//------------------------------//
// Riflemen and Pig-men 
// Story: Iron Kingdom Equestria 
// by Bitt_Player 
//------------------------------//

	Rarity had quickly resigned herself to the grime and discomfort of the Cygnaran train. The hard, dusty benches were a far cry from the plush seats of the Canterlot Express, and the cars containing them were seriously under-decorated, with tiny windows near the roof (through which light from two of Caen's three moons streamed) and no adornment on the interiors. The exteriors bore only fading blue paint and the occasional yellow cygnus to mark the vehicle has a Cygnaran machine. Of course, this was a military train, designed not for pleasant day trips, but to move soldiers and weapons to the front lines. This particular train was part of the battle group of one Captain Kara Sloan.
The unicorn pony had been quite surprised to learn that each of Cygnar's warcasters had trains and train crews as part of his or her personal retinue, but quickly realized that this was no special privilege of rank, but a necessity for officers who needed to move as much personnel and hardware as any of Cygnar's warcasters were expected to take everywhere they went. More than one of the train's six cars was packed with blue-hulled warjacks of many types, almost all of which were armed with some manner of rifle, cannon or other firearm. Rarity had learned that Cygnar employed a military doctrine of combined arms and technological sophistication, and Captain Sloan had a particular reputation as a master of gunnery. Along with the warcaster and her 'jacks traveled a mixed company of trencher soldiers and long gunner riflemen, a ranger platoon attached to Sloan by the Cygnaran Reconnaissance Service, a large number of field mechanics and their assistants -small, bat-eared creatures called gobbers- and Lieutenant Leslie Durdin, Sloan's intimidating adjutant. Rarity was given to understand that Sloan was a relatively new warcaster, and that in time she would likely assemble a larger collection of favorite soldiers and units, who would be expected to move with her as required instead of remaining attached to a single battalion as most companies did.
"If you don't mind me asking, Captain," Victor Pendrake's voice cut into Rarity's thoughts, "what prompted the decision to pull a warcaster away from the northern front, given the fall of Point Bourne and the Cryxian attacks on Corvis?"
Sloan glanced at the assembled ponies before replying, "There's been a steady increase in Menite strikes on farms and villages near Eastwall. We've been attached to the Black River Army to see if we can suppress their attacks."
"Hold on," Spitfire interrupted. The pegasus pony had convinced Celestia to send the Wonderbolts as diplomats after Pendrake had mentioned that Cygnar had weaponized lightning, a concept which Spitfire was apparently fascinated by, "they're attacking civilians? What kind of military attacks civilians?"
"The Menites don't see things on normal military terms," Sloan replied tersely, "the Protectorate of Menoth divides people into two groups: Menites and heretics. Menites are spared, heretics are burned. Soldiers are just heretics that fight back harder when the Menites try to set them on fire."
"They're a highly fanatical -and unfortunately very large- branch of the Church of Menoth, who worship mankind's creator," Pendrake added, "Khador has a far less violent branch of Menoth-worship known as the Old Faith. Cygnar, Llael, and Ord also have small pockets of Menoth worshippers, although nearly all of Cygnar's Menites joined the Protectorate during or shortly after its founding."
"And they've been a problem for us ever since," Sloan interjected, "technically the Protectorate is a separate state under Cygnar's rule, but they ignore our government at will. We made the mistake of leaving them alone, letting them ignore their agreement to not build up a military, and now we're paying for it. We can't just let them run around killing people, so my battlegroup's been called in to help keep them on their side of the river. At least, that's the official story."
"There's an unofficial story?" Pendrake asked pointedly.
"I shouldn't tell you this," Sloan said, "but knowing you, you'd find out anyway, and tell your new pony friends, too. We're going right past Eastwall without so much as getting a visual on the fort, heading straight for Caspia. Once we hit the capitol, I'm supposed to meet with a member of the CRS who's identity will be revealed to me upon my arrival. That CRS agent will tell me what happens after that. Since it's me they've called in for this, I assume it has something to do with blowing holes in our enemies from long distances, but I don't have enough intel to guess who I'll be shooting, where, or when."
"That's the CRS for you," Pendrake said with a wry smile, "the leadership always played things close to the vest when I was them, and it sounds like that hasn't changed."
Sloan shrugged, "I don't like being kept in the dark, but with enemies like Cryx and the skorne, it's important to keep information from leaking. As if that weren't enough, I've heard rumors that Asheth Magnus has been spotted skulking around King's Vine, and that the mercenaries who killed Archduke Runewood's vassals recently were hired by Vinter the Fourth himself."
"Even rumors of those two are enough to make me think things are going to get worse before they get better," Pendrake said grimly.
Spitfire looked like she was about to speak, but was interrupted by the sudden, wailing screech of the train's brakes. Rarity cringed as her theory that train brakes were the worst sound that existed was once again backed up. And these brakes were the worst of all. It seemed that everything about Cygnaran trains was worse than Equestrian locomotives. A long gunner sergeant stepped into the cabin, lever-action rifle in hand, and gave Sloan a quick salute.
"Captain, we've got a problem. Someone's blocked off the tracks, probably an ambush."
"Right!" The warcaster stood up, "Durdin, help me get my armor on, Sergeant, get your long gunners onto the roofs, Rail," Sloan nodded to the mechanic who had just entered the car from the back, "get your mechanics firing up my warjacks. Constance Blaize reported that Cryxians have been leaving piles of wrecked 'jacks on rail lines on attacking the trains when they stop. You see anything that looks even remotely like soulfire, you blow holes in whatever it's coming from, understood?"



Rainbow Dash and Rarity had volunteered to help clear the pile of scrap metal and ruined laborjacks that had been hadhazardly stacked on the train tracks, but the cyan pegasus couldn't help but stare at the hoofprints in the ground. They looked like the prints left in the mud by Applejack's pigs, but the idea that pigs had set an ambush for a train was crazy. Then again, some of the hoofprints were much, much larger than a pig's hooves had any right to be, and these prints were very deep, as well. Rainbow Dash was no wilderness tracker, but she was certain that any hoof that sank so deeply into solid ground belonged to something very heavy.
The pegasus looked up from the cloven hoofprint and turned to the improvised barrier on the tracks. Captain Sloan had every gun-carrying warjack in her battlegroup spread out in a defensive perimeter around the train, and had been using her warcaster power to watch for threats through their eyes. Warjacks without projectile weapons, however, had been left in the care of her mechanics, who had made the 'jacks leave their hammers, spears, and shields in the train and help move the scrap pile. Rarity had quickly taken charge of two huge warjacks called Hammersmiths, and was directing them in their work with such efficiency that everyone else had eventually decided they were only getting in the way.
"Not in the sky with the other pegasus ponies?"
"Gah!" Startled, Rainbow Dash launched into the air and whirled around in one movement. Victor Pendrake had been looking over her shoulder without her even noticing, "don't do that!"
"Sorry, sorry," Pendrake seemed amused, "I have a tendency to sneak up on people without meaning to. I see you've found some footprints. Or hoofprints, rather."
"Yeah," the pegasus dropped back to the earth, "they look like a pig's, but some of them are way too big, and they all seem kind of... weird, somehow."
"Very observant," the Cygnaran said. Rainbow would have preferred to hear one of the Wonderbolts praise her flying skills, but she was willing to accept any compliment she got, "the prints don't follow any pattern of footsteps taken by four-legged animals. Indeed, if they were left by pigs, they'd be pigs walking about on their hind legs."
"Wait, can pigs even stand on just two legs?" The pegasus asked.
"I've seen stranger things, but I believe it's safe to assume we're dealing with farrow," Victor answered, "they're typically about the size of humans, and as intelligent, if not as technologically advanced as most human nations. They are capable of reverse-engineering machines and weapons, and making imitations of them. Many farrow seem to be some sort of throwback, however. These farrow display much larger bodies -some as large as a heavy warjack- but only basic, animal-like intelligence. In any case, can I ask you to fly up to Captain Sloan and let her know?"
"On it". Rainbow flew up to the train engine's roof, where Kara Sloan stood vigil. A thin stream of black smoke rose from the small steam engine mounted to the back of her armor, which powered a device Sloan had identified as an 'arcantrik turbine'. Arcantrik turbines, as far as Rainbow Dash understood Sloan's explanation, were used to enhance a warcaster's magic, as well as produce an invisible shield around them. Sloan hadn't been willing to spend a lot of time discussing it, and the pony suspected that she wouldn't understand the details anyway. She comprehended enough, however, to realize that Twilight Sparkle would likely be delighted to have one.
"Captain, you got a minute?" Rainbow asked. Sloan was peering through the scope on her massive rifle, Spitfire. Not to be confused with the Wonderbolt of the same name. Glowing blue runes encircled both the end of the rifle's scope and its barrel. Over her armor, the warcaster wore a thick, ankle-length skirt -although it looked more like the bottom half of a cloak or robe than anything else. Heavy leather belts were draped around Sloan's waist, with several of Spitfire's massive, custom-made bullets hanging from them.
"Talk to me, Dash," the warcaster ordered, not looking up. Rainbow Dash remained hovering in the air, wisely staying at Sloan's side instead of putting herself in front of the massive rifle, which was longer than Sloan was tall and had been custom-built for punching holes in warjack armor.
"I found some footprints around," Rainbow Dash explained, "Pendrake says they look like farrow prints, but I don't know what these 'farrow' are. Some kind of pig-human-things?"
"That's more or less correct, actually. The farrow mostly operate as bandits. They're generally disorganized, but tough and capable of rapidly adapting to changes on the battlefield. Lately, though, there's been an increase in the size and precision of farrow raiding parties. Apparently a warlock called Lord Carver has been uniting farrow tribes and introducing them to modern military tactics. I've heard that Carver wants to conquer all the human nations. I doubt he'll ever have the raw manpower he'd need for a feat like that, but he's a skilled leader, so it's worthwhile to take him seriously."
"So we can expect either a precise, military-style raid or a pack of roused rabble trying to fake their way through a train robbery?"
Before the warcaster could answer, a loud sound like a combination of a roar and a squeal came from the forest. A large shell flew from the trees, slamming into one of the Defender warjacks with a powerful explosion. Another shell followed, but fell short of the 'jack. The Defender returned fire, and Rainbow Dash spotted a pair of large, hunched-forward pig-men lurking in the shadows beneath the trees. Each of them had a heavy, leather and metal harness which held a massive cannon on their backs. As Sloan's warjacks brought down one of the over-sized farrow in a hail of gunfire, the other tugged a rope hanging down from its cannon, lobbing another shell at the warjacks. This shot went wide, hammering a large dent in the side of one of the armored train cars. Spitfire produced a loud blast as Sloan shot the gun boar, tearing a gaping wound in the beast's shoulder. A barrage from her long gunners finished the warbeast.
With a second roaring squeal, a massive farrow burst from the trees. To Rainbow's shock, this farrow's arms, and sections of its legs, had been replaced with huge, piston-driven imitations that resembled warjack limbs. Its flesh had several gashes in it which appeared to have been hastily stitched together, apparently-random machine parts seemed to be haphazardly built into its flesh, and -most disturbingly- a huge section of the monster farrow's back seemed to have been hollowed out to make room for a warjack's steam engine. Its steam-driven hands gripped massive axes, which had also been plundered from 'jacks. The creature wore a heavy loincloth held in place by a thick rope, from which hung several warjack heads. Rainbow Dash wasn't sure if these heads were taken from the 'jacks from which the beast's mechanikal parts had been plundered, or if they were trophies seized in previous battles.
"WAR HOG!" Pendrake bellowed as the monster charged towards the train's engine.
"You two!" Rarity commanded her Hammersmiths, "stop that ugly brute at once!" The Hammersmiths rushed forward to intercept the hog, placing themselves between it and the train. As the massive pig-man collided with the Hammersmiths, a number of smaller, more human-like farrow emerged from the trees, rushing forward with smooth-bore guns in hand and a motley collection of clubs, swords, and other simple melee weapons strapped to their backs. These brigands took running shots at the nearest warjacks, firing with impressive precision, but their bullets did not have force enough to cause significant damage. A Cyclone spun its twin Metal Storm chainguns to speed and laid down a hail of covering fire, which fell short of the brigands, but created a wide zone into which they could not enter without being gunned down. A second Cyclone added its own rain of bullets, moving to box in the farrow raiders.



Rarity's Hammersmiths were battering the war hog and being battered in return. Lacking the hammers their cortexes had been custom-made to fight with, the warjacks resorted to bashing their fists against the hog's head and body is it tore deep rents in their armor with its axes and tusks.
"The engine! The engine!" Rarity shouted, grabbing one of the Hammersmiths with her magic and pushing it around the beast. The unicorn pony wasn't sure how much of the warbeast's strength came from its natural muscles and how much was steam power, but she knew that a loss of steam pressure would at least inhibit the creature. The moved Hammersmith began to grab wildly at the metal pipes integrated with the flesh around the farrow's smokestacks as the monster battered the warjack that remained in front of it. The warjack managed to seize one of the pipes and ripped it free. The massive hog let out a squeal of shock and pain as jets of steam hissed from the jagged holes torn in its back by the pipe's violent removal. The beast fell to its knees, then tipped towards the Hammersmith it had been fighting, which unceremoniously pushed it to the side and let it drop to the ground. Without steam pressure, the beast's piston-driven limbs were unable to exert even the slightest force, so all the farrow could do was look around in confusion and grunt, which it did while the damaged warjacks returned to Rarity, ready to rush back to battle at her command despite the large gashes in their hulls. The one that had borne the brunt of the war hog's violence had had the pistons in its right arm torn open, and that limb hung uselessly at the 'jack's side.
Rarity looked over at the gang of farrow brigands. The pig-men had apparently figured out the effective range of the Cyclones' covering fire, and were staying clear of it while taking shots at the warjacks. No longer firing wildly, the brigands were carefully lining up each shot, clearly attempting to strike pistons or other vital parts.
Suddenly, the Cyclones stopped firing. Rarity couldn't figure out why for a moment, but then a rainbow-colored streak of light appeared high in the air, lighting up the night sky. The farrow stood transfixed at the sight as Rainbow Dash rocketed towards them. For the briefest of moments, there was absolute silence as Rainbow seemed to vanish, then a massive explosion tore through the night air as a multi-colored mushroom cloud rose from the farrow's location. Rarity looked back towards the train to see Rainbow hovering near Kara Sloan and the Wonderbolts, front legs crossed and a smug expression on her face. As the dust cloud kicked up by the explosion settled, the unicorn saw that not one farrow was left standing. Although she was sure that her pegasus friend was completely insane, Rarity couldn't help being impressed by how efficiently she had dealt with the brigands. She looked back at the war hog, which remained where it lay, its grunts and expression having changed from confusion to fear as it evidently began to comprehend its total immobility. As she watched, Pendrake walked up to the creature and drew his sword.
"It's time to end your suffering," the professor said, "the constant pain you've endured in the time since that madman had you on his operating table is at its end. I pray you find peace at Dhunia's side in Urcaen." With that, Pendrake drove his sword into the beast's neck. The war hog gave one final grunt as life faded from its yellow eyes. Pendrake stared morosely at the fallen hog. "Arkadius, you lunatic, why can't you leave well enough alone?"