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// Better Than Boats 
// Story: Innavedr 
// by Imploding Colon 
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	Two other foxes had clambered out of the box car behind the two stallions by the time the ponies had fallen down into the body of the train beyond view.  "What the crap is going on?!  We thought you had this handled!"

"And I almost d-did!"  The one fox ahead of them rearranged his eyepatch and started scampering towards the train car with a hole in its top.  "The frickin' hoofers knocked me around like a ragdoll and then plunged into the next compartment!"

"Jeez!" One of the two foxes grunted as he ran alongside his partner.  "You let them inside with the merchandise?!  You idiot!"  He panted into the wind above the train.  "What if they—?!"

"Oh please..."  The three creatures stood on the edge of the neighboring car, glaring into the hole with their weapons drawn.   "As if these grass-eating yuckjobs have the brightest idea how to pilot them—"

The car in front of them exploded.  The whole train wobbled on its tracks.  All three foxes fell on their orange tails under a spray of wooden shingles as a shiny metal vehicle throttled up into the air, hovering on bright blue mana thrusters.

"Hah!"  Josho snarled, his hairy muzzle grinning from ear to ear as he tightened his hooved grip of the sleek managlider's controls.  "If the Spark wanted foxes to fly, it would have given birth to them with bottlerockets shoved up their butts!"

"H-hey!"  Eagle Eye flailed, dangling off the side along the length of his magical binding.  "I'm coming loose!"

"Tell me something I haven't figured out on my own."

"The merchandise!" the fox with the eyepatch sputtered to say.

"See ya later, sh—Gaaah!" Josho howled as he incidentally fired the thrusters too hard.  He spun around, barely avoiding the mountain's edge by a hair, and pulled up in time to soar over its jagged peaks.  "Right.  Let's just make more distance and less quips."

In a burst of thunderous energy, Josho rocketed himself and Eagle Eye northwest over the rugged landscape.

The foxes snarled and hissed in anger.  One of them leapt down into the shattered body of the box car and mounted one of three identical gliders.

"What are you doing?!" another spat.

"What does it look like?!"  Lifting on the hovercraft, the pilot frowned at the others.  "You think we can afford to let them get away with all that junk?!  That's a lot of silver!"

"Youre mom's a lot of silver."

"Dammit!  Just fly with me!"