The pirates had just finished up their lunch, and piled up their scraps on the side when the toys and other ponies were coming around the corner.
Twilight, Rainbow and Spike ran up to them once they were inside the dome.
"Hey guys!" Rainbow exclaimed. "So, tell me we got a new engine!"
"Oh, don't give your hopes up!" Gutt called down to them. "We saw everything. Every engine that passed by didn't even think to bother with you! And now you've come back to unload and surrender your booty!"
Twilight looked sad. "Didn't go so well?"
"Don't give up hope yet," Rarity smiled proudly. "It just so happens we have a new engine right here!"
"Eeyup!" Pinkie added, loud enough so the pirates could hear her. "We got a really strong, hard-working engine right here!"
"What?" Gutt exclaimed in shock. His crew all looked just as shocked.
Gutt reached over and grabbed Silas around the neck. "I thought you said there were no more engines!" He hissed angrily.
"I-I'm sorry!" Silas stammered. "There were no more before. They were giving up! It must have come up after I left... or... or maybe they're bluffing!"
Gutt gave him one more angry squeeze then dropped him.
"Don't even think about toying with us you dirty rats!" Gutt sneered at the heros.
"We-we're not lying!" Rolo stammered. "Just look here!" He turned around the corner. "Oh, Tilly!"
At the sound of her name, Tilly puffed back in reverse around the corner towards the train into the siding.
The pirates all started for a minute.
"TILLY!" Rainbow and Twilight exclaimed in glee.
"THAT'S your rescue?" Gutt asked in surprise. "THAT little thing is gonna take you over THAT mountain?" He pointed back behind him to the tall dark mountain.
And suddenly, all the pirates burst out laughing hysterically.
"No-no way!" Squint added, gasping for air, "She is WAY too little for this!"
"I think I can!" Tilly snapped at them, trying to keep her funnel up.
"Shut up, you big bullies!" Chip shouted.
"Yeah, those are the pirates we were talking about," Pinkie explained.
"Don't listen to 'em!" Applejack said, trying to comfort Tilly, "They don't know what they're talking about."
"It's so awesome you could come, Tilly!" Rainbow said, flying up to her. "So you finally got your wish! You get to pull the train of your dreams, huh?"
"Yeah! This is wonderful!" Tilly replied, "I'm gonna do my best and get you all over that mountain!"
"Great!" Fluttershy smiled.
"Well, we better get ready to go," Rolo announced. He turned back to the toys. "All aboard! And strap yourselves in. It might get bumpy!"
The toys all did as they were told and headed back to the train to take their seats.
"So-um... how's this going to work?" Rolo asked Tilly and the ponies. "Are we pretty much going to- you know, m-make a break for it?"
"Yeah," Twilight answered. "I'll drop the shield in a minute once we're ready to go. The pirates will probably charge us then. Tilly, we need you to go as fast as you can."
"As fast as I can?" Tilly repeated.
"That's right," Rarity replied. "Like I said before. You take care of pulling the train, and leave the pirates to us!"
"Yeah. We'll fend off the pirates," Twilight added.
"Alright!" Rolo smiled, "Great! Sounds like this is going to go great... I hope. I'll... I go take my seat." He turned and walked to the coal car and sat down next to Chippers.
"Better hang on tight Chippers!" He whispered to the monkey.
"Alright!" Tilly said, a stern look on her face. "Let's do this!"
"That's the spirit girl!" Rainbow shouted.
Tilly backed up and linked up her coupling to the coal car as the Ponies all ran back to their car in the train.
"Looks like they're getting ready to go!" Gutt remarked to his crew. "Battle stations! Get ready to charge!"
The pirates all drew their weapons, and showed off their "GIRRR!" faces, looking mean.
"Alright Tilly!" Twilight called from the car. "Go!"
Tilly took a big breath, and started dashed ahead, pulling the train along. It was not long before they were out of the force field. No longer needing it, Twilight released the spell, and it evaporated like water going down a drain.
"After them!" Gutt cried.
"Charge!" Squint added.
The pirates all charged down the mountain, looking viscous and blood-thirsty.
"Get ready girls!" Twilight said as all the ponies looked either out the window or off from the rear balcony.
Tilly was fast, but even on their feet, Gutt and his crew were fast runners, and catching up quite fast.
Rarity knew a fight was inevitable. She readied herself, but the anticipation and excitement made her body shake.
Standing on the balcony, Twilight readied her magic laser with her horn. Being careful not to hit the elephant's small car, She shot a few powerful blasts at the enemies, but Gutt was fast, and rolled right into her blasts, shielding his crew with his dispelling stone necklace. He walked each blast with his sword, deflecting them like a lightsaber would deflect laser blasts. Her blasts were ineffective.
"Blast!" Twilight hissed.
"You just did," Spike stated, earning a glare from Twilight.
"Silas, Gupta!" Gutt ordered, "Slow down the train!"
"Yes sir!" Silas replied, picking up Gupta and flying up toward the front.
Rainbow and Fluttershy noticed this. "Oh no you don't!" Rainbow grunted. "Fluttershy, help me out here!" She flew out the window, and Fluttershy followed.
Raz and Squint each pulled a few star fish from their pouches, and hurled them at the train. Twilight and Rarity caught them though with their magic, and flung them right back. The pirates all dodged the star fish, although Flynn and Raz were not quick enough and got one or two cuts.
"No more star fish!" Gutt barked.
Twilight got another idea. She focused her magic on the ground as it slid out under them, and turned the hard soil into slippery mud.
"That should give them the slip!" Pinkie giggled.
Gutt and his crew simply kept charging at the long trail of mud. Gutt would not slow down. He had an idea.
"Flynn, slide!" He ordered.
"Yes sir!" Flynn squealed as he jumped into the mud on his belly as the mud came up. Gutt, Raz, and Shira all jumped on top of his back as he slid down the mud like a waterslide.
"WEEEE!" He was screaming.
Squint was not quick enough, and he just slipped across the mud on his back.
After a while, Twilight gave up on the mud, and let the ground turn back to normal. When she did, the pirates all jumped back up and gave chase again. Squint got back to his feet and shook himself off before dashing right back ahead of the group. Nothing could keep that rabbit down. Twilight just went back to trying to blast them.
"Squint!" Gutt ordered the rabbit, "Take out Twilight!"
Squint dashed ahead right at Twilight, his rabbit speed picking up for him, and dodging out of the way of her magic blasts. But Tilly was still picking up speed, and managed to stay ahead of him.
They had come clear out of the siding now, and heading straight for the mountain on a long open dirt road cutting through the forest.
Rarity had tried throwing rocks from the side at the pirates, and Pinkie had tried blasting them with her party cannon, but the pirates kept evading.
Gutt turned to Raz next. "Raz! Hooks for me and Flynn!"
Raz pulled out three vine ropes with shark jaws from her pouch, tossing one to Flynn and one to Gutt, they started swinging them, preparing to toss them.
Up at front, Silas had made it to the front, and had dropped Gupta down on Tilly's face. Tilly got scared at being blind, and Gupta started clawing at the metal of her funnel.
Out of fear, she began to slow down. Chip flew up and tried to pull at Gupta's fur, trying to pry the badger from Tilly's funnel, but Gupta was bigger and stronger.
Rainbow and Fluttershy made it to the front and dove for Gupta, but Silas head-butted Fluttershy, making her crash into Rainbow.
With Tilly slowing down, Squint finally made it to the train. He twisted up and around the scared elephant's car, and then leapt up and into the pony's car, diving straight for Twilight.
Twilight screamed as the crazed bunny started zipping about her body, clawing at her coat and pulling at her mane and horn. He was moving so fast and his touch irritated her so much she could not get a lock on him with her levitation spell.
Pinkie and Rarity stayed focused on the pirates outside, so they could not help her.
Applejack rushed up to help her.
"Hold still, sugar cube," She said, "I got this!"
Twilight held still as best she could. Squint continued to move, making it hard to Applejack to catch him. She prepared to buck him. For a moment, he stopped on Twilight's head. Applejack bucked at that moment, but Squint jumped down, and AJ hit Twilight full-force.
"Ow!" Twilight yelped as she was pushed back. She hit her head hard on the railing, and slipped out of consciousness.
AJ gasped as she pulled Twilight out from the balcony and into the car.
"Oh no," She gasped. "I killed her!"
"She's not dead," Spike said, "She's just unconscious!"
"She WILL be dead soon though!" Squint laughed. He charged at Applejack and Spike next.
Gutt, Flynn, and Raz flung their ropes at the train. Flynn's jaw bit down onto the lower railing of the pony car, Raz's hit the upper railing.
And Gutt purposely aimed at the elephant. The jaw bit down onto the elephant's leg. He screamed in pain as Gutt pulled back. The poor elephant almost fell out, but Applejack saw this first, and dove down and caught his trunk before he fell out. He was heavy. It took all her strength to hold him up.
Spike was left to deal with Squint, dodging his quick knife attacks, and grappling with him.
With the added weight of Flynn, Tilly was slowed down even more.
Rarity paused and looked around her. This was bad! The pirates were gaining on them fast, Twilight was unconscious, AJ and Spike were both busy, and-
"Rarity!" Pinkie ordered. "Hold them off! I'll try to wake up Twilight! We need her!" She left the cannon and ran up to Twilight's body, holding her up and slapping her across the face with her hoof.
"What? Pinkie!" Rarity hissed. "Get back here! I need help!"
No good. She was doing her thing. "Twilight! Pinkie shouted at her. "Come on! Snap out of it!"
"Help!" Spike called out. He was fighting off Squint with a frying pan. Rarity turned back outside.
Flynn was sliding along, being pulled along by the rope. "Wee!" He screamed with joy, as though he were waterskiing. Raz was just hopping along.
Gutt had apparently hit a turtle, and was sliding along on top of it, as though he really were waterskiing. He also pulled along the rope, hand over hand, coming closer and closer to the train, and making the elephant and Applejack play tug-of-war with him. Blood started leaking from the teary-eyed elephant's leg.
Shira was easily the biggest threat. She ran, and was coming up faster than the others.
Thinking fast, Rarity spotted a loose tree coming up on the side. She focused her magic on it, and yanked it down. The pirates paused and either jumped or went around it. It would buy her some time.
She turned back to Spike. She focused on Squint, and levitated him, making him freeze.
"Huh? Hey!" Squint shouted.
Before he could say anything else, Spike brought his pan down on Squint's head, knocking him out.
Still moving fast, Rarity whirled him around in the air, and then roughly threw him out the window. He went flying through the air, and slammed into a tree.
"Thanks Rarity," Spike smiled.
Ignoring him, Rarity turned back to the pirates outside.
Up at front, Rainbow was wrestling with Silas while Fluttershy was trying to catch Gupta scurrying around Tilly's funnel.
Silas pulled down on Rainbow's mane, making her somersault over and land into the coal car. She pulled herself out coughing up black smoke as Silas went after Fluttershy next.
"Are you okay?" Rolo asked, concerned.
"Yeah!" Rainbow grunted. Just then she saw Chippers and got an idea.
"Rolo," She said, "I need to borrow Chippers for a sec."
"Um, okay..." Rolo nodded nervously.
Chippers looked shocked for a moment, and before he could move, Rainbow quickly grabbed his tail in her teeth, and flew up to the Tilly's boiler.
On the boiler, Silas was pecking the heck out of Fluttershy's head while she covered her head with her forelegs.
Rainbow swung poor Chippers around, and swatted Silas like a fly, making him go flying off and smack into a rock on the side of the road.
The pest gone, Rainbow set Chippers down. "Sorry about that," She said apologetically. "Just trying to get them off, you know?" She smiled awkwardly.
Chippers rubbed his sore tail and gave her an annoyed look as he turned and hopped back down into the coal car with Rolo.
Chip was still trying to pry Gupta off Tilly's funnel, to no avail. The two pegasi hovered over, and worked together to pull him off.
Face to face with the intimidating ponies, Gupta grinned innocently. The two ponies just glared him down. That was his move. He bit down hard into Fluttershy's leg.
With a yelp of pain, she spun and threw him hard off onto the sides of the tracks. He splash landed in a mud puddle.
"You okay?" Rainbow asked concerned.
Fluttershy nodded. She looked over her leg. The bite had not gone deep, and no blood was drawn.
"You okay Tilly?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah. I'm okay," Tilly replied. "Thanks."
"Let's get back to the others!" Rainbow said to Fluttershy as they darted back to the rear of the train.
By now, Flynn's belly was scraping against the ground, irritating him. He also banged into rocks or loose stumps, getting bruised up.
"Captain, this hurts!" He complained. "I don't like this ride."
"Flynn," Gutt snapped back, nostrils flaring, "don't you dare let go of that rope, or I will gouge out your eyes!"
"Yessir," Flynn squeaked. He was silent after that.
Up at the train, Rartiy continued to try and hit Shira with levitated rocks, but not hit. The ones that did hit only irritated her, made her angrier. Applejack still held tight to the elephant so he would not fall off his cart.
Pinkie was still busy with Twilight until Spike came up.
"Pinkie," He barked, "I'll wake up Twilight. Go help Rarity!"
"Okey-dokey!" She smiled and slided back up to her party canon.
"Pinkie," Rarity grunted, "Hold them back! I need a second."
"Okay!" Pinkie started firing away like a trigger-happy redneck on a hunt. A few times she made Shira dodge to the side or stumble or loose her footing, but she was still gaining.
Rarity looked around for something she could use... something in the forest. Simply throwing things wasn't working. What else could se do?
She noticed all the green leaves on the trees, and suddenly, it hit her! She knew what to do.
She focused on several leaves and yanked several from the trees, and using a connecting spell she knew, she wove each leave together quickly, forming a kind of rope. She made the rope snake through the air, darting at Shira.
Shira tried to dodge this one, but no good. The rope coiled around her leg, and then got to the rest of the body, tying her up. Caught in the rope, Rarity picked her up, and threw her far off into the trees.
"Shira!" Raz cried as her friend went soaring through the air.
Shira smashed into a few trees, and was pretty bruised as she hit the ground.
"Nice one, Rarity!" Pinkie cheered.
"Thank you, dear!" Rarity nodded. "Keep firing!"
Pinkie kept firing her confetti balls at Gutt and Raz. It slowed them from climbing up their ropes, but only just.
Rarity turned to Flynn. Loosing him would speed up the train again. She glanced at the shark jaw hooks. Those had to go.
She focused her magic on the one holding Flynn's rope, and pushed against it. It had a strong grip like a bear trap, but she eventually got it loose, and threw the opened jaw at Flynn's head. It bounced off his rubbery head as he tumbled around in the dirt, hitting a few more rocks until he finally stopped and lay down, clutching his sore sides.
The extra weight gone, Tilly sped up again.
Next, Rarity loosened Raz's jaw clamp, but she was just kept following and bouncing along on her feet, keeping up well.
Pinkie kept shooting at Gutt. Her shots kept hitting him square-on, but even holding the rope with one hand, he would not let go.
"Raz!" He shouted, "Pass me some starfish and a bolas!"
Raz reached into her pouch and tossed the captain a set of throwing starfish first, and then a short vine with a rock tied at each end.
It was then that Rarity focused on the ground, and made the ground under Raz's feet spring up, making the kangaroo go flying into the air. Thinking fast, Rarity picked up another large rock, the size of a basketball, and slammed it into Raz's side, sending her flying and screaming into the trees.
As she tumbled through the trees, Raz fell through a ton of branches, getting cut and bruised all over until she finally hit the ground with a hard thud! She started growning in pain and clutching her stomach. She needed a minute before she could get back up.
While Rarity was busy with Raz, Gutt threw his star fish at Pinkie. One had clipped her shoulder, drawing a slight bit of blood. The other had caught her main, and pinned her to the wall of the car. She was stuck. She could not reach the party cannon. She squeaked in pain both from her shoulder wound and from her mane pulling as she tried to get free.
"Pinkie!" Rarity yelped when she saw her friend get hit.
"I'm okay," She forced a smile.
Rarity looked back in time to see Gutt hurl the bolas at her. They went spinning through the air until they finally struck her, wrapping her up and making her stumble to the ground, unable to move.
She started to focus her magic on the rope, but suddenly, a sharp pain cut into her side. It was rough and sharp, and hurt. Rarity yelped out in pain. She looked behind her and saw that Gutt had thrown another star fish at her. It had gone off into the wall, but it sliced through her foreleg and hip. Blood was already leaking out..
Gutt was pulling himself closer and closer to the car fast.
"Help!" Applejack yelped. "He's gettin' heavy. Can't hold on much longer!"
Rarity panicked. The pain in her leg was great. Blood was already leaking out. She could not focus on what to do with her magic, let alone use it.
"Twilight, come on!" Spike growled from inside the car. "You're a tough girl! Get up!" He continued to slap her across the face.
Her eyes finally fluttered open, but Spike kept slapping her. She put up her hoof to block him.
"Okay, Spike, stop! I'm up!" She shouted. She rubbed her sore cheeks as she got to her hooves.
"Sorry," Spike muttered, rolling his eyes.
Twilight darted to the railing to see the scene.
"Nevermind us," Rarity shouted at her.
"Yeah, help Applejack!" Pinkie added.
Twilight nodded and narrowed her eyes at Gutt. She knew what to do.
"Excuse me." She hopped down onto the Elephant's back so she could see his leg better.
Gutt was closer now. Twilight glanced at him, meeting his eyes. They were filled with rage and blood thirst. They scared her, but she did not show it.
"This may hurt a second," Twilight whispered to the Elephant, turning back to him.
She focused her magic on the clamp, trying to open it, being both rushed and gentle so as not to hurt the elephant's leg.
Gutt was so close now. He drew his sword and prepared to slice through Twilight.
Too late. She had the clamp open and loose. She lifted it up and held it for a minute.
Gutt looked at her with a shocked face. She glared back at him mischeviously. She had him beat. He was in check. She threw down the jaw hard on Gutt's head.
The jaw hit him on the head, and he fell back off the turtle and rolled in the dirt, still carried by the momentum, until at last, he came to a stop, face down in a small puddle of mud.
It was at this time that Rainbow and Fluttershy came back from fighting Silas and Gupta.
Gutt pushed himself up from the ground, his arms feeling wobbly, mud dripping from his face and looked off as the train sped off, the ponies, all alive, some hurt, but all alive, all zooming off down the tracks. He could hear their voices teasing him.
"Ha ha!"
"Yipee!"
"See ya, Captain BUTT!"
"You loose again!"
"You'll never beat us!"
He growled at the voices as they got quieter.
He slowly got to his feet and wiped his face and beard clean of mud.
He heard panting and footsteps behind him, and knew it was his crew.
"Reporting, Captain," Raz announced.
"All here and accounted for," Shira added.
"Look Captain!" Flynn said. "I didn't let go of the rope." He must have been holding his vine that was broken off before him, but Gutt did not bother looking around to see.
"This really sucks," Silas said. "Another one gets away."
"No," Gutt growled. "We're not done yet! They're not getting away that easily!" He spun around and pointed back down the tracks the way they came. "Everyone, back to the truck!"
Everyone looked at him in shock, and then they started groaning with exhaustion. Gutt could see they were cut and bruised from the skirmish.
"Captain Gutt," Shira asked, trying to sound strong still. "With all due respect, we all got pretty bruised up back there. Can we let this one slide and just go back to the ship and rest?"
"Yeah, pretty please?" Flynn followed.
"Suck it up you big whiney land-loving babies!" Gutt snapped. "We've all been beat-up worse than this before! Raz can fix you all up in the truck while I drive!"
"He does have a point with all that," Gupta nodded. He was the least injured, only being dropped into a mud puddle.
Everyone's spirits were still pretty down. Gutt knew he had to get them up somehow.
He sighed in exhaustion, letting out his annoyance, and smiled at them, and then started to sound more encouraging.
"Besides, how does this make you all feel?" He went on. "Does it make you angry? Don't you wanna pound those ponies back ten-fold?"
This thought brought about some smiles and wicked snickers amongst the others.
"Well then get back to the truck!"
And with that, the whole crew turned and rushed back to the siding where they had left the truck.
"Shotgun!" Squint called.
A few minutes later, the crew were all back in their truck, rushing down the dirt road again to try and catch up with the birthday train. Gutt was behind the wheel, Squint, his dislocated bones all reattached, in the passenger seat, and the others in the back. Raz was busy fixing everyone up with makeshift bandages, primitive ointments they made from fruit, and medicinal herbs Gutt had taught them about.
After a few minutes, they at last came up near the train across a small river. Gutt looked out the windshield at the last car in the train. He could make out some of the faces of the ponies. He glared at them with a hateful stare.
"You won't get away from me this time, my little ponies," He hissed under his breath. He rose one hand to the windshield, and pressed one of his nails to it, one of those massive, sharp finger nails that he used to sadistically execute and torture his enemies. He slid the nail along the windshield through the pony's faces, making a screech line nails on a chalkboard.
"AHHH!" The whole crew screamed, holding their ears. "Captain! Please! Stop it!"
Gutt slid his finger further until the streak finally stopped at Twilight's head.
They continued following the train at their steady pace.
Author's Note: I told you this story was going to get violent. Wow. That was a fun chapter to write, all that action!
You know, Twilight kind of annoys me for two main reasons: First, that she's the one who solves most of the problems on the show, and how she's so talented and can do so much with her magic, like she's better than the other six. Second, I think she gets WAY to much screen time, at least compared to the others. I know she's the main character, but still...
So when I found out that Season 3 was going to focus more on her and talk about her maybe exploring outside of Ponyville and her magic growing stronger, maybe going on some sort of quest to find herself from my interpretation, I was like "Yeah, because the show doesn't focus on her enough already!"
And she has so much: Growing up in a wonderful city like Canterlot, being the Princess's apprentice, and now her brother's married to another princess, so she's a princess herself technically! It really kind of pisses me off! And she has pretty much everything Rarity's ever dreamed of, right?
I made a little change to this chapter. At first, I was going to have Rarity be the one to take down Gutt, and Twilight wake up after the action was over, but then I remembered that this is suppose to be about Rarity being jealous of Twilight's talent, so I changed it, thinking I'd be able to work that theme in more this way.
So those are really all the extra thoughts I have now. Running low on time before Season 3 premiers. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please review! I'd really like to see some reviews!
Next chapter: They start singing that kick-ass song; "Nothing Can Stop Us Now." Until then! See you later!