Ironside wandered through the darkened streets of Ponyville. Checking his pocket watch, he noted the time being 21:32 (he used military time). It was no surprise, then, that the streets were completely devoid of life. Every door was shut, and most of the lights in the buildings had already been extinguished for the night. Looking up at the sky, he could not see the moon or stars at all; it was a very cloudy night. A feeling of profound loneliness began to permeate through him as he continued his stroll through town.
Passing by Sugarcube Corner, he noticed the lights were still on. It wasn’t too unusual, really. Pinkie and the Cakes were often up baking goods well into the night during the winter months. But when Ironside peered through the window, that wasn’t what he saw. Instead, the Cakes and Pinkie were gathered around the table playing board games. They all seemed to be having the time of their lives, the little ones included. Iron smiled at the sight, but at the same time, he felt like something was off. Following his instinct, he walked over to the front door and knocked. He placed his ear against the door, waiting for somepony to respond to the knocking. He listened for hoofs pattering on the floor, but there was no such sound. Instead, he heard the ponies chatting happily amongst themselves. Figuring his knocks weren’t loud enough, he knocked on the door again, this time with more force. Again there was no answer.
Reaching for the doorknob, he was surprised to find that the door was unlocked! Gingerly pulling the door open, he crept inside the house, trying to keep himself within eyesight of the Cakes and Pinkie. They didn’t seem to take notice. A sense of fear began to form inside him. He continued walking to the table, hoping that one of them would see him approaching. Still there was no response. Finally, he walked right up to Pinkie, grabbed her shoulder, and shook her. “Hey, Pinkie,” he said in a clear voice. Pinkie never even looked up.
Iron’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened. Pinkie was never one to blatantly ignore a pony. What made it worse was that she didn’t even react to him shaking her. “What the hell is going on?” he asked himself as he backed away from the group. He turned around and made for the farm.
Applejack and Big Mac were apparently busy bucking apples, which was odd given the time of night. Ironside saw this, and again the fear crept into him. “Something’s way off here…” he muttered. He approached his two friends and tried to strike up a conversation. “Hey, guys,” he said, “It’s a little late to be bucking apples, don’t you think?” Neither one of them responded. “Is something wrong? Why won’t you guys answer me?” asked Iron. Again he got the cold shoulder. He sighed. “Alright, look,” he stated, “I know you guys are still mad at me for what happened between Gallow and me, and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go into a drunken rage and beat her up.” But again they didn’t acknowledge him.
“Why won’t you answer me?!” he shouted, his voice shaking. “Applejack, McIntosh, please answer me! Don’t leave me hanging like this!” Nothing. Ironside fell back onto his flank as he watched his friends continue their work as if they’d never heard him in the first place. He began to shake as he felt his strength leave him. “Am I dead to you?” he asked them in a softer, but still shaky voice. Mac could’ve just said “Eeyup!” and left it at that, because again, the only answer either pony gave the Pegasus was silence. Iron felt his heart sink and the remainder of his strength leave him. His front legs slid slowly out from beneath him. He lay down in the grass, his head hung and his eyes dripping with tears. “I am dead to them…” he said to himself, “I’ve forever severed the bonds that I held with them… All because of what I did to poor Gallow…” Big Mac and Applejack by now had brought in the last of the buckets of apples and were now heading back into their house for the night. Iron wiped his eyes and looked up at the sky. There was still no sign of the moon or the stars. He hung his head again. “I’m even dead to her…” he whispered.
Unbeknownst to Iron, Gallow had actually been following him. She was surprised to see him back in Ponyville, and was curious as to why he had returned. As she followed him through the town, she also felt that something was amiss. That feeling became more apparent as she witnessed his futile attempts to reconcile with his friends. She was shocked by the total ignorance of Pinkie to his calls. As soon as Iron had left the Corner for the farm, Gallow knocked on the door to see if she would get the same reaction. This time, however, the door was actually answered, by Pinkie nonetheless. “Hey Gallow, what’s up?” she asked in her usual upbeat voice. Gallow stared slack-jawed and wide-eyed at the pink pony for a second. Her expression then went from shock to pure anger as she slapped Pinkie across the face with her hoof.
“Ow!” Pinkie cried, “Gallow, what was that for?!”
“That was for blatantly ignoring Ironside!” the unicorn responded indignantly.
Pinkie looked back into the house confused. “Iron was never here, Gallow,” she said.
“Yeah he was!” Gallow replied, “He was standing right next to you. He even shook your shoulder, for heaven’s sake!”
“Nopony shook my shoulder,” said Pinkie, “I would’ve felt it. Go ahead, shake my shoulder.” Gallow grabbed Pinkie’s shoulder and shook it. “See? I felt that. I didn’t feel that before,” said Pinkie. Gallow looked around, trying to determine where Ironside might have gone. “Are you feeling OK?” asked Pinkie.
“I swear Iron was here, Pinkie,” Gallow replied, “I’ve been following him since I saw him in the street.”
“Are you sure you’re not just seeing things? Maybe you’re imagining him because you miss him,” suggested Pinkie.
“I promise you, he was here,” Gallow answered.
“Applejack, McIntosh, please answer me! Don’t leave me hanging like this!” Gallow recognized that voice.
Leaving Pinkie behind, she galloped her way towards Sweet Apple Acres. “Ironside!” she called out. She was too far away for Iron to hear her voice, unfortunately, so all Ironside heard was the silence that finally caused him to break down. As Gallow approached the Acres, she could see Ironside weeping in the grass while Applejack and Big Mac headed inside for the night, neither one of them noticing the broken Pegasus just a few yards away.
Again anger coursed through Gallow’s veins as she watched. Completely ignoring Ironside’s presence, she sternly trotted over to the front door of the house and rapped on it firmly. Applejack answered. “Oh, hey Gallow,” she said surprised, “What’re you doin’ here this late?”
“I happened to notice you completely ignoring a certain hurt pony who thinks that he’s dead to you now,” she replied. “Huh? Who’re you talkin’ about?” asked Applejack.
Gallow scowled at her. “You’re not being funny, AJ,” she growled, “Now you are going to come out here right now and apologize to Ironside for being so rude. Bring your brother too.” Big Mac, who had just come to the door upon hearing Iron’s name, looked out.
“Gallow, there’s nopony there,” he said. Gallow then realized that the weeping she’d heard was gone now. Looking back, she too noticed that Iron was not there anymore.
“Oh, for Celestia’s sake!” she exclaimed. Without speaking another word to the Apples, she galloped off in search for Iron.
Ironside meanwhile had left the farm and trotted over to Carousel Boutique. He was still unable to believe that none of his friends were even aware of his presence. He could see Rarity and Sweetie Belle through the window. After several attempts to grab their attention by tapping on the window, frustration and desperation took over, and he threw a rock at the window, shattering the glass. Even that failed. The loneliness was now starting to cloud his mind, preventing him from thinking clearly and rendering him insane. After failing to get the attention of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, he finally made his way over to the library. Each time he failed, Gallow would follow up his attempt and successfully manage to get hold of the target pony. And each time, that pony would say that she never even noticed Ironside’s call, although Rarity did notice the broken window after Gallow pointed it out to her. Applejack and Pinkie had been following Gallow, and both urged the rest to follow her, unsure if Ironside was really around or if Gallow was just losing her mind.
By this point, Iron’s mind was racing with thoughts of his abandonment by the girls. Not at any point did he stop to think that he was being paranoid or over-reactive. He didn’t even bother to tap the window or knock on the door of the library. He simply leaned against the wood of the tree and peered through the open window, watching Twilight and Spike as they worked. “Hey Twilight, I found some of these old railroad books here. What should we do with them?” asked Spike as he brought the stack of books over to her.
“We’ll just have to give them away,” she replied, “Nopony reads those anyway.”
Had anyone been near Ironside when he heard those words, they would have sworn that they heard something snap. His hearing cut out leaving out the rest of the conversation. He now knew that the time had come for him to depart, not just from Ponyville, but from the world. Looking over to the railroad tracks at the edge of town, he felt there would be no better way to go than by train. With an unwavering expression, and the demented thoughts still swirling in his head, he trotted over to the tracks.
Gallow and the rest of the Mane 6 arrived at the library just a few minutes later. This time, Rarity knocked on the door. “Hello girls,” Twilight said upon opening the door.
“Gallow here thinks that we’ve been ignoring Ironside’s cries for help, or something,” Rarity replied.
“Twilight, please, I’m serious about this,” Gallow cut in, “Ironside has been trying to get you girls to forgive him for what he did to me.” Before Twilight could respond, however, a locomotive’s whistle sounded in the distance. Gallow immediately galloped in the direction of the whistle, the Mane 6 and Spike following close behind.
Ironside sat right next to the railroad tracks, watching the familiar triangular headlight pattern of 2398 get brighter as he and his train approached. Iron smiled; for some reason, knowing that it would be his own engine taking him away was comforting to him. Meanwhile, Gallow and the girls galloped as fast as their legs could carry them toward the tracks. As they rounded a corner, the tracks came into sight, with Ironside sitting right next to them, his gaze fixated on the incoming train. For the first time, the rest of the girls saw him too.
“What is he doing?!” exclaimed Rarity.
“Oh sweet Celestia, he’s going to kill himself!” Gallow shouted. Without a second thought, she ran as fast as she could toward the engineer, the rest of the girls in hot pursuit. Ironside looked one last time into the sky, hoping a ray of light might break through the cloud cover. But there was nothing. He lowered his head and shook it slowly. “Ironside!” Gallow shouted as she ran to him, “Please, don’t!”
Hearing his name being called, the engineer slowly turned his head back to see the girls galloping toward him. “I’m sorry, girls,” he said as 2398 approached, “But it’s time for me to go. Take care of yourselves, alright? I love you all.” He turned his head back to the track. 2398’s whistle screamed as the engine roared at him, as if pleading for him to back away from the tracks. But Ironside stood up, his wings outstretched, an adamant expression on his face.
“Ironside!!” Gallow called out as loud as she could.
Iron jumped into the air right in front of his engine. It was all over in an instant, but to the ponies, it seemed to all happen in slow motion. 2398’s smokebox made direct contact with Iron’s torso, ripping off his wings and mashing his internals into a pulp. It was almost as if he’d taken a direct hit from a cannonball. Immediately the train’s brakes applied. The driving wheels locked, spewing sparks as the train skidded to a long and slow stop. The Mane 6, Spike, and Gallow all felt their hearts stop temporarily as the blood-stained engine screeched past. Gallow, Twilight, Rarity, and Spike all heard a heart-breaking cry from 2398 in their heads. “NNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” Gallow screamed at the top of her voice. She felt her back legs give way. Her head dropped down and she wept bitterly, her front legs barely holding her up.
The Mane 6 all hung their heads as the reality of the situation came to light. Pinkie’s hair was no longer its puffy self, and her bright-pink hue was gone. Fluttershy was hopelessly choking back her tears. Spike felt his throat become dry as paper. As he looked to Rarity, he saw her holding her hoof over her mouth and turning her head away from the scene. He looked over at Twilight. Her eyes were closed; her head hung low and shook slowly. Applejack took off her hat and held it against her chest. Rainbow was the only one who looked back at him, her eyes soaked with tears. She held out her hoof. Spike ran over and hugged her tightly. She wrapped her arm around him and hugged him back just as tightly.
Gallow looked back at the Mane 6, then back at the tracks. The last three cars of the train were visible, but the rest of the train was hidden behind the trees. She looked up at the sky; it was now starting to rain. Gallow lowered her head again, tears streaming from her eyes. As she sobbed, she noticed that she wasn’t the only one doing so. But it wasn’t the Mane 6’s sobs or those of 2398 that caught her attention. It was those of somepony else, much closer to her.
Turning her head to the left, Gallow caught sight of the Princess of the Night looking over at the stopped train. “Nothing has ever moved me so much as the expression worn by Princess Luna that night,” Gallow would later say to me, “I’ve never seen a pony so sad…” Luna’s horn began to glow. Gallow wasn’t sure what the Princess was up to, but before she could do anything, Luna touched her horn on Gallow’s.
Gallow found herself in her bed, her pillow wet from the tears she’d been shedding. “Gallow dear…” came Luna’s voice. Rolling over, Gallow found Luna standing on the right-hand side of her bed.
“Princess Luna…” she started, unable to think of what to say next. Luna’s horn glowed again. This time she magically lifted Gallow out of bed and into her arms. Gallow hugged the Princess tightly.
“It’s OK, sweetheart,” Luna soothed, “It was just a dream.” Gallow felt the tears fill her eyes again.
“I don’t want to lose him, Luna,” she sobbed, “He doesn’t deserve what he got in that nightmare.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Luna agreed.
“But how can we bring him back? We have no idea where he went,” said Gallow.
“We’ll find him, dear,” Luna replied, “I promise.”
Luna carried Gallow on her back out of the house next to the mortuary. “You’re spending the night in the castle,” Luna told her, “I want to make sure you get a good night’s rest.”
“Thank you, Princess,” Gallow said smiling. Gallow made sure to lock up the house before remounting herself on Luna’s back. Luna took off into the night with Gallow wrapping her arms lovingly around the Princess’s neck.