Chapter 3: Train Hijack
The train whistled as it roared down the tracks through miles of plains, feeling every bump along the way. I looked out the window with my left hoof propping my head up, observing the trees fly by. "So are you going to tell us about your whole discussion with Princess Luna?" Twilight's question knocked me out of my stupor and I turned to look at her curious eyes. Didn't think it would take her that long for her to ask a question like that.
"Well..." I began, thinking over my scenario "Part of my wish is to bring my family over here to Equestria, but, I will need to accompany Luna in order to do so, in case if anything goes south. Besides, I got to thank her for making this wish come true."
"I'm curious. I'd like to meet the rest of your family. Can you...tell me about them?"
Shit; I was hoping I could avoid this. I muscled past my hesitation and began to explain "My dad was in the Military for more than twenty years. He was an officer in the Marines."
"What are 'Marines'?" She looked at me with a mix of curiosity and confusion, holding a quill and paper close to her by her magic.
"They are a branch of our country's Military. Well, from the world I came from. They are the first ones on the front line and they undergo a very vigorous series of training sessions to become one. In one part of the world, we were at war with another country and my dad was the commanding officer of one of the Companies stationed there. He commanded about 190 troops and organized a series of missions there. He was never allowed to tell me what happened on those missions, though; I wouldn't want to know, to be honest. He was a great leader, until...a terrorist bombing took both his legs and killed almost all of his men."
Mentioning the tragedy made her gasp "I'm so sorry." She placed her hoof on my shoulder, looking into my eyes. I nodded in agreement to her sympathy "Him and my mother broke up about a month later; I don't know what caused them to do so. My Mother took my younger brother and sister with her and moved across the country. I stayed with my dad since I was stricken with cancer at the time."
"What about your Mother?"
"She used to work for a bank, but ever since she moved, I haven't heard from her ever since. I don't even think she knew that I was stricken with cancer. Once we're reunited, we can bury the axe and start over."
"Can't expect things to work right away. Take a look at Luna on after she was banished to the moon while she was Nightmare Moon. It took them a thousand years and the use of the Elements of Harmony for them to patch things up."
"I know. Once they get a taste of what's here, they won't refuse staying here; I know it."
About half an hour passed until Twilight spoke again "It's been awhile since me and Spike have been to Canterlot. It's great to have a break from study every now and then."
"Long, boring trips are enough to break my sanity" I quipped. (God, I miss motorcycles.)
"It wouldn't be too boring if my friends were along for the ride. Pinkie Pie always finds a way of making anything fun."
"At least I'll be able finally meet Princess Celestia and have the opportunity to talk to Luna." (I can marvel at her beauty with my new eyes.)
I looked across from me and Twi to see a sleeping Spike on the seat, snoring. How can somepony sleep on a train is beyond me.
BOOOM
A magical explosion from the caboose made me and Twilight jump and the shockwave knocking the poor dragon onto the floor, waking him up on impact. "Oww! Five more minutes" he whined, rubbing his head and looking at the bent imprint on the metal frame. "What was that!?" Twilight gasped. I sat there, unfazed since I experienced something like this before, except it wasn't on a train; it was a skyscraper. I'm getting a serious case of Deja Vu right now, like I saw this in an Anime once. I'm going out on a limb and guessing what's going to happen next. (Three, Two, One...)
"We are the Ponies' Liberation Front!" A voice called out over the loudspeaker, garnering Twilight and Spike's attention "We have assumed control of this train! Follow our orders and you will not be harmed!" (Called it.)
"Ponies' Liberation Front?" Twilight repeated the radical group's name "It sounds like they ripped it off of somepony."
"I certainly never heard of them," Spike rolled his eyes at the situation. I sighed loudly out of annoyance, "Even this world has radicals. Jeez, it's like wherever I go, trouble follows."
"Aren't you going to do something?" Twilight asked me with a slight panicky, yet calm tone in her voice.
"Why should I have to?"
I paused for a moment, Twilight gave me a stern look and I realized what I said. My eyes shot open and I played the defensive card "Wait a minute! If I can handle a one hundred story tower and living buildings with cancer-covered demons, this will be like Disneyland to me!"
A duo of Unicorn thugs kicked the door open and trotted in. They both wore black, jewelry-covered military uniforms. (I definitely saw this scenario somewhere in an Anime; I just can't put my fin-er, hoof on it!) The stallion on the left is yellow-furred with short, grey hair. The one on the right had blue fur with medium-length blond hair.
"Alright" the grey-haired unicorn called out to us "You heard the announcement; this train in under control of the Western Unicorn Movement, now fork over the Bits and jewels!"
"Sounds like they changed their name after the announcement" Twilight pointed out.
"I just can't take any more of this" I whined. I noticed the lack of urgency in her voice "Hey, weren't you and Spike in a situation like this once?"
"Yeah; we were."
"Sounds like somepony put a curse on ya" I deadpanned.
"HEY! You with the pink highlight and Shorty!" the thug on the left shouted "Who said you two could speak? Just shut the buck up and fork over all your shit!"
Remember when I mentioned that I started a few riots? Yeah; majority of them started by someone calling me "Short." (Short man Syndrome. What are the odds?) The moment he called me 'Short', made my head twitch violently, causing me to crack my neck. I slowly turned my head to look at him "Who are you calling 'Shorty'!?" I growled through clenched teeth.
"Yeah I called you 'Short'! Who the hay else is there? You cross-dressing SHORTY!"
Something inside me snapped and all I could see is red and all I can think of is hurting them. My wings sprang open from the inside of my jacket and rocketed myself towards the name-calling thug. My horn glowed a bright red, aiming towards the stallion's face. The concentrated blast form my horn, sent him crashing through the side of the train and slamming into a tree passing by.
The other stallion noticed my wings protruding from the inside of my jacket and pieced two and two together. "A-an Alicorn!?" he stuttered, readied his horn and brighten it with his magic. In a split-second, before he could fire, a purple bolt of magic struck him in the face, knocking him out instantly. I looked over to the unicorn and the beaming young dragon. "That was impressive, Liam!" he complimented my angry outburst.
"Wow; I didn't think my tranquilizer spell would come to use until now" Twilight said.
I noticed a piece of paper sticking out of a pocket of the stallion's uniform. Interesting. I pulled it out to read it (Curiosity? I haz it.):
To all members of The Nightmare Society, the day is almost here. By the order of our fearless lord and rightful ruler, we must kill ponies and gather their souls in any way we please, but--
The rest of the note was missing due to most of the note being burnt off. (Dumbasses couldn't even dispose their secrets properly.) What the hell is this "Nightmare Society"? Whatever they are, they have some nerve hijacking a train to crash. I stared at the note, thinking of fire and the note lit up like a candle. I burnt the rest of the note with my newly found fire magic (Agi) and decided not to tell Twilight and Spike about this so called Society (Yet). Twilight walked down the isle with an expression of both curiosity and fear "Just who are these ponies anyway?" she asked me. I quickly thought of my next move and went over to Spike.
"Spike, when we enter the car after the next one, do NOT follow us; don't want you getting hurt, understand?"
"But why do I have to stay behind?" Spike asked, disappointed.
"You're still too young," I explained to him, "I don't want to be the one responsible for your death if you don't do what I say and I can't trust you to do so. Just stay with the passengers once we liberated them and you'll be safe. Sound like a plan?"
"YES SIR!" Spike saluted me and followed me back to Twilight.
"We got Forbidden Magic-wielding Cultists among us; so everypony watch your backs, okay?"
Both nodded and proceeded to follow me through the first door that was broken by the thugs.
We entered a passenger car filled with ponies who are all holding their hooves up. The thugs clad in black noticed us. It seems that these guys wore masks as well as having no tails. (How do they sleep at night, knowing they don't have tails?)
"HEY! YOU THREE! SIT THE BUCK DOWN!!!" he yelled, his horn glowing brightly "Unless you're trying to be a hero?"
I gestured my head at Twilight, silently telling her and Spike to get out of the isle. This whole moment I feel like I relived it before in a western game. (I know this world is kind of a Living Saturday Morning Cartoon, but COME ON!) Ah, hell; just go with it.
The thug shot out a bolt towards my head. Quickly reacting, I aimed the tip of my horn towards it. The bolt struck the tip and lit it up. My head went numb as the magic recoiled back off my horn towards the attacker. He leaped out of the way in time, but a terrorist behind him tried to do the same, but it was too late. The bolt struck the pony, causing him to convulse violently and collapse. The third one whom was the furthest away from me got wide-eyed and ran.
"Nononono, buck that" he winced. The pony who dove from his own magic chased after him "HEY! Get back here!"
"You saw what he did to #102, I'm out!" the cowardly stallion jumped out of the window leaving a pissed off spook "GO ON! RUN!" he screamed into the distance "HAVE HERUREIZA WASTE YOU! SEE IF I CARE! You miserable coward."
As he was distracted, I took advantage of the situation. I concentrated on speed and it felt like time slowed down, causing me to run faster in normal time. It felt like three seconds went by, but in reality, half a second passed. I wrapped my forelegs around him, my right foreleg around his neck. I was curious who this "Herureiza" pony is and he must know something about it.
"Interesting info" I cooed evilly, my horn pointed at the side of his face, the tip lighting up "Care to tell me more?"
Distracted, I was back kicked in the gut, knocking the wind out of me. Gasping for breath, I lost grip and fell to to my stomach, in extreme pain. 'Liam, quick!' Luna's voice called out to me 'Concentrate your magic and use it to form a blade over your horn!' Heeding her words, in a flash, a thin black beam of magic appeared where my horn should be just in time when he swung his head down with a horn-blade of his own. I angled my head to block his attacks, waiting for him to lose his balance. Using the same speed spell I used to body the one spook in the previous car, I slid around him and slashed diagonally to the right. He screamed out in pain, the burnt laceration sizzled on the side of his body. The smell of burnt fur and flesh lingered in the air as he collapsed onto the floor, dead.
I felt the mortification come from the ponies as well as from Twilight. 'Stone, what did you do!?' Luna screamed in thought-speak 'Why did you kill-'
'Listen to me, Luna; these ponies hijacked this train. They are going to intentionally derail the train to kill everypony on board so they could gather their souls unless I pacify them by any means necessary!'
I heard her gasp in shock I could sense her tears streaming down her face 'Why would they do this? To nice, innocent ponies?'
'That's what I would like to know, myself. I heard one of the spooks mention a pony by the name of Herureiza; I have a hunch he might be the mastermind behind this jacking.'
'Please, handle this situation well; I don't want any of our subjects getting hurt.'
'I'll keep the ponies safe. The spooks however, I can't guarantee their safety; I'll promise to utilize lethal tactics as a last resort.'
'Thank you; be safe.'
'I know; this ain't my first tango with terrorists.'
I turned around to the ponies in the seats who all have their hooves down. "Okay, everypony!" I called out to them "Please, do not make any noise. Stay here; that means you too, Spike!"
"Well if you're so special, what can you do?" one pony called out to me from the crowd, obviously skeptical of my plan. "Back where I came from, things like this were common" I half-lied "Ponies that were brave and stupid enough like me played hero and they were mostly successful. Before you say it, yes; I'm one of those crazy bastards, but now's not the time to debate; my main priority is to sneak to the engine and permanently stopping this train."
"That sounds far-fetched" a young colt called out "How will you be able to fight them?"
I sighed loudly. I had to show them why, but I might spook them. So much for keeping a secret. I used my telekinetic spell to fling off my jacket and exposed my two large wings. From being folded for so long, I stretched them out, joints popping. Before they could bow down to me, I held out a hoof, stopping them.
"Before you bow, don't," I implored them, "I am not royal, nor am I related to the Alicorn Sisters; I'm showing you this to prove I have the ability to tear these guys a new one."
"But HOW exactly?" one made asked, which was a logical question.
I raised a hoof, but slowly put it down since, honestly, I never had a plan when it came to compromised trains, especially if it's my first time.
"First, I need you, Twilight," I began, calling her over here, "I need you to do a scan spell of this train, can you do that?"
She shook her head, "I can't; the train is moving too fast for me to get an accurate reading."
"Damn; might as well do plan B."
"I'm afraid to ask, but what is plan B?"
I cracked my neck, "We beat the piss out of them," I bluntly planned, "You take the cars in the middle and knock out the spooks."
"But what about you?"
I pointed my horn at the hinge of the service ladder and door and blasted it off. The ladder swung down and open, conveniently landing right beside me.
"I'll train surf down the line until I see another open service door. Sound like a plan?"
Twilight suddenly twitched and went back to normal.
"Yeah; it workswellofcourseitworkswhywouldn'tit? Assuming we don't die!"
"That is why I'll be up on the roof, making noise so they'll be drawn to me while you put them to sleep."
She calmed down, her mane went from messy to normal after her full understanding of the plan.
"Alright, everypony," I addressed the group, "Do not move anywhere else because Operation: Roof Fiddler has begun!"