As the train pulled onto the main line, the engineer raised the boiler's temperature. The heavy blizzard was no match for the powerful Northern locomotive. Evan blew the whistle as the train approached a crossing gate, even though there were no cars present.
In the last passenger car, Michael and Garrett stood next to a heater, trying to shake off the cold. Once they were warm enough, they plugged into their smartphones into the outlet of their car. They changed into their uniforms and put their hats on. Garrett opened the door and headed into the passenger cars.
Michael grabbed the radio and began to make the routine announcements. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, we have departed from the Aurora Village Train Station. The time is seven fourty P.M. We are expecting heavy blizzard ahead and we kindly advise you to close all windows. We have estimated that it will be one hour until our arrival to Iron Bridge Village. Laptops, smartphones, and other handheld devices may be used throughout the journey."
Michael took a sip of his frozen soda before he resumed talking. "The conductor will be collecting tickets shortly, so please have your ticket ready for scanning and processing. Again, we are expecting some heavy snowfall, so please keep all windows closed. Thank you, and we hope you have a safe and pleasant trip."
The FEF plowed through the fresh powder snow. John shoveled coal into the firebox as fast as he could to keep the boiler hot. Once he knew that enough coal had been shoveled, he grabbed a piece of coal from the pile and threw the piece into the firebox like a basketball.
"He shoots, he scores! Yeah!" John cheered to himself as the coal went into the firebox.
Evan smiled and he rolled his eyes as he applied more pressure to the boiler. He sounded the whistle as they entered a tunnel.
Meanwhile, deep in the wintry forest, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence exhaustedly trod into a clearing, gasping for air. They were all bruised, aching, and battered from their encounter with the vicious wolves.
Celestia carried an unconcious Cadence on her back. She managed to use her horn as a torch to light up the way, but it was immediately rendered useless once the intense snowstorm battered down on them. All the three of them could do was make their way towards the little hut. It wasn't much, but anything was better than this blizzard. Due to the heavy snow deposits, the railroad tracks were covered with thick snow, causing them to go unnoticed by the alicorns.
Celestia and Luna pushed with all of their might towards the hut. Halfway through, Luna hit her hoof on a hard metal object, causing it to sprain. Luna cried in pain as she cradled it with her other front hoof. Then, one of her back hooves got caught underneath the rail.
"Tia!" Luna shrieked, calling out to her sister.
Celestia saw Luna trapped on the tracks. She quickly turned around and dashed towards Luna, still making sure Cadence never fell off her back. She gently laid Cadence on the snow and started digging in the snow to find Luna's hoof. As the air got colder and the wind harsher, she started to get short of breath. The sudden drop in temperature gave both sisters frostbite on their coats.
Celestia's lungs were almost void of oxygen. Soon, her breath got so short that she could no longer dig anymore.
Celestia eyes began to water up. The thought of her sister and niece dying in the snow made her helpless. Celestia cried to herself. As if things couldn't get bad enough, Celestia felt the train tracks rumbling and heard a whistle that echo in the wind.