Railway stations are strange places to be stranded in late at night. Places of passing that exist outside of normal time and space. Sometimes they contain unicorns. Working as garbage collectors.

Inspired by stories written by Admiral Biscuit, especially Silver Glow's Journal and Turnpike.
Edited by CandyCanine

Now with a mini-review by PresentPerfect

Frankfurt Calling now has a sequel: Track Switch - Steel Dreams

WARNING: Major character death. If you are not fine with that, please turn away, now.

Some mistakes, once made, cannot be erased, no matter how much you want it to.

Such a mistake has already been committed.

And some decisions, once made, can never be reversed.

Such as letting yourself fall after your flames are completely extinguished.

Such a decision is being made right now.

An entry for the A Two-Faced Charade contest.

Hearth's Warming in Chonamare starts the night before, as the weatherponies bring in fresh snow, and it culminates with a big feast on the village green for everypony. It doesn't involve a nor'easter blowing into town and all the weatherponies cutting their celebration short to deal with it.

Twenty thousand years into Twilight Sparkle's rule, the burden of the countless trillions of ponies killed Equestria. Depleted, polluted, and dead, the planet was abandoned. The Goddess Twilight Sparkle and her alicorn compatriots led the surviving ponies to a new life among the stars.

Ponies advanced. They evolved, and grew. A golden age of peace and prosperity occurred that lasted for thousands of millennia.

But that was long ago. Before evolution turned against them, and before the deadly Mortality Virus raged through their ranks. Now, at the twilight of ponykind, their final hope is for a small crew to return to their long-dead and long-forgotten homeworld one last time.

You'd think that being trapped in stone would mean that, if nothing else, I could get some peace and quiet. Unfortunately, it seems that Celestia has other ideas.

She has appointed these ponies... these 'Keepers', as she calls them, to keep me entertained during my incarceration.

Honestly? I'd prefer the boredom.

Cover art by matrosha123
Spanish Translation by SPANIARD KIWI found here

What if, instead of going to Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle left Canterlot to go to the Pony Mesa Research Facility?
What if, instead of fighting off Nightmare Moon, she fought off a Resonance Cascade?
And what if, instead of meeting her friends in preparation for the Summer Sun Celebration, she instead met them in the aftermath of the Resonance Cascade?

This is the story of Twilight Sparkle, as she takes on the role of Gordon Freeman from the original Half-Life, and the friends she meets along the way.

Thanks to HiveLordLusa for the picture.