//------------------------------// // Steaming to Friendship // Story: Equestrian Railway Tales // by Sudrian Engineer //------------------------------// Matthew was still in his earth pony form, and stuck to the ground with his mouth moving rapidly. No sound came out as he was still muted, but he still seemed as happy as ever.Meanwhile, another spotlight shone on Troy. "Wait, what!? We're already startin!? Dang, and Ah was just getting to the good part, too. Well, guess Ah better unfreeze our R63 Pinkie over there." Being unable to nod, Matthew just had a smile and a pleading look in his eyes almost begging Troy to fix him. Troy let out a sigh at that. "Well, I suppose it is the holiday season. Fiiiine, Ah'll fix ya." With that, he hit the play button and turned Matthew back to normal before destroying the remote. "After all, don't want the joke to get old, now do we?" Using his Pinkie speed, Matthew caught the remote and changed himself into a unicorn before blasting it with magic to make it explode. "Ah, much better" "Alright, that's it! I WILL aaaand Ah can’t do that, it would count as spoilers. Well, Ah do have this." Troy reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a black circle and threw it under Matthew before he could react, then threw another on the ceiling directly above the other one. "Now THAT'S thinking with portable holes!" He cried watching the show. Matthew screamed for a while and then stopped. "Hey Troy?" “Yeah?” "It stops being scary after the first 100 times, it's kinda fun now, WHEEEE!!!" “Well, while he's having fun, how about Ah get this train story back on track? Suddenly, Matthew stops mid-fall and somehow walks over to Troy, soon punching him. "Dude, that pun is extremely over used.” "Respect the classics, man!" Matthew rolled his eyes and gave a smile, "It's all about the classics with you, never anything new" "Not true. There are some things I like." "Yeah like what, Those Japanese Cartoons?" "As our mutual friend would say. It. Is. ON!" With that, Troy tackled Matthew who grabbed the edge of the screen as they went flying off the screen where the sounds of cartoon violence rang out. ******************* Meanwhile, Somewhere in the past, yet also in the future. ******************** As Twilight started to freak out, the group heard loud laughter. As they turned around, they saw it was coming from Troy. Matthew, on the other hand, was more polite and tried to keep his laughter from coming out. Rarity then turned to Troy.  "You should really be more polite and considerate." As he was too busy laughing, Matthew spoke up for Troy, "Sorry Miss Belle, I'm afraid he is often like that. At this point, Troy's laughter had subsided, and he looked over at Rarity and Matthew. "Ya gotta admit, that was pretty good. So anyway, as we were sayin, these are the engines of the Northwestern Railway." Twilight was slowly coming to terms with everything, but her mind was still racing at a mile a minute. "But, I, WHAT??? How do they have faces? Troy just rubbed the back of his head. “Iunno, magic? Er, Matt, you wanna chime in here bro?” "Engines only have faces when on Sodor, this has lead many to believe that the island has some special magic infused into it." "Of course that opens up a whole other can of worms that we're just not even going near right now, but for the most part, that's just how it is." "Not going to tell them how you reacted the first time you saw them?" "Wasn't planning on it, no." "I was born on the island so I am used to it and never had the surprised moment," he then points to Troy," This boy however, had a worse reaction then your purple friend here. Troy then pointed his finger at Matthew. "Don't you dare." “Troy, almost everyone we meet and get to know has to know this story, It's the unwritten rule of the island, you know this, and since we have no idea when these ponies will be whisked off to their home, they need to be told now.” No. no no no, I swear, if you do-" Troy was then cut off by a purple glow around his mouth. "So what is that story you're talking about Matthew?" Twilight asked sweetly. Well the first day, he was actually warned about the faces but that didn't stop what had to be the most hilarious thing I ever saw, he was still and in shock when he saw the faces, but when he heard on of the engines actually speak and say hello, h-he screamed like someone had just been killed in front of him," Matthew had started to laugh as he spoke. As Matthew and the ponies began to crack up laughing, Troy suck up behind Matthew and delivered a quick kick to the back of his leg. Matthew, as he fell from being kicked, grabbed Troy's arm so he fell with him. Matthew acted mad and looked like he was about to beat Troy up, prompting the ponies to get worried. However, he just held his hand out and suddenly smiled, "Hey, nice one Troy, High-Five." Troy chuckled and returned the high five. “Guess mah training’s payin off. So anyway, What now?” Matthew looked at Troy and said “I think it’s time we formally introduce our friends here to the engines.” “Sounds good. Wanna start?” "Sure," He said, before turning to the ponies. "Alright ladies, I believe you have waited long enough, let us formally introduce you to the engines of Sodor." He smiled and walked closer to the 6 tender engines. From left to right, there was a big green engine, a medium blue one, a small red one, and 3 other blue ones. "Firstly is Henry," he said, pointing to the big green engine on the far left. "He is kind mostly, but can be pretty stubborn about things. Sadly, he has trouble pulling trains sometimes and ends up stalling in the middle of the line."" Troy nodded and skipped the first blue engine, who scowled at him, and moved on to the red one. He then looked back at the other engine and replied to the scowl with a finger and a smirk. “Right, so this here’s Eagle. Now, he’s been here for quite some time, and he’ll help you out of any jam he can, though he’s a wee bit stern.” Troy then looked over to Matthew. "Your turn" Matthew skipped the second blue engine, and he did the same things Troy did before moving on to the third, and biggest, blue engine. "This one here is named Gordon, he is the fastest engine on sodor and pulls the express almost every day. He is mostly grumpy and loves to boast." Said engine had a frustrated look, and muttered “Oh, the indignity.” As Troy moved to introduce the last engine, Fluttershy noticed him letting out a sad sigh, but didn’t mention it yet. “Well, Last but not least, we have Old Iron himself. Edward here is the oldest engine on the island, and a kinder soul you’ll never meet.” Matthew also had a sad look and nodded as Troy spoke before adding words of his own. "He is the glue that holds this place together, always willing to help." “Or at least he WAS” Troy muttered under his breath. Matthew's sad look changed to a look of frustration as he looked at the two blue engines that were skipped. "And now," he said, "you may have noticed we skipped two engines." "Screw them, Ah'm going to get a burger." Troy said. "Troy, I dislike them as much as you, but it is only fair we introduce them too." Troy just sighed. "Fine, let's get this over with already." Matthew sighs as well, then speaks to the ponies, "Finally we have those skipped engines, 98462 and 87546" "Couple of jerks if ya ask me." Troy said. Fluttershy then spoke up, "Uh, if you don't mind me asking, wh-why don't they have names like the others?" Matthew gently smiled at her before he answered, "The reason for that is actually what Troy said, more or less. Those two are mean, borderline cruel. They constantly mock the other engines and never seem to listen." "If they had names, no one knows, remembers, and quite frankly probably don't care." "Usually, I like to think of myself as a kind guy," Matthew started to say, "and I usually am not rude unless someone deserves it or I am having on of my 'episodes' like the one you say earlier, but in this case, I have to agree with Troy." 87546 sniffed at that. "At least we aren't defective." Everyone, except Matthew, was silent for a moment, mouths open wide. Suddenly, Troy turned to the engine with murder in his eyes. "If you EVER say something like that again, I will personally turn you into SCRAP!" As soon as 87546 said 'Defective, Matthew had a downcast look, frowning. "Yeah I guess I kinda am." Troy’s head snapped around at that while Fluttershy gasped. “You are NOT useless!” they said together. He still had his downcast look as he turned towards the pair. "You didn't let me finish. Yeah, I guess I kinda am." Suddenly his face shifted to a look of pure frustration as he turned to look at 98642 and 87546, "But, at least I have FRIENDS!!" “Oh damn, got em!” Troy said as he held up his hand for a high five. Matthew shook his head and frowned, "I wasn't trying to give a comeback, Just stating facts." Troy rubbed the back of his head with a chuckle. “Fair enough. So, what do you girls think?” Twilight looked at the pair and smiled, "I think you two seem like good friends." A different voice suddenly sounded, "I couldn't have said it better myself Miss, I believe your name was Twilight Sparkle." Everyone turned to look at the speaker and Matthew turned pale, "S-Sir Topham Hatt?" Troy went white as well and gave a nervous chuckle. “O-oh, uh, hi there sir! Lovely weather, huh?” The controller just rolled his eyes, "Neither of you are in trouble boys, I have been here for a while, and wanted to compliment you on how your treating these fine ponies." “Oh, well thanks.” Troy said with a grin. “Well, now that we’ve introduced everyone, we should probably figure out living arrangements.” Sir Topham Hatt spoke before anyone else could, "Why don't you two split them up, 3 with each?" “Well, Ah agree, but the question here is, who with who?” "Hmm, honestly I am not sure, what if-" Matthew started, but he was interupted by a voice that sounded like an angel. "Sleeping arangments won't be an issue." As everyone turned to the new speaker, Twilight’s face lit up. “Princess Celestia! What are you doing here?” "Hey, what am I, Chopped Gems," Spike said, slightly hurt about Twilight not noticing him yet. “Woah, cool, a dragon!” Troy exclaimed. “So what do you do, little dude?” Said dragon gasped when he saw Troy, Matthew, and Sir Topham Hatt. "H-Humans, Twilight are we in that world through the Mirror?" “Huh? Wait, what mirror?” Troy asked looking at Twilight. Twilight "didn't hear" what Troy said and looked Spike, "No, this place is different, we are on an island called Sodor." “Okay, I know I’m being ignored.” Troy sighed. “Anyone else wonderin’ what the eff is going on here?” Matthew whispered to Troy, "One of thoes two, tall ponies must be their rulers or something." “Sounds about right.” Troy whispered back. “Maybe one of us should go say hi.” "Well obviously it's not gonna be you, you never respect anyone but our boss." Matthew started to walk forward. This got Celestia’s attention as she looked at them. “Ah, where are my manners. I am Princess Celestia. This is my sister Princess Luna.” she said motioning to the smaller alicorn. “And may we have your names?” As soon as Matthew got close, he bowed respectfully before speaking. "My name is Matthew your Highnesses, the man next to me is my good friend Troy, and the man in the black suit is our boss, Sir Topham Hatt.” Troy just gave a two finger wave and said "Hey, how's it going?" The ponies, Matthew, and even Sir Topham Hatt gasped. Nobody, except for villains, had talked to the princesses that way before. Twilight recovered first and walked up to Troy before kicking him in the shin. “Ow, hey! What the hell?! I just said hi!” Troy exclaimed. "Seriously, did you really need to do that?" At first, Matthew seemed mad at Troy, but everyone quickly realised he was looking at Twilight. "He made a mistake, it can happen to anyone. But did you really need to kick him? Sheesh." Troy just chuckled at that. “Eh, ease up there buddy. Didn’t actually hurt that much. Surprised me more than anything.” Matthew sighed and then looked back to the princesses. "I am truly sorry for yelling at one of your subject and, judging by her wings and horn, fellow princesses. I just care deeply about all my friends." “Though if you don’t mind my saying so, Twily here could use a bit of a workout regimen. Shoot, just give her a couple months workin on and around these locomotives, and she’ll build up some real muscle. Ah mean, that’s mah seret.” The two princesses looked at each other and actually giggled a little, drawing confused faces from all. Princess Celestia was able to stop first and smiled at them all. "That is actually not too far off from what me and my sister had planned," she said, with a kind tone. “So lemme get this straight.” Troy said. “You want them to stay here and work on the railway? Ah’m down.” The princesses smiled and Celestia spoke again, "Somewhat, yes. We recently heard the stories of this place and how ponies once worked here. We wanted to see if this island was still friendly." Luna nodded and continued for her, " Indeed and thou hast proven, with thine actions, that this island is still quite friendly, so we wish to allow ponies to once again visit, and if thou wilst allow, work on this wonderful railway." Matthew had a look of understanding, "That is not really our call to make, you have to ask Sir Topham." Troy said nothing and looked to be deep in thought. “Well Sir Topham? What do you think?” asked Celestia. Sir Tophamm thought it over for a bit, before finally coming to a decision. “Very well. I shall expect you at the sheds bright and early tomorrow for your first assignments.” The Ponies and humans cheered, however the engines were confused as heck. "Uh, what just happened," Eagle said, slightly happy at the prospect of new workers. "I think we just got fresh meat," remarked 98562, looking at 87546 mischievously. Fluttershy happen to glance at the engines and saw the looks on the two unnamed engines and grew slightly fearful, but when she looked at Edward and saw a sad face, her fear turned to an almost motherly concern. But that, friends, is a story for another day. ******************** Back with our wacky duo, they had finished fighting and were covered in bruises. "My everything hurts," Matthew commented weakly. “Yeah, it feels like we’ve been fighting for two months straight” Troy agreed. “So, next chapter actually starts what everyone is really here for, huh?” "Yup, honestly I'm kinda nervous," Matthew admitted, "I hope we do Awdry some justice." “And if we don’t, not our fault. I blame the saiyan brony and The Asper Pariah. They’re the authors here.” Suddenly a loud shattering occured, "Oh god, hey Troy?" “Yeah?” "We should run, I think we just shattered the 4th wall and Pinkie hasn't even made that many jokes yet." "Let's be honest, it never stood a chance. Welp, may as well call it here till we get it at least stable." "Yeah, i think so, well cya next time everyone, hope you enjoyed the chapter."