//------------------------------// // Leaking the Truth // Story: Lonesome Whistle // by Vauclains Understudy //------------------------------// The three engines sat quietly in the Ponyville roundhouse, staring out of their partially open stall doors. Ironside wasn’t supposed to be back until later that day, having spent the night in Canterlot after his test run with 1015. 2398 daydreamed about what he and Ironside would do once the driver got back; probably go for a light run just to keep his driving wheels from seizing up. Hildegard expected to be pulling the midnight “City of Manehattan” later on and was understandably excited. But if these engines had faces, Mike’s would be the one noticed first. The old Santa Fe engine sat brooding over his incident with Gallow. He had actually begun to lose sleep over it, just as worried as ever about what would happen if the truth was discovered. He was so caught up in his thoughts that 2398 startled him when the Atlantic called his name. With a yelp, Mike jerked backwards into the wall, once again knocking over the shelves behind him, which again landed on the three engines’ tenders. “Ow! Damn it all, Mike!” 2398 shouted. “What do you want?” Mike asked in an irritated voice. 2398 was taken aback. “What’s with the attitude, man?” he asked. Mike didn’t answer. Instead, he went back to staring out the doors. “Something’s on your mind, yes?” asked Hildegard. “Mm-hmm,” Mike replied. “Is it about the incident in the mountains?” Hildegard further inquired. Again Mike answered with “Mm-hmm.” 2398 sighed in exasperation. “Not this again, Mike! How long are you going to keep mulling over that? What’s done is done, and there’s nothing we can do to fix it.” What Mike said next shocked the Atlantics. “We have to tell Ironside the truth.” “Have you got a hole in your smokebox?!” 2398 shouted, “We can’t do that!” “If we do, he’ll reprimand us for sure,” Hildegard joined in, “And don’t even get me started on what could happen to little Gallow!” “I just can’t take it anymore!” Mike retorted, “We’ve caused the railway to go into paranoia mode because of this! The Royal Guards are required to search through the cars of every train prior to departure now, which means trains are leaving on a delay. They have to run at faster speeds now to make up for the time lost during the searches, and I’ve already heard of a few close calls where the trains ran so fast around curves that they almost tipped over! And don’t get me started on what would happen if this constant rushing leads to a cornfield meet!” Hildegard and 2398 shuddered. A “cornfield meet” was railway jargon for the worst kind of crash: a head-on collision. In the early days of railroading, head-ons were the most feared of all rail accidents. Two steam engines smashing into each other could easily cause boiler explosions, which would send giant pieces of shrapnel into whatever happened to be standing nearby. Coupled with coaches shattering and telescoping into each other, the thought of it made for a graphic image. Big Mike still remembered hearing the news of the Great Train Wreck of 1918 during his days on the Santa Fe. On July 9, 1918, two Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis (NC&StL) passenger trains smashed head-on, killing 101 people and injuring 171 more. To this day it is considered the deadliest rail accident in U.S. history. Luckily (used loosely) for Mike, the engines wouldn’t have to confess. They had been eavesdropped on the whole time by a nosy unicorn pony: a young lad by the name of Yarrow. The colt had just retired from his first job on one of Equestria’s ocean liners, and wanted to start a new life on the railroad. He was just about to take his engine out of the roundhouse when he overheard the three engines talking (remember that Ironside is the only non-magical pony who can hear his engines). Yarrow had also heard about the incident with the freight train in the Draconian Pass, and had been subjected to the searches on the trains as well. Realizing this as his chance to straighten things out for the management, he magically recorded the conversation between the three engines. All that time, none of the engines ever noticed they were being observed and recorded. Once he was sure they were finished talking, Yarrow climbed aboard his own engine and drove off to Canterlot to visit the management. He felt certain this would solve all his problems, never realizing this would cause a load of problems for somepony else. Meanwhile, the engines once again sat quietly in their stalls. They had come to the agreement that Ironside deserved to know the truth, and that Mike would take sole responsibility for the incident. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be that simple… Ironside stood on the Canterlot station platform, waiting for the 4:00 train to take him back to Ponyville. He was eager to get back to work with his engines, remembering that he and Hildegard would be heading the midnight “City of Manehattan” together; something they hadn’t done in a long time. He also wanted to make light runs with Mike and 2398 so that they’d be ready for their runs the following day. As he stood there, he saw Yarrow rush by with his engine. “Huh, what’s his hurry?” he said to himself as the engine blew past. He didn’t have long to wonder, however, as the 4:00 train soon pulled up to the station. Ironside boarded the train, taking his favorite position in the front coach, just behind the tender of the engine. Even when riding as a passenger, Ironside loved being close to the engine. As he stared out the window, he could have sworn he saw Yarrow speaking to the Princesses about something. But the train rounded a curve before he could get a good glance at what he saw. With the station out of sight, he sat back in his seat and thought no more of the scene. Yarrow was indeed speaking to the Princesses; no prizes for guessing what he was telling them. Celestia and Luna listened intently, their expressions unwavering, nodding once in a while as they heard what Yarrow had to say. Even though they seemed convinced, Yarrow replayed his recording of the engines’ conversation for good measure. Once the recording ended, he looked at the two Princesses. Celestia let out a sigh, as did Luna. While he couldn’t tell if Tia’s sigh was one of relief or disappointment, he could easily tell that Luna wasn’t happy. “Thank you for informing us of this, Yarrow,” Celestia stated, “Your help is greatly appreciated.” Yarrow bowed to the Princesses and left for his engine. “You realize Ironside will be held responsible for leaving the roundhouse unattended and open, right?” Luna asked her sister. “I know, Luna, but he’s not to blame for the actual crash,” Tia answered. “That doesn’t really help matters,” Luna replied, “A punishment must still be given.” “I’ll be lenient, I promise,” said Celestia. With that, she flew off to fetch her chariot. Luna meanwhile called over Shining Armor and told him to end the mandatory searches; the culprits had been found. As soon as Ironside got to Ponyville, he realized something was up when he saw Celestia standing on the platform. As he got off, she beckoned him over. “Hello, Tia,” he said, bowing to her, “Is there something I can help you with?” “Yes. It’s about the incident in the Draconian Pass. The good news is we’ve found the culprits. The bad news is…” “What?” asked Ironside. “It involves your freight engine and you,” Celestia replied. Ironside suddenly felt scared. He slowly began to back away from Celestia, the first time he’d ever actually felt scared in her presence. Celestia simply used her magic to hold him still. “Ironside, please,” she said calmly, “Come with me.” Ironside sighed in defeat. There was no point in trying to run from Celestia, especially not if it meant putting the whole issue of who smashed a train into the Pass to bed. He could tell there would some punishment in the end, but if he knew Celestia as well as he thought, it wouldn’t be very severe. Hoping that to be true, he walked back over to Celestia. The two ponies then set off to the roundhouse to find the engines.