March 2016 - Fana Farouche - A Stallion and His Train Engine
"Another shovel of dredge coal for the firebox. Just like that. See? Simple. Easy. Done."
"R-Right. Uhm... just like that..."
"Is there a problem, Fana?"
"N-no, father! I was just... uhm..."
"This is the way it's always been done. Pay attention or you'll never get it down right."
"I am paying attention father."
"Then what's the damned problem?"
"Are... are we ever going to talk about Uccixef? She should be here learning the ropes too, don't you think?"
"... ... ...I am teaching you, Fana. This is for your ears and your ears alone."
"But father—"
"Uccixef made a choice! And now the crazy mare's gone! For Verlaxion's sake, am I going to have to nail your hooves to the engine room floor for you to pay some Goddess-damned attention?!"
"I'm sorry, Father."
"Don't be sorry. Be responsible. Now take heed. You shove the dredge coal into the firebox, like so, and then—"
Fana's amber eyes flickered open.
He saw the green and gray streaks of fir trees blurring by.
He blinked. Rubbing a hoof over his face, the stallion collected a few stray tears in his hoof. He glanced at his fetlocks, seeing moisture soiled with dust and embers.
Nostrils flaring, Fana reached his hoof outward and slapped the window shut. The cold air echoed outside the body of the locomotive. Once again, the stallion was alone with the rumbling fire of the train's engine.
Taking a deep breath, he marched into the train car behind him. A metallic door schwisshed open, revealing cage after rattling cage full of flammable ore beneath glinting manalight. He hauled a bunch of dredge coal into a shovel, turned around, and carefully limped his way back into the engine compartment. Opening a firebox, he dropped the ore in, squinting his eyes from the resulting wave of heat. Then, slapping the box shut, he adjusted a few knobs along the controls, redistributed the engine's manabanks, and accelerated the train down a straightaway as he approached another Prefecture.
"Easy! Easy does it!" hollered a worker in Shoreline Trade Consortium fatigues. He backtrotted across the tracks before of the slowly coasting engine, waving a baton in his telekinetic grip.
Fana leaned his upper body out the window of his engine. His ears twitched against the gentle drift of snow from the mountains overshadowing the company depot. Working carefully with the conductor in front of him, he rolled the engine onto a set of conjoining tracks.
"Aaaaaaand... hold it right there!" the worker shouted.
Fana ducked back into the engine compartment. He jerked a lever. The engine lurched to a stop with an ear-splitting screech of metal wheels. Soon, all was still, save for the puttering of steam vents.
"Alright!" The worker spun and whistled towards the nearest loading platform.
A unicorn crawled up into a steam powered crane. Using a magical boost, the other Consortium employee swung the arm of the apparatus around so that it loomed above Fana's train cars.
Fana trotted briskly to the rear compartments and slapped several levers. The compartments flooded with daylight as multiple sunroof panels opened, one after another. The crane descended, slipped neatly through the openings, and latched onto heavy crates full of supplies and ordinance.
One by one, the crane relieved Fana's train of its precious cargo. This was a process that would take well over forty-five minutes.
Fana took the opportunity to step outside his engine. The mountain air slammed into him with a bone-chilling breeze. He tried not to show how much his skin enjoyed the sensation. Instead, the engineer made a bee-line for the other conductor.
"This will take a while. To be honest..." The conductor chuckled. "We didn't expect the delivery this early. But you're always punctual, aren't you, Farouche?"
"Hey..." Fana shrugged with a soot-stained smile. "Month of Thawing's coming up, but we don't ever slow down, do we?"
"Got that right."
"Ready for me to sign the delivery order?"
"Oh. Uhm. Totally." The conductor levitated a clipboard out of his fatigues' pocket. "Don't you wanna... y'know...?"
"Hmmm?" Fana whipped out a pen and began scribbling notes onto the page, along with his signature.
"Well, we're having a belated Unification Day celebration, and you're well ahead of schedule." The conductor smiled. "Why don't you hang out a bit, Farouche? You're not expected at Steamfall for days."
"Yeah..." Fana exhaled, finishing his name with a swirly "E" at the very end. "Thanks, but I'm good."
"Awwww, come on, guy." The conductor smiled. "An engineer with that many years under your belt—you've gotta have some crazy-flank stories to tell about the stuff you've seen all over the Northern Prefectures!"
Fana merely cleared his throat. "I... uhm... I-I've really got to get going." He hoofed the clipboard back. "Alert me once the extraction's complete, okay?"
The conductor merely nodded. He looked the engineer up and down. "Hell of a lot of gunk on you. We've got showers here, y'know."
"I'll be fine." Fana turned tail and climbed back into the engine.
"Look. I don't mean to pry, buddy." The conductor's face contorted worriedly. "But are you glued to that engine or what?"
Fana closed his eyes, took a deep breath...
...and climbed the rest of the way in.
Snow fell in gentle flurries, dragging horizontally through the mountain air.
Fana stared at them... and past them.
He had time to kill towards his destination, so he puttered the engine westward at a leisurely pace. Forests and half-frozen lakes bent around him. All the while, mountainous plateaus loomed directly to the north, ancient and unmoving. If Fana squinted hard, he couldn't tell where the peaks ended and the sky began. It all became a single gray wall for the stallion—one he couldn't pierce, but was somehow comforting all the while. Like a ceiling to an endless room.
Steam pipes hissed right on time.
With a stifled sigh, Fana reached forward and slapped a lever or two.
The engine rumbled back to its usual dull roar. Everything was safe and steady. It was almost too easy.
Fana took a deep breath. He gazed towards the left of the engine compartment.
A sheet of paper lay across a corner shelf. The page was blank, despite a pen and inkwell resting atop of it, weighing the material down.
Fana bit his lip. With a slight shudder, he turned to gaze outside the window once again.
A strange noise lit the air, deep and resonating. Like moans.
With a slight gasp, Fana instantly slowed the engine. He flung the window open to a snowy breeze and stuck his head out to look ahead.
A group of earth ponies were herding cattle across the tracks ahead of his engine. One stallion waved his hooves wildly at the Consortium vehicle. Upon seeing it decelerate, the farmer calmed... then continued urging his livestock forward.
"Hello!" Fana called out with a bright smile. "Uhm... Verlaxion's blessings!"
"Verlaxion's blessings," the farmers apathetically droned back, hurrying along.
"I didn't see you there! Heheh... sorry... uhm... if I caused any distress!" the engineer exclaimed.
"It's all good," said one of the herders, urging his cattle towards a stretch of tundra in the shadow of a mountain peak. "No harm done."
"Where... uh... are you headed?" Fana asked.
"Cleft Prefecture," said one pony. "We gotta make time. Put these steers into shelter to wait out a blizzard."
"Well, the sky's looking clear right now!" Fana smirked. "I've got time to spare as well! Heheh! How's the season treating you? Looking forward to the Month of Thawing?"
"Look. We have a lot of work to do."
"Oh! Uhm... right! I was just—"
"I'm sure many ponies need dredge coal to the west. We won't distract you."
Fana blinked. "It's... it's not a distraction! Honest—"
"So long, Sir. Verlaxion's blessings to you."
Fana gulped, waving limply. "Yes. Yes, of c-course. Verlaxion's blessings."
The herders grew more and more distant, hurriedly urging their cattle uphill and into dull gray obscurity.
Fana stared after them. With a sullen sigh, he sank back into his compartment... and slid the window shut before accelerating the engine.
Fana sat with his back slumped against the wall of the engine room. With nimble hooves, he knitted a sweater together. It was dull, dark brown, and rough—much like the soot clinging to the interior of the compartment all around him.
His nostrils flared as he glanced up at the window. It was open just a slit, exposing him to a narrow band of gray morning light.
He blew out the side of his muzzle. With a lethargic breath, he gazed across the compartment.
Stacked up in the corner—like a mountain of wool—were ten sweaters identical to the one he was just then making.
The engineer looked down at himself. He was wearing was his fatigues and nothing else.
Fana sighed.
His ears twitched. The pony stood up, reached a hoof out... and he stopped his alarm clock just half-a-second after it began ringing.
He hadn't slept in days.
"Hahaha!" A stallion stood beside a depot's crane, smirking in his clean Consortium uniform. "You should have seen her, dude! She put a windigo mask on and danced her flank off!"
"No kidding..." The operator of the crane lifted more dredge coal before depositing it into the second car of Fana's train. "Isn't that... y'know... sacrilegious?"
"Pffft. She was drunk, dude! Besides, I'm sure even the Goddess Verlaxion herself would enjoy a bit of carefree stupidity from time to time."
"How'd she even get the mask on?"
"Someone lost it before the lighting of the effigy." The conductor whipped out a clipboard, chuckling to himself as the crane beside him whirred and groaned. "My fillyfriend found it, took a few shots, and... well... the rest is history. Ha HA! I wanna see Kunmane beat that kind of a show!"
"Awwww... nothing beats Kunmane this side of Frostknife."
"Says you."
Leaning out the window of his train engine, Fana bore a crooked smile. "Heheheh... y'know... my sister and I once lit the effigy when we were foals!"
"Yeah. Cool. That's great, buddy." The conductor hobbled over and lifted the clipboard towards the engineer without looking. "So, after she danced like a moron, she went off running across the neighborhood. My brother and I had to chase her down."
"No way!"
"Totally! You think it'd be friggin' easy to track down a redhead with a windigo mask but nooooooo! Damn fireworks didn't help us in locating her either!"
"You've got yourself quite the catch, pal."
"Heh... tell me about it. At least she gives me exercise, one way or another."
"Heheheh... I get it."
Fana bit his lip and quietly, obediently filled out the report before hoofing the clipboard back. The air smelled like raw dredge coal. He scarcely noticed.
Stars twinkled overhead.
The gray snowclouds were clear for once.
Fana couldn't stop staring. His eyes glistened with nebulaic color and mystique. He breathed vaporously into the cold night air, only for the high winds to sweep it away in a gasp. He didn't shiver.
He leaned back into the engine, basking once again in the dull, sterile warmth. Metal crates and toolboxes rattled all around him, forming an endless percussion in his twitching ears.
At long last, he looked into the corner once again.
The sheet of paper remained, untouched... blank...
He gritted his teeth. Pin needles rolled through him. His body scrunched up until he collapsed in the engine room's corner like a scared little foal.
At long last, his forced his eyes shut.
That's when his ears betrayed him.
"Another shovel of dredge coal for the firebox. Just like that. See? Simple. Easy. Done."
"... ... ..."
"Are you even paying any attention?!"
"... ... ..."
"You're lucky, you know? I've pulled a lot of strings to get you this job. But have I ever asked for you to thank me?"
"... ... ..."
"I'm telling you, son. The Consortium is the future. It's the lifeblood of this damned Continent. You wanna end up like those muck-sucking Colonialist bastards?!"
"... ... ..."
"Then pay attention, Verlaxion damn it! This is your life, I'm talking about! Don't be a Goddess-forsaken coward like your sister! I swear... you're all this rotten, thankless family has left!"
Fana's eyes flashed open. Trails of soot trickled down his cheeks, and they curved over a frown.
Sniffing, he rubbed his nose dry, stood up, and reached across the compartment.
With shaking hooves, he grasped the paper and pen...
...took a deep breath...
...and began writing.
Dear Uccixef,
How are you doing? Are the seas making you sick anymore? You told me once that it was an issue you had to deal with. Granted, that was the only letter I ever got from you. I've sent many back in response, but... I honestly don't know if you've received them or not. Ponies tell me that steamships like yours arrive all across the Shoreline. One would think that my connections through the Consortium would make it easier to reach you. But, I don't know. I simply don't know.
To be honest, I don't know what to write about anymore. I wish I could say that a bunch of exciting things have happened to me. But that would be a lie. And I'm tired of lying. I'm tired of having so few things to say to other ponies, and all of them being half-truths. Am I happy? Sure, happy enough. Am I doing okay? Well enough. I mean, I can't complain. Life is simple. Life is good.
But sometimes... I want more than simple and good. Sometimes... I don't know... but I guess I want a little bit of crazy. That is to say, I've done crazy things.
Like, just last month, I began this... habit. I can't believe I'm telling you this. If I told any of the conductors or overseers this, they'd fire me on the spot. Then where would my monthly bits go? I mean, I have enough stored up already. But... but that's no excuse. No excuse for what I've done... what I keep doing... what I still want to do...
Fana shivered.
It was cold.
Dreadfully cold.
Nevertheless, he kept climbing, one hoof after another.
He nearly slipped once or twice, so he paced himself carefully. It's not as though he had to be in a hurry. There was nothing but snow and starlight as far as he could see.
At last, after much struggle, he climbed onto the top of his moving engine.
The train wasn't moving very fast. He had no fear of the wind blowing him off. He almost wished he had something to fear.
Instead, he sat there... squatting atop the train, alone in the frozen bosom of a continent.
He opened his teary eyes to the frozen sky.
Clouds drifted past him, exposing whole swaths of starlight. Constellations and cosmic streams swirled above him, framed by mountains and forests and frost.
He felt like weeping. He flew instead. Holding his forelimbs out, Fana sailed the breeze with his upper body, savoring the bliss of bittersweet windbursts. For a brief moment, he had the insatiable urge to scream. He held it deep inside him, balled up in a lump that nestled deep in his throat, then sank into his heart until tears came loose.
This has taken place more than five times in the last month alone.
Whenever I do it, I feel like falling. I know it could be the death of me. It'd definitely be the death of my career—to allow a runaway train to go wild like that. It's crazy. I hate it. I love it.
Father once called you crazy. For years, I thought there was something wrong with you... and something just as wrong with me for not being ashamed of it.
But these days... especially lately... I'm beginning to wonder if it's the other way around. I get less and less letters from home. Mom barely has anything interesting to say. It's more than the fact that she's stopped trying. The household is emptier and emptier with each passing month. Our cousins are all moving to Frostknife... joining the Central Guard or something. From the sound of things, Father's not too happy with it. But he's not been too happy with anything since his lungs started going bad. No matter how many times I try to shake it, I'm becoming just like him. He worked on this train line for nearly thirty years. Me? I'm going on year twelve and...
And I want to go crazy. I want something wild to happen. I know it sounds silly... even stupid... but whatever it takes to get me off this train I'm on, I welcome it. I miss everything... but I don't even know what "everything" tastes like.
And you know... there was a time when I was angry at you, just like father was. But I can't feel that anymore. In truth, I'm happy for you, sister. You found what I can only dream of years ago, and I hope it's taking you to wild, exciting places. And despite my usual doldrums, day in and day out, part of me sings with joy to know that someplace... somewhere... a crazy piece of our family is out there, having wild adventures on a steamship, immortalizing the name "Farouche."
Verlaxion's blessings to you, Uccixef. If fate should have it that our tracks never converge in this life, then I look forward to holding your hoof beyond the Spring Havens. By the Goddess' grace, maybe we can even hug each other. Father too.
Please, don't feel bad for me. I will find my place, some way or another. I just... I just have more dredge coal to deliver. After that...
I'll be okay. I promise. I will be okay.
Sincerely,
Your Brother Fana
Schwissssh! The door to the engine compartment slid open. Yawning, Fana shuffled out into the air of Steamfall, carrying an oil can. He strolled along the edges of his engine, checking the dormant reserve tanks.
"Hey Farouche!" another stallion hollered from a nearby supply shack across the township's trainyard. "Do you sleep inside that thing or what?"
"It's my baby, so you bet!" Fana managed a tired smile while oiling the exposed valves and wheels. "It'd take a Tribal War to get me out of it for good!"
"Heh! So old-fashioned, dude!"
To that, Fana could only sigh. To his curiosity, he heard several loud noises from the heart of Steamfall. He glanced over, muzzle scrunched as he examined a suspicious column of rising smoke. "Say... What's with all that commotion on the other side of the complex?"
The other stallion shrugged. "Hell if I know. Probably a runaway manticore."
"Again?" Fana shook his head, chuckling. He tried to ignore the flicker of excitement in his heart at the prospect. "And that's why the best kind of life is one on the move," he eventually droned.
He knelt to examine another piece of the engine. The reflection in the metal surface was dull, grimy, covered in suit. He thought of his father, and his eyes closed on their own. When they opened again, he suddenly saw a burst of blue fur and a spectral-colored scalp.
"Hey!" A mare's voice cracked from behind, matching the reflection. "Wh-where does this train go?"
"To the furthest end of Dust Prefecture," Fana muttered, applying more oil and rubbing it with a rag. "Why? Does Dillon have a message to deliver?"
"Does it get anywhere near Wyvern Point?" the mare asked.
"As close as anything can get." Fana turned towards her with a lazy smirk. She was a disheveled creature in sweat-stained winter gear. His eyes spotted the hint of an immaculate golden necklace beneath her chin. "Don't tell me we're trying to make another business deal with those freaks again."
"Eh... something like that." The mare pointed at the engine. "Say, you missed a spot."
"I did???" Fana squinted just inches away from the engine's surface. "Where? I never miss a sp—"
And that's precisely when the mare's hoof slammed his skull against the engine.
With a grunt, Fana collapsed...
...and saw nothing but starlight.
"That's your cue, Uccixef! Quick! Light it! Light it!"
"Shhh! I did! There! Now release!"
"Whoah! Look at it lift!"
"Step back! You don't want to be too close when it—"
"Omigosh! The fuse! Here it goes! Here it goes!"
P-POW!
P-P-POW!
KAPOWWW!
"Wooohooo! Lookit, Fana! Lookit!"
"Oh wow! Oh wow wow wow!"
"Isn't it crazy?!"
"Take that, crazy windigoes!"
"Woohoo! We did it, Brother!"
"Best. Unification. Day. Ever!"
"Heeheehee! Verlaxion's blessings!"
"Heeeee... Verlaxion's blessings, sis..."
"Hrmmmf... gnnngh..." Fana winced. Fana stirred. His eyes fluttered shut, peeking out from beneath a thick bandage over his bed. He lay on a cot inside a Steamfall bunker, staring at a dull concrete ceiling. In the corner of the room, a lone stove crackled, generating meager heat. He shivered slightly, then became aware of the throbbing pain in his skull. "Argh... sonuva..." He raised a hoof to his temple.
Gasping slightly, a Consortium nurse shuffled over and sat at his bedside. "Uh uh uh... don't touch it."
"What... wh-what happened to me?"
"It... it was the Rainbow Rogue," the nurse said, frowning slightly. "The wicked wretch from beyond the Blight hit you awfully hard in the head before hijacking your train engine. But don't worry. It's a minor concussion. You'll be recovering in no time."
"You... you took care of me?"
"Of course!" The nurse nodded, examining his limbs closely. "The Consortium looks after all its employees."
"Right... of c-course..." Fana nevertheless gulped. "And... and my engine?"
"Uhm..." The nurse bit her lip.
"What... what's wrong?"
She fidgeted where she stood. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Farouche. But... according to the Talon's report—"
"Wait, you mean the Right Talon of Verlaxion?"
She nodded. "They... they pursued the train into Dust Prefecture and..." She sighed. "I'm sorry, Mr. Farouche. But your engine is gone. It exploded deep within a mountain tunnel, courtesy of the Rainbow Rogue. There's very little of it left."
Fana blinked. Tears formed in his eyes.
"I know that... that this must be very hard for you..."
With a jittery forelimb, the stallion reached a hoof up to his cheek. He examined the tears on his fetlock.
They were clear; all the soot was gone.
"I've already spoken with the overseer. They'll reassign you to a temporary position in Steamfall until... we find... a new rail line job... for you..." The nurse's words trailed off. She stared blankly at the stallion.
Fana was crying... and yet he smiled maniacally. Between each hiccuping sob, he chuckled and chuckled harder. His body shuddered, his lungs exhaling and inhaling with such ease that it gave him a queer sense of weightlessness.
Biting her lip, the nurse nervously backtrotted, then returned to her station.
Fana laughed and sobbed. His head hurt, but he welcomed it. Somewhere, he found a pillow and hugged it to his chest, and he grinned even harder. The chuckles lasted until exhaustion set in. His smile carved a path through his dreams, then charted a path west by the stars.
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I would call that an unfortunate choice of words. Just you wait, it won't take long.
Oh, this was wild. This is just really cool.
'nuff said.
I especially love the fact that Rainbow Dash touched both their lives.
Well...ain't that a twist.
I liked this. It brings more life into the Austraeoh universe.
Dash touches many lives.
Some she touches just a bit harder than others.