Chapter 1: The Terrible Train of Treachery
"How may I help you, Princess Sparkle?"
I lifted my head out of my forelegs and yawned, rubbing my eyes. When I looked to my right, the image of a blurred out waitress with distorted colors met me. Looking around, I learned that I sat on a soft green cushion, in the middle of Rarity and Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie and Applejack sat across from us on the same cushions, separated from us by a table. The only mare who wasn't here with us in the train was Rainbow Dash. Some of my friends slept, while the rest of them rested.
The floor shook, sending vibrations up my legs as we rumbled our way westward. Out the window, I could see green hills and stony mountains surrounding us. Celestia's sun was in the middle of the sky, sending its warm summer rays upon the land. I stretched my wings and legs, accidentally hitting Rarity and Fluttershy with I did so.
There was a pony standing next to the table. My vision was too blurry to see clearly, but I could make out the unicorn's pale fur and blue mane. She was wearing some sort of black uniform with white laces and straps, while standing behind a silver steel cart. On the tray were a few covered steel plates, and under the cart in a hidden compartment there were probably tea cups, kettles, drinks, and other items of that nature.
The (presumably) waitress beamed and looked straight into my eyes, as if she was expecting something. I looked around, but it didn't seem as if any of my friends were speaking to her, so I turned back to her. "Excuse me?"
"Somepony at this table ordered my services, your honor." She calmly stated while bowing, her body betraying her tone of voice. Her orange eyes swept across the table occasionally, and she fidgeted on her back hooves. She kept looking back at the door, and sweat formed on her forehead. Her blue tail lashed side to side, like an old clock's golden circular needle swaying in the atmosphere, ticking each time its inertia reversed and switched directions to tell the time.
"You can just call me Twilight, and I didn't order anything. Did any of you girls?" I looked at my colorful friends. A few shrugged, or slurred, or did something with their bodies. I couldn't tell which of them were awake, since they were mostly all sitting in the same position with their eyes closed. I also still couldn't see that well, but I was too tired to cast a spell and clear my fatigue.
"Nope," Applejack said. Fluttershy drowsily looked at the floor; Rarity stood up to presumably comment, unkempt purple hair draping her back.
"I'll take a drink, if you gals didn't order anything. We wouldn't want to waste the waitress's time, now would we?" Rarity answered, hooves on the table. No one commented; she brushed her messy mane out of her eyes. "Chai tea, if you would. Oh, and I didn't catch your name, darling,"
The waitress nodded, but her smile faltered a little. "It's Blu-... Uh, It's, um..." She nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of her head with a foreleg."Why, you can just call me the waitress," the waitress said as she levitated a teapot and kettle to the table. Her magic poured the tea in the cup, and then moved it over to Rarity, who graciously took it in her magic and set it on the table.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," The unicorn quickly walked down the train car hallway and into a door on the right, a click sounding when she closed it.
I nervously pawed the table in front of me with my hoof, smiling sheepishly. "So, girls! Uh..." she trailed off for a few seconds, distractedly looking at the roof. "Do any of you know where we're going?"
Rarity's ears perked up at that, and she took a sip from the tea. "Why, yes! Of course, we are..." she paused with her mouth open, then frowned. "I am sorry Twilight, I don't remember,"
"Me neither. I ain't got a good feelin' about this," Applejack muttered, looking at everypony in the room. Rarity sleepily blinked her eyes. "And where's Rainbow?"
We anxiously looked at each other for a few seconds, and I finally realized that Pinkie and Fluttershy were sleeping the whole time. Crossing my eyes, I gathered the magic within me and produced it outwards in the form of an anti-fatigue spell to everyone at the table. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy yawned, slowly stretching their legs and looking up. What was left of my fatigue vanished, and Rarity also looked considerably more placid. Applejack just looked more determined.
"What in tarnation..." Applejack muttered to herself. "Twi, you know what's goin' on?"
I closed my eyes, shaking my head. "Rarity, do you remember anything?"
She sipped once more from her tea cup and sighed. "I'm afraid not, dear."
"Hey girls... what's happening?" Fluttershy sat up, yawning and stretching her wings. "Where are we? I don't remember any of this."
"Me neither," Pinkie frowned. "I remember having a party, playing games, and having fun! But then the party ended, and we were sad, but we went to sleep, and I said good night and now I'm here!"
They muttered among themselves, sharing an uneasy look.
"Calm down, everypony," I said, standing up from the table. "I'll just speak with the waitress. I'm sure there's nothing wrong. We couldn't just have magically appeared on a train going to the middle of nowhere, right?"
Nopony responded, so I apprehensively walked down the train car, opening the door with my magic. "Excuse me, but gah-!"
There was nothing outside. The train car was detached from the rest of the vehicle. When Fluttershy caught sight of it, her pupils dilated and she shrieked.
"Huh?"
"Oh my goodness!"
"Calm down!" Applejack yelled, standing up from the table. "We've handled worse situations, haven't we? I reckon we're in no danger at all. Twi, would you please stop the train? The princess needs ta know about this,"
I nodded. "Yes, of course. Way to think ahead, Applejack," I turned back to the open door, staring at the majestic view of the mountains draped in a blanket of snow, jutting from the earth like rows of teeth. It was beautiful.
Then I looked ahead, and realized we were about to fly off the edge. I instinctively shrieked and teleported out, forgetting my friends for only a moment. After getting over my initial shock, the whole train was caught in a purple aura, and I strained to levitate it to where I was standing. My hooves were rapidly skidding toward the edge. "Rarity! Help me!"
A blue aura concealed the train, joining mine. I slowed down and the load was lighter, but I still couldn't lift it up. "Fluttershy! Fly out of there!"
"I can't!" She screeched from somewhere inside. "Twilight!"
"Ugh!" I grunted. The edge was getting dangerously close. If I fell, I might be able to teleport myself back to the edge, but then the train would fall with my friends in it. Actually... "Rarity! I have a plan, but you need to trust me! Let go of the train!"
She cried something out, but I didn't hear it. Slowly, the blue aura holding the train dissipated, immediately jerking me closer to the edge. Adrenaline consumed my body as I began to burn out, unable to concentrate so early in the morning, with artificial fatigue, and the heavy load of the whole train car in my grasp.
Half a second passed, and I let go of the train entirely. Screams pierced my ears but I just as quickly charged up a teleportation spell, summoning each of my friends to stand beside me, along with the couches they were sitting on. Peering over the edge of the cliff, we watched as the green car slowly shrunk and twirled down the valley, hitting the stone and making a huge burst of blue water shoot straight up as it hit the river. We were so high up the mountain we didn't even hear it.
Everypony sat down, catching their breath. My head pounded like my brain had increased in size, pushing at my skull, begging it to cave in. I collapsed forward on the snow, shivering as my adrenaline ran out and I began feeling the cold. "I'm-" I gasped for breath "-too tired to cast a warmth spell. Give me a second."
Nopony commented as we faced the reality of the situation. The mysterious waitress was nowhere to be seen, and the tracks hanging down the ledge taunted us, reminding us of what would have happened if Applejack hadn't spoken up. Pinkie's hair fully deflated, and snow was starting to coat our coats.
"I-I reckon we oughta get back, now," Applejack shivered, clutching at her chest while straightening her hat. "I-It's gettin' mighty cold, an the princess n-needs ta hear about this."
Everypony nodded. After a few seconds, I took a deep breath and sighed. My horn was getting sore from the exertion, fatigue, and cold, but I cast a warmth spell anyway. All of us visibly sighed in relief and relaxed, looking at the area around us. It looked exactly like what you would expect the top of a mountain to look: snow everywhere.
"Yes, you're right, Applejack. There's just one problem; I'm too tired to teleport across long distances, and I can't send Princess Celestia letters without Spike."
It took a few seconds for that fact to dawn on them. Fluttershy quietly gasped, suddenly blinking her eyes. "So... how are we going to get back?" Fluttershy whispered, trying to blink back tears as Pinkie comforted her. "A-angel's going to get h-hungry and I just, I..." she choked back a breath of air and fell to the floor, tears breaking the dam in her eyes. "What's going on, Twilight?" she weeped, melting the snow as her tears trailed down her cheek and onto the ground.
The sight of her crying strung a chord in my heart, and I struggled to fight back a few of my own tears tears. "I guess we just have to follow the train tracks back, for now. Don't worry Fluttershy, I promise everything will be alright,"
"Pinkie Promise?" Fluttershy whispered. Pinkie Pie solemnly looked at me, pouting while she brushed Fluttershy's hair, telling her everything would be alright, that everything was going to be okay.
I didn't respond. After a few seconds of her wails, I picked her up with magic, and we started walking down the railway. My energy was fading, and so was the spell as the cold began seeping into our bones and causing us to move slower. It didn't matter, the rails were soon covered by snow anyway.
My energy faded, I collapsed onto the snow. Rarity soon followed. Even Pinkie was looking a little weary, looking down at the snow and not bothering to hop. When I fell, Fluttershy hit the snow with a thud.
In a way, everything seemed peaceful.
The cold started taking its toil, and my magic vanished completely. Cold and hungry, we all huddled into a group laying on the snow. My vision started getting a little dizzy, contortions flying around my eyesight. The worst part of the situation? I didn't even know who did this to us. I didn't know how we could return. But, worst of all, I didn't know how anyone could ever find us, alive or not.
That single thought got emotions of frustration running through my head. How could we just lose, now of all times?
"I-I was supposed to attend my brother's wedding," I said, sharply taking in a breath. We had all stopped shivering, it wasted energy and there was no point. "He was going to have a nice, fancy wedding, and we would all have been there for him," I cried, blinking my eyes. "But now... he's just going to wonder where I am," I bit my lip. "I was supposed to be good at magic, I'm supposed to study more magic, why did I spend all my time on friendship instead?"
"Now, Twi," Applejack huddled closer, looking me deep in the eyes. "Living a life like that's no life at all. There's nothing you could have done to prevent this. We just have to accept things as they are, and move on."
"I don't know..." I sighed, coughing as the freezing air penetrated my lungs.
The snow built up around us, burying our limbs to the knees. Our coats were as white as Rarity's at this point, our bodies too weak and numb to feel much. After a good ten seconds of that, a terrible screech sounded above us. I looked up and saw the waitress from earlier fly in at an alarming speed, crashing unto the earth and sending a cloud of snow pummeling up into the air when she landed. Her uniform was gone, and she looked over at us with cruel determination in her eyes. It didn't take long for me to realize that a unicorn just flew without wings.
She walked over to our group, not bothered the slightest by the intense cold. "Who are you?" I whispered, looking up at her face.
She didn't respond.