//------------------------------// // The Loop // Story: Unstoppable // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// It was a scene of complete carnage. Two wrecked locomotives lay on the ground, having been derailed minutes before. One of them was a completely broken wreck, the other mostly intact. A news chopper flew over the scene. "What a mess,” the news commentator said. Wind Rider slammed the desk in rage. “Tirek, you asshole!” he roared. Further down the line, Sunset saw the explosion of the second Black 5. “Holy shit!” she exclaimed. “Do you think it derailed?” Meanwhile, in the wreck of the first Black 5, Hook slowly regained consciousness. “Oww,” she moaned. “That crash sure did a number on me.” She looked around the cab to see her stoker, lying dead amongst broken parts. “Fiery Heart?” she asked. “Fiery Heart, answer me! SAY SOMETHING!” She got no reply. Her eyes stinging with tears, she crawled out of the wreckage, and staggered toward the treeline. Lightning Dust got on the radio. “Dispatch, we sighted an explosion just north of the loop. Can you confirm the source, over?” “This is Wind Rider, please verify identity, over?” Dust briefly seemed elated, before regaining her composure. “This is Lightning Dust, engineer of 611, over.” “Where are you headed, over?” “Dispatch sent us into a loop just north of Crystal City.” Wind Rider’s face went pale. He grabbed the radio again. “Get the hell into that loop, you’ll see 76076’s front end any minute now.” “We’re just entering the loop now...oh shit!” The radio cut off. Wind Rider looked in shock when he saw where 76076 was on the board. It was moving along the main line, parallel to the very same loop. He grabbed the radio, and cried down it with all his might, “LIGHTNING!” Tirek was caught off guard when he looked at the TV. “We have just learned that another train is right in the path of 76076. Based on the footage we have, it seems it is trying to move out of the way.” Tirek exploded. “Of all the things, this is the one I have to learn from the Goddamn TV!” 611 rolled over the points, as the electric approached. Dust began to apply the brakes. “What are you doing?” Sunset asked. “If we go in at top speed, we’ll derail,” the engineer explained. The brakes groaned as they began to slow the heavy train down. “611, get at least 10 cars into that siding, over.” Dust looked behind her, her composure beginning to falter. 5 cars, then 6, then 7 cleared the switch. At last, the 10th car cleared the switch. “Yes!” Wind Rider cried. 15 cars were through. It looked as if it would work. It didn’t. 76076 smashed the last boxcar apart as if it were matchwood. The train roared onwards into the distance, cargo and engines flying toward oblivion. Lightning looked back in disbelief. “I swear they tried to stop that thing!” “They did,” said Wind Rider over the radio. “They tried to use 2 Black 5s to stop it. But the lead engine derailed them both. Three members of engine crew were killed. “Who survived?” Dust asked. “Jimmy Hook, engineer on the lead locomotive.” Dust put her head in her hands. “It’s like that thing’s alive.” Suddenly, Canterlot radioed. "611, do you copy, over?” “611, I copy.” “Hold position where you are. It is not safe to return to Canterlot.” “Why, over?” “Halfway is being evacuated. They’re going to derail the train.” Sunset jumped up. “WHAT?” she said. “Standard PDU.” Lightning Dust grimaced. “Not on my watch,” she said. She jumped out of the cab, and walked along the train to where the boxcars were engaged with the tender. Sunset jumped out after her. “What are you doing?” she asked. Lightning didn’t turn around, but released the locking pin and opened the coupler. “I spotted that the rear coupler on 76081 was left open. We get this thing to Crystal City depot, turn it around, and go after it.” “Are you crazy?” Sunset shouted. “It’s called a derailer for a reason! It derails trains!” “That train is simply too heavy,” Dust explained. “Anything that heavy, it’ll vaporise anything in front of it. The only way to stop something that powerful is to couple onto the back and brake.” “And what if it derails?” Sunset responded. “For Celestia’s sake, it’s too risky!” Lightning Dust looked at her. “If you don’t want to come with me, that’s fine. I’ll do it myself. But if we don’t go after it, and it derails in Canterlot...well, that’s your home, your friends, all gone.” Sunset pondered this for a moment. The odds really were too great. “Why does life always do this to me?” she moaned. She and Lightning ran back toward 611s cab. The engine stormed away from the turntable and rapidly gained speed in pursuit of 76076. “What sort of speed are we doing?” asked Sunset. “About...60 miles an hour. Course, we need to go a lot faster.” The radio flared into life. "611, where are you, over?” “Out on the mainline, doing about 70, over.” “Sorry, what?” “We’re going after your train. Tell Tirek the derailer won’t work.” “I hadn’t heard anything about a derailer!” “Dispatch just radioed.” There was a long silence. "Please don’t do this, Dust.” Dust waited herself, before replying. “Dad, I’m sorry. But I have no choice.” The radio went ballistic. "Dust, no! Please, don’t! I CAN’T LOSE YOU AGAIN!” Dust clicked the button. “Can you keep us posted in 76076’s location?” “I will. But please be careful. Oh, and Tirek wants to speak to you.” Dust sighed. “Patch him through.” The channel clicked open. "It’s a done decision, Lightning. We are derailing that train and that is that.” “It’s not going to work, it’s that simple. I’ve been in the cab for 3 years, you for precisely 0.” “You’d better be glad I’m not there in person, you cheeky piece of shit!” “I expect then you want to go down in history as the man who blew up an entire town?” Dust smirked. “I am not risking my company because some engineer wants to play hero! Now cease your pursuit or I WILL FIRE YOU!” Dust sat there for a moment. “You already tried to fire me and my dad, and look how well that turned out.” “That crash was your fault, nothing else!” “If you’d welded the track together correctly, it wouldn’t have happened!” Dust handed the radio to Sunset. “This is Sunset Shimmer, stoker and conductor of 611,” she said. “We’re gonna run this son-of-a-bitch down.” “Well, maybe you didn’t hear what I said! I WILL FIRE YOU!” “Too bad. I was just starting to like this job.” She hung the radio up. Tirek continued to bellow into the mike for several minutes, until he realised that they were gone. He switched his radio to San Fernando control. “You get those two motherfuckers off the mainline, or you can consider yourself canned as well!” Wind Rider shook his head. “I’ll ignore that.” Spitfire spoke up. “Sir, I thought you were in favour of derailment.” “Not when that train is rolling through towns! There’s only 100 miles between Halfway and Canterlot!” He picked up the radio. “611, you need to pick up the pace. That train is 50 miles from Halfway.” Back in the cab of 611, Sunset looked at Lightning. “What was that about a derailment?” The turquoise-skinned girl sighed. “I knew that was gonna come up sooner or later. When I was young, my grandfather would always tell me stories about the good old days of the railroads. He’d driven some of the steamers in the old days, over on the N&W.” “N&W?” Sunset asked. “Norfolk and Western Railroad, a Class 1 out in Virginia. Anyway, I knew that with that sort of blood in my veins, it was my destiny to become an Engineer. When he passed away, I promised him I would make him proud.” So, I enrolled on the CCR’s Engineer training program. Probably helped my dad was a railroad employee. I was passed out as an Engineer 1st Class. That meant I could operate passenger and freight trains.” She paused. “I’d made it, and I genuinely believed I’d made him proud. But then the accident happened.” “It was late at night, and one of the signals was faulty. My train was routed onto a damaged section of track, and tipped over onto its side. One minute I was at the controls. The next thing I knew, I was in a full body cast drinking through a straw.” “That sounds awful!” Sunset exclaimed. “Were any passengers hurt?” “No.” Lightning shook her head. “It was an empty stock movement. But that wasn’t what hurt the most. After a few months, I’d recovered, and was ready to go back to work.” Her voice began to shake. “But when I came into the roundhouse, Tirek was there. He did nothing but tear my badge off my uniform, and inform me I was demoted to Engineer 2nd Class. Higher ups had decided to blame the entire incident on me. Reckless driving, they said.” “Why didn’t they investigate the incident properly?” Sunset asked. “Sometimes it’s easier to find a scapegoat than actually deal with the problem. It’s what’s done all the time in business. My dad fought tooth and nail to ensure I wasn’t fired. But it was a mess nonetheless. I felt that I’d failed grandad, just seeing my dream, my life, torn away because of corporate shenanigans.” She shrugged. “So here I am, running down a runaway train. What about you, Sunset?” Meanwhile, the evacuation of Halfway was finally complete. At a railroad crossing, a group of policemen under the command of Swift Order had gathered. They were each armed with AA-12 shotguns. “Just like a turkey-shoot boys,” he said. 76076 lumbered into view, and accelerated toward the crossing. “Get ready!” Order shouted. The electric train was seconds from the crossing. “FIRE!” The soldiers opened fire, shotgun shells bouncing off the frame of the engine and peppering the metalwork with holes. “CEASE FIRE!” The shooting had failed to hit the motor shutdown switch, mounted on one of the bogies. Swift Order gave the order for his men to retreat from the area. Up ahead, the derailer had been put into place. A news reporter was asking a railroad employee what was happening. “So, how does this derailer work?” she asked. “The PDU is a ramp,” he explained. “It lifts the flange out of the rails, causing the engine to tip over onto one side. It won’t even know what hit it!” His radio buzzed. "76076 is rolling into range, get ready!” He waved. “We need to get clear! Let’s go!” 76076 rolled into Halfway station, and right on top of the derailer. The wheel came up, off the rails... ...and straight back down again. The heavier tanker cars simply crushed the PDUs and sent metal flying everywhere, the destruction being absolutely total. Tirek was flabbergasted. “What the hell was that?” Wind Rider responded. "That, sir, was a runaway train. Now let me do my job, and stop interfering!” The line clicked shut. “Right people,” Wind Rider started. “We need a plan of attack. Night, how do we go about this?” Starry Night sighed. “Well, we’re looking at them coupling onto the train at around 14 times the safe coupling speed. I believe 611 is going smokebox first?” A quick glance at the news confirmed this to be the case. “We have confirmed reports that 611 is going in pursuit of the runaway train, at speeds in excess of 100 miles an hour!” “Spitfire, what’s the current projected catch point?” “611 will catch 76076 15 miles outside Canterlot.” Wind Rider shook his head. “That doesn’t give them long. I just hope they can pull it off.” He picked up the radio. “611?” “Yeah?” “You were right. PDU didn’t work. The engine barely bumped.” “I told him!” Dust sounded cross. "He can’t do anything right!” “Look, Dust, if this goes wrong...I want you to know that I love you, as do your mother and sister.” There was a brief pause. "Thanks Dad. Tell them I love them as well.” Wind Rider nodded. “I’ll do just that.” Lightning looked over to Sunset. “What was the long story you didn’t want to make long?” Sunset sighed. “You remember what that employee said about a ‘She-Demon’?” “I just assumed that was a cruel nickname.” “Well...it wasn’t. I’m not from this world at all.” she paused. “I’m from a place called Equestria.” Lightning Dust looked amused. “You don’t sound South African!” she laughed. “Equestria is on the other side of a portal, and it’s a land of talking ponies. The funny thing is, there are counterparts of all of us over there!” “Is there a Lightning Dust?” Sunset shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll ask Twilight.” She paused. “I was the personal student of Princess Celestia. She’s sorta like Principal Celestia, just a bit more powerful.” “Does she give detentions?” Dust asked. “No. I was lined up to be her successor, but I was arrogant and overconfident. When she wouldn’t make me an alicorn, I lost it. I fled through a mirror and arrived here, 3 years ago. I came as a bit of a shock to find I was now a human, not to mention I was wearing clothes!” Lightning looked over. “Is there a nudist culture in Equestria?” Sunset looked shocked. “No! It’s just ponies only dress up for special occasions, that’s all. So, I had to blend in. I thought the local high school would be a good start. With so many new kids arriving every year, I could easily blend in.” “But finding a place to live was a problem. I camped out in the library for a while. OK, 3 years. All the time, I tried to fight my way to the top of the ladder, not caring about who I pushed around or hurt. I split up an old group of friends that way.” Lightning shook her head. “Sounds like you were one mean alpha bitch.” Sunset hung her head. “That just about summed me up. Then I learned about the portal reopening, and dived back into the world of my birth to steal a crown with magical power. I stole one from here to swap with it, but I got caught and Princess Twilight followed me through.” Lightning Dust looked confused. "I swear I’ve heard that name before,” she thought. “She was able to rally the student body against me. It was then...I did something really stupid.” “Go on.” “I took the crown, and put it on. The magic it contained overwhelmed my mind, and turned me into a raging She-Demon.” “The correct feminine is Demonette.” “Anyway,” Sunset interrupted, “I used the magic to take control of the student body, and plotted an invasion. But Twilight and her 6 friends had rallied against me, and were able to use their powers to restore me to normal. They agreed to show me the power of friendship, but it took the student body a VERY long time to forgive me.” “I can imagine,” Lightning answered. “They only began to trust me, for the most part, after I helped defeat the Dazzlings. But my victory was short-lived, as they began to create the impression I was going back to my old ways, through a MyStable account called ‘Anon-a-Miss'.” “That was reported in the papers!” “To say the least, we stopped them, and I’m in a much better place now. But that demon still lurks somewhere in my mind, and I’m scared of what’ll happen if she gets out.” The radio buzzed. "611, the rear of 76081 should be visible around now.”