The clock slowly rolled by, the minutes turning into hours, the hours into days, the days into years, and the years into decades.
Sweetie Belle looked at the station clock. "At this rate, we'll wait for so long that we'll meet ourselves in the future!" she exclaimed.
"We can't do that!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "It would lead to the Blinnyvitch thingy!"
"The Blinovitch Limitation Effect," Sweetie Belle said, matter of factly, her face rapidly switching to 'know it all mode'. "A time traveler cannot carry out the same act twice, and not only that, if two different versions of the same person come into contact, it leads to a shorting out of the time differential between the two individuals."
Apple Bloom looked confused. "Ah wish Ah hadn't asked," she sighed.
"What happens if two of the same person come into contact?" asked Cozy Glow.
"It leads to an energy discharge between them, usually transferring memories from one to the other," Sweetie Belle continued. "Not only that, it makes a lot of energy, which is perfect for dealing with time problems. The Doctor says he once used the energy from the effect to undo the Pandorica and reboot the universe!"
"How confusing," Cozy Glow said.
"Ah know, right?" Apple Bloom added.
"One of the wonders of traveling in time," Sweetie Belle said. "Although, sadly, it means we cannot repeat this experience as we may run into ourselves. Unless of course we regenerate, but that's impossible."
Just then, a whistle echoed from the platform, and a voice shouted; "ALL ABOARD!"
The engine responded in kind, a long, loud whistle blast echoing across the station. A few seconds passed, and then slowly, imperceptible at first, the ground began to move.
"We're on our way!" Cozy Glow cried. "Whoo!"
The train slowly picked up speed, though it was limited through the Norfolk approaches to 20 miles an hour as there were many sidings and points the train had to cross to reach the mainline. As the set rolled past the freight yards, a group of switchers were rolling backwards and forwards with boxcars and heavy gondolas. As the visage of 611 rolled past, the drivers on the shunters sounded the whistles on their engines, whistles and chime notes echoing across the stations. Unfortunately, the visage was cut short by a diesel locomotive rolling past with a passenger train bound for Miami. They flew along the track as they left the station, the speed limit at last opening up to 100 miles an hour. Once this was clear, the engineer opened the locomotive up, and they were off to high speed running. The wheels roared round and round as the train gathered speed, thundering along the rails at speeds so high they seemed to fly down the track (although, at least, it seemed they had cured the class' problems with instability at high speed based on the current performance). Eventually, the city of Norfolk gave way to rolling fields and soaring mountains, and the train made its first scheduled stop at Petersburg, Virginia at 8:45 AM. After a short wait, the train then set off again, the sun now shining on the rails and the train as it sped along. The next few miles saw uninterrupted high speed running, with a long goods train passing on the left, with a 4-8-0 pulling a long line of boxcars that seemed to go on into eternity.
"That's 475!" Apple Bloom noted, writing the number down as she did so.
The train continued to race along, the landscape turning into a blur and steam pouring into the skies as the train thundered along. It made a second stop for 10 minutes at Roanoke, Virginia. at 12:25 PM.
"So," Cozy Glow said, looking out and seeing the station sign. "This is ranokee."
"ROANOKE!" Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom chorused.
Cozy Glow looked at them. "Fine, Roanokee," she replied, with a smirk on her face. They sat there for a while, before the train started off again at 12:35 PM. As it would be many more hours before the train arrived anywhere interesting, it was decided by the trio to go get some lunch. And luckily, the set had some dome cars in which they could do so. The tables were set with white cloths, and beautiful china plates, cubs, and saucers were set upon those same tables. All sorts of people sat enjoying whatever delicacy was being cooked up in the chef's car. The girls chose to sit in the top floor of the dome car to see the sights. The fields made a most pleasant sight as they flew along, and enjoyed a most delicious selection of items from the menu, although the trio went for some sort of fish based dish, combined with vanilla cake for desert (seriously, how boring), and soon had finished, continuing to watch the train fly along the track. After another stop at Bluefield, West Virginia at 3:00 PM, and departing at 3:05 PM, they ran along for about two hours, before calling at Williamson, West Virginia (5:50 PM arrival and a 5:55 PM departure), before running almost uninterrupted to Kenova, West Virginia at 7:37 PM. Then the train got held for a while.
"What's goin' on?" Apple Bloom asked.
"The line seems to be blocked ahead," said Sweetie Belle, seeing the signals up ahead. Just then, a freight roared through, headed by a Mallet of some description, number 1218. After that had gone, they were off once more, and running to Portsmouth, Ohio, which saw them arrive at Portsmouth, Ohio at 8:25 PM, before setting off again five minutes later at 8:30 PM. Then things got very slow, as the train was effectively working as a stopping passenger working from there to Cincinnati, meaning it stopped everywhere. The girls got their evening meal onboard the train, as it would take a very long time before they got anywhere. The sun descended, and the wondrous blues changed to reds and oranges, before the sun dipped entirely below the horizon and the sun was replaced by the moon, with stars blinking in the skies above them. After a very long journey, the train rolled to a stop in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Cincinnati, Ohio and Cincinnati Union Terminal, at 11:05 PM.
Once off the train, the trio went to a hotel to rest, and got changed for bed, settling under the covers until Sweetie Belle had a brainwave.
"Didn't the Doctor say something about something tomorrow?" she asked, suddenly going over to her clothes, currently lying in a disorganized heap on the floor (good thing Rarity wasn't there). She then went into the pocket on her skirt, and with a small effort, pulled out three objects. She squealed in excitement when she saw them.
"What is it?" Cozy Glow asked,
"Three tickets for the return trip tomorrow!" Sweetie Belle cried, her face lit up.
"Awsome!" Apple Bloom cried.
"Keep it down!" shouted a passing porter. "It's past 12!"
"Oops," Apple Bloom said. Sweetie Belle hopped into her bed, through the light switch, and the three drifted off to the world of dreams.