Blockade stood at his post, smiling to himself. He could hear the miners toiling away inside, despite being almost fifty feet away from the mine entrance. At least seventy buffalo were trapped in that mine, plus a few Appleloosa citizens that had gotten too troublesome.

He glanced up as a train blared its whistle. Checking his clock, he frowned. It wasn’t due for another forty-five minutes.

The screech of the train’s brakes cut through the air like a knife, causing most of the guards nearby to jump. As the scrapheap of a vehicle finally came to a full stop, Blockade managed to get a good view of the driver.

An earth pony Blockade had never seen before. His coloring was a dull gray and brown. The most striking part of him was his scowl. He didn’t look to happy at the moment, prompting the guard to make a mental note to stay out of his way, regardless of Blockade’s larger bulk in comparison.

The pony turned his head and whistled sharply into the train car behind the engine. A brown pegasus met his whistle, flying out and landing on top of the train.

“We’re ready!” The pegasus called down to the gray and brown earth pony. “Should we unload?”

“Give the order.” The pony called back. “Fly high and keep a watch on the surrounding area. After that trouble with the rebel group, I’m not taking any chances.”

As Blockade watched with surprised eyes, six guards hopped out of the back of the train. A group of buffalo followed, albeit much more slowly. The guards prodded the slowest forward, until one of the buffalo tried to kick one of them. The guard skillfully jumped out of the way and knocked the buffalo on the side of the head.

Blockade tensed. These weren’t the typical gang recruits. Whoever these ponies were, they knew how to fight. They were also much more disciplined than most. Elite members, maybe?

Whatever the case, if their actions didn’t show how serious they were, their faces did. None of them bore the no-nonsense scowl that their leader--as Blockade guessed him to be--wore, but they were stoic in their own right. They also managed to keep their individuality.

One of them bore a grin, seeming to mock everyone around him. A second kept his head low, constantly looking around as if he expected to be attacked by a horde of buffalo at any given moment. A third was much more relaxed, taking most of the background noise around him in stride. This pattern continued, each of them their own stallion, but still a unit.

Having never seen this sort of thing outside of a few mercenary groups with a very strong camaraderie among its members, Blockade tensed his jaw as he set forward, him and a group of five others preparing to take the responsibility for the buffalo from the newcomers.

The grey and brown earth pony jumped out of his spot in the train engine, landing on the ground with a hard thud from all four hooves.

Blockade and another guard shared a glance before changing course, moving to intercept the pony as he trotted to the back of the train and closed its doors. As the pony slammed the train doors shut, Blockade set the butt of his spear on the ground.

The pony tensed, before turning his head and relaxing visibly. “Something you want?” he asked, somewhat harshly. Blockade frowned. This pony obviously didn’t care who he was talking to. He could have been addressing one of the princesses and he would still use that slightly annoyed tone.

“What’s with all the seriousness?” Blockade all but growled back. “Trouble that we need to know of?”

The pony waved him off. “Just some rebels. We think they’re headed by that Silverstar guy, but we aren’t sure.”

Blockade frowned. “The same one we kicked outta the town? He’s still around?”

“Apparently.” The pony muttered. “Some fools just don’t know when to quit.”

The second guard chuckled. “What kinda trouble they cause?” he asked.

“Took out a patrol, for one.” The pony grimaced. “When reinforcements tried to get out there and help, anther group popped out of nowhere. It was a slaughter. Makes it even worse when I saw the whole thing myself and still couldn’t do a damn thing.” He slammed his hoof into the ground, causing several cracks to reach out and away from the impact point.

Blockade snorted. He was having a hard time believing that this character would have been unable to do something. “Who are you and where are the normal guards?”

“Probably dead or dying.” The pony responded casually. “As for me? Name’s Eclipse.”

As he finished, the brown pegasus landed next to the group. “No nearby movement, but there was a pair of buffalo skirting the area.”

Eclipse nodded. “Near?”

“No, they were just passing by.” The pegasus shook his head. “Might be a pair of escapees. Probably just two fools who got separated from their tribe and lost.”

Two of the six guards who had been escorting the prisoners came up. “Buffalo got rowdy, so the others went in with. Can’t be too careful.” They explained, referring to the absence of their comrades.

“Well,” Eclipse yawned. “Now’s as good a time as any. We’ve got our group on the inside, after all.”

Blockade turned to Eclipse. “Pardon?”

He turned just quickly enough to see a hoof flying at his face.

Author's Notes:

My first chapter with less than one thousand words... The amount of fuck me I'm feeling right now is astounding.