“That’s right boy, just a little more! I think I can see it.”
Night was falling and the Apple family gathered on the porch, resting after a long day.
Little Big Macintosh, as his mama called him to distinguish Junior and Senior, stood in the middle of the barnyard, his father, Big Big Macintosh next to him. Applejack sat on the porch with their mother, Cutie Clementine, watching the boys make fools of themselves and giggling at her brothers funny faces.
Big Big Macintosh was considered a giant by many people, some say a freak but quite the handsome red coated freak, whose orange mane always swayed in the breeze. He was the dream man of practically every mare that laid eyes on him and had become something of a legend for his rugged looks. You could ask any filly in any town within 40 miles about the stallion with the yoke around his neck and get dreamy eyed swooning.
“Honey, I think Granny Smith was just pulling your leg with that old legend. And anyway, if you believe it, why are you only trying to teach Little?”
The men exchanged a knowing glance, sharing their own private secret.
“Don’t you fret none Cutie, I’ll teach Applejack too. But this here, right now, is something special between men. Right, Little Mac?”
“Eeyup.”
---
Macintosh startled from his sleep, his eyes snapping open in shock. It wasn’t often he dreamed and to dream of his childhood was odd to him. There was so little worth thinking about from back then.
The vague, dark shapes of old furniture filled the small tree house of his sister’s “Cutie Mark Crusaders” club. He’d been right in assuming that it would be out of use, his heart aching as he realized she was probably really hurt and confused about what was going on.
He knew staying close to his home town probably wasn’t the best idea but surely they wouldn’t think he’d go back where practically anyone could identify him. He definitely couldn’t see Apple Bloom but that wasn’t who he needed to talk to. He was friendly with everyone in town but his one close friend, Quill, also happened to have access to certain information that could help him.
He poked his head out of the ridiculously small, to him, tree house and, seeing no one around, started making his way through the dark forest, hoping he didn’t accidentally walk into the Everfree.
Quill, a local well traveled and well informed reporter who had settled down in Ponyville to work at their small town paper, was sure to help. He was even tempered and, given enough to go on, would calmly analyze any situation or entertain any thought seriously. The perfect friend to bring his story of innocence to.
The long path through the trees and around the town was full of trips that could have been prevented with a light but he didn’t dare, not that he had anything to light the path anyway.
Quill’s home, a large, hollow tree common to those that lived just outside town, finally appeared through the trees, low light spilling from the windows. He stopped short of leaving cover and scanned the area. Seeing it clear he dashed from the tree line and up to the stoop, blowing out the lantern next to the door as he pounded three times.
There was no answer so he pounded again, louder.
“Yeah, alright! I’m coming!”
The door rattled and opened, Quill’s grey head poking around the edge. His eyes widened as the light inside spilled out, revealing his visitor’s face.
“Mac? What in Celestia’s name are you-“
“Can Ah come in?”
He looked around, checking if anyone were around to see, finally letting the door swing open and slamming it behind Mac.
“Big Mac, tell me you’re not going to ask me to aid and abet a criminal. Or! Or, even better, tell me you were acquitted, they caught your evil doppelganger and everything is fine and dandy.”
Mac sat down in front of the fireplace, the orange flame casting a bloody color over his features that made Quill wish he could yell out the door for a guard. Mac was a friend, though his ability to smash his head like a grape also had some influence.
“Ah didn’t do it. Really.”
“Mac, there was a lot of evidence against you. I need a little something more-“
“There was a unicorn, the one that Ah claimed to have seen at the trial…”
He explained about the second visit with the strange unicorn, how all the missing girls were still alive, about everything that had happened at dawn and how he’d survived a several hundred foot plunge into a lake with Princess Luna.
“What Ah need from ya Quill, is to see who all has been banished going back…Ah don’t know how far, maybe ten or thirty years just to be safe. Find a white Unicorn, a name or somewhere I can track him to. Anything.”
The grey pony waited a moment, getting up to poke the fire with the log sticker, stirring the embers.
“You know, for a moment, a brief moment, I thought about killing you myself because…you’re accused of murdering the girl I’m in love with. Now you bring me this wild story but you sprinkle a dash of hope on it, that maybe if you can bring them all back, I’ll have a second chance to not totally blow it with her just because I’m a little shy.”
He poked the flames a little more, more as an excuse to think than to keep it going.
“Alright, I’ll help you, but if you’re lying to me, I’ll find some way to kill you. Really.”
“Don’t worry. Ah’d feel exactly the same way in your place.”
Quill showed him to the unnaturally large basement, an old tub that had been there when he moved in Mac’s bed for the night. He took a couple of blankets off a stack and tossed them in, spreading them around with another on top to cover with. It wasn’t comfy but it was out of the way and the basement had no outside windows for others to look in. Quill started back up the steps, stopped momentarily by Mac clearing his throat.
“Um…do you know how Apple Bloom is doing?”
Quill hadn’t seen her lately but he’d heard she had been invited into Scootaloo’s and Sweetie Belle’s homes, but that none of them had been to school lately having been dealt such a harsh blow apiece. He’d been denied an interview as well, the Canterlot guards saying at the time that they wanted first crack at any witnesses.
“She’s…her friends are with her…that’s all I know. Good night Mac.”
“’Night.”
---
The next day was bright and cheerful, like most every other day in Ponyville but it somehow made it seem to Quill as though it only made the fact that he was hiding something much easier to see. Ponies walked around town doing the usual things they did all the time, trying to forget the very recent unpleasantness and get back to normal.
What made this marginally more difficult was the noticeably increased royal Guard presence Quill noted as he made his way through town, narrowly avoiding walking into one as he entered the library. The newspaper didn’t have an archive of its own in this town, instead all important documents being kept in the library basement if needed.
Spike sat on his usual seat, his eyes blood shot and one incredibly black as he stared out the window at nothing. He obviously hadn’t been sleeping well if at all and the punch he’d taken might be aggravating that depending on whether he slept on his stomach or not.
“Hey, Spike, can I get into the archive? I need to check something.”
The little guy slid off his stool, his head drooping as he fished the key off a hook and led Quill into the locked back room and down the stairs. He wanted to say something even though he didn’t know the young dragon very well but what was there to say he hadn’t heard from everyone else in town?
A lone candle hung from the ceiling in a small brazier, Spike sending a small jet of flame its way to brighten the room before he turned to leave.
“If you need anything I’ll be…y’know. Around.”
Quill thanked him and stared around the room, finding a dusty, but otherwise tidy place with every box clearly marked and filed on it’s shelf by year.
Time passed as he pulled out a box of old newspapers, then the next. He knew there hadn’t been any banishments in several years so he’d started at the five year mark, which became ten then fifteen as he looked through hundreds and hundreds of pages.
The first banishment he saw, from eight years ago, was a famous criminal named Sticky Hooves who had broken into Canterlot palace and made off with some expensive art work. It was on the front page, which at least showed him where the announcements would be.
After two hours, year seventeen was the real pay dirt, headline reading,
“Tragic Magic User Banished!”
“Doctor White Heart, a graduate of the Canterlot Magical Institute and esteemed surgeon was found guilty of turning his wife to stone…”
and a nice big picture of a white unicorn on the cover, looking as crushed as one could possibly be. His horn was broken with just a jagged piece where his magical focus should have been. The photo had to have been taken just after he received the news that he was banished.
“Find something interesting?”
He whirled around, knocking over the stack of papers he’d been setting up from box seventeen, sending them spilling across the floor.
The voice had come from a light brown coated royal guard who had either snuck down the stairs like a shadow or Quill’s hearing was going. His helmet plumage was a darker shade of blue than the standard guard, an indicator of higher rank, though Quill didn’t know what rank. His armor was a little worn and his hoof guards had nicks and scratches, indicative either of someone who didn’t like to keep things in good repair or someone who wanted people to know he was a fighter.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you. I just had a question I wanted to ask. Most of the townsfolk said you were good friends with Macintosh so I wondered if you had seen him?”
Quill had the feeling that scaring him was exactly what the middle aged guard had in mind and it was working. He swallowed, trying to keep his cool.
“It’s the reporter in me but I have to ask your name first? I always like a name to put to a face.”
The guard smiled, showing a lot of teeth that seemed more vicious than friendly.
“Guard Captain Iron Flank, head of special operations for Princess Celestia. Now, my question?”
“I’m afraid I haven’t seen him but if you’ll give me a way to reach you I can let you know if I do.”
Iron Flank looked him up and down, his gaze wandering to the paper spread out on the table.
“Doing some research?”
“Oh, well, I just thought that…the white unicorn that Macintosh mentioned at trial, maybe there was a chance it could be a magic user impersonating him? Besides that, only the six wielders of harmony were killed and no one else? Seems a lit-”
Iron Flank leaned in far too close for comfort, his face about to burst from trying to stay friendly when he clearly seemed ready for violence. His words had only the barest façade of friendliness to them.
“Listen, boy, Celestia made her ruling. She saw all the evidence that the guards gathered. She weighed everything in a fair and balanced manner. She has been alive for over 1,000 years and wields power over the sun and, unfortunately, formerly the moon! I don’t think goddesses make mistakes. Do you?”
He took a deep breath and let it out, turning his back on Quill as he went back upstairs.
“If you do see him, I’ll be at the Inn. Ask for Iron Flank.”
His cutie mark was the last thing Quill saw as he almost fell down with relief at being left by himself. Figures it would be a golden shield with the sun in the center.
Steadying his nerves, he gathered up the paper and put it in his saddle pack, promising to come back and clean up later as he blew out the lantern and walked back upstairs.
“Thanks Spike.”
“Wait.”
Spike hopped down, stopping him just before he left.
“I heard you talking to that guard. Do you really believe that Big Macintosh didn’t do it? Maybe it really was a unicorn?”
He seemed to be pleading, wanting to at least believe that Macintosh wasn’t a killer. That would make something normal again.
“There’s a chance Spike. A small one for now.”
The young dragons face regained a little bit of its’ usual life at these words and Quill bit his lip, thinking of the homunculi that Macintosh had told him about and thinking of telling the boy the rest, just enough to give him the same hope Quill had now.
“There’s a smaller, but existent, chance that the girls aren’t dead at all.”
Spike’s mouth dropped open, his voice trying to find words for this revelation.
“Twilight and Rarity…? And everyone…?”
The pony nodded.
“A small chance, understand? Not definite.”
“Let me help.”
The pony didn’t know how much help the dragon would be. He was young, recently traumatized and occasionally panicky but his eyes had fire and determination in them, two qualities he admired. And hands. Hands were always useful.
“Alright kid. Then here’s what I want you to do…”
---
Macintosh had stared for quite a while at the picture of the homely unicorn in the Ponyville Gazette, wanting to be absolutely sure. His mind barely registered that he was eating what little food Quill had found in his refrigerator, leaving none for anyone else.
“That’s him all right. When Ah saw him, his horn wasn’t broken though.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive. Look, even the Cutie Mark is the same.”
White Heart’s cutie mark was visible in the photo, a scalpel surrounded by a green aura. Macintosh looked over the article again, the fourth time since seeing it, taking notes on a pad of paper.
“And he was banished to the far northern mountain reaches known as Discord’s Smile. Where is that, anyway? It doesn’t sound too inviting, any place that would make Discord smile.”
Knock Knock.
“We’re about to find out. I had Spike pull some books for me and bring them. Atlases and other things I need to look into. Hide in the basement, please?”
Mac sighed and tip-hoofed over to the basement stairs, shutting the door quietly after him.
Eyes sweeping over the room for anything tell-tale about his guest, he was satisfied with the safety level and peeked out the door to see the short dragon standing on his stoop. He opened the door.
“Hey, come on in.”
“I’ve got all the books you asked for. ‘Maps of Equestria’, ‘Basic Magical Construction’ and an evidence list from the trial. The last one was hard to get but I know some guys. I don’t really know how these are going to help us find out anything. Oh, and did you hear? Macintosh escaped from Canterlot! I hear it’s never been done before. Doesn’t that mean he really did do it?”
Quill shook his head.
“Spike if you were accused of doing something you didn’t and they were going to cut off your head for it, wouldn’t you escape?”
“Well, I’d try…yeah, that makes sense. But don’t guilty ponies run away from guillotines too?”
There was no disputing that and he didn’t even try, realizing that keeping ones head was probably a universal desire.
“But I wanted to tell you…I saw something weird when he cornered Twilight and me. I did my best to stop him by breathing fire on him which worked for about a second and he…rippled?”
“Rippled?”
“Yeah, like throwing a stone in water. And he stopped using his accent, just for a moment, when I lit him up. I didn’t think it mattered at the time since I thought I was seeing things but…well, it makes sense now. If it wasn’t Big Macintosh.”
Quill thumbed through the Atlas, the directory already telling him just what page he needed to look at.
“Thanks a lot Spike. I’ll do some reading tonight and tomorrow-“
There was another knock at the door, both turning to look at it.
“Who is it?”
The door was pushed open, banging against the wall. Iron Flank walked in, surveying the room as Quill froze up and Spike watched quizzically.
“Hey, dude, isn’t it kind of rude to barge into someone’s house?”
Iron Flank ignored the dragon’s comment, focusing instead on Quill who was trying his best not to choke on his tongue.
“Captain! Wh-what can I do for you?”
He stopped in the middle of the room, looking down at the book Quill had open in front of him.
“Discord’s Smile, huh? Awful place. Went there once to deliver a package and swore I wouldn’t go back. Quill, you said something this morning that puzzled me, and I mean really boggled my mind. I asked you if you’d seen Big Macintosh this morning, didn’t I?”
Quill took a breath, hoping no one else could hear his heart beating as it pounded in his own ears.
“Yes, you did, Captain. I said I’d tell you if I saw him.”
The Captain turned his head this way and that, eyeing the upstairs stairway, walking over to the kitchen and looking back and forth.
“Right, right. Funny thing, but no one knew he had escaped this morning. We hadn’t told the papers yet. You didn’t say ‘oh, he escaped?’ you said ‘no, I haven’t seen him’ when everyone knew he was imprisoned and going to be executed. Doesn’t that seem a bit odd to you? Or, maybe you’re psychic? Is that it? Can you see into the future?”
The quiet stretched out, second by second, Quill’s mind racing for an answer to the verbal oversight.
“I told him.”
Spike had broken the silence, folding his arms in front of him. A look of total confidence accompanied his smile.
“You can talk to my friends at the Royal Document Library, they told me. That library is in the castle, they saw the whole thing.”
He went so far as to write down some names on the pad Macintosh had left, ripping off the top page and handing it to the Captain who glared down at the boy. Quill could have sworn the notes Macintosh had been taking were there a moment ago but the top page had been blank.
“Sir, we didn’t see anything outside. No other entrances or exits. No evidence of any unusual comings or goings.”
Two other guards came in, reporting their findings.
“Check the house.”
“I know my rights, you can’t-“
The guards walked right past him, one heading upstairs, the other finding the cellar door and walking down the creaky stairs. Spike looked completely at ease, but then he didn’t know that there was a wanted criminal in the house.
One came back downstairs, shaking his head.
“Nothing sir. Except a poor sense of Feng Shui.”
“Hey!”
They waited for the other, no sound coming from the cellar as Iron Flank tapped his hoof impatiently.
There was the creak of the cellar steps, the other guard coughing as he appeared again.
“It’s really dusty down there but I didn’t see anything out of place.”
Iron Flank looked from Spike to Quill, grinding his teeth in frustration. He swung his head, his men heading outside as he followed.
“Don’t leave town. Either of you.”
The door slammed behind them, Quill collapsing into a pile on the rug. He’d been in rough situations before but that had taken the cake.
“Spike, that was a close one. Do you know how much trouble you’ll be in if he finds out you were lying?”
The dragon shrugged then stopped for a moment as he realized just what they could do to him. Recent talk of guillotines gave him a few ideas.
“Well…we’ve got more important things to do right now. Right?”
Then he remembered Macintosh and ran to the cellar, taking the lantern from the front door with him.
The light shown on the old junk that had been there previously, stacked boxes, an old dresser, the tub.
But no Macintosh.
“What are we looking for? Was he…was he there? Were you doing something illegal?!”
The rustling of leaves caught Quill’s attention, making him look up to the very far corner of the basement. A hole, unnoticeable without light shining from outside, had been dug into the ceiling, just under a stack of boxes.
“No. He’s not down here. Now, let’s look over the evidence.”
---
Macintosh dashed through the forest, hauling as fast and as hard as he could, barely avoiding trees that popped up in front of him. Grateful for the clue to his next stop, he regretted endangering his friends, even if he’d had no other choice.
He’d taken the few notes he’d written down but there was no need to check them. He had to head north, to the mountain range bearing the name of the chaos god, and the closest town with a train, as it would take far, far too long to walk there, was Manehattan to the south east.
It was a twenty mile run, taking about two hours with no rest, and the quickest route skirted the edges of the Everfree, not wanting to take the chance of running into anyone on the main roads.
His hooves digging into the dirt, he allowed the magic to take hold of his muscles to get some extra speed.
Make that an hour and a half.
---
Iron Flank slammed the door behind him, the Ponyville Inn Owner wincing at the loud noise. At least there were no other non-guard guests at the moment.
The walk he’d taken hadn’t cooled Iron Flank’s head at all. In fact, you could say his angry stomping around town and trip into Sugar Cube corner had made his mood worse. The one guilty pleasure he afforded himself was a bag of marshmallows every once in a while but somehow the one sweet shop in town had everything, absolutely everything, but marshmallows.
The reason for his stomping was that he’d had Cantrip contact the Royal Document Library as soon as he’d gotten back and the story was true. Spike had talked to them at about midday, before the paper had printed the story in the evening edition.
He threw his helmet on the bed, shedding his hoof guards and gently falling to his knees before the bed.
“Celestia, grant me the strength to aid others in your name and stand in the service of good…”
There wasn’t even a proper Celestian church in this jerkwater town for him to attend so he’d had to make do.
Truth be told, there wasn’t a proper one in Canterlot either but what use would it be when their goddess just walked around casually? Celestia did try to discourage her worshippers but it did little more than endear them to her for her humility.
He felt calmer after praying, asking for general guidance and good favor. He sat down, taking his notes off the table and looking them over.
“Sweet Apple Acres. Granny Smith had been there alone. Applebloom staying with friends. No one else had known Macintosh had escaped when he got into town. Quill had checked out but something really unusual was going on there.”
Spike’s note was on the bottom of the stack, a checkmark in the upper right hoof corner.
Poor quality paper, probably bought in bulk for random notes, far too soft. Then something caught his eye, an impression on the page, probably from something written over it. He tilted it back and forth. It probably wasn’t anything but there was little else to do. Taking a clean sheet of paper from the desk, he laid it over and gently rubbed a pencil over the top sheet, revealing the message pressed into the bottom piece.
“Discord’s Smile –
Train?
dress warm”
It was puzzling. Iron Flank remembered Quill had been looking at this very place in a book of maps, but why had he been planning on traveling there?
He paced back and forth, his brow furrowed.
Earlier he’d had the banishment announcement from years ago, for Dr. White Heart. Macintosh had claimed, to much disbelief, that an unseen white unicorn had done it, the same as the doctor.
The nearest train that went that far north was in Manehattan and a hunch told him someone, if not Macintosh himself, was going to be there.
He charged out and across the hall, throwing open the door to his subordinates room. His five chosen sat there at a table, playing a hand of blackjack. Cherry Tapper, the small, orange earth pony with the ace hidden in his hoof guards, didn’t even look up.
“Deal you in Captain?”
Earth Mover, a quite large, brown, earth pony pulled over another chair for their leader. He was of the same rare, giant size as Macintosh but far quieter.
The newest member, a blue Pegasus named Rain Bullet, kept shuffling his cards in disbelief. Luck had not been on his side and he’d already lost most of the chocolate chips they’d wound up playing with, no one really wanting to bet their bits. Even elite guards didn’t get paid very much.
“Oh, does the Captain play too?”
“Only when we play for marshmallows, kid.”
“Cards down ponies. We’re going to Manehattan on a lead. Cherry, tell the regular guards to stay here. Cantrip, how difficult would it be for you to take all of us there?”
The green unicorn thought a moment, everyone starting to don their armor and eat their winnings.
“I don’t think I can get to Manehattan in one go, sir. Maybe three or four, take about thirty minutes, sir.”
“Acceptable. Let’s go.”
---
The time had passed rather quickly, though Macintosh had been worried that some of the nocturnal denizens of the Everfree, whatever they were, might stop him but the run was completely uninterrupted.
The lights of Manehattan stood out in the distance, the city aglow with the bustling nightlife Ponyville lacked. The real goal, the train yard at the edge of town, was just as lit as station workers walked back and forth with flash lights in mouth.
He watched from a distance, the occasional station guard pushing a bindle carrying hobo along, finding them sleeping in the cars more often as winter approached.
Three tracks made up the entire line and three trains sat beside one another. One, the furthest away, pointed south, so that probably wasn’t the one but that left two others, either of which could be the train he needed to be on.
Sneaking through the shadows and avoiding the pools of light from humming electric lights, he climbed aboard the closest train, entering the luggage car through the back. A single old pony was sorting the boxes and suitcases, carefully arranging it so there was room to walk. The door clattered as it closed, alerting the worker.
“Hey, you’re not supposed to be here.”
His eyes widened drastically as he saw the large, unmistakable red pony, recognizing his face from the paper that evening.
“You-you’re-“
Macintosh bounded up to him, the floor creaking with each step. He clapped a hoof over his mouth, backing him up against a wooden box.
“Ah don’t want to hurt you, not a lick. I just need to get to Discord’s Smile. Can you not scream?”
The old man nodded quickly, his moustache brushing against Macintosh’ hoof.
Two train whistles blew simultaneously, signaling the arrived departure time.
“This train goes to Discord’s Smile, right?”
He took his hoof from the old pony’s mouth.
“That’s the next train over that’s headed for Land’s End. This train goes to Fort Winnie, out west.”
The whistles blew again, calling any late arrivals to their cars.
He spun, running for the door, hoping the train ponies didn’t get a wild hair to run off in a burst of speed.
The door opened before he had a chance to lay a hoof on the knob.
“And I’m telling you, no criminal is stupid enough to get on the wrong…train…”
Two guards stood face to face with Macintosh, Rain Bullet and Meteor and for a moment, the three just stared at one another.
“You vastly overestimate criminals, especially Earth pony criminals, Rain.”
A brief glow and a shotgun blast of force exploded from Meteor, the telekinetic push blowing Macintosh across the car and slamming him into the wall, upsetting a pile of luggage.
“Get the commander, now. I’ll keep the prisoner down.”
The Pegasus flew off quickly, Meteor glowing as he prepared to hit Macintosh again, keeping a safe distance.
Mac stood, his chest hurting where he’d been hit. He’d taken punches before in school but getting hit with magic was a whole other level of pain.
“Stay down, murderer, you’re not getting away from me. I’ve never seen a non-magic user take more than one of those and get up.”
Macintosh had a feeling the unicorn was right as he got to his feet. The only things in the car he could use to defend himself were suitcases and the old pony who still had not found the courage to rush the door to freedom. Taking the worker hostage left a bad taste in his mouth but he couldn’t get caught here. But what to do…?”
“Sir, Ah don’t think you have to stay for this. Could you…?”
Macintosh pointed at the door, the old pony looking between the door and the two ponies, slowly taking stiff steps towards the exit, the floor creaking under him. Meteor moved a couple of steps forward so he could get by, never taking his eyes off Macintosh. Exactly as needed.
Macintosh placed one hoof on one of the floorboards, pressing heavily into it until the board popped its nails, flying up into the unicorn’s chin, catching him totally by surprise.
In the moment his chin was forced up, Macintosh dashed the length of the car, body checking Meteor backwards and over the caboose rail where he fell on his head.
The train lurched forward, the yell of “In there!” advising him to not take the back door out.
Iron Flank saw his soldier fall into a heap, and ran faster, bounding after the moving train and leaping onto the back as it gained speed.
Macintosh was nowhere to be seen.
The other’s appeared behind him, courtesy of a teleportation spell, Iron Flank already barking orders at the shimmering cloud of subordinates.
“Rain Bullet, fly up front and make them stop both trains. Earth Mover and Cherry Tapper, you’re with me, we’re chasing Macintosh. Cantrip, you look after Meteor Storm, make sure he’s okay and join us as soon as possible. Everyone, go!”
They were off, Iron Flank and his two soldiers opening every sleeper room door in each car, surprising the dickens out of everypony who had paid for privacy. The only time an apology was issued was from the quiet Earth Mover, who slammed the door quickly and yelled through the door, his face bright red.
Rain Bullet flew out the door, racing for the front of the train. That Talented Young Flier Award wasn’t just for show as he sped along the train top, surprised to see Macintosh jump onto the roof of the train, three cars down.
“Macintosh sighted on the roof!”
From where he was he was, he didn’t know if anypony could hear him and for a moment he entertained the thought of trying to stall Macintosh long enough for the others to catch up but stopping the train was more important.
He blew by, each flap of his wings setting him further ahead.
The thundering of hooves easily catching up with him surprised him, looking back to see Ponyville’s third best athlete taking huge steps that gained body lengths on Rain.
Macintosh pulled up beside the Pegasus, who foolishly flew close and low just above the two trains.
The giant pony jumped over, tackling the Pegasus mid-air and slamming him face down into the roof of the train he needed to be on, the middle one. Rain rolled under Macintosh, struggling frantically as he imagined what would happen if Macintosh got a clear shot at him. There hadn’t been any guard casualties so far but he didn’t want to be the first.
With one hand on the blue Pegasus’ chest, he saw an opening to end it, pounding down once with his left hoof to knock him out. The aim slightly off with all the flapping, his strike inadvertently pinned a wing to the roof of the car, shattering the delicate wing bones.
Rain howled in agony, tears springing to his eyes as he finally kicked Macintosh off, trying to stand or crawl, or do anything but passing out from shock.
“Stop there, Macintosh! Rain, you alright boy?”
Macintosh turned towards the voice just in time for Earth Mover to tackle him, rolling him over the roof until he was on top, sending a hammer blow straight down. The hoof guard sliced open Mac’s face, the strike slightly off as it plunged through the train top.
With a sharp blow, Mac headbutted Earth Mover, dazing him enough to flip the pony off him and backwards to the front of the train. He was on his feet just in time to have Cherry Tapper leap forward and drive a hard hoof down on his skull, crashing Mac’s teeth together.
His arms were pulled up behind him, Earth Mover grabbing from behind as Cherry launched forward with a headbutt. A brutal kick stopped him short, Mac nailing the little pony in the throat.
The hold changed, Earth sliding his arms into a choke hold. Snarling, Mac punched backward, knocking Earth’s helmet off, looking for just the right spot. Fighting dirty didn’t appeal to Macintosh but he wasn’t getting out of here otherwise.
A hoof to the eye drove Earth to release, Mac spinning fast and bucking him over the side of the train and into the field that passed beside them.
Breathing hard, he turned to the last three, Cherry still having a hard time breathing and Rain trying with all his might to stay awake and not pass out from the pain, the top of a speeding train seeming a terrible place for it.
Iron Flank dashed at Mac, leaping high and crashing down on him with a double-hoofed blow, Macintosh catching it all on his forehooves. In a split second Iron Flank landed and with a quick spin, bucked both hooves into Macintosh’ chest, sending him sprawling along the top of the train and aggravating his earlier magical wound.
Iron Flank stood over him, a vicious smile on his face.
“Let’s see you escape from me now, farm boy.”
Mac lunged from his prone position, Iron Flank throwing up an arm to defend only to have Mac’s teeth sink deeply into it. The captain tried to back up, Mac following up to his feet. He bit harder, Iron Flank punching Macintosh repeatedly about the face until Mac lifted him bodily into the air and slammed his brown body to the train top, knocking the wind out of him.
Still gripping Iron Flanks arm he spun, flinging the captain up and throwing him, his hooves swinging, trying to gain a hoofhold on any available surface. His two injured subordinates broke his fall, the force of his landing knocking them both over the side of the train.
“Captain! Captain!”
Rain held onto the edge, Cherry holding onto his leg for dear life as the opposite train sped along just feet away from him. Falling would leave them both at the grinding, pitiless mercy of the metal train wheels.
Macintosh stood, watching, Iron Flank looking back at him, knowing he had to let him go if he wanted to save his men.
He grabbed Rain’s hoof, struggling to hold onto him with his throbbing, bleeding arm. Blood slicked his grip, running down over his hooves and making it difficult to hold on.
He could hear Macintosh approach, see him out of the corner if his eye. They were all dead when he pushed Iron Flank over the edge, turned into pulpy meat for the next head of guards to have scooped up.
One surviving was better than none, to carry on the mission.
“Sorry boys.”
He let them go, Rain’s eyes going wide as his entire life flashed through his mind, Cherry feeling his tail drag the ground.
Then they stopped, Rain opening his teary eyes to see the big red pony holding his hooves, yanking the two light soldiers back up onto the train top like sacks of apples. They lay there, neither wanting to move am inch for fear of falling again.
He was reaching his limit, his body aching, his cuts bleeding. What he wouldn’t have given for a little touch of earth magic right then.
Iron Flank stared in amazement, unsure just what to think. Macintosh looked back at him, realizing they were right back where they’d started.
The other train parted from its course, curving off to the west.
He dashed away, towards the front, Iron Flank stopping to look at his boys and then running after, his arm throbbing. He watched as Macintosh slid over the edge of the car, dropping between them. A clink sounded, Iron Flank reaching the edge and watching the cars ahead pull away, Macintosh with the lynch pin in his mouth that had been keeping the train together.
The released cars slowed, Macintosh gone from sight in minutes
“Another stain on the honor of my guards, Macintosh. Another slight against the ruling of Celestia.”
There wasn’t much to say, but he said it anyway, yelling it into the night.
“I’m going to kill you!”