Hi...I'm Dual Blade, many years ago...I lay quietly in my bed...I did that every Hearth's Warming Eve ever since I had second thoughts of 'his' existence....so on nights just like this one...I didn't make a sound at all except for the sounds of my slow breathing...I wasn't sleeping, though...I was quietly trying to listen for the sounds...of Santa's Sleigh.
The 12-year-old turquoise blue pegasus opened his eyes, looking up at his room ceiling, thinking he heard the sound of Santa's Sleigh.
Dual Blade sat up and got out of bed, wearing his white t-shirt and his forest camo pajama bottoms; he grabbed his glasses and put them on, quietly going downstairs to see if Santa came. But the tree was empty, the stockings were empty, and the cookies and milk he told his sister to put out remained untouched.
Dual sighed and kept watching until he heard the sounds of boots and the sound of a sleigh bell coming from the kitchen. He looked at the silhouette, and it looked just like...him. His eyes widened, and he was ready to run back upstairs before he heard the figure talk; it was his dad.
"Alright, Bell, we got you your water. Let's get you up back into bed."
Dual squinted his eyes and ran back upstairs, slowly closing his room door as he started to overhear his father talking to his little sister Bell as he looked at them through the keyhole of his room.
"Dual said that... for him to get to every creature's house in one night...his sleigh would have to be faster than the speed of light and to hold everyone's presents, his bag and sleigh would have to be bigger than an ocean liner," Bell said.
"Really? He said that?" Asked the father. "Did he say if Santa existed?"
"He said 'He wasn't sure,' and he's gonna give me his proper answer by tomorrow."
"Your brother knows there is a Santa. He was just kidding, so don't worry, now go to sleep, my little pony...Santa will be here before you know it."
Dual watched as his father kissed Bell's forehead. "Sweet Dreams, Happy Hearth's Warming"
"Goodnight, Daddy...."
Bell then slowly closed her eyes as Dual's dad shut off her lamp and closed the door; Dual saw a Santa hat in his father's pants pocket.
The colt sighed and went over to his desk, taking out an encyclopedia, and went to the N-section. Then, finally, he found the result he wanted with a scroll of his finger...The North Pole.
"The North Pole is the northernmost point on the Earth, lying diametrically opposite the South Pole. It defines geodetic latitude 90° North and the direction of true North. At the North Pole, all directions point south; all lines of longitude converge there, so its longitude can be defined as any degree value. With tight latitude circles, counterclockwise is east, and clockwise is west. The North Pole is at the center of the Northern Hemisphere." Dual read to himself, continuing to scroll down the book, but it didn't say anything about Santa living there.
He sighed again and closed the book, putting it back in his desk drawer. Dual then hopped back into the bed and looked at his alarm clock, and it read 11:45.
Dual decided to give up this year after struggling to keep his eyes open, he placed his glasses on his nightstand, and he closed his eyes, falling asleep as the alarm clock's ticking was still going.
Then he heard the sound of faint sleigh bells, and he quickly opened his eyes again. He looked at the clock again and saw the time was 11:55, but something was wrong, the red 'second hand' wasn't moving.
Dual arched an eyebrow as he kept looking at the clock until he heard a loud rumbling, the clock landing on the floor face first. The colt looked around, a bit scared as he saw some of his framed pictures fall from his dresser along with his pencil holder tipping over and spilling his pencils and pens onto his desk chair and floor.
Even he and his bed itself shook as the rumbling grew louder and louder. Then, finally, he got up from the bed and looked out the window.
He then hears a loud train whistle and bright yellow lights passing by very quickly before slowing down. Dual wanted to see what was going on immediately, so he grabbed his glasses and immediately put them on his face. Instead of putting on proper clothing, he quickly put on his black slippers and grabbed his blue fleece bathrobe from the bedpost.
But instead of properly taking it off the post, he pulled it too hard, and his right pocket ripped, making his marble collection drop out of it. The marbles rattling on the floor, just by the sound of them, Dual thinks he lost his marbles.
He cared little about his pocket and just quickly slipped on his robe, running out of his room at a fast pace.
Dual opened the front door and looked outside to see what was making all the racket. He ran on the blanket of snow on his pathway, and he slipped a bit, making some slide marks into the snow.
He looked shocked; he didn't know if he was dreaming or hallucinating.
In front of him was a vast black steam train; it had five passenger cars colored blue with a white top and red windows with shining yellow lights inside. On one of the train cars, it read 'Polar Express.'
Dual walked up to the train's engine to look at it up close, and he then reached his hand out, preparing to see if it was real before he heard a stallion shout.
"ALL ABOARD!!!!"
The young colt looked in the direction of the voice and pointed to himself, basically saying, 'You talking to me?'
The stallion yelled again. "ALL ABOARD!!!!"
Dual shrugged his shoulders slightly and looked around to see who he was talking to, but no one was around. So the stallion is talking to him.
The 12-year-old colt gathered his courage and walked over to where the stallion was standing. The steam that was around and blocking his vision cleared, and Dual was met with a white unicorn stallion.
The stallion was a white unicorn with a long blue mane and light blue eyes in front of him. Dual saw that the hat he was wearing said 'conductor' in gold lettering. He also had on a blue uniform with black loafers. The two kept staring at each other for a few seconds, The Conductor's light blue eyes staring into Dual's brown ones as The Conductor broke the silence between them.
"Well? You coming?"
The train hissed as Dual spoke. "Where?"
The Conductor smiled. "Why to the North Pole, of course!" He lifted his hand and motioned it to the train. "THIS IS THE POLAR EXPRESS!!!"
Dual's eyes widened, and his mouth was slightly agape when he heard him say that. "T-The North Pole?"
The Conductor smacked his lips and nodded. "Ah...I see..." He gave Dual a lantern. "Hold this, please..."
Dual wrapped his hands around the lantern bar and watched as the stallion grabbed a clipboard and looked at it. "Are you Dual Blade?"
"Yeah...?"
"Well, it says here that you have no photograph taken with a Mall Santa this year, No letter to Santa, and you even made your little sister put out the milk and cookies...."
Dual looked away, a bit embarrassed as The Conductor continued to talk, taking the lantern out of the young colt's hands. "Sounds to me like this is an important year for you...If I were you, I would think about climbing aboard..."
Dual didn't move as The Conductor checked his pocket watch. "Ooh! Are you climbing on or not, kiddo? We got a schedule to keep."
The colt backed up and shook his head, not wanting to get on as The Conductor sighed and climbed back onto the train. "Suit yourself..."
The white stallion waved his lantern toward the locomotive, the train's whistle blaring in response as it began to pull out slowly.
Dual watched as the train slowly moved, but he began to think. He said the train was going to The North Pole, and he had been wondering if Santa existed. This could be his only chance to see if his suspicions of him being real are correct.
"Oh, to heck with it..."
Dual ran to a handrail on the train, and he grabbed it, jumping onto one of the steps to climb aboard before the train went too fast. The colt grabbed the other railing as the train went a bit faster, watching his house slowly grow smaller and smaller as the wind swished his black mane and robe slightly as he looked down, wondering if this was the right choice.
The train rattled in a perfect rhythm on the track as Dual remained on the step of the train car, as his mane and robe continued to blow in the wind lightly. He then looked up a bit when he heard The Conductor clear his throat, he looked back, and he saw him opening up a green slide door, and he beckoned his hand to go inside, to which Dual reluctantly agreed.