//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirteen: The Endless Tracks // Story: Gems II: Dawn of The Princesses // by Pen Dragon //------------------------------// Chapter Thirteen: The Endless Tracks Stirring from his long rest, Watcher’s eyes slowly began to open as he was greeted by the sight of a familiar face sitting across from him. A grey mare with a very long blonde and orange striped mane and tail, wearing a brown heavy coat and red scarf. The mare was Stencil Guide of Dragon Corps, and beside her was Techorse, showing off his battle saddle to the mare. “It’s quite impressive Mr.Tech, it looks like it would come in very handy for the war,” Watcher heard Stencil reply, earning a smile from the stallion. “I appreciate it, Stencil, but it’s not something I’d want to mass-produce,” he said, “what if it fell into the wrong hooves?” The mare’s ears drooped in an act of understanding, “Oh, yeah… that’s a good point” Lifting himself up, Watcher let out a loud groan as to catch the attention of the two ponies across from him, “Ugh… hey Tech, what happened, did we by some miracle win?” Techorse shook his head and raised a hoof, “No, we escaped. Right now we’re inside a double wide cargo hauling car on a train headed up the Yellow Line. This is one of my family’s old railways the Order seized from us.” “Heh, why am I not surprised we got our asses hoofed on a silver platter,0” Watcher replied, giving a smirk before groaning in pain. “Geez, if this is just a taste of what the Chancellor can do, I don’t think I’d want to know what he’s truly capable of.” “Oh, I know what he’s capable of,” Stencil said grimly, tears welling up in her eyes, “It… it’s good to see you again Watcher. I wish it was under better circumstances.” “Yeah, things haven’t been going well for me and Tia, either and…” Watcher realized something as he sat up quickly, “Hey, wait a minute, where’s Pen Dragon, shouldn’t he be with you? What are you doing out here on a train with us?” The tears in Stencil’s eyes flowed freely as she bawled her heart out in front of the two stallions. Watcher’s face softened, he knew his innocent question was about to receive a horrible answer. “Stencil,” Techorse said gently, placing a hoof on her back, “please don’t cry. Watcher didn’t mean anything by that!” “You… you don’t get it!” she whimpered, a lump in her throat, “P… Pen is dead! The company’s been seized, and our colleagues were slaughtered while begging for their lives!” “W-What?!” Watcher shouted in disbelief.  To hear that one of the greatest minds and business pony he ever met was gone. It was unbelievable news on its own, but to hear it from Pen’s own assistant had made the impact of the message even more painful. “Stencil, we’re here to help,” Techorse said in an understanding tone, “nopony should have to go through what you’ve been through.” “Yeah, I… I’m sorry… is there anything we can do?” Watcher asked, trying his best to help comfort his old acquaintance. “I don’t know,” she said softly, sniffing back mucus blocking her nose and trying to dry her tears, “there’s probably nothing we can do. I hopped on this train hoping to find a new life someplace else but, I don’t know where I’m really going or what I’ll do with myself. My life is over...” “Pen was a great stallion Stencil, and I will help make sure justice is served for what happened,” Techorse replied. “Tech is right, for the past four months we’ve been in Everfree City, trying to find a way to put a stop to the Order… and put an end to this war.” Watcher added. “Right now, Tia and the others from our group are making their way to Mount Chimera to find what could help us turn the tide of this war.” “Stencil? Has the big guy woken up yet?” Watcher and Techorse heard as a red unicorn had just entered with a tray of bread and bottles of water. “Ah, glad you could wake up finally, your little Breezie friend spent a lot of time healing your wounds to the point she passed out in Tech’s mane.” “Annnnd you are?” “The name is Flare Blitz, I was actually hired by Pen Dragon to look after Miss Guide before he passed away. As a promise for him helping me out when I needed it most,” he replied, giving everypony a grin as he set the tray of food on an empty seat for everypony to eat, “You guys must be hungry.” “Yes, and despite me telling him that he doesn’t need to do this, his code as a mercenary won’t allow him to disobey his contract with Pen. So until the Order falls, I’m kinda stuck with this guy,” Stencil explained, her eye twitching slightly in response. “Huh? Well uh… nice to meet you I guess,” Watcher replied, extending his hoof to shake Flare’s, to which the red unicorn happily accepted. “So, what were the two of you doing exactly? You haven’t explained that to Stencil or me, and since my duties are going to depend on your response, I’d think about what you say next,” Flare explained, brushing his yellow mane back slightly as his horn glowed a bright yellow hue, revealing under his trench coat a pair of sharpened knives made from repurposed lawn mower blades, three small holes in the center of each sharpened steel edge, “Trot carefully you two.” “They’re my friends, Flare!” snapped Stencil, nearly growling at him, “They don’t need to explain a thing to you!” “And I have my orders from you Fiance to look after you,” he replied, glaring at Watcher in particular, “Now I only want an honest response is all, nothing wrong with that right?” Techorse spoke up, “Well, if you’re looking for the truth, we brought Watcher onboard to get away from the Chancellor and his troops. Stencil is an ally of ours, even if she and I just met.” “That much is obvious, not what I’m asking… what were you doing before? Tell me what it is that you two would go through all the trouble to get the fricken Chancellor on your backs?” He asked a final time, glaring at the inventor. “For me, existing,” Techorse answered, his saddle door opening just in case, “for a mercenary under a delayed payment clause, you seem unaware about the goals of the Chancellor and his troops that you’re trying to protect Stencil from. I’m one of the Dispossessed, and Watcher betrayed him to keep a fugitive safe.” “And now I’m a fugitive as well… a lot has happened, but one thing is certain, The Order will not stop until they kill everypony that doesn’t fit into their perfect world. Especially if it’s believed that the Princesses of Equestria are returning,” Watcher responded. “So, believe it or not, we are trying to find the lost princesses so they can restore harmony to Equestria once again,” “Sounds pretty convincing to me,” Flare responded, sitting back down with a grin now plastered on his face as he used his magic to pick up a loaf of bread and began to chow down on it. The doors on Techorse’s saddle closed, and he turned to Watcher, “Can I speak to you in private, please? Behind that cargo crate at the back of the car?” Watcher spied the large wooden box amongst the others stacked up against the metal walls, and rolled his eyes at Techorse before agreeing reluctantly. “We’ll be right back, just have to go over our next steps for saving the fugitive princesses,” Techorse said to the others, pointing with his hoof, “It’s nothing you’d want to have to put up with.” “Sure, please do,” Stencil agreed, giving Flare the side-eye. The two stallions walked over to the other side of the seemingly massive car and stepped behind the crate, obscuring them from view and letting the clatter of the train wheels over the tracks muffle their voices. “This needs to be important, Tech,” grunted Watcher, “kind of obvious we’re talking behind backs, here.” “I know that,” answered Techorse, hugging the wooden crate with his body, “look, it seemed to me you knew Stencil Guide. All I’ve known about her was from a cheesy gossip magazine talking about her upcoming marriage to Pen Dragon. Now, I know she’s more or less Dispossessed like me, and Pen Dragon’s gotten himself killed. Do you understand the implications here?” “I know… you’ve mentioned once or twice about being Dispossessed, but that’s a term I’ve hardly heard of before. Care to explain?” The earth pony nodded, “After dragging you here, I owe you an explanation. In short, Watcher, a long time ago before I came to Everfree City, the Order decided that it needed to seize various industries within its own territory from its own ponies to establish control of those resources for the sake of their own power. They knew they couldn’t take the businesses and factories away from their most loyal supporters though, so they raided those who had even slight dissent against the Order, labeling them as traitors and either killing them or locking them up. You don’t remember this happening?“ “I had my own terrible things going on back then,” he answered, “what does this have to do with Stencil Guide?” “That’s where this gets even uglier,” continued his companion, frowning, “you see, Apollo promised after the takeover that loyalists to his cause would never have their industries taken. Pen Dragon’s father remained loyal, at least on the surface, but he passed control onto his son almost right after the Dispossession happened. So Dragon Corps was considered safe by the ponies loyal to the Order, as far as I can tell.” “Apollo went back on his promise, no duh,” Watcher scoffed, regaining a more serious tone when he remembered Pen Dragon died horribly from that choice. “Right, and despite that, the Order isn’t on fire right now,” Techorse continued, raising his eyebrows, “a lot of his own ponies were pacified by being told that after the first purge, there’d be no more of it. If the public of the Order found out about what he did to Dragon Corps, there’d be rioting in the streets and mass defection to the rebellion!” “Lemme guess, based on her use of the word ‘slaughter’, Stencil’s the only one left alive who knows what happened, and… we have to help her get the message out,” sighed Watcher in response, “great… more problems.” “I’m not saying we have to do much,” said the bounty hunter, trying to smile, “but anything we do to help her announce Apollo’s betrayal will help us. We should convince her to go to Everfree City and get in touch with the media.” “Hmm… You do realize that if we do this, there’s going to be a lot of blood on our hooves… we are already have our hooves full with finding the princesses, stopping a goat from Celestia’s past while also dealing with The Order itself, who has the most powerful military on the planet. Odds aren’t exactly in our favor you know,” Watcher explained. Techorse thought about it for a moment or two, before giving his answer, “It won’t be on our hooves. The ponies of the Order are not all horrible, Watcher. They deserve to know about this, even if they were complicit with the first crimes. It might change their minds, and save their lives in the end.” “Alright… however, we can’t do it, not yet at least. She needs to lay low with us for a little while. With the Order on our asses it’s going to be difficult getting back to Everfree City, not only that, but Celestia is out there without me there to keep her out of trouble. It’s… it’s hard Tech… It’s just hard… never in all my life did I imagine I’d be dealing with the fate of pony kind on my hooves.” “You’re doing a great job of that, Watcher,” comforted the other stallion, nudging him gently with his hoof and smiling again, “and you’ve mentioned all I’m asking for. We drop Stencil off in a safe place, handle the goat mage, and on the way back from Mount Chimera, pick her back up again and get her to Everfree City.” “Heh, easier said than done right?” “Yeah, especially with that merc… that guy’s nuts,” commented Techorse, shaking his head in disbelief. “He seems pretty friendly, besides the threat he made to us earlier… You sure you don’t know that guy, I mean that guy must have come up at one point in a conversation right?” He asked the Inventor. “Hey, he’s guns for hire, I’m payment upon item received,” joked Techorse, “we’re nothing alike! Maybe he’s worth knowing though, we’ll see!” Rolling his eyes, the large unicorn trotted past the inventor, “We’d better get back out there… you know something… you aren’t that bad, Tech. Annoying, but not bad.” “I’m definitely last on the list of things that annoy you, like smiling!” he teased, following him back over to the others. “And the moment is gone,” he commented, walking back out to see Flare sharpening his blade, while Stencil looked over the contents of her briefcase before closing it rapidly. “You two done talking?” She asked, Watcher nodding taking note of the briefcase before facing the mare and giving her a gentle smile. “We’ve settled things for now Miss Guide.” Watcher replied, taking a seat across from her as Techorse sat beside him. “So what are your next steps, Stencil?” Techorse asked. “I have a promise to keep to Pen… and I know things aren’t ready yet, but he’s put his faith in you, Watcher and Tia,” Stencil replied. “For the time being, I’ll stay alive until his final project is absolutely perfect.” Seeing his opportunity, Techorse tried to reason with her, “Stencil, I know losing your fiancé must have been horrible, but have you considered bringing the news that Dragon Corps was seized in front of the world? If that message were to get out, it would trigger serious resistance against the Order.” She went quiet for a moment, her eyes going to the floor, before continuing, “I’ve definitely considered it. But, the project is more important, we… I mean, I… have to finish the magnum opus from here.” “Ultimately, it’s your choice,” continued the inventor, frowning, “but don’t you think at least the families of your employees deserve to know what happened?” “Don’t give her any more trouble,” warned Flare, making an aggressive face at him. “I’ll let you know when your input actually contributes to this discussion,” Techorse answered, smiling at him, “it’s still Stencil’s choice as to what she wants to do, I just want her to know what all her options are in this situation. We can get her to safety if she wants to share what happened.” “And this is why I was against letting her anywhere near you punks,” Flare said, still holding the same smile from when they met, but before he could do anything, Watcher stood up, glaring at the red unicorn. “That’s enough out of you… we aren’t enemies and I’ve known Stencil before you even met her. So I suggest you give my companion the proper respect he deserves,” Watcher threatened, his eyes turning red as his horn began to glow. “If any of you fight, I’ll somehow figure out how to throw you all off this train,” Stencil hissed, trying not to yell, “this is my choice to make, as Mr. Techorse said!” “Of course ma’am!” Flare said firmly as he pretended nothing had happened, causing Watcher to groan in annoyance. “Kissup,” Watcher muttered as he sat back in his seat as both he and Techorse watched the odd mercenary closely, “Well either way, it doesn’t matter to me since it’s her call ultimately, but I highly encourage you to take my friends words into consideration, it’ll help turn things around for us.” Stencil Guide responded thoughtfully, “Well… I really need to complete our project, but, I’m afraid you guys are right. The Order took away many ponies’ loved ones that day, not just mine. It’s not only crucial that the power source be completed so that we can have the means to improve the future, I have to be able to do what’s right in the present too. Either way, if I get killed, everything’s lost. I need to get to safety and get the truth out there while accomplishing as much of Pen’s last wishes as possible.” “I know a safe place you can stay after we ride this line out to its end,” Techorse said confidently, “Watcher and I have something to take care of in that area, but once we’re done we’ll take you there. I’ll also provide whatever I can to help you complete the power source you mentioned, I’ve got plenty of machine tools and manufacturing facilities in my bunker back home.” “You’re very kind,” said Stencil, smiling for the first time since they met, “but this power source mostly runs off of magical forces, not pure technology. All you need to do is make sure I survive.” “That we can do,” said Watcher, nodding. “As if,” droned Flare, chuckling, “you won’t be doing much to protect her that I couldn’t do already, you know.” “Wait until something happens,” warned Watcher sternly, “bet you’ll change your mind real quick you kiss up,” “I doubt it,” he answered, playing with one of his crafted blades casually. “Seriously, what’s with this guy?” Watcher muttered to Techorse, still glaring at the arrogant unicorn. Trying to set aside his own misgivings, Techorse said, “I don’t know what his issue is, but I’d certainly like to know.” “Nothing wrong with me,” said the red unicorn, shaking his head. “Flare, you mentioned that your contract under Stencil Guide was already filled by Pen Dragon prior to his death, correct?” he asked, “Normally mercs don’t agree to deferred payment on escort contracts.” “Yes, well, Pen did something special for me, as I said,” answered the stallion, “I have to say though, Tech… mind if I call you that?” “It’s the usual nickname.” “Cool,” continued the mercenary, smiling, “so anyways, Tech, yeah, Pen did me a great favor a long time ago, and cashed in on it a couple days before he died.” “Before he was murdered,” corrected Watcher. “Right, right… sorry, this is a highly unusual job,” apologized Flare, “so that’s why I’m here. Anyways, Tech, you seem very knowledgeable about paid mercenary work despite being some kind of engineer, I guess? Why’s that?” There was no way he was going to tell him his own profession so Techorse answered, “It’s kind of common knowledge in engineering, have to hire guards for your factories and R&D labs.” “Ah, well, guards are mercenaries in a way, so I’ll accept that answer,” muttered the other stallion, barely paying attention. “What I don’t get is, Pen Dragon filled your contract several days before his death,” continued Techorse, clearly in deep thought, “from there you knew to help Stencil escape and protect her for the duration of the contract as per its terms.” “Still haven’t said anything wrong,” chuckled Flare. Techorse froze in his tracks, staring off into space, “But... if this was an emergency contingency plan or something due to his death, you would have gotten your orders the day he was killed. You got it ahead of time, so that means…” Watcher turned a little bit pale, “Pen predicted his own killing! What the!?” The hot coals burned brightly in the firebox of the train’s engine, keeping the vehicle moving at a good pace through the night. While normally a team of engineers would monitor the engine and keep it fed, instead a single unicorn mare stood tending to the complex machine and keeping it fueled. Her purple coat was well-lit by the radiating light from the fire, reflecting in her blue eyes. The heat from the fire, fueled by twice as much coal as normal to keep the train moving faster was causing her to sweat, making her fluffy black hair with red, blue, and yellow highlights lose its bounce a bit. Adjusting her hair pin in the shape of a paintbrush, the mare grunted about the sacrifices she was having to make to run the train. “I hate it when it’s hot,” she groaned, pulling the collar of her white blouse shirt and loosening her silver colored tie, “thankfully once this ride is over I can destroy this stupid machine and get the goods out of here. My masterpiece will be complete!” Initially when she had decided to commandeer the train, there were about twenty crew on board, mostly engineers and cargo management experts. Now those guys were either dead, or simply unable to catch up with her given that she had thrown them all overboard in the same way without checking to see if they got up again. Causing pain was hardly the point. Noticing something odd in the cabin’s outside mirror, which was used to check behind the train, the mare said to herself, “Oh? What’s that?” She moved over to the side door of the steam engine and opened it, the chuffing of the engine immediately becoming ten times as loud. The mare looked backwards, down the long line of cars, and saw light coming from the windows of one of the huge cargo hauling units towards the middle of the train. “I know I turned those lights off,” she said, smirking, “guess we have guests. Guests who might not appreciate the art I’m trying to create here.” With her horn glowing, the mare brought out a sheet of paper with a perfect diagram of the train painted on, evidence of her talents in planning heists such as this one. She glanced back at the lit car, then back to her sheet of paper, before drawing a pencil she was keeping behind her right ear and circling the offending car. “Oooh, perfect, my new friend is in front of their location,” she chuckled, tapping on the map with her pencil, “it’s time to introduce her to them!” The mare happily hummed a tune to herself and turned around with a bit of a jump, bouncing her black skirt behind her. She approached the train’s throttle, and took out a metal clip she had brought along as part of the plan, locking it in place to keep the train going steady. Then, the mare exited the back of the engine into the frigid night, stepping carefully over the coupling and entering the first car behind the engine. This one was a relatively quiet passenger car, devoid of ponies except herself. She took out a paintbrush and swished it through the air with her magic as if painting, talking to herself to work out her next step, “Now, I’m in the second car, and the train is traveling at a speed of…” After doing the math, she put the art tool away and crouched while her horn sparked to life, enveloping her in a bubble of blue energy before making her vanish. As predicted, she teleported herself safely accounting for the momentum of the train into the car where her ‘friend’ was. She was, however, facing the wrong way, and she heard a loud growl behind her. Turning about, the mare said to her companion, “Hello! Did you miss me?” Before her was a giant steel cage, nearly extending to the ceiling, with an enormous white and blue striped canid creature with piercing yellow eyes. It growled and snapped loudly at her, icy vapor escaping from its mouth as it did so. Its ears and tail were at full attention, and the wolf-like monster bit at the bars in an attempt to chew through them. Somehow, the well-made cage resisted the 800 pound beasts’ assault. “No? Well, I’m going to be your friend and release you,” continued the artist, giggling, “so you oughta be my friend. After all, I think it’s very mean of the Order to lock you up in a cage! It would be as if they blindfolded me so I couldn’t paint. I shudder to imagine.” Uninterested in the mare’s painting abilities but no longer seeing her as a threat, the monster growled but stopped snapping. To its surprise, the pony on the other side of the bars levitated a small portion of meat out of her bag and placed it inside the cage, which was immediately scarfed down without a second thought. “Oh, baby, you’re starving, too!  Just awful, but don’t worry, I think you’ll prefer working for me than for the Order,” she continued with an honest but somewhat disturbing tone of voice, “why spend your life chewing on political prisoners for Apollo when you can join a family. Me painting in front of the fire, and you curled in front of it!” Spying a rather large lock on the cage, another miraculous survival of the wolf-creature’s battering, the mare trotted up to it, and removed her paintbrush pin from her hair, revealing a complex shape to the sharp end. Carefully inserting it into the opening of the padlock, she worked through the tumblers while continuing to talk to her new friend. “So my name’s Jovial Concept,” she said, pretending the thing could talk, “I come from a long line of master thieves. Well… my parents were master thieves, so the line’s at least two generations long! I always told them I wanted a dog, and they said no since the smell of the dog tends to stick on you, but I think they just didn’t want to walk it.” Eventually she felt the click of the lock open, and the heavy chunk of metal slammed to the floor while she put the pin back in her hair. Under normal conditions, the creature would have shredded her on the spot, but wanting nothing more than to leave the cage, it pushed past the door quickly and faced the mare, silent but refusing to drop its gaze. More than likely, Jovial did not smell like any of the Order troops that had captured and starved it, so it would play nice… for now. “If only I knew a little bit more about you,” Jovial said, looking around. Finding a nearby crate with an inscription on it, she found her answer. “Supplies for: 1 Female Northern Cryomane.” “Oh wow, a Cryomane giant wolf?” she said, “I’ve heard about you, you’re endangered! The Order really doesn’t give a crap about nature, do they? Oh well, I care about ya, you are part of life’s art just like me!” Jovial very boldly reached out with her hoof and petted the seven foot tall canid on the head between its pointed ears. “There we go, I think I will keep you! After this and I establish my own heisting empire, we’ll have a nice home together,” she said softly, “but for now, girl, I need something from you…” She pointed to the door at the end of the long, cold train car, “I need you to take care of some intruders. They’re going to try to lock us up again.” Somehow, the Cyromane knew what to do, and howled before barreling for the door, ripping through it as if it were cardboard and leaving Jovial by herself in the car. “We… may need a little more training,” she laughed, “aw, no matter, the ponies after me will be kibble and I’ll make her a good pet yet! It’s all part of the plan!” Watcher along with Techorse began to explore the other carts of the train to see if they could find anything else to eat that wasn’t stale old bread that Flare had fed them. Plus it relieved the two stallions of their boredom after Stencil Guide fell asleep. “Hey Tech, is just me or does this train seem more… empty then it should be?” Watcher asked the inventor as he looked around the third cart they entered to find it empty. “And by Celestia, where’s the food?!” “Something is definitely wrong,” he answered, “normally the Order loads these trains with about two dozen engineers and maintenance staff, from what I remember. Normally they’re hauling food and supplies, but this one must be carrying something else.” “Well it is pretty late, but even so, there’s no passengers which these carts would be filled right? And also… still no food, I feel like my stomach is going to eat itself,” Watcher stated, groaning in desperation, “I’d kill for a hayburger right now.” “They wouldn’t want the workers to starve, so there’s a refrigerated car filled with food somewhere,” his companion answered reassuringly, “My parents used to own this railway, so I know a little bit about what they serve on these things.” “Ugh, let’s keep looking…” Watcher groaned once more as he felt his stomach rumble. “Guess I know how Tia feels when she’s always begging for sweets to stuff her face with. Heh, she’s probably already giving the others a hard time.” “I kind of find it funny that she’s the first pony you thought about,” Tech stated, giving the black unicorn an ambiguously smug grin, “You secretly like her don’t you?” “Pfft, I think you might have a few screws loose in that brain of yours. What makes you think I’m into Tia to begin with?” He asked, trying his best to remain nonchalant, but his cheeks turning slightly red gave it away. “What about you and Aura, you two seem pretty chummy lately?” Techorse also looked a little heated, “A… Aura’s nice! We like spending time together and, well, I guess… wow, Clyde’s right.” “None of that really answered my question,” said Watcher plainly. “Oh, sorry Watcher,” he answered, shaking his head, “I guess I figured you liked Tia the same way you figured I like Aura. Because we enjoy each other’s company.” “I do not enjoy her company,” he lied, “beside it’s not like I’ve thought of dating her or anything. Plus she’s old enough to be my great grandmothers grandma. Anyways, it’s pretty obvious that she doesn’t really like me like that, you’ve seen how we fight right?” “I don’t know,” continued Techorse, giving the pony equivalent of a shrug, “sometimes it looks like you’re getting along fine. Everyone fights sometimes.” “Well, I won’t lie, our last fight was… pretty nasty and a part of me regretted the things I said to her. But enough about me though, let’s get back to you.” Watcher said, changing the subject as he heard the inventor clear his throat nervously, “It’s pretty obvious that you two are into each other.” “All right, you win,” he said, breaking eye contact, “Aura’s got a great personality, and I’d love to get to know her better. We have many things in common. I already had this conversation with Clyde earlier, and yeah, I think it could work.” “Oh don’t give me that crap, Tech,” teased Watcher, “you find her hot and you know it!” “So what if I do?” he answered a bit angrily. “Look, I may not look like it, but I’ve been on plenty of dates back in high school and let me just say this… grow some balls and just ask her out to dinner already! Is what a wise friend once told me.” “No, no, you’re missing the point,” Techorse explained, pointing a hoof at him, “we’re about to get into serious danger raiding the most dangerous prison in the world. She or I could die during this mission, and chances are, there will be even more danger later. We’ve already lost so much… neither of us deserves to have to think about that.”  He turned away from Watcher, wandering a bit from him and staring at the ground with a stoic gaze uncommon of the inventor. Watcher had a million snarky, trashy pieces of dating advice he had yet to give to him, but let out a big sigh when he knew that wasn’t going to help. “Tech, you know and I know this doesn’t have a damn thing to do with the chances that she or you might die,” he said, “all of this just tells me you don’t think you can give her what she really needs or wants. Like it or not, that’s not true. This is me being honest with you, Techorse.” The other pony turned around to face him again, “What?” “I know that despite how things may look, there’s a future for you, for Aura, and everypony. Don’t throw the one chance you have at finding happiness… you can tell her how you feel, unlike me you have that chance. So are you going to let her slip through your hooves, or are you going to hang onto that mare?” “I just want her to be happy,” he answered. “Then tell her you care about her, she won’t be happy without you,” came the response. “...” Watcher snickered at his silence, “Come on, man, it’s super obvious she wants to give it a try. If you don’t, she’s the kind of mare to make a move herself. If that happens, Clyde will never let you live it down, especially if you promised him.” Techorse rolled his eyes at the sudden relaxation of the situation, “Oh, okay. When we finish the mission, I’ll tell her.” “Good, cause if you don’t, then I’m telling Umbra you both like each other,” Watcher threatened, “and you know what will happen next…” Techorse turned pale, Clyde teasing him about not saying anything when he had promised was one thing, but Umbra was ‘certain death’. “No, y… you wouldn’t!” “I would,” Watcher responded with a smirk. “So, what’s it gonna be, master inventor?” “I already said I’d tell her I care about her!” he complained. “It’s just extra insurance to make sure you don’t chicken out once this is over,” Watcher stated, “Anyways I think we-” Before the black unicorn could continue, he started to hear an odd noise coming from somewhere on board, best described as a strange thumping sound that was out of place, echoing through the train cart. “Can you hear that Tech?” One of his ears perked up to listen, “Sounds like… something’s moving around in the train!” “Think the Order knows we’re here?” “That’s just it, Watcher, we haven’t encountered a single Order engineer yet,” he said, “it’s like the train’s abandoned or something. Whatever that sound is, it’s not a pony...” “And… isn’t it odd, that… this train hasn’t stopped yet, we should have reached a station by now?” Watcher asked, his horn glowing bright red, “Something is seriously wrong here.” “Right, and because of that, whoever is in control must want to get all the way to the end of the line without stopping,” answered Techorse, the gears in his head clearly turning, “I think we’re on a stolen train, Watcher.” “Ooooffff course we are! Damnit!”