//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 – The Immovable, the Moveable, and Those Who Move 
// Story: Outlaw Mares 2: For a Few Ponies More 
// by Digodragon 
//------------------------------//

	The number thirteen train engine sat motionless on the dusty tracks. The night air was crisp and a soft breeze carried away the vestige puffs of smoke from the engine’s main stack. Lanterns lit the interiors of the dozen train cars coupled behind the engine, but many of those lights were moving up and down the aisles, held in the mouths of railroad attendants and the soldiers of the Canterlot Royal Guard.
There was a hunt going on, but no passenger was told for whom or for what.

Mosaic sat quietly in a private booth within one of the last passenger cars. The young pegasus mare casually stroked the blue curls in her mane, but picked at the purple streaks in particular. On the bench across from her was her employer, Artemis Fresco, an overweight art dealer of some renown, but short on temper. Mosaic dared not to look at the earth pony’s steely gray eyes.
The sepia-colored stallion was fuming at the train’s mysterious delay and a stare was an invitation to let him rant about schedules and timing.

“Why did this train stop?” Artemis asked. His spiky maroon mane seemed to bristle with his anger.

Mosaic almost winced, but had to reply quickly. “I don’t know, sir,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m sure the royal guard has a very reasonable explanation.”

“I don’t want excuses!” Artemis snapped.

“I’m sorry sir,” Mosaic apologized as she brushed a loose hair off her marble-white coat.

Artemis was a very demanding employer, but in his line of work, a missed deadline meant lost money. Mosaic tried to never take his anger personally.

“I will ask the guard when we can expect the train to move again,” she said calmly.

Outside in the car’s hallway, the train conductor paced back and forth in a nervous panic. His job was to ensure that his train arrived on time with zero incidents. However, this night there was one incident, and it was the cause for a huge delay. The tan-colored stallion pulled his pocket watch out and checked the time.
Twenty-one minutes behind schedule.

Mosaic slid the booth’s door open and peered out into the hallway. She saw the conductor pacing nearby and knew he too was a slave to schedules. “Excuse me, conductor sir,” Mosaic said. “Will we be departing soon?”

"You don't need to use 'sir' with me, miss. Call me Alex," he said warmly. He fretted about how to answer her question, but then he heard the whistle blow from the front of the procession. The engine lurched forward, the coupled cars all clicked and clacked together, and finally the train was moving once again. Alex let out a sigh of relief.
“I guess the answer to that is yes,” he said happily.

Mosaic smiled and closed the door to her booth. A moment later, two of the half-dozen royal guards on the train came inside the hallway from the car’s rear door. Alex gulped. These soldiers were both large pegasus stallions with dark gray coats and very short silver manes. Three other guards on the train looked nearly identical, except perhaps with a slight variance in their mane color. The guards all wore the same gold tinted armor with the crest of the Canterlot capitol on their chests.
The lieutenant was the only guard truly different then his subordinates. He had a black fur coat and a spiky purple mane. His armor matched the others, but with an additional red pin to denote his superior rank.

The conductor wondered how the guards all managed to look so much alike. Was it makeup, or perhaps there was some kind of magic woven into their armors? He wanted to ask, but frankly their no-nonsense grim expressions intimidated him.

One of the guards opened the door to Mosaic’s booth. “Stay inside your booth citizens,” he said to the occupants. “We will be arriving in San Anponio without further delay.”

“And what prompted this delay to begin with?” Artemis shouted from inside the booth.

“You do not need to know that,” the guard stated as he closed the door firmly. The guard nodded to his partner and the two approached the conductor. They both ignored the jeer that came from Artemis behind the door.

“Let’s head forward,” the second guard said to the conductor. “The train will remain under lockdown until we reach San Anponio. The passengers need no details.”

“I-I understand,” Alex replied with hesitance. “At least may I be informed as to why we had to stop the train for nearly twenty-three minutes?”

“No,” stated the first guard. Nothing else was said as the two soldiers passed him.

The middle-aged conductor nervously flicked his black tail and he followed the two guards up the train cars. The guards exited the forward door that lead them to the next car in front, but did not hold the door. Alex tried to sprint forward and catch the door before it closed, but he bumped into a young mare that appeared seemingly out from the shadows.

“Oh! Pardon me,” the young azure unicorn politely apologized. “I did not see you there.”

“No, no, it was my fault entirely,” Alex responded. “Please, if you could return to your seat. The guards have us under a lockdown and wish no passengers to roam freely until we reach San Anponio.”

The unicorn brushed aside a few stray strands of her flowing, long cornflower blue mane. The conductor saw a pair of alluring, dark violet eyes under her silky mane. He somehow felt at ease looking into them. How the guards missed her earlier, he didn’t know. Her pearly white cloak was glaring even in the dimly lit hallway.

“A lockdown?” the pretty female pony asked. “Are we in any trouble?”

Alex shook his head, although he knew little more than she did about the details. “No ma’am, just some safety issues with the valuable stuff in the cargo car. Move along to your seat.”

The azure unicorn nodded and quietly walked away, heading toward the rear of the car. The conductor turned to open the exit and follow the guards, but then… he was trying to remember something. Had he just spoken with an azure unicorn, or was she white with a blue mane? Alex couldn’t remember.
It was a strange feeling since he was always good with remembering details about his passengers. The conductor gave a dismissive shrug and exited the car to catch up with the two guards.

At the rear of the car, the azure unicorn waved a fore-hoof in front of her face. The magical veil faded away and her flowing mane contracted back into a clean, combed ponytail. Without the illusionary enchantment the young unicorn was now revealed to be wearing a long purple cape and a large pointed purple hat. Both effects were adorned with gold and silver stars.
The signature looks of The Great and Powerful Trixie.

Trixie mentally patted herself on the back for the new illusion spell she had just succeeded in testing. The research she did for it nearly three months ago in Canterlot was time well spent. The unicorn wondered how well the spell might work on the paparazzi, but that was an idea for another night.

Trixie snuck up to the last enclosed booth in the train car. If the train attendant that Trixie bribed earlier was not mistaken, then within this booth sat an important art dealer. Using her levitation magic, she produced two small tin cups from her cape, connected at their bases by a thin copper wire. It appeared to be a rudimentary child's toy, but that was part of the object's charm. Trixie placed an ear to one cup and the other cup to the door of the booth. With the wire taught, Trixie was able to clearly overhear a heated, one-sided argument within the booth.

“It should not be my fault that we’ll arrive late to San Anponio!” shouted a burly stallion’s voice. “Write down the delay times, Mosaic! I want documentation when I address this complaint with the head of the Canterlot guard!”

“Yes sir,” Mosaic replied. The young mare’s flat voice reminded Trixie of how her friend Cheryl spoke in a similar dull way. However, the unicorn was sure that the male’s voice belonged to the dealer Trixie had followed to this train, Artemis Fresco.

“Those two guards better not rummage through the collection either!” the beefy Artemis shouted. “Their job doesn’t include getting their dirty hooves into those valuable artifacts! Everything must be in pristine condition for Princess Luna’s ceremony!”

“Of course, sir,” Mosaic said.

Trixie’s ears perked up upon hearing that tidbit of information. It was exactly what she wanted to know. The unicorn hoped the stallion would say more in his rant, but Trixie’s eavesdropping was interrupted by movement further ahead in the hallway. A shadowy figure approached from the front exit of the train car.
Trixie quickly hid the tin cups in her cape and inched backwards into the shadows between the booth and the rear exit. Hidden from view, the azure unicorn watched as the shadow stepped into the light of a nearby lantern. It was the train conductor from earlier.

Curiously, Trixie wondered what business he had returned for. The conductor walk up to the same booth Trixie was spying on earlier and knocked firmly on the door. It was not a long wait. Artemis answered the knock by sliding the door open with great force.
“What do you want?” the chubby stallion asked angrily.

“I apologize,” Alex stated calmly. “I’ve heard a bit of a commotion from various passengers about the delay and I wish to alleviate any concerns about this trip.”

“You can alleviate me of those annoying guards!” the angry stallion replied. “I’m on a tight schedule here! I’ve got enough delays with my excavation projects on the field, so I don’t need my travel time wasted in the same way! I have valuable pieces of art to deliver to San Anponio worth more than the entirety of your stupid train!”

“And I certainly agree,” Alex said calmly. “The guards should not be calling the shots on my train. In fact, let me personally ensure that they don’t involve themselves with your valuable cargo. Which train car are your works in?” The conductor pulled out a pad and pencil to jot down the information.

“It’s all in a large container, two cars behind us,” Artemis described. “Highly valuable pieces of history, and I mean worth more than the city it’s going to, all packaged under the name Artemis Fresco.”

“I’ll check on it immediately,” Alex assured. He pocketed the pencil and notepad.

“You see that, Mosaic?” Artemis said to the small, female pegasus inside. “That is how customer service is done! Important ponies come first and foremost!”

“But of course, sir,” Mosaic replied flatly as she continued to tug at her blue curls.

Alex gently closed the booth doors and trotted past Trixie and out through the rear exit. Trixie was glad that her target’s location was identified, but she was now concerned with how to sneak past the conductor that had just passed her.
It was also a little strange to her that the conductor came back around to ask about the cargo guarded by the Canterlot soldiers. Don’t conductors have ready access to information about their cargo?

The azure unicorn quietly snuck out the rear exit door of the car. She was now in the outside space between the cars. The cold, night air whipped around Trixie erratically and threw her mane in all directions. She instinctively grabbed her hat to keep it steady on her head. Trixie fought her waving loose hairs more so than the sway of the train on the tracks.
Trixie crossed the thin bridge that connected the two rail cars together. She peaked into the window to see if any pony was standing on the other side of the next car’s door, but found that it was currently vacant. Trixie took a deep breath and entered the cargo car.

Once the door was shut, the unicorn was alone in a dark room full of crates, bags, and barrels stacked up haphazardly. Trixie lit her horn’s soft, magical yellow-white light.
The spaces to get around the cargo were tight, hidden in the shadows of the containers. Trixie navigated these spaces carefully as she searched for a cargo manifest. The azure unicorn crept down the length of the car carefully. She noticed that a lot of the crates and barrels held ingredients for baking cakes and pastries. It appeared that San Anponio was going to have a very calorie-intensive celebration soon.

After two minutes of sneaking around, Trixie found the manifest. She scanned the pages until she found what she wanted to know. “Lunar Wand, Canterlot Royal Treasury,” Trixie whispered to herself, “Located in cargo car number two.”

With the information committed to memory, Trixie put the manifest back and proceeded to the next cargo car in the procession. She continued to use caution as the unicorn exited the car and entered the next one.

Trixie was now in another equally cluttered car. Several stacks of crates had shifted and fell over, but none of the containers appeared to have spilled open. Trixie looked around for a large crate with Artemis’ name on it. She looked low, as she expected it to be a large container with extra padding inside.
Trixie saw a hoof stuck between two stacks of barrels.

“Gotcha!” shouted a figure from behind Trixie.

The azure unicorn spun around and came face-to-hoof with an assailant that slammed her to the ground. Trixie kicked back hard as she braced herself against the barrel beside her head. Her assailant stumbled back and tripped, toppling over a box of clothing labeled ‘fall fashion festival’.

Trixie rolled to her hooves and increased the light at the tip of her horn. Her assailant kicked off the ground and back up to a standing position. A familiar disheveled pink mane over a chocolate-brown coat of fur was illuminated in Trixie’s magical light.

“For Celestia’s sake, Cheryl!” Trixie scolded. “It’s me!”

Cheryl swept her pink mane away from her eyes. “Sorry there, I wasn’t sure who I was assaulting.”

“Seriously?” Trixie asked skeptically. “Who else wears a purple hat and cape like this?”

Cheryl shrugged and dusted herself off. She watched as Trixie squeezed between two containers. The azure unicorn pulled out the body she had found only moments ago. Cheryl walked around and helped her friend place the unconscious pony on a soft stack of hay.
The uniform was a giveaway that it was of one of the train attendants.

“Did you knock him out?” Trixie asked.

“Nope, didn’t know he was there,” Cheryl answered defensively. “Some pony already busted the crate of art stuff before I arrived. I hid when I heard you, thinking the thief was… well you.”

Trixie frowned and motioned for Cheryl to show her the crate of art objects. The pink-maned pony led Trixie to the back end of the cargo car where a large, opened crate sat on the floor. A large stenciled card on the side of the container read ‘Artemis Fresco’ along with an address in San Anponio.
Trixie rifled through the large box’s contents. She found various bracelets, rings, and even a crown, but there was no wand amidst the collection.

“Damn it,” Trixie muttered. “Who’s one step ahead of us?”

Cheryl could only shrug. “I don’t know. It seems switching to jewel thievery hasn’t improved your lousy luck at all, blue bunko.”

“Yeah well,” Trixie said with an annoyed expression, “Switching to brandy hasn’t improved your breath either. Where were you before the train stopped earlier? You should have been here sooner.”

“Hey now, it was your cotton-pickin’ idea to get me hired on as a guard for this train ride,” the earth pony argued. “I did what you asked of me and they stuck me in the caboose. I couldn’t get away from the guards back there until they all left to shove the passengers back into their seats. It isn’t my fault your grand scheme to heist a stick got thwarted by a more competent thief.”

“It’s not a stick,” Trixie corrected. “It’s a wand and a very old one at that.”

The roof of the cargo car thumped with the sound of someone walking upon it. Both mares looked up and then looked at each other.

“One step ahead of us?” Cheryl asked.

“One step above us!” Trixie responded.

The two mares shoved several crates together and climbed up to the roof’s hatch. Cheryl flipped the lock on the hatch and slowly pushed the cover open. She peered out into the darkness cautiously to see who was up there pacing about.
The darkness kicked her in the face.

Cheryl fell back down the stack of boxes, but Trixie grabbed her around the waist before the earth pony fell all the way. The hatch slammed itself shut as Cheryl was left rubbing her throbbing nose.

“Confounded varmint!” she cursed aloud. Cheryl sat up with help from Trixie. She looked on as the azure unicorn climbed to the top of the stack.
“You want to get your nose flattened too?” the earth pony asked her careless friend.

Trixie gave a mischievous smile as she took off her pointed hat. “Trixie’s ninth rule for being great and powerful says otherwise.”

Cheryl gave off a confused look. “And that rule is?”

“Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.”

~ ~ ~

The cold night wind swirled around the face of an earth pony that sat on the roof of the train. He watched a hatch intently, waiting for another face to peek out of it again. Beside him sat a much shorter yellow mare unicorn wearing a hooded cloak. The sun-colored pony with the dual-lemon cutie mark was flustered that she could not get the hooded lantern in her hooves lit on the breezy rooftop of the train. Her white mane also proved unhelpful on the windy roof.

“Clem!” the yellow mare shouted to the orange stallion. “Could you try to block the wind for me?”

“Sure thing, Bonnie” Clem said happily. The orange pony didn’t take his dark brown eyes off the hatch as he shifted his body to act as a wind breaker for the lantern. He settled down over the lantern with patient resolve and hiked up his drooping saddle belt that partly covered his orange fruit cutie mark.

The roof made an awful tearing sound of metal as a sharp stab of pain pierced Clem in the rear. The stallion leaped up into the air with a scream. He landed poorly and twisted his left foreleg upon impact with the metal roof. Where Clem sat was an azure unicorn horn sheathed in a shimmering metallic white glow.
The glow quickly ceased as the horn retracted back inside. Bonnie looked on with wide green eyes as the roof hatch flew open and a light azure unicorn in a purple cape jumped out onto the roof.

“Iron Horn spell,” Trixie muttered after she pointed to her horn. Her light spell flicked back on and illuminated her sly grin.

“Back off!” Bonnie shouted. The yellow unicorn grabbed the lantern with her levitation magic and swung it at the opposing azure unicorn.

The show-mare dodged the flailing unlit lantern. “Give up, little hayseeds, for I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!” she shouted back at the hostile yellow pony.

“I didn’t ask you for your name,” Bonnie retorted angrily.

“You didn’t?” Trixie said in puzzlement. “Sorry, I was hoping this would be like in the novels. You know, where the hero breaks in and the villain asks for their name? Could we maybe start that part over?”

Clem yelled out as he swung a hoof at Trixie. The azure unicorn rolled to the side as her long cape waved in Clem’s face. The orange stallion failed to land a solid blow, but despite his hobble, he had Trixie on the defensive. Trixie stood dangerously close to the edge of the train car. She hunkered down low against the metal rooftop to have a better grip on the smooth metal surface.

Clem limped forward and swung with his injured foreleg. Trixie dodged again, but her rear legs slipped. The show-mare slid farther to the edge of the roof. Her tenuous grip was melting away as she began to slide off.

“Throw her off the train!” Bonnie yelled out to her partner.

Clem reached for his back and pulled out a short oak stick that was tied to his back. The old wooden object had worn rune-like carvings along its sides and the top end had a large, fastened uncut sapphire stone. With the stick grasped in his teeth, Clem reared back to swing it at Trixie.

“Not with the wand!” Bonnie yelled. “Not with the wand!”

“Not in the face!” Trixie added. “Not in the face!”

A mustard-yellow female pegasus swooped in from the darkness and slammed into Clem. The stallion slid several feet across from Trixie. Clem scrambled to remain on the roof, but he placed too much weight upon his injured foreleg. Pain shot up his leg and stunned the stallion. The pegasus reached for the wand and yanked it out of Clem’s mouth. With a firm rear kick, the pegasus shoved Clem over the edge of the roof.

Clem cried out as he slid off the car roof and into the darkness. The last sound from the stallion was a faint, muddy splash far behind the train.

“Who are you?” Bonnie questioned as she swung the lantern at the new opponent.

“Oh sure,” Trixie berated the yellow unicorn, “Now you’re with the program!”

“The name is Do, Daring Do!” the pegasus proudly stated after she dodged the waving lantern.

Trixie wasn’t sure if she heard that name right. The pegasus and Bonnie exchanged feints as they tried to hit each other with their respective objects. With them distracted, Trixie concentrated her magical levitation around her own body and gently pushed herself back up onto the roof of the train.

Trixie crawled to flank Bonnie from behind. The show-mare flashed the magical light of her horn off the pegasus’ face. She could see Daring’s raspberry red eyes and the iconic rainbow pattern of gray upon the winged pony’s mane. The show-mare was completely baffled that this legendary and quite fictional character stood here on the roof before her.

“Hey! No horn flashing on the first date!” Daring shouted as the light’s glare stung her eyes.

“No, this can’t be real,” Trixie said to no pony in particular.

“Oh it’s real alright. Real stupid!” Bonnie added angrily as she threw the lantern at Daring. The pegasus jumped back, flapping her wings to keep herself pressed to the rooftop.

Bonnie trotted quickly to the left edge of the train car. “Screw this job, I’m out of here!” With a short hop, Bonnie jumped off the side of the train’s roof. Her levitation magic slowed her descent into the darkness and the would-be thief disappeared into the night.

Trixie turned her attention to Daring. She wondered if the pegasus was just an amorous fan or a genuine actress playing the role. “Hey, thanks for your help,” Trixie said, “But who are you really?”
The unicorn reached out for the wand, but Daring rebuked her claim to it with a slap from her wing.

“I don’t know you and I don’t care to,” Daring rudely replied. With a mighty leap the pegasus launched herself into the air and disappeared into the night sky.

Trixie was left alone with nothing but questions on her mind. Were Bonnie and Clem actually thieves or was this part of a show since there was a crazy pegasus dressed as Daring Do flying about? Was Trixie the center of a really bad prank? The show-mare sat on the roof for a moment and stared at the darkness as if it was capable of giving her answers.
Unsurprisingly, no answers came to her. Trixie climbed down the hatch to escape the bitter cold wind that whipped around her.

The azure unicorn was thankful she didn’t have fans that jumped on trains dressed up as The Great and Powerful Trixie.