Lonesome Whistle

by Vauclains Understudy

Alexander & Cecilia

Twilight galloped down the stairs as soon as she heard the knock on the library’s door. She had received Luna’s letter not long after she returned home. Suddenly, though, she stopped. She remembered that she needed to be quiet, lest she wake up the two lumpy figures under the covers of the two beds opposite hers. With that in mind, she gently trotted down the last half of the staircase and over to the double door. There was another rap at the door, which was soon opened. “Hey, Luna,” Twilight started, “It’s great to see…” She looked behind the princess to find a tuft of black hair just above Luna’s flank. “Ironside?” Twilight asked incredulously. Luna nudged the tuft, and the engine driver’s head popped up from behind the princess.

“H-hey Twi,” the engineer responded in a soft voice similar to Fluttershy’s. Twilight looked worriedly up to the bedroom, but then smiled.

“Actually, it’s great you’re here,” she stated.

“Why?” asked the engineer.

“Because, I’ve got something to show you two,” the purple unicorn responded.

Ironside raised his eyebrow in confusion, but stepped inside as Twilight opened the front door to let Luna and him in. Twilight directed the engineer to the upstairs bedroom. Ironside followed, unsure of what she had in store for him. He felt comfortable, though. Twilight was possibly the most trustworthy pony he knew. He ascended the stairs without incident, Luna following close behind him. Twilight held out her hoof as he approached the top, indicating the two beds across the room from hers. At first, Ironside saw nothing out of the ordinary. He easily recognized Spike tucked into his cradle and fast asleep, but it was when he looked towards the guest bed that he widened his eyes and gasped. There was a certain pony lying in the bed. A certain pony that he had seen only twice before….

“It…it’s her,” Ironside began.

“Who?” asked Luna.

“The pony I…ran over,” he finished. Ironside slowly trotted over to the sleeping Gallow. “Is-is she…?”

“She’s alive, Ironside,” Twilight responded. Before she could say anything else, though, Ironside picked her up and hugged her tightly.

“Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” he squealed. Twilight chuckled and returned the hug.

“You’re welcome, Iron,” she replied. “Spike and I tried our best to fix her up. It was hard work, and neither one of us really has the stomach for surgery.” Ironside gingerly lifted the covers off Gallow. Her body was still discolored from the bruising, but there were no disfigurations or open wounds. Ironside smiled again, this time with tears forming in his eyes.

“You saved her life,” he said, “That’s all that matters to me right now.”

Just then, Gallow shifted in the bed. She seemed to be waking up! Taken by surprise, Ironside dropped the covers back onto her and stepped back. “Uuuh…is someone there?” the little filly asked. Ironside bravely stepped forward.

“Uh, Cecilia,” Ironside said, “How do you feel?” Gallow froze. Nopony knew her real name! At least, nopony who was alive knew it. But, there was that one pony…

She slowly lifted her head off the pillow and turned. Was that who I think it was, she thought. Sure enough, her eyes caught sight of the young engineer who had brought her out of the train wreck. “M-Mr. Ironside!” she exclaimed.

“Hello, Cecilia,” he responded softly with a smile.

“Where…where are we? And who are these ponies?” she asked, looking at Twilight and Luna. Upon seeing the princess, however, she froze again in amazement. “Princess Luna!” she exclaimed. In no position to formally bow to Luna, Gallow simply lowered her head, which Luna acknowledged.

“We’re in the Ponyville Library,” Ironside explained to Gallow, “Miss Twilight Sparkle here is the librarian.” Here he directed Gallow’s gaze towards Twilight, who waved her hoof.

“Hello there,” she said, “I was asked by Nurse Redheart to perform the operation on you. I brought you here to recover.” Upon hearing this, Gallow examined her body. It was heavily bruised from the impact with the train, but was structurally sound.

“So, it didn’t work,” Gallow whispered. However, Ironside heard what she said. What didn’t work? he thought. He was unsure of what she meant, that is, until she lifted the covers off her flank to examine the rest of her body. Ironside took a good look at the cutie mark she now had. His eyes widened. He recognized the hangman image instantly. There were only two things he could think of that the gallows could represent: execution and suicide.

“That’s, uh, an interesting cutie mark you got there,” Twilight suddenly said. Gallow looked at her in confusion, then at her own mark. Oh, shit, she thought, my cover’s been blown! Desperate, she quickly tried thinking up a lie to cover up the disturbing image on her flank. “Uh…yeah…” she began.

“Pray tell, what kind of mark is it?” Luna asked. The princess stepped over to examine the mark. She reeled back in horror. “What the bloody hell?!” she exclaimed. Twilight, taken aback by Luna’s strong language, quickly stepped over to look at Gallow’s cutie mark as well, and reeled back in equal shock.

“Oh my goodness!” she shouted. Suddenly, Spike shot up in his crib.

“What happened?! Was somepony brutally murdered?”

“N-no! No, it’s OK!” Gallow exclaimed, “It’s just a joke!” Twilight, Spike, and Luna all looked at her in confusion. “My cutie mark: it’s just a joke,” she went on.

“What kind of sick joker drew that on you?” Luna asked, still recovering from the shock.

“I was, uh, playing Hang-pony with some of the other fillies at the orphanage,” Gallow falsely explained, “Somepony wanted to draw the image on my flank. We all thought it was hilarious.” She added some forced laughter into the equation, which was repeated semi-genuinely by the others, except for Ironside. His laugh had a certain tinge of nervousness.

There was a seriously awkward silence afterwards, which Ironside decided to break after only about ten seconds. “So, uh…” he began, desperate to change the subject, “Twilight, didn’t you want to show Luna your new telescope?”

Twilight gasped in surprise. “Oh yeah! Luna, I just got this awesome new reflector telescope I want to show you!” The princess quickly followed Twilight down the walkway towards the balcony, with Spike close behind. Once they were out of earshot, Ironside let out a heavy sigh of relief and fell back against Gallow’s bed.

“Mensch, das war schrecklich!” he exclaimed. “Sie könnten die Wahrheit über dir ausfinden.”

“Huh?” asked Gallow in confusion.

“They could’ve discovered the truth about you, Cecilia.”

“W-what truth?” Gallow asked, “I didn’t hide anything. The mark’s just a joke, like I said.”

“Uh, throwing yourself in front of my train earlier this morning tells me otherwise,” Ironside stated matter-of-factly, “I know what you tried to do, Cecilia. Or do you not remember the circumstances under which we first met?”

Gallow realized that there was no point in trying to hide the truth from Ironside. He obviously remembered the traumatizing situation she was stuck in when they first met. It probably wasn’t that hard for him to figure out that she was suffering from suicidal tendencies at this point. “Geez, Mr. Ironside,” she said, incredulous, “Why didn’t you become a psychiatrist instead of a train driver?”

“Because I too am prone to depression,” he responded, “Honestly, I’m not that different from you.”

“How?” the filly asked, “You always seem so happy when you’re behind the throttle.”

“Well, that’s when I’m at my happiest,” he replied, “But when I was growing up with the other pegasi, I was anything but happy.”

“What do you mean?” Gallow asked.

“Well, think about it for a second,” Ironside said, “When have you ever seen a pegasus who loved anything more than flying? What pegasus in their right mind would have a train obsession?”

Gallow thought about it for a minute. It certainly was unusual for a pegasus pony to love anything more than flying. Sure enough, she began to realize just how much of an oddball Ironside was. “I never about that before,” she finally murmured, “Did you have a difficult childhood?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” he said, “None of the pegasi would ever accept me because of my “earthly” desire to be an engine driver.” Gallow felt horrible. She herself never had trouble being accepted, but she understood how lonely Ironside must have felt.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, “I never knew your childhood was rough too.”

“Well, it’s nothing to be concerned about,” he replied, “I’m just glad I only lost my wings and not my life.”

“Wait. What?” Gallow asked. Ironside spread his wings open. It was hard to notice when they were folded down because of his white button-down shirt, but his wings (excepting his feathers) were encased in articulated metal scaffoldings painted to match the color of his clothes.

“I’m not called ‘Ironside’ for nothing,” he stated.

Gallow went completely slack-jawed. “Wha-what happened to you?”

“Suicide attempt,” he stated, “I tried to kill myself by jumping off one of the clouds and slamming into the ground. Opened my wings involuntarily at the last minute but landed wrong. This is the end result.” At that he flexed his artificial limbs. “Consider yourself lucky,” he finished. Gallow didn’t know what to say. She just stared in shock.

“Well, then,” Ironside said, “I guess I should be going.” Without another word to Gallow, and without informing the others of his departure, Ironside briskly trotted down the stairs and out the front door. Now feeling saddened just by having to retell his story, he didn’t feel like being around anypony at that moment. He started up the path that led back to the roundhouse, not even bothering to look back at Twilight, Luna, and Spike, who were all busy stargazing with the new telescope on the balcony. He was depressed again, but all he did was tell himself that it didn’t matter, even though it did. It was this same feeling that drove him to jump off the cloud many years before, and there was always the risk that he might do worse next time….