//------------------------------//
// Chapter Five - Slight Change in Plan 
// Story: The Bond 
// by GhostWriter 
//------------------------------//


- Chapter Five -


Slight Change in Plan


“A strange, green earth pony came into the inn last night...he wore a cloak with a hood, one that covered his face so well, it was like looking at a wall of black with a green muzzle poking out. He said nothing aside from asking for a room...I also noticed that his hoofsteps were quiet, since he made no sound while going up the stairs (which I know have a few creaky steps). 
“But that’s not the end of it, oh no...sometime around midnight, Clover, the inn’s maid and a good friend of mine, wakes me up babbling about the new tenant and evil magic. Upon getting up, I found the tenant already downstairs, his hood still hiding his face. Poor Clover was in such a state, she wouldn’t leave my room out of fear. Well, I told him I wouldn’t have my business’s reputation tainted by any weird magic tricks, and I noticed that his shadow seemed to grow, looming up on the wall behind him. I blinked, and just like that, it was gone. The tenant quickly left after that, not saying a word. I tell you, it was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. And while I’ve dealt with plenty dangerous customers before, I pray to Celestia that he doesn’t come back.” 
- journal entryl of a previous innkeeper at the Green Meadow Inn of St. Petershoof, Equestria


        Night Wisp looked hopefully up and down along the passenger car, but to no avail; this one wa full, too. Sunrise and Dawn were in the first car up in the front, but with only two seats for them, Night had to find her own. Two cars back now, she still hadn’t found a seat. Giving a sigh of dismay, she made her way past the other passengers, heading towards the door to the fourth car.
Towards the middle, she noticed a rather burly grey stallion pegasus with a short green mane lounging across two seats. Figuring this was her seat, she stopped, trying to think of a way to wake him. Just at the point she stopped, the train car lurched, knocking the pegasus towards her right and onto another grey stallion, identical to the first except for a longer-cut green mane. 
        “Hey! Watch where yer goin’!” he growled, pushing Night off of him and nearly into the other stallion. Not having regained her balance yet, Night managed to fall into the aisle rather than on the sleeping passenger, though the passenger would have been softer than the floor. She looked up, a few angry retaliations in mind, and was close to saying them when a another voice belonging to another stallion spoke exactly what was on her mind.
        “Oi, back off her! It’s not like she hurt you, and I doubt she purposely fell on you,” said the stallion’s voice. It was somewhat young, though definitely matured, with a low, gentle tone to it. Night looked up, finding the one who owned the voice to be a white pegasus with spiked black mane and a matching tail. He looked down at her and offered a hoof, which she accepted and gave a ‘thank you’ for. 
        “Oh really? And how can you be so sure it was purposeful?” the grey stallion asked as he stood, obviously annoyed. 
        “Well, with a face like that, I doubt you have any mares falling over you,” the white stallion snickered, turning and leading Night to the door. The burlier one growled, but a sharp, low voice from the pony to his side distracted him. The two voices began to argue, but with the sound of a door latch, their voices were gone. 
        “Hehe, you okay miss?” the white stallion asked, looking at the mare as he opened the next door, which led into the dining car. “I doubt he intended to hurt you, but to be honest, I don’t trust big stallions like him. They’re just loose cannons..”
        Night Wisp chuckled, shaking her head a little. “No, no, I’m fine. I just lost my balance back there. Thanks for the help, though.” The white pegasus led her over to a table toward one of the corners and gave a wave to the dining car staff, who came over and brought menus. Night began to decline, but a low growl from her stomach reminded her she hadn’t eaten since the dinner with the princess from the previous night. 
        “Nah, no need to thank me. I was just showing common courtesy where that other pony wasn’t,” the stallion chuckled. “And speaking of common courtesy, I didn’t get your name!”
        The grey pegasus looked up, a bit caught. A thought she hadn’t considered about running away was how to deal with her identity. There could be ponies looking for her. More likely, there would be Celestia’s royal guard looking for her, since she had left the castle quite suddenly. Well, more like escaped.. she thought to herself. But wait...if I escaped, does that make me a criminal?!
        Just then, she found her company waving his hoof in front of her. “Hellooo? Equestria to mystery mare, come in,” he said, looking a bit amused. “I know we just met, but there’s no need to get all silent on me.”
        Night shook her head and chuckled, a bit embarrassed. She would have to worry about a new identity later. “Sorry, lost in thought. My name’s Night Wisp...what’s yours?”
        “The name’s Steel Strings, singer and lead guitarist for The Windigos,” he replied with an air of pride, sitting back in his seat wearing a smug smile. After a few seconds of silence passed with Night giving a blank stare, he sighed. “Yeah, you probably haven’t heard of us...gimme some points for being optimistic. A year of playing at small shows, and you kind of hope someone will recognize you.” 
        It was saddening to see the stallion’s confidence so quickly broken, but before Night could reply, the waiter approached their table. Both the stallion and mare distracted themselves with the small menus for a moment, a chocolate shake for him and a daisy sandwich for her. The waiter jotted down the orders before turning back to the kitchen, once again leaving Night and Steel to themselves. 
        “I’m..sorry I haven’t heard of your group,” Night said, continuing the topic. “You sound like you’ve put a lot of effort into it.”
        The stallion gained a smile, and nodded. “You bet your flank I have. Er, we have,” he replied. “I’m not the only hopeful star of our merry band of misfits. In fact, I probably have less of a chance than some of them, which is why it’s nice for them to stick around with me.” He glanced at the window that he sat next to, watching the scenery pass by. That is, until he gained a big smile and faced forward with an excited expression. “Hey, you should meet them! If we ever do become famous, you can say you were the first mare to hang out with the world-famous Windigos~!”
        The grey pegasus opened her mouth to respond, but was once again interrupted by the waiter. After being given their orders and the waiter having left, Night smiled a little at Steel Strings. “That’s really nice of you to offer...but I still need to find a seat. I don’t want to be sleeping on the floor overnight, y’know?”
        “Oh yeah, I can understand that,” Steel agreed, taking a sip of his shake. “But unless you want to sleep on a luggage rack instead, you may have to. I came up from the back, and every seat was occupied. Are you sure you didn’t miss your seat? It’s hard to believe that they’d sell you a ticket to a full train.”
        The image of the sleeping stallion sprawled greedily across two seats came to Night’s mind. That would explain the seating problem, and she was sure that taking two seats wasn’t allowed, technically. But the idea of having somepony speak to them didn’t seem like something that would end well, and so she just sighed. “Maybe there was a mistake...I’m sure I could find somewhere comfy to get some rest.”
        The conversation fell silent, the mare focusing on eating her sandwich and the stallion on his shake, though she could see he was thinking. He lifted his head up once, mouth open to speak, but then he would second-guess and look down again. After the second attempt, he finally looked at the mare across from himself and gave a half-smile. “Y’know...the car at the back is a kind of VIP car we were gifted by a friend. It sits and sleeps six, but including myself, the band only occupies five...if you wanted it, the extra place can be open to you.”
        Again, silence fell for a minute or two, Night paused in mid-bite of her sandwich with her eyes looking at Steel. It crossed her mind that this seemed just a little bit creepy, a stallion she had only just met offering her a place to sleep in a private car. Then again, it seemed like she didn’t have much of a choice.
        “Well...” she finally said, smiling just a little. “I guess I could stay there for the night...as long as you’re okay with it.”
The stallion looked like a foal who had just found that one big, hidden present on Hearth’s Warming day. Before she even knew what was happening, Steel’s hoof was pulling Night Wisp from the table and towards the dining car’s door, nearly dragging the poor mare across the floor in his excitement.

“Guys! We have a guest!”
Night found herself pushed out to the center of the private car, where she stood awkwardly as four ponies all turned to face her. The car itself was pretty nice, making Night wonder who their friend could be. On entering it, there was a small bathroom to the left, with closets and storage spaces on the right. As for the majority of the car, the end of it rounded off instead of being flat, with a bunk bed on the left, right, and center, leaving a nice open space in the center to put the pegasus in the spotlight. She smiled and raised a hoof to wave, but suddenly Steel was next to her to once again take over. 
“Lemme run you through the names real quick, so you can get yourself settled in,” he said, pointing first to an earth mare and stallion with matching green coats and brown manes on their left. “These two are Forté and Quatré, our violinist and bassist. They’re brother and sister, if you couldn’t guess by the matching colors.”
“‘Ello there, lass!” Forté responded, her voice laced with a strong Irish accent. Her brother, Quatré, chose to remain silent by merely waving, but the bright smile he gave made it clear he was probably just as friendly as his sister. 
“Over here-” Steel continued, directing Night’s attention to a unicorn stallion with a bright blue coat and red mane. “-is Shockwave, our drummer.” They waited a moment for the stallion to make some kind of response, and may have waited there for Luna knows how long had Quatré not leaned over and jabbed the pony’s shoulder. 
“Huh? What’d I miss?” Shockwave said, perking up and turning to face the jabber when he noticed Night and Steel. “Oh, hey there Steel! And...wait, who are you, and when did you get here?” He pointed at the grey mare with a confused expression, as if he hadn’t paid attention to reality until now.
Steel chuckled and waved a dismissive hoof. “Don’t worry, Shock, she’s with me. She’s a guest, and-”
“She’s a what?”
“...a guest, Shock. I brought her to meet everypony.”
“Why would you bring her if she’s a pest..?”
“Oh sweet Celestia...GUEST, Shockwave. She’s a GUEST!”
“Ohhhh, alright! Sorry, sorry...pleasure to meet ya!” 
The white pegasus facehoofed as Night smiled at Shockwave, trying to stifle her desire to laugh at the two stallions’ antics. Shockwave smiled in return before turning back around, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
“Sorry ‘bout that, but Shockwave’s hearing isn’t all too great sometimes..” Steel said, looking slightly embarrassed. “He’s a great pony to know, believe me, but communication isn’t always easy.”
“More like never easy, if you ask me,” quipped Forté. “He may own drum sticks, but with hearing like that, you’d have thought he played the drums with ’is bloody head!”
“I heard that, Forty~” Shockwave calmly replied, not even turning around in his seat.
“Oi! It’s pronounced ‘For-TAY’, thank you very much!”
        “After what happened when you drank forty cider shots, I think the other fits you-”
        “If you two start arguing again, I swear on Starswirl’s grave that I’m going to gag the both of you for the rest of the trip!” 
All eyes suddenly turned to the right side of the car, where a brick red unicorn with a long, unkempt black and white mane rolled over to face them, a strip of black cloth tied around his head that covered his eyes.
“You two have had twenty-six arguments so far on this trip, and most of those were between Manehatten and Ponyville!” the unicorn continued. “So I would appreciate it if you both would just get along for the rest of the journey, and save all of us another twenty-something mindless squabbles!”
Forté and Shockwave both nodded quickly, at which the unicorn then grumbled something incoherent and rolled back over. The car fell silent for a good minute after this, until finally Steel turned to Night and pulled her a little towards the other side of the car.
“That unicorn there,” he said in a low voice, glancing at the sleeping figure. “is Chromatic Reverb, though he prefers that we just call him Chrome. The stallion’s a musical genius, if any exist; there isn’t an instrument or style yet that he hasn’t been able to ace, even though he’s blind as a bat. He’s got plenty of interesting stories too...though, he’s not exactly the ‘social’ type, so don’t feel too bad if he gives you the cold shoulder.”
        Night glanced back at the sleeping stallion, shuddering a little. “I think I’d prefer a cold shoulder over being yelled at..” Steel laughed a little upon hearing this, reaching a hoof up to gently ruffle the mare’s mane.
        “Don’t worry, he only yells at Forté and Shock, and only when it’s appropriate. Those twenty six arguments weren’t an exaggeration.” The white pegasus looked forward at an empty bed, which he had conveniently led her to by moving away from Chrome. “Anyhow, here’s your bed. Feel free to brings your bags in, if you have any...oh, and don’t be shy to talk to the others, Chrome aside. We’re not like some of those namby-pamby groups from Canterlot, after all~”
        With a light boop to her nose, Steel left Night to her bed as he sat over next to Forté, where they began to discuss this and that. Silver eyes glanced up at the bed above her out of curiosity, but as she leaned back to get a better view, she heard Steel’s voice call to her, “Oh, and you’ll be sharing the bunk with me, just so you know..”
        Why am I not surprised? she thought with a chuckle, rolling her eyes.

        Though it didn’t happen immediately (it came mostly out of boredom), Night Wisp decided to take up her host’s offer to socialize with the other band members. She started first with Forté, since talking with another mare might lead to a few shared interests. To her surprise, she and the green mare shared many interests, ranging from music to favorite school subjects. They even both shared a similar foalhood; this had come up when Forté asked Night about her mark. 
        “Oh, don’t feel so ashamed, lass,” she said cheerily. “It was quite some time ‘fore I learned my own talent, too.”
        “Really?” Night asked, almost surprised at having thought she was a big exception. The earth mare nodded, sitting back in her seat, looking thoughtful.
        “Aye, really. I’ll spare you the wee details and whatnot, but the family I came from was of the old highlands ponies, granted with a few generations in between. Me an’ Quatré were raised like any other foal, though with the exception that our parents were filthy rich from successful music careers. They put us into lessons, me in violin and ‘im in cello.”
“Well, it wasn’t working for us...when our parents weren’t watching us practice, we’d try to play them in other ways, just to spite our mother and father. I took up that violin and started to play fast, just for fun...then began to change what I played. Soon, I was playing fiddle, not violin. And Quatré, he was plucking at his cello like a bass. So, we hatched a plan, a grand scheme to show them what we had. At a small private show our parents set up for their friends, we were supposed to play some kind of classy music. But instead, we came out and played a good bit of folk music instead, which we had practiced secretly. And you know what? They loved it! Our parents sat there, jaws hangin’ down, as their friends got up and danced their hooves off!”
Forté laughed, sitting forward again. “Hahaha, aye, that was quite some time ago now..but it’s a worthy memory. During our scheme, Quatré an’ I got our marks, and a few years later we left to make a living on our talent-”
“Um, a question about that,” Night cut in. “I mean, about your brother. Maybe it’s just me, but...why did your parents name him that?”
The green mare looked over to her companion and smiled, glancing to her brother, who had switched seats earlier on to talk with Shockwave. “Y’know lass, that’s a funny story in itself...my brother there wasn’t given that name. Like I said, our parents were somewhat fancy, and wanted a fancy name for their wee little colt. And I tell you, they gave ‘im one...but it sounded so ridiculous, he changed it to Quatré after we two set out from home, so it sounded more like mine. Probably a good thing, too; the last thing we needed was somepony thinking that crazy colt was some kind of royalty!”
        Quatré turned his head at this comment, smirking. “Says you, sis! I could act the royal part if I wanted to...I just haven’t been interested.”
        “Interested my hoof!” his sister retorted, laughing. “Who’s the one who hasn’t yet declined a drinking challenge? And, I’ll add, has ended up ‘ammered beneath a table every time!”
The stallion rolled his eyes, turning back around as Foré laughed  She went on to tell Night stories of these incidents with her brother, and soon, the pegasus was laughing as well right along with Forté.

After a while, she went on to talk with Shockwave, though was glad he did most of the talking. Yet again, the subject of marks came up, at which the stallion seemed almost eager to tell her his own tale.  Unlike Forté’s path of discovery, though, he said he had experienced what he called an ‘enlightenment’. 
He had been in Whitetail Woods, somewhere beneath Cloudsdale, when just above the trees, he saw a bright, multi-colored explosion of some kind. He had thought it was possibly the most beautiful thing ever, until only a second after when the shockwave of the explosion hit him. When he woke up, trees had been pushed over, the air was filled with dust, and a strange rainbow ring was vanishing from the sky. 
“It was like something picked me,” he told Night, looking out the window. “Something up there in the sky threw down that explosion as some kind of sign, I guess.” After picking himself up, he had quickly realized that the explosion had impaired his hearing. It handicapped him in some ways, especially in school. But over time, he discovered that he had an acute sense for vibration, which he discovered he could use to his advantage in playing drums, in which he earned his mark. From there, he eventually met Steel Strings at a concert, and became their drummer.
        While she listened to this story, though, Night couldn’t help but see similarities with the stallion and herself. With the incidents a day before and that morning, as well as her ‘moment’ at the train station, the pegasus had been reluctant to dwell upon what Celestia had told her. But both she and Shockwave were different, affected by something that happened when they were young that they now had to live with. And here he was, sitting in a group where he fit in.
        But his showed him his talent, she thought grimly to herself, eyes glancing back to the patch of ash-grey fur where a mark might sit. While mine only makes me some kind of magical accident…
        “*shzzk* Attention passengers, the dining car is giving it’s last call on serving lunch,” the speakers buzzed, catching the mare’s attention and reminding her of a daisy sandwich she never got to finish. By this point, though, she felt like she could eat an entire dragon, teeth and spikes included. Thus, Night quickly excused herself to the dining car; she didn’t even stay to repeat herself for Shockwave, leaving the stallion to wonder what had her leaving in such a hurry.

        When she awoke, the room she was in was dark. Night groaned, her stomach feeling a bit upset, though oddly satisfied at the same time. Some flash memories passed through in her mind, depicting three large plates of dining car delicacies ranging from sandwiches to salads, drinks to desserts; and all of it being consumed by herself before stumbling back to the car and passing out in a delightful coma. 
        “Ooh..I really shouldn’t go so long without food again…” she murmured, hearing her stomach groan in agreement. Looking around the room, her eyes adjusted to the darkness enough to see the band members  asleep in their bunks, undisturbed by the slow rocking movements of the train as moonlit scenery passed by outside. How long was I asleep..?
        The quiet was then broken by a loud screeching of metal on metal, the entire car lurching and sending everything into a moment of chaos. Just about everypony was thrown out of bed, to which various surprised yells and curses could be heard from the Windigos. The sounds of surprised passengers in the other cars could be heard as well as the screeching continued, the train seeming to be slowing to a stop. Peeking out her own window, Night didn’t see any station lights; in fact, she didn’t see anything but rolling hills darkened by the nighttime sky.
        “What in the name of all things under the sun are we stopping for?!” growled Chrome, who was already standing, looking as grouchy as ever as he headed towards the car door (a surprising feat to Night, for a unicorn that had a long cloth tied over his eyes). “There’d better be a damned good reason for stopping like this, because if somepony isn’t dead, there WILL be!”
        The rest of the band, along with Night, remained in the car as they awaited either Chrome’s return or some kind of announcement from the conductor. It was hard to say how long they waited, each of them glancing out the windows, wondering aloud why they would be stopping in seemingly the middle of nowhere, especially at such a strange time. Forté repeatedly expressed her discomfort with the situation; “Somethin’ about this seems very sketchy,” she would say. 
        Finally, there came a knocking on the car door. Steel opened it, with the others in the car peeking around to see who it was. Surprisingly, it was neither Chrome, nor the conductor, but a pink unicorn with a scarred eye, standing about the same height as Steel.
        “The conductor wants everypony off the train,” they heard him say with a sense of nervous urgency. “He believes he saw somepony jump from the train, and needs to do a headcount.”
        “But where is Chrome?” asked Steel. “Did you see a red unicorn on your way here?”
        The pink stallion blinked, but then quickly nodded. “Oh yeah, I saw him and said the same thing. He’s already off the train. Now come on, quickly!”
        And so they followed without hesitation, all of them lining up and following the unicorn from the car; all of them except for Night Wisp. She recognized the stallion as the one who had threatened Dawn Chaser at the station, as well as whom she had stolen the pouch of bits from. She had seen his attitude then, how he had been very cold towards her and seemingly everypony else. Seeing him nervous like that made her feel that something wasn’t right. His voice was different, his attitude was entirely opposite.  
        Maybe Forté was right, she thought, looking back out the window. It feels like there’s something wrong about this...and I think that unicorn knows more than he’s telling.
        Only a few minutes had passed before she could hear hoofsteps coming back. She got up quickly, wondering if one of them had noticed she was gone. It was probably Steel or Forté, but having already decided that something was off about the whole situation, she began looking for somewhere to hide. The only problem was that train cars, even a VIP car, were not built with a wide variety of spaces for a pony to fit into. She could hear the click of the handle; in a last-ditch effort, she opened her wings and took into the air, hovering as close to the roof as possible and hoping they wouldn’t think to look up.
        The door slid open and the pegasus nearly held her breath. But to her surprise, the pony that entered was a grey stallion, the same one with the long-cut mane who Steel had pulled her away from back in the passengers cars. He stepped into the car and went by the beds, looking at each one. He stopped by one and patted it, then grumbled.
        “Softs beds...they got soft beds back here, and we had to sleep in buckin’ chairs!” he griped. “For all that we’re goin’ through to jack this train, we’d better be allowed to sleep in late tomorrow morning.”
        With his complaint made to himself, he turned and left, the car door shutting behind him. Night finally landed on the floor again, but the relief of not being caught wasn’t noticeable to her. 
        They’re hijacking the train?!  she thought nervously. That explains why they wanted everypony off! And I bet that unicorn is with them on it! But what am I supposed to do now? 
She sat, pondering a plan of action while looking at the door. She needed to see what was going on, but one of the stallions might catch her going through the cars. She would have to get outside, but without being seen. A scene from a spy movie came to mind, where the spy would walk along the roof of the cars.
Opening the car door slowly, she fluttered up between the cars to the roof, landing as quietly as possible. The view, however, wasn’t good; outside of the train sat every passenger, tied up into groups of about five or six each and placed together some twenty feet from the train. Going between them was the pink unicorn with a piece of paper hovering before him, held by his magic, as he appeared to be counting the passengers. The larger stallion stood nearby, along with the other one who Night had seen sleeping in her seat. 
“Stormcloud!” the pink unicorn shouted suddenly, turning around. “There’s supposed to be forty passengers on this train, including us. And yet, I’m only counting thirty-nine. Can either one of you tell me the problem here?”
        The two pegasi looked at each other, seeming confused. “Um...didn’t somepony fall of the train, Myst?” the short-maned one (who Night then assumed was Stormcloud) asked their accomplice, only to receive a shoulder-punch from his partner. 
        “You moron, that didn’t actually happen!” the other stallion growled. “We jus’ told the rest of them that to make ‘em get off the train!”
        “Ohhhhh! But...then what does thirty-nine passengers mean?”
        “It means...um..I dunno, maybe somepony miscounted?”
        “That’d make sense. I mean, thirty-nine is a pretty big number.”
        “Oh shut it, Storm, you can’t even count that high.”
        “Can too, Maelstrom! One, two, three-”
        “Just shut it, both of you!!” yelled Myst, a flash of magic knocking the two stallion’s heads together. “We’re missing a passenger, and all you two can do is argue about counting numbers! Let me clear this up: you’re both idiots!” With this said, he takes a breath and exhales, now glaring at the pegasi. “I want you to search that train inch by inch for that passenger. Is this clear?”
        As the two were picking themselves, Night shuddered atop the train car where she lay, knowing that she was the missing passenger. Considering that she was a pegasus, she could easily fly away before she was caught, though how far she could go couldn’t be said. She cursed the Fly-At-Home program in the back of her mind, but knew there wasn’t much she could do by staying where she was. Standing up a little, she opened her wings, preparing to take off, already planning on following the tracks back.
        As she stood, though, Myst just happened to glance up a little, if only enough to spy the movement of a dark figure atop the train. Night thrust her wings down, hooves leaving the metal roof, only to suddenly feel her hind legs bound together and pulled downwards. With a yelp of surprise she fell, hitting the ground hard. Looking back, she saw the pink unicorn’s green magic glowing around her legs.
        “Storm! Mael! There’s one out here!” he barked, bringing both of the grey stallions out from the train. In his hurry, however, Stormcloud tripped, at which he faceplanted the ground. Maelstrom, following close behind, proceeded to trip over his brother and, in an attempt to regain his balance, run into Myst.
        “Gahh! Careful, you idiots!” Myst growled, pushing the larger stallion off of himself. This was enough of a distraction for his magic to fade, releasing the mare’s legs.
“Run, Night Wisp!!” a voice called, catching her attention as she picked herself up. Out amongst the passengers, now hostages, she could see Steel tied up with the rest of the Windigos.
“Get out of here!” Steel shouted again, struggling against the ropes with the others in a team effort to get out. “Fly away and get help!!”
        “Ohhhh, no yer not!” shouted Storm, who had managed to recover and get back to the task at hoof. He leaped up, flying over the smaller pegasus, blocking off her exit with his larger wingspan. “You ain’t getting away that easy!”
        Her escape cut off, the mare turned to run, only to be met with the approaching Maelstrom, who had now recovered as well. Trapped on both sides.
        “C’mere, lil’ pegasus...” chuckled Mael, who opened his wings out to make himself wider. “We’re not gonna hurt ya, unless you try runnin’.” 
        Night looked back, then forwards again. It was easy to tell she couldn’t outrun the two, or outfly. Thinking desperately, she closed her eyes; almost immediately she felt the sensation of her shadow responding to her thoughts, and beginning to take shape. In the dark, she could hear the two stallions:
        “Um...Mael? Are you seein’..?”
        “Yeah Storm, I’m seein’ it..”
        Night opened her eyes, hopeful that a large, black tendril of some kind was there, intimidating her opponents. To her dismay, though, all that was there was a small, black wisp that didn’t even look big enough to carry a book. Meanwhile, the two stallions had actually stopped; though, they were definitely not intimidated. 
        “Mael’, this one’s doin’ some weird stuff...should we knock her out like that red unicorn?”
        “I think you got a good idea there, Storm..”
        It all happened quickly. Maelstrom turned, his back legs spinning around. Night, in fear, tried to move, only to have the stallion’s powerful kick catch her in the side. There was a sickening snapping sound, followed by an excruciating pain as her wing took most of the force. Something struck her, making her head ignite with a different kind of pain, and soon everything was black.

        It felt like hours before she opened her eyes again, her vision blurry. There might have been some sounds, but everything sounded too far away to make out. She stood slowly, the pain of her broken wing now a strange numb feeling, but her head was still throbbing, burning. Looking around, everything was gone; the hijackers, the passengers, even the train and tracks. The colors were gone as well, leaving only shades of black and white in their place. 
        A light tingling behind her neck made the mare turn around. There, just some distance away, stood a tall pony. It was all black, or seemed to be; she still couldn’t see clearly, her head’s throbbing seeming to grow the more she looked. A kind of haziness hung around the figure, like a mist, or smoke. Night squinted her eyes, trying to see past the veil, only for the figure to falter in shape and size, the veil thickening into a wall of black. She tried to move forward, to grab at the figure-

        “Take one more step and I’ll kill him!!”
        Night found herself staring at the stallion called Myst, who was holding a colt in his grasp. She recognized the colt as Dawn Chaser, the colt struggling as the unicorn’s magic held a knife close to his neck.
        “One more move, even an inch, and he’s dead!” Myst exclaimed again, his eyes glaring daggers at the pegasus. She shivered, feeling his gaze boring into her, but soon realized it wasn’t just his eyes she felt upon her. Glancing out past the stallion, she could see the hostages, almost every single one, staring towards her. Looking back in front of herself, she could see Dawn’s gaze, his eyes looking from her to the ground, then back up at her. In a brief second of instinct, she looked down as well...to find herself standing over Stormcloud’s still body. She stepped backwards immediately, only to run into Maelstrom’s, which lay behind her.
        The mare’s apparent shock seemed to amuse Myst, a soft laugh rising from the stallion. “Stupid mare, you don’t even realize what you just did, do you?” he chuckled, beginning to grin. “I was going to commend you; the display was intense, what with the black tentacles and all. And constricting them until you heard their wings snap?” He pauses, pretending to shiver. “Oh-ho, that was beautiful. You may even have broken a few of their ribs, but they were screaming so much I couldn’t--”
        A red light illuminated Myst’s head from behind, until the sound of a magical blast hitting home was heard. There was no waiting, the hit knocking Myst out cold and sending him down quickly. The knife fell safely to the ground as Dawn crawled out, scooting away from the body, only to run into a red hoof.
        Chromatic Reverb looked down at the colt, his horn still glowing crimson with residual energy. This was enough to send the frightened pony scrambling to find his sister, leaving the unicorn to move towards Myst’s body. He gave him a slight kick, to no response. Finally, he turned to look at Night Wisp and the two bodies, the hostages around him, and then the train. 
        “And this,” he muttered aloud. “Is why I hate mondays.”