Chapter 19
That night, Dangersignal was out patrolling the area when he heard something on the wind. Without a second thought as to what it could be, he used his magic and readied his weapon, a spear.
“Show yourself!” he ordered.
Silence. Dangersignal looked tensely around, his eyes scanning the pitch black night. There was no moon and no stars, so lighting was non-existent. He glanced around, then continued his patrol, with his weapon ready to strike down the intruder.
As he rounded the castle’s left wall, he saw something coming towards him. Not wasting any time, he grabbed his spear and used it as a baseball bat, to strike down his assailant. The mysterious attacker dodged and tackled him hard, causing him to tumble backwards.
Scrambling to his feet, he used his horn to create a light so he could see…a Pegasus wearing an explorer’s vest, explorer’s style hard had, had a light Khaki coat with a grayscale mane (Similar layers to Rainbow Dash’s, but in grays and blacks). The Pegasus had raspberry red eyes and wore a rather arrogant smile.
“I heard you were working with strange creatures,” she snarled.
Dangersignal bucked once, nailing her in the stomach and sending her flying. He didn’t have time to grab his weapon, so he simply used what he had available, which was his weight. Taking to the air, he lunged at the strange Pegasus and tackled her. He soon had her wings and front hooves pinned and he was behind her.
“Who are you and what do you want?” he hissed.
“Not telling you anything!” she spat, trying desperately to strike him.
The other guards were away, to assist Luna and Celestia with some diplomatic functions and Dragonstorm was away on a night goods to Maretonia. It was supposed to have been Dangersignal’s turn of duty, but after the derailment of the Seesaw 31, he had been moved back to guard duties.
Being alone made it difficult to be in forty places at once and do protection duties. With this intruder refusing to give her name and attacking him, he was neglecting his other duties. This was not helpful at all and if Twilight heard of this, then trouble would ensue, which would result in him being permanently relieved of duties.
“I can’t waste time with you!” the dark red Alicorn spat at the intruder and shoved her away. “Come back with some sense and maybe some sanity, then I’ll talk with you. Until then, buzz off!”
The intruder snarled and tried to attack Dangersignal while he was getting his weapon ready and straightening his armor, only to be tackled by someone else. Dangersignal swung round just in time to see Rainbow Dash and the intruder staring intently at each other, then smiling.
“Daring Do!” Rainbow Dash squeaked. “What brings you here?”
“Him,” Daring Do said, gesturing at me.
“What about him?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I heard about those monsters he works with,” Daring Do replied.
“You mean his railway locomotives?” Rainbow Dash quizzed. “This Alicorn is not only a guard of this castle, but is the Controller of the Equestrian Railways.”
“Daring Do” scoffed and went off in a huff. Dangersignal thanked Rainbow Dash and after telling her to go back to bed, the Alicorn resumed guard duties. As he rounded the castle to guard the back wall, a whistle from a nightly goods sounded and the vibrations from the passing train soothed him.
He continued his rounds, and when Shaydefire came out to relieve him for the midnight watch, Dangersignal told him that nothing out of the ordinary happened. Once Shaydefire accepted duties, Dangersignal trundled off to bed.
‘Sleep sounds good right about now,’ Dangersignal thought.
As he trundled passed his brother’s door, he noticed that his brother was snoozing comfortably. That made him smile sweetly and he soon drifted off to sleep. He was out for what seemed to be forever, but it was only seven hours and when he awoke, he noticed “Daring Do” hovering above him.
“What do you want?” Dangersignal asked, ready to fight.
“This is for you,” she said, dropping a folded piece of paper on him.
He opened it and read, then he looked up at her.
“This is all we need,” he groaned. “Right, I need to be alone to make some arrangements. This is not what we stand for at all.
“Daring Do” merely shook her head and departed. Dangersignal checked all timetables and free engine rosters. When he had the right engine for the job, he found pen and paper, then wrote out the orders.
Once that was all done, he sent them off, then headed downstairs. Rainbow Dash was waiting for him and once the others were back, they announced their engagement and the tentative date of the marriage. While it was big news, the others accepted it in style and were pleased.
Some days later, Dragonstorm and Lightning Dust told them the same news and again, they were congratulated.
Once again, the same two figures that had watched Dangersignal and Rainbow Dash at the harbor, watched the two brothers and their girls. They smiled at each other and disappeared into the darkness, finally pleased.