Despite the fact that it would totally piss off the Princess of the Night, the ponies decided it best to stay awake. None of them really knew why, but they had this weird sense of foreboding about them. Ren offered to take watch instead, but the others agreed that it wouldn't exactly be fair to him that they would get to sleep and that he wouldn't. Also, the way he didn't really act like a pony even while looking like one creeped them out.

"You know, for this being an official case of alleged crime and subsequent sentencing and carrying out of that sentence, this all happened really quickly." Ren said, holding up his face with his hooves. The others looked at him kind of funny. "I'm serious, matters like this took months if not years where I come from." They gave him an even weirder look. He could've sworn that he heard a whispered "But the Princess knows all."

"He's right, though. These things do tend to be over and done with in a decently timely manner, but not this quickly." Twilight explained, "I don't think we're out of the woods yet. If 'Feaurax' shows his face anywhere but in the company of the Princess, they're bound to nab him for something or other."

"Good, so I'm not the only one who thinks something fishy is going on," Ren said.

"Speaking of crime, did you hear that one real estate mogul, can't remember his name, got off on another property damage charge?" Fluttershy asked incredulously. "They've got to have their hands in his pockets. How else could it be that not a single charge they've brought up has stuck?"

"Another example of capitalism at its worst. I'm all for being properly rewarded for hard work, but that stallion got most of his fortune from his father when he finally passed. His father wasn't any better than he is, of course, but the principle still applies." Rarity commented.

"Isn't he the one who keeps tryin' to get the farm ponies to give up their land, and if they don't give him what he wants he has it set on fire?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Basically." Rainbow Dash answered.

"If he gets it in his head to come knockin' on mah door, mah farm ain't gonna be what's burnin'. It's gonna be him." Applejack spat with a measureable amount of contempt.

"Back to what I was saying before," Ren broke up the gossip, "I don't have a good feeling about this. I think we should get off in Tall Tale, wherever that is. I don't know what's coming, but I know something is. And I know it can't be good."

"Oh, quit it with the paranoia, will ya? I've got enough to spare already, thanks." Dash said, when something slammed into the side of the train car, making it tip slightly on its side. It fell back onto the track with an audible clang of metal on metal. If the ponies in the other cars were asleep when whatever hit the car impacted, they were certainly awake now.

"The hell was that, then?" Ren said with just a hint of smugness. Another object hit the side of the train car, this time making a noticable dent. "All right, just what the hell is going on here?" Ren asked rhetorically, opening the window to look out of it.

A poorly aimed shockwave bolt struck him in the face, sending him flying to the other side of the train car. Yet another projectile slammed into the train car, this time succeeding in its goal of toppling the metal behemoth.

Each pony's world was turned on its side as they all landed on the wall of the left side of the car. The usual rounds were made to make sure that everypony was okay, and what to do next was discussed. Ren sighed and switched over to Feaurax, staff at the ready.

"Feaurax! What did the Princess tell you about being in that form out here?!" Twilight demanded in a harsh whisper. He didn't respond, gently pushing her to the side.

"Zojak Quazeal!" He shouted, the newly-minted piercing bolt punching a hole through the sheet metal of the roof that was now the side wall. He had to do this a few more times, aiming at various places to make a hole large enough for the group to go through. He immediately shifted back into his 'Ren' disguise.

"Okay, I'll admit, that's cool." Dash praised.

"Yeah, ah could think of a couple uses for somethin' like that." Applejack said, eyeing the holes the spells had made in the half-inch thick steel.

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it. This was a one-time-only deal. I can't be doing this every time we get in a situation. Twilight's right, I could be found out." Ren said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"So what about all the other ponies?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Well, I hardly think that the company who runs this would let innocent ponies perish. Besides, they've got food, water, and shelter from the creatures of the forest. It really is the safest place for them. I'm sure as long as we let somepony know when we get into town if they don't already know, they'll be fine." Rarity said.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to shoot that idea down. You know why? Ursas. You know what they're drawn by? Food and ponies. You know what it takes to stop them? Neither do I. And you know as well as I do that the majors can punch through this--" Rainbow Dash rapped the thick metal with her hoof, "--like it's aluminum foil. So, no. We aren't just leaving them here."

Rarity's eyes went wide. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. Of course that would make it unsafe, just about as unsafe as it gets honestly..."

"So what do we do?" Applejack asked reluctantly.

"Simple. We get them all out of there, and then we all head off to whatever town's nearest. We just have to follow the tracks. And I'm sure Dash and Fluttershy wouldn't mind doing some scouting." Ren said.

"Sounds like the best plan we're going to come up with out here. Let's get to it then." Twilight sighed. She'd already had a long day. Little did she know it would be even longer before the sweet embrace of sleep would welcome her.

"How are we gonna do that?" Pinkie asked, bringing a slight problem to their attention. "I mean, that's some thick stuff there, and I'm not sure if any of us can get through it."

"'Cept for Fee- ... Fay- ... buck it, Ren." Applejack said.

"Speaking of my name, you should just refer to me as Ren, whichever form I'm in. Might as well, it's less confusing that way. On to the matter at hand... I guess I could do it -- s'not like they're gonna rat out the guy who just bailed them out of a bad situation." Ren shifted to his Isparian form, discarding any mention of the name Feaurax. It was apparently too difficult to pronounce, and he didn't want one of the ponies to screw it up at a key moment. One false move and his cover was blown wide open. To tell the truth he wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't slip up himself, so to minimize that risk, he simply discarded his "impressive name," as one of his older friends had called it.

He walked to one of the other train cars and knocked on the roof-turned-side-wall. "Anyone-- err, anypony in there?" He asked. A muffled voice answered. "I'm gonna get you out of here, but you're gonna have to move away from what was the roof. Just yell when everypony's on the other side, this might get violent." The yell came not long after, and he steeled himself for casting what was probably one of the silliest spells of all time. It brought eight giant furred fists into being, arranged them in a four-by-two grid, and sent them slowly hurtling towards whatever the target was. For how slow they were moving, you'd never think that they would do as much damage as they did -- the spell was made as a joke, and the havoc it wreaked was the punchline. "Quavosh Quapaj!" he yelled, the fists materializing and taking off as expected. Also as expected, they disappeared right after they broke through the steel -- most "wall" spells didn't, and Tusker Fists (which is this spell's name) was no exception to that. However, it did have a sort of kill switch built into it - if the mage willed it to, the damn fists exploded into confetti. It would be perfect for Pinkie Pie if it wasn't so destructive. Rainbow Dash burst out laughing when the fists appeared, and only laughed harder when it broke through the steel. She literally could not breathe when they exploded into confetti. Pinkie stood, admiring the confetti they left behind and eying Ren with an expression that he couldn't place.

Curiosity?

Intrigue?

... Desire? No, that couldn't be it... Ren shuddered. He hoped that wasn't it. Even if he was into mares (he was into females, yes, but strictly of his own species), which he wasn't, he doubted he'd be enough for her. She had what seemed to be an endless energy pool. Where her friends were starting to show signs of fatigue, she was as chipper as ever.

Ren released the breath he didn't realize he had been holding when the fists dispelled as they were meant to, and the three mares in that particular car walked out unscathed. They thanked him profusely, not even mentioning something along the lines of "Aren't you supposed to be locked in the castle?"

Ren sighed as the reality of the situation hit him: He had busted through two cars. There were at least fifteen more to go.

This was gonna be a long night.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A shadowy figure snaked around another tree, careful to avoid being spotted by the suspicious ponies and Isparian. It chuckled darkly to itself.

"Oh man, the way that one caught him in the face! Priceless!" it laughed a bit louder, unable to contain itself.

Pinkie Pie's ears perked up at the sound. "Say, did you hear that?" she asked Rarity, who was standing next to her.

"Hear what, darling?" came the reply.

"Could'a sworn I just heard somepony laughing. Only... everypony's being quiet." Pinkie said, eying the trees suspiciously. "Just... just keep your eyes peeled. I don't think whatever attacked us is very far."

Shit! The figure thought to itself. That was close. I need to be more careful. One wrong move and I'm at the bastard's mercy -- again. Need to wait till he's drained himself casting that stupid spell over and over, and then I can swoop in, end his sorry ass, and kill everything else. A bleeding heart makes it really easy to bleed out, I guess. It licked its lips. The Hopeslayer is going to be very pleased with me when I bring him the corpse. I might even get the first shot in the tournament. But that all hinges on this.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The Isparian dispelled the last set of Tusker Fists, the foals inside the car cheering when the confetti started to fall. He sighed. That took far more out of him than it should have. His rather large (even by Isparian mage standards) 'mana tank' was just about running on fumes, so to speak. He perked up when he realized that he could start walking now, and hopefully get to sleep somewhere warm by sunrise. Twilight walked up to him.

"Hey, are you all right?" she asked. "You don't look so good. You look pale... paler than usual, I mean. And you're kind of swaying around..." she trailed off. "If you want, we could just call it a night. I don't know how to gauge your specific brand of magic, but I imagine that casting a spell with that kind of destructive force not just once, but fifteen times can suck you dry."

"Sixteen," he corrected, taking the opportunity to sit down.

She chuckled good-naturedly. "Sixteen. How awful."

"You said yourself that you didn't know how much energy it takes to do that."

"True." she shuffled uncomfortably. "Soo... planar magic, was it? Mind showing me a thing or two about it?"

He sighed. "If I can force it to work in this world, and it's compatible with whatever fundamental theorems there are that govern unicorn magic."

"That reminds me!" she almost cut him off. "Princess Celestia gave you a unicorn form, not just a pony form. That should mean you can cast our kind of magic!" she nearly squealed. Pinkie stopped talking to the others and looked at her, raising an eyebrow at her uncharacteristic excitement. "I can teach you if you don't already know by instinct, probably. Even if you've got the basics, I'm sure you wouldn't mind learning the complexities of it all."

He raised an eyebrow, also slightly put off by her unnatural excitement. "Depends. Is this going to be a permanent ability? 'Cause if not, I might as well not bother."

"I don't know. I imagine it would be, but what the Princess can give, she can also take away. And it might be rendered unusable when you make it back to your world, so there's that. But there's no harm in learning, is there? I mean, you aren't going to be doing much else, are you?" Ye gods, those eyes. Those deep purple eyes. They could melt a heart of solid granite. Luckily for her, they wouldn't have to.

He sighed and gave in to the purple mare's 'subtle' pleading. "Yes, Twilight, I would like to learn more." She gave a small squee. "Starting the day after we make it to wherever you call home. I need to catch up on sleep." He started rubbing his temples. "I haven't slept properly for any decent length of time in weeks. This whole 'cast Tusker Fists over and over again to save the ponies' thing didn't help. That spell has always drained me more than it should, and I've never liked using it. The only reason I did was because it is the only 'wall' spell I can dissipate at will. Now could I please get some sleep?"

Before Twilight could answer, Ren spotted a piercing arc heading towards them. He bolted upright, grabbing the mare by her underside and scrambling out of the way. The arc drilled into the ground where Ren had been mere moments before.

The shadowy figure stepped out from behind a tree, laughing. "You should've seen the look on your face!"

"I almost died! Is that your idea of funny?"

"Well, it'd certainly make my job easier." it snorted.

"Oh forget this. I'm too tired for this crap. Lemme guess, you're here to kill me for something or other. Did I get it right?"

"Ding ding ding, we've got a weiner -- uh, I mean winner."

"Ding ding ding, I'm sick of you already, smartass."

"Then I guess we better cut right to the heart of the matter. I'm a disciple of the Hopeslayer. You're Asheron's protege. His... er, blackness heard of your... shall we say 'vacation', and sent me to end you while you weren't looking. Failed in that respect, but someone's corpse is coming back with me, and I'd prefer if it were yours."

Ren deadpanned, "Spectacular." Then he readied his staff, and disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" Rainbow Dash's eyes darted around, looking for the mage. Twilight's eyes were darting around too, but in a more discernible pattern. Out of all of them, she was the only one who was able to see him at all, and even she could only catch a glimpse here and there. Somehow, he was completely abusing the laws of physics, rubber-banding all over the landscape around them. The figure chortled a bit before also disappearing. Suddenly, a mess of yellow and blue sparks exploded somewhere to the left of the group.

"Visual representation of the Stamina to Mana spell!" Ren yelled in explanation. "Malar Zhavik!" Another mess of yellow sparks imploded, presumably into his body.

Then, literal bolts of lightning began to fly. "Zojak Quasith!" the dark figure yelled, the violet bolts flying wherever. "Dammit! I can never get that one to work right!"

Ren smiled. "I can." He moved to cast a vulnerability spell on the figure, shouting "Cruath Quafeth!" The success was indicated by a vibrant purple crystal of sorts being absorbed into the still-invisible body of his adversary. A growl of annoyance drove the point further. "Zojak Quasith!" The bolts moved in tandem, forming a larger bolt that struck their target head-on.

"Shit! That one hurt, asshole! Try this on for size! Zojak Quafeth!" The green ball of acid missed, hitting the ground and killing the grass before melting a small hole and dissipating. "Dammit! Why can't I get a hit on you?!"

"You're too slow, that's why!" Ren chuckled, unknowingly imitating a certain blue hedgehog with his tone. "Equin Caja!" The magic coursed through his system before the effects were felt by the figure, who suddenly found it much more difficult to move, the resistance against its movement increasing greatly. The effects were visibly represented by an impressive-looking vibrant green veil descending over the target, who, with its recent drop in speed, suddenly became visible again.

"Oh come on!" it said, exasperated. Ren laughed, further fueling his adversary's murderous rage.

"Do you even resist, bro?" he said, grinning. (I'm sorry.)

"Hey, screw you! Zojak Quasith!" The lightning successfully coalesced. Ren stood still, smiling confidently. The bolt hit him, but did nothing. He caught it in one hand and channeled it to the ground with the other.

"What the hell?!" the figure demanded. "How?! How are you doing this?!"

Ren smirk widened. "I think it's fairly obvious who's outmatched here. Either piss off or get yourself killed, I really don't care which."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Twilight's horn flared, her face a mask of concentration. She cast some kind of measurement spell, as evidenced by a piece of paper and a quill rising to write the results.

Rarity said, "Twilight, dear, what are you doing?"

Twilight smiled, "Trying to see just how screwed this guy really is." She looked at the paper, interpreting the results, then frowned. "Undefined. Undefined for both." She used her magic to ball up the paper. She tried again. "Maybe that spell was only meant for unicorns. Let's try another one."

This one generated more concrete results. "This can't be right." she said, frowning while looking at the numbers. "This puts them at a level far lower than even a foal. But it does give them numbers, so I guess I can use it to gauge them... so, Ren is about three times as powerful as the other guy. That should be fun to watch." She used her magic to ball up this paper, and returned to watching the duel.

"Yeah, Ren, kick his ass!" Rainbow Dash whooped. Fluttershy fixed her with a withering glare. "What's the look for, Flutters?"

"Besides the fact that there are foals here and you're using that kind of language, you're also giving me the distinct impression that you want to see something die."

"Well, normally I wouldn't, but this guy lost any sympathy he would've gotten from me when he attacked those two," Dash said haughtily.

"... Point taken."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"I think I'll take option C: kill everything. Tugak..." the figure began, an ominous sense of dread filling the surrounding ponies.

No! Not that, anything but the Curse of Raven Fury! The one and only spell that begins with Tugak was designed presumably by the Hopeslayer himself, intending to maximize the killing potential of his followers. And maximize it that certainly did - it really was nothing more than a beefed-up Martyr's Hecatomb, taking half of the caster's health instead of a quarter and projecting it into a ring instead of a bolt. The spell was devastating, just about guaranteed to kill all but the heartiest of foes horribly. There were only a handful of people who survived the spell, and they were never quite the same. If there was a way to mark someone who is a disciple of Bael'Zharon, the use of this spell would be it. The callous disregard for life required to use this spell was an overwhelmingly obvious clue.

Desperate, Ren bolted to the figure, grabbing its long black cloak before shouting, "Shurov Sith!"

Miraculously, the two disassembled into brilliant purple globs before disappearing entirely. Next Chapter: An Old Frenemy, Part 2 of 2 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes