“You’re on my hoof!”
“You’re on my tail!”
“Hey, watch the flank!”
“Sorry! Sorry!” Azure Flame apologized, squeezing through the legs and baggage around him. There wasn’t much room on the train Azure Flame found himself on. He and his comrades Shadow Horn aka Slim Shady and Creepy Crawly were forced to share a rather cramped Economy Class booth with four other Ponies. Due to his size, Shadow Horn took up two seats, though thankfully had enough headspace not to hunch over.
It was less than ideal, but it would suffice. Azure did not want spend too much money, even on better travel conditions, for though he had quite a sum of bits saved up, even under his own separate account, he did not want to use it least his Aunts tracked him down via his transactions. He wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.
“Here you go, fellows; Gourmet Train Sandwiches!” The blonde Unicorn said sarcastically, passing out the food his had obtained earlier. The Minotaur and Donkey took them gratefully, having left Bitaly the night before and been unable to eat breakfast.
“I don’t know how they do it,” Creepy muttered, his mouth slightly full, “but somehow train-food tastes simultaneously like plastic and wet cardboard.”
“One of the many secrets of the Food Industry,” Slim replied.
“Do either of you know much about Prance?” Azure Flame inquired after a while of chewing.
“Not really, just what the average non-Gaian does; the stuff they teach in schools and from word of mouth,” Slim admitted, Creepy nodding in agreement.
One of the things Azure Flame had learned early into his mission, was that Ponies from Prance, Germaneigh, and possibly also Stalliongrad took offense to their land being referred to as Equestria Minor. Many might not show it, but the subtle grimaces, twitches, and eye rolls spoke volumes.
Gaeum, as was the continent’s proper term, was only called Equestria Minor by tourists. Because of its status as a Protectorate of the Kingdom of Equestria, most just assumed it too was called Equestria, despite being an ocean away.
Not wanting to stand out too much as a non-local, Azure had taken the time to remember to call it Gaeum when the need arose.
“From a, shall we say, less than respectable position in society, I know a bit about the city’s seedier and darker side, but most of which isn’t fit for present company,” Creepy murmured, casting a glance to the ponies sitting across from them. Azure nodded back in agreement, making a mental note to speak of this later.
“How much longer?” Azure wondered out loud.
“Four hours and nine minutes at present speed,” Slim said over a mouthful of sandwich. Surprised but pleased, Azure Flame had forgotten about the passive magic of a Minotaur; an infallible internal compass and clock, making them able to find their way out of any maze easily and to tell the time no mattered where they were.
“Good. Well, I’m going to do some reading,” the Unicorn declared, pulling out a thin book from his pack. He’d been browsing the small book rack at the Bitaly train station when a small paperback caught his eye.
It was a small book detailing simple and basic information about the world and its countries, cities, and beings. What was more surprising was who’d written it; Silver Page, the Master Librarian of the Canterlot Royal Archives. He hadn’t know his old tutor had written anything, and so purchased it. Azure was glad he had, as it provided some interesting and useful facts about the land he currently found himself in.
“Wake up, Azzy, we’ve arrived!”
“Duh-buh-huh?” Azure Flame eloquently asked, finding himself shaken awake. He tried to stretch as well as he could in the cramped space, wondering just when he’d fallen asleep. Slim grinned down at him, and Azure wondered for a moment if he and Creepy had drawn something on his face. He hoped not…
Looking around, he saw the tail of a Pony disappear through the cabin’s door, and noticed that he and his friends were all alone in the train carriage.
“How long was I out?”
“Three hours and forty one minutes,” Slim replied. “We pulled into the station fourteen minutes ago.”
“Why haven’t we left yet?” Azure mumbled, fighting off his drowsiness.
“Easier for us to move when no one else is blocking our way,” Slim explained, and Azure nodded in understanding. A Unicorn was one thing, but a Minotaur and a fear-aura clad Donkey made crowds both difficult to manage and easier.
“Also, the train is being watched,” Creepy said softly, giving a sideways glance out the window towards the station platform. Slim grimaced and Azure Flame blinked.
“Who?” Azure demanded, concerned.
“Not sure, but from the posture of their stances and the feel of their expressions, I’d say Mafia.”
“I thought we left them behind in Bitaly?” Azure griped.
“The Bologna Family may be in tatters, but they were well connected before. They had deals with the Mare-decci and a few foreign groups, like Black Phoenix, so it wouldn’t surprise me these goons are either here for revenge.”
“Who’s watching us?” Slim asked, packing away their things into bags.
“A pair of Unicorns by the exit, and a Pegasus overhead by the luggage loading area. No weapons visible, and they don’t have any packages or bags to hide something in. They’re likely just watching and waiting.”
“Is it possible we’re not the target?” Azure asked, hopefully. Creepy shook his head.
“I don’t know, but as my mentor once said, ‘Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst, and always carry enough bits for lunch’.” A raised eyebrow from Slim and Azure was their only response, but they couldn’t fault the logic.
“Let’s go away from the windows, I have a plan,” Azure Flame muttered, and the two companions nodded and followed him out. Once out of sight of the windows, Azure’s horn lit up with golden light, and it bathed him and the others.
“What’s the spell?” Creepy asked, looking himself over. Nothing seemed different.
“The Gaze Slider Spell. It is a subtle Illusion enchantment that makes others look away from you. No matter how hard they try to focus on us, they’ll always find themselves staring at someone else. As long as we don’t try to deliberately to bring attention to ourselves we should be in the clear,” Azure Flame explained.
Another bit of vernacular he’d picked up away from the Castle was saying ‘everyone’ instead of ‘everypony.’ Made sense, as there were always other species in these areas, far more so than in Equestria.
“Nifty,” was Slim’s reaction to the spell, with Creepy just nodding with a pensive expression.
“How will it hold up against other Unicorns, though? Like I said, there are two.”
“Gaze Slider is a moderately high level spell. As long as they aren’t at least Rank Four, or have access to spells of that level, we should be fine,” Azure Flame assured them. Concerned, but trusting the knowledge of the blonde Unicorn, Creepy nodded and set hoof off the train first.
And lo, the spell did work!
Though the trio Creepy had pointed out looked in their direction a few times, they seemed to ignore them and look away and around.
With a sigh of relief, the trio made it past the look-outs, and out onto the streets of Prance. It was early evening, around six, but already the sun was low and streetlamps were flickering to life, or lit by grumpy looking Lamp-Lighters.
“First, we find a hotel to stay the night,” Azure declared, and the others nodded eagerly. “Then, dinner. And finally, we discuss our next move.”
With grunts of confirmation from the group, Azure Flame removed the enchantment from them, and they made their way down the cobblestones of Prance.
“That them?”
“Yeah, that’s the traitor and his overly inquisitive friends.”
Down an alley across from the train station, two Ponies loitered about, an Earth Pony and a Unicorn, hard expressions on their gruff faces as they watched their targets walk away.
“How did those buffoons in the station miss ‘em?” The Earth Pony demanded in a Prench accent, frowning.
“The Unicorn probably. He had a nifty little illusion on them all, so it’s no wonder the dolts missed them,” his Unicorn partner replied, in a slightly more refined Prench tone.
“Well, we can discipline the rabble later! Now we can show those fools why you don’t mess with the Don!” The Earth Pony declared, the Unicorn chuckling softly.
“Indeed. We’ll show those three why we’re the fourth and fifth ranked Hit-ponies in Prance!”
“I'm afraid you can't, they are my prey.”
The duo jumped in surprise, spinning around to see who had snuck up on them.
“Sorry, but they crossed the Bologna Family, and are gonna die for it. Just like you if you don’t walk away now,” The Earth Pony growled.
A sinister laugh was heard from the dark depths of the alley, and the two stallion’s eyes widened as the speaker stepped into the light.
Screams of fear, and the sounds of tearing meat and snapping bones were muffled by a suffocating fog of magic that appeared suddenly around the area.
“No matter where you run, little worm, I’ll find you,” Bane hissed, staring out at his target while absent-mindedly wiping blood and gore from his muzzle. “Because Grudges don’t tire, and even Princes have to sleep sometimes…”