//------------------------------// // Stop the Unstoppable // Story: In Another Life II: Chance's Folly // by Bateman66 //------------------------------// Alistair stood with his fists clenched, leaned forward in state of readiness with a scowling expression staring straight in front of him. Shale Press stood at the other end of the train car, a rugged cutlass placed firmly between her teeth. Jam and Commodore stood by Alistair’s side, confused and frightened over what the heck was happening. “Guys…” said Alistair sternly, not looking away from Shale. “Run.” “B-But Alistair--” protested Commodore weakly. “Run!” he shouted to them desperately. “Get out of here!” Jam and Commodore bolted down the first-class cabin aisle, fear springing them forward. Throwing open the last door that led straight to the train’s front locomotive car, they quickly slid the door shut behind them and continued to run blindly forwards, unsure about what fate had in store for them or Alistair. --------------------------- “It’s nice to see that you’re back,” greeted Shale with a smile. “I was beginning to think we were done for the day.” “Nice to see you too,” growled Alistair as he clenched his fists tighter. “I must say I wasn’t expecting this, the escape plan I mean. Climbing across the train’s roof,” she whistled in bewilderment, “dangerous stuff, you can get killed doing that you know.” Alistair scowled at her. “I wouldn’t expect it any differently.” “Of course you wouldn’t,” she smirked as she casually leaned against one of the walls. “So…any questions, comments, concerns before we get started? You only have one chance to ask them.” “I’ve got nothing to say to you.” “Really?” she said as she rolled her eyes. “I don’t take that for the truth. You’ve obviously got plenty of little nagging questions bouncing around in that dome of yours just begging to be asked. Some come on, let’s hear them.” He quickly looked down to the floor as to hide his widened eyes. She’d hit the nail right on the head, stripping away his true feelings in one fell swoop. He wanted to hold his ground against her, to not give her the satisfaction of answering her question, but his curiosity got the best of him. “Why are you hunting me?” he asked in the strongest voice he could muster. “Why me?” She smiled. “Ever taken a look in the mirror before, boy? Ever noticed some kind of, uh, difference between everyone else around you? Surely you’ve recognized the physicality’s, a fool could’ve down that. But something different, something in your heart, in your place of being.” Alistair didn’t respond. “So you have?” she said with a muse. “Then of course you’re aware that you weren’t born here, correct? Your life began…somewhere else? Some place that is unknown to you?” He stood silent, the words beginning to sting. “And your parents, do you know them? Do you remember their faces’, or have you forgotten that as well?” He turned away from her, his back blocking out her from his gaze but not her words from his mind. She grinned. “Well then, let’s just say that what you are and how you got here is what’s playing such an important role in our...pursuits for you. It always has been with your kind.” He remained silent, questions, emotions, and words buzzing around in his head. Shale read his body language all to well and knew that the boy was torn up his own thoughts, her revelations distracting him from what was important. She loved it. “Your different,” she called to him neutrally. “You always were, and no matter how much you tell yourself otherwise, no matter how much time you spend here, you will never be where you belong.” Alistair clenched his fists tighter and turned around with his arms outstretched. “No, you’re wrong. I do belong here, I know it, and I feel it. I have friends here, hope. That’s more than I’ve ever had anywhere else.” She bit her lip, the satisfaction beginning to wane. “Keep telling yourself that and you’ll only lie to yourself more.” “It’s not a lie when it’s the truth,” he pointed towards her, “and nothing you say will change that.” She shook her head. “So young, so delusional. All right then, time to lose…again.” “No you won’t,” said Alistair with a rising determination. “I’m ready this time, I will not lose.” Shale sarcastically raised an eyebrow. “Can you really? I don’t think so. You’re not as competent as you think, human. And if I recall correctly, I beat you into the ground in less than thirty seconds last time.” Alistair scowled. “Overconfidence is the ultimate weakness.” “That goes both ways, boy.” Alistair bit his lip. “You’re not getting past me.” “Oh please,” chuckled Shale, “you’re embarrassing yourself, stop while you can. The machismo can only get you so far, especially when your opponent already knows you’re a weakling.” “I’m not a weakling,” he defiantly stated. “I’m someone who’s going to stop you.” Shale grinned wickedly at his retort. “Was that supposed to scare me? Me? I’ve taken on mages ten times as strong as you. I’ve wrestled a grown Minotaur to the ground. I’ve blasted my way through Royal Guard armories just for training! And here you are trying to frighten me with your little kid scowl. To you have any idea how dumb you look? How petty and weak you make yourself off? Celestia, you’re pathetic!” His gaze and determination did not leave him as he responded. “Your insults aren’t going to hurt me. I can stand here all day with your verbal bashing but I’ll never back down, never.” “Spoken like a true hero,” she sneered. “Now, how about we have an ending to things, eh? But to make things fair…” she dropped her cutlass to the ground and kicked it under one of the many lying crates. “Now…let’s begin.” She readied herself into a fighting pose, an even but leaned stance toward him. Without even preparing himself, Alistair thrust his hands forward and focused his energy straight into his palms. Willing the magic to blast outwards, he readied himself for the warm waves of lightening that would project forward. But…nothing came, not even a spark. “What…?” he said to himself as he looked down at his palms. “Why isn’t it working?” Shale Press could no longer contain herself and began to laugh out loud at his painful realization. “You’ve been drugged you moron!” she mocked between cackles. “You really don’t think we’d kidnap you without taking precautions?” He looked horrified, the color in his face draining away to a paled mask. She wiped the water from her eyes as she giggled lowly to herself. “Don’t worry, it’ll return. A few hours from now, but it will. Unfortunately, you’ll be back in your box in a few hours, and your friends will be dead.” “No!” he screamed indignantly, charging towards her with his fists at the ready. “I won’t let you!” Shale ducked under his charge and drove her foreleg’s elbow into his back, sending him sprawling to the floor. She followed up with a stomp from her other foreleg, which he quickly rolled away from. He began to get to his feet, but Shale responded with a brisk slam on the head. He fell back down onto the ground, both hands cradled against his skull. Gripping him by the neck and with unexpected strength, Shale yanked him to his feet and tossed him across the train car. Landing hard, he rolled slightly along the floor until resting flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He did not try to get up. Shale slowly began to work towards him, grinning ear to ear. “You don’t get, hero. This isn’t something you can’t stand up to; this is something you can’t stop.” She picked him off the floor and brought him directly in front of her face. “This is a fight you can’t win!” His unmoving body suddenly jerked alive as he head-butted her square in the face causing her to release him from her grasp. Reeling back from the strike, she felt her hurt snout with one of her hooves. Blooded dripped down from her face. Alistair stood up on his own two feet, his posture crooked with the damage he’d endured. “You little…” snarled Shale. “You’re going to regret that!” She bounded towards him with her impressive speed and grabbed the front of his head. Charging forward with his neck in her grasp, she threw him against one of the car’s doors, directly into the observation glass. Moaning at impact, Alistair fell down to the floor, his back pressed against the door with an unmoving silence to him. He tried to get up but his body would not obey, leaving him there to face Shale’s full wrath. Stepping away from him, Press nodded in satisfaction at her victory. “I warned you human, I’m the best. This would have gone so much simpler if you’d just gone quietly.” “You didn’t give me a choice,” he mumbled lowly. “Did I?” she asked with a mocking surprise. “I do believe you had the chance to walk away, to simply give yourself up and not have to go through this inevitable failure.” She shook her condescendingly. “Some apes just never learn.” Alistair coughed, light splotches of blood coming from his hacks. “You won’t get away with this. The Guards will find you.” “We have plans for that don’t worry. Once they realize what’s up it’ll be too late.” A rumbling came from the train’s outer frame, shaking the entire car with a loud jostling. Shale looked around quickly. “What was that?” A light grin cracked on Alistair’s face. “They made it.” ----------------------------- A few minutes earlier, Jam and Commodore stood blindly in a dark corridor. They could still hear the outside rumbling of the train, but all light seemed to be blocked out from any windows, or, there just weren’t any windows at all. “I can’t believe we left him,” mopped Commodore with an echo in the room, “and with that weird mare!” Jam turned around with an impatient glance. “He wanted us to keep going. We need to find the brake lever and shut this train down.” “And then what?” indignantly asked Commodore. “Bury his body?” Jam ignored him. “Let’s keep going, I can see the engine room just up ahead.” Commodore shook his head and followed after, not forgetting that his friend was just a car away, probably getting hurt. They approached another sliding train door, this one with a likewise oval observation glass in the center of it. Jam pressed his face and hooves against it, peering inside. “It doesn’t look like anypony’s inside.” “Can you see any of the controls?” “Yeah, there’s a big board of them. Come on.” Jam moved away from the door and slid it open. He stepped quickly through the doorway and looked around the cabin. “I think this is the brake Commodore, let me just--” Jam’s speech was cutoff by a loud metallic clang as an unseen spade flew out of nowhere and smacked him on the head. Commodore screamed and ran through the doorway towards his friend who now lay on the cold cabin floor. Out of the shadows leapt the train’s engineer, his spade still held in one of his hooves. Tackling Commodore to the floor, they both fell on their sides in a bitter and confused struggle. The engineer, a gray stallion with a coal shoveler’s cap, wrapped his hooves around Commodore’s neck while he wrapped his hooves around the engineer’s face. They grunted at another as they both squirmed and wrestled against each other on the concrete ground. The stallion gripped harder on Commodore’s neck as he began to feel a strain on his lungs. Digging his hooves sharply into the engineer’s eyes, he screamed out in pain and released both Commodore’s neck and his spade from his grip. Hopping to his feet, Commodore swept up the spade and smashed down onto the stallion’s head in a single floating motion. Hearing another tell tale clang from the blunt weapon, the engineer drifted off into a peaceful unconscious state. Tossing the spade back to the ground, Commodore propped down to his knees at the still unmoving Jam. “Jam!” he shouted with dreading fear. “Jam! Wake up!” A light cut was on Jam’s right temple, a dripping of blood coming off his head and down onto the floor. Feeling a terror form up in his stomach, Commodore felt Jam’s chest quickly to check for any signs of life. His chest rose and fell with a slow incline and decline, signaling an unconscious, but still healthy pattern of breathing. “Thank Celestia…” muttered Commodore as he leaned back in relief. Rising back to his hooves he looked towards the train engine’s control panel. “Now for this…” he looked from left to right at the odd board of aged buttons and switches, once again no indicator of what did what. Peering off to the side of the board, he smiled warmly to himself. A tall red lever sat next to the controls, it’s function and purpose as clear as day to anypony with eyes. Reaching forward, Commodore closed his eyes. “Here goes…” ----------------------------- The train car rumbled once more. “What are you talking about?” asked Shale with a venom in her voice. “What do you mean “they made it”?” Alistair just smiled to himself, staring vacantly towards the ceiling. “Answer me!” she shouted futilely. “What in Hades are you--” Shale didn’t get to finish her threat as a horrid screeching and groaning of metal blocked out whatever other noise could be heard. The cabin shook violently with a ferocious shockwave as the several crates and gas canisters were picked up by an unseen force and tossed about the cabin. She screamed as she was thrown from the floor and smacked against one of the cabin walls roughly. The entire car suddenly shifted to the right, the contents spilling out everywhere as the field of perspective changed as well. The sound of screeching metal was suddenly rivaled by the crumbling of metal as the entire cabin spun around in a horrible discourse. The lights in cabin sparked off with an electrical pop, throwing Alistair into a black and whirling deathtrap. He felt the g’s pulling against his brain and could still feel the car spinning and crashing against the ground. He hung on tightly to a bolted red couch as splitters, metal shards, and entire chunks of the car flew through like a hurricane. Feeling a sudden pain on his head, his grip loosened from the couch and he found himself falling or maybe flying down towards wherever the ground was now. Shutting his eyes instinctively, he waited for what came next.