//------------------------------// // Chapter Nine // Story: Clipped Wings // by Desrium //------------------------------// Chapter Nine The remnants of the past tell a story. If there was ever a pictoral definition of the word "wreck", it would be the sight Falcon Wing laid eyes on from afar and the sight the others laid eyes on up close. Stalactites of ice hung from warped and broken tracks which were raised off of the ground they were laid on. The metal looked almost skeletal poking out of the snow, undulating and meandering in irregular ways for as far as the eye could see heading in the southerly direction. The station that the tracks led to was much larger than the one at Baltimare. It was bulky and metallic, the height of Equestria's technological and military might at the dawn of war. A towering ruin alone in the expanse of ice and snow. Starswirl the Bearded's work would not be found there, but the ponies went out to investigate the station. It was something from the past that few have ever seen. It was one thing to read about the age long lost...but to see what it had become was something else entirely. Klaxon approached the ruin carefully, slowing his pedaling down quite a bit so the wagon was just coasting up to one end of the mangled track. Its front wheels bounced off and over the metal, the suspension creaking and rocking the rest of the carriage. The bronze stallion brought it to a complete stop over the two sets of track that ended at the station, one that ran north and the other that ran back to the Equestrian heartland. No train would be going this way at all; and that was disregarding the dilapidated state of the railway. The train station was encompassed in a gigantic gray shell, beams of metal stretching overhead from end to end with a plethora of smaller ones crisscrossing the gaps in between spans. There were breaks in the walls and roof where the sky was visible and sunlight shone through meaning it wasn't completely dark inside; but these breaks were arranged around where the engine and subsequent train cars had been been thrusted through the structure, dangling there frozen over for years on end. The train hung at a shallow angle after it was punched through the wall, the front of it listing out of the dome tilted over to its side. The cars trailing it were sprawled across the platform and tracks, dented and gnarled in places, covered in frost. "Well did your records say anything about Megaspell strikes up north?" Klaxon asked Steiner with a jab to the blue unicorn's side. They exited the carriage to take a closer look around at the station. "Not explicitly so. But it was a given, wasn't it? Any and all major cities and installations were targets for Megaspell detonation," Steiner answered, not paying any mind to the snide comment. "A city with the designation of 'Crystal Empire' would have been as big a target as Canterlot itself, and this is after it disappeared for a thousand years. The final sanctum of Auburn is located in a place that had seen much upheaval over the ages. The guardian is surely the only thing preventing that ancient knowledge from being lost forever." "I don't really care much for irony" Falcon Wing remarked from the north side platform, having flown over to take a look at the metal columns that extended up to the ceiling. On them were all worn posters, Ministry of Magic, Wartime Technology, Morale and Peace, all faded and victims to the chill. On the station walls were an assortment of Stable-Tec posters, each boasting about the advanced apocalyptic havens that the stables were. They hadn't fared any better than the ones pasted to the columns. One of them had the image of a female pegasus in a suit standing outside of an open stable, the gear-shaped door held off to the side of the entry tunnel that led into the deep underground. The mare had a light colored fur, possibly tan and a bright smile on her face, a twinkle in her eye and she was gesturing to the hulking bastion invitingly, as if any poor schmuck of a pony could just waltz on inside during magical annihilation. Her expression and mane color reminded him a lot of Alana. He turned from the wall and looked around the station for the mare, finding her scrutinizing the train while rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Relative of yours?" he asked her jokingly from across the way. "How can I be related to a train, mister hero?" Alana replied without looking at him and when she did, she started cracking up at the blank expression that was on his face. An expression that silently asked "Are you serious?" "Just kidding!" she said and trotted her way to where Falcon was. She started snickering when she saw what he was referring to. "You think I look like the Stable-Lady?" "Well she isn't nearly as good looking... 200 years will do that to you, but there's a resemblance I think," Falcon Wing replied. "You wouldn't be the first to say that. The part about me looking better than a faded, wrinkled and discolored poster mare is... new, though," Alana replied. Her eyes danced about the various images on the wall. Falcon Wing's cheeks went red once more. "I... thought it was something to point out. You know... because it's true... and stuff," he said sheepishly. The look she flashed him did not help things, for it looked like she was fighting desperately not to laugh at his awkwardness."Feeling chilly again, are we?" she teased and without waiting for an answer she was off again to inspect other parts of the station. "So very chilly," he muttered, watching her depart. Falcon Wing then turned to Klaxon. The bronze earth pony had hauled himself onto the platform and the young pegasus thought: "And here it comes...", in expectation of Klaxon's unique brand of quips. "Isn't she a piece of work?" Klaxon said. "This is different," Falcon Wing mused before asking: "Was she always like that back when you all lived in Hope?" "She was always the odd one out of our group. Always the one trying to lighten the mood when she could after seeing a poster one day for a... Pinkie Pie party if I remember right. Not many of us appreciated her efforts though since we all had other things to worry about... but she always made an effort to keep herself happy," Klaxon said. He was also giving the posters around them a good looking over. "Pinkie Pie ...the one that watches us forever..." Falcon Wing muttered. "For a time we thought something had snapped in that head of her's y'know? Like she'd lost it but when her father started giving her gun training... well. Let's just say that mare was the only one we knew who could fire a gun while grinning from ear to ear. You wouldn't think it, but she was scary as hell to be around," Klaxon continued to say absentmindedly. Falcon Wing sat down and listened. "It wasn't anypony's surprise when her cutie mark appeared. Well, after we figured out what the hell it was supposed to be anyway. And after everything she's been through she's still smiling. I guess you're part of the reason why --" "What happened to her father?" Falcon Wing inquired without warning. Klaxon turned his head to look at him with an arched brow. "It's just... she never talks about her life too much. I can't blame her... I found her after her mother was shot and a raider was flipping out at her... I can't imagine things being much better before all of that. It still bugs me though. Is she really like us? Is she alone out here?" Klaxon frowned slightly and his gaze dropped, becoming thoughtful. After the pause he responded: "We've all got those we miss, right?" Falcon Wing nodded, confusion evident on his face. "But we've got each other, so it isn't so bad, right?" "... Klaxon... and I thought my little speech back in the cellar was corny!" "I was just trying to make you feel better you little brat!" Klaxon said, instantly fuming. "Who the hell are you calling little... and a brat!?" Falcon Wing retorted hotly, pressing the bridge of his snout against Klaxon's and spreading his wings. A burst of light blinded them both and when their vision was clear of red, Steiner was standing in between them. "I would say this is what happens when the unstoppable force meets an unmovable object," Steiner said, glancing between the two ponies, "but quite frankly, Klaxon is both of them. It is not wise to...irk him."