//------------------------------// // 7. Trainride To Ponyville // Story: The Red Sun Rises: Homefront // by The Atlantean //------------------------------// Princess Cadence opened her eyes weakly to the sound of a passing eastbound train. Its whistle blew loud enough to blast her ears in and dozens of steel wheels clanked their complaints to the railway, which creaked its response with the same volume. The rush of air around the train did nothing to douse the sound as the train whizzed by and continued its journey to wherever it was headed. She stood up and limped to the tracks. Her nightgown was completely wrecked if not burned to a crisp. The crown atop her head had very little glint if at all, and she could say the two shoes that remained on her hooves had seen better days. Cadence herself was a wreck, with a singed mane and tail, a horrible migraine, and that damn grazing wound in her foreleg had reopened! She could either wait for the next train to pass by, fly to the nearest town, or walk. She took the third option, seeing that it did something while not putting too much strain on her. Now to find out which way to go… Cadence chose left, or what she judged to be west based on Celestia’s sun. Maybe she wasn’t that far from Ponyville. She went about five hours before a second train, this time going east, like her. The conductor noticed her and asked if she’d like a ride. “Where are you headed?” “Princess, I’m taking this freight to Ponyville for the army. Why?” “That’s where I need to go, so if you’re offering me a ride, I accept. How long?” “Ponyville Station’s about twelve and a half hours away. We’ll be there about midnight, counting refueling in two hours. Welcome aboard, Princess,” the conductor said as Cadence flew into the cab. “Just hold on to something; I’ll try to push this engine’s limits to get you there faster.” “Thank you.” The fireman shoveled some more coal into the firebox and closed the door. As the steel door clamped shut, the orange flames licked the edges and heat warmed the cabin considerably. The fireman then opened the valves to let the cooling steam back into the boiler and a hissing sound could be heard as the fire brought the steam back above the boiling point and put the boiler under considerable pressure. The driver blew the high-pitched whistle and opened the throttle and regulator to full. The steam engine’s wheels slipped as they grabbed the rails below them, and the driver used the sand depositor to give the engine extra traction as it lurched forward and tossed Cadence off balance. She quickly recovered, but held onto a bar in case that happened again. Slowly but surely, the train sped to its top speed as steam went through the system and pumped the cylinders on the sides, powering the wheels and looping back to the firebox to heat up. The steel locomotive barreled through the countryside at speeds normally dangerous. Cadence watched the greenery and farmland zip by in a blur of trees and hay that stretched on for miles. It mesmerized her. Eventually, the sun ahead of them reached the horizon. It dipped below the hills and plains with a brilliant display of reds, pinks, yellows, and oranges. The clouds reflected the colors from Celestia’s sun perfectly; no show of fireworks could ever hope to match the beauty of an Equestrian sunset. Beside the sun, the moon rose, as was typical in Equestria. It cast a deep blue on the sky, which darkened to a rich black sprinkled with white, like a batch of Pinkie Pie’s “Stargazing Party Cupcakes.” Cadence thought of the Element bearers with respect. They saved the entire world many times, yet still kept relatively normal lives. Applejack was a farmer, Rarity a fashion designer, Rainbow a Wonderbolt, Fluttershy was a veterinarian, and Pinkie a baker. They led their lives as if not much was changed by their actions, keeping their personalities and being normal ponies. Twilight, on the other hoof… Twilight changed a lot, not just from becoming a princess, but actually making friends and learning the lessons along the way. Not many ponies could say the same. And Twilight was most likely killed by the attack whenever Cadence was last awake. The castle had been completely obliterated, according to the train’s brown-coated driver/conductor Earth pony stallion Nimble Spirit and the fireman, the violet Unicorn mare Purple Haze, who looked like she could Twilight’s identical twin if the princess ever had one. The two train operators were siblings, from the look of rivalry but respect in their eyes. They also told Cadence that the Crystal Empire was invading Ponyville in the hopes that the chaos from Everfree’s destruction would prevent a challengeable defense. From the sounds of things, Sombra and his army were so wrong. In fact, the defending army became infuriated, fighting harder than they had in Manehattan. Casualty count was climbing fast, mostly from the warfare, but an alarming amount of ponies died in the field hospital because medical supplies had run out on the first day. The local hospital was also dry, leaving it up to nearby towns to fill in. But they ran out as well on the second day, and the siblings were hauling a large batch from Fillydelphia to relieve the dwindled supply. As large settlements like Appleloosa had to keep some supplies for their own, help had to come from where it could be afforded. Nimble Spirit and Purple Haze were the only train operators that weren’t busy with sending materials to Manehattan, so they volunteered to bring the train to Ponyville. The mayor of Fillydelphia and their boss, nicknamed “Forrest Grump” by pretty much everypony, agreed to send them on the mission as long as they took a number of other things like ammunition, weapons, and mail. It was fine with the siblings; they just wanted to help the war effort. They didn’t realize the request meant a forty-car train pulled by the only locomotive left. Called “Bouncing Betty” for its horrible suspension system, the engine was the least powerful in the railyard and had been ready to scrap. The siblings returned to the mayor and Grump with the idea of using the train they had built themselves. It had much more horsepower and could pull the entire train, unlike Bouncing Betty. All it needed was approval. And approval it got. The two siblings were quite proud of the design. They had patented it sometime before the war, but nopony ever wanted to buy the rights to build it, so they built it themselves on a side track behind the engine house. This trip to Ponyville and back was the test run so that its design could be fully designated as a working engine. No problems had been encountered yet, but Nimble Spirit was always on the lookout. As the train ventured on through the evening and into the night, Purple Haze heated some water in the burning-hot boiler, but not quite to the boiling point, and poured it through a coffee filter and into three cups. The taste was refreshing. Cadence asked if the Unicorn had any engineering experience besides the fireman on a train, and she replied that she didn’t. The idea of an onboard coffee maker was one of seven years of trial and error, and even then she almost gave up at least a couple dozen times. If not for her brother, she wouldn’t have finished. It was just in her personality to give up if it got too hard, which was why she and Nimble Spirit never left their home except for their jobs. Which was why she always worked with him. He understood her enough. That was when Nimble Spirit announced the last pit stop before they beelined for Ponyville. Their destination was only three hours away, and this place was the last one before stopping the train could mean ambush by the Crystal Empire. The train’s brakes activated and it coasted to a stop between the water tower and the coal tender and was refilled. Meanwhile, Cadence hopped off and stretched. Her legs had gone stiff, and another few hours without moving wouldn’t have been a good idea. She heard her bones crack as the joints repositioned by her movement. That felt so good, like that moment when one tilts their head and the crick in their neck snaps and they get a relieving feeling. Or it could be compared to those times a Griffon would mesh his claws together and push out, making that cracking sound that didn’t ever hurt. “Ahh…” That light breeze was also quite nice, but nothing compared to the wind whipping one’s mane and tail behind them as they rode a train. Within the hour, they were on the move again. The remainder of the trip was uneventful; they pulled into Ponyville Station at midnight, climbing off and being greeted by Crimson Dawn. although the colonel wanted to hear Cadence’s story, it was extremely late and the battle would continue in the morning. He needed to rest unless he was fine with letting Equestria down. The train was unloaded quickly and quietly so that the Crystal army wouldn’t get wind of their activities. Wondering how bad the battle would have to be in order to completely empty several well-supplied hospitals, Cadence knew she would find out in the morning.