It had been a fine day on the Canterlot & Central Territory Railway, although you wouldn't had thought it had been if you'd listened to Lyra. She had been hard at work all day, she had so much to do that she even ends up running late.
Later that evening, Lyra was complaining about her busy day to the other engines in the sheds.
"I feel like I'm being put upon!" she grumbled.
Vinyl was puzzled, "Put upon what? The rails?"
"No, put upon with too much work! That's what!"
"Put upon," replied Vinyl, " What kind of lingo is that supposed to be?"
Lyra just ignored her "And another thing!" she continued, "I had to send some workmen and supplies to those 'dead points' again!"
The 'dead points' that Lyra was referring to a set of points near Everfree station that didn't really lead anywhere except a set of large, rusty buffers. A few months ago, workmen began extending the track beyond the buffers. Lyra did not understand what all this was for.
"Pah!" she snorted, "They should've just left that set of points alone. Or better yet, just get rid of it!"
Octavia was getting fed up, "Do you do anything other than complain all the time?"
"I can, and will complain whenever and wherever I want to," Lyra replied in annoyance.
"But you're just a green tank engine with your ideas above the stations," puffed Bon Bon.
"There's no ideas above the stations, or anywhere for that matter, the sky is empty," joked Vinyl, "Just like Lyra's smokebox."
Lyra had enough, she wheeshed loudly and covered the other engines with soot.
"Goodnight!" she huffed, and backed into the sheds and promptly went to sleep.
"Rattle my rods!" exclaimed Octavia, "I do hope she gets over this soon."
"Same here," puffed Bon Bon.
The next day, Lyra was still grumpy. She had to collect steel pipes from the Foal Mountain Foundry, But when she arrived, the pipes were still being loaded into the trucks.
"Hurry up!" Lyra cried impatiently.
"We'll take as long as we need!" replied one of the workmen.
As soon as the pipes were loaded, Lyra steamed off.
"Wait! We need to tie down the pipes securely!" but Lyra didn't hear the workmen and had already took off into the distance.
When she rounded a bend, the pipes tumbled off the trucks and fell all over the tracks. But Lyra puffed on.
Lyra sped along the main line, she was going really fast.
"Steady, girl! Steady!" said her driver as he backed her off.
This was the last thing she wanted to hear, Lyra wanted to go faster, she wanted to finish her jobs quickly so that she could have a nice rest in the sheds later.
There was more to come. Up ahead, Twilight was pulling trucks loaded with supplies for a construction project. Lyra steamed right behind her.
"Hurry up, Twilight!"
"Be patient, Lyra. I'm turning off at the next junction," replied Twilight calmly.
But Lyra was too impatient to wait. So she buffered up to her train, and started to push her.
"Lyra, what are you doing?" exclaimed Twilight.
Lyra pushed Twilight faster than she had ever gone before.
"Lyra! Slow down! I'm not designed to go at this speed!" Twilight shouted, her 0-6-0 wheel arrangement meant that she was less stable at high speed.
Twilight noticed a sharp bend ahead, she braked hard but it was too late.
As the two engines rounded the bend, Twilight fell off the track and tumbled down into a ditch with her trucks. Luckily, her driver and fireman had jumped clear. Lyra also derailed, but didn't fall into the ditch. Her trucks however, did and the remaining pipes rained down on Twilight, some bashed and bounced off her boiler.
Lyra wasn't grumpy anymore, she was worried, "What is Celestia going to say about this?" she muttered to herself.
She found out soon enough, Applejack arrived with the breakdown crane. Celestia was onboard, she was very cross indeed.
"Your impatience has caused plenty of trouble today. The pipes that fell off your trucks have blocked the track leading up to the Foal Mountain Foundry, Twilight is stuck in a ditch and needs repairs, and the construction supplies are damaged and unsalvageable," Lyra looked from Celestia, to Twilight in the ditch, then to the mess of construction supplies and steel pipes.
"Lyra, what is going on?"
"I...I'm sorry, Celestia. I just feel like I have too much work to do. I thought if I finish my jobs quickly, I could be on time and get a good rest too."
Celestia stared sternly at Lyra, "Look Lyra, I know you've had a lot of work to do recently. But no matter how tired you are, you have to do your jobs properly. If you are impatient and in a hurry, you would make far more mistakes than you should. You need to change your attitude."
Lyra's face fell, "Yes, Celestia. I can fix everything. Please, just give me one more chance."
Celestia grinned, "Of course, Lyra. Everyone deserves a second chance. You can learn from your mistakes. There's is only one more surplus train at the goods yard for the construction project. If it doesn't get delivered, I'm afraid the project will be delayed."
"Don't worry, Celestia! You can count on me!" whistled Lyra, as she was lifted back onto the tracks.
She wasn't damaged in the derailment, so she immediately got to work.
She collected the supplies from the goods yard and chuffed away.
Soon, she approached the 'dead points'. She was suddenly switched off the main line and puffed down the other line, the large buffers were nowhere to be seen.
Lyra became excited, all those questions about the 'dead points', was finally going to be answered.
Soon, she approached the project site. The sight that greeted her eyes was the last thing she was expecting.
Lyra had always thought herself to be one of the railway's smaller engines. But compared to the orange one that was just leaving, she was a giant. She spotted another engine, just as small as the other one, but painted white like Rarity.
"Okay...this...is...unusual..." was all she managed to say, as she shunted the trucks into a siding. She noticed a trestle-like structure called a 'transloading hopper' nearby, on top of sat some 'tipper trucks' which unloaded their loads into normal trucks parked underneath the hopper.
"Do you like our hopper? It's great, ain't it?" Lyra blinked in astonishment. On the narrow gauge tracks next to her, was a modified 2-4-4 Forney locomotive. She was painted yellow with a lamp attached to her funnel.
"Erm...yes. Yes, it is!" replied Lyra awkwardly. Seeing these small engines was one thing, but having a conversation with one was another, "My name's Lyra."
"Howdy, Lyra! Name's Apple Bloom!" whistled the small engine, in an accent that reminded Lyra of Applejack, "Your friends told me a lot about you! They said you were kinda grumpy and impatient, but you don't sound like that at all!"
"I was. But now, I've decided to change my attitude, and be a different engine!"
"Really?"
"Yep!"
"By the way, that white saddle tank over there is Sweetie Belle," Lyra looked at the 0-4-0ST Alice class engine.
"What about that other engine that just left?" Lyra asked, refering to the orange Beyer Peacock 0-6-0T tank engine.
"That would be Scootaloo."
"Anyone else around here?"
"No, we're the only engines around these parts. But Celestia said that she will get some more engines to come and help us!"
"That's nice to hear," Lyra frowned, "How come I've never heard about any of you?"
"It's no big surprise. After all, we've been stuck in our sheds for years. But we're out again now, and ready to be really useful!"
"You all were stuck in your sheds for years?" Lyra asked, astonished once again.
"That's right. The Ghastly Gorge Narrow Gauge Railway was lost and forgotten for several years. But then Celestia discovered it and wanted to restore the railway and put us back on the rails!"
Lyra grinned when she heard this, "Well, I'm afraid I have to go now. It's been nice knowing you, Apple Bloom!"
"See you later, Lyra!" whistled Apple Bloom.
From that day onwards, Lyra never complained about her work anymore, and she also gained a new friend. She told the other engines all about it, who were so jealous that they might have popped a safety valve. But that's another story for another time.