Never had Twilight loved her bed in Ponyville that much. The sheets, the mattress, the sounds of the quiet village outside, everything was perfect. Well, pretty much everything as the mattress was quite hard for some reason, and that the sheets seemed to always fall from the bed, way too far for Twilight to get them back on her. And the sounds from outside were weird. There was no pony talking, no activity, just a weird silence all around and the image of a red ball turning above her head...
She opened her eyes and felt the pain of her face where the form of the pages was printed. In a matter of microseconds, Ponyville became nothing more than a distant and vague dream as all her memories came back to her and she came back to reality under the violent sun of the desert.
Mechanically, Twilight got up, took the manual with her and went back to the locomotive.
It was still there, standing on the tracks, waiting to end the journey, almost taunting the princess who knew it wouldn’t move.
Mechanically again, Twilight came near the hood and thought, as she had the very first time:
« Okay Twilight », the alicorn told herself. « It can’t be that complicated. It’s all just a matter of boiling water, producing steam and then using the pressure to make the wheels move. No big deal. »
Still, she couldn’t take herself to immediately open the hood. She needed some time to let the illusion take place. And only then did she hopefully open it.
“I’m so screwed…” she stated, contemplating the complex machinery in front of her.
She tried to find some connection between what she had read into the manual and what her eyes were seeing, but she couldn’t find any. It was still the same confusing amalgam of technical parts, cables, springs and pistons than before.
She sighed and closed the hood again. She had no idea how she would find a way to make the train move once again. After all the time she had dedicated to understand that machinery, she could only come to the conclusion that she had better just napped somewhere as the result would have been the exact same.
There wasn’t much to do. She hold the help manual once again, but as it was time once again to take back some supplies, she went to the broken carriages and took something to eat from the luggage she had packed back then.
“Silly nitium!” joyfully shouted Pinkie Pie, appearing out of one of the suitcases.
Startled, Twilight jumped in the air.
“Surprise.” said the pink pony with joy. “Were you surprised?” she asked.
“Yes, I was.” replied Twilight. “What are you doing here?”
“I saw you were getting all depressed and stuff, so I decided to help you.” explained Pinkie Pie. “I know how tough the situation is for you, but you’ve got to keep on smiling, okay?”
Twilight would have probably ignored it as she had very good reasons to be depressed, be it for the fact that Pinkie Pie was also holding out a can of asparaguses to her at the exact same time. The alicorn’s stomach growled and she quickly took the can out of the pink hoof and opened it right away. She had no idea there was still asparagus left to eat.
And then, slowly, as her hunger was getting satisfied, she remembered Pinkie Pie’s presence.
“Thanks…” she said to her friend.
“No problemo!” Pinkie Pie replied. “And don’t worry so much. I know you can do it!” she added with a great smile full of hope and optimism, before suddenly disappearing back into the pack of luggage dispersed all over the ground.
Twilight sighed.
“But I know I can’t…” she whispered.
Still, the inside of her chest was feeling warm, and that was the best she had been feeling for a very long time. So she took some of the food she could find around, the help manual and went back to the camp.
There, she sat down under her weak tent and, once again, tried to read again and again the whole manual in the hope she might maybe find something that could help her repair that damn engine.
“Are you doing okay?” asked Applejack’s voice.
Twilight raised her head over the book and saw the familiar faces of her friends all around her. She didn’t feel necessary to reply.
“I’m sure she does.” said Rarity. “Twilight always manages to solve the most impossible of problems. The train will be back up in no time!”
Of course, her “argument” fell flat due to how long Twilight had been blocked there, unable to repair the engine.
“I’m sure she will find a way.” said the kind and gentle voice of Fluttershy. “I believe in you Twilight.” she added.
“We all believe in you!” said all of her friends in unison.
Twilight didn’t reply, but she was feeling better to know how much her friends were supporting her in her task. She went back to work, reading every little detail in the manual and forgot about everything but the engine she had to repair.
She was still reading when the sky became darker and darker. Noticing the sudden lack of light, she lit a new candle and kept on reading, until she once again fell out of exhaustion.