Sol-less Equus

by Wolfwaffe

VI - What was, will be-

The engine of Glacies was working in a steady beat, pushing the steel behemoth forward. The colossus did not care for the atmosphere of tension inside it, plowing through Äther like it usually did.

Smolder was the first one to actually get a feel of it as she entered the engine room. Inside were Ashes and Mecha. The unicorn was angrily pacing back and forth in front of the boiler, while the dragoness was feeding the furnaces with her usual neutral expression.

"-can't believe it, I just can't!" Mecha ranted, "The last pony in the world I want to see aboard Kapitän's train is actually aboard!"

"Again, remind me, why are you here?" Ashes deadpanned from behind the boiler, "Honestly, this is the worst place you could pick to cool down."

The unicorn sighed, "Yes, yes, I know. It's just that you are the most level-headed here, and your calmness has an influence on me…" he looked calm for a moment, before scowling and stomping angrily, "That damn bitch! I swear, I could live a life without ever hearing her name again, not to mention seeing her in person, not to mention having her aboard! It's all Tin's fault, him and that-"

A chunk of coal flew over Mecha's head, making the unicorn duck to avoid it, and shattered against the wall.

"Colt. Calm down," Ashes said with surprising chill in her voice, her expression barely changing - but enough to indicate the anger underneath, "And shut up, before you say things you'll regret later"

The gray stallion took a few deep breaths, and closed his eyes.

"...I apologize," he muttered, "You are right. I… I am still angry, but I need to keep my emotions in check. It will be over soon and I will not have to worry about her..."
The unicorn grit his teeth and exhaled, "I… I'd better go. Tin-Kapitän needs me."

With that, Mecha trotted out of the engine room, still tense and with his teeth grit.

"Wow," Smolder muttered, "Does he really hate Starlight this much?"

"I heard him shout at her all the way from here. And the hatch slams, too," the black dragoness said, "I think it's quite obvious."

"Well, I hope Tin will be able to keep him from killing Starlight," Smolder frowned, reaching out for a shovel, but Ashes shoved an oil can in her paws.

"Grease up the generator's gearbox first, please," she said, "And on our next stop we'll have to add more oil to the engine cylinders lube box."

The orange dragoness nodded.

"As for your hope… I do hope for that, too. But in his own words…" Ashes cleared her throat, "Quote, 'when I get to killing her it will take some time: slow and painful', end quote"

"And what's your opinion?" Smolder asked, noting to inform the others about this development as she walked towards the whirring stirling generator and a rumbling gearbox.

Ashes shrugged.
"The situation is unpleasant, but we'll have to grit our teeth and do our jobs," she said. After a short pause, she added, "And if you were asking about Starlight, I'm too busy to care."

And after an even shorter pause she added:
"And don't forget to apply brakes to the stirling flywheel before greasing anything!"

---

Ocellus tried to shake off her uneasiness, sitting next to the navigation desk and watching Ten' work. The shadow stallion's eyes were half-closed as he was plotting a course for the locomotive on a sky-chart that made little sense to Ocellus.
Both the chart, and the course. Sky-navigation turned out to be a harder thing in practice than it was in theory.

"Worried?" Ten’ suddenly asked her.

"Uh…" Ocellus swallowed a lump in her throat, "Yes? A little bit?" she looked around. Tin was standing next to Gallus at the control console, the stallion's posture tense, his emotions a mix of irritation, annoyance and regret. Mecha was gazing through the side porthole with a stony expression on his face. Though it looked like if one was to put a rock candy into his mouth, he'd crush it into dust in a blink of an eye, and underneath the seemingly calm exterior was a storm of anger. The changeling sighed and added, "It's all this negativity. It affects me, and makes me feel ill..."

"I see," Ten' nodded with a frown, "Well… no can do about it," he shook his head. Belfry offered a sympathising chitter, "All we can do is wait."

"But…" Ocellus once again looked at Mecha, then whispered to Ten', "...Why? Why does Mecha hate Starlight this much?"

"Not my place to tell," Ten' replied. Ocellus’ ears drooped - more than usual. Then her ears perked back up slightly as she heard voices and hoofsteps coming up the staircase.

"...and up here is the bridge. Watch your step, the stairs are steep," Sandbar told Starlight as he ascended to the bridge. The unicorn mare followed him shortly, looking around the relatively spacious room. Mecha's ear flicked and his tail lashed from side to side.

"Good evening, miss Glimmer," Tin said in a neutral tone, "We are currently heading towards the Canterlot Nebula. Estimated time of arrival…" he glanced at Ten'.

The stallion looked over his charts once again, and ran a pencil line across it. A pause was made as he hummed, before saying, "A day and a half, if the Stars be willing, captain."

"...A day and a half," Tin nodded, "I shall inform you of our arrival."

"Very well," Starlight acknowledged. She looked around the bridge and pawed at the metal floor, then spoke again, "Um, nice locomotive you have here, captain."

Tin turned his head slightly and quirked an eyebrow. Mecha merely moved his ear.

"What I mean is, she's very well-maintained!" Starlight smiled, "She's just like new!"

"Some parts are," Tin muttered, "She was refurbished and repaired at the Crystal Empire yards… And as for maintenance, Ashes does wonders. Plus I help from time to time."

"Ashes?" Starlight tilted her head.

"Our chief engineer," Tin replied, then turned to Gallus, "Right, pilot. Engage full steam when ready. Sound the siren before throwing the lever"

"Aye, captain," the gryphon replied, his eyes running across the board, "Uh, which gauge-ah, found it"

"Anything else, Miss Glimmer?" Tin asked. Starlight shook her head, "Very well then. Please vacate the bridge now; we do not need distractions."

Starlight nodded firmly and moved downstairs. As her hoofsteps got more distant and disappeared in the noise the engine was making, the captain let out a sigh of relief.

Then Mecha suddenly turned to Tin and asked in completely flat, deadpan tone:
"Can I kill her?"

Sandbar just stared at the gray unicorn in shock. Asking questions like this, in the open? That's-

"Later," Tin grumbled. Sandbar's jaw dropped, Gallus abruptly turned his head towards Tin, and Ocellus eeped and turned into a flower pot. Ten’ merely shook his head while Belfry kept her silence.

Yup, this journey definitely became interesting.

---

Time marched onwards. Minutes, then hours, and the day was coming to an end.

"Yona can't smash. Yona can't stomp," Yona grumbled as she looked out of the porthole, "Yona can't even help carry stuff…" she let out a bitter sigh, "Yona bored."

Behind the stained glass, the scenery of the skies flew by. Sky-rocks and sky-islands. Some were verdant with different flora. Others were barren and covered in shiny seams, with some of those being surrounded by locomotives - so small from up here - and tiny figures of ponies and diamond dogs tearing the shiny bits out, with picks, drills and sometimes, explosions. Occasionally, a large silhouette of some sky-beast drifted by, uncaring and uninterested in the passing locomotive.

And there were stars. Lots of stars. Tiny dots, glistening in the dark, through the cold haze of the Äther. Tin said their light drives insane. Every creature said their light drives one insane. Yet, Yona wondered, in her boredom - with her home being thrown this high onto the skies, how much closer were those dots?
What were those dots, anyway?
Could she butt heads with them?
Could she stomp them?
Could she smash them?

A tiny dot of light flashed in the darkness amidst others and disappeared. Was that another star? Or just a locomotive headlight?

"Hey, Yona!" Silverstream's voice made her look back at the door, "What are you doing?"

"Yona bored," Yona grumbled, looking back through the porthole. She made a pause, "Friend Silverstream? Yona wonders..."

The hippogryph approached and peeked into the porthole, too, "What is it?"

"Yona wonders… are we getting closer to the stars?" the yak asked.

"Well, I sure hope we are!" the hippogryph cheerfully said, "I always wondered what those are like up close… Oooh, what is that?" she gestured at the approaching silhouette of a sky-beast. Yona snorted. The beast looked like a crossbreed of a whale and woodlice. Leaving Silverstream to watch the grotesque chimera fly along with Glacies, Yona turned around and walked to the recroom, squeezing through the dimly lit, claustrophobic hallways.

The recroom met her with the scent of buckwheat gruel, the aroma of tea, and the sounds of guitar strumming. The room had five occupants: Ocellus, Starlight, Sandbar, Gallus and Ashes. The draconic engineer sat separately from the group, holding a guitar in her paws and strummed the strings every now and then, producing a random chord, without anything tying them together.

"Hey, Yona!" Starlight waved to her, "The gruel's still hot-"

"Yona not hungry," Yona said, "Yona bored..."

"Oh," the unicorn mare blinked, "I see. Well, the locomotive doesn't seem to offer much in terms of entertainment, I agree…"

"We've got a deck of cards," Ashes noted, "We also had a chess-and-checkers set, but there has been… an accident with one of our former crew members," she made a pause and strummed another chord, "I'm not sure what he did, but from what Tin said afterwards, that sky-beast looked deeply offended and at the same time, greatly distressed"

"Do I want to know what happened?" Sandbar deadpanned. Ashes shrugged.

"R.Waul died a while ago," she said, "So we'll never know what really happened out there… and where the chess set went."

There was a momentary pause, then Gallus raised his paw and asked, "So, out of curiosity, how many of the crew died aboard this thing?" Ashes tilted her head slightly at the word 'thing', "I mean, what are our odds?"

The dragoness hummed and produced a few more chords, tying them together into a short tune.
"Well, in my service time… Four," she said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Waul and Laney were shot dead when we tried to scavenge a marauder engine for fuel. Shame about Laney, that dog had talent. Her paws were golden," another pause, "Zevran, our zebra pilot, went off the rocker and ran away when we docked at Everfree preserve. And finally, the most recent loss, Gerthrund, gryphoness pilot. Became star-seared and jumped from the hatch mid-flight, naked."

"Star-seared?" Yona asked.

"Starlight drives creatures insane,'' a voice came from behind her, making the yak jump a little and turn around… or try to. Ten' silently slipped past her into the recroom, Belfry clinging to his withers, "The light of the Stars, that is. Starlight - the mare - only drives our first officer mad," the mentioned mare's ears drooped a little for a moment, "The stained glass filters off the maddening light, but some of it still leaks through. It does not elicit madness in most creatures, but some are… more susceptible to that miniscule amount. Though to be fair, it's the sense of isolation that does most damage..."

The shadow stallion stopped by the table, and sat on one of the chairs. His horn lit up, and several dark tendrils rose from his shadow. One pulled a folding knife from a small pouch hanging from his neck. Another opened the fridge door, and another one pulled out a mango from it, much to Belfry's delight. The flying fox let out a series of squeaks, as Ten' closed the door, pulled a plate and began to cut the mango into slices.

"That's… rather unusual magic," Starlight noted, "What is it? Some sort of summon spell?"

"Nope," Ten' said, shaking his head, "By the way, have any of you seen our captain? He's not in his cabin."

Ashes sighed.
"He's in the boiler room," she said. Ten' was about to say something, but was interrupted as the dragoness added, "He came right after his shift and sent me off."

"I take it this isn't normal?" Sandbar asked, sipping some tea. Ten' gave a slice of a mango to Belfry, who hopped off his back onto the table and began munching on it in a rather adorable and enthusiastic manner.

"There is only one, single condition why captain would work his old spot," the dragoness frowned a little bit, "When he wakes up from a particularly bad dream"

"But he came to the boiler room right after his shift, you said that yourself," Sandbar said.

"Yes, and this is troubling me," Ashes replied, her fingers gripping the guitar neck a bit firmer. Her posture then tensed a little, "Wait. Gallus, if you are here, and Tin is down in the engineering… is Mecha at the wheel?"

"Yes," Ten' said nonchalantly, "Why do you ask?"

The dragoness put the guitar down and stood up.

"I better go check on him before he steers us into something," she said and quickly left the recroom. Starlight blinked.

"He can do that?" she asked Ten'.

“Not on purpose, but in his current condition...” the stallion shrugged in response. Belfry chittered something through a mouthful of a mango slice.

"Be nice, Belfry," the shadow stallion grunted. The flying fox pouted before quickly finishing the slice. Then she chittered again. Ten' nodded, "Very well. Ten minutes and I'll let you outside."

The flying fox let out a prolonged chirr and climbed back on Ten's withers.

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Ocellus asked, "I mean, we are going quite fast-"

"Around sixty knots," Ten' said matter-of-factly, "Don't worry. We've done it before... a lot. And at higher speeds."

"But why?" Yona wondered.

"Skies are wide and treacherous, and you can't always see far. That's where scouts come in," Ten' turned his head, gazing at Belfry. The flying fox let out another chirr, "She's our eyes in the sky. She flies ahead and reports of any findings, be it something ghastly, something grave, something that glistens or something to crave."
The last sentence that Ten' spoke in a slightly sing-song tone, as Belfry nodded from his back.

"And you can understand it?" Starlight quipped, "I know Fluttershy was able to communicate with animals-"

"I can," Ten' answered curtly, followed by a small frown, "And kindly, don't call her an animal."

The flying fox let out a slightly higher-pitched squeak. Ten’ shrugged and stood up, did a small bow to the creatures in the recroom, and left.

---

Smolder watched Tin with a bit of a worry. The stallion was working in a steady, nearly mechanical rhythm, as if he was in some kind of stupor or trance. Shovel up coal, turn around, shake off coal into the ever-hungry furnace. Rinse and repeat.

He only broke that routine to turn some valves when the gauges were showing him something he didn't like. Shut off this, open that. Shovel more coal. Open this, shut off that...

"So… why are you doing this?" Smolder finally asked.

The stallion's trance broke mid-shovelful of coal, making him stop and look at the orange dragoness.
"Exhausting myself," he replied, turning around and shoveling the coal into the burning maw of the furnace.

"Why?"

"Distraction," Tin sighed as he put the shovel down, "And as a nice bonus, a dreamless sleep."

Smolder crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head.

"You can't have a nightmare if you never dream," the stallion explained as he walked along the boiler room towards the back of the room. He stopped at some inconspicuous spot next to the last coal pit and looked at the wall with a blank expression.

However, before Smolder could ask him anything, he simply stated in a blank and empty tone, "And here is where I lost my leg..."

The dragoness blinked as Tin just looked at the wall for a short while. That came out of nowhere.
"Do you, uh, want to talk about it?" Smolder blurted without thinking. She mentally facepawed. In truth, she wasn't all that interested in listening to ramblings of a cripple.

"...Maybe later," Tin replied in the same blank tone. He then sighed and walked over to the intercom and called Ashes in. Without waiting for her to arrive, he left the boiler room, wearing the same blank expression.

---

Starlight was sneaking through the locomotive hallways towards the officer quarters. She knew what she was going to do was wrong. She knew she was going for forbidden practices. She knew that if Twilight learned about it, she'd be gravely disappointed. But Starlight had to know. She had to know what Mecha's deal was. She wanted to know what she did to make him so angry with her.

She quietly opened the door to the first officer's cabin and slipped inside, walking quietly, her steps muffled by spell. In the dim light of a lonely night lamp she could see Mecha laying on the bed, sleeping peacefully. The air in the cabin was filled with the aroma of lavender and something citrus. The unicorn mare moved over to the bed, and held her breath. Now all she had to do is to touch her horn to his head-

-Starlight found herself standing on a steep cliff. Stiff wind blew at her side, threatening to push her off. The mare leaned down, clinging desperately to the rocky surface. Over, around, and under the cliff were dark, stormy clouds. An occasional lightning jumped between the clouds, sending rumbling waves of thunder. But within that storm was something else. A huge mass of something was moving in them, twisting, shuffling, getting closer, making nerve-wracking noises. Closer, yet closer, yet closer. Closer.

Then a lightning struck the cliff she was clinging to, making it collapse. Starlight shrieked… or, rather, wanted to. No sound came from her throat. She hung on the remains of the cliffside, desperately scraping her hind legs trying to get back up from her precarious position.

Then, her hoof slipped.

She fell, screaming without making a sound. She tumbled down, towards the stormy clouds beneath. She caught a glimpse of the thing in the storm. A mass of eyes, all focussed on her with a burning, hateful gaze. Lightning flashed, thunder roared. The lightning had eyes, too. Words burned into Starlight's retina and into her mind as she plunged into the darkness, still screaming without making a sound, words writing-

G E T. O U T.

-and Starlight came to her senses back in the hallway, staring at the wall. She wasn't falling, she wasn't screaming. She wasn't-
-she wasn't staring at the wall. She was staring at Mecha. The unicorn stood in the doorway of his cabin, looking at her with a cold, unsympathetic gaze.

"I will suffer no trespass," he said in an even tone. Starlight swallowed nervously. The unicorn then leaned towards her, gaze turning into a glare, "And if you try doing what you just did to me to the Kapitän, I will bury you alive. Good night."

He bowed politely, turned around and closed the door in a surprisingly calm manner.

Starlight was not sure if she would sleep tonight, though.

---

She did. Her sleep was restless and, thankfully, dreamless.

That actually helped her to hide her anxiety when she encountered Tin.

"Rough night, miss Glimmer?" he asked. She nodded, somewhat reluctantly. The stallion then nodded too, "Aye, I understand. Well, get yourself in shape. We'll be arriving to the Canterlot nebula in about a day"

That talk happened almost a day ago. A day filled with anxiety and more tension. But it seemed that Mecha didn't tell Tin of Starlight's nocturnal encounter.

And now she stood on the bridge of Glacies, watching their approach. A great purple mist laid before the locomotive, thick and eerie. One could see the faint outlines of the few spires floating in the Äther, weathered by time and storms, losing brick after brick, like an old mare losing her teeth.

"Well, this is it," Tin said as the locomotive came to a stop with a hiss of brake jets, "The Canterlot Nebula."

Starlight swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. Up close, the nebula gave off very sinister vibes. And they were going in there.

"Many have tried to brave it," the stallion continued as his tail flicked, "Few returned, even fewer - sane..." he turned to Starlight, "Do we really have to go there?"

"Yes," Starlight replied, "We need a clearer picture on what happened and why..."

"And we absolutely can't figure stuff out without going there?" Tin asked in a doomed tone.

"No, we can't."

"...Perfect," Tin sighed bitterly, "Ten', echoes to max. All headlights to max," the shadowy stallion flipped switches on his desk as Tin was giving orders, and pulled all of his papers off the surface, freeing space for some crystal framed in metal and clunky-looking headphones, "Gallus, slow ahead," the gryphon pushed the throttle forward as the captain leaned to the intercom and broadcasted to the whole locomotive, "Attention, crew. Close the shutters on all portholes. Stay on guard. The locomotive is entering the hazardous zone."

"Echoes?" Ocellus asked Ten' in the meantime.

"Echolocator, like that of bats and thestrals," the shadowy stallion explained while he put the somewhat clunky-looking headphones on his head, "It is mostly used for forward-oriented scouting and probing, however. As in 'what is directly ahead of us'..." he made a pause as he flicked a few switches on the console, "...Of course there are several other sensitive sound receptors placed around the hull. Those are the recent additions. They can send the sounds they pick up to these," he tapped his headphones, "Or on the sound system of the bridge. Supposedly to help the pilot to orient better using their auditory senses…"

"Horseapples," Tin grunted, "I've been flying Glacies using my own perception and ears. That extra auditory system is pointless. Besides, I don't think anyone wants to be deafened by the sound of a cannon firing..."

"Well, only time will tell if this system will get any traction," Ten' shrugged, though there were notes of sarcasm in his tone. The purple mist got closer and closer. Soon, the front of the locomotive hull plunged into it, and a mere moment later it was like the nebula swallowed them.

"Sqwrrr!" Belfry squeaked.

"Belfry!" Ten' glared at the flying fox, "Don't be saying such rubbish!"

"What did she say?" Ocellus asked.

"You're all going to die," Ten' said.

"Wow, thank you for being so reassuring, bat," Gallus deadpanned. Belfry chittered angrily.

"He's got a point," Ten' said neutrally, earning a glare from the flying foxxo.

“What are we even looking for here?” Tin asked Starlight.

“The Canterlot Palace,” the mare replied, “That’s where Twilight was working on the Dawn Machine.”

“Joy,” Tin grunted, “Well, it’s not like we’ve got a choice…”

The locomotive slowly slogged through the fog. It clung to Glacies' hull like cotton candy. The beams of the locomotive's headlights provided barely enough light to see ahead.

Time passed. The train pushed forward. The engine huffed. Nocreature said a word. Ocellus observed Ten' watching the nav-crystal - a twelve-sided gem, which projected a faint aura on the desk, showing rough outlines of their surroundings. Every now and then, the shadow stallion formed some tentacles from his shadow to press the headphones tighter to his ears.

At some point, Mecha came to the bridge, too. He spoke nothing to no one, just watched the mist outside. The only other thing he did was mournfully remove his peaked cap and lower his head as their locomotive passed a mangled wreck of a less fortunate one - ironically, the nameplate was ‘Prospector’s Fortune’. Gallus swallowed nervously at the sight. Tin merely shook his head and muttered something like "Poor souls…"

More time passed. Ocellus felt incredibly and hopelessly lost. No matter where she looked there was thick purple mist. And in addition to that, the glow of the nav-crystal dimmed.

"Captain. Please excuse my use of scientific terms, but..." Ten' looked at the nav-crystal's dimmed light, "...I am getting a jumble of nothing here. Echoes reports objects that are not there, and at the same time misses those that are..."

Tin looked at the shadowy stallion with an unamused expression.

"Then send out Belfry! We can't afford to fly blind in these conditions!"

"I'm sorry, Tin. I can not do that," Ten' said calmly. Tin's deadpan expression turned into a glare, "It's the fog, captain," Ten' said as he walked to the bridge window, and looked at the swirling purple mist, "I don't like it."

"Who does?" Gallus rolled his eyes.

"It's not that," Ten' said. His voice... Despite it being calm, Gallus sensed a note of fear in it, "There is something in it. Something's out there, kiddo. Watching us..."

That did not sound reassuring at all.

"Hey, captain, is it me or are we slowing down?" Gallus suddenly asked. Tin, Mecha and Ten' exchanged confused glances.

"Must be the fog," Mecha said. Ten' merely shrugged, while Tin frowned.

"Something's not right here," he turned towards Ten', "Navigation shows anything?"

The shadow stallion rolled his eyes.
"Nothing changed since I began getting this interference," he said as he looked at the desk, "Still something-" he blinked. Ocellus blinked too. There were faint outlines of something moving towards them, "-Okay, this is just not right. Captain, something's coming towards us, and it's like-" he made a pause to look at the desk, "-it's half-here, half not!"

"What nonsense is that?" Tin turned towards the navigator and approached his desk, "What is it, even-"

His speech was interrupted by a shriek of a train whistle.

"Incoming!" Gallus yelled, throwing the locomotive to the starboard. Yet, despite the blast of steam from maneuvering side-jets, the locomotive moved painstakingly slowly, as if it was plowing through viscous, sugary syrup.

All the while the light of another locomotive shone straight into the bridge as it moved closer and closer. They were going straight at each other, no space to turn, maneuver or stop. Gallus grabbed the whistle cord and desperately tugged it-

The whistle made a low, deep bass sound. Steam erupted from it in slow-motion.

Then the world outside Glacies suddenly came to a stop.

"What in the name-" Mecha said.

And then the scenery outside the windows and portholes suddenly changed. The nebula, the locomotive, the detritus and debris faded away, turning into bright strings, falling apart and to bits, as if some mischievous foal found and pulled a stray string that caused a masterfully-weaved tapestry to unravel, leaving behind nothing but glossy darkness - before exploding into a white flash with a subtlety of a sledge to the face.

"-of the Seven Alphabets?.." the unicorn finished, blinking.

"What-" Tin blurted out, "-Oh for Faust's-"

"You guys are seeing this, right?" Gallus asked, dumbfounded.

They were no longer in the fog. Instead, they were surrounded by clear skies of a beautiful azure hue, with stars glittering - yet they were not in the places where they should have been. And, actually, the skies were mostly clear, since there were clouds scattered here and there.

"What happened?" Starlight looked around in shock, "Where are we?!"

"No idea-" Ten's eyes went wide, "-Captain, I'm getting something big-"

Something whirred past the locomotive, leaving a dark trail.

"Scheiße!" Tin shouted, dashing to the control station, and shouted into the intercom, "Gefechtstationen! Ashes, give me more steam!" he turned to Gallus, "Evasive maneuvers - and turn 'er around!"

"What stations?" came a reply from Smolder in the boiler room.

"What the hel' is this noise…" Ten' muttered to himself, pressing the earphone with his hoof.

"What noise?" Tin asked, as the blue gryphon abruptly turned the locomotive around. The ribs of Glacies groaned from abrupt force application. Down in the boiler room, Smolder lost her footing and was thrown into a coal pit with a loud 'Oof!'.

"Like something burning but louder," Ten' said, "Outputting-"

Another something whirred past the locomotive, this time coming from a different side and angle - roughly from the direction the first something went.

"Shells!" Mecha suddenly barked, "Shells-"

And then the sounds filled the bridge. The most prominent and dominant one was rumbling. It, indeed, sounded like something burning, but it sounded… off. Then there also were sounds of groaning steel, and some deep mechanical howling.

"Sounds like whatever it is it's straight ahead," Tin muttered, "Right behind that cloud-"

"-It's going to show up soon," Ten' said in an ominous tone.

Everycreature on the bridge tensed up, watching the cloud. Sandbar and Gallus jumped a little when a loud boom resonated through the speakers on the bridge. Something stirred inside the cloud, and eight shells flew from it - not aiming at Glacies this time. It seems that they simply were in the wrong place the first time. Seconds passed, each stretched into an uncomfortable eternity.

A shape outlined itself in the cloud. Dark shadow moved forward, plowing through dense vapor. Then, it bursted out, carrying with it some of the cloud mass.

"Set me on fire, throw into the sky and call me a Judgement," Mecha blurted out, "It's… enormous!"

It was a ship. Well, it looked like a ship. Vaguely. And it was huge. If Glacies was the size of a house, this ship was like a grand mansion. Or a small palace. Hull made of steel. In the middle of the deck stood two armored metal towers. One had several holes torn in it, from shell impacts, it seemed. A few more holes were in the ship's broadside near the aft. On the deck, two on the fore and two on the aft, were boxy turrets, large, heavily armored, slowly turning towards an unseen target, each carrying two guns. And the guns in those turrets…

"I think Großerkanones are smaller than those," Tin said with worry in his voice, "Gallus, all ahead full, get close to the ship!"

"Are you crazy?" Gallus turned towards Tin, but got silenced by the slam of the stallion's hoof on the deck floor.

"Get close to the ship, now!" Tin barked, "Closer and under the ship, they have no guns underneath-NOW, PILOT!"

Glacies abruptly dove down as Gallus pulled the levers. The engine chuffed rapidly, spewing steam as smoke rushed from the stack. The huge guns boomed again, sending more shells towards an unseen foe, who responded in kind a moment later. Shells hit the hull of the ship, some bounced off, at the angle, some hit the superstructure, one slammed into a turret and exploded, making one of the barrels bend awkwardly to the side.

"Uh… Smaller turrets are turning towards us!" Starlight noted, looking at the colossal vessel as their train rapidly approached it.

"Don't fly in a straight line!" Tin barked at Gallus, "Fly like a drunken tavern wench after a long night!"

"What." Gallus deadpanned, turning towards Tin.

"What you heard!" the captain replied, "Come on!"

Gallus listened and tried his best. Sharp to port, to starboard! Up and speed up!

"The Hel's going on up there?!" Smolder asked through the intercom, "I almost fell into the furnace!"

"Sorry, Smolds,'' Gallus grunted, "There's a big ship here and-" a series of muzzle flashes and bangs interrupted him as he desperately threw Glacies to the side. The shells howled as they rushed past the locomotive, with one glancing at the hull with a loud 'thud!' and flew off, another exploded on the plating in fiery shrapnel, leaving a dent and sending a shudder through the whole hull.

“Just a scratch!” Tin shouted reassuringly. Gallus, however, wasn’t as sure. He felt the locomotive shudder on the impact, like a hurt living thing. He felt it through the floor, through the levers he held, through the atmosphere on the bridge. His body became rigid as his claws gripped the controls tighter-

-That was insane. This was insane. Gallus fled, ran, his heart was beating so fast. Around him was Hel’. Shells rained down, detonating on impacts with the ground, sending clots of soil and metal shrapnel flying in all directions. He heard whistling and howling of the projectiles, screams of Kronprinz troops panicking as the bombardment continued. He heard Grandpa Gruff yell something, but it didn't matter. He just ran. He cared not where, he just had to run, to get away from this, to-

“-him up!”

When did he get on the floor? Why is Tin at the controls, and why is Ocellus hugging him? What is she saying?

“Unbelievable!” the gryphon suddenly heard Mecha gasp, “They are using fire to propel their ship! Fire!”

“Peculiar engines,” Ten’ said monotonously, listening to his headphones. His expression got slightly darker, “Captain, the anomaly’s back. It’s-”

“We’re in a weft of unravelling time,” Tin hissed through clenched teeth, “One hell of a start-”

The world outside Glacies once again ground to a standstill, before falling apart into strings of color.

“Weft of unravelling time?” Sandbar asked. Gallus stood up, Ocellus still holding him.

“A rare anomaly,” Ten’ said, “But usually it’s just one or two crewmates who experience… unraveling…”

“And most of the time it’s fatal,” Tin finished, before the world once again exploded in a white flash.

This time, there was ground below the locomotive. Well, somewhere far below the locomotive. It was very difficult to see because the train was surrounded by a rather vicious snowstorm.
And mere moments later, the sensors picked up a sound coming from outside. That sound, resembling a very distorted, nightmarish neighing, made pretty much every creature on the bridge shudder. Except Mecha, for some reason. He remained stoic, though he bit his upper lip.

“Oh come on!” Tin barked, “Why can’t we be somewhere nice?..”

“Is… This isn’t what I think it is?..” Ocellus swallowed nervously.

“The Windigo,” Mecha stated, “They are coming!”

"But how?" Starlight asked.

"We have strayed into a place where the weave of time has frayed!" Tin said, steering the engine somewhere through the blizzard. A layer of rime ice began to form on the hull. The sky groaned around them, "Where the borders that separate past and future crumble, and we've been sucked in!"

“Can’t you fly us out?” the mare asked. Tin sneered in response.

“What do you think I am trying to do here?!” he looked around, steering the engine frantically, “We need to find an edge of the weft-”

The horrifying neighing interrupted the stallion's speech as he clenched his teeth and focussed entirely on flying. This time, the sound was louder, clearer, and even more blood-curling. Then it repeated, sounding even louder. Sandbar swallowed nervously, ears flat against his head as he recalled the day Equestria almost fell. But that time, the spirits of cold and hatred were far. There was at least a mile between them and him, if not more. This time, all that was between them and him was a hoof of metal plating at best and a pane of reinforced stained glass at worst.

The hull groaned as the wind got stronger. A layer of ice began to form on the inward corners of it. The neighing got even louder-

"It's all your fault!" Sandbar shouted, pointing at Mecha. He felt as if his body was acting on its own, and his mouth was speaking without his consent, "It's all your fault! It's your hatred for Starlight that's luring them in here! Your hatred has doomed us all! You-"

THUD.

Words died in the young stallion's throat, as well as all the sudden fire within he got out of the blue. With ears pulled back, he slowly turned around, to look in the direction Tin, Mecha, Ocellus and Gallus were looking. He knew what he would see there. Yet he wasn't prepared for what he saw.

Pressed to the glass was one of the windigos. It looked him straight in the eyes with its glassy white ones. Its emancipated body was covered in a layer of hoarfrost. Its mouth was full of sharp, predatory teeth.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

More of them landed on the locomotive around the bridge, eyeing the crew inside through stained glass with wolfish gazes. The cold began to seep into the bridge, icy whisps flowing from the windows and portholes. Tin clenched his teeth and tugged the whistle cord, sending out a loud blare through the blizzard. The windigos jumped off, startled, but returned less than a minute later, this time trying to break in.

"Why aren't we moving yet?!" Sandbar shouted, heart pounding with each strike of the windigos' hooves on the window.

“Something’s not right,” Tin said, glancing at the control panel, “What the-there’s a pressure backlog!”

“Pressure backlog?” Starlight asked, shivering.

"No questions when we're about to die!" the captain shouted in response, "Ashes! Vent steam, all points, now!"

"On it!" the dragoness dropped the shovel, scattering coal over the floor and rushed to one of the control stations. Smolder grabbed the railings. Just in case. Ashes grabbed the largest lever, labeled 'emergency vent', clenched her paws on the lock, making it click loudly, and pulled the lever hard. Some kind of mechanism rumbled deep inside the giant machine.

Then, jets of steam erupted from numerous vents located throughout the hull, surrounding the train with a cloud of hot water vapour. The windigos screeched in pain and anger, scalded by the cloud, and once again bolted off the hull. Still, the cloud was quickly turning into rime ice and blown away by rising wind, the locomotive continued to move slowly.

"Pressure's down to fifty percent," Ashes said into the intercom, "Coming back up"

"It's not getting to the engine, Ashes!" Tin replied from the bridge, examining a series of gauges, "Wait, it's not getting out! We're getting fresh pressure," Tin looked from one gauge to the next one, and another one, "It's getting into the main, to the compressor system, but it's… it's stuck in the engine, and not coming out!"

"I'm going outside to check the nozzles," Ashes said.

"No you're not, that's an order!" Tin barked back, "I am not losing you in the weft!"

"Well you're not going either!" Ashes retorted.

"Of course I'm not, those ice whorses would freeze me solid!" Tin growled through grit teeth as he gave up on steering. The locomotive groaned and bucked under the gusts of wind, as engines stopped working altogether.
"Do you know any combat spells?" the stallion asked Starlight. Mecha's horn lit up and a ghostly blade of ice formed from the air.

"A few," she said, looking at the bridge window warily, how the windigo were trying to break through the ice and stained glass. Everything seemed so distorted, looking through the layer of ice. But the number of vile spirits clinging to the locomotive grew, and their numbers were… alarming.

"Stupid weft!" Tin cursed, "Did that damn thing fixed-"

Through the layer of ice, a bright dot of light flickered. Then it grew brighter. Larger.

"-what in the?.." the stallion finished. Starlight blinked, while Mecha just stared at it.

The windigo outside seemingly noticed the growing light, turning to look at it in… confusion? Some of them hopped off the locomotive's hull and flew away. The light was getting brighter and brighter, and was getting closer…

"The fires of friendship!" Ocellus suddenly gasped, "It's the fires of friendship!"

"Fires of friendship my plot!" Tin barked, bracing for whatever would come. The windigo seemingly realized that something was wrong, and abandoned the locomotive entirely, flying away with terrified shrieks. The light washed over the locomotive as the reality around it groaned in pain.

Seconds passed, but the light didn't seem to subside or weaken.

"What?" Tin asked, "What is it now? Is this weft broken?"

"No, the weft is still here, but this light…" Ten' said, as everyone tried to make out anything in the light.

Then, the light began to shrink, shift, change color and form and shape...

"Oh. Oh dear…" Ten' muttered as he slowly descended on the floor and then hid under the navigation desk.

"Merciful Umbra…" Tin rasped out.

Starlight stared at the colossal orb of fire behind the stained glass. It was huge, fiery, raging, unimaginably ancient, merciless, spiteful, unfathomably powerful. Their engine hung in front of it, like a speck of dust, tiny and insignificant and uninvited-

Their engine was right in front of it!

"THE JUDGEMENT!" Mecha screamed - no, shrieked in terror, as he ducked under the windshield, "IT'S THE STAR! THE STAR!"

"Take cover! Don't let them see you!" Tin yelled, ducking under the control station and slammed the throttle just as far as it would go, tugging the control lever to make the locomotive turn to starboard. But the locomotive barely moved, let alone turned. Tin's mane quickly became wet with sweat as he bit his lower lip.

"Come on, come on," he muttered as he tried to push the throttle even further. The engine whined and wheezed, coughing up steam, but not to any noticeable effect.

Starlight stared at the star, at its burning light. She suddenly felt so weak, so vulnerable, so… bare. Yes, ponies did not wear clothes, but she somehow felt naked, standing in front of this entity, as if her flesh and meat were vaporised and her core, her very soul was laid bare...

Then she felt as if the floor was slipping away from her hooves as she was plucked away from the bridge and pulled into brightly burning darkness...

"Where are we?!" Starlight asked.

"No bucking clue," Tin replied as he continued to desperately tug and push the throttle, covering under the control station, "Past? Future? No ide-"

"But there's nothing here!" the unicorn mare shouted, gesturing around.

"No shit, because there is a Star here!" Tin turned to look at Starlight, and went silent.
Her pupils were shimmering in gold.
"Oh, thestral-feathers," he muttered, "Mecha! She-"

"I don't believe you!" Starlight angrily stomped her hoof and took a step towards the windshield.

"She's…" Mecha tilted his head as he stepped aside, "She's… in a trance, of sorts, I think. The Star wants something from her, but-"

"Change my mind? You don't know anything about me! I was perfectly happy before you and your friends ruined what I built!" Starlight continued to advance angrily towards the windshield, pointing her hoof at the Star in an accusing manner.

"What is she talking about?" Gallus asked, looking between other crewmembers on the bridge.

"I think… it has something to do with her village," Sandbar said, "But I thought it was left behind and forgiven-"

"But not forgotten," Mecha said dryly.

Ocellus, in the meantime, was trying to shake Starlight out of this trance, while Ten’ was trying to pull the changeling under the desk.

“That map of yours is connected to every part of Equestria, and this part is my home,” Starlight continued her rambling.

“She must be talking about the cutie map,” Sandbar muttered. Tin even paused his efforts in making the locomotive to move again and watched the unicorn ramble on about something.

"Sunburst and I did everything together. In fact, I don't remember us ever being apart…" her face darkened as she made a pause, "Until today."

Tin and Mecha exchanged… strange, unreadable looks. But it seemed they both understood each other. Ten' frowned.

"But they were literally inseparable," Sandbar said, "Every time Sunburst had a chance he visited Ponyville… Even after the Disaster, he still visited her almost as soon as the Äther-trains began to make their rounds-"

"So she is talking about that little dictatorship town of hers," Tin snarled.

"Sounds like it," Mecha replied. Then his ear moved a little, "Hey, you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Tin said, "...Wait, whistling?.."

Indeed, there was a faint sound of whistling coming from the rear end of the bridge.

"And just like that, my friend was gone. His family recognized his magical talent and sent him off to Canterlot. I never saw him again!" Starlight continued to rant about her past to the Star, standing right next to the nav-desk. The whistling was getting more intense, and a few cracking sounds rumbled through the bridge.

"The windigo must have frozen the drive nozzles," Gallus guessed, "And this star… is thawing the ice?"

The unicorn, in the meantime, was getting angrier, "Because of his cutie mark! He got his, and I didn't! He moved on, and I didn't! I stayed here and never made another friend because I was too afraid another cutie mark would take them away, too!"

"Wonder where her parents were looking," Tin muttered.

"Not everypony's lucky enough to get their cutie mark at the same time as their friends!" Starlight sneered angrily. Then her horn lit up. With a surprised squeak, Belfry levitated in the air, surrounded by Starlight's magic, "You don't know what it's like! To lose a friend because of a cutie mark!" her expression became more grim, "But once I stop the rainboom, you will!"

"What?" everyone on the bridge blurted out.

Belfry squeaked louder as Starlight pulled at her wing. Ten's ears perked, eyes squinted. Glacies shuddered and pushed forward, just a little bit, but that made Tin grab the control levers once again.

"Stop the rainboom?" Mecha asked, "What-"

"And when I destroy this scroll, there'll be no way for you to change it!" she said angrily and tugged at the flying fox's wing. Belfry let out a distressed shriek and squeaked and chittered in panic. Tin sneered. Ten's lips curled in a scowl, revealing his fangs, his ears pulled straight back, like arrows. His horn lit up in a dark green aura.

"What scroll?" Mecha looked at Tin. The stallion squinted.

"Starlight, stop!" Ocellus cried out, "You're hurting Belfry!"

The unicorn mare stopped. Her expression became confused as she looked at Belfry, who continued to chitter angrily. Then suddenly the blockade on the engine was gone, and the locomotive jolted forward and to the starboard, much to everyone's surprise, throwing the mare off balance for a moment. A dark tendril shot up from her shadow, coiled around her neck and tugged, slamming her jaw on the nav-desk. The mare collapsed on the floor, dazed.

"Why did you do that?!" Ocellus shouted at Ten'.

"No-one hurts Belfry," the shadow stallion replied coldly. Tin threw the caution to the wind and stood up, quickly examining the surroundings. Noticing some large piece of architecture - a palace? Temple? Ruins? - floating around, he sharply turned the locomotive to fly there, into the salutiferous shadow, away from the piercing light. Just as their train hid from the gaze of the Star, the world groaned again, before unraveling once more.

This time they were surrounded with a familiar purple mist. Their engine moved forward through it.

"Are we back?.." Sandbar asked, peeking into the window. He jumped a little when Tin suddenly tugged the whistle cord, a shrill of their whistle pierced Äther. A moment later, another whistle came in response - dead ahead. Tin threw Glacies to the side, the light of another locomotive's headlights flooded the bridge as it headed straight at Glacies-

- And then the sky groaned, and with a thundering 'THUMP' the incoming locomotive vanished in a fold of the Äther. Glacies rushed past the collision point and flew onward for a whole more minute until Tin finally pulled the throttle back, stopping the engine.

"I think we're out of the weft, captain," Ten' said as he got from under the nav-desk, "Echo readings back to normal… Or whatever passes for 'normal' here. Though we might need to check the date," he then glared at Starlight, who let out a pained groan and tried to get up. Ten' huffed angrily, and reached his hoof out to Belfry. The flying fox eagerly climbed onto the shadowy steed as he returned to his station, "Interesting… It seems that we made a 180 turn while we were in the weft…"

"Twilight?.."
Gallus and Sandbar rushed to help Starlight to get up. The mare looked around in confusion.
"What-Where am I?"

"Aboard Glacies Perfuro, an Osprey-class Äther-train," Tin deadpanned.

"What train?" Starlight blinked, "How did I-"

"The Star might've scrambled your brain a bit," Tin said, turning back to the control station. Pushing a lever he turned the locomotive around and throttled ahead.

"What star?" Starlight asked again, "I was just about to tear up the Star Swirl's scroll to… to.. to…" she blinked slowly. A bead of sweat formed on her forehead, "I… It was… a… hallucination?.. A vision?.." she shuddered, "...no. A memory..."

"To what?" Mecha asked coldly. Ocellus could taste his suspicion, and Starlight's growing anxiety, "Tear up scroll to what?"

Starlight expression became terrified.
"I… I'm so ashamed of that…'' she muttered, "I… I did my best to bury that memory as deep as possible-"

"What is it?" the first officer advanced to the mare menacingly, eyes squinted. Both Sandbar and Gallus stood between Working Mechanism and Starlight.

"Look, it's none of your business if she does not want to talk about it-" Gallus said, but was pushed a bit to the side by Starlight.

"N-no, I think… This needs to be said," the mare said, swallowing a small lump in her throat, "I… I have to get it off my chest, it's been a secret for too long, and this experience didn't make it any easier-"

Mecha grunted.

"Speak up," Tin said in a grim tone. Ten' said nothing, while Belfry let out a hiss.

Starlight lowered her head.

“I wasn’t… exactly a good mare in the past,” she said, “You probably all know about Our Town-”

“We do. Go on,” Tin snapped.

“...After Twilight and her friends… banished me from Our Town, I had to lead a rather… hidden and low life. But I was bitter about it," she pawed at the metal floor of the bridge, "And angry. I wanted revenge. So I was spying on them here and there, until I learned two things"

She made a pause while Mecha continued to drill into her with his gaze.

"One, there was a scroll in the forbidden section of Canterlot library, written by Starswirl, and containing a spell that allowed time travel… and second, Twilight and her friends got their cutie marks on the same day in the event known as 'the Rainboom'. A quick cross-reference check… and I had a plan. I snuck into the forbidden section of the Canterlot library-"

"Wait, you did so?" Tin asked, tilting his head, "...Were there any guards? Wards?"

"There were guards," Starlight confirmed, "But they didn't see me-"

"Vo loshaki…" Tin muttered, "If we by any chance encounter that section, I'm blowing it to ashes. A favor to everyone surviving, if security was this lax..."

"So I stole the scroll with the spell and used it to go back in time and prevent the Rainboom from ever happening, and…" Starlight once again pawed at the floor anxiously, "...and Twilight, she. She showed me the error of my ways. She showed what my actions would lead to, and… I gave up. I surrendered to her… and she took me as her student-"

"Hold that thought," Mecha said, raising his hoof, "So you're telling me that you-" an ice paw appeared in the air next to the unicorn, and began fold fingers as he continued, "-enslaved a small village, evaded arrest, trespassed, stole a dangerous magical object, used it to alter the events in the past…" he looked at the paw now balled into a fist, then back at Starlight, "Those are criminal offenses!"

"I know!" Starlight replied, looking at the ice fist nervously, "But Twilight and her friends forgave me… and my townsfolk did too-"

"They forgave you for screwing with their past?" Mecha asked eerily as his ice fist made cracking sounds, "Just like that?!"

"N-no!" Starlight backed away a bit more, "F-for messing with them in my town! Twilight never told anyone about the time travel-"

Tin's eyes widened. Mecha's eyes did, too, and his shock was like a hit of a whip to Ocellus.

"What." the unicorn deadpanned, "What?!"

His ice fist cracked some more as both Gallus and Sandbar once again stood between him and Starlight. Then the ice shattered into pieces as rage began to boil inside the gray unicorn.

"Are you telling me that you enslaved ponies, stole their cutie marks, evaded arrest, stalked, trespassed, stole, messed with time…" he spoke through clenched teeth, glaring at the unicorn, "And… and… AND. NOTHING?!" Working Mechanism suddenly shrieked, "No jail time, no community service, no petrification, no being exiled to the Moon, not even a fine?!"

Starlight looked away, tears welling in her eyes.

"You did all those crimes…" Mecha said in a shocked disbelief that somewhat overwhelmed his rage, "And your punishment was to… learn. Friendship?"

"Mecha…" Tin said in a stern, but worried tone.

"They… They just... They spared you," the unicorn stated in an emotionless tone.

And then the bridge was dead silent. It was so quiet, one could hear bacteria split.
At least, had the engine chuffing not been there.

Ocellus slowly laid on the floor, ears flat against her head, feeling sick in the stomach from all the negative emotions radiating and flooding the bridge. Starlight whimpered something. Sandbar and Gallus were no longer sure of how… morally right the situation was. The bridge was still filled with shock, anger, and, in Mecha's case, barely contained rage.

"They spared you," Mecha muttered over and over and over again, staring at - no, through Starlight, through everything, "They spared you. They spared you. They spared you. They spared you..."

"Gallus, take the helm," Tin said, slowly, surprisingly calmly as he approached the shell-shocked gray unicorn, and hoisted him on his back. However, under this calm facade laid a murderous undertone. Starlight tried to say something but Tin glared at her with such intensity she backed away, then snapped at her, instantly losing his calm posture, anger bursting through the dam, "Shut up, whorse! This entire episode just made my point even more solid..."
With that, he carried still shocked Mecha off the bridge, the unicorn still muttering the same thing over and over again. Gallus somewhat reluctantly took the helm, looking between Ten' and Starlight.

"But-" Starlight reached her hoof out after Tin, but was stopped by a dark tendril that wrapped around her hoof and forced it down on the deck with a loud slam.

"Quiet," Ten' said in a surprisingly cold tone, "You've done enough damage as. It. Is."

The fact that he actually gave Starlight a cold glare didn't help either. Even Belfry got from his mane, stood on the navigation desk and chittered angrily at the mare, going as far as to stand on her hind legs and comically attempt to ball her wings into fists, bouncing like a boxer.

"Be nice, Belfry," Ten' said in the same cold tone. Then he added, "Or don't… seeing how she tried to rip your wing off..." the stallion then looked at the flying fox and summoned one of his shadowy tendrils, pulled out a toothbrush from his pouch and used it to brush Belfry. That calmed her down a little.

Starlight whimpered something incomprehensive.

---

Before, the atmosphere in the locomotive was tense. Now, it felt like Glacies was on the brink of a disaster. The already slow pace at which the engine crawled through the nebula was reduced even further after the 'adventure' in the weft of unraveling time. Nocreature wanted another go - except Silverstream, who somehow managed to sleep through the whole ordeal. And the news of Starlight's 'heroics' did not help at all. The mare herself retreated to the crew cabins and shut the door.

Several hours after the incident on the bridge, when Gallus, Silverstream, Sandbar and Smolder sat in the recroom, Tin barged in, limping on three hooves, holding a bottle of whiskey in the fourth. His jacket was messed and crumpled, his goggles missing, his snout bruised, his eyes bloodshot. His breath reeked of alcohol. The stallion limped to the table, placed the bottle on it in a one heavy motion, then pulled a glass from the cupboard, slammed it next to the bottle, grabbed it and poured some more whiskey to himself. Then he sat there, staring at it.

Silverstream was the first one to break the silence.
"Are you alright?" she asked meekly.

The stallion gave her a look that could curdle milk.
"I had to drug my first officer because he was getting violent," he slurred, drooling a little bit, sending his booze breath across the table, "A tablespoon of laudanum! A tablespoon of the stuff! How'd you think I am, huh? Huh?!"

"A tablespoon?!" Sandbar exclaimed as Silverstream reeled away from the drunk stallion, "Dude, that stuff’s dosage is measured in drops-"

"Shut it!" Tin barked, making a pause to down a glass, spilling half of the contents in the process, "You!"
His hoof shot up, pointing at Gallus, "Hay's your problem?"

"What problem?" the gryphon covered his beak to block the booze reek coming from the stallion.

"You froze up there!" Tin replied, pouring another glass, "After the shells hit us. You could have got us all killed!"

“Well I-” the gryphon said, “-I… I… It’s just that-” Tin’s look turned into a threatening glare, “Look, I just remembered the war, and-”

“What war?” Tin sneered, “The Gryphon Civil? Where did you serve?”

"I didn't!" Gallus replied, "I was-"

A hoof slammed heavily on the table, making both the bottle and the glass jump a little, spilling some whiskey. Silverstream backed away further from the table and shrunk. Even Smolder seemed to be a bit unnerved.
"Then don't talk to me about war!" Tin yelled angrily at the gryphon. The stallion stood up from his place, one hoof on the table, as he continued, "Who were you? No one and nothing! Hiding somewhere, probably! I was a sapper, a mechanic, an architect, an inventor – all while shells fell and bullets flew!" his face turned into a scowl as he seemed to be running out of breath to yell, "What did this war take from you?! It took my innocence, my comrades, my friends, my real friends who spilled sweat and blood with me, and on the day of Kaiser's triumph over the Kronprinz, it took my mentor's life and my leg, on this very vessel!"

The stallion made a pause to down a glass of whiskey; his hoof was shaking badly, and not from inebriation.

"The Skies are wide and vast, and full of horrors," he continued afterward, no longer yelling, but still speaking in a louder volume, "Horrors that just can't wait to murder us in ways innumerate. Bandits. Marauders. Sky-beasts. Eldritch horrors. They all want us dead!" Tin sat back down, "So kindly pull yourself together. Are you a gryphon or a gib?"

"Dude!" Sandbar frowned, leaning towards the sky-captain, "Rude!-"

"And do you think I wanted any of this?" Gallus suddenly sneered, "I wanted to enroll in Canterlot Royal Guard academy-"

"Oh," Tin's expression darkened, "Well, too bad that's gone," sarcasm was pouring from his mouth at this point, dripping on the floor along with saliva, "You would have fit right in with those… useless… losers!"

Catching a shocked look from all four creatures, the stallion shouted again, "Oh come on, don't tell me they were not! Name one, just one instance when they were not instantly defeated by a major crisis!"

Four friends remained in silence while Tin stood up and paced back and forth, "Okay, I understand, Nightmare Moon came out of nowhere. Okay, I understand Discord, I mean, what a pony with a spear can do to a god?.. But after Chrysalis maybe somepony should have thought something like 'Si vis pacem para bellum' and do something. Something to prepare them for future encounters. But no!” Tin once again slammed his hoof on the table, leaving an indent on it, “They failed and they failed and they FAILED! Over and over and over again, our country had to be saved by the same. Six. Civilian. Mares!”

The stallion’s breath became ragged as he was shaking with anger.

“This is what disgusts me the most. Equestria’s safety was hanging on six civilian mares. The image of a perfect country crumbled to debris when the Storm King came. Remember the Storm King? Remember how Tempest beheaded Equestria’s government in one swift motion? Remember how the royal guard was trampled into the mud, yet again?” another half-spilled glass of whiskey found its way into Tin’s mouth, “If the fair and glorious and oh-so-caring princess Celestia had bothered to make a functioning army, this. Would. Not. Have. Happened. But no. Instead, we’ve shown the whole world, the whole world how easy it is to take us”

The stallion fumbled to pour yet another glass, but ended up dropping the bottle on its side on the table.

“I don’t know how we managed to exist this long. I don’t know, honestly. Was it because everyone feared that the princess would take the sun away? Or turn them to stone? Or send them to the moon? But now we don’t have princesses, no,” Tin shook his head, “This is why we made guns. And cannons. And missiles. And sturdy armor. Crystal Cruisers, Steeds’o’War, Determined Destriers - they exist to not just protect us from the sky-beasts. They also deter others from attacking and conquering us. But, eh, what do I know?” he shrugged in an angry manner, “I’m just a jaded, drunk war veteran who’s rambling about things he has no idea about. And all you care about is friendship lessons and finding princess Bookshelf.”

Having said that, Tin stood up and swiveled towards the door of the recroom. The stallion reached out and closed the door, while looking at the four creatures in the recroom, “No need to listen to stupid, worthless old me!”

“Captain, wait-” Gallus raised his taloned paw, but it was too late - Tin turned away from him and walked snout first right into the door he closed.

“Ow! Buck! Load! Of ass!” the stallion swore, rubbing his now doubly-bruised nose. Then he opened the door and limped out into the hallway.

As he left, Gallus made a strange whine-like sound, grabbed the bottle Tin left behind. Finding some amber liquid remaining inside, he poured it all into Tin’s glass and downed it in one go.

“Are you okay?..” he felt Silverstream’s taloned paw on his shoulder.

“...I don’t know,” Gallus replied quietly.

“That was completely uncalled for,” Sandbar said with a shake of his head, “What the captain said here, I mean-”

“I don’t know, Sandbar,” Gallus shook his head, trying to coax at least some more whiskey from the bottle, but there were only a few droplets left, “I really don’t know anymore...”

“Hey, don’t get yourself in a knot,” Smolder lightly punched the gryphon’s shoulder, “We’ll figure it out…” she made a short pause, snorting a tiny gout of flame from her nostrils, “Hopefully”

---

Gallus met Working Mechanism the next… morning? Morning. Morning is a time of day when one wakes up, so to him it was morning. The unicorn had a blank expression, and looked like he spent the night crying. His cap was missing, and his jacket looked like he used it to vent his anger on it.

“How are you feeling?” he asked the unicorn cautiously.

Mecha gave him a long pause, before answering with a shrug, “...Could be marginally better.”

The two then proceeded to the bridge. Upon ascending to the room, they saw a rather interesting scene. Ocellus was busy at the nav-desk, wearing headphones that were too big for her. Ten’ was standing ‘at the wheel’, steering the locomotive through the mist. And in the back of the bridge, next to the wall, laid Tin, sleeping and drooling. Mecha’s snout scrunched as he approached the stallion and caught a whiff of booze breath. Without saying a thing, he hoisted the unconscious steed on his back and carried him away.

Gallus took the helm shift from Ten’, who released Ocellus from the navigation duty. The light blue changeling then left the bridge with a tired yawn. A minute later Mecha returned, and stood next to Gallus, looking ahead through the stained glass windshield. The headlight of the locomotive struggled to pierce the thick veil of purple mist around the vessel.

“How are you holding up?”

Gallus turned his head. Mecha’s question came out of the blue.

“I don’t know,” the gryphon exhaled, “This is a mess…”

The unicorn sighed, “A damn fine mess,” his head turned slightly so he was partially looking at the gryphon, “But we have to make it. Make it out alive...” he paused and huffed, “And hopefully sane.”

Gallus shuddered at that one specific detail.

Honestly, he wasn’t entirely sure of his sanity at the moment.

Starlight remained in the crew quarters the whole day.

That evening - judging by the bridge clock - the locomotive headlights and echolocator began to pick up things in the fog. Things other than detritus and ‘chronosolar anomalies’ (Whatever the hay that was), larger pieces of landmass. Navigation became a bit more difficult as now Glacies had to maneuver between sky-islands in the fog, avoiding decaying and long abandoned buildings.

Once a capital of ponykind and a shining beacon of nobility and friendship, now a dead and empty husk in the skies.

By this time, Tin sobered up and was out and about - though he avoided looking at Gallus whenever they were in the same room. Despite him keeping a calm exterior, Ocellus could sense a certain stirring of guilt underneath it.

Starlight was called upon the bridge when Gallus noted how he recognized some of the structures - or, rather, remains of the structures that they were passing by. Despite being blown sky-high and being in the epicenter of a magical explosion, the city layout remained mostly unchanged by some miraculous circumstances.

“There!” Starlight pointed at the silhouettes in the fog, “The castle!”

“Slow ahead,” Tin ordered, “Look for the place for us to dock or moor the locomotive.”

“Captain,” Ten’ suddenly said, “I would like to ask permission to leave with the away party.”

Tin looked at the shadow stallion for a few moments, then nodded, “Granted.”

Ten’ nodded. Belfry chittered and bounced a little on his back. Tin was about to reach for the intercom, but was stopped by Mecha.

“Captain, I would like to go too.”

Tin raised his eyebrow at that.

“It’s not related to our… guest,” there was a notable change in tone when he said ‘guest’, “But rather to that thing Twilight was working on.”

“The Dawn Machine?” Starlight asked, “Why?”

“I have my suspicions,” the unicorn replied coldly - however without any hints of anger, “If it was the thing responsible for the Disaster…” he made a grunt and turned away from the windshield, “I have a really bad feeling about this.”

Tin nodded, then said into the intercom, “Attention, crew. We have reached our destination. Away crew: Starlight, Mecha, Ten’, Sandbar, Silvertream, Smolder, Yona and me. Arm yourself.”

---

The crew moored Glacies to one of the castle’s balconies, and the away crew left. Following Starlight were the assigned crewmembers and Tin, who again gave his ‘I want no surprises’ explanation - however before the party left Ocellus felt there was something else to it. A feeling of… worry?..

Clad in their sky-suits, garments of several layers of waxed canvas lined with felt and fur to keep the cold away (in case of Starlight, she just put on several layers of warm clothes she considerately packed beforehoof), air filtration masks, and stained glass goggles to filter any bit of starlight that somehow might have crept through the mist, the crew walked through the halls. The castle was completely empty, desolated, deserted, and was slowly falling apart, like everything else. The purple mist crept everywhere, obscuring the vision like a strange, airy syrup. Hallway after hallway, with nothing but wail of wind outside and their own echoing hoofsteps.

“There,” Starlight pointed at the hall with stained glass windows, “Twilight put The Dawn Machine in the throne room. We’re almost there.”

No creature said anything as they walked onward.

Miraculously, a few stained glass windows survived the cataclysm untouched.

"We should try and dismantle them on the way back," Tin said, "Might fetch a fair price from the collectors… Or scrap dealers"

“That’s history, dude,” Sandbar said disapprovingly, before glancing into one of the missing windows-

-fields of decaying grass under a putrid sun. A cemetery. A lonely dilapidated church. He’s standing there, older… rougher. He feels his chin adorned with unshaved bristly stubble. He’s tired, but he feels determined. He’s carrying a double-barrel shotgun on a sling over his back. A stalk of long dead wheat between his teeth. He walks towards the church door and opens it. Inside are two gryphons wearing robes with hoods obscuring their faces.
“So you’ve come,” one of them spoke, “Infidel.”
“Indeed,” Sandbar replied, pulling the shotgun off his shoulder, “I came to end you and your cult”
“Heretic!” the second growled, and hurled a glowing red gem at Sandbar. He dodged behind a pew without much grace and fired his gun, sending the gryphon flying away in a heap.
“You can not stop us!” the first gryphon snarled, “There will be reckoning! It will not be postponed indefinitely!”
Sandbar looked at the gryphon and frowned.
“It will not come as long as I live, Gallus,” he said as he pulled the trigger-

“Dead history,” Tin responded grimly. Sandbar shook his head, blinking the strange vision from his eyes. What was that all about?..

First one depicted the defeat of Discord at the hooves of Twilight and her friends. The second one showed the defeat of Tirek. Another one depicted the victory over the Storm King. The final one...

Mecha looked at the window with an unreadable expression on his face. Every facet, every little bit of glass mocked, taunted, leered, jeered at him. He didn't think, he just lit his horn and picked up a bunch of small stone pieces from the floor...

The group stopped at the sound of glass shattering and metal framework collapsing. Turning around they saw Mecha stand, staring at the now shattered and destroyed window, breathing heavily. Tin tilted his head in disapproving silence.

"Sorry about that, Kapitän..." the gray unicorn mumbled, pulling his peaked cap over his face. Tin shook his head and sighed. Silverstream backed up a little to see what was that which brought the first officer’s ire. It was difficult to figure out what was depicted there now, but the remaining panes were showing a red lightning bolt in a yellow circle in the middle of the top part of the window, with a rainbow in the background. The framework remains suggested that the rainbow... zig-zagged through the window? And ended in something black and pink at the bottom-

-She was flying! Or was she? Was she not? She felt so great, so joyous! So many things! Bats! Cats! Old broken things that nocreature wants - I know, right? - what a waste! The lovely patterns of entropy! Oh how they weave into one another, - A connoisseur of things broken? Delightful! - And oh how fun, how fun! And how easy, how easy those tiny creatures break before her, from her, for her! - Oh, how about this? - A locomotive wreck comes into view. There are two creatures on it. A filly in rags and a hippogryph mare of cocoa-beige color. They talk, the hippogryph puts away her art supplies. And the filly, she is so sad, so alone, so… empty, and the hippogryph turns a little and gives her a small wave-

-She blinked. Odd. She trotted onward, following the group who had reached the doors to the throne room.

Starlight stopped right before the doors. She felt her mane - no, scratch that, all of her fur suddenly stood up as shivers jolted through her body.

“You guys felt that?” Sandbar asked, “I…”

“I don’t like what’s behind this door,” Tin muttered.

In fact, the only ones who remained somewhat unfettered were Mecha and Silverstream. Even if the latter’s ears were pressed down.

“Let’s just-” Smolder pushed Starlight away and put her paws on the doors “-open it and be done with it!”

As the door opened, the sight behind made the group stop. Looming over the throne was a rattling, clanking, screeching mess of elliptic rings, gears and dimly lit, eerie red sigils that made eyes ache and mind burn, even through the stained glass of the goggles.

“Twilight…”

Mecha’s voice was full of shock, horror and desperation.

“What have you done?!”

And then the light drowned out all worries and sorrows...

Author's Note:

The segment with the weft of unraveling time went through, like, four rewrites, one of which was rewriting from scrap.

Thank you for your attention, delicious reader.