"I'm keen on thinking of this as some sort of 'adventure vacation'. It's not an unusual thing, although rather nasty, when you lose all your luggage." Commented Crow, as Solaris and Camo returned to the main room of the restaurant. "To merge with the history of the place or some shit like that. A lot of crap anyway."
High Winds frowned and covered Dahlia's ears, protecting her young mind from the various profanities that the 'Lord' was rambling away.
"Don't care if it's something like that." grunted Fire Flower. "If it's some kind of joke or game, it has gone too far. It wasn't exactly safe, the crash."
"I say we just keep moving." Commented Metal Hooves. "This place is abandoned, to say the least."
"Well, I'll remember to buy this place, take it down, and build something useful. Like a Spa." Grunted Crow, raising his rump and heading towards the door. "This is the worst vacation ever."
"On that, I have to agree with Mr. Stuck Up." Grunted Solaris, trotting towards the door, followed by a still-shaking Camo. Dahlia jumped on her brother's back, but frowned when the stallion flinched.
"You ok, Camo?" she asked worriedly, as they exited again into the sea of fog. Winter Lily and High Winds joined the stallion, looking at his face.
"Your sister is right. Are you ok Camo? You look like you have seen a ghost." muttered the pegasus, as the unicorn mare gently pressed a hoof on the stallion's forehead.
"He was just tripping balls. Blabbering about the place being on fire." Grunted Solaris.
"Probably some poisonous plants…entered in my system in the swamp… I think. I should check at the hospital." muttered the stallion. That was indeed the best explanation. Some kind of hallucinogenic plant. That would explain all the things with the flames and chains and stuff. The stallion grumbled to himself, as the group returned to the street.
"I just hope we are not too far away from the city… my hooves are starting to kill me." Stated Winter Lily, trying to look through the the fog.
"Don't tell me. It would probably be for the best if one of you carry me on his back." Agreed Crow, and he received in response a bunch of glares from the others. "What?"
"Good luck with that." snickered the pegasus mare.
"I don't get the sarcasm. It seems that it would be a long walk, so it'll be appropriate if some of you, maybe those two strong earth ponies here, carry me around, since…" began to reply crow, before shutting up and raising his ears: a faint sound of trotting caught the attention of the group.
"Finally! Somepony!" exclaimed Fire Flower, before calling loudly: "Hey! Over here! We need help, we have a wounded pegasus." The trotting increased in intensity, and a pegasus emerged from the fog, running towards them: his coat was of a dark, blue color, that contrasted the yellow and black mane. His face was open in a smile of joy, that disappeared as soon as he saw the ponies.
"Oh… I… thought you were somepony else…" he muttered, scrabbling a hoof on the ground. "Excuse me but I don't have time to waste, I have to check the swamp."
"The swamp? That infernal place is a fucking trap. Why do you have to go there?" began to ask Metal Hooves, but the pegasus had already started to trot again.
"Hey pal, wait a sec!" pleaded High Winds, taking a few steps. The other pegasus stopped and turned, even if he continued to give quick glances towards the swamp. "We are on the right path towards town? We'been walking from all the morning."
"Sure you are. The thing is, the road is impassable, after a earthwake. And with that wing, I doubt you can fly to town, let alone the rest of you." Muttered the stallion. "Listen, Go on down the road, you'll find the entrance to the subway system. You'll probably find a train that's still working."
"Probably!" screamed Crow, but the stallion was running again towards the swamp, disappearing into the fog.
"Well, thank you, I suppose…" grunted Camo. He wasn't in the mood to complain. His belly was threatening to make him throw up, and his head felt numb.
"Yeah, thank you mister!" the little filly on his back cried out loudly, making him flinch.
"Name's Lightning Nova!" came back the stallion's voice through the fog.
-oOo-
"Is this supposed to be a subway station?!" asked Winter Lily in disbelief, as she descended the last dirty steps that led into the subway: they had found the entrance after a few minutes of searching for the broken and aged insignia of the subway line.
It was far away from what they had hoped: most of the lights on the ceiling were off or broken, and the few on were doing a horrible job of lighting up the area. The tiles on the ground were dirty, and some were also chipped and cracked. A trash can was laying on the ground, its rotting contents sprayed all over the floor.
"They sure don't spend very much on janitors." Commented Metal Hooves, pressing a hoof against his nose, trying not to breathe in the foul smell. Solaris just gagged, before turning away. Even Dahlia was making funny faces to show to the world her disgust. Her brother just ignored that and looked at the train, sitting motionless in front of them.
It was a three cars train, hanging from a railroad structure above it. The metal had been probably been bright yellow a long time ago, but now was a much darker shade, due to rust and dust all over it. The lights inside were on, even if they were flickering slightly.
"Well… I get it now. It's a city of beggars. They need some tourists to give them something to eat." Grunted Crow, looking inside the car with its door open, just to scream and jump back, as a couple of ravens cawed, jumping out from under a seat before flapping their wings and darting out of the station.
"You know… I think we can get this thing to work, though." Commented Metal Hooves, looking around. "I suppose there is a power generator somewhere. Obviously the train is out of order, but seems to be in shape, more or less. If we restore the power, maybe we can ride it in town."
"I thought you were a simple blacksmith." Commented Fire Flower, grinning. The stallion puffed out his chest.
"Well yes, but I like to be informed."
"I'll leave you to the generator. I'll be more concerned with a way to control this transport. Don't want to splatter ourselves against a wall." Commented Solaris, passing where Crow was still on the ground, and entering the car. "Falling from the sky in an airship was enough splatting for me." He grunted, before walking towards the first car. Steel Hoves nodded and turned, searching around, aided by Fire Flower's beam of light.
"Well, someone puked on a couple of seats, but so far, so good." Grunted Solaris, as he looked around. Camo Fall followed him, looking around, as his sister still continued her display of faces. The cars were smaller than a train's, a few seats each, and the first car contained the engine, leaving space for only one seat.
"We are going to be a little packed here." Stated High Winds, following the two earth ponies and sitting on an unstained seat, while Winter Lily and Crow entered as well, grumbling. They both looked at the small car, and silently trotted towards the next one.
"Oh dear Celestia… wonderful, dried blood…" grunted Crow, glaring at a deep, red stain on the car's floor. "This place sucks!"
"I'm afraid I have to agree." Nodded Winter Lily. It was not only extremely filthy, but also quite disturbing.
"Sorry about that princess, but this is the only way we have. It's probably been out of order for a few years, but I prefer this over walking through an unwalkable street." Grunted Camo, receiving a tap on his ear from his sister, as a sudden low whistle sounded from the first car.
"Ok, you should be ready to go. I don't know how to drive this thing, though." Stated Metal Hooves, trotting inside, followed by the unicorn mare, had had quite a disgusted expression.
"I know how to do it. I drove these things for a couple of years, some times ago." Grunted Solaris, turning a lever and pressing a couple of buttons. With a low screeching sound, the transport began to slide, following the railroad and entering a dark corridor. Soon, the dim light of the station had disappeared behind them, as the train entered a dark tunnel.
"Ok, I'm not going too fast here. Don't want to force it." Grunted Solaris. He only received a faint moan in response: Camo was sitting on one of the clean seats, his sister on his lap, while in front of him High Winds was tapping gently her own wing, while Winter Lily checked it over. In the last wagon, Fire Flower was looking with a rather disturbed expression out of the window, while Crow was buzzing around Metal Hooves, probably complaining about something. The stallion huffed, turning to look out of the window in front of him: it was going to be a long trip.
-oOo-
"What are those things, Camo?" asked suddenly Dahlia, shaking her brother out of the faint sleep he had fallen into. The stallion stirred, before looking where his little sister was pointing: a series of speakers, probably the ones that were supposed to advise the passengers of the stops, were attached to the metallic ceiling of the car.
"Those are for letting us know where we are."
"That would be useful now." Stated Solaris, pulling a lever. "In this darkness I can barely see anything. Maybe I can try to turn it on. Maybe there is some sort of pre-recorded message or something." he added, starting to search over the console.
"Maybe there is a stop near the hospital. My wing is hurting." Grunted High Winds, flinching as a twing of pain hit her wing. Camo gave a quick glance at the mare, before sliding down from his seat and walking towards her, lending a hoof.
"Are you feeling ok?" he asked, trying to sound gentle, while Dehlia looked at them from the seat. "Do you want me to call Winter Lily?" The mare smiled, trying to dismiss the stallion.
"I can survive. I just hope we can get this fixed as soon as possible." She said calmly, trying to reassure the earth pony. In the same moment, the speaker began to buzz, as Solaris let out a victorious cheer from the first car.
"What's this?" asked Crow, annoyed, as the sound of static spread through the cars. "It's killing my ears, turn it off!"
"So sorry, Lord." Hissed Solaris, turning and glaring at the unicorn. "But I think I'll keep it on, since maybe we can hear something useful that may help avoid colliding into the end of the railroad."
"Well, this static isn't helping for sure!" shouted the stallion, stomping a hoof on the ground. As if to answer his claim, the sound of static disappeared, replaced by the low, melodic sound of a carnival organ. Crow's eyebrow rose up, as the music started to rise in volume, filling the wagons.
Fire Flower rocked on her hooves, uneasy, while Winter Lily was visibly shaking. Metal Hooves looked at both his friends.
"Are you girls…ok? You seem to be a little uneasy…"
"We are fine…" gulped Winter Lily, licking her lips. "We… just don't like circus music."
"Fillies…" huffed Crow, looking out of the window. After a few seconds, he let out a loud scream of fear, falling off from the seat, trying to back away from the back-window. "RUN! FUCKING RUN!"
An enormous, luminescent pony skull was floating behind the car, a few meters away from the last wagon. The teeth were distorted and yellow, the skull slightly cracked. The most disturbing feature, however, was the big, red fake nose placed where the nostrils were supposed to be. The area around the eye sockets were covered with white makeup, while red makeup drew some simple features around the eyes and over the cheeks. It was a grotesque and terrifying skull of a clown.
"What in the blue name of Celestia…" screamed Camo, turning and looking with terror at the apparition behind the train, as Dahlia screamed in fear, covering her head with her hooves. Solaris screamed as well, pulling even more the lever of the engine. Fire Flower blinked, falling to the ground and staring out the window, while Metal Hooves was banging on the door that connected their car with the other one.
"Why is this fucking thing blocked?! Why why why why?!" he screamed, terrified. Crow joined him, trying to push the door open with his magic, to no avail. The train began to rock, as if something was hitting the sides.
"O dear Celestia, what's going on?!" screamed Winter Lily, as one of the windows shattered, and what seemed to be a whip entered into the car, wrapping itself around a pipe of the metallic frame of the car. With a screech, the car began to come loose. The skull opened its jaws, as two more whips smashed through a couple of windows, catching the frame of the car.
"Help us!" screamed Crow, slamming his hoof on the door. With a loud screech, the car was pulled off the railroad and away from the other car, as the metallic nail that connected the two cars broke. With a series of screams, the car was dragged in the darknes, the four ponies banging their hooves against the walls of their metallic cage, as the skull lowered and disappeared in the darkness.
High Winds blinked, terrified, as Camo turned and dashed across the first car.
"Whst the fuck is going on?!" he screamed, looking at Solaris. The other pony was motionless, looking, mouth agape, at something on the console. As soon as he lowered his eyes, Camo Fall saw the lever controlling the speed was set to -maximum-, and was broken and stuck.
-oOo-
Progession. Finally. I'm sorry guys, but I might slow down a bit with teh writing. Of all my fics (in case you follow something else too.) Aaanyway, don't worry, our four ponies in the lost wagon are not dead. That would be to easy, right?
And a last note: closed submissions for the Ocs. Seriously, I would have never expected so many oc, but I'm with a lot of them now.