'At this rate the track will be laid down in three days, then the real operation begins.' he thought as he paused a moment to wait for a steam tractor pulling three cars of logs towards the cave entrance, before continuing to survey the work going on around him as 100's of small clones worked at clearing timber and laying track.
'And to think, that over the last 1000 years I have built an amazing structure and and an entire civilization throughout this land that rivals almost any nation, and it has been kept secret from those above.' he mused as gravel wagons passed by him, being dumped along the new track-age right of way.
Indeed, he had begun to realize that he should keep his location a secret to the native pony population as being a dragon and a omnivore, an unknown person, and out of the laws of the ruling lands had allowed Archy to build an empire reaching from the frozen north to the vast south, connecting it all together with magic railroads, ships that fly, and road ways. He had even gone as far as discovering a second world millions of miles, and dimensions for some, away and connecting them to his cities each one hidden under ground in the safe Edens of the caves.
Of coarse; in order to do this he needed help, within a few years of first arriving after his accident, he had developed a way to clone himself each type of clone was different to the need they suited, and were all liked to him subconsciously so that if they died their memories would go to him. He had also copied himself and managed to create his own race of himself which made up his empire called: The Exiles
'I am quite surprised that no-one knows about my work by now, I thought when i had first started sending spies out among the nations that they had seen the signs,' he continued to ponder as he sat at the small freight station near the entrance to the cave tunnel.
There had indeed been many signs throughout time that something was afoot underneath the feet of the ponies. It had been Archy who had been, at the time, digging for iron ore for the steel mills of his town when the tunnel his clones were in collapsed. Causing the crystal mining tunnel of the ponies above to collapse as well, revealing a dark and evil gem that quickly attached itself to the horn of the nearest unicorn, Sombra.
Or when he had discovered oil under neath the palace of the two sisters and while drilling accidentally cracked a containment field around an entity that the mother of the two sisters had buried for fear of it attacking her youngest and turning her evil. Which had later leached enough to contaminate a foreign pony ambassador, turning him into a being of chaos and also slowly but surly compelled the youngest of the two sisters.
indeed, he had made plenty of accidents, but had also done plenty of good as well such as dropping discreet anonymous notes to the two sisters in times of need to help them, along with advances of science and medics.
'But again, I fear I will become persecuted for my accidents that caused the greatest evils to haunt the lands than rather be accepted' Archy continue to muse as he monitored the link through his mind of all his clones, scanning for anything that could hurt them.
Suddenly he felt the memories return from one of his clone as he was killed from the tunnel collapsing from the mines of Canterlot to his capital city Exile.
'Shit!' he thought as he raced into the station and yelled at the station master, "Call the yard dispatch! tell them I want the Canterlot main shut down now! There has been a collapse!"
"Yes Sir!" the station master said as he raced into his office.
'Now I will have to find another way to get the crystals from the mines that I need for the airships, refinery's, and power plant,' he thought as a slow goods train pulled into the station.
Suddenly, one of his clones from the advanced scouts came rushing up to him.
"Archy, I just discovered a small town to the north-west!"
"Were you spotted?" he asked the clone who he identified as T-1003, or T3.
"No sir, but I did see that it's name is Ponyville, we cant speak their language in your current form but we can if we transform into their forms. They do also have a railroad that runs through the edge of the forest and up to Canterlot." T3 replied as the station master came out and yelled to them,
"The inspection crews from both sides estimate that the collapse is 5 miles long and that was only one casualty!"
Hearing this news, Archy turned to T3 and asked him, "What condition is their railroad like?"
"I did not get a good look at their schedules but, their rails are of superior quality than our own, but their engines are way behind us. I did overhear though the engineer and firepony mention that they had to be back by nightfall since it was too risky to operate, leaving me at the conclusion that they don't operate at night. I would like your permission sir to scout the tracks from the forest to Canterlot."
"..Hm.. Permission granted but switch to your pony form and stay hidden. I think that if we do this right, we can work on their railroads at nit and set up a set of buffers between the mines and a siding in Canterlot. the link is always stronger if they are closer to each other." Archy replied as the station master came back out and joined them.
"I just received word that the crews estimate a month to clear, reinforce, and repair before the line is reopened."
"And we only have a quarter of the stock need to keep operations going at that time," Archy mused before tuning to the station master and T3 and ordering to both," I want you message dispatch and tell them that wee need 14 more cars of tracks and gravel along with a steam dosser. T3 I need you to tell your foreman F-300, that he needs to divert the cutters to make a path to the equestrian tracks. we will run night OP's when there are no trains until the tunnel is cleared. both of you are dismissed."
Both acknowledged him and ran to their respective jobs while he climbed aboard the engine that had turned around while he was talking and was preparing to head back underground.
On the footplate of the engine was a anthropomorphic fox who had arrived in the capital for a job and joined the railway, and a muscular diamond dog who had run away from his pack seeking a life without slavery, who was firing the engine.
"Well, look'e 'ere T-bone! We got's the big brass with us!" the fox replied to the identified diamond dog.
"Well I'm sure there has to be a res'on, Finn." T-bone replied.
"Indeed boys, I need you to accompany you to the yard and I need both of you to help me prepare a 59 wagon train for tonight." Archy replied to them as Finn opened the throttle of the engine and began the decent down into the cave system.
"Sure just radio to dispatch for us and w'll get to work" T-bone replied as he dug coal from the tender, into the fire box of the locomotive.
"just out of curiosity boss, but what engine are you taking?" Finn asked as he cracked the throttle a little more as they passed a green signal.
"Big Boy,"
Shocked silence followed the name for a moment before it was broken by Finn.
"Seriously? Don't you think that is a little over kill? I mean, come on, THE KING of the small mains. The ONLY engine that can haul more that three of the big mains cars at sufficient speed? That Big Boy?!"
"Yes, I want to get to Canterlot with as big a train as possible and as fast as possible." Archy replied to both of them.
The rest of the ride was done in silence to the yard.