There are few things more depressing than a rundown railway, a fact Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara discovered for themselves as their train pulled into the old station’s railyard. They had made surprisingly good time, only stopping twice to take on water and coal. Apple Bloom was the first to set hooves on the old cobble stone platform, whistling as she took in the sights.
“Sure looks like this place has seen better days,” she commented as the other four fillies filed out of the coach behind her. The Pithsburg station was laid out a lot like Hoofmouth; two platforms and buildings straddling the mainline, only where the building on the north side of the line was painted and well kept, the one on the southern side had been sorely neglected. The windows were all boarded up, and under the awning shading the platform a family of birds had made a nest. Sweetie Belle scrunched her nose when she saw the state of the station building’s roof.
“Um, is there supposed to be moss growing up there?” Top Hat only scowled, already trotting away toward the yard where a trio of worker pony’s were working on the switches. They were still clearing a line of bushes that had grown up through the rails at the end of the yard, when the sound of an approaching whistle drew the attention of five filly’s and their tank engine friend.
It came from up the mainline, a line of steam puffs popping up into the air as their owner whistled their approach. Another train came into view, a long line of empty coal cars pulled by a medium size tank engine. His boiler, side tanks and bunker were painted bright red, while his cab and smoke box were dusty black with coal dust. His six driving wheels were red as well, but dirty with coal dust, and though they were small like Lilly’s, if he was struggling with his train he didn’t show it. He brought the cars to a smooth stop in front of the signal before the station yard, blowing off steam from his hidden cylinders as he did, giving Lilly a chance to say hello.
“Terrance!” She called, getting the larger tank engine’s attention.
“Lilly?” He asked in surprise, voice rough like rock, but with a smooth southern accent. “Well good morn’n to ya! And just what're you doing in my neck of the mountains?”
“I’m helping Mr. Top Hat reopen the Rambling Rock branch line,” She beamed happily as Terrance’s signal went from red to green.
“Well then I wish ya the best of luck. Careful though,” he warned grimly as he started his train moving again. “The start of the line shouldn’t be too bad, but you need to keep a sharp lookout after the tunnel.”
“I will,” Lilly whistled as Terrance and his train trundled over the points and vanished behind the station building.
“Friend of yours?” Scootaloo asked hover hopping around the old station.
“Yep,” The mulberry tank engine beamed. “Terrance taught me a lot about shunting and managing freight cars when I first came to ENER. That was before Mr. Top Hat put him in charge of the Foal Mountain Branch Line.” Apple Bloom watched as the last car of the red tank engine’s long train click-clacked over the points and vanished behind the station. She had never seen so many of the same train car.
“Not a very clean engine is he?” Sweetie Belle noted, the little filly sharing her big sisters aversion to dirt. “What kind of freight does he haul that could make his paint so filthy?”
“Coal,” Silver Spoon supplied matter of factly, whipping a little dust of her glasses as she did so. “The Foal Mountain mines are famous for the special kind of coal that’s found there.”
“Really expensive too,” Lilly added. “It burns hotter than most other coals, and longer too. I’ve never tried it, but Mike and Mikaela use it all the time.”
“Hmpf, aren’t they special” Diamond scoffed when a gasp from Scootaloo grabbed the other’s attention.
“Hey check this out!” She yelled beckoning them over to where one of the boards covering the windows had fallen off. The five fillys piled on top of one another to peek inside the dusty window.
“Wow,” Apple Bloom gasped, “Everything’s still there.” And it was. They were looking into the main waiting room and ticket office. Every little trinket and tool, from a clock on the wall to the ticket clerks stamper were still in place. Even a dreamcatcher was still hanging on the wall, its feathers trailing strings of beads and dust bunnies.
“Can we get back in the coach?” Sweetie Belle asked, nervously backing away from the window. “This place is giving me the creeps.”
“Yeah,” Silver Spoon nodded in quick agreement. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara of course wanted to explore more, the farm filly already seeing lots of woodwork on the station that needed replacing, but just then Silver’s uncle Top Hat called them back inside the coach. The worker ponys had managed to clear the last of the overgrowth from the yard, and as they wrestled the last switch into place, Lilly puffed forward, then pushed her train into the yard. Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo poked their heads outside their coach’s window, even as the others sat nervously in their seats, the rails beneath them groaning with all but unfamiliar weight. It wasn’t long though until they were clear of the yard, and firmly onto the old branch.
Scootaloo was soon glad her friends had talked her out of riding on the brake van’s open deck. The little mulberry tank engine had to go slow over the old tracks, all the while pushing her train past bushes and through grass that had grown up, around, and between the tracks. Sweetie Belle, feeling a little braver now that the tracks under them were slowly clacking instead of moaning, watched the dense overgrowth pass their coach window.
“Wow. Just how long has it been since this place was closed?”
“Well,” Silver Spoon began, touching her chin as she did. “I remember reading something about the mine being closed after an accident. That was, fifteen, twenty years ago.”
“What kind?” Apple Bloom asked, only for the grey filly to shake her head.
“I don’t know. I read about it in a book, and all it said was that the mine was no longer deemed profitable.”
“Maybe we can ask Mr. Top Hat,” Scootaloo suggested.
“You know,” Diamond Tiara said slowly, not sure if she wanted the other four filly’s attention or not. “I’m pretty sure my Dad used to work there.”
“Really?” Apple Bloom asked, ears perking and clearly wanting to know more. “But I thought his work was fancy suit and tie stuff?”
“I think it was before that,” The Pink filly explained. “I found this old photo album in the attic once and it had a lot of pictures of him and a bunch of other stallions, all wearing hard hats and covered in dirt.”
“Huh,” Apple Gloom nodded before Scootaloo, to the surprise of everypony, suddenly broke out in snorting laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Sweetie Belle asked innocently as the orange Pegasus’s cackling turned to hiccupping snorts.
“FilthyRich!” The orange filly gasped, “Working in the dirt! HAHAHAHAHAA!!” It took all of two seconds for the others to figure out the joke, and after four second they were all doubled over laughing and giggling to their hearts content.
As Lilly pushed their train along the line, it became clear Terrance was right. The line was indeed in good shape for its age. They only had to stop a few times, the first time at an old station where a worn dirt road crossed the tracks at a gated crossing just beyond a small pond. Here the worker pony’s showed the filly’s how to check a gate’s closing spells, a charm placed on the crossing to make the gates open and close as a train passed through. Sweetie Belle immediately tried to put a new charm on the old gate, but she ended up placing the sensor spell too close to the gate, and it nearly swatted her into the pond across the tracks.
Their next stop was where the line curved wide to go around the base of a hill. At the top of the hill was an old white tree, outlined against the blue sky like a statue in the Canterlot royal gardens. Lilly’s driver and fire pony explained that trees, especially ones as old as the one on the hill, were only allowed to be so close to the line before they had to be cut down. Then of course Silver Spoon elaborated with how each railroad used different standards and units of measurements for line side clearance, and used enough numbers to leave both rail-pony’s heads spinning. The fillies watched as Top Hat and the workers checked the track bed, making sure the ties weren’t rotted and that the ballast wasn’t going to shift under Lilly’s train, and soon they were on their way again.
Then however, they came to the tunnel. Apple Bloom was the first out behind the workers, and the little farm filly had to bend her neck so far back to see the tunnels top, her bow nearly touched her tail.
“Wow,” she whistled, still looking up. “So this is the tunnel Terrance was warn’n ya about.”
“Yep,” Lilly gulped, shaking a little on her wheels even as Scootaloo trotted up beside her fellow Crusader.
“What’s the big deal? It’s just a hole in a mountain.”
“And dangerous,” Top Hat grimaced ambling up to the fillies. “I think its best we wait here while the workers check the tunnel. Now you girls be good while I fill out some forms in the van all right?”
“Yes Uncle,” Silver Spoon nodded, earning her a goodbye nuzzle before the old stallion climbed into the brake van and the workers vanished into the darkness. The three earth fillys of course knew the value of safety first, while Sweetie Belle and Lilly weren’t very keen on going in at all. Scootaloo as usual, didn’t see any sense in waiting a minute.
“What’s wrong with it?” She asked pacing back and forth across the tracks. “I mean look, it’s fine! There’s hardly a scratch or crack on it.”
“Maybe,” Silver Spoon said quickly, sitting primly by the side of the line. “But it’s been years since any trains went through that tunnel, and there could be stress cracks and collapses inside. Especially on a tunnel so large.”
“Why did they build it so big anyway?” Apple Bloom asked looking over the arched entrance.
“Probably for the mining equipment,” The grey filly supplied while she adjusted her glasses. “After the royal decree that grouped Equestria’s railroads into four regional companies, they could only run trains on track they owned.”
“She’s not wrong,” Lilly admitted anxiously. “It’s only recently that Mr. Top Hat has convinced the other managers to start making deals for running rights. When this line was still active, they probably had to move in all of their equipment through this tunnel.”
“Lilly?” Sweetie Belle asked noticing her tank engine friend wasn’t looking very confident. “Is something wrong?”
“Uh, well,” The little engine gulped looking up and down the tunnel’s entrance, before admitting, “I … I don’t like the dark.” Truthfully she had never run at night, and the idea scared her more than a little, something Sweetie Belle understood.
“It’s okay,” the white filly said sitting beside Lilly’s buffers. “I’m scared of the dark too, but my big sisters told me the only thing to fear is fear itself. And juice stains.”
“Scared of the dark,” Diamond Tiara scoffed. “Puh-lease. What could there possibly be to be scared of in ther?”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!” Three panicked screams jolted the fillies a foot into the air, and shocked Lilly so bad her trim nearly came off.
“What in Luna’s name?” Top Hat barked from the brake van’s veranda as the trio of worker ponys came galloping out of the tunnel, his trottingham accent starting to show. “Oy! Just where do you lot think you’re going?!”
“Not back in there that’s for sure!” The lead worker panted, a tall unicorn with dusty brown fur and a blue mane, the same color as another’s coat.
“We found a blockage twenty meters in,” He gasped, dropping on his haunches to catch his breath. “We tried digging it out but.”
“It moved!” The third yelped, shaking like an autumn leaf. “It shifted, snorted and everything! I’m telling you there’s something big and alive in there!”
“Rubbish,” Top Hat snorted, hopping down from the brake van. “If it’s an animal it can be moved out like any other stubborn stopper. Driver, get ready to push.” Lilly’s driver nodded and opened the tank engines regulator even as she tried to swallow her fear down.
“B-but what if it’s got teeth or horns?” She asked nervously eyeing the tunnel entrance. “Or breaths fire or something?!” Top Hat looked like he was going to launch into scolding the little engine’s fear, when an orange filly raised her voice
“We’ll check it out!”
“WHAT?!” the other four filly’s yelled together, so loud Top Hat recoiled as if struck.
“Are you crazy?” Apple Bloom asked. “We don’t even know what’s in there!”
“Exactly,” Scootaloo smirked dangerously. “Plus this might be our chance to get a herding cutie mark.”
“Doesn’t that involve multiple animals?” Silver Spoon asked innocently.
“We should get Fluttershy,” Sweetie Belle suggested. “She works with scary animals all the time, and they never attack her.”
“I’m of half a mind to do just that,” Top Hat grimaced looking at the tunnel then back down the line they had come up. “But winter is fast approaching, and I don’t want any more delays than necessary. We must complete the inspection today.”
“Come on,” Scootaloo beckoned, already trotting toward the tunnel mouth. “It’ll be fun.”
“You go right ahead bird brain,” Diamond scowled sitting back on her haunches and turning her nose up. “The smart ponys are staying right here.”
“Wow,” The Pegasus filly laughed. “And here I thought I was supposed to be the chicken.” Apple Bloom knew what her fellow crusader was up to the moment Diamond Tiara’s body went stiffer than an apple tree.
“What was that?”
“Bwack buk-buk-buk-buk-bwaack!” The pink filly’s face turned from light to scarlet red as Scootaloo kept making clucking sound.
“Oh yeah! We’ll see about that feather brain. Let’s go!” With that she stomped off toward the tunnel, Scootaloo right beside her, and looking very pleased with herself. Nopony spoke until the two were well inside the tunnel.
“Wow,” Silver spoon gulped. “I’ve never seen Diamond so, competitive before.”
“Not sure that’s the right word,” Apple Bloom sighed sitting on the ground by the rails, and looking worried enough to concern Lilly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well,” The yellow earth filly started. “My big sister Applejack told me rivalries are dangerous.”
“How can two pony’s doing their best be bad?”
“That part she wasn’t very clear on,” Apple Bloom admitted ruefully, not having understood the lesson when Applejack told her. “All she said was it’s all fun and games until somepony gets em’self hurt.”
There was more wisdom in that simple phrase than the fillys knew, wisdom the pair currently inside the tunnel were soon to learn first hoof.
“Dang it,” Scootaloo grumbled as she squinted her eyes tighter, trying in vain to see more than a few inches beyond her muzzle. “Why’s it have to be so dark?”
“Well we are underground,” Diamond sarcastically supplied, going slow so as not to stub her dainty hooves in a rock or rail tie. “Things tend to get dark when there’s a mountain over your head.”
“Will you stop whining? Geez. If I knew you were gonna be a prancy I’d have tricked Sweetie Belle into coming. At least she has a light built in.” Diamond scowled, having realized the moment the tunnel mouths light faded behind them the little Pegasus had used her pride against her, but that same pride made her determined not to be afraid. Or at least not look it.
Truth be told both fillies were in over their heads further than they realized. Instead of long and straight like they imagined, the tunnel was short and curved, so nopony, not an engineer or a pony walking could see right through to the other side. But they kept walking, proud courage ebbing away as the tiny sounds began in the darkness. A drip of water behind them caused Scootaloo to jump, wings popping out with a sproing.
“What’s the matter?” Diamond sneered. “Scared?”
“N-no,” The little Pegasus stammered with all the bravery she had left.
“Aww, not so tough now that the lights are out are yaIEEEEEEEEE!!” The pink filly’s jab turned to a shriek when a drop of cold water fell from the tunnel roof right onto the base of her tail. The cold went lancing up her back, pomfing out her mane and making her dance in midair before running for her life down the tracks.
“Hey!” Scootaloo cried out galloping into the black after the pink blur before she heard a sharp metallic thud and the sound of haunches dropping into loose wet gravel.
“Ow,” Diamond whined rubbing her nose as the orange filly came running up beside her.
“You okay?” She asked helping the other filly to her legs.
“No,” She answered quickly, still making sure her muzzle wasn’t bleeding. “It feels like I ran straight into a giant … wall of …metal?” Diamond’s voice trailed off as she opened her now properly adjusted eyes and noticed two very important facts:
One: the very faint shine of what little light there was in the tunnel off the wall in front of them.
Two: the wall was standing up.
Sweetie Belle had just convinced Silver Spoon, Lilly, and Apple Bloom to play a game of I Spy when Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo came tearing out of the tunnel like a runaway freight train, screaming at the top of their little lungs.
Both filly’s leapt into Lilly’s cab, diving for the sanctuary beneath the driver’s seat, and their friends only had a minute to be confused before a giant gleaming bronze bull came snorting out of the tunnel mouth, horns glinting in the sunlight and smoke wafting from its nostrils. The beast turned its head this way and that, sniffing the air, and whether it was fear or intention, Lilly chose that moment to let off steam with a terrific whoosh, loud and close enough to startle the bull and make him gallop away past their train, toward the open pastures further back down the line. The three fillies still sitting in the grass by the tracks looked at one another.
“Uhh, what just happened?” Sweetie Belle asked dizzily as Lilly’s driver poked his head out of the tank engine’s cab.
“A Khaltaur! Haven’t seen one of those in a while,” he remarked as Lilly shook horribly on her wheels. “Little guy must’ve laid down in the tunnel to take a nap. That metal hide gets awful hot during the day.”
“C-ca-can we go now?” Lilly squeaked, trying to get her shaking under control.
“I think that’s best,” Top Hat nodded. After coaxing Diamond and Scootaloo out of their hiding place in Lilly’s cab, and making sure the fillies were all safe inside the coach, he and the workers piled into the brake van, and with lamps shining, Lilly slowly advanced into the tunnel. None of the fillies said a word as the rolled through the darkness. Apple Bloom and Silver Spoon wanted to say told you so’s, but the embarrassed looks on their BFF’s faces kept them quiet.
The two daredevils for their part, didn’t feel much like talking anymore either. They knew that sooner or later their parents would find out what happened, and there were sure to be consequences.
Sweetie Belle, in her own show of bravery, hopped up in her seat and looked out the coach’s windows as they trundled through the tunnel, only to look back and forth along their train in confusion when they stopped. Behind the train Lilly was just as confused, her driver having brought her to a stop still inside the tunnel when the brake van’s bell gave three chimes to stop. To the pony’s up front however, the answer was quite clear.
“This wasn’t on the map,” Top Hat grimaced as he looked out toward Saddle Lake over a rusty railing. The reason for the tunnels sharp curve was now staring them in the face. Just outside the tunnels mouth, the tracks ran along a narrow ledge, built up in places with cobblestone walls where the natural rock face wasn’t wide enough. Even now it was clear to the workers that nopony would be able to walk or stand on the ledge when a train passed by. Below them was the calm wide waters of Saddle Lake, stretching north and south as far as the eye could see. Top Hat walked over to the edge and looked over, checking the walls for cracks as the workers did the same, though with much keener eyes.
“Hmm, what do you think Trestle?” He asked looking at the blue earth pony who only tapped his chin.
“The wall looks fine,” He said giving the track itself another look. “And I can’t see any signs of subsidence in the ballast. But best slap a stone welding spell on it just to be safe.”
“Good idea,” The unicorn in their company said, horn already charging. “Maker knows the Everfree weather couldn’t have been kind.” Top Hat nodded a grim reply. There was moss growing around the tracks here and weeds a plenty. The line from Pithsburg to the tunnel was more or less still up to snuff and ready to run trains on, maybe even mainline engines. All it really needed was a trimming, but he was suddenly very nervous about how the rest of the line had faired, especially so close to the infamous Everfree Forest.
“We’ll need a bridge,” Top Hat said where he stood gazing out across the lake toward the opposite shore, where Ponyville lay. Trestle nodded, mind already at work on a design
“Aye. Straight across the Lake to the other side. Do you really think the Mayor can convince the townsfolk to let you put tracks right through town?”
“I dearly hope so,” Top hat sighed. “This entire project hinges on the ENER obtaining a station in Ponyville. Between the growing demand for Sweet Apple Acres produce and the tourism to see the Castle of Friendship, a station or at the least a depot in town would guarantee the line’s return to profitability.”
He could only hope the cost of repairing the old line didn’t bankrupt the new one.