//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: The Journey Begins. 
// Story: The Chronicles Of ARTIMUS: Book One 
// by AlkapwnZ 
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-- Sorry this chapter took so long, guys! My computer was being a dick and lost it's ability to save changes, but I was finally able to fix it! Sorry if this chapter seems rushed, I wanted to get it to you as soon as possible after I fixed the computer. Enjoy!--

Twister hadn't expected Rainbow Dash's sudden response.
"BULL-SHIT." Her voice was so loud, it echoed across the whole area. Twister covered his ears at the loud, sudden noise, wincing at the pain in them. "W-what?" Twister was shaken by the sudden noise, and Rainbow Dash seemed to realize how loud her accusation was. She tried to speak again when she started whispering. it was still a little too loud, but it was better than before.
"Daring Do is a fictional character! You honestly expect us to believe that she's your GRANDMOTHER?" Rainbow Dash glared at him with disbelief. Twilight and Applejack were visibly uncomfortable at the noise, and Fluttershy was holding her head, covering her ears. The timid pegasus edged slowly towards her friends as Rainbow Dash continued her rant of disbelief.
" You must think we're idiots if you expect us to believe that! Who are you REALLY?" Rainbow questioned him with her raspy, whisper-in-a-microphone voice. Twister sat up, in a defying posture that openly challenged Rainbow Dash. "My real name is Dashing Do." "So you DID lie to us!" Rainbow spoke as if it was an Aha! moment. Twister shook his head. "No, not completely. Twister is a nickname my friends gave me when I earned my cutie mark. I go by it now to avoid my enemies. And, to answer your first question; My grandmother knew how to disappear. But, she had to settle for being a fictional character because of all the world changing things she did." If Twister didn't have the ponies attention before, he definitely had them now.
Rainbow still had her accusing look of disbelief, Twilight still seemed to be trying to process all the information she was just given, Applejack looked REALLY confused, and Fluttershy was trying to hide behind Twilight, for some reason.
"AND, if you DO believe me about my real name, then how would I be lying about Daring Do being my granny?" Twister knew this pegasus wasn't experienced in any kind of detective work if she hadn't seen this obvious hole in her system. "Uh...well...." Twister allowed himself a brief, smug grin while Rainbow Dash struggled to explain her reasoning. She finally let out an exasperated groan and said "FINE. I believe you. But why are those...THINGS after you?"
Twister shrugged. "Beats me. Best I can tell, my enemies hired them." "Not possible." Twilight suddenly spoke up. Twister turned to her, knowing he was giving her a puzzled look. "What do you mean?" "Gorgons are serpent-class chimeras. They weren't hired; they were created. Created to get those Key Shards you seem to be after." Twilight spoke in a matter-of-factly tone. "So, my enemies are magic-users?" Twister inquired. Twilight looked at him with surprise. "Shouldn't you know?" Twister realized these mares must expect him to know everything.
"I don't know much about my enemies. All I know is that they're rich, and they want The Artimus. BADLY." Twister admitted to them. Twilight suddenly seemed to have entered deep thought after Twister said this, and Applejack spoke up. "Where d'ya figure we are?" She was exploring the area, inspecting the trees, sand, and earthy ground of the forest.
Twister shrugged. "Best I can tell, we're somewhere in the San Palomino Desert. A little...convenient, if you ask me." Twister realized this was probably a little TOO convenient, if the next Key Shard was in the Mild West. "I don't know how we moved this far out through the castle's underground halls." Twister looked back to the moon-hole of the observatory, where he had narrowly escaped the collapsing cavern. It was filled to the rim with rock; the cave had completely collapsed. The mares won't be getting back THAT way.
Twister was careful in getting up, his bad hoof still sore from running so much. "Well, we'd better get on the move." Rainbow Dash suddenly stood up, crouching in an offensive position. "What makes you think we're going with YOU?" Twister hung his head, Rainbow Dash's ignorance blowing his mind. "Because I'm your best chance at survival out here. You want to try and find your way back to Ponyville, be my guest."
Twister continued his trek, knowing that the mares weren't really left with much choice. He tried to hide another smug grin when he heard Rainbow Dash grudgingly shuffle her way along. The other three mares quickly followed, and Twilight came up next to Twister. "So, what's the plan?" There wasn't any hostility in her voice.
"Well, if my map and sense of direction is correct, then we should move to..." Twister had pulled out his map with his bad hoof, and Twilight held it with her magic to help him. "...HERE." Twister pointed with his hoof a small town that (if he was correct, mind you) wasn't too far from their current location. "Do any of you have a compass on your hooves?" Twister silently scolded himself for not thinking of grabbing his own during his last restocking.
Twilight gave Twister the map, and she closed her eyes. Focusing her magical energy, her horn's purplish hue glowed brighter. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, and her horn lost it's hue. "That's north." Twilight pointed to Twister's left, and the crippled pegasus looked back at his map.
"It's thataway." Twister pointed with his nose towards the northeast. The five ponies began their venture, and Applejack galloped up to Twister. "Whadda we do when we reach th' town?" Twister turned to look at the cowfilly, and she was looking at him with genuine curiosity in her eyes.
"I have to restock for supplies. We're gonna have a long journey, so we're gonna need them. When we restock, we'll be going to Appleloosa to find a contact of mine who'll take you to a safehouse. He'll take care of everything, and you'll be able to return to Ponyville with no harm done to you or your friends and family." Applejack suddenly stopped, a look of fear in her eyes. "Why would anypony hurt mah family?" Twister stopped as well, craning his head to answer her question.
"Nothing is sacred to these bastards. They'll do what they have to to break their foes. I should know." Twister wished he hadn't added that last part. It was only his fault that they took them from him...
Twister saw that the four mares suddenly looked afraid and ready to cry. Even Rainbow Dash looked frightened. Twister was going to have to reassure them. "Don't worry; as long as you do what I say, you'll be able to go back home without any harm to anypony." Twister realized the way he was wording it sounded like he was extorting them. "They'll be fine." Twister knew the way he said this last part was rather blunt, as if he had changed his mind, but he didn't want to panic them. Yeah, real successful there...
He hadn't seemed to have made much of a difference. Only Twilight seemed to be reassured. Applejack looked worried, Fluttershy looked ready to cry, and Rainbow Dash was glaring at him with a new kind of hostility. What's her problem with me? Twister didn't understand why the cyan pegasus was being so hostile. He wasn't the enemy; if anything, she should be relieved he didn't decide to leave them out on their own, as most ponies would'v in his line of work.
Twilight came up on Twister's right side and levitated his map with her magic. "You know...I don't remember this town being here on my world map..." Twister turned to her. "Meaning?" Twilight looked up at him, and she had a worried look on her face. "Meaning that, if this map is outdated, then this might be a ghost town." Twister scoffed. "It's not outdated."
Her eyebrow raised in annoyance. "How do you know? Look at this thing; it's ancient. If I don't remember this being on my last map, then the only logical explanation for it is that this map is outdated." Twister shook his head. "I stopped off at this town on my way to the Everfree. It's here." Twister sped up, starting to get annoyed by Twilight's constant inquiries.
"Why are you helping us?" Twister stopped and turned, finding that the pony who asked this was Fluttershy. He had expected it to be Twilight again, because Fluttershy asked this question with some strange confidence he hadn't seen before. "What do you mean?" Fluttershy looked visibly uncomfortable at the fact that everypony was looking at her now, and she muttered. "Never mind..." Twister shook his head. "No, answer me. What do you mean?" Twister knew this mare wouldn't get too far out here if she didn't even have the confidence to ask questions for her friends.
She whimpered, obviously regretting opening her mouth at all, and she looked up from her mane. "W-well...if you already have the location of the next Key Shard, then....why are you spending all this time helping us?" Twister grinned, satisfied that she had been willing to speak for her friends. "A valid question. Y'see..." Twister still continued his walk as he spoke, and the yellow pegasus flew up to him to hear him better. Sure, she was hiding behind Twilight. but it was better than before. 
"...My number one priority is to keep innocents out of my situation. Once you're all safe, then my little 'quest' continues. Simple as that." Twister checked the map again, making sure he was going in the right direction. " Wait wait wait....first, why can't we just go to Ponyville? Second, how come you keep calling us 'innocents'? Third, why are you telling us all these things, if you didn't tell us before?" Rainbow Dash asked these next questions. Twister sighed. "They're all because of the same thing; my enemies. You go back to Ponyville NOW, then my assailants will just follow you there and make life hell. Second, you're called 'innocents', because you didn't do anything wrong, as far as my enemies should be concerned. Third, the reason I'm telling you this..." 
Twister cut himself off when he tripped, his hoof stepping into a small hole in the ground. Twister pulled it out, and pain was radiating from it. On closer inspection, Twister realized he may have twisted his hoof. "Are ya okay?" Applejack came up to Twister, trying to get a good look at his hoof. "I'm fine!" Twister snapped at her, and he got himself up. He wasn't really okay, but they couldn't waste any time now. Applejack had backed away, scowling as she did so.
As Twister pulled himself up, he realized his bad hoof had become his good hoof. Stallion up! Twister continued his trek, biting his tongue to keep himself from crying out as he moved on. "You still haven't answered my question." Rainbow reminded Twister. He cursed the pegasus under his breath, and he stopped biting onto his tongue to speak again, using a great deal of self-control to NOT yell in pain. "I'm telling you all this because you might as well know what you're up against!" Twister hadn't meant to shout that out, but he couldn't help it. He quickly bit onto his tongue again, leaving Rainbow more confused than before.
After about a half hour of travel, Twister pulled his map out with his newly injured hoof, still chewing on his own tongue to keep from yelling. Seeing the map, Twister saw that they were only a few more miles away from the town. "We're almost there." Twister announced. He turned, and saw that none of the mares looked pleased with this news. Twilight and Fluttershy were exhausted, Applejack still looked mad from Twister snapping at her, and Rainbow was flying around in circles above his head impatiently.
"Stop that!"Twister shouted to Rainbow Dash as she continued flying in circles. "Why?" Rainbow looked back down, hovering just out of Twister's reach. "Don't waste your energy. When you're in a desert, you need to conserve it." Rainbow waved her hoof dismissively. "Don't worry about it; I got plenty of energy!" Twister sighed. "Fine, but don't expect me to carry you the rest of the way." Twister knew she was going to have to learn the hard way, and he would spitefully enjoy watching it.
After another half hour of travel, Twister saw the town on the edge of the horizon. Celstia's sun was going down, so this would be a good time to get things done. Twister nudged Twilight. "Told you so." He sped up, ignoring both Twilight's scowl, and the extreme pain that burned in Twister's twisted hoof. Twister finally reached the town, his companions a few yards behind him. Twister knew this wasn't a ghost town; there were ponies moving in and out of their homes and building as the day was ending.
"That's...odd...how come this town isn't on my map?" Twilight looked at the small town with curiosity in her eyes. Twister ignored her; he was exhausted, and he could see the other three mares were just as tired. Twister held back a laugh when he saw that Rainbow looked like the most exhausted pony in the world.
After a time of impatient waiting, the group finally caught up with Twister. The scarred pegasus was glad that everything was going well so far, but he made sure to keep his eyes and ears sharp in alert. He noticed that it was often at times like these that things went to hell.
"Alright, here's the plan; We're going in to buy the supplies. We stick together as a group. DON'T leave the group under any circumstance, and DON'T talk about....the K.S. These walls have ears." Twister hoped that Rainbow Dash was listening. She was the only one out of the mares not looking at him.
The ponies traveled down the main street, passing other ponies and horse-drawn carriages. The general store was only a few yards ahead, and Twister took the moment to get a better view of the town. There was the main street, where most of the ponies of the town were moving down, up, and across. All of the buildings looked old and rundown; the paint was old and chipped away, the wood rotting in certain parts, and even some of the carriages looked unstable.
Twister wondered even now what kept the town running. It wasn't on the world map, and several of the ponies looked sick and jobless. Twister felt uneasy; he had helped the poor during his foalhood, but these ponies reeked of dark desperation. They'v been driven to do terrible things. Twister tensed his muscles, prepared for the possibility of being mugged. He didn't like judging ponies for their appearance, but in remote towns like this, the law isn't much help.
The five ponies finally reached the general store, and Twister stepped in first. As he walked in, he saw that it wasn't much better in here; the freezers were dead, so several products had already gone bad, and there was a hole in the wall at the back where Twister suspected there must have been a break-in. Up at the cash-register was a single old colt with a gray-blue mane and white fur. He was asleep; he must not expect many customers.
" 'Scuse me?" Twister nudged the old colt once, and he jolted awake. When he got a view of his surroundings, he gave Twister a huge grin. " Customers? Howdy! Welcome to mah store!" The colt spoke in a southern accent similar to Applejack's, but it had an enthusiasm to it that Twister wouldn't have expected from somepony in a town like this.
Twister turned his head, making sure all four of the mares had come into the store with him. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Twister nodded, satisfied that the mares had been smart enough to listen.
Twister turned back to the old colt, and he was giving Twister the biggest grin he had ever seen. It unnerved him. "Yeah....we need some traveling supplies. Where can they be found here?" The old colt suddenly jumped to his hooves. "Don'cha worry none! Ah'll gettem fer ya!" The colt ran off into one of the aisle's. Twister wasn't expecting this, but he shrugged and went along with it.
As he waited, Twister fished out his bag of emergency bits and started counting the lot. "So..." Twilight spoke up. Twister looked up, raising his eyebrow expectantly. "Yeah?" "Um...how are we going to be traveling to Appleloosa?" She was back on the questions. Twister sighed; not everything good can last forever. "On hoof. I thought that was clear?"
"Ya'll goin' ta Appleloosa?!" The colt had returned to the counter, and he had grabbed some ragtag traveling equipment for five. "Ya'll want a map?" The colt already grabbed a map, and he was holding it in his mouth, as if he was offering it. "No, thanks. I already have one. How much for the equipment?" Twister answered awkwardly. He hated having to refuse him, but it was something neither affordable nor needed.
"Seventy bits! And, if ya'll are lookin' fer a ride...." The colt fished out a couple of tickets for a carriage ride out of his counter, and he handed them to Twister. "Ya'll can have these fer jus' an extra fahve bits each!" The colt had already lost Twister at seventy bits. "Sorry; I can't afford seventy. I only have fifty." Twister pulled away from the counter, but suddenly turned back. "However...I would like to buy those tickets. But, we need five. So, how much is that?" The colt had swapped expressions from one of disappointment to one of great excitement. "Like Ah said, jus' fahve bits each! Dat's a total of..." The colt scrunched his face up as he did the math. "Thirty bits!" Twister nodded. "We can afford that." The colt handed the tickets to Twister eagerly, and took the bits in his mouth and started whistling happily.
Twister walked out with the other mares, and he couldn't believe his luck! Just five bits for each ticket? What a steal...wait...
Twister froze when it dawned on him. If the colt had tickets of his own, then why wouldn't he just use them himself? Nopony would be able to get by like that in this town! "Hello?" Rainbow Dash had bumped into Twister from behind, and she was looking at him with confusion. Twister face-hooved. Why hadn't he seen this coming? He was a helluva lot smarter than this!  "Come on, we don't have much time!" Twilight was looking eagerly at one of the carriages, and Twister stopped her before she could continue.
"It doesn't matter. We've been conned."