Smokestack Lightin'

by Logic Flip

Royalty Visits Utility

There is a known behavior among academics. A certain term that explains certain behaviors in the society of Equestria.

The term is “herd sense” and it has to do with the fact that ponies are, at their very core, still herd and social animals. Something that’s theorized to be an evolutionary carryover from Prehistoric ponies developing a sense of a potential yet unseen threat. In modern, Equestria though it rarely comes into resurgence considering the progress of the nation as a whole.

When everything is going right, that is.

As long as things keep going fine, ponies will cheerfully go about their day without any problems. It is only when an unknown is thrown into the mix do things quickly change. Even if a pony couldn't tell exactly what was setting off a warning in the back of their head, they would know that something, somewhere was not quite right. That a potential threat needed to be gauged.

Combine that with the gossip mill that was Ponyville and the huge column of smoke that could be seen clear from the Everfree then it was no surprise that the station was nearly all but swarmed. Pegasi hovered high above, some making seats in the clouds above the station. Earth ponies and unicorns alike pressed around the station in a semi-circle around the station, nearly making it impossible for the doctor and his nurses to get through to take Ashpan to the hospital.

In short, it had taken no time at all for the rest of the elements of harmony to gather at the station without Rainbow Dash needing to stop by their homes. The six of them were the only ones close to the giant of a locomotive, the rest of the town barely approaching the platform, even the pegasi in their hastily created cloud seats had circler border set around column of smoke coming from it's stack with one of them ever so often reaching out and swiping a hoof through the smoke.

Every one of them had a different opinion of the train and out of all them Rarity seemed to have the strongest one.

"The way Sweetie Bell was going on about it, I thought we would be facing down a dragon." She remarked with a curled lip as if she wanted nothing better to do that to give it a new coat of paint. "It certainly is ugly as one."

Twilight gave a hard cough to catch Rarity's attention before motioning to a visibly devastated Spike. The fashionista blanched and was quick to correct her words, making her way over to the baby dragon and nuzzling him. "I mean the very rude ones, Spikey-wikey. Don't worry yourself besides you're too cute."

The alicorn as well as the others have a unified sigh of relief as Spike visibly perked up. That last thing anyone wanted was Spike's little crush on the unicorn to be ruined over a misunderstanding. "Really? You think I'm cute?"

"As a button." Rarity said with a wink.

The baby dragon blushed and began to kick at nothing on the platform, mumbling under his breath.

Applejack snorted. "It ain't a looker but it certainly seems powerful. I mean, look at them wheels. Big as Princess Celestia, I'll bet."

"You're right about it being powerful, Applejack." Twilight said from behind the dictionary she had quickly gotten from the castle. For the love of...She was looking up and down the P's and this word 'Pacific' wasn't there. Paciest and Pacifist but no Pacific. With a huff of irritation as that mystery eluded her, she snapped the book shut and turned to Applejack. "If what In Time told me was correct, then this locomotive pulled that entire train uphill without loosing much speed. It isn't surprising, if anything it's completely utilitarian in design."

Rarity trotted along it's length, her critical eye taking in it's form as a whole. "Still wherever this...train came from you'd think they would go for some other color than black and grey. The whole scheme is rather drab in my opinion." She said, looking down at the rest of the train. "Thank goodness the coaches have at least some color."

"Speaking of where it came from," Rainbow Dash cut in. "You figure out where this thing came from, Twilight?"

"No. I haven't." The alicorn said with a sigh. "I'm still trying to figure out what some of the words on it's tender means."

Rainbow Dash gave her a confused look. "Really. I thought you were the biggest eggheadian this side of Equestria. Surely you of all ponies would know were this thing came from."

"Firstly, that is not even a real word." Twilight replied with a frown. "Secondly, I don't know everything. This," she motioned with a hoof at the locomotive, "is a complete unknown. Until Celestia and the Rail Authority arrive I have no clue where it came from."

Slowly, Rainbow Dash's face bloomed in excitement as she came to some kind of realization. "I know! This is a lost train like in Daring Do and The Ghost of The Railway. It's probably come from Tartarus to curse our very souls." Then she thought about what she said. "No, wait. That's bad."

At the mention of 'ghost' Fluttershy, who had been completely silent up to this point, whimpered a little and backed away from the platform slightly. "I-is that possible?"

"Of course not silly-billy." Pinkie Pie giggled from her spot next to the wheels as she tried and failed to jump up to the cab. "4014 is no ghostie, otherwise he wouldn't have brought two new ponies to Ponyville. Speaking of, I got three new parties to plan before the day is out."

"Pinkie, stop that." Twilight said as the party pony geared herself up for another try. "We don't know if it's safe or not."

The pink earth pony stopped in mid-jump, literally. She hovered in the air a split-second before landing on her hooves looking thoroughly disappointed. "Aw."

With a satisfied nod, Twilight turned to the blue pegasus. "And I don't think they have trains in the underworld."

"Aw, man." Rainbow Dash sighed. "That would have been awesome."

"That depends on what other's would qualify as awesome." Rarity said.

Twilight silently agreed with the white unicorn. The thought of a soul taking...well, anything would be terrifying to say the least. However, now that she thought about it, there was something indeed off with this train, the locomotive in particular. Beside the obvious, there was an odd...feeling coming from it. She slowly got closer to the train. Maybe if she gave it a thematic resonance scan-

"HALT!" Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice. She recognized the shine of gold as a royal guard swooped in from above landing right in front of her. He was immediately followed by five more pegasus guards who spilt up their formation, two confronting the pegasi above and the other three corralling the crowd away from the station.

"What's going on here?" Twilight balked as another guard blocked her way.

"Sorry, your majesty." The first guard who had spoken addressed her." This engine is off limits under royal order of Princess Celestia." Then another Pegasus guard came in. "We please ask for you and your fellow bearers to leave the station platform."

"What?" Applejack snapped. "Now listen here. This is our town an' we..." The orange mare faded as ANOTHER six guards dropped from the sky.

"Direct us to Ponyville General, the Princess will wish to speak with this train's driver."

---

Ashpan woke up with the worse dry mouth of the century and an ache. Like a really bad ache. The kind of deep ache the promised pain if he so much as twitch an eyebrow the wrong way. He rolled off of his belly and onto his side and that promise came through. He groaned a little, opening his eyes. Well, he was in the hospital. No other kind of building's walls had that ugly shade of green. He licked his lips and frowned at the dryness of his cracked lips.

By Luna's moon, he needed some water. With a grunt of effort, he sat up a looked around, the other bed in the room was empty and on his side table was a glass of water. Reaching out with a hoof, he snatched up the glass and downed it in record time.

His eyes were watering from the effort of moving around this much, however, and he flopped back in the bed, feeling a little… off, over all.

That had been the longest haul in his life. He knew he must have passed out when he finally got the train to the station. That or he sleepwalked here.

He didn't know how long he stared at the ceiling but soon he began to hear voices outside the door. There was a short exchange before it opened and two ponies walked in. One a yellow unicorn with a labcoat, who had to be his doctor, and the other the familiar red color of In Time.

"Hey." He began, moving the sit up only for the unicorn's horn to give off a blue glow and push him back down.

"No moving, Mr.Pan." The doctor said. "I'm Dr. Stable and you, my friend are very lucky."

Well, that didn't sound good. "Something wrong, Doc?"

"Well besides the fact you're suffering from both exhaustion and a mild case of dehydration, nothing actually." Stable began as he picked up a clipboard in his magic. "Which wouldn't have been the story if your friend here hadn't caught you."

Ashpan looked to In Time for an explanation. "You fell out of the cab." The pegasus mare stated. "At that height and angle, you might have hurt head and hurt your neck."

Stable started to write. "An understatement if I've ever heard one. A concussion on top of a neck injury? With everything else? That would have been the perfect storm for a long stay in a brace." The doctor paused and shuddered. "If that."

Both Ashpan and In Time narrowed their eyes at him though the pegasus was the first to speak. "Your bedside manner could use some work, you know?"

Stable didn't even look affected as he returned their glares with a flat look of his own. "Sometimes it pays to be frank with the patient. Prevents most from taking unnecessary risks in the future." He clicked his pen and went back to writing. "Especially certain problem patients."

Before Ashpan could ask what the doctor meant, the unicorn put down the clipboard and pocketed his pen. "Okay then. I will schedule a few tests and have the nurse bring you some more water."

He turned and with a glow of his horn shut the door behind him as he left the room.

"So," Ashpan looked at In Time, giving her a goofy grin. "Whatcha been up to since my nap?"

The pegasus chuckled. "Well, nothing much. Just trying to comp for the fallout that came when we rumbled into the junction. Oh, and I met Princess Twilight today."

The earth pony blew a raspberry. "Yeah, right."

"Okay, I admit. I didn't so much as meet her as she gave me a short interrogation on the platform while waiting for the doctor to arrive."

Ashpan's eyes widened. She wasn't joking. "You're serious? You met THE Princess Twilight."

In Time nodded, sitting down next to his bed. "Though, now that I think about it, I wasn't dressed for the occasion." She added sarcastically. "Maybe I should've brushed my mane first."

"You think?" He said sarcastically. He laughed before getting a little more serious. "How bad was it?"

"Not as bad as I expected." The mare said, head hanging down to the floor slightly. "Got attention before we even rolled in. Gonna be even worse when Rail Authority catches wind of this mess. The Station Master alone was freaking out."

Ashpan inwardly cringed. They were accountable for so much now. "We're fired, aren't we?"

"No doubt." The pegasus nodded and began listing off infractions, her head dipping with each one she called out. "Abandoning our posts. Destruction of company property. Driver error. Conductor error. Failure to stop at dozens of signals. Failure to obey. Derailment of company locomotive. Not filling out the proper paperwork. All and all, we've given CU & Baltimare a full 127 flavors of reasons to not consider us employees of the month."

"Thought so." He huffed and began to stare at the ceiling again.

It was quiet for a few minutes before In Time broke it.

"I'm sorry."

Ashpan looked back the pegasus who still hadn't lifted her head. "What for?"

In Time lifted her head and a shocked pinned on her face. "What do you think? Getting you fired, Ash."

Her tone had taken a slightly weary undercurrent flutter and the earth pony really looked at his friend.
She looked worn. Her usually fizzy mane drooped in a low, tangled mess. Her shoulders sagged, elevating up and down with every slow deep breath. It looked like someone had etched the weight of exhaustion into her very bones. She looked more tired than he was and that was saying something.

Ashpan felt is insides twist in a bubbling muddle of pity and guilt. His voice caught a fraction as it dawned on him. She had been up this whole time to worried about him, not about her job but his. It took him moment to get his mouth working. "Got nothing to be sorry for. I drove the train, you shoveled the coal. Nothing more to it."

"Nothing more to it?" The pegasus echoed, sounding more exasperated than anything. "I jumped into your engine."

"Only because I was the only one with a fire stoked. Would've taken hours to get another ready and we wouldn't have caught up by then."

"I could've driven it myself."

"Then who would have shoveled coal?"

"I could've."

"Then who would have kept the water up? The locomotive would have exploded."

"It did."

"True but without me it would have happened a whole lot sooner."

There was no way he was letting her put the brunt of their actions on her shoulders. He was going to counter every point she made.

"I could have gotten you killed." She practically whispered.

"You could have gotten killed." He stated flatly.

By this point, In Time was shivering, tears threating to stream from her eyes. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"Not until you do."

In Time took a deep breath, wiping her eyes clear. "Fine, you cretin of a coal pony."

"This coming from the terrifying timetable ticker of Appaloosa? Must be my lucky day." He turned over to his side with a satisfied smile then froze as something occurred to him. "Did she...um...was the Princess there when I-"

In Time cut him off, wide smile returning in earnest. "Yep. Saw your drunk on salt impression. Even applauded your singing skill."

"I did not sing." Ashpan snapped, crossing his forehooves across his chest. There was a pause then a slightly more desperate. "I didn't sing, did I?"

In Time said nothing, only smiling as she began to find a particularly interesting bit of window to stare at.

"Come on, Time. Don't leave me hanging like this."

Nothing.

"By Celestia's mane, filly!" Ashpan shimmed to the edge of the bed to get closer to his friend. "I will give you anything, if you tell me you were just joking."

Immediately, the earth pony regretted his choice of words as an evil glint appeared in her eye. "Anything?"

"W-w-wait. I mean, anything within reason." He quickly added. In Time went back to looking at the window.

"Okay. Okay. Anything."

Their conversation paused the sound of a gasp from beyond the hospital room's door caught their attention. Then there were voices. Frantic and surprised voices. A short exchange of words In Time stood as if took go and check but whoever was on the other side of that door beat the mare to it.

Two white unicorns dressed in golden armor marched in, taking place by both sides of the door. Then she came in.

Now Ashpan had heard many stories of Princess Celestia's beauty but never really got to see it. His job never really took him to Canterlot. The closest he came was pictures in the newspaper which he just now figured out was a mere shadow of her presence. He probably would have already been bowing if it wasn't for the shock of the fact Princess Celestia was in his room.

She gave the two of them a warm smile, her mane softly flowing in an invisible breeze. "You must be Ashpan and In Time."

In Time, who just like Ashpan, had been frozen in shock quickly scrambled to bow and the white earth pony struggled to get to his hooves to do the same.

Again, just like with Doctor Stable, Princess Celestia's horn glowed and her magic gently pushed him down. "There is no need for that." She said. "This might be a business visit but that is no reason to overreach yourself."

Ashpan struggled to find something to say, his mouth opening a closing like a fish. "Um, thank you, your Majesty."

"No. I should be thanking you, both of you." Again, Celestia left him speechless as she shook her head. "I saw that train on my way into town and I shuddered to think of what damage it could have caused if it derailed at speed. You did the nation a great service by bringing it under control. Thank you, my little ponies."

In Time bowed while Ashpan nodded his head in respect. "Thank you, you majesty." They both said.

"I have a request for you two." The white alicorn began.

"Anything, your majesty." Ashpan responded.

"I have a group of experts that will be examining this locomotive and could use the help of the ponies that controlled it first hand." Again Ashpan felt awed as her motherly gaze fell on him. "When you recover, of course."

"We'd be honored." The earth pony said. In Time just simply nodded.

"Good. I thank you again for your service."

With that the solar princess turned and left and a few seconds later.

"Ah, ponyfeathers." In Time hissed.

"What?"

"I still wasn't dressed properly."

Author's Note:

Hopefully I got the character of the Mane Six right. For some reason I've never been good with multiple characters.

Also, I found a picture that would be perfect of what Ashpan and company saw moments before 4014 thundered by:

Creepy, right?

Comments

[Hereward]

I'm stunned by your suggestion that the railways of Equestria are private. Considering the available information on the distribution of their rail network it'd make more sense to consider it as a nationalised industry.

[Prism Smasher]

5491412
It's probably a bit of both, with the country funding the construction and expansion of the railways, and private companies, subsidized by the Crown, running the actual freight and passenger lines.