Down the line[closed]

[Dessa]

Rue lied still beneath a carpet of debris. There was something wet on her flank. It was quiet out here. The wetness was probably the brook, Rue figured. The sweet smell of coconut curry filled her nostrils. No, was that the Rue plant? It smelled like it was burning. Rue realized she left the stove on. She opened her eyes and motioned to stand. However, her body didn't seem to want to cooperate, so she gave up and stayed motionless. Slowly, the ringing got louder.

"Kite?" Rue mumbled. She wasn't sure if any noise came out -- all she could hear was the ringing. The train was in shambles. "What's going on?" Rue mumbled, but it was probably unintelligible. A hooded figure came into focus. The grim reaper? No, Rue could feel she was alive. But who then? Something about the silhouette seemed familiar... She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. Her father was injured... And her coltfriend too. There was nobody in the room but her and the cloaked figure.

"If you hadn't fought back, none of this would have happened," hissed the dark mare.

Rue climbed to her knees and glared at the figure from beneath her lowered brow. The mysterious pony continued "Was it worth it? They paid the price for your foolishness... I've returned reap what you've sown."

The figure threw off her cloak. "Cutlass!"

Rue's eyes snapped open. Disoriented and in a panic, she thrashed about on the ground, struggling to find her footing. Thistle screamed something, but all Rue could hear was the ringing.

[Halide]

Now, the thing about being a pegasus was that one could be wherever one wanted. On the wing, on the ground, outta there, in there, in a cloud, on a cloud, over some bricks with intention to drop some on some heads... you know, just wherever. It wasn't like being a unicorn or an earthpony, where the ground was a thing you had to stay on, or gravity was something you needed to pay attention to all the time. No, pegasi went where pegasi wanted.

But here was another thing about being a pegasus - you didn't want to break a wing, or otherwise you'd be in a mess of trouble. In particular, the thing about being Ignition right now was that she felt she should be doing something but that other pegasus just shoulder-checked an entire train car off the rails. Seriously, that pegasus wanted to be where the train-car was but the train car was in the way and he just dealt with it like a boss. Not only was that pretty ridiculous, but there was also the distinct idea that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with getting on this wrecking-ball's bad side. So she wasn't gonna do that. Simple as that. Ok, well, no, she was going to hang back and watch, and also stay out of the big guy's reach. She was pretty sure she could both out-distance and out-speed him. She... should be able to do that, right? One pegasus didn't get to have ultra-super strength and being-solid, super-speed and super-endurance, did they?

Just in case she was somehow dreaming and-or dealing with some wacky alternate universe, she checked to see if wrecking-ball's cutiemark was, in fact, supermare's logo. ...Nope, just some kind of hat (( OOC : yes, I asked )). Welp, that meant wrecking-ball probably wasn't a bastion of ridiculous super-powers waiting to explode in her face. But, there was one interesting detail - riding with the pegasi was an earth-pony. A snooty little earthpony who had just made a major mistake. An earthpony she now had a bit of a score to settle with that was relying on a cart pulled by a pegasus. But, rather than get immediately tangled up with anything, Ignition just hung back and watched, with her heavy, enclosed saddlebags still firmly on her back. Seriously, there was no way those were going to be important at any time, probably.

[Apolline Allura]

Amongst the disheveled occupants of the ruined train car, a knight…a little knight, stood up to face Cutlass and her crew. She wanted to let out a low whistle, impressed with the kid’s bravery in lieu of the situation. Still, heroes were not conducive to this operation. The armored interloper should have been skewered through that visor of hers as soon as she stood up, but unnecessary casualties would ruin the mission.

The laughable way in which she presented herself though…

"Y-you three...! S-stop right there! Or... or else... umm..."

The hooded mare snickered. She couldn’t help it. “And what will you do…in the event that we don’t stop where we are?”

A frenzied voice shrieked as though answering for her and a gryphon chick burst out from under a pile of the toppled suitcases, screaming at the top of her lungs and lunging for Kartel.

"SOME DWEEEEEEB'S GONNAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

The stallion snorted as he managed to catch her in a pocket of his magic. She was a hair’s breadth away from reaching his horn, but he coolly managed to hold her off. He levitated her to the ceiling and held her there, surprised to actually have exerted some effort to capture the ball of snarling claws and feathers.

From over behind the knight, Cutlass observed a filly thrashing under the weight of a couple of suitcases, and was less successful than the gryphon in her attempts to escape. And once her name was spoken, all the other features, the grey fur, the grape mane and those eyes, those same panic stricken eyes Cutlass had seen once before, all came into focus. Her target was but a few feet away.

Apparently Capo had picked up on it as well, for without prompt, she stepped in from behind Cutlass and up to the knight. The great mare stood much, MUCH bigger than the filly, and in her commanding deep voice, as she slammed her head face first into Kite's visor and glaring through both the pain and the visor itself, she said. "MOVE. Before I make you."

Cutlass took a small leap onto Capo's back and then leapt over the knight to face her prey.

"Cutlass!" said Rue, clearly aware of how much trouble she was in.

Laughing softly, Cutlass moved forward in slow, deliberate steps. "I see you remember me still." she leaned her head forward the filly's face, "It's good to see you looking so well. So healthy. So alive."

She was suddenly trapped in a sphere of red light, and Cutlass's head whipped around to see who it was.

"Thou's presence is most unwelcome. Move away from her, and we will not be forced to incinerate thee." said the red filly, rivulets of blood running down her forehead from where she had collided with the metal pole moments earlier. A royal canterlot voice and a pair of blazing, bright green eyes glaring hard at Cutlass. "I'm serious. Get away. Now."

The mare smirked and stepped forward, the magics of the enchanted drink she had before coming in here doing their stuff. She stepped in the direction of the red pony, going through her barrier, and causing her to back up. Though she glared, the fear was almost palpable in her face. Cutlass cornered her and when she least expected it, pushed her up against the wall, a hoof on her neck, standing on her hind legs, and forcing the other pony to hers. "Ah yes. I know about you too. An affair with your little friend's mother? Well, Rue'll be eager to see you pay for that."

Cutlass raised her other hoof and struck her across the face, once, twice, three times. The red filly slumped to the floor and Cutlass leaned down to whisper in her ear, "You'll be coming with me too." before licking the shell of Blaze's ear, who was knocked out yet again. Turning back toward Rue and stepping in her direction now, she sneered, "So. Are you going to come quietly?"

[Kite]

Kite blinked away the stars in her eyes; whoever the big pony was, she packed quite a wallop. Still, the little filly wasn't going to let herself be intimidated by size; she had a suit of armor, and knights were supposed to be more than capable of standing up to petty thugs! She stared back through her visor at the brutish pony. "MOVE. Before I make you."

In a moment, the cloaked mare, and apparent ringleader of the train-wrecking trio had hopped past the two, heading towards Rue. It was quite apparent that the two were acquainted, and despite this Cutlass' (Rue had shouted the name) pleasant greeting, the words were dripping with malice. A sudden magical barrier surrounding Cutlass, however, meant Kite could deal with the big one for the moment.

"Ah, no need to get violent, Miss...uh... umm?" She waited, but the behemoth pegasus didn't seem to be the conversational type; she simply narrowed her harsh gaze towards the little wannabe knight, who in turn leaned back to get a better look at the whole pony. Huh, one big pegasus alright... but say, that chair hanging from the ceiling above her looked awful loose. It gave her an idea.

"N-no name, huh? Alright, I'm moving, I'm moving." Taking several steps back, eyes scanned the wreckage from behind the visor for something to throw... "Ah, y'know, it's no wonder you look so grouchy, headbutting helmets like that will give you a headache..." Suitcase, 3 o'clock! Ammunition acquired. "Y-you should try relaxing, y'know... maybe take a seat!" Grabbing the suitcase with a wing, the armored pegasus lobbed the luggage over Capo's head, into the dangling seat which snapped, falling straight down on the oversized pegasus.

No time to cheer though; that seat wouldn't slow down a train-tackling pony for long, and Kite still had to rescue a ball of claws and feathers from a unicorn, and deal with this 'Cutlass' as well. Luckily, the unicorn looked to be busy trying to contain the very-upset little gryphon, so next was getting Cutlass' attention before she hurt anypo-

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Turning her helmeted head towards the source of the commotion, the little knight was shocked to find the red unicorn now slumped on the ground, Cutlass turning away from her to again face Rue, a menacing sneer on her face.

"So. Are you going to come quietly?"

Clank. The filly immediately placed herself between the two, staring down the villainous train wrecker. Hurting another pony; it was despicable, and it went against everything Kite believed in, everything a knight stood for!

"You're not taking Miss Rue, and you're not hurting anypony else!" Crud, the seat was already shifting, big pony was gonna be out in seconds. Knights didn't get scared though, no matter the odds; why then, was her heart beating so fast? "You think you can just hurt somepony and get away with it!? I-I won't let you!" The important thing at this point was to get Cutlass mad enough at her so that she'd focus her attention on the armored knight, while Rue could hopefully slip free; no doubt the big pegasus would already want a little revenge for the seat-dropping stunt. It was gonna be a bumpy ride, but being a shield was what she did best. "Not even checking to see if there was a knight on board the train... for a pony named Cutlass, you're not very sharp, are you?"

[Parodius]

That stupid, smug unicorn was taunting her, she knew it. Dangling in the air, Thistle kept trying to fly toward him and getting nowhere. Pinned against the ceiling, the griffon chick frowned. How could she get at that pony and bite 'em in the flank or something? She pondered, pressing off of the ceiling, only to be pushed back against it. Suddenly, an idea hit her. She might not be able to fly right at the pony, but she had something to push against. ...or, in her case, pull. Wrangling and rolling about, she eventually manages to flip herself around enough to dig in her hindclaws and talons into the roof of the car. It wasn't the most elegant way to get around, but hopefully it would have better luck than dangling in the air like a putz. Plus, maybe the grip would make it harder to just pull her off or something. She started trying to pull herself along toward a wall of the cabin. Oh, how much more she wanted to punch that unicorn right in his stupid looking face. She had gotten so close, too!

[Apolline Allura]

"Well aren't you a resilient little pest?" sneered Cutlass at the knight. "Rue is coming with me."

"Not even checking to see if there was a knight on board the train... for a pony named Cutlass, you're not very sharp, are you?" The jibe caused Cutlass to laugh softly.

"It’s not my job to care how many of you I need to deal with. You however, seem to be acting on some sort of misguided little crusade for ah...what is it that little fools like you search for?" said Cutlass, awaiting the sound of seats sliding off her comrade. "Truth, justice and the Equestrian way? Or maybe you’re searching for glory, love and a paycheck? Let me tell you, kid, I've stolen enough paychecks from your kind to know what your job is worth. And it isn't much."

At that moment, a loud snarl could be heard from behind her, and the gust of air and the sound of flapping wings was Cutlass’ cue to make way. She leapt to perform a backflip, letting the speeding Capo fly underneath her, and straight for the knight. With her superior strength, she lifted the foalish filly around the middle of her armor with both forehooves into the air, bringing her through the wood of the ceiling, scattering even more debris on the ground as she took off. All was silent for the moment, while the outlaw was sure that the mare was gaining altitude to deal with the knight, she took a look at Kartel, who seemed busy with containing the gryphon who was clawing her way across the ceiling before directing her attention back to Rue.

“No matter who you bring, no matter where you go, no matter what you do…” Cutlass looked down at Rue with a blank stare, “…it won’t be enough to stop me. But you want to try. You want to run away and tell daddy and that lumbering green pegasus about how the big bad Cutlass tried to abduct you, and hurt your friends.”

She went over to Blaze, using her neck to give her the leverage; she lifted the red pony onto her back, “But guess what? They only have themselves to blame. Just like you will, if you won’t come along with us quietly, little girl. Kartel, give me the bird lion, please.”

Kartel focused his magics harder to peel the gryphon from the ceiling and set her on the ground on her back in front of Cutlass, by which time Cutlass had already drawn her weapon and pressed the sharp edge close to Thistle’s neck.

“The red one will be valuable enough. After she gives us the money from her little one-bit teenage romance novels and conspiracy theory books, I think we’ll dump her off in Raptorclaw River. Or maybe we’ll bury her right in front of you. I haven’t decided. And if you want to leave here to tell your folks about what just happened here, and sacrifice some poor gryphon that had no part in this just to take me down, go on.”

The edges of her lips curled up slightly. “After all, it’s the kind of decision I’d make easily enough.”

It was at that moment that a loud THUD followed by the creaking of metal and the pop of a metal off the hinges could be heard from right outside. Capo had slammed Kite in the ground from her maximum altitude, and tore the helmet from the filly’s head with effort alone.

“It would seem my partner has returned from her flight. Now choose carefully, lest you rue this day in light of what happens.”

[Dessa]

Rue scrambled onto her belly, but stopped short of climbing to her feet. The train was still spinning, after all. The ringing in her ears didn't help matters either. Despite her panic, Rue had enough wits about her to know she needed a moment to recover. Fortunately, her friends provided. Although she couldn't make out the words, she could see Kite puffing her chest and acting the hero, Thistle buzzing about, her face contorted into rage, and Blaze deploying one of her fancy tricks. This wouldn't be enough, Rue knew. She had seen what Cutlass could do, and she didn't want to think about what she could achieve with backup. They wouldn't best Cutlass, but maybe the time and distraction would be enough, thought Rue.

The prone filly checked herself for wounds. A few minor cuts and bruises -- nothing major, except... Rue's ear twitched. Through the ringing, the sounds of the scuffle slowly came to her attention, and the voice she had dreaded to hear -- Cutlass'. While she wasn't fully intelligible above the din, Rue got the gist. Cutlass was using her friends as leverage. 'A dirty trick,' thought Rue, 'now she's fighting on MY territory.'

Camly, Rue twisted to lick her wounds. They hardly needed this attention. Rue was more interested in the payload she had prepared. Beneath her crushed saddlebag lie a spot of silver -- a second dose of mercury she had perpared for Cutlass. It was Rue's special thanks for Cutlass ruining her family vacation -- an interruption which keyed Rue into the need for this protection in the first place. Rue lapped the mercury from her fur, and turned back to Cutlass. Good, she was blabbing away, probably wasting her time with a taunt instead of sealing the deal, but facing Rue either way. Rue grinned "You should have stuck to violence, idiot."

Rue sprayed her mouth's contents through her teeth, coating her nemeses face in a fine silver mist. "Know that smell? It's familiar, I'm sure. That's leverage. Something we share now. Rue turned her head and spit out a few more drops. "This stuff is disgusting. I can see why you're pissed. Well, that and the fact that your skin itched and burned, and from the looks of it, peeled away. Still does, I'm sure. Saw firecracker there go through the same thing. And it lingers don't it? Well, and unfortunately for you, it also builds up. We're talking hair and tooth loss. Heck, it might even take your hooves. Rue ducked her head, ears flat against her skull, bracing to be struck.

"Wait wait! I mentioned leverage. There's a cure for this. Magical." Rue reached back and fished two vials from her saddlebag, uncorked one, and emptied it into her mouth. The other one, of course, is one ingredient shy of a full cure. The vial floated over to Cutlass. "You can hold on to that. You're months away from figuring out that last ingredient. At least, that's how long it took me and my teacher to figure out. Don't figure you'll be walking at that point anymore."

Unsteadily, Rue climbed to her feet and shook her body clean of debris, then glanced around the cabin. Spotting the hole in the ceiling (or was it the floor?) she remarked "Took the kid for a tour huh? Heh, she'll be fine. Got bones o' rubber, that one." The others, however, Rue wasn't so sure about. "If you want the cure, you'll let my friends go, WITHOUT tailing them. Including her." Rue poked a hoof at Blaze-Bright. She rubbed her chin for a moment in thought, then added "Let them get the final ingredient. That way I'll know they're safe. Here..." Rue knelt and produced a quill and parchement from her dry saddlebag, and wrote on it the words "HERB REVERENT, IF MEAN -- KEEN WOE" then floated it over to Blaze's saddlebag. "She knows my Cipher. When she comes to, she'll know what it means, and know how to find the ingredient."

Climbing back on to her feet, Rue said plainly "As for me, you can have me. You don't have to worry about ME running to tell daddy about this. I've got a million bits that says you'll do that yourself. Or should I say he does? His name is Maximilian Rockefilly, billionaire mogul. Deliver me safely, and he'll make sure you're set for life."

[Kite]

If there was one thing Kite knew how to do, and do well, it was crash; the dings and dents built up in her armor from the day she'd first 'acquired' it could attest to that. She'd learned to fly and learned to fall, on more than one occasion. Heck, the whole reason she was ON the train to begin with was because she had fallen into something, a mess she couldn't quite fix, and here she was, one minute having a conversation with a wonderfully toxic mare (little did she know that said mare was now quite LITERALLY toxic), the next stuck in a high speed upwards tackle with a pegasus who really wasn't a fan of Equestria Railways' furniture as headgear.

Moving out of the villain's vice grip was hopeless, Capo had one heck of a hold, despite Kite pushing with her hooves to get away; all the while, wind was whipping past, clouds zooming by like a blur mixed in with the bright blue sky. Up, up, up... and then, slowly, the world tilted, and down they were careening, those same blurs moving back the other way.

"Look, if this is about the chair, I was having a bad day, my train was gonna be late because somepony wasn't watching where they were going and crashed into it." A small smile behind her visor, while she safely tucked her wings into her armor; she'd broken them before, and wasn't keen on repeating the experience. "Alright, bad joke, lemme try another one... stop me if you've heard this one. Did you hear the one about the knight falling from the sky with the brutish thug that caught chairs with her face? Well anyw-"

THUNK! The little armored pegasus was prepared for the impact; her signature move was, after all, throwing herself from great heights like a canonball. All the same, the force was humbling, and it knocked the wind right out of her. As she blinked away the stars, there was a surge of bright light as the thuggish Capo wrenched her helmet off. Kite gave a cough, trying to catch her breath, and secretly wishing Equestria had softer dirt.

"S-so... I, uh... I guess you heard that one." Another smile, despite dizzyness. While she certainly didn't enjoy getting thrown around like this, it was her job, and what she lived for. She took the hit, so somepony else didn't have to. A knight worried about others first, then themselves after. She got back to her hooves, steadying herself; she couldn't hear what was going on inside the train, and with Capo still in the way, she wouldn't be able to check up. Still, distract the leader somehow, keep Rue, Thistle, and Blaze safe, no matter what!

"Ahem...! SO!" The little pegasus spoke in a big voice, keeping her gaze on the lumbering Capo, her eyes occasionally darting to the train to check for signs of activity; an uncomfortable dent in her armor dug into her side as a result of the high velocity landing. "Which one of you train wrecking losers wants to take a shot at a real knight next, huh? H-how about it, Cut-less-than-impressive!? Or are you gonna send out your unicorn pal to help big, dumb and, uh..."

THWACK! Looks like Capo didn't like that one so much, opting to shoulder check the knight into shutting up; and still no answer from the train car. The armored knight tumbled in the dirt, but was quick to get back up, armor creaking with the movement. "I-I wasn't gonna say ugly...! Why, you're the nicest looking rock I've ever se-"

THUNK. A heavy kick, right in the chestpiece; that left another pair of dents, and no doubt was gonna leave a bruise too. But, sputtering, again she was back up, green eyes peering over her bandaged nose. "I-I give that one a four on ten, tree trunk. Where's the emotion? I'm just not feeling it!"

CLANG! THUNK! This time, the oversized pegasus had thrown the smaller knight right into the side of the train cart, where she stuck for a moment before falling to the ground with a clunk. "...o-okay, I felt THAT one a little bit..." It was evident that Capo wouldn't tire of this anytime soon, and that Kite wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer; and yet, despite that it was going nowhere fast, she again pushed herself, rather wobbily, to her hooves, wincing with the effort. "...f-five on ten."

[Apolline Allura]

Cutlass snarled in fury as she frantically wiped her face of the substance with desperate hooves. This was not how the plan was to go. This isn't what she had went in for a night with the good doctor for at all. She had just been cured of this ailment, and now she was covered in the same thing all over again. And then the accursed filly had began explaining how she had apparently been ready for this, abandoning her magic entirely in favor of a much more concise gambit. To have been carrying that mercury for Celestia knows how long, and to have turned the tables on Cutlass so effortlessly...

She approached the grey unicorn, ready to strike before she cowered away from her suddenly, and continued speaking. At this point, the mare was just trying to calm her nerves and figure out the best way to deal with it all. Rue was trying to make a bargain. And she was actually trying to convince her that the heartless stallion who she claimed as her father would play nice and pay Cutlass for her trouble instead of turning her over to the authorities. Well buck that. Cutlass was in control. This was her hostage situation. Rue was a hostage. The red one was a hostage. The others were just collateral that stood in the way. Besides. She could always track down the good doctor again for another dose of his cure. His price would be none too high, given the urgency of the situation.

Kartel grabbed the saddle and gave Cutlass a look. It was time to either put up or shut up.

Not to mention, her original trump cards still rested in her saddlebag. She continued to search for an answer when suddenly...

"TEN...THIS!" came the furious bellow from above.

The sound of a hoof meeting a face with a sickening crack could be heard by all, before suddenly, the armored pony fell headfirst through the same hole, back into the train car. Capo had apparently struck her in the face, sending the little play knight back down from above. She swooped in over the prone body and stomped an angry hoof onto the filly, keeping her held in place. And that was when it clicked.

"You say we both share leverage after you poison me and leave me worse off than you. We must be more alike than I thought." said Cutlass, finally pushing her temper down long enough for her wicked smile to return. "I don't expect your father to play fair. He made it clear to me the last time we met that he'd make sure I was imprisoned, executed or whatever... And you've done no better yourself in letting me know we'll all walk away from this situation without any problems. He sent that boy scout to come finish me, and I know he's probably on his way to try me again. Here's the new deal..." she said, turning around, and bucking the filly in the chest, sending her flying and landing on her back. Kartel grabbed the little gryphoness before she could do anymore damage and flung her through a window telekinetically.

Cutlass rumaged around in her saddlebags for the one item that she truly needed now. She emerged from her saddlebags with a syringe in her mouth full of glowing topaz colored chemical. She went over to the red unicorn, still knocked out cold on the ground, and stuck the needle in her neck, two thirds of the liquid disappearing into the filly's bloodstream. Then she went over to Rue, and injected her with a lesser dosage before spitting the syringe out of the window.

"What you have just been injected with will prove fatal unless me and my associates are given reason to believe you. The firecracker, as you say, will be heading back to your home to let your father know and understand the parameters of our agreement. After that, she will die, unless he acts quickly to get me my million bits. You will be coming with me. My associates will be retrieving the stallion who cured me of this problem just this morning, and your father will be directed to leave them be until I have been cured. After my terms have been acted upon without fail---no tricks, no counterfeits, no magical crap---I will cure and release you and your friend if she's still alive. Choose wisely."

The sword tip settled itself firmly upon Rue's stomach, "And be aware that it isn't just your life that hangs in the balance."