//------------------------------// // Legends of Time // Story: Equestrian Railway Tales // by Sudrian Engineer //------------------------------// A spotlight shines on the same stage from the last chapter as Troy and Matthew walk out “Hey everyone, Ah know ah said we should leave this for cliffhangers, but apparently our authors think it would be more fun to do this at the beginning and end of all our chapters in a way that fans of Fairy Tail may recognize, so… Matt, where are we in the story?” Matthew smirks at Troy as if to say, I was Right, then he begins to talk in an announcer voice. “When we last saw our intrepid heroes, they were in a minivan, riding down a country road to avoid being seen yet. Now let us resume the action.” Matthew then took out a remote and hovered his finger over the play button. Troy just facepalms and sighs. “Ah’m never gonna hear the end of this, am I? Also, gimme that, that plot device is overused.” Troy snatches the remote. “No, no you are not and hey, isn’t characters breaking the 4th wall overused too, HMMM,” Matthew retorted with a smug grin while grabbing the remote back. “Eeeenope!” Troy replies. “True, but either way this remote can do many things, wanna see?” “You know, Ah know you’re playing me, and Ah do.” With a mischievous expression, Matthew presses a button and Troy turns into an Earth Pony. “You’re stuck like that till the note at the end of the chapter so HA!” “You jerk. It’s been made pretty obvious by my personality, Ah’m a pegasus. Eh, could have been worse.” “I know you're more like a pegasus, but for trying to deny me usage of the remote, that’s what you get. Now, if you excuse me.” He then pressed a button to turn himself into a unicorn before pressing a different button to start the chapter before Troy could comment. --------------------------   As Matthew said, we find the ponies and humans on an old, mostly unused road. “Honestly darlings, did you have to take us along such a bumpy road,” Rarity said suddenly, after a few minutes of silence.  “Because we don’t want anyone to see you six just yet, Miss,” Matthew started before suddenly pulling to the side of the road and stopping. “You know, in all the excitement back at my house, we forgot to introduce ourselves to each other.” At this, Troy piped up. “Ah’ll go first. Name's Troy Blaze, pleased to meetcha.” Next, Rainbow Dash spoke up. “I’m Rainbow Dash, the best and fastest flyer in Equestria.” Troy leaned over to Matthew and whispered “still gonna call her Skittles.” Matthew just had a smirk as the next pony spoke “My Name is Twilight Sparkle.” “Applejack.” “Rarity.” “I’m Pinkie Pie. DoYouLikeParties,What’sYourFavoriteColor, WhatIsYourFavoriteCakeFlavour,When’sYourBirthday, WhereAreWeGoing?” Matthew just nodded and spoke, “Yes, Blue, Chocolate, April 13th, and mine and Troy’s boss’s office.” “What about you?” Pinkie asked Troy. “In order: Depends, Blue, marble, and April 11th.” Troy said. He then turned to the last pony. “Anyway, what’s your name?” “Oh, um, I’m Fluttershy.” “Come again?” Troy asked. “She said her name’s Fluttershy.” Rainbow said. “So, what's this boss of yours like, anyway?” “Sir Tophamm Hatt is a pretty good guy. Though you girls may wanna muzzle Skittles here so she doesn't start another argument.” Troy said with an impish grin. Before Rainbow could say anything, Applejack shoved a hoof in her mouth and asked “Why do you keep calling rainbow that?” “What, Skittles? Well, cliche as it is, it’s because she reminds me of the candy. Not only are they in every color of the rainbow, their tagline is ‘taste the rainbow’, so… yeah.” Troy replied. “CANDY???” Pinkie Pie Gasped as she spoke. “Ah’m not too big on em mahself, but ah tell ya what, when we get a chance, Ah’ll get you some.” Troy replied. “So why is Mr. Matthew driving and not you Mr. Troy?” Twilight asked. “Woah there, missy. None of that ‘mister’ business. Anyway, the reason is twofold. One, this is Matt’s van. Two, eh, something about Ah drive too fast, and mah truck being sideways around a curve when it had no business doing so, something like that.” Troy said. “Troy you know the difference, driving here is different than driving in, uh, where you used to live, some turns are tighter and we drive on the other side of the road,” Matthew replied. “But did you die?” Troy asked. “Yes, I am a ghost who is haunting you, WHAT DO YOU THINK?,” he replied cheekily. “Sarcasm is most unbecoming of you. You have learned well young padawan.” With a playful salute, Matthew replied “Thank you Sensei!” At this time, our heroes were in Tidmouth and pulling up to the parking lot at Knapford. “Well, here we are. So how do we get these girls into Sir Tophamm’s office without gettin spotted?” Troy asked. “I could teleport us to the door.” Twilight suggested. “How stealthy is it?” Troy asked. “Oh, um, not very.” Twilight replied. “What about the old coat rack and a sheet move?” Matthew suggested. “That is just so terribly cliched.” said Rarity. “Aye.” agreed Troy, stroking his beard. “So cliche it just, might, work. Ah'll go talk to Sir Tophamm see if Ah can find a coat rack an a sheet. Ah’ll be back” “So uh what do you 6 do?” Matthew asked trying to waste time. “I guess I’ll start.” Twilight said. “I run the library in Ponyville.” “Reckon Ah’ll go next.” Applejack said. “Ah help run the family farm Sweet Apple Acres. Best apples in all o’ Equestria!” The name Sweet Apple Acres sounded vaguely familiar to Matthew, but he couldn’t figure out where he had heard the name. He eventually decided not to worry about it. “Well, I suppose I shall go next.” Rarity said. “I run Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique!” “Ooh ooh! Me next! Me next!” exclaimed Pinkie. “I help out at Sugercube Corner, and plan the bestest parties in Equestria!” “Oh, um, I take care of all the critters in Ponyville.” Fluttershy said. “I’m the fastest flier in Equestria, and future Wonderbolt!” Rainbow bragged. “And I still don’t trust you. And If you do anything to hurt my friends, I’ll-” “Ya know, that would be intimidating,if you were… well… intimidating.” Troy joked as he came back with the rack and sheet. “Alright, alright, we’ve already had one fight today, please, let’s not have another one.” Matthew said nervously. “Alright, Ah was just yankin er chain anyway. So anyway, Sir Tophamm’s aware of the plan, and wants us to get you girls in his office ASAP while the station’s still dead. Unfortunately, you’ll probably be stuck there till late tonight after the last train runs. This is one o the busiest stations on the island, so Ah doubt our little trick will work again.” A few minutes later, they were all standing in Sir Tophamm Hatt’s office, with two in particular staring at Pinkie Pie in bewilderment. “I still can’t believe you managed to fit you and your friends on that cart with just some paper and string, Pinkie.” Matthew said. “It’s Pinkie Pie, we don’t question it.” Rainbow said. “Trust me, it’s better for your sanity.” Twilight muttered. She was a bit startled when Troy rested a hand on her head. He simply smirked. “Ah, sanity’s overrated anyway.” Troy said. Meanwhile, in the back of his mind, Matthew was thinking that he had heard these girls’ names before. Setting that aside, he focused on his boss. Sir Tophamm Hatt was sitting behind his desk flipping through a book. He looked up when he heard everyone’s voices. “Troy, Matthew, glad could make it. And your new friends as well. I trust these two weren’t too much trouble?” “Aside from Rainbow and Troy getting in an argument, we haven’t had any trouble whatsoever.” Twilight said, deciding not to mention Matthew’s episode. Sir Tophamm just sighed as he found the page he was looking for. “I suggest you all sit down for this. What I’m about to tell you has long been a legend in my family, and little more than a rumor to any others who may have heard it. A long time ago, in the countryside near the early form of this station, there was a set of buffers that were almost normal. But they hid a secret, they lead to another world full of talking ponies of various forms." The ponies looked at eachother, confused beyond belief as the controller continued. "The legends say the portal opened the ponies first came through a few weeks before the Skarloey Railway. After the initial shock and confusion, the ponies became a part of Sodor life and even started to work on the Skarloey Railway. Everything remained peaceful for about a long while, during which the ponies helped build the Mid Sodor Railway and some of the standard gauge railways, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and they sadly did. One day the ponies started to speak of attacks by an spirit of chaos made of various animal parts that could do anything he wanted.Twilight then spoke up  "A spirit of Chaos?" she asked. The controller nodded "Yes. If I remember correctly, he was named Random, or Discord, or something like that, then later that week the portal just closed, never to be seen again. But there were rumors that time passes differently between world and goes much faster for the ponies, so for all we know it could have been over 1,000 years for them by now.” “It has.” said Twilight. “Discord was defeated and sealed in stone 1000 years ago by the princesses.” The Fat Controller nodded before speaking again "These six mares are living proof of these legends and it seems the portal may be open again" “You want us to try and find it sir?” asked Troy. The controller smiled at the two boys he had recently begun to think of as sons, "No you two need to work, and if I remember right Troy, aren't you scheduled to do your first long distance train in a week?" Noticing a worried look in Troy's eye, he continued. "Before you say anything, do you really think I would keep you both in my office this long if I hadn't already called Gavin and William?” Troy let out a relieved sigh at that. “Right, my bad. So now what?” he asked. The Controller gave an uncharacteristically sly smile. "Perhaps these ladies would like to see our own special magic we have? The schedule for today says all 6 should be resting at the moment, so why don’t you take your new friends to the sheds to meet them?” Matthew had a concerned look. "Are you sure sir? It is kinda sud-” “We’ll be back afterwhile sir. C’mon girls.” Troy said with a grin. Matthew rolled his eyes at Troy before looking back at Sir Topham Hatt. "Should we hide them again sir, or let the public see them?” That made Troy pause and think. He then said “Well, the station’s probably pretty busy by now. Doubt we'd get away with hidin em if we tried.” Matthew nodded at that and smiled. “Well, looks like you had a rare moment of intelligence Troy. Sir, would you perhaps make an announcement over the P.A. system?” “WHY YOU LITTLE!” Troy yelled. “SILENCE!” thundered Sir Tophamm Hatt. “None of that now. The two of you are representing the railway, so I expect you to be on your best behavior. Understand?” “Yes sir.” replied Matthew. “I promise to do my best” said Troy. All three men tried to keep straight faces, but one look at each other and they all burst out laughing. “Alright, off you go. And remember what I said about behaving. I mean it” said Sir Tophamm. They men nodded and left, and right before reaching the platform, an announcement came on warning the passengers of a potential shock. “Welp, that’s our cue.” Troy said. “Shall we?” "I sure am Troy, but you know, this reminds me of something," Matthew replied, causing Troy to look at him confused before Matthew continued."Well... Everyday when you’re walking down the street Everybody that you meet is an original want to be" After the impromptu song, the group was almost at Tidmouth, having gotten strange looks from everyone. "Don't you just love how songs can help you get somewhere faster?" Matthew said "Yeah, but only if you know the song" said Troy. The group finally arrived at the sheds. "Girls, we present, The Engines of The North Western Railway," Matthew spoke. Once the girls looked at the engines, they all gasped in a surprised manner before a stunned silence fell. Twilight broke the silence with a simple yell, "THEY HAVE FACES?!?!?!?" *************************************** "Heh, Twilight sure got a shock, didn't she? Oh, by the way, MINE!" Catching Matthew off guard and using his insane Earth Pony strength, Troy is able to take back the remote and turn himself back to normal, and delete Matthew's horn. "VENGEANCE!" Matthew's mane puffed up like Pinkie Pie and he began to bounce around. "Fun. Fun. Fun. Fun. Fun..." “Aw HELL naw. We ain’t doin this.” He then zapped the ground under Matthew turning into a massive square of fly paper. He continued to jump and chant, the fly paper lifting and falling as he went. As Troy’s eyes narrowed, his trap trump card briefly crossing his mind. “Nah, too early. Best to let it sit on the field and make em nervous. I can however do THIS!” At the apex of Matthew’s next jump, the bottom of the flypaper became covered in glue. He continued to jump, the full stage rising and falling, knocking Troy off balance. Using the remote, he gave himself wings and shot into the air. “Not so fast! You’ve activated my Trap Card! PAUSE!” He then used the remote to freeze Matthew in place. "So Troy, you do realise as long as I am frozen, we can't end the chapter cause I can keep talking and talking and talking and talk-" “Mute. Right, now that that’s out of the way, we do have an announcement. There’s been an update to our roster, and on behalf of The Asper Pariah and the saiyan brony I would like to welcome Magi Tail Welkin to the team. They have agreed to be our fact checker to help keep us in line on our history. Welcome to the the team, Magi, may your sanity rest in peace.” Prank War: Matthew=1 Troy=1