"We find ourselves in an interesting situation, Zero."

Shortly after dawn, the mare known as Ciel had called me up to her office. The steel walls showed significant wear from the past century, but her desk was as tidy and clean as possible. Old, yet still nice and organized. Ceil herself was much more composed than when I last saw her.

"Although you managed to save us in yesterday's mission, we are still unsure as to what side you are on. Thus the security. " She pointed at my hoofcuffs. "If you truly wish to work with us against X, there is one thing I need you to do to prove it."

She levitated a photograph from her desk, showing its contents to me.

"This supply train is to arrive in Neo Arcadia at noon today. You are to make sure it doesn't get there. Aboard are several items we could benefit greatly from: food, weapons, and, if my sources are correct, even an Elf."

"What, if I may ask, is an Elf?" I asked.

"You don't know?"

I shook my head.

"To put it simply, an Elf is the pony's soul that has been separated from its body and attached to a talisman of some sort. They were some experiments from during the War. To us, they appear as a floating orb of light. Their talismans allow them to cast a single-use spell, but they die right afterwards. For example, Passy was a restoration Elf. She ... " Ceil was holding back tears. " ... she used hers on you to restore you to full health, but at the cost of her life."

"I ... I see. She was very important to you, I take it?"

"She was ... my best friend."

You would think that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to board a moving train. Turns out, the Resistance Base has a Trans-Server of their own, albeit one in barely functioning order. It had decided to work today, as I am currently atop the train. I do not wish to think about where I would be had it malfunctioned. The roof of the red passenger car on which I was standing was also occupied by drones: the blues I'd seen before, and a purple one with a yellow oversized left forehoof that resembled a shield. Six shots from my buster took care of the blues, but the purple one shielded itself with it's yellow limb. Not wanting to risk close combat, I dove for the hatch and landed inside. Strangely, no guards; only crates. Moving to the next car, I planned where I was heading.

To stop this machine, I must destroy it's engine. Logically, it would reside in either the rear or front for most efficient usage. Considering pulling has more control than pushing, it must be at the front.

The two drones never stood a chance against my saber. Huge piles of weapons littered this car. Most of them were in poor condition, and were as no weapon I had seen yet. They appeared to launch metallic projectiles instead of shooting energy bolts.

But a weapon such as that becomes effectively useless once it has no ammunition left. That, and wouldn't energy weaponry be better for penetrating targets anyways?

I assumed the large mechanical complex in the frontmost car was the engine. As I walked closer to inspect it, a flamethrower extended out of it as several lights in the room went red. I rolled backwards to avoid the burning heat from the gas-powered weapon, only to be met by spikes shot from holes in the ceiling. Dang, those pierced straight through my armor and body, leaving small wounds all over. Stopping to think for a second, I realized I smelled neither gas nor coal; where was the engine getting it's fire from?

Two blue drones and one purple stormed in behind me, alerted by the alarms. The purple charged at me, and I jumped over it. Timed slowed, allowing me to fire at the blues and follow up with a buck to the purple. When everything returned to normal speed, I turned around to find the purple get burned to ashes by the engine's flames. It's yellow limb may have survived, but only to get stuck in the flamethrower's muzzle. The sudden clogging of it's output caused the heat to build up in the engine.

Fearing a sudden meltdown, I ran as far down the train as I could to escape the explosion. Said explosion flew me out the back and onto the ground. The force also stopped what was left of the cars, and out of the flames of the engine's remains flew a small, bright light identical to the one I had seen emanating from Passy.

Back at Ciel's office, we discussed the result of the mission.

"Good job, Zero. We were able to salvage most of the supplies, although about 13% of them were burned up in the explosion. Still better than what we could have done on our own. As for the Elf, it was found as well. It's talisman appeared to contain some sort of protection spell, or would, if it had not been damaged by the blast." Her report reflected her mixed feelings concering the mission.

"Is the attached soul alright?"

"Not to worry; souls are indestructible, after all. Totten will be fine, although not able to perform his ability until his talisman is repaired. We're working on it."

I released the breath I did not know I had been holding.

"So, I would say that, overall, you get an overall score of B. That is mostly due to the damage you took, along with the explosion. Not bad, but could be better."

"Am I part of the Resistance now?"

*Sigh* "I guess so ... you did comply with our deal. Now, I'm sure you are pretty worn out, am I right? Go get some rest." She waved her hoof in the direction of the door.

"Just one question: have you found out where the train was recieving its power from? I say no steam engine, or really any byproduct gases of any sort."

"Huh. Well, the only thing I can think of is the Elf. But using a soul as a power source ... no, it could never work. Could it? I don't know, does it really matter?"

"N-no, not really ..."

"Then get to sleep, before I make you leave. We do have guards, you know." Man, her stare-eyebrow combo is freaking me out.

I left the room, to return to the empty from the previous night. It was there I rested yet again. I really need to request a real bed ...