The Singers

by Waxworks

Out for a Ride

No sooner had her eyes closed than she found herself in a dark landscape. Ahead of her were three massive stone pillars jutting up from the darkness. At their peaks sat three lights—red, blue, and green—which blinked in tandem with each other. Applejack heard a growling coming from behind and turned to look.

A dark cloud filled with red lightning stormed in the distance. Two white spots moved and shifted in the imposing darkness, seeming to blink at her. Great, smoky limbs reached out after her, but as one claw descended on her the landscape shifted and she was pulled away from it. A deep, wrenching cry filled the air as the claws stuck into the ground, shaking everything with the impact.

As the darkness pulled itself along the ground, following her as she moved without effort, a sudden deep, singing chime filled the air. The darkness halted its advance, brought its claws up to what must be its head and cried out in pain. The chime struck again. Applejack turned to look at the three peaks again, and the lights were glowing brighter, each light flashing one after the other when the chime sounded.

“Jaaaaaack!” the dark cloud called to her. “Jaaaaaack! I need you Jaaaack!”

Applejack shook her head and turned to run. Her limbs were sluggish, moving her slowly across the featureless landscape in an awkward, shuffling run.

“Jaaaaaack! They’re taking me away, Jack! You don’t want me gone, do you Jaaaaack? We’re friends!”

Applejack ran for the peaks, wading through a thick nothing toward them one hoof at a time, struggling and pulling.

“Jack!”

“Jack!”

“Jaaack!”

“Jaaaaaack!”

Applejack jolted awake to see Mina in front of her, with two ticket-taker ponies next to her.

“Whuh?” Applejack mumbled, still half asleep.

“Ma’am, I’ll need to see your ticket as well. Are you friends with this mare? She claims you are,” the one standing closest to her said.

Applejack blearily pulled her ticket out of her hat and held it up to him. “We’re acquaintances at best. She refused to buy a ticket, so kick her off. It won’t do you any good.” The two stallions looked at each other and shrugged.

“Jack, how could you!” Mina yelled, half-heartedly struggling against them.

“You’re just gonna jump back on anyhow. Don’t see why I need to get mixed up in it.”

“It’s the principle of the thing, Jack! I thought we were friends.”

Applejack just waved a hoof. “See you in fifteen minutes, Mina.”

Mina huffed and let herself be taken away. The ticket-takers gave Applejack a look, but she just covered her eyes with her hat and went back to sleep.

The dream dropped her right back where she had left it. The dark cloud was looming overhead and the peaks in the distance were playing their chime. Applejack was trapped between them. No matter how hard she ran or how much the dark cloud was pushed back by the chiming, she didn’t get any closer to either one.

The claws of the dark cloud thrust into the ground on either side of her. The ground beneath her quaked with each strike, but no matter how close they came, they never hit her. She didn’t get struck by anything, not even debris that flew up from the ground and off into the sky. Everything was rising and falling all around her, the cloud of darkness devouring everything in its path as it strove to reach her.

“Wha- oo- ye- -ahn!” Applejack tried to speak, but it came out in a muffled and awkward garble. Despite that, the cloud seemed to understand. It ceased its angry digging at the ground around her and focused its gaze on her puny, orange form.

It spoke, but it didn’t speak in words. There was a deep bass thrumming, in a tune that Applejack swore she recognized, but couldn’t place. It filled the air, and the peaks in the distance went dim as it pushed back against them. They struck again, harder, trying to fight back against the angry yowling of the cloud of darkness. The two fought each other, Applejack momentarily forgotten as the cloud realized it could now fight back, and she was thrown about.

She jolted awake, the train’s swaying waking her up as she almost rolled out of her seat. She blinked, and saw Mina sitting across from her. Her mane was flat again and her eyes were cold as she stared.

“Welcome back, Mina,” Applejack said with a yawn.

Mina just kept glaring.

“Y’know, I figured you’d get back somehow. How did you manage it this time? I can’t hear singin’, so I figure Dark Lord is struggling to catch up with the train.”

“I ran.”

Applejack snorted. “You ran to catch up with the train? Ahhh, that’s funny. Is that why you’re so mad at me?”

“Yes.”

Applejack wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Well, you’re here now. I knew you would be. If you really want to watch this that badly, more power to ya.”

Mina grinned. “That’s right, Jack. I’m only here to watch.”

“Yeah. You seem really intent on that. What if he never catches up, eh? I mean, how fast can he ‘float’, or whatever it is he does for travel?”

“He doesn’t get tired like you do,” Mina said, still smiling that toothy grin.

“Yeah, thank goodness for the train. I needed a place to nap.” Applejack rolled onto her side and covered her eyes with her hat again. “Hey, just keep it down, eh? I should get as much rest as I can.”

“I think you’ve rested enough.”

“Nah, I’ll sleep for as long as the trip takes. Get in as much rest as possible before I have to pick up running again.”

“No, I mean it. You have rested enough.”

Applejack lifted her hat from her eyes and looked at Mina. She still had on that ear-to-ear grin with far too many of her teeth showing. “What?”

“Time to rely on your own two hooves again, Jack.”

The train jerked and rattled. Applejack was thrown from her seat into the aisle as the whole car shook. Ponies screamed, metal squealed, and then there was a *BOOM* from up ahead. A series of *BOOMS* followed, and with each one the train car wobbled, until they reached their car. Mina remained seated upright and unaffected the entire time, even as the car tilted.

“What did you do?” Applejack yelled.

Mina just kept grinning. She stayed seated even as the car fell on its side and rolled. Applejack held onto the seat with all her might as the train car fell into whatever chasm they had been next to when the crash had occurred.

It seemed to last forever, but soon the car stopped rolling. There was the squeal of straining metal, and the sound of scraping, then they finally came to a complete halt.

Applejack was dangling from the seat, her hind hooves pointing down toward the ceiling of the train car. Mina was sitting pretty, upside-down in her seat without a buckle or seatbelt or even holding on to anything. Applejack wanted to ask, but she needed to save herself, first.

The roof clunked as Applejack let go and dropped to it. She looked around for anypony else, but the two of them seemed to be alone in their car. Mina slowly dropped from her seat, righted herself, and landed next to Jack with a light *tap* of her hooves on the metal roof.

“What the hay did you do?” Applejack jabbed a hoof at her.

“You weren’t willing to wait for the Dark Lord, which I was content with watching from afar, but leaving me to fend for myself when my entire life has been leading up to this point is unforgivable,” Mina leaned into the hoof, pushing her face up against Applejack’s. “Do not abandon me again, or worse still will happen.”

“You’re damn well mad!”

Mina laughed. She stood up on her hind hooves, flapped her robes, and twirled. “I’m so glad you noticed!” When she finished the twirl, her mane had fluffed up again and she had on a bright, genuine smile. “We should go, though! The train’s gonna fall!”

Applejack shook her head. She refused to try to understand how the mare did that. Instead, she turned and glanced out the window.

The train had slid to a cliff. Somewhere near the Canterlot mountains, if she had to guess a location. Whatever Mina had done to the train, the engine had fallen off the tracks slid down the hill and pulled the rest of the train with it. She could see the engine dangling off the cliff nearby. It was the only part of the train off the edge, but it was only a matter of time before it swung too far and carried the rest of the train over with it.

“Oh, horsefeathers!” Applejack jumped away from the window and made for the back of the car. She reached the door and hopped up to grab the handle. She pulled, turned, and the door swung open to reveal the chasm next to them. “Dammit!” She turned back and looked around, but couldn’t find any other means of escape… or Mina.

“Come on, Jack!” Mina’s voice giggled. “Don’t be so dumb. Just climb out a window!”

Applejack looked at the windows, and saw Mina, outside the train, waving cheerfully at her. She climbed easily out of the window and onto the rocky ground next to the pink mare.

“That was clever.”

“I’m very good at that.”

“At bein’ clever?”

Mina nodded.

Applejack trotted along the cliffside, which was dotted with destroyed trees and small patches of snow. The crowd of ponies leaving the train had congregated on a small patch of flat land just above where the train had come to a halt. There was one of the ticket-takers yelling for everypony to gather up so they could take roll and see if anypony was missing. Applejack joined them and sat down, ready to relax.

Mina followed her, and when they had sat down, she leaned in close to whisper. “You can’t stop here. He’ll catch up, and they’ll all die.”

“I know that!” Applejack hissed. “But it’ll take your Dark Lord some time to catch up, right?”

Mina shrugged. She stood up and bounded around the assemblage, looking for what, Applejack didn’t know. Nopony seemed to mind, in fact, they appreciated Mina’s upbeat attitude and cheerful demeanor. She was making jokes, causing laughter, and got everypony helping one another.

Applejack left her to whatever it was Mina was doing and went to talk to the conductor. The train was still groaning ominously, and the workers were all up near the engine, seeing if there was anything they could do to get it back up.

“Don’t think that thing’s comin’ back up, y’all,” Applejack said as she approached. Everypony except the conductor turned to look at her, the conductor just stared at his beloved engine. “Do y’all got anypony comin’ to pick us all up?”

“Ma’am, if you could just go back with the other passengers, we’ll come and address your concerns soon enough.”

“I was comin’ to see if there was something I could do to help, actually. Some way to help get these folks to safety, or at least keep them safe until help arrives.”

One of the stallions looked at the rest of the crew, then back at her. “Look, miss, we’re trying to figure out if it’s safe to go back into the train and get some supplies. The engine could go at any moment, and that would end up taking the rest of the train with it. You could… I don’t know… start a fire or something to help keep them warm?”

Applejack nodded and left them to their work. She, along with a few other ponies, began scrounging around for sticks and other flammable things to start a fire. When they had enough material, one of the unicorns was nice enough to hit a spark and get a crackling blaze going for them on the chilly slope.

Eventually, Mina came back to sit next to Applejack in the crowd of ponies. “Jaaaack. You can’t stay here, Jack.” Her mane was still fluffy, but it had lost some of its poof.

“I know that, Mina, thank you,” Applejack said with a frown.

“But while you’re hear, there’s a little family right over there that is concerned about the cold. The daughter is sick, and the chilly mountain air is only going to make her sicker. She could really use a blanket.” Mina pointed across the fire at a family of six. It was just a mare and five foals, none of whom looked any older than eight.

“Why are you tellin’ me this? I don’t have any blankets.”

“I know where you could get sooooome,” Mina sang, and pointed at one of the train cars. “In there is a biiiiig suitcase. It’s made of reinforced leather and locked with a combination lock. The code is seven-six-six-nine, and it is filled with hoof-made quilts. They will do nopony any good locked up in there, but it would save a lot of lives in this cold.”

Applejack looked at Mina. The mare’s eyes were wide and vibrant—perhaps too vibrant. “Why are y’all tellin’ me this?”

Mina shrugged. “I just thought you wanted to help, since you’re still hanging around here instead of moving on.”

Applejack looked down at the accident site. The stallions below had attached ropes to the engine and tied them to some trees. It looked like they were trying to pull the engine back up, or at least get some slack so they could disconnect it from the rest of the train.

“What’s the catch? You’re being strangely helpful.”

Mina looked offended. “Why, Jack, I just want to help my fellow ponies. I’d go myself, but, you know.” Mina made a noncommittal gesture that made no sense whatsoever to Applejack.

“I’m not quite sure I do, but fine.” She stood up. “I’ll go fetch your blankets, since you think ponies need them. I never turn anypony away. That’s not the Apple Family way.”

Mina grinned a toothy grin. “I knew I could count on you, Jack! Be safe now!” Mina waved.

Applejack climbed down the hill and approached the car Mina had pointed at. It was solidly on the edge of the mountain, no part of it hanging off the lip. It would be safe enough to enter, and nothing she could do short of jumping out the windows on the other side would cause her any harm.

The real danger was the engine.

If they lost control of it and it fell, they would have to be quick enough to decouple the cars or it would take the whole train with it.

Nopony paid much attention to Applejack descending to the train. Some glanced at her, but they didn’t expect her to do anything to it. Nopony was that crazy. Applejack glanced at Mina. She waved and smiled, her mane fluffy.

Nopony was that crazy.

She entered the car and looked around. The car was a jumbled mess of bags, suitcases, clothes, jewelry, and other traveling items. All of them were valuable to somepony, and she was sure they wanted them, but the workers had suggested nopony re-enter the cars to get their things until they knew it was safe. A suggestion Applejack agreed with.

But those cold foals weren’t going to save themselves. If there truly was a bag full of blankets, everypony would appreciate that. How Mina found out, she didn’t know, but she had been talking to a bunch of ponies. It made some amount of sense. She could have even suggested she’d go get the item, which is how she knew the combination.

Applejack sifted through the suitcases strewn about quickly, she didn’t want to be in here any longer than she had to, and soon found the reinforced leather suitcase. It was big, and it was heavy, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She grabbed hold of it in her teeth and turned for the door, when she heard singing.

Her blood went cold. Had she really been waiting that long? Had she really taken so much time out of her day waiting with these ponies that the damned cursed dark lord had caught up to her?

Something in the window caught her eye and she looked at it. It was Mina, mane flat once again, grinning at her through the glass with her hooves flat on the cracked fixture. She mouthed something Applejack couldn’t hear, and then the train shifted again.

Applejack scrambled for the exit, dragging the suitcase with her at first. After the train shook and tilted once more, she dropped it and ran. She got to the door only to find it slammed shut, Mina blocking it.

“Mina, what the—?”

Mina put a hoof to Applejack’s mouth. “You were getting too comfortable, Jack. You thought you could keep running, and helping ponies, and maybe even find those singing stones you love so very much, but you need to understand, okay?” Her other hoof came up and caressed Applejack’s mane. Applejack brushed it away, and Mina looked hurt. “There’s no escaping, and you can’t help, and capricious fate won’t allow you to get away, ‘I’ won’t allow you to get away.”

The singing was louder now, the cacophonous trumpeting of thousands of pained voices screaming in Applejack’s ears of things best left unknown to all of ponykind. Metal squealed, and something tugged the train a few feet across the ground.

“Mina, let me out. I don’t want to have to hurt you,” Applejack warned.

“Jack…” she looked sad. “You can hurt me, but it still won’t stop the inevitable from happening. Don’t you want to take the leap? See what’s out there?”

“Not while I still got life left to live!” She reared up and kicked at Mina. Mina didn’t move and took both hooves to the face. One of her teeth flew out in a spray of blood, and she crumpled to the floor of the train. Applejack pushed past and tried to open the doors, but they only rattled in the frame.

The singing grew louder, and the scraping of metal came once, twice, then the whole train went over the edge. Applejack heard a stallion’s voice shouting as she went over, and then she was weightless.

Suitcases, jewelry, and stray clothing flew up around her. There was no sound in her ears except for the cursed, deep singing of Benebarriz as his dark clouds filled the train car around her. Her face burned where she knew the markings were and she cringed in pain. Her hat flew up off her head and floated in front of her face as she fell. She sighed inwardly and waited for death to take her.

Then there was pink.