//------------------------------// // Mission 3 - Turmoil on a Train // Story: Double Dragon: Shadow over Equestria // by Scarlett Haze //------------------------------// "Well, it is certainly a pleasure to have you riding on our railways once again, Princess Twilight," the conductor said as he gave a bow to her. "The pleasure is all mine," Twilight responded, a hint of false joy in her voice. "I expect that none of your workers will disturb me or my entourage in your first-class car at the front, will they?" "I will be sure to let them know of your request, princess," the conductor said with a slightly confused look. He gave another look over the group as they entered, helping a weary pink pony in with them. He was told that this pony was under a devastating spell and Twilight needed to return to Ponyville as soon as she could. He only gave a reaffirming sigh to himself before he called out. "ALL ABOARD!" *** Awesomely Radical Flying Segment, Bro! *** Billy felt alive as his wings beat with the winds, not even feeling tired with having an added weight of Shining Armor on his back. No feeling in the world could measure up his enjoyment at this moment. Not only was he in the world of the show he watched, but he was living it as a dragon. He could hear the guitars and drums of his band ringing in his ears as they saw the train from afar begin to roll forward. "YE-HEAAAA!" Billy cried out, tilting his wings to try and straighten himself to the back end of the train as it went faster. My life is slammin' into gear, The pedal's to the metal. At last I conquered all my fear.. I'm gonna drive it hard! I feel the wind rush through my hair, I'm flyin'! Ain't tryin'. Don't have the time to spin my wheels, Already come a million miles, Already on the road to paradise, My destination might not be anywhere, I don't care! "Why's the dragon singing?" Leash asked Jimmy, sitting as calmly as she could on him. "It happens from time to time," Jimmy explained. "Don't worry, you may get to hear something from me later on down the line." Leash peered over Jimmy's neck and looked into his eyes, "I'll hear what?!" Jimmy gave a grin as he watched Billy go into his air guitar solo before continuing his song. I'm gonna cruise into the sunset, Don't ever need to hit the brakes! On the horizon, whole world's open wide, If life is gonna pass me by, I'm never gonna close my eyes, Wanna ride it, Side by side! Feel the rush and watch the universe fly by, As we speed up and break the speed of sound Hours pass like seconds in our rear view mirror Angle up and leave the ground! Billy began performing aileron rolls and soon found his feet hitting the back of the caboose. Moving forward, he let Jimmy try and land himself on the same caboose. Jimmy's landing came hard, sending Leash careening forward into Billy and Jimmy scraping against the metal roof to not get thrown off. Pulling Jimmy up, Billy felt a twitch in his head before looking forward toward the front of the train. Jimmy seemed to feel the same thing as both of them began to move forward from the caboose. "Wh-Where are you going?!" Shining Armor yelled out, trying to push his voice past the howling winds being created by the speeding train. "Marian's on the train!" Billy yelled back. "And we're going to get her back!" Jimmy finished the statement as he turned back on his path. Leash grumbled angrily before seeing something black and shining move from between the cart and their caboose. She hung her head into the lone window of the caboose and noticed a changeling knocking out a pony. Pulling herself up, she motioned to Shining Armor to take a look beneath them. She watched Shining Armor peer over and return back with a look of fury in his eyes. "I've been waiting for this," he said before moving to the back door of the caboose. "Are you crazy as those dragons, stupid pony?" Leash whimpered, looking down at him from the top of the caboose. "You'll be spotted by the train employers and you will become a criminal!" Shining Armor looked back at her with strong determinism. "I'm going to stop this madness before something worse comes out of this. And if SHE is behind this as well, then I'll definitely shove my hooves down her throat and make her never forget my name." Before Leash could argue back or ask who he was talking about, Shining Armor threw open the door and surprised the changeling soldier. Grappling with it, Shining Armor wasted no time in throwing the changeling over the bars of the caboose and tumbling into the snow. *** Twilight and her friends all looked up as they felt something was just lost. She began to growl as the sound of rhythmic thuds of metal could be heard. Turning to Rainbow Dash, she put on a fake smile. "Look outside," was all she said. Rainbow Dash opened a window and flew outside, looking at the blue and red dragons as they slowly trudged forward. A look of fear crossed her eyes before she flew back into the train car and slammed the window shut. "They're there," Rainbow Dash gasped. Twilight's eyes flashed green in annoyance. "Who's they?" *** Old School Mission 3 Start! *** Shining Armor stepped into the next car and watched as a few ponies looked back at him with surprise. He risked no chance in getting jumped and performed a revealing spell, one he had perfected after his wedding was nearly brought to complete chaos by Chrysalis and her minions. After the spell was performed, the remaining ponies leapt from their seats as changelings hissed at them before drawing their attention to Shining Armor. "Everypony stay in your seats," He yelled out, crouching down in a fighting position. "Keep your heads down!" With the changelings forced into a line, Shining Armor charged his magic to swirl around him before he jumped forward and performed his spinning drill attack, plowing through five changelings and getting him to the other side of the car. He found a coil of rope and tied the fallen group together in the center. He pointed to a cyan unicorn who looked at the changelings and back to him. "Do you know a basic restraint spell?" Shining Armor asked. "Y-Yeah?" The unicorn answered, still unsure of what had just happened. Shining Armor pointed to the changelings, "Keep the spell on these changelings until we arrive at the next station." He waited for a nod and then moved into the next car, hoping to continue his pathway. Meanwhile, on the roofs of the train cars, Billy and Jimmy Lee were in a fight of a different kind. More diamond dogs had begun to climb up to the roof, some with lit dynamite in their paws. Billy Lee finished pummeling a diamond dog before turning his head and reacting to a thrown stick of dynamite with a thrust kick, sending it back the way it came. "These don't look like the diamond dogs from the mines, Billy," Jimmy tried to say over the wind, seeing how their patches of color were noticeably different. "This Chrysalis character must have some deep pockets or influence to get more than one batch of dogs to keep anyone from getting to her!" Billy couldn't respond to his brother, finding a pair of nunchucks on the ground and using them to whip the dogs in the face. His look of joy was soon blown off by dynamite, causing him to stumble and drop the nunchucks off the side of the train. His stumbling was noticed by two diamond dogs as they began to shorten Billy's distance between staying on the roof and falling off the side. Billy was knocked for a loop after a crack against the side of his head and his right foot failed to find anything to stand on. He felt himself topple off, only to feel something grip his tail and swing him back on the roof. Forcing himself up, Billy watched as Leash began snapping her whip at the diamond dogs. He watched them yelp and leap away to avoid any more of her strikes, only to fall off the train themselves. "Thanks, Leash," Billy said with a breath of relief. "My business was with Chrysalis and her changelings," Leash growled. "And if I find out these dogs were under her employ as well, I may need to ask for a breach of contract." Billy caught up with Jimmy as they reached the final car in their path. Billy's eyes went wide as he saw the Mane Six standing before them, each with glowering expressions on their faces. "Back off, dragons!" Fluttershy yelled in her breathy tone. "Go back to where you belong!" Billy's danger sense began to go off, sensing something was wrong with what he had just heard. Wasn't Fluttershy scared of fully grown dragons? Well, they were more of an adolescent size of dragon, only standing at the six foot range, but that should have still caused some unnerving for her. "Forget it," Jimmy snapped back. "We're finding Marian and nothing is going to get in our way of finding her!" "Alrighty then," Applejack sneered. "If ya can't be persuaded to back off, then we'll have to take you down!" Billy grasped his brother's shoulder and spoke to him quietly. "I don't like this. These are supposed to be the main heroes of the series, but something is off with them." "Oh, there's something that's going to come off of them," Jimmy grunted, punching a fist to his hand. Shining Armor moved to the ceiling with the Lee Brothers and did a double-take. "Twily? What are you doing on the train?!" Twilight seemed to pause before making her response, "Me? Yes. I was just on my way home. Had to stop by the Crystal Empire for a short while, that's all!" Shining Armor frowned, "You don't just come over to the Crystal Empire and not try to see me or Cadence." He gave a look to the dragons before performing his revealing spell. The brothers recoiled in surprise, seeing the visages of these ponies tear apart, revealing themselves as changelings. Twilight seemed to be the only one left in tact, but she seemed to be struggling against the spell. "You... idiotic... moronic... fool!" Twilight struggled to get out before she let out a howl. From that howl, a torrent of green fire enveloped her, revealing her true form. Queen Chrysalis angrily stared down Shining Armor and the other nuisances that were becoming more and more annoying to her and her plans. "I should have known that you would side yourself with these dragons, Shining Armor." Her voice shifted to Cadence's as she gave a soft look to Shining Armor, "Don't you care about our time together? You. Me. Those 'headaches' I cared after for so much?" Shining Armor's eyes glinted in rage and went to move in, before Billy stopped him. "How dare you?! Nearly ruining my wife's life and almost costing my own? What are you after now?" Chrysalis smirked, returning to her normal voice. "I'm after power. All that time we spent together had given me the power to overturn Celestia, but with an entire world's love, I can dominate the universe!" Her smirk stayed on as her changelings moved forward. "But enough talk! Have at you!" *** Queen of Changelings - Chrysalis *** Chrysalis' magic lit up and she began to teleport around the roof, causing enough distraction to the Lee's that the changelings jumped them, sinking their fangs into their arms and legs. Shining Armor knocked off two changelings from the brothers with magic bolts and then performed a rearing kick to Chrysalis, making her grunt in pain before continuing on her teleportation routine. Gripping the two changelings off of him and seeing his brother doing the same, Billy and Jimmy clashed their heads together in unison before dropping them to the ground. The changelings struggled to remain on the roof before having a gust of wind knock them off. Leash remained still as Chrysalis stopped in front of her for a short moment. Their eyes stayed on each other before Chrysalis teleported away again. Chrysalis remained still in a single place before firing off her green magic blast, making the dragon's dodge awkwardly to different sides. She attempted to refocus herself on something, leaving enough time for Billy and Jimmy to try and land some punches. Enough landed Chrysalis to be knocked off her hooves, but an explosive magical force sent Billy and Jimmy to the ground as Chrysalis got back up. "So, Leash, are you with these dragons?" Chrysalis chuckled, a forked tongue slipping from her mouth. "Our contract was limited to the mountain and the alter, Chrysalis," Leash barked. "I'm still honoring the agreement to not interfering with your changelings or you personally." Chrysalis refocused her attention to a charging Shining Armor and swung a sharp slice of magic in the air that clashed against his armor. She felt confidence come back to her as she began teleporting around the roof again. "We gotta hold her down, somehow," Billy grunted. "Jimmy, let's try the high-low!" Jimmy gave a nod and waited for an opening against Chrysalis. When it seemed that she was preparing for another magical blast, Jimmy slid on the floor and kicked at Chrysalis' legs. Billy shot up and brought a heavy ax kick on the top of her head, making Chrysalis slump to the floor of the roof again. Her frustration continued to build as the Lee's were smart enough to back away from her magical blast before she got up. It was becoming apparent that the longer the fight went, the less effective Chrysalis' magic was becoming, leaving her more open to attacks from the Lee's and Shining Armor. Pulling away, Chrysalis let a group of diamond dogs come on the car. Leash snapped her whip and entered the fray, letting a kick land squarely against the face of one of the dogs. "Back off, Leash!" Chrysalis screamed. "Those dogs are under my employ and you will treat them as such!" Leash wrapped her whip around a dog's neck and stamped her foot against his back to apply pressure to his neck. "As I've stated, our agreement was for you and the changelings. Should've done a little more contracting research before you made a deal with a diamond dog like me!" Chrysalis gave a glowering look to Leash, watching her unwrap her whip and letting the diamond dog that was beneath her fall face first into the metal roof. She charged into the fray before being struck by a stray shot of Leash's whip. Her eyes locked with Leash's as she pulled her whip back and wrapped it around her arm again. "Oops," was all Leash said. Before Chrysalis attempted to make a move against Leash, Billy and Jimmy Lee leapt up and pulled back their fists before unloading their charged shots against the side of Chrysalis' head, making her wobble unsteadily and finally falling to her stomach. ***Mission Complete!*** She stayed on the floor as the Lee's and Shining Armor kept their guard up, unsure of what to expect. "Oh, no, you defeated me," Chrysalis moaned, clearly faking. "What could I possibly do?" A scream of agony came from within the car below and pink energy formed into a sphere, a little larger than the sphere she had before. Ingesting the sphere, the green magic she had shifted into a dark purple again as it wrapped the train. "Perhaps with the little power I can access of the Avatar of Love, I can fully recover. Perhaps even more than that, gain enough strength to send this entire train to the moon!" The Lee's watched in horror as Marian was pulled from the car and floated up and to the side of the train with Chrysalis. "Wait," Jimmy realized with horror. "Did she just say 'to the moon'?!" Chrysalis began laughing as the train began to tilt upwards to the sky, disconnecting from some of its cars as it starting rising quickly. "Say goodbye to your precious dragons, Avatar!" Billy tried to jump from the car, but found his feet latched to the roof with Shining Armor, Leash, and his brother. All he could do was reach a hand out to Marian as they passed, just barely touching her hoof. "MARIAN!!!"