Chapter 9
The train pulled into Baltimare Station, and out strode a worn-out John. Being trapped with a human-obsessed pony had done its toll on him, and he would be glad to receive ANY rest after that experience. He was just leaving the platform, when he heard Lyra call out from the carriage window. “Good-bye my little humie! I’ll see you at the Steam Fair!” She waved good-bye, as the train pulled away, heading back to Canterlot. John shivered.
Back at the apartment, Benn was going through some requests made by members of the workshops staff. Some were explaining about the problems with the coagulated valve gear, and some were discussing the problems with the new fleet having too many different parts, and that the works would have to build all sorts of spare parts to keep them working properly. This got Benn to thinking about what was going on with the railway already. And he had to admit, they made good points. The B17’s and J50’s that were being built were LNER designs, and the new engines were GWR. There had to be a reason for having the engines as they were. But he couldn’t think of what to do about the problems at hand. He then heard the door open and close. “So, how did your trip to Canterlot go?” He asked, as John appeared in his line of sight.
“Just horrible Benn,” John groaned, as he collapsed onto the couch. “Lyra apparently caught me as I was just leaving the station, and when she finally caught up to me, she barraged me with tons of questions about humans and our world in general,” He sighed, as he stood up from the couch. “I’m going to bed, no interruptions please, I would just like to sleep.” He grunted, and stumbled to one of the bedrooms in the apartment and shut the door. Benn just sighed and looked outside, as pegusi gathered clouds overhead.
That night, a fierce storm raged over Baltimare. The pegusi had planned a huge storm in order to make up for the lack of water in Baltimare. It was during these rainstorms that the railway opened the water towers in the yard to allow water from the storm to fill the towers. A strange way of filling towers, but it worked. Many ponies had shut themselves in for the storm, all were trying to ignore it, but one.
Benn was relaxing on the roof of the apartment. He had clambered up the fire escape to the roof, and was now watching the lightning dance from cloud to cloud overhead. Ah what a night, nothing like lying on an apartment roof in the middle of a thunderstorm. He thought as the lightning rumbled. Benn just chuckled at the lightning strikes, but soon something caught his eye, the lightning was getting lower and lower as it struck. Oh god.. Is it? It IS! Benn thought rapidly, as a few bolts struck down on the BNFR’s sheds, which began to burn, as the structure was made partially out of wood. He ran inside the apartment, and hurried to John’s room.
Meanwhile, John was clenched into a ball on his bed. He hated storms, and never could get used to them. The noise and sudden bursts of light unnerved him. So when Benn charged into his room and shook him, he froze up in fear. “What!?” He yelled, still locked with fear.
“John, the sheds have caught fire! We need to go alert the fire brigade!” Benn yelled, as he tried to snap John out of his fear-stricken state. By this point, he had begun to shake John back and forth rapidly.
“What!?” John yelled, finally snapping out of his state of fear. “We better do something1 Right now!” He hopped out of bed and turned to Benn. “Go to the local fire station then, I’ll head down to the sheds and do what I can there. MOVE!” He yelled again, as the two went amongst their duties.
Benn went over to the nearest fire station. Luckily for him, it was open, and he quickly ran inside. “Help!” He yelled. “The Baltimare sheds have been hit by lightning, and they’re on fire!” He finished, catching his breath.
The fire ponies looked at him in a bit of disbelief. “Alright then,” Called the fire chief. “We’ll be down there soon.” He finished, as the other fire ponies hurried past Benn and into old style horse-drawn carriages, which were painted in bright red with the words ‘Baltimare Fire Dept.’ on it in gold. Benn quickly leapt in the back of one, while large Earth Pony stallions took up the front, and pulled the carriages away towards the sheds. Benn could only hope that they would get there in time, and that the damage wouldn’t be too severe.
Meanwhile, John had been trying to get as many engines as he could out of the sheds, it had been lucky for him that some cleaners and Regulator were still around, and so had already been there when he arrived. They had quickly decided to try and get the wood-boilered engines out first, then try to pull out the B17’s, as the heat would end up melting some parts in the cab, or would set the wood-boilered engines on fire. They worked fast, and had only gotten three of the rebuilds out first, which were charred a little bit. “Get some ropes or something!” John yelled. “We need to pull the engines out now or we’ll lose all our hard work!” The crews complied, quickly tightening ropes around the buffers, front couplings, and funnels of two B17’s which turned out to be ‘Champions Lodge’ and No. 1224.
“Alright!” Yelled Regulator, “Now let’s ease them out!” The crews did so, while John turned to Regulator.
“Do you have any hoses or something?” He asked. “We need to try and cool off the engines, as well as put out the shed fire.” He finished, as the fire brigade arrived.
Regulator and the crews watched, as the fireponies got to work, quickly hosing down the fire, and then starting to cool down the engines. John and Benn could only watch, as the smoke subsided.
“I just hope that the sheds haven’t been totally trashed.” Benn said to John, who could only agree, and both hoped for the best.