Snowed In

by theOwtcast

Wanted: Snow Plow

The train chugged steadily along through the pristine white landscape stretching to eternity and back. The valleys and the rolling hills were perfectly still, dormant under the thick blanket of snow growing slowly but steadily thicker by the snowflakes dancing down from the skies. I longed to once again dance with them, to once again lose myself in their enchanting beauty; though it had only been my home for a blink of an eye in another life, I’d grown fond of the soft, white wonder of the northern end of the world, and the happy memories of it that I shared with my friends would always bring warmth to my heart.

Soon, I told myself. Soon there’ll be another.

A frustrated huff at my side broke the spell, pulling me back into the here and now.

“What’s wrong, Pharynx?” I asked.

“How did your aura get so sweet all of a sudden?” he retorted. “I think my teeth are about to rot just by sitting next to you…”

I chuckled. “You say that every other day!”

“Shut up, Thorax.”

“Seriously, though. What’s on your mind?”

“Why would anything be on my mind?”

“You’ve been grumpier than usual ever since we left the hive. There’s got to be a reason!”

“I told you already: I don’t see why you had to drag me all the way here if you’re the one invited!”

“And I told you already, I want you to meet my friends, and they’ve been talking about wanting to meet you too for a while!”

“They met me already.”

“Technically yes, but they thought you were Shining Armor, and you spent most of the time cooped up in his office anyway.”

“What was I supposed to do? Get caught acting out of character or not knowing something the real Shining Armor would be expected to know and jeopardize the whole mission, nevermind that the purpose of that mission went right out the window after what you did? And in case you forgot, I actually incapacitated those ‘friends’ that are suddenly so eager to meet me. What gives?!”

“They’ve forgiven you and want to start over on the right hoof!”

“Hm.”

“You know ponies don’t hold a grudge for very long, and these ponies in particular have no ulterior motives, if that’s your concern.”

“I got that impression too.”

“So no problem then-”

“But that still doesn’t change the fact that both the king and the head of defense forces are simultaneously absent from the hive and that Chrysalis is still on the loose. She could notice and attack the hive before we’re back!”

“Didn’t you say the army is trained and ready?”

“They’re trained, yes, but they’re also far thinner in numbers than they used to be, and this isn’t something I’m willing to take chances with. Even if they are numerous enough to give her a hard time, I know how she thinks better than any of them.”

“...well, we’re only spending one day here-”

“Not if this blizzard keeps up!”

I glanced at the window; sure enough, the snowing had intensified to not quite a storm, but not far from it, either. Enough to get the crystal ponies worried? I wasn’t sure; I hadn’t spent enough time around them to figure out where exactly their threshold was. I knew the icy inferno at Flurry’s crystalling hadn’t deterred them from gathering around the castle, but was it because they were used to such weather or because they’d been willing to risk their lives to honor the newborn princess with their presence?

Then again, the crystal ponies lived here and were protected by the Crystal Heart’s magic; even if the weather were to cut off the traffic to and from the city, they could probably wait it out with the supplies they had. Pharynx and I, on the other hoof, couldn’t stay away from the hive indefinitely even though the city’s love supply was infinite and our hosts would surely provide any accommodations we could ask for.

“Didn’t Spike say Twilight’s mom and dad missed the crystalling because a storm delayed their train?” I mused. “But they got there eventually, so it can’t be that bad, right? Especially since this isn’t even close to the storm raging through the Empire back then?”

“You’re forgetting you weren’t on the train that time,” Pharynx said. “How can you be so sure it isn’t as strong unless you get out into it? Don’t actually do it. A rescue intervention is the last thing we need.”

“I wasn’t going to-”

CRASH!

Before I knew it, Pharynx and I had tumbled off the seat; his sharp reflexes managed to redirect him into landing on the seat opposite the one we’d just occupied, from where I could hear him facehoofing at my unceremoniously-toppled, upside-down form moaning on the floor of the train car.

“Are you alive?” he asked.

“I think so… What happened?”

“I’m about to find out as soon as you pull yourself up from there!”

I did after some effort to disentangle myself, by which time a conductor had appeared. Pharynx had him pressed against a wall before he could utter a sound.

“This better not be sabotage!” he growled.

“Pharynx, let him go!” I cried, but to no avail.

“Why?” the conductor pleaded. “Who would sabotage a half-empty train in the middle of nowhere?”

“Someone who has a grudge against the king of changelings and wants him dead! Like anypony who doesn’t believe we’ve changed, or, I don’t know, maybe the tyrant he dethroned!”

The conductor’s eyes went wide.

“Right… right… but I don’t think that’s the case here-”

“Then what is?!”

“The blizzard piled up a snow dune onto the tracks. We hit it.”

“You couldn’t have stopped before? Or plowed through it?”

“We would have, but the dune looked like just another hill, and by the time we realized it wasn’t one, it was too late to either stop the train or accelerate.”

Pharynx finally released him, albeit with a snort. “I wanna see this dune,” he added.

“Why?”

“So I can check if it really is a natural formation! We can’t risk that an enemy is onto us when we’re alone and so far away from any reinforcements!”

“Aren’t you getting paranoid?” I interjected.

“Have you met Chrysalis?”

“Uh…”

“Can you swear on the hive’s future that she didn’t somehow find out you’d be coming to the Crystal Empire today and set up a trap?”

I couldn’t, and even if I could, Pharynx was in such a state that any arguing against his point was doomed to fail. “Fine, have it your way,” I relented. “Just try to act civil unless a threat actually appears? Please?”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Are you gonna show us the dune or what?”

The conductor swallowed a lump in his throat. “Uh, yes, of course… this way…”

The dune turned out to be bigger than I’d expected, and the locomotive was buried into it.

“Explain to me something, pony,” Pharynx hissed at the conductor. “How does a dune of that size end up on the train tracks with nopony being the wiser?”

“I-i-it’s the we-we-weather of the F-f-f-f-rozen N-n-n-north-”

“Just the weather? Couldn’t it have had help-”

“Pharynx, leave him alone! Can’t you see you’ve scared him out of his wits?”

“What am I supposed to do? Thank him for being stranded?”

“It’s not his fault that we’re stranded,” I insisted, “and besides, it’s just snow. We can dig through it! Will the train be able to continue after that, Mr Conductor?”

“Well, unless the engine suffered critical damage…”

“Did it?”

“Not as far as could be seen from inside the train.”

“Good. Pharynx?”

He snorted. “You dig if you want, but whoever did this has got to be around, and I intend to find them!”

With that, he took to the air and started flying in circles, spiraling out from our position, occasionally getting blown off course by the gusts of the wind.

“Are you sure you’re alright with digging, Your Highness?” the conductor asked hesitantly.

“It’s not the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” I said with a shrug. “And by the way, I’m not really a fan of high titles, either. Just call me Thorax!”

“Right. Thorax… Guess I’ll get the shovels, then…”

“Better go check on the other passengers, see if they need something. I’ve got this.”

“What do you mean-”

Before he could finish, I engulfed myself in blue flames and emerged from them as a nearly full-sized maulwurf, then immediately attacked the snow dune, careful not to flip the train over with my claws.

“...oh,” I heard him say. “Alright then, guess I’ll go check the passengers…”

I’d assumed the work would take at least a few hours, given the size of the dune, but the snow wasn’t packed especially densely and the blizzard had exhausted itself in the meantime, and before I knew it, my claws scraped the rails, fortunately without damaging them.

“That should do it!” the conductor said, returning outside. “I can’t believe you did it all by yourself!”

“There’s still some snow on the tracks…”

“Nothing the engine can’t handle,” he winked. “Now, where is Mr Pharynx? I suppose he wouldn’t want the train to leave without him?”

Apparently he’d noticed; I didn’t even have to go looking for him.

“That was quick,” he grumbled, landing empty-hooved.

“Good to have you back, Pharynx,” I said. “Catch any enemies?”

“Shut up.”

Comments

[Black--Soul]

Nice chapter. Seem to fit in about any story

[Yoshifan30]

“We would have, but the dune looked like just another hill, and by the time we realized it wasn’t one, it was too late to either stop the train or accelerate.”

That's still kind of dangerous even for passengers who doesn't have enough time to react they will get hurt

[Yoshifan30]

Well this is a pretty interesting one here so it looks like thorax and pharynx are going to the Crystal Empire to visit and pharynx still doesn't trust the ponies yet but before they get there they had a delay apparently a snow bank is in the way and they had to figure out to get that one out of the way pharynx is a little bit paranoid so he checked out everywhere to make sure they're not being ambushed while thorax decided to just give of the snow and it looks like it was pretty easy for him since he can transform into a giant monster and everything and I did like the ending in the parts of the chapter

[Scyphi]

I knew the icy inferno at Flurry’s crystalling hadn’t deterred them from gathering around the castle, but was it because they were used to such weather or because they’d been willing to risk their lives to honor the newborn princess with their presence?

...more that they were just that oblivious.

“Explain to me something, pony,” Pharynx hissed at the conductor. “How does a dune of that size end up on the train tracks with nopony being the wiser?”

Proof that the changelings live in a distinctly southern location that doesn't see much snow, because anyone who's lived through some snowstorms knows perfectly well how snowdrifts work and how they'll form wherever they darn well please and at any size, should the wind blow them there.

So basically, all Pharynx is proving here is his own ignorance towards the properties on snow and snowstorms.

11494826
Trains can't stop on a dime--even when breaking as hard as they can, they will still continue forward for quite a distance, particularly if they are very weighed down in terms of cargo/passengers or already traveling at high speed (an object in motion stays in motion and all that physics stuff). So if an obstacle appears suddenly before them, close enough that the train wouldn't be able to stop in time, it really has no choice but to hit it, whether it wants to or not.

It's why drivers are taught, should your car get stuck on railroad tracks with a train oncoming, to immediately flee the car, because often times the train isn't going to have any ability to stop itself in time to avoid hitting the car--and of course, the car's not going to stand a chance against the train.

Same applies for snow. Trains usually operate in such a way that, if they know in advance the tracks are covered or otherwise obstructed so, they'll try to avoid going down those tracks altogether knowing full well they could get stuck (or worse case derailed). But as we all know, the weather isn't always so predictable, so lots of trains operating in snowy weather are mounted with snow plows at the front as a precaution, in hopes that will clear any snow blocking their path that they otherwise wouldn't be able to stop in time to avoid.

That's what that pointed metal grate-like nose stereotypically seen on trains is for--to serve as a last ditch protection against any sudden or unforeseen obstructions that might be on the tracks it otherwise can't possibly stop in time to avoid and, hopefully, push any such obstructions out of the way should they be encountered without critically harming the train or its contents.