I quickly got dressed back into my iron wool dress, having thrown the stable barding to the side. It would be barely recognizable to anyone now if the found it, burnt and stained with blood. All my stuff was still here, guns, knives, ammo, and the scarf. Everything but the fucking megaspell bomb!

Glaring back at Xianzi, I don’t understand how somepony could fuck up this badly. She’d quickly bound up my tail in the red cloth I’d had before, likely trying to soften my anger by trying to ‘help’. But loosing a megaspell was well passed what helping me dress myself could fix.

“First off, because I know you’re thinking it, I was overseeing the recovery of our agents. There was no way for me to know that one of the common goons would mistake the case with a bomb in it for a case with a foal in it.” Xianzi took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled. “Lucky the train has not left yet, and the republic’s reinforcements have not shown up yet, so there's still time to go grab it.”

I gave an exhausted sigh. “And do you know exactly where the bomb is, and how to get to it?”

Xianzi nodded. “Orthrus is currently too busy to check every bag and case that' has been placed on the train, and they definitely don’t have the ability to make sure that nothing is being snuck in under their noses. That said, now with the republic freaking out, Orthrus now has all their regulars keeping watch on the train, and we’re going to need their attention pulled away if were going to get on the train.”

It’s never easy. “I'm guessing you already have something ready?” I asked as I put on my gas mask, feeling that some anonymity was still better than no anonymity right now.

“The equalists are already whipped up in a frenzy, and the idiot who moved the bomb is going to give them a push in the right direction.” Xianzi strapped an old world energy pistol to her back leg. “We got a few minutes before shit hits the fan with the civilians, and a few minutes past that before the Republic military moves in. In that little window of time, we can sneak through the tunnel blast door, and get to the bomb.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “You mean the big steel door that that keeps the main line from connecting to the rest of Vally Island? The same one which is basically welded shut by Orthrus?”

Xianzi gave me an bemused stair, and threw a blue cloak at me. “Just stop spouting expositions, and follow my lead. If this whole fuckup didn't happen on our side, I'd have just given you the bomb, and fucked off out of here.”

“Fair enough” I replied, as I put the cloak on, and pulled the hood over my horns.

She picked up a holotapes player, and a holotape talasman. “Right, let's get going before our train leaves the station.”

We once again took a hidden passageway, the muffled shouting of the ponies in the station became louder as we moved, and clearly angrier. “Orthrus thinks that can scare us into bowing our heads, into picking them over the republic! Who here thinks we're so easily manipulated by those greedy capitalists!” A pony shouted and other jeered at the speaker, many cursing Orthrus. More speakers could be heard as we moved, each one seeming less rational then the next.

“They’re coming for us, so we must strike them first!” One of their speakers shouted.

“Their assassin in has struck again, and will do so again, and again!” another rambled.

“They’re the ones who poisoned the air above! So they could keep us trapped and under their control!” At that, a larger cheer than the others got came from what sounded like nearly the whole crowd. This pony somehow was receiving lots of support, but I don’t feel like it was genuine. At this point, I think they were grabbing at anything to make them hate Orthrus more. These ponies had been through enough shit that they wanted a fight, and all they needed was an excuse.

“I saw her with my own eyes, the assassin in an Orthrus uniform!” A pony frantically repeated over and over through a megaphone. “It’s clear, undeniable proof that Orthrus killed or dear president!”

Then all the rambling faded, replaced with a chant. “Down with Orthrus!” Was being yelled, over and over again. So many ponies whipping themselves up into a furry, like a thunderstorm of madness in the distance. Yet it still didn't feel like it was enough, the madness still needed an extra push to get it where it needed to be.

We came to a stop, and Xianzi pulled on a hidden lever. The secret door opened like the others had, and we snuck of the passage. Trotting out, we found ourselves in a shanty town on the train tracks. Made of old tents, sheet metal, and plywood, all the ponies here were understandably cramped and dirty. Worst yet, they had equalist flags and posters everywhere.

“Keep your head down.” Xianzi whispered. “Some of the ponies here are Republic soldiers guarding the blast door.”

“And the rest are what, friends and family?” I asked quietly.

She nodded. “Think of them as the fanatic equalists of the station, who see themselves like guard dogs, waiting for Orthrus to trustpass.”

I noticed the ponies eyeing us from their makeshift homes. Some wore the kind of prosthetics poor ponies couldn’t normally afford, though they were still old and worn out models. Likely, though they live in this shitty place, the Republic gives them plenty of ‘rewards’ for their loyalty. That is, every reward just short of sticking them into the C.C.N., of course. Because as these fanatics fail to see, is that some ponies of the Republic are more equal than others.

As we trotted, the large blast door came into view. In front of it stood three Republic soldiers, their uniforms clean and clearly meticulously cared for. Well, clean except for the fact that all three had a stain on their front legs. The closer Xianzi and I got, the more I could smell the faint stench of bile, like all three had puked recently. It was clear to me now that the three guards were part of the C.C.N., because of course they were.

“Halt comrades, we don't know you, which means you don't belong here!” One soldier spoke with authority, having stepped up with her energy musket already fully charged.

Xianzi smile at the soldier. “Oh don’t mind us, were just here to see the door that keeps those greedy Capitalists out.”

The soldier didn't look amused at all. “You have seen it, comrades. Now leave, or do we need to make you leave?”

I loudly cleared my throat, getting the attention of the soldiers and of Xianzi. “Sorry to say, but our comrades here are part of the C.C.N., so talking isn’t going to work.” Using my magic, I subtly loosened two of my throwing knives from under my scarf.

All three soldiers stared at me, and all three spoke in unison. “We do not know you comrade, yet you know of us. Surrender now, and reveal how you know of the collective consciousness network.”

“That's definitely not creepy at all.” Xianzi spoke up as she began to shimmer. “I guess it's time for a dance then.”

The three soldiers turned in her direction, the closest about to bite down on her bit trigger. I tossed my two knives at the mare, hitting her once in the shoulder, and the other hit dug into the strap holding her energy musket. The mare’s shot went off its mark as she groaned in pain, and harmlessly shoot the ground behind us. Unfortunately, the two other soldiers hit their mark, lighting up Xianzi. The syndicate mare didn't flinch as both energy bolts hit a magical shell protecting her. In response, she drew her pistol, and fired back at the two soldiers that had shot at her, disintegrating both of them with her own burst of magical energy.

The remaining soldier pulled out the knife from her shoulder, glaring at us. “You will not get out of here alive, we will see to that.” She seethed through the pain of my knife. Pulling out one of my revolvers from under my cloak, I shot the soldier in the kneecap, causing the cybernetics in the leg to spark and fail. As the mare fell over, she glared at me with a burning hate, then shouted. “Orthrus spy!”

From under my cloak, I shot her other leg to keep her from getting up, or properly fighting back. Recovering my knives, I looked to Xianzi, who was already making her way to the door, and pulled out the holotape player, which had a small line of smoke coming off of it. Trotting up to her, she had an annoyed look on her face.

“What's the problem?” I asked, hoping nothing too bad.

She showed me the smoldering holotape player. “We just need to wait for this to cool down before I use a teleportation talasman, otherwise it will explode, and send us into the door, not past it.”

Right, a teleportation mishap was not a way I wanted do die.

“How long the wait then?” I grumbled. Of course, yet another delay.

“Not long, but that's not the issue.” She looked behind us, and so did I. A mob of ponies had formed, of at least thirty, but could easily be fifty more behind them, all armed with pipes, poles, wooden planks, and old rusting tools. “If they rush us, were fucked. So you need to keep that from happening.”

“Joy.” I grumbled, turning fully to face the approaching mob, and thought about my next move.

Pulling out my revolvers from under my cloak was not an option, as it could tip off Phobetor that I was truly here. Throwing knives have been effective so far, but mainly on ponies I caught by surprise. My evil eyes was a one on one thing, and these ponies weren’t connected like the others. Even if they had been, I would have to take off my gas mask, revealing myself. So bluffing it was.

“If you want to die, then keep on trotting.” I called out. “I may not have enough bullets, but I do have explosives.” This got the mob to slow down, but not stop. One pony jolted out of the crowd, a foal who jumped onto the surviving mare and tried to drag her back to the mob. I took a step forward, keeping a revolver at the ready from under my cloak. Looking at the foal, I got a bad feeling down in the pit of my stomach, making me feel cold. “Filly, don't tell me that's your mother.”

The foal glared at me as the soldier sat up, and shielded the foal from my view. “We are a family, all of us.” The soldier snarled at me.

“Then tell you're family to halt, or you’ll all be one less foal.” I said coldly.

The soldier steamed with anger, but she soon calmed, the emotion raiding from her face. “That loss is… acceptable.” Her voice was monotone, like that of a robot, but she would periodically twitch with anger. “Orthrus will soon fall, and our maiden of secrets will rise. Your appearance here will amount to little but a blip of what will come.” Turning from us, the soldier looked at the mob, and shouted. “Let them go, the spies matter little when they have made their intentions clear. Our duty here is over, it is time we rally for war.”

Good. With that, Xianzi will have the time to get us out of here. Backing up, I fell in next to Xianzi, who was now charging the holotapes player. “How much longer?”

“Not long, just a few second.” She replied.

“Good, don't use it right away, I have one last thing to do.” I told her.

She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Better make it quick, no telling how much time we have to get to the train.”

That was something she didn't need to remind me, but I still needed to give the C.C.N. one last push.

“Hay you, filly.” I watched as the small foals eyes turned to me with hatred. “You know your mother is lying to you, well, what's left of her that is. Thanks to the Republic, all she is now is a cybernetic drone, a slave to the network, and she cares nothing for you or any other pony now.” The foal jumped out from behind the soldier, and threw a stone at me, and to her credit, it actually hit my mask. Unfortunately for the filly, by the time the stone made contact... I had fired my revolver. One shot, one bullet struck the filly square in the chest, causing her to fall over. “Now, we can go.” I said as I holstered my pistol and turned to Xianzi.

“Just a second...” Xianzi replayed. That second seem to slow down as I watched the soldiers face contort into horror and despair, as she slowly looked from her filly to me.

If a glare of pure hate could kill, I'd be dead ten times over just from her alone. The soldier gave a deeply pained howl, even sending a shiver up my spine. It wasn’t because I feared her or regretted what I had done, it was because I knew that she would not be the last to feel this pain. The war had now truly started, and more mothers will lose their foals.

“Now!” Xianzi shouted, and then the world disappeared.

________________________________________________

With a pop, we were in the train stop, and unsurprisingly, the place was in an utter uproar. Ponies were fighting to get onto the train, even going so far as to getting into brawls with each other. Orthrus was nowhere to be seen, and sounds of screaming could be heard over from the entrance.

Xianzi dropped her smoking holotape player, stomping on it with her cybernetic hoof. “This way.” She instructed, quickly trotted over to the train, and I followed closely, having to step over a bleeding and unconscious mare on the ground. “The syndicate has taken over one of the carts, so the bomb’s in there. Once you have it, and I say this with respect, but please kindly fuck off, alright?”

“Don't worry, I don't plan on sticking around.” I ducked my head, avoiding getting hit by a flying bottle thrown by somepony in the crowd. “Now which cart is it?”

“The next one over.” She stated as we trotted past a cart with ponies struggling to shove themselves in. The cart we came up to had a pony doing her best to hold other off with a baton, but one angry mare was trying to fight her with a broken glass bottle. Both had their weapons held in their mouths, so it was just a lot of them swinging their heads around and not hitting anything.

“This cart is reserved!” Xianzi said loudly, drawing her pistol through a magical aura that came from one of her cybernetics. “So don't make me kill you, because you're certainly not worth the ammunition.”

The mare with the broken bottle growled at her, but backed away. Likewise, the syndicate mare with the baton put her weapon away, backing up to let us on board. “You’re cutting it close, boss. Any longer and we would have had to write you off.”

Xianzi put her pistol away as she stepped on the train, then looked around. “Good, looks like we got every pony we need to worry about here. Just make sure we don't have any unwanted guests before this train gets moving.”

I followed her on, seeing only twenty ponies onboard, three of which looked in serious need of a healing potion. While this cart could hold a lot more ponies, most of the seats were filled with cases and bags. Important syndicate equipment that they couldn't risk losing in an all out war. Of course, more than a few pieces of their luggage wiggled and moved from the restless foals inside them.

The batton mare stepped up to Xianzi, looking a bit annoyed. “So what's with the boxed foals? We ain't running an orphanage now, are we?”

Xianzi rolled her eyes. “Think of it as a... future investment. They’re worth a fuck ton to the right buyer, so you better handle them with the utmost care, understand?” She then quickly looked around, and sighed in relief as she pointed at the far end of the cart. “Miss Cold Iron, your case is over there.”

I saw it and quickly trotted over to the end of the cart. Pulling out the key card, and checking the inside, I found that the megaspell was still there. Satisfied, I turned back to the two of them.

“Then our business is done.” I said to Xianzi, and she nodded back at me, pointing to the door of the train dismissively.

As I made my way to the door, a mare in equalist cloths practically flew into the cart, slamming into a window.

“They caught onto us boss!” She shouted just as a bright pink bolt of energy hit her, disintegrating the pony.

The angry yelling from outside became frantic screaming as four civilian dressed ponies stepped onto the cart, all armed with energy muskets, three of which were still fully charged.

The cart went silent for a moment just as doors closed behind the four ponies, and I felt the train slowly began to move. “You syndicate agents are such a thorn in our frog, but that ends today.” One of the intruders spoke with a smug tone.

Xianzi yawned at the republic mare. “You’re outnumbered, you know that right?” She tapped her hoof on the floor, and the other ponies in the cart got up, drawing their weapons.

The syndicate mare with the baton laughed. “Ain't they stupid, I say we beat them, and drag them to the big boss. What say you b…”

*Bang*

The front of the baton mare's head blew open, spraying blood onto the wall of the cabin. Behind her was one of the badly hurt ponies, holding a digger gun in her mouth. Several other of the syndicat ponies jumped the shooter, holding her down before she could reload.

Xianzi’s eyes met my own before looking back at the Republic agents, she drawing her pistol slowly. “Let me guess, that C.C.N. bullcrap?” She said as a second of the three injured ponies pressed a digger gun to the back of Xianzi’s head, and she let her pistol drop. The third of them pulled out two grenades, which got the rest of the syndicate ponies to settle down.

The Republic agent that spoke before laughed. “It was only a matter of time, that's what our glorious maiden told us. All we needed was some bait. But don't worry, if you give us this information on this ‘sun city’ you’ve recovered, then you will be spared. Well, for today, anyway.”

That got me to smile from under my mask. The syndicate managed to get the information out, and Phobetor was already biting. Unfortunately, I had not plan to stay on the train, and now it was leaving the station. It seems that something always needs to be making my job all the harder.

From behind me, the sound of a door opened, and looking back, two ponies holding a small energy pistol trotted in, pointing their pistol at me. At the other end of the cart, two more ponies came in holding their energy pistols, effectively surrounding us.

One of the Republic agents near me jabbed her pistol in my side as she stared daggers at my face.

“Ready to be executed foal killer? First, hoof over that gun.” Demanded the second agent next to her. From under my cloak, I drew both my guns, but only passed over Lunar eclipse. The pony took it with a gleeful smile, then took a look at it, her smile fading as she studied the revolver, then her eyes looked up at me, turning gold. “You!”

With my free magic flame, I pulled out a holotape labeled Sun City on it. “You want Solaris’ mind control spell, then your going to have to take it from me, nightmare!” With my solar eclipse still under my cloak, I twisted to the side and I fired a shot at the pony with the pistol on me, causing her to fall back. In her stumbling, she loosed a bolt of energy into the other end of the cart from her pistol, causing everypony to duck.

This gave the syndicate the distraction they needed, and the ponies began fighting. Xianzi gave the pony behind her a swift buck, and got a bullet hole through her ear in retaliation. The pony in front of me turned Lunar eclipse on me, but when she tried to fire, it only clicked. In response, I put two shots from Solar eclipse into the agent’s face, and took back my gun.

A shot of energy nearly hit me, the scornful heat brushed by my face and forced me to take cover. Looking over, the four republic agents were using a magical shield to protect them from the syndicate’s counter attack, poking their rifles through it to take shots back at us. “So do you need any help, or can I go now?” I shouted out to Xianzi.

From her cover, she took a shot at the four republic agents, not having any effect. “Like I already told you, kindly fuck off! We’ve got things well under control here!” She pointed passed her, and I saw the pony with the grenades inside a white bubble, then there was a flash of light within the bubble, turning it a dark red before popping, spilling blood and gore onto the floor. “We've been playing this game with the Republic for years.”

I nodded, putting my guns away and made my way to the door for the next cart, avoiding another energy bolt being shot my way. Keeping low, I slid the door open, and saw that a pony was there waiting for me, charging their pistol. Not wasting time, I did the only thing I could think of in the moment, and headbutted them. I felt one of my horns go into soft flesh, and when the pony stumbled back, blood spurred onto my mask. Before my they could counter attack, I jumped onto them, slamming down an iron hoof onto their face. While they screamed from my vicious assault, I drew out a throwing knife and stabbed them a few times for good measure until they stopped moving.

Cleaning off my knife on my now ruined cloak, I put the knife away, and removed the cloak. It wasn’t going to be of any use now that I was stuck on this train. Sliding the door to the next cart open, I was making my way to the back of the train to jump off… again. One of these days I’ll stop having to do ridiculous shit like this...

All I needed to do was get through a few carts, easy enough. The next cart was packed with ponies, as to be expected. A few of them looked like they’d been on the losing end of a fight, but then again they probably had to fight their way onto the train, so maybe a hard won victory for them. The ponies stared at me as I came through, but did their best to get out of my way, pushing each other into the side of the cart. It was just barely enough to let me squeeze through, but I made good time to next door.

The next cart was not much better, the ponies were packed in like canned food, just glad to be getting to safety. An energy bolt missed me, disintegrating a pony next to me, causing the mass of ponies to burst into a panic. I hadn’t seen who’d fired, so I pushed forward. The panicked ponies pushed against me, trying to get into the cart behind me and threatening to knock the case from my back. As I pushed, a flash of steel slammed into my mask, knocking off my head. I caught it in my magic, but it had just made the crowd of ponies panic even more. But now my head was above the mass of ponies, giving me full view of my attacker.

Unfortunately for the Republic agent, without my head on, my body had vanished in the panicked mass. Unfortunately for me, the attacker spotted my head and aimed their pistol up at me. My body responded swiftly, dragging the agent down before repeatedly slamming my iron hooves into their skull. Levitating my head to the other side of the cart, I joined my body at the door and became whole once more, With a small kick of my hooves against the doorway, I knocked off the bits of blood, bone, and mane that was stuck to them, and we moved onto the next cart.

This cart was less populated, with only a hoof full of scared ponies hiding on the side I had entered. At the mid section of the cart were a group of five ponies, armed with four energy pistols, and one energy musket. There were also three dead ponies on the floor around the other five, still clutching their energy pistols. Past them was an Orthrus regular, armed with the standard issued air rifle. The Republic soldiers were firing off more shots than the Orthrus ponie, whom only fired back whenever the republic tried to move in closer. Looking at the ground, it was covered in ball bearings and ash.

The Republic agents fired their guns as soon as one of them charged up, dashing to the next bit of cover and avoiding a shot from an air rifle. The Orthrus Regular dropped her rifle, and pulled out her enforcer revolver. This fight had been going on just long enough that she was nearly out of ammo.

Drawing both my revolvers, I felt helping Orthrus would be the best course of action. Taking a step forward, something pressed to the side of my head, and turning to see what it was, I found myself looking down the barrel of an energy pistol.

“Fuck!” was all I could say as my vision became red. I stumbled back, but at least I wasn’t dead. The pony who shot me, a republic agent hidden among the cowering ponies, looked at me in shock. I repaid their attack with my own, blasting the back of their head over the cabin.

I took cover before one of the other agents fired at me, but was a bit too slow. The smell of ozone and ash overpowered me for a moment. Taking off my gas mask, the breather had been disintegrated, leaving my mouth open to the air, but oddly the visor of the mask was only scorched. Throwing it away, had done its duty, but was dead weight now. Carefully, I peeked from cover with my revolvers ready.

One republic agent was waiting for me, but to slow to get a shot out at me as I shot the pistol out of her mouth. The round skimmed up into her face, taking part of her cheek with it, and sending her down screaming. This got the attention from the other four agents, who turned their guns on me.

One was not in the best cover, and I managed to get three shots into her, killing her outright. The remaining three fired over at me, trying to get me down by pure saturation. Once more I found myself using the dead as a shield as the civilian ponies panicked and attempted to get out of the cart. As soon as I was close enough, I ditched my makeshift shield and charged in, catching them off guard.

Unloading my remaining bullets into them, managing to kill two more. The last pony, the one with the musket, had actually thought on her hooves. She swung wildly, attempting to bluggin me with her musket like a mad mare possessed.

I hopped back to avoiding the attack, and dropped my revolvers in favor of loosing some of my throwing knives at her face. One blade missed, only scratching her cheek, and another was blocked by her prosthetic hoof. She grinned at me, her musket almost fully charged, so charged again, this time horns pointed at her. A scream came from her, the musket fired harmlessly at the ground, and then she fell back with one of her eyes gone, leaving only a bloody socket. Taking the opportunity, I drew another knife, jumped onto the mare, and slit her throat.

Looking up from my kill, the mare who's cheek I had blown off was now aiming another energy pistol at me. A loud shot went off from Orthrus’s side of the fight, and the mare collapsed into a heap. She let out nothing more than a whimper as the bullet hole in her back bubbled out what little life she’d had left.

With the fight over, I collected my knives and reloaded my revolvers before trotting over to the two Orthrus regulars.

“Thanks for the save, ma’am.” She said with an exacerbated breath, and passed her was another Orthrus regular, tightly holding onto her rifle and crying. The first regular trotted over to her partner, giving her a hug. “There were more that went up the train your way, did you see any?”

I nodded. “Unless there were more staying low, then they’re all dead. Though, I'm sure there's a second group at the front of the train, as I saw two come from the other end before I made my way here.”

“Shit.” The mare fretted as she patted her partner on the back. “I can only hope the other team fared better then we did because we’re barely holding on here after that.” She then eyed me suspiciously. “Not to look a gift hog in the maw, but... why did you come back here?”

“Just passing through.” I told her as I trotted to the door, and saw that the lock for it had been melted off, so I just opened the door. “Just count yourself lucky.” Entering the last cart, this part containing the train’s control terminal, which was covered in ash. On the ground next to the terminal was a dead pony clutching an energy musket.

The first regular followed me in. “You may have helped us, but by no means does that mean you’re allowed in here!” She said sternly as she trotted over to the control terminal.

“Like I said, not to worry, I'm just passing through.” I said again as I trotted to the door at the end. Opening it, the musty air from the tunnel rushed in, and the sound from the train tracks rattled loudly… too loudly. “Say, how fast does the gauge say we are going?”

“Why… fuck, were still accelerating!” Looking back, I saw the mare brush the ash from the radio, and pick it up. “This is team B, to team A, report!”

The radio didn't respond for a few seconds just white noise be for a calm voice spoke up. “So the slave master capitalists still held onto the back of the train. It matters not, soon we will be making our stop, and you all will be sacrificed for the good of the revolution.”

The Orthrus regular pulled a switch, and a skin crawling screeching came from under the train, along with sparks lighting up the tunnel. “Come on, slow down you bitch! Why are you not slowing down!?”

I didn't need any pony to tell me what was going on, the Republic were planning on crashing the train. Saving the ponies on this train was not my responsibility, but it was going to make it difficult for me to land safely on the ground at this speed.

“Any way to slow the train down?” I asked out loud.

She quickly pulled a book from under the control terminal, and flipped through the pages. “Here, in case the brakes fail to activate, they must be manually activated.” She slammed the book shut. “In between each cart their should be two brake levers off to the side, we need to pull them to slow this train down.”

Quickly trotting back from where I came, I looked in between this cart and the next, finding the levers in the bottom corner of both carts.

“Found them.” Pulling the lever for the cart I was in, and nothing happened. But when I pulled it for the other cart, the same screeching from before came from under the next cart. Entering the next cart, the other regular was still in shock, so I trotted passed her and to the end of the cart. Getting in between them, I pulled the levers, and again, the train screeched under me.

Moving on, I was met by a wall of ponies. Their panicked attempts to get to safety had caused them to jam together. This was going to make slowing this train down all the more difficult, so I needed a different plan.

“Listen up!” I shouted, but the ponies paid no attention to me as the pushed as shoved at each other. Alright, then we do this the easy way. I drew my revolver and shot one round into the roof. “I said listen up!” I shouted louder, and now a significant amount of ponies were looking at me. “Good, now the Republic is planning on crashing this train, and we need to have that not happen. There are too many of you in the way for me to get by, so if you want to live, I need you all to relay a message up the train for me, and do as I say. Understand?” Hesitant murmurs and frightened looks were a better start than pure panic, but I’d have to work with what I had all the same. “Now the instructions are simple if we want to do this. In between each cart are two emergency brakes. Pull them and they’ll prevent the train from crashing. Otherwise we all die, and I still have too much shit to do today for that.”

A few ponies nodded, but others sneered at me, and worse, the rest ignored me. Really, faced with death, most would be so ignorant? I lowered my revolver down at the mass of ponies.

“I'll ask only one more time,” I snapped, “you need to tell every pony up the train to pull the emergency brakes.”

One of the ponies spat something on the ground as she looked at me unamused. “Lady, like fuck would you start shooting innocent ponies!” staring down the mare, I sighed, and put my revolver away. “I knew it!”

Turning around I trotted back to the previous cart, and among the dead I found the energy musket, though the thing had lost its charge. Picking up the musket, I focused my magic into it, like I had when I was a normal mirage pony, feeling it well up from deep within me like a cold wave. The energy chamber of the musket glowed a dull solid blue, and looked more like a flame then simple stored magic. At least satisfied with what I had, I returns to the cart with the mass of ponies.

I found the mare from before berating another pony whose head was down submissively. Taking aim, I fired the magical energy musket, it sending a bolt of blue energy at the mare. She screamed as she was engulfed in blue flame, her voice painfully distorting unnaturally before turning into blue burning ash. This caused the cart to fall silent, as all eyes fell onto me. I once more charged the musket, causing a dim blue light to slowly became brighter, and seeing this, the mass of ponies shifted among themselves. The train cart then started to rattle as it’s brakes were pulled and the horrendous screech from them met my ears. Satisfied, I turned around, and trotted back to the the back of the train, dropping the musket along the way.

The Orthrus mare at the control terminal was still trying to press buttons, but not as frantically as before. Closing the door behind me, she turned around and sighed with relief. “Looks like it's working. We’re decelerating enough that by the time the train get a to the station, no significant damage will be done. You’ve saved a lot of lives miss.” She sat back, and let herself relax. “We'll make those Republicans pay for what they did.” Pausing, she perked her ears curiously as she glanced over me. “By the way miss, are you like, a specter? You kind-of give of that ‘secret agent’ vibe.”

I shook my head. “Just a merc delivering a package. Now on that note, I need to get moving.” I trotted passed her, and to the end of the cart.

“Wait!” She yelled, and I stopped to look back. “Your seriously going to jump?” I nodded, and she sighed. “We got a crash talasman device under the seat to your left. One time use thing, but for when needing to jump out of a moving a train. Don't ask me why they were even made, but take one and go.”

Checking under the seat, I found an old holotape player, with a holotalasman in it. “Thanks, and stay safe… also look after your partner. I'm sure that even though she's overcome with fear now, she’ll step up when it truly matters,”

The Orthrus mare shrugged. “That scaredy-cat joined to get away from any fighting, so jokes on her I guess. I do agree, she's stronger than she knows, but all this was too much to fast for her. To tell the truth, if she had died in the attack, I would have given up before you showed up. You can say I have a soft spot for the shy ones, don't know why though.”

Pressing the activation button on the holotapes player, and I felt much lighter, and looked back at the mare. “Trust me on this, losing friends and family are the worst pain you can feel. And it’s even worse when you can prevent it.” Trotting to the open door at the the back of the train, I looked back one more time. “Things are about to get truly ugly, so I suggest you two consider taking some time off. But, this is my stop, so good luck to the both of you.” I lifted myself up, and jumped off the train, prepared for a hard landing.

But that landing didn't come, not right away that is. I found myself floating in the air, slowly descending to the ground, the train had long left me in the dark. For a short moment I contemplated if it was a levitation talasman, or a float talasman. My own knowledge on arcane science to lacking to know the difference between the two, so I just called it slow fall before touching the ground, and the holotapes player fizzled out. Dropping the thing, it was clearly made cheap, but for a one time use divide, I had to give Orthrus credit for their foresight on this.

With my meteoric iron hooves on the ground, I once more made my way back to the Republic controlled station, with the megaspell bomb latched onto my back.

The darkness surrounded me, as it had before, but now it felt oppressive, as though something was smothering me. My eyes darted about, unable to see, but yet I could see darker shadows dancing around me, as impossible as it seemed. Each step echoed, like it was followed by other steps not my own. Worse yet, the stale air mixed with that of rot, ozone, and gunpowder. My own ears played tricks on me, as the sounds of ponies crying out for help slowly drowned out the actually silence.

Like a whisper from the shadows ‘Murderer’ was called out, echoing around me as I pushed forward. ‘Foal killer’ the shadows rightfully charged me. ‘Warbringer’ the shadows accused me of what I was.

“Your cheap tricks won't fool me, Phobetor.” I spoke out loud. “If you want what I have, then you’re going to have to take it from me yourself.”

“Is that so?” Phobetors voice echoed around me, and a pair of floating golden eyes appeared ahead of me. “You think I’m so stupid to even entertain your pathetic attempts to lure me out? Whatever you have done, it changes nothing.”

I laughed. “Yet here you are, so you’re wrong, something has changed. I have your attention.”

In the distance, the two eyes glared at me for a moment before vanishing. “Then so be it. all I must do is to destroy your mind, and have my slaves recover your broken shell.”

I snarled at Phobetor. “Do your worst, nightmare!”

Stomping the ground, I broke into a gallop, all the while mentally preparing myself for whatever attack she had planned. I just had to last long enough for her to fully show herself, that was it. Then, I can kill her.

Each pounding step echoed loudly within the tunnel as my eyes darted around, watching for whatever Phobetor had planned, yet seeing nothing. It caused my mind to wander, to imagine if she would show me visions of the dead once again, or a false reality. But I doubt anything she could show would have any effect on me anymore.

The sound of something other than my own hoofsteps hit my ears, it… it sounded like ponies yelling, screaming… it was a fight! I got my revolvers out, ready for the Republic and for any tricks that would come my way. As I got closer, the sounds of battle got louder, and the ground… became softer?

The tunnel vanished, and I found myself in some forest of trees I didn't recognized. It was cold here, and the ground was covered in a thin layer of white that crunched under my hooves. It was snow, I think. Looking up, it was a mostly cloudy night sky, with a large red full moon hanging in it. It was much larger than it had any right to be, something… was off about this. An explosion in the distance signaled where I needed to go, where ever Phobetor was leading me too. It may be a trap, but I might as well deal with it head on.

Closing the distance, I had been lead to a settlement… no, it was a village, like in the old picture books. It was old world construction, from the times before even the war, with white painted wooden walls with thatch roofs. Though as amazing as it was, this village had clearly seen better days.

“Fall back into phalanx position!” A voice boomed from nearby. Trotting over, I saw a massive hoard of ghouls, surrounding a group of around twenty ponies in an ancient style of dark blue armor with silver trim, armed with shields and speirs. They had formed a circle to fend off the ghouls, and at the center was a young looking dark blue mare, she had large wings… and a long horn… was that the goddess Luna?

“Hold them back, our air support will be here soon!” Luna shouted loudly.

Looking up, I caught a glimpse of something closing down fast, a formation of Pegasus in the same armor, except their wings looked more bat like. The… bat-ponies held out long axes out as they collided into the ghouls, taking out two or three each. With their attack done, they flew up again and turns around for another attack. That seemed to give the other ponies some room to move, so they dropped their defence, and began attacking the ghouls.

Luna's horn glowed, and a beam of magic shot out at a group of ghouls. The radiant magic caused some sort of an explosion, vaporizing the ghouls. “Necromancer, show thyself and accept your punishment!” She shouted.

There was a crack of lightning, and I felt a familiar, but warped magic fill the air. One of the bat ponies fell from the air, crash landing through a building near me. “How arrogant. Some little chick whose not long hatched from her egg now thinks she can challenge me?” From on top of one of the buildings stood a thin, almost skeletal looking harpy, dressed in rags and decorated with bones.

“Thine minions are no match. Now yield to us, or face my wrath!” Luna shouted back.

The harpy laughed as she waved her wing in a wide swing. From the ground below Luna’s hooves, bones sprouted out and formed a cage, trapping her within. Luna attempted to break free from her bone prison with her magic, but failed to even dent the cage. With another wave of her wing, more bone prisons piped out, catching all the other armored ponies around her.

“Equestries great protector, trapped like a bird in a cage. How will this land prosper now that Celestia has failed?” The harpy chuckled mockingly.

Luna glared at the harpy, trying to again break free. “My name is Luna, you foul villain.”

Flying down to the princess, the harpy tilted her head completely horizontally. “Who?”

“Sister of Celestia, guardian of the night!” She once again attempted to break free. Her struggles made the bone prison bend further, but not enough to break.

A loud and obnoxious cackling came from the harpy. “Wait, thou is... her sister? Here we all thought you were just her lacky. Your sister must not think highly of thee, to hide you away in the night.” She crept close to Luna’s bone prison, putting her face close to it. “The ponies of this land must think the same. None called out to you for salvation, they only cry for Celestia.”

“Enough!” Shouted Luna. Her prison shattered appart with tremendous magical force, sending the harpy flying back. “I care not for thy poisonous tongue, foul curr! I will drag thee back to the palace, where all can marvel how I stopped your vile evil!” Taking a step forward, her horn glowing with more magic then I had ever felt before. She formed a magical ring around the harpy's neck, and lifted her off the ground. “Now, Do you yield?”

The harpy smiled, as her bright gold colored eyes almost glistened in the goddesses’ magic. “You wish for the ponies of this land to recognize your greatness? I alone know the secret to do so.”

Luna slammed the harpy on the ground, then lifted her up once more. “Yield I say!” She shouted again.

“A secret for a secret, then you shall do with me what you please.” The harpy extended her tattered wings out as though presenting some prize. She wore a disturbingly wide smile on her face. A smile that was more than familiar to me. “I'll even give you a secret for free, one that would raise you out of your sisters long shadow.”

The princess narrowed her gaze at the harpy, but said nothing, which only made the harpy grin even wider.

The sound of a twig snapping cut through the air like a blade, and every pony looked in its direction. Like a ghost, and it might as well have been, a heavily armored headless pony stepped out from the shadow and mist. Luna sighed, looking annoyed.

“Why does thou appear now? We have this villain captured there is no need for your interference, spectre.”

The dullahan seemed to meld into the shadows as a black fog surrounded it, only to appear next to the harpy, placing a hoof on necromancer’s face. The harpy twitched for a few seconds before going limp, hanging in the goddesses hooves with a lifeless look in their eyes. It had killed her… with a single touch...

Luna threw the dead harpy to the ground, huffing at the dullahan. “Spiteful undead!” The dullahan simply walked away, ignoring the princess. “Does your master not have a pact to keep, or is it simply only my sister that your kind respects?” She yelled as the dullahan vanished into the fog.

Having seen enough of this distraction, I trotted out. “Alright Phobetor, what's your game?”

“Just a history lesson.” Luna spoke with Phobetor’s voice. “Did you ever hear the story of Nightmare Moon?”

I cocked an eyebrow. “As in the Nightmare Night mascot? It was a caricature of Luna thought up during the war to boost morale and sell confections, what of it?”

The dead harpy twitched, it's head moving unnaturally to look at me. “Oh how ponies so easily forget the past. Though to be fair, Celestia did a thorough enough job of erasing her own sister from history, so it's understandable.” The harpy's body sat up, it's head and wings still limply flopping around. “The poor unloved younger sister, neglected and pushed away. In a bout of desperation, she made a pact, and was reborn as a nightmare. As Nightmare Moon, she attempted to steal away the day, but failed. Her punishment was nothing new to her, and she was banished to the moon for wanting nothing more than to be treated fairly. Oh how ashamed must the older sister have felt for the next thousand...”

*Blam*

I shot the dead harpy, a small blue flame poking out of the hole in her head. “And what? You’re going to say that it was all because of you?”

“By Olympus, no!” A dead bat pony spoke up from its mangled face. “The young princess was actually quite resistant to our suggestions. She was a headstrong dreamer, with convictions stronger than the iron around your hooves. But mostly, I had little interest in the young alicorns. True, they had power, but no wisdom or secrets that I didn't already know. Their teacher however, the great Starswirl the bearded, had so much knowledge. How could I not want him for myself?”

*Blam*

I shot the dead bat pony, returning it to a limp state. “Then why show me this? Or are you just out of ideas and wasting my time?

“Don’t you see?” Luna looked at me with golden eyes. “In the end she, was abandoned by her own subjects and left heartbroken. Ponies did what I could not, and turned such a sweet mare into a monster. Why you ask, do I tell you this? Well, you can say that I sympathize with her.” Phobetor lifted up Luna’s armored hoof, and looked at herself through its polished reflection. “All that potential, wasted on unworthy, ungrateful thieves.” I pointed my gun at her, but hesitated to fire. In response, Phobetor sighed. “Have you really become just another death dealer? How tragic.” I could sense the sarcasm on her voice.

*Blam*

“Tragic, no.” Luna fell, but did not stop looking at me with yellow eyes, “I should have said appropriate.” Phobetor laughed. “Nothing more than a puppet on strings then? The toy of your betters? Well that’s just how ponies should be. But the fact that you can still think for yourself, complicates things too much, and really, it sickens me. Why can't you all just return to the clay that formed you!” She shouted.

*Blam… Blam, Blam, click.*

I huffed and reloaded the revolver, pointing my other one at her. “Why can't you just give up and die!” I shouted at her. “Get out of our heads, out of our lives!” Trotting to the alicorn body, it faded, becoming a black mare. “You can do practically anything, why is it so important that must torment us?”

Phobetor sat up, looking back at me with golden eyes. “Mortals like you can never understand how sickening it is to be among you.” From behind her a pony pushed its way out of the ground, it was another Phobetor, who then spoke. “I have been to the highest peak where gods live, it is perfect in every way.” Another Phobetor crawled out of the ground, then spoke. “You ponies dream of the elysian fields, but compared to where I was born, it's nothing but a cheap motel pretending to be a royal palace!” More Phobetor’s appeared, all speaking in unison. “It was perfection, true perfection. My home, my only home is among the gods. Yet because of you ponies, I am forced to live here, to dirty my hooves on muddy ground, and breath your unclean air.” I found myself surrounded by Phobetors, each glaring at me with hate. “Why do I torment your kind? That's simple. You all deserve it for what you did to me. But once your kind return to being mindless servants, then maybe I can finally go home and never dirty myself among you mortals again.”

“You’re insane, you know that!” I shouted, then shot the closest Phobetor, it falling down.

“And you’re nothing but a monster, an unclean undead!” The Phobetors said before they reaching out for me, one grabbing my leg, trying to hold me.

Shooting the Phobetor that held me, I pulled away, and shot two more near me. I knew this was all an illusion, but I was still not going to let her touch me, much less hold me down. “Is that all you have? Are you not going to try and fight me seriously!” jumping back, I lined up my shots, and unloaded into the crowd of Phobetors. One bullet for each pony. Quickly I reloaded, and repeated my action, thinning out all her duplicates.

Reloading again, I saw that one of the Phobetors was cowering… and the moment I did, the forrest was gone. I was back in the tunnel… and at my hooves was a dead Orthrus regular. All the Phobetors I’d just shot... had now become regular ponies. When all was said and doen, it was well over twenty dead civilians…

“Oh look at that, I think you might have just made an oopsie.” A ghostly form of Phobetor mocked me as she floated at my side. “What are your friends going to think, now that Vibraphone Echo is a mass murder? Well... more than you were before at least.”

It was a bloody mess, bullets wasted on those destined to die here anyways. Looking at those who were left, about thirty two of them, none looked like they could even try to fight me. My eyes locked onto a mare in a tan suit, and she foolishly ran off back to the republic. The thing was, none of it phased me. It was certain death no matter what direction she went.

So I might as well do her a favor.
With a single shot from my lunar eclipse, she fell down, a bullet In the back of her head. I looked at a bemused Phobetor, my tainted green eyes meeting her golden.

“They’ll say that Cold Iron must have been having a bad day and needed some pony to kill.” I growled.

Looking at the remaining thirty one ponies, I took a deep breath. “Saint Rosland protect me.” eleven more bullets before reloading.

“Hold your Rifle for all to see.” Twelve more after that.

“Thundering loudly through Luna's night.” Only eight more shots needed after that.

“Keep me safe till Celestia's light.” Four more shots, I needed to make sure I didn't miss.

“In noble battle did she fall.” It's not that I want to kill them, but I can't let any of them tell any pony about this.

“Protecting us from evil's thrall.” The death before could be excused, but these ponies would be a problem if I did nothing.

“Now she leads us all.” But it's not like they were going to live long anyway. As I said, I’m doing them a favor by putting them ahead in the soon to be long line.

“keeping us from sinful fall.” And if I end up failing, then it's better for them to all die here then to live in suffering under Phobetor.

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Footnote

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Faction update changed.You relation with The Ponies Republic of the Vallie Island has changed to Hated Villain. (You are the boogy pony told to young equalist, ment to keep them equal, or you will drag them off in the night. Hated and feared, nothing you can say will convince them that letting you live is for the greater good. You must die so that they can make a better world, one without you haunting their nightmares.)