“We’re going to need to go back.”
Ticket Stub winced at the announcement, both because of the words and the resigned tone in the engineer’s voice. But his reaction was mild compared to the angry shouting that immediately erupted throughout the car. Reflexively, Ticket glanced back to make sure that the rear door was closed. He knew it didn’t matter – since this was a cargo train, there were no passengers to be upset by the uproar – but long years of working as an attendant made the action automatic.
“Did they say why?!”
The yell came from the train’s stoker, a unicorn mare with a dark blue coat and a blonde mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a length of railroad track laid down in the shape of a heart. Coal Hopper, he reminded himself. Her name is Coal Hopper.
“The same reason as last time,” sighed the engineer. “They’re making repairs to the tracks, and they’re not sure when they’ll be finished.”
Another round of angry cries broke out at that, and Ticket Stub heard more than one pony bitterly remark how they’d been saying that for over a month. Others were simply cursing, and their choice of language was enough to make Ticket Stub’s ears fold back. This was a mistake, he thought to himself as he slowly moved away from the angriest ponies. Though given the mood in the car right then, there were very few who weren’t angry. I should have stuck to working with passengers, he decided as he opened an exterior door and slipped outside, wanting to get away from the angry mob.
Admittedly, this little expedition had seemed like a good idea at first. He’d been vacationing in the Crystal Empire when he’d heard that several of the local shipping lines had a backlog of cargo for some reason, and were paying extra for any experienced rail-ponies who wanted to lend a hoof with transporting the excess goods. Given that his wallet had been lighter than he was happy with – his own fault, he knew, but that jousting practice center he’d found had just been so much fun! – he’d quickly signed up. How hard could it be? he’d thought at the time.
As it turned out, it had been rather hard. Since he’d spent his career overseeing commuters taking passenger lines, he hadn’t been ready for the sheer amount of physical labor that went into loading a full-to-bursting cargo train. Worse, since they were on a schedule, the pace had been one that he’d only barely been able to keep up with, and by the time they’d gotten the last of the cargo loaded he’d been sweaty and panting, earning more than a few good-natured chuckles from the rest of the crew. The thought that this was only the beginning, since the job called for unloading outbound cargo and reloading inbound cargo from several depot points on the far side of the Unicorn Mountains, had left him groaning as he’d boarded the train.
Still, there was plenty of time to rest on the trip out there. Normally it would have taken just shy of a week for a train leaving the Crystal Empire to round the Unicorns, but Ticket had overheard the engineer ordering that the boiler to be kept “as hot as possible” in order to try and shave time off of their trip. That had made Ticket slightly nervous – he still recalled how, just a few weeks ago, the train he’d been on had come across a broken patch of track in the middle of the night; if they’d been going full speed, they almost certainly would have derailed – but the engineer hadn’t been worried. “The only broken track I’m worried about is the one at the Way,” he’d replied.
That had left Ticket rather confused, until he’d recounted the words to one of the other ponies making the trip. They had informed him that “the Way” was Windigo Way, the name given to the narrow band of track that slid between the Frozen North’s southern border and the northernmost of the Unicorn Mountains. Apparently it was well-known among the ponies who conducted trains throughout the region as a potential danger spot, due to the unpredictable weather of the Frozen North. While not common, it would occasionally surge past its borders, bringing disaster with it: iced rails, deep snowdrifts settling on the track, and fallen boulders dislodged by fierce winds were all problems that had been known to occur.
Of course, he’d been told, there were supposed to be ponies on hoof to deal with that. The railroad company always had some repair supplies and a small group of ponies, no more than a half-dozen or so, on hoof to deal with any problems that came up. Rotated out every few months, the on-site ponies’ only job was to make sure that the tracks along the Way stayed clear, repairing what they needed to and replacing anything they couldn’t fix. While not at the level of a full repair team, they should have had the supplies, know-how, and horsepower to keep the tracks clear under anything short of cataclysmic circumstances.
But as the trip had continued, Ticket had overheard enough snatches of conversation and anxious grumbling to put together that something wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. Apparently, just over a month ago there’d been some sort of persistent string of disasters at the Way, and no matter how quickly they on-site ponies cleaned it up something else happened in short order. As a result, no trains had been able to pass through, hence why there was such a backlog of goods to move. “But that’s not the worst part,” one brakemare had confided to Ticket as they’d passed the halfway point of their journey. “The worst part is that they can’t reroute everything to ship stuff in from the other direction.”
That had been news to Ticket. “What do you mean?”
“You know how the tracks in this region make a big loop, right? From Canterlot, they go north to the Crystal Empire, then sharply west through the plains before squeezing through the Way, and then heading southwest along the mountains to Vanhoover, before turning east and hugging the northern edge of White Tail Woods all the way back to Canterlot?” When Ticket nodded she’d continued. “So think about it: if all this stuff we’re carrying has to get where it’s going, why didn’t they just ship it the other way?”
“I don’t know,” Ticket had been forced to admit.
“It’s because something’s going on in Vanhoover,” whispered the brakemare, glancing around melodramatically, as if afraid somepony would overhear them. “I don’t know exactly why, but for some reason the train operators haven’t been scheduling any trips there for a while now.”
“How come?”
“Based on what I’ve heard, it has something to do with how the three most powerful families there are fighting. My guess is that it’s the Hoofingfords. They’re trying to upstage the railroad in order to make their maritime shipping even more lucrative.” The brakemare had nodded solemnly then, as though she’d just revealed a great secret.
Ticket hadn’t said anything in reply, but he could still remember the shudder that had gone down his spine back then. First the issue with the tracks on the way to Tall Tale, then problems along Windigo Way, and now Vanhoover wasn’t being serviced? What’s going on all of a sudden? he’d wondered.
“Look, this isn’t that hard! Just roll them out of the way!”
The angry voice drew Ticket out of his reverie, and curiosity made his hooves move towards the source. Moving alongside the train, he passed the locomotive and spied Coal Hopper – who, like himself, had apparently exited the train at some point – confronting four ponies that he assumed were the on-site crew. In contrast to their calm expressions, she was gesturing angrily towards several large rocks that were laying on the track a few dozen feet further on. “Those aren’t even that big! Just grab a lever or something and move them so we can get through!”
“It’s too dangerous,” answered an earth stallion in a vest and hardhat.
“You need to go back,” intoned a pegasus mare in a similar attire.
“We need to deliver this stuff!” snarled Coal Hopper. “We’re already over a month behind, and these oats need to be sold! We’ve got tanks of milk that are getting ready to go bad, apples that are at the end of their shelf life, and eggs so old they’re almost ready to hatch! Not to mention cotton, beeswax, peanuts, and lots of other stuff that should have been on market shelves weeks ago! And don’t even get me started on all of the stuff we should have picked up and brought back already! It’s not all potatoes and cabbages, you know!” She stepped forward and jabbed the hardhat-wearing earth stallion in the chest. “If we don’t bring back more gold to mint new bits from, how exactly do you think you’re going to get paid, buster?”
“It’s too dangerous,” he repeated, his tone not changing.
“You need to go back,” echoed another member of the crew, a unicorn stallion who looked like a manager.
“Stop saying that!” shrieked Coal Hopper, her face turning red. “If I hear that just one more time…!”
Worried that she was about to completely blow her stack, Ticket Stub trotted forward. “Listen,” he ventured, trying not to flinch when everypony looked at him. “Maybe we can help.” Reaching Coal Hopper’s side, he pointed at the rocks up ahead. “There’s a lot of us on the train. I bet if we all work together, we can get everything cleared away in a few hours. I’m sure if you’re here to oversee things we’ll be safe, and when we’re done you should be able to replace any dented sections of track. Then we’ll be able to keep going, right?”
He smiled as he finished, but it faltered as he saw that the on-site ponies’ expressions didn’t change. They remained calm, almost stoic, neither smiling nor frowning. Or even blinking, he realized, starting to feel a little nervous.
“It’s too dangerous,” said the fourth member of the group, a pegasus stallion.
“You need to go back,” continued earth stallion.
“That tears it!” roared Coal Hopper. “I’m gonna p-mmmph!”
Having clapped a hoof over her mouth, Ticket gave the four ponies in front of him a shaky grin. “Right, too dangerous. We get it. We’ll just, um, head back then. See you.” He had to physically restrain Coal Hopper as he slowly pulled her away from the creepy ponies, making sure to keep his eyes on them as he did. It was only when he’d dragged her into the shadow of the locomotive, out of sight from those four, that he let her go, sighing as he let his smile fall.
But he didn’t have time to relax as Coal Hopper grabbed his collar with her telekinesis, yanking him over so that he was nose-to-nose with her. “You have one chance to explain yourself, otherwise I’m going to rearrange your face,” she hissed.
Turning pale, Ticket almost bit his tongue trying to explain. “S-something was wrong with them!”
“No kidding! They don’t realize how serious this is! If we can’t get this stuff through now-”
“No, I mean, something’s really wrong with them!” Ticket struggled to explain. “Like, they’re not blinking, and their eyes aren’t focusing on you when they look at you.”
Coal Hopper frowned deeply, but let Ticket go. “So, what? You think they’re all sleepwalking or something?”
Coughing slightly, Ticket adjusted his collar. “I don’t know. But I don’t think that talking to them will help.”
“I was done talking when you dragged me back here,” snorted Coal Hopper. “So now what?”
Ticket shook his head. “I don’t know. But I think we should talk to everypony else before we try anything.”
Coal Hopper frowned at that, but finally sighed. “Fine. But Celestia help me, we are not turning around before we do what we came here to do!”
“R-right,” agreed Ticket nervously. I just hope we can figure out why those ponies out there don’t seem to want us to do that.
“Nosey. Hey, Nosey. You awake?”
Sonata waited for a moment as her best friend opened her eyes, looking at her blankly for a moment before smiling and starting to stretch. “Oh, hey Sonata. What’s going on?”
Smiling back, Sonata passed her a plate loaded with food. “I know you said that you wanted me to save some food for you for after you woke up, but I was a little worried that everything might be gone by then.”
“Ah. Thank you.” Taking the plate, Nosey looked it over before lifting a hay burger in her hooves and biting into it.
Sonata let her eat in peace for a moment, waiting until she’d swallowed her first mouthful before speaking up. “So, um, are you feeling okay?”
“Hm?” Nosey raised an eyebrow at her as she took another bite.
“Well, you were sleeping kind of weird. You were like, all stiff and stuff, and it looked really uncomfortable.” She frowned in worry. “Is it because of all that stuff Lex said before?”
Nosey paused for a split second before she continued chewing. Once she’d ingested her food, she gave Sonata a small smile, looking vaguely amused. “You’re sweet, but you don’t have to worry about me. I was just thinking about something, was all.”
“For realsies?” Sonata tilted her head. “Must have been something unpleasant, with how tense you looked. Are you sure it wasn’t Lex? You don’t need to spare my feelings. I know what a tremendous jerk he can be.” Her smile fell away at that last part.
Nosey’s eyes narrowed just a fraction, but otherwise her expression didn’t change. “No, it wasn’t about Lex. It was just a random thought.”
“Oh yeah? What was it?”
“Well…” The corners of Nosey’s mouth turned up, as though laughing at a private joke. “Sometimes, no matter how much you train, there’s no Way forward.”