//------------------------------// // Heavy Load // Story: Track Switch - Steel Dreams // by Celefin //------------------------------// Track Switch - Steel Dreams By Celefin The sun is setting when I wake up, still tired but restless. After opening the blinds, I watch the darkening sky behind the trees before shaking my head and turning away. The last sandwich makes for a stale and unsatisfying breakfast. I chuck it after a few bites. I notice there is mail for me on the carpet by the floor. Advertising, advertising, advertising and an actual envelope. Royal Canterlot Post Office seal on a commemorative first contact stamp. Huh. I thought my parents had given up on me but maybe not yet entirely. Sending mail over here is quite expensive. I turn the envelope over and look at the sender. It is from him. Too bad Trax does not have a firebox. I need to get out. Holding my saddlebags upside-down produces my assorted Velcro straps and accompanying rail-related tools and styluses, followed by the heavy clunk of both my water bottle and my thermos. At the bottom is a hoofful of garbage and the leather pouch that is my purse. Last comes the small shoulder bag I can hang around my neck when I cannot be bothered to put on the saddlebags themselves. Somehow attached to the bottom of that bag is my French LCL VISA-card I thought I had lost in Bayonne. After I locked it, it took me ages to explain to the woman on the helpline that, yes, my name is Nightline. No surname. So now, I am of course Ms Night Line on the new card. My Commerzbank debit-card says Nightline Pony. Humans - bank clerks in particular. I slip the bag over my head and mess up my mane in the process. Oh well. The evening is still pleasantly warm here in late spring as I step outside, at least when you have a coat. I take a deep breath and stretch my wings before cantering down the path to the car park. My wing muscles complain when I lift off. I should go flying more often. Real flying at a serious altitude. If only I would not have to carry a ton of equipment to do so. Transponder, position light, the works. But of course I comply. I have no desire to be shredded in a jet engine the way it almost happened to some featherbrain close to Paris-Charles de Gaulle international. At night, I can at least fly at roof height or lower without a big risk of startling drivers and endangering traffic. Dodging branches, chimneys and power lines with echolocation is fun. Sometimes I snatch a bug buzzing around a streetlight – it is disgusting when you stop and think about it, but it somehow feels right. They are also crunchy. I fly up to the flat roof of my residential block and land on the roofing cardboard which gives a soft grinding sound underhoof as I touch down. Technically, I am not allowed to do that, but the sign at the top of the staircase has a human icon on it. I therefore reason that a pony has permission to watch the sunset from her perch if she so chooses. The sun sinks beneath the roofs and chimneys, a great flaming ball of orange that flickers at the edges. I am hungry and in a bad mood, and I could really go for a breakfast beer. I launch myself from the roof with a long jump and swoop low over the lawn and up again just over tree height. I glide on the warm air rising from the roofs and roads, and cross over a department store, then over the tracks of the eastbound mainline. The bands of steel glint in the last light. I have never gone in that direction. Maybe I should sign up for some voluntary work when they are short of drivers next time. Fluttering down to the pavement, I startle a young guy who was fixated on his phone and didn’t see me coming. He almost jumps out into the street, but recovers quickly. I guess he remembers he can tweet my picture. I trot the last hundred metres down to the main road and tram station. Line 11 is going to bring me to the city centre, or at least closer to it. It is a mixed blessing that I do not look as fluffy or familiar to humans as other ponies, what with the little fangs and my leathery wings. People tend to give me more space on public transport and I do not receive a lot of unsolicited contact. On the other hoof, sometimes it would be nice not having to break the ice myself. I am not overly good at that. The whine of the electric engine has no personality. It’s a dead train, only an animated metal box. I look out at the container terminal gliding past a hundred meters to the north and I already miss her. Two days and then I can be back on the rails. “Uhm… excuse me?” A child’s voice. “Yes?” I say and look over my shoulder. A little black boy is standing there, looking as if it is taking every ounce of bravery he possesses to give me a nervous smile. I cannot help but return it. “Are you a bat pony?” Extra points for stating the obvious. “Yes,” I reply. I think I like him. He also smells nice. His father is a metre behind him, looking a little nervous as well. The kid takes a deep breath. “Bat ponies are so cool! I’ve never seen one up close!” “Why, thank-“ “Wow, you really have slit eyes. Can you see in the dark like cats? Do you use echo? What’s that fur on your ears good for? I bet you can hear a mouse all the way down the street!” He takes a deep breath. “And, and, uhm… do you drink blood?” I hold up a hoof and lean back a little. “Woah, easy there,” I say and chuckle. “No, no blood. I prefer beer. Honest. And the pony’s name is Nightline.” The eleven stops pass much faster than they normally do and I admit it does feel good to be petted. Before I get off the tram, I shake hoof with the boy’s dad and give the little one a hug. I also envelop the boy in my wings for a few moments while doing so. Judging by his expression, Christmas just came early this year. Lots of pictures on his dad’s phone to show his classmates tomorrow. I hop out into the noisy street and head north. Now, that evening could have begun on a worse note and my mood has improved quite a bit. Maybe I will check YouTube later tonight; half a dozen people were filming the encounter. Which could be fun. With any luck, somebody will be offended on my behalf. Grade A entertainment. It is only five minutes to my destination, an Irish Pub called ‘Four Corners’, right next to a big intersection. It is not yet warm enough to have the tables out front. I hope that next time it is. There is a new sign on the front door though: ‘Four Corners welcomes four hooves!’ I chuckle and push the door open with my forehead. Since it is not that late, the place is not yet packed. The barman grins, gives me a nod and walks over. He crouches down and gives me a hoofbump. “Hiya Night! How’ve you been?” I count Ben as a friend. “Hiya yourself! Pretty good actually, except my ex keeps reminding me of his existence every time I’ve managed to forget about him.” “Heh. Good thing there’s a whole dimensional jump between the two of you then.” “Yep. Trax thinks he’s an idiot, too,” I say with a smirk. He shakes his head with an over the top eye-roll. “Seriously? Your obsession with that engine is unhealthy. What do you want for breakfast?” “Says the addicted role-player who pretends to be a sexy unicorn mare online. A pint of Kilkenny and a double Grouse. And the veggie burger with chips. With extra chips. Is my spot still free?” “Touché,” he says and smirks as well. “And it is. We’ve actually made some improvements to that corner. Go have a look; I’ll be there in a minute.” “Don’t rush it.” “Nah.” The table is still the same battered dark brown it has always been, but it looks a little lower now. A second table has undergone the same transformation next to it. The bench along the windows is lower and broader than I remember. The upholstery has also changed and is now made of artificial leather that should not have a problem with things like hooves. There are normal chairs on the opposite side but some beanbags are stacked against the wall. I think space for a dozen ponies or so is overly optimistic, but you never know. Maybe there will be a pony invasion. In any case, I approve. When I hop onto the bench, I notice the two washbowls with polished steel lids set into the tabletop on both ends in a way that they are almost flush with the surface. There is a sticker on them saying ‘for hooves only’ and a crossed out pictogram of a dog. “So, what do you think?” Ben smiles at me as he puts my drinks in front of me and fills one of the washbowls with lukewarm soapy water from a plastic carafe. “Towels are behind you on the sill.” I am a happy pony on a comfy bench with clean fore hooves. “This is perfect! You weren’t joking on your new sign.” My hooves do not leave dirty smudges in the condensation on my beer glass. The Kilkenny is expertly poured. Bliss. “So, no fish and chips today?” “I already had cheese and ham today, don’t want to overdo it.” And two moths, but I’m not going to tell him that. “You’ll be eating Shepherd’s Pie next, mark my words.” I lean forward and bare my fangs at him. “Why stop there?” “Oh-kaaay.” He grins and leaves me alone. There was that tiny flicker in his eyes though, just for a second. Heh. *** I am halfway through my meal when my ears perk up at the sound of horseshoes on the wooden floor. What I do not expect is that the sound originates from the leather boots of the lanky guy coming around the corner. His gait is a bit wonky, like a pony who has just had her hooves done by the farrier. That throws me off so much that I do not even notice the pale pink unicorn following right behind him at first. I realise it has been a very long time since I last met someone of my own species. She is wearing some weird orange and blue hoofshoes and a Deutsche Bahn work vest. Her mane is a deep purple. That mare could not have chosen worse colours for herself if she tried and her choice of employer is not much better. I am not really one to talk in respect to the last point. I lift my muzzle from my plate and greet the two with a little wave. “Hi there! Care to join me? It’s pretty neat here.” Both of them smile and nod. “Sure,” the mare says and lights her horn to remove her vest and toss it into a corner. Her field lets go of the vest and envelops one of the beanbags instead and she drags it to the spot opposite to where I sit. She walks around the table to give me a greeting nuzzle. Not how I would greet a stranger back in Equestria but things are different here on Earth. I hurriedly use the napkin to avoid smearing burger sauce into her mane as I return the gesture. That… feels wonderful. She is kind and she smells of railway. What more could I want? I sigh into her mane as I nuzzle her in turn. She seems to think the same. Guess even a bath can’t remove Trax’ scent entirely. “Do you work for DB?” “Euro Cargo Rail,” I reply. “Came in from Paris this morning.” She nods. “Ohh, a driver! I’m Penny and that’s Jan. We’re colleagues at Frankfurt Central. Not as glamorous as you though,” she adds with a smirk. “Just maintenance.” I definitively like her. “I’m Nightline. And what’s with the horseshoes, uhm, Jan?” “Are you a batpony?” I blink. “Uh, yeah?” “He lost a bet,” Penny cuts in. “If I could find running shoes he’d have his boots shoed. Finally did it yesterday. It only took him half a year.” Jan blushes. “Yeah, sorry. I’m going to break a leg I think. And hi, by the way.” He stretches his hand over the table to give me a hoofbump. Fistbump. Whatever, he just earned a plus in my book for that. Handshakes, or rather fetlock shakes, are so awkward. As they sit down I notice Penny’s cutiemark and it is not like anything I would have expected. A manager’s toy? Sweet Luna, do not go down that track, brain. Okay, I have no idea and it is none of my business anyway. I take a long sip of my beer. *** Penny has just finished telling me about her hoofshoes when we are interrupted by a third arrival. A stocky, middle-aged man with kind eyes, a nice smile, a three-day beard and a ponytail. Also with a DB vest. Penny turns her head. “Hey Irek, jak się masz?” “Ah Penny, beautiful you say my name!” he says in return and both of them laugh. “And I’m fine!” Then he spots me. “And who would this magnificent creature be?” Uhm. I blush. I am so not used to this, but Penny rescues me. “That’s Nightline, she’s a driver for Euro Cargo Rail. We have a railway table with extra pony tonight! Nightline, that’s Irek and he’s our resident lightning wrangler.” The direct translation of the Equestrian word for electrician sounds decidedly weird. Irek comes around the table. “May I?” I scoot over a little and try to ignore the smell of cheap tobacco when he sits down next to me. “Thanks! In case you’re wondering, I love this new arrangement. They’ve finally changed the setup for the vertically challenged like me. Broad and low, just how I like it.” Well, he is not wrong, and it looks as if his German is actually a lot better than his first impression “I guess that makes you an honorary pony,” I say and smile. “Where are you guys from then?” “Gdańsk in Poland,” Irek replies. “Left when it was a real rubbish place to be back in the day. And you?” “Baltimare, but I haven’t lived there for a long time, even before I decided to give Earth a try.” I sigh. Yep, it has been a long, long time. “Isn’t that down the east coast south of Manehattan?” Irek asks. “Ohh, I’m impressed,” Penny says. “You even got the pronunciation not completely wrong this time. Well done.” He rolls his eyes. “Oh quiet you. This is more Equestrian geographic knowledge than you’ll find in 95% of Frankfurt. Probably the whole of Germany for that matter! Cut me some slack, will you? Equestrian is bloody hard when you’re not a horse.” “No problem, my dear ape.” I look back and forth between the two of them and smile. “You two always so kind to each other?” “Yep. That posh Canterlot girl needs to learn some respect!” Penny scowls at him but then lifts her muzzle high. “And you should remember your place, peasant.” Irek waggles a finger at her, but before he can retort anything, their drinks arrive. It is a pint of Guinness for every one of them, with a nice little Shamrock drawn into the foam. Ben is getting better at this. Jan has also ordered a whisky to go with his beer. “Jan? Is that a Jameson 10?” I ask. He looks up in surprise. “Uhm, yes. How’d you know that?” I tap my nostrils with a hoof and flutter my wings a little. “Bat,” I say with a smile. “And good choice, goes well with it. Anyway, where are you from then?” “Ah, just from ‘round here. Boring place, boring life. Until Penny showed up.” He pats the unicorn on the shoulder and smiles in adoration. “Everything is better with a pony.” Before she can reply, Irek lifts his glass. “I’ll drink to that. Cheers!” It has been so long since I have been drinking beer in good company that both my beer and whisky are empty in no time. Careful there, Nightline. I have just gotten out of bed and I am almost drunk already. Looking around at my three new acquaintances, I reach a decision: who cares? I have two nights off and who knows when an opportunity like this will come again. I order another Kilkenny. Jan puts his empty glass down with a content sigh. “Does any of you know where Justin is?” “Ah right, “Irek says. “The lion couldn’t find anyone to look after his cub today so I guess he’s home, shame really. He would’ve loved to meet you Night and try out his Equestrian. I swear Penny’s put a spell on him and he’s turning into an equine.” Penny gives a derisive little snort. “He’s a teacher and unlike somebody else here he actually knows how to go about learning things.” “Whatever you say, dearest Pendulum Ball. Hold on, I’ve got a message from him I think.” He gives his phone a look, grins, and looks at me. “Well, seems you’ve met him. Look at this everybody!” There is a picture of me hugging the little boy. I facehoof. “Oh right, I already forgot that.” “Hah, you’re alright Nightline. Made his day I’ll bet.” Irek puts his hand on my shoulder and gives me a little squeeze and a shove. I do not know if it is the beer, but that feels nice. I lean into his hand and smile. “Thanks, Irek.” He looks at me with comically wide eyes and gasps before pointing at me with two fingers. “Penny! You heard that? She said it!” What? Penny does a double facehoof and looks at me between her fetlocks. “Now you’ll be stuck with him like I am. You pronounced his name right. That’s about the same with him as if you gave a changeling a kiss.” Jan giggles and almost chokes on his beer, spilling half of what is left in his glass over the table. It does not get far before it is enveloped in a pink glow though and crawls back into the glass. I smile at Penny. That is a neat trick. I point in the direction of the bar. “Did you see the sign at the bar? They’re hiring and,” I airquote, “Number of legs unimportant.” There was also a drawing of a unicorn on the advertisement. “I can guarantee you that Ben is a good colleague.” Penny puts a hoof to her chin. “Hmmmm…” “Speaking of jobs,” Irek says with a sideways look at Penny, “How did you end up here, Night?” Ugh. I look at my beer and bite the inside of my cheek, of course that had to come up at one point. “Uhm, Night? You okay?” He has his hand on my shoulder again. “Not really,” I say. He looks honestly concerned. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing,” I say with a sigh, grip my beer and drain it in one go. “I can see that,” he says. “Nothing says I’m fine like downing a half pint Kilkenny and hiding behind your mane while staring at your hooves. It’s okay, you know? Just forget it. As long as you don’t fly up into the rafters and wrap yourself in your wings upside down to sulk it’s all good.” That stupid git. I do not want to laugh now. Luna’s ruts. “Okay, okay, okay. Okay. But I want another beer.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see Penny floating a pen out of her vest and levitating a beermat from another table over to herself. The pen writes ‘one emergency beer for Nightline’ on the mat and the mat speeds off to the bar, dodging surprised patrons on the way. It only takes a few minutes for Ben to arrive with a beer that has not been especially well tapped. “Jeez Penny, what’s the matter? And if that thing had gone up in flames in my face I think I’d killed you!” “Pishposh, I’ve gotten a lot better at this,” Penny replies and gives Ben the sweetest smile together with what are likely the absolute biggest eyes she can muster. He closes his eyes and drags his hands down his face. “You’re impossible.” When he is gone again, Penny gently sets the beer down in front of me and gives me an encouraging smile. I really should not be doing this. “I wanted to do a bachelor in railway engineering on Earth because I have all that experience from driving steam engines, including all the theoretical stuff. And I thought I’d be cool and said I wanted to go to Europe because there were so few that had done that back then.” I take a sip of my not so perfect beer. “I’m quite certain that helped with getting a visa despite me not totally acing the Ready for Earth test. Should have been a hint. “It turned out to be both way more difficult than I’d thought and also tedious and lonely. Learning French was hard as well, their teachers weren’t as experienced with ponies as the Americans. Neither me nor the university were all that well prepared for this. “I was about to give up when I saw an advert that Deutsche Bahn was looking for potential drivers. They couldn’t get enough staff, not by a long shot. As long as you knew the front and back part of a locomotive apart, you were in. More or less. “Long story short: they said yes and helped me change my student visa to a work visa. Training wasn’t that bad actually, they really put an effort in. Arranged a proper language course as well. My instructors loved me for being a steam engine pro. "Half a year later, I was working on a shunting yard in Cologne with makeshift controls in old diesel engines and always during daylight hours. It was awful.” “Couldn’t you have gone back to Equestria and back to your old job?” Jan asks. “Stuff sometimes doesn’t work out. No biggy.” “Heh.” I take a deep breath. “My parents were livid that I’d give up my career for ‘some interdimensional fantasy’ after they’d supported me so much in everything I did. Even after I'd refused to enlist in the Night Guard like my mother.” I have a bitter taste in my mouth, and it is not the beer. “There was no getting through to them that I wasn’t giving up my career! I could get a much better job when I got back and I was going to show them. Superintendent, head of engineering or development, maybe even a seat on the ERB or diplomatic liaison in industry matters!” There is a lump in my throat and it does not go away from drinking. “I had a full-blown fallout with them about that. Can’t take back words, no? I haven’t heard from them since that day.” “ERB?” Jan says. “Equestrian Railway Board. My resume would be special because my degree would be from a great university and it would be from a great European university because that would make me cool and desirable. And I’d do it all on my own just because I could. Because I was such a damn good engineer. “And by Celestia’s royal rump, I’d fucking show them!” Our table has turned into a small bubble of uncomfortable silence in the happy atmosphere of the noisy pub. “And then I went and blew it all,” I croak and put my head in my hooves. “Damn,” Penny says under her breath. I can feel Irek trying to find something to say but after two tries he just scoots closer and puts his arm around my shoulders instead. “Hey,” he murmurs. I realise I have not had any contact like this for a very long time and I suddenly crave it more than anything. I lean against him, put my tail around him and a stretch a wing over his back. “Uhm, Nightline?” He says, sounding unsure all of a sudden. I am not letting go now, and I am not done yet. You break it, you own it. “I had a fiancé from Manehattan and he wouldn’t just let me go either. Started talking about buying a house and having foals, and how me going to Earth for two years would derail everything he’d hoped for.” I grit my teeth. “Two weeks before I was due to leave he said that I could forget all about marrying him if I went through with it and that I needn’t come back. Asked me why Earth was more important than him and said that I was selfish. That I was being unfaithful!” I slam my right hoof on the table. “By the Moon! I wanted to do this for us! For our future! I bucked him in the flank right then and there and threw him out. How dare he?!” “Shhh,” Irek says, patting my back. I realise I must have gotten quite loud. I am also crying. I hate this. I hate myself. I hate everything. I want to go home. I want to fly away. I want this stranger that stinks of cigarettes to hold me. I want to be alone. I want out onto the rails with Trax. More than anything I want to be alone with her right now and listen to her songs. “Sorry,” I whisper. Irek gives me the longest hug I have ever gotten. It takes a while before I trust my voice again. “Thanks.” I feel I should say something more but my head feels empty. Irek scratches me between my ears. “All good, but I guess we’re done here for tonight.” The others give their quiet consent. This evening is well and truly over. Irek takes my face into his hands to look me in the eyes and I let him. “Hey Night. You want me to follow you home?” I briefly close my eyes and nod.