//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Angelswift II: The Awakening // by Nevel //------------------------------// The train rolled along the tracks bumpily, going through White Tale Woods. The sun was at its highest point meaning it was noon and Cherry watched with her brother as each of the rich green trees passed them by, occasionally the train would hit a bump and cause them both to bounce up and down for a short second. The pink filly turned from the window and looked around the train. There were barely any ponies in this carriage, seemed like no pony wanted to head out to Los Pegasus. Cherry could see a pony with a dark grey coat and fiery orange hair sitting towards the front of their carriage. Cherry guessed she was a unicorn, since there was a book in front of her being held in an orange glow. Cherry felt a nudge from her brother and looked towards him. “Hey,” Lance said. “You getting hungry?” Cherry gave a nod and then Lance reached down for their bags. Cherry saw something out the window, far off into the woods. Lance sat back up with the bags, breaking Cherry’s line of sight with the thing she saw out there. She stood on the chair to look past her brother, but whatever was there before was now gone. “Let’s see,” Lance started, making a list of foods they had. “We’ve got a Daisy sandwich. err, an apple turnover, apple fritter or some hay crisps. Anything sound good to you?” Cherry was still looking out the window, Lance spotted this and then followed her gaze. “What?” Lance looked around trying to see something other than the trees. “Did you see something?” “I thought I saw-“ A bang from behind them made them spin in their seats. A Pegasus had just come through the compartment door and slammed it a little too aggressively behind them. He had a short black mane and a beige coloured coat. As he passed Lance and Cherry, he was mumbling something about being unable to get any rest because of annoying music. He seemed very angry, as if he’d just been yelling at another pony. He headed right through to the next compartment, again slamming doors behind him. Cherry looked up at Lance and he just shrugged. “So, what you wanna eat?” Lance asked as he ducked his head into the bag. Cherry saw something huge outside the window but couldn’t say anything fast enough. Something crashed into the side of the carriage causing a thunderous roar from the train as it derailed, and flipped over. Cherry screamed along with every other pony in the other carriages as windows smashes and glass flew around the carriage. She wasn’t sure what happened next except that during mid-fall, she felt her brother grab her before the train landed on its side and skidded across the ground. - - - “Is he going to make it?” Everything was dark. Lance could hear quiet whispers from beside him, yet it sounded so distant like they were at the other end of a tunnel. “A crash like that should have killed him. Certainly would have the girl if he didn’t save her.” Huh? Crash? Lance thought to himself. He tried to think back to what he last remembered. The crash! He and Cherry were flung from their seats. He remembered instinctively grabbing his sister instead of holding onto something. When the train was hit, the force launched him and his sister to the other side of the carriage. Before he realised it, he had her clutched to his chest and placed himself between her and the window. That was all he could remember before everything went black. “How is she doing?” Cherry! Lance tried to stand up but a weight on his chest and the pain in his back stopped him before he moved an inch. “Hey! He’s awake!” Lance heard one of the mare’s say. Then suddenly he felt himself being pushed back down. “Easy pal, easy! It’s alright, don’t move.” Lance opened his eyes. His vision was blurred but before him was a beautiful white unicorn, with long purple hair. “Rarity?” Lance asked, weakly. “Hmm? A rarity to survive that wreck? You bet’cha.” The white unicorn replied. Lance rubbed his eyes with the back of his hoof. The mare before him came into focus, it wasn’t the pony he knew from Carousel Boutique back in Ponyville. This pony’s mane was blue and straight, instead of curled near the ends. “Ugh, what happened?” Lance moved his head to take in his surroundings. It was still daylight, maybe a few hours since noon and he was in a small area of the woods. A group of ponies were all carrying bags and bundles, placing them to the side while others were resting against trees, clutching bandages to their wounds. On the other side, he saw the train. Pink, blue, green and an assortment of other colours from the train littered the ground. It was a wreck. Glass was everywhere, parts of it were burning, many of the seats from inside had been lifted out, most likely by unicorn magic, and were being used as beds for the most severely injured. Lance didn’t look closely at those ponies. His heart gave a leap. “Where’s Cherry?!” He asked loudly, trying to get up again. The mare pushed him gently back down. “Shh. Your sister is fine. She hasn’t left your side the entire time.” The white unicorn said, calmly. Lance looked down at his side and saw his sister there. She had fallen asleep with her head on his chest. “The train derailed.” The unicorn told Lance. “Dunno how, but felt like something hit it.” “We think a tree fell on it.” The mint green earth pony said from behind the white pony. The unicorn rolled her eyes but said nothing as the mint green coloured mare walked over to a pony who called out for assistance. Lance guessed that these two were the only ponies who knew anything about first aid. “So is Cherry okay?” Lance asked. “Thanks to you.” The mare said with a smile. “We found you both in the carriage after the poor dear started crying for help.” Lance looked at his sister and saw she had tear stains down her face where dirt should have been. She had cried herself to sleep. “We couldn’t do anything to check if she was okay until we tended to you first. Even then it was a struggle for us to get her to let you go for just a moment.” Lance thought about how scared Cherry must have been. If he had died, what would she have done? What would have happened to her? He was all she had left. Lance turned back to the mare. “Thank you… Ms?” “Moonlight. Just Moonlight.” “Lance Angelswift. And this is my little sister, Cherry Blossom.” The mare smiled at him then stood up. “Get some more rest Mr. Angelswift. And don’t you disturb that filly. If you do, I’ll make sure the next medication tastes rotten.” She turned to leave and Lance watched her as she left. She looked like an angel. An angel that had saved his life. A beautiful mare, with her long blue mane, glorious white coat and a very cute- See something you like, Lancie? An image of Pinkie Pie popped up right where we was staring, giving him a suggestive look and making Lance jump as if she had suddenly appeared right in his face. Lance didn’t even realise he had just yelped, bringing the entire attention of the camp facing his way. His whole body shook as his heart threated to beat, right out of his chest. “Huh? Wha…?” Lance looked down to where the tired, cracked voice had come from. His sister was looking at him, startled, than a second later she was yelling, burying her head into his neck, crying her heart out. Lance tried to hug his sister without moving his back too much, but she was causing him a lot of pain anyway so he just threw his forelegs around her. Lance gave his sister a little nuzzle and then noticed Moonlight stood where she last was. She had her hoof raised in a ”What did I just tell you?” manner. Lance wasn’t going to be getting the good medicine tonight. - - - It was getting late into the day, Lance was starting to feel better, though his back would be messed up for a while. He wasn’t a stranger to pain though. Compared to the time he was attacked by a four headed hydra, this pain was nothing. Still, he didn’t need to move so he kept as still as possible. His sister was by his side and their stuff had been recovered. It was lying beside them both, one bag being used to support Lance’s head. The entire makeshift camp was being delighted to a song being played by a pegasus with a white coat and long blue hair. At first Lance wondered if the stallion pegasus playing the guitar was related to Moonlight, since they looked almost identical, but she said she only had a sister, and laughed at the idea of a unicorn being siblings with a pegasus. Lance and Cherry exchanged a look. They both remembered the twins, Pound Cake, a pegasus colt, and Pumpkin Cake, a unicorn filly. What boggled the mind even more is that their parents were earth ponies. Genetics gave Lance a headache. Moonlight said the guitarist’s name was Rift and was supposed to be performing at Los Pegasus, suddenly yelling could be heard across the camp, coming from where the guitarist was sitting. The music had stopped midway through. “ We’re tired of your garbage music! Ponies are in need of urgent medical treatment and you’re causing nothing but pain, disturbing their rest!” “I’m causing trouble? You’re the only one complaining and disturbing everypony.” Lance recognised the beige pegasus from before on the train, now he had a bandage wrapped around his right wing, and he was in the face of the white pegasus, Rift. The beige pony with the black mane was being pushed back by a third pony that had entered the fray, a white earth pony wearing a red Fez hat. He was trying to play the role of peacekeeper. Lance slowly got up as he noticed the pegasus being held back wasn’t backing down. Lance didn’t like how this was looking. Moonlight told Lance to stay down but he instead shook his head and turned to Cherry. “Cherry, wait here for me.” She nodded and then sat down. Lance headed over to the argument, followed by Moonlight, and though his back was hurting he would be ready to step in, should anything bad happen. “No pony gives a flying feather about your music!” The beige pegasus was saying, while trying to be restrained by the earth pony. “Hey, it’s a free country! You don’t like it, go somewhere else, no one’s asking you to stay!” The white pegasus retaliated. The arguing went back and forth between the two, the beige pony becoming more aggressive, then in the blink of an eye he broke free, charging the white pony. Lance prepared to tackle him to the ground, when suddenly a wall of fire leaped up from the ground, causing the pegasus to stop dead in his tracks. Ponies around them screamed and ran backwards, but as quick as the flames appeared, they also disappeared. A dark grey unicorn mare with fiery orange hair stood forward with a closed book floating by her head. “I’m trying to read!“ She said in an annoyed tone. “And your argument is more frustrating than anything else that has happened today!” She turned and walked away. Everypony stood in shock. An unbelievable sight that Lance himself wondered if Twilight had a spell such as that. Lance turned to Moonlight. “Who was that?” “Fire Wire” She said, calmly. “Not much is known about her. She’s a nice pony who just likes to study.” Moonlight turned around to leave. “Just don’t interrupt her while she’s reading.” The unicorn walked off, leaving Lance standing there. “Ridiculous.” Lance overheard the beige pegasus talking to himself, but he was talking like he thought no other pony could hear him, or he just didn’t care. “These ponies are just sitting around, wasting time. We should be out looking for help.” Lance thought he had a point. There were a lot of badly hurt ponies who needed help. Lance looked over to Cherry who was sitting right where he left her, and she was looking over to him. He headed back over to her and lied down next to his sister, nuzzling her gently. He didn’t get a chair to lie on for his back like the other more seriously hurt ponies were. Instead he just had the flat ground. Not what the doctor ordered, but still he was feeling well enough to move now, thanks to the medication. Moonlight had gone and sat next to Fire Wire, and Lance wanted to ask her something. Lance motioned to Cherry for her to follow him, as he stood up he felt the pain surge down his back, but he ignored it. Cherry asked worriedly if he was alright and he told her he just felt a little stiff. They reached the two unicorn mares sitting on an old log and they were laughing together. Lance thought this couldn’t be the same pony that had set fire to the place and just as quickly put the flames out. “Umm, excuse me?” Lance said, trying to get their attention. They looked at him towards him, still with smiles on their faces. “Ahh, Mr. Angelswift,” Said Moonlight. ”You know you should be resting.” “Yeah, I mean no, I mean, I know, but... Well, I was wondering if a search party had been sent out? And please, call me Lance.” “Well,” Moonlight looked over the place at all the ponies. “We’re not exactly all fit enough to go running off for a trot down the tracks, Los Pegasus must be like a few days journey, on hoof. We’re best off just waiting here like Fire Wire suggested.” The dark grey mare with the bright orange hair smiled. “Well, it’s simple really,” Fire Wire began talking very fast at this point, as if speed reading from a book. “This train is supposed to arrive in approximately two hours from now. In three hours when the train hasn’t arrived, a pegasus team will be sent down the tracks, each of which will be towing ‘Emergency Vehicles Air Carriages’ or EVAC’s for short. They’ll have medical supplies and then they’ll take us all to Los Pegasus where we’ll be taken to a hospital. It’s pretty standard procedure.” Lance blinked serveral times at how fast this girl could talk, than he thought about it. “Wait. If they won’t come for us for another three hours, and it takes a normal pony as few days on hoof, when will they reach us?” Fire Wire though about it for a moment then answered. “Sunrise.” “What?” Lance asked stunned. Moonlight looked surprised at this news two. Apparently they figured they knew when help was coming, but neither thought about When that help would arrive. “We can’t just stay out here the entire night! Who knows what’s out there. And then there’s the cold, we don’t exactly have shelter or blankets.” “Well, what can we do?” Moonlight asked Lance. “As I said, not many of us are fit to start walking and meet them half way. You yourself shouldn’t even be standing.” “I’ve felt worse, believe me.” Lance said. “But we’ve got to find someplace to stay the night. Let me go out there and-” Moonlight cut him off. “No way!” Moonlight interrupted. “It’s dangerous to go alone.” Cherry then spoke up. “He won’t be alone. I’ll be with him!” Lance looked down at his sister. “Cherry, I-“ “I’ll go too.” Fire Wire said as she jumped down from the log. “This was an oversight on my behalf and we could have started searching earlier if I had just thought about it. Besides, I know all manner of things that could help us in the woods.” “But-“ Lance tried to get more than a word out. But before he could, he heard a voice calling from behind him. “Hey!” It was the beige pegasus with the black hair and bandaged wing, the one who had caused an argument. “If you all are starting up a search party, then I’m going to.” He said, not really giving anyone a choice in the matter. “I’m not gonna just sit around. I need to get urgent medical attention for my wing! I’ve got a Wonderbolts try-out tomorrow!” “You do?” asked Moonlight, suspiciously. The pegasus flexed his good left wing. “Heck yeah! I’m Skylar Black! The fastest flyer to ever come outta Cloudsdale!” He boosted. “The Fastest?” Fire Wire doubted. “Of all time!” Skylar looked proud of himself. “If you’re so fast, why were you taking a train?” Moonlight asked with a smirk. The beige pegasus looked around, as if struggling to find an answer. “Well… You see…” He then looked right at them an angry expression on his face. ”Because! I… I didn’t wanna wear myself out.” The other ponies exchanged looks. Lance had the feeling that the difference between this guy’s ego and Rainbow Dash’s is that she can back up her claims of being the fastest. Lance then remembered what they were all doing and then stepped forward to put a stop to all this. But before he could get a word out, another pony spoke over him. “Hey there!” It was Rift, the guitarist. Up close Lance could see that his long blue hair had small streaks of purple running through it, and he had a lot of hair that covered up the entire side of his head. He also had two blue musical notes for a cutie mark. Lance guessed that obviously, his special talent was music. “Couldn’t help overhearing you were setting up a search party.” He said. “We certainly are.” Replied Moonlight. “Wait-“ Lance again tried to speak but he was completely ignored. “Excellent, I’d like to volunteer myself.” Rift said, with a smile on his face. Skylar was staring at the white pegasus as if he wanted to buck him in the head. Rift was taller than the rest of the group, but still not as tall as Big Macintosh, yet he had a very slim body like the rest. The longer legs must help make it easier to play the guitar with., Lance thought. “You two aren’t going to cause any more trouble, are you?” Fire Wire warned. “What? Naaaa.” Said Rift. “I’m cool, if you are?” Rift turned and looked down to Skylar, with a big smile on his face. Something told Lance that the white pegasus was enjoying the height difference between the two of them. Skylar turned away. “Whatever, let’s just get this over with!” “Okay then, looks like we have a team.” Moonlight said and she clopped her front hooves together. “But-” “We should inform the rest of the passengers.” Fire Wire said, ignoring Lance. “Wait!“ The four of them walked off. Moonlight, Fire Wire, Rift and Skylar Black. Lance was left behind staring after them. Cherry nudged her brother. “Aren’t we going with them?”