//------------------------------// // Derailed // Story: The Long Twilight // by ultiville //------------------------------// Everything was now incongruously peaceful. Applejack took stock. She remembered the area well enough from her time working at Dodge Junction. The town lay just on the border of the arid edge of the badlands, and it was into this rough area to the south and west of the town that her friends had pursued her during her shameful last visit. Now, though, they were north and west instead, like Cherry Jubille's groves. The land here was dry but fertile, a lovely dry plain, green and gold in the late summer afternoon, coated in short, golden grass, and graced with the occasional low tree surrounded by thick brush. The afternoon was pleasant, but Applejack found herself on edge. Though they'd seen nothing leave the train before it vanished, she couldn't shake the feeling they were being watched. She tried to shrug it off, and didn't mention it to her friends, but she noticed Rainbow Dash scanning the skies frequently. Even Pinkie Pie seemed subdued. "Well girls," she broke the silence, "next train should be comin' this time tomorrow. I reckon we can get to town by then on hoof if we please, though, even if we don't travel in the dark. What'da y'all think?" "Oh, I don't like it here one bit," Fluttershy's ears were flat, "even though that creepy train is gone, I feel like somepony knows where here. Somepony evil." "Who wants to sit around waiting for a train for a whole day? Lame." Despite her tone, Applejack caught Rainbow look quickly to the skies again. "This looks like dreadful land for travel," Rarity eyed a burr-laden shrub as she spoke, "but I would feel safer with Celestia. Besides," she lowered her voice, "who's to say the next train will be any better?" Suddenly the afternoon didn't feel so warm. No one spoke for a long moment. "Well, all right then," Applejack tried to rally, "help me get Twi on my back." It took some doing, but they managed to drape Twilight's legs over Applejack's back well enough to let her walk. The weight wasn't an issue for her, but moving her own legs around her friend's was awkward, and she wasn't able to move quite as quickly as usual. Still, several good hours remained before sunset, and the rolling hills were easy on the ponies - burrs aside. The thick grass and occasional bramble reminded them it was still no walk in a Ponyville park, but in another context it would have been a lovely hike. Not far from the tracks the birds returned in force, and from time to time they caught the grassy wake or shuffling sounds of a larger creature moving about nearby. Still Applejack's uneasy feeling remained, and the group was unusually quiet. They came upon a reasonably sized copse of trees atop a gentle hill as the light was failing. Between the higher ground and the cover of the trees, it seemed an ideal place to spend the night. Applejack said as much, and the others readily agreed, so they climbed the slope and she let Twilight's still-slumbering form drop from her back to the soft grass. "Oh, I must say, that looks wonderful," Rarity yawned. "These long walks still wear me out." "You sure you'll be okay without that big ol' tent of yours?" Applejack's heart wasn't really in the snarky response. She barely kept her own fatigue out of her voice. "I'll manage somehow," Rarity was on the ground before she finished the sentence. The others similarly settled in. The sun sank. Despite her fatigue, Applejack's nervous feeling still wouldn't leave her. She found her eyes drifting to the sky, scanning for any shadows passing across stars or moon. But still everything seemed peaceful. This far from the tracks, there was no sign at all of the works of pony civilization. Nothing stirred, and even the normal strange sounds of a country evening seemed absent from the near-timeless night. Gradually, she found herself drifting into sleep. Later, she wasn't sure what made her snap suddenly awake, if the approaching figure made some noise that registered somewhere below her exhausted consciousness, or if just some wrongness lingered in its presence. Whatever the reason, her head snapped up, her mind suddenly focused, just in time to catch a dark form hurtling at her from the night. Twilight lay behind her, still peacefully slumbering, and directly in the creature's path. She had time to dodge, barely, but to do so would simply put Twilight in harm's way. "Heads up, girls," she yelled instead, and launched herself forward. They collided midair and Applejack felt like she'd jumped into the trunk of her largest tree. The newcomer was pony sized, but she felt only cold metal under her hooves. "Whoa there, partner," she yelled, "best say somethin' now if you're not here to cause trouble!" There was no answer. She wrapped her hooves around the dark figure and grappled, kicking upward with her powerful rear legs. Her hooves rang as they connected with thick metal armor. She could tell now that the attacker was at least shaped like a pony, a pegasus to be precise - there was enough starlight and moonlight to let her make out the silhouettes of the wings against the sky and trees. She gave up on kicking and wrapped her hindlegs around the other pony's barrel, and tried to force the wings down with her forelegs instead. She couldn't seem to get a grip, though. Her hooves seemed to slide off, and she felt a chill creeping up her legs like she'd plunged them into icy water. She was clearly weighing the attacker down, but despite her weight and strength, she wasn't sure it would be enough. She gave up on the wings and locked her forelegs on the other pony's armored ones, trying to force them to the ground. They were tipped with wicked-looking hoofblades, but if she could just drag them low enough, they'd scrape the ground and hopefully stop the charge. Straining her muscles and struggling to hold tight with her rear legs, she began - slowly, so slowly! - to force the armored forelegs down, but now they were nearly on top of Twilight, her gently heaving side completely defenseless against the wicked metal. Desperately Applejack kept hold with her front legs and let go with her own hindquarters, twisting in the air to try to get her hooves around to dig in to the ground. Halfway through her last-ditch maneuver, Rainbow Dash slammed into the dark pony's side at speed. Applejack lost her tenuous grip at the force of the impact and landed heavily on the ground, half twisted around, rolling several body lengths before managing to stop herself and stumble to her hooves. Rainbow was tangled up in the branches of the tree, dazed, but her maneuver had paid off - their attacker had flown off course back into the darkness before slamming into the ground, and now rose (accursedly smoothly, Applejack noted through gritted teeth) and turned to face them. Applejack felt a warmth at her side as Pinkie pressed up against her with a strained grin. "Hey there! Nice of you to come by, we were totally bored all night!" Applejack chuckled despite herself, and felt Pinkie press a bit closer. Wordlessly they moved to stand in front of Twilight. Rarity and Fluttershy were already on the other side, and Rainbow staggered in front of her. The dark pony looked directly at them, and for the first time they saw her face. The gleam of metal showed that she wore a full helmet, hiding her features, but the eye sockets glowed with a bright blue light, nothing like the reflection of the moon. Applejack shuddered against Pinkie's flank. Their attacker remained completely silent. Her legs tensed, and Applejack similarly prepared to charge. But then, still silently, their attacker spread her wings and vanished into the night. "Hey, we were just getting to the good part!" Pinkie yelled out into the darkness and frowned. "Some ponies don't have any respect for a dramatic moment." "I don't get it," Applejack said, "I dunno that we could have stopped her, Pinkie. Why do you reckon she took off like that?" "Probably some kind of trick," Rainbow Dash said from the tree, where she was disentangling herself. "I bet she'll be back...wait, what's that?" She fell silent and now all three heard the sound of heavy wingbeats from above. They turned and a much larger winged shape approaching from the south. They rushed to place themselves between the new arrival and Twilight, raising their hooves, while Rainbow Dash returned to the air. Just as they prepared to charge, the new arrival came close enough to stand out clearly in the moonlight, and glowed brightly in the silver light, her coat pure white. Her mane, not as resplendent as usual in the moonlight, nonetheless floated unmistakably around her head. "Princess!" Rainbow said. The others bowed. "Hello, my little ponies," Celestia said, "what a lovely spot you've discovered." She landed gracefully next to them, and Spike leapt off her back. "I reckon we're glad to see y'all, but what in Equestria are you doing here?" Applejack said. "I sensed powerful alicorn magic nearby early this afternoon," she eyed the sleeping Twilight, "and feared you might have met difficulty on the way. I followed the tracks out to try to meet your train, but could find no sign of it. I teleported to Ponyville to make sure you'd gotten aboard, and this poor fellow," she nodded at Spike, "wouldn't dream of staying at home when your train vanished. I teleported back to the tracks, of course, but tracking even magic that powerful is sadly not an exact science, and it took me this long to find you. Now please, tell me what happened." They filled the newcomers in on the situation. Celestia's eyes narrowed at the mention of the strange monochrome ponies and the dark pegasus, but widened at the train's fate. "I knew Twilight's power would grow, but that spell is still quite the accomplishment. It's no surprise it exhausted her, but I fear we cannot wait for her to recover. Come, we can talk further as we travel, but we should stay off the wing, at least until she awakes. Even I cannot carry all of you." She levitated Twilight to her back and began trotting north. The others followed. "Princess," Applejack said, "aren't we going the wrong way? Dodge Junction's south of here. And couldn't you teleport us again?" Celestia laughed. "There's no reason to go to Dodge Junction anymore. After all, your goal was to meet with me, and here I am." Applejack blushed. "Now I think we should make for Canterlot, as quickly as possible. As for the other question, that was my plan, but I think now it would be unwise. That pegasus you fought is very dangerous. I do not think she will risk facing me alone, but she and her allies can sense alicorn magic as well as I can. That's likely what brought her to you, and more may be nearby. Some have countermagic powerful enough to throw a teleport awry, and moving so many of us would leave me dangerously drained if it did come to a fight. I think our best chance now is to proceed by hoof, and hope to sneak past." "Who was she, anyway?" Dash asked. "Yeah," Pinkie said, "I'm dying of suspense! And were those zombie ponies we met, or what?" "No, Pinkie," Celestia said, "they were not. At least, not exactly. I promise I will tell you all I know, but for now I want to find a place to rest. It is a long story, and I'd rather not tell it a second time once Twilight wakes up. You all did well guarding her tonight, but none of us will travel safely if we do not rest at least for a few hours. The Everfree lies between us and Canterlot. I hope to avoid traveling through the heart of the forest, but the outskirts are dense enough to hide us from the air. I believe we can reach them within an hour, which should leave us at least three before dawn." She was right, and they settled uneasily beneath thick branches. Applejack lay pressed up against Twilight, between her and the edge of the woods. Though the canopy was so thick above them barely any moonlight entered, sleep did not come easily to her, and she stared suspiciously out at the moonlit plains for what felt like ages, dreading the sight of a dark figure. But none came, and finally her fatigue and Twilight's soft, warm flank caught up to her, and she passed into fitful sleep.