The Chronicles Of ARTIMUS: Book One

by AlkapwnZ

Chapter 8: The Con-Artist.

Fluttershy couldn't believe how quickly the situation had changed.

One minute, they were on their way to a carriage for Appleloosa, and the next, they were charging into the general store to catch a con-artist. Twister bashed down the door of the general store, and as he ran into the building, Fluttershy swore she saw him briefly limp. Rainbow Dash and Applejack ran in next, and Twilight was close behind. Fluttershy didn't want to face the con if he turned out to be dangerous, but she didn't want to be alone out here, with all these ponies eyeing her like that.

Fluttershy shuddered, and reluctantly flew into the broken building. As Fluttershy flew past the rotten doors, she found that the old colt was trying to escape through the hole in the back of his store. Twister shouted, and the Con turned his head to see the five ponies. He squealed, and started running.

Twister tried to follow, but he fell flat on his face. Fluttershy was by his side in a moment's notice, and she found his left hoof was twisted at a disturbing angle. "Stop him!" Twister barked at the mares. Rainbow Dash had already taken chase, and Applejack's tail disappeared past the hole in the wall.

Twilight stepped towards Twister, her horn glowing it's purple hue as she tried to cast a healing spell, but he pushed her back with his good hoof. "Not now! Help them!" Twilight looked flustered as she was pushed out of focus of her spell, but she shook her mane and followed Twister's orders.

Fluttershy gulped as she followed her friends, peering out the hole to take in the scene. Fluttershy was looking down an alleyway, and there were crates all over the place; pushed up against the buildings, lying lopsided in the middle of the alley, and piled up on top of each other. Rainbow had shot into the air, annoyed with constantly swerving around to avoid the crates. She soared in the sky, likely trying to spot the slippery little Con.

Applejack was galloping across the alley, dodging and jumping over the dozens of crates that stood in her way. She was determined to not let the Con escape. Twilight had suddenly turned around, bumping into Fluttershy.

"W-what are you doing?" Fluttershy was surprised by her friend's sudden change in direction. Twilight moved around the stunned pegasus, calling out as she left. "I'm running around to the end of the Alleyway! I'm going to flank him!" The purple unicorn disappeared into the building, easily busting through it's rotten walls to get out of the alleyway.

Fluttershy shook herself, and jumped into the air to fly. She gulped; Fluttershy wasn't really one for flying great heights. She hovered a few feet above the highest crates, floating in a sort of middle ground between Rainbow and AJ's terrain. She could see both of her friends moving quickly across the alleyway. Fluttershy tried to speed up, but her wings were flapping to their limit. She was too slow to keep up with her friends, and the distance between Fluttershy and the two chasers slowly increased.

Fluttershy still couldn't see the escaping Con-Artist, but AJ seemed to know exactly where he was. She was expertly leaping over each of the crates, sometimes jumping from one to the other to increase speed. Fluttershy was impressed; she knew the cowfilly was good at running, but the speed in which she maintained during the chase was incredible. Fluttershy's eyes darted to Rainbow Dash, and she could see the blue pegasus was crossing the distance in a matter of mere seconds. Much faster than AJ, and she had eyes in the sky; Rainbow would likely capture the old colt before anypony else.

That's what Fluttershy was worried about. She knew the colt tricking them was rotten, but she didn't want him to get hurt. Fluttershy just wanted to get back Twister's bits, nothing else. But if Rainbow caught him before anypony else, then she might hurt him when she caught him. Fluttershy then started to worry about what Twister might do to him if Rainbow takes the Con to him. Twister seemed like a decent young colt, but he had murdered a doctor in cold blood. Who knew what Twister might do to the cheat?

Rainbow suddenly dived from the air, and Fluttershy knew the Con had lost all hope of escape. She didn't see where the blue pegasus landed, the crates blocking her view, but the surprised shout told Fluttershy everything she needed to know. AJ leaped over one of the crates, and she disappeared behind the crate Rainbow vanished behind.

Fluttershy flew towards the crate as quickly as she could, her heart leaping into her throat when she saw what was happening; Rainbow had the old colt pinned down, her angry scowl staring daggers into her victim. AJ was close behind, with a pitiful, yet angry look in her eyes.

"Look, Ah'm sorry! Ah was jus' tryin' ta get by! Don' hurt me, please!" The old colt was fruitlessly struggling to escape Rainbow's grip, his eyes wider than dish plates. Was...was he crying? Fluttershy couldn't bear to see anypony in this kind of position.

"Ya still lied and cheated us." Applejack was angry, but at least she was showing some remorse. Rainbow Dash wasn't showing any mercy. She placed her hoof on his throat, not enough to strangle, but enough to make him uncomfortable, and she hissed into his ear. "So...what do you think we do to liars and cheats?" She twisted her hoof, digging it into his throat.

Before Fluttershy could do anything, the old colt suddenly grinned. He laughed, and Fluttershy realized too late why he was laughing.

Out from behind one of the crates, a thug dressed in black clothing tackled Rainbow Dash, holding her against the alleyway wall. Applejack reacted, attempting to strike at the thug, when a second thug came up behind her from the shadows and held her down in a strangle hold. Fluttershy panicked, and as she turned to escape, a third thug grabbed her wing with his mouth and roughly yanked her down to the earth.

Fluttershy plummeted to the ground, crying out in pain as the thug held her down while twisting her wing. She felt tears running down her cheeks as she whimpered, too afraid to sob.

The Con-Artist pulled himself up, brushing off the dirt in his mane. "Alright; quick, check 'em fer any bits!" He rubbed his hooves together, cackling in a cliche villain moment. Rainbow Dash snarled at the thug that was pinning her down when he tried to check her. "Ooooohh...a feisty one! I like this mare!" The thug spoke in a deep voice that bellowed across the alley. "Let's take 'er!"

"No. We ain't kidnapping t'night. These three ain't worth much." The Con-Artist refused the thug's request, and even though he was wearing a ski mask, Fluttershy see the disappointment in his face. Fluttershy was relieved they wouldn't be kidnapping them, but her heart still felt like it would burst out of fear.

Rainbow suddenly spat in the thug's face, and he released the pegasus, wincing in surprise. "HEY! What was dat..." He didn't finish his sentence. Rainbow knocked him down, leaping from side to side as she struck out at the other thugs. Fluttershy quickly pulled herself up, tears streaming down her face as she ran to find Twilight and Twister.

It was a short search; Twilight suddenly busted down another rotting wall, appearing a few yards away from the battle. She turned her head to see her friends in danger, and her horn glowed it's purple hue as she focused a spell on the thugs.

Applejack leaped onto her hooves as the thug holding her down was knocked away by Rainbow, and she headbutted the nearest criminal. Fluttershy hid behind a crate, and watched as all hay broke loose.

Applejack bucked a thug that was trying to get her from behind again, then Twilight sent a crate flying into another thug and the Con. Rainbow was sky bombing the thug that had been holding Fluttershy down, diving out from the sky and striking out at him before flying back into the air.

Fluttershy ducked when one of the thugs flew over her head as Twilight tossed him with her magic. She cried out, and scrambled out to hide behind a different crate. The thug was unconscious, but Fluttershy wasn't taking any chances. Fluttershy peeked over another crate, and saw that the thugs were recovering from their surprise.

The thug who had been attacking Fluttershy suddenly lashed out at Rainbow Dash when she dove in to attack him again. He managed to grab one of her wings with his mouth, and yanked her down to earth. Rainbow struck him with one of her hooves as he did so, but it didn't seem to affect him. He pinned her down again, twisting her wing to keep her still.

Fluttershy's attention turned to Twilight when the purple mare cried out. The Con had attacked her from behind, and they were having a tussle in the dirt. He kept ending up on top as they rolled, pinning her down longer each time.

Fluttershy's attention again switched, this time to Applejack. The cowfilly kept striking at the two remaining thugs, trying her best to keep them at bay. But she was getting tired; her kicks were losing their force, and she was starting to get sluggish when she tried to evade an oncoming attack.

Their strategies are becoming more sophisticated... Fluttershy despaired. She wanted to jump into the fight, but her fear was getting the better of her. Each time she braced herself to jump into the fight, her blood froze and her muscles stiffened when she looked back out at the action.

"Don't tell me you started without me!" A familiar gruff, but good-natured voice rang out behind Fluttershy as she peered out at the conflict. Fluttershy turned, surprised to see Twister already back on his hooves. "H-how did you get here?" Fluttershy had seen his hoof herself. The angle in which it was twisted shouldn't have allowed him any kind of on-hoof movement.

"I paced myself. Doesn't look good for you fillies, does it?" He gave her a good-natured, but somewhat mocking grin. Fluttershy was surprised by how relaxed he was, considering what was happening. "Um....can you...uh..help?" Fluttershy knew his hoof was twisted, but if his broken hoof didn't stop him from killing a doctor and escaping a hospital, then what's to stop him here?

"Sure. I've seen enough." Twister limped over to the conflict, not even flinching when a thug sailed over his head after being bucked by AJ. He walked over to Twilight's fight with the Con, and he stretched his one wing out, flexing it. Then, Twister struck the Con over the head with one, well aimed strike with his wing. The Con-Artist fell over, unconscious. Twilight pulled herself up, shaking the dirt out of her mane.

"Go help Applejack." Twister ordered briefly before limping towards Rainbow Dash's fight. Rainbow was still held down by the thug, struggling more and more as her wing was being bent directions wings should never be bent. Twister stood up on his hind legs, and kicked out at the thug with his one good hoof. This caught the thug's attention, long enough for Rainbow to strike out at him again and scramble away. Twister started blocking the thug's attacks with his wing, and Fluttershy's attention turned to Twilight and Applejack.

Now that Twilight was helping, the battle was evened out. Each of the mares dealt with their own thug, and it didn't look good for the crooks. Twilight kept zapping her thug with some kind of lightning spell when he got too close, and AJ headbutted her thug relentlessly, eventually pinning him against a wall. Fluttershy could see AJ's strikes were knocking the breath out of him, and suddenly the wall behind him broke apart.

Fluttershy was surprised when the thug didn't come out, and when the dust cleared, she realized he had ran off, ditching his comrades. Twilight lifted the thug she was battling with her magic, and with some effort, launched him into the thug that was attacking Twister. Twister jumped back, surprised by the sudden attack. He stepped on his twisted hoof, accidentally putting all his weight on it, and he collapsed.

The two thugs high-tailed it out of there, and all that was left was the Con. The Con-Artist was groggily pulling himself up, obviously still shaken by Twister's hit. He saw his back-up had ran off, and he stumbled as he called out to them "WAIT! Don' jus' leave meh like this..." He tripped, falling on his face as he plummeted to the ground. Before he could get back up, Rainbow Dash had flown over to him and pinned him down.

Twilight ran over to Twister, her horn glowing it's purple hue as she prepared a spell. "Hang on; this might sting a little." Twister opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it when his hoof gained a purple hue similar to Twilight's as the lavender unicorn used her magic. Fluttershy could see he was holding back a shout when his hoof twisted back to it's original angle. "..thanks." Twister said grudgingly as he pulled himself up. He still had a limp, but it was better than it was before. Fluttershy made a mental note to ask him about it later.

Twister carefully walked over to Rainbow Dash and the pinned Con. "I've got this." His gruff voice rang out in the alleyway, seeming to echo in the wide area. Rainbow reluctantly let Twister take her place in holding down the Con. The Con struggled, and he almost got up on his hooves when Rainbow released him, but Twister knocked him back down as quickly as he had gotten up.

"I don't like being tricked." The grey-maned pegasus growled between his teeth. The Con had a look of wild fear in his eyes, something that reminded Fluttershy of a trapped animal. Fluttershy winced as Twister lifted one of his hooves and placed it over the Con's throat, slowly digging it into him. "You wanna know what I do to liars and cheats?" The Con started shaking his head wildly, as if he expected Twister wanted an answer. "That was retorical." Twister started twisting his hoof as it dug into the Con's throat. Fluttershy couldn't watch any more of this.

"STOP!" Fluttershy cried out, the force in her voice surprising even her. Twister looked up at her, surprise clearly shown in his face. "Don't hurt him. He doesn't deserve it." Fluttershy pleaded. Then, Twister's expression changed from surprise to something Fluttershy couldn't interpret. Was it anger? Was it confusion? Was it...sadness even? Fluttershy couldn't tell.

Twister suddenly closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. He opened them again, this time looking at the Con. "Looks like it's your lucky day." Fluttershy couldn't believe her ears. He was...actually listening to her? Why? Suddenly, Twister stopped the Con when he tried to worm his way out of Twister's grip. "I didn't say you were getting away with this." Twister snarled. The Con lost his sudden look of joy when Twister said this. "So..whatcha gonna do ta meh?" The old colt asked fearfully. Twister's expression hadn't changed when he asked this.

"First, you're going to give me back my bits." Twister held one of his hooves out to the colt, even though he was pinned. The Con fished out the small bag of bits Twister had given him in the crumbling store, quickly handing them to his assailant. "Second, you're going to have to give some kind of compensation for your crime. A fine, if you will." The Con looked at him with eyes in a mixture of fear and eagerness. "O'course! Uh..howsabout Ah give ya mah traveling supplies to ya? No charge!" The Con looked at Twister with a pitiful kind of hopefulness. Twister nodded. "Now THAT'S a good compensation."

The grey-maned pegasus released the old colt, but her grabbed his shoulder with his one wing when the colt tried to run away. "Ah-ah-ah....You're coming with. I'm not going to give you the chance to cheat me again. I'll be inspecting the supplies, and they BETTER be real." Twister grinned evilly as the colt's face fell at this. "Oh...alright." Fluttershy hoped for the colt's sake that those supplies were real.

The four mares followed Twister and the Con as they trotted back to the crumbling general store, and Fluttershy bit her curled hair nervously. She was happy to have given the old colt another chance, but she was afraid of what she might have to see if he turned out to have been trying to pull another con off.

The group finally reached the old rat-hole of a store, and Fluttershy wandered in after her friends had all entered. Twister turned his head to Applejack as Fluttershy stepped in. "Hold onto him, and don't let him go till I say so." Twister gave the sleazy Con to the cowfilly, and he walked over to the supplies still sitting on the counter when the old colt had brought them over. The dull yellow pegasus unzipped the supplies, pulling out item after item, carefully inspecting each one. He turned back to the four mares, a faint expression of surprise crossing his face. "They're real. Let him go." Twister slung the supplies onto his back as he said this, and AJ released the old colt as she was told.

The old colt let out a small hoot of joy as he ran away from his own store, obviously scared witless of Twister. Flutershy realized she had been holding her breath, and she let out a sigh of relief. She was happy nopony got seriously injured in this whole battle, but Twister wasn't sharing her relief. "Let's go." He barked to the mares as he ran out of the store. Applejack quickly followed behind, Rainbow flew out of a broken window, and Twilight trotted a few yards behind them. Fluttershy yelped, and she ran to catch up to her friends. She didn't want to spend another minute in that creaky old building, and not a second in it alone.

After a few hours, Fluttershy looked back to where the group had come. The dingy little town was just a speck on the horizon line, and the desert air was getting warmer and thicker as Celestia's sun rose to the sky. Fluttershy turned back to her friends, breathing a little harder from the long hike.

Fluttershy flew into the air, careful not to fly up too high. She eventually caught up with Twilight, and Fluttershy realized the lavender unicorn was still exhausted from the fight. Twilight's eyes fluttered as she trotted, each of her breaths seeming to take enormous effort. Fluttershy flew a little faster, hoping to catch up to Twister. She didn't think traveling much farther would be good for anypony.

She passed Rainbow Dash, who had started slumping after the first half hour of travel. She hadn't listened to Twister's second warning about conserving her energy, and had one a few tricks in the air out of boredom. Now, she was exhausted and grumbling in protest about Twister's 'smart-ass remarks'.

Fluttershy flew a little faster, feeling sweat starting to trickle down her brow. Applejack was just a few feet behind Twister, and was the only pony in the group who looked fresh and ready for the day. Fluttershy flew past her, finally reaching Twister. His scars rippled down his right side, as they always have, and Fluttershy could see as she got closer that he was sweating the most out of the five ponies, and he smelled of BO as she landed next to him.

"Um...Twister?" She squeaked as the crippled pegasus turned to her. "Yeah?" Twister acknowledged the timid mare, his gruff voice still seeming to echo even in this open area. "Uh...nevermind..." She backed away from the rough colt, sorry for bothering him. She froze when she heard him say,"NO. What did you want to tell me?" Fluttershy got nervous, the force in his voice frightening her.

"Um...could we....possibly..maybe...stop and rest?" Fluttershy whimpered. Twister smiled, and Fluttershy felt her nervousness go away. "I'd love to, but it wouldn't be smart to in this heat. Sleeping in the sun in the middle of a desert would sap all of our moisture more quickly than it would if we were walking. When night comes, then we'll rest. Until then, we'll have to push on." Twister pulled out his map, and him checking it told Fluttershy the conversation was over.

Fluttershy fell back, disappointed that they would have to keep trekking in this heat. She sped up when she fell back next to Applejack, and she turned to look at the cowfilly in amazement. Fluttershy couldn't believe AJ could stand the heat like this, and for so long. Applejack turned to Fluttershy, and smiled at her friend. "Somethin' on yer mind, sugercube?" Fluttershy mumbled. "Um..how do you stand the heat?" AJ raised an eyebrow, and she leaned in. "Can't hear ya." Fluttershy reluctantly raised her voice. "Uh...How do you stand the heat?"

Applejack leaned back, smiling. "Ah've always been used ta working in the heat. Had ta, 'specially during the summer." Fluttershy nodded. "Oh...I see.." She looked onward, following Twister as they continued the trek.

About twenty minutes later, Twister suddenly stopped. "...you hear that?" He suddenly whispered. "What?" Twilight gasped for breath, collapsing in exhaustion while she had the chance. He shushed her, and Fluttershy listened intently. She could barely hear the sound of....hooves?

"GET DOWN!!!" Twister suddenly shouted when Fluttershy turned to see buffalo charging towards them. Fluttershy didn't listen to him, and instead flew into the air, too afraid to think. Fluttershy cried out in pain when a stone pelted her side, knocking her out of the sky. When she crashed, Fluttershy felt tears form in the corners of her eyes when she extended her left wig, and felt a burning pain radiate from it.

Rainbow Dash had turned sluggishly in surprise, and as she tried to attack one of the charging buffalo, she was knocked down to the ground. She didn't get up. Twilight's horn gained it's usual purple hue when she attempted to cast a spell onone of the buffalo, but suddenly fainted after a few seconds of focus. All that was left was Applejack and Twister.

Fluttershy pulled herself up, her wing stinging like it was attacked by a dozen wasps. She tried to run to her friends, but one of the buffalo tackled her and pinned her down. Applejack looked furious. "Why the hay are ya attackin' us?! We ain't done nothin' wrong!" She dodged one of the buffalo that tried to charge into her. Fluttershy guessed there must have been at least a doxen of the buffalo warriors.

One of them stepped up to Applejack, but he didn't attack. He looked equally as angry as AJ, and his deep voice rang out across the desert clearing as he spoke.

"Because you travel with a criminal, young one."