//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Power Starved // Story: 4460 and the Equestrian Magic Railroad // by stallionlocomotive4412 //------------------------------// Upon the locomotive's demand, Princess Celestia woke up in sudden shock. She trying to wrap that strange telepathic dream around her head, which even for a goddess, was hard to do. As she got up, she began to feel a painful throbbing on her head, then remembering what the 4460 had said about her hitting her head on the engines pilot. Gaining her balance, she turned on the laboratory lights and looked at the clock. "*Gasp* Goodness! It's half past five, the crack of dawn! I gotta hurry!" With that the Alicorn princess disappeared in a flash of her magic, leaving the lab empty and silent. Later that morning, the guests woke up, feeling fresh and energetic. Twilight had something on her mind as she led her friends downstairs for breakfast, feeling isolated within. "I wonder." she said to herself. "Wonder what Twilight?" asked Lyra. Twilight jumped from being startled, and took a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's nothing Lyra. It's just that, I have a feeling that Celestia might have found out something last night while we were sleeping." She turned to the mint-green unicorn who looked somewhat bewildered. "You think there's like, some kind of spiritual energy? Oh, I like the sound of that!" "Well lets not make any assumptions. I don't know for sure, but her majesty said this will be further discussed." They all went down into the laboratory to find the table set up with lots and lots of breakfast options. Pancakes, muffins, toast and butter, juice, cereal, and such. Everypony's stomach began to growl, but Applejack's and Braeburn's were the loudest of them all. On the table, they spotted a note written by the princess. Twilight picked it up and read aloud. Here is today's breakfast for you all. Make sure you eat plenty because we have a big day ahead, along with some information I gathered from our visitor last night. I will be with you shortly, for I have some minor errands to take run. I hope you enjoy. Princess Celestia "Well what are we waiting for?" asked Pinkie Pie ecstatically. "Dig in!" So, everypony charged at the table of food and began to chow down, even Fluttershy. But she seemed to be nibbling quickly. Applejack, Braeburn, Pinkie, Lyra, and Rainbow Dash challenged each other to see who could eat the fastest and the most. Rarity looked at them in disgust and ate her blueberry muffins in an elegant manner, while Twilight and T-Rail just chewed their food normally. T-Rail looked over at the 4460 and just stared. "My, my. Ah still can't get over how something like that could ever end up here. Ah wonder if her majesty plans on usin' it on our railroads." Twilight looked over at the engineer and smiled. "T-Rail, I'm sure she has some special assignments for you and that engine. It's just in a matter of time." And in a matter of time it was when Twilight realized that the princess was standing right behind her. "Oh! Princess Celestia!" This made the gang freeze as they saw her majesty looking at them. They all sat down in a formal manner as if nothing ever happened which made Celestia laugh. "Too late. I caught ya." Celestia's guests could help but blush. She walked over to her chair and elegantly took a bit of a chocolate muffin before speaking. "Good morning. I assume you all had a good nights rest?" They all nodded in response. "Excellent! Do I have news for you all, but a fair warning, this might not seem very......believable." Twilight gasped. "Your highness, we would never doubt you in a million years." That made Celestia relieved that she could trust them. So, she explained her encounter with the Southern Pacific 4460 in her dream and how she managed to find out the engines history, to the time of her disappearance in her world, the day before. Nopony said a word, but took the time to soak all this information up like sponges. Lyra was the first to break the silence. "So you're telling us, that you were talking to this machine and pretty much time traveled, in a human world?" "That's right Lyra." "Aw. How come I miss out on the good stuff!?" she pouted. "It's okay. I will however, tell you this. Humans don't look like anything that's described in our books, and are very, very intelligent. It's just that, they do take up a violent side." Besides the part about the violence among humans, Celestia's guest were fascinated by what she said about humans having a completely different appearance and level of intelligence. It's no wonder they could build something so advanced like the 4460. "There's only one thing that's really important I must tell you." Celestia continued. "This engine is 73 years old, and upon what she has told me, her kind has been replaced by the diesel locomotive. The diesel is a newer type of engine that is fuel efficient and doesn't require lots of maintenance. She is one of the last of her kind." The ponies kept their attention to Celestia, waiting for her to speak any further. "Until I can figure out how I can return the locomotive to our human parallel universe, 4460 will be used for temporary revenue service on the Equestrian Railroad. T-Rail, I want you to be in charge of her, and build a new engine stall. Also, since there's been high demand in produce and merchandise, and the lack of motive power, we need new steam locomotives built, but for now, this one can do the work of 3." They all were liking this idea and were looking forward to see what this engine could do. Celestia laid out on the table, some blue prints of the railroad cars she had seen in her dream, like the Daylight passenger cars, Pacific Fruit Express refer cars, metal boxcars, flatbeds, tank cars, and cabooses. "T-Rail." she said. "Have these taken to the car builders, and I would like 10 sets of each finished in a week. Can you do it." The engineer looked up at the princess in a dignified manner. "Your highness, if it can be done, we'll do it. I'll get on it right away." Celestia smiled, then turned to the rest. "This meeting is dismissed. I'll have an escort ready for your return to Ponyville with the locomotive." "Yes your highness." they all replied. A week later, everything was in order. 4460's stall was built, the freight and passenger cars were finished thanks to the shop ponies, and 4460 was going to take her first assignment in Equestria. The engine simmered and gleamed at the Ponyville station with a long line of freight cars full of miscellaneous cargo to take to Vanhoover, a 2 day trip. Just the other day, Celestia had ordered nearly 900,000 gallons of Equestrian Golden Fuel Oil for 4460 to burn, which made the engine steam a lot better, according to the test trials. Everypony was waiting for the departure of the train when Rainbow Dash arrived to give a weather report. "There's going to be bee a little change in our forecast everypony." she said. "There's a snow storm about 30 miles north in the Equestrian Rockies. Our train might be delayed for it might have to take a detour through the valley." Everypony look discouraged at this, but 4460 let out a loud spat from her safety vale as if saying, "Please, I've handled worse in my world. I can do this." Then Dash noticed something, T-Rail wasn't in the cab! The only pony she saw was Smokey. "Hey! Where's the engineer?" she shouted. The town's ponies looked around but didn't see him. Just then, Twilight came rushing through the crowd with a note held by her magic. "It's a note from T-Rail!" she cried. "He's come down with the flu and won't be better for maybe a week." This was a shocker. "Well, find another engineer Twi!" said Dash "They've been called out on duty. No engineer is available." "Well does anypony know how to drive a train?" The town looked among each other with head shakes and shoulder shrugs. This was bad. Pinkie Pie was panicking now. "Oh no! Oh no no no no no no no no! No engineer means no train. No train, means no cargo. No cargo, means no business. No business, means no happy faces. No happy faces, means no money. No money means no RAILWAAAAAAA...." Twilight rushed over to shut her up. "Pinkie Pie! Calm down. We can find an engineer, but we have to think. Who else we know could drive a steam train." They pondered. and pondered, until Fluttershy spoke up. "Um.... Twilight. I volunteer to drive the engine." "What? Are you sure Fluttershy?" "Of course. Remember when I drove the Ponyville Express a few years ago?" "Well.....yes but that's a small engine and........" "It makes no difference Twilight. I have some knowledge on trains." Twilight was shocked. Such a timid Pegasus like her, driving a big steam locomotive like the 4460. "Well okay Fluttershy. If you insist. Well, at least you have Smokey for assistance." With that, Fluttershy flew up into the cab where she saw Smokey on the fireman's side. She blushed. "Um.....h.....hi Smokey." The fireman blushed too and gave her a silent tilt of his cap. "What should I do?" asked Fluttershy. For once, Smokey replied. "Don't you worry about a thing hon....I mean.....Fluttershy." he said timidly. "Just keep your hoof on the throttle, and ah help from there." She blew twice on 4460's whistle and slowly opened the throttle, letting the steam through the engine's cylinders. "Take care darling!" said Rarity, as they watched the train depart.