Eclipse scanned the train yard.

It was a hastily constructed scrapheap of barely connected tracks and a train with only one car, not including the engine. Somewhere in the numbers of thirty buffalo were crowded in a fenced in area, with about forty guards around the whole complex. Several towers gave the guards high vantage points to keep watch on the surrounding area.

Eclipse and company (Again, with Sagebrush and Cactus Star next to the chariot balloon some distance away) were perched above the view of the towers, at the top of a nearby plateau overlooking the train yard.

Braeburn nudged Eclipse. “Only half of those buffalo are from Little Strongheart’s tribe. That must mean there’s a whole heap of prisoners on the other end of those tracks!”

“But where does the rainbow end, huh Braeburn?” Eclipse grunted. “How far to reach that particular pot of gold?”

Dust Demon shushed the two. “Look over there!”

Following Dust Demon’s pointing hoof, the group saw a quartet of gang members returning from a routine patrol in the desert.

Eclipse squinted. “Why would they send units out into the desert?”

“Why are we spying on this place during broad daylight?” Braeburn snarked, before Dust Demon elbowed him.

Eclipse paid the two no mind, his mind completely focused on the patrol. “What’s that behind them?” he muttered.

Braeburn and Dust Demon crawled forward, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever Eclipse was seeing.

Six silhouettes rose out of the sand, attacking the gang patrol.

“Well,” Eclipse drawled. “We found our rebel alliance.”

Dust Demon frowned. “If they’re the rebels, then who are we?”

An alarm sounded in the train yard as two more patrols were sent out to assist the one being attacked. The six rebels attempted a tactical retreat, but the original patrol cut off their otherwise easy escape.

Eclipse sent his compatriots a sidelong grin. “Yar.”

Slipping on a hat with a skull and crossbones emblazoning one side, Eclipse dislodged a nearby boulder and jumped on top of it as it slid down the cliff they were on.

Braeburn nudged Dust Demon. “Told ya he’d pull something like that. Now pay up.”

Dust Demon groaned, tossing Braeburn a few bits before dashing after Eclipse.

Eclipse’s boulder hit a rock that jutted out of the cliff face, sending the large stone flying. Using his magic to nudge it a bit, Eclipse managed to use the rock to flatten one of the gang reinforcements.

Jumping off his ride, Eclipse spawned a small black cloud in front of him, using it as a landing pad above the group of gang members. The other seven reinforcements had all been dazed by the boulder’s appearance and didn’t notice him eject.

“What the buck was that?” One pegasus shouted.

Eclipse grabbed a chunk of the cloud he was standing on, quickly turning it into a black dagger. Taking aim, Eclipse threw the dagger at an earth pony before taking the entire cloud out from underneath him and tossing it at the unsuspecting pegasus.

The dagger pinned the earth pony’s hoof to the ground while the cloud turned into a dozen similar daggers, all flying at the pegasus. The projectiles hit the ground in a perfect circle around the pony, who froze when they landed around him. The pegasus waited a moment, then took a deep breath in relief, when the daggers around him exploded like a pack of grenades.

Dust Demon had just about caught up to Eclipse when he was hit in the face by a severed wing, slapping him off-course and into a unicorn.

An orange phantom spear pierced Eclipse’s skull, giving him enough time to duck underneath the real spear and buck his attacker away from him. Turning around, Eclipse found four more gang members facing him.

He cracked his neck. “Bring it on.”

One of the gang members charged. Eclipse grabbed the spear the pony was holding and yanked it out of his grasp, bringing it around and stabbing the pony in his side. Using his hooves as conduits for his magic, Eclipse rapidly punched the ground, causing a miniaturized earthquake around him.

His three remaining opponents stumbled about, the shaking earth too unsteady to balance on. Despite this, one unicorn managed to fire off a spell that knocked Eclipse down.

Eclipse groaned. “That hurt…” He jumped back to his hooves, his body slightly numb from the magical attack.

The trio of gang members circled him, until one of them was hit in the head by a falling rock and consequently knocked unconscious.

Dust Demon called down from above. “How do ya like these apples?” A veritable rain of stone came down from above as Dust Demon tossed more projectiles from his position.

The earth pony who had been hit by Eclipse’s dagger finally dislodged himself, charging at Eclipse with the dagger held high.

Eclipse raised an eyebrow. The dagger exploded. The bleeding pony who had almost put Eclipse’s head on a pike was also caught in the blast radius.

Braeburn skidded to a stop as he reached the bottom of the cliff. He was intercepted by the unicorn Dust Demon had crashed into, but still managed to get close to the rest of the fight.

One of the two ponies who were left fighting Eclipse had been distracted by Braeburn’s appearance, so Dust Demon swooped down and picked him up despite his thrashing, using him as a missile to strike at Braeburn’s unicorn. The two hit the ground, out cold from the impact.

With only one pony--an earth pony--left of the original eight, Braeburn, Dust Demon and Eclipse managed to gravitate towards each other and plant themselves between the one pony and the rest of his camp, which was preparing to send out more reinforcements.

The trio of ponies shrugged to each other, preparing to fight the one opponent that was left.

The earth pony was shaking in his horseshoes, trying to find a way around the group that had lain waste to his comrades. A random spear buried itself into his back, sending the pony to the ground.

The thrower sprinted up to the trio. “We need to move! Silverstar will want to speak to you.”

Eclipse, Braeburn and Dust Demon followed the pony to his five friends, who were scavenging weapons and supplies from the patrol they had ambushed before things had almost gone bad. Once the two groups were together, they all retreated from the scene, hoping to avoid the second wave of reinforcements.

Dust Demon flew back to Sagebrush and Cactus Star at Eclipse’s suggestion, hoping to retrieve both them and the vehicle they were with.