"You know....once you get past the destructiveness, she's actually kinda cute,” Loyal commented, as Flurry giggled from the small ponyback ride Cadence was giving her on the way to the station. At the same time, a train pulled in, puffing out steam as it screeched to a halt, and the doors opened.
"Sorry we're late... You would not BELIEVE the weather that delayed the train..." Night Light said, smiling at his son and daughter-in-law.
"Yeah...things got a little crazy here..." Shining replied.
"Cadence, darling, may I see the baby?" Twilight Velvet asked, holding out one hoof.
Cadence nodded, and gave the baby to Velvet.
"The baby did get a bit...out of hoof. But we took care of that."
"Cadence, darling, are we going to give the baby a name, or are we just going to keep referring to her as 'the baby?'" Twilight Velvet asked, chucking.
"We were thinking 'Flurry Heart. You know, to remember the occasion."
"What if when she's old enough to talk, she asks how she got her name.....?" Loyal remarked.
Shining Armor shrugged. "I guess we'll just be honest with her."
Just then, the baby inhaled for a sneeze.
Twilight and all her friends gasped, ducking for cover and preparing for the worst.
The baby let out a normal sneeze.
"Gesundheit." Loyal said. Just then, a chuffing sound could be heard. The train for Ponyville finally arrived.
"Well..that's our ride. Say.....would you two like to see Twilight's castle, if you haven't already?"
Twilight's mother and father nodded, before they, along with all of Twilight's friends, climbed onto the train. Twilight seemed a little dejected.
"Twilight....I know you feel bad because your first friendship lesson didn't work...but to be honest....things went much better on its own...planning things out....it's not normally good for everything, because you never know how things will turn out...but the good thing is, Starlight made a new friend...rather, an 0old one...but still...things worked out."
"Oh, I know she managed on her own... I guess I'm just upset because she didn't really need me. I don't think I'm actually ready to be a teacher..."
"Not everything has to be planned for it to work...it's like....rolling dice. You don't know what the outcomes will be in chance, but they're bound to turn out good...
"...Actually, if we consider 4, 5, and 6 'good,' then using a standard 6-sided dice, there's only a 50-50 chance that it'll turn out good... Which means there's still a 50% chance it'll turn out bad..."
"Bad can still be worked on..."
Loyal smiled.
"And, not to be random...but it's kind of cute when you analyze statements like that..."
Twilight blushed and smiled. "Aww, you're just saying that..." She looked out the window to see Starlight saying goodbye to Sunburst. "I guess it looks like she did really well on her own...."
"Yp....well, shall we board?"
"Uh... sure." Twilight nodded and climbed onto the train alongside Loyal. "I'm sure Diamond Tiara will be happy to see you again!"
"Yep!" moments later, everyone was on the train.
"Now leaving for Ponyville!" THe Conductor exclaimed.
Half an hour into the trip, something unexpected happened. The train suddenly skidded to a stop.
"Well, this is just what we need after that experience in the Crystal Empire..." Twilight groaned. "Anyone want to try to figure out what's going on?"
A voice came over the loudspeaker. "I] apologize for the inconvenience everypony...the train will be moving again shor---hey...wait, what are you doing with that?! Noo! He--" the intercom was cut off halfway.
"Okayyyy....things just got a bit scary..." Loyal commented.
"Okay, that's it." Twilight stood up. "Something's going on. C'mon, girls, let's go have a look."
Just then, the power went out.
"The train runs on electricity, too?"
"Well this isn't good. I don't know what's going on, but we need to get to the engine, now!" Twilight prepared to run off, but before she did, she turned to Starlight. "Starlight. If anything happens to me, I want you to let Princess Celestia know. If anypony can do something about it, she can."
"Twik, I'm going with, and you can't change my mind. Just know, a human can do things even some thing an Alicorn cannot."
Twilight stared for a moment, then nodded. "Starlight, take care of Spike. If anything bad happens, I want both of you to get off the train any way you can, understand? Blast your way out if you have to."
Twilight looked around. "Anypony got any ideas? I'd rather not blow the door off if we can help As Loyal and Twilight walked past the passengers, they mumbled. "Don't worry ,everypony,we'll get to the bottom of this..." He pulled out a flashlight and aimed it up at the ceiling and turned it on, so not to blind anypony.
How an there even be electricity on a train?"
"It's simple, really... Electricity on the train is stored in a large, magical battery. It's dispersed across the train through magical waves, but it would take a lot of power to jam it. Even so, each car should have its own mini-battery, just in case they get separated from the rest of the train, or something like this happens..."
"Fascinating...so I'm guessing that means there's no fusebox?"
"No. It's entirely likely we're being attacked by a powerful magic user, or someone stole the battery." Twilight placed a hoof to her snout. "I'd put my bits on a magic user."
Loyal opened the door, to find freezing cold air surrounding him.
"Brrrrr....seems to me we're still in the frozen north...that's not good...we gotta figure out what's wrong before we freeze....you ponies are lucky....us humans normally have clothes to protect against cold...."
"Well, so do we. But usually only in the winter. But up here... Even we could freeze to death if we're not careful."
Loyal leapt to the other side of the train and tried the door.
"It's jammed!"
"Wait....each door has a window on it, right?"
Twilight nodded. "What're you thinking?"
"I'm going to punch a hole through the window, and I'll need you to shrink me for a few seconds, so I can get into the other side."
Twilight smiled and nodded. "That I can do! But are you sure you wouldn't rather have me blast the window out? It might be safer..."
"That works." Loyal ducked to get out of the way.
Twilight concentrated, trying her best to keep her magic to a minimum, and fired a bolt at the window. A shower of glass fell on the floor on the other side, and then she turned to Loyal, casting a spell on him to shrink him down, then levitate him through the window, before returning him to his normal size. "Can you see anything?"
"Well....not much..just a---wait! I see the conductor...he's tied up!"
"What?!" Twilight exclaimed, getting as close to the window as possible. "Do you need us in there?!"
Loyal noticed something taped over the Conductor's mouth. He oe it off.
"OWWWW! Thank you, sir! You need to get out of here! There are hijackers on this train!"
"Loyal? Is everything okay?" Twilight called.
"Yes! He said there's a hijacker on this train."
"A hijacker? But... what possible reason could anyone have for hijacking a passenger train...? ....They... couldn't be after me... could they...?" Twilight's eyes went wide. "Wait here, everyone." Twilight turned and ran back towards the car she had been on before. "Starlight! Spike!"
"Twilight, where are you going?!"
"No time to explain!" Twilight called back, as she continued to run.
"Twilight, wait!" Rainbow called after her, but the others held her back.
"Starlight, Spike, where are you guys?!"
"Right here!" Spike said, motionning with his claw, though it was a bit hard to see.
"Listen, there's a HUGE problem going on. I'm not going to sugarcoat it: The train's been hijacked. I don't know why they're here, but I can't shake the feeling it's got something to do with me. Now, this is important. I know what I said before, but the two of you need to take my parents, and go on ahead to the others. I'm jumping ship. If they are here for me... I can't risk you guys getting hurt."
Loyal heard every single word Twilight said.
"She's abandoning us..." Loyal said sadly.
"Do you understand? Good. Now go, hurry!" Twilight took off in the other direction, to look for a way off the train.
After Twilight left, everypony noticed Loyal's look of hurt on his face.
"Oh dear, um... Sir...? Is... is everything okay...?" Fluttershy asked, as Twilight's parents, Starlight, and Spike approached.
"She left...because of her own assumption...but i didn't think....she's abandon us...."
Twilight Velvet raised one hoof. "Now, now, sir. I know my daughter. My daughter would never abandon her friends or family. I don't know what's going on, but it sounded like she was worried about us. Like she had to get away or something bad was going to happen."
"She thought mepoy was after her...but the question is...how would they know if she was on the train?"
"All of Equestria knows who my daughter is, and all of Equestria knows who Princess Cadance is. If they caught word of the Crystalling from somewhere, they would have everything they need to know whether Twilight would be here or not."
(Sorry! I had to go do something and it took longer than I thought it would!)
just then, the train tumbled, and seemed to break down.
The passengers on the train all began to panic. "Okay, this is gettin' freaky," Applejack said.
Loyal tried the knob on the other side. It was jammed.
"Ugh...if I could just get this thing unjammed...""
"Are you sure it's jammed and not just locked?" Spike asked.
"I know when one thing's locked, and one thing's jammed. Plus, would the hijackers really think to lock a door if they figured somepony probably knew how to unlock it?"
"Well... maybe Applejack could buck it off the hinges?"
“There's only one direction the door can go, and if it hits anything at the front of the train, then we could really be in trouble..."
Everypony thought for a moment before Starlight spoke up. "Maybe... Spike could melt the hinges? I mean, just suggesting here..."
"He's a baby dragon! Can he even manage to breathe flames that powerful?"
"Well, even if he can't, he can at least heat them up so maybe I can pull them off..." Starlight explained. "And if that doesn't work, I can just blast the hinges off the door. I might not look it, but I was able to fight Twilight to a standstill. And she's an alicorn!"
"Well...all right. Let's give this plan a shot.."
Starlight urged Spike forward, and he gulped before inhaling, and breathing a stream of flame onto the door's hinges.
The metal seemed to be melting....but when SPike finally stopped breathing fire..the hinges weren't even burnt/
"Hmm. Looks like I'll have to blast them off. Might want to stand back..."
Loyal backed out of the door's way.
Starlight took a deep breath and focused, before firing a magic bolt at the hinges.
The door came flying loose, but slammed into the control panel up font.
"...Whoops..." Starlight chuckled sheepishly. "That wasn't supposed to happen."
"Well, now we're DEFINITELY not going anywhere.....but at least I'm free.."
"So, what should we do now?"
Loyal looked at the control panel. Busted, broken, smashed..
"This is definitely not repairable. not even by magic."
Starlight coughed. "Well, um, I'm sure somepony can fix it... s-somehow..."
Starlight sighed. "Well, I guess I just messed up again, didn't I?"
"No...the hijackers are to blame...but there's not much we can do...should we just sit and wait in case Twi comes back?"
"I think that's all we can do, sir," Rarity said. "I certainly wouldn't want to get caught up in whatever the hijackers are up to..."
So, the group headed back to the passenger car, and waited for Twilight to return. Loyal was ye to realize the major mistake he made, though....the ai began to grow colder and colder....Loyal found out too late, when he began shivering, and it slowly grew worse...
Starlight and the others notice this.
"Hey, Loyal, are you feeling okay...?" Starlight asked.
"I seem to have m-made a t-terrible mistake....I sh-should have realized t-that it would g-get colder if we d-didn't do s-something......w-we're stuck in th-the frozen part of t-the EMpire.....very g-good chance some of us w-will become a popsicle a-after all..."
Just then, ice froze up to Loyal's ankles.
"O-oh, that's j-just g-great..."
"Oh, well that's no good...!" Starlight said, pulling Loyal into a hug. "Is this better?"
"Y-yeah...." Loyal hugged her back, praying his arms didn't freeze.
"I don't wanna die...but at this rate, there's a chance I might....humans aren't built, or born, to survive this kind of cold...."
"Girls, come over here." Starlight waved the others over, and they all crowded around Loyal, as well.
"To be honest...I'm not afraid I've nearly died several times before...busting my head open...choking on a brussels sprout.....falling down the stairs on my birthday....so close to death....being frozen to death? no problem..."
The ice cocoon crawled up to Loyal's chest.
"Oh, dear, you poor thing..." Starlight hugged him tighter. "I'd be ashamed if I lost a friend like you. You helped me to reconcile with Sunburst like Twilight wanted... You helped me..."
"And you helped me to get out of my old life....to live a better one...even if it has been dangerous...."
The ice covered up to Loyal's neck, slowly climbing up his face..
"just know Starlight....all of you...I've always lo---"
Loyal didn't get to finish his sentence, as he was now completely encased in hise...
Starlight gasped, her ears flopping down. She gritted her teeth together. "I don't know who those hijackers are, but I'm not letting them take this train! Come with me or don't, I don't care, I'm going to find them!"
Starlight didn't care how cold the ice felt on her hooves....she missed Loyal.....he had helped them stay alive...helped Star rekindle their friendship...and she wasn't about to let that be for nothing......she closed her eyes, and cried....the first tear fell onto the ice statue.....and it began to glow (the statue did).
Meanwhile, Twilight had searched all over the train, but couldn't find a way out. The doors were frozen shut, so that wasn't an option. She came back to the passenger seat to find her friends gathered around osme large ice block. She gasped in horror when she saw who was inside.
As Starlight approached the door at the back of the car, she tried to buck it open, but the door wouldn't budge! She tried again, and again, and again, but to no avail. She gritted her teeth. "Why is everything on this train stuck shut?!"
Twilight slowly approached the block.....
Starlight heard her, and turned around to face Twilight, an angry look on her face/
"Starlight... Are you okay...?" Twilight raised her hoof to the pony's back. "I... I had to come back. There's ponies on their way to help, but... I couldn't just leave you guys here. I had to come back."
Starlight didn't reply....instead, tears streamed down her cheeks.
"This... This is all YOUR fault, Twilight! If it weren't for you, none of us would've even had to go to this stupid Crystalling! And if we never had to go to the Crystalling, nopony would've hijacked the train! And if nopony hijacked the train, then Loyal wouldn't be a block of ice! This is all your FAULT!" In her anger, Starlight fired a bolt of magic at Twilight. Twilight, however, simply threw up a magical barrier and absorbed it. She barely batted an eye, but Starlight seemed horrified. "I-I'm sorry, I don't know what I was..."
"It's okay. Everypony lets their emotions get the best of them sometimes, and I know you're still learning. We'll work on your impulses, but for now we have to see if there's anything we can do..."
"What CAN we do?" SPike added. "He'd frozen solid!"
"Says the FIRE breathing dragon..." Twilight said, snickering.
"I can't even melt metal hinges...how can I be expected to melt the block of ice? And how do I know I won't melt it without melting Loyal HIMSELF?"
"Hmm... You might be right, Spike... But how else can we get him out?"
Starlight sighed. "You'll think of something, Twilight... You always do... Me? I'll be useless, as usual. The most useful thing I've ever done was helping you save the day at the Crystal Empire, and even that was mostly Sunburst..." She sighed again. "If it wasn't for Loyal, I might never have been able to rekindle my friendship with him, and then where would we all be? He saved our lives back there, even if it didn't seem like it..." She hugged the ice sculpture. "He's my friend."
"Starlight, what're you...?" Twilight asked, marveling at the glow in front of her.
A pony that looked exactly like starlight, that was made of pure light, materialized out of this air....she smoothed her hoof over the ice, and hugged it, wrapping it in a cocoon of light...moments after the light faded, and after that, the ice began melting...no, fading...away. Loyal fell out of the case and into Starlight's hooves.
He looked up at her. "S-Starlight...?"
"Loyal...?" Starlight smiled, and hugged him as tight as she could. "Oh, you're alright! I was so worried!"
"Am...am I dead...? Is this heaven...?"
"No, no, you're fine, Loyal. You're fine. Everything's going to be fine, I promise..."
"What even happened...?" All I recall is being frozen in a chunk of ice..."
"I-I don't know.... I think you got cold? And then you kinda... froze...?" Starlight sniffled. "I don't really know what happened after that..."
I saw this heavenly light......and it looked just like you.....you saved me from death, Starlight..."
"I did...? B-but how did I do that? I... I'm not... I mean how could...?"
it freed me from my icy tomb...it was indeed you...I could feel it."
"...Am I... Am I not totally useless after all...? Do I actually serve some kind of purpose here...?"
"Starlight, there is no doubt in my mind that you were meant to be here right now," Twilight said, smiling at Starlight.
"I heard you, as well...you said I was your friend....do you mean that...?"
"Of course I mean that..." Starlights eyes shot open. "I mean that... I-I made a friend... Twilight, I made a friend!"
"You did! I'm so proud of you!"
"So ,it all worked out.you see? you're not useless....you've done so many things since we've met...and that was only yesterday...you rekindle your friendship with Sunburst, you saved my life, and you befriended me....all big accomplishments....so now you know you're not useless..."
Starlight smiled and nodded. "But... But the question still remains about what's going on here on the train..."
Just then, voices coming from the caboose could be heard....one mentioned.....money bags.
"I get the feeling that A. I think I just realized where they are, and B. Sounds like they're not after Twilight..."
"Should we do something...?" Starlight asked.
"It could be dangerous..." Twilight said.
"I say we use the element of surprise. Could catch them off guard."
Twilight nodded, turning to Rainbow Dash. "You understand, Dash? Surprise."
"Just don't let them see you too early..." Loyal added.
Everypony nodded and began slowly creeping in the direction of the voices Loyal had heard.
The voices on the other side of the caboose became more clear.
"Man, can you believe how EASY it was to pull this off?"
"I know! These ponies are a bunch of suckers! Too chicken to even bother investigating. The lights go out, they all run around like crazy!"
"And hijacking the console! That's about a difficult as taking a nap!"
"You never take naps."
"Oh....good point."
Twilight looked back and forth and whispered. "I think we should let Loyal decide when to make the move. On his mark."
"Okay.....Starlight and Twilight, you two create a barrier in case they're ready for us. AJ, you use whatever's in the room to buck it at the thieves...Dash, if things get bad, you create a distraction, Fluttershy, you'll need to take me back into this room if I get badly injured...Rarity, stay here and keep the passengers calm And Pinkie....you...just be Pinkie."
Starlight and Twilight nodded and began to prepare their spells, while Rarity turned and began comforting the passengers. AJ prepared herself to take down the thieves by any means necessary, and everyone else prepared to do their part to help.
"Okay....ready?"
Everypony nodded and waited for Loyal to give the cue to enter the room.
"Okay......now!!"
Applejack bucked the door open, and Twilight and Starlight ran in, the barriers being set just in case. Afterwards, Applejack ran in, and began bucking anything she could in the direction of the robbers.
"H-hey! What the hay?!"
An object smacked into the thief on the left, knocking him out. "Nice, shot, AJ!"
"What's this?! Well, no matter. I got what I came for!" The other thief said, holding a money bag up.
"Nopony in this room is leaving the train with those bags!" Twilight said, grabbing onto it with her magic. Starlight, meanwhile, doubled her efforts, to pick up Twilight's now-dropped shield.
"You really think a prissy little princess like you can stop me?!"
"Don't underestimate me just because I'm a princess!" Twilight gritted her teeth and continued trying to take the bag from the thief. "Applejack, do something!"
"Ha! Seems like you're really not thinking this through....you may have bucked my friend unconscious, but I'm not as weak as he is!"
The thief bucked a sharp piece of metal at the group, and Loyal caught it with no trouble at all..
"Don't mess with us....or you'll regret it."
Applejack looked around the room for something to buck at the other thief, and settled on a wooden box near the door. She lifted it up and bucked it in his direction as fast as she could.
The thief broke the box with ease.
"You're not very "crate" at hitting targets...hehehe...."
"Twilight, can't you just use some of that fancy combat magic of yours?!" Applejack called.
"What, and cause MORE destruction and mayhem?! Applejack, I can't wreck this train! I'm a PRINCESS!"
"I THINK THEY'D UNDERSTAND GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES, TWI!"
Loyal saw a window, and got an idea.
"Hope you like the cold!" He called, and threw the chunk of metal at the window, perfectly aiming it so it made a hole angled at the thieve's hooves, freezing them.
"I learned that from what recently happened." Loyal said proudly.
The thief tried to break free, but couldn't move his hooves.
"Nice shot, Loyal!" Twilight said, tugging more at the bag of money.
"I have good aim." Loyal replied.
"Now, what will we do with HIM?"
"We hold them here until my brother shows up." Twilight glared at the thieves.
"I get the feeling he won't be too long....he should be here right about............now."
At that exact moment, Shining Armor teleported into the train.
"Twilie! Is everything alright, kid?"
Twilight nodded. "I believe you have some thieves to arrest, oh, Captain of the Royal Guard..."
"Dude is insane." Loyal commented, before backing away.
"So, the good news is, Twi, they weren't after you."
"Hold it......" Loyal approached the guard.
"Let's see if he has any info for us.....Why did you hijack the train?"
"Are you kidding me?Hijacking a train was the easiest part. If the train stops, everypony is too in a panic and a fluster to bother trying to figure out why it happened.....then the lights go out. That's so they can easily find their way through the train, should they bother looking. Before all that, we jammed the doors, so the earth ponies couldn't buck them down and find us. And now that the monorails mash's, you've really got no place to go! So go ahead, throw me in prison all you like....but it was worth it!"
IT WAS WORTH IT! HAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH--"
*THWACK* *THUD*
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good to know... Shining Armor, did you bring a train?"
"Of course, what do you take me for?"
"Seriously, though....robbing a train for money....or, even better word...hijacking it. Whatever happened to robbing banks...?"
Twilight shrugged. "I've got to admit, this is the first time I've ever heard of something like this...
Anyway, we've got to get everyone onto the other train so we can get back to the Crystal Empire so that our train can be repaired..."
"Agreed." Loyal replied, and headed towards the door.
"And don't worry too much about the thieves. I think it's safe to say, their plan...." Loyal began, before taking out a pair of sunglasses from his back pocket.
"...just got derailed."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoPWAL…
Starlight chuckled and held out a hoof. "Good one."
Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes playfully, before turning to the passengers. "Alright, everyone. First off, I'd like to apologize for the inconvenience, but Prince Shining Armor has arrived with a train to transport everypony back to the Crystal Empire while the train is being repaired. I know this could be causing issues with your travels and family lives, so I'd like to ask my faithful assistant Spike to assist you all with letting anyone who might be expecting you know what's going on, that it's been handled, and that you're all okay. Once you all have your things, please follow Prince Shining Armor and my friends to the other train, and once again, I'd like to apologize for the inconvenience."
Meanwhile, Loyal headed to the front of the train to see if it could be fixed, and Twi .followed.
"Woow....that door really smashed the panel up....but, knowing my repairing skills, I should be able to fix it...if not, we'll really need to leave it to the Empire to repair it..."
Loyal crouched down, and tugged hard at the door, eventually pulling it out. He then proceeded to examine the underside of the panel, and saw a few broken wires. Knowing it'd be dangerous, he grabbed both wires, and brought them together, creating a few sparks.
"Come on....come on...." Loyal prayed. "Work with me, train..."
Just then, the wires created several big sparks, and on top of the panel, the buttons and switches lit up.
"Twi, did it work?" Loyal said, still under the panel.
"Well, the buttons and switches are on now, but I'm no conductor... I don't know if it works."
Just then. the lights came back on, and the train began to move.
"I think it worked! Look outside, tell me if anything's happening!."
Twilight looked outside to see.... the scenery moving by! "Hey, it looks like it worked! Quick, shift it into reverse! We have to get the train back to the Crystal Empire so they can inspect it and see if there's any other damage."
Loyal got up, found a joystick, and moved it to next to a label marked "R". The train slowed down, and began moving in the opposite direction.
"Great! Now we just have to wait. And stop the train when we pull into the station."
Loyal turned to face Twilight. "Sounds good." He said. Twi noticed Loyal's face was black, as if burnt.
"Hey, are you okay?" Twilight asked, approaching to get a better look. "You've got a little something on your face there."
Loyal went to look at a window.
"Oh, yeah, the burns. Yea, I'm fine. I couldn't have avoided it, considering I was rather close when wiring the train. But there wasn't really any other effective way to get it repaired. Keep in mind: Wiring the train was the only way it could move. So, sacrificing my looks to get it fixed? No prob."
Minutes later, the train came back to the station, where Cadance and the baby were waiting. Loyal exited the train, as did the others (Well, come.)
"Twilight, are you alright? You're not hurt, are you? Nothing broken? What's wrong with your friend's FACE?!"
"Ehh, hotwired the train to get it moving, since it was the only way, and n the process, sacrificed my looks."
"Well, we have a spa, if you would like a rest..." Cadence said. "They're really very good at what they do. Otherwise, we have a room in the castle you can use while they're inspecting the train..."
"Can you lead me to the castle room?"
Cadence smiled and nodded. "Come with me. Twilight, can you come get us when the train is finished being inspected, and possibly repaired?"
Twilight nodded. "Sure thing!"
Cadence began walking towards the castle, and Loyal followed.
"So...one thing I never mentioned. What happens if the baby's powers come back..?"
Cadence smiled and chuckled. "Sunburst gave us the scroll for the spell he used to block her powers. I think we'll be fine."
"Huh. It really makes you think......if all baby Alicorns...or Unicorns...have magic surges....who knows how much destruction it's cause..."
"It could be catastrophic, yes. But baby unicorns are nowhere near as powerful as baby alicorns... I suspect this spell probably came into being with alicorns as a way to protect those around them from the raw power of the baby..."
"Thank goodness for protection, then..."
Eventually, Cadence led Loyal through a series of halls, and into a nice-looking room..
"How do you even wandr these halls without getting lost?"
"Well, when you live here a long time, you figure things out eventually." Cadence chuckled. "Take as long or as short as you'd like to get yourself fixed up."
Loyal nodded in understanding, and Cadence left the room and closed the door.
Loyal took his time to search the room for anything to wipe his face with. He eventually found a sink and some rags.
He wet the rag with warm water, and wiped his face off. The black marks came off easily.. After that, he decided to res for a bit. Doing all that stuff on the train tired him out a bit.
Minutes later, he left the room, and went back the way Cadence led him, and eventually made t back to the train.
"I' back...is anything else wrong with the train?"
"They said it seems to be fine, but they're busy replacing the magic batteries right now. Apparently, the thieves decided it'd be neat to throw them off the train. Given how bad the weather out there can get, we could be looking for them for ages if we went looking. While they're at it, they're going to fix up any minor damage that was done, and they're going to be sending a mechanic along with us on the way back - just in case."
"They threw out the battery?! That's just playing dirty...hijacking it was enough..but actually throwing out the batteries? That ain't cool.""
"Tell me about it. It takes a lot of magic to charge one of those things, and ponies dedicate their entire days to it sometimes. That's just a waste of magical energy. Not to mention littering."
"I'm not saying I'd be stupid enough to actually go looking for it, but it must have been thrown out just as the train stopped. So it'd probably be far off, thirty minutes away. Unless the train stops long after the battery is thrown out.""
"Well it's not stupid to go looking. We're probably going to have somepony do it. It's just going to take time, and we kind of have to get everypony where they need to go as fast as we can so the train can get back on schedule."
"You probably know what's coming next."
"Ah... maybe?"
Loyal entered the tain, and grabbed his big fluffy coat from his hanger, and put it on.
"I noticed the snowstorm stopped, so it'll be like living in Pennsylvania on a snowy day.
Loyal then proceeded to take off running alongside the tracks
"DON'T TRY AND STOP ME, TWI! I'M STUPID TO DO THIS, BUT I CAN MANAGE!" He called back.
"YES!" Loyal called back. He kept running alongside the tracks. An hour later, he arrived at the spot he was pretty sure was where the train stopped. Loyal looked all around the area, but no signs of a battery. Just when he was about to give up, he noticed something sticking out under one of the rails. It was big, rectangular, and magical-looking.
"The batteries!" Loyal exclaimed. He approached each, and carefully grabbed onto them, pulling them out with great difficulty. "Heh. Twi'll be so proud when she sees this....though I really need to stop running off....it'll worry her so much.."
An hour later, Loyal approached the station,looking triumphant, with the batteries under his arm.
"I know, I need to stop running off like that...but, hey, I found what we needed."
"W-wait! Are you sure about this?!" Twilight called after him. He didn't stop.
Twilight smiled. "Well, we do have backup batteries at all the train stations. They run out of energy after a while, after all, and this way we can replace them while somepony charges the depleted ones up. But it's good that you found those - now we can put them to use when a train's batteries are used up!"
Cadence stepped out of the train station a moment later. "The train is all fixed up, and ready to depart at any time. Shall I let everypony know?" Twilight nodded, and Cadence left to inform everypony who was waiting for the train that it could leave as soon as they're all aboard.
"I'll admit I know I need to stop running off like that.....even if it is to make jobs easier. But that's pretty much me for ya....always trying to look for a way to make situations less difficult...I was lucky i hadn't frozen out there, though....I know I've worried you a lot lately. But, this is the kind of thing you can expect from me in the future. I am a white knight, after all It's my duty to protect those I truly care about, and really want to find a way to assist.""
"A white knight, huh? Well, that sounds promising. It's good to know you want to be helpful - I saw it before when you and Diamond Tiara showed up at the castle... You really care about her, huh?"
"Yeah....let's just say we share a special bond.."
"Well, I bet she'll be really happy to see you, then!" Twilight smiled and giggled to herself.
"I guarantee you, the SECOND I step off the train, she'll be waiting for me, tackle hugging me to the ground."
"Probably! She'll probably want to hear all about what's happened. I just hope Applebloom's been keeping her company, y'know?"
"Yup!" Lyal replied, stepping onto the train.
"And I pray, for God's sake, in the name of haven, nothing stops us from going back....a hijacking was enough."
"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine this time."
"....let's hope saying that didn't jinx it."
Loyal and Twi stepped onto the train.
"By the way, Twilight, you'll never guess where the batteries were..."
"Where were they?" Twilight asked.
"Underneath the tracks."
"No way, seriously?" Twilight chuckled. "What're the odds of that?"
"My guess is the thieves knew somepony would find a way to get the train moving, so if it did, it's crush the batteries in the process. But, I don't think they were lodged far enough when we moved, so they were completely untouched."
Starlight overheard most of the conversation, and she perked her ears up.
"Wait, you found the batteries? Really?" Starlight approached the two. "When did that happen?"
"I ran out to grab them, just in case. Plus, wouldn't want an important resource like that being wasted." Loyal replied.
"It's a good thing in the end. If somepony or something bad came across them, they could... well... Let's just say magic has plenty of uses. Both good and bad."
Well, it's a good thing that never happened."
Everypony sat down, and the train began to move. About 15 minutes into the ride, the loudspeaker came on again.
"Attention, everypony. This is your conductor speaking. Due to the mishaps of earlier today, the train ride will not be reaching our destination until about close to midnight....so, get comfortable, and please, stay calm, and enjoy the ride. Thank you."
"Well, on the upside, maybe we'll see the aurora borealis." Twilight chuckled.
"I thought those only existed in Alaska...they actually have them here, too?"
"Alaska? What's that, is that a country?" Twilight asked.
"Just picture miles and miles, and miles of ice and snow and glaciers. You have Alaska. But yes, it is a country."
"Well, the aurora borealis can sometimes be seen from elsewhere in Equestria. But it usually depends on the weather."
"It's almost like anything's possible here....that's not how it is on earth...there, hundreds of people are wishing for this sort of thing....to see things that don't normally happen...but here, it can happen. Does that happen normally?"
"Yep! This is normal! Along with other things, like helping to change the seasons, and changing the weather... and, if Celestia and Luna were to just... stop doing their jobs... Time would never change."
"And everyone would die. Without the sun, everything would freeze. Without the moon....things would become catastrophic. Everything would actually be droughted."
"Well, yes, there's that, too... I can't tell you how many times Equestria's come this close to an apocalypse... Last year, Princess Luna shows up for the first time in a thousand years in full-on possessed, evil mode, and tries to stop the sun from ever rising again. Then, Discord shows up and tries to turn the world into a world of chaos only fit for him to live in. THEN, the Changelings show up and try to drain everyone's energy and love to feed themselves, and THEN King Sombra showed up and tried to take over the Crystal Empire and release a bunch of evil shadow pony creatures? ...Actually that happened twice... ANYWAY, then... um... I kind of accidentally switched my friends' Cutie Marks, but not their actual destinies, which could've been very VERY bad...
And then, Celestia's old student almost gained the power to come and take over the country which probably would've lead to very bad things, then the Everfree Forest almost made Equestria unfit to live in, and then Tirek stole everyone's magic and almost vaporized the place."
Loyal just stared in shock.
".......my God."
"And then there's you-know-who, and her you-know-what, incident, but it's best we don't go into that." Loyal said, hinting at Starlight, which he prayed nopony else would realize. Well...the passengers at least.
Twilight whispered, "Well, technically speaking and in her defense..., her original plot may not have been leading towards an apocalypse. And, well, her second one only lead to multiple apocalypses because she inadvertently stopped my friends and I from stopping all the others..."
"She caused a butterfly effect to stop you?"
"Yeah, but not on purpose. She might've been one of the only ponies who didn't know my friends and I were so closely tied to the fate of Equestria in general. Without us, Equestria would've been doomed many times over."
"There's been a lot going on, huh?"
"In the past year or so? Yeah. So much."
"Wow....well, what our world has been through is much worse. Ya wanna know what happens?"
"Ah... sure?" Twilight had a feeling she might regret asking.
"Wars....global warming.....natural disasters....robberies, animal endangerment, slavery, prejudice....racism.....need I go on?"
Twilight's ears flopped down. "Global warming? Natural disasters? I don't think I've ever heard of such things here! ...Well, earthquakes, maybe, but...."
"Yet another reason I left Earth....I couldn't handle things there....sure, things could be dangerous here....but still, I know I have all of you to protect me...as I'd protect you.
You would be willing to protect me, right?""
The smile returned to Twilight's face. "Of course! We're always willing to do anything for a friend."
Just then, a mystical glow filled the room. The passengers all looked outside, and saw it was already nighttime...and up in the sky....
"Is that..?"
"Is that what? What? What is it?!" Pinkie bounded over and looked out the window.
Up above in the sky, was a magical glowing light.....
"Aurora borealis." Loyal said, marveling at the beautiful Northern Lights.
Everyone on the train looked out the window and gasped at the wonderful sight. "I wonder if anypony else can see this right now."
After about a minute, Twilight heard a small adorable yawn. She looked over to see Loyal laying his head on the back of his seat. Or the front thing.
He closed his eyes, and lay there for a moment, before shivering a tiny bit.
Twilight smiled and giggled a little bit, before wrapping one wing around Loyal, drawing him close, and nuzzling into him.
Most of the passengers were adored by this scene....
"Awwww....."
Twi blushed, realizing they all saw her cuddle him.
"I think somepony likes Loyal...." Spike teased.
"Pshh... Don't be ridiculous, Spike..."
"Wrapping your wing around him to keep him warm was enough...but nuzzling him? That seals the deal."
"Hey, I nuzzle plenty of ponies! Like mom! And dad! And Shining Armor and Cadance!"
"Fair enough...but I'm keeping an eye on ya." Spike said, returning to his seat. He knew something had to be up with Twilight...whether she wanted to admit it or not.