After the initial thrill of moving had worn off, the ponies slowly began to admire the steady sounds of the train as it rolled over the wooden slats of the track, the warm, pretty texture of the caboose's spruce walls, the cozy folds of the soft seats. Combined with the abuses of last night, it was hardly a surprise that they all began to yawn contagiously, let themselves sink into the seats, and into the carefree world behind their eyelids.
Several hours later, Twilight awoke to the sound of Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash playing “I spy” through the frost-covered windows while Rarity, Applejack, and Spike sat in the seat opposite her, talking about the past day and night.
“Nice to see our sisters handling things so well,” said Applejack, twisting around to look outside for a moment.
“I always knew my Sweetie Bell was adaptable, but looking at her, you'd think she was glad to be living in a tent,” said Rarity. She turned her head, resting it against the seat to stare out the window. “Though sometimes, I worry the dear doesn’t know what it’s all about.”
“Nah, Rarity,” replied Applejack. “Those fillies weren’t born yesterday. Deep down, they got it figured that we’re gonna fix all this, us and the princesses.”
“Let’s hope they’re right,” said Twilight, sitting up.
“Hey, Twilight,” said Applejack.
Twilight tapped Rainbow on the shoulder, and she, Fluttershy, and Pinkie turned around in their seats.
Applejack took off her hat. “I’ll be honest, y'all, when we left Ponyville and I saw the farm…I don’t know. Somehow, I couldn’t stop thinking that I’d never see it again.”
“Hey, that is not gonna happen,” said Rainbow. “We’re gonna find the Elements of Heroism, take back Ponyville, and blast Blight into next Tuesday.”
“Thanks, Rainbow,” said Applejack, mustering a smile. “But do ya ever feel like this isn’t just another of the Princess’s missions?”
Rarity nodded. “Yes, this whole situation does seem a little strange. We know almost nothing about Blight, and even less about him.” She pointed at the rear door.
“We know he likes swords, and cupcakes!” blurted out Pinkie.
Rainbow cupped her face with her hoof. “And you know he likes cupcakes how, Pinkie?”
“It’s a given, Dash! We have to start with the basics!”
“Twilight,” continued Rarity, “you’ve spent some time with Alpenglow. What’s your impression of him?”
“Apart from the fact he’s kinda weird,” Rainbow threw in.
The letter was burning a hole in Twilight's saddlebag next to her. “I think we can trust him," she said, finally. "And I’m sure he knows we’re on the same side.” Twilight struggled, trying to decide what else she could bring up. “...I don’t know. I didn’t learn that much before you showed up at the archives. But you were right, Applejack. Alpenglow and the knights used to be important.”
“He seems rather old-fashioned, not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course,” quipped Rarity. “Personally, I find it charming.”
Twilight turned her head. “What about you, Fluttershy? Any thoughts?”
Fluttershy rested her hoof on her mouth. “I don’t know, Twilight. I’m waiting to find out more about him and his friends before I jump to any conclusions.”
“Do we even know what happened to these other knights?” asked Applejack.
“I have no idea,” said Twilight, the lie already troubling her.
“What about those statues we saw back at the castle?” suggested Spike.
Dumbfounded, Twilight exclaimed, “Of course, how did I not realize it? There were five statues in the cave. With Alpenglow, that makes six knights, which is how many the books say there were!”
“So does that mean the other knights are, what, still stuck in that cave? How come the princess didn’t have us free them, too?” Rainbow pointed out.
Twilight sighed. “I wish we knew, Rainbow."
“Um, excuse me, girls,” Fluttershy suggested, “but why don’t we ask Alpenglow ourselves? We probably shouldn't be talking about all of this without him, and I think if we remind him that what we’re doing is important, he’ll be happy to answer our questions.”
"Yeah, if he can 'remember' how to answer questions," jeered Rainbow.
Rarity pointed towards the back door. “Fluttershy is right. This mission is far too important for secrets. Twilight, why don’t you go bring him in? I strongly doubt he’ll want to stay out there much longer, and he seems more inclined to speak to you.”
Rarity’s innocent comment about secrets stuck to Twilight as she stood up. She pulled open the door, and every ounce of warmth was sucked out the opening, leaving the inside of the car in a frigid vacuum. Everypony shivered furiously as Twilight inched outside onto the platform. Looking left and right, she could see the powdered hills whip past, their steadily rising height foretelling the ponies' arrival at the mountains. Alpenglow stood staring at the endlessly growing path the train left behind. As far as Twilight could tell, he hadn't moved since they left Canterlot.
“Alpenglow, are you alright out here?” Twilight shouted over the wind.
“I’m fine,” he answered without looking back, hardly raising his voice.
Twilight was freezing solid where she stood, so she quickly said, “I wanted to ask you more questions about Blight. Do you think you can take a break from standing out here?”
Alpenglow wordlessly turned around and followed Twilight into the car, sitting down on the end of one couch, next to Spike and Rarity. Twilight quickly closed the door- to everypony's relief- and sat back down next to Rainbow. Applejack looked at Alpenglow, eyes slightly narrowed. Whether it was from suspicion or fascination, Twilight couldn't say. In all honesty, she still felt a bit uneasy whenever she had to turn to look at Alpenglow, only to be met with a razor-thin visor instead of eyes.
As if she had read Twilight's mind, Rarity used her magic to remove Alpenglow’s helmet and place it on the floor next to him. “A thousand pardons, dear, but it’s considered polite to take off one’s headgear indoors nowadays,” she said pleasantly, "especially if it covers one's face."
“If you say so, miss."
No reaction as far as Twilight could tell. “So," she started, “let’s go over what we’ve learned so far. We know that Blight is some kind of conjurer or wizard from Starswirl the Bearded’s time.”
“A might powerful one,” Applejack threw in.
“And…really scary,” bleated Fluttershy.
Twilight continued, “We also know he’s somehow able to resist the Elements of Harmony.”
“No kidding,” griped Rainbow, “They didn’t do a thing to him. What’s up with that?”
“But they did,” Twilight reminded. “The elements destroyed the vines that took over Ponyville, and they did something to Blight that made him want to get rid of us. I hate to admit it, but that might've been the only reason we escaped so easily.”
“I still don’t get how he pulled that off,” said Applejack with a shrug.
“Me neither.” Twilight turned her head. “Alpenglow, do you know why the elements weren’t enough to defeat Blight?”
The stallion's eyes wandered outside. “It’s hard to say," he said dryly. "The Princess told me the Elements of Harmony are the strongest magic to date that she and Luna have discovered. Still, Starswirl did mention that before Blight first disappeared from Equestria, he had shown a worrying interest in dark magic, and had spent the last years as his student searching the world for various artifacts.
“And how do you know all that?” asked Applejack.
Alpenglow cocked his head. “Because that’s what Starswirl told us.”
Twilight’s eyes were saucers. “You. Talked. To Starswirl the Bearded?!” she shrieked, leaning until her face was only inches from Alpenglow’s.
Spike tugged on Twilight’s mane. “Focus, Twilight.”
Twilight sat back down, blushing. “Um, right.”
Alpenglow stopped leaning away from Twilight and continued. “I remember now, he used a crystal like the ones from the Crystal Empire, but his didn’t just store messages and pictures. It was a portal that allowed him to talk with us from his own time. The crystals were passed down through each generation of knights, and once Blight escaped, mine used it to ask for Starswirl's help."
“In other words, time travel...ugh,” Spike groaned as he held his stomach.
Twilight chuckled. "We've dealt with something like that before. Let's just say it wasn't the best time we've ever had."
“I imagine. Whenever Starswirl tried to explain the magic behind it, he made my head hurt.” Alpenglowe rubbed his neck. “That kind of magic is always…messy.”
“As messy as bubblegum cake batter?” Pinkie asked earnestly.
“Sorry, miss, I wouldn’t know.”
Pinkie beamed. “Just wondering!”
“So where do we find this here time crystal?” asked Applejack. “Gettin’ help from a unicorn like Starswirl’s gotta count for somethin’ against Blight.”
Alpenglow shook his head. “It was lost on my mission.” Twilight pouted; so much for meeting Starswirl.
“Hmm, perhaps finding out what happened during your mission will be just as useful,” proposed Rarity. “Twilight knows a memory spell that-”
“We’ll find everything we need at the Crystal Empire,” snapped Alpenglow.
A thick silence fell over the car. Thankfully, Fluttershy quickly spoke up. “Twilight, did you learn anything from Princess Celestia’s letter?”
Twilight reopened the parchment. “Actually,” she said, reading, “the Princess mentioned that there’s an observatory in the Appaloosan Mountains that Starswirl once used. If we don’t find anything at the Crystal Empire, we’ll head there next.”
“Yeah, good thing it’s all the way in the opposite direction,” grumbled Rainbow Dash.
“We might not have a choice, Rainbow,” Applejack pointed out. She turned to Alpenglow. “So tell us a bit ‘bout yourself, Alpenglow. Cadance told us you used to be a student of the princesses.”
“Yes, do tell. I wasn’t even aware that pegasi could be magic students,” said Rarity.
Alpenglow's eyes shifted sideways, then he spoke. “I wasn't, at least not in the usual sense. I was just a colt when I first met her. There were six of us that Princess Celestia chose for what she and Luna called ‘special instruction.’ We tended to be separate from the other students, most of which were unicorns, like the school is today.”
“Those five were the other knights, weren’t they?” asked Twilight.
The stallion hesitated a moment. “Yes,” he let out. “There was me, another pegasus, two unicorns, and two earth ponies."
“Huh, that sounds familiar,” Applejack said with a small grin.
He continued, “Roughly half our day was spent with one of the princesses, and the other half was athletic training. Sometimes they sent us to class with other students if there was something specific they wanted us to learn: history, math, most of the subjects you'd expect.”
“Exactly what kind of instruction did they give you, if not in magic like Twilight?” asked Rarity.
“Well, they did in a way," he said, staring into space. "But it was more about teaching me what magic was, how it exists in everything and everypony.”
“Princess Celestia taught me that, too,” said Twilight. “She told me all the time that there’s magic in everypony. It just shows itself in different ways.”
“Of course,” added Fluttershy. “Pegasi do magic when they control the weather, while earth ponies have a special connection to nature, which makes them wonderful with plants and animals.” Fluttershy smiled down modestly at her cutie mark. “Of course, sometimes the talents mix.”
“What about when we use the Elements of Harmony?” wondered Rainbow Dash.
“Of course,” answered Twilight, “the elements allow us to channel magic already inside all of us: the magic of friendship.”
“And not a thing in the world can beat that,” Applejack said proudly.
The train shuddered, throwing everypony onto the floor as a terrible rumbling vibrated through the floor. The ponies could feel the wheels under them jump as they drove over something.
“What the hay was that?!” shouted Rainbow.
Picking herself up, Twilight climbed over to the window, which was completely covered in frost, and opened it to peer outside. Without warning, the train threw again, and she smacked her head against the side of the window frame. Rubbing her pounding temple, she looked out again towards the engine. In the distance, through the gray film of snow and wind, she could see the tracks leading into the dark blue mouth of a ravine, which cut deep into the snow-capped mountains, forming a pass between them. The train jerked again as Twilight struggled to focus her sights on the spinning wheels below her. There, running alongside and over the rails, was the unmistakable outline of vines.