Cursorial Hunter

“That's my sister, Miduri. I told you she was an earth pony.”

The loft wasn't that big. It was mainly used for critter feed through the winter and some personal use. But still, it was full of crap.

Most of the stuff in the loft was Yard's. Stuff he didn't have room for in his room that didn't warrant the protection of the basement. There were boxes of old phonograph recordings, his college papers, formal wear, a box of magazines he had to quickly hide from the foal, and other odds and ends. One of those things was a photo album of his family buried at the bottom of a box. Rhubarb Salad had completely lost interest in sorting when she'd found that. Not that she was that useful to begin with, but the idea of his mixed heritage shattered her world view.

“She's purty.”

“Uh, okay,” Yards was unwilling to discuss the attractiveness of his sister.

“So this is...”

Yards looked over at the picture of the sea foam green unicorn. “My grandma. Her special talent was detecting water. She lived in Phillydelphia. It took forever for her to get her cutie mark, too.”

“An this earth pony beside her is your grandpa?”

“Yup. Oh hey! My college saddle bags! I thought I lost those. Oh, spiders, lots of spiders in there. Going to need to fumigate that.”

“Muskrat Tonic University?”

“It's a magic college. They focus on thaumaturgical theory.”

“I've never heard of them.”

“Not surprising. It's a small, very focused college.”

“Is this your mom?”

“Yup, that's my mom.”

“Are they all earth ponies?”

“Yup. Her side are all earth ponies.”

“So if you and ma got hitched, I could have a unicorn baby sister?”

“Well...uh...” It was getting really warm up here. “What about your family?”

She shrugged. “Granny an Grampa Rhubarb live in Dodge Junction.”

“What do they do there?”

“What else?” she asked before her voice dropped into thick sarcasm, “They farm. Like all earth ponies.”

“Hey, that's not true. Earth ponies can be other things.”

“Sure, so long as it doesn't involve flying or magic.”

This wasn't his kid, so why was he feeling so bad for her?

“Well, there are ways around those limitations.”

She giggled. “Wouldn't it be somethin' if I got my cutie mark in flying?”

“Well, maybe not flying, but piloting, sure. We've been working on things like mass conveyances as well as personal flight.”

“Personal flight?” Her eyes light up.

Uh oh. Apple would kill him. He would be so dead. Not just dead, dead dead. With a capital “D” Dead. But she was so sad. “Look, your mom would kill me, and we can't do this during the day, but I've got a flight pack. MAYBE if your good, after dark, I'll show you. But you have to promise me that you won't tell your mother.”

“But momma says I'm suppose to tell her anytime a stallion says to keep something a secret.”

“Well, that's horribly sexist.”

“Huh?” She flipped the page and she quickly lost interest in the conversation.

“Where's this?”

“It's a spring my Grandma found that saved the town of Blue Twig.”

“My Uncle found an aluminum mine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He farms boxeyes nauw.”

“Bauxite?”

“Yeah, that's it. Cause, he's an earth pony. And we farm...” the sarcasm was back in her voice.

“With all the hungry ponies there are, it's important to farm, so we can feed them.” She hrumpfed but went back to the book while Yards tried to figure out where to put this stuff.

The things that had been damaged and he decided he didn't need anymore he just tossed out the hayloft door into a pile. Some things, like his photo album, he was going to have to find room for in the house. Fortunately it had been buried under old text books so Delta had never found it. He shuddered to think what would happen if she'd ever seen his sister.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Delta lay coiled on a pallet she had found in the next car back. Apparently this one was a combination food preparation area, storage area, and employee break area. The pallet she'd found was hidden away behind three steamer trunks strategically arranged to create a private area. Uniform jackets hung on pegs on the wall in the sheltered area. There were bins filled with cut up vegetables, breads and other quickly assembled foods on a counter along the far wall. Beside that were large scale freezers she presumed were full of things like cheese sticks, hay fries and onion straws. On the other side was a deep fryer and a bank of toaster ovens. There were boxes of disposal utensils and food containers secured against this wall.

Absently she flicked her tongue, smelling honey roasted peanuts somewhere in the room. Food was the last of her interest, though. She'd abandoned them. Her only friends and she'd run out when their lives were on the line. She told herself it was for their own good. If the Inquisition caught them with her then their lives would be ruined. She only prayed she was right. If she could hide long enough then they were all safe.

She waited in her current snake form. It could get around easily and was hard to notice. Now if only that idiot didn't see and shoot at her again. Luckily fear had spoiled his aim. Ponies were such a fearful lot.

She wasn't sure how long she should wait before moving, let alone where they were or how many she was facing. Now she wished she'd paid more attention to that explosion movie Yards had taken them all to. There was terrorists that the idiot had to stop, but she had been more occupied with overtly flirting with Toffee. Feeding off the stallion behind them was far more tasty than those nasty hard caramels they were passing back and forth. Toffee was a little freaked out by it, but then, virgins often were. It wasn't anything serious, just some hoof-holding, suggestive word play, and playful nuzzles. Just enough to get him going and to make her squirm with humorous embarrassment.

The movie, what happened on the movie? She tried to remember. Improbable set-up. Hero improbably flaunting authority. Explosion. Explosion. Bad one liner. Explosion. Mare shows up in stockings. Plot shot with an explosion. Plot shot, explosion, plot shot, explosion. Chase scene. Half-flanked sex scene. Fight. Explosion, with an incredibly long and boring fight, then the final explosion. So, she had to, what? Find a way to blow stuff up and a slutty mare?

The room ahead vibrated. What was that? She waited for the car she was in to hit the same bad spot on the tracks. that's all it was, surely. The forecar vibrated again. Okay. Surely it was...it couldn't be... right? No, they'd have no reason. She didn't want to, but she had to know. She stuck her tongue out to taste the air. Blood. It was unmistakable. How could they? Why would they? She stayed in snake form so she couldn't cry.

The door in the back opened and heavy hooves marched across the car to the door in the front. It was another one of them. It was a he, he was dressed in black and carrying heavy saddle bags. He didn't even seem to be looking around for anypony. His eyes were focused straight ahead and did not waver as he left the coach.

Eventually the door reopened. This time a dark purple pegasus walked through the doorway. She walked to the refrigerators and broke down crying. Delta recognized her as their waitress. She turned and moved directly to Delta's hiding spot. The changeling transformed as quick as she could, but still the stewardess saw her.

“CHANGELING!” she screamed, jumping back.

Delta held out her hooves. “SHHHH! Please! Look, I don't want to hurt anypony.”

Starfall looked up above the doorway, seeing the revelation charm firmly affixed there. It should have blocked her shape shifting powers.

“How?”

“It doesn't matter right now. You remember me, right?”

She looked at her. “The mimosa. Yeah, I remember you.”

“See, I've got a paid ticket, I'm not a stowaway.”

“Are you with the terrorists?” Her tone was sharp.

“What? NO! I'm here with my friends! We're going to Lyra's party. Well, we were, before...”

“I'm sorry.”

Delta hung her head in sorrow. “I can't believe they shot them. How could they?” Tears welled up and blurred her vision. The pegasus moved to come beside her, then pulled away. Then changed her mind again and wrapped her long wing around her body, coming beside her and resting her chin on the other side of her neck. She smelled of blood, but her body was warm.

Delta broke down and cried, cleansing the pain from her heart. A song came in from the other room. It was up beat and about a thinly veiled euphemism using food for mare anatomy. It wasn't the sort of thing she'd choose for such a tender moment. The two mares broke their embrace and laughed nervously.

“I'm sorry, but I need my spare uniform.” She moved past the changeling and to one of the steamer trunks.

“This is yours?”

“Yeah,” she wiped her feathers over her lips, smearing fresh gloss. “I lost my house in the war. Afterwords I got this job. I spend so much time on the rails that, well...”

The song ended and the female DJ's voice came back on. Delta's ears perked up.

“You won't believe what we've just been told!”

“It's an open bar!” cried the foil.

“And we have confirmation that none other than Chuck Wagon will be playing Brilliant Lance!”

A couple hours ago her heart would have skipped a beat, now it just made her sadder.

A wing came over her side.

“He was so hot, and he was going to be mine.”

“I'm sorry. I can't imagine what it'd be like to loose someone like that. I haven't had a coltfriend in,” she sighed, “wow, it's been a while.”

“Well, it's not like I could guarantee I'd win the drawing. It's just a pipe dream.” She sighed.

The pegasus gave her a confused look. “Wait, so, those stallions up front they shot. They're not your coltfriends?”

Delta looked at her with confusion. “They didn't shoot the mares I was sitting with?”

She shook her head. “Well, the good news is they didn't shoot them.”

“What?”

“They took the white earth pony.”

“Where?”

“Up front.”

“I've got to do something.”

“There's still a bunch of heavily armed thugs in the next car. You go in there and they're going to shoot you, too.”

Delta shook her head. “Hang on now, what exactly happened after I left.”

“Well...”

_____________________________________________________________________________

Two stallions were quarreling. “Those take three seconds to get up to speed, I can get there before then. We can't let them kill her.” he whispered. The stallion beside him tried to pull him back down into his seat but he shook him off and charged, leaping into the air.

The barrels were spinning before the heavy even turned around after closing the door. The first bullets caught the stallion in the gut, eviscerating him. He didn't have time to die from his guts spilling out. The next few punched through his intestines as they came tumbling out. The rounds worked their way up in a controlled burst, turning the brave fool into a pink paste of shredded meat that was sprayed over everypony in the car. Everypony screamed in horror. The battered corpse fell on the heavy's body but he shook it off.

“Yellow Jacket. Yeah, we had a hero. Dispensing punishment.” The gore soaked monster walked patiently to where the stallion had been sitting. “Yeah. Stallion. Yeah. Stallion too.” He was holding his ear while talking. His target was looking on in terror, shaking his head.

“No, no. Please, Celestia, please! I tried to stop him, no, d-” The gun began to turn again. He cried for his mother. The gun screamed at him. The stallion jerked in a macabre dance as the bullets punched his chest repeatedly. Huge holes were punched into him, the seat behind his body, the pony behind him and the side of the train. There was even more screaming and crying.

“Yellow Jacket to Mantis. Yeah. There's been some over spray. We need some medical. Send Mosquito.”

There was a lot of foal holding and crying in the car. Toffee didn't have anypony to hold. She missed her friends. She only hoped that they were safe. The stranger beside her clung to her. Everypony was just sitting there. Somepony would have to come up with a plan and she was the smart one. She was always the smart one everywhere she went. If anypony else was to survive this it was going to be up to her to make sure of it. She set her face to a grim mask.

Alright. Notice, what do all of these ponies have in common? Well, they all are named after insects. She watched the stallion with the huge weapon replant himself at the front of the car. They all seemed to have military training, as well as military weapons and/or armor. She looked over at the sword wielding stallion. That was an odd one there, but they still had ceremonial, if not last ditch uses. Why didn't he have a gun? Were these privately owned weapons?

The door in the back opened and a stallion trotted in, took a quick look around and started working on the injured mare that had been sitting behind the two stallions. He tried to apply pressure pads and hygiene products into the wounds but his expression was grim.

Starfall walked over to her cart, raking off all the bottles and boxes off the top before wheeling it over to the medic. He grunted a thanks before lifting his patient up and laying out most of her body on it, giving him a better area to work. He lifted her with his forelegs. There was another thing they all had in common; so far all Toffee'd seen were Earth ponies. Was that a relevant enough a sized group to compare or were there more than that elsewhere? She glanced out the windows to see if there were any pegasi outside, keeping up with the train. There weren't any she could see, but that didn't mean they weren't on top of the train, or watching from high up.

She'd never been good at being a pegasus. Her whole life she'd rather read a book than fly around kicking clouds. As such she'd never even gone to flight school. Sure, she'd taken the field trip to the weather factory in grade school, and had read about how it was done. So she understood how and where the weather was made, but rain and snow never really interested her. The sun was only there in her mind so she didn't have to light a candle. She had been teased about it, and her family was rather disappointed, but it wasn't that she was afraid, like everypony kept telling her. It was that she just wasn't interested. It sometimes made it difficult to interact with other pegasi, but she refused to allow herself to be defined and limited with her life just because she had wings. Learning new things filled her with an exhilaration that no flight ever could.

She guessed that was why she'd stayed around Delta. After she'd found out that she was a changeling, she had been terrified. Yes, she'd saved Rhubarb Salad and that had stayed her hoof from immediately calling the Inquisition. Then she grew curious about changelings. Delta was a perfect chance to study them. The librarian had always hoped that was the reason Yards had been keeping her, for study. Still, for a duplicitous species, she was a most honest specimen and Toffee always respected ponies that were honest and not afraid to say things that were right. Even when she disagreed with what they said. If more ponies were honest about what they felt there'd be a whole lot less pain and confusion in the world.

If only some things weren't so hard to say.

Mechanically she watched as the new stallion worked on the patient. The mare and sword pony hovered around him. They seemed almost concerned. They were giving the big pony occasional annoyed or disgusted glances. Was this the chink she was looking for? Hmmm, maybe, oh maybe. Could she trigger a case of Stableholm Syndrome, reverse it, and get the captors to release them? She wasn't that good at being the life of the party, but she wasn't exactly a wall flower. Well, not anymore. She was quite used to public speaking and edutaining. She should be able to do this.

All she needed was-for there to not be a sword at her throat.

“Hooves where we can see them.” Hissed the melee stallion.

“I'm sorry- er -what's your name?” She put her free hoof in the air, while slowly pulling her other out of her bag.

The stallion looked at her like she was the dumbest mare in the world.

“Well I can't just call you 'sword-colt' all train ride, now can I?” Her other hoof had a tin box she gently sat on the table. The other mare snickered.

“Cutter.”

“Atta or Acromyrmex?”

He looked at her. “Parasol,” answered the mare. Toffee did not laugh at her joke. Instead she pulled a small board out of the tin and folded it open. Then she pulled a deck of cards out of the box. “Well, Mr Atta, I knew it was going to be a long trip without your detour so I came prepared. Would you and your friends like to play some cribbage?”

“Mosquito” took the cart from Starfall and pushed the injured pony up into the car ahead of them.

Starfall moved to the back of the car when “Yellow Jacket” shouted at her. She immediately stopped.

“I'm sorry, but if I'm going to feed these people then I need to get lunch started. Lunch is currently being stored in the next car. May I please go?”

He talked into his ear. So. That confirmed that whoever was in charge wasn't in this car. Why was Pony Dredd marked as an officer, but Yellow Jacket called out to Mantis when Mantis was apparently the fedora wearing pony? She would have to figure that out later, right now she needed to start giving lessons on how to play cribbage to the ponies around her.