Noise and breezy mountain air rushed into the boxcar. Josho and Eagle Eye craned their necks, squinting into the bright slit of light that occupied the doorframe of the connecting car ahead of them. Josho did a double-take while Eagle raised an eyebrow.
Its orange fur billowing in the wind, a red fox jumped down and squatted before them on all fours. Its dark eyes blinked.
Eagle Eye leaned aside. "Do you see anypony?"
"Beats the hell out of me," Josho grunted. "Must be behind the pet fox."
Immediately, the animal scowled. It reared up to its hind feet, sporting a bandolier full of daggers, wrenches, and throwing stars. It took four tiny steps forward and kicked Josho hard in the knee.
"Gaaah!" the graying stallion hopped on three limbs, wincing. "Oh, come on—!" His voice left him as soon as he found himself staring at a pistol cocked between his eyes.
The fox glared, his pointed teeth showing. "Rotten hoofers gotta be smart about everything. Wanna see if that horn of yours is full of chocolate?"
"What? N-no—!" The fox kicked him in the other knee. "Nnngh!"
"Then be more quiet when we hit you," the fox hissed, leaning back against a crate of supplies.
"Uhhh..." Eagle Eye squinted. "Who's 'we?'"
As if on cue, several orange-haired companions scurried up beside the gun-toter. They snickered and chattered above the sound of the rattling train wheels. "You mean to tell us these are our latest supplies? Pffft. We'd make more money skinning them and making a bunch of rugs."
"Heck, the small one could make a velvety pillow case."
"Yeah, real threatening," Josho grumbled, waving both of his aching forelimbs. "Face it, buckos. The only reason I'm not colliding your skulls like eggshells this very moment is cuz you've got a cowardly pistol shooter aimed at us." He blinked, then glanced aside at Eagle Eye, who was feeling the texture of his lavender coat. The enforcer smacked him upside the head.
"Ow!" Eagle winced, frowing aside. "It's just that they said—"
"Can it."
"Hah. Don't they make a happy couple?!" One fox sneered at the other two. "The Killas must be slipping if they let these hoofer schmucks slip from their paws."
"Considering their brain power, I don't doubt it." The fox with the pistol leaned forward, his black nostrils flaring in the flickering sunlight passing through the windows. "So, what is it really, huh?" He pointed at the magical binding between the two stallions. "Diamond dog tinkering? Searonese tech? Doesn't look or smell like hoofer nonsense."
"Look, I was brought here by a bunch of earth ponies and a smattering of rams," Eagle Eye said. "They promised that we would get safe passage to a spot beyond Sapphire Ravine—"
All three red foxes cackled like hyenas, leaning over to slap their knees.
Eagle Eye blinked. "What the hay is so funny?!"
"They didn't promise you anything but hard work, ya overgrown pile of snot!" The fox in the center twirled his pistol and smirked. "We bought you for two strips of silver, and now we're going to make a fortune selling you along with the gun powder cache to those religious horn-zappers beyond the border!"
"Huh?!" Eagle Eye did a double-take.
"He means they're privateers, smartflank," Josho grumbled, his jaw tight. "And they're gonna sell us to a Xonan expeditionary force southeast of your friggin' home town."
"What?! That... that means the Xonans have infiltrated as far as south of Searo!" Eagle Eye grimaced. "Nopony in the Confederacy ever told my company that!"
"It wasn't your bit-sucking mercenaries' place to know how badly we were losing the war," Josho muttered. "So shut your trap and let me do the talking!"
"Hey, don't order me around!" Eagle Eye pouted. "You're not my dad!"
"I'm old enough to be."
"Oh, ick! ICK!" Eagle Eye bounced back and forth on both pairs of hooves.
"Settle down."
"You settle down—I-I mean with a mare... I-I mean with a mare far, far away from me! Like forever! Ick... ICK!"
"You don't suppose we could chop 'em in half and keep one around as a jester?" one fox asked the other.
"Which one?"
"Ha! Take your pick!"
"I prefer the one who doesn't smell so bad."
"What, you like the smell of apricot clinging to your fur?"
"Apricot?! How friggin' close did you get to these hoofers when the exchange was made?!"
"Listen..." Josho stepped forward. "If you would just let me contact my—"
The pistol-bearer kicked his knee again.
"Gaaah!" Josho hissed and stomped. "Stop... friggin'... doing that!" He took several deep breaths, then muttered with a stone cold glare. "If you would just let me contact the Ledomaritan Council, they'll pay handsomely for my return. I'm not so sure about Pink Eye here—"
"Eagle Eye."
"I'm not so sure about Prissy Peepers here, but me? I've worked alongside Prime Enforcers on intercontinental battleships. I'm... like... super important and stuff."
Eagle Eye blinked straight ahead. "...only when you're sober," he muttered.
Josho shoved him.
Eagle shoved him back.
"Enough!" The fox cocked two pistols this time, his dark eyes narrowing. "Don't pretend like you can tempt me. Hoofer bits have no worth with foxkind."
"Then how about we pay you by not blowing up your little circus railroad from the Spark-forsaken earth?!"
"Don't pretend like you can threaten me either." The fox sneered, strutting backwards towards the car's exit. "Now that you know where you're going, maybe it's time you stated praying to whatever horse god you were taught to believe in. Regardless of what those tatooed hoofers believe down south, I'm willing to bet that the next time we visit them, we'll have some fresh equine kidneys to collect." He and his buddies snickered. With a wink, he holstered his pistol, turned around, and scurried out of the box car. The door slammed shut, being triple-locked from the other side.
Both stallions stood dead still in silence, interrupted occassionally by the rattling of train rails.
"Well, I liked their tails," Eagle said.
And then Josho smacked him again.
"Daah!"
These two clowns are never going to make it to Blue Nova
Also.."daggers, wrenches, and throwing stars."
one of these things is not like the others. I can't tell if that fox is a ninja or a rouge mechanic.
Heh.
By the way, it's dad, not dab.
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I think they're taking the long way around. On the plus side, more Xona exposition!
Pfft. Drama Queen EE is best EE.
Well, at least we may have a glimpse of what the Xonans are like. At this point, we don't know if they're as bad or worse than the Ledowankers.
Judging by the fact they're buying ponies for their organs though, I'm not hopeful.
I guess we can only hope that the train makes an unscheduled stop in Searo.
Sober on up and teleport good Josho.
Where does Eagle Eye stash that shampoo, anyway?
I just noticed, it looks like these foxes do their business in silver strips. They should really look into the modern marvel known as fiat money. But hey, whatever. I bet those strips would make a great post apocalyptic currency.
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Thats if they make it at all.
2528173 Mechanic, Definitely Rouge Mechanic
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"I cannae do it, cap'n! There's just too much interference in this bloody box car!"
Last Train Home - Armored Saint
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Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to.
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I think there's some sort of magic inhibitor or whatever, makes using magic really painful. One of them is going to have the realization that the other can teleport out of the shackles, and they'll feel really silly until Rainbow's Magic Banana
BoatAirship finds them.2528350
Something something beam me up Josho something something.
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I have this really strong mental image of Josho losing drunken bets in bootcamp and waking up the next day stranded forty feet up a tree.
settle down EE your manes gonna get tangled
my theory for the renewed element (as what i can interpret for this stories direction) is mst likely gonna be
Rainbow dash: Loyalty (duh)
roarke: generosity (Roarke most RAREINDEED
Imre (spelling?): kindness (kind t the crystal ponies and lets face it she ain't gonna getany element of laughter anytime soon)
crimson: Honesty (he just seems rather honest and hardworking)
Belle: eather magic (something epic may happen in the finale) or a new loyalty (she has dashes memories and such so why not?)
laughter eludes me but it might be flyodin (again spelling?) i dunno its possible
Oh, here's something I wanted to say for quite a while now: remember that song contest way back in the days when Equestria was still in black and white? About finding a song to describe Austraeoh? I went for Journey and Vi back then, and I say SCREW THAT! Ladies and Gentlemen, I have found the absolute nonplusultra of Austraeoh theme songs. Lyrics made-to-measure, as if written for the story! Tragedy and events of world-changing magnitude! Drums like I-don't-even-know-anymore - Gentlemen! I present
(No, I'm not trying to compare this story to Snowhite and the Huntsman. It's just about the song, I promise!)
Ceterum censeo Searinem delendam esse.
Oh, foxes. Darn.
i still think sentient Timberwolves would have been better but foxes are definitely unexpected.
Huh. Neato.
the second the foxes were mentioned reminded me of the fox from the Disney version of Robin Hood.
Foxes? That's new.
methinks ee only knows his dad was an enforcer, not really who...
Well now, was not expecting foxes, but it works for me!!
IC, please canonize the dad idea, you can definitely pull off a star-wars with it.
Random foxes are random.
Good to know what we're dealing with here. Sure are a lot slavers, huh? Jeez. Between the dystopian empire, the society of apparent religious fanatics, the cybernetic blood-lusting bounder hunters, and bands of canine/vulpine slavers, this whole continent is amounting to one great-big steaming pile of suck, ain't it? One can only imagine what manner of nightmare fuel lies eastward on Dash's journey...y'know, before she flips over to the hell of chaos and darkness.
...I've gone and scared myself.
I wish someone would make a map of the whole of the confederacy so we can kind of keep better track of all these places.
Or for that matter a map of the whole world revealed so far. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, someone just scribble
something up in a ms paint file or something.
Always the talk about kidneys...
The B Movie Box Car Blues
Doing my best to get back to you
Ain't nothing I'd rather do
Look for me Sunday, gonna be there honey
Something special just for you
Special just for you
"I liked their tails" - Eagle Eye.
Wonderful.
Fox tails are fluffy...
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What, you never played Super Mario Bros. 3? Of course, those were mole-turtle hybrids....
Ah, cunning foxes. I smell a double agent within their rank who might assist our heroes. He'd have to be connected enough to have knowledge worth sharing, but not so high on the food chain that he wouldn't consider going rouge-er. Then again we did see this with Roarke so, it's a coin toss for now.
Well of all the things, I did not expect foxes.
And they apparently trade in silver strips. They'll be ahead when the Apicalypse arrives.
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naah, the rouge mechanic is EE.
I was right!
foxes are a type of badger, aren;t they?
foxes!
Those foxes are gonna get their tails owned so hard.
Tails. Furry nomenclature is appropriate here, right?
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So this chapter was more humor than anything else. Which doesn't bother me, by the way. Also, yeah, I was right about EE's benefactors being shady. Although I do think that he and Josho will find a way to escape them. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Is it odd that I can't imagine being kicked by a fox as painful? Whenever it came up I pictured a small little orange fox swatting Josho, a big horsey guy, on the nose with a paw, regardless of what actually happened. The whole armed thing does make them threatening, though. Anywho, it looks like this duo is taking a detour. Maybe we'll finally see some Xonans, or maybe their trip will get derailed (Ha! See what I did there? No one cares? Well, alright then...) and they'll end up in Blue Nova with everyone else. Hard to say. Well, continuity calls - onward!
I'm back from the dead! AND NOW I READ ON!!!
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Man, it has been a long time and still we have not met the Xonans in person (ponyson?). I'm kind of terrified. Other than maybe the orphan in chapter 1. They are always just hinted about.
Foxes.
Foxes.
-Spirit
EDIT P.S.: Hilarious banter, again
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Liked for best song.
Foxes? Yep, that was a good move.
4766014
I never thought Id see the day when the furries came into the brony world...
4979768
Um. Diamond Dogs. They're canon.
Oh look! An appearance of my favorite animal!
What I wonder, is why nobody mentioned the furry creature with the fluffy tail that accompanies our favorite blimd zebra amd the odd speaking antlered one.
On their way to be sold to Xonans. Hurry, egghead and smelly one, escape!