As Twinkleshine trotted deeper into the city she found it harder and harder to keep up her enthusiastic smile. They hadn’t seen anypony in the whole city yet. All of the hotels they had checked so far were totally barren. It was as if the city had become nothing but walls. Still she had to keep her grin up, for Dew Drop’s sake.
Dew Drop had managed to break into tears at every building they’d stopped in. Somehow though, their pace hadn’t slowed much since the start. Every time that the pegasus paused to cry all Twinkle had to do was give her a pat on the back and they’d get going again. Dew was moving with that determination of hers constantly now. Perhaps that was because there was always potential to find somepony now.
Dew paused to stop at the next hotel. This one was a nice five-star sort of building. It was a shame that nothing would be left inside of it. “Should we head back after this one?” Twinkle asked the pegasus. This was her third time asking the question. After the first three empty hotels she had already decided this path wasn’t worth pursuing.
Still Dew answered predictably. “No,” she said, simply. Twinkle didn’t have the strength to argue with her. She was sure that Spectrum or Lightning would call them back once the train was ready, so letting Dew keep up a little hope might not hurt after all.
As expected, the hotel was empty when Dew pushed open the door. Twinkle gave her the usual pat on the back and turned to move on to the next building. The building across the street was a dance club of some sort. At least, Twinkle assumed it was judging by the ‘Neon’s Lights’ sign.
Twinkle waited for Dew to walk up beside her before moving any further. Dew’s face was completely soaked at this point. Twinkle couldn’t help but wonder how much more she could take. “Maybe we should go back after this one,” Twinkle said. This time she was a bit more forceful, and she made sure to let Dew see her confident smile.
“No,” Dew responded nonetheless as she trotted on to the club. The determination in her voice still hadn’t drained. Upon pushing the door open the pair once again found nothing. It was just another building completely devoid of life.
“You know we’re not going to find anypony, Dew,” Twinkle commented. She took a seat on the ground as she spoke.
Dew moved onward regardless. “We don’t know that Twinkle,” she said as she moved on to the next building. Once she realized that Twinkle wasn’t following her though, she did pause to look back. “You can go back if you’d like though.”
Twinkle felt a touch more depressed upon hearing Dew say this. She didn’t speak with authority when she asked Twinkle to leave; no doubt because she didn’t want her to. Twinkle sighed and put her gentle smile on. “I won’t leave without you, Dew,” she said, “But I’m sure that Spectrum and Lightning will need us to get back soon. We really should move back before we get too far from the train.”
Dew drop paused for some time. Eventually though she did capitulate. After a nod she quietly said, “Just let me finish this street,” and turned to move on to the next building. Twinkle looked down the street. They still had at least seven more buildings before it split. Still she was happy to make Dew back down, even if it was just a compromise. With a sigh, the unicorn rejoined her companion.
In the end, the pair didn’t manage to finish searching the street before they were forced to turn back. They had only finished looking into two more buildings before Twinkle noticed something odd about the large building where the street split. Namely, she was fairly sure it had been a lot larger the last time she’d looked.
It only took a moment of focus for Twinkle to confirm her suspicions. The building was fading away, just like Ponyville had. Twinkle felt faint again, but only briefly. Before her vision could even darken Dew was already beside her, ready to ask what was wrong.
“I think we should get back to the train, Dew,” Twinkle said before her companion could even speak.
“Why? What’s wrong, Twinkle?” Dew asked, concerned.
Twinkle responded plainly by pointing to the building and saying, “That.” Dew didn’t ask any more questions. The pair paused to stare in silence at the slowly vanishing building for a moment. Twinkle couldn’t manage to make herself move. The darkness was closing in again.
Dew on the other hoof didn’t have this problem. It didn’t take long for Twinkle to feel the familiar speed as her pegasus friend lifted her and charged through the city. Twinkle snapped out of her stupor just in time for Dew to smash into the train car.
*****
Wisp shook his head as he followed Stinger into the building. “You know breaking down the door probably wasn’t necessary,” he complained.
“Hey I told you it was locked, it’s not my fault you don’t listen,” Stinger retorted as she trotted through the building. Wisp took this chance to look at the building himself, although he chose to stay in the doorway rather than wander through it. The building was completely empty apart from the brick wall that surrounded them. Wisp couldn’t help but wonder if they had wandered into an abandoned warehouse somehow.
“Wow how lucky can you get?” Stinger asked cheerfully as she hopped from the far corner of the warehouse back to Wisp. “Here I was figuring we’d have to find a gym or something, and we stumble upon an empty building on our first try.” With that the mare grabbed Wisp by his leg and dragged him further into the building.
“What the hay are you doing Stinger?” Wisp complained aster jerking his leg away from her, “There’s nothing in here. We need to move on.” Stinger smiled back at him and moved a little away while he was talking. It was clear she wasn’t listening, but he wasn’t totally sure why.
“Somepony else can find the two leftovers,” Stinger said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “We have far more important things to do here.” Stinger chuckled and began stretching once she’d finished speaking.
“What do you mean two?” Wisp asked as he backed away. It was clear that Stinger was expecting a fight. This question was his somewhat meager attempt to avoid one. All he got for an answer was an annoyed sigh as Stinger finished a particularly deep stretch. That was a pretty clear answer to his real question though.
“So are you ready to do this, or do you want to rub some of that powder on your gloves first?” Stinger asked. She had assumed a battle stance now. At least Wisp assumed that was what it was. Her hooves were planted firmly apart from her front right, the one armed with the jewel dagger.
“I think it’s best if neither of us gets hurt,” Wisp responded as he stared at the weapon, “I mean if you insist on doing this that is.” It was a really pathetic plea in truth, but Wisp doubted a more heartfelt one would help him.
Apparently it was enough for Stinger though. “Fine,” she said, now clearly annoyed, “I promise I won’t use my right hoof for punching. Now can we just get started already?”
Wisp backed up a touch further. He figured that he probably couldn’t take Stinger in a fair fight; at least if any of her bragging was true. Just to be safe, he wanted to be near an exit. He was confident he could outrun her.
“C’mon, fire boy,” Stinger taunted him. Her devilish smile had come back now, but the annoyance in her voice was still clear. “Teardrop’s not going to come through that door to fight me for you.” Wisp backed up a touch more. Stinger was trying to goad him into attacking first. That was good. It meant he had a bit more time to reason with her.
“Now-” Wisp started in another attempt to reason with Stinger. However by this point Stinger must have been far too bored to listen to him anymore. With a shockingly quick dash the mare managed to get next to Wisp and hit him with a powerful left hook. Wisp tried his best to roll away from the hoof flying at his face, but all he managed to do was roll into the blow.
In the end the force of the hoof combined with his own rolling managed to move Wisp out of the building. He was able to roll back to his feet just in time to dodge the second punch, but only because Stinger had no choice but to come straight through the door for a follow up.
Stinger smiled cruelly as she watched Wisp lay back against the wall. Her second leaping strike had put the mare a fair distance away, but Wisp knew she was close enough to strike still. She was just toying with him. “Are you insane,” Wisp said as he rubbed his cheek. Stingers smile widened a touch and she nodded. For some reason, Wisp felt a smile on his lips too. He couldn’t tell if it was just the nerves or if he actually found her honesty endearing.
Wisp decided it was the nerves when Stinger moved in for her next strike. This time he was prepared for her speed though, and actually did manage to dodge with a well-timed duck and roll. When he got back to his feet this time, Stinger was still holding her hoof against the wall. “That was a nice dodge,” she grunted, sounding actually hurt rather than annoyed.
“Did you get it out of your system?” Wisp asked. Stinger lowered her hoof and smiled. “Evidently not.”
Stinger nodded and moved in for another punch. The time the strike in question was an uppercut, so Wisp’s duck this time proved to be incredibly ineffective. The blow sent him flying a good distance before landing with a painful thud on his back. It hurt less than he would have guessed but there was no denying that it was still impressively painful.
“Please tell me that was it,” Wisp complained while rolling back to a stand once more. Another look at Stinger proved him wrong with a simple shake of her head. Wisp nodded in return. This time he assumed his own fighting stance. It just so happened that this was the same stance he’d usually use for the start of a race.
Stinger smiled and assumed her own battle stance. This was the same one that she’d assumed back at the start of this fight; including the lower pressure on her right hoof. “It’s about time,” she said cheerfully, “Now go ahead and dab a little powder on those gloves of yours. I’m eager to see this signature move of yours.”
Wisp nodded, but he didn’t comply. Instead he began his charge straight away. There was no time to pick up enough speed for his signature move either, so he opted to hit Stinger with a simple right straight the moment she was in range. He was actually a touch surprised when the blow not only hit, but managed to knock the Stinger right onto her back. Wisp managed to get away again before she got back to stand.
“That was a nice punch,” Stinger said while she planted her hooves once more, “You’re pretty fast after all.”
Wisp was thrown slightly by the compliment. “Does that mean you’re finally finished?” he asked. Stinger smiled, but didn’t respond for a moment. She seemed to be thinking upon her answer as she glanced at something behind the stallion. Wisp didn’t risk taking his own look at whatever she was staring at.
It took about fifteen seconds before Stinger looked back to Wisp. “One more go around,” she smirked while moving into a new position, this time with the pressure lowered on her left hoof. “Let’s see if you can hit me again, flame boy.”
Wisp nodded and backed up slowly. This time he was going to try out his signature move. If nothing else, it would give Stinger a satisfying show for the finish. Wisp paused to take a deep breath and began the countdown in his head. Stinger didn’t move forward as he backed up. Evidently she was confident that she had drawn Wisp into the fight. Wisp had to admit annoyance at the fact that she was right.
“3...2…” Wisp counted as he looked for a weak point. The pressure was off her left hoof this time. That meant he needed to aim for her right. “1.” The stallion charged at full speed and prepared for the float and kick. He managed to time it perfectly too. The spin was just right for him to reach Stinger with a fully extended kick, and the mare had made no efforts to move by the time the float started. Wisp assumed she must have underestimated his range.
Sadly for Wisp, this assumption was completely smashed the moment he felt Stinger’s hooves push onto both sides of his outstretched leg. Stinger’s grab led into a spin fueled by Wisp’s own sprint and twirl from moments before, and as a result the throw at the end was much more painful. Wisp wasn’t entirely sure if the cracking sound at the end came from his bones or the brick wall he had just hit. Either way, he certainly didn’t think he could move afterward.
“Oww,” he complained halfheartedly once his breath had returned.
“Didn’t you explode before?” Stinger asked mockingly as she approached the stallion still stuck in the wall, “There’s no way little old me could hurt you as much as that did.”
“Very funny,” Wisp complained, “Now can you get me out of here?” The pain had passed, mostly, by this point, but as it turned out getting himself free of the indent that Stinger had made wasn’t something he couldn’t manage even with fully functioning limbs.
Stinger chuckled and glanced off to the side. “I’m not sure, it might take some time I’m not sure we have.” Now that the fight had finished, Wisp was fairly certain that it was safe to look at whatever she was looking at. What he saw actually frightened him. Now particularly far from where they were just busy fighting, a familiar fade-away was creeping in.
“We need to get back to the train, Stinger.” Wisp said.
“Yeah yeah I know,” Stinger said with another dismissive hoof wave. Despite this apparent lack of caring, the mare did move to help Wisp out of the indent, but as expected she did so as violently as possible. Despite Wisp’s rather vocal complaints, Stinger was able to pull him out quickly. In the end the only thing that really bothered the stallion was that she felt the need to toss him face first into the ground immediately after he’d been freed.
“Why would you do that?” Wisp asked while he pulled himself back up. To his surprise, Stinger actually offered her assistance this time with a gentle nudge to his stomach.
“I don’t think I really need a reason,” the mare commented once Wisp was once again upright. With that she shot him a…curious wink and started trotting back towards the train.
Wisp trotted ahead of Stinger and halted her with a hoof. “I think it’d be better if you climbed onto my back,” he commented, “I can get us there much faster.”
Stinger just stared at him blank-faced for a moment. After that she broke into a raucous laughter. “Nice try, flame boy,” she said, “But I think I can walk on my own. Besides you just got thrown through a wall a minute ago remember? You really think you can carry me?” Stinger laughed again and pushed Wisp’s hoof aside so she could resume trotting.
Wisp cut in front of Stinger this time in order to stop her. “I’m just fine,” he argued. He wasn’t dwelling on the strange fact that he was indeed feeling just fine after being thrown partway through a wall. The important thing here was that he was sure he could carry Stinger to safety.
Once more, Stinger just laughed Wisp off and pushed past him. “Cool your jets. It’s not like we need to rush.” Wisp looked back at the fade-away. It certainly wasn’t moving as quickly as it had before. It was getting closer for sure, but it certainly wasn’t moving quickly. Once Wisp caught up with Stinger again he noticed that she was moving at about the right pace to escape it.
“I guess you’re right,” Wisp said with a nod. He still felt a touch insulted, but at the same time he was happy he wouldn’t have to crash into the wall of the train again.
*****
“Shouldn’t we be moving a touch faster than this?” Caesar asked. The city was rapidly vanishing behind him while he trotted merrily along with a trio of ponies he hadn’t met until this day. In fact, he hadn’t known any of them for more than an hour.
“We’ll be just fine,” one of his two escorts commented from the front of the pack. Aces Low was what he’d introduced himself as. Caesar admittedly had his doubts; he knew a good card player when he saw one. And good card players made good liars. “You can move ahead if ya’ want, but I personally prefer a nice slow pace.”
“I think I’ll stay with the group,” Caesar responded.
“So, Mr. Caesar was it?” Caesar glanced to his right to see the pink pegasus that had met him alongside Aces Low. Her name was Airheart. Caesar nodded in response to her question and waved a hoof for her to continue, prompting a brief blush. She was clearly not a good poker player. “I was just wondering,” the mare said, “What were you and Goldstone doing this whole time? This is a pretty big city.”
“I was looking for survivors,” Caesar responded kindly as he nonchalantly turned away from the mare. He chose instead to focus on the more curious, and suspicious, pegasus in their group. Goldstone was momentarily distracted by Airheart’s bracelet. “I’m not sure what he was doing,” Caesar continued nonchalantly, “I’m afraid I just met him before we met you two.”
“Oh umm…” Goldstone paused as he attempted to pull his gaze away from the gem. He failed, but at least he managed to make it a touch less obvious. “I was looking for survivors too,” Goldstone finished. Caesar chose to look back to Airheart at this point. The smile she shot him made it clear that she wasn’t buying it.
“So, just out of curiosity,” Airheart asked after aiming her smile in Goldstone’s direction, “What’s in that bag of yours? It looks pretty heavy.” Caesar had to admit a touch of respect for the mare for not directly confronting Goldstone. However he wasn’t quite sure whether or not her newest question was an indirect confrontation, or merely an effort to continue the conversation.
Either way Caesar was sure that Airheart was left unsatisfied by Goldstone’s answer of, “It’s nothing.” Thankfully though, if the mare’s intent was merely to start conversation then she wasn’t left disappointed for long. “That’s a lovely bracelet you’re wearing, Miss Airheart,” Goldstone continued. Caesar stumbled back in surprise when the pegasus suddenly dashed between Airheart and him. “I haven’t seen a piece this delightfully unique in some time.”
Airheart merely stared on in confusion as Goldstone stopped moving to grab her hoof. Caesar stopped along with them, but in his case it was to keep an eye on the approaching fade. While keeping pace with the strange wave was no problem, stopped was still stopped, and it was getting closer quickly. Caesar would have raised a concern, but he was beaten to the punch by Aces Low. “Now’s not the time for this you two. Get movin’; we’re almost to the train.”
Despite this warning, Goldstone didn’t move an inch. Something about the gem around Airheart’s leg had him totally entranced. Airheart however did react pretty strongly to this piece of advice. Her first reaction was of course to try and get moving again, but it soon became clear that Goldstone wasn’t allowing as much. “Tell you what, Goldstone,” Airheart said after realizing as much,” You can have it if you like it so much.”
Goldstone wasted no time jerking the chain off of Airheart’s leg and getting back to trotting. He did however offer a, “That’s very kind of you, Miss Airheart,” before walking off and leaving both Caesar and Airheart confused. Caesar for his part was simply wondering whether or not Goldstone had planned this turn of events, or if he had simply been distracted by the gem.
In order to satiate his curiosity, Caesar turned back to face Airheart once they had begun walking again. “Is there something magical about that gem?” he asked the pegasus. Airheart nodded in response, but didn’t speak. The look of confusion was still on her face, and Caesar couldn’t help but notice a single tear run down her cheek. “Poor girl,” he thought before turning back to Goldstone, “But I guess that settles that.”
Goldstone had used the chain to tie his bag of jewelry closed, so it was evident that he wanted to keep it in sight more than his other gems. There was no question that it was valuable. Caesar remembered that Aces Low had been wearing a similar orange gem. That unicorn definitely knew more than he was letting on.
Before Caesar could think further on how to broach the subject to Low, his thinking was interrupted by that very stallion. “Looks like we’re here,” Aces said as he turned back to the group with a well-practiced smile, “C’mon Caesar. It’s time for ya’ to meet those survivors you’ve been looking for.”
*****
Spectrum was busy cooking when the others arrived. Originally he’d planned on napping, but it didn’t take him long to realize that was an impossibility. Originally he’d figured that was just because riding on a moving hippogryph was stressful enough to keep him awake, but as it turned out he couldn’t get to sleep on a still train either. So in the end he decided to try and do something useful.
With the mushrooms that Airheart had with her and the various flowers and breads that Dew Drop had brought, there was enough to make a nice little barbecue. So that’s what Spectrum decided to do. Starting the fire was the only hard part of that, and even that wasn’t particularly difficult in this situation. All that Spectrum had to do was gather a bit of tinder and other supplies from the luggage compartment and goad Lightning into lighting it. After that it was just a matter of charring the mushrooms.
Spectrum worked in tedium for the first five and a half burgers. Sadly, he wasn’t able to finish the sixth. Just as he was about to flip the next mushroom the pegasus was interrupted by a gust of wind blowing his fire out. It also knocked the mushroom out of the pit and flipped over the case he was using to store the finished burgers, but after hearing the crash behind him Spectrum failed to care about cleanup.
Upon looking back into the car, Spectrum saw that the source of the wind was none other than Dew Drop and Twinkle. “Are you two okay,” he asked. The unicorn responded with a nod as she struggled to a stand. Dew Drop responded with a nod of her own, but she made no effort to stand. She seemed content to remain on her back at the moment. “Why did you guys rush in like that?” Spectrum asked, turning back to Twinkleshine.
“We ran into some trouble,” Twinkle said, “Nothing you need to worry about.” She was smiling like usual as she said that. Spectrum couldn’t help but feel it was kind of bizarre to do so after a crash, even if he’d already seen another mare do it earlier today. “So is anypony else here?” Twinkle asked.
Spectrum shook his head and moved back to clean up his burgers. “Just me and Lightning,” he responded, “I was making you guys some burgers for when you got back, he’s just hanging out in the engine room.”
“That was very nice of you, Spectrum,” Dew commented from behind him.
“Yes it was,” Twinkle added as she trotted out of the car to join Spectrum. She sounded less sincere about it though. “And I’m sorry we have to ruin your hard work, but I’m afraid we need to get into the train quickly.”
“And why’s that?” Spectrum asked as he tossed the burgers back into their case. Most of them were still good. Twinkle sighed behind him but he paid no attention. He was pretty sure she was talking too, but he needed to put away his supplies.
“Spectrum, listen to Twinkle.” This time it was Dew Drop speaking. That authority from before had snuck into her voice again. “We’re in danger here. Just look up and you’ll see.”
Spectrum sighed again, but he did look up. Something seemed wrong with the horizon when he did. Somehow it looked like it was getting steadily lower. “What’s happening?” he asked, a touch of worry slipping into his tone.
“The same thing that happened when this all started.” Twinkle trotted in front of Spectrum with a gentle smile on her face. “I’m not sure what it is, but it wiped out most of the world last time it passed by. I think it’s going to try and finish the job here.”
Spectrum nodded. The panic was now showing pretty clearly on his face as he backed away. “So what makes you think the train is safe?” he asked upon bumping into the train and remembering it was there.
Twinkle shook her head and trotted back into the car. Spectrum watched her nervously as the supplies and burger followed her in. She was still smiling. “I don’t know, Spectrum,” the unicorn said flatly while moving the supplies aside, “But Wisp saw it survive last time. It’s our only hope right now.” With that, Twinkle extended a hoof. Spectrum happily reached for it, and climbed into the car.
It took a long time for the others to arrive. At least it felt like centuries. Then again, that might have just been time slowing down on Spectrum again. Nopony talked while they waited. Lightning was still sitting alone in the engine, Dew Drop was just staring sadly into the distance as the horizon drew closer, and Twinkleshine spent her whole time eating two burgers with speed that wouldn’t impress a snail.
Spectrum could swear he actually heard the group collectively resume breathing once he saw the other survivors in the distance. They all arrived at once, “Thank Celestia,” Spectrum thought. That meant no more waiting. In addition to the ponies that Spectrum recognized, two others were following along with Low and Airheart. “Why is it always two,” he thought as he waved for them to get to the train.
One thing he couldn’t understand was why all of them were moving so slowly. At first he assumed it was just the excitement slowing things down again, but then he realized that they didn’t look like they were running. Meanwhile Dew and Twinkle’s waves continued at a reasonable pace as well.
“What are you guys doing?” Twinkle shouted, confirming Spectrums suspicions, “Get in the train.” The ponies complied with her order, but only Wisp and one of the new ponies, a crazy looking golden stallion carrying a huge sack, actually increased their pace in order to do so. All of the other ponies made it on literally moments before the horizon finally reached the train.
Spectrum could actually feel his heart slow once he realized he was still there. Nothing had changed after all. Their goal was even the same as it had been before. Now they’d just gotten two more members. Now that he could breathe again, Spectrum took a seat and closed his eyes.
“Welcome to the gang Caesar and Goldstone,” Low said as he introduced the pair. Spectrum didn’t need to see who Low was gesturing to in order to figure out who was who. “While ya’ do that, I’ve got to get to the engine. Wish me luck, everypony.”
Spectrum waved Low on but didn’t open his eyes. Now was his time to relax. He was sure there’d be another argument soon, but as long as things didn’t get too hectic he could still rest. Once more Spectrum tried his best to fall asleep.
It didn’t work of course, but he was still able to gain a modicum of relaxation as he listened to the conversation around him; even more once he heard the train start roaring along. Still, even with that he couldn’t help but wish he could fall asleep and start dreaming.