//------------------------------// // ...is this the Chattanooga Choo-Choo? // Story: An Adventure on Rails and Time // by JimmyHook19 //------------------------------// The next morning came, and the trio pulled themselves out of their beds and got themselves through the shower. As they got dressed, they took to conversing with one another. "Ah don't know how anybody coped before air conditionin'," Apple Bloom said. "Ah knew Ah'm used ta the heat, but come on? It was boilin' last night!" "Careful!" Sweetie Belle told her, fiddling with the buttons on her blouse. "You don't want to bring anachronisms to the conversation here! Air conditioning hasn't even been invented yet." "I wouldn't want to be the one who messed up the history of America," Cozy Glow sighed. "The Doctor mentioned that Adam Mitchell person once. What did he do again?" "He tried to beam technology from the future back to the present day," Sweetie Belle explained. "Not a smart thing to do, given the damage he could have done to the past, or present. This gets very confusing at times." "Tell me about it," Apple Bloom sighed. "Ah mean, Ah still struggle with the whole 'bigger on the inside thing'. How does that work?" "It's environmentally transcendental," Sweetie Belle answered, a smug smile on her face. "That means the interior exists in an entirely different dimension to the rest of the craft. Basically, imagine a big box in a separate place to a smaller box, but you can get into the bigger box via the smaller box." "Yes?" Apple Bloom said. "Ah can imagine that!" "Imagining it is the easy bit," Sweetie Belle added. "It's actually building it where most people struggle." "I thought a performance of time reversal occured at the inner door," Cozy Glow said, tying up her shoes. "Shall we get something to eat?" After breakfast in the hotel lobby (which really showed that hotel breakfasts hadn't really changed at all in 60 or so years, as they still tasted pretty much like plastic), the girls headed for the station and showed their tickets at the ticket office, before heading onto the platform and boarding the return trip, or Train 26. Once again, 611 was at the helm, and pulled out at 8:20 PM, passing an outbound freight pulled by 2156, another Mallet of 2-8-8-2 wheel arrangement. They made a number of intermediate stops, functioning as a conventional passenger service, before arriving at Portsmouth at 10:45 AM. After a 5 minute rest, the train pulled away at 10:50 AM, but this time skipped the stops at Ironton and Kenova, before stopping at Williamson, West Virginia at 1:20 PM, pulling away again at 1:25 PM. As it had been many hours since they had last eaten, the girls decided to get lunch, which this time was salmon with carrot and potatoes. This being a relatively formal express, fast food was not the order of the day, and indeed slow food would have been a more appropriate description. They enjoyed it very much, and the train flew onwards through the countryside, rolling into Bluefield, West Virginia, at 4:15 PM. It paused again for 5 minutes to let some more passengers onboard, before another freight rolled by, and they were off at 4:20 PM. The train then flew through Pearisburg at 5:08 PM. Cozy Glow looked over to Apple Bloom, a clear question in her mind, and by logical extension on her tongue. "Is that where the Pears are from?" she asked. Apple Bloom shrugged. "I' don't know," she replied. "Doesn't Ida Know play First?" Sweetie Belle asked. "No, Who plays First," Apple Bloom answered. "What?" Cozy Glow asked. "What's on second," Sweetie Belle said. "Who is on first." Opposite them a conversation was ongoing between a chef and two waitresses. "So, where do these plates go?" asked one of the waitresses. "Over by Clear Skies," said the chef. "There are clear skies everywhere," the waitress sighed. "Clear Skies is over here!" said the second waitress. "There are clear skies over there too!" the first waitress sighed, pointing to an area behind the chef. The chef suddenly looked very confused. "That's Open Skies," said Clear Skies, indicating to the chef. "There are open skies everywhere!" said the first waitress, now very confused. "I'm not everywhere," said the chef, or Open Skies. "I'm here." "So," the first waitress sighed, "if you're Open Skies, and you're Clear Skies, then what's all that?" "Open Clear Skies!" Open Skies and Clear Skies chorused. Then Open Skies looked over. "Hey, where did the Fluffy Clouds go?" "Fluffy Clouds?" said Clear Skies. "He's in the baggage car!" Sweetie Belle face palmed. "This is so confusing," she said. The train rolled into Roanoke, not Ranokee, at 6:45 PM, and then left at 6:55 PM. It stopped at Lynchburg, Farmville, Crewe (no, not that Crewe. Not the one where Henry was rebuilt, or where the heritage center is now), Blackstone, and Petersburg. After the last intermediate stop at Suffolk, Virginia, at 11:22 PM, the train rolled into Norfolk at 11:50 PM, after a mammoth journey for engine, passengers, and crew. It came to a stop under the platform canopy and stopped, steam leaking from cylinders as the engineer uncoupled the engine from the train. The engine then moved off the train, and whistled loudly as it vanished toward the roundhouse, another hard day over. The girls hopped off the coaches before a nondescript shunter coupled up to the coaches and began to move them toward a nearby siding for storage and cleaning, ready for use another day. Apple Bloom glanced over to Sweetie Belle. "It's a shame we can't speak to nobody about this," she said. "I know," Sweetie Belle sighed. "That was a fun day." "Glad you enjoyed yourselves!" said a voice. Standing nearby, leaning on a station canopy support column, was the Doctor. "But not everything lasts forever. Shall we head for the TARDIS?" "OK," Cozy Glow replied. "We certainly did have fun!" They walked through the station concourse, to the TARDIS, which nobody was paying any attention to despite the fact the sight of an incongruous blue box should have attracted attention. As the Doctor threw the switches, the machine lifted off with a loud 'vworping' noise, and vanished into the time stream.