Author's Notes:

Sorry for my bad grammar ahead of time. I've checked it, but I bet I missed something again, didn't I?

Oh, and since its been so long since I uploaded, you might want to reread Chapter 18.

And like always, I hope you enjoy!

Fear stuck Quill Point deep in her core. Of all the places, it couldn't be here... could it?

The pink coated pegasus, a stallion it seemed like, ran towards her then practically cowered behind Quill Point. Quill Point led him from out in the open to between the train carts, hopeful to prevent him from causing a scene, or worse yet, a panic.

Quill Point put a hoof to his shoulder, trying to calm him down. She swallowed her own fears and kept her voice determined, but caring. "Calm... down..." she said to the quivering pegasus, "Take deeeep... breeaths. Now, what's your name?"

At first, he did not respond, but the pegasus took the advice. His breathing became heavier and slower. He calmed down as evidence by his lack of shivering. He took one more breath before saying, "Latpip... My name... is Latpip."

"Good. Now Latpip, what happened? What did you see?"

"The train was still in Ponyville; we were about to depart, but that thing attacked me as soon as the train started moving. He strangled me, and...uhh, I guess I passed out." Laptip lost eye contact, his eyes wondered as his mind worked, "I... I thought it was the end of me. I woke up stuffed between luggage, on a shelf in the caboose and I saw the human sleeping there, too. I didn't dare move, but then the trained stopped and so I ran for my life the first chance I got."

"Ok, ok" said Quill Point, "Are you hurt?"

"I'm little bruised, but I'm fine."

"And is the human still asleep in the caboose?"

"No...NO! You get it, do you?!" Latpip started to panic again, "Do you have any idea what happens inside a caboose when a train stops like that? The farther back you are in the train, the less distance there is to halt from the same original speed. Everything gets thrown around inside there. The human is awake! AWAKE! and who knows how long we have 'till it crawls out and starts looking for food or something."

"Ok...ok...maybe.... uhh..." Quill points eyes dashed back and forth, trying to think of something, anything! Her concern started to show. What could she do in a situation like this? There has to be something, there has to be-

"What's going on here?!" Somepony interrupted the conversation. It was Stone Molar, the squad leader. His deep, rugged voice pulled Quill Point back to reality.

"Oh, sir, I, uh..." Quill point stumbled on her words.

"You gotta help, please," yelled Latpip, "The human is in my caboose and he's probably awake now! You gotta stop him!"

"What?!" Stone looked away and almost growled to himself while aggressively thinking. After a moment, he called out, "Clad, Helm!"

Within seconds, the pegasi brothers, Amber Clad and Ruby Helm appeared by him. They simultaneously called out, "Yessir!"

Stone turned around to face them, "We've got a problem; Clad, Helm, we need to get these civilians back inside the carts, now!" Frustration and a bit of worry could be easily sensed in his voice.

"Wait-What wrong, boss? What kind of problem is it?" Amber asked.

"We found what we were looking for." Shock could be easily seen on Amber's and Ruby's faces. Stone Molar turned to face Latpip, "You, go with them, but keep your muzzle shut. Do not tell anypony what you saw. The last thing we need now is a panic."

"Y-yessir," replied Latpip. Amber and Ruby immediately left and Latpip followed them alongside the train towards. After a few seconds of trotting, Amber Clad and Ruby Helm seemed to have read each other's minds.

"I'll fly up ahead and get to the ponies near the front!" exclaimed Ruby.

"I'll get the ones closer by," replied Amber. Ruby took flight and dashed ahead.

Amber looked towards Latpip, "You, civie, on me."

Latpip leaned his head back in a mix of surprise and confusion, "Wait-what?"

"I mean, stay close to me." Amber was determined and a bit frightening. Latpip didn't respond, but his compliance was obvious. He had no plans to disobey. Amber then took flight of his own, flying and landing on top of the nearest train cart. Latpip took to the air and followed as instructed, careful stay next to Amber but still a couple steps behind him so as to not get in his way.

The crowd below was the symbol of disorganization and confusion. The ponies had been simply evicted from their seats and made to wait outside. They had no idea why, and nopony was happy about it.

Amber Clad called out to the crowd, "Al'right!! Listen up! By order of Princess Celestia, though not her exact words, all guards within the realm have been tasked with searching every corner of Equestria for the elusive and dangerous 'Human'. Unfortunately, this included this train. I am sorry for the sudden delay and your misfortune. However, I am pleased to report that this train is free of any dangerous monsters. With that said, Everypony back on the train!! Let's get this thing moving again!"

Amber turned around to see Latpip a bit confused. While still halfway into though, Latpip asked him, "W...why did you lie to all those ponies? The human is here an-" Amber suddenly shoved his hoof into Latpip's muzzle; not to hurt him in anyway, but just to make him stop talking.

Amber stared into Latpip, he was a bit angry now, "Because things are already bad enough as it is without dozens of ponies galloping around aimlessly and screaming their heads off." He let go of Latpip and quickly calmed down, "Now c'mon. We've got work to do."

"But aren't we supposed to make sure they get on the train."

"They can do that by themselves; we only had to tell them to."

"But then what are we doing now?"

"I'm going to fix our little pest problem, and you're going to help me. Let's go." Amber began to walk off, but Latpip was hesitant. "Now!!" He called out. Against his better judgment, Latpip nervously followed.

Amber Clad took flight and Latpip did just the same. They flew over the train cart to an adjacent hay field on the other side of the train. Oddly enough, none of the passengers where here; they seemed to have all been on the other side of the train. Instead, there was out-of-place carriage parked a few yards from the train tracks. Considering the color, gold trims, and overall design, it didn't take long for Latpip to realize that the carriage belonged to the nearby team of royal guards.

Amber quickly opened the storage container in the back of the carriage and started to dig into its contents. After a few seconds, Latpip tried to ease some tension in the situation by starting some idle chit-chat. "Huh," He said with a poor attempt at being casual, "So this is how you guys got here, right?"

"Yep," Amber replied. He pulled his head out of the trunk, but did not focus on Latpip. Instead, he closed the trunk and moved on to search through another on the side of the carrage. He continued, "Me and my brother, Ruby, dragged the rest of us here." His voice carried a hint of annoyance, but Latpip wasn't sure whom or what it was aimed at.

"You don't really want to be here, do you?"

"Sure, I could do without another dangerous monster on the loose, but that's nothing new. 'Ey, don't tell the Boss, but in truth, I don't like hauling around stuff. Yeah, I know pegasi are mostly the only ones who can fly, and Quill's nice enough to levitate me a soda when I ask, but I still like to uhh... not work... and stuff..." Amber began to lose focus on the conversation as he reserved it for searching through the trunk. He mumbled to himself, "Dangit, where'd you put it Ruby?"

Amber moved on to a third storage container and, after a few eventless seconds, found what he was looking for. He cried out, "Got it!" as he victoriously pulled out a horned helmet of sorts. It was decorated with gold platting, which easily matched and fit in with the royal guard's armor. The horns itself were pointed and angled upward, but in such a way that should its wielder lower his muzzle in a charging stance, the pair of horns would be parallel to the ground and the sharp tips made ready to pierce whatever stood in its way. Amber put on the helmet and a hint of glee could be noticed as he did; it was clearly to his liking for some reason or another.

"What is that for?" Latpip asked.

"This..." Amber swung his muzzle, showing off the weaponized helmet, "This is my problem solver. C'mon, we've still got a big problem to solve." Amber started to walk past Latpip towards the rear of the train and unfolded his wings in preparation for flight.

"Wait- What do you need me for?!" Asked Latpip, still shocked at his involuntary and unclear task.

"You just show me the best way in, all I'll do the rest." Amber turned to Laptip and made a toothy, almost evil grin.

"But... But I..." Latpip stumbled on his own words while trying hold multiple thoughts and construct a coherent sentence, "Th-this doesn't sound like such a good idea!" Latpip became scared for himself and a bit for the determined guard.

"And do you think doing nothing at all is a better idea?!" Amber folded his wings and abandoned his attempt at flight.

Latpip was taken back again, "No, that's not what I-"

Amber rushed closer to Latpip. He was a little bigger than him and his now towering presence emphasized his points, "Every second we let that thing roam is another chance it has to hurt another pony. What if it was your family on that train, huh?! Wouldn't you do at least something if only to try and protect them."

Latpip took steps back to create distance between the two, but Amber quickly closed the gap each time, "Of course but-" he tried to reply.

"Everypony on that train has a family. Everypony here is in danger. And I for one won't be idle so long as they're still in danger. So c'mon!!" Amber suddenly turned around and took off. "Act like you got a pair between your flanks!" he yelled back.

Latpip tensed the muscles his wings until they shook. He took Amber Clad's words to heart. He's right. There are ponies and families in danger here. Latpip knew he couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Now was the chance to finally do something great with his life. He tried to put aside his usual cowardly self and built up some rage and determination. This was his time to stand up against this monster.

He took flight, ready to face the monster, save everypony on the train, and get his caboose back.

Nopony and no alien will have his caboose!!