Her Eyes Reflect The Stars

by Lynwood

The Lump in the Ash

Rainbow Dash is a quick learner.

She gets to know the Ash Wastes' sounds and signs within the first day. It takes longer than that to get used to flying near to the ground, and even longer than that to get used to the permanent ash-cloud cover, but before long she's pointing out Children calls faster than I can. I can see why ponies thought so highly of her. I wish that I could see her fly like she used to, in the Wonderbolts shows that my family was never really welcome at... but it's far too dangerous. Maybe when we reach the west.

We spend a couple of days looking for a route around the deathtrap that used to be called Ponyville. It's not too difficult to find a path through burnt trees of the Whitetail Woods, and from there it's a straight shot north to the old railway.

According to my map, we're nearly at the rails, me sliding on my sled and her flying a couple of pony-hights off the ground when she spots it. "Hey!" she says, her voice low enough to be claimed by the wind by anything but me. "We got something up ahead."

"Can you tell what it is?" I ask. She shakes her head. "Better approach on the ground, then. If it's a machine, it'll be better if it doesn't notice we're here.

I stow my sled and she lands with a little flurry of ash, her new snowshoes keeping her from sinking into the ash all the way to her belly. We approach the long, crooked lump in the ash as carefully as possible.

"I don't think that's a machine," I say, "I think it's been here since the ash started falling. Look how thick the layer covering it is. We can't even tell what's underneath."

"Yeah," Rainbow says, "I think you're right. Hold on, I'll go check it out." It's a good idea— she's the one of us who can fly away if it ends up being dangerous.

"Careful. It could still be dangerous, even if it's not a machine."

She nods solemnly and approaches the long, ash-covered lump, digging at its end a little before straightening up. "I know what this is," she says, "It's a derailed train."

"What?" I call as loudly as I dare. "Are you sure? We're in the middle of nowhere."

"I'm sure," she says over her shoulder, grabbing hold of something under the ash. "Check this out!" She groans and pulls, lifting something out of the ash. No, she's pulling open a door, but I didn't recognize it at first because it's sideways.

We peek inside the train car together. It's essentially a pitch-black hole, a hidden room underneath a drift of ash. I light my lantern and shine it into the hole. There's nothing but abandoned luggage and sideways seats.

"It's perfect," I say. "We'll stash the food here and stay here for the night. We can start heading back to the last shelter tomorrow."

"You got it," says Dash as she follows me in, leaving the door cracked open behind her. "Where is she, anyway?"

"In the Everfree Forest," I say. "We found a little hut away from everything that seemed safe." She grins at that. I don't understand why.

I cough after I finish charging the lantern and my horn's light goes out.

"Yo, you sick or something?" she asks.

I wave her off. I'm too tired to argue, but that night, I dream about Her.

Comments

[SkylordF]

I wonder if that's the same train from an earlier chapter. The one not near rails.