Pain. Deep. Serious. Pain. Agh. I think I broke my shell. Well the mask at least. As the shards of it was scattered where I had impacted against the cold hard ground like a living cannonball. I groaned as I managed to sit up, holding my hand where the mask I still had on was. This was going to hurt in the morning, and with the sounds of dozens of wings flapping through the air, I felt a tad bit less confident with my escape plan. It seemed lucky that I was in one piece. That and so was my box which looked unharmed in comparison to how I felt.
I reached for the other mask I had made, my backup to escape, only to find that the hook holding it in place had bent from the impact. Just my luck. That left me with the marionette which had no instructions on what it did. At least none that I could find. I dragged myself up wincing as I felt a throbbing pain in my left shoulder. A quick check revealed that I had dislocated it in the fall. I'd have to try and reset it once I got out of here. I Ran into an alleyway as civilians watched, confused if they should run away from the figure who just crashed into the ground at what I thought was terminal velocity, or to try and help. The guards flying at where I had crashed probably convinced them of the former.
I was probably lucky that Neither Celestia or Luna were chasing me down, and that Twilight didn't have wings. Otherwise I'd place a bet on one of them levitating me into the air against my will before locking me up as a stone statue to be another restroom for birds to poop on next to Discord.
I spent the next several minutes running for my life. My predictions were that I was about to be tackled by Rainbow herself at this rate. Though fortunately for me, either she had been forced to stick along with her friends, or I had lost her before she could begin her pursuit proper. Both were equally as likely at this point. They'd probably lock down the city if I didn't hurry to get out in time. If Shining put his one of a kind shield spell into the- A loud pop sounded behind me, oh right. I forgot. Twilight could Teleport. I didn't stop running though, if she had found me, it'd be only a matter of time before the others did.
"HALT!" she yelled. A command I gladly disobeyed as I dived into another alleyway as a purple blast rammed down the path I had previously been going down not a moment before. I resisted the urge to scream like a little girl as another blur, this one blue with a dash of rainbow, nearly hit me as I kept diving down alleyways at random in the Canterlot maze.
Here I was thinking that I had escaped the fastest flier in Equestria, I knew that was an unrealistic expectation. I jumped over the small crowded and futile attempt of a garden backyards of an apartment complex as the magic and speed prodigys of this world chased after me. Well, Rainbow was Chasing, Twilight was now trying to keep cutting off my path with her magical teleports. I managed to nick an unattended shovel from one of the gardens with my good arm as I passed by though and as I ducked around a corner into yet another alleyway that wasn't a sad excuse of a garden, I reacted on quick thinking alone. I swung the shovel back the way I came with the flat side of it. I was met with a tremendous force crashing into the blunt instrument meant for gardening. Her own natural agility having led her into the trap of giving me a face indent of her mug made out of metal and one knocked out pegasus.
It wasn't without consequence though, as now I was holding an additional headache as her impact had sent me into the wall with the shovel and herself as well as bending the makeshift weapon until it resembled a boomerang. I heard Twilights shriek of her downed friends name and I ran, abandoning the shovel as I tried to avoid the resulting purple death lasers coming from the unicorn in my general direction.
I lost all sensation in my dislocated arm as one of the purple blasts managed to hit it before I rounded the next corner, continuing my tiring sprint for the train station. I exited the alleyways and onto the streets, already seeing the next train starting to leave. Behind me I could spot several pegasus guards above the network of passages who were either looking for me, or after Celestias star pupil. Judging from how they were going down into it, the later. I sprinted full mel for the train, closing the gap and jumping on. In the distance I could see the enraged face of Shining Armor as he called out at me from several streets away. His words were lost against the noise of the train itself though, and I gave him my best grin. I'd of waved at him, but the arm that wasn't holding onto the train as I pulled myself onto the caboose platform wasn't exactly up to the task of idle taunting.
Once out of sight of the captain of the guard, however, I let out a massive sigh as I took a few moments of rest. Getting inside the caboose could wait a moment. Running down the back alleys of a massive city after dislocating an arm was more exhausting than I thought it was. Heck, I couldn't even feel my tongue. Wait.... Why couldn't I feel my tongue? Well, small things first, lets focus on the big things now... Right, since Twilight in inadvertently used a tranquilizer or something on my arm, might as well get that over with before feeling returns to it...
Several minutes later, and I felt grossed out by my own muscle. Even numb it felt massively wrong resetting my shoulder bone in its socket. Once the spell wore off, no doubt it'd be sore as hell, but at least it was back where it belonged... At least. thank you train caboose for providing me your walls and random ponies crates in order to reset my arm. It seriously made me wish I could visit a doctor. Though I was pretty sure this worlds doctors couldn't do anything for a human being from another world in this anthro filled world. Feeling began to return to my arm as I ravaged yet another cargos worth of stored traveling gear over the course of an hour and was rewarded by finding one of those small hand mirrors that women were stereotyped of carrying in their purses at all times inside a mens traveling case. When I opened it though, I was shocked to find out what I had happened to the mask Discord had given me.
For one, the two small blue dots of paint that were centered in the eyes were gone, replaced by two small glowing balls that looked like it was where my eyes were supposed to be. I was grateful that for some reason the rest of the new hollow in my eyes were black, otherwise i'd probably have fainted from what the sight implied. Next off, the simple triangle that had once been the mouth piece that was covered in black fabric was gone, instead the mouth was moving with my expressions, currently a gaping o of shock. I slowly moved my hand to remove the mask, to see what was underneath.
The sound of rapidly approaching hooves broke my crisis over my appearance. Cursing my luck, I threw the mirror into a pocket of my dirtied sweatpants and went out the backdoor of the caboose with my backpack while barely shutting it behind me in time to duck out of view as someone bursted into the room I had just left. Well, not someone new anyway. The familiar voice of Shining Armor range through as he ordered whoever else he had brought with him that, "Look, signs he has been here recently. Fan out and search the train top to bottom, make sure this enemy of the kingdom is caught!"
How in the hay did- You know what, never mind. I should have expected this from Twilights older brother. I grabbed onto the nearby ladder that was located at the rear of the caboose and began to climb, might as well, seeing that if I didn't It'd probably end up in disaster first thing that guard opened the door.
Vaguely I thought to myself, Guess we can add train jacking to our list after this. Right next to causing a public disturbance, thievery, vandalism, arson, resisting arrest, and hitting the element of loyalty in the face with a shovel. Great start so far right brain?
Yeah, next you'll be adding extortion to that list as you shake a pony down for a meal or something.
Right, well immediate problems now, lack of ability to go to a store for food after becoming Equestria's next most wanted criminal later.
You would not believe how hard it is to move across a the top of a train going downhill rapidly without being blown off or knocked over while carrying a heavy bag. I was practically reduced to a crawl. Though distantly I saw how Shining armor had arrived. A hand pulled carriage, really? I know that's how Twilight got to ponyville but the wheels on that thing made it look like it was ready to-
A devilish thought crossed my mind. Okay, no train boarding today. Just some more risky stuntman activities that should never be done in any sane society. Well at this point, I was running out of sane options anyway. My progress towards the unmanned sky chariot however was interrupted by the sound of an enraged stallion behind me. Instinctively I ducked and was rewarded as a sword flew past where my neck had been seconds before. Wow Shining? Really?
"I'm starting to think you like me!" I shouted over the wind as I turned to face Shining armor, still squating in the wind. Yep, it was definitely him, yet again.
"Halt Criminal Scum!" Shining Armor shouted at me, "Surrender yourself before an acting enforcer of Equestrian law or feel the wrath of the captain of the guard!"
This was too much, I couldn't resist, i'm sorry brain. Even in the face of probable death I had to ask, "What, no asking to pay a fine or serving your sentence?" This confused him long enough for me to sit down and use my legs for a purpose better then crouching at the moment. Kicking him in the groin.
A cheap shot, I know, but I hadn't pulled the other mask out of its impalement to my box, and I was a tad bit desperate. At least he could feel it though, despite everything for some reason he was only wearing upper body armor, which left his entire groin and legs exposed. Stupid furries, wear all armor or none at all, not just half of what your supposed to. Sure it looked stylish, but the missing protection was not worth it if your chasing criminals.
I span around and resumed my crawl towards the charriot as Twilights brother groaned in pain. Yet sure enough I felt a blade enter my sweat pants, barely missing my leg as it pinned it to the train. "Oh Come on!" I yelled turning back to Shining Armor.
He hadn't quite recovered yet, no man could, as he was cupping his privates, a tear in his eye of pain but sure enough his other hand was on the sword that was keeping my pants pinned to the train.
Sure enough he started to pull himself up and I started kicking him in the face with my other leg over and over until he fell back, How did he even keep a grip on the blade without any fingers? Seriously. Next was kicking the blade out since my backpack meant I couldn't turn around without risking the train blowing me off. Something, I had no doubt that Shining wanted to see happen at this point.
I managed to scramble onto the next car before Shining caught up with me yet again. It seems he finally remembered he had a horn and was now using a shield spell in order to shield himself from the wind while he approached rapidly, having regained his freaking weapon yet again. This time however he stepped on my box to prevent me from going anywhere. Now I felt like a turtle again, but this time without a shell of safety to draw myself into.
I lashed a hand out to try and trip him, but from my angle that was only pathetic. to his sturdy hooves. Infact, he momentarily put all his weight on my box and through it my sore back to stomp on my reaching hand. "Surrender Now or perish in the name of the law Criminal."
I growled at him, "Would rather die now than face execution at your immortal rulers mistakes."
"Fair enough then," Shining told me, and he raised his sword to finish me off.
At that moment, I acted. Putting everything I had into pushing him off me. The act momentarily surprising him as I put every fiber of my being into getting him off and he staggered back, falling backward as his concentration broke over his shield. The wind carried him back to the caboose where he managed to get a hand hold and save himself, but lost his sword as the wind carried it away to be abandoned on the track of the railroad. I hurried as fast as I could as Shining Armor pulled himself back to a crouch. However, from a distance, he was far from harmless.
Just like his sister apparently, he wanted to send a barrage of stunning spells and tranquilizers at me. Spells that mostly went wide with the unpredictable movement of the train, or was slown down as they tried pushing their way through the winds. Though he had his shield again, and managed to hit a leg with the spell despite my attempts to dodge.
Stuipd freaking cheater magic.
now I was clinging for dear life again on the same train car as the sky carriage. It was only feet away, yet Shiny was approaching. I rolled over, out of viable options. Well all except for one. The Barren Marionette doll was swinging widly in the wind, its controller somehow still latched onto its hook. I reached back and grabbed it as Shining Approached, sheer venom in his eyes, and another spell about to fire from his horn. I muttered a quick prayer that the lord of chaos and disharmony had did something to this blank toy and launched the toy forward while holding onto its controller with my eyes shut and head twisted in case it didn't work.
The numbness of being hit with another tranquilizer didn't come. Nor did any physical pain. Slowly I opened my eyes and I found out why.
No longer connected to its strings, I could see the wooden humanoid form of the blank Manikin that was once attached to the handle. however the strings were gone on its end, no longer connecting the two together, and the wooden doll was a lot larger than when I had last closed my eyes. Shining armor, in contrast however, was now staring down a wooden puppet just as tall as he was. And unlike me, apparently it was unaffected by his stunning spell. He looked surprised slightly, but more annoyed, "Just how many tricks do you have in your bag Puppeteer?" He raised his hand, his horn forming a sword out of magic for him, "If you think a wooden doll is going to sa-
His words were interrupted as I panicked, and the doll came to life before my very eyes. As my hand jerked, I could feel a connection to the doll. And the connection had told the doll what to do. What it did however, was far from my understanding on how I had gotten it to do that particular act. It had punched Captain Shining Armor in the face. Correction. it had punched through Captain Shining armors magical shield, into his face, and then launched him off the train as the now air born captain failed to maintain momentum enough to land back on the train.
Alright, Discord, thanks for the magic puppet that just saved my life. Only If I knew it could do that from the start! It stopped moving, and I jerked my arm in the same motion that had conjured it, only this time in the reverse direction. My new theory that it went back to how it was if I reversed the motion that turned it on ending up being true as I reattached it to my box and dragged myself onto the sky chariot. Now for the other dangerous part... After a few minutes that is. I wanted a bit of distance between myself and the knocked out unicorn captain before I tried this.
Of course, that was the freaking moment one of the pegasus guards reared his monotonous heads over the edge of a caboose and looked right at me. Oh buck me. I shouted to him, "Your captain fell off the train, you can either go get him medical attention or go after me and end up needing it yourself!" I bluffed. Apparently it caught as his stoic expression became worried and he and his buddy hidden from view flew off to go back up the tracks for their captain before another train tried to run him over. I in contrast, sighed in relief and waited a few more seconds before releasing the breaks of the carriage and rolling off the train and down a very very very steep-
Brain, Please remind me why this was a good idea?
My brain responded, Cause you wanted to make sure they couldn't find you?
Well why didn't I just get the shard out of the freaking mask then and hide in the shadows?
Uh....
Great, Well it was too late now, we were already rolling at break neck speeds down hill towards the distant edge of the woods. Assuming the crash doesn't kill me. At least I could steer this thing... somewhat. The wheels turned, though the balancing on this thing was horrid. Seriously, who designs a chariot with only two wheels and expect it to be stable when its not manned by someone pulling it?
Well maybe those bushes over there would provide some sort of cushion to reduce the impact...