Pacesetter may not have grown up around the railroad, but she took to it like a duck to water. Or rather, coal to a steam engine. After working for a few hard years as a "Brakepony", the lowest rung in regards to train crews, circumstance aligns just right to promote her all the way to "Conductor" and be in charge of her own train and crew. Thinking the hardest is now behind her, she is rudely awakened to the reality of both being a brand new conductor and having to deal with her misfit of a crew. Railroad shenanigans ensue as we start around the later half of Season 1 of FIM, and work our way to the events of 5s/4: HighBall.
This is being written as a prequel of sorts to that story, as it's author RR Brony and I have been friends for a long time. He is directly responsible for bringing me back into the fandom, and through helping sort ideas for that story, I realized I had my own I wanted to tell of the characters. Hence this, a look into the railroad world of Equestria as I like to see it. My goal is to not base this off any previous fanfiction that may cover the same idea, so I apologize if previous existing head cannons of Equestrian Railroading aren't mentioned. The style of railroading involved, for those of you curious, is based off of my own experience working trains here in North America. I have written this in such a way that I hope both those who also have working experience themselves as well as those who have not yet ridden a train in their lives can enjoy it.
If that all sounds good, you can get your ticket on the train.
All Aboard!
I'm glad you posted this!! It's going to be a total blast seeing where Pacesetter goes and how things will play out. I already know what happens much further in the story. Just too bad about how this story ends. Which is why you'll have to check out the follow up I'm writing. Lol.
But it is indeed a good start. The way you weave in her backstory as a reflection while she's laying in bed trying to get more sleep is very creative and enjoyable to me. I do have a feeling that her day will he ruined by the realization that the railroad really doesn't do things that end in your favor when you're low mare on the totem pole.
We shall see how spicy things get. Also, its good to see someone writing a story based around railroading that has actually experienced it first hand. Even though most steam railroads in the us are short line tourist traps, (which is a damn shame honestly because I wish there was a railroad that used steam for day to day operations with freight) so there are things that can be very different with the mainline railroads. Lol. But then again, back in the day they were kind of microcosms and more likely reflected the small tourist railroads.
Can't wait to read ch 2.
Ah, so she was always more of a country mare. See that makes sense why she likes the place she's working in. Also, it is kind of unique that this area is where the untamed weather clashes with the overflow of the controlled weather. Wonder if that causes some really screwed up weather. Like, does that mean abnormally heavy winter storms like snownados? Or dumping insane amounts of snow in the mountains? That will be quite interesting for sure.
Still, I'm surprised the pegasi would let the weather be rogue in this area. Guess the reason is because it was such a small town that recently exploded with growth, which begs the question. Would the ponies living there accept or reject the weather ponies controlling the weather in the future? Would there be a feud? Could the railroad get caught in the middle of that? Like, the pegasi are trying to freeze out the ponies with relentless storms to get them to acquiesce.
Ok, I totally got derailed there, time to get this train of thought back on track.
As I thought, the railroad reared its ugly head with seniority and the low pony on the list got the short stick. Welcome to the railroad Set, hope you don't let this get you down, I'm sure it'll end up for the better in the end.....maybe.... hopefully.... ok, who am I kidding. Its going to be hell.
On the bright side, that 4-10-0 sure sounds a like a beast of an engine. Way outstrips that little 4-4-0 they're using, should make for some funny scenes if the bigger engine literally pulls the little one in half. Ok.... maybe just breaks the draw bar between the engine and tender. After all, wouldn't want to breach the boiler and blow the poor ponies into Celestia's sky. Or send them to meet the pale horse.
All in all, I'm excited to meet this I. Horse character, as I have a feeling there will be fireworks when they meet with each other. Both already seem to have a negative reaction to each other. As he called Pacesetter a country bumpkin and she is embarrassed that he saw her. So this is gonna be good. I will need my popcorn when reading the next chapter.