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// “Everypony run! Hide in the cars!” 
// Story: Equestria [No Hope] 
// by -Arcana- 
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	 The first generation of steam locomotives were very simplistic in design, focusing more on practicality then style. It wasn’t until the Equestrian Railroad was purchased by artist turned entrepreneur, Gilded Metal, that the idea of designing more ornamental train cars to attract passengers was incorporated. Modern train designs owe their style to Gilded Metal and her artistic vision.
When she was younger, Aurora had read a book about Equestrian inventions in school. This particular paragraph from that book hung in her mind, as she stared at the twisted mess of metal before her. What had once been another example of Gilded Metal’s marvelously aesthetic train designs now lay before them derailed and useless.
The “them” in question were Aurora Wish, her seven year old daughter radiant hope, Aurora’s friend from before the infection Poinsettia, and their mute zebra travel companion Zigbar. The four of them had left the safety of the forest a few days ago, and had been traveling north in search of the supposedly last safe pony town in Equestria, Mercy. Now they were crouching a distance away from the train, trying to decide their next move.
“The train looks deserted. We should check it for supplies.” Poinsettia said.
Aurora turned away from the train and said to her friend, “I don’t know Setti… What makes you think there’s anything worth taking anyway?”
“See those cars there?” Setti pointed to two cars still on the rails, “They’re dinning cars. At the very least we may find some stores of food.”
Setti had a point. Their supplies could defiantly use replenishing, and prepared bread and canned daisies sounds much more appetizing than trail grass. Still, Aurora couldn’t forget that only a few days ago how they had run into a turned in the forest. Something like that could only be worse in closed quarters.
“What if it’s not deserted, Setti? How do we handle that?” Aurora asked with more anxiety in her voice than she anticipated.
Setti heard it and gave her a reassuring smile, “We stay together, and we handle it.”
Aurora took a last glance at the train, before nodding her agreement. Setti gave aurora a quick hug before going to pack up their camp. Zigbar followed to help with the task, leaving Aurora and Hope sitting alone in silence.
Aurora felt she had reason to be a little unnerved. In the days since she and Setti had been separated from their previous travel group things have been hardly going well. Setti had become something of the leader, leading the group in search of some myth that Aurora wasn’t even sure she believed in. Had they not met Zigbar, with his skills in medicine, they would probably have never even made it through that forest. Everyone was useful in the group, even Hope made sure she was pulling her own weight, but Aurora didn’t have much in the way of useful skills. Her cutie mark, of a silver clock and calendar, showed her skills as a timekeeper, a useful skill before the turning, when there were clocks to synchronize and dates to record, but what good was that now? Could she really protect herself and Hope if something terrible were to happen?
She looked over to Hope, and Hope looked back with a smile. It was a very powerful smile, the way it was full of trust and belief. Hope truly believed that Aurora could do anything. It made Aurora smile back, because in that moment she knew she could too.

In a couple hours they began moving towards the train. The two dinning cars sat at the end of the train, which had remained on the track and relatively undamaged. The front of the train was twisted off the track and bent so that the engine was perpendicular to the dinning cars, creating a twisted “L” shape. The current state of the train didn’t affect Hope’s wonder at the sight of it, this being the first train she had ever seen.
“M-Mommy, have y-you ever ridden a t-train?” Hope asked.
“Yes, a few times. Your grandma lived in another town far away, so I took the train when I visited her.”
“Does she st-still live there?”
“… I don’t know Hope.”
Hope’s face fell at this.
“I-I’m sorry M-Mommy.” She said, her previous enthusiasm gone.
“It’s okay Hope,” Aurora comforted, “you know she would have loved to see you. She was very happy when I told her she was gonna have a granddaughter.”
Hope and Aurora shared a smile, and moved to catch up with the other two. Setti glanced over when Aurora came up next to her, before returning her attention to the dinning cars ahead.
“Alright everypony,” Setti said, “Let’s start with this car here. We should be looking for-“
Zigbar interrupted her with a frantic wave at the sky. The others looked up to where he was pointing, and saw what they at first thought to be a wisp of smoke, but its movements were too erratic and fast. With a sickening feeling Aurora realized what it was, just in time to hear Setti yell.
“Everypony run! Hide in the cars!”
Aurora grabbed Hope’s hoof and galloped for the train cars. She could tell that the things were getting closer from the sound of their beating wings becoming louder and louder. Aurora made it to the second car, and guided Hope inside. Before closing the door, she saw Setti and Zigbar dart into the other car. Once the door was shut Aurora and Hope both huddled together under one of the tables.
The sounds of large bodies slamming into metal were audible as the swarm of turned Pegasi barreled through the area. From their hiding spot, Aurora could see silhouettes as the creature flew pass the window. Hope whimpered and Aurora pulled her in close to her, hoping to block out this terrible moment.
They lingered for a moment or two. Aurora could hear them stamping about outside. Finally, the sound of flapping wings fading away, told Aurora that the hoard had gone. Mother and Daughter slowly crept from under the table and looked through the window. The view outside was empty, deserted, and safe. Aurora smiled down to Hope, but the filly had turned her head to the other end of the car, and was starring with fearful eyes.
Aurora saw it now. Its form was that of an emaciated earth pony, its coat a dull green, offset by a pale blue mane. The worst part was its eyes. Sunken dark pits that seemed to pull Aurora in as they stared at each other.
Aurora glanced down, looking for some way to defend them, but taking her eyes off the turned seemed to bring it to life. It began walking towards them, releasing from its mouth a sickening gurgle. Hope screamed and ran for the door, as Aurora picked up a nearby plate from the table and flung it with her magic. Bouncing across the creature’s shoulder, the plate did little to slow its advance. Form behind, Aurora could hear Hope shouting and beating at the door. It was jammed.
Aurora cursed to herself looking for something else to use. She had to stop this thing now. She had promised to protect her daughter no matter what. She was just about to fling herself at the looming peril when she saw something glimmer from under the adjacent table. It was a silver walking stick, probably left by some previous passenger.
Aurora grabbed the cane with her magic, and slammed it into the turned pony’s face. The creature fell back, but Aurora advanced. Tears burned her eyes as she continued assaulting the monster. She didn’t stop until the turned stopping moving. She then threw down the cane sobbing. It was the first time she had ever killed anything. Hope came forward and held her mother in her tiny hooves. They stayed like this until Poinsettia and Zigbar managed to open the door from the outside.

“M-Mommy?” Hope said after a while.
She and Aurora had been sitting by the caboose of the train in silence. After what had happened, everyone agreed that Setti and Zigbar would continue scavenging, while Aurora and Hope sat and rested.
Aurora replied to Hope’s previous question, “Yes Hope?”
“Are w-we gonna be ok?” Hope asked.
Aurora thought about this. The obvious answer was “Of course Hope,” but Aurora wasn’t sure whether or not she believed that. She thought about what had happened in the dinning car, and what had happened in the forest. She thought about her own questions earlier this morning. Then she thought about the smile Hope had given her, and what it meant. She thought about how she felt facing the turned pony. The sickening fear, but also the determination to survive not just for her sake, but for her daughter’s as well. That was when she knew how to answer.
“Yes Hope, We’ll be ok.” Aurora said.
“How d-do you know?” Hope countered
Aurora replied without hesitation, “Because I won’t let us be anything but ok. Ok?
Hope smiled up at her mother with admiration, “Ok Mommy.”
A cleared throat brought mother and daughter back to reality. Setti stood behind them, a smile on her face. In one hoof she was holding a folded up piece of paper.
“I think you should see this.” She said to Aurora.
The paper unfolded revealing itself as a map of the Equestrian Railroad routes. Certain towns were marked with large red Xs, but one town was instead circled. A town called Ponyville.
“Zigbar found it in the engine room,” Setti explained, “It looks like the train was headed there.”
“How far is it?” Aurora asked.
“Not far, if we follow the tracks we should run right into it.” Setti explained
Aurora thought about whet this could mean. The X’d out towns were obviously ones that had been overrun by turned, she knew because her home town was among them.. Could that mean that Ponyville was safe? Could it be the fabled Mercy that Setti was pushing them towards? Aurora had heard about the Elements of Harmony who protected the town. Surely they could have stopped to monsters from invading. But then Canterlot had the Princesses, and it still fell. Still Aurora wanted to be optimistic about this. It was worth looking into.
“Ok, let’s start that way tomorrow.” Aurora said.
Setti agreed, and they all went to help set up the camp with Zigbar. Without any discussion, it was decided among the group that no one really cared to stay in the train after what had happened.