Ch. 13-Battle on the Subway Car
Following the directions Bootleg told them, they found the stairway of an old abandoned subway station in Downtown Manehattan. When they reached the bottom, they spotted an old subway car. “That must be it.” Starlight said.
“It could really use a new paint job,” Spike said just as another subway car drove by.
After it passed, Twilight looked at her friends. “Come on,” she whispered to them. They followed her as they crossed the railroad until they reached the other side.
Using his magic, Discord teleported them all inside the subway car. Once inside, they gasped at what they saw: rows and rows of night howlers being grown in fertilizer. “Look,” Sweetie Belle said quietly. “This place is filled up with night howlers like the ones at Sweet Apple Acres.”
“That pony wasn't lying.” Applejack whispered as they looked at the flowers.
“Yeah, looks like this Sniper guy’s been cornering the market on night howlers.” Spike added.
Just then, they heard the door across the room of them being opened. Entering the room was a unicorn stallion wearing a yellow hazard jacket and a gas mask that he was just putting on. The color of his coat was a dark gray, his eyes were dark red, his mane was a dark blue, and his cutie mark was a scope with darts around it. By the expression of his eyes, this pony didn't seem very friendly at all. He looked rather cynical.
As he turned around, deep, labored breathing came from his mask. But for some reason, the gang was not there. As he used his magic to picked up a pot that was filled with night howlers, the good guys were seen hiding under a table.
They all watched as he dumped several flowers into a vat. After closing the lid, the unicorn's horn began to glow with a dark red aura. As he did, he began to charge up his magic on the machine to power it up. Then the night howlers started to liquefy as they went through a pipe to the other end of the room.
As the gang watched from under the table, the unicorn approached another table that had a chemistry set as the liquid got sent into it. After making a few tweaks and modifications, the unicorn’s horn glowed as he levitated a small paintball-like pellet and the enhanced night howler was inserted into it.
As he was examining it, a cell phone at a nearby desk began to ring. He used his magic to carry the serum as he walked to his cell phone. The ponies, Spike, and Discord quietly snuck under a different desk and watched as he removed his gas mask. He used his magic to pick up the cell phone and held it to his ear while carrying the serum.
“Yeah? You got Sniper.” The stallion said, who was now revealed to be Sniper, as he spoke into his cell phone. His tone of voice was rather grim and dower. “What’s the mark?”
He levitated a dart gun up as he listened to the unknown caller while the heroes watched from their hiding spot. “Yeah? Cheetah draconequus in Baltimare.”
After loading the pellet into the dart gun and cocking it, he said, “Got it.” On the wall was a map with various draconequus targets in front of Sniper. “Serious?” Sniper continued. “Yeah, I know cheetahs are fast, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
He listened to his caller for a moment before he gave out an annoyed sigh. Fluttershy took another look at the map and saw that the pictures of the draconequuses were the same ones that had gone missing before they found them at the Hoofside Asylum. She then spotted a picture of Nelson Otterus before he had become savage. “Look, I shot a tiny otter draconequus through the open window of a moving limousine. I'm pretty sure I can easily shoot a cheetah draconequus doing push ups on a park bench.”
Once she heard him say that, Fluttershy quietly gasped as she looked at the picture of Nelson Otterus again. She then realized what had happened to Mr. Otterus before he vanished that very night!
As Nelson Otterus anxiously sat inside the limo by an open window, waiting to meet up with his boss, Mr. Big Daddy, and tell him about what he think is going on with the disappearances of the missing draconequuses, he didn’t notice someone targeting him through the open window. And that someone was Sniper, who was perfectly hidden, using his magic to hold his dart gun while he was aiming it at the otter draconequus. Then, using his magic, he pulled the trigger and shot out a dart of night howler serum.
The dart flew through the open window until it shot its target: Mr. Otterus! After he got hit by the serum, Otterus lifted his head up with a horrified look on his face. He had been hit by a dart filled with night howlers!
He then went berserk as he attacked Juan Rico with his mouth wide open and teeth bared, snarling like crazy.
Fluttershy turned her head and saw a picture beside the picture of Otterus. The picture showed a familiar black jaguar draconequus with a bruised eye: Juan Rico! She recalled what had happened when they came to his house to ask some questions and what they failed to have seen.
Inside his house, Juan Rico was busy unlocking his door, getting ready to tell Twilight and her friends what he knew. As he did, he failed to notice that outside his window, Sniper was out there, holding his dart gun as he got ready to shoot his next target. He shot out a dart and it hit its target just as the jaguar draconequus was opening the door.
Once it made contact with him, Juan Rico screamed in pain. “Aagghhh!”
Once he became fully savage, he growled at the alicorn and her friends.
Returning back to reality, Fluttershy turned to her friends. “Guys, it’s him,” she whispered.
“What?” Twilight asked, confused what her friend was talking about.
“He’s the one who’s been darting all the draconequuses.” Fluttershy explained, pointing a hoof at Sniper.
“Him?” Starlight whispered.
After hearing what Fluttershy just said and looking at the yellow pegasus with a horrified look, Rainbow Dash turned her attention to Sniper and glared at him. This pony was responsible for making draconequuses go savage and the injuries of even more ponies!
“That...dirty...COWARD!!!” She growled quietly as she was about to jump out of their hiding place and give the unicorn a good thrashing. However, Twilight and Applejack held her down and quickly covered her mouth while the pegasus made angry mumbling noises, not wanting her to have their cover blown.
Luckily for them, Sniper was still on his phone and didn’t hear the angry mumbling noises from the blue pegasus. “Yeah, I’ll buzz you when it’s done,” he said as he put the dart gun away in a case. “Or you’ll see it on the news. You know, whichever comes first.”
Bam! Bam! Just then, a knock was heard from the door across him, getting his attention. “Hey, Sniper, open up!” A voice said from outside the subway car. “We got your latte.”
Heading for the door, Sniper finished his conversation with his mysterious client saying, “Alright, Walter and Jeff are back, so I’m leaving now. Out.”
As they watched him head for the door, the Mane Six and Starlight Glimmer got out of their hiding spot. Spike, Discord, and the CMC watched from their hiding spot, confused what their friends were doing.
“Hey, hey, where you going? Where you going?! Get back here!” Discord whispered to the ponies as they looked around. “What are you doing? He’s gonna see you!”
The seven ponies turned their heads and noticed the conductor's room. “Guys? What are you looking at?” asked a confused Spike.
“Hey! Whatever you ponies are thinking, stop thinking it!” Discord whispered. When they didn’t reply back, he hissed, “Guys! Guys!”
Twilight turned her attention to Rainbow Dash, who was glaring at Sniper as he was approaching the door. She nodded her head, telling Rainbow Dash to do it. The pegasus nodded back and got ready to do it as she unfurled her wings.
Once Sniper approached the door, the unicorn unlocked it with his magic and opened it. Outside were two stallions. The first stallion was an earth pony with a dark brown coat, an orange mane, and dark green eyes. He had a scar on his face and for his cutie mark, it was a red boxing glove. This pony was Jeff, the same pony who spoke up earlier. The second stallion was a pegasus with a violet coat, purple mane, and crimson red eyes. Across one of his eyes was an eyepatch and his cutie mark was a pair of scissors. This other stallion was Walter. They were both carrying coffee cups.
“It better have the extra foam this time,” Sniper said as he looked at his two assistants. Just then, Rainbow Dash charged into the unicorn and shoved him out the door. Sniper fell on the other two stallions while the coffee cups splattered coffee everywhere.
Looking up, Walter saw Rainbow Dash. “What the-?!” He said.
Rainbow Dash just glared at them before she slammed the door. Inside, Applejack locked the door while some pounding noises were heard from outside as Jeff shouted, “Hey, open up!”
As he, Spike, and the fillies came out of their hiding spot, Discord shouted, “What are you doing?! You just trapped us in here!”
“We need to get this evidence to the princesses! Now!” A serious Twilight said to them.
Surprised by what she just said, Spike grabbed the case with the dart gun and night howler serum. “Uh...okay, Twilight,” he said.
“Okay. We got the evidence. Now let’s go!” Discord added, his face looking rather nervous.
“No! All of it!” The alicorn said as she and her friends headed for the conductor’s room while the surprised draconequus and others followed them.
“Wait! What?!”
“All of them?!” Scootaloo asked, surprised what Twilight just said.
As they entered the conductor’s room, the mares immediately went to work on getting the engine to start.
“Oh, great. Now you think you’re conductors now, huh?” Discord said in annoyance while he, the baby dragon, and fillies watched. “Look, this thing hasn’t worked in years and it would take a miracle to get this rust bucket to move!”
Then, surprisingly, the subway car started to move. “Well...hallelujah,” the draconequus said, surprised that it was moving.
Outside, Sniper was sitting down as he picked up his cup to drink whatever was left of his latte. Walter had his cell phone and was talking to their unknown client. “We, uh...kinda got a situation at the lab…” he was saying. As he did, Jeff turned his head and did a quadruple take as he saw the subway car driving away, afterwhich he gave a horrifying gasp.
Sniper and Walter looked up with equally surprised looks on their faces. “Oh, it just got worse!” Walter said through the phone before hanging up. Then he and Jeff took off after it. Sniper was about to get up and follow them, but he hesitated and looked back at his latte. He looked back at the moving vehicle and to his drink, deciding whether to follow or finish his drink. He gave a shrug and sat back down to drink the rest of his latte. The two stallion ponies gave chase to the subway car as it continued moving.
Inside, the gang smiled as the vehicle kept on going. They were on their way to Canterlot!
“Well, mission accomplished.” A proud Applejack said to her friends with a smile.
“I’m surprised. This was easier than I thought it would be.” Rarity added.
Noticing a train whistle near her, Pinkie Pie turned her attention to Twilight. “Hey! Is it alright for me if I do a victory toot-toot? Please!” She pleaded.
Twilight rolled her eyes as she smiled at her eager friend. “All right, Pinkie.” She said. “One toot-toot.”
“YAY!” With an excited look on her face, Pinkie Pie happily pulled on the train whistle.
Toot! Toot! Outside, Walter and Jeff finally got close to the subway car and climbed aboard it.
Back inside, Pinkie Pie released the train whistle and looked at her friends with a huge smile. “I’ve always wanted to do that!” She said.
“Well, I guess we can cross that off the bucket list.” Rainbow Dash said with a confident smile as she laid back on the conductor’s chair.
However, her confident smile disappeared when she and her friends heard some thudding noises coming from outside. They turned their heads and looked outside the door. Just then, Jeff broke in from the roof and charged at them at full speed.
“YAHHHHH!” Spike yelped in terror before rushing to the door and closing it. Jeff ran against it, leaving a large dent in it, and slid down very slowly. Spike quickly locked the door and looked through the window. On the other side, Jeff was trying to open the door, but couldn’t because Spike had locked it. Looking up, he saw Spike looking down at him through the window. The baby dragon gave a nervous smile as he chuckled nervously.
Glaring at the baby dragon, Jeff turned around. Using his back legs, he tried to break down the door. Spike quickly ducked down and said, “Whoa!”
As he continued hitting the door with his back legs, Jeff shouted, “Open this door, you little-!!”
Back inside the control room, the CMC were huddled close together in a corner while the others looked worried.
“I may have to rescind that victory toot-toot.” Pinkie Pie said nervously before crawling underneath the control panel.
Just then, a thumping noise was heard above them. “What was that?” Sweetie Belle asked as she and her friends watched from their hiding spot.
“Maybe that’s just hail?” Scootaloo guessed nervously, although she had a feeling that her guess was wrong.
Suddenly, Walter broke through the window, although he got stuck halfway, and tried to grab the pony closest to him: Fluttershy! “Come here, you!” He said as he lunged at her. Fluttershy yelped in surprise as she tried to avoid being grabbed by him.
Seeing that his beloved Fluttershy was in trouble, Discord rushed over and grabbed the stallion’s arm. “Hey! Back off!” He said as he held onto Walter’s arm, only to get knocked off and sent flying against the door. “Whoa, oof!”
As he watched Fluttershy trying to avoid Walter, Discord tried to think of some way to help her. Just then, he felt the door behind him kick. Looking through the window, he saw Jeff charging towards it again.
Thinking fast, he turned to Fluttershy and said, “Incoming!” He quickly snapped his fingers and the door immediately was unlocked and opened. Jeff just kept on charging at full speed. Walter had just managed to grab Fluttershy, only for him to look up in surprise as Jeff rammed into him. It resulted with the pegasus stallion and Fluttershy getting pushed out through the window and out of the train while Jeff was stuck through the window.
“Oh!” Fluttershy yelped before she clinged onto an outside handle of the train. While Jeff was stuck through the window, briefly falling unconscious, Fluttershy whimpered in fear as she held on for dear life.
Discord rushed to the window and saw the shy pegasus holding on to the handle outside. “Fluttershy!” He said in a worried voice.
“We’ll get Fluttershy!” Twilight told him. “Just don’t stop! Keep going!”
“No, no! Please stop!” Hearing Walter’s terrified voice, they all looked outside and saw the pegasus stallion in front of the subway car, flapping his wings as fast as he can.
“Do not stop this car!” Twilight repeated before she and Rainbow Dash flew out of the vehicle and flew right beside it.
Walter continued flapping his wings until he screamed in absolute fear as he jumped to the side of the wall, just as the train, alicorn, and pegasus passed him. The good news was that he was able to avoid getting run over by the train. The bad news was that the top of his mane had been shaved off by the train brushing against him. After it passed him, he looked at his mane in complete shock at what had happened. “Ohhhhhhhh!!!” He screamed.
Back on the train, Jeff had just gained consciousness and saw Fluttershy beside him. Glaring at her, he was about to harm her when Twilight and Rainbow Dash flew beside them. “Sorry. She’s with us.” Rainbow Dash said.
She and Twilight grab Fluttershy and flew up while Jeff raised a hoof at them saying, “Hey, come back here, you!”
The ponies flew to the roof of the train car and sat down. After ducking to dodge from getting hit by a subway tunnel light, they found themselves coming out of the subway tunnel and out of Manehattan. As the train speeded up, Jeff punches through the window next to him as he tried to attack Discord, who was driving the train.
“What’ll we do now, Twilight?!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“I don't know!” Twilight explained worriedly. “I didn't think this one through!”
Inside the train, the others were having a harder time conducting the train while Jeff was kicking and thrashing at them through the window.
“Hold still, ya varmint!” Applejack said angrily as Jeff kicked at her.
“This is not what I had in mind!” Rarity said as she shielded the CMC.
“I don't know how things could get any worse!” Sweetie Belle said.
Just then, Spike noticed something. He peered out a side window and squinted. He gasped in horror when he saw what it was.
“It just did!” He gulped nervously.
Up ahead, a black freight train was coming along the same railroad that Twilight and her friends were on. Earth ponies were on it, shoveling coal and managing the engines.
At the front of the train, the engineer, an old earth pony with a white mustache and white coat, noticed something. He peered out. “Huh?” He muttered as he squinted. What he finally saw what it was, he gasped in horror.
“EGAD!!!” He yelled. The other earth ponies on the train also saw it and were equally terrified as well. The engineer reached for the train whistle and yanked it, making a loud TOOT-TOOOOT!!!! As he did, he yelled, “E-E-E-EGAAAAAAAAAAAADD!!!”
Hearing the train whistle, Starlight said, “Quick! Somebody get the brakes!”
“I got this!” Pinkie Pie said, still hiding underneath the control panel. She crawled from her hiding spot to where the brakes were located. There was a loud sound of screws and pieces coming apart. Pinkie Pie popped out, and to everyone's horror, she was holding the brakes that she had removed.
“Okay, here are the brakes!” She said happily. “What next?”
“We're doomed.” Spike whimpered.
Outside, Twilight and the others has noticed the freight train also. Looking around, Fluttershy saw that up ahead was a switch that connected to the railroad. She had an idea. “That’s it.”
She flew to the hole where Jeff broke into earlier. Discord was busy driving the train while dodging Jeff's attacks. Poking her head down, Fluttershy said, “Speed up, Discord! Speed up!”
They all looked at Fluttershy as if she was insane. “Are you crazy?! We're heading right at it!” Discord said.
“Trust me! Speed up!” Fluttershy lifted her head to go tell the others her idea.
Realizing that Fluttershy had an idea, Starlight turned to Discord. “Just do it!”
The draconequus sighed in annoyance before he pushed the switch to make the train go faster.
Jeff was still struggling through the window when he saw the freight train and gasped in horror. “Stop the train!!” He shouted. Now he had a real good reason to be out of the window.
“We're all gonna die!!!!!” Pinkie Pie screamed at the top of her lungs.
As both trains were getting closer, Jeff screamed in terror.
“Hey, buddy!” Jeff looked up and saw Rainbow Dash above him, the blue pegasus giving him a smug smile. “Need some help?”
With that, she flew towards Jeff and kicked him out of the window. He landed on the track switch, causing it to move back while he had a dazed look on his face.
Just as it looked like the trains were about to collide, the railroad tracks shifted. As both trains passed each other, the engineer from the freight train gave a sigh of relief.
Although they managed to avoid getting hit by the freight train, the subway car was going too fast. Since Pinkie had removed the brakes, there was no way of stopping the train. As it turned, it began to derail while Starlight said, “Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no! Too fast! Hold on!”
The train car crashed on the railroad and continued speeding up while Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash flew inside. Discord would have used his magic to stop the train, but the train was shaking about so violently that he couldn’t focus.
“This is almost like a carnival ride!” Pinkie shouted. “Only way more life-threatening!”
As it sped up to an abandoned train station that was near Canterlot, the car tilted over on its side as it scraped along the pavement. Inside, they were all doing their best to hold on. They watched as the entire room began creating sparks that caught on fire.
Apple Bloom and her friends turned their heads and saw something else.
“Up ahead!” She shouted.
The others all turned their heads and saw what the earth filly and her friends saw. In front of them was a bridge that was blocked.
“I do believe this is our stop!” Rarity said.
“JUMP!” Twilight shouted.
They all jumped out of the train car and landed on the platform. They looked up and watched just as the subway car crashed into the blocked bridge.
They all just sat there, not a single one of them spoke.
Finally, Pinkie Pie was the first to speak.
“That...was...AWESOME!” She said with a huge grin as she looked at her friends. “Let’s do it again!”
Apple Bloom, however, noticed that the train car was completely damaged. Pointing at it, she said, “The train car! It’s all banged up!”
“Oh, no! The evidence!” A worried Twilight said with worry.
“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie said optimistically. “I’m sure that some of the evidence survived.”
But moments after she said that, the train exploded while they all watched. It then stopped and everything was quiet for a moment.
“Um...maybe a little bit of the evidence survived.” Pinkie Pie said with a nervous smile, hoping that she was right.
However, the train made an even bigger explosion than the last one, sending parts flying everywhere.
A stray propane tank bounced out of the vehicle and landed a few feet behind them before it exploded as well.
“Eep.” Fluttershy squeaked, flinching at the sound of the explosion. It was silent for a moment before Pinkie Pie spoke up again.
“Okay, none of the evidence survived,” Pinkie Pie said with a frown.
“Everything’s gone.” Twilight said with sadness and disbelief as she and her friends looked at the destroyed vehicle. “We’ve lost it all.”
“Yeah,” Discord nodded before he held up a familiar case.
It was the same case that contained the dart gun and the pellet filled with night howler serum! “Oh, except for this.” He said before laughing. “Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
The ponies and baby dragon looked at him in surprise as they smiled. He had managed to grab the case before they jumped off the train!
Rainbow Dash smiled as she looked at the draconequus. “Oh yeah, Discord!” She said before giving a good whack on his shoulder. Discord’s face winced in pain.
“Ow,” he muttered.
“Sorry.” Rainbow Dash said.
Getting up, Twilight said, “Come on!” Let’s get this to the princesses!”
Fluttershy carried the case as she and the others followed the alicorn.
As they ran up the stairs, Twilight said, “We’ll cut through the Canterlot Museum!”
After reaching the top of the stairs, they made their way to the Canterlot Museum, which also was a shortcut to the castle. They passed two statues of the Royal Sisters as they ran inside. They now had their evidence to show the princesses.