The Hyrulian Valhalla Saga
By Queenie Z
All Aboard The EXPRESS Express!
Duo broke into a big smile as he pressed his hands against the train's glass windows. His version of Hyrule had no trains, and he was amazed to discover that, in an alternate history, people actually used such magnificent machines to get around! So he thoroughly enjoyed riding with Engie, and he always said yes whenever he was asked to accompany the engineer.
They weren't moving quite yet, but the sight of the field was still quite riveting. "Hey, Mini," he asked, still looking out the window, "is Engie ready to go yet?"
"Not quite," replied Mini, who also loved getting to ride the train; unlike Wind, he was a bit of a thrill seeker. He turned backwards in his seat to look at Duo. "He's got to replace the coals in the furnace."
"Oh," said Duo. He stood up, walking to the front of the train where the furnace was located. "Engie! You need any help with that?"
Engie peered through the doorway, his face dirtied with soot, and grinned. "No, I've got it. You can come in anyway, though; I'll let you see me fire it up!"
"Okay!" Duo walked into the boiler room, where Engie was diligently filling the furnace with coal. Despite his small stature, he was able to shovel in pounds of the stuff with hardly a sweat! Duo was impressed. "You really know what you're doing," he said with a smile.
"Well," said Engie with a small laugh, "I've only done it my whole life!" He dumped the last bit of coal inside and wiped his brow. "Okay, now we just need to light 'er up, and - "
"Oh! Oh! Can I do it?" asked Duo, pulling out a small bag from inside his pouch. "I've got my ember seeds with me, they'll do the trick!"
"Sure, go ahead," the engineer said as he walked over to the controls. "I'll switch it on while you do that."
Duo nodded and pulled out what he thought was two ember seeds, tossing them into the furnace without much thought. Mere milliseconds before it ignited, however, he noticed he had made a terrible mistake.
He gulped. "Uh, Engie? I don't think you should start - "
The sound of creaking metal and rushing steam filled the train before Duo could stop him. Then the train began to move. Well, to say it moved would be an understatement - it began to whiz down the tracks at an impossible speed, sending all three Heroes tumbling to the back of the passenger car.
"Duo!" cried Engie, "What the hell did you do!?"
"I didn't mean to!" yelled Duo pathetically, "A pegasus seed got in there by accident! I'm sorry...!"
Mini, however, simply started laughing and gabbed on to the back of the nearest seat. "You're sorry!? Ha ha! This is the most fun I've had in centuries!"
His laughter almost drowned out the screams of terror emitted by the other two as they continued barreling down the train tracks.
"And so I told him no way," said Wind, who took another bite of his sandwich, "I've had it with trains. If he wants to take people on a ride, he can ask someone else!"
Sky chuckled sheepishly. "Oh, I don't think they're that bad, Wind. How come you hate them so much?"
Wind scowled. "It's because they're unsafe! They go way too - "
Woosh! The runaway train crossed the tracks that were mere yards away from where Wind and Sky were having their lunch. Wind went white at the sight, dropping his sandwich in shock.
"...fast..."
Sky watched the train disappear into the horizon, then turned back to his successor, his eyes wide. "...Yeah. Yeah, I think I see your point."
