Upgrading the Railway Network

by The Stainmore Phoenix

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Dangersignal was staring into the ice cold glare of his wife. She then placed her front two hooves on her hips and began to read him the riot act (which was a first). He started to feel more and more sorry for his stunt. Rainbow Dash couldn’t stay angry with him for long. She hugged him and asked why he went against their plans.

“I was going to teach him the line that runs to Manehatten,” came the reply. “The gradient is a 1-in-101% climb which levels off at the bridge that connects Manehatten to the rest of Equestria.”

“Oh,” she said. “That must be a tough line to tackle.”

“It’s grueling to the pony who isn’t trained in fire stoking,” Dangersignal said.

Rainbow Dash made note of that, and went back to tell the others while Dangersignal levitated Coupling Rod away from the group and the two then landed by the stranded engine, with Dangersignal bringing Coupling Rod safely down. The two began to inspect the engine from top to bottom.

“Well, that tells it,” Coupling Rod hissed to Dangersignal. “Undercarriage is damaged and the driving axle on the second wheel set from the front is sheered in half.”

“We’ll have to get cranes and flat trucks,” Dangersignal said.

Coupling Rod hurried off to make the call. It was twenty minutes before Coupling Rod returned with help. It took a ton of time to move the cranes around to rescue the stranded engine. The trucks were re-railed and pulled away before the cranes were moved into position.

Once they were in position, Coupling Rod fit cables around the tank large tank engine and began to lift the engine up and swung it to the next running line and gently set it on the track, then the rescue engine, the BR Standard 2 2-6-0 tender engine, pulled the Robinson 0-8-4T back to the sheds.

“You must have been lucky,” Coalstreak huffed.

“Lucky?” The two railway ponies asked

“Lucky you weren’t hurt,” she said.

“I wouldn’t call this “lucky”,” Dangersignal said, attempting to lift his left wing.

It was bent and twisted, with several feathers missing. The others winced, as there was only one way that he could have gotten it. He carefully lowered his injured wing and looked back at the locomotive.

“Trying to use wings in tight spaces,” he said. “Isn’t exactly a smart idea.”

Rainbow Dash agreed, seeing that she was a Pegasus and was taught that wings should be used in wide open spaces. Her husband had used his wings to try and save himself, but had misjudged the cab width and managed to bang his left wing up.

He went to hospital and the doctor bandaged up his wings and prescribed him several different medicines to deal with swelling, pain, discomfort and grogginess. He was then put on bedrest until his wing healed, which meant he was out of commission for at least six weeks, which was shorter than the normal Alicorn wing healing time-twelve weeks.

Pegasi needed several days to have their wings heal. One reason, Alicorn wings are a lot bigger and any damage incapacitates the whole wing and basically downs the Alicorn, making them useless.

Dangersignal hated being useless. He felt that he couldn’t contribute, but like before, he was kept under supervision-Namely Rainbow Dash, who took great pride in saying that Karma got even with him for pulling one too many fast ones.

“Says the Wonderbolt Reserve who ended up being played for a sap with the “Mysterious Mare-Do-Well” stunt,” Dangersignal teased.

“I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t trade blows?” she asked, false innocence playing on her voice.

“We did,” her husband said, the same false innocence playing on his voice.

Silence, then laughter. The two realized that they had just played each other for saps and thought it funny. Once the laughing died down, the two looked out the window. The night sky was pretty. The moon and stars danced slowly around, their lights twinkling and shining.

“Beautiful,” Rainbow Dash said.

“That it is,” Dangersignal replied. “You’d best get some sleep. I need it too.”

Rainbow Dash decided to curl up under his functioning wing. Stallion Alicorn had larger wings than a Mare Alicorn. Many times, some one thousand years ago, when Alicorns were a much more common race, Stallion Alicorns were made of much tougher stuff and saw it as their duty to protect the Mare Alicorn that was their partner.

Despite Rainbow Dash being a Pegasus, Dangersignal still saw it as his duty to protect his family from any bodily harm. Then again, he never gave a second thought to his own safety, but when he realized that his family meant a lot to him and he meant a lot to them, it began to play on his mind.

That night, while he slept, he and Luna talked in the dreamscape.

“Princess, I’m slightly torn right now,” he said to her.

“What is it that has you torn, my fair friend?” Luna asked.

“Well, it’s that I want to be the best at what I do, but that means I’m constantly putting my life in harms way; but on the other side of the bit, I want to be there for my family, and that means that I’m often times having to ditch in the middle of something to be there when a crisis arises,” he said.

Luna pondered for several minutes before trotting over to him. She looked him square in the eye and kept her voice even as she spoke.

“I can only give you this advice my friend-that you need to talk with Rainbow Dash and see if she can help,” Luna said. “She may have the answer. I’m sorry I can not be of much help, but I am needed for another dream.”

With that, Luna disappeared and Dangersignal was left to stand in the voids of confusion. Just then, he could see that the voids were starting to fill themselves in. Lush, green fields; bright and colorful trees, well kempt grass and a certain, cheery cyan Pegasus.

“Honey, I’ve got some news for you.”

The dreamscape disappeared and his eyes flew open to see Rainbow Dash staring at him with a broad grin.

“Honey, I’m pregnant,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Again? That’s excellent!” Dangersignal cheered.

“And apparently it’s a rare birth, a bat pony/vampire hybrid,” she said.

Dangersignal goggled in surprise. This was rare indeed, so the question on his mind was how it happened. He wanted to ask Rainbow Dash, but she was on the phone, making sure the dark red Alicorn’s duties were being tended to. Satisfied that they were, she left for the hospital.

It was then that everything happened at once. Rarity raced in saying that Rainbow had given birth and there came a very horrid screaming noise. Dangersignal was on his hooves and heading for the door.

“COME ON!” he cried out.

Rarity followed him to Ponyville Junction where a sight greeted him. An express had slammed into a shunting coal train. From the debris patterns, the express was empty and doing around 85, despite there being a 25 mph speed limit at the junction. The engines were damaged and several undestroyed wagons were off the rails. The crews were injured and in hospital.

Dangersignal turned to see that the signalbox was empty. That sent all sorts of red flags waving. Getting the attention of the station stallion on duty, he inquired into the signalbox.

“Oh, Points Lock clocked on and signaled the express through,” the station stallion said. “The goods train was hoof ordered to shunt while the signals for the express were still “On” and showing “Danger”.”

“You ordered a shunting maneuver done while an express was bearing down?” Dangersignal snapped coldly.

“I wanted to save time,” came the sheepish reply.

“You don’t ever do that!” Dangersignal snapped again. “Rule #75, Section C, Subsection 4 says: “All goods trains that are to be shunted are to wait until a White Flag with a Blue border is shown, saying that the roads are free and the shunting maneuver can be carried out safely”.”

“Oh,” said the station stallion, meekly.

Dangersignal found Points Lock out cold on the floor. The Alicorn heaved the unicorn up and helped her onto the couch. She had the air of being a recent hire, as her coat and mane, both bearing a rusted silver color, looked too clean. He took up the phone and rang for a breakdown train.

That venture was met with ill success. He banged the receiver hard and muttered something about yard crews who don’t even bother to make sure the cranes are available. Without any cranes, there was no way to clear the wreckage. Quickly, he set all the signals to “Danger” and belled “Obstruction Danger” to the boxes in front and behind.

With all that being done, he was going to see about finding some cranes from somewhere else when he heard a noise the concerned him greatly. The sound of a steam engine dragging a goods train. He looked down and goggled in horror! A fast approaching goods was overrunning the signals at a mile a minute!

“Blast!” he yelped, grabbing a whistle and red flag with his ethereal magic.

Jumping off the box’s balcony, he galloped down the line waving the flag madly and bellowing out for the train to stop. The train, being drawn by a newly constructed GWR Cathedral Class, was moving too quickly. The driver saw the flags and slammed the brakes hard on.

The wagons began to derail and scatter themselves over the countryside, missing the station and all waiting passengers. Dangersignal looked angrily at the driver.

“Are you mental?” the Alicorn snapped. “All signals were set against you! Why did you ignore them?”

“I had seen them set for me to take the road,” the driver said.

Dangersignal realized that once a train reached a certain point, the driver could no longer see a signal go “against” him or her. Dangersignal made notes about ways to improve the protection.

The wreck crews cleared the lines, but it was slow going and works engines had to take away what was put on the rails and come back for more. Ponies appeared to watch the spectacle. Luckily, there was no need to have a full investigation, as everything was straight forward. However, an inspector came to see the Alicorn.

“Any suggestions for a further safety precaution?” he asked.

“Well, lets see…We have a “Distant” and an “Inner Distant”, what we need is an “Inner Distant Repeater” signal, so that way crews can see if there is a home signal set against them,” Dangersignal said. “Many old railways in the UK used this procedure as an added safety feature.”

The inspector wrote down the suggestion in a notebook and trotted away. Rarity, who had come up with Dangersignal was surprised to see that Dangersignal was putting his knowledge to good use. She moved closer to him and he looked down at her, due to his height difference.

“We should get to the hospital,” Dangersignal said.

“Well, Rainbow Dash gave birth, but to something extraordinary, A vampire/bat pony/Alicorn hybrid. The baby’s a boy. Evidentially, Princess Celestia knew that something like this would happen and wants to know if, when he’s old enough, you let him work as a prince for Princess Twilight, so he can run Ponyville when she’s needed elsewhere,” Rarity asked.

“Certainly,” Dangersignal said. “That was the intention if I ever had an Alicorn baby. I’d rather see him as a leader than in my position. That’s for sure, Rarity. However, with all body changes, it basically meant that this was bound to happen.”

“What do you mean?” Rarity asked.

“Well, when a pony ascends to the Alicorn state, that there is a high probability that they will have an Alicorn child. Bat pony/vampire/Alicorn mix is rare, unless there is a vampire/Bat pony in the family line and the one who bears some of the traits will end up with the mix,” Dangersignal explained.

“But you don’t have…” Rarity began.

Dangersignal turned and showed her four fangs. She gulped and stepped slowly back. All she could do was stare in surprise.

“My family history isn’t as simple as you may think. On my mother’s side, my great-great-great uncle is a bat pony/vampire hybrid. Throughout the family line, we’ve had bat ponies, vampires, bat pony/vampire crosses and regular ponies. I’m the first Alicorn Vampire,” Dangersignal said.

“So that’s why Rainbow Dash gave birth to a mix of all three,” Rarity said.

“Yes,” came the reply. “I hid the truth because I’d rather not have every pony freak out. Anyway, I should go and see the little guy.”

Rarity agreed and they headed off to the hospital. At the door, they were greeted by the others and went in. Dangersignal moved alongside his wife.

“How are you dear?” he asked.

“Just fine after that,” she said.

Dangersignal said that he was pleased that his wife was doing well. The doctor said that the baby was healthy and Dangersignal got to see it. The coat shone brightly and he looked healthy. The others were pleased for them and left them alone. Dangersignal explained all to Rainbow Dash.

“Ah, well, I can understand your fear, but hiding the truth from me is kind of uncool,” she said.

“I know,” Dangersignal explained. “I had plans to tell you, but the day I wanted to tell you, you were in labor and giving birth. After that, I was wrapped around my jobs.”

“Oh, sorry,” she chuckled.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “Anyway, an upgrade to Ponyville Junction station brought a load of chaos that Discord would be jealous of. Along side the “Up Slow Platform” line, there is an “Up Slow Duplicate” and an “Up Slow Triplicate” line, to allow the safer running of two more slower trains. One can be held, and the other can over take. There are also two “Up Fast” lines, to allow two fast trains, with one again being held.

Alongside the other “Up Fast” line is a platform, so we can hold a passenger train and let the passengers out. On the opposite side of the platform are two “Down Fast” lines with a “Down Slow Triplicate” line, “Down Slow Duplicate” line and the “Down Slow Platform” line.

With this massive upgrade of chaos, it brought in signals that were supposed to be protectionary, but have done nothing but confuse the crews and cause accidents. I’ve fallen victim to their chaos and it isn’t a proud thing to admit. I misread my signal. I was on the “Up Fast” line, being held to allow a mail train to over take and cross onto my line. The signals were cleared for that train, but I read it that the signals were cleared for me to cross over.”

“Wow, that’s silly,” she said. “Your brains must have failed you.”

He laughed and continued to talk with his wife about the plans for the Alicorn filly that Rainbow Dash had birthed.

Author's Note:

Yes, they gave birth to a Bat pony/Vampire/Alicorn filly. I wanted to play with an idea about vampires, bat ponies and Alicorns. Please note that his position is a back up royalty and stand in for Twilight when she's away. He's basically going to learn everything when he reaches fifteen, so he's going to be treated like a normal filly for two more chapters, then his tutelage with Twilight. When he's not needed by Twilight for any royal function, he will work on the railway line.

Now, I want to make this point here-I view all Alicorns like Black 5's

Go anywhere, do anything, able to turn their hooves to the hardest, dirties, cleanest, lightest, heaviest or the oddest of tasks. All my Alicorn characters (three in total) follow this simple principle. It's an idea to consider, but I rambled too much. Almost complete.