//------------------------------// // Triple Departure // Story: Lonesome Whistle // by Vauclains Understudy //------------------------------// All three parties were up early the next morning. Ironside finished up his preparations on M while the Mane 6 plus Spike, Blitz, and Sunshine huddled together to devise their recovery operation. The Crusaders, meanwhile, were awoken by Shining Armor running his regiment through their morning routine. Needless to say, the fillies weren’t happy about being up so early (it was about 6:00). Back in Canterlot, Twilight ran down to the railway office to check for any signs of where Ironside had gone. He had never mentioned to Spike where his destination was. It took Twilight a while to find the files that logged which trains had departed Ponyville the day Ironside left. To her dismay, she found that only those tickets reserved ahead of time had names listed; Ironside would not have reserved a ticket on that day. She did, however, find a list of which locomotives were in service on that day, and only one non-Equestrian loco was on the list. The doors to the roundhouse adjacent to the castle shot open. The locomotives inside were startled by the violent awakening, and many began to complain. Twilight and her posse entered the roundhouse. “Please, everyone, I need quiet,” Twilight stated. “What exactly is going on here, Princess?” asked one of the Equestrian engines. “I am conducting an investigation,” she replied. The engines looked at each other, wondering what the investigation was for. “Did we do something illegal?” asked another Equestrian loco. “No, none of you is guilty of any crimes,” answered Twilight, “And this has nothing to do with any of the Equestrian engines here.” All of the Equestrians (engines, ponies, and dragon) focused their gazes on 1015. “Well, I guess I’m guilty on that distinction alone…” he muttered. Twilight shook her head and stepped up to him. “You’re not guilty of anything, 1015. I already said so.” “OK, so what do you want from me?” asked the engine. “We need to bring Ironside back to Ponyville,” responded the princess. Again there was murmuring amongst the engines. 1015 smiled invisibly. “Well it’s about time someone brought him back,” he said heartily. “You’re the only non-Equestrian engine here,” said Twilight, “If there was any engine Ironside would want to ride behind, it’d be you.” There were two reasons why the Equestrian engines were whispering to each other about Ironside. The main one, of course, dealt with his drunken incident the year before; every engine in Canterlot and the surrounding villages heard about it. The other was a much longer standing one: many Equestrian engines thought Ironside didn’t like them because they weren’t like his engines. Now, this was just a rumor. Ironside didn’t hate the Equestrian locos because they weren’t unique like his, he just liked spending more time with the foreign-built engines because he hadn’t grown up with them all his life. He actually cared about and trusted the Equestrian engines just as much as he did his own. “Ironside left Ponyville a year ago. Was he on one of your trains?” inquired Twilight. “Yeah, he was,” answered 1015. Twilight and Rarity (who was also listening) breathed a sigh of relief. “Now, do you remember which of your trains he was on?” Twilight asked further. “It was one of the earlier ones. I don’t quite remember which one though,” replied 1015. “It was the 10:15,” Spike piped up, “I remember the departure time being the same as the road number of the engine.” “Good job, Spike,” said Twilight with a smile. “Yeah, it was the 10:15 train,” said the engine. “OK, so now we need to know where Iron got off,” continued Twilight. “I go as far as Silverton,” said 1015, “But I didn’t take note of when Ironside got off my train.” Twilight sighed. “Then we’ll have to stop at every stop on the line,” she said. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Twi,” put in Applejack, “Who knows how long it’ll take us to find him?” “We can’t leave any stone unturned, Applejack,” replied Twilight, “I know it’ll take a long time, but it will increase our chances of finding him.” “That’s assuming he doesn’t head off somewhere else,” said Rainbow Dash. “He does have a knack for wandering around,” put in Blitz. “We’re just going to have to assume that he won’t take off in some random direction,” admitted Twilight. “Sounds like a pretty bad assumption to make,” said Blitz. “Shouldn’t we just head straight to Silverton?” asked Sunshine, “Uncle Alex would need to find a new job after he left, and railroading is all he knows.” “Actually, he’s quite a fine musician too,” said Rarity. “Regardless, Sunny brings up a very valid point,” said Blitz, “Alex’s best bet at finding new employment would be to look for a railroad far from the ears of Canterlot and its surrounding towns.” “Like I said, Silverton is as far as I go,” said 1015. Twilight nodded. “Alright then, everypony, Silverton it is.” Everyone nodded in agreement. The gang climbed into 1015’s spacious cab and set off to inform the Princesses. Theofillya met up with Ironside outside the Silverton depot. M was being loaded onto a flatcar by a giant steam crane, which itself was coupled to a former Pennsylvania Railroad engine. Theofillya stood silently next to the engineer as he watched his engine being lowered onto the flatcar. “All good up there, M?” asked Ironside. “Yeah, nice and snug,” M answered. “How long will you two be gone?” asked the mayor. “Hmm, probably four days,” replied the engineer. “OK, I’ll let the crews know,” said Theofillya. “I’m sure the twins will be more than happy to relieve M of her duty, if only for four days,” said Ironside with a smirk. “Yeah, they don’t get out that much,” the mayor responded, “I hope they haven’t gotten too used to wheeling tourists around.” “Please, Mayor, those two would give up their rear axles to spend a week hauling ore trains,” said Ironside. The mayor chuckled in response. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Ironside walked over to the massive PRR engine at the head of the train. It was I1sa Decapod (2-10-0) #4483. Known as the Hippos because of their massive boilers and squat driving wheels, the I1’s were the main heavy freight engines of the Pennsy. Their tractive effort maxed at 96,000 lbf. 4483 was one of the last built by the PRR’s Altoona Shops in 1923. “Hello, there,” said the engine as Ironside walked up to his pilot beam. “Hey,” the engineer replied. “You’re the one who needs me to haul the little one over to Huckleberry?” asked 4483. “Hey, who you calling little?” asked M from behind 4483’s tender. The Hippo and Ironside chuckled. “Never mind her, she’s big for a slim gauge loco,” said Iron, “And yeah, we’re heading to Huckleberry. Her brother works there.” “Ah, a little family reunion, eh?” said 4483. “It’s something special I decided to do for her. She hasn’t seen her brother for over 50 years,” said Ironside. “Ah, I know that feeling,” 4483 mused; he was the only one of his class left. Back in the Crystal Empire, the CMC had finally managed to get back to sleep after the regiment training woke them up. It was impossible to fall back asleep with Armor shouting orders and the guards marching to the sound of drums. The three fillies were just drifting off to Dreamland when… The sound of a bugle playing the Revelry burst into the room, startling the girls awake. “Good morning, girls!” cried out Cadence as Armor finished the tune. Scootaloo stared at them like she wanted to shove a bugle up each of their flanks. “What in the name of Princess Celestia was the bugle for?!” she exclaimed. “What? I always give the morning call this way,” said Armor. “Do you two have any idea what time it is?” asked an annoyed Sweetie Belle as wiped her eyes. “Yeah, it’s 7:15,” replied Cadence. The three fillies groaned and pulled the covers over their heads. “Come on, you three,” said Cadence as she magically lifted the fillies out of bed, “It’s time to get up.” Again the girls groaned as they floated after Armor and Cadence. The girls’ spirits were lifted when they saw the hearty breakfast set upon the table before them. “Eat up,” said Armor, “You girls still have quite a ways to go before you reach Silverton.” Applebloom looked at Armor with a confused expression. “Wait, you know where Ironside is?” “Not exactly,” said Cadence, “But we discussed last night where he might be, and Silverton is the closest railroad town you’ll find that’s outside mainstream Equestria.” “It makes sense,” agreed Sweetie Belle, “Ironside has always been a railroader. If he wanted to settle down somewhere outside the influence of the Royal Railways, Silverton would be the only place where he could still drive trains. It’s where the main line ends.” The girls wolfed down their breakfast. The sight was borderline savage, but Armor and Cadence knew the Crusaders were in a hurry, so they let the general lack of etiquette slide. Once the girls finished, they washed up and hurried over to the roundhouse to prep Hildegard for her run. They remembered to say goodbye to Armor and Cadence, who promised to inform the Mane 7 of where the Crusaders were heading. A phone call from Twilight confirmed their belief that the Mane 7 were following the Crusaders, so they were bound to pass by the Crystal Empire. Ironside sat on top of 4483’s dual air tanks holding up a map to the engine’s smokebox. “There’s an old line that runs from Silverton to Clydesdale via Huckleberry,” said Ironside, “From what I know, the tracks are still in place; nopony’s gotten around to tearing them up yet.” “Are the tracks in good condition?” asked 4483. “That’s what I’m not sure of,” replied Iron, “The line was abandoned over a half-century ago.” “What’s the terrain like?” asked the engine, “If we know, we can guess whether or not the line has suffered any damages from natural causes.” Ironside moved his glance over to the legend. “The grade of the line is level the whole way,” said Ironside, "The tracks run through a valley at first, then it flattens out the rest of the way." “Then why’d they abandon the whole line?” inquired 4483. “Clydesdale and Huckleberry rely mostly on each other for goods and services. They used to rely on Silverton for ores and minerals, but after they found new sources near Clydesdale, they haven’t needed to rely on Silverton anymore, so the line was abandoned,” explained Iron. “No other stops between Silverton and Huckleberry?” asked 4483. “Nope,” answered Iron. “Alright, let’s get going,” said the engine. “You take good care of yourselves, you hear?” said Theofillya. “We will, Mayor,” replied Ironside as he climbed into 4483’s cab. “How fast would you like to go?” asked 4483. “25 would be nice,” said M cheekily, “We don’t want Hippo here to rock so hard he falls over.” “You’re not exactly known for being a smooth sailor either, Mudhen,” replied 4483. M laughed. “That’s only when I’m off the rails, silly,” she said, “I can’t even imagine how rough you are when you derail.” “Oh, you two…” sighed Ironside. “How about 40 mph?” suggested 4483, “I can run relatively smooth at that speed.” “Works for me,” responded Iron. “Well, I don’t want to be out on the main all day,” said M. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” replied 4483. “I’m such a nice engine,” declared M sarcastically. “She really is,” whispered Iron in all seriousness, “You just got to get used to her humor.” 4483 chuckled. “I’ll remember that.” The three engines and their crews sat impatiently at their respective platforms, waiting for the all clear. Three guards standing on the platforms blew their whistles twice. Hildegard replied with two blasts from her single chime. 1015’s throaty 5-chime roared twice. 4483’s little banshee whistle shrieked with two pulls from the whistle cord. “Was that a whistle or a squeaky toy?!” exclaimed M in hysterics. “Shut up!” responded 4483 rudely. Iron wasn’t expecting what happened next: as soon as he pulled back the throttle, 4483 jerked forward, knocking Ironside off his hooves and giving M a shake so violent her bell rang and her cab rattled. “OK, OK, I’ll stop!” cried M in shock. “Don’t ever do that again!” yelled Ironside. “Just making my point,” said 4483 nonchalantly. Ironside climbed back into his chair and shook his head. “Just make sure we get there in one piece.” “Will do,” replied 4483 as he rolled off the main and onto the Clydesdale line. Hildegard and 1015, meanwhile, had much smoother starts. The two passenger engines slowly accelerated to their top speeds, their crews in hot pursuit of Ironside.