//------------------------------//
// There's storms in them hills! 
// Story: Thunder on the Long Drag 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

Meanwhile, as the train was getting ready to depart, a trio of somewhat dishevelled individuals was standing in the middle of a soggy field. The first of them, a red centaur, looked over.

"Are you sure dropping us in the middle of a soggy field was a good idea?" he asked her, his face full of confusion.

"I can't control where the portal drops us off!" Chrysalis snapped back, looking around at the strange world all around her. All around were these muted greens and trees with the leaves falling off and metal rails and some grey buildings nearby. The colour pallette was so much more to her taste, she had to say. All of the bright hues and sickly colours of Equestria and all the HAPPINESS were so annoying to her! At last, here was a place that didn't look like somebody hadn't just hurled a ton of paint at a wall and seen what had come out the other end!

"Well," Cozy Glow said, hovering above them as she observed a DMU roll by, "we could easily have suffered the alternative and be stuck in a statue. Suspended animation is not a fun way to spend one thousand years, after all."

Tirek suddenly seemed to me more cheerful. "Yes, this soggy field is a much better alternative. Speaking of which, I must say your plan to disguise yourself as all three of us at once and then disguise yourself as all three of us being turned to stone and all three of us as a statue was an excellent idea."

"Indeed," Chrysalis smiled, her pride in her plan showing through. "That way, I could sneak into the portal between dimensions I've heard discussed so often, and got you two hear as well. This world doesn't have magic, so we can cause as much havoc as we please."

"We don't have much of the magic from the Bewitching Bell left," Cozy Glow pointed out. "So how could we use it to cause as much chaos as possible?"

They all thought for a moment, and then the moment of inspiration hit them. "Of course!" Tirek cried. "How about we create a thunderstorm so massive that it makes travel almost impossible?"

"I'm on board with that idea!" Chrysalis laughed, and charged her horn. "Bring us power, and rend them sorrow! Rain, and rain, like there'll be no tomorrow!"

Her horn flashed, and in that instant the heavens opened. Rain droplet after rain droplet poured down as clouds moved in and thunder flashed in the sky, all like that scene in Fantasia atop a mounting with a demon.

"Yes!" Cozy Glow whooped, flying about again. "This world shall end up in such a mess, nopony will be able to challenge us!"

"We may not have much power of the magical sort," Tirek grinned, "but we can cause more havoc than Discord ever did."

"Erm... what you are doing on my farm?"

Tirek turned to see a man with a flat cap looking at him. "I said, what are you doing on my farm?"

Cozy Glow landed, and suddenly spotted a girl who had the same colour skin and hair as her. "How can there be two of me?"





The massive storm raged over Carlisle, and the mess threatened to flood the city. The timing could not have been worse, and the railtour pulled away as fast as it could to avoid the worst. The track was wet and the sky glistened with light and heat as a fireworks display erupted above them.

As they cleared onto the line proper, Jimmy called out behind him. "JEEZ LOUISE! THUNDERSTORM!"

Gigantic bolts of lightning rained down from the heavens as the train roared through the hills and tried to clear some of the hills. They started dropping sand onto the rails to assist the engines, but it did little good as the rain assaulted the Cumbrian hills. The storm continued to roar, and the train made a quick water stop at Appleby for 60077, which was having issues with its tender again, or rather the water supplier was having some problems again. The train finally got underway again after the tank was refilled, and the train roared down the brief downhill slope out of Appleby, only to go up the other side and encounter problems.

The radio went in Britannia's cab. "Tom we've got a problem!"

"What's happening, over?"

"The wheels are slipping uncontrollably, and I can't correct it. I'm going to cut the reverser."

Tom's eyes widened in horror. "No, do not release the reverser handle lock! It'll spin-"

He didn't finish his sentence, as he heard the sound of a reverser racing forward, followed by loud screams that could be heard over the noise of the engine. Tom poked his head out of the cab to see the wheels on 60077 revolving at speeds in excess of 120 miles an hour, and smoke and steam pouring into the air. He grabbed the radio again. "Steph, I need you to shut the regulator."

"Kat's hurt pretty bad. We need to help-"

"If you don't get that regulator closed, the boiler will prime and the cylinder covers will explode, wrecking the motion. Get that regulator shut. NOW!"

"On it." There was a moment's pause as a loud bang signified the regulator being closed. "Regulator shut. Kat's thumb seems to be broken, and her arms are badly bruised."

"Get the train doctor to remove her from the engine. I'm calling the air ambulance."





After the air ambulance had flown Katrina to hospital, they inspected the damage on 60077. "Well," the guard said, "she's not safe to operate. Too great a risk of motion failure."

"We'll need to move an A3, and fourteen coaches, with only one engine," Jimmy sighed. "What a day this has turned out to be."

Tom's eyes lit up. "We need two fireman for this task. Steph, you can fire on 70000 to keep the fire hot, and supply enough steam to keep the engine moving. It's going to be hard work."

Just then, a loud clunk confirmed the support diesel had just been coupled to the train. Rejoining the engine, the now three strong crew of 70000 got the train moving. The engine blasted smoke and steam into the air whilst the diesel roared loudly on the back, creating one of the most spectacular sights in preservation history as two machines from opposite ends of railway history battled the grades of the Long Drag.

The diesel was dropped at Garsdale, and 60077 was left in a siding to be assessed and later run back light engine whilst Britannia took the rest of the train to Settle. The passengers alighted safely, and watched as Britannia hauled the train off into the distance.