A Ponyville Ghost Train

104 Rides Again

Crimson and Hope were busy getting the engine ready to roll. This required a lot of work as many of the parts were still worn from years in the Everfree Forest. The rod was still rusted so Starswirl and Twilight had to cast a lot of spells to make the parts as good as new. Many of the gauges needed to be hit a few times to make them work again. Sand was needed, but there wasn't any beach close by.

It was thanks to Pinkie that they were able to somehow get the sand and whatever else was needed. When Crimson asked how she had all of the stuff they needed, the others all replied, "Don't ask. It's Pinkie."

Crimson just shrugged, remembering that he lived in a land filled with Alicorns, Unicorns, and so on. His own wife had her crazy moments, since she had been able to tell whenever he was about to do something stupid.

As everything was put in place and and the sander filled up as far as it could be, Crimson and Hope did one final inspection before making their verdict. They turned to the others and smiled.

"We would like to thank you all for helping us get 104 repaired," Hope said. "Thanks to all this, she is ready to ride the rails again."

As Hope said this, they all cheered, their hard work paying off. The sun had gone down towards the horizon by now, meaning that it was time for Luna to start raising the moon. Luna had went off on her own for a bit and began to do her job, making sure it would be something beautiful.

As the moon began to rise, something different happened. Instead of a normal moon, this moon appeared much closer than normal, an orange hue. To Crimson and Hope, this would be a good sign, as they still believed the old sailors' tale.

"Red at night," Crimson began. "A sailor's delight." While neither one had been a sailor, this old saying had some meaning to them as much of their good days came from this. The others all gathered up anything that they would need for the trip, knowing that they would soon be leaving. It was then that Rarity noticed something.

"Where is Princess Luna?" she asked.

Dusk and Moonlight panicked, remembering that it was their job to protect her. Crimson and Dusk offered to go and find her, both having their own set of skills. Dusk due to his ability to see better in the dark and Crimson for knowing the layout of the land from when he was helping to build the line.

Dusk went over to the stream, seeing what he could find and maybe grab some food for the trip. Moonlight soon joined him, grabbing what they could while calling out for Luna.

"Where could she be?" Moonlight asked. "We shouldn't of let her go off on her own."

"She should be fine," Dusk said. While he was worried, he also knew that Luna could still take care of herself. "Remember what Celestia said? If Luna was killed, then the moon would turn blue. So far, nothing bad has happened. We better get back. I can't see anything right now." They went back to the engine, shocked to find that Luna was already there.

Meanwhile, Crimson was walking to the front of the train as the others all began to check the back and around the old car. As he made it to the pilot, he found Luna leaning against the other side, looking towards the ground. Crimson went over and leaned against the pilot next to her.

"Beautiful night," Crimson commented, not sure where to start. He continued to face forward, the corner of his eye catching a smile on Luna's face at his comment before turning to a frown. "How often does the moon do this?"

"Once and a while it will," Luna answered. "Celestia uses the sun to help add to the beauty." Crimson nodded, understanding now that the two together could do anything with the sky and add beauty. While they could talk about the sky, they had a time table and they needed to stick with it. Crimson took a deep breath and began.