//------------------------------// // Dark Matters // Story: Lonesome Whistle // by Vauclains Understudy //------------------------------// It was eerily dark and cloudy that night in Huckleberry. 1015 sat quietly outside the sheds in miserable silence. Inside the roundhouse sobs could be heard. A scroll inside the mail shelves was gingerly lifted from its cubicle and laid upon the desk below. A candle was lit and placed next to the document, which was then read aloud. “‘I, Alexander Matthias William Baldwin, being of sound mind and body, do dictate this last will and testament in full honesty,’” read Twilight Sparkle. She paused, letting the words sink in. The sobs to be heard were those of Trixie, who came across the will earlier that evening when Ironside mysteriously disappeared from the town. Twilight temporarily thought that this must have been a forged document, but a quick glance at the penmanship confirmed that this was indeed Iron’s own writing. She continued to read the document. Those whom I consider my dearest friends and family (if they ever do come across this document, which I highly doubt) may wonder why I am writing my last will down when I am in no danger of perishing. Well, it is because I have decided that my time has come. Those who are familiar with the incident in which I physically assaulted a filly by the name of Gallow Drop will know that I was banished from Canterlot and Ponyville as punishment for my transgression. For that, I wanted to say that I am truly sorry. It was wrong of me to hurt young Gallow for what was nothing more than an accident. It is because of the incident described above that I have decided to end my life. Princess Twilight Sparkle was furious with me for assaulting Gallow, as she rightly should have been, and permanently banished me from the cities of Canterlot and Ponyville. It was at that point that I realized that I had severed the bonds of friendship that I cherished for so long and continue to do so, even though I realize that forgiveness is impossible. The ghosts of that fateful day have haunted me ever since. It is for that reason that I must take my own life and distribute the possessions that I leave behind to those whom I feel would appreciate having them in their possession. At least they could consider it as a way of me saying sorry. I forfeited any value my life once had that day. My belongings are really the only valuable things I can give. Royal Bavarian State Railways Engine No. 2398, Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Engines Nos. 1015 and 940, and Danish State Railways Engine No. 917 are to remain in the hooves of Princesses Celestia and Luna of Equestria. All four of these locomotives have served the crowns well for various amounts of time, and I know that they will continue to serve for many more years. As their driver, I ask that any engineer wishing to operate them be taught the proper techniques for operation and maintenance of compound steam locomotives. The library in Ponyville has many useful engineering journals and articles describing said topics. Denver & Rio Grande Western Engine No. 463 shall remain under the control of the Huckleberry Railway. Engine 463 has waited almost 60 years to be reunited with her brother, Engine 464. One of my last accomplishments was to find Huckleberry (as he is named) and bring M (463) to him. Since they are finally together once more, I want them to remain together. They are the last of their class; they at least deserve to be in each other’s company. With the situation of my locomotives sorted, I must now move on to the matter of distributing my possessions. To Twilight Sparkle and Spike, I leave my personal library. The books contained within cover a wide variety of topics, and I feel that both will enjoy browsing through their pages. My collection is nowhere near the size and scope of the library in Ponyville, yet I feel that it will make a nice addition. I hope that this gift will remind them both of the kind and caring pony I once was, and remind them as well of how much I love them. To Pinkamena Diane “Pinkie” Pie, I leave my collection of family recipes and my copies of “Hooves Line Is It Anyway?” in the hopes that she finds them a reminder of all the times we spent together in hysterics, whether it was because of her silly antics or because of the comedy one finds in life naturally. She always knew how to make me smile whenever I felt down, and I have tried many times to return the favor. As for the recipes, I am sure that the Cake family will find them a nice addition to their list of heavenly pastries. To Rainbow Dash, Blitz, and Sunshine, I leave my collection of albums and my electric bass. Music was the one thing that we all seemed to share a common interest in, regardless of the genre. I wish it to be known that I am eternally grateful to this family for always having my back. To Rarity, I leave the Presidential car “United States” and my bassoon. I know you have eyed that coach for some time, Rarity, and I feel that an extravagant young mare like you would enjoy this luxury more than anyone else. And I remember too your love of classical music. I am not asking you to take up bassoon in my place, but it should serve as a fine memorial. The generosity of your love is far more than I could ever hope to reciprocate, but I hope that these parting gifts will suffice. To Applejack and her family, I leave my steam tractor. Originally I lent this to you as a means of increasing your productivity without having to sacrifice the quality for which you are renowned. Seeing as how I no longer have any need for it, it is yours now. I felt that a hard-working family such as you deserved a little mechanical assistance, but I did not want a repeat of the Flim and Flam incident. Remember to care for the engine as you would one of your own. She is a reliable tractor who needs love too. To Fluttershy, I leave my book of medicinal herbs and remedies and my candle-making materials. I honestly wish there was more I could give to you, my dear; I know not how many times you have heard this, but you truly are the kindest and gentlest pony I know. I felt that these parting gifts would be most appreciated by you, and the candles could provide you with a modest income if you wish to make it a business. I also wanted to say, since this is the last you will hear from me, that I am truly sorry for all the lives that were accidentally taken by my locomotives. I always tried to stop my trains from running over any unfortunate woodland animals that happened to stray upon the line, but trains take a long time to stop, so regrettably most of my efforts were in vain. I hope that you will not hold this against me. Last but not least, I leave my savings of 393,557 bits to Trixie Lulamoon. Having discussed at length with her what she wanted to do with her life, I felt it necessary to give her my earnings in order that she may continue to follow her dream of becoming the greatest magician in all of Equestria while still being able to support herself. I request that Twilight Sparkle take Trixie in as a student, as she will find nopony better suited to teaching the craft of magic to her. And so, I bid you all a fond farewell. I am sorry for all the trouble I caused and I hope this makes it up to you. I love you all. Alexander Matthias William “Ironside” Baldwin Twilight placed the will down on the desk and turned to Trixie. Trixie by now had stopped sobbing, but she still wore a pained look on her face. “Trixie,” said Twilight, “I’m willing to take you as my student if you promise not to resort to your old ways.” In stark contrast to her normal flamboyant and formal way of addressing others, Trixie simply replied, “I promise, Twilight. I’ll be the best student you’ve ever had.” She even smiled to try and emphasize her point. Twilight shook her head. “Don’t make a promise you can’t keep,” she said. Trixie’s smile quickly faded; she thought Twilight had rejected her promise to be a good student. Seeing Trixie’s expression, Twilight assured her that she was still going to become a student. Trixie didn’t smile this time, as she had now returned her attention to the will. Twilight returned her attention to it as well. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes and had to turn her head away so as not to splash the will. Armor, seeing this, embraced his sister and let her weep into his coat. Trixie wasn’t sure what to do, but Armor beckoned her over and had her hug Twilight as well. Roadkill joined the group hug too. M sniffed, trying not to soak her smokebox in tears, but to no avail. Huck puffed a comforting cloud of steam around his sister. Twilight slowly pulled her away from Armor’s chest. “We can’t go back, bro,” she said, her voice shaking, “I can’t break this kind of news to the girls. They’d be shattered.” “I don’t know what else to do, Twily,” replied Armor, “We can’t hide this from them.” “I feel so hopeless, Armor,” said Twilight, “I mean, we came all this way for nothing? After all we went through to get here, all we can return with is Iron’s will?” As she said this, she remembered what Celestia had said about not being able to save some friends. For once, Celestia had said something that didn’t help. She began to cry again and lowered her head against her brother’s chest once more. Armor wrapped his arms around his sister; he began to cry too. “I’m sorry, sis,” he sobbed, “There’s nothing else we can do.” Trixie looked at the paragraph discussing her inheritance in the will. “I didn’t want this, Iron,” she said to herself, “Not if it meant you taking your own life away.” Roadkill hung his head. “He was in such a good mood just a while ago…what the hell happened?!” “I know,” replied Trixie, “He fooled the both of us. He put a façade on to make us think everything was okay.” “He should’ve told us!” exclaimed Roadkill, “It would’ve saved us all a lot of heartbreak!” 1015 sat in misery, wondering what was going to happen now. He couldn’t bear to think of the reactions the ponies and Spike would give upon hearing the news, not to mention how broken Celestia and especially Luna would be. And Gallow? Well, if there was anything good to be gleamed from this it would be that all her hard work hadn’t gone to waste. But the fact that her worst fears were confirmed would do nothing if not cancel out any positive outcomes. He could almost envision the ponies weeping over their dearly departed engineer’s grave. It was then that he realized that a grave would be pointless if the ponies didn’t have Ironside’s body to put in it. Then he remembered Luna’s special ability to visit ponies in their sub-conscience. He tried to put the thought out of his head, knowing it wouldn’t work if the pony was dead. But what if, he thought, what if Iron wasn’t quite dead? What if his second suicide attempt had failed too? Then… “Twilight,” he said suddenly. Twilight lifted her head off Armor’s chest again. “Hmm?” she asked sniffing. “Remember Luna’s ability to visit ponies in their dreams?” “Yeah,” replied Twilight, “What does that have to do with anything right now?” “Try copying that same technique and locate Ironside,” answered the engine. Twilight shook her head in disbelief. “You’re losing it, 1015,” she said plainly. “No, I’m serious,” retorted 1015, “We need to find him.” “I know we do,” said Twilight, “We have to try and recover his body so we can give him a proper burial. But using Luna’s dream magic won’t help us locate him. He’s dead.” “You don’t know that for sure,” replied 1015, “It might’ve been another botched attempt. Remember that he botched the first one.” But Twilight shook her head again. “Please, no wishful thinking, 1015,” she whispered. 1015 couldn’t contain it any longer. “Damn it all, Twilight Sparkle, use the fucking dream magic and find Ironside before I burst my fucking safety valve!” he shouted, his whistle screaming. Everyone in the sheds jumped. “B-but, how do I find Ironside?” asked Twilight. 1015 took a few deep breaths before answering. “Just try and locate his sub-conscience. Luna has to do that before she can visit you in your sleep.” “I don’t know how to do that,” said Twilight sadly. “Just try to connect with him mentally,” replied 1015. “How do you even know about sort of stuff?” asked Roadkill. “You tend to eavesdrop on the Princesses a lot when your shed is right next to one of the castle windows,” answered the engine. Twilight took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes, trying to locate the sub-conscience of the engineer. Inside her mind, various blue plasma images of ponies began to appear. Their faces were initially difficult to discern, but as she concentrated, they became more recognizable. She focused her magic on the Huckleberry area, searching the town for any sign of Ironside. She came up empty-hoofed. It was when she swept her mental scan over an open area just outside the town near a river that she caught sight of a blue plasma signature. She automatically knew what (and whom) she was looking at. “He’s in the river!” she exclaimed, “He tried to drown himself in the river!” “Let’s go get him!” shouted Armor, galloping out of the shed. “Where is he now?” asked Trixie. “Is there a railroad bridge on this line?” asked Twilight. “Yeah, it’s about three miles down the line from Huckleberry,” answered Roadkill. Twilight finally opened her eyes. “He just passed it,” she said, “The river doesn’t flow very fast. We should be able to catch him if we move now.” “Armor, ride with me in M,” called Trixie to the unicorn. Armor turned around and galloped back to the shed and hopped into the fireman’s side of M’s cab. Trixie hopped into the driver’s seat and pulled the K-27 out onto the mainline, opening the throttle wide. Roadkill followed suit with Huck, while Twilight took off in flight. Meanwhile, in the river, Iron floated along, upset that once again he had failed to bring his misery to an end. “Where did I go wrong this time?” he thought to himself. Why could he never successfully complete a suicide? Was he simply meant to live a life full of disappointment, sadness, and shame? Wasn’t there something out there that could end it all for him without his own input? Was there something he did in his life that cursed him to never find solace from his woes? Before any of those questions were answered, however, everything suddenly went black.