“Tour America by Rail!” the sign said, and so Sweetsong does. Everything she needs for a journey fits into her saddlebags, and there are plenty of trains to choose from if she’s resourceful enough.
There’s nothing quite like having her hooves over the side of an empty gondola watching the world speed by, or looking at the stars overhead through the end bracing on a grain car. Sometimes box cars have their doors left open, and she knows how to jam them so they won’t close en route.
When she gets where the train takes her, she can live off the land or sing and play her guitar for money. When it’s time to move on? There’s always another train.
Pre-read by AlwaysDressesInStyle
Chapters (27)
It begins!
Hold on, everypony, it's gonna be a fun ride.
This was a neat little story!
Ooh, there's gonna be more?
...Huh?
Pony Hobo!
As a rail fan myself, I always enjoy stories about ponies and trains. The fact that Sweetsong is a Pegasus is just a plus!
Looking forward to more of her adventures!
So I take it this story will be a long one?
Will we see steam power in the story?
10997651
It will be!
10997659
Thank you!
There is, yes; Sweetsong only just started her journey after all.
Oops. Fixed that!
10997685
Like the ancient nomadic pegasi, except she doesn’t have to drift around on a cloud, she can go wherever thousands of horsepower will carry her.
10997700
Me, too, to both! Surprised I haven’t written more with ponies and trains as a focus, to be honest.
Pegasi are the best ponies, I think.There is a certain type of carefree nature which the pegasi have that I don’t think the other tribes tend to as much.
It’s gonna be fun!
10997730
Fifteen to twenty chapters, probably the high side of 30k. So not super long, as those things go, but a respectable length.
10997734
Not on any mainline trains, obviously. But Sweetsong’s often up for a diversion on a tourist line, if she happens to find one.
Freight trains go along tracks not too far from my home.
My issue with them is that they will park the train on the track with the engine idling for at least an hour at sometime between 01:00 and 03:00.
The engine is 1/4 mile from my house, but due to local geography (a layer of granite that runs diagonally under the town, roughly 30ft below the surface), I can feel the vibrations of it in my house.
Since the MBTA also uses those tracks occasionally, they have just (in the past 2 years) put up fences along the tracks.
Thus robbing my towns delinquents of one of their preferred hang-outs: in the short tunnel right by the convenience store.
(It's more of an underpass. They clearcut through a hill for the tracks, and put a bridge on top for the road)
You had alluded to this story at EFNW. Can't wait to read it!
Ponies? Trains? Yes please.
Pony Hobo. Hm. Pobo or Hony?
10997844
Like where the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, Tennessee Central Railway Museum, or others.
(sigh) I love having a home of my own, but this story makes me long for the open road with no destination in mind.
I'm guessing this will cover the United States predominantly?
I'm riding down the rails
Destination unknown
A wanderlust pegasus
All alone
I can't make a connection
Can't alight
With no fight.
You've heard of Snakes on a Plane...
Now get ready for......
Pegasus on a Train!
Also, I love how obsessively following Silver Glow on Google Earth has given me a disproportionate level of knowledge of the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek area for someone from Las Vegas who has never been to Michigan! I almost immediately had a good mental image of where Sweetsong was. I love the idea of a nomadic Pegasus on Earth and I look forward to what awaits in her next adventure!
I like train stories. There's just something to them that calls out to me. Let's see where this one goes...
10997857
I used to live close to tracks, but not any more (it’s like 20 miles or so to the nearest active rail line).
Hmm, I’d consider that a benefit, but that’s just me. Weird how the land can carry the vibrations like that.
Probably best that the delinquents stay off the tracks, to be honest. In a town not too far where I live, there were a few kids who’d take a shortcut home from school by walking along the very active Canadian National tracks. It was only a matter of time before one of them didn’t get out of the way of the train. . .
10997878
Funnily enough, the bulk of this one was written before Buttons, I think last winter, then it got side-tracked (heh) for other projects.
10997889
It’s such a great combination, let’s be honest. And there aren’t enough stories focused on that.
10997949
My vote’s on Pobo.
10997966
There are quite a few steam locomotives of all sizes she could come across, as well as various rail museums and static displays.
I will say that she might have less nostalgia for steam locomotives than someone who comes from a time or world where there aren’t any other choice. Not that riding one is any less fun, mind, and sometimes even if there isn’t the nostalgic pull, there’s the comfort of familiarity.
10998040
I feel the same way sometimes. That’s one thing that you could do on occasional roadtrips, just pick a direction and go wherever seems interesting on the way.
I’d probably get bored of it before too long, but one thing I’ve always thought would be interesting to do is raft down the Mississippi. Just put in somewhere up north and see if you can get all the way to the Gulf.
I’m sure it’s been done before. . .
10998096
Yes, since that’s where I’m from and that’s where I know the trains.
Feel free to adapt the idea for other ponies in other countries, though! I feel that pegasi especially would tend to have wanderlust, and they do have several advantages when it comes to getting on and off moving trains.
10998097
Oooh, I like! Thank you!
10998113
I know which one I prefer.
In some ways I was surprised when I found out people were doing that, and then I just rolled with it and put in enough details that people who were looking could find some of the places Silver Glow went that weren’t named. And the good news is that this one is going to be the same way, you can follow her journey along on Google Maps if you are so inclined. There’ll be a couple spots that might be troublesome, where there are a lot of tracks, but overall it might be a nice tour, especially during the upcoming winter (for some).
I feel that a lot of pegasi would be like that, preferring to drift around and get work where they can, rather than be pinned down to one place all the time. There’s always a need of weather work, I’m sure, and I have to imagine that the seasonal changes (i.e., Winter Wrap-Up) kind of rely on migrating pegasi to supplement the local weather crews.
10998665
I agree, and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write some.
West, for a start, because we all know pegasi like to go west.
Oh, nice. :D
10998914
10998904
It's two A.M.
The last train's gone
I'm sittin here waitin
The breeze still warm
My wings and hooves are tired of takin chances
They let storms on the loose, put horns in your head
But now I'm wrapped up in silence, the switchlight is red
I have no agenda, my path spins 'round the country
I'm not sure I can do this whole song for this fic. The rhythm of 'Help I'm slipping into the twilight zone' is hard to turn in to any other phrase.
10998903
I'd be interested in having a crack at this idea, just with Britain's railways.
10998899
What about Classic Diesels like the F7s, E9s, GP-9s, Alco PAs & FAs, and others to name a few.
The collier trains beieng repurposed for wood chippings for so called greener power stations?
this is a fun short story i like this.
One question, she gonna keep on CSX and NS rails or she gonna head out to BNSF and UP territory? And is she gonna spend any time on KCSR?
To be honest, the decaying grain elevator would be a better choice for a sleeping spot. Humans tend not to lock high windows, and it gives both wind protection and a real roof. The MidWest is covered with the things.
The aimlessness here gives me slight Turnpike vibes.
Nothing is really happening, even after two chapters we hardly know anything about the protagonist... so far it's just an undefined ride into the unimportant unknown with added railway lingo with a vague and a not really important threat of some mild unpleasantness. Very relaxing. I like.
Oh damn! I'm sorry, I didn't realize this updated! I didn't get a notification for some reason!
I love this story, since I feel like I'm on the adventure with her! Since she's by a casino near Chicago, I'm guessing she's in The Schiller Park yard, just south of the River's Casino in Rosemont?
11007696
This is very true. That having been said, Sweetsong’s often opposed to having a roof over her head.
I would imagine a nomadic pegasus on Earth could find all sorts of good resting places that would not often be inspected by people. Like making a nest in one of the towers of the Mackinac Bridge, for example.
11007846
They’re not exactly unrelated.
As the story goes on, we’ll learn a bit more about Sweetsong than we ever did about Western Star/Bowtie, but there will probably be unanswered questions at the end of it, and maybe those questions shouldn’t be answered . . . she’s a pony, she’s hopping freight trains, what more do we need to know?
11010001
I think it’s ‘cause it showed the same publish date on the second chapter, so it didn’t send out notifications. Didn’t pop up in the ‘updated’ list, either.
I’ll make sure when the next chapter goes up (this coming Thursday!) it has the correct date on it to avoid that problem.
Nope, wrong side of Chicago. The casino she mentioned is the Ameristar Casino, next to Jeorse Park Beach (Indiana Harbor/Sunnyside area). She stayed on the train until it crossed the Calumet River, and bailed under the I-90 (Chicago Skyway) bridge. I don’t know what that yard is called, it’s just south of Calumet Heights.
11011145
Exactly. It's a well written pony & railway story. By definition, those are good. ;)
11011142 Now you've got me tempted to write a story called 'Bats in the Belfry' about a Thestral family who is on vacation in St. Joseph Missouri when they discover the place they're staying at has the most *annoying* 8AM wakeup bells.
Then there's a deacon from the Catholic church who has to investigate just who is living in their bell tower, and how they managed to get lost from their planned vacation in a B and B in Benton Harbor, MI.
(Google Search goes a little nuts when you search for a church in a town named after a saint that many churches are named after, etc...)
I would have expected Mane 'n' Tail, but Dr. Bronner’s is pretty good, too, and it goes a long way.
11014350
It’s great stuff, it’s what I usually use for body soap. Most of the time it gets mechanic grime off in one go. I got a big bottle of it I don’t remember how long ago and it’ll be months or more before I use it all. Whereas I went through Irish Spring like it was going out of style.