//------------------------------// // Memories of Yesteryear // Story: Western Champion // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// That night, Apple Bloom went to bed happy and contented. They had achieved something remarkable. True, there had been many bumps in the rails, and the road hadn’t always been clear and long, but none of that mattered. They were friends, and theirs had been... a Railway Adventure. It was now September again in Canterlot. A full year had passed since this saga had begun, and boy had it been a busy year indeed. The sun rose, much as it always had, reflecting golden beams upon the town and its inhabitants. Not only that, the daily life of the people hadn't changed too much. But boy had it been a busy year. Only a year ago, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Cozy Glow had made a remarkable discovery up in the Everfree hills. They had uncovered the remains of a lost railway that had not been seen in nearly 60 years, and incredibly was preserved almost intact despite the years of decay and lack of maintenance. It had been then they had decided to restore an engine of the railway to full working order, but had rapidly realised they had bit off more than they could chew when they saw the engine was not in good mechanical order. In one house in the centre of town, a young boy stood looking out of a window at the rising sun before him. This was Pip, or Pipsqueak as he was formally called, and he had been involved in that restoration one year ago. He remembered that moment, clear as day, when Apple Bloom asked him to help. “Oh, my goodness! Sorry, I didn’t see you there!” he said, in a British accent, as he reached up a hand and helped her up. “It was mah fault, I weren’t lookin’ were ah was goin’,” Bloom replied. “Ah was lookin’ for ya, Pip.” Pip, or Pipsqueak to give his full name, was originally not from America. He was from Britain, and had been born in Nottingham. His family had moved here when he was 6, and as a result he had never lost his distinctive Midlands accent. “Why were you looking for me?” “Ya see, ah need your help,” Bloom said. “Me and mah friends-” “My friends and I,” Pip corrected. “Thanks,” Bloom answered. “Ah still get that muddled. Still, we found an old engine in the forest.” “That must have taken some doing!” Pip exclaimed. “Yeah. We got it to engineerin’, but the boiler’s bust. We got somebody else workin’ on the plans, but I need your help ta make it.” Bloom immediately turned on pleading mode, boring into him with her undeniable cuteness. “Please Pip, will ya help?” “Anything for you, Apple Bloom,” Pip replied. “Besides, I still owe you one for helping me win that election campaign last year. I hope Diamond Tiara isn’t too bitter about it.” “She’s fine now. Besdies, Silver Spoon’s supplyin’ the steel.” “Where'd she find steel?” “She persuaded her folks to give some to the school.” “That makes our job easier.” The two friends set off down the corridor, smiles on their faces. Since then, they had worked pretty hard on getting that engine running again, and at the Fall Formal, all their hard work had paid off. They had shown to the entire school that they could repair, rebuild, and operate a steam locomotive, and that it was entirely possible for students to do it. Not surprisingly, recruitment for rebuilding the railway had skyrocketed, and they had soon had a very large team working on rebuilding the line, putting down new ballast and getting the other engines ready for service (not to mention building new coaches). But just as they were getting ready for the grand reopening of the line in March, disaster had struck. Vandals had appeared on the line, and damaged one of the engines. Pip recalled the tense confrontation that had followed, and it had not been pretty. Rumble stepped over. “Pip’s gone to get the crane. We’ll fish the parts up and reassemble the engine.” Scootaloo broke from her mother’s embrace, and looked at him. “You think it’s gonna be that simple, huh?” she growled, staring at him. “Just glue it back together? It doesn’t work that way, Rumble!” She was clearly quite angry now. “How on earth are we gonna do a repair of this scale with just two weeks to reopening? Restoring it the first time was hard enough, now we’ll have to start all over again!” She collapsed into a fresh round of tears. Rumble resolved to fix this, and hugged her himself. “Hey, easy,” he said. “We can fix this. But we can’t if we don’t pull ourselves together.” Cozy Glow wandered over. “Who would do something like this?” she asked, as a flatbed with the remains of the engine came past. It was heartbreaking to see, a once magnificent machine reduced to nothing but a pile of scrap metal. The frames were buckled, most of the rodding was missing, the cylinders were torn, the tank and cab had come clean off the body, there were coal stains all over the frames, and the boiler was dented and broken. It was clear to all that the engine was a total writeoff. “No,” Cheerilee whispered. “Whoever did this, is going to pay.” “Ya don’t need to look far.” Cheerilee looked over to her right. Standing there, was Applejack. “How did ya get here?” Apple Bloom asked, confused. Applejack simply shoved her little sister out of the way and stormed over to Cozy Glow, grabbing her arm. “You are in a lotta trouble, miss,” she growled. “What?” Cozy replied, clearly terrified. “Ya can drop the act, Cozy Glow,” Applejack answered, her voice dripping with hate and malice. “Ah know ya did this. An’ ta think ah trusted ya. Ya clearly haven’t changed at all.” “That’s preposterous!” Sweetie Belle cried. “It makes perfect sense,” Applejack continued. “Ya see, she was the only one between the two stations at the time this happened. So she musta been the one to derail the engine.” “That’s called coincidence!” Button Mash said. “So what if she was between the two stations at the time, that stretch is 6 miles long! That’s an assertion, not actual proof!” “Ya really are dumb,” Applejack snorted. “She’s clearly guilty. People don’t change, they just pretend. She’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing!” Apple Bloom stepped forward, went on tiptoe, and leaned directly in her sister’s face. “No, sis,” she replied. “You’re wrong.” “Excuse me?” Applejack asked. “Have Ah got applesauce in mah ears, or did you just call me a liar?” “Ah didn’t call ya a liar, I just said you were wrong.” Apple Bloom continued quickly. “What would Cozy gain from destroying a dream she’s worked hard on?” “What if she were just pretendin’? What if she were simply tryin’ to make ya think she was interested, whereas all she wanted to do was cause chaos?” “You’re basing this on a ‘what if?’ Cozy exclaimed. “Hold everything!” called a voice. There was Pip, with a pair of youths. Snips and Snails. “They are the ones behind this,” he said. “They derailed the engine on Sonata’s orders. Question is, what would she want with us?” “Doesn’t matter,” Apple Bloom replied. “Call the police, and get them outta here. They are not welcome on the railway, ever.” Both of them were escorted past, and into a waiting carriage. It had been a massive job getting that engine ready for service once again, as they had had to repair the engine almost completely, most of the parts being missing from the engine. But, with working all night and a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and some language not appropriate to repeat here, they had got the engine running once more. And opening day had gone almost perfectly, discounting the train stalling on the hill outside the top station and needing banking from Gaia Everfree to get up the slope. In the year since, the railway had run perfectly smoothly, with tourists still coming from far and wide to see the Little Railway of the Hills (patent pending), not to mention they had received a surprise visit from the last person they expected... It wasn’t long before the day came to an end. Stabling the engines at the works, the friends got out of the cabs and came together. “Well, wasn’t that exciting!” Pip exclaimed. “We not only restored an entire railway, but ran it as well!” Sweetie Belle cried. “Not to mention emergency repairs at the last minute!” Button added. “Excuse me?” said a voice. “Is the shed still open?” The girls turned to face the source of the voice; an elderly man, with a white beard and hair. “It sure is sir,” Apple Bloom replied. “An’ you are?” “My name is Christopher Awdry,” he answered. Their jaws fell open in an instant. “The Christopher Awdry?!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “The one and the same,” Christopher Awdry smiled. “I would like to write a few stories about this railway. I have happy memories of working alongside my father on the Talyllyn, and have a written a few about the Corris Railway too. With your permission, I’ll write some about this one as well.” “Ya sure can sir!” Bloom replied, with an intense sense of pride in her heart. And now a year had passed. Other things had happened, of course, including runaway trains, music contests, sports events featuring hugely over competetive students, reincarnation, and goodness knows what else, but what mattered was this impresive achievement outshone all others. And Pip was hugely proud of that. Not only that, he and Apple Bloom were now formally dating. They were a full year older now, and he was absolutely certain he was in love with the youngest member of the Apple family. He also knew from his friends Rumble and Button Mash that they had steady relationships with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle respectively, but he knew for a fact that he adored his Apple Bloom. But there was a thought in the back of his mind. Was there anything else around here that could be restored? Surely some lost railway was sitting nearby, just waiting to be found. Apple Bloom had reportedly visited an abandoned town in a nightmare she'd had once... Sunnyvale? Was that the name? Anyway, Pip concentrated. If that railway could have been hidden in plain sight, then there could well be something else hidden in the area. "Pip!" his mother called. "It's time for school!" "Coming mum!" Pip shouted, in his mild Midlands accent. He hadn't actually been born in the US, but was originally from Nottingham in the UK. As a result, he had never lost his trademark accent, and it defined him somewhat. He stepped outdoors into the sun, and went over to the streetcar stop to start his journey to school.