Celestia had 4460 running the test for at least and hour before shutting her down. From the results recorded, the locomotive performed flawlessly, having kept a constant rate in power and speed. The princess and the rest were very impressed, and thought the engine was worth using for regular service until they figured out where it came from, and the story behind it. For Celestia, it wouldn't be very long until she finds the truth. The clock in the laboratory, chimed at nine o'clock which triggered a power switch, shutting down the equipment, except for the emergency lights. "My goodness." said Celestia. "Is it that time already? Well, I guess we should get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow, and there's work to do. So I want you all to be refreshed and prepared." The ponies looked at each other in confusion. "Work? Big day?" asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight placed her hoof on the Pegasus's shoulder. "You can count on us princess. Come one guys." The guests walked up the stairs and out the laboratory leaving Celestia alone with the 4460, and her collection. She walked over and began to reattach the engine to it's tender when she started to feel light-headed. She began to sweat, and was hyperventilating. She could stay up much longer. Loosing her balance, she blacked out and hit her crown on the locomotive's Knuckle Coupler, making a metallic "PANG!"
Poor Princess Celestia didn't know what hit her, for now she woke up in a strange atmosphere. She was surrounded in white fog, and could barely see her hooves below her. "Hello?" she called out. Nobody answered but her own echo. She called again, "Hello? Anybody here?" Just then, she heard a faint sound of rushing steam and a continuous
"Clang Clang Clang Clang!" of a bell. The sound was all too familiar now, for a black silhouette of a steam locomotive appeared out of the fog. It couldn't be no other but the Southern Pacific 4460, grinding to a halt just a few yards from the Alicorn. An eerie, but calm voice of a young adult female pierced through the fog. "Hello Princess Celestia." The princess was stunned now, she had no idea if this was the voice of the locomotive of somepony else.
"Uh...Hello. To whom am I speaking to?"
"The one who stands before you, your highness."
She knew what that meant. Nervously looking back to the locomotive's boiler front, she gasped. The locomotive now had eyes! The pupils were blue, the lids were a darker shade of silver, and the eyelashes were similar to Celestia's.
"I am 4460. That's what I'm commonly called."
"I....I don't understand! How are you speaking? You're inanimate!"
"Hey! Steam locomotives have souls too! Only, I am to personally communicate telepathically."
"You mean to say, I am just dreaming?"
"Yes. Though you currently have a conscious connection with the mind. Our souls are speaking."
"Oh goodness! I must have blacked out earlier!"
"Yes you have. You took a nasty hit to the head on my pilot."
Celestia blushed in embarrassment. It's not like an immortal princess like her to just black out like that. Actually it's not like an immortal princess to be talking to a train through a dream. She looked around and the fog began to move. She looked at the locomotive, her eyes closed as if she was concentrating. The scene shifted to the Canterlot lab, where the spotlights were shining down on the collection, with the surroundings being pitch black. "Your pieces of your collection are from my world." said 4460. "To my knowledge, which has been accurate lately, arrived here because they were destroyed. Just as you said before. But notice how they aren't alive like me. They have lost their soul. They are officially inanimate." Celestia had taken a minute to soak that up, which triggered something in her mind. "You arrived here in motion. You were unmanned, but operating! Are you to tell me that you are a preserved, working example of human technology?" The locomotive smiled. Celestia hit the nail. "You'll understand more when I give you a tour of my life. From the beginning, to now.
The scene shifted to several enormous brick buildings, with stacks belching out black smoke and white steam. Celestia read the sign on the main building.
Lima Locomotive Works. The factory whistle blew and Celestia looked around. She saw for the very first time, a group of humans! They were wearing old, worn-out, dirty clothing and a few were wearing hats. They all were walking towards the factory, apparently not seeing her. Some just walked right through her. Her jaw dropped in awe as she watched. She never thought this is whats humans looked like. Their physical features didn't fit too accurately to the description archives, which made them look a lot better. "Welcome to my birthplace." said the voice of 4460. She appeared on Celestia's left, on a track leading in to the locomotive shop. "Lunch break is over for second shift! If we hurry, we can see the boys putting my boiler onto my frame." She followed the engine into a longer section of the shops with several tracks leading to it. Walking in, the princess could see several hundred men at work pouring hot liquid metal, operating machines, rolling wheels, and operating a large overhead crane. The crane's rail went the entire length of the building. "Oh! There I am!" 4460 shouted. She rolled forward to a giant metal cylinder sitting on cinder blocks.
Princess Celestia walked up to the cylinder, examining it closely. "This is you?" she asked. "Well, that's part of me. The rest of my parts are either scattered around the building, or are still in the process of being made. Here comes the crane." They both looked up and saw the cranes brackets lowering down to the boiler. "Okay hold it!" a man shouted. He appeared to be a foremen. He dressed similarly to the foreponies in Equestria's factories. Two other men rushed over to secure the brackets and gave the foreman a thumbs up. "Hoist her easy now!" he told the crane operator. Slowly, 4460's boiler raised into the air and was carried down to the other end. "Amazing!" exclaimed Celestia. "That's not even the good part." said 4460. "Watch how they put me together." The scene shifted rapidly, to the other end of the building. 4460's boiler was already on her frame. "Lets speed this up." said the locomotive. Suddenly, everybody and everything were moving quickly. The clock on the wall was spinning like crazy, and the two watched as the men worked putting 4460's parts together. Starting with rolling her trucks and wheels into place, then her cylinders, her back-head instruments, cab, catwalks, skyline casing, step ladders, pilot beam, air pumps, air tanks, smoke box cover, pistons, and finally her drive rods. "My goodness! How long did that take?" asked Celestia "30 seconds." answered 4460. "But real time, it was about two and a half days."
The Alicorn and locomotive went outside the shops by the shed door. "Now observe, as they unveil me." A small steam locomotive with 6 small drive wheels rolled through the shop's doorway. After about two minutes, it backed out slowly. Coupled to its front, was the shinning black locomotive herself! "There I am! Freshly painted, and filled with water. Now all they have to do is light my fire, and that's when my life begins. Lets speed this up once more." They followed the new-built 4460 to an empty lot with several tracks. The small steamer uncoupled from 4460 and disappeared behind another building. Several men crowded around the new-built locomotive, and three climbed into the cab. "Your highness, feel free to watch from the inside." Celestia spread her wings and flew into the cab and watched a man light an oily rag. The one on the fireman's side pushed forward the oil feed valve making the sound of gushing oil echo in 4460's firebox. The man with the rag threw it in the firebox and a blinding light filled the cab. "And there she goes!" said a man on the engineer's side. He looked middle aged, with grey hair but he was in physically fit condition. Everything sped up again and Celestia watched as the pressure gauge rose to 250 psi.
Flying out, she could see steam exiting the cylinders, and the crew checking the drive rods. She saw the spirit engine sitting in front of her past, and she was talking to her. "Happy Birthday young one. You have a successful life ahead of you. A new class, a new era, you'll serve your country, you'll be with your siblings, and you'll meet your fate to the diesel locomotive. But not here, not today. Understand?. We'll be with you." The new-built blew a long lonesome note from her whistle, and steam began spraying form the cylinders. Celestia could help but notice tears falling from spirit 4460's eyes. Celestia was doing the same. Both watched as the engine lurched forward down the strip of track, and disappearing.