The Sound of a....Train Whistle?

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Hi...I'm Dual Blade, many years ago...I lay quietly in my bed...I did that every Hearth's Warming Eve ever since I had second thoughts of 'his' existence....so on nights just like this one...I didn't make a sound at all except for the sounds of my slow breathing...I wasn't sleeping, though...I was quietly trying to listen for the sounds...of Santa's Sleigh.

The 12-year-old turquoise blue pegasus opened his eyes, looking up at his room ceiling, thinking he heard the sound of Santa's Sleigh.

Dual Blade sat up and got out of bed, wearing his white t-shirt and his forest camo pajama bottoms; he grabbed his glasses and put them on, quietly going downstairs to see if Santa came. But the tree was empty, the stockings were empty, and the cookies and milk he told his sister to put out remained untouched.

Dual sighed and kept watching until he heard the sounds of boots and the sound of a sleigh bell coming from the kitchen. He looked at the silhouette, and it looked just like...him. His eyes widened, and he was ready to run back upstairs before he heard the figure talk; it was his dad.

"Alright, Bell, we got you your water. Let's get you up back into bed."

Dual squinted his eyes and ran back upstairs, slowly closing his room door as he started to overhear his father talking to his little sister Bell as he looked at them through the keyhole of his room.

"Dual said that... for him to get to every creature's house in one night...his sleigh would have to be faster than the speed of light and to hold everyone's presents, his bag and sleigh would have to be bigger than an ocean liner," Bell said.

"Really? He said that?" Asked the father. "Did he say if Santa existed?"

"He said 'He wasn't sure,' and he's gonna give me his proper answer by tomorrow."

"Your brother knows there is a Santa. He was just kidding, so don't worry, now go to sleep, my little pony...Santa will be here before you know it."

Dual watched as his father kissed Bell's forehead. "Sweet Dreams, Happy Hearth's Warming"

"Goodnight, Daddy...."

Bell then slowly closed her eyes as Dual's dad shut off her lamp and closed the door; Dual saw a Santa hat in his father's pants pocket.

The colt sighed and went over to his desk, taking out an encyclopedia, and went to the N-section. Then, finally, he found the result he wanted with a scroll of his finger...The North Pole.

"The North Pole is the northernmost point on the Earth, lying diametrically opposite the South Pole. It defines geodetic latitude 90° North and the direction of true North. At the North Pole, all directions point south; all lines of longitude converge there, so its longitude can be defined as any degree value. With tight latitude circles, counterclockwise is east, and clockwise is west. The North Pole is at the center of the Northern Hemisphere." Dual read to himself, continuing to scroll down the book, but it didn't say anything about Santa living there.

He sighed again and closed the book, putting it back in his desk drawer. Dual then hopped back into the bed and looked at his alarm clock, and it read 11:45.

Dual decided to give up this year after struggling to keep his eyes open, he placed his glasses on his nightstand, and he closed his eyes, falling asleep as the alarm clock's ticking was still going.

Then he heard the sound of faint sleigh bells, and he quickly opened his eyes again. He looked at the clock again and saw the time was 11:55, but something was wrong, the red 'second hand' wasn't moving.

Dual arched an eyebrow as he kept looking at the clock until he heard a loud rumbling, the clock landing on the floor face first. The colt looked around, a bit scared as he saw some of his framed pictures fall from his dresser along with his pencil holder tipping over and spilling his pencils and pens onto his desk chair and floor.

Even he and his bed itself shook as the rumbling grew louder and louder. Then, finally, he got up from the bed and looked out the window.

He then hears a loud train whistle and bright yellow lights passing by very quickly before slowing down. Dual wanted to see what was going on immediately, so he grabbed his glasses and immediately put them on his face. Instead of putting on proper clothing, he quickly put on his black slippers and grabbed his blue fleece bathrobe from the bedpost.

But instead of properly taking it off the post, he pulled it too hard, and his right pocket ripped, making his marble collection drop out of it. The marbles rattling on the floor, just by the sound of them, Dual thinks he lost his marbles.

He cared little about his pocket and just quickly slipped on his robe, running out of his room at a fast pace.

Dual opened the front door and looked outside to see what was making all the racket. He ran on the blanket of snow on his pathway, and he slipped a bit, making some slide marks into the snow.

He looked shocked; he didn't know if he was dreaming or hallucinating.

In front of him was a vast black steam train; it had five passenger cars colored blue with a white top and red windows with shining yellow lights inside. On one of the train cars, it read 'Polar Express.'

Dual walked up to the train's engine to look at it up close, and he then reached his hand out, preparing to see if it was real before he heard a stallion shout.

"ALL ABOARD!!!!"

The young colt looked in the direction of the voice and pointed to himself, basically saying, 'You talking to me?'

The stallion yelled again. "ALL ABOARD!!!!"

Dual shrugged his shoulders slightly and looked around to see who he was talking to, but no one was around. So the stallion is talking to him.

The 12-year-old colt gathered his courage and walked over to where the stallion was standing. The steam that was around and blocking his vision cleared, and Dual was met with a white unicorn stallion.

The stallion was a white unicorn with a long blue mane and light blue eyes in front of him. Dual saw that the hat he was wearing said 'conductor' in gold lettering. He also had on a blue uniform with black loafers. The two kept staring at each other for a few seconds, The Conductor's light blue eyes staring into Dual's brown ones as The Conductor broke the silence between them.

"Well? You coming?"

The train hissed as Dual spoke. "Where?"

The Conductor smiled. "Why to the North Pole, of course!" He lifted his hand and motioned it to the train. "THIS IS THE POLAR EXPRESS!!!"

Dual's eyes widened, and his mouth was slightly agape when he heard him say that. "T-The North Pole?"

The Conductor smacked his lips and nodded. "Ah...I see..." He gave Dual a lantern. "Hold this, please..."

Dual wrapped his hands around the lantern bar and watched as the stallion grabbed a clipboard and looked at it. "Are you Dual Blade?"

"Yeah...?"

"Well, it says here that you have no photograph taken with a Mall Santa this year, No letter to Santa, and you even made your little sister put out the milk and cookies...."

Dual looked away, a bit embarrassed as The Conductor continued to talk, taking the lantern out of the young colt's hands. "Sounds to me like this is an important year for you...If I were you, I would think about climbing aboard..."

Dual didn't move as The Conductor checked his pocket watch. "Ooh! Are you climbing on or not, kiddo? We got a schedule to keep."

The colt backed up and shook his head, not wanting to get on as The Conductor sighed and climbed back onto the train. "Suit yourself..."

The white stallion waved his lantern toward the locomotive, the train's whistle blaring in response as it began to pull out slowly.

Dual watched as the train slowly moved, but he began to think. He said the train was going to The North Pole, and he had been wondering if Santa existed. This could be his only chance to see if his suspicions of him being real are correct.

"Oh, to heck with it..."

Dual ran to a handrail on the train, and he grabbed it, jumping onto one of the steps to climb aboard before the train went too fast. The colt grabbed the other railing as the train went a bit faster, watching his house slowly grow smaller and smaller as the wind swished his black mane and robe slightly as he looked down, wondering if this was the right choice.

The train rattled in a perfect rhythm on the track as Dual remained on the step of the train car, as his mane and robe continued to blow in the wind lightly. He then looked up a bit when he heard The Conductor clear his throat, he looked back, and he saw him opening up a green slide door, and he beckoned his hand to go inside, to which Dual reluctantly agreed.

Meeting The Other Passengers

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Dual Blade climbed up the steps and looked inside of the train car, seeing a few other kids that ranged from 8 to 12 yrs old, they were all singing a song, they didn't sing that good but it's the effort that counts.

He heard the door close behind him as he walked deeper into the car, looking around he saw an empty seat and sat down.

He looked out the window for a bit then looked at his surroundings, he looked to his left and saw a black female wolf pup look back at him.

She had a fleece bathrobe on just like him, but instead of blue, it was bright red. She had a dark blue nightgown underneath it along with red slippers that were the same color as her robe. She looked to be around his age as she kept staring at him with her cute red eyes, smiling at him.

Dual gave a small smile back at her and looked in front of him, seeing an 11-year-old azure unicorn filly trying to get his attention. "Hey! Hey, you! The colt with the glasses! You know what kind of train this is?"

The colt looked at her confused. "Huh?"

"Train, do you know what kind of train this is? Trixie demands to know if you do!"

Dual Blade shook his head slowly, confused by the fact this filly asked him an out of the blue question. "Uh..."

Then the wolf pup spoke up. "Of course...It's a magic train."

Dual and Trixie looked at the wolf pup as she looked only at Dual Blade with a smile on her face. "We're going to the North Pole."

Trixie swatted her hand down. "Trixie knows that this is a magic train... it's actually a Lima 2-8-4 S3-Class steam locomotive...it was built in 1941 at the Lima locomotive works. It weighs 456,100 pounds and...."

As the unicorn rambled on, Dual looked at the wolf and she just smiles shaking her head with her paw on her cheek.

Dual leans in and whispers. "Are we really going to The North Pole?"

The wolf nodded. "Isn't that incredible?"

Dual nodded slowly. "Yeah...I guess it is...I'm Dual Blade, by the way..."

"Dual Blade...I like that name...I'm Virtus."

Dual lightly chuckled. "I like your name too."

Virtus giggled as Trixie looks at them after she finished rambling. "Hey, were you ignoring The Great and Powerful Trixie?"

Before either kid could answer they heard a door open and close loudly, The Conductor talking out loud to everyone. "Greetings ladies and gentlemen, for anyone who doesn't know; I am Shining Armor, the conductor of this locomotive, and I will be your guide for the rest of the trip." He said to everyone. "Now everyone please take your seats and have your tickets out."

Every kid in the passenger car sat down at their seats as The Conductor, who's name was Shining Armor, approached Dual Blade first.

He took out a ticket puncher from his blazer pocket and clicked it twice. "Ticket please..."

"Uh...I don't have a ticket..." Dual nervously said.

"Try your robe pocket," Shining suggested.

Dual puts his hand in his right pocket but his index and middle finger went into the small hole he accidentally made when rushing out of his room, Shining rolled his eyes a bit. "Try your 'other' pocket..."

The turquoise blue colt listened and puts his hand in his left pocket, he then felt something in there and he took it out, revealing it to be a golden ticket with a picture of the train on it along with the numbers 0001225, he turned it around and saw that it had the words 'Round Trip' on the back of it in bold lettering and 'The Polar Express' in script at the top, at the bottom was a sleigh bell.

"H-How did-" Dual began before looking at the white unicorn, seeing he had his hand out waiting for Dual's ticket to be put in it. "Oh r-right..."

Dual slowly put his ticket in Shining's hand and he grabbed it with a smile. "Thank you, sir."

He then started to punch the 12-year-old colt's ticket rapidly with his ticket puncher, a bunch of ticket dots falling onto the colt as he spits one out of his mouth. Once he finished punching his ticket, he gave it back to Dual. "Thank you"

As Shining moved on to the other passengers, Dual Blade takes a look at his ticket with confusion. Seeing that the punches the unicorn made on his ticket was actually two letters which were a B in the beginning and an E at the end.

"Why does it have-" Dual began to ask himself before Trixie walked up to him.

"Hm...Trixie thinks Mr. Armor likes showing off..." She showed Dual her ticket. "Look what he's punched on Trixie's ticket..."

Dual tilts his head. "L-E? What does that mean?"

"Trixie doesn't know...what did you get on yours?"

"B-E, see?" Dual shows his ticket to Trixie.

"Hm...what do these letters mean?" The filly asked him, the colt shrugged his shoulders.

They then heard a public speaker screech as Shining spoke into the radio. "Next stop...2004 Cavern…"

Trixie goes to her seat and opens up her window to look outside, her mane slightly moving as the train slowly stopped. Dual sees a small house outside the window and he opens up his window too, looking outside.

They watched Conductor Shining step out of the train and looked at a young 11-year-old gray male wolf pup. The wolf's hair, tail, and paws were all dark red while his fur was a light gray. He wore dark green PJs with brown slippers

The Conductor begins talking to the pup as Trixie talked to Dual. "Meh...It's just another pickup...That's funny, Trixie thought you were the last one..."

Dual watched Shining Armor smile at the wolf, hearing him. "Why to the North Pole, of course!" The stallion lifted up his hand and motioned it to the train. "THIS IS THE POLAR EXPRESS!!!"

The pup backed up, not wanting to go, Shining nodded. "Suit yourself.." He gets on and waved his lantern, the train whistled in response and the locomotive jerked Dual back a bit as it began to move.

He watched the pup and waved at him when he looked at him. Then before the train started to pick up speed, the wolf started to run towards the handrail as Dual did before.

Dual spoke into the car. "Hey, that kid wants to get on..." He looked back outside as he saw the wolf struggling. "Come on!"

The wolf managed to grab the rail but the train was moving faster, Dual continuing to shout. "Pull yourself on! Hurry up!!!"

The train was moving too fast for him as he couldn't hold on anymore, he let go of the rail and tripped, face-planting into the snow.

Dual gasped and went back into the train, looking at Virtus. "We have to stop the train!"

Virtus pointed to her right. "The emergency brake is right there!"

The turquoise blue colt ran to the brake and grabbed it with two hands, pulling the cord down hard. The train screeched loudly and made a very immediate stop, everyone in the passenger car fell to the ground due to the force of the stop. Dual landed on Virtus and they both fell to the floor as Trixie and the rest of the kids fell to the floor by not bumping into anyone.

Once the train stopped Dual got off of Virtus and he helped her up. "You ok?"

Virtus rubbed her head and nodded. "Y-Yeah...Dual look!" She pointed to the door and Dual turned around looking at the wolf who finally got on board.

The blue pegasus tried to wave at him but he just turned around and went into the observation car to sit alone. Dual looked at Virtus and she just shrugged her shoulders in response.

Then they heard a sliding door open very violently behind them, showing Shining Armor and he was not happy one bit. "Who in the blazes applied that emergency brake!!??" He slammed the door behind him in anger.

Trixie pointed to Dual Blade. "He did!"

"Trixie!" Virtus said as the white unicorn stallion looked at Dual.

"You..." He walked over to the pegasus as he spoke angrily. "In case you didn't know Dual, that cord is for emergency purposes only!"

He went to the window Dual was at and waved outside. "And if you hadn't noticed..." He closed the window and looked at Dual again. "Tonight is Hearth's Warming Eve and this train is on a very tight schedule...now young stallion, Hearth's Warming may not be important to some creatures...but it is very important to the rest of us!!"

Dual tried to explain himself but he couldn't put it into words. "But- But- But- But-"

"He was just trying to stop the train so that pup could get on!" Virtus interjected, standing up for him herself.

The Conductor looked at Virtus and then out the circular window on the green sliding door, seeing the young wolf sit at the far end of the car. "Hm...young stallion is that what happened?"

Dual and Virtus nodded together at him, Shining then nodded once in response, deciding to let this incident slide. "Well...let me remind you two...we are on a very tight schedule..." He looks at his pocket watch and goes over to the radio speaker. "I've never been late before and I will certainly not be late tonight...now everybody take your seats, please!!"

Everyone listened as Shining smiled. "Thank you..."

Hot Chocolate! // Virtus' Ticket

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The train started to move again as Conductor Shining grabbed the radio near him and spoke into it, the speaker stretching to the entire car so the kids could hear him clearly. "Your attention please...are there any Polar Express passengers in need of refreshments?"

Everyone raised their hands up as the stallion smiled again. "I thought so..."

He opened up the green slide door and 8 waiters came into the passenger cars and started tap dancing. They turned a few seats around and place a cloth down into a small table for every two seats. Then they start singing as some music starts playing in the speakers.

[Song: Hot Chocolate (Blue = Shining Armor, Light Blue = Waiters)]

Hot! Hot!

Ooh, we got it!

Hot! Hot!

Hey, we got it!

Hot! Hot!

Say, we got it!

Hot chocolate!

As the song was going on the kids were served hot chocolate in fat coffee cups, Dual looked over at Virtus and sees her drinking her mug, so he decides to drink his.

Dual picked up the cup and blew some air on it to cool it before he drank a bit of it. He was shocked when he tasted it, it tasted absolutely incredible, it didn't taste anything like the hot chocolate you can get from the store, it actually tasted.....almost magical. He took another drink from his cup as he didn't see Virtus hide her finished cup next to her.

Here, we've only got one rule:

Never ever let it cool!

Keep it cookin' in the pot,

You've got-

Hot chocolate!

A waiter sees that Virtus does not have a cup in front of her and hands her another one.

Hot! Hot!

Oh, we got it!

Hot! Hot!

So, we got it!

Hot! Hot!

Yo, we got it!

Hot chocolate!

Virtus sneakily put her new cup under her chair to hide it as she puts her empty cup back on the table.

Here, we only got one rule: (Here, we only got one rule:)

Never ever let it cool! (Never ever let it cool!)

Keep it cookin' in the pot,

Shining then slid forward like the carpet on the floor was covered in ice with a smile on his face.

Soon, ya got hot choc-o-lat!

The waiters gave everyone refills of hot chocolate as Shining Armor began to moonwalk back to the radio.

Hot! Hot!

Yeah we got it!

Hot! Hot!

Oh, We got it!

Hot! Hot!

Yeah we got it!

Hot! Hot!

Oh, We got it!

The kids took their mugs off the invisible tables as the waiters jumped on and tapped danced on them, Dual looks up at the waiter dancing on his table with a surprised look as he continuing drinking his hot chocolate.

Hot! Ha!

Yeah we got it!

Hah!! Hah!!

Oh, We got it!

Hot! Hot!

YEAH WE GOT IT!

All the waiters backflipped and grabbed the cloth they used for the tables, making whatever was under the cloth disappear. They quickly grabbed everyone's empty cups, putting them on trays, and going out of the open slide door with Shining following them and closing it behind him.

All the children felt so relaxed as they sighed from being refreshed. Dual had a smile on his face as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, licking his lips.

"Trixie doesn't know what was in that hot chocolate...but it tasted heavenly..." The unicorn looked back at Dual. "What did you think of it, Dual?"

"It tasted so incredibly amazing...I don't think I'll ever enjoy drinking normal hot chocolate ever again..." Dual replied, looking up at Trixie, he then looked to his right. "What did you think of it Virtus?"

He caught Virtus reaching under her seat and picking up the extra cup of hot chocolate she hid from the waiters and stood up with it. "Hey, what are you doing?"

The wolf pup beckoned her head towards the door with a smile. "This is for the kid in the back."

"Don't you think Conductor Armor should do that for you?"

Trixie nodded. "Yeah, it's against Railway Safety Regulations for a kid to cross moving train cars without an adult."

Virtus grabbed the door handle leading to the next car. "Don't worry, I'll be fine"

"Are you sure?" asked Dual.

Virtus was about to open the green slide door but didn't after Dual said that. The 3 kids then heard the sound of footsteps walking up to them. Dual, Virtus, and Trixie looked and saw that Shining looking at Virtus with his fists on his hips.

"What about that pup in the observation car, did he get any refreshments?" The stallion asked, earning three head shakes from the kids, he then smiled at Virtus. "Well come on, I'll take you to him."

Dual and Trixie watched as Shining opened the door and held Virtus' shoulder. "Watch your step now, watch your step."

Once the door closed, Dual got up to stretch his legs a bit but in the corner of his eye, he sees a ticket sitting in Virtus' seat. "Uh oh...."

Trixie looked at him. "What?"

The pegasus colt picked up the ticket from the seat and looked at it. "Virtus forgot her ticket...and it hasn't been punched yet!"

"So? Leave it there till she gets back."

Dual looked at the door The Conductor and Virtus went out of and then looked at Trixie. "But what if he asks her for her ticket while they're over there, I'm gonna give it back to her..."

The colt walked over to the green door and opened it while Trixie was still trying to get his attention. "Hey Dual, What are you doing? You're gonna get us all in trouble!"

Dual closed the door and was met with a blue doorknob door, once he opened it, he felt a strong gust of cold wind hit him and the sound of The Polar Express’ wheels rattling very loudly along the tracks. Dual’s mane and robe swished violently in the wind as he looked down and grabbed the door frame, seeing the coupling swaying left and right, it was pretty icy and the train was moving very swiftly as he could tell by how the tracks were blurred a bit.

Dual gasped as he looked up at the door leading to the next car, seeing Virtus hand the cup over to the kid he stopped the train for. The colt looked back down at the coupling, thinking of a way across but then all of a sudden, Virtus' ticket flew out of his hand.

The pegasus tried to grab it but it got too far and flew away from the coupling and down the bridge that the train was on. He watched from the coupling as her ticket blew away in the strong blizzardy wind as he felt like he wanted to cry.

"No...What am I gonna do?! I just lost her ticket....she'll never forgive me for this..."

Dual looked up again and saw Shining and Virtus were coming back, he gasped and quickly got out of the wind by heading back inside and closing the doors.

Dual slumped into his seat as Trixie saw him. "Hey 'Daredevil', you gave Virtus her ticket back?"

Before he could answer, they heard the sliding door open. Both kids looked back and saw Shining close the door as Virtus sat back in her seat, waving cutely at both of them.

The white stallion then walked over to her. "Excuse me Virtus...I'm sorry but I believed I've forgotten to punch your ticket." He took out his puncher and clicked it twice, holding his hand out. "May I?"

Virtus checked her robe pockets, looking worried. "That's weird...I remembered I had my ticket...but it's gone."

The adult stallion was confused too. "You mean: You've lost your ticket?"

"She didn't lose her ticket..."

Shining Armor, Virtus, Trixie, and the rest of the passengers looked at the 12-year-old pegasus. "I did..."

Dual got up and looked at Virtus. "You forgot it on the seat and I tried to return it to you...but the wind was too strong and it blew out of my hand..." Shining sighed heavily and put his puncher back in his pocket.

The pegasus colt took his ticket out of his robe pocket and held it out for the wolf. "Here, you can have my ticket..."

Virtus reached for it with a small smile but Shining Armor quickly snatched it out of Dual's hand. "AH! These tickets. Are not. Transferable..." He then slowly lowered his hand with the ticket towards the pegasus and he gave it back to him. Dual puts his ticket away as Shining held his hand out towards Virtus. "Young pup...you'll just have to come with me..."

Virtus nodded and slowly stood up, grabbing the stallion's hand and was being led back to the door leading to the last car, she glanced back at Dual one last time with a sad face as the blue colt looked down, feeling completely bad as Shining opened the door and closed it, looking at the colt with a disappointed look.

Trixie then spoke up. "You know what you just did Dual?! She's gonna get thrown off the train!"

The colt looked back. "What?!"

"Yeah...he's probably gonna throw her off from the rear...its standard procedure." Dual ran to the door and looked out the window, seeing Shining Armor take Virtus out on the back platform and moved her in front of him, with his hands on her shoulders, he guided her to the right as Trixie continued talking. "Ya know so she won't get run over by the wheels...they may slow the train down a bit but they'll never stop it."

"Stop it? That's it!"

"What?"

"I have to stop the train again!"

"No, stay away from the brake! I had enough headaches!"

Dual didn't listen as he went to the cord again, placing two hands on it but before he pulled it down, he looked up and saw something clinging to the air vent cover.

He looked at it with a raised eyebrow and raises his hand up towards the object, grabbing it with his fingers and pulling it out. He then gasped when he saw what he pulled out of the vent cover was Virtus' ticket!

Trixie gasped too when she saw the ticket in his hand. "Wait...I thought you said you lost the ticket in the wind!"

"I-I did..but how did it get back here?!"

"Who cares?! You have to get the ticket to her right now! GO!!!"

Dual nodded and went to the green sliding door and opened it quickly, Trixie got up and looked at him before he opened the blue door leading to the coupling. "Put the ticket in your pocket so it won't blow away!" Dual listened and placed Virtus' ticket in his left pocket, remembering the hole in his right one as Trixie nodded. "Be careful out there..." She then closed the sliding door for him.

Dual looked in front of him and opened up the blue door, a familiar gust of wind hit his face, mane, and robe along with the loud wheel rattling as he looked down at the icy coupling again. He then looked at the door on the other side and put a determined look on his face.

He then held his breath and jumped from where he was, landing his feet right on the small platform on the other side, he slipped a little when he landed but he quickly grabbed a handrail near the door so he wouldn't fall. The pegasus sighed of relief as he opened up the door to the next car.

He sprinted to the end of the observation car, passing by the little gray wolf, and opened up the door to the outside platform, going on it and looking around. But to his shock, Virtus and Shining were nowhere in sight.

Dual's mane and robe kept blowing in the strong wind as he looked back inside at the shy wolf. He ran towards him and took out Virtus' ticket.

"Where did they go? What happened to them?!" The wolf looked at him, still silent as Dual showed him the ticket. "Please, she's in huge trouble! You have to help me here!"

The pup pointed at the window behind him, making Dual Blade look out of it, his eyes widening when he saw a light outside along with a silhouette of both Shining and Virtus, walking slowly on top of the roof. He then looked up and groaned, knowing where he had to go.

"Oh, great...you've got to be kidding me..."

The Rooftop

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Dual went back on the outer platform again and reached out, grabbing the ladder that was on the right of the platform, he then grabbed the platform's fence bar and placed his foot on the bar as he grabbed the ladder with his other hand too, cold strong wind and snow was hitting his face along with making his black mane blow around violently as it blew through it.

He threw himself over the railing and he swung his feet to the steps on the ladder, he looks down and he can see the wheel spinning very visibly and fast on the track, he even looked behind him and there was a huge iceberg near him, making it a very narrow feeling as he starts climbing quickly to the roof of the train.

He grabbed the final railing and pulled himself on top of the train, standing up he sees the shadows of Shining and Virtus. His mane and robe were moving around everywhere violently due to the wind as he slowly pulled her ticket out of his pocket and held it out in front of him, the wind blowing it back a bit in his hand.

"HEY!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "VIRTUS!!! I FOUND YOUR TICKET!!!! WAIT!!!!"

They didn't hear him due to the wind and the sound of the train being too strong and loud, but he kept yelling anyway. "HEY!!!!!" The shadows and the lantern light disappeared into the blizzard as the colt kept calling out. "WAIT!!!! VIRTUS, ITS DUAL BLADE!!!! I FOUND YOUR TICKET!!!"

Dual puts his arm in front of his face as the strong wind from the blizzard continued to blow through his robe, mane, and pajama pants violently. he starts moving very slowly on the roof of the train as the loud sounds of the wheels rattling on the tracks and the strong wind of the blizzard slightly deafened his hearing.

His feet and ankles were buried deep into the snow as he followed the footprints of Shining and Virtus.

While moving, a light shined in his face, he smiled a bit thinking that Shining and Virtus stopped but looks confused when he saw the light was just a lit fireplace, with logs and everything. In front of the fire was a red dragon playing a hurdy-gurdy, he had an old open trench coat with a gray sweater inside, a gray scarf around his neck, a wool hat, gray pants, and black boots, he also had old gloves on, one of the gloves was showing his index finger and his thumb, in fact, with all of that on...he looked like a hobo.

Dual dropped his arm and was confused as he stared at the mysterious hobo, who noticed him and looked up from his instrument.

"Is there something I can do for you?" asked the dragon hobo in a scruffy voice.

Dual slowly walked up, a little surprised that the sounds of the train and the wind were quieter now to the point where he could hear the hobo perfectly.

"I-I'm looking for Virtus..."

"Virtus who?"

"She's uh...a wolf girl..."

"A g-?" The hobo then started laughing. "HAHAHAHAHAHA, Ain't we all?" He continued laughing but he stopped when Dual held up his hand and showed him the ticket Virtus needed ASAP.

"I have her ticket..." Dual said, handing it to him.

The dragon grabbed the ticket and inspected it in his hand. "Huh...this is an official genuine...Ticket to ride? Ooh...you better keep this in a safe place, young stallion..." He handed Dual back the ticket and he was about to put it in his pocket before the hobo stopped him. "Oh, I wouldn't put it in there...if I was you, I'd keep all my valuables..." He takes off his left boot and points to the inside of it. "Right in here...experience shows that this is the safest place..."

Dual arched his eyebrow and takes the advice, he puts his foot on a stool in front of him and starts to slip Virtus' ticket into his right slipper as the hobo continued talking. "Not that I have use for those ‘tickets’...No, I ride here for free, I hop aboard this rattler anytime I feel like it...I don't need those tickets cuz I own this train. Like I'm the king of this train...yeah! the king of the Polar Ex-"

He then stood up and smiled, lifting his hands. "In fact, I am the king...OF THE NORTH POLE!!!" When he said that, his words echoed through the mountains and Dual looked out toward where the echo responded.

The hobo looked at Dual and smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry where are my manners, go ahead and sit down. Here, have a chicken kabob..." Dual sat down on the stool as the hobo gave him a chicken kabob on a stick. "Hot and fresh food...perfect for a cold winter night..."

"Thanks...I am getting pretty hungry..." Dual said, looking at the chicken kabob and taking a bite, it actually tasted really good. "Mmm, tasty."

"Heh glad you like it, kid, the name's Ultima by the way."

"Dual" The colt replied with a smile. "But hang on, what about Santa?"

"Santa?"

"I thought he was the...King of The North Pole..."

"Oh...you mean..." Ultima takes out a Santa hat from his coat and puts it on. "You mean this guy?" He then starts to mockingly saw 'Ho, Ho, Ho' like Santa and was moving his body around like he was a robot as Dual kept watching in confusion. He then stopped and took off the hat as he looked at Dual.

"What exactly is your persuasion on the 'big man', since you brought him up?"

Dual looked away, taking another bite of his kabob. "Well...I...I want to believe...but-"

"But!" Ultima interjected. "You don't want to be bamboozled, You don't want to be led down the 'garden path', you don't want to be conned or duped, have the wool pulled over your eyes, hoodwinked, you don't want to be taken for a ride railroaded!"

The dragon then took out some water and poured it on the fire, putting it out and making Dual jump with his half-eating kabob. Ultima then took out a stick with a sack at the end of it and looked at the 12-year-old stallion. "Seeing is believing...am I right?"

Dual looked up at him. "What about this train?"

"What about it?"

"We are really going to The North Pole...right?"

"I don't know...are we?"

"Are you telling me that this is all just....a dream?"

The hobo then swiped Dual's half-eaten kabob and smirked. "Hey...You said it Dualy-Boy, not me." He ate the last bit of Dual's kabob and threw the stick off the train. "So... let's go find that girl!"

He grabbed the stool Dual sat on along with his own stool and started to walk away, he then stopped after a few steps and turned back. "One more thing..."

"Y-Yeah?"

"Do you believe in ghosts?"

Dual looked at him for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Why would I believe in ghosts if I barely believe Santa exists..."

Ultima nods. "Fair point..." He then started to walked away again as Dual tried to follow him but the latter was having trouble.

"W-Wait...Wait!" The blue colt could barely move due to the deep snow under his feet, he saw Ultima disappear into the blizzard as he kept struggling to keep up, the sound of the wind and the train getting louder again and slightly obstructing his hearing again. "WAIT UP!!!!!"

Dual was alone on the roof of the train once again as he stopped walking, running out of breath due to the wind being too strong. "I have to wake up...yeah...I have to wake up..." He starts to pinch his left hand with his right. "Grr...Wake up, Wake up, Wake up!!" When that didn't work, Dual went on his knees and puts his face in the snow the roof had, he put his face back up and it was covered in snow. He blew the snow off of his face as he breathes, the wind continuing to swish his mane all over the place as he heard the train whistle very loudly.

When Dual looked forward again, he saw that the blizzard was lighting up a bit and can see in front of him...but what he saw, he didn't like. The train was heading up a steep hill.

"Oh no!" Dual yelled, beginning to slide backward as the observation car started to slant a bit. He was going very fast and ended up on his belly as he kept sliding backward. "Nononononono!" He then gripped the red light at the end of the car and held on for dear life as his legs swung left and right, dangling. "NO! NO!!!"

He then heard a clang near his hands and saw that it was a skiing muck stick, he looked up and saw Ultima wearing a pair of skis. "GRAB ON DUALY-BOY, HURRY!!!"

Dual grabbed onto the stick with both hands and Ultima used his strength to swing Dual around, the colt's body dangled a bit from the muck stick as he looked down, seeing nothing but a very nasty and dangerous drop. "AAAHHH!"

Ultima put Dual back onto the roof and made his feet land perfectly on his skis. Dual then gripped the two muck sticks when the dragon presented them to his hands. Dual looked forward and saw the train was starting to go downhill. "We're going down!"

"Don't worry...when the train goes down fast...we go fast..." Ultima replied, the train then went down the steep hill and the force of the drop helped them ski down the train fast. "GRAVITY IS YOUR BEST FRIEND WHEN YOU'RE SKIING, DUAL!!!"

They then began jumping from car to car as the train descended downhill at an alarming speed. The wind blew through Dual's mane violently as they kept skiing. "WHAT'S AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS HILL ANYWAY!!??"

"THAT!!! LOOK IN FRONT!!!" Dual looked ahead and saw a scary-looking tunnel that had sharp icicles like teeth as the dragon continued yelling. "THAT'S FLAT TOP TUNNEL DUAL!!! YOU WON'T MAKE IT IF YOU'RE STILL ON THE ROOF WHEN THE TRAIN GOES THROUGH, SO I'M TAKING YOU TO THE ENGINE!!!"

The train went faster and faster, as they kept jumping and skiing train cars, there were only two cars left, but the train was too close to the tunnel.

"WE'RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!!!!" Dual cried.

"I CAN'T, BUT YOU CAN DUALY-BOY!!!!" Ultima yelled. "THERE'S ONLY ONE SIMPLE TRICK.....WHEN I SAY 'JUMP' "

The engine went into the tunnel as they jumped the last two cars. "YOU...JUUUUUUMMMMP!!!!!!" The dragon disappeared behind Dual as he said that.

The colt closed his eyes and jumped as far as he could, screaming. "AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

It's like a Roller Coaster...A Very Dangerous One! [Edited]

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When Dual jumped, he actually landed in the coal tender, he slid down the coal like a slide and once he reached the bottom he was buried in coal. He slowly got up trying to keep his balance as he dusted off coal dust from himself. He walked into the train cab and was surprised who was sitting in the driver's seat.

"Virtus?!" Dual said, The wolf pup looked back and smiled when she saw the pegasus. "I thought you got thrown off! Y-You're driving the train?!"

"The engineer put me in charge...I've been driving the train for a while, isn't it great?"

"B-But...how do you know how to drive a train?"

"It's easy Dual, come here I'll show you." Dual Blade walked over next to Virtus as she started to point at some of the train's mechanics in front of them. "This big lever here...that's the throttle, that little one there is the brake, and those are the pressure gauges." She then pointed at a rope that was hanging. "And that rope is the whistle."

Dual looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "The whistle?"

Virtus nodded, giggling a little. "Want to try it?"

The colt wasted no time as he pulled the rope down with a smile, the train whistle blew loudly. "I wanted to do that my whole life!" He blew the whistle again but when he pulled it again, they heard something hissing.

Dual and Virtus looked and saw the pressure of the pipes was too much when the young colt pulled the whistle, steam beginning to seep out of the pipes.

"Uh-oh!" exclaimed Virtus, getting down from her seat and quickly starting to turn the two wheels under the pressure gauges.

"I-Is that suppose to happen?" asked Dual, scared that he broke something.

"No," Virtus replied, continuing to turn the wheels individually to try and stop the steam, but it wasn't working. The cab was quickly getting engulfed.

"Do something!" exclaimed Dual, fanning away the steam.

"I am!" Virtus slightly snapped. "This is what they told me to do!"

"Are you sure??"

The wolf stopped when she heard Dual say that, now she was second-guessing herself. She couldn't handle the pressure anymore so she stopped altogether and covered her eyes. The pegasus saw this and ran over to Virtus, grabbing her and pulling her away from the train controls, the two kids couldn't stop the steam from the pipes so they were left helplessly getting engulfed by the white smoke.

But after a few seconds they noticed that the smoke was starting to subside, both kids looked forward and saw two female pegasi twisting both of the pressure wheels Virtus was twisting before, but they were doing it at the same time instead of individually. After the steam was fully gone and the pressure was back to normal, both pegasi turned around and looked at the kids.

"What were you two doing to our train?" They both asked a bit peeved.

Virtus pointed to the gauges. "I was just turning those things like you told me to."

Both pegasi looked at each other and realized they forgot to specify how she had to turn the pressure wheels.

They looked at them and chuckled. "Together."

"Huh?" Virtus raised an eyebrow.

"Together," Both pegasi repeated. "You had to turn them together!"

"Together?" Virtus repeated.

"That's right!" One of the pegasi grabbed a shovel and the kids moved out of the way so she could shovel some coal into the fireplace.

Virtus was still confused about how she could've accomplished that. "But...how could I? I was here alone."

It was now the engineer and the firewoman's turn to be confused, pointing at Dual and still speaking at the same time. "What about him? He wasn't here?"

Virtus shook her head, so both pegasi decided to introduce themselves to the colt.

"I'm Cloudchaser." The engineer pegasus told him, holding her hand out.

Dual shook her hand and then the firewoman pegasus held her hand out too. "I'm Flitter."

The blue pegasus shook her hand two and both female pegasi spoke at the same time again. "We're twins."

"Nice to meet you...and you?" Dual replied with a bit of confusion.

"So, who brought you up here," The sisters asked. "Was it the conductor?"

Dual shook his head. "No, Ultima did."

The sisters both looked at the colt with shocked expressions when they heard that name. "ULTIMA?!?!" Cloudchaser and Flitter's legs started to shake a bit out of fear.

Dual explained himself, confused by their reaction. "Yes? Ultima was his name. He was a dragon...and he looked like a Hobo."

Both sisters struggled to get their wording out. "H-H-Ho...Hobo?!"

The colt nodded his head. Cloudchaser and Flitter both looked at each other and stood up, speaking at the same time again. "Gotta go!" They ran passed the kids and a paper cover pulled down behind them, blocking the view of the coal slide.

The 12-year-olds looked at each other in confusion as they approached the cover, looking behind it and seeing that the sisters were nowhere in sight.

"Where'd they go?" asked Virtus, walking behind the cover with Dual as he shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know..."

They then heard a click behind them and the lights went dark, but the paper cover was lit up like a projector screen. They then heard the voices of Cloudchaser and Flitter as they started doing shadow puppets in front of the light, putting on a small show for the kids.

"T’was the night before Christmas,
In the year 33’.
When a Dragon named Ultima wanted to ride for free.
He was riding on the roof and then the engine started to ride down a steep icy drop,
that headed for a tunnel, a tunnel called Flat Top!
The train was made to the tunnel and went faster.
And then Ultima got nervous cuz up ahead was a disaster!
He didn’t have time to holler!!
He didn’t have time to cry!!
He got-"

The flap then quickly went up, the lights turned on, and the twins revealed themselves to the kids. "SWEPT off this train like that step in Georgia swamp in July!!"

Dual and Virtus were confused but continued to listen as Cloudchaser spoke independently. "His ghost still rides this train. Some people believe, that every year at Hearths Warming...on Hearths Warming Eve...you'd see his spirit."

Virtus thought this was silly. "There's no such thing as ghosts."

The sisters pointed to Dual. "But he saw the hobo up on the roof!"

Dual started to think about the story and what he saw on the rooftop. "He did just disappear...right at Flat Top Tunnel..." He looked over at Virtus.

The wolf started to think now, coming up with her own conclusion. "Well...maybe he's an angel; A guardian angel." She looks over at Dual. "Right?"

Dual shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe."

Everyone in the room then heard a distant popping and glass breaking from outside. Cloudchaser looked out the cab window and saw that the lightbulb at the front just popped.

"Aw dang it!" She looked at Flitter. "Sis, the light broke."

Flitter sighed. "Really? I just fixed that lightbulb."

Cloudchaser then looked at the kids again while Flitter grabbed a spare lightbulb. "You two, you need to drive the train while we go have a look, just the way we showed you how."

She guided Virtus back to the engineering chair and Dual stood next to her. The sisters then went to the back of the cab to go to the front of the train to fix the light.

But before they went, Cloudchaser and Flitter popped their heads back in, speaking at once again. "And remember, everything you have to do here, you have to do it together!"

The kids looked at each other and nodded with a smile, speaking at the same time now. "Together!"

As the sisters went to the front, Dual looked at the whistle rope; a bit apprehensive about touching it again after what just happened before.

"Y-You think it's okay now?" he asked.

Virtus looked at the rope too, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, they did fix it, so...it should be fine."

Dual grabbed the rope again and pulled it down, the loud whistle blowing again. He looked and saw that the gauges didn't increase so he smiled brightly as he pulled the whistle again with no trouble whatsoever.

Virtus giggled again as she watched Dual have fun with the whistle, but then they heard faint yelling from outside, making the kids stick their heads out the cab window.

They both squinted their eyes from the wind but managed to see that It was Cloudchaser trying to get their attention. "STOP THE TRAIN!!! STOP THE TRAIN!!!"

Dual didn't hear what she was saying but Virtus did. "She wants us to stop the train!"

They went back into the cab and Dual looked around at the levers. "Which one is the brake?"

"She told me this was the brake..." Virtus pointed to a small lever.

Dual looked at a red lever. "What about this red one? it looks like a brake..."

"No, she said this one is the brake!" She pointed back at the small lever.

"Are you sure?"

Virtus paused. "Uh..."

"Are you sure?!"

The female wolf pup looked at the levers and just gave up. She slumped down in the seat and covered her face with her hands. Dual sighed and grabbed the red lever getting ready to pull it...but then he started to think. She was in the cab longer than he was...so she did know where the brake was.

He saw Virtus move a finger from her eye to look at him, he then looked at the small lever she pointed at before and grabbed that instead, twisting it clockwise with both hands. The train then began to screech violently to a stop, the force knocking Dual to the floor, and Virtus quickly grabbed a handrail as the force of the stop made her jump.

Cloudchaser and Flitter were slipping a bit as they both grabbed handguards on the sides, the train fully coming to a stop. They were face to face with a large herd of caribou on the train tracks.

Flitter looked at them in confusion. "Caribou?"

Conductor Shining Armor was then heard yelling. "There can be no Hearth's Warming without The Polar Express arriving on time! Am I the only one who understands that?!" He came down the coal slide and saw Dual Blade. "YOU!!"

Dual quickly got up, as Shining bent down to his level. "I should've known...Dual Blade are you bound and determined to make sure this train never reaches The North Pole??!!"

Virtus looked out the window then at Shining. "But look!"

The white unicorn walked towards Virtus and looked out the window with her, gasping a bit. "Caribou Crossing?!"

Cloudchaser yelled out. "There are a lot of Caribou out here, Mr. Shining!"

Conductor Shining sighed and looked at the kids. "Come on..."

Conductor Shining Armor, Virtus, and Dual all went in front of the train with Cloudchaser and Flitter.

"What do we do now?" Dual asked.

Flitter looked up at the train bell. "Hm..." She opened her wings and flew up to the bell, ringing it loudly. The Caribou made an elk whine sound at it and they got off the track.

Flitter smiled and dropped back down, as Shining smiled too. "Problem Solved...All ahead...Slooow!" Cloudchaser and Flitter both nodded as they opened their wings and flew back into the cab as Shining Armor stayed at the front of the train with Virtus and Dual.

Cloudchaser pulled the whistle and Flitter shoveled coal into the firebox. Cloudchaser then pulled the brake back to its original position and pushed the throttle lever forward. The train hissed and started to move slowly, Dual smiled as he watched the caribou pass by and the train began to gain some speed.

Cloudchaser then tried to pull the throttle lever back a bit to decrease some speed but the lever just clicked, not doing anything. The pegasus mare grunted a bit as she kept trying to pull the lever back, not knowing the cotter pin was loose.

Out in front: Dual, Virtus, and Shining Armor were still standing in front of the train, noticing the train gaining a bit too much speed to their liking.

"We're going a little too fast..." Dual said.

Shining looked at Virtus. "Tell the girls to slow down..."

Virtus climbed a bit on the small steps and yelled at the top of her lungs at the mares inside the cab, her hair and robe moving in the wind. "Slow down!!!! We're going too fast!!!!"

In the cab, Cloud kept pulling the lever to get it to work but to no avail. She kept pulling and pulling but the lever snapped out of its place and she hit the floor with the lever in her hand, the cotter pin jumping all over the place. "Oh no! Flitter the throttle pin came off!!"

Flitter stopped shoveling. "What?"

"The pin!"

"Where is it?!"

"Right there!" Cloud pointed to the floor and the sisters jumped at it, but the pin slipped into a grate. "Oh no!!"

Virtus looked at The Conductor with a worried look. "They can't hear me!"

Shining looked at her. "They can't?" When Virtus shook her head, he looked forward and saw two signs that the train passed that made him gasp.

[DANGER!!! 89-DEGREE GRADE DROP!!]

[USE LOW GEAR!!!!]

Shining shook his head. "This isn't good...quick get under the safety bar!" Virtus and Dual went under the safety bar and grabbed onto it with both hands, the white stallion went behind Dual and Virtus undoing both of their robe belts.

"Is...Is everything alright?!" Dual asked, a bit afraid. "W-What's going on?!"

Shining Armor draped one end of the robe belts to the left side of the bar and moved over to the right, tying the other ends of them together on the right side as he explained. "Well...Considering the fact...that we've lost communication with the engineer, we are standing totally exposed at the front of the locomotive-" After tying the ropes to the right of them he shifts over to the left to connect the other end of them to the bar too, surrounding the three of them.

"The train appears to be accelerating uncontrollably and we're rapidly approaching...Glacier Gulch-" After tying the last end of the robe belt to the bar, he moved behind them and took Dual's glasses off of his face, placing them in his blazer pocket and grabbing the safety bar too, his left hand near Dual's hand and his right hand near Virtus' paw. "Which just so happens to be the steepest downhill grade in the entire world with 89-degree drops...I suggest we all hold on-"

The train then began to go down a steep slope. "TIGHTLY!!!!!!"

The train went downhill very fast and rollercoaster-like. Dual and Virtus' hair swished violently due to the strong wind that was picking up.

Both Dual and Shining were screaming their lungs out while Virtus was laughing and 'Whoo-ing' loudly like she was having the time of her life. The train went around crazy sharp bends and vertical drops, but thanks to the robe belts around them, it acted as a strong harness to keep them from falling off.

Dual closed his eyes as the train dropped down one steep mountain after another and then rattled up the next. In fact, it was amazing that the train was still on the tracks even though it was going deathly fast and using that kind of speed on all of the very heavy 89-degree vertical drops.

“THIS ISN’T REAL, I’M ONLY DREAMIIIIIIINNNG!!!!!!” yelled Dual at the top of his lungs as he kept feeling the harsh drops of Glacier Gulch, refusing to believe this.

Cloudchaser and Flitter were defying gravity in the cab as they kept trying to get the cotter pin for the throttle. It kept slipping through their fingers as the train went downhill again, the pin flew up into the air and Flitter caught it in her teeth. The train went straight again and Flitter got up from the floor holding the pin in her mouth. "I got it!"

The train went down another steep vertical drop and Flitter and Cloudchaser went into the air and hit the ceiling, Flitter accidentally swallowed the pin and it got stuck in her throat when she hit the ceiling. The train went straight again and the sisters hit the floor again, Flitter tapping Cloudchaser's leg very quickly and pointing to her throat as she started to choke.

Off The Tracks // Ticket Returned

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The train raced down one last mountain and once it reached the bottom, Dual finally opened his eyes. He then looked forward with a squint, noticing that there was something wrong with the tracks up ahead. “WHAT’S THAT?!!??”

Conductor Shining Armor squinted and gasped when he saw what was up ahead. "THE ICE HAS FROZEN OVER THE TRACKS!!!"

Virtus gasped too, having stopped laughing. "WHAT?!?!" The train getting closer to the frozen-over tracks.

"HANG ON!!!!"

The train screeched as it went onto the frozen lake and off the tracks. Dual, Virtus, and Shining screamed as the train was slithering like a snake on the frozen lake, the cars swerving left and right with loud screeches.

Cloudchaser was behind Flitter and had her arms wrapped around her sister's front, pushing her ribs in with her arms since she was choking on a cotter pin. One final push caused Flitter to finally spit out the pin but it launched out of the cab window and it punctured the ice, the ice begins to crack.

"ARE WE GONNA BE OK??!!" asked Dual, his mane still moving like crazy as he looked at Shining.

"WE'LL BE FINE, AS LONG AS WE HAVE THE SAFETY BAR!!!"

The train then headed straight for an iceberg and hit it head-on really hard, the ice broke the safety bar and tilted the train to the right. Virtus was on the right and she slipped over the edge.

Shining slid and grabbed onto her right arm quickly to keep her from falling off the train as she was screaming bloody murder with fear while dangling a bit. Dual grabbed onto the white stallion's blazer and grabbed a handrail, keeping Virtus and the white stallion from falling.

The handrail was too icy for Dual to hang onto, so his hand was slowly slipping away, but before he could fully let go, someone else grabbed his wrist, keeping them from falling off from a fast-moving train. The colt looked behind him with a squint, due to Shining still having his glasses, but he managed to make out who the creature was: it was Ultima.

The red dragon put his index finger up to his mouth. "Shhhh..."

Dual looked forward and with Ultima's help, he pulled as hard as he could, making the train stand upright along with getting Virtus back onto the platform, Shining Armor holding her close to him. The colt looked at Ultima again and smiled a bit, the dragon winking at him and disappearing into the wind before Virtus or Shining could see him.

"Young man, you got quite a strong grip there!!!" The white unicorn stallion said as Dual looked at him.

"We lost the pin!!" Flitter said. "What do we do?!"

Cloudchaser looked around and gasped, reaching behind her mane and unclipping her hairpin from it. Her hair dropped down past her shoulders and she looked at the pin, looking back at her twin sister. "Keep shoveling the fireplace!! I got this!"

Flitter nodded and went back to shoveling coal as Cloudchaser put the throttle lever back into place and slipped her hairpin into the hole where the cotter pin once was. She then grabbed the throttle lever and pulled it with all of her might towards her with a grunt, the lever successfully working.

The train screeched very loudly and the whole train turned around, rolling backward. The engine tilted a bit which caused Conductor Shining to grab both Dual and Virtus to keep them from slipping off. The train then finally slowly skidded to a stop on the ice lake.

The train tilted to the right, making the 3 of them lose their balance a bit as they neared the right edge, Shining telling the two kids. "Move to the left! Move to the left!" The train tilted to the left and it slammed down into the ice, Dual and Virtus nearly falling off as Shining Armor kept holding them. The engine finally stood upright and the train hissed, making all three of them sigh in complete and utter relief.

Dual and Virtus tied their robe belts back around them as Shining placed Dual's glasses back on his face along with fixing his hat and blazer. "That's more like it..."

The 12-year-olds finally finished closing their robes as Dual breathed heavily. "W-What just happened?!"

"Yeah...why did we lose control when we went down those mountains and went onto this lake!?" Virtus asked, terrified just as much as the colt was.

Conductor Shining shook his head. "I don't know...Come on." He led them to the top of the engine, letting them go up the ladder first before climbing up himself and standing up. He leads them over to the cab hatch and he opened it up, looking down at Cloudchaser and Flitter who were breathing heavily. "What in the Name of The Lord were you two doing?! You could've gotten us all killed!!"

The sisters looked up, Cloudchaser spoke. "We're sorry, Mr. Armor...The throttle pin was loose, but don't worry we managed to get it fixed..."

They then heard a loud cracking sound which made them all look around for the source. Dual found it first, seeing a huge crack stretch across the ice, his pupils turned into pinpricks as he pointed out. "LOOK!!!" Shining and Virtus looked to where he was pointing at and they both gasped the cracks coming towards them opened up and water splashed loudly, Shining Armor looking back in the cab.

"GET US THE BLAZES OUT OF HERE!!!!!"

Cloudchaser looked and pulled the Johnson Bar towards her, which caused the train to spin its wheels and slide a bit on the ice but it did manage to reverse, the ice getting a bit too close to them. The white stallion looked back in. "Turn this sled around!!"

Cloud twisted the brake lever clockwise and pushed the Johnson lever forward a bit. The train's wheels halted and stopped, but the train screeched very violently on the ice as Dual and Virtus held on to the cab roof and Shining was waving his arms a bit, slightly losing his balance. Cloudchaser turned the brake counter-clockwise and pushed the Johnson lever all the way forward.

The train's wheels started spinning again, the locomotive swinging itself around and moving forward on the ice. Dual and Virtus' hair went back to moving like crazy in the wind, The wolf pointed forward and shouted. "Look over there!!!"

Shining looked at what she was pointing at and he gasped at what he saw. "Tracks!!! Dead ahead!!!" There were train tracks right in the middle of an ice crevice a few distances away.

The train started to skid a bit too much to the left so the white stallion yelled. "RIGHT!!" Cloudchaser pulled the Johnson lever towards her, turned the lever under the brake counter-clockwise, and pulled the throttle towards her. The wheels screeched and skidded to the right, but it went a bit far. "LEFT!!!" Cloudchaser pushed The Johnson lever forward, turned the other brake lever clockwise, and pushed the throttle lever forward, the large wheels screeched again and the train skidded to the left.

"RIGHT!!!" Shining yelled again. The mare pulled the Johnson lever towards her, turned the lever under the brake counter-clockwise, and pulled the throttle towards her again, The train skidding to the right again.

"HANG A LOUIE!!" The train skidded to the left. "TOSS A RITCHIE!!!" The train skidded to the right.

The wind picked up and it went under Dual's right black slipper, making it fly off of his foot. "My slipper!!" He grabbed it but noticed that it was the slipper he hid a ticket under and saw it flying around.

"You're gonna lose your ticket!!" Virtus yelled.

"It's not my ticket, it's yours!!"

"It's MY ticket?!?!"

"Yes!!" Both kids reached their hands out to try and grab Virtus' ticket before it flew away.

"Girls we're almost there! Keep up with me! LEFT!!!" Conductor Shining screamed, Cloudchaser made the train skid to the left and followed the white unicorn's orders. "RIGHT!!!! LEFT!!!! RIGHT!!!! LEFT!!!!" As Shining Armor kept shouting directions, Dual and Virtus were struggling to get the ticket. They reached for it before the wind managed to blow it too far and they both grabbed it at the same time.

But once they looked behind them, the cracking ice caught up to the train and broke under the cars as both kids screamed. "OH NO!!!" Shining looked back as the water under the ice was splashing on the train and was dragging it underwater.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!!!!!!" Shining, Dual, and Virtus grabbed something on top of the engine. But as soon as the ice cracked under the entire train, the wheels hit the tracks perfectly with large sparks and screeches. The train successfully made it to the other side, riding the tracks at a smooth speed.

Conductor Shining got up and smiled, fixing his blazer and hat as he nodded. "That's more like it..." He then jumped down the cab hatch as Virtus hugged Dual Blade very tightly. "Ooh Thank you Dual! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I can't believe you found my ticket for me...that's so sweet."

Dual wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug. "It's no problem at all, Virtus.

"Did I hear someone say they found a ticket?" The kids looked back and saw it was Shining Armor sticking his body through the cab hatch. The 12-year-old kids both nodded and Conductor Shining smiled. "Well in that case-" He took out his puncher from his blazer pocket and showed it to the kids. "Tickets, please." Virtus and Dual smiled as the wolf finally handed her ticket to Shining.

The Conductor began to punch Virtus' ticket for her and during the punches, gold dots flew onto his face due to the wind, which caused him to spit them out in response. Once he finishes punching her ticket he blows on it to make sure the stray punch dots are gone and he hands it back to Virtus. "Thank you." He goes back into the cab as Virtus looks at her ticket with Dual.

"L-E..." Virtus read. Dual noticing something.

"Hey, Trixie got that on her ticket too..." Virtus looked back at Dual and smiled as she puts her ticket away in her robe pocket. She then gave the colt a peck on the cheek and lightly put her head on his shoulder.

Dual blushed in response as he wrapped his left arm around her and his head rested onto hers softly, both of their hair continuing to flow peacefully in the wind.

You're a Doubter!! // Arriving at The North Pole!

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As the train was slowly turning on a snowy mountain, Conductor Shining led Dual and Virtus on the roof of the coal tender to lead them back to the passenger car. "Watch your step up here, it's pretty slick." Dual was walking down some small steps but he slipped on some ice and nearly fell off the train, Shining quickly grabbed him and put him back on his feet. "I told you to be careful, young stallion!"

"Sorry..." Dual replied as they kept walking.

"Ya know...years ago on my first day, I was on the roof making my rounds when I slipped on the ice myself. I grabbed a handrail but it broke off, I slid and fell but I never fell off this train." The train was now on a bridge, the sudden turn off the mountain made Virtus and Dual lose their balance slightly.

"Someone saved you?" Virtus asked.

"Or something..."

Dual and Virtus looked at each other, both of them thinking. "A guardian angel?"

"Maybe..." Shining climbed down a ladder from the tender so he was in front of a door to a car, Dual climbed down next along with Virtus. Before Shining opened the door Dual asked a question.

"Do you remember what he looked like?"

Conductor Shining shook his head. "No sir, I didn't see him, to begin with. Sometimes seeing is believing you two...but sometimes, the most real things in the world are the things we can't see..."

Conductor Shining opens up a green slide door to the car they were in front of and it was really dark in there, Shining used his lantern and puts his arm out with it, lighting the way. In the cars were a whole lot of toys, strings were tangled with marionettes in the ceiling, and broken up old dolls and puppets were put on the floor or on the old seats. In fact, without the toys, it would've just looked like a normal passenger car.

Shining sighed. "The old and abandoned...watch your step here...these poor toys have suffered enough. We got them from old alleys and abandoned buildings around the world..."

Dual looked at a few toys sitting on a seat, messing with a smashed up remote-controlled truck with a missing wheel. "What're they doing here?"

Shining shrugged. "It's a new idea the boss came up with...when we traveled and found these old toys...instead of throwing them away they're collected and put in here...he calls it...as a type of recycling."

Virtus picked up an old moldy wolf plush that had an eye missing and some dirty white stuffing coming out. "It makes me wanna cry...just seeing poor toys treated this way..."

"I know... it's sad..." Shining replied. "We collected lots of old toys and stuffed animals along with tangled up marionettes..."
As Shining kept talking and walking to the other side with Virtus, Dual got sidetracked and looked at an old Pinocchio marionette.

Virtus and Shining reached the sliding door and the wolf opened it up with a bit of a hard pull, she looked at Shining as he sighed again. "Sorry, that door jams up a bit..." Shining and Virtus got the blue door opened as the green sliding door closed with a bit of an echo as Dual was left alone in the abandoned toy car, Shining's lantern light also being gone.

Dual began to make his way to the door, passing by other marionettes before he heard a creak and something touching his shoulder.

He very slowly turned his head to look at what's going on as the thing that touched him, spoke to him. "You are just like me my friend..." as the colt turned around he saw that a puppet with pajamas and a nightcap on was actually talking to him. "A SCROOGE!!!!!"

Dual gave out a scared gasp at the yell and backed up a bit hitting some marionettes as the puppet continued to talk with a bit of a rough voice as the colt looked at him with a frightened look. "Ebenezer Scrooge...North Pole, Santa Claus, This train...is all a bunch of bullcrap!!! But you and I are definitely the same, boy....cuz I know what you are....you are a DOUBTER!!!!"

Dual screamed and ran away hitting puppets as he quickly pushed them out of the way, the puppet kept yelling. "YOU'RE A DOUBTER, YOU DON'T BELIEVE!!!!! YOU'RE A DOUBTER!!!! YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN NOTHING!!! NOTHIIIIIIING!!!!"

Dual found the sliding door and pulled it, but it was jammed. So he puts both of his hands on the handle and pulled as hard as he could with his adrenaline, successfully opening the door and closing it behind him, the puppet's laughs could still be heard echoing from the puppet car. The turquoise colt panted heavily, slightly giving out a tear cuz of how scared he was.

He opened up the blue door and made his way to the passenger car by opening up the next slide door. It closed behind him as he looked around, finally safe and sound in the passenger cars with the rest of the kids. "Dual Blade!!!"

The colt looked in front and saw it was Trixie who shouted his name, she got up from her seat and ran over to him. "Where've you been? Trixie hasn't seen you in here since you got Virtus' ticket back...you gave it back to her, right?"

Dual nodded. "Yeah, she's good...apparently she was in front of the train instead of the back."

"Huh, OK....but you missed the whole thing! We rode down really sharp mountains then we were on some kind of frozen lake, but Trixie said it was an illusion that was called by the moonlight and the atmosphere..." Dual looked behind Trixie and saw Virtus in the observation car through the door window. "Night said the train was actually on the ice....but Trixie said that was impossible...because there's no way you can build a train track underwater!"

Dual nodded. "That's cool Trixie...I gotta go..." The colt walked past Trixie and opened up the green sliding door on his way to the last car as The azure unicorn sighed.

"Where are you off to this time?!" Dual didn't answer her as the door slid closed behind him.

The colt opened up the door to the observation car and closed it, walking into the room as Virtus looked behind her after hearing the door close, seeing the 12-year-old colt. She beckoned her hand towards herself to signal Dual to come over where she was.

The colt listened and as he got closer he started to hear singing, Virtus putting a finger near her muzzle as another signal for Dual to stay quiet. The 12-year-olds looked and saw the lonely male wolf that Dual stopped the train for singing to the sky on the balcony as the wind calmly blew his hair around.

[Song: When Hearths Warming Comes to Town (Orange = Lonely Wolf) ]

I'm wishing on a star

And trying to believe

That even though it's far

He'll find me, Hearth's Warming Eve,

I guess that Santa's busy

'Cause he's never come around

I think of him when Hearths Warming Comes to Town...

Virtus smiled and slowly opened the door to join him on the balcony.

[New Singer! (Red = Virtus) ]

The best time of the year...

The wolf gasped a bit and looked at her.

When everyone comes home

With all this warming cheer

It's hard to be alone

Putting up the amazing tree

With friends that come around

It's so much fun when Hearth's Warming Comes To Town...

Dual Blade walked onto the balcony with them too.

[New Singer! (Light Blue = Dual Blade) ]

Presents for the children wrapped in red and green

But all the things I've heard about...I've never really seen...

No one will be sleeping on the night of Hearth's Warming

Hoping Santa's on...his waaaay

They saw a few lights that looked like Santa's sleigh, Virtus pointed at it.

When Santa's sleigh bells ring

I listen all around

The herald angels sing

I never hear a sound

And all the dreams of creatures

Once lost will all be found

That's all I want when Hearth's Warming Comes to Town

Virtus goes in the middle and wraps her arms around The 11-year-old wolf and Dual Blade.

That's all I want when Hearth's Warming Cooomesss to Tooowwwn

The 3 kids smiled as the wind kept blowing their hair peacefully, Virtus looked up and saw something. "Look!!"

Dual and the male wolf looked up and saw what she saw, beautiful lights in the sky consisting of red, green, blue, ultraviolet, infrared, yellow, and pink.

"What are those?" The male wolf asked.

"The Polar Lights!" Dual replied.

"Hey! You three!" The kids looked back and saw that it was Conductor Shining walking towards them. "We just crossed it...Lattitude 66 degrees the Arctic Circle...and look over there..." He pointed to something on the left side of the balcony bar. "You see those lights in the distance? They look like the lights of a strange ocean liner sailing on a frozen sea..."

He pointed again this time his finger stayed pointed. "There....is The North Pole!"

Dual looked up at the white stallion with a shocked expression. He then looked at Virtus who had a big smile on her face as she looked back at the colt.

Unbeknownst to Shining or the other kids, The 11-year-old male wolf went off the balcony and went back into the train with a bit of a sad expression.

Runaway Car

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The train finally arrives at The North Pole as Conductor Shining smiles brightly from between the passenger cars after taking Virtus and Dual back to their seats. "WE MADE IT!!! WITH 5 MINUTES TO SPARE!! WE MADE IT!!" He looks at his pocket watch as he kept smiling and laughed a bit. He walked back onto the train after putting his watch away.

Dual, Virtus and the rest of the kids were looking out the window, the female wolf squinting her eyes. "Shouldn't there be elves? Where are the elves?"

The kids agreed as Conductor Shining replied. "There are gathering at the center of the square...that's where Santa will give The First Gift of Hearth's Warming.

Trixie looked away from the window at Shining. "Who gets The First Gift of Hearth's Warming?"

"He will choose...one of you..."

The kids on the train gasped and got really excited, But Dual wasn't really that excited about it. There are a lot of kids on the train, his chances of getting the gift are pretty much nil.

"Look! Elves!" A little dragoness shouted. Everyone looked outside and saw millions of little pony elves marching forward to a big giant Hearth's Warming tree. The train slowly slid to a stop and the whistle blew loudly, they were finally at The North Pole.

"Alright kids, please watch your steps when getting off and make two lines over there," Shining stated, taking each hand from the younger passengers and guiding them off the train. The ages he helped were 7-9 while 10-12 got off on their own. Virtus and Dual looked around in amazement when they got off the train.

Shining kept directing the kids that were lining up. "Shorter in the front, taller in the back. Even day numbered birthdays on the right, odd-numbered on the left. No pushing please, children... let's not dilly dally its 5 minutes to midnight!"

Trixie walked up to Shining. "Hey, what gives? It was '5 minutes till midnight' 5 minutes ago!"

Conductor Shining looked at her while taking out his pocket watch, he looked at it then pointed at Trixie. "Exactly!"

Trixie arched her eyebrow due to the fact that Shining just avoided her statement. Shining walked past her and walked towards Virtus and Dual. "Dual, you're in Line One...Virtus, you're in Line Two."

"Excuse me..." Virtus said, Shining looking at her.

"Question?"

The 12-year-old pup pointed behind her at the male wolf who was still in the last car. "What about him?"

Shining looked at the 11-year-old male wolf still in the observation car and he looked back at Virtus again. "If you want to wait on the train till we get home, you're welcome to..." He goes back to the other kids and keeps talking to them. "Now ladies and gentlemen...you don't have to hold hands if you don't want to, but please remain in two neatly straight lines."

Virtus groaned a bit and patted Dual's shoulder. "Come on."

Dual watched her run to the observation car's side steps then followed her quickly. Trixie watched them run back into the train and she squinted her eyes at them. "Really? Where are those two going this time?"

While running to the steps, Dual slipped a bit when he put his foot on the first step, but he picked himself up and stepped on something for leverage but when he put his weight on it, it made a loud clang and made a crackling sound, like a couple of ice falling.

He looked around for the noise until he just shrugged and climbed into the observation car.

Virtus opened up the brown sliding door and Dual closed it behind them. Walking over to the lone wolf.

"Look, you have to come with us..." Virtus told him, Dual nodded in agreement.

"Hearth's Warming never worked out for me...it never has..." The wolf replied, looking down.

"But Hearth's Warming is such a wonderful and beautiful time, it's about giving and sharing the love with friends and family as we celebrate when all of our races reunited with The Fire of Friendship. Creatures hang up decorations and lights for the occasion and then Santa comes and leaves presents under our Hearth's Warming trees!"

"Hearth's Warming...just doesn't work out for me...I don't have friends and my family is just so busy most of the time...I feel like it's hard to even count on them to take care of me...because....they're never here...I'm all alone..."

"You're not alone...we're your friends..." Dual replied, the wolf looked up at him with slightly watery eyes. "Listen...you don't want to be alone anymore? Then come with us...don't stay here by yourself..."

"He's right..." Virtus added. "Come on...We'll go together." She held her hand out towards the lonely wolf.

The wolf smiled at her and before he could grab her hand, the car moved slightly, making them wobble a bit. As the lights inside the car flickered off, Dual looked at the door he and Virtus entered from and he jogged over to it. He swung the blue doorknob door open and he saw that the observation car was uncoupled from the rest of the train!

"W-What's going on?!" Virtus asked Dual, who looked back at her.

"The car uncoupled!"

"What?!" The lone wolf said, getting up quickly.

Dual ran back to them and nodded. "Yeah!" Virtus ran over to the rear balcony and opened up the door, grabbing the handlebar as Dual and the male wolf did the same, the train car was slowly rolling on the track behind the rest of the train. "Don't worry...I'm sure we'll be ok..." A front wheel then ran over a safety box which caused the junction system to buzz and switch tracks, sending the car down a very steep slope. "OH DEAR GOD!!!!!!!!!!"

The car was picking up a lot of speed as it went down the large steep slope like a roller coaster, the train car’s wheels beginning to rapidly rattle along the tracks. The car slightly tilted and screeched very loudly as Dual, Virtus, and the lonely wolf's hair and clothing were swishing around violently in the hard wind the car was picking up.

"THE EMERGENCY BRAKE!!!!" Dual yelled. "THE EMERGENCY BRAKE!!!!" He turned around and quickly tried to go back to the other door as Virtus and the other wolf stayed where they were, their paws gripping the bar very tightly. Dual looked around as best as he could, yelling out. "THERE'S NO BRAKE!!!! HOW DO WE STOP THIS CRAZY THIIIIIING!?!?"

Dual reached to the other door and grabbed the doorframe with both hands, looking down at the blurring tracks and hearing the car rattle on it super fast, his mane and robe continued to move around violently in the strong wind as he heard a clang next to the door. He looked at it, seeing a familiar face sitting on top of the car.

It was Ultima, holding a pitcher and a cup. "Hey tiny pone, how's it going? You look like you could use a break, you look stressed out...How about some coffee?" He poured some coffee into the cup with a bit of trouble considering the speed of the car and when he tried to lower it to Dual, a tunnel came out of nowhere and the top of it hit him head-on, spilling the cup and the pitcher onto the tracks as the colt looked away, not wanting to see.

The tunnel was very dark inside as the car continued to rattle too fast, Virtus and The lonely wolf's screams echoed in the tunnel. Dual looked at what Ultima was hitting and saw it was a wheel. He reached into the darkness and grabbed it with his left hand while gripping the door frame with his right, beginning to turn it. Sure enough, the wheels were sparking and screeching, he found the car's brake.

Virtus and the lonely wolf kept screaming as the car kept speeding through the tunnel as Dual was turning the wheel, the wheels continuing to spark and screech loudly. The car made it to the end of the tunnel and they see a bumper with a red light in front of them.

"We're gonna crash!!" yelled Virtus. The car crashed head-first into the bumper, making Virtus and the wolf nearly go over the bar as they jolted forward. Dual on the other hand, nearly flew off the car when the car crashed, his legs flew over the edge and he found them dangling as he held onto the brake with one hand.

He swung himself back into the car and he went over to the two wolves who were on the platform sitting down with their backs on the bars. "Hey...you alright?"

Virtus nodded and slowly stood up, her paw on her stomach. "Y-Yeah, we're ok..." She then proceeded to help the other wolf to his feet, his paw on his head.

Dual looked around saw they were on a turntable in the middle of 4 tracks leading into 4 different tunnels. "Where are we?" The two wolves looked around as well, Virtus jumping over the railing. "Wait...you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"The sleigh bell.." She pointed to a tunnel, as Dual jumped over the railing while the lonely wolf walked out of the car from the other door. "Over there, It's coming from that tunnel!”

Virtus grabbed Dual’s hand and ran with him to the track leading to the tunnel while the lonely wolf followed close behind. They stopped when the track had huge gaps that were too huge to jump over, they couldn’t walk any further unless they wanted to fall.

“What now?” Dual asked. “I’m not good at balancing and I can’t fly us over to the tunnel because you’ll be too heavy for me...” Virtus waved it off.

“Don’t worry about it...grab on...” She grabbed Dual’s hand and placed it on her left shoulder, the male wolf grabbed her right. The female wolf picked up her left paw and snapped her fingers.

In one quick ‘swoop’ the three kids were on the other side of the tracks and the tunnel. Dual and the lonely wolf looked at the somehow magic female pup with shocked expressions. She just smiled in response.

“H-How...d-d-did...we j-just..huh???” Dual tried to spit out but couldn’t put it into words. Virtus continues to smile.

“I’m a demon goddess...got magical powers,” Virtus replies with a smile, Dual, and the lonely male wolf tilted their heads.

“Huh???” Dual and the wolf said at the same time.

“It’s fine...as long as no one provokes me...I’m completely harmless and playful.” Virtus sticks her tongue out at the boys. “Now come one...I think the sleigh bell is this way...”

She started to run to where the bell sound was, as the boys shook their heads and followed her.

The Pneumatic // The Present

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Dual and The lonely wolf ran around The North Pole following Virtus' lead, passing by a ton of buildings and climbing up some steps. They then stopped to catch their breaths as Dual looks around.

"I think we're lost..." The colt said, he then heard some music coming from a window and he looked into it, seeing lots of vinyl players playing music, but what caught Dual's attention was the record playing 'Silver Bells' that was skipping and just repeatedly saying 'ring-a-ling' over and over again.

"Yeah...Yeah, I can hear the bell!" Virtus exclaimed, The other wolf nodding.

"Yeah, I think I hear it too."

Dual looked at them with a raised eyebrow, he knows that they could hear the record skipping too, so he just shakes his head. "I don't hear anything..."

Virtus pointed forward towards some steps in front of them. "It's down here..."

"Are you sure?"

The female wolf stopped in her tracks like she always did whenever Dual said those words, looking at the turquoise colt, and gave a single nod towards him. "Absolutely..."

She continued down the steps as the lonely wolf followed her along with Dual after he sighed.

The kids walked down the stairs and saw a banister in front of them, Dual giving out a bit of a groan. "Why can't I hear anything?"

Vitus put her finger up towards her muzzle. "Shh...get down and be very quiet..." The boys followed her lead and looked over the banister.

They saw lots of TVs piled up along with, machines, a huge globe, a long roller with big paper, and something that looked like a tube system in the far left. But what caught their attention the most were 6 small tiny ponies in red clothing, there were elves in the room they found.

"What is this place?" asked the male pup, looking at Virtus.

"I think this is where Santa watches creatures all over the world...to check if they're either naughty or nice..." Virtus replied, Dual pointed at the huge roller with the big long paper.

"So that must be the list huh?"

The female wolf nodded. "Yep...songs always say he checks that list twice..." They stop talking and begin to overhear what the elves were saying.

One of the elves had a red pirate looking hat on his head and he looked a little taller than the rest of the elves. He must be the chief of the elves. "So...any more gifts need wrapping?"

"Uh...just one boss..." A blue male elf replied. "It's a pretty big present...we wrapped it with black wrapping paper with white snowflakes and raindeers with red scarves on them."

"Good and where's it heading?"

"It's heading for...Hooflyn, Neigh York..." Dual gave a small gasp, looking at the lonely male wolf.

"Aren't we both from Neigh York?" The wolf shrugged in response before the chief shouted again.

"Alright everyone... let's shut it down, that's it for this year... let's go!!" The elves got up from their workstations and the chief grabbed a big candy cane, pointing it to the left. "Left face....aaaand March!!" The elves marched to the left as a pink mare elf asked.

"Hey, sir...are we taking the pneumatic?"

"Of course we're taking the pneumatic...it's the only way for us to get the square on time!" They kept marching over to the pneumatic which was the tube thing that the kids saw on the left.

"Come on..." Virtus led Dual and The other wolf down some stairs as the elves got into the seats the tube provided in a skinny cab and the chief pushed a button in front of him, the tube cab then closed fast and launched the elves into the system.

The kids walked up the stairs to the pneumatic and they saw another tube cab pull up and open its doors for the next passengers and it was gonna be them.

"Alright, guys...get in..." Virtus said a bit shakily, Dual looked at her.

"Do we really have to take this thing?"

"You heard what the elf said...this thing is the only way to get to the square on time...we might actually get back to the ceremony before it even starts." Virtus got into the cab's front seat. "Or better yet...before The Conductor even realizes we're gone..."

The lonely wolf pup liked the sound of that and climbed into the cab too, sitting behind Virtus. Dual was still a bit hesitant but sighed and climbed in, sitting behind the lonely wolf. "I still don't know about this..."

"It'll be fine...now uh...which button did the elf push?"

"Can't you use your demon powers to find out which one?"

"I can't..."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm still trying to get the hang of my powers...the only thing I can do sadly... is teleporting a few feet away..."

"Great..." Dual said sarcastically.

"Hm...how about this one?" Virtus pushed the middle button and the cab immediately closed quickly and shot them off into the system.

The system was going so fast that the kids' cheeks were jiggling as the tube went fast in the system, going around bends and turning upside down a few times.

The system then stopped and opened up the doors, the kids climbed out slightly dizzy and woozy from the fast ride that could easily rival the roller coaster track the train went down on the way to The North Pole.

They looked around and saw lots of rollers that had a lot of big colorful paper on all of them...by a few observations, it's safe to say they found the wrapping room.

"I don't hear anything..." Virtus suddenly said.

"Me neither..." The lonely wolf replied, agreeing with her. Dual looked down the railing and saw yellow arrows pointing forward on a black track that looked like some kind of conveyor belt, so he pointed to them.

"Maybe we should follow those arrows...?" The turquoise colt led both wolves down some metal steps and went on to the conveyor belt, which was actually pretty bouncy. They bounced on each arrow as they went to the end of the room, entering another room that was just a bunch of more conveyor belts but this time with switches and gears.

Dual stuttered a bit. "I...I thought that would be the way out..."

Virtus sighs. "We're gonna miss everything..." The kids then heard a loud beep and the conveyor belt started to move, making them lose their balance a bit. The kids quickly went onto a nearby platform and heard something drop onto the belt. It was a box that had black wrapping paper with white snowflakes and raindeers with red scarves on them. It must've been the present the elves were talking about.

"Hey...that's the gift that's going to Neigh York..." Dual said as the gift passed by them slowly. "To someone named 'Dark'..."

The lonely male pup's ears perked up. "My name is Dark..."

Virtus continued reading the box tag. "It's going to 2004 Cavern Ave...Hooflyn, Neigh York."

Dark smiled. "That's my address!" They kept watching the present keep going forward on the conveyor belt. "Where's it going?"

Dual and Virtus both shrugged, the female wolf saying. "Maybe to be added with the rest of the presents in Santa's bag?"

"But..." Dark got excited. "I really want to find out what it is!" The male wolf then ran to the gift and pounced, landing on his stomach and grabbing the box, but then he went through some black strip curtains.

"Dark!! Come on, Dual!!" Virtus yelled, running on the conveyor belt and landing on her butt so she could go through the strips too. Dual immediately followed and landed on his belly, going through the strips too. When he saw what was in front of him, his pupils turned into pinpricks...it was some kind of gigantic steep swirly slide.

"Oh, crap..."

Dual rode down the fast slide on his stomach, screaming his lungs out as his mane flew around everywhere in the wind along with his pants legs. He quickly caught up with Virtus and Dark and heard the male wolf was screaming just as much as the colt was, but Virtus was actually laughing loudly than screaming.

The slide had a couple of twists and turns as the kids swirled down it, still screaming (except Virtus whose laughing) as their hair moved around in the wind that was picking up from the slide's speed. The slide finally finished up and they start gliding around a whirlpool shaped part of the slide, which felt fun to them a bit except for the giant hole they were gonna go into.

The colt and two wolves dropped down the hole and found themselves landing on top of a gigantic pile of presents. Virtus and Dual pushed a couple of presents off of them as Dark continued to hold onto the present that belonged to him, smiling brightly as he showed the other grey wolf and the turquoise colt.

"Look!" Dark beamed with happiness, his friends both smiled as Virtus read a card that was on the gift.

"It says 'Happy Hearths Warming, Dark...From Mr. C [Mr. Claus]' "

Dark shook the perfectly wrapped package. "I think I know what it is!! I wanted one of these my whole life!!" The happy pup then lifted his paw and his wolf talons came out of his fingers.

He was getting ready to rip the paper to shreds before Dual grabbed his wrist. "Wait Wait Wait, Dark! You can't open it!" The male pup looked at him.

"Why not?"

"Look..." Dual pointed to the box and showed Dark and Virtus there was a tag on it that read 'Do Not Open until Hearths Warming Day'.

Dark was disappointed. "B-But...I r-really want to..."

"Sorry Dark...looks like you'll have to wait till daylight."

Dark whimpered like a sad puppy.

Santa's Bag // The Ceremony

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The pile of presents the kids were on suddenly started to move, the wheels squeaking as Dual, Virtus, and Dark all looked up, seeing that there was a closed hatch above that had lots of red circles. The pile stopped under it making the kids look at each other with confusion.

They then heard three loud blasts next to them that shot up into the hatch, they saw that the bag was now roped onto something that was beyond the hatch, and then something red slowly started to rise up all around them.

"W-What's going on?!" Dark asked, Virtus knew exactly what was happening.

"We're on the pile of presents...which means that...we're in Santa's bag!!" She exclaimed.

Dual looked up and saw the hatch opening up, seeing a huge blimp in the sky that was holding the ropes. The three kids felt a small breeze kick in as they start to slowly rise out of the hatch, the blimp carrying them and the bag of presents.

"Oh, Dear God!!" The colt shouted.

The blimp rose the bag up more and more before it was fully in the sky. It then moved the bag in the direction of The Square as Dual, Virtus, and Dark looked over the edge of the bag, seeing the bright lights of the whole North Pole.

"What a way to get to The Square..." Virtus said, smiling brightly. Dual and Dark both nodded before the 11-year-old male wolf let out a scream. Dual and Virtus looked back quickly, the colt grabbing his left paw and Virtus grabbing his green pajama top.

"Something's got me!!" Dark cried. "It's got my leg!!"

The female wolf moved her right paw. "Give me your other paw!! Give me your other paw!!" Dark quickly glanced at the present he held on his right paw and sighed, letting it go and letting Virtus grab his other paw.

"Alright Virtus, on three!!" Dual shouted. "One...Two...Three!!" They both lifted Dark at the same time, but the thing holding onto the wolf's leg still clung on.

"Again!! One...Two...Three!!!" The two 12-year-olds pulled as hard as they could and got Dark free from the thing that trapped him and saw what the thing really was.

"Trixie?!" Dual and Virtus exclaimed at the same time, the azure unicorn gave them a sheepish smile.

"Heeey…."

"What the heck are you doing here...In fact, HOW did you get here?!" Virtus asked, Trixie's smile turned into a bit of an arrogant one.

"Simple: Trixie saw you then decided to follow you..."

"But why?!"

"Cause Trixie doesn't like being left out on what you two do...She's sick of watching you and Dual run off to God knows where and not include Trixie in your little adventures."

"What we do is none of your business!"

"It is so Trixie's business!! You have fun while Trixie sits around and stays bored...you brought him along with you!" She motioned her hand over to Dark. "Why not Trixie?!"

"HOW did you even follow us?! We didn't see you!"

"Please little wolf...Trixie knows all the skills for stealth...She knows everything."

"Why you little-!!" Virtus was about to do something to Trixie before Dual stopped her.

"Enough, Virtus... it's ok...there's nothing we can do." Virtus gave a small growl as Trixie sticks her tongue out at her, Dual then looked over the edge and gasped, pointing his finger. "Guys...Look!"

Trixie, Virtus, and Dark looked over the edge with the turquoise colt and saw The Square closing in. At The Square was an untold number of elves surrounding a gigantic Hearths Warming tree that was sitting next to a building that had a gigantic clock. They even saw the train at the far back, it's lamp turned off.

Virtus looked at the clock and smiled. "Hey, it's still 11:55...We're gonna make it!"

Trixie looked at her. "Of course it still is... it's been 11:55 for the past few hours...We have plenty of time, we got nothing but time, in fact, we have time to kill!" They then heard the sound of a PA screech loudly and they looked up, a female elf talking.

"We have arrived at the ceremony... let's drop the bag people!"

"Drop the bag?!" Echoed Trixie.

Dual grabbed onto the bag's edge. "Hang onto something guys!!" The rest of the kids followed, grabbing the bag's edge, except for Virtus who grabbed onto Dual instead, earning a small blush from him. The ropes unlatched from the bag and the kids began to drop from a great height, making them all scream in fear, the presents even defying gravity a bit.

They then landed onto the sled with a loud thud, the kids groaning a bit as they rubbed their heads from landing onto the hard boxes, they then heard a squeaky male voice from the top of the bag. "Alright, you stowaways..." The kids looked up and saw a male and a female elf looking at them. "Party's over!"

"Trixie just followed them..." Trixie quickly said, earning a glare from Virtus.

"W-We fell in here by mistake..." Dual said as the elves flicked their hands down, the female speaking this time.

"Its alright little ones...we've been watching you the whole time, we knew it was an accident...come on, out ya go..." The elves then started to help each kid climb out of the bag one by one.

Conductor Shining watched from a distance and looked at his pocket-watch, smiling a bit as he looked at the kids again, more specifically at Dual. "Right on schedule..."

The elves got Trixie out last and the male elf talked again. "Alright kids, to make sure no creature gets hurt...we'll tell you how you can get down.

The azure unicorn went in front of the elf's face. "This is simple...why Trixie knows-"

"Since when in the hay does 'Trixie' know anything?! You're not supposed to be here in the first place, you arrogant little twerp!"

Trixie gasped and squinted her eyes at him as the kids watched with some amusement, the elf then smiled. "But since its Hearths Warming...I'm gonna let you...slide!" As he said that, he put his leg behind Trixie's and kicked her out, making her trip and slide down the bag.

"Hey!! OW!!" The 11-year-old unicorn exclaimed as she slid down the bag, into Conductor Shining's arms when he arrived at the bag. The elves laughed at her as Shining put her down onto her two feet.

"I've been looking for you..." Shining said, shooing Trixie away to go to the other children.

The elves moved on to Virtus, putting her up on the edge of the bag and having her slide down on her own, the white stallion greeting her. "Good to see you again, Miss..." Dual slid down next and smiled at the white stallion, who looked at him and sighed. "You just love getting yourself into trouble...don't cha, young stallion?" Dual frowned.

It was finally Dark's turn to slide, but before he could, the elf stopped him. "Sorry kid...but I'm gonna have to take that off your paws..." The wolf knew that the elf meant the present he continued to hold in his arms, he quickly shook his head not wanting to give it up. "It's ok...trust me, it'll be in good hands."

He looked at his present one more time before the wolf let out a small sigh, giving his gift to the elf who quickly threw it in the bag as he watched. Dark slid down the bag after giving out a final sigh, the elves then took out a rope to tie the bag of presents tightly.

Dark joined back up with the rest of the children and stood next to Dual and Virtus who smiled at him. They then heard loud trumpets and looked at the elves at the top of the balcony who played them, they saw the magic flying reindeer come out and they were just as excited as the rest of the elves. The elves were holding them back, making sure they weren't flying away.

Once they got attached to the sleigh, the elves cheered loudly again as the ribbons of bells came out with a few other elves. Dual watched every single thing that was going on with a smile on his face. He saw the elves shake the bell ribbons, making them ring, which made the elves near him cheer again. But his smile dropped completely, he didn't hear the bells ring.

He put his pinkie in his left ear and took it out, looking at his finger and seeing that his ears are in fact clean. The elves shook the bell ribbons again, he tried to listen very carefully but he still didn't hear the bells ring at all.

"Don't the bells just make the most beautiful sound?" Virtus asked, looking at Dual who looked back at her with a small smile and nodded at her. When she turned back to the ceremony, the blue colt's smile dropped again and was replaced with concern and confusion.

How can Virtus hear the bells but he can't?

The First Gift of Hearths Warming!

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After the elves put the bells on the reindeer, everyone was silent then began to sing Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Dual kept looking at the bells on the reindeer, thinking to himself. "How can everyone else hear the bells...but I can't?"

While thinking, he heard the elves cheer loudly again after hearing loud doors opening, Santa was finally here. The elves all jumped and cheered like crazy as Dual struggled to try and look at Santa.

"DUAL, HE'S HERE!!! HE'S HERE!!!" Virtus yelled.

"WHERE?!?!"

"I SEE HIM, HE'S RIGHT OVER THERE!!!!" Dark shouted too, Dual kept moving left and right trying to see.

"I CAN'T SEE HIM!!!!" The colt kept yelling, the elves still blocking his view. "I CAN'T SEE HIM!!!!" He then looked at the reindeer and saw they were jumping like crazy, they were excited just as much as the elves the bells still ringing silently to him. Just then he saw something launch in the air from the reindeer, he watched it slowly fly from them and land on the ice right in front of him. It was a stray sleigh bell from the reindeer, it still had the red ribbon around it.

Dual looked at it with a sad look and slowly picked it up off the ground, he then shakes it near his ear but he can't hear the bell at all just the slow sounds of his beating heart and something whispering 'Doubter' in his ear as he kept shaking the silent bell.

He looked at the bell again and sighed. "Okay...Okay...I'm won't doubt anymore..." He took a deep breath. "I believe..."

He shook the bell again but it was still silent, he now closes his eyes. "I truly believe...in Santa Claus" He put the bell close to his muzzle and whispered. "I believe...in the magic...of Hearths Warming..."

Dual put the bell to his ear again and shook it again, this time he opened his eyes and gasped, he heard the bell ring! He looks at the shiny silver bell that was in his hand, his eyes sparkling as the bell glistened in some of the lights. He then saw a figure's reflection on the bell and slowly looked behind him, his jaw dropped like a stone when he saw the stallion looking at him with a poker face...Santa Claus.

Santa Claus' fur was the color of clean white snow along with his beard, he also had bright blue beautiful eyes, and a red and white suit with black boots, white mittens, and a hat that everyone knows will always belong to him, kept looking at the colt. "What was that you said, son?"

The turquoise colt looked at him and started to stutter a little bit. "I-I...I b-believe..." The stallion raised an eyebrow as Dual kept talking. "I believe..." The colt lifted his hand with the bell towards Santa. "I-I believe that...this bell belongs to you..."

Santa took the bell from Dual's hand and smiled at him. "Well...thank you, young man."

"Pick Trixie Santa!!" shouted the azure unicorn, Virtus nudged her with her arm. "Trixie wants you to pick her for the first gift! The Great and Powerful Trixie demands 'The First Gift of Hearths Warming', right now!" Santa walks over to the arrogant unicorn and looked at her.

"Little pony...patience." He said. "And being a bit humble won't hurt you either..." Trixie nodded as he now looked at Virtus. "And you...little Virtus Darkpaw...so full of free and wondrous spirit...Hearths Warming Spirit. Keep up the excellent work little one."

Virtus smiles and nods. "Yes sir, I certainly will..."

He looked at Dark. "And of course, little Dark...I see you've made some new friends.." The wolf nodded with a smile.

"Yes Mr. C, I certainly have..."

"Good, that's the true gift of Hearths Warming that brings us all together, friendship." Santa pats Dark on the head and looked out at all of the elves, speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear. "AND SPEAKING OF GIFTS!!" He looks at Dual and smiles pointing at him. "Let's have little Dual Blade right here."

Dual's jaw dropped again as he looked at Santa, then at his friends along with Conductor Shining who winked at him.

Santa walked over and sat down in his sleigh, while some elves picked Dual up off the ground and carried him over to the magical white stallion, placing the colt down near the sleigh. Santa beckoned his hand towards Dual, which made the colt slowly walk towards the sleigh and climb on it. He then sat on Santa's lap like he used to do when he was younger at the mall, but instead of a pony dressed up as Santa, he was sitting on the actual real-life Santa's lap.

"Now...Dual, What would you like for Hearths Warming?" Santa asked, his bright blue eyes looking into Dual's brown ones.

"M-Me?" asked Dual, Santa nodded.

"You."

Dual thought about what he was gonna say and decided to whisper it into the stallion's ear, which twitched when the colt started to talk into it. After a few seconds, Dual stopped whispering and Santa nodded at him. "Why yes, of course."

He then stood up with Dual at his side, his right hand on his shoulder and his left hand pointed upwards with the sleigh bell, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"THE FIRST GIFT OF HEARTHS WARMIIIIIING!!!!!!!"

The elves and The Polar Express passengers cheered loudly for Dual Blade, as Santa went on one knee to go on eye-level with the colt. "This bell is the most magic in all of Hearth's Warming...only those who truly believe could hear its sweet sound...keep this safe, my child." He places the bell into Dual's hand with a smile, a loud ringing could be heard and both ponies looked at the source, seeing that the large clock was ringing and it was 12:00. The white stallion looked at Dual again. "Happy Hearths Warming..."

Dual nodded and looked forward, seeing Conductor Shining smile at him. "Better keep that in a safe place..." The colt put the sleigh bell safely in his pocket and climbed off the sled. The Conductor helping him a bit before taking the colt back to the rest of the passengers, who cheered for Dual's gift.

"Awesome job, I'm so happy!" Virtus said, hugging the colt as Trixie and Dark came up to them with smiles on both their faces. The female wolf lets go of the turquoise colt and the kids heard a loud snap coming from the sled along with the sound of sleigh bells.

They all saw Santa's sleigh fly off the ground and began to soar around The Square as the kids watched in amazement, hearing Santa speak.

"Go on, fly Dasher! Good going, Rudolph! Dash away, faster, higher my beautiful reindeer!!" The reindeer listened and flew faster and faster for their owner.

They then flew right over the kids, who ducked as their hair moved a bit from the sudden wind, smiling brightly as the elves cheered.

"I can't believe this actually happened..." Virtus said.

Trixie nodded. "Me either...Trixie never thought this was how she'd spend her Hearths Warming Eve!"

Dark looked at Dual and asked. "C-Could all this be nothing but a dream?" The colt shook his head at the wolf.

"No..." He looked back at Santa's sleigh soaring, smiling brightly. "This is real..."

The sleigh soared by them again and when it flew by the tree, Santa used his whip to snap at the star at the top of it, making the whole tree shine brightly. The sleigh kept soaring around until it disappeared into magic dust, Santa's finally off to deliver the presents to everyone in the whole world.

After a brief moment of silence, the elves took off their hats and flung them in the air, cheering loudly while starting to have a big dance party. Shining Armor took out his pocket-watch and shouted as the train's lamp turn back on.

"ALL ABOARD!!!!"

On Your Way Home

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At the train, Conductor Shining was punching all of the kids' tickets again, this time turning the letters he punched when they got on into full words now. While that was going on, four elves managed to find the observation car and take it back to the train, coupling it back up to it.

It was Trixie's turn to get her ticket punched, Shining grabbed the ticket and punched the rest of the letters on it for the word that had 'L-E' in it and gave the golden ticket back to her. The azure pony looked at it confused as she read the word. "LEAN...what's that supposed to mean?" Shining took her ticket again and he places his fingers in the position hers' was.

"LEAN is spelled with four-letters...I believed that I punched five..." He showed her what her actual word was by moving his thumb away from a letter she was covering, apparently, Trixie's ticket spelled the word 'LEARN', her finger was covering the 'R' which made it 'LEAN'.

Trixie snatched her ticket out of Shining's hand. "HEY! Are you saying Trixie doesn't know how to-" She looked at her ticket again and realized her mistake. "Oh...Tri-...I mean...I'm sorry, it says LEARN..." The pony climbed onto the train as Shining nodded.

"Lesson Learned..." He looked down and saw it was Dark's turn. "Ticket.." The male wolf handed his ticket to Shining and he began punching the rest of the letters for his word that had 'O-N' in it, he gave it back to the wolf and the 11-year-old read his ticket.

"COUNT ON?" Dark asked.

"Yes...I'm well aware that you have a bit of trouble with that...but I have to ask." Shining went on one knee to look at him in the eyes. "Can you count on us to get you home safe and sound, little one?"

Dark nodded. "Absolutely...me..." He looked behind him at Dual and Virtus. "And my new friends..." The white stallion nodded with a smile and stood up, letting Dark climb aboard, seeing that it was Virtus' turn now.

"Ticket." Virtus handed her ticket in and Shining punched the rest of the letters on it for the word that had 'L-E' in it and gave the golden ticket back to her.

Virtus looked at it. "It says LEAD (led)...like a lead balloon?"

"Hm...that's funny cuz it can also be pronounced...LEAD (leed)...ya know as in Leader, Leadership, or LEAD the way." He gave her a salute and smiled. "I'll follow you anywhere ma'am."

The female wolf smiled and climbed onto the train, The Conductor saw that Dual Blade was the last one and sighed a bit. "Ah yes...The young stallion who enjoys trouble and asks too many questions..." He held his hand out. "Ticket..."

Dual gave his ticket to Shining but instead of punching it where he can see it, Shining decided to put his hands behind his back and punch the colt's ticket while looking straight into his eyes. After finishing adding more letters to Dual's 'B-E' he gave his ticket back to the colt.

The colt looked at his ticket, seeing the word on it.

"I-It says-"

"D'oh!!" Shining interrupted the colt before he can finish. "I don't need to know that..."

All Dual did in return was smile at him, nodding his head as he climbed back onto the train.

The turquoise colt walked into the passenger car and everyone was waiting for him, basically surrounding him, Virtus grabbed his wrist and guided him to a seat. "Come on Dual, show us the bell!"

"Yeah, let's see it!" Trixie agreed. Dual was more than happy to show them the bell he got, but when he checked the pocket he put it into his index and middle finger went into the small hole he accidentally made when rushing out of his room at the beginning of the journey. He couldn't believe what he just had done...he put the bell in the wrong pocket and it slipped out of the hole!!

Dual was devastated. "I-It's gone..."

"Where is it?" The kids asked.

"I-I lost it...I lost the bell from Santa's sleigh..." The train then started to move, jerking the kids back a bit.

Virtus was just as sad as Dual. "I'm so sorry, Dual..." The young colt let out a small tear in response as the kids separated from him and sat down in seats, some of them falling asleep along with Virtus a few minutes later who laid her head onto Dual's shoulder.

A few hours went by and Virtus woke up from the small nap she had, she looked around and saw that Dual left his seat. She yawned and stood up, stretching her legs a bit before she saw the colt through the slide doors circular window. She slowly tiptoed over to the door and opened it slowly so she wouldn't wake the kids sleeping.

Dual was leaning forward on the back platform, his elbow resting on the bar and his hand resting on his cheek. The small breeze blew through his black mane a little bit as he stared into the night's sky.

Virtus opened up the door to the balcony slowly and smiled a little. "H-Hey..." Dual looked at her.

"Hey..."

"May I join you?"

"Sure..."

Virtus went onto the balcony with him, her hair now slightly moving in the wind as she looked at the colt. "Listen, I'm sorry about the bell...it was a wonderful present"

Dual shook his head. "It was....but it's not your fault...it's mine for being so stupid..."

"Why do you say that? You're not stupid.."

"I lost the one thing that was given to me by Santa himself from his hand...and I lost it..." Virtus placed her paw on his back.

"It's just a bell Dual, don't worry about it..."

"It wasn't just any bell...it was the bell from Santa's real sleigh...when you hear it ring, then you can hear it, it means you believe in the true magic of Hearths Warming..."

"Dual, you don't need a bell to believe in the true magic of Hearths Warming..." Virtus turned Dual around and poked at his chest. "The true spirit of believing lies within your heart...believe in what you feel inside and you'll find it all on Hearths Warming Day.

"Heh...Thanks, Virtus...I don't know what I'd do without you..." Dual said, blushing slightly, but it could've just been how cold it was. "It just makes me a bit sad that...we might not see each other again after the train drops me off at my house..."

Virtus started to think then smiled. "Ya know...how about I can give you something to remember me by..."

"What's that?"

The female wolf grabbed Dual and blushed a bit. "This..."

She then leaned in and kissed the turquoise colt straight on the lips. Dual's face turned really bright red as Virtus kissed him, but his eyes slowly closed and he kissed her back, his arms wrapping around her into a hug. The kiss they shared lasted for 3 minutes before they separated, smiling at each other with blushes.

Virtus giggled. "You good?" Dual nodded slowly, which in response caused the wolf to kiss him on the lips again which the colt gladly accepted, they kept kissing in the moonlight as the wind continued to blow through their hair peacefully.

They went back to their seats in the passenger a few minutes later as the train finally stopped and they were in front of Dark's house. The 11-year-old wolf got up from his seat and walked over to where Dual and Virtus sat to say his goodbyes. He held out his paw towards Dual with a smile. "Thanks for stopping the train for me..." Dual shook his paw with a smile as Virtus got up and hugged Dark tightly.

"Happy Hearths Warming..."

"Thank you guys for being my first friends..." Dark replied, hugging her back and walking off the train, Shining already outside waiting for him.

"Watch your step please," Shining said, smiling at the wolf. "Happy Hearths Warming." The wolf looked at his house and pointed at it, looking at Shining. The white stallion gave him a single nod and beckoned his hand toward the house, signaling him that he's free to go back home. Dark smiled brightly and ran to his house, opening the door.

The train started to move again as Virtus got Dual's attention. "Hey look! Santa got to Dark's house already!" After saying that, the two saw Dark run back outside but this time he was holding the present they found when they were in Santa's bag, a huge smile was on the 11-year-old's face.

"LOOK LOOK!!! DUAL, VIRTUS!! SANTA GOT HERE!!!" Dark yelled. "I HAVE THE PRESENT!!!"

Dual smiled. "Wow...that's incredible..." Dark's yelling slowly faded as the train went past his house, Virtus smiling and placing her head on the colt's shoulder again.

The train finally pulled up in front of Dual's house, it was time for the colt to go home after his long journey. Dual was followed by Virtus and Trixie as they looked at his house.

Trixie gave a single pat to Dual's back. "Hey...we're sorry about the bell, Dual...It would've been cool seeing it." Dual gave a small nod as Virtus spoke to him now.

"But hey...it's the thought of it that counts...also remember what I said before, right?"

The 12-year-old colt nodded. "Yeah..."

"Well...See ya..." Trixie said, giving Dual a hug before going back into the passenger car. Virtus and Dual smiled at each other.

"See ya...I'm gonna miss you Virtus..." Dual said, a bit sad.

"I'll miss you too Dual Blade...I'll never forget you..." Virtus replied, giving him a quick peck on his lips along with a hug, the colt accepted both of them with a smile.

Dual sighed and stepped down off the train, Shining was outside waiting for him. "Watch your step please..."

The colt looked up at the stallion. "Thank you."

"No...Thank You" Shining said back, the colt continued to look at him as the white stallion smiled. "One thing about trains: It doesn't matter where you're going...what matters is deciding...to get on." He then gave the colt a wink which made Dual smile.

Dual walked into his house and heard Shining say something but he couldn't hear him. "What?"

"HAPPY HEARTHS WARMING!!!!" Shining shouted, giving the colt a salute which made Dual do it back at him. He looked up at the train's roof and saw Ultima playing his hurdy-gurdy by his makeshift fireplace, the dragon smiled at him and waved goodbye to him as well. Dual sadly waved back at him and watched Ultima turn to dust and blow away into the wind for the final time.

What he saw last hurt him the most, he saw Virtus was on the back balcony waving goodbye to him, Dual waved back at her very sadly, seeing her go smaller and smaller as the train was gone.

Dual slowly closed his front door and put his hand in his broken pocket, feeling the hole again as he looked around his living room, it was exactly the way it was before he left: The tree was still empty, the stockings were still empty, and the cookies and milk he told his sister to put out still remained untouched.

The colt sighed and climbed up the stairs, going into his room, and was surprised to see that everything was back to normal, his pencil holder was back on his desk, his framed pictures were back up, and his alarm clock was back on his nightstand.

When he looked at the time on the clock it read 12:01 AM and the red hand was moving again. It was as if the train never actually showed up at his house. Which made him sigh again, was all this really just a dream?

Dual decided not to think about it and just hanged his robe back upon his bedpost, along with taking off his slippers and placing his glasses on his nightstand. The colt climbed into bed and took one last look at the night sky before finally falling asleep.

Hearths Warming Day

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"Wake up, Wake up, Wake up! Santa's been here, Santa's been here!!!" Dual's little sister Note Bell shouted, waking him up, the morning sun shining in his face. As he heard his sister keep shouting, Dual got up and looked out the window, seeing that all evidence of the train being here was gone.

The turquoise blue colt got up from the bed and grabbed his fleece blue robe but he got jerked back a bit when he heard the robe rip again. He took the robe off the bedpost and put his hand in the pocket he ripped, seeing the hole has gotten bigger, that all of his fingers could go inside it. Which made the colt even more confused.

Downstairs, there were presents and ripped wrapping paper everywhere along with a small Polar Express toy train circling around under the tree.

"This has been the best Hearths Warming ever!!" Bell said before she saw another present under the tree and grabbed it. "Hey Dual, there's one more...it has your name on it."

Dual looked at the present and saw it was a small green and red box that was wrapped in a blue ribbon that had the same color as his fur. On the name tag, it just said 'Dual Blade'. The colt gently grabbed the present from his sister and undoes the ribbon, putting it on the floor before taking off the lid and putting it under the bottom.

What he saw in the box...he didn't know if he was seeing things, what he pulled out of it...was the sleigh bell that he lost.

Dual was mesmerized by the bell that he thought he would never see again. He shook the bell near his ear and smiled when he heard the bell ring beautifully in it. He gave the bell to his sister to ring it herself and it responded to her as well.

There was also one more thing in the box and Dual saw that it was a note after he took it out, he began to read it to himself.

I found this on the seat of my sleigh
better fix that hole in your pocket...
Mr. C

Dual now knows for sure...The Polar Express, The North Pole, Santa, and even Virtus were all real, it was never a dream...all of that actually happened. Note Bell gave Dual back the bell and he rang it in his ear again, their mother saw them with it and smiled. "Aw, what a lovely bell...who's it from?"

Dual reached up and gave it to his mother who took it in her hand. "Santa..."

"Santa? Really?" She shook it near her ear but it didn't ring for her, Both siblings' smiles faded. "Oh, that's too bad..."

"What's this?" Dual and Note's father grabbed the bell and shook it near his ear now, the bell didn't ring for him either. "Broken...hm...sorry about that Dual..."

He gave Dual his bell back, the blue colt looking at it with confusion. He leaned closer to his sister and shook the bell, the sibling's smiles returning when they heard the beautiful ringing sound perfectly in their ears.

Their mother then called from the kitchen. "Come on kids, we don't want to be late."

Note Bell got up on her feet and walked to where her mother was, leaving Dual alone to sit with his bell for a while, before getting up and moving the empty cookie plate and putting the bell there in its place on the coffee table with a smile. Walking out of the living room and leaving it there.

At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as time went on...it grew silent for everyone...even my sister Note Bell found one Hearths Warming where she couldn't hear it's sweet sound. I surprisingly found Virtus one day and we got together, she remembered everything that happened on the train too, which was amazing. I showed her the bell and she was so shocked at how I got it back.
Virtus and I eventually grew a life together...though we're all grown up now...the bell still rings for the both of us...and for everyone else...who truly believe...

The Polar Express: Dual Blade's Journey to the North Pole

by TwinSwords79

The Sound of a....Train Whistle?

Meeting The Other Passengers

Hot Chocolate! // Virtus' Ticket

The Rooftop

It's like a Roller Coaster...A Very Dangerous One! [Edited]

Off The Tracks // Ticket Returned

You're a Doubter!! // Arriving at The North Pole!

Runaway Car

The Pneumatic // The Present

Santa's Bag // The Ceremony

The First Gift of Hearths Warming!

On Your Way Home

Hearths Warming Day