//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13: Aftermath 
// Story: Canterlot & Everfree: The Early Years 
// by Smokey_Cinders 
//------------------------------//

Celestia’s sun arose to a somber day for the four members of the Canterlot & Everfree Preservation Society, their prized possession now sitting at the station, beaten and damaged. Some residents had come over to see the old engine, others even offering to help where they could in fixing it.

Smokey, Crosby, Brass, and Steam had been working a decent part of the day to check 13 over, Steam having taken the day off to help. The broken cylinder would need to be replaced, though Smokey recalled there possibly being a spare in the machine shop, the spring saddle and brick arch too would be minimal repairs… but they found one major issue when checking the boiler. The front flue sheet had been leaking horribly, having been warped by firing up the boiler too fast. The flues too were damaged, and the running gear… if 13 didn’t need it before… it surely needed a complete overhaul now.

Smokey sighed before he slapped his old engineer's hat to the ground, swearing a bit as his long charcoal mane fluttered in the breeze. “Things were going so well…” he said before he looked over to see Twilight and her friends, Swift Sword, and several others walking to the station.

“Hello, how are all of you today?” Twilight asked softly with a smile as she approached.

“Gettin’ by… just inspectin’ 13… she’s in rough shape… last night’s cannonball run really jarred her somethin’ good…” Smokey said as he looked solemnly to his engine.

“This was out there all this time?” Swift said as he approached, looking at the engine. “It’s hard to believe that something like this could be hidden for so long” the Royal Guard said as he looked at the old engine.

“Eeyup… we were worried it wouldn’t be operable, it was a miracle it was overhauled right before it was put away, the last documented operation was well over sixty years ago” Smokey said as he looked over to the others.

“Oh my, it really needs to be repainted,” Rarity observed while Smokey spoke, looking at the rust and filth that caked the locomotive.

“Hey, I’ve seen trains like these in old derring do books,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked at the tall driving wheels. “These things were made for speed, Derring Do was once tied up on a runaway gold train and it was going 115 miles per hour

“Yeah but that’s just a book, RD," Applejack said to her friend as she looked at the engine, thinking it was much less scary to see in daylight.

“So… what brings y’all here anyway?” Smokey asked as he looked to the few who he didn’t recognize, one of them Brass recognized as Historica.

“This is Historica, Crosshead Rod, And Whistle Song, they are from the Baltimare Museum of Equestrian History, and they’ve came to help” Twilight said with a smile.

Smokey sighed again as his eyes went to the platform. “You’ve come to take 13 away?” He asked quietly.

“What? Of course not!” Crosshead said with a smile as the older earth pony approached Smokey. “My friends and I are responsible for keeping the EUR’s Princess running, we know everything about overhauling steam locomotives! Twilight told us about your complete machine shop, and we’re going to help you rebuild your fine machine!” 

Smokey’s eyes widened. “Wait, really!?” He asked as he and Crosby looked at Twilight, hope in their eyes.

“Of course! If you're going to operate a steam engine, I want it safe, sound, and certified, something Steam was able to reassure me of yesterday with his reports” she said with a smile as Steam scratched the back of his head.

“It was just a report,” Steam said with a slight blush.

Smokey smiled broadly. “I can’t thank y’all enough!” He said as he looked at the group. “When do ya wanna get started? We’ll have to get the word out on the restoration and set up a donation fund, and we’ll have to have an official opening date! And establish a timetable!” He said, his voice growing horse and face turning blue before he took a couple deep breaths.

“One thing at a time, Smokey” Twilight laughed as Pinkie piped up.

“And an opening party!” The pink party pony squealed with excitement.







“You imbeciles! I trust you with one job!” A tall red unicorn said, snarling as she stared at Iron Smelter and Steel Cutter. 

“Coachella, listen, we didn’t think he would-“ Steel spoke, only for Coachella to slam a hoof down onto her desk.

“No! Don’t Coachella Listen me!” She snapped as she stood up, going to the window and staring down. From her office, she could see the station. “All you did by letting that old rust bucket escape is help him win favor with the princess” she said as she turned. “We have similar goals, you want the metal from tearing up that old useless line, and I want the land to use for my motorcoach tours” she said as she raised a hoof and rubbed between her eyes. “This is a slight setback, but it won’t stop us, we’ll go to plan B” she said as she took out a quill and parchment.







Over the next few days, 13 was moved back to Everfree, 109 carefully moving it into the backshop. Smokey, Crosby, Brass and Steam, along with the Baltimare Museum crew, and even some mechanics from the Equestrian United began work on disassembling the old Baldwhinny engine, noting every single issue and imperfection.

While Smokey was devastated to see 13 knock herself apart like it did, he was relieved that such an overhaul could happen, as many small imperfections were found that would get worse over time, such as cracks in the driving wheels, worn bearings, and important various parts that could be repaired instead of worn out and need replacing.

At the same time, the three coaches the C&E had were being prepared, while The Empress was immaculate, the two passenger cars and the caboose were also receiving important work such as reupholstered seats and other creature comforts.

The most incredible development surprisingly came from the EUR, as they fully funded and donated a complete set of boiler tubes and flues for 13, another caboose, five surplus passenger cars, and even a locomotive.







6914 was an EMD SW9, it worked it’s early years as Manehatten & Alpony 1020, working as a switcher in the Manehatten rail yard, then after a railroad merger, became Manehatten Central 778 and was transferred and promoted to Station Pilot at the Vanhoover Terminal, and then finally becoming 6914 and becoming a Shop Switcher in Fillydelphia where it worked for the rest of its career with the Equestrian United.

Now retired from service as it was seen as too inefficient and outdated, it was decided against scrapping the 6914 since it was still in good shape, and as such was donated to the C&E to help with track work and to act as a relief engine for the 109.

Currently the engine was dressed in a faded and sun baked coat of black paint with white hazard stripes but had small patches of its old pink and gold livery showing through where the black paint had chipped away.

Smokey would never admit it, but he took an instant liking to the 6914, favoring it over the 109, as over its career, it had received upgrade after grade, one of which included air conditioning.







Some improvements which came to the C&E were the infrastructure, mainly stations and other buildings along the right of way. The East Ponyville station which acted as the C&E’s terminus was in relatively good shape, but the other stations on the route would need serious renovations.

Everfree’s station, while harboring a serious infestation, was still mostly sound, and wouldn’t take too much work to make ready for guests, but Auburn’s station…







Smokey brought 109 to a halt, shutting off the engine as he and a small work crew got off the train, walking to the old dilapidated depot.

Auburn was a small community between Ponyville and Everfree, it only had a population of a hundred ponies give or take, it had faded out into a ghost town even before the C&E was closed, and its station reflected it. Tall vines grew over the walls. the windows, long devoid of glass, the doors having not been walked through in decades.

While appearing eerie on the outside, Smokey found the station calming, almost homelike. After a few moments trying to work the ancient door knob, the knob turned and the rusted hinges groaned in protest to being moved after so long. Inside the old station, it was as if time had stopped, a thick blanket of dust coated the interior, which while sparse, was still surprising that it was still there despite how long the station had been vacant.

The floorboards creaked and squeaked as Smokey walked through the station, it was peaceful in the station, it was as if he’d been here many times before. Despite how the station appeared from the outside, Smokey and the work crew were surprised to find how well the station had fared, it was almost as well preserved as the Ponyville station.

Walking outside, Smokey made his way around the station, noticing a sign for Auburn laying on the ground, half obscured by weeds. He walked back to the boxcar they’d used to haul tools and supplies and grabbed a hammer, nail and a ladder. Climbing the ladder with the sign in hoof, Smokey carefully placed the sign back to the wall and nailed it up. Smokey wasn’t sure why, but as he hammered the sign back up, it almost felt like Auburn station regained some life.

Smokey climbed down and smiled widely as he gazed up to the sign, Crosby walking beside him. “I can’t believe it! No termites, no rot, no issues, I’ve never seen a station so well preserved”

“It’s shocking, I will say,” Smokey said with a nod. “It’s almost magical” he said as he looked at the signal which was connected to the station, noticing it had changed. Where the sign had been disconnected and hung limply before, now the signal was raised into the all clear position.







Other work that was going on was track work, after all, one can’t have trains without track. While this was taking time away from 13’s beginning restoration, it was incredibly important to ensure the safety of trains along the line.

Smokey despised track maintenance, it was hot and dirty work, much rougher than the dirty and hot work of working on a locomotive. He was more than thankful that some Pegasi had brought clouds for shade, and the natural breeze of the land was a miracle to him.

Big Mac had come out to help, the large farm pony could lift ties and rails alone, and could drive a rail-spike in with just one or two swings of a sledgehammer. 

“Sweet Celestia…” Smokey panted as he worked with a wrench to secure a rail-joint, a plate which held two sections of rail together. “I don’t see how anyone did this for a livin”

“And I don’t see how anyone could make a living up in the cab of one of those smoke belching steam engines” Turbo teased, the Pegasus having flown out while on break to see how Smokey was doing, truth be told she’d grown fond of being around the earth pony.

“You just say that because you get to run one of those newfangled diesels” Smokey retorted with a grin, Turbo nodding, giving Smokey a mischievous grin as she leaned in. 

“At least all the engines I use operate as intended” She cooed into his ear.

Smokey laughed and glanced at her. “Well buck you too!”

The two guffawed as Crosby walked over, having his overalls off for once, his bad wing bandaged to his body. “If ya got the energy to laugh, why don’t you finish that rail joint and come help us shift the alignment over here”

Smokey rolled his eyes. “On it! Turbo, wanna help?”

“No thanks, it’s my lunch break, I’ll enjoy 2732’s air conditioning for you!” Turbo said as she flew off, Smokey rolling his eyes, grabbing a crowbar and walking to the others, who were using crowbars and other tools to shift the track to make a curve more gentle and less of a sharp turn for an engine.

They were having trouble, it seemed they couldn’t all coordinate just right. Brass, who’d been watching, stepped down from the caboose with his own crowbar, clanging it against a rail a couple times to get their attention. He looked to the crew for a moment before he began to sing. 

“Won't you ring, old hammer? Hammer Ring. Won't you ring, old hammer? Hammer Ring.” He sang as he began to shift, the others joining in as he continued. “Broke the handle on my hammer, Hammer ring. Broke the handle on my hammer, Hammer ring.”

Smokey looked over to Brass as the crew worked, it was working, the song was keeping them in rhythm, and the track was shifting closer to the intended alignment! He’d always heard that track crews would sing to keep in rhythm and help with work, but he never thought he would see it with his own eyes and ears.

After a few more rounds of the song, the track was shifted, Brass walking back and sitting on the step of the Caboose, Smokey approaching. “Heya brass! That was something back there! How’d ya know to do that?”

“Back in my day on the Baltimare & Ohayo, you started from the bottom and worked your way up, my first job on the B&O was a Gandy Dancer, I laid rail, fixed roadbed, worked on bridges, shoveled out landslides, if it had to do with track, I was there with my tools” the elderly unicorn said with a nod. “But Y’know, my old crew woulda did a better job, you wouldn’t know rhythm if it fell out of the sky, hit ya on the face, and started wigglin!” 

The two laughed as the maintenance crew began to pack up to head home for the day, the grand opening was coming soon, and Smokey wanted to make the best impression he could on the people of Equestria.