Light at the End of the Tunnel

One cold autumn morning a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle arrived at the Canterlot train station. She saw a vending machine and a soda machine, but wasn’t hungry or thirsty. There was nobody else except her, so she waited in silence. A chilling breeze swept the leaves off the platform, and gave her the shivers. Twilight realized she should have brought a coat.

Finally, after waiting for what seemed like a long time, the train arrived. Twilight stepped inside. There were three other ponies who were already on the train. Twilight thought they would get off but they hadn’t moved, so she took a seat by a window. The train carried her off. Twilight thought about her mother and father. She hoped parents weren’t upset that she hadn’t said goodbye. Maybe she should have left them a note, she thought. Twilight decided to call them when she gets to her destination.

As the train ride progressed, the city of Canterlot was becoming far away from view until the great white castle looked like a miniature model. As civilization became smaller and smaller the countryside grew wider and wider. Twilight entered a painting full of mountains and valleys, tall wheat plains with a never-ending stretch of pine and oak trees. She realized she never saw this part of Equestria before. It was quite stunning.

Only a mere few minutes into the ride on the locomotive all the light from outside disappeared. The train was going through a tunnel. Since there was nothing to see through the window Twilight decided to take note of the three passengers. There was a stallion wearing a green suit jacket and white shirt, a red bow-tie and glasses. His hair was light-brown, short and combed. His face was buried in a book. She figured he must be a teacher at a university. Looking further she saw a mare sitting near the end of the cab. Her mane was blonde and she possessed wrinkles on her beige face, although she didn’t look elderly. Middle-aged, probably. She was knitting. Strange, Twilight thought. Finally, the third pony - no, a zebra, surprisingly. The zebra’s head was peeled to the window, with a blank expression on his face. And now Twilight is the fourth.

A long time passed until Twilight realized they were still inside the tunnel. She looked back at the three passengers. None of them looked surprised or questioned anything. They didn’t even looked worried. Twilight scratched her head. Then she decided not to think too much about it. We’ll be out of the tunnel soon, she said to herself.

Blackness outside the train remained. Twilight gazed at the window in disbelief. How could it be possible for a tunnel to be this long? She quietly stepped away from her seat to speak to the engineer. She opened the door and noticed the engineer hat slightly over the seat, called out to him, but there was no answer. Twilight called to him again, but he wouldn’t turn around. She slowly turned the seat around.

Twilight stumbled backward upon seeing that the seat was empty. She rushed back to the cab, sat very still. Twilight looked to the passengers. There was no reaction, no hint of fear or confusion in their faces. The stallion continued to read, the mare kept knitting, and the zebra’s head remained stuck to the window.

She lied back on her seat, breathing heavily, her hoof to her chest. There couldn’t possibly be anything worse than being trapped in a train with no driver while inside a seemingly endless tunnel.

Someone tapped her arm. Twilight jumped, then tried to calm herself when it was only the knitting mare. “Excuse me, I was busy with something. I noticed you got off your seat.” she asked.

“We’re in a train with no driver,” Twilight answered.

“Oh dear. I’m on my way to Manehattan from Summersville to visit family. I hope we won’t be late. Aunt Flora hates it when I’m late. You poor thing, you must be frightened.” The mare resumed knitting, and Twilight’s mouth fell agape. Time seem to stand still. A moment later the mare turned around. “You can have this scarf,” she said with a smile. “It’ll keep you warm. Try it on.”

Twilight stared at her blankly. The mare kept her smile up, then Twilight slowly grabbed the scarf with her magic and wrapped it around herself. The mare nodded and went back to her seat. Twilight turned away from the mare and gazed at nothing.

“Excuse me, what were you saying earlier?” someone asked. Twilight looked, and saw the stallion with glasses speaking to her.

“The engineer is missing,” she answered. Her voice was weak and low, full of bewilderment.

“Oh golly. I hope it doesn’t interfere with my trip to Saddleberg. I have an interview for a job at the publishing company there, not to mention I’m writing a book - a short story collection, that is. It’s a work in progress, but it’s going quite well.” The stallion took out his briefcase and presented a stack of papers. “This is only the second draft. Would you like to hear some of it?”

Twilight deathly stayed silent. Then, cautiously, she said, “No. No I would not.”

“I promise you it’s very good,” said the stallion. He cleared his throat and spoke. Apparently he wrote yet another literary story about a middle-aged college professor contemplating an affair. The story lasted for twenty-five pages. “I have some more material for my collection. What do you think?”

While the stallion read his collection Twilight paced back and forth through the cab. She convinced herself that this was a nightmare, and she’ll wake up any minute in her own bedroom. Her mother will tell her that heard her making noises in her sleep, and her father will offer her a glass of warm milk, her favorite beverage from fillyhood. This is just a nightmare, she repeated to herself.

As more time passed the train ran through the long tunnel. She sat down with her face buried in her hooves. What if the train collided with another train? There will be nobody to go to. The stallion read a short story collection he was working on the side, hoping it will make the situation better. The mare knitted an autumn sweater for her.

“What are you guys doing this?” she asked, tears flowing from her eyes. “Don’t you care that nopony knows where we are? Don’t you care about your own lives?”

The stallion and the mare gave questioning glances at each other, then shrugged. He continued to read his story collection while the mare knitted gloves. Twilight curled and held herself, crying silently for this nightmare to end.

“Do you want to know why this is happening?” a voice asked. Twilight looked and saw the zebra looking directly at her with his yellow eyes. He hadn’t said anything until now. “This is the train of the dead. Those two have been here for years. In fact, they’ve lost all sense of time. The stallion died in a carriage accident, the mare in a fire in her home. They are so caught up in their earthly ways that they haven’t accepted that they’re among the dead, so they live life as though they are still alive.”

“... Train of the dead?” asked Twilight. Her voice shook with fear.

The zebra nodded.

“Who are you?” she asked again.

“My name is Charon,” the zebra said. “I am the real owner of this train. I carry souls to their destination. It’s too late for them, but you still have a chance to get off.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think long and hard,” said Charon.

Twilight did as she was told, and then everything came back to her. She remembered being very sick and making frequent trips to the hospital. She had an incurable disease that only infected unicorns. Everyday she grew weaker and weaker until she couldn’t get out of bed. Her parents stayed by her side. Princess Celestia visited her, her acquaintances from the School for Gifted Unicorns, even her brother stepped down from his position in the Royal Guard to be with her until the end. There were long, agonizing months. Her heart stopped beating at four o’clock in the morning.

Twilight’s voice cracked, a lump formed in her throat that she couldn’t swallow. Charon only watched as the unicorn fell to the floor, listening to her muffled sobbing. All this time she hadn’t known.

“Now you understand,” said Charon.

“What’s going to happen to me?” she cried.

“You will enter paradise.”

Twilight looked up at him and wiped her eyes. Charon helped Twilight to her legs and had her sit down. He explained to Twilight that she passed the test and is able to move on. The stallion and the mare, unfortunately, will forever stay on this long train ride until they accept the truth. “Which will likely never happen,” he said. “No matter how much I explain to them they will not believe me.” Charon shrugged.

Twilight sat down and thought about the things she will miss. Her parents, Shining Armor, baby Spike. Seeing Princess Celestia raise the sun every summer solstice, opening presents with her family during Hearth’s Warming. Going to the lake house in the country when the weather gets warm. She never had the chance to say goodbye to Cadence. One of her cousins was learning how to play the piano. He was going to have a recital soon.

The train slowed down, then made a complete stop. Charon stood beside her, helped her out of her seat, and led her out of the cab. Outside was glorious shining light. Twilight immediately covered her eyes, but the light felt soothing, relaxing. Twilight stepped forward and all her grief vanished from her. She couldn't explain it, but she felt at peace. Twilight looked at Charon for the last time. He gave her a little smile, then slid the cab door shut. The train drove away to eternity.

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