Canadian Pacific 5-5

“So,” I said, “Who wants to hear more of the story?”

“Oh, oh! I do! I do!” Pinkie said as she bounced about excitedly.

I chuckled at the extreme display of energy and said, “Ok then. Here goes.”

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Chapter 5: The Reparations

I immediately began repair work on my hand so that I could fix everyone else’s Automail more effectively. As I did I asked the obvious question, “What did we do wrong?”

“I think I know,” Brent replied as he lifted his left leg onto the couch, “We made the same mistake like every movie where the good guys have to fight their mirrored selves. We fought our reflections and not one another’s”

“Makes sense,” Brody said as he held an ice pack to his head, “Our elements are useless against themselves. We need to swap out who’s fighting who.”

“I have a plan,” John said as he slipped his right arm into a sling, “Once we’ve recovered we’ll call on the Niners again. This time Conner fights Brody, Brody fights Brent, Brent fights me, and I fight Conner. With the Niners being so naive they’ll think that they’re the ones with the advantage.”

“But in reality we’re the ones who will have the upper hand,” I said finishing John’s thought, “Brilliant.”

It took all afternoon and part of the evening for me to fix my hand and get it functioning again. Brody had gone to sleep off the concussion in the guest room and John and Brent were keeping themselves busy playing numerous card games. I then packed up my tool kit and carried it over to where Brent was sitting.

“You’re probably going to experience some discomfort while I’m fixing your leg. Thought I might warn you,” I said, “In the mean time, John, you may want to get some sleep. It’ll take some time before Brent’s leg is repaired.”

John nodded and got up. “Do you mind if I sleep in your bed?” he asked.

“No, not at all. Besides what are friends for if not to be there when you need them?” I replied.

“Thanks,” John said as he climbed the stairs, “See you in the morning.”

Dawn came late the next morning because a heavy storm had sprung up at around 3 o’clock. Finishing Brent’s repairs at 7:00 I got up and went to the linen closet and pulled out some blankets. I left John a note telling him to make sure that Brody got plenty of rest. As I came back into the rec room I noticed that Brent had dozed off on the couch. I threw a few covers over him and carried the rest with me over to the armchair. After wrapping the blankets around myself I curled up in the armchair and fell asleep.

When I woke up it was dark outside and the clock said that it was 2:35 in the morning. I yawned and stretched, “Wow, I must have really been beat. Looks like getting the stuffing knocked out of you really wears a person down. I probably shouldn’t push my luck but I think I should at least try and doze off again.”

With that I turned over in the chair and fell asleep again. I woke again at 8:00 to the wonderful smell of pancakes and maple syrup. When I stepped into the dining room I found that Brent and John had cooked breakfast.

“Thanks guys,” I said, “I appreciate what you’ve done.”

“You didn’t get any food yesterday and we figured you’d be hungry,” John replied.

“Besides, you’re the one repairing all our Automail,” Brent said, “We figured it would be a nice way to say thank you.”

I smiled at my friends and bid them to grab some of the food themselves. “Once we’re done here I’ll fix your arm,” I told John. He nodded in agreement.

It was almost a full week after our skirmish with the Niners before we felt almost well enough try and enact John’s plan. In the meantime though the Niners had destroyed our standing as heroes and had left the city’s population on the brink of becoming an angry mob bent on destroying us.

“It’s now or never,” I told my friends, “Either we stand up, destroy the Niners and save the city or we get run out of town by a rioting crowd.”

“I’m not sure if we’re ready,” John replied, “Plus Brody really needs to continue to recover from that concussion.”

“John’s right, but we can’t afford to be kicked out of the city,” Brent said, “We need to confront the Niners and we need to do it as soon as possible.”

“We can expect to be fighting by high noon tomorrow,” I replied.

I emailed ‘myself’ and told him to meet me in front of City Hall and to bring the other Niners at 1:00. I immediately went back to my friends and explained what I had said in the email and told them that we were going to get there at 10:00.

“In the mean time,” I said, “I’m going to create swords that we will then imbue with our respective elements. That way we can get in close and hit them with the full power of our elements.”

“Good idea, Conner,” John complimented, “However I think that when we defeat our opponent we need to step back so that we don’t get in each other’s way.”

We all agreed.

I then went into my workshop and pulled out all the scrap metal I could find. I separated the steel into four piles, none of which were the same size. It took about an hour to complete the swords and another two to get them comfortably balanced for everyone. I made everyone’s sword fit their personalities and fighting styles. Brent’s was a katana, Brody got a pair of machetes, John’s was a large broadsword, and I made myself a rapier. I then grabbed my dad’s old leather working kit and carefully created a sheath for each weapon before attaching the sheaths to belts.

The next morning I brought all the weapons upstairs and set them out on the table. When we imbued our weapons with our elements the swords began to glow. Brody’s looked like they were made of molten metal, John’s had become translucent, Brent’s was coated with a thin layer of condensation, and mine looked like it had rusted from point to hilt. We all strapped our weapons on and threw large overcoats on to hide them. We took our time walking toward City Hall. As we did we were met with hundreds of angry glares and when we got within a block of City Hall a television news crew had appeared and were following us. But we kept walking with purpose and, what was left of, our dignity.

As I had expected the Niners showed up not long after we got to City Hall, they had been watching TV. The Niners approached with evil smirks on their faces, they still thought they could beat us. They stopped twenty feet from us and waited.

I whispered, “Three, two, one.”

And on “one” we all pulled off our overcoats to display our swords. The Niners to a half step back when they saw our weapons. We then pulled out our swords. Holding them at arm’s length we ignited them and they became encased in our elements. I looked again at the Niners and saw that their smug smiles had been erased. Lifting our weapons to attack position we charged at the Niners.

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“Any questions?” I asked.

The ponies quickly shook their heads.

“Good, I won’t keep you waiting then,” I said.