//------------------------------//
// Journey to Canterlot 
// Story: Remnants of Glory 
// by TheMajorTechie 
//------------------------------//



I accidentally deleted this entire chapter about an hour or two before this was published, so I tried my best to remember the scenes and cobble together the best that I could come up with, but either way, I like how it turned out.



It's been about half a week now since we set up camp. A few days ago, the leaders of all the groups got together, and they agreed that today, we'd start our journey to Canterlot. When we were packing, my mother protested against it, since she had just finished decorating the place. Eventually, we were able to get her to take it down and pack it up, with me bringing our family "crest" in my own saddlebag.

After we finished packing, we started off towards the destroyed train station. Not that it was really all that destroyed, it was just a bit knocked up by the war. The trains, on the other hoof... they needed work. A lot of work. The endless string of storms caused the steel bodies to rust over within days, and luckily, we were able to find an engine that looked to be in a repairable condition.

Given my family's mechanical skills, we were able to fix the thing up within a few hours, and not too long after, we packed about fifty or so into the cars, our belongings being stacked in a massive heap in the last one. I was put in charge of the train's controls while the rest of my family repaired other engines for the rest of the groups. Soon enough, I had a nice, toasty fire blazing within the engine.

As I was checking the steam pressure gauge, Jewel walked in on me, and questionably pointed at the gauge.

"What's that?" she asked, inquisitively tapping on the glass face.

"It's a pressure gauge," I replied, "Given how rusted the boiler is, I have to keep a close eye on the pressure, or else the steam could burst the engine itself, and blow this bucking thing sky-high."

Jewel sat dumbfounded in front of the gauge, her eyes closely following the needle as it silently flicked between pressure levels. Eventually, she broke from her trance, a sly smile forming on her face.

"Do you think..." she asked, "that we could build a rocket train?"

Again with questions like that. "No," I replied, "even if I had the knowledge to, I suspect that there isn't any rocket fuel around here, let alone the proper controls.

Her smile receded, and she quickly fell into a saddening mood. "Ok then..." she said, the slightest hints of disappointment showing in her eyes.

That mare has a thing for getting what she wants. She can be sassy at times, which seems more like all the time, but if she has to, she often resorts to true-to-heart emotions, something that to this day, nopony I know can resist.

"Fine, fine," I sighed audibly, "Once we get to Canterlot, if I find the correct documentation, then I'll build that rocket-train of yours."

Jewel squealed in delight, and promptly left the room. I stoked the fire a bit more, and then laid back. Soon enough, I slipped deep into thought.

Canterlot... I wonder what's changed in the last thousand years... I know that technology likely has improved, hay, maybe there's automatic farms even... no, they'd be too simple for something from the future... jetpacks, maybe. With only pegasi being able to really fly, jetpacks are likely a quick and easy way that earth ponies and unicorns of this time got around... perhaps faster flying machines have been built, something that would far surpass the speed of our own airships back in the Empire...

My train of thought was quickly cut off by the annoyingly wet feeling on my mane. Sheesh, just a few minutes of relaxation and the water injector pipe bursts. I promptly took out my now-soggy saddlebag to retrieve some scrap metal. Due to my skill with metal and various complex mechanisms, not only did I fix the leak in the water injector, but I practically retrofit the entire piping with a stronger support pipe with an automated water-backup system in case of an overflow. I really underestimate my own skills sometimes.

Anyways, not too long after, the heat of the fire began to bring the strength of the steam into check. The pressure gauge slowly crept up towards the higher range, unlike where it was minutes ago in the passive range, matching the surrounding air pressure. I disengaged the brakes, causing the engine to immediately jolt forwards, surprising both myself and the passengers. slowly but steadily, the rusty wheels of the cars began to roll out of their positions that they had become cemented in, and we began to gain speed. I waved to the rest of my family as I passed by their train in the repair yard, and we then went on our way towards Canterlot.

Along the way, I saw the nearly snowed-over path that I had blazed a week or so back to lead the "troops" back to the Empire. By now, the snow had become so thick that the path was just a mere dent in the drifts. Luckily for us however, I thought ahead. I knew that here, the drifts would be much thicker, so I also spent the time to install a wedge plow on the front of the engine, and that allowed us to easily slip through the blanketing layers.


~~~{Canterlot/Crystal Empire Border}~~~


I feel pretty disappointed in what I'm seeing right now. I at first thought that our "enemies" as Sombra called them, had won, since we were obviously freed from his grasp. Apparently, he either took down Canterlot as a whole with him, or everypony kinda just... upped and left. All around, the only thing that we could see for miles were derelict buildings, many of them sagging just the way that the factories in the Empire were. By the time we arrived at the main Canterlot Train Station, the scenery was nearly unrecognizable. I mean, yeah, a thousand years is plenty of time for change, but I know for a fact that Canterlot Castle does NOT have several blast holes shot cleanly through the entire structure. I also know that those "skyscrapers" in the city below were definitely not designed to be leaning on each other in such dangerous ways.

All I know is this: Canterlot is no more.