The Balance of Harmony

by The Rising Tide of Night

Chapter 11: Just a Train Ride Away

We spent most of the week recovering.

It turned out that Rarity’s armored outfits had held up very well during our ordeal, so there weren’t any repairs to make on those. After thinking it over, I decided to gift Rarity’s old outfit and color-shifting cloak to Cheerilee, who accepted it gratefully.

“Thank you so much, Twilight. This is so generous of you, considering,” she finished sheepishly.

I sighed. “I understand why, Cheerilee. I might have done the same thing in your position. But please – if you think of anything else that can help us, please share it, no matter how much it might hurt. The more we know the better chance of our survival.”

She nodded. “If I – or anyone else – think of anything, we will let you know immediately.”

“That’s all I can hope, for. Thank you, Cheerilee.”

By the end of the week, our wounds had healed well, for the most part. We found that for whatever reason, we healed at a faster rate than anyone else in this world. Fluttershy was still favoring her shoulder, but Applejack seemed to be on the mend, and my face had healed to the point where the cuts were just angry and red instead of bleeding. I would have plenty of scarring, but at least I wasn’t bleeding all over the place. Pinkie Pie had come up with a soft cloth eye patch for me – “I keep them in case of eye patch emergencies,” she had said brightly, as she handed it to me – which I wore proudly. I still got some odd looks in the halls, but generally no one commented.

The day before we were set to leave, Spike came into my room as I was inspecting Rarity’s crystal. I had been studying it to see if there was still any residual magic in it, and if I could use it as well. Looking up at him, I smiled. “What’s up, Spike?”

“I need to talk to you Twilight,” he said seriously.

“Sure, no problem,” I replied. “Have a seat.”

He sat down on Applejack’s bed, silent. As I waited, he refused to meet my eye, and I started to grow irritated. After a few minutes of silence, annoyed, I asked, “Well, what is it?”

“I’m not coming with you,” he said in a rush, as if determined to get it out at once.

I felt taken aback. I wasn’t expecting this. “What? Why not?”

“I almost got you killed, Twilight!” he cried. “What if I had hit you full on with my tail? You wouldn’t have a head anymore! Or if I’d stepped on any of you, or knocked down the building on you – “

“Spike!” I cried. “Enough. There’s no need to feel so bad about this. It was an accident.”

“I told you before I didn’t think I could control it,” he continued. “So I’ve decided to stay here. I can help out around the hideout and help keep them safe.”

I looked over at him disappointed. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

He nodded, resolute. I looked at him for a long time, and then dropped my gaze. “All right,” I sighed. “If that’s what you truly want.”

He hopped down from the bed, and shook his head. “No, Twilight, it’s not what I want. It’s what I think is best.” With that, he left the room, leaving me alone once more. I sat there, my heart no longer in my work, feeling like we had lost another friend.

The next day, the four of us gathered in the meeting room. I collected our latest set of maps from Cheerilee, gave Spike a big hug, and we headed out on another journey. Moving through town, we headed out in a new direction, working our way to the north east. We made our way across the countryside, skirting our way around the edge of the Endless Forest. It took a day, but we eventually ran across what appeared to be a line of railroad tracks. Scraping away some of the overgrowth eventually revealed the iron tracks. Feeling heartened, we decided to follow them to the north in hopes that they would lead us to where the old train sat.

After another hour’s march, we crested a hill and saw the train sitting in the distance. Unfortunately, as we looked down and the engine and its attached cars, we noticed movement among the cars. I motioned for the others to kneel down as we waited to see what the source of the movement was. Soon enough, I stiffened as I saw a group of men step into the open, men who were dressed in the same fashion as those we saw with Discord on the first night we arrived here.

“What’re they doing here?” asked Applejack.

“I’m not sure,” I replied. We watched their movements for a half hour, trying to make sense of their movements. Before too long, it became apparent that they were guarding the train.

“You think Discord sent them here?” asked Fluttershy.

“You might be right,” I replied. “They look like Discord’s men. I wonder if he’s trying to test us, see how determined we are to get the elements.”

“Well, Ah’m just as determined as ever,” Applejack snarled. “Ah say we take ‘em out and get that train running.”

“I’m all for that,” Pinkie Pie interjected. “I’ll be right back.” With that, she vanished before I could say anything. A few seconds later, we heard gunfire as the men below began to panic as Pinkie went to work on them. I saw one break away from the group, running away from the train, but a few seconds later a flash of pink appeared behind him, and he slumped to the ground as Pinkie put a bullet in his head. A moment later, she vanished once more, and I jumped as I heard her voice behind us. “All done!” she said brightly.

We all turned as one and stared at her. “Pinkie,” Applejack said, “y’all are seven different kinds of crazy.”

“Thanks!” she replied, and stated heading down the hill towards the train. After a moment, we scurried up and followed her down. Arriving at the train, we made our way by the cars and up to the engine, inspecting them as we went. For the most part, they seemed to be intact, and the overgrowth was small enough that we thought we could clear it away without too much trouble. Arriving at the engine, we paused as we took in the sight.

The engine appeared to be a steam engine, much like the one we were used to seeing back home. The outside was coated with rust, but we were hoping that the inner workings were shielded enough that they weren’t rusty. Luckily enough, after prying loose some of the outer bolts, it seemed that much of the inner workings seemed to be functional. With direction from Applejack, I used my magic to clean away some of the inner corrosion while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy cleared away some of the overgrowth in front of the train, as well as getting some fuel for the engine and water for the boiler from a nearby stream.

Piling the wood in the coal cart, I used my magic to start a fire in the burner, and we tossed in some wood, praying for the best. The engine began to screech as the steam built up within the pipes, and after another half hour of burning, the engine began to move, ever so slowly. We heard the cars behind us creaking and shaking, and the engine began to strain as the weight of the cars held the engine back. After a few more minutes, the engine gained enough strength to break three of the cars free from their beds, with a loud snap as the coupling after the third car snapped in half.

We cheered as we began moving forward, the train engine gaining speed as we went. Eventually, we were able to get the engine going fast enough that we were flying across the countryside, cutting through overgrown bushes and grass as we zoomed by. Settling into the roomy engine compartment, we decided to allow the train to do the work and relax as we went. For the first time since we lost Rainbow Dash, we felt calm and at peace as we watched the scenery go by, the train clattering along the railway. We took turns keeping an eye on the engine gauges and feeding the fire, chatting as we worked.

After a while, I noticed that Fluttershy was wincing as she moved her arm, and I was starting to feel an ache in the side of my head. The others noticed as well, and gave us both the opportunity to relax further as they worked.

“How are you doing, Fluttershy?” I asked as we sat in the back of the engine, watching Pinkie Pie and Applejack work keeping the engine going.

She rotated her shoulder, wincing further. “It hurts,” she admitted. “But it seems to be getting better.” She looked over at me. “How are you feeling, Twilight?”

I knew she was referring to more than my pain. I sighed, as I searched for the best way to answer her question. “It’s… like you never know how much you rely on something until it’s gone. I keep finding myself misjudging distances, but I’m getting better about adjusting. I feel depressed at times, but at least I have you guys to help me out.”

She nodded. “I don’t know what I would have done without you all these last weeks. I’ve always been so lucky to have such good friends.”

“Like the time you lost yourself with your assertiveness training?” I smiled.

She giggled. “I was a bit of a beast, wasn’t I? But Rarity and Pinkie Pie were there to help me realize what I had become and how to be myself once more.”

I reached over and squeezed her hand. “We’ll always be there for you, Fluttershy. Even if we’re not around, you know we’ll always be with you.”

She nodded, smiling back at me. “I know that, Twilight. Just like we’ll always be there for you.”

Her words resonated with me, and I felt a sense of peace. We settled in together, resting. Applejack and Pinkie Pie had fed the engine fire enough that they were able to take a break as well, so we all sat together, talking and reminiscing. After a few hours, we noticed that the sun was beginning to set, so we arranged for everyone to take shifts keeping the engine running. I offered to take first shift, giving Pinkie and Applejack plenty of time to rest.

As I stood by the fire, tossing a few more logs in, I watched my friends settling in for the night. I hoped that the peace we all felt during this long trip would be enough to get us through whatever was to come. I turned my face to the north, feeling a chill wind blowing through the cab, and shivered. We’d already lost two of our friends in the process of getting two elements. Would we lose anyone else in our search?

Our shifts passed through the night uneventfully. As I awoke the next morning, feeling stiff from lying on the floor of the engine cab, I found myself shivering, and drew my cloak closer around me. I pushed myself up, and glanced out the window, expecting to see the rolling grasslands and forests that I had seen during our trip. Instead, I found myself looking out at a blanket of white snow. The engine was cutting through the drifts, snow flying up from the plow in front and drifting away on the winds.

Pinkie Pie, who had been manning the engine as part of the morning shift, noticed my expression and smiled widely. “Isn’t it great?” she bubbled. “We hit the snowfields a couple hours ago. I thought it was awesome!”

“It’s beautiful!” I exclaimed, watching the light bounce off the flying snow, causing a shimmering effect in the air. The others were waking at this point as well, and we all watched the snow falling for a time before getting back to work. We traveled through the snow fields for a few more hours, until Fluttershy pointed ahead of us, and asked, “What’s that?”

She was pointing towards a shimmering dome of light. The tracks were heading directly at the glowing wall, and I recognized it from our own world. “It’s the Crystal Empire!” I exclaimed. “We’re almost there!”

Applejack looked a little worried. “Are we sure that’s gonna work the same way as back home? Shouldn’t we slow down?”

I thought for a moment, the shimmering barrier approaching rapidly. “It looks the same as it did back home, so I’m guessing it should act the same. On the other hand, we don’t know what’s on the other side, so we should probably try to slow down. Pinkie, will you put on the brake?”

Pinkie Pie threw me a salute and tossed away the log she had been getting ready to throw into the fire. She grabbed the brake handle, and threw it. Or tried do. The handle didn’t move, no matter how much pressure she put on it. “Pinkie?” I asked, getting apprehensive. We were almost at the wall.

She grunted, pushing with all her might. “It won’t move, Twilight!” she said, straining. Applejack rushed over and threw her weight onto the brake handle, but even with their combined efforts, it wouldn’t budge.

“We forgot to check the brakes!” Applejack yelled. We hurtled through the snowdrifts, panicking, and the train struck the shimmering wall. Immediately, we passed through it effortlessly, and found ourselves in the land of crystal summer. As we marveled at the sudden change in seasons, we passed under a large crystal arch and Fluttershy screamed, pointing ahead. The tracks were still there, and appeared to be leading up to an old train station. However, instead of overgrown brush or snow on the tracks, these tracks were blocked by large growths of crystal. We heard the smaller growths shattering as the train ran them over, but another mile ahead of us and approaching fast, a gigantic crystal stood, taller than the train engine and nearly as wide.

“Everybody out!” I yelled. I motioned for everyone to head to the right side, and Fluttershy hesitated.

Without any time to reassure her, I yelled, “Jump!” and proceeded to tackle her out of the engine. We flew through the air, and as I saw Applejack and Pinkie Pie leap behind us to safety, I reached out to all of us with my magic and halted our descent with a sudden jerk. I brought us down to the ground safely, and not a moment too soon as the train slammed into the giant crystal, shattering it into a thousand deadly pieces and turning the train into a giant fireball as the boiler exploded. Pulling everyone next to me, I raised a shield and we hunkered down as flaming debris and deadly shards of crystal rained down, bouncing and clattering off of the shield.

We waited as long as we dared, afraid that the noise might bring someone to investigate. When the last few pieces of crystal stopped falling, I dropped the shield, and we hurried through the flaming debris over to the train station. Slipping inside the dilapidated building, we hurried to a corner where we could watch through the broken windows without being obvious. Drawing our cloaks over ourselves, we waited cautiously. It turned out our fears were well founded, for within a few minutes, we saw a pair of amazing craft land by the remains of the train, and eight soldiers leapt off, fanning out to inspect the wreckage.

The craft were like nothing we had ever seen before. They looked like silver-colored disks with raised edges that formed guardrails, with gaps on either side wide enough for two people to walk abreast. As they flew, they were surrounded by different-colored lights and appeared smooth on the bottom, but as soon as they landed, three metal struts folded out from underneath, supporting the craft’s weight on the ground, and the lights disappeared. We couldn’t see much of the inner workings from where we were, but it appeared that one soldier always remained on each craft at all times

We carefully watched the soldiers scour the area, ducking under our cloaks and huddling against the walls as they approached the station. We could tell that they were calling to each other, but we couldn’t fully make out what they were saying. Suddenly the station door flew open, and three of the soldiers rushed, guns at the ready. They tore through the broken-down station with military precision, checking around corners and in rooms. We nearly had a close call as one of the soldiers stepped on the edge of my cloak, slipping slightly. He glanced down and I held as still as possible, but he seemed to dismiss it as brief clumsiness and moved on.

After a few tense minutes and a brief conversation, the soldiers seemed to feel that the station was empty, and they filed out of the building, calling to their peers. They all grouped together, discussing the wreckage, then filed back onto their crafts. The colored lights surrounded the crafts once more, and they lifted off into the air, landing struts retracting, and they sped off into the distance towards the darkness-covered Crystal Palace.

We waited for a short while to make sure that none of them came back, and then reemerged from the station. “What were those things?” Applejack asked.

I shook my head, just as surprised as she was. “I’m not sure,” I replied. “But those lights looked like magic to me.”

“Wow,” Pinkie Pie marveled. “Those things were cool! Do you think we can get some?”

“Pinkie, we gotta focus,” Applejack scolded. “Enough time later to figure those things out.” She looked towards the palace jutting up in the distance. It looked much like we remembered it had, except instead of being filled with love and light, the palace and the surrounding city were covered in a haze of darkness and shadow.

Looking at the familiar sight, I felt determination and fear inside of me. The last time we had visited the Crystal Empire, it had become a place of happiness, ruled by my brother and his wife Cadence. From the brief glimpse we’d had of the power of the unicorn King Sombra, this Crystal Empire looked much like I imagined it had during his rule.

“Alright, girls,” I announced, “at least we’re on familiar ground now. On the one hand, the city looks exactly like the one back home. On the other hand, I don’t think we’re going to win just by putting on a fair and playing with flugelhorns.”

“Aww, and I wanted another flugelhorn,” Pinkie Pie pouted.

“When we get home, Ah’ll get you all the flugelhorns y’all want,” replied Applejack.

“Thanks, AJ,” I smiled. “Now, I remember the layout of the Crystal Palace, and I think I have a good idea of where King Sombre would keep the elements.”

“You’re thinking of where he kept the Crystal Heart, aren’t you?” asked Fluttershy.

I nodded. “Exactly. I still remember how to perform the shadow magic that Princess Celestia taught me, so even if it’s not out in the open, I can get us to the right place.”

“Sounds good, Twi,” replied Applejack. She motioned towards the Palace. “Shall we head out?”

Comments

[The Zealot]

I feel that I must say it at this point: This story is amazing!