Fifteen minutes later, right on schedule, everyone headed out. All who were able-bodied enough to walk easily were up, dressed, and on the move while the weaker children and more elderly rode on the Pie’s wagon. They had stopped only long enough to quickly set up fake bodies on the floor mats and put out all the lights, to hopefully confuse anyone who came by to check the area that they were asleep. After that, everyone headed up the quarry path and made for the forest.
“We’re going to have to keep a steady pace!” Shining Armor announced from the front. “We have less than five hours to get to the train and load up and we’re going to need every minute of that to get there on time! Stick to the plan once we get there!”
“Oh, wait!” Pinkie suddenly shouted, looking around frantically. “Where’s Maud? I haven’t seen her!”
“Right here, Pinkie,” a dull monotone responded, causing not only Pinkie but the other ladies to immediately look up in surprise. As it turned out, she seemed to have appeared right next to Pinkie’s side.
“Oh! There you are!” Pinkie grinned.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll make sure to get out. Just concentrate on getting everyone else and yourself away.”
“You got it, Maud!”
Twilight and Sunset both struggled not to grimace on hearing the exchange, and couldn’t help but look up and around. A few people were looking at Pinkie strangely, clearly only hearing her talking to nobody. Limestone let out a groan and an eye roll but said no more. Aside from that, the only other reaction was from Luna, who was walking alongside the group and happened to be nearby at the time. She kept her eyes forward, or at least seemed to, before she finally spoke in a quiet voice.
“Soul projection, I see. Commendable for one who has so little experience with her Anima Viri. I’m a bit surprised you aren’t fatigued from continuously doing it.”
Pinkie, clearly not understanding any of this, merely giggled and kept bounding along. Maud, on the other hand, raised one of her eyebrows and looked at Luna. However, she offered no more and simply kept looking forward. Maud eventually did the same and, the next time Twilight and Sunset blinked, they saw she was gone.
The next two hours were much like the previous, only with more people to protect. This time, the going wasn’t so lucky. At one point, a pack of wild dogs with gleaming eyes emerged from the woods and rapidly approached the caravan. However, everyone worked together quickly. Twilight scattered them with fire before Applejack and Pinkie moved in with their weapons to fend them off. The biggest surprise was when Fluttershy fumbled for her own Anima Viri, ending up accidentally activating Melvin’s and taking the role of the Rogue, although she was still too squeamish to use the dagger that her walking stick had turned into.
“Wait,” Twilight had spoken up, “you have two Anima Viris now too?”
“I…um…guess I forgot to mention it…” she answered quietly.
“I wonder what sort of new role she can take now?” Starlight spoke up.
“Oh…I tried doing two at once, but…it doesn’t work. I just swap out one for the other.”
“There’s a trick to it…” Sunset found herself blurting out, going silent soon after. However, it was too late. The rest of the ladies looked to her.
Applejack swished her lips. “Alright, then that there’s the first useful thing you can teach us when all this is done.”
She exhaled. “Fine. That means you all keep me around for now.”
Barring that incident, the rest of the journey went smoothly and without any encounters with Trottingham authorities. However, that was only the first hurdle. There was no chance of taking a steam cab now the last leg of the journey, so once they were out of the woods and on the streets they had no choice but to split up into smaller groups to make themselves less conspicuous. The Pies took the lead with each group and, unfortunately, as the six ladies all had Anima Viris, they needed to split up as well. Twilight and Sunset ended up going with Pinkie and Luna along with some of the other civilians on the most winding route, as Pinkie had appeared in that town multiple times and they needed to keep her in the dark. The going wasn’t easy. Not only was the road long and roundabout, but Trottingham patrols were out and forced them more than once to wait in shadows or take longer ways. Each time the distant clock tower sounded out another quarter of an hour it grew more uncomfortable, but finally they made their way back into the industrial district of Manechester.
From there, although the factories were long since shut down, the smoggy atmosphere allowed sufficient obscurity for everyone to gradually make their way to the rendezvous point—a cluttered side street about four blocks away from the station. Pinkie’s group made it there second, following Limestone’s. Cloudy Quartz’s group followed soon after by Igneous’.
While still waiting for Marble’s group to arrive, a creaking was heard down the road. Everyone hid and watched the street. Gradually, though the gloom, a covered wagon drawn by a team of four horses made its way along and to the road. It turned into it soon after, and those gathered saw that it was being driven by an older Huntsman woman with a gold hoop earring and a peg leg in one seat and Rainbow Dash in the other. She hopped out, and not long after other wagons began to arrive. Marble’s group finally came as the fourth wagon pulled in, but a fifth wagon joined it before Dash hopped out and faced the others.
She did a look around the area while the woman who had been with her dismounted as well. “Alright, that everyone?”
Twilight nodded. “Everyone in our group. What about yours?”
The woman motioned her head to the back of the wagon. “See for yourself.”
Twilight looked up and at the back of the first wagon. She walked to the rear soon after and lifted up a loose part of the canvas in the back. Despite the darkness, she was just able to make out the forms of several people dressed like customary Gaitians.
She exhaled as she let the flap lower again, looking back out to her. “Thank you. But…it seems like a lot of wagon space just for the families…”
The woman smirked. “That’s because it’s more than the families.” She leaned her head up and looked out to the other wagons lined up behind hers, in particular their own drivers. “So how’d we make out, boys?”
The first one grinned and motioned behind him. “Ripped off a liquor store. Those folks in Manehattan will pay top dollar for this brand of whiskey.”
“Fine dinnerware is a bit too fragile to take along,” another one snickered, “so I helped myself to the tea and silverware.”
“I raided myself a weapon’s depot,” the third laughed, before motioning behind him. “Made out a lot better than old Beady back there. He raided a textile factory of all things. Kept going on about Trottingham fabric.”
“Ooo!”
Twilight briefly turned her head at that, finding herself looking at Rarity. Immediately, she cleared her throat and calmed down.
“Sorry.”
“How’d you make out, captain?”
She smirked. “Oh, let’s just say that I appropriated a grab bag from the latest Southern Equestrian imports. Just sailed in today. I’m sure the fine people out west will appreciate these goods more than Trottingham, being far rarer out there and all. I think I even managed a couple barrels of opium.”
The others whistled in excitement. Twilight, on her part, began to look rather uncomfortable, along with several of the others. She turned back to the woman soon after. “You, um…made quite the splash tonight raiding the town, didn’t you? Are you sure you didn’t attract any more…unwanted attention?”
The woman gave her a sharp look. “You’re the one who didn’t get us the rail number on time to head out sooner, but we’ve been at this for years and we know what we’re doing. Just make sure we have enough time to load this all up when we hit the railyard and we’ll be fine.”
She looked uneasy. “Well…we really just want to make sure we get the people loaded first. We may have to cut it pretty close after that-”
She was cut off as the woman leaned in and glared at her.
“Listen here…we didn’t get kicked out of the guild and made human trafficking fugitives of Trottingham for nothing. We intended to make a splash when we got out of this country and that’s what we’re going to do. Either the whole load goes or we see how much of a reward we can get for reporting about 100 Gaitian fugitives, got it?”
The seriousness of her voice was not to be denied, and it immediately made Twilight wince uncomfortably. She could only meekly nod back. “Sure…got it.”
Starlight’s eyes flicked between the two of them for a moment, noticing the woman was still frowning and wary of Twilight now while the latter was getting progressively more nervous, and finally cleared her throat. “Ok then…time to get a move on. Everyone, remember the plan. We go in through the rear like we’re here to load cargo, get signed in, move to the train, and when everyone’s in position we make the run in one shot. Everyone clear?”
As she sounded this out, Sunset looked up and over to one of the Huntsmen, who had reached into the back of his own wagon and come out with a cigarette. As he poked it in his mouth and went for a lighter, she inched over to him.
“Hey… Don’t suppose I could bum one off you, could I?”
“Actually,” Dash’s voice called from behind her, “I got something even better for you.”
She turned to the woman, just in time to see Dash swing her hand around and drop it on top of her head. Immediately, a large quantity of greasy oil was plopped on top of it. Sunset recoiled in revulsion as Dash simply made a few motions to get it to start sliding all over her scalp.
She smirked at her. “There you go. Instant hair dye. Cool, huh?”
Sunset groaned as her eyes opened. “Thanks…”
The group took some time to get themselves better organized, in particular making sure to hide all of the Gaitians except Pinkie. Fortunately, the Huntsmen had not only taken the precaution of lifting some basic coveralls for themselves but enough for most of the others who would stay outside the wagons, including the ladies. After slipping into them so that the group would at least appear on the outside to be basic freight loaders, they moved on. Fifteen minutes afterward, they finally were in eyeshot of the Manecheter rail yard.
The ladies had spread out at that point. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Applejack stood against one side of the first wagon while Starlight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash stood on the opposite side. Pinkie relocated to the last wagon, leaving only the Huntsmen drivers out in their seats. There were other teams with freight waiting to load already queued ahead of them, so they got themselves in line and slowly made their way forward. It took about another twenty minutes of progress, but they slowly moved forward until they neared the large surrounding fence to the train yard, and in particular a large gate.
As the last load in front of them cleared the way, they finally approached the entrance. There was a booth there and a couple workers who seemed to be railyard authorities. There was also, much to the group’s displeasure, a not-too-small assembly of soldiers. Each of them had rifles. They stood at a distance, apparently letting the railyard authorities act first, but they were still more than close enough to make Twilight struggle not to gulp or shudder.
As soon as they came to a halt, one of the railyard authorities walked up to her side. Seeing as she was the one in front, she moistened her lips and smiled at him. He smiled back, although it was far more faint than hers. Applejack simply gave a head nod while Fluttershy dipped her head down slightly before giving a weak smile of her own.
“Hello there. Confirmation?”
Twilight shifted a little before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the slip of paper from earlier. She passed it over, letting the rail authority accept it. “There you are! Engine 7! On schedule to start loading up!”
The authority looked over the slip for a moment before nodding once and passing it back to her. She accepted it, sighing mentally, and smiled back. “Thank you! Have a good evening!”
“Freight invoice?”
Twilight had just been starting to turn to motion the others in when she froze. She looked back at the man. “Excuse me?”
“May I see your freight invoice?”
Twilight went rigid. She stared blankly back at him. “I’m sorry…my…freight invoice?”
The smile faded a little. “Yes, your freight invoice.”
“I…wasn’t aware we needed one.”
The smile faded all together. “New regulations for all outgoing freight went into effect last week. Freight invoices are to be presented at the time of departure and reviewed prior to loading. If you don’t have a freight invoice prepared, then we will have to inspect your cargo now and draft you one.”
Twilight fought as hard as she could not to wince. Applejack and Fluttershy both began to grow nervous. “Th-that…that won’t be necessary… I mean, heh…we have such small loads compared to everyone else…”
“There are no exceptions to the rule, regardless of cargo size.”
“Th-then we’ll go ahead and handle it!” Applejack quickly spoke up.
The authority looked over to her. His face turned curious. “That accent… It sounds…”
Twilight paled and quickly got in his way. “What my colleague means to say is that we’re perfectly willing to comply with any regulations, but we have so little freight it would probably be easier if you just let us draft one up for you and then hand it over. So…do you have any paper?”
“We still need to verify the invoice following receipt.” The authority turned and motioned to the other authority to come over. “Let’s start with the first and move down the line.”
The other nodded and began to come over. Twilight stiffened, looking back to Applejack, but she, realizing she couldn’t even speak at this point, could only shrug helplessly. Fumbling, she turned back and stepped in the path of the authority as he tried to move to the rear. “Wait, wait… Um…er… It’s just that we can’t…that is…we’re not… I mean, could we…”
The authority looked down at her with growing irritation. “Please stand aside, ma’am. We need to do our job.”
“Yes, I know, but… I was just… That is…could you just wait for a few minutes? We need to…to…”
His irritation continued to rise. “Ma’am, please stand aside or I will be forced to bring in the authorities.”
Twilight paled a little more. “There’s no need for that. I just needed to talk with you a bit more for one second-”
“You’re holding up the line. People have schedules to meet.” He began to turn to look at the nearest soldier. The soldier, in turn, looked up and began to shoulder his rifle, but didn’t move just yet.
Twilight could only stand there and stammer. She didn’t know what else to say or do, and any further arguing seemed like it would only make thing worse…
“Excuse me…?”
Both Twilight and the authority paused on hearing that sound. Twilight turned her head, a bit surprised to see Fluttershy meekly stepping forward. She continued to bow her head, letting her hair somewhat obscure her face, but she looked at the man timidly.
“Um…sorry…I…don’t mean to interrupt…” she practically whispered. “It’s just that…um…uh…well…we have a lot of sensitive cargo to load and…we really need to get it on board the train as soon as possible…so…uh…um…I was wondering if maybe just this once we could get by without our invoice? Please?”
The authority frowned back at her. “I really don’t have time for this. If you don’t have the invoice, then stand aside.”
He nearly moved forward, but Fluttershy took a step closer, looking up a bit more and letting some of her hair fall back off of her face.
“Um…I’m sorry sir. I know you have a job to do, and you’re very diligent at it…but this was really just an honest mistake on our part. Could we maybe let it go? Please? It would mean the world to us.”
The man inhaled and squared himself in her face. “Look…I’m getting tired of this and I’m tired of repeating myself. I’ve heard enough.”
He began to raise his hand to the soldier again. This time, it was clear he meant to call them over. Twilight started to shudder. Applejack started to reach for her hammer…
Before either of them could make a move, however, Fluttershy fully looked up, letting the last of her hair fall away from her face, and spoke.
“Excuse me.”
Neither Twilight nor Applejack nor any of the others in earshot of that were sure what happened next. All they knew was that they suddenly found themselves turning fully to Fluttershy and focusing on her, and that, for a few seconds, that was all they could think about doing or compel themselves to do. The look on the authority’s face, irritated until now, melted away as he found himself staring directly into her eyes. He didn’t move, speak, or even seem to breathe.
As for Fluttershy, she spoke with a force and volume that seemed impossible for her.
“I have tried to appeal to you being reasonable over an extremely minor mistake, but I suppose it’s just too much to expect you to show the slightest hint of leeway to a group of underpaid, tired loaders working late to try and get a shipment out to the front lines in a timely manner. So instead I will have to insist that you help us this once by overlooking one small slip of paper and let us start loading the train, or I will get very testy!”
Twilight let out an exhale, only realizing at that point she had been holding her breath. All in the area did the same, for Fluttershy’s voice seemed to radiate through them when she spoke. Yet no effect was greater than the authority. His pupils dilated as she spoke, and he gradually cringed and shyed away from her as she continued to get closer with each word, looking him straight in the eye the whole time. When she was done, there was a moment of silence. Neither the soldiers nor the other authority moved.
Finally, the man swallowed, stood up, and, without looking away from Fluttershy’s stare, took a step backward.
“Move…move on.”
The other authority gave the man a puzzled look. “What? Didn’t they-”
“They’re clear!” he instantly cut off, nearly shouting. “Move on! Let them load!”
Twilight blinked in astonishment. The other authority was flabbergasted. He stammered and looked at them for a moment, but finally sighed and stepped back. The first authority stepped away and motioned them on rapidly. This left everyone confused a moment longer, before Twilight looked back to Fluttershy.
A good thing too, for at that moment she let out a bit of a sigh before her legs gave out beneath her and she started to collapse. Twilight quickly moved in and grasped her, keeping her from falling all together, but her head lolled. Gritting her teeth, the mage kept her upright for a few seconds before she rolled her head back. By that point, the wagon teams, not looking a gift horse in the mouth, immediately began to move forward and through the gate. Twilight hardly noticed, however. She instead focused on Fluttershy, looking dazed and semi-conscious, and especially at a welling under one of her nostrils. It looked like a drop of blood.
Luckily, Applejack soon stepped up behind them and lent her own arm in to support Fluttershy. “Y’alright?” she asked in a faint whisper.
“I…I’m fine,” Twilight began to answer, “but Fluttershy, she’s…”
“I’m…I’m ok…” she half-whispered back, even as she continued to loll her head around and shut her eyes. “Just…just need a…a moment…”
“Well then, come on!” Applejack pushed. “We gotta move in while the gettin’s good!”
Twilight nearly protested, but Fluttershy gave a stiff inhale, and forced her feet under her. While she still leaned on Twilight for support, she began to move forward. The mage, realizing they were still under the eyes of the authorities as well as the soldiers, didn’t stall any longer. She began to lead her on. Soon, they were moving through the gates as well.
A couple minutes later, once they were among the freight platforms and obscured by steam clouds and the hissing of boilers, Fluttershy finally stood and walked on her own again. She wiped away at her nose once and was then normal. “I’m alright now. Thank you.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“That was amazin’!” Applejack interjected. “I didn’t know you could do that starin’ thing on people!”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened for a moment, before she turned red and cringed again. “I, um…well…it’s not something I really like to do…”
Twilight thought about that a moment and shrugged. “I guess I can understand that, but thank you still. You really helped us out back there.”
Fluttershy merely kept blushing. Twilight looked up from her side and around for the nearest clock, eventually finding one mounted along the platform. Taking a quick look at the time, she turned back to her. “When does the diversion happen?”
She looked up and to the clock as well. “Oh…I told them right on the dot at 3 AM, so…about 20 minutes?”
She nodded back and looked up to the wagon. Before she could say a word, however, Celeano gave a single nod back to indicate that she understood. With that, everyone looked forward and kept walking.
They continued to walk along the rows, passing by several platforms, engines, cars, and teams loading up their own respective cargo. Yet only a few minutes later they arrived at the appropriate platform and, sure enough, a large steaming locomotive with the number “9” emblazoned on the side. There were only five open cars attached to this one, but that was more than enough for their purposes. Better yet, it looked as if the engine had already been prepped well in advance and the engineer crew was already up front and lounging while they waited for the load to arrive.
As they pulled their wagons up onto the platform and alongside the train, Twilight took a moment to look around and assess their situation. It was a busy night, even for 3 AM. There were two other trains on either side of them loading up, and more in front and in behind. The tracks ahead quickly turned into a convoluted mess in a series of rails and switches leading out, and crew members both for the station as well as loaders and engineers were bustling about everywhere. And that wasn’t getting into the number of soldiers about patrolling the area constantly. They seemed to be paying a lot of attention to individuals going to and fro for that matter. Like they were looking for someone.
She inhaled stiffly as they came to a stop, and then turned back to Celeano. “Alright, we have…” A glance to the clock. “Eighteen minutes.”
“We’ll get busy.” She immediately put down the reins and hopped off of the wagon. The others quickly did the same.
Moving in wasn’t quite as easy as they would have liked. With the number of people around, the six ladies moved out to quickly shut the doors for the freight cars on the opposite side, creating an obscured view from one angle, and then took positions to wait for when no one was around. As soon as the coast was clear, they rapped on the sides of the wagons, and a few people would come out and quickly get into the freight cars; pushing themselves against one side. Luckily, it only took about eight minutes to get all of the people on. Once that was done, the Huntsmen got to work unloading their own cargo. Fortunately, the crates they had swiped were modular with railings and fittings into the train’s loading carts, allowing them to more quickly pull out the loads. Furthermore, they seemed like seasoned pros at it.
Nevertheless, with five minutes left, and half of the cargo still left behind, Twilight was growing a bit nervous. She kept her eyes open and, by now, she had noticed that a few people seemed to be glancing their way more often than she liked. Some of them even stared for a bit. Keeping that in mind, she moved around to Applejack, Starlight, and Double Diamond. The three of them turned to face her as she neared, and she slipped in alongside them and whispered.
“Let’s go.”
They gave small nods and fell in behind her. Together, the four made their way up for the engine compartment. Twilight kept looking around even while trying to remain casual and, once again, she couldn’t help but notice that folks were looking at her. In particular, one of the railyard authorities was staring at her and their group.
“I’ve been keeping tabs,” Starlight whispered as they advanced. “There’s three all together. Two are in the engine compartment. One’s in the coal scuttle.”
Twilight didn’t answer, not giving off any more signs of what they were about to do. She instead reached into her pocket and grasped the tool handle she had earlier. The four kept walking until they finally reached the space between the engine and the coal car. The four paused there a moment, casually looking around on the platform one way and the other. Then, as nonchalantly as possible, Twilight stepped in and the others quickly followed behind her.
They barely had gotten in and out of view before they were faced with the interior of the engine. Behind them was the open door to the coal car, but Twilight ignored that for now while Applejack kept her eyes on a single engine worker with a shovel rummaging around in it. Her own eyes were on the engineer and his assistant monitoring the pressure gauges and checking the fire. However, the two of them noticed fairly quickly that they weren’t alone. Both looked up and turned around, spotting the four people.
The engineer straightened. “Can I help you?”
Twilight was quiet a moment longer, but then yanked her “wand” out, aimed it forward, and performed a sigil and incantation in an instant. Both rail workers were shocked to see a mysterious woman suddenly drawing a symbol of light in the air, and it caused them to hesitate until she had executed it. They barely had a chance to make another sound before the sigil evaporated into mist and washed over them, and moments later both moaned and passed out.
“Boss?” a voice called from the coal car. Seconds later, the third worker began to step out. “Did I hear something? What’s going on-”
He was cut off, for as soon as his shoulder cleared the door Applejack seized him, yanked him out the rest of the way, and drove his head into the nearest metal piece of paneling with a dull clang. Instantly, he went limp and fell to the ground.
As soon as he was out, Starlight and Diamond moved to take over in the engine compartment. Applejack quickly grabbed him again and drug him further into the cabin and out of view. Twilight looked at her uneasily. “That…didn’t fracture his skull just now, did it?”
“Nah. My brother got hit with a lot worse than that at the old rodeos. Just knocked him loopy for a while.”
“Um, your brother is a lot stronger looking than him…”
“You really wanna worry ‘bout this now?”
Twilight sighed in defeat. “Get your lasso ready. I’m going to step outside and see which tracks we need to hit.”
Applejack nodded back and began to reach into the coveralls. A tapping of footsteps was heard soon after from the railing alongside the coal car. Twilight looked up and to the side of the engine, and a moment later saw Rainbow Dash poking her head around the side.
“How’s the loading coming?”
“Pretty quick. How’d we do up here?”
“As good as we could expect. I’m going to check on the front.”
Twilight headed out to the same opening and looked about. Much to her relief, the train was a model that had a railing alongside both the coal car and the engine that went all the way to the front to the “cow catcher”. That meant it would be easy for both her and Applejack to move around and back to the cars once the engine was in motion. With that in mind, she stepped out onto the railing and moved to the front of the locomotive. She positioned herself right beneath the forward light and looked ahead.
She spent several seconds there, pointing at the air and quickly looking over the tracks ahead as well as the switches. After a few moments she believed she had it down for the first set and nearly stepped back in.
However, she paused when she caught something on two platforms away.
One of the railway authorities was standing next to an officer with two soldiers flanking her. A moment later, he looked straight at her and the engine and pointed while still talking. The officer turned and looked as well, meeting her gaze for a moment. Right afterward, she turned and said something to the other soldiers. They nodded and instantly scrambled.
Twilight turned white again. “Oh no…”
Without wasting any more time, she quickly turned about and ran back into the engine compartment. Starlight and Diamond were still messing around with the controls and Applejack had just begun to get her lasso ready when she broke back inside.
“We have to leave now.”
Starlight looked up from the gauges. “Excuse me?”
“One of the authorities is calling out the army on us. I just saw it. We have to get going.”
Applejack snapped her head up. “Beg yer pardon?”
“Say what?” Dash echoed.
“But…but Fluttershy’s diversion won’t even happen for another…” Starlight paused long enough to reach into her pocket and pull out her watch. “…Four minutes!”
“And we’re still loading in the back!” Dash added.
“Then go help them!” Twilight nearly shouted at her, before looking at Applejack. “You need to hurry up and get your Anima Viri on!” She looked at Starlight afterward. “Get the engine ready to start moving! I’m not sure when they’re going to have this surrounded!”
Starlight still looked uneasy, but sighed in resignation and turned to Diamond. He swallowed as he reached into his pockets to start fumbling for the keys Rarity had given them. As he fished them out, and Dash turned and ran along the railing for the back to pass along the word, Twilight stepped inside and hid herself as best as she could.
A few moments later, she began to hear a yell from behind her. “Member of my house, I command-”
She instantly spun around and waved at Applejack. “Keep it down!”
“Well how the hell am I s’posed to be commandin’ if I can’t shout?”
“Just do the best you can!”
The farmer grumbled, but raised her hand and spoke in a somewhat “quieter” voice. Although it took her a couple tries, she seemed to still manage to get it, but Twilight didn’t focus on that. She kept her eyes outside.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for things to get bad. She began to hear distant sounds of boots clicking and, soon after, she saw an entire troop of armed soldiers begin to run down one of the platforms for the ground level, obviously headed for them. She glanced behind them and saw, further down the track on a rear platform, a second group was coming from there. There was no telling how many more were still coming.
She ducked back inside. “Please tell me we’re ready to move.”
Starlight and Diamond were still fumbling with the controls, but the former looked up to her frowning. “What good will it do if everyone’s eyes are still on us? We still need that diversion!”
Twilight let out a bit of a whimper, ending up ducking inside all the way. Even so, it wasn’t long before the sounds of clacking boots, now clearly on their own platform, began to sound out. They were rapidly getting closer too. The mage nervously hesitated, looking from Applejack, now in her own Anima Viri form, to Starlight and Diamond, still holding off on starting the engine, to the unconscious crew on the floor…
Seeing that, she finally reacted. She dove to the ground for the main engineer and seized her cap off of her head and put it on her own. Soon after she began to struggle with her kerchief as well.
“What’re ya’ doin’?” Applejack asked on spotting this.
“I don’t know! Hopefully something that will buy a little more time!” Twilight nearly shouted as she got the kerchief off and quickly tied it around her own neck. As she did, the footsteps got closer yet; nearly on the train car. Letting out a nervous exhale, she leaned back up, turned her head, and then ducked it outside of the opening between the engine and the coal car.
It was just in time. The soldiers were running up the platform with an officer heading them up right that moment. Fortunately, it wasn’t the same officer she had locked gazes with before. Keeping the rest of her body obscured, she called out. “Oh…hi! Is something wrong?”
The soldiers all had rather stony expressions, but fortunately they did slow down. “Step out of the engine,” the one in the lead called to her. “You and everyone inside there. Right now.”
Quickly, she feigned innocence. “Oh? Is…um…something wrong?”
The officer was unamused as she kept nearing. “Step out of the engine right now.”
“Er, uh…” she began to look uneasy, fumbling for a moment, before she nodded. “Right, right…of course. Just, um…just a second. Let me let everyone else know…”
“I said-”
But Twilight quickly ducked inside before the officer could get the rest out. Her face unchanging, the officer raised a hand so that the soldiers behind her could see it, and then beckoned them all to come forward at once. Their rifles shifted into the ready and they quickly moved out to flank the officer. In moments, they rushed forward and positioned themselves around the space between the cars. The officer moved back into their ranks as their weapons went up.
“Everyone,” the officer called inside, “this is the national guard. You are to vacate the engine compartment immediately. If you do not comply this instant, we will have to remove you by force.”
There was no response. After a few seconds of silence, she frowned. She raised her hand again, intending to tell her soldiers to move in.
However, she was interrupted by a flash of light from within the compartment. Moments later, to her surprise as well as that of the other soldiers, a powerful, forceful, piercing gale suddenly burst from within the engine and came billowing out with the force of a tornado. It slammed into the closely compacted soldiers so strongly that their weapons were caught and flung right out of their hands, followed shortly thereafter by the gale ripping off some of their clothes. Most of all, however, the force hit them so strongly that they were swept up into the air and then hurled off of the platform and onto the tracks on the other side of it; like they were nothing more than dust before a broom. Moments later, each one was giving a mild cry of surprise or pain as they were dumped onto the ground, although most of it was obscured by the hisses of steam and noises of loading around them.
Inside the engine compartment, Twilight, now in her own Caster form, let out a whistle as she lowered her transformed wand. Starlight and Diamond were both staring at her dumbfounded.
“I thought you said you were going to buy some time!”
She winced. “Well…I did! Just…not as much time as I hoped…”
Granted, it did take a little while for the soldiers to realize what had happened. Seeing the officer and her troop getting blasted out had left anyone who witnessed the event confused while everyone else was left waiting for them to get in position. Yet after about another minute, they began to realize that the group had been disabled and left in a heap on the rail level. When that happened, a whistle was blown, and the soldiers that were already surrounding the train were quickly doubled-up upon. The bootsteps clacks were getting louder than ever as more troops came out and took their positions along the train; now aiming their rifles at every car. If that wasn’t enough, Twilight and the others thought they heard noises from large machinery grinding, implying they might have been getting an artillery piece out to aim at them.
Applejack began to tense up. “Um…Twilight?”
“Not yet!” She looked on both sides of the engine but didn’t move.
Starlight held up her watch. “Just a little longer…”
Another set of bootsteps was heard rushing up to the sides of the engine. This time, it didn’t seem like they were going to give them an opportunity to surrender from the sound of the orders being shouted.
“Twilight!” Applejack spoke again.
Starlight suddenly looked up. “Ok, now!”
Everyone looked up together. However, all they heard were the sounds of the army outside mixed with the noises of the steam engines. A few seconds passed, and that was still all they heard.
“…Well?”
Twilight winced. “It…might take the rats a few seconds to gnaw through things if they didn’t start until now…or…maybe they misinterpreted Fluttershy’s command…?”
“That does it!” Applejack yelled as she took up her lasso, going for the hammer on the end. “I’ll just get out there and beat ‘em down!”
“We can’t get in a fight now!” Starlight nearly shrieked. “Most of us don’t have Anima Viris to protect us!”
“Well we can’t just stand ‘round here!”
Hearing the boots getting closer, Twilight let out a moan, before she raised her wand up again. She started to draw another sigil—a greater one this time. She got it ready to execute the moment the next batch of soldiers came into view, even though she was hearing them coming from both sides this time…
Before she could complete it, however, loud noises burst all around them. They weren’t from explosions or gunshots either. They were the sounds of steam lines and boilers breaking, and they were shortly accompanied by the sound of rail workers crying out—some in pain, others shouting in emergencies. Soon after, a more explosive sound was heard—this one from the gas lines fueling the lights around the platforms. A portion of them immediately went dead followed by a pillar of flame arising from another side of the rail yard. Another burst soon followed that one, followed by alarms being rung and more people shouting and running.
That was all Twilight needed to hear. She lowered her wand and turned to Applejack. “Now!” Before bolting out the opening, she shouted to Starlight as well. “Let’s go!”
Starlight quickly went to the engine controls while Diamond immediately moved to the engineering crew to shove them out of the open cabin. As for Twilight and Applejack, they went out opposite sides of the engine. They were both equipped with Anima Viris, so there was no way they would completely escape notice. They had no time to worry about that, however; only hope that Fluttershy’s diversion would distract everyone long enough for them to finish their business. Only halfway up alongside the engine it began to move forward, causing both ladies to focus entirely on their task. Even when they heard soldiers beginning to yell out, this time at them, they kept running until they were at the front of the engine positioned above the “cow catcher”.
Twilight took a moment to take in the aftermath of the diversion. Two different pillars of flame from ruptured gas lines were illuminated over the rail yard at different spots, but clouds of steam from ruptured boilers were going off in at least eight. Workers were scrambling everywhere to try and get things under control, and they were frequently running into soldiers who were scrambling in other directions trying to figure out who was attacking them and where. Nevertheless, many of the soldiers that had come to their own train engine were still standing there dumbfounded, or even still looking at them.
“Stop that train!” a voice sounded on a megaphone. “Stop that train!”
She didn’t look any more. As Applejack took position next to her, she turned her head forward to the first switching station. “Applejack! The first and second! Now!”
She quickly snapped her lasso up as the train lurched forward and pulled the first switch. By the time she pulled her arm back, rifle shots began to go off. Twilight cried out and ducked, but Applejack stood her ground and readied her lasso again. She soon snapped it out, pulled the other switch, and yanked it back. The tracks ahead changed, and as the engine began to pick up more speed it landed on the junction and rolled past it.
Gunshots continued to fire, but since the train engine was already rolling out from the platforms, the front of the engine seemed to be clear. Twilight risked holding her head up, and noticed that while soldiers were still running out on the tracks in front of them, clearly trying to get ahead, they weren’t in a position to fire any more at a standstill. She also noticed, much to her shock, they were coming to the next station quickly. Immediately she rose again.
“N-Next one! Pull switches 3 and 5 and shift 2 and 6 back!”
“Call out the next one faster!” Applejack yelled back as her arm went up. “We’re pickin’ up speed and I ain’t sure I can get all o’ em!”
Her lasso snapped out twice, once for switch 3 and once for switch 5. However, the train was now going at a steady 8 km per hour and getting faster, and they were already closer to the next switching station than they had been during practice. Applejack quickly grit her teeth, choked up on her hammer, and yanked it back to fling it forward at the second switch. She hit it, and used the impact it had from bouncing off of it to quickly reclaim her hammer and fling it again just in time at the sixth switch. Twilight nearly thought they had missed it, but the engine rolled onto the right tracks and kept going along the next switch.
Now they were beginning to outstrip the soldiers, and the surrounding train engines began to fall away as they hit a straightaway. Twilight leaned out more, looking ahead and trying to spot the next switching station and the right direction as quickly as she could. Yet she realized that was going to get more difficult as they continued to pick up speed. The end of the rail yard eventually began to become visible in the distance, and beyond it the individual tracks breaking off and moving out into the distance. When that happened, she finally spotted a series of tracks going to one junction and the switching station nearby. Nevertheless, she had to look a bit closer to see the switches as they kept nearing.
“Twilight!” Applejack shouted even as she began to whip her lasso into the air.
“Pull 1, pull 2, and push 3!”
“Damnit, too slow! We ain’t got time!” she shouted as she snapped her lasso out, hooked the first switch, and gave it a yank. Although she moved as fast as she could to snap it loose and bring it back, by the time she managed to swing out the lasso and pull the second switch, they were already passing by it even as she loosened the rope to reclaim it. “I can’t hit the last-”
She was cut off as she heard a sigil being executed next to her. She looked, and recoiled a moment later as the symbol Twilight had just traced in the air evaporated into a head-sized chunk of ice, which went flying like a missile for the switches. Moments later, it hit the third switch and snapped it forward.
There was a bit of squealing and grinding from the front of the train, but it managed to connect to the right junction. Soon after, it was changing direction again and moving out onto a series of tracks streaming away from the rail yard. Moments later, as it increased speed to about 16 km per hour, it rolled out from under the gate and into the area outside of Manechester.
Twilight sighed in relief and lowered her wand, and turned back to Applejack. The farmer was amazed for a moment, but then grinned back. “Well, awright! That’s how it gets done!”
“This track should be a straight shot for miles!” she called back with a faint smile of her own. “Let’s get back and tell the others!”
Applejack nodded and turned around to start going back along her railing, while Twilight turned about and went along hers. In a few moments, both of them had managed to cross the heating-up engine and reached the opening again. They didn’t go inside, but rather both grasped the rails and looked within, seeing Diamond adjusting the controls while Starlight was going for one of the maps she had ripped from the library.
“We made it!” Twilight called.
“Well…almost,” Starlight answered with a shrug. “I’ll say we’re in the clear from Manechester once we hit the Reins river in a couple miles. There’s a long rail bridge across a pretty deep chasm, but the tracks reduce to two parallel tracks running across it. Once we’re past that, nothing should stop us for a good long while into Appleloosa, and no one has a chance of following us.”
“Alright,” Applejack answered with a nod. “We’ll let the others know, then I’ll head on back here and help you out with that coal. Want to get this engine runnin’ good and hard all the way to Mount Aris, after all…”
She began to crawl along the side past the coal car. Twilight nodded back at them. “Great job, both of you.” After that, she began to follow along as well.
The train continued to pick up speed, approaching about 32 kilometers per hour by the time they reached the junction point between the coal car and the first freight car. As a result, both of them were rather glad to be off of the rails and into the junction between the cars before the speed picked up any further. Both slipped off onto the small platform area and faced the forward door to the car, and after exchanging smiles Applejack reached out and opened the door up.
Both began to step inside. “Everyone, good news! We…”
Twilight’s voice trailed off. Her smile faded into a look of horror.
Applejack’s eyes widened in shock. “Aw hell no… Not another one!”
Most of the passengers who had loaded into the car were currently pressed against the rear and cargo containers in huddled fear and terror. The Huntsman who had overseen letting them in was currently face down on the ground, looking barely conscious or able to move. Sunset Shimmer, who had happened to load into that same car, was pressed against a wall, looking terrified and helpless to do anything but stare in shock. Nearby, Luna stood aghast, have shrunk back but clearly not knowing what to do. Spike stood before both of them, alternating between growling and whimpering.
In the center of the car was Shining Armor, wielding his Anima Viri for all the good it was doing him. He was currently being forced to his knees courtesy of a gauntleted hand throttling him, and in spite of both of his own hands holding onto it and trying to pry it off it wasn’t budging.
The gauntlet belonged to a matching set of armor—a style of which Applejack currently knew all too well. It was a similar design to the one she had seen on the attacker of Fort Appleloosa, although this one was more streamlined with accents for small metallic wings on the boots, arms, and even the back. Not so much functional as creating additional gleaming blades along it. Unlike that previous suit, however, this one appeared to be a true suit of armor enclosing a real individual. Nevertheless, the form was still distinctly feminine. The helmet was different too. It had a true mouth-guard and visor, although a faint light still seemed to be coming from the eye regions. The crest and comb over the top was arranged into a war-like mohawk.
One thing it definitely had in common, however, was the fact that its opposing hand was currently extended over the back of one of Shining Armor’s palms and was tracing lights out over it. After a moment, it flashed red.
Her shock vanishing on seeing the situation her brother was in, Twilight’s face tightened. “Hey!”
The helmet of the figure immediately turned up and to the both of them. Applejack, tensing, quickly began to undo her lasso from her hammer. Twilight herself began to reach for her wand. “Let him go! Right now!”
The figure obliged, although it didn’t seem due to what Twilight had said. She simply flung Shining Armor out of her hand like he was trash to her. In spite of how minor the gesture was, he instantly went sailing so hard across the freight car that on colliding with one of the sliding doors, a cracking sound went out from some of the timbers being fractured before he fell to the ground. Following that, the figure immediately stood up and fully faced Twilight, ignoring Applejack as well.
That made the Caster tense a little, especially as she started to walk forward.
“Stop right there you horrid monster!”
The armored figure hesitated in mid-step, and both it as well as Twilight and Applejack looked up and to the other end of the car. Apparently, she had caused enough of a commotion to already alert the next car, because the rear door had been flung open and Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie ran in with their Anima Viris equipped. Rarity had claimed a new rapier and aimed it forward at her. Pinkie Pie eagerly leapt to one side while Fluttershy, gulping and using her Anima Viri that clad her as the Healer was on the other side more reluctantly.
“You and your ilk have caused more than enough trouble! Well, you’re not stopping this train! We’ve worked far too hard to let some crazed brute come in and start destroying the place!”
The armored figure looked at the three of them for a moment. It’s head slowly swiveled back, looking at Twilight and Applejack, the latter of whom now had her own hammer up and ready to go. It stood there unmoving, apparently seeming to try and decide between either group.
However, the Warrior among them didn’t wait. “Get ‘er from both sides!”
Applejack broke into a charge for the armored figure, whipping her arm behind her as she did. Rarity hesitated only a moment before clenching her jaw and charging in as well. Pinkie, giving a cheer and seeming to mostly just want to join in the fun, bounded after them. Fluttershy alone held back uncertainly, while Twilight raised her wand only to lower it again, knowing she couldn’t risk casting around any powerful spells in the enclosed train car.
In moments, both Applejack and Rarity arrived at either side of the figure. Both of them took aim and readied to attack…
Yet neither of them got the chance. As Applejack neared range, the figure suddenly side stepped and closed the distance up to her. While she was still shocked at the move, the figure swung a fist around and smashed the bottom of it into a sensitive spot under her swept back arms. She gave a mild cry in response and aborted her charge; her arms faltering in response to the blow. Immediately, the figure bounded off from where she stood before Applejack and vaulted toward Rarity. The Magician had just been readying her rapier for a thrust when she gave a start on seeing her sailing at her, moments before she swung and drove her foot into her nearest side. Rarity immediately gave a more pained cry and stopped her own charge, faltering back and letting her sword arm fall.
Applejack, in spite of being in clear pain from that hit, quickly tried to shift her hammer to one hand and took a step forward. Yet just as she was raising it up, the armored figure nimbly pivoted off from where she struck Rarity and sailed back at her, this time aiming a blow for her exposed abdomen. Applejack again had no chance to react before she was struck, this time hard enough to knock some of the wind out of her and make her knees buckle. By that point, Pinkie had reached the two of them and quickly stopped bounding. She squared her feet against the ground and went for her knife…
She never got the chance. Without missing a beat, the armored figure flipped nimbly backward and away from her strike against Applejack, launching herself high enough to sail over and past Pinkie all together. The Rogue actually went wide-eyed in surprise for a moment before a blow swung out from the figure’s fist into the back of her head. Pinkie didn’t give a cry of pain, but she did give one of alarm as she was knocked forward and clean off of her feet to sprawl against the car floor.
Rarity tried to spring up and thrust for her side as soon as she landed, but was halted yet again when the armored figure immediately pivoted on one foot and buried her steel toe under her arm. Rarity cried out even louder this time, and her hand opened and let her rapier slip from her grasp all together. A moment later, the armored figure spun around completely and brought the side of her opposing heel against her face. Her head snapped to the ground, followed by a splattering of blood against the floor. Still not done, the figure fully orientated toward her and proceeded to smack her head one way and the other with a series of three rapid blows, and on finishing she collapsed to the ground in an instant. Her aura began to fade as her clothes reverted to normal, but she herself remained lying there.
Sunset could only gape in shock at how fast Rarity had been struck down and how badly the others were doing, but she was snapped out of it when she felt a hand seize her shoulder. “You!”
In a shocked start, she turned her head to the side—finding herself face to face with Luna glaring at her. Her cane was grasped tightly in one hand while the other had seized her.
She motioned up. “Make yourself useful! Get that freight door open!”
She began to rise afterward, but Sunset merely blinked and stammered. “M-Me? You can’t be seri-”
“You were bold enough to steal my sister’s Anima Viris! The least you can manage is enough courage to open a train car!”
Without another word, Luna rose to her feet and quickly strode over to the stack of crates that one of the Huntsmen had loaded into the train car. She raised her cane and drove the end of it into the top of one box like a crowbar, beginning to pry vigorously. Sunset herself stood stunned and silent a moment longer, but what Luna had said resonated with her. Swallowing, she managed to push herself up a bit slowly, and once standing went over to the handle to the train car.
Pinkie, giving a nimble flip, arched her entire body in a snap and sprung back to her feet. Now recovered, she turned to attack again, only for the armored figure to instantly snap around, face her, seize her arm before she could outstretch it, and then violently catapult herself around to fling Pinkie over her shoulder and across the car. The bystanders cried out and parted as Pinkie went flying past them and smashed into the rear wall, breaking the wood paneling in the process.
However, this grandiose move seemed to be her first blunder. Applejack, toughing through her pain and soreness, had hoisted her hammer up again and run up behind the figure. As she rose again, Applejack already had her hammer up and at the ready. Before the figure had a chance to run around, she brought it down against her head.
“Augh!”
Yet to everyone’s surprise, especially Applejack, it was her head that ended up snapping back from the blow. She was knocked down to one knee and a gash of blood materialized on her forehead, while her opponent never reacted at all. Twilight and Sunset alike both had to blink, wondering if they had somehow seen wrong. Applejack had clearly struck the figure…and yet she took the hit.
As for the figure, she snapped around, faced Applejack, made a palm with one of her hands, and brought it down with a chopping motion against her shoulder. A crack went out from her collarbone as a result, causing her to drop her own weapon and yell in pain. Instantly, another steel toe came out and drove into her middle, knocking the wind out of her and causing her to fall to her other knee and bend over. The figure finished by hoisting up her arm, projecting her elbow, and slammed it down on the back of her head. Soon, Applejack was flattened to the ground as well, her own aura rapidly fading.
As Luna pried the top of the crate loose and Sunset continued to push the freight door, now beginning to open it up and exposing the running track alongside them, Twilight reacted the moment that Applejack was down. She had already been drawing a blazing electric rune and now executed it, sending a directed bolt of lightning straight at the now-exposed armored figure. The figure was still slowly looking up when the bolt hit her…
“Yah!”
…Yet just as with Applejack, it was Twilight who ended up being swept off of her feet by the force of the lightning blast. She snapped back and slammed into the rear wall, and afterward her body was even smoldering slightly from the strike. Soon she slid to the floor looking agonized, her muscles momentarily numbed from the blast.
Fluttershy, on her part, still looked nervous, but frantically called upon her other Anima Viri. Immediately, her aura burst, traced the etching of a lion in the sky, spilled out over her…and turned her into the role of the Rogue. That only made her give a panicked whimper. As she struggled to call on her other Anima Viri again, only to once again clad herself in the role of the Healer, Pinkie managed to spring up. Still looking unhurt, she smirked and stuck her tongue out, narrowed her eyes, and went for a straight dash right at the figure. The figure, on her part, turned to face her; waiting for her to get near.
Finally, the figure lashed out as Pinkie made a gesture with one limb. However, as she struck a blow for the Rogue’s side, Pinkie instantly pivoted around and dropped into a slide instead, rushing right past the gauntlet and sliding under the figure’s opposing arm. Based on the gyration of the helmet turning and looking to her side, it seemed for a moment as if she had honestly been caught off guard. Moments later, Pinkie sprung up behind her, holding out her hand.
“Ha!”
Unfortunately, her hand was grasping her own belt buckle—a fact she noticed a moment later when her own trousers dropped. As her undergarments were exposed, her face turned to a look of surprise as she glanced down at herself, then back up sheepishly. “Oops! My ba-”
She was cut off when the armored figure swung completely around, dashed forward, and slammed her fist into her throat. While, once again, Pinkie didn’t look to be in particular pain from it, she did gag and clutch for her neck—allowing the figure to leap into the air and knock her against the chin with a double upward kick. The first blow knocked her head to the sky while the second launched her into the ceiling. Her skull connected against one of the support beams later with a resounding clang, before she fell to the ground and landed on her rear end, her hands and arms sprawling out. While she looked more dazed than hurt, she also didn’t spring back up.
The armored figure straightened up again soon after and stood there motionless for a second, before snapping around in another flash and reaching out with a slapping motion. Fluttershy, again in the Rogue role, had given up trying to equip two Anima Viris and instead ran at the figure from behind. Unfortunately for her, her combination of lack of experience and hesitation cost her as she found her hastily-picked up knife slapped right out of her hand before she could even make a thrusting motion. A moment later, while Fluttershy was still gaping and recoiling from the sudden movement, the figure drove her fist into her middle in a thrusting punch, taking the Rogue off of her feet and sending her sliding all the way against the opposing wall.
With that, the figure turned again and focused fully on Twilight. Still recovering from the thunder blast, she had just raised her wand again. She had begun to etch the symbol for a sleep incantation, but she was only halfway through it when the armored figure rushed up to her and slammed her foot down on her wrist. It was immediately shoved to the ground and crushed so hard that Twilight gave a cry before letting her wand fall from her grip.
She didn’t get to cry out long, as the figure seized her by her neck, yanked her off of the back wall, and slammed her down against the ground on the main car more painfully. As she lay there stunned and sprawled out, her head and back now freshly agonized, the figure straddled her body and looked down at her through her visor. It began to lower over her…
“Twilie!”
Twilight heard Shining Armor’s voice call out, and a moment later she turned and watched as he staggered back to his feet. Soon after, he eschewed the staff in his own hand and ran at the figure with a tackling move. However, without even shifting off of Twilight, the armored figure rose, turned to him, raised an arm back, and swung it against his head in a backhanded straight before he could get his arms around her. The blow was loud and sickening-sounding, causing Twilight to wince before looking in dread as she saw blood erupt from the side of Shining Armor’s head before he began to go down.
Yet before he could fall, he let his staff hand open and used what strength and consciousness he still had to thrust it forward, letting it sail through the air for a moment before it landed…right in Twilight’s outstretched palm.
Her aura swept over it, transmuting it into a new wand in a moment. At the same time, she heard a growl from behind her. The armored figure looked up and saw Spike lunging for her as well. She responded by instantly swinging her arm out, catching the dog at the side and making him yelp as he was battered away. Yet as much as that pained Twilight to see, she tried to use the moment. Her wand went up and she began to etch the symbol in the air again…
Too slow. Before she could finish, her wand hand was again slammed to the ground, and this time was painfully wrenched underneath the steel boot of the armored figure. Enough to where Twilight arched back and writhed. She began to cry out, only for the figure to extend her hand and wrap around her throat in a throttling move. She crushed almost to a choking grip, making the Caster gag as she struggled to breathe—let alone cast a spell.
With no other move to make, she reached out with her free hand and seized the iron grip of the armored figure, struggling to get it free. This, however, seemed to be what the figure wanted. Her own free hand immediately hovered over hers; in particular the Promethian Sigil. Moments later, red beams of light came out.
Seeing this, and remembering it both from what the others said as well as what had happened to Shining Armor, Twilight hesitated. She opened her eyes wider and ceased her struggling momentarily, instead watching the beams trace over her hand. They did so for a few more fateful seconds.
Then they changed.
They illuminated green.
At once, the figure’s head looked up. The visor reorientated on Twilight’s head. It stared at her for a moment, before pulling her hand back. At once, she made a fist. In response, a series of razor sharp blades erupted from around her wrist and extended past her hand.
A second later, she was aiming them right at Twilight’s head.
The Caster’s eyes widened in terror. She began to struggle more frantically to escape, but it was no good. She was held too tightly. She flipped her legs and body up and down to try and pry loose, or force her hand with her wand up, but it was useless. She couldn’t get free, and no one else was there to…
“What the hell…?”
The armored figure’s head looked up. Twilight couldn’t see behind her from her position, but she recognized the voice. The door to the rear of the car was now open and, standing in it, looking baffled and utterly clueless as to what had just been going on, was Rainbow Dash. She glanced over her fallen friends and the people huddled in terror for a moment, before looking up and seeing the cause of it. Her eyes locked with those in the visor.
Then something happened that Twilight truly never anticipated.
The armored figure hesitated.
She actually felt the grip on her neck loosen. The foot lifted off slightly from her hand. The bladed fist remained raised in the air, but the figure didn’t look down at the mage to finish her. She simply held there and stared at Dash silently.
Fortunately, Twilight had been praying mentally for an opening, and she seized it. Without moving her wrist, she quickly began to redraw the symbol. Once enough of it was etched, she began to croak out the correct arcane commands. The armored figure snapped out of it at this, turning her head back down to hers, but it was too late. Twilight had just enough time to pry her hand out before she could pin it again, aimed the wand forward until she was pointed directly at one of the figure’s exposed eye holes, and executed the sleep incantation.
Mist gushed forward and into the suit. Whether it was because the openings were a vulnerability or the figure had been too distracted to do whatever “mirror” technique she had done before, the spell landed. Immediately, the figure shot to her feet in an attempt to get away, but soon that turned into a somewhat-wobbling stagger as the spell tried to take effect on her. It wasn’t enough, unfortunately, to fully affect her. Twilight could see she’d recover in seconds…
Yet that was the moment Luna, brandishing a new and loaded Trottingham rifle, took the moment to run in from the side. She raised the barrel, pressed it against a joint in the knee armor of the figure, and fired a shot straight into it.
A deafening echo resounded through the enclosed train car—a mixture of the gunshot and the clanging of metal. A shot that close should have taken a normal person’s leg off. As it was, that leg gave way underneath the armored figure, and she went into a further stumble. In particular, she staggered a few steps right toward the open door of the freight car, before managing to stop herself and wobbling. Twilight turned to it, seeing that they had not only reached the rail bridge but were currently crossing it. Outside was nothing but the Reins river far below, a set of train tracks, and the night sky.
Maybe a little more than that. With the door open, she could hear another train’s whistle blaring and saw a light on the tracks quickly growing brighter. Another train was coming the opposite way…
“Knock her out!”
Luna’s yell snapped Twilight out of it. She blinked and looked again, seeing the armored figure just starting to regain her footing, but only a precious foot from the opening in the train car. Realizing what Luna was saying, Twilight quickly fumbled for her wand again and raised it…
Fortunately, Dash was a step ahead of her. She didn’t have time to equip her Anima Viri, but she didn’t bother with it. Instead she ran right up to the staggering armored figure. As the figure looked up and spotted her, however, she made her move. Leaping into the air, she grasped one of the support pipes hanging from the ceiling, utilized it as a fulcrum, and swung on them in a pendulum fashion to bring both legs down, around, over, and struck them together against the side of the figure’s head.
The impact would have been nothing under normal conditions, but with the sleep spell, the blasted leg, and the lack of balance, the force was enough to knock her back again. She staggered one more step before gravity took her and caused her to fall back and out of the speeding train car’s opening.
In an act of perfect timing, one final train whistle went off from the opposing engine before Twilight saw the armored figure’s upper body go flailing and falling back…right into the path of the incoming train. A sound of metal on metal and a flash of sparks erupting resounded for a heartbeat before the armored figure was yanked completely out of the car and into the night.
Twilight blinked a few times, reaching up with her free hand and grasping for her sore, and likely bruised, neck. After that, she stagged up to her feet and half-stepped, half-wobbled over to the open freight car doors. Sunset, who had been huddled to one side nervously gripping the handle to the door, now nervously looked outside along with Twilight.
It was impossible to see anything for the next thirty seconds, however. That was how long it took the opposing engine to fully pass them. Once it had, they were already over the bridge, and the river stretched out far behind them. There was no sign of the armored figure, live or dead, and no sound except for their own chugging engine.
After a time, Twilight exhaled and leaned back in, falling back to the ground. Sunset swallowed and wiped her own brow, before she began to pull the door shut again. As she did, Twilight looked up and around. Spike, fortunately, wasn’t badly hurt and almost immediately sprung up before running up to her and putting his head in her lap. Luna let her rifle fall to the ground and leaned against the wall, slumping down with a sigh. Shining Armor’s head was still bleeding, but he was pushing himself up. On looking around and spotting that Rarity and Applejack were both still down, he began to make his way over to the former of the two. Fluttershy let out a small whimper as she picked herself off of the back wall, and Rainbow Dash finally relaxed and let herself down off the pipe only to gaze in astonishment at what had just happened.
Last of all, as the rest of the passengers began to ease down and the Huntsman groaned and started to pick himself up, Pinkie shook her own head, blinked, and looked around.
“Oh…is it over?”
“What the hell was that?” Dash exclaimed.
Twilight took a few more deep breaths, giving a painful swallow, before she looked out over the floor. The rifle bullet casing from the shot that Luna had fired was nearby, but so was something else. A small disk of metal. She reached out and grasped it, realizing it had come from the shot to the knee of the figure. She pulled it up and looked over it.
Like the armor piece on the previous suit, it had writing on it.
“Sinum Cirrus.” She read aloud, before tiredly tossing it to one side. “Whatever that means… It was obviously one of the same people who attacked the others. Only this one was brand new.”
“Oh no…” Fluttershy muttered, halfway between picking herself up to go and aid Applejack, as Shining Armor reached Rarity and began using his own abilities over her. “You mean…there are th-th-three of them now?”
Sunset exhaled as she latched the door, and turned around to slide down against it to the ground. “We just knocked that one into an oncoming freight train. Maybe there’s only two now…”
“Yeah!” Pinkie suggested, before her face fell a little. “Oh…unless she was like the one we met in Fort Appleloosa. Because I don’t think even that would have stopped her… I mean, she did go headfirst through a couple really thick walls…”
“Ugh…” Applejack groaned. Not waiting for Fluttershy, she was beginning to push herself onto her back already. “I’m gettin’ real sick and tired of gettin’ the tar beat outta me by those freaky suits of armor…”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Fluttershy immediately apologized as she quickly ran over to her the rest of the way. “I did my best to try and put on both Anima Viris at once, but it just wouldn’t work.”
The door to the front of the car creaked. Everyone, still tensed up from what had just happened, went rigid and braced themselves as the spun to it.
A moment later, it opened up and Starlight walked in with a sigh.
“Is Applejack done back here yet? Because we’re burning through coal pretty quick and we could really use a…”
She trailed off, her eyes widening on seeing the state of the car and, even more shocking, its passengers. She was left speechless for a moment or two.
“Uh…what happened back here?”
“Had to throw a stowaway off the train,” Dash answered as she eased up and crossed her arms.
“Twilie.”
Twilight looked up to Shining Armor. His own hands were still extended over Rarity, who had already stopped bleeding and was starting to stir and come around, but his face was now on her and looked concerned. Even worried.
“Whoever that person was, she was looking at our hands. The ones with those symbols on them.”
“Oh…” Rarity mumbled from the ground, wincing a bit but keeping her eyes shut. “Yes, yes…they do that… That one Fluttershy and I ran into did the same to us…”
“But it was different with yours,” he went on. “It looked like she just wanted to disable the rest of us. She didn’t even care about me anymore after she looked at mine. Mine turned whatever light was in her hand red.”
Rarity’s eyes slowly opened up. She blinked a few times. “Now that you mention it…I recall the same thing happening with my hand…”
Fluttershy had just begun chanting over Applejack when she paused. “Oh…it happened with me too.”
“But not Twilight’s. I saw it too.” Sunset spoke up before turning to her. “When she did that thing to your hand, it turned green. And then…it looked like she wanted to kill you.”
Twilight began to look rather uncomfortable on hearing that. Obviously, the thought of a mysterious and powerful entity, or possibly three of them, out specifically for her left her nervous. She winced, holding her hand closer to her chest and glancing down at it. It still looked the same as always, but her expression grew more anxious staring at it anyway. Especially the one new symbol she had gotten from Sunset Shimmer… It didn’t help that when she looked up everyone’s eyes were on her.
Applejack crooked her brow. “Why in tarnation would she want you and not us?”
Twilight looked uncomfortable a moment longer before lowering her hand. “Well, we can worry about that later. For now let’s just worry about Mount Aris.” She turned to Starlight. “Now that we’ve crossed into Appleloosa, we’re in for smooth sailing from here on in, right?”
Starlight stared back a moment, before she smiled reluctantly. “Sure! Just, uh…so long as Trottingham doesn’t have any engines stopped on any of the tracks ahead to act as blockades…because there’s no way we’d be able to stop in time for that running as fast as we’re going.”
Twilight stared back expressionlessly for a moment before closing her eyes and moaning.
“Uh, if it’s the same to you guys?” Dash ventured, gesturing behind her. “I’ll sleep in the back car.”