Chapter 4
Train
The train whistle seemed to startle all the ponies aboard the train.
Not the two soldiers of course.
They were now so used to sudden sounds (explosions, gunshots and such) that a simple train whistle didn't bothered them at all. Even if they had actually slept.
They were now on a train with final destination in Canterlot, capital of the land of Equestria. The trip had lasted some hours now, and to think that the huge mountain city seemed so close from the little town of ponyville.
Davis was looking out of the window, trying to clean his rifle. He had been cleaning it throughout the whole trip, which made Louis doubt if he was really cleaning if not actually messing around with it, trying to rub off invisible and inexistent dust.
He instead used his time to check on his gun and rifle. After his recent fight he was a little worried his only way of defense might have been damaged. He couldn't have a replacement and he had been hit pretty hard by the wolf, which now he knew were called timberwolves. When he had asked Twilight about it he had needed to tell her the whole story of how he fought them. She had gotten pretty curious about his rifle and the pistol right away.
He had told her that they were dangerous in inexperienced hands and had ended up giving a demonstration of a shot fired at a tree. Of course of he had known that he would make the yellow pony angry for hitting a tree, a home of her friend the squrriel he would have managed to skip a bothersome chapter of trying to calm her down and tell her that a bullet wasn't gonna kill the tree...
God, she reacted terribly!
After finally calming everyone... everypony down, they had the help princess Twilight go get all her friends to go to Canterlot, the capital of Equestria, to meet the princess of the sun about some urgent matters. The letter telling her to go didn't specify anything, only to be careful along the way.
What that was supposed to be, the two soldiers had no idea. So far the land of Equestria had proven to be in peace and after some talk with Twilight. Davis had learned that there had not been war in many years, enough years to make the inhabitants of the land forget about warfare. It seemed too good to be true, at least to Davis' eyes.
The scenery seemed to change nothing as the train approached the mountain where the capital city stood. Soon they had entered a tunnel, leaving them all with the faint light of the train car lights.
So far nothing special had happened, and since most of the trip everyone had been asleep. It had left Davis with enough time to think and organize his thoughts.
So far he knew a couple of things about this land:
First, there were three races of ponies, earth, Pegasus and unicorns. The princesses were called Alicorns and had all the grits from the three races and were far more powerful than any of the other the three.
So far, this land had not suffered war in at least a thousandth years, which seemed too good to be true. Maybe that wasn't true or they simply were not informed of any wars around. It just seemed too far-fetched.
He looked at his rifle. He had it close to him, even if he felt safe. His instincts were shouting him to be weary of anything, especially after being transported into a land of magical talking pastel-colored horses. He sighed as his mind began to get on with the new idea of where he was. He had been slightly shocked at first, which definitely made him feel not as confused as he would have surely felt.
Now he was finally realizing all that had happened so far. He had been beside an exploding tank and, as Louis said he had been beside one as well, that meant it probably was know of the reasons they had been transported there. Still, as much as he preferred returning back to Earth, being alive and on this land if Equestria seemed a much better prospect than on Earth.
He placed his rifle on the floor beside him slowly, making sure not to make much noise. Everypony inside the train seemed to be waking up after that whistle, which seemed something pretty lame to wake up for. He could stay asleep with shooting practiced behind his tent, not that he actually did that... well, almost never at least.
Louis was on the other side of the train car, looking outside as well. He sighed as the train entered the tunnel. He began to feel slightly anxious. Enclosed spaces always made him feel uneasy. He looked at his rifle slowly, making sure it was close to him and at hand's reach. He felt slightly relieved when he felt it brush against his hand. He looked outside the train and into the tunnel. The tunnel walls looked pitch black and even if they were not there he could never tell.
He saw that the ponies were already stretching and seemed to get ready to leave the train.
"How much longer?" He asked out loud. The princess answered.
"Not more than ten minutes. “Right now we are ascending the mountain." Twilight said. Louis nodded and looked back at the darkness outside the train.
Davis searched through his pockets making sure he had everything. He had his rifle and gun, which he considered very important in a new land and alone with a German.
He looked at the German private, wondering how he was managing not to kill him. He was a German, after all. He felt anger remembering all his fallen comrades die under German guns. That made him very angry, but he knew they needed each other in order to escape the land they had been taken to, even if he wasn't sure what help he would be.
He kept on looking through his uniform. He had a small bag of canned food and also, something he had not realized he had until he looked at his suit back at the library, three grenades.
He had nothing else.
Louis probably had more things as well, but sharing them with Davis was definitely out of question. As he knew he didn't trusted the German, Louis probably didn't trusted him either.
That sounded worse than he thought it would sound...
Sudden light blinded Louis as the train got out of the tunnel. He rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the light.
Louis had seen a lot of surprising places throughout his life, but the sigh in front of him was one of the most surprising ones he had ever seen.
The wall itself was surprising. It stood at least 12 feet tall, making a shadow over the train as it passed beside it. There were huge white towers with yellow covered wooden tops, looking specifically easing for a siege. How someone could siege a city almost suspended on platforms over the air Louis had no idea.
The train made a turn and entered through a gate designed for trains and into a station.
The station wa a pretty simple, compared to the walls and the towers but he was at at the capital city nonetheless.
The buildings seemed like a typical medieval age building, but somehow they seemed... newer. The streets were paved with stone and the sound of hooves against stone was really strong all around. In the other side of the city, Louis saw the palace. The most impressive part of it were two towers, one with a golden top and the other one with a dark blue. The golden tower was taller and both were pretty thin, at least for towers that size.
Princess Twilight went off the train, soon followed by the rest with only Louis and Davis remaining in the train. The two slowly stood up and took their rifles, making sure they were not leaving anything behind. They walked off the train almost at the same time.
The princess laughed at their expressions as they walked over to them.
"What? I suppose you were not expecting this." She said. The dragon spike was taking the luggage from all and carrying it on his back. It was surprising how he could carry them, but it was apparent due to the dragon's expression of huge effort that it was something he could barely do. The whole luggage was at least ten times his size; that was something Davis and Louis knew they could never achieve themselves.
Davis looked at Twilight. "Well, really, no. I was expecting something less... Surprising." He looked around.
Louis sighed and place the rifle on his back.
They were beginning to attract attention. If it was because there were two strange creatures there or because the princess was there Davis had no idea.
Soon a chariot arrived and five golden armored ponies got off it. They immediately took a formation and went towards the ponies and the two soldiers. One of them went to help Spike with the luggage.
"Princess Twilight." Said one that was wearing a helmet different than the other guards. "We were sent to escort you to the palace."
Twilight seemed confused and even slightly shocked. "Why? I've told princess Celestia that I don't need an escort of guards."
"I'm sorry princess, but the princess said it was very important for us to escort you. She also told me that she'll explain why once you are safe at the palace." The guard said. Davis noticed that Spike had joined Twilight and the guard that had gone to help him was already gone.
Twilight sighed. "Alright, then let's go." She said. The guard nodded and soon they were walking along the streets of Canterlot. Davis and Louis were trying to look around at the city, but the guards were moving pretty fast and didn't allow them to see much.
Finally they were at the palace's gates. Two huge doors were wide open, revealing the palace's main hall. They entered the palace.
Davis expected the guards to go on their own way, but they kept moving along with them. Apparently they were guiding them somewhere.
Twilight seemed to know that they were not going to leave them. "Captain, you told us that until we arrived at the palace."
The guard nodded. "I'm sorry princess, but Celestia..."
"Celestia told you one thing. I'm sorry, but I don't like escorts. I'm telling now that we can find ourselves our way to Celestia's study." twilight said interrupting the guard.
The escort looked between each other worriedly, waiting to see what the captain said.
"As you say princess." He said slowly. He made a gesture with his head and the escort disbanded the formation. Soon the guards were gone.
"That was... Weird." Rainbow Dash, the bearer of the element of loyalty, said. She flew over them. That statement was answered by uneasy nods from all the ponies present.
"I tell ya, this ain't looking good to me." Said AppleJack, an orange mare that wore a Stetson hat and had a country accent. She bore the element of honesty, or so the two soldiers had been told. None of the two had had the opportunity to meet them.
"Yes, but we need to see the princess. I'm sure she'll tell us what is going on." Twilight said, starting to walk. The others followed.
Davis and Louis remained slightly behind, trying to make sense of what was going on. They had not been more than two days, and yet there seemed to be a problem arising, that much they could both see.
Soon they arrived at a large door. Half of it was a golden color while the other one was a dark blue one. Twilight knocked the door.
Soon the doors opened, revealing those inside...