The group of friends continued their quest to save Equestria, by walking alongside the train tracks that would lead them to Apple Loosa. They had to stop at one point when Rarity woke up, so they could explain the situation to her and calm her down since she was freaking out about not knowing where she was. That didn't last long though, since she seemed to calm down rather quickly, and they were on their way again. After the sixth hour rolled by, they started to feel uneasy. Something just wasn't right to them. Maybe they just weren't used to walking instead of riding a train.
"Anyone else feel like we should've reached somewhere by now? Getting kinda bored," Zach asked, as he spun around while continuing his walking, checking out the surroundings to keep an eye out for anything unusual. So far they've been in the clear and that bothered him. If Frank and the other villains wanted them caught so badly, why haven't they sent anyone else yet?
"Yes yes, we know the whole 'are we there yet' game, we'll be there soon darling," Rarity said with a huff, tired of how many times he had asked about getting somewhere and how long it was taking. Feeling the heat on her raise a bit, she brought a hand to her forehead, using it as a shield against the sun in an attempt to keep the heat off of her, while also tryiing to spot where they were headed. "I mean, we can't be that far from Apple Loosa now, right?" She asked, turning to Applebloom, who was walking right next to her. Applebloom had told them these train tracks would lead them towards Apple Loosa, but they had to walk because the train was being used for Frank's own evil doings. The walk was really tiresome as well, since the sun was constantly bearing down on them with no shade near the train tracks ever since they passed over the gorge.
"Ah mean, it shouldn't be that far now," Applebloom said, as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. They didn't have much for supplies now that she thought about it, and that would serve to be a real problem soon. Ruffling through their supply bag, she frowned when she saw how very little water there was. That frown increased when she saw Masquerade just sleeping there, doing absolutely nothing besides making the bag slightly heavier.
"I think I see something," Scootaloo said from Spike's back, since she had climbed up there to act as a scout for anything ahead. Being a pegasus, she had better sight than the rest of them, since flying usually required better eyesight to determine where you were flying and where you were landing. At least, that's what Scootaloo says. She doesn't fly, but she's their only pegasus there, so ya know. Shaking his head, Zach got these random thoughts out of his head so he could pay attention to the task at hand. Besides, he didn't need to remind himself constantly of what he was told. It's not like he needed to inform anyone constantly with this information, unless it was a story or a movie. This got a small chuckle out of him, since the thought of him being a star was too ridiculous.
"Ooh! Ooh! Is it Apple Loosa?" Sweetie Belle asked, making a dog like sound while bouncing just a tiny bit. They all looked to Scootaloo, waiting for an answer.
"Yeah, and something is coming this way," She said, standing up a little taller to get a better look. Then her eyes got wide. "TRAIN!" She yelled, before leaping from Spike's back and heading for cover. Everyone was quick to follow, since being spotted by the train would just suck after all that walking. With them all behind cover, they peeked and watched the incoming train. Then they saw it.
"Why is it on fire?" Zach called out, as the speeding locamotive went speeding by them. The front was destroyed, a giant fire hiding most of it behind it's intense heat, a crystal body hanging from the conductor's window and slowly crumbling to pieces. The other cabins were also damaged, but not as bad as the front since they looked heavily armored, with only a few little fires here and there with at least two more crystal bodies hanging from the windows. There appeared to be a ton of dents in the cabins as well, most big while others were just visible. Whatever or whoever beat it up must have been real pissed with it's existence. After it was well out of sight, they all returned to the tracks and slowly continued on how they were before.
"That wasn't the normal train," Rarity commented, earning an interested look on Zach's face.
"That sounds good, maybe us good guys have the normal one then," he said with a wavy hand, indicating he wasn't sure of that answer at all. They all agreed with him, before Scootaloo returned to her draconic mount.
"Alright, I see Apple Loosa now," Scootaloo said, pointing forward towards it before standing tall and shielding her eyes from the sun. "It looks empty from here, and it's really hard to see it with the heat waves distorting my vision, but maybe there are still some others holding out there based on what we saw," she continued, before hopping off of Spike's back and landing on Zach's foot by accident. Watching his face was priceless and got her laughing alongside the others, but she ushered a quick apology as he hopped around on his other foot while yelling some of his favorite words.
"Alright, then there's no time to waste, we have get there soon," Spike said, as he prepared to speed up, but was quickly stopped by Zach.
"I don't think you realize this since you're a dragon, but it's kinda hot out here in this, y'know, desert-ish area, and we all need a little bit of a break," he said to the dragon, who proceeded to look around at the others, taking note of how tired they actually looked. "I know we're close and all that, but we gotta think about this for a few minutes, since the walk still is quite a ways" he continued. Looking around for a place to rest, Spike saw a big boulder just off the trail, and started heading towards it.
"Where are you going?" Rarity asked, as they all stopped in unison and looked at Spike.
"We'll take a break in the shadow of that boulder, so you can all get a good break in," he said as he pointed at it, the shadow it casted was long and welcoming. They all quickly followed after him, since the thought of getting into some shade was all too delightful. As they all gathered underneath the cool shade of the boulder, they decided to look at all of their supplies together. Pouring out Apple Bloom's bag, sending the cat straight to the ground in the progress, they counted a total of one water bottle that was actually filled while the rest were empty. The food wasn't looking good either, since it looked like they only had a few small rations left. Moving onto Sweetie Belle's bag, they found two water bottles that were full, and about the same amount of rations.
"Well that's just great" Scootaloo mumbled, as she sat down on one of the rocks and had Masquerade jump into her lap, while Rarity started sorting out equal meals for everyone. Zach looked around, seeing how tired they were got him thinking. With Apple Loosa being just ahead of them, and being as close as it was, he got a small plan going. Standing up, he gave a little cough to gather their attention. Once he was sure they were actually paying attention, he began his plan.
"I'll run ahead to see if it's actually safe for us to go there. Wouldn't want to waste our time going somewhere hostile with so very few supplies," he declared, looking around to get a general idea of what they were thinking. Seeing them all give each other unsure looks, he was almost certain they would say that they'd go as a group, since there wasn't really any place around for a long while. But they all slowly nodded their heads with a shrug or two thrown in, giving the confirmation he was looking for, but didn't exactly need or was expecting. Turning around to start the journey ahead of him, he was stopped when Applebloom grabbed his arm.
"Be careful now, ya never know what might happen," Applebloom said to him, to which he gave a quick nod, and a feeling that something more was going on started building in his chest. After she let go, he turned around and started his little journey. Besides, the heat didn't bother him much since he was used to it, living in a drier area for practically all his life would prove useful here. Running was obviously a no go, since that would dry him out too quickly, so he settled for that slow jog he always did. Not as fast as running, but a very reliable form of movement in his opinion, since it could be done for longer. Deciding to distract himself while he was jogging, he let his mind wander off to the random things he had experienced during his time in Equestria, every detail refreshing themselves in his head. Some bringing smiles, others making him cringe, while most just confused him when he gave them a second look over.
This didn't last long, since he arrived at his destination sooner than he had expected. The train station was the first thing he took notice of, which was all boarded up and heavily armored, with a light just visible on the inside inside. Friend or foe he wasn't quite sure, but knocking was the only thing to do really. Marching right on up to the door, he gave a few hard knocks. Hearing hushed voices inside, he listened to the loud shuffling coming from inside, before the light turned off and brought silence to the building. Why was the light on? It's the middle of the day, they didn't need it on!
Ignoring those thoughts, he gave another knock, hoping to have someone answer. Suddenly, the boards started shifting on the windows either side of the door, before a few crossbows were poking out and aiming directly at him. Seeing this as a very bad sign, he immediately jumped back before taking cover at the edge of the platform. Hearing a few thunks from above, he could only imagine that they had actually shot at him. In his opinion, this meant foe. Or maybe it was just a misunderstanding? Seeing as to how he couldn't do much from his current position, he decided to try and talk to them.
"Stop shooting for the love of God! I'm on your side!" Zach yelled out now that the thought of them actually shooting at him set in, as he poked up from his hiding spot with arms raised. One of the crossbows took quick aim, and he ducked down again before it could shoot.
"That's what all you crystal bastards say and we're not buying it one bit!" One of the crossbow wielders yelled from inside, carrying that accent that sounded a lot like Applebloom's. Letting two and two connect, he quickly thought of something.
"You're part of Applebloom's family, right? You guys have the same accent as her," He called out, once more popping up from his spot. Dummy. The crossbows lowered for a moment, as they thought over what he said. The crossbows slowly rose though, causing him to slowly lower back into cover.
"How do you know that?" The voice asked again, sounding very suspicious. Why was this making sense? Thinking of what to say next, since it probably meant life or death, he decided to go all in with this one and got up, taking a step onto the platform.
"I know this because I've been traveling all day with her and her friends: Rarity, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Spike. Surely you know them?" He asked, waiting for an answer. Stepping closer, he was pushing it. There was no way he could dodge now if they shot. As he got closer, he heard two voices now and it sounded like they were arguing in muffled language of inside. Creeping a bit closer, he hoped to listen in on what they were talking about. No such luck, the walls muffled their voices way too much for him to eavesdrop. Silence took over, letting the wind play it's tune. Which was funny, because it sounded a lot like western music from back home. Slowly, the door creaked open, a hand popped out and signaled for him to approach, so he walked over to the open crack. Seeing a single eye peering out at him, he went to ask why the door wasn't all the way open, but it was obvious why.
"Don't even talk. I want you to bring them here, just so I know you're not lying to me," the message was loud and clear, so he didn't even bother to stick around an extra second before turning around and running back to where he had left the others. They finally had some allies to help them out. Things were getting better. Hopefully.