//------------------------------// // A Train of Another Name // Story: The Equestrian Stooges // by J.A.I //------------------------------// Chapter 2 “This...sucks,” grumbled Jasper. Due to his small size, the conductor had assumed he was just a baby. Therefore, he was required to stay in a booster seat for the entirety of the trip. No matter how much complaining he did, the conductor just smiled; constantly talking to him like he would a baby. Jasper even tried proving how old and mature he was by showing him how knowledgeable he was. The conductor just laughed; claiming that kids say the craziest things. “I swear, if he talks down to me one more time, I’m going to light him on fire.” “Just calm down Jasper,” Iron said looking over to him. “He only did it for your safety. Not everypony’s going to understand how dragons work like you and I do.” “It’s still annoying! Just because i’m small, doesn’t mean i’m a little baby!” Iron tapped a hoof against his chin as he thought. “Well technically, you would still be considered a ‘baby’ dragon.” He couldn’t help but chuckle as Jasper glared death at him. “Fuck you and your technicalities,” Jasper said; pointing a claw at Iron. Iron continued to laugh until he heard a knock on the door to their little cabin. “Come on in,” said Iron. The door opened to show a young, smiling unicorn mare wearing a cute, striped blouse with a trolley full of many different kinds of sweets. “Would the two of you be interested in something sweet to eat? Maybe something to drink?” Iron looked over the trolley, but nothing seemed to catch his eye. “Nothing to eat for me, but would you happen to have any cherry soda?” “Iron, no,” Jasper said in a stern tone. Iron looked at Jasper and began to pout. “Oh come on Jasper. It’s just a bit of soda. What’s the harm?” “In case you’ve forgotten, we’re kinda lacking in the bits department. We’ll barely have enough to live off of until you can get that job. We can’t risk buying anything we don’t need.” He looked at Iron who was giving him a disappointed look. Jasper crossed his arms and turned away; closing his eyes as he did. “Nope, not going to work. After dealing with all the little whelps at the hatchery, I’m no longer fazed by such things.” “Okay sir, your cherry soda will be here shortly.” Jasper’s eyes shot open as he turned back to Iron. He turned just in time to see Iron hoofing over a couple of bits to the mare. “Iron, what the hell?! I already said no!” “My bits. I can spend them however I want, and I want some cherry soda.” An audible smack filled the room as Jasper forcefully facepalmed. “What about you little guy, would you like something?” asked the mare. Jasper fixed the mare with a light glare. “Go ahead Jasper. I got something, it’s only fair if you do too,” Iron said in a level tone. “Besides, everything here is pretty cheap. I don’t think a sweet or two will bankrupt us.” Jasper looked between Iron and the mare before letting out a defeated sigh. “I don’t suppose you have any gemstones on this train?” The mare’s smile wavered slightly. “Uhhhh...I don’t think so?” Jasper lowered his head and sighed once more. “I’ll just have some milk then.” With a soft smile, Iron paid the mare for the milk. “Okay, that’s one cherry soda, and some milk. I’ll be right back with your drinks.” Iron watched as the mare closed the door. He could hear her walking away, and opening the door to the next car. “I can not believe it,” Jasper said in a frustrated tone. “What?” “Just now! We just blew three bits on stuff we didn’t need. Why didn’t we just get some water? Water’s always free.” “Actually, the water was a bit too,” Iron said with a hoof to his chin. Jasper just facepalmed. “But that’s besides the point. Those bits were just something extra I managed to scrounge up before we left. I wouldn’t dig into our savings just to feed my addiction.” A smile slowly grew on Jasper’s face. “I should have known you wouldn’t be that stupid. You always were one of the smart ones. Which is a lot more than I can say about the director of the hatchery.” “Just because the two of you never got along, doesn’t mean she’s not a smart pony.” “You don’t understand Iron! That bitch did everything in her power to make sure my life was miserable!” No matter the setting, thinking about the director always brought out the worst in Jasper. “Even if it was something as simple as more comfortable beds for us dragons, she said no. ‘We just don’t have the funds Jasper,’ or ‘Not every dragon is interested in, or even likes that kind of entertainment’ she would say.” “Maybe you should give her a break once in awhile. She does have a lot on her plate after all.” Iron thought of all the things the director needed to do. “Not to mention all the crap she has to deal with from...other sources.” He gave Jasper a knowing look. “She’s been running the hatchery since before you were even hatched. She must be doing something right,” Iron said as he put a reassuring hoof on Jasper’s shoulder. The two of them have had this conversation more times than they can count. It always ended the same. The only difference was this time Jasper didn’t curse her to Tartarus. *Knock, knock, knock.* The door was opened once again by the mare from before. “Hello again. just here to deliver your order.” Two things were floating in her magic, a glass of soda, and a baby bottle full of milk. She levitated the soda over to Iron, who took it with a look of glee on his face, and the milk over to Jasper, who took the bottle in his claw. Jasper looked at the bottle in his claws with a look of disbelief before looking back to the mare. “What...the hell...is this?” “It’s your milk,” the mare said with a smile. “Now, if you need anything else, just come find me, okay?” With that, the mare closed the door to go tend to the other passengers. Jasper took another look at the bottle before lowering his head with a frustrated growl. “I’m going to burn down the train. One ball of fire and fwoosh, it all goes up in flames.” As Jasper contemplated going on a rampage, Iron was in his own happy, little world. There he would remain until he was finished with his soda. In the end, Jasper figured it would probably be counter productive to burn down the train. Paying for a new train would be the last thing they’d need at the moment. He ended up just taking the nipple off the bottle and using it as a cup. To help relieve a bit of stress, he ended up burning the nipple before tossing it out the window. As he closed the window, he heard Iron clear his throat. Turning his head, he saw Iron looking at him with a raised brow. “What?” “You know that nipple belonged to the train company, right?” Jasper looked at Iron as if he had just said the most stupid thing in the world. “Uhhh, yea?” “You realise that we’re going to have to pay to replace it now, right?” “Not if they can’t prove we did anything. Give me a minute.” Jasper opened Iron’s suitcase; pulling out some iron, and a couple tools he had brought with him. After a few minutes and a small amount of dragon fire, he had fashioned a makeshift nipple for the bottle. “There. Good as new.” “As wrong as this is, I just have to know. Where in Equestria did you learn something like that?” “Being older than most, I had to help take care of the other whelps. That included fixing broken toys and cleaning up the other messes those little brats always made.” Iron chuckled. “And here I thought you hated getting your claws dirty. You never did get into things when I was teaching you how to work with iron.” “I don’t like getting my claws dirty unless I have to. That’s why I try to stick with my books. Much cleaner.” “Maybe you could try to find some kind of job that let’s you work with books,” suggested Iron. “I can ask the foreman when we get there if there are any library’s near there looking for an assistant, or maybe we could just find an office job at the forge for you.” “Maybe. Getting a job of my own would allow me to stay busy. Plus, a few extra bits never hurt...” Jasper was interrupted by a knocking on the door once again. “Come in.” As the door opened, the two of them were greeted by the smiling face of the mare from earlier. “Hello again. I was just wondering if the two of you would like anything else?” Iron shook his head. “No. I think we’re good, thank you. Though I do have a question.” “Ask away,” the peppy mare said Her constantly peppy nature was quickly beginning to grind on Jasper’s nerves. “Do you know about how much longer it will be until we reach Fillydelphia?” The smile immediately dropped off the mare’s face. “Uhhhh what do you mean?” “What do you mean, what do you mean. How much longer until we get to Fillydelphia?” Jasper said in an aggravated tone. “You know, the city this train’s going to?” “No, no, no...I know what you meant,” The mare said as she brought a hoof to her forehead. “What I mean is, what do you mean Fillydelphia? This train isn’t heading for Fillydelphia.” Both Jasper and Iron stared at the mare as an awkward silence filled the room. “Y-you’re joking...right?” asked Jasper. “Please tell me you’re joking? We can’t be on the wrong train.” Jasper unhooked himself from the booster seat and ran up to the mare; grabbing her by the collar of her outfit to bring her to his level. He looked straight into her eyes with a pleading look on his face. “Please just tell me you have a sadistic sense of humor?!” Iron and Jasper stood on the train platform looking at the sign that hung over head. It read, ‘Welcome to Ponyville.’ Iron let out a sigh as he looked over to Jasper. Jasper was taking this revelation a bit hard to say the least. His jaw gaped open, and his right eye twitched as he stared at the sign. His arms hung limply at his sides. Now, Iron wasn’t exactly a master when it came to reading other ponies, but at the moment, he was pretty sure Jasper was about to blow an artery. “Now Jasper, just calm down.” Jasper looked at Iron and fixed him with a rage filled glare. “Calm down? Calm down?! YOU EXPECT ME TO JUST CALM DOWN?!?!?!” “It was just a simple mistake, and...” “A SIMPLE MISTAKE?!?!?!” Jasper jumped up and grabbed Iron by the muzzle so he could look him in the eyes. “We got on the wrong train Iron! THE WRONG TRAIN!!! WE’RE EVEN FURTHER AWAY FROM FILLYDELPHIA THAN WE STARTED!!!” Using his hoof, Iron pushed Jasper off his muzzle. “For the love of Celestia just calm down before you have a stroke. We’ll just go and ask when the next train to Fillydelphia is and we’ll take it. We’ll have to dig into our savings, but we should be able to afford the tickets while having enough to survive until I can get paid.” “Yes, yes that’s a good idea.” Jasper took a long, deep breath to try to calm his nerves. As Jasper tried to calm down, Iron went in search of a schedule. He looked all over the platform, but was unable to find one. “Can I help you sir?” Iron looked over his shoulder to see a cream colored stallion with a short, brown mane. He was wearing a conductor’s outfit. “Yes, hello. I was wondering, when’s the next train to Fillydelphia going to be leaving? You see, me and my friend are from Canterlot, and we were trying to get to Fillydelphia, but it seems we got on the wrong train.” “Well, if you’re looking to get on another train you’re out of luck until tomorrow. That was the last one for the day. As for your other problem...that’s a bit trickier.” “What do you mean? Jasper asked; the confusion was clear on his face. “Well, we don’t have any trains that go to Fillydelphia. Only Canterlot, Dodge Junction, Appleloosa, and Manehatton.” Iron’s eyes got wide as a hint of worry crept it’s way onto his face. “If you’re looking to get to Fillydelphia, the fastest way would be to go back to Canterlot, and transfer over to a Fillydelphia bound train there.” Iron lowered his head; letting out a tired sigh. “How much would two tickets to Canterlot cost?” Jasper took a moment to think. “One adult, one minor?” The conductor put a hoof to his chin. “Well, that’s ten bits for an adult ticket, and five for a minor, so fifteen bits.” Iron did a bit of quick math in his head. It had cost him about 25 bits for the two tickets to Fillydelphia. That’s 40 more bits that they would have to use just to get to Fillydelphia. Then they would need to get find a place to sleep until he could get the job, and therefore the cheap housing. Add the cost of food, and that all equaled out to one thing. ‘We don’t have enough. Jasper’s not going to be happy about this,’ Iron thought. He looked back to the conductor. “Do you know any cheap hotels around here we could stay at for the night?” The conductor pointed to a building in the distance with a smile. “That building over there is a hotel. It has some pretty cheap rooms if you’re low on bits.” Iron thanked the conductor before walking away to find Jasper. Luckily, he hadn't moved an inch. At the moment the little dragon was sitting in the lotus position, and meditating in an attempt to relax. Hearing the sound of heavy hoofsteps getting closer, Jasper opened his eyes; turning his head to look at the approaching stallion. “So, when are we going to be leaving for Fillydelphia?” Iron scratched the back of his head. “Well, they don’t have anymore trains running tonight, so we’ll have to rent a room at the hotel down the street. The conductor said that the rooms there were pretty cheap.” “Well, I guess that’s not too bad. We’ll have to buy more tickets tomorrow, but we should still have enough until you get the job.” “Aaaand that’s where the problem lies.” Jasper didn’t like the tone in Iron’s voice. “Iron, what’s wrong?” Iron let out a long sigh before speaking. “Ponyville...doesn’t have any trains that go to Fillydelphia. We would need to go back to Canterlot, and go to Fillydelphia from there. It would cost us about 40 bits just to get to Fillydelphia.” “Iron...how many bits do we have in our savings?” Jasper asked, not liking where this conversation was going. “All together, we probably have about 62 bits, minus what it’s going to take to sleep at the hotel, sooo probably about 55 or 57 bits.” “A-about how many bits do you think we’ll need to rent a room for a couple days in Fillydelphia?” “Including the price of food, more than 15 to 17 bits.” Jasper lowered his head and sighed. “Unless we want to go back home, we’re stuck here Jasper. At least until we can find a source of income to cover the costs.” “W-w-what if the job is no longer available when you get there?! Then we would have wasted all those bits for nothing!” “Well, it’s either that, or we just stay here and begin our new...” Iron was suddenly interrupted by a commotion coming from the train. It got louder, and louder until the door on the train flew open. “I told you to unhand me you hooligan!” Said a certain indigo stallion that looked pretty familiar. The stallion was flanked on both sides by the trains workers. “I will not stand for this harassment!” “Then don’t stand you bum,” said the worker on his left before the two of them tossed him off the train. The stallion landed face first; skidding a few feet before finally stopping. “That’s what you get for sneaking onto the train!” The stallion got up and turned to the train. His face looked a bit worse for wear after his close encounter with the ground. “Excuse me! I had a box with me!” Iron and Jasper watched as a big, brown box flew from the train. It hit the stallion directly in the face; knocking him to the ground. A hoof quickly rose from the heap of a pony. “Thank you!” Iron tapped his chin with his hoof as he thought. “Hey Jasper, doesn’t that pony look familiar?” Jasper thought for a moment before his eyes got wide. “Oh sweet Celestia not him. He’s the last pony we need right now.” “Now Jasper, just because we got off on the wrong hoof before, doesn’t mean he’s not a good pony. I’m sure if we go over there and talk to him he’ll end up being a very nice pony.” Much to Jasper’s annoyance, Iron started walking over to the pony. Cursing his life, Jasper followed. As they reached the pony, he was busy looking through his box; counting to make sure nothing was missing. “Hello again.” The stallion freaked out at the sound of Iron’s voice; quickly closing the box and lifting it up to be used as a weapon as he turned around. “Who are you?! Whatever you’re here about, I swear by Luna’s round, huggable ass it wasn’t me!” “You swear by what now?” asked Jasper. The stallion blinked before looking down. As his eyes fell upon Jasper, the look on his face slowly turned to one of horror. “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Jasper facepalmed. “Oh Celestia, not this a...” Jasper was interrupted as he was, once again, beat upside the head by the big box. “DIE YOU FUDGE PACKING GECKO!!!” Iron could only watch as the stallion continually slammed the box on top of Jasper in a vain attempt to squash him like a bug. After a few seconds, he let out a sigh before walking over to help. As the box was brought up, Iron grabbed the box out of the stallion’s magical hold. The stallion continued to stare menacingly at Jasper for a couple seconds before he finally realised that his weapon was gone. He looked over at Iron and growled. “Hey! That’s mine!” “Only if you stop beating Jasper with it.” The stallion looked between his box, and Jasper before pouting and crossing his fore legs. “Fiiiiine.” With a smile, Iron put the box on the ground next to the stallion. The stallion immediately took up the box in his magic; beating Jasper with it one last time before setting it down away from Iron. Iron facehoofed before looking to Jasper. “You okay there Jasper?” Jasper slowly raised a shaky claw into the air before speaking. “Grahghff llskdjhshd,” he garbled before his claw fell to the ground. Iron looked back to the stallion who had a look of innocence on his face. “Okay, now that you’re no longer mauling my friend with that box of yours, what’s your name?” The stallion put on a look of pride as he stood on his hind legs; placing his hooves on his hips in a ‘heroic’ posture. “My name is AJ. 20 time winner of the Most Awesomest of Awesome Ponies award.” “And just who said you were that awesome?” Jasper asked sat up. He was rubbing the side of his head where the box had initially connected with him. “The voices in my head,” AJ said with a completely straight face. “Great. We’re dealing with a psycho pony now,” Jasper said under his breath. “So what’s your story?” asked Iron. “How come you came here to Ponyville? Are you looking to start a new life too?” AJ glared at Iron. “And just why do you wanna know that? Huh? Are you trying to compile knowledge on me so you can turn me into your slaver friends?” Iron blinked as he looked at Jasper. Jasper was too busy facepalming to do much of anything else. “Uhh, no. Just curious is all.” In an instant, a giant smile grew on AJ’s face. “Oh, okay! It’s kinda a funny story. You see...” It was a stormy morning in Canterlot. The weather reports were calling for heavy rain all day long. To most, this meant being forced to stay inside without being able to go outside and play. To one certain indigo unicorn, this meant something completely different. “AJ, when are you going to get off your lazy rump and go get a job?” AJ turned from his magazine to look at his older brother; an annoyed look on his face. “When I’m good and ready. Now shut the hell up. It’s my reading time. Besides, I can’t go walking around in this rain to look for a job, can I?” “Hey, don’t be mad at me because I’m doing something with my life,” Sketch said with a grin on his face. Sketch was a brown pegasus stallion with a crimson mane and tail. His cutie mark was a sketch book and a pencil. “Oh boy, drawing. Any old loser can draw.” “So what does that make you? You can’t even draw a circle; even with the help of your magic,” teased Sketch. “Silence you vacuous whore!” shouted AJ; getting in Sketch’s face. “Oh calm down you spaz. Anyway, I just came up to tell you that lunch will be ready soon.” Sketch turned to leave the room. “Oh, and one more thing. Dad said he got you an interview down at Shipping and Stuff tomorrow morning. Try not to mess this one up.” “And you can tell dad that I refuse to work for those racist fucks.” Sketch facehoofed. “How many times do I have to tell you that they didn’t hire Nuven because she threatened to crush Mr. Ship-It’s balls like grapes if she wasn’t hired. NOT because they’re racist against Zebras.” “You keep telling yourself that.” AJ’s eyes became slits as he looked around the room. “I’m on to their conspiracy.” “…You’re crazy.” “And you had sex with a dog.” “Hey, she may not be attractive to you, but Sparkle Light has won many beauty pageants. She’s one of the most beautiful mares in Equestria and I’m lucky she chose me.” AJ just stared at Sketch for a moment. “You know she probably had a penis when she was born, right? I hear there are some pretty good surgeons out there.” Sketch glared at AJ. “Say that again. I dare you.” A bright smile formed on AJ’s face. “Gladly. I’ll even say it slowly so you can hear me this time. You…are…married…to…a…tranny.” Sketch was furious. He would allow AJ to make fun of him. They were brothers; it’s what brothers do, but if he ever dared to make fun of Sparkle, there would be hell to pay. Realizing what he was about to do, Sketch stopped himself and took a deep breath. “You know what? You’re not worth my time.” “Oh sure, run away. Score one for me! I always knew I was awesome, and you just proved my point.” Sketch snickered. “Oh, you think you won this?” AJ nodded with a prideful smile. “Well, I have yet to begin to fight!” Sketch dove forward, tackling AJ to the floor. “GAH!!! HELP!!! I’M BEING MOLESTED!!! RAPE, RAAAAAPE!!!” screamed AJ as he flailed his legs in the air. “I’ll take those.” Sketch bent down and grabbed the glasses off AJ’s head before climbing off. “Hey, HEY!!! Give those back!” AJ got himself up and started looking around the room. “Hmmm, nah. I think I’ll keep them. As long as I have these…” Sketch brought his mouth up to AJ’s ear. “I…win.” “AHA!!!” AJ wildly swung a hoof, completely missing Sketch and hitting his lamp. “Damnit! You owe me a new…whatever the hell that was.” With a smug smile, Sketch walked to the door. “If you want them back, you’ll have to find your way downstairs.” “Found you! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!” AJ began charging, head down, in an attempt to gore Sketch. He was stopped as he ran head first into a wall; embedding his horn into the wall. He was stumbling around on unsteady legs as he pulled his horn from the wall. “Thhhhat wash nnnot you.” He fell to the floor in a heap. ******************** “Tell me…why am I doing this again?” asked AJ as his dad brushed a hoof through his mane to make sure it was neat. He was also forced to wear a tie for the interview. “Because you need to get off your lazy ass and get a job,” Mark said in a stern tone. “You do know that everypony thinks you’re just lazy scum, and that we should just boot you out. To tell you the truth, I’m getting sick of your freeloading too.” He looked at the clock. “Alright, you should leave now. Mr. Ship-it likes it if you’re early.” “I still don’t know why you’re making me work for that racist…” “If you finish that sentence, I swear to Celestia, I will geld you with my bare hooves,” Mark said with a glare. AJ cowered away slightly at the threat. He couldn’t lose his balls. He needed his balls. Without them, How could he clop? “Y-y-yes sir.” “Good, now go.” He watched AJ walk out the door. “Just remember. I put in a good word for you. Don’t make me look bad.” ******************** “He’s in here,” said the police pony. She unlocked the jail cell and opened it. Mark’s cold face turned even colder when he saw AJ’s form sleeping on the cell bed. In the middle of the floor sat the now burnt tie he had been wearing for the interview. He walked up to the bed and glared down at the pony in front of him. He turned around and readied his legs. “WAKE UP!!!” Mark kicked his back legs out; bucking AJ in the kidneys. “AAAHHHHHH FUCKING HELL!!!” AJ rolled around in pain until he eventually rolled off the bed. “Ow.” Opening his eyes, he saw his dad glaring down at him. “Oh, hey dad!” “You. Home. NOW!!!” “Okay. That bed was getting kinda uncomfortable anyway. Can’t wait to go to bed in my actual bed. Mark kicked him again. “OWW!!! Okay, I’m going! Jeeze, you act like I’m the bad guy here.” “You ARE the bad guy here!” shouted Mark. “Oh yea? How?” “Not only did you throw a cinder block at Mr. Ship-it’s head, you also burned his office down! I’ll be lucky if I don’t lose my job once he wakes up from his coma.” “At least we can take solace in knowing that there was nothing we could have done to prevent this fortunate series of events,” AJ said with a smile on his face. Mark’s already red coat burned with anger. “HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!!!” He gave AJ another kick to get him moving. This continued all the way back to the house. Everytime AJ would stop to comment on what would happen, he would receive a kick to get him moving again. “You know, you’re being awfully pushy today dad.” Mark kicked him again. “Shut up!” Once they got to the house AJ noticed something. “Hey, what are all my things doing on the street like that?” Mark snorted loudly. “From this moment forward, you are no longer part of this family.” “Yea, yea, whatever. Look, if you need me, I’ll be asleep in my room. Hold my calls.” As AJ tried to walk into the house, he was stopped by Mark’s magic. “You don’t seem to understand what I’m saying.” He forced AJ to look him in the eyes. “You…don’t live here anymore. You…will never step hoof into this house ever again. If I ever do see you in this house again, I’ll kill you myself.” Holding AJ in place, Mark walked into the house. After crossing the threshold, he turned to look at AJ again. “I’ll see you in hell.” He slammed the door. AJ brushed his coat off and looked at all his stuff with a confused look. He looked back at the house and blinked. “Uhh, what?” He sat there for a minute thinking before a smile grew on his face. “Oooooooh. I understand. This is all one big joke. Why, any minute now, dad will open the door and welcome me inside. Probably have a new comic book waiting for me too. I’ll just sit here and wait then.” --1 hour later— “Yup. Any minute now that door will open to let me in.” --2 hour’s later— “I’m hungry.” --4 hours later— “Ya know, I’m beginning to think that he was being serious here. I’ll give him a little more time. Just in case.” --8 hours later-- “…Okay. You know what, fuck you too dad! I can take the hint! You don’t want me around anymore! Fine! See if I care! I’ll go somewhere else that’s ten times better than this place, and it will have blackjack, and hookers! In fact, forget the blackjack!” He turned to the pile of his stuff. “But I won’t be able to take everything. I can only take the necessities.” He began digging around in the pile; looking for one very specific thing. “Ah HA! There you are.” From the pile, he pulled a box labeled ‘KEAP OWT.’ Opening it, he saw what he was looking for. “Oh thank Celestia I still have you!. What would I ever do without you?” He stroked the box lovingly before giving it a small kiss. Closing the box, he placed it on his back, tying it down with a torn bed sheet as he walked in a random direction. “Aaaaand that’s about it. I climbed onto the first train I saw and here I am.” He just stared at Iron and Jasper with a big smile on his face. Both of them just continued to gawk at AJ for a moment before Jasper put a fake smile on. “Well, that certainly was...interesting.” “Sounds like you’re in the same boat as us then. we’re currently without a place to live too.” A soft smile grew on Iron’s face. “Why don’t you come...” In an instant, Jasper leapt up; slamming a claw over Iron’s mouth. He put on a fake smile as he looked at AJ. “One second. Me and Iron need to...talk...over there...without you.” Jasper motioned to Iron to walk over where AJ couldn’t hear them. Nodding, Iron followed the little dragon. “What’s up?” “Iron, I know what you’re going to say, but no. We need to ditch this pony.” Iron cocked an eyebrow. “And just why is that?” “Because he’s fucking insane! That’s why!” “That’s not a very nice thing to say. He’s probably just...misunderstood.” Jasper looked at Iron with an unamused glare. “He just admitted to breaking a cinder block over another ponies head and putting him in a coma, that’s attempted murder, and burning down his place of business, that’s arson. He’s nothing but trouble, and I don’t want to be anywhere near that walking disaster zone.” Iron sighed. “Okay, I can’t deny that he’s a little...crazy, but that’s kinda why I think he should come with us.” “Excuse me?” “What do you think would be better for this town? A pony like him just randomly wandering around to cause havoc wherever he pleases, or have you and I watch over him to make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble.” Jasper put a claw up to his chin as he thought for a moment. He made sure to weigh all the options. “Yeeeaaaaaa no. I still think we should ditch him.” Iron rolled his eyes before turning to AJ. “Hey, we were going to go get a room at the hotel down the street. If you’re interested, you could join us.” AJ fixed Iron with a suspicious look. “Are you trying to get me alone or something? Cause I have to tell you, I don’t swing that way.” Iron shook his head. “Neither do I. I’m just extending the invitation. You’re more than welcome to tag along.” Iron began walking towards the hotel. “Come on Jasper, let’s go. We need to start looking for a more permanent place to stay tomorrow.” Jasper sighed in defeat. “Yea, okay.” Jasper began slowly following Iron. As he did, all the events of the day ran through his head. Even with all the crap he had to deal with at the hatchery, this had probably been one of the most stressful days he’s had to live through. His thoughts were interrupted as a giant yawn escaped from his mouth. “Guess I’m more tired than I thought. Hey Iron, could I ride on your back till we got to the room?” “Normally I’d say yes, but uh...” As Jasper looked at Iron, his jaw slowly dropped. AJ was sitting on Iron’s back, riding him like a horse. The box was sitting right behind him. “It’s kinda occupied already.” Jasper just continued to stare blankly at AJ until it was too much. He donned a black outfit, and wrapped a black bandana around his head, making him look like a ninja. Striking a pose, he let out a war cry. Standing in front of him was AJ. He was wearing a pirate’s outfit, and was laughing a big, evil, belly laugh. Letting out another war cry, Jasper leapt forward, a sword in each claw, to rid himself of this annoyance. AJ pulled out a gun as he... “Onward my faithful steed! I require my rest!” AJ said; interrupting Jasper’s fantasy. He pointed a hoof forward as he used his magic to break a branch off a tree to whip Iron in the flank to get him to go faster. Not appreciating the slap to the flank, Iron rolled his eyes before bucking his hips; sending AJ and the box to the ground with a thud. “Well, looks like there’s a spot open after all,” Iron said as he lowered himself so Jasper could climb up. A tired smile grew on Jasper’s face as he walked up to Iron. After Jasper was on, Iron picked up his suitcase and placed it next to Jasper. He looked at AJ who was brushing the dust off his coat. “I don’t appreciate being used like an animal. Just keep that in mind in the future.” “But you are an animal,” said AJ. “Technicalities. Come on, it’s getting late. We should get some sleep.” Without another word, Iron continued down the street. After lifting his box onto his back, AJ followed. He couldn’t let his new meal ticket leave him behind.