4460 and the Equestrian Magic Railroad

by stallionlocomotive4412

Chapter:5 Celestia Finds the Truth part 2

Author's Note:

Jeez how long has it been since the first part? Well, it doesn't matter now, because I have finally found time to write! Here it is folks and I hope you enjoy it!

The princess and the steam locomotive were now, what appeared to be traveling across the country. The Lima Locomotive Works building changed to a forest, then to massive grass plains, to the harsh hot western deserts, to the Rockies, and finally to a railroad yard. Celestia looked around, but all she could see were steel tracks, several hundreds of metal and wooden freight cars, and the plumes of smoke rising from above them. In front of her, the 4460's image rolled up to her and spoke. "Welcome to the town of Sacramento your highness. This is Sacramento Yard, owned by the Southern Pacific, and the place where I took my first assignment as a mixed traffic locomotive. That's my crew over there." Celestia turned her head to where 4460 was looking, and saw two men dressed in suspenders, jackets and caps, standing by the 4460 of the past. One appeared to be older, with glasses, white hair and was pretty short. The other, was younger, tall, and slim with short brown hair. The two men were reading a newspaper, until one of them spoke.

"So this is what were in for, huh Donald?" said the young man.

"That it is Barry. The allies want us to assist them in the bomber raid. This will show them Germans!"

"Wow, a train full of medical supplies and ammunition and this is only my first assignment."

"Barry, you'll do fine, I know that. Besides, this is our locomotive's first assignment as well. She'll do fine as long as you keep her steam up."

"Yes sir."

4460 grinned. "And what a good fireman you were Barry." The crew climbed into the cab and were preparing to leave. Princess Celestia became curious on what the crewmen were talking about. She never heard of bomber raids or Germans. "Excuse me, 4460." The engine looked down to the Alicorn.

"Mmm?"

"Your former crew, they spoke of bomber raids and the Germans. Who are they, or what are they?"

"Ah yes. My assignment was to take this train load of supplies so they can be taken to Europe, on the other side of the world. My country, America, went to war and we were helping out our allies in a bomber raid on one of the enemies, Germany. Bomber raids are a group of large airplanes, that drop bombs from above. This mission was ran by the Royal Air Force."

"A war?" asked Princess Celestia. That word had sent a cold chill down her spine. She remembered the last time there was a war in Equestria, but it hadn't occurred for centuries. She began to question herself, if this locomotive was a true war machine, or was it doing it's job for the sake of protecting the country. If so, was this so called, Germany, or any of the other enemies, that serious to kill for? She couldn't tell.

They watched as the train departed out of the yard and began to grow smaller in the distance, until the scene, as usual shifted to a different location. They were now on a street with tracks curving into a station. As Celestia looked around, she saw several trains pulling passenger cars in and out of the station, their bells clanging and their whistles blowing. She never seen a station so active. So active, that a few men were standing outside with red flags and holding up the automobiles at the crossing. The engines were all different sizes. Some looked similar to 4460, but with different sized drive wheels, dual headlights (the top one flashing), different cab styles, numbers, and different tenders. Two of them, had a beautiful color scheme of red, orange, black, and a slick cursive writing saying Daylight on it. Celestia looked at her telepathic companion as if she knew the engine would speak, which she did. "Los Angelas. This is where me and a lot of my relatives spent most of out time as passenger locomotives. My cousins, the mountain types had several services on the railroad, and they even got to look a little like us with the skyline casings and horns. Those, over there were my famous siblings, the GS Class. 74 of us were built, but only 50 were chosen to become the famous Daylights, Oh how boastful some of them were, especially the GS-4s and GS-5s, they're the ones with the two headlights, not to mention how new they were. My eldest siblings were a little more calmer."

Celestia looked at 4460 in astonishment. Everything she explained clicked into her mind, especially to see how many siblings the engine had. It was as if each had a personality of their own, well according to 4460, they did. She wondered of 4460 still knew, or had any close relationships to the other engines in the present day. "Do you still talk to your siblings? Do they know where you are? Can you speak to them?" That question seemed to hit 4460 like a dagger in the heart. Tears began to show in her eyes but she refused to let them go. "Did I say something offensive?" she thought to herself.

"It's okay Princess Celestia." said 4460.

"I thought that it would be interesting to know, but i guess...."

"No. It's necessary for you to know, I'm the only one that can give you my background history. Let's just say, I know of a few family members that survived."

The two were now at a massive engine shed where Celestia saw 4460 of the past sitting inside her stall, while her siblings were lined up. Their numbers were striped, the drive rods gone, boarded up cab windows, blacked out headlights, and empty of steam. Celestia couldn't help but wonder if they were deceased. She turned around and saw a strange looking locomotive. It had a similarly sleek look to it, but the windows were up front, it had no drive wheels, and it was very quiet as it moved. It purred like a cat as it slid up to the dead steam engines and coupled up to them with a soft clank. "What is that?" asked the princess. "That's my fate your highness." replied 4460 "The diesel locomotive. They would be the what replaced us steam locomotives because of efficiency and money. They could run off of fuel ONLY. They didn't need a fire to make steam, they didn't need the maintenance we required, and they didn't even make smoke. I HATED them with a burning passion because they were so rude and kept telling us we would die soon. The only exceptions were the innocent, sweet little switcher engines that actually helped us in the yards."

They both watched as the black, orange, red, and silver diesel pulled the line of dead steamers out of the siding. "You don't recall any of them surviving?" asked the Alicorn.
"Unfortunately, not." answered 4460. In present day, I've met three of my Pacific cousins, but never met my only other surviving sibling, a GS-4 Daylight. I feel too pained to show you my last run on the railroad. To be brief, I was one of the few engines to be put in storage. In 1958, several railfans requested an excursion behind a steam locomotive, and I was chosen. As a matter of fact, I was the very last steam engine to ever run of the Southern Pacific railroad before I was saved for the scrappers torch, and put into a museum in
St.Louis, Missouri. I'll show you my restoration in present day and my disappearance. We'll finally be on point."

With that, they were now in present day at a museum. Standing outside was the 4460 once more, being rebuilt. Time was moving quickly, along with the people working on the engine. Celestia could just make out the lettering of one of the workers shirts. "Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation." she pronounced. She saw a pair of men standing in front of her looking at he work being done and the older men gave a couple pats on the back of the younger one. "That's the organization's president and apprentice. D. McCormick and James Jackson." said 4460 "James was my absolute favorite engineer since my restoration. For a twenty two year old, he learned quickly and had some talent." They both watched was the restored engine was steamed up, coupled up to five passenger cars, rolled on out of the museum grounds, and on to the mainline. "Now, the conclusion of how I arrived in your world." said the locomotive.

"I sense it's nearly morning." said Princess Celestia. " I must wake up soon."

"Then let's make this quick shall we?" replied 4460. With that, they both witnessed as the restored engine came thundering through a gorge. Just ahead was a tunnel that was glowing with several colors. Celestia was shocked as she witness the entire train pass through the portal and vanishing. Seconds later, she saw the crew, James and all walking out the tunnel in shock and bewilderment. "So that's how you got here." concluded Celestia. "Your crew and train hadn't managed to make it through the portal. That's why you were a runaway. Oh I feel sorry for Braeburn and the trainmen risking their lives to stop you. Er no offense." 4460 just chuckled. "None taken your highness. Now wake up."

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