//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Danger on the Tracks // by Bookpony579 //------------------------------// Daring rushed to the girl's table just as the station left their view. "Please tell me Rainbow made it back on board!" "No! She's still at the station!" Sunset explained, worried about her friend. "I don't understand! The train was supposed to stay for a few more minutes!" Twilight wondered. Hearing thins, Daring's eyes widened with realization. "Caballeron! He must have one of his goons posing as the engineer!" "Indeed I have, Miss Do!" Daring turned around sharply and found herself face to face with Caballeron himself! The girls gasped when they saw him. "Caballeron! What have you done!?" Caballeron smirked at her, "Oh, this is just a little effort to persuade you into giving me what is mine!" "And how exactly is making the train leave earlier a threat?" "In that by itself, nothing. But we are soon to pass over a very wide and very deep river....and it would be a shame if the bridge were still up when we got there...." The girls and Daring gasped at this, "You wouldn't..." "I would. And I have!" He gloated. "You have ten minutes to hand over the Jewel of Flora, otherwise... you'll have to hope you and everybody else aboard this train are very good swimmers." He then walked away, laughing all the while. Daring slumped down into a seat with the girls. "Oh my stars! What are we going to do!?" Rarity panicked. Daring could only bow her head. "There's nothing we can do. Our only bargaining chip isn't even on the train anymore!" "But won't he be in trouble too?" Pinkie asked. "He's probably got an escape boat waiting for him just in case. I just can't believe it! We're on a runaway train heading towards a watery death and the only thing can save us now is back at the station!" Daring groaned and put her head in her hands. "I'm so sorry for getting you girls involved in this. This was my job, and I blew it." Fluttershy reached over and put a comforting hand on Daring's shoulder, "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known he would do this." "There has to be something we can do!" Twilight declared. Just before anyone could say anything else... "LOOK!" Pinkie pointed out the window. The girls looked on just as a rainbow blur passed by them! "What in the world was that!?" AJ asked, shocked by what she had seen. "It...it looked like a rainbow!" Daring exclaimed. Rainbow was running unlike anyway she had ran before! The world seemed to pass by in a blur as she rushed forward It felt incredible! She felt like she had an endless amount of energy! She could probably break the sound barrier if she tried! "THIS...IS...AWESOME!" She shouted as continued running. She soon passed by the train but kept going. Hopefully she could make it on at the next station! She continued to clutch the case as she went even faster. Eventually she stopped herself at the river where she noticed something was up...... "Wait a minute! Why is the bridge up?" She felt confused. The train was making it's way here, so shouldn't the train be down to allow it to cross? She eventually came across the bridge station. She was about to knock to ask what was going on when she heard voices... "It's all done boss. Bridge is up like you asked." "Good. Now let us hope that Daring can be agreeable in this instance." Rainbow was stunned. The second voice was definitely Dr. Caballeron! Which means the guy in there must be working for him! She had to do something! Rainbow then dramatically kicked the door aside, immediately alerting the guy at the control panel to her presence. "Hey! Your not supposed to be here!" "The name's Rainbow Dash! And I'm here to kick your butt!" The man was strong and burly, but Rainbow had training and her newfound speed at her side. A few quick quick punches to the face and kicks to the stomach sent him running. Rainbow was tempted to go after him, but knew that her friends needed her to lower the bridge. She stood at the control panel with all it's various knobs, buttons and levers. "Okay...how the heck do I lower a bridge!?" On the train, the group rushed to find the conductor and found him talking to Celestia. "Girls! There you are! Please tell me Rainbow made it back on board!" She asked full of motherly concern for her students. Sadly the girls could only shake their heads. "I don't understand! I've tried calling the engineer and he's not doing anything about this! I'm worried we left some passengers behind!" The conductor exclaimed. "We've got bigger problems than that!" Daring spoke up. "I have intel that tells me that the bridge at the river is up!" Celestia and the conductor's eyes widened at this. "THE BRIDGE IS UP!?" Celestia exclaimed. "Yes. We need to contact the bridge operator and tell them to lower the bridge!" The conductor ran off but quickly returned with a walkie talkie and a sheet of paper. "Bridge operator! Do you hear me? We need help!" A few seconds passed before a familiar voice spoke up. "Uh..hello? My name is Rainbow Dash and I have absolutely no idea how to lower the bridge! "RAINBOW DASH!?" The group gasped in shock. Soon the walkie was being passed around the group. "Rainbow! It's us! Are ya'll alright sugarcube?" "Yeah, I'm fine!" "How in the world did you get there so fast?" Twilight asked. "You'll never believe it! I was-" "We don't have time for this!" Daring grabbed the walkie. "Rainbow we need you to lower the bridge!" "I just told you: I don't know how! The only one here was Caballeron's goon but I managed to chase him off!" "Don't worry." The conductor said, holding up the sheet of paper. "Safety regulation state that we keep and extra set of instructions just in case something like this happened." "Well that's awfully convenient. " Pinkie pointed out. "But it works!" Daring grabbed the paper and began reading from it, "'Move the Power Selector to Normal'". There was a pause as Rainbow searched for it. Finally, "Got it! What's next?" As the instructions kept coming through, Rainbow tried to figure her way around the control panel, pulling switches and pushing buttons as fast as she could. She took a quick peek outside and saw that the bridge was starting to lower! But at the same time she saw the train approaching! She had to move! "What's next?" "'Put rail lock to neutral'." Rainbow quickly found the switch and set it. The bridge was almost lowered! But the train was now on the water... "Finally,'Set machine break'. After a moment of panicked searching, Rainbow finally set the switch and looked outside.... ....to see the bridge fully lowered and locked in place just before the train crossed it! "YES! We did it guys!" She shouted into the radio. They were going to be ok! "You did it Rainbow Dash. Nice work out there." Rainbow was beaming. She had just gotten praise from one of her favorite heroes! What could be better? Back on the train, the group gave a collected sigh of relief as they passed safely over the bridge. "Now that that's taken care of, where's..." before Daring could finish the sound of a door opening and wind rushing caught their attention. "You may have won today! But I'll be back!" Caballeron finished his threat just before he jumped off the train and onto his escape boat. The group arrived at the door just in time to see him get away. "And I'll be ready..."