and shot a beam at the wall. A portal slowly began forming.

“Wait a minute,” Rockhoof said. “We couldn’t go anywhere at all while we were trapped in there. How do we know it'll be like passing through a field this time?”

“He’s right, this is too much of a risk,” Somnabula added.

“We have to try,” argued Star Swirl. “There's no point in arguing.”

“We might as well argue,” Rockhoof said, placing a hoof on Star Swirl. “Are you doing this because you’re afraid of the human who tried to threaten you?”

“Do we even need to talk about this right now?”

The Pillars soon started arguing. But Gregory stared at the portal. For some reason he felt something odd about it. Like he was sensing a familiar emotion. But the more the ponies argued the harder it became to concentrate. Soon he snapped as he snatched up the notebook. “Would you all SHUT UP!?” he shouted as he threw it towards Star Swirl’s head. Star Swirl ducked, but unfortunately the journal bounced off Styx’s head breaking her concentration with the portal and it fell through it as it closed.

The group stared in shock. Mistmane turned to Gregory. “Did you just throw one of our only leads into a portal leading to Limbo?”

“Uh…maybe? But I felt something about that portal. Something…familiar.”

“What do you mean?” Rockhoof asked.

“I don’t know, but we'll worry about it later. I still have my magic. It's just heavily restricted.” He held up his hand and showed them the magical suppression ring on his finger, “but if you guys can help me gain far better control that will be really grateful.”

The ponies looked at each other. Star Swirl cleared his throat. “We can help you. Just try to lay off your judgemental attitude or as you humans call BS for the moment.”

“No promises,” Gregory said.