//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: Night Train 
// Story: This is the Last Train Car 
// by Unwhole Hole 
//------------------------------//

Travelling through the night was better with other ponies. Berry was not willing to admit it, but being with her sister and Sparkler made her wonder how she had ever been brave enough to wander Ponyville at night. It seemed impossible now, and the time she had done it seemed so distant. Somehow, though, she was still afraid.

            “It certainly looks creepy at night, doesn’t it?” asked Sparkler. Both she and Cheerilee were bleary eyed and tired looking.

            “Tired, Cheerilee?” asked Berry.

            “No,” said Cheerilee with a hint of defiance. “Being a teacher sometimes requires some very late nights.”

            “With your students?” asked Sparkler, clearly confused. Cheerilee shot her a quite nasty look, and this only seemed to confuse her more.

            “There it is,” said Berry, her voice shaking. She pointed, and was surprised how weak her legs felt.

            “Oh wow,” said Sparkler, her own voice showing a tiny bit of apprehension. “It’s real.”

            “You sound afraid,” said Cheerilee.

            “I know. It’s…it’s different at night, isn’t it?”

            They approached the train from the rear, taking the path along the side of the train. The moon was a thin crescent above, but this time Sparkler was present and was able to produce a bright blue light from her horn to light the way.

            “How many cars?” demanded Berry.

            “Berry- -”

            “How many cars?!”

            Cheerilee and Sparkler looked up.

            “I count five,” said Sparkler. “Five and the engine.”

            “Cheerilee?”

            Cheerilee turned sharply. “Just like she said.”

            “How many!”

            “Five! Berry, I know how to count! I teach it! And all of my students are very good at it!” She paused. “Except poor Snails. He’s a little slow. He can only get up to four.”

            “Five cars,” said Berry. “Five and the locomotive. Five, five, five. Remember that.”

            Cheerilee looked at Berry as though she were insane. For all Berry knew, that might even be the case. Sparkler, though, just looked afraid.

            They stepped onto the platform, and Sparkler almost immediately cried out and grabbed her horn.

            “Sparks, what’s- -”

            Berry was silenced by a strong slap to the face that nearly knocked her off her feet.

            “Sparkler!” cried Cheerilee.

            “I warned you!” said Sparkler. She then winced again. “Owch!”

            “What’s wrong?”

            “My horn,” groaned Sparkler. She looked up at the train. “That vibration, it hurts.”

            “I don’t feel anything.”

            “You’re not a unicorn.”

            “Is it bad?”

            Sparkler paused for a moment, and then shook her head. “No. It’s getting better. I think I’m getting used to it. Still a headache known. Darn it, what is in that thing?”

            “A magical crystal engine,” said Berry, rubbing her cheek. “Ow…you slap Rainbow Dash that hard?”

            Cheerilee gasped. “You hit Rainbow Dash?”

            “It’s a long story,” grumbled Sparkler. Her headache was clearly making her somewhat irritable. “But my name is ‘Spark-ler’. There is a ‘ler’.” She sighed. “Are you okay?”

            “Yeah. You kind of hit like a filly.”

            Sparkler harrumphed, and then turned to the train. “So are we getting on or not?”

            “Do you actually want to?”

            Sparkler paused. “No. And I don’t know why.”

            “Oh please, it’s just a train,” said Cheerilee. She stepped up onto the train. “You two are the ones that dragged me here in the middle of the night without even telling me what we’re looking for. And I’m cold.”

            Before either of the others could stop her- -something they both had a strange urge to do- -Cheerilee disappeared into the train. Berry Punch and Sparkler then looked at each other before far more hesitantly stepping onboard.

            “It’s empty,” said Cheerilee, looking around.

            “That’s to be expected,” said Sparkler. “It’s not advertised, and who wants to take a train at two in the morning?”

            “Somepony, clearly.”

            “I like trains,” said Berry in her defense. She walked to the center of the train and took a seat in the exact location she had the last two times. Sparkler sat on the bench across from Berry, and Cheerilee on the far side of the train across from both of them.

            “Well, this looks new,” said Cheerilee. “Very modern.”

            “I like it,” said Sparkler. “But at the same time…I don’t. I think it’s that engine. Why couldn’t they just use steam? I like steam. Who doesn’t like steam?”

            “Coal prices are going up,” said Cheerilee. “Somepony has apparently started marketing a soup made out of it. Celestia knows why.” She sighed and leaned back, almost as though this train were somehow comfortable. Berry watched her. If only Cheerilee knew what she knew.

            “So,” said Sparkler. “When does it start?”

            “When the other ponies get here, I suppose,” said Cheerilee with more than a hint of sarcasm.

            Almost as soon as she said it, though, the train began to move. Sparkler winced almost imperceptibly, and looked up at Berry.

            “Huh,” said Cheerilee. “Speak of the devil, I suppose.”

            Berry immediately sprung into action. She stood up and took out the same glass apple as before.

            “That’s my paperweight,” said Sparkler. It was not a protest, but a declarative statement. She watched as Berry set the apple down.

            “What is that for?” asked Cheerilee.

            “You’ll see,” said Berry, darkly. She looked to her sister and friend. “Now we need to go to the back of the train.”

            “Do we have to?” asked Sparkler.

            Berry did not answer. She could tell that Sparkler knew that something was wrong, either from the story of what this train was like or from a perception of something that was only barely perceptible to earth-ponies. Instead, all she could do was walk toward the door to herself.

            “We need to go that way,” she repeated. Behind her, Cheerilee and Sparkler looked to each other. They hesitated, but they got up and followed Berry to the next car.

            “Two,” said Berry as she entered it. It was the same as the other car, identical in every way- -and utterly empty.

            “Two? Are you counting? Why?”

            Berry did not reply to her sister. She hoped that she would not have to. Walking forward was so difficult- -and yet like before Berry felt herself accelerating.

            “Three,” she said as she entered the next train car.

            “There aren’t any ponies here,” said Sparkler, looking around. “Five cars, but no one here.”

            “It’s kind of nice,” said Cheerilee. “Very quiet. But it must be boring riding this train all the way to Canterlot.” She paused. “Come to think of it, I’ve never been to the capital. Do you think we could stop there before we leave? Maybe take a trip around the city? I was thinking of taking my class up there for a field trip.”

            “I’ve never managed to get to the Canterlot station,” said Berry as she reached for the junction to the next car. She opened the door and stepped into another identical car. “Four.”

            “I…I don’t like this,” said Sparkler. She was beginning to become agitated. “Why don’t I like this?”

            “Calm down,” said Cheerilee, almost using her teacher-voice. “It’s fine.” She looked to the windows. Land was passing outside in the dim moonlight, but where they were was impossible to discern in the darkness of the night. “Although to be honest, this is a little…eerie. Being on an empty train like this.”

            “Is it empty, though?”

            Berry stopped just before reaching the door. That was the last question she wanted to hear, because it was the very last question she ever wanted answered. It was an absurd and ridiculous question, one that should have been easy to answer- -but one that made her feel cold, despite the warmth of the car around her.

            “Well,” said Cheerilee after a long moment, “no. I suppose not. We’re on it, aren’t we?”

            Berry took a deep breath and opened the door. Once again, another train car. “Five,” she said as she stepped into it.

            “Berry,” said Cheerilee, following her sister into the car. “Isn’t it time you told me what this is all about? Why are we walking through the train like this? What is this ‘hazard’ you were talking about?”

            “Fifth car.” That was all Berry could say. “Fifth car…”

            “Berry!” Cheerilee put her hoof on her sister’s shoulder, stopping her. They were in the middle of the train car. “Stop! What is wrong with you? Of course this is the fifth care. This is the last train car. What is going on here?”

            Berry stared at her, and when Cheerilee saw the look in her eyes she lowered her hoof. She was still confused, but as a sister, she knew that something was very, very wrong.

            With a deep sight, Berry started walking again. It was the hardest thing she had ever done. The distance to the last door seemed so long. It should have opened and led to darkness, and the receding iron tracks that trailed behind the train. That was what Berry wanted so badly. The darkness, and the rails. Except she already knew that it was a sight she would never see. Not on this train.

            She threw open the door and stepped through.

            “Six,” she said, her voice rising to high laughter that had no clear emotion driving it. She was relieved- -relieved that they could see it too, that she was not insane- -but at the same time, so very afraid. It had happened a third time. There were only five cars- -and they were on the sixth.

            Sparkler’s jaw dropped as she stepped into the car and looked around. “W…what?”

            Cheerilee, likewise, looked surprised, but her confusion quickly soured. She laughed humorlessly.   “Ha, ha,” she said. “Very funny, Berry.”

            “I don’t think this is funny at all,” said Sparkler, her voice wavering. “There…there were five. I counted them. And I counted them here too. Five, and an engine. We started in the first. And this…”

            “Is the sixth,” said Berry. She turned to the other two violet mares. “Six cars. So far.”

            “So…so far?”

            Cheerilee rolled her eyes and groaned. “Of course. Of course you would do something like this.”

            “I didn’t do anything!”

            “Yes you did!” Cheerilee waved her hoof around the room. “Seriously? I have a job! I can’t make my own hours, or sleep until noon, or spend the whole day on the train when I don’t feel like pushing papers and coming up with new names for grapes!”

            “Cheerilee- -”

            “You dragged me out here in the middle of the night to play a PRANK? I’m tired, Berry. I don’t spend all night on the town like you do. Neither of us are young anymore!”

            “It isn’t a prank!” snapped Berry. “Look around you! I didn’t do this! How would I even do this?!”

            “I don’t know, but you figured something out!” She lowered her head onto her hoof, clearly suffering from a headache. “You know what? You can stay back here. In number six. Leave me ALONE. I can’t deal with you right now. I’m going to go back to the front car, and I’m going to take a nap, then wake up and go shopping for fancy school supplies in Canterlot!”

            With that, Cheerilee turned around and began walking toward the front of the train. Berry Punch’s eyes widened. “No!” she cried, chasing after her sister. “Lee, wait! You can’t go the other way! You can’t go backward!”

            “You’re not going to stop me!” screamed Cheerilee, slamming the door in Berry’s face.

            The door was immediately thrown open by magic. Berry jumped, but then looked back to see Sparkler standing behind her with panic in her eyes.

            “You were right,” she said. “And we need to go. NOW.”

            “We can’t get off,” said Berry. “It’s a train! We can’t leave until it stops!”

            “Then we need to get HER! We can’t be separated!” Her eyes flitted around the room. “This is all wrong! We can’t- -we can’t get separated!”

            Berry knew that she was right, and nodded. The pair of them then chased after Cheerilee. The whole time, though, Berry could  not help but continue counting under her breath. This time in reverse.

            “Four…three…two…”

            She then burst into the first car, where Cheerilee was already about to take her seat. “Cheerilee!”

            “Berry Punch!” said Cheerilee, now using her teacher-voice in its entirety. “I do not think I should have to repeat myself to you. I still love you, because you are my sister, but I am just so PEEVED right now.” Sparkler gasped at her rude language. Cheerilee sat down in her seat facing the front of the train. “Just go to the other car. Or the engine, I know how you like to flirt with the engineers. If I calm down now, maybe we can have a tolerable day together in Canterlot. Or you’ll get completely punched by nine in the morning. Like usual.”

            “Lee, please! I’m not joking here! Something is really wrong here! Look at poor Sparkler!”

            “Yes. Congratulations. You scared the road apples out of a poor girl who had to take time off of her work to contribute to this farce. And I’m going to be up all night tomorrow doing what I should have done tonight. I have a life outside of school, Berry, and I’d rather not have you taking all of it up.”

            “Me?! You hardly ever talk to me! Nopony ever talks to me! No one wants to hang out with the punch pony, noooo, she can’t control herself! Let’s all love the beautiful teacher who gets to date Big Macintosh because she got to go to school instead of having to work the fields!”

            “You didn’t even graduate! And Big Macintosh? That was one time! ONE TIME!”

            Berry Punch raised her hoof to point angrily and took a deep breath to yell, but she was interrupted by a high and terrified squeak from Sparkler. She turned, annoyed to have been interrupted, as did Cheerilee. Both of them immediately fell silent when they saw that the young unicorn was shaking with terror and pointing at an empty seat.

            “What is it?” said Berry. “What do you see?” She looked to the seat. It was completely empty.

            “I don’t see anything,” said Cheerilee, immediately sounding concerned for her former student.

            “Exactly,” said Sparkler. “The…the apple!”

            Berry nearly injured her neck turning her head back to the spot. She gaped as she realized that Sparkler was right- -there was no glass apple. She was pointing at Berry’s seat.

            “It must have rolled off,” said Cheerilee.

            “How?” Sparkler turned to her. “We didn’t speed up or slow down. Or hit a bump. Not one this whole time?”

            “Then somepony- -”

            “There is nopony here,” said Berry. “You saw that yourself. And the engine is automated. It doesn’t have a crew.”

            “No crew? Are you sure?”

            “I don’t know a lot of things, Lee. But I know trains.” Berry suddenly dropped to her knees, looking under the seat.

            “What are you doing?”

            “When I rode it the first time, I had a glass of punch. When the train stopped in Ponyville, it spilled.”

            “You spilled punch on the train. Of course.” Cheerilee rolled her eyes.

            “Don’t you roll your eyes at me,” said Berry without even looking. “We both grew up on a berry farm, you know how that stuff stains.”

            “Your point?”

            Berry gestured toward the perfectly clean floor. “No stain.” She paused. “And come to think of it…it didn’t spill in Canterlot…”

            “So they changed the order of the cars,” said Cheerilee, although the tone of her voice was changing.

            “They can’t,” said Sparkler, her voice growing faint. “I talked to Twilight, I learned the route…the train, it doesn’t stop.”

            “It has to stop.”

            Sparkler shook her head. “No. No it doesn’t. After the test run, they divert the track. It circles during the day for endurance testing without stopping at any stations. Then they connect it back for the dry runs at night.”

            “So the first car is always the first car,” said Berry, feeling as though she was hearing somepony else saying those words.

            Cheerilee stood up. “So I must have miscounted.” She started walking toward the door to the front of the train, the one that normally led to the engine. Berry almost screamed.

            “NO!” She cried. “Cheerilee, don’t!”

            It was too late. Cheerilee threw open the door. The engine should have been on the other side. Berry had seen it. She had been there. Instead, though, she looked past her sister into yet another train car- -one identical to the one they were already in.

            “Wh…what?” said Cheerilee.

            Berry felt as though she were starting to faint. This was the reason she had never reversed and gone back, because this contingency was always lurking deep in her subconscious. It was the one that she could not bear to face- -and yet here it was.

            “No,” said Sparkler, taking a step back. “No no no no…that’s not right. I counted. I COUNTED.” She turned to Berry. “So did you. Each car. We were in the sixth…and this is the first. Where we started.”

            Cheerilee looked back at them, and Berry looked up at her.

            “The…the apple isn’t here either,” she said. Before Berry could stop her, she stepped into the car.

            “Ms. Cheerilee, no!” whispered Sparkler. She followed Cheerilee through the door, as did Berry. Not because she wanted to go that way, but because she simply could not bear to be alone.

            Cheerilee was clearly agitated. It was apparent that she had counted too.

            “This doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “I mean…you could have added more cars to the back. Somehow. But this…the train is moving.” Cheerilee looked out the window where the land was passing by. “And…” She trailed off, and then suddenly sprinted forward to the next door.

            “Don’t go that way!” Berry chased after her, but did not stop her. Cheerilee threw open the door- -and revealed another train car, the same as the rest.

            “No!” she cried. “That doesn’t make any sense! There- -there can’t be this many!” She turned around. “There were five cars- -and we went back six- -and now…this is…” She grabbed her head, and her eyes flitted around the car. “It can’t…it can’t be like this…”

            “But it is,” said Berry. She looked at Cheerilee. “We…”

            “What?”

            “We can’t go back. I don’t think it will let us.” She pointed at the rear door. “We’re only allowed to go deeper.”

            “Deeper? Why…why would you say it like that?”

            “Because that’s what it is,” said Sparkler. She was on the verge of tears. “But…but it doesn’t matter. Both directions…they both go the same way. Deeper.”

            The three ponies looked at each other. None of them knew what to say, and all were more terrified than they ever had been in their lives. Each of them had faced danger in their lives- -monsters, centaur overlord, natural disasters- -but this was different. Those things were terrible and dangerous, but they were known. They were visceral and apparent, with known patterns of action and ways that they could be defeated or at least avoided. On this train, the situation could not be more opposite.

            “I’m sorry,” said Berry at last. “I should have just left this alone. I should never have brought you two here.”

            “No,” said Cheerilee. “You should have got Twilight Sparkle and her friendship avengers or whatever they are and had THEM deal with this. None of us are qualified for this! We’re a teacher, an organization unicorn, and…you.”

            “I know, I know- -”

            “But we ARE here. And I’m glad you did. In a way.”

            “What?” said Berry and Sparkler at once.

            “I knew you were afraid, but I didn’t realize you had seen…this.” She hugged her sister, and Berry was taken aback. “And whatever this is, you shouldn’t face it alone. We may not be Twilight, but I’m sure we can figure a way out of this. And then we really can call in the appropriate ponies to deal with…whatever the nuts is going on here.”

            They turned to Sparkler. “I do not agree,” said Sparkler. “I just want to go home. But…”

            “But what?”

            “But I’m going to stick with you two. And…we’re going to make this out.” She gulped. “I hope.”




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