One Punch Stallion!
Train Stopper
Previous ChapterAuthor's Note
Sorry for the shorter chapter.
In case you're curious.
Anthro Level: 3
(Slightly taller though)
Train Stopper
Canterlot Express
Train Rattling, if you were to close your eyes the sound is actually pretty satisfying. But, when you hear it for an hour's time it gets old very quickly. I've been told that a train ride from Canterlot to Ponyville is short because they were built in close proximity, but this is taking a really long time. The brochure never said anything about the fact that the trip would be as long as this.
My gaze lingers on the paper sign on the wall, the text explains that the trip will take the time of three hours.
Slight jealousy corrupts me, sometimes I would see royal guards towing a flying carriage from Canterlot to Ponyville out of my apartment window. Ponies who cant afford to buy a flight carriage would always question how that is even possible, wouldn't gravity hinder the pegasi pulling it? I once tried lifting one, it was before my training time though, so I barely moved it at all.
I miss those days, sort of.
I take minor pleasure in the fact that I worked hard to get here, but maybe I overdid it just a little. Being a hero has been my number one goal ever since I was in the first grade, and who knew it would end up like this. As boring as it normally is at least I can deal with it.
Let's see what this brochure says. I take a small pamphlet out of one of the seat pockets and into my hands, it has a picture of the oversized town from the sky. It has block letters saying, PONYVILLE, at the top. There's a description on explaining how Ponyville was founded, apparently this family with a serious obsession on apples decided to move here. And I mean these guys literally walked and breathed by the life of the apple, and a pear was some the bane of their existence after they had a disagreement.
"Tickets please." A voice to my right says.
My eyes are taken off the Ponyville Brochure I'm reading. A train attendant wearing a stripped blue and white shirt, along with shoes that seemed impossibly well shined, was holding a ticket puncher with his left hand out.
"Oh, sure thing." I said reaching into one of my pockets.
After some digging, I found the small train ticket. I pass it into his grip, and he proceeds to go with casual protocol. Which is for a strange reason, hole punching a smiley face into the ticket right in front of me. My face adopts a incredulous expression.
"Say-jee? Interesting name." He says continuing his hole punch art.
It's Seiji.
"Here you go sir! Have a nice stay at Ponyville! It's a nice place to live!" He says with the biggest smile I've ever seen.
Maybe it seems big because I'm from Canterlot, and smiles can often be rare there. Unless it's an arrogant smile, yeah, everyone knows those kinds of smiles. Sort of like the arrogant smile from a musical character that just screams bad guy.
"Thanks." I responded taking the ticket back.
He walks down the empty isle, and back into the conductor's car. The door closes behind him, and the train once again is shrouded in a familiar quiet setting. Quite peaceful I admit, though pretty boring at the same time.
For most of the trip I just read the brochure, this town sure sounds strange, and I don't recall ever visiting it. I mean, Ponyville? Sure, names can often be strange in Equestria, but really? Did they have to come up such an unoriginal name for a decently sized town like this?
As the train kept going along on the trip, I realized that we were quickly approaching the lower mountain side. This time, it was overlooking a cliffs edge, and beneath was a seemingly limitless forest. What was the name of it?
"The Everfree Forest." I said with a snap of my fingers after recalling the name.
I heard a lot about this place, apparently the weather and the animals living there are all independent. Honestly, I don't get what the ponies find so weird about that. Back in Neighpon and almost any other land in the world nature takes care of itself, not everything has to be domesticated, you know.
I've also heard that a lot of apparently scary monsters live in the forest. I shouldn't get my hopes up though, I'll just settle the moving situation and see where this new place takes me. Who knows, maybe I might even make some friends. Or something like that.
In the distance I could distinctly hear howls ringing away. Multiple actually, they seemed angry, perhaps they're hunting some kind of prey.
Good luck whatever you are.
"I wonder what's that about." I say to myself.
I place the brochure to the side, and I decided to get up and stretch my limbs a little. But, last second my eyes had caught something underneath the seat I was sitting on. It was a piece of paper, but with distinct images on it.
My curiosity got the better of me, because I bent down to hold the strange paper, and it was absolutely worth it!
It's a poster, talking about a sale!
Specifically, a poster about a 50% off closing sale on a food stall in the market today in Ponyville! It starts at exactly 4:30! I've got to get there before it ends! I contract a dopey smile, and imagine the head start I could get on the first day of my new home. This day is off to a great start already!
The train should stop in Ponyville in about...
I quickly glance at the built in clock at the corner of the car. It's four P.M.
Thirty minutes until we stop too! I'm going to make it! Yes!
I feel victory surge through my veins, as rare as it is, it feels great to win every now and then. Everyone needs a sense of that, right?
Unfortunately, as if I had made some kind of overseeing force angry, an obstacle get's in my way.
"Halt! I have come to save you!" A supremely cocky voice says.
I'm not even talking about supreme levels of cockiness at this point. This guy's voice was on a whole other level of arrogant, it's sort of like those guys who watched a movie before everyone else, and thinks that he's the hottest thing out there because he knows what happens.
I turn around, and I saw a strange sight.
The train door burst open, revealing an... interesting character.
A pony of course, but he was wearing a turtle neck shirt. Along with it, was what looked like a thick jacket that someone could probably get for 10 bits at a thrift store, but this guy decided to pay thousands of bits to feed his already oversized ego. His hair was a bright blond, he's also a unicorn.
His eyes are a bright blue and his coat, no not the coat he's wearing I mean his actual coat, is a pristine white.
His teeth are perfectly straight and gives off a slight shine. He’s suprisingly tall, taller than the average stallion.
He’s also wearing a black eye mask over his face. I think he was wearing a few layers of makeup along with it, villains and vigilantes these days put way too much effort in their looks.
Is this guy a villain though?
Even with all of the cosmetics hiding actual identity, he seemed... familiar.
Where have I seen this guy before?
“It is I! The Aristocrat!" He said.
The Aristocrat placed his hands at his hips, giving off a weird vibe. I think he's trying to look like some sort of super hero. He put way too much work and time into his costume though, but who am I to judge?
You have to work on your character to be strong.
He suddenly stops himself before he could go on, and the stranger looks around the train car. The strange, masked stallion's pose seems to drop in demeanor. Likely because there doesn't seem to be anyone around. That is until, his eyes lay themselves upon me.
"Not as many as I hoped but he will have to do."
The aristocrat makes his way towards me, his movements are precise and elegant in each step.
"Good citizen! You are in extreme danger!" He shouts pointing a finger at me.
…
…
…
Uh...
"Ok." I said looking at him.
Without any real proof of danger I don't see the point on listening to him. My mom always told me to be wary of strangers, but now I don't really care.
A certain detail I noticed though, his accent was distinctly Canterlot style. In case if no one knows what it sounds like, it's pretty much a hint of douchebag mixed with a grain of salt. I swear they could turn fresh water into salt water by standing in it.
Suddenly, I feel a sense of danger coming towards us.
"Peril may be just around the corner you know." He said with a half-serious half-nonchalant face.
Before I could question him, a shadow was cast over the train window. The sun was being blocked by something decently large. Curtains were in front of the glass. So I couldn’t see what exactly was coming.
Something was charging towards us, pretty fast too.
As soon as I realized he likely wouldn't do anything, I decided to get involved before anything bad could happen. Saving him is my job as a hero, for fun or not. Who would I be if I didn't help him?
"Well, I could sa-."
The wall behind him burst open, revealing a monster.
It was hard to explain, it looked similar to a grass hopper. Green mandibles were clicking away, and it's eyes were a bright, aqua marine blue. In color, it was a bright green with grey accents on certain parts of it's body. It also seemed to be extremely hostile all the while.
By the way, it's gigantic compared to the train.
The Aristocrat turns around in an instant, and get's in a combat position. The problem is that he likely wont be able to do anything to stop it. The strange "hero" doesn't seem to have any special advantages, and all he likely has is his magic. I don't know what magic is like, I'm sure that magic can be pretty strong and all. But I don't think it's going to help.
The monster lunges forward, stretching it's mandibles intending to tear the stallion apart. It also gives an furious roar along with it's attack.
That's not happening.
"Don't think you're going to win you... you... monster?" He said, slowly getting quitter by the end.
A special reason why, the Primal Bugger was stopped in it's tracks. Why would the Mantis stop though? Their target was in their sights! There was even a second stallion right next to him! The fun could've been doubled!
...
Two hands, my hands were holding it by the tips of the mandibles.
It's eyes even though it lacks the important detail of eyelids, was showing severe surprise. The Aristocrat's eyebrows was higher than the most highest of ponies, and his actual eyes were the size of dinner plates. He even blinked and rubbed his eyes multiple times in rapid sessions just to ensure that he's not hallucinating.
The mantis tries to escape my death grip. I don't let him move his mandibles, not even by a centimeter. I keep my blank expression, while my face is emotionless and bored... the other two has expressions of shock, questioning how this could be possible.
One thing that surprised me though, was the fact that the train stopped moving.
Why did it stop? Even with the monster attacking us the train should keep moving. Unless...
My fears were turned into reality when I looked towards the left of the train. The mantis had torn our half of the train cars from the front of the train, and it was racing away from us. The car was slowing down quickly, the remaining momentum from the original train was the only thing keeping us moving.
"You're, you're going to make me late for the sale!" I said with anger.
"Wha-what?" The Aristocrat said with confusion.
Instead of answering him, I plan to get past this situation and get to the town as quickly as possible. The time is around 4:15, so if I hurry up I may be able to make it before the sale starts, and before customers swarm the place. Being punctual isn't something I always do, but when it comes to something like this?
I'm always early.
I rear back my fist, and deliver the swift punch.
The poor creature's body seems to cave in itself, and explodes into pieces. Somewhere in Equestria, a scientist is likely sputtering on about the pure blasphemy that is the logic of a punch blowing a creature to pieces. I don't need logic when one punch is all I need, as much as I despise it.
"W-What are you? I was sup-posed to..." He said falling onto one of the train seats.
He held a hand to the side of his head, trying to lessen the headache he got from what he just saw. The stranger also seemed to be breathing faster than he originally was, but I didn't want to really pay attention to that. There's something important that I need to attend to.
The mantis's remnants fall down the cliff, never to be seen again.
I may or may not have just punched a species into extinction.
Never mind that, I need to get going.
"Wait, I need to talk to you about somethi-."
He couldn't finish his sentence, since another sight had cut him off completely. His jaw once again dropped to the floor, and his eyes showed shock and the smallest bit of worry. Maybe this guy isn't that big of a douche after all.
I did something that may be considered dumb, but I could handle it. I'm not a child anymore after all, I can handle myself.
The sight that baffled him was of me jumping down the cliff, and sailing my way down the cliff's surface. Trees expanded across the land, and it was all I could see as soon as I made it to the bottom. A long walk was ahead of me, and the place could be considered dangerous. It would be stupid to just walk in without directions.
Eh, why not.
I walked into the dark reaches of the Everfree Forest, known to be the most evil place in Equestria.