Chain of Dreams

by Hippocrene Artifex

Chapter 14

A rhythmic motion flowed through her. A rocking movement that was cushioned by the soft stuffing of the seat in her train compartment that made sleep, despite the fears that gripped her and every other pony on the train, swallow her whole. Sleep was a blessing for her that sent away all her troubled thoughts into a sea of unconsciousness Metra hadn’t realized that she fell into until she was jolted awake by the tell-tale screech of the train’s brakes and the accompanying inertia of the sudden halt itself.

Metra Bass, the pink-coated mare that unwittingly escaped the fall of Canterlot upon the last train that left the mountain city, blinked her eyes open with a slight surprise. She was tired, yes, but she was so worried that she thought she might never fall asleep in the first place. Ever since the news of the Changeling attack of Canterlot, she, like many other passengers, had found rest hard to come by.

Lingering thoughts, from before she fell asleep, assailed her yet fuzzy brain while she gazed out of the train’s compartment’s window, “What would come next?” she thought sleepily, “What will happen to us? What is the outcome of the attack?”

These questions, and many more, jumbled over each other within her tired soul that she very nearly was on the verge of bursting. Stepping down the seat, she made her way slowly through the compartment’s door, wanting to get herself slightly busy and drive away these thoughts by checking on what the supposedly unscheduled stop was about.

“First things first.” Metra thought to herself; taking a moment to recompose herself and arrange her features into their usual manner after catching a glimpse of her tear-streaked face reflected from the window. She knew that she was acting quite frivolous but it was a habit of hers since her first day in the Academy as a musician and she could very nearly feel the presence of her mother whispering into her ear, “Always look your best, dear.”

Metra was quite relieved that she managed to find and have an entire car to herself in such a small train; the idea of having to bear all the wailing and frightened shouts was simply beyond what she could bear and the company of her thought was all that she desired for the duration of her travel. These thoughts were not contemplatory, though. They did not try to solve the manner through which the changelings sweeping over the city so swiftly. Quite the contrary, her thoughts were rather merciless as Metra reflected back on the past couple of weeks when all of this began... for her, at least. She could not believe that she had been mentally berating herself on not seeing the signs sooner.

Why, her very friend, Cappi the cafe owner, had been the most obvious clue and she had just passed it off as a stress induced episode. Cappi, who so much loved her little neat shop and took care of it like a little child of hers was no doubt in the clutches of the Changelings from the very beginning and, as her best friend, Metra had done nothing to investigate the reasons why the shop was closed that day. Metra loved every moment she spent in that cafe and the loveliest times she spent with her friends, both old and new, there but those moments belonged to another mare in another life and, returning to the present, Metra finished combing the last few strands of her mane back in place and moved to the compartment’s door.

Once out of the compartment, Metra realized that her curiosity was shared by a few who popped their heads through the doors of their compartments to wonder aloud as to why the train had stopped on it’s tracks. By the time she was halfway through the hallway, many other passengers had moved to see what the matter was, already plodding their way to the nearest adjacent train car and an exit though a few still opted to poke their heads out of their compartments and wait out the delay.

The air was laced with hushed voices of the chattering ponies and the one common phrase that floated in the air the most revolved around the train’s untimely stop. Metra tried to tune out these hushed voices but she couldn’t; it was an exact replica of her wondering thoughts: “Are we there yet? Where are we? Does anypony see Shade Hollow? I don’t think we’re there, it’s only been a few hours. Maybe it’s just a malfunction, we’ll be on our way in a bit.”

Engaging in such idle chatter with the rest of the passengers was out of the question for Metra, seeing as she didn’t know who any of them were and, instead, she decided to follow those that wanted to see what the issue was about for themselves. Closing her compartment’s door behind her, she quickly fell in step behind a brown earth stallion, the very one she saw earlier that day that nearly missed the train, on his way up the hallway. She could faintly hear the stallion muttering under his breath about something but it was in such a whisper that even straining her ears didn’t allow her to eavesdrop on his monologue, inaudible as it was, and so she sighed and followed the other pony out the train car’s exit. Once there, she scanned the forming crowd, that either came out the stretch their hooves or check what the problem was, but more idle chatter filled the air, most of which moved to lesser concerns that did not involve the train’s status.

It was simply outrageous, or so, Metra thought heatedly, that such ponies would idly chat after everything they witnessed when the train moved out of Canterlot and she couldn’t stand there uninformed so, moving toward the crowd, she picked out a random pony to garner some answers from, “Excuse me, what’s going on? Why has the train stopped?”

The random pony shook his head and drawled in the manner of the Canterlot’s elite, “I’m afraid I don’t know. I have been asking the same question myself for the past five minutes.”

“Well, that was helpful,” Metra huffed to herself and moved on deeper into the crowd to find better answers and yet everypony she asked said the same thing: that they did not know what had the train stopped for nor why. It was becoming more and more frustrating with every lacking answer she received. Fatigue was slowly starting to settle in and grind on her nerves since she had been trying inadvertently to get some sleep until the train stopped.

After scouring the crowd closer to the front of the train and producing even fewer results, Metra was starting to think that she might as well head back to her compartment and wait out the problem like any sensible pony would do. Turning on her hoof, she pushed her way back to the nearest train door to avoid the ever growing crowd outside. Her hoof had barely met the door handle when a ear-piercing scream shattered the drone of the babbling crowd. The pause was almost palpable until the wave of shouts flowed through the crowd toward her. The ones that weren’t screaming soon found their voice one they saw what their fellow ponies had.

Metra’s heart leapt into her throat with such force that she thought she might choke on it. A cold wedge of ice found its way into her spine and raked her body with terror and fear-riddled trembling. Changelings, as clear as day even against the dark canvas of the night sky, were everywhere, circling the crowd and picking off victims one by one. Ponies scrambled to and fro; looking for any means of escape only to be snatched up in the blink of an eye by the black insectoid like creatures.

Chaos broke all around her and all she could think was, “Run! Run and Hide” before her instincts spurred her into motion. There was no time to think afterwards and she sought the only form of shelter closest to her at the moment; the train. Her hoof latched around the door handle and ripped it open with a slam but the sight that met her made her gasp, unable to truly scream as she fell backward onto the ground. The Changelings were already on the train; one had apparently just been behind the door waiting for its own victim. It trotted slowly down the steps from the locomotive like a lion that has cornered its prey, relishing in its catch.

Metra had seen before but it was only in a book she read many years ago and only bits and pieces of what she read and saw then she remembered now and, yet, that would never compare to the sheer detail of the real thing standing before her: Its sleek black carapace-like body with legs that looked like they were swiss cheese and yet more powerful than any hoof she had seen. Its iridescent wings vibrating in anticipation with the owner’s excitement. A curved horn that may have been filed to a point to give it its menacing form. The razor-sharp, white fangs that looked capable of tearing through her flesh in a single bite. Most importantly, though, were its eyes: eyes that were void of pupils but lacked nothing short of a piercing and hungry gaze.

With a swift leap, the Changeling was now completely on top of her, staring directly into her with a crooked smile. Metra was frozen in fear; having lost her entire will to fight her way from under the imposing figure. A sly hiss escaped the Changeling that stood above her, ready to make its final blow with such a force that Metra could almost see the tension in it’s muscles as it poised to strike. Indeed, the last thing she saw before closing her eyes and letting out the most primal scream of fear in her life was the maw of the Changeling stretch further than she thought was capable to, revealing its rows of rendering fangs bearing down upon her...

Metra hadn’t realized that she had fallen asleep until she heard the tell-tale screech of train brakes and the accompanying pull of inertia of the stop itself. She was more than surprised that she had fallen asleep in the first place. Ever since the news of the Changeling attack of Canterlot, she, like many other passengers, had found rest hard to come by. She wondered why she felt nauseated and sickly and why there were glistening droplets of sweat on her forehead reflecting the artificial light of her compartment. She placed both hooves on her temples and it all came flooding back to her: the train’s ‘unexpected stop’, the ensuing Changeling attack, and her inevitable capture under the pale night sky of screams. She was still right where she was before all of it happened. “A dream?” Metra thought, “No, not a dream... a nightmare.”

As soon as she came to this conclusion, Metra released the breath she had been holding for nearly a minute in a relieved sigh that she wasn't eaten nor captured. Still, she felt a small shiver run through her from the thin layer of cold sweat that had broken out over her coat while she had slept. She was still far from being at ease: her breathing was still coming in short choppy gasps while her brain tried to tell her heart to stop running its fear induced marathon. Even though she was now was calming down, she had to wonder what if what she experienced was not a dream at all. Thus bringing on a renewed score of hyperventilation.

“Breath Metra, breath”, she silently commanded herself over and over in her mind. If what she had witnessed was only a dream, she then had to calm down and think this through, calmly. She knew that she wasn’t in the clutches of the Changelings, and by the sound of it, there weren’t any terrified screams of ponies piercing the night air in fright. Those screams sounded so real in her dream that she could have sworn that they were, screams of those stallions, mares, and foals that stood no chance against the onslaught, just like she had.

“Stop it!” Metra shouted silently again at the horrifying thoughts, shaking her head vigorously as if to shake them off her mind when she realized that she was working herself up once more while getting nothing done. After a few more breaths to steady herself, Metra was left with a single thought that refocused her mind: The train had come to a stop, why?

There had to be a reason and she was determined to find out what it was. a voice dared seep again in her thoughts, “The Changelings are here, and they came for you” but another forceful shake of her head made that thought scurry away from her mind. She had to think rationally and her first choice of decision was to get herself busy making herself appear more presentable to her fellow passengers before leaving the confines of her compartment. The little episode of deja vu was not lost on the diminutive Earth pony

With her mane and tail thoroughly brushed and a few spurts of perfume to cover her sweat, Metra emerged out into the hallway of the train car, but unlike her dream, nopony was out in the hallway like her to investigate the stop nor were there anypony outside judging from what she could see through the train car’s windows. There was no soul to be seen and that added less to Metra’s peace of mind.

The sound of another compartment door sliding open brought her musings to an abrupt end. She was startled, but it was only another pony, a lime green Earth pony mare with a bleach blonde mane and tail, that emerged from her compartment and jumped in fright at the same time as her counterpart. Both mares stood there gasping for breath, until the the lime-green mare offered her apology, “ Oh my, I’m terribly sorry I scared you. I was just on my way to the Little Fillies room.”

Metra smiled in return, having recovered her wits to realize how she over-reacted by jumping in the air like a pegasus even though she had no wings, and replied as calmly as her decelerated breath could allow, “No, no. That was my fault. Please excuse me.”

With her thoughts still in a jumble, Metra had almost reached the adjacent train car when it hit her that she ought have asked so, turning around, she called at the other mare who had almost entered the ladies room, “Excuse me! Sorry to bother you at this moment but why has the train stopped?”

The mare poked her head from around the door and called in return, “They had to stop to replenish their water supply! I’ve taken this train before and it always stops to resupply here at the Firelock water tower.”

“A water tower?” Metra thought, finally understanding, “It was just a water tower, and here you were working yourself up over nothing but a dream” Metra chastised herself before calling back to the mare, “Thank you miss, I should be going.”

“Alright then, have a good evening.” the mare said before going back into the ladies’ room and Metra blinked. It was such a normal and civil answer but she realized that the last few weeks she lived in Canterlot with the uncordial beings she thought were her best friends and even her parents made her forget how natural it was that ponies would be polite to each other even if they haven’t met before.

Metra carried on about her way, thinking to herself that now she was up, she might as well take the opportunity to stretch her hooves and exercise her muscles. Having been cooped up in her compartment for half the day had made her limbs uncomfortably stiff. She contemplated playing some music to get her thoughts in proper order but she shrugged that idea off, fearing to disturb the passengers on the train; early as it was. As she went into the next car, she found there were several ponies walking around,clearly having the same idea as Metra too and yet had permitted themselves to a bit of idle chat and so she just wandered around and caught small snippets of what they were really talking about. Most of it was about Canterlot and wonderings of fellow relatives and if they had escaped. Hearing of these muttered words and experiencing the weight of those memories was breaking Metra’s heart. Not only were her friends and family in danger, hundreds if not thousands of other ponies were now in the hooves of the Changelings.

Metra couldn’t help feeling a bit selfish: here she was, thinking only of her own family and friends when there were ponies all around her in the exact same position as she was. Everyone was surely on the verge of breaking down, but now was not the time to show her fears. She would remain strong if not for herself, but for the others around her. “Yes.” Metra thought to herself, “I’ll give them nothing to see but a proud mare of Canterlot.”

Thus, lost in her own thoughts of self-glory, she inadvertently bumped into yet another pony and had to apologize, “Oof, excuse me. I didn’t see you there. I didn’t mean to bump into you.”

The other pony, a pale orange pegasus mare with a greenish mane and tail, smiled with exhausted eyes, “Oh, don’t worry. No need to apologize. I was distracted as well.”

Both mares nodded after this polite exchange and made room for each other on either side to pass. Metra watched as the mare and two other ponies, a charcoal pegasus and filly unicorn with a bright teal coat and sloppy looking mane, move on after each giving her a slight nod in greeting, the filly unicorn actually waving a hoof back at her in farewell. It was not such an odd event but what caught Metra’s attention about the group was that the mare that she had bumped into had been carrying another pony draped across her back. Metra had to squint to look and make sure but it was certainly a colt, by the looks of him, though his features did give off a bit of femininity. He looked unconscious and carried various scratches and dark bruises along his body and forehead and Metra could only wonder how that mare managed to carry him across her back and yet walk with such an even step to her hooves. “Are they refugees?” Metra whispered to herself as she watched them being obscured from her sight by the closing of the train’s compartment door. On the far end of the car she was currently in, whoever they were, Metra considered the moment to count her blessings that she had gotten off fairly easy from the attack and not had ended up possibly scarred like the poor colt.

Seeing as there wasn’t much else to do, Metra ultimately ended up returning to her compartment just as the train began to move again. Judging by what she had picked up, the train was about three quarters of the way to Shade Hollows and so she planned to keep herself occupied by tending to her prized possession: her one-of-a-kind chestnut wood lacquered Bass.