You were excited. As a student of Celestia's school for talented and gifted unicorns, part of your study was to visit each of Equestria's three other princesses and see how they each fulfill their duties. Being the good student you were, princesses Luna and Cadence had already been visited, and there was only one princess left for you to visit.
Princess Twilight, the princess of friendship. You were particularly eager to talk to this princess, and to see her castle. It was supposed to be amazing. Princess Celestia had even contacted Princess Twilight and arranged to have you stay in the castle.
That's why you were on the train heading to Ponyville. Your car was empty besides yourself, and you had taken to practicing your introduction to the princess out loud. "Hello, Princess Twilight. I'm [name]. It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."
"Does that sound too formal?" you asked yourself, "Well, too formal is probably better than too casual." Sighing, you turned to the window, resting your hooves on the windowsill as you looked out at the moving landscape.
You could see Ponyville coming into view, Princess Twilight's castle shimmering in the background. A nervous giggle escaped you. It was just so crazy that you were actually going to be able to stay with a princess!
You levitated your notes and books up around you, looking over your notes and research one last time. You would arrive in the town any minute now. You had to make sure you knew exactly what you were talking about when you arrived in the princess's castle.
You were barely into your final studying when a earsplitting explosion sounded from the front of the train. It lurched to the side and the brakes came on with a loud screech. All of your things were scattered to different corners of the car, but you started galloping for the front of the train, running through all the cars in between.
It wasn't clear what that explosion had been, but you just had to find out. Maybe you could help.
When you got to the engine room, the conductor was in a panic, yelling something as he clung to the brake level with all his might. When he spotted you, he shrieked. "The bridge to Ponyville is out! We're going to fall into the chasm!"
"Not if I can help it," you declared, concentrating hard and pouring magic into your horn. The engine car glowed, and based on how much the spell was draining you, the entire train much have been encompassed as well. Using your magic, you stopped the train. The conductor locked the break and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Wow, thanks!" he breathed, shaking your hoof, "Thank you! Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't been here." He glanced out the window. "Looks like we'll all be walking to Ponyville now. There should be a hoofbridge to get across the gorge."
"I'll start guiding people over," you said, eager for everyone to get going. You were going to be late for sure, but if people got going pretty soon, you might not be too late. And Princess Twilight would understand for sure.
You started going through each carriage, instructing passengers to get outside and prepare for the trek to Ponyville. You handed out explanations to any pony who asked, but you tried to keep it quick. You were in a hurry, after all.
You met the conductor afterwords as the crowd of ponies got their things together. You had packed light, just a saddlebag that you had easily slipped onto your back. "So, Mr. Conductor," you started.
"Yes?" he asked.
"How long until all these ponies get move out?" I asked. The conductor raised a hoof toward part of the group of ponies.
"You can take half of them in you want. The bridge is just a mile that way. It's a rope bridge, so keep an eye out. I'll bring the second group in a little bit."
You nodded. "Alright!" You galloped over to part of the group that seemed a little more organized. "I'm going to be leading you all to Ponyville. Come on. It's this way!" You turned and started off, with the group starting to follow behind you.
You walked for awhile, and you kept my eyes peeled for the bridge. It wasn't until you thought you must have passed it that you spotted the posts that marked where the bridge should be. You galloped over, only to find that, to your horror, the hoofbridge was out as well.
"How are we ever going to get to Ponyville now?" one pony asked. You squinted at the other side of the bridge and spotted the bridge, dangling from the other side. Using your magic, you lifted the piece of bridge toward the other side. Maybe you could tie it back on.
But it didn't quite reach. There was a short gap between the edge of the cliff and the bridge. The ponies in your group groaned unhappily. "Hey, why don't you each take turns jumping across. It's barely a foot. I'll hold the bridge up until everyone's across." You were a little tired still from the whole train ordeal, but you were confident you could keep the bridge help up.
The first brave pony hopped onto the bridge, and when it stayed up, other ponies started hopping on as well. They were still a little nervous, but they all eventually got across.
And then, of course, the conductor showed up. "What's going on?" he asked.
"This bridge is out too, and rope doesn't quite reach. I'm holding it up to let everyone cross. You can all go too."
The conductor raised an eyebrow. "You sure you can handle that, miss...?"
"It's [name]," you told him, "And yes, I'm sure I can. I'm a student of Princess Celestia." The conductor's group starting hopping onto the bridge, and you could feel the strain of holding up the bridge while all those ponies crossed.
"Well, alright," the conductor said, hopping the gap himself, "if you say so." After a moment, you were the last one. Alright, now was the tricky part. You had to keep the bridge up while you crossed it.
Both groups were waiting for you to cross the bridge. Uncertainly, you jumped the gap, suddenly feeling the strain of having to lift yourself. The bridge wobbled a bit as you took a few steps forward. You could feel the sweat beading on your forehead as you made your way across the levitating bridge.
A sudden feeling made you pale. It felt like when some pony else tapped your horn during a spell. Everything just quit. The spell dissolved, and you had barely made it halfway across the gap. With a shriek, you found yourself falling into the gorge.
"[Name]!"
And that's all you could remember.