TRAVEL BY RAIL
Chapter 2
The opposing train, which was now much closer, was identified by Adam to be a steam engine, possibly a 4-4-0 or a 4-6-0 by its prominent diamond stack. The other train still had yet to acknowledge his erratic honking, and as far as he could tell, continued on at about the same speed.
Adam's speed on the other hand was dropping slowly. From the high 80's that he and Jacob were traveling at to make up for lost time, the speedometer now read about 60 miles per hour.
What the heck is this? It's like I don't even exist!
Adam continued to lay on the horn with hope that something would happen and everyone would be safe. Looking over the controls to see if he missed something, he found the knob that controls the lights and with a frantic twist, the dial was set to all the way on.
It's going to be a cornfield meet without any corn.
The lights seemed to be the catalyst; the opposing train seemed to slow down, but it didn't seem to be enough to Adam. The trains speed now was about 50 miles an hour, but it was dropping slightly faster than before, which gave Adam some hope that the engine's Comfort Cab would protect him.
The two trains still were getting closer and closer together as Adam was still busy on the horn. In an act of self-preservation, Adam fled the cab and ran along the side of the engine and jumped onto the running board of the second engine. He made haste in getting the cab's front door open, then fled out the back of the second engine's cab as well. In his desperation, Adam had forgotten to turn the bell off, but it was too late to do anything about it now. Adam looked at the ground to estimate his speed, he guessed the train was going about 20 miles an hour now.
Each passing second, there was no sound of a collision, and Adams hope grew. As the engine slowed down to a crawl, he believed that disaster had been averted.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, Adam counted the seconds until his train would come to a complete stop. Adam was almost estatic now; for all the anxiety that the whole incident had caused, there was a real chance that nobody would get hurt.
Nothing could have prepared him for the heart-wrenching scream of pain that came from the front of the locomotive as it finally stopped.
Unlike the other ponies behind him, Promontory had a clear view of the angry dragon as it got closer and closer to him. The other ponies could sense his fear though, and tried to stop the train as best as they could.
The railroad that ran the trains that Promontory and his team pulled had an advanced system of braking that they installed at all of the stops. The brakes worked much like that of a roller coaster or retarding system at a hump yard. The stations had fins embedded in the ground that would close on train car wheels when they passed by, slowing trains from full-speed to stopped in a very short time. Unfortunately for the four ponies in front of the train, they were not at a station. Only primitive buffer brakes existed on the trains in case of an emergency, installed after competitive railroads tried to run them out of business by pointing out the safety flaws. The buffer brakes worked when slack was introduced between the cars, making the buffers press up against each other and applying brake shoes to the wheels. The system did not provide good braking, nor was it used any time before. The four-pony team put their prayers into the brakes.
The train and the dragon were closer now, and Promontory could begin to make out details. The first thing that Promontory noticed was how small the lights were now that they were close. He wondered if the dragon had calmed down some and perhaps by the time they met would not try to eat them. As they got closer, Promontory couldn't help but think that the dragon looked a little fake. Granted, he had never seen a dragon, but he didn't imagine them as such. There was a repetitive bell noise that he didn't think a dragon could make if he tried, but there was also a deep rumbling noise that he thought could only belong to a dragon. The two conflicting thoughts confused Promontory.
Despite thinking that the dragon no longer was a dragon, Promontory still held fear, a lot of fear. Now, Promontory could truly see the scale of the not-a-dragon. It stood higher than Princess Celestia; a normal pony couldn't even hold a candle to it. There was also a stylized pattern on the front that looked like it resembled Princess Celestia, but it didn't have wings or a horn. The thing also smelled horrible, never had Promontory smelled something so acrid. By now Promontory had to strain his neck in order to see the top of the not-a-dragon.
"Promontory, get out of the way!" The second pony in the team, John Bull, yelled from beside the tracks; he and the two other ponies on the team had overcame their fear and gotten out of the way. John Bull tried dragging Promontory off of the tracks by pulling on the harness, but it was no use as a protruding section of the whatever-it-was smashed into Promontory's head, then a split second later, a lower part of it ran into and crushed his legs.
"AAAAAAAAAUGH!" Promontory's cry rang through the desert. He had never felt such pain before; he didn't even know if he was alive the pain was so great.
"Promontory!" John Bull, shouted after the thing had stopped and overcoming his own shock of seeing his conductor and friend get smashed by it. John Bull took a bound towards his fallen team member and tried to get the harness off of Promontory. After a few seconds, he flung the harness off and away from Promontory. Evening Star and Caboose helped John Bull move Promontory off of the tracks.
"I-I don't think I can make it, J-John Bull," Promontory cried out, "Oh Celestia it hurts!"
John Bull was not amused by Promontory's declaration. He saw what had happened to Promontory, and his experience with accidents told him that it wasn't too serious. At least, death-level serious.
"Promontory, where does it hurt?" John Bull asked to keep Promontory out of shock.
Promontory's response was quick, "E-Evening Star, tell my f-family that I..."
"Oh cut that out!" John bull said to Promontory. John Bull didn't want Promontory waste away in the desert simply because he thought he wasn't going to make it.
"Everything is going to be OK," John bull commented. Despite the fact that the accident was not life-or-death serious, the whole scene of the accident wanted to make John Bull puke. The noise of the thing that had injured Promontory and the smell that it was producing was more than John Bull could handle. As John Bull prepared to channel healing magic into the stricken conductor, a single unaccounted voice disturbed his thought process.
"What the hell?"