//------------------------------// // The Evening of the Drama // Story: The Great Canterlot Train Robbery // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// It was now March in Canterlot, and the snow had finally melted away. The sun shone in the sky, the days now being noticeably longer than they used to be. As the afternoon rolled in one Thursday evening, a group of six friends were heading for Sweet Apple Acres. Due to the slight increase in temperature, the streetcars now had air conditioning enabled, which meant that things were not as hot as they could have been. When the streetcar came to a stop, these six friends hopped off and headed onto a dirt path toward the farm itself. These six friends, as you will undoubtedly know, were Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Pipsqueak, Rumble, and Button Mash. Having just come off a number of dramatic events, such as restoring a railroad, Scootaloo coming back from the dead, or a great rescue on the Rich estate, they were keen for a quieter few days. “I hope this weekend won’t be too chaotic,” Pip observed, raising his opinion. “Yeah!” Button added. “I’ve got some mods I want to test on Train Simulator.” Sweetie Belle pouted. “I thought you’d want to spend it with us.” “Yeah, that too!” Button added. Rumble spoke up. “Hey, isn’t the mail train due through any minute now?” “Race ya to the fence!” shouted Apple Bloom. “You’re on!” Scootaloo replied, as the six kids raced over the field to the fence that sat next to the mainline. At this point on the railway line, it was only double track in either direction, as far as Canterlot to the south and Cloudsdale to the north. As a result, services had to be timetabled to run quickly to avoid backlog, although there were loops at the bottom of Cloudsdale bank. The rails had a number of unusual features next to the track. On both sides of the line were brackets, to which bags were attached. There were also large nets on the ground, held up by wooden frames. This was where mail was picked up and dropped off, in order to save time on the rails as loading and unloading mailbags at stations was very time consuming. Therefore, dropping mail off and picking it up on the move was incredibly useful. The students looked out over the rails, as they heard the distinctive sound of a Churchward bark approach from Canterlot. And then the train appeared. It consisted of a Great Western Railway Saint Class engine on the head, no 2999 Lady of Legend, and a series of bogie coaches with no windows. Instead, they had a net on one side, and a great arm to which another mailbag was attached. The engine thundered forward, the driver sounding the whistle as he saw the students waving to the train. The bag mounted to the arm hanging from the carriage fell into the net, the arm rising automatically to avoid catching on lineside equipment. The bags mounted on the arms crashed into the net with a bang, and swung back around to avoid catching on other mail carriages. The pickup and drop off of mail complete, the train sped onwards into the distance, sounding its whistle as it did so. But no sooner had that train flown through, then another one raced past on the opposite track, this time pulled by a Class 40 diesel. The procedure repeated, the bags being dumped and picked up by the fast-moving freight train. “That’s not supposed to happen!” Rumble noted. “The next train in that direction is not due for another 10 minutes.” “Maybe it’s running early?” Scootaloo suggested. “I’ve had that a couple of times.” “It’s odd they’d schedule trains to run early,” Pip noted. “Usually they run behind the timetable, not before.” “Well,” Sweetie Belle interrupted, “we can always discuss it indoors. No point in just standing around in the heat!” “Noted,” Button said, and they headed toward the house. When they got there, Pear was there to greet them. “Hello you six,” she smiled. “Did ya stop ta watch the post train through?” “We sure did!” Apple Bloom replied. “It never ceases ta be spectacular.” “But there was another train headed the other way,” Pip said. “And Rumble said something about it being early.” “Ah well,” Pear replied. “Ah wouldn’t worry about it at all. Do ya wanna stay for supper?” “That sounds nice!” Scootaloo said. “Count me in!” Button added. Overall, they reacted positively to this idea, but whilst waiting, they trooped off to the front room to watch some TV. Apple Bloom flicked through some channels. “They’re two, they’re four, they’re six, they’re eight-” “Ah,” Rumble noted. “It’s Thomas and Friends.” “But which season?” Sweetie Belle asked. “There’s a real quality change between Seasons 16 and 17.” “I still miss hearing Michael Angelis narrating them,” Pip said. “Ah yes,” Apple Bloom replied. “Ya lived in the UK for a while, didn’t ya?” “Lived there!” Pip exclaimed. “I was born there!” The intro finally ended. “Wonky Whistle.” “It’s a Sharon Miller episode,” Scootaloo grumbled. “Can we change channels?” Apple Bloom punched some buttons. “Chugginton!” “NO!” everyone cried. Sure enough, Apple Bloom switched channels as fast as she could. “Dale a tu cuerpo alegría Macarena Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría why cosa buena Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena Hey Macarena!” “Seriously?” Button Mash asked. “MTV is still a thing?” “Most people watch music videos on YouTube these days,” Sweetie Belle told him. “It was so strange coming across a Rainbooms one.” “That at least is an improvement over some of the rubbish on that site,” Scootaloo said. “Like that one about a wreckin’ ball,” Apple Bloom commented. “Seriously, why did Cyrus go so badly off the rails?” The channel changed once again, this time showing classic Thomas and Friends episodes. They watched quite a few of those, when suddenly the broadcast stopped. “What?” Pip asked. “Has the receiver got jammed again?” Apple Bloom groaned. But then an image of a man at a desk came up on screen, and he began speaking. “We interrupt this programming in order to bring an urgent announcement.” The image then changed to show police swarming across part of the line at Canterlot. “An hour ago, a robbery was committed on the postal train stationed at Cloudsdale. The criminals are believed to have made off with nearly 50 million dollars' worth of dollar bills, gold, and diamonds that were being transported on the train.” The image then changed again, to show a class 40 diesel coupled to some vans. “That’s got the same running number as the one we saw go through!” Rumble shouted. “The criminals are believed to have hijacked the train and driven it off in the Canterlot direction. If the public has any information regarding the robbery, they are encouraged to report it to the police immediately. We will now return you to your scheduled program.” The broadcast switched back to the channel, but Apple Bloom was left worried. Had they witnessed a robbery? And would they be roped into yet another adventure?