The smile on my face slowly faded as I returned to the more dire matters at hoof. “How many of your runners were injured and how long will it take to get moving again?” I stated to Break Runner.

He rubbed his face with his right forehoof and stated, “Half of us are still able to run, but we’re tired from the harsh gallop. The other half, have either sprains or broken bones. We can make do with the remaining team as there is now less weight to pull. However, without help it will take a few hours for us to rest up enough to be able to do it by ourselves.”

I tapped my left fang with my hoof a few times while deep in thought. We did not have a few hours to spare. Firstly, the rogue vampires would soon be upon us. Secondly, the longer we dawdled the closer we moved to dawn and with Twilight in her weakened state, the sunlight could kill her. Lastly, even if we did manage to block the sun from her, me and half my unit would be horribly weakened and vulnerable.

So with all other options exhausted I came to a decision I knew I was going to regret. I took a deep breath and stated, “We will help you pull the train.”

My comment was initially met with laughter from Break Runner and the other runners. When Break Runner managed to calm himself he half laughed out a reply. “Not to burst your bubble, but we train all the time to be able to pull this mess. Many drop out when they try and work for the train yard. It takes a lot of strength keep up.”

I raised an eyebrow and without a word, I walked over to the front of the train engine. I then shut down my armor’s suppression field and placed my left hoof on a medium sized metal loop close to me. I looked Break Runner in the eyes as I applied a moderate amount of force to it. The metal whined as I slowly tore it off the train in a twisting motion.

The previous laughter soon turned into dumbfounded silence. I then proceeded to crush the loop with my front hooves into a small crumpled ball. All eyes are on the ball as I gently tossed it to Shadow Dancer. The silence continued as I glanced over to a see a smile crawl up Shadow Dancer’s face. He snarled and hurled the metal ball somewhere far off into the distance.

It took Break Runner a few moments regain himself. “How…how…did you do that?! This train is made of reinforced steel! I've seen this engine break through solid walls without taking a dent! And then you just rip a piece off of it like it was made of hay, crush it, and then have your friend send it sailing to the moon!” he said, stuttering a few times.

I chuckled a little and said, “So, do we qualify?”

He sniffed a few times, straightened his hat and said, “Well, welcome to train engine team number twelve. The pay is terrible and meals are worse. At least the booze at the end makes it somewhat worth it.” His statement was answered by a few sarcastic remarks from the other runners.

We all began to have a small laugh until we heard a loud snarl. Gray Mane jumped from the top of the train engine into the middle of us. He was in his lycan form clutching his battle axe in his front claws. He vigorously kept looking around for, what I could only guess, something to attack.

He snarled and glared around. “Where are they?! I heard Shadow Dancer growl!” his voice came out rough and hard.

I smiled, closed my eyes, and shook my head. “You can calm down, Gray Mane. There is no enemies here…well not yet. However, while you are here anyway, you are now volunteered to help us pull the train engine.”

He looked around, smirked, and stated in a snarky tone, “Is that all? That’s going to be easy.” His comment only got the response of angry glares from Break Runner and the other train runners.

I rubbed my face a few times with my front hooves and sighed. “Alright we have wasted enough time as it is. We need to get moving, and soon. We are no doubt still being pursued by those rogue vampires,” I said, my voice growing increasingly weary.

My final statement made all the train workers grow quiet. Break Runner responded in a worried tone, “You aren't kidding are you?” I shook my head in reply. He sighed, straightened his hat again and stated, “Well what in Tartarus are we waiting for then? Let’s get the fuck out of here!”

In short order we loaded the wounded train runners into the back of the train engine with the others. It was rather miserable sight to see. Most of everypony was cold, tired and hungry. We did not even have the best methods for wound tending. The sooner we got to Canterlot the better, but until then we would have to make due.

I managed to locate my tome in the chaos and placed it next to Twilight. In her sleep she unconsciously wrapped her front legs around it. I could not help, but smile. Even in her sleep she was still obsessed with books. I did not mind her holding it though. I did give her access to it after all. With a sigh I kissed her cheek and got off the back of the train.

It was going to be a long trip. It seemed that Cloud Streak and Tactics were either too injured or too tired to run. That in turn left only me, Gray Mane, Night Star and Shadow Dancer to pick up the slack. I rubbed my eyes with my front hooves before I started to walk towards the front of the train. However, I had to stop halfway as a flaring pain shot up my back. I ultimately had to lean on the engine for a minute to regain my balance.

I heard a small chuckle behind me and somepony state, “Are you really intending to run in that condition?” I was hoping no pony would have seen my moment of weakness, but Night Star seemed to have lingered back as we were all walking to the front of the train.

I tried to gather my pride as I stated, “I am fine.” However, my tired voice just was not up to the task.

She walked in front of me and shook her head. “That seems to be a reoccurring lie with you tonight. You are not ‘Fine’. You shattered your spine not that long ago. I am surprised you are even walking. So again, how are you intending to run?” she said with concern.

I gave her a sarcastic smile and said “Well I assume moving my legs and body in a galloping motion would be a good start.”

Even through her helm I could imagine a smile on her face as she shook her head again. “Perhaps you should sit this one out, Captain. You are in no condition for the strain.”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and stated, “You know full well I am not going to do that. We need to get Canterlot as fast as possible. I refuse to rest until that happens. Besides I have had worse. Nothing comes to mind right now, but that is probably just from the pain.” I tried to laugh, but all that came out were a few ragged breaths and a cough.

I heard her mumble something under her breath about me being as stubborn as a minotaur. She sighed in defeat and finally stated, “Then I guess you leave me little choice.” She lowered the armor on her right foreleg, quickly walked over to me and stuffed her leg in my mouth. Before I was able to react, she yanked up and drove my fangs in. “If I cannot stop you from running, at least I can hopefully prevent you from killing yourself. Please, I do not have much to spare, but take it,” she said seemingly fighting the pain.

I only took one mouthful before I pulled her away. She stumbled a little bit and had trouble keeping her balance. She then re-armored her foreleg and held it to her chest. “I think I am going to have to sit this one out. I never was much of a long distance runner anyway. Now try not to destroy yourself,” she stated in a tired voice.

I swallowed the last of her blood and rolled my eyes. “Yes, mother,” I said in a snarky tone.

“Ha ha ha Cap-tain,” she replied in the same tone. My right eye twitched at the comment before she started fumbling towards the back of the train engine. I was about to begin walking to the front of the train when I heard quiet sobbing behind me. I looked back to see Night Star’s pace had slowed and she paused every few steps.

I was about to say something, but I heard Shadow Dancer’s voice summoning me to the front of the train. I responded to him and when I had looked back for Night Star, she was gone. My sarcastic statement must have inadvertently hurt her. I made a mental note to apologize to her later.

As I arrived to the rest of the group, I noticed Break Runner and his other runners were already at work rigging up the harnesses. I scanned around and everypony looked weary. Even Gray Mane had trouble hiding the signs on his face. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths while I tried to think. However, my mind was too tired for thought at the moment. So I in turn just remained out of the way of the setup process.

After a small amount of debate, we decided it was best if I was setup in front next to Break Runner. It was in the basic hope that I would protect the front from threats. While the logic was sound and any other time I would have agreed. However, in my current condition it would be difficult. Regardless, I found it best not to protest.

The group then stated to rig up the other running to their normal spots. They made sure that Shadow Dancer and Gray Mane were rigged up in a way to balance the load. It was amusing watching them try to attempt to do this. Gray Mane was not a small pony and he barely fit in the harness. Shadow Dancer on the other hoof somehow managed to move himself next to the mare that agreed with him about the hard cider earlier. Even in certain peril he was still up to his old tricks. At least he was consistent in his habits, if nothing else.

Break Runner soon checked everyponies’ harness before hooking himself up. He began to fidget a bit and he kept glancing at me. It did not take much effort to pick up on what he required. “Need to ask me something?” I stated glancing over at him.

“Umm…I probably already know the answer to this. But why did you look away when I was well…yelling at you before?” he said while not looking at me.

I sighed and looked over at him. “You must understand. I have been over exerting myself. As a result it has made me very hungry. I stopped myself from doing something we both would have regretted,” I said as I faced forward again.

I saw him turned his head to look at me. His eyes were full of worry. “These rogue vampires. They’re not going to hold back like you did, are they?” he inquired.

I shook my head. “No, they will not. However, me and my unit will do everything in our power to protect everypony,” I said tapping my scythe on my back with my left forehoof. I then re-armored my helm and shut down my suppression field again for good measure. I heard Gray Mane and Shadow Dancer do the same.

He started to relax by a small measure and I heard his team sigh in slight relief. I was about say something more until I saw a blur in the wood next to us. My ears snapped up and my eyes scanned the trees. “We need to get moving, Now!”

“What’s wron-” he started to stay when a rogue vampire leaped out of woods at us. I swung my scythe and sliced them in half in mid-jump. Without so much as further word out of anypony we all pulled at once.

Another rogue vampire jumped from the woods as we stated to move. I saw them as they dove at the back of train with their daggers flashing. However, they only made it about half way before a throwing knife spun through the air and dug itself into their forehead. I did not even give myself a second look as we slowly sped up to a gallop.

Several more started jumping out of the woods at us. However, the speed of the train caused them to luckily miss their mark. Break Runner glanced over at me while panting. “Where in Tartarus are they coming from?” he said sounding increasingly worried.

“Give me a moment. I need to think,” I said trying to keep up our quickening pace. Break Runner brought up a valid point. This large of a group would have needed to setup a camp somewhere due to the sun. They have done this so many times in the past and I highly doubted they would have changed their methods. However, we were slowly moving further and further away from anything they would have created. Thus endangering them, as it would have been unlikely they could make it back in time before the sun incinerates them. This started to worry me as I did not have the foggiest clue where they were coming from.

My thoughts were soon interrupted by a strange noise coming from above us. It was somehow strangely familiar, but I just could not place my hoof on it. Then after only a few seconds, it clicked into my mind. My heart sunk as I recognized it as the sound of a propeller blade. My eyes and ears snapped skyward and they validated my fears.

It did not take Break Runner long to notice what I was looking at. “Is that a fucking zeppelin?! Where the fuck did they get that?!” he blurted out in apparent shock.

I heard Shadow Dancer’s voice yell behind us. “Aww come on, that ain’t fair! How the fuck are we supposed to outrun that?!” he said in frustration.

It did not take long before Gray Mane added his input too. “Those damn cowards using air ships. I’m actually impressed we pissed them off so bad they had to pull that shit on us,” he stated in a mixture of gloating and anger.

I started to say something when some of the trees exploded next to us. I quickly shook it off and stated, “Great, that damn thing is armed with cannons. Just what this situation required, a flying gunboat. And here I thought we were doing oooh sooo well already.”

We increased our pace, but the gunboat still kept up with ease. I tried to think of anything that would have been a plan of attack, but my mind kept coming up blank. We had nothing at our disposal that would even reach that airship let alone damage it. Our only hope was keep running and pray that it would not be able to easily target us.

Those hopes were dashed to pieces as one of the ship’s cannons fired again. The shell barreled directly at the train engine. There was nothing I could do, but watch. Time slowed as it got closer and closer. Just before it hit, a light purple shield snapped into place around the engine. The shell slammed into the shield at full force and exploded.

I heard Twilight let out an agonized scream right as the shell hit and her shield fell. Her scream screeched through my mind and shattered my mental barriers. My anger and rage normally kept in check bubbled out like an overflowing cauldron. I screamed in fury as red haze flowed over my eyes. Red sparks and unchained energy surged out of my horn as my blood magic lashed out at the sky.

My haywire magic managed to find some unfortunate soul above us. A rogue vampire pegasi was seemly acting as a spotter for the gunboat’s cannons. I howled in hatred and anger as my blood magic crushed their body and then tossed them at the airship. They ended up getting stuffed into one of the cannons right as it fired. A booming explosion shook the area as the cannon was violently ripped to pieces.

My vision blurred and I barely heard Shadow Dancer telling me to snap out of it. The red haze faded away and I could feel blood streaming out of my nose. The unleashed magic unmercifully tore at my already overtaxed body and mind. The horrible toll caused every fabric of my being to scream in pain and agony. It took all that I had to prevent my legs from tripping over themselves.

I vaguely heard Break Runner yell over the noise, “What the fuck did he do?! Or am I better off not knowing?!”

Gray Mane replied with a roaring laugh and said, “He lost his shit and squeezed some poor fucker like a cider apple before throwing them into an armed cannon. I would've been more impressed, but that damn thing up there is still floating.”

Another cannon shell slammed into the trees next to us and exploded. Several wood pieces ricocheted off the side of the train engine. Some even embedded themselves into the metal. The situation seemed more hopeless than before. While the gunboat was undoubtedly damaged, it was still able to open fire on us.

I heard Break Runner rattle through a long stream of curses before I saw him look at me. “I’m going to fucking guess there is no way you can pull off another act of sheer horror can you?”

I tried to respond, but all that came out were a few strangled coughs, before I just shook my head.

He proceeded to swear several more times and stated “You know what, fuck it. We’re already in deep shit anyway I might as well add more to the growing pile.” He turned his head to the side and yelled back at the train engine, “Hey you freeloaders in the back! Fire up ‘The Angry Mare’!”

A voice yelled back, “Sir, if they find out we have that, the Princesses will probably lock us all up for life or worse!”

Break Runner yelled back in fury, “Well if we fucking don’t, we’re all going to be blown to fucking bits! SO FIRE THE FUCKING THING UP!”

I heard a loud bang and I looked back to see part of train engine roof separate. Slowly a rather cruel looking piece of weaponry rose up and pointed at the Gunboat. Shadow Dancer blurted out in obvious shock, “Is that a fuckin’ artillery cannon?!” Break Runner only just replied with a cackle of a madpony. On closer inspection, I realized why it was called ‘The Angry Mare’. The cannon was painted with a picture of a red mare with flaming eyes and mane on the side. Her teeth looked to be clenched tight in rage.

Break Runner laughed manically and bellowed out a single command, “BLOW THOSE FUCKERS OUT OF THE SKY!”

A voice replied in the same mad laughter before yelling, “Yes Sir! Eat this you fucking bastards!”

There was loud clunk and then a thunderous roar. The cannon then belched out a flame jet that gave birth to a raging fireball. The cannon shell screamed like a demon as it sailed through the air almost faster than I could follow it. It then slammed directly into part of flight deck of the gunboat and exploded into a blazing inferno.

Pieces of the ship tore off and sprayed the ground around us with debris. However, the gunboat was still in the air. In an odd yet desperate tactic the gunboat increased its speed and aimed itself at the tracks in front us. It appeared they were bent on destroying us even if it killed them in the process. Break Runner noticed this as soon as I did.

He bellowed another command similar to his first, but with more obscenities. The pony operating the cannon responded in kind and fired the cannon a second time. The shell from the cannon again screamed through air and got a direct hit on the balloon holding the gunboat up. Bright flames consumed the airship and it veered into the woods with an earthshaking impact.

Our sky tormentor was no more. Gray Mane let out a wolf howl into the air, seemingly to express his thrill of victory. Many of the train runners got caught up in the moment and they all mimicked Gray Mane as best they could. However, I saw Break Runner’s excitement and laughter soon turned to nervous twitching.

“We are so screwed when you report us to the Princesses,” he said, glancing at me.

I replied with an amused and ragged voice, “Well, as far as me and my unit have seen. There must have been a munitions backfire onboard that did them in.”

He looked at me in genuine surprise and stated “You’re not going to bust us for having a military grade cannon hidden on our train engine?”

I looked at him and merely replied, “What cannon?”

The nervousness on his face gave way to instant relief and then to roaring laughter. It would be hard to omit certain pieces of information in my report to Princess Luna and Black Wing, but I could not betray those that saved our lives. Besides, if they ever became a problem, I would deal with them at a later date if need be. At the moment however, I just wanted to get to Canterlot. I took a labored breath and whispered to myself “Please Twilight, hold on. Please everypony be okay, please.”

With a large quantity of luck we made it the rest of the trip with no more mishaps. I was never happier to see a train station in my life. When we finally pulled into the station I could see Black Wing and several of her night guards waiting for us. I smiled at her behind my helm. I was about to say something, but my vision doubled and then tripled.

I stumbled to my right and fell over when we stopped. I heard several muffled yells and felt someone lift up my head. My vision swam and saw it was Black Wing holding me up. I tried to say something, but nothing came out of my mouth. I heard her say that everypony was now safe and to hold on. I whispered, “Thank you” before I blacked out.

This chapter was rather fun to write. Although, I will give no spoilers in these notes. You will just have to read it for yourself bwhahaha.