Upgrading the Railway Network

by The Stainmore Phoenix

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Things were indeed looking up. Not only for Dangersignal, but for Dragonstorm, who was now in love with Lightning Dust. The railway had gained more humans, who were not only drivers and firemen, but firelighters, signalmen, shunters, station staff, maintenance men and relief crews.

Dangersignal took up his guard position, this time as the head of the guard unit assigned to protect Princess Twilight Sparkle and her team-Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Discord. As for the “relationships”-Rarity and Dangersignal never saw eye to eye; Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Fluttershy had “working relations”-meaning that they only said good morning to each other and Dangersignal gave a full report to whomever he saw first; he and Rainbow Dash were engaged to be married; but Discord was a whole different deck of cards.

The two had a relationship that Jaisson called “touching the wrong nerve”. The main reason being that Dangersignal and Discord were enemies and Dangersignal was not only very officious, doing everything by the book, but he was headstrong and rather stubborn.

“He’s giving Duck a run for his money, in terms of being headstrong,” Jaisson told the group one night, while their Alicorn guard was training Thestrals in how to give a full and accurate report.

“Who is Duck?” Rarity asked? “Whoever this “Duck” is, he must be a handsome knight in shining armor!”

“Uh, Rarity, Duck is a GWR 5700 pannier tank engine, original running number was 5741, before become NWR’s number 8,” Alistair said.

“A steam engine?” came the chorused answer. “He’s a steam engine?”

“Yes, but a couple of his characteristics are that he is stubborn, headstrong and doesn’t take anything sitting down,” Jordon added. “The same traits that Dangersignal exhibits from time to time. Sometimes I wonder if his headstrongness is going to lead to him being killed.”

“I should hope not,” Fluttershy whimpered. “That would be…”

But she said no more, as tears came into her eyes. Discord comforted her while the others came up with plans to make him see sense, without there being any injury. Of course, one part of the plan drew objections from Princess Twilight.

“I am not going to give him an order to make good with Discord!” she protested. “It isn’t right and there is no possible outcome that would be beneficial to any party involved!”

“If you manage this,” Rainbow Dash said. “Then we’ll let you all in on a little secret that he and I have.”

That of course got everyone to question her as if she was the prime suspect in a murder. All Rainbow Dash did was chortle and flew off, telling them that either they used some “pressure” from the leader or there would be some rather interesting news in the papers.

“I don’t think that this is right,” Twilight said.

“It’s the best option, dear,” Rarity said.

Princess Twilight finally gave in, and tried to find Dangersignal. To her surprise, he was hard to find and even with wings, she still couldn’t spot him. As for the officious Alicorn himself, he was off training the guards in how to fight with weapons or magic.

The guards who he was training had the greatest respect for him, so it was easy to teach them, unlike a fresh crew who arrived to handle the nightly mail service and thought they knew better. He needed things to be easier on him, after finding out that he was to be a bodyguard to Discord himself.

‘How repulsive!’ he thought. ‘I’m to guard that villainous serpent! No, serpent is too good a term for him-the low down, conniving, dirty…’

His thoughts were going off on a tirade, but he was dismissing the guards to tend to the castle. He wanted to be alone and put his mind at ease. He soon heard a shout and glanced up to see the princess he was protecting coming towards him.

“There you are,” she said.

“What do you want?” he asked, ready to receive orders.

“I actually want you to bury old grudges with Discord,” she replied. “He’s changed his tune and while this maybe hard for you to accept, starting over will at least make having friends a lot easier.”

“Really?” he asked, unconvinced. “Last time I tried that, when I was in a Canterlot school, that came back to bite me hard!”

“I know what that’s like,” she said. “But you need to actually learn that people, ponies or Draconequus as the case maybe, can change.”

“That’s something I can believe only when I see it,” Dangersignal snorted. “And it’s going to take a lot of convincing!”

“Yet you believed the humans when you were trying to find your cutie mark?” she asked.

“They were connections of Celestia’s!” Dangersignal protested, now getting his feathers in a knot.

Princess Twilight managed to cool him down with some well chosen phrases and after getting a promise that he would try to patch things with Discord, she flew off. If patching things got her and other friends off his back, then he was all for it.

That night, he slept badly. He kept seeing flames, smashed passenger coaches, screams and cries for help coming from the injured and dying passengers. All he could do was watch, frozen to the spot with fear. Then he was plunged into complete darkness. He began to feel something he never felt before, fear.

Scared beyond belief, his eyes flew open and he was sweating rivers. He took a shaky breath and looked at his clock. 3:45 am, and he didn’t take up guard duties for another three hours. He closed his eyes, and fell back into his troubled sleep. No nightmare was going to hold him back from his duties.

When he next came to, it was 7:45 and sunlight flooded the room. He was scrambling out of bed and over to where his armor was and getting it on when there came a knock. In a hurry and not wanting to delay himself anymore, he shouted “Come in!”

“Well, I never thought you’d be late to your day off,” came a wry chuckle.

Dangersignal turned and standing there, in his glory was Battle Sergeant Major Shaydefire. The Alicorn’s jaw dropped and he stared.

“How…but…what?” he stammered about, trying to get his mind wrapped around this.

“I talked with Princess Luna and my Commanding Officer, who agreed to have me transferred here, and it was agreed that you’d have time off for me to get used to working here,” he said.

“But Thestrals and daylight…” Dangersignal asked.

“We’re just like regular ponies, but are considered to be monsters as we like it at night, but we can work day shift,” Shaydefire chuckled. “I’m to learn the ropes for both shifts, in case your needed for any kind of emergency. By the way, do you remember the Thestral who got his wings in a twist when Luna visited you while you were overseeing the upgrading of the railway network?”

“Yes,” Dangersignal said.

“Well, when they visited you, it was the middle of broad daylight and it didn’t affect him at all,” Shaydefire said. “Princess Twilight Sparkle needs you for something.”

Dangersignal nodded. He placed the armor back in it’s rightful place and trotted off to find the princess after Shaydefire made his way to take care of the guards. The Alicorn was not exactly looking forward to the proposition of being friends with Discord.

Author's Note:

Yes, I am giving the Thestrals a little more lore. Also, surprised that Duck was mentioned? Well, there is a sequel planned and that's a crossover. One other thing-There are at least 14 more chapters planned out for this particular story, which will cover all remaining points that have been left hanging.

Comments

[Railroad Brony]

Is Dr. EconoAxe supposed to be Dr. Beeching?

[The Stainmore Phoenix]

5136481 He's supposed to be a much more difficult version of Dr. Beeching, instead of closing down branch lines, he believes that all railways are past their prime and need to be scrapped. Basically, it's the bottom line that matters to him.

[Railroad Brony]

5140716 Ah. I'm lucky that I recognized the reference at all, since I'm from across the pond

[The Stainmore Phoenix]

5141025 I'm also from "Across the Pond" but I grew up on Thomas the Tank Engine and friends, which is British and British Railway stories are more interesting, if you take my meaning.

Also, Dr. EconoAxe is also loosely based on some of my old college mates who believed that all railways had no place in the world and need to be scrapped. That was the whole thing about him wanting to close the whole railway and have it ripped up.

The race between balloon and trains was based on an event in Railworks, where me and several railway loving people raced against a person flying a balloon. It was hilarious, but the train won in the end. Right now, I'm finishing the last fourteen chapters for this story, then it's onto other railway stories.

[Railroad Brony]

5141042 the old TTTE are the best, am I right?