Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 30th.
A white car was driving along the winding road, under an iron bridge crossing the viaduct, and off onto a gravel path on the northernmost side of the freeway. Out stepped a young man, tall, slim, and possibly in his early 20's. He was wearing a white T-Shirt, blue jeans, shades, and had a guitar case slung over his shoulder. The bright sun made his dark-brown curly hair glow as he walked along a small footpath next to the railroad tracks. He had reached an open spot, where there was a wooden bench and a few other things that made this place a good resting area. He took off his guitar case and laid down on the bench, slowly inhaling and exhaling. The look on his face was expressionless, as if he didn't know what to think about. Just then, he heard the sound of tires scrapping to a halt next to him and catching a little bit of dust up his nose.
He looked over to see a older gentleman. He had a floral cap, a Bud-Light shirt, shorts, and tan Converse All Stars. He was full bearded in white with his hair hidden under his cap. "Good morning James! Fancy seeing you around here. It's been a while." said the old man.
"Good morning Mr.B. It's good to see you too. Seems like you're in a good railfanning mood today."
"Well I needed some time off since my girlfriend went with her...."
"Wait, wait, wait. Say what now, a girlfriend?"
James had always known Mr.B to be a single man with a few girlfriends in his life, he thought Mr.B by now would be too old. "I'm sorry Mr.B. I'm just surprised you'd be wanting to be with someone in your stage of life. You know." Mr.B laughed and patted James on the shoulder. "Oh it's okay. It's just that, I've never met someone like her before. She's like no other, but what about you? Anyone special in college?" James couldn't really answer him straight forward. He's never had the best of luck getting girlfriends. "Well," he spoke finally, "I haven't had time to be with anyone since school is more important. Plus, I have a big problem on my hands right now." Mr.B look confused, for he's never heard of James having problems in his life.
"What kind of big problem."
"Really big. It's 16 feet tall, over 100 tons, I was responsible for it, and it got away."
"An elephant? You have a pet elephant?"
"Elepha........NO! The 4460!"
Mr.B finally remembered the incident a nearly a week back and gave the "oh" face, James gestured a "yes" in return. He went over to the tree root penetrating out of the ground and took a seat, burying his face in his palms. He sighed. "So what happened out there J?" asked the old man. James had explained how he could see the multicolored flames ahead of him, and how the train wouldn't respond to the brakes. "As we hit the portal, I blacked out. My crew was taken out safely along with the five cars. I was rushed to the hospital with minor injuries to the knees and wrist, along with a concussion to the head. The doc said i would had temporary amnesia, and would last for a couple of days." James looked over to his old friend to make sure he was soaking this up. Mr.B gestured to James to continue. "So afterward, I was sent back home where I was told to be resting for the week. The strange thing is, I was having dreams that the 4460 is somewhere else. I saw it being stored in the depths of a castle, where I saw a........ never mind. I'm just crazy." He got up and walked back to his guitar case and pulled out the instrument. He took out his cloth and began wiping it down, and adjusting the tuning knobs. Mr.B sat down in a metal chair and took out his radio scanner. "So why haven't you gone to the Oregon Police or FBI for assist in the investigation? It's all over the news."
James looked up at the old man and began to speak in a sarcastic tone. "Sure detective. I saw a multicolored portal up ahead, but I couldn't stop my train in time. It disappeared into thin air. I had dreams that it was in a parallel universe." James paused and took a breath. "Unless I'm asking to go to a mental facility for the rest of my life, I'd rather keep this to myself. The 4460 is out there, I just need to find it." Mr.B shrugged and turned on the scanner. They both could hear the railroad crew speaking as the rails in front of them began to hiss. James kept his ear open for the oncoming train, and soon heard the sound of a diesel engine. "Sounds like and EMD locomotive. SD60 possibly, it has its dynamic braking on." Mr.B chuckled and looked back to James. "I thought I taught you that James." They both laughed together as the engine approached. It was red and white with "SOO" written on it, its trucks whirring from the motors. As the cars went by, James played a rhythm on his guitar in sync with the wheels. After a good play, Mr.B offered him a cold beer which James accepted. "So." said Mr.B. "What do you do now?" James took a sip from the bottle and paused. "I don't know just yet. But I'll think of something."
* * * *
Meanwhile in Equestria, Fluttershy was at the throttle of the lost locomotive. She is currently T-Rail's replacement until he gets better. She was now in charge of running 4460's first freight train on the Equestrian National Railroad. With her, was firestallion Smokey. They were just pulling out of Ponyville when the engines drives began to slip. *chuff chuff chuff chuchuchuchuchuff chuff chuff chuff* Fluttershy squealed and eased the throttle forward to put 4460 under control. "I'm so sorry." she said shyly. "I really should be here, I'm too scared to run the train." Smokey looked over at her and couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He knew before that she was a timid pegasus. He wasn't one to talk much, but he spoke to her gently to try and comfort her. "It's okay Fluttershy, the wheel slip ain't that big of a deal. It happens all the time, but I know how you feel." She looked over at him, still a little scared. "Really?" Smokey nodded in reply. "Yes. I'm just as scared as you are. I've never worked on something so big before. This is all new to me, to try and keep this thing alive. We're in the same boat......or in this case, cab." Smokey paused and looked out the window to check the train. "The point is, if you stay confident and be brave," Fluttershy finished his sentence. "Then you're able to do anything." They both blushed and looked away from each other. Those were the words that their teacher spoke before.
Later down the line, they approached a red signal where the points where switched into a siding. The engineer eased the throttle forward, and tapped the brakes to bring the freight train in. Smokey was looking out his side to the rear of the train to make sure it cleared the switch. "5 cars, 4 cars, 3 cars." he called out. Fluttershy put the brakes on a little more. "2 cars, 7 feet, clear." She ground the train to a stop, but wondered why they were here.
"Why were we switched to the siding?" she asked.
"The Ponyville Express has to come through. According to the schedule, it has been detoured down the valley putting it, and us behind."
"I was wondering why it wasn't back in Ponyville sooner."
"Well we're here, it isn't unfortunately."
Suddenly, they heard the chugging of the tiny steam locomotive, approaching them. Smokey could just make out the heart-shaped headlight, and the pink boiler of the oncoming train. The train's engineer could see the 4460 up ahead and gave 4 happy blasts of the whistle, and Fluttershy grinned, replying with a long blast of 4460's 3 chime and a toot of the air horn.
As the Ponyville Express rolled by, Smokey reached out and grabbed a note that the conductor had for him. As he read it, he began to sweat and shiver. Fluttershy wondered what was wrong, and Smokey gave her the message. The mare began to read it.
Warning! Mountain run off has wiped out the valley mainline at 10:15 a.m. We just made it through fortunately.
Please send telegram to Vanhoover for further status #4460 at the next station. - Ponyville Ex.
Both looked at each other and exchanged nervous looks. "This is bad." Smokey said. "That means the mountains are the only option left. We can't afford spoiled produce if we're late or even turn back. Besides this is a priority freight, we can never be late with one of these. We're taking a risk, but I do it for the citizens. Are you okay with that?" Fluttershy sighed, put a hoof on her cheek, and smiled. "Smokey you're so brave and thoughtful." His face went hotter than 4460's fire, but tried not to express his embarrassment in front of her. "Yes well, let's get moving." he said. With that, the train began to pull out of the siding and down the mainline to Trottingham. For the past 2 hours, Fluttershy and Smokey were sharing stories about each other. Smokey explained how he was being T-Rail's apprentice, and how he never gave up on the firestallion, making him proud. "Sounds like Rainbow Dash sometimes." said Fluttershy. She talked about how Rainbow Dash wanted her help to bring the water back up to Cloudsdale with a waterspout. In the end, all though they didn't break the record, Rainbow was still proud of her for being a part. The rest of the way was quiet except for the pounding of 4460's drivers.
* * * * *
Soon, the train arrived in the depot where Fluttershy and Smokey went inside to send the telegram. Word had spread quickly on 4460's arrival for the town's ponies began to crowd the depot and view the iron giant for the first time. As 4460 simmered and felt the warn sun shine on her boiler front, she began to feel proud to be a part of their world as a freight engine. Just like the good old days. Yeah the good old days. 4460 thought to herself. She then had a flashback to her past. The year was 1958. 4460 was sitting in her stall in Sacramento, steamed up for her final excursion to Sparks, Nevada. She looked over to the siding to see a line of dead locomotives. Most of which were her relatives, the GS class. She could see their cabs boarded up, numbers stripped, parts of their drive rods missing and a lot more. She saw people climbing all over them salvaging whatever they could get their hands on like whistles, gauges, and builders plates. She hated the sight, but knew this was the end of her era. She saw one locomotive at the front, numbered 4449, being detached from the deadline by a switcher diesel. She heard the locomotive's last words before disappearing into the yards. "Long live the Daylights my young sister!" she called.
4460 came back from her vision in shock when she noticed fillies and colts sitting on her pilot and deck plate. A few mothers were nervous about their children being around her but the fathers were there supervising. 4460 felt happy again, seeing the warm smiles on their faces as the looked up to her. Some saying they want to be engineers, or wanting a ride on the engine. She could see news reporters and journalist taking photos of her. 4460 remembered the same thing on her test run in St.Louis after restoration. Her dynamos whirred to life making her headlight glow, she gave a few soft taps of her bell trying not to scared the fillies and colts, and gave a soft blow on her whistle. 4460 loved the moment.