It was almost sunset, but James and Mr.B still enjoyed conversing with each other. James had been playing his guitar the rest of the day and Mr.B thought he was pretty good at it. "That's some pretty impressive playing there James," he said. James shrugged as he smiled at the compliment. "Well, guitar was always my favorite instrument, since my dad liked listening to different kinds of Rock," he replied. The young man looked down at the instrument and stroked in, cleaning off the dust that the trains had kicked up "A lot of those pieces are Rolling Stones. They've always inspired me to play guitar. I said one time that, I wanted to be like Keith Richards or Ronnie Wood." They both had to laugh at that. He sounded like a 5 year old with the biggest dreams. The sun was now halfway below the horizon, when James bid goodbye to his friend and began to walk down the trail, towards his car. When he got in, he paused for a second to think. He snapped is head back up and gasped, "Of course!" With whatever that meant, he started up his car and charged up the gravel road back home.
When he arrived, the windows were still dark, his parents haven't came back. Now, this was the house James grew up in most of his life, but he was allowed to stay there anytime of the summer. His parents were on a 4 week vacation, letting him know at the very last minute. It kind of upset him, but being a steam locomotive engineer was way better.
James reached for the phone and began dialing some numbers, and held it to his ear. He heard the tone; 1.....2.....3.....4, then he heard a familiar voice. "Hello?" James' face lit up with excitement. "April? Hey it's James!'' April the only close female friend to James and for a while, he liked her a lot, until she got a boyfriend. She was one of the volunteer crew members on engine#4449. But as a career, she was a forensic scientist. "James! Oh my goodness, are you okay? I heard about the incident." she said, a little nervous
"It's okay, I'm fine, but I called because I need your help involving that."
"Sure, anything for my friends!"
"That's good to hear. I need you to go to the scene and get some evidence on the locomotive's disappearance."
"But they have no explanation for it. How am I to figure it out?"
James thought that was a ridiculous question to ask, especially from her. "April, you've impressed me so many times. Since the second grade, you've helped me figure out stuff, and find suspects. You're amazing!" The line went silent for a quick second until April spoke again. "James, you're such a flatterer. Okay I'll try. I think there had to be a prior event to 4460's disappearance so I need all events that happened within the past 48 hours."
James hated questioning at times, but this was to important to ignore. So, he had answered all of his friend's questions for the next hour or so. He took the time to take notes himself on the events, to see if he could get any ideas. Afterward, he thanked April for the help, set the phone back on the jack, and looked at the clock; 10 p.m. I should get some rest, he thought to himself. He climbed up the stairs to his roomand threw himself on the bed. It didn't take long before he went to sleep. He didn't have a full life-like dream that he usually had, but instead, visions. Numerous visions that related to the events he told April, and more.
First, it started off with the 4460 going through the tunnel in the gorge, then he saw it go through a barren land of black grass and dead trees. Followed after that, he saw the 4460 being chased down by a smaller steam locomotive with a railroad crew, in what appeared to be ponies! James was confused. Was it real? Did this actually happen, or was it just his imagination running wild? He then began to hear female voices with images of their source. He saw a group of six female ponies, all pastel colored, a mint green one in the background, and a yellow stallion he'd seen on the small steam engine. "Princess Celestia must know about this," said the purple one. "Braeburn ya darn fool!" said the orange mare, slapping the stallion with her hoof. "Hello Southern Pacific 4460! Welcome to Equestria!" shouted the pink pony. James was now feeling nervous, for he had the feeling this was actually happening. The scenes kept shifting, with the sounds of clanking metal, hissing of steam, and chugging. He saw 4460 appear out of a mist and she had a face! She was talking to a white horse. She was mixed with unicorn and pegasus. "Your highness, I need to get back home," the 4460 said. "The Red Moon appears in two months this year." the alicorn responded, followed by an image of a lunar eclipse.
James was now looking at a mountain range, where a violent snow storm had brewed. Piercing through the blinding sheet of falling snow, was 4460's whistle. He saw her headlight glow in the distance and right behind her, was a pair of red eyes; angry red eyes. James couldn't see who was driving her, but he sure did see the glowing silhouette of the alicorn flying right next to her. When the caboose had passed, right in his sigh was the horrendous face of a yeti! It roared at him, causing James to wake up. "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" he screamed. He was short of breath from the shock, but soon was relived when he looked outside. The sun rays were shining through his window, reflecting off the exposed areas of the hard-wood floor. "That was NOT right." James said aloud.
* * * * * *
"Come on Braeburn!" shouted Applejack to her cousin. "Rise an' shine! Apples don't wait!" Braeburn moaned as he was being shaken awake. He still wasn't feeling pumped up after chasing a 356.6 ton engine across a desert, being whipped in the face by snapping ropes, then getting hit again by his own relative. Ponyville was supposed to be his getaway, his break. But like all of the members of the Apple family, there was always some form of work to do. He rolled off the mattress and hit the floor, still sleepy. "Why Jacks? Ah told ya what ah just went through." Applejack shook her head in pity. "Oh buck up! Once ya start movin' ya'll be wide awake and ain't no stoppin'." Braeburn looked up at her. "That's what ah'm afraid of." he said. "Anyway," AJ continued, "ah have an errand for ya to run in town. Not to mention, a lot of mares have been admiring you." His eyes lit up at those words. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" Helping him up, Applejack took the stallion downstairs for a good, hardy breakfast.