Canterlot Choo Choo
Vinyl was riding an instrument, she wasn’t sure what it was but it made beautiful music. Its body was made of rack after rack of speakers booming out their voices to all they passed. Each clack as the speaker train ran down the tracks was a deep throb of bass providing a perfect tempo. She sat at the centre of the machine, it was all under her control as if it was an extension of her body, the slightest pressure on the controls altered its path, its music, her destiny, all hers to control.
But...
There was something wrong, something out of place, something discordant, a sound not created by her. Sighing she turned in her machine / body / womb and tried to find a tool to fix whatever it was that had broken. It was getting louder and nearer, it almost sounded like...
“Wake up!”
“Huh, flubble?” murmured Vinyl as she was dragged back to consciousness.
“Wake up! You’ve got hungry passengers to feed! I’ll have no laziness on my train.”
With a titanic effort she opened her eyes to see an angry dark blur in front of her, she blinked a few times and the blur resolved itself into an angry dark coated earth pony stallion. He was old, older than her parents, his coat so dark a blue as to be almost black, his mane, his mane was missing for some reason although his tail was a greying green. He was wearing a smart green jacket and a hat with a shiny badge on it.
“Lower the decibels dude,” she moaned as she struggled through of the lovely warm sheets she’d been tangled up it. She rolled onto the floor and almost fell, her legs, and even her horn, felt rubbery after yesterday’s exertions. She glanced towards the carriage’s small window, it was pitch black outside, surely it wasn’t time for her next shift yet?
“What have you been doing? Your coat is filthy,” exclaimed the angry stallion.
“Shovelling coal, I guess they forgot to polish it before they loaded it.”
“You’re Vinyl Scratch right?”
“Yeah, and you are?”
“I am Spitshine, head conductor.”
“Head conductor? What happened to Silver?”
“Silver Service departed from the train about an hour ago at Los Pegasus, where I embarked, this is my train now,” he sniffed and drew himself up to his not particularly impressive height.
“Anyway, you’re due in the kitchen, food will be delivered in,” he checked a shiny pocket watch, “Forty two minutes, and is due to be served in two hours sixteen.”
“Kitchen? Why? I’m a firemare.”
“You said you’re name was Vinyl Scratch right?” He peered at her.
“Yeah,”
“Well this form says you signed on as the trains cook!” he shook a piece of paper in front of her, she recognised it as the one she’d signed yesterday, she hadn’t paid much attention to at then. “Silver said something about new starts,” continued Spitshine, “I knew the mare was sloppy but to assign you to the wrong roles for your first run, unacceptable,” he spat. “As it says you are the cook, and the cook you will be!”
“Um actually, *yawn* I’m the cook,” said Bluenote looking up from her own bed.
“And you are?”
“Bluenote.”
“Then you Miss Bluenote are not the cook, you are my assistant and I expect you to be in my office in full uniform in three hours fourteen minutes. We have a full train of ponies wanting to be home for the holidays and I expect to deliver perfect service to them. I assume that she,” he pointed to Lyra who was still asleep hugging her pillow tightly and drooling slightly, “Is Miss Heartstrings, our fire mare; I expect her to be in position in four hours fourteen minutes. Kindly tell her once she regains consciousness. In the mean time I expect you Ms Scratch to use the crew shower before you come on shift.” With that the elderly stallion turned and stomped from the cabin leaving two shocked and one sleeping mare behind him.
“That... that was not good,” said Bluenote once she could talk again.
“Think we should try to set him right?” asked Vinyl raising her glasses and rubbing her eyes, the grime covering all of her not protected by the lenses made her look like a reverse panda.
“You think it would work?”
“No, I know his type, he would ignore the two tyrants if they weren’t on his schedule. I guess we’ll be switching jobs then, can’t say I’ll be unhappy not to have another day of shovelling coal, no offence but cooking seems the easy option.”
“It’s trickier than it seems.”
“Hey, I can cook, mostly noodles, but I’m not helpless in the kitchen.”
“Well,” said Bluenote getting to her feet, “It’s fairly easy, there’s a preset menu, recipe cards and they bring on most of the meals premade. Some of the passengers are really picky though.” Stretching she reared up and prodded Lyra, “Lyra, wake up!” The mint pony didn’t move, she poked her a little harder, still no reaction.
“You’ll never wake her like that,” said Vinyl, “She’s a really deep sleeper. You’ve got to know the trick. Why, Bon Bon what are you doing here?” said Vinyl quietly.
“Huh, what? Bon Bon, where?” asked Lyra instantly awake, her head swivelling around.
“Sorry, false alarm,” said Vinyl with a grin. “We got a problem, there’s a new conductor on board and we’ve all got new jobs, you’re fire mare now.”
“Cool! Do I get to drive the train?” asked Lyra hopping down from her bunk.
“No you get to shift ton after ton of coal, there’s a guy called Heavy Load up there, should be able to show you the ropes, he give you any trouble just remind him I can kick his ass.”
“Got it. Who’s being a conductor?” Bluenote nodded. “It’s really easy just make sure you do whatever anypony wants you to do, look after the first class passengers and if you’ve got the time keep an eye on the standard class. Listen out for the call cords, that’s about it.”
Vinyl nodded. “Right I better be off, there’s a shower with my name on it, see you girls later. Remember we’ll be home tomorrow.”
Shivering slightly Vinyl made her way into the kitchen, it was amazing how on a machine which ran on hot water the shower only seemed to manage cold or icy. Still it felt good to be clean, well cleaner, a problem with a white coat was that all the stains showed, even after a good scrub some coal dust still remained. She had only just donned her uniform when she felt the train start to slow beneath her as it pulled into a station.
As Bluenote had warned her a small army of ponies marched on board with trays of food and began to load them into the heated hatches. Vinyl told herself she’d have a look at them later, they sounded interesting. Once the food was loaded and the train moved off again a few other staff members started to set up the tables and lay out boxes of cereal. Vinyl led back against one of the counters, it didn’t seem like there was much for her to do right now. She stretched again, her muscles still ached from fatigue, maybe she could shut her eyes for a few minutes, the warmth from the all-around was very soothing.
Lyra trotted towards the front of the train feeling a little apprehensive. She’d seen how exhausted Vinyl had been after a day shovelling coal and the DJ had far more magical strength than she had. Still she liked to think her body was stronger than Vinyl’s although the white unicorn did spend a lot of time climbing around the jungle gym that made up her house. She shook herself, and whispered the words of Sir Gallant Hat. “My strength is like the strength of ten, for my heart is pure!” Bolstered, she opened the door to the engine itself and forced her way in against the wave of heat that burst forth.
“Oh, hi Vinyl, I thought I’d...” started the large stallion in front of her, although dusty his coat looked and smelt freshly washed and his mane was neatly combed. “Wait a minute, you’re not Vinyl!”
“So many ponies seem to be making that mistake recently, did my coat get dyed or something,” she joked turning around to look at herself. “I’m Lyra Heartstrings. I’m afraid Vinyl’s been reassigned so you’ll have me for the rest of the trip.” She held out a hoof.
“Oh,” he sounded rather disappointed. “I’m Heavy Load, pleased to meet you miss.” He gently bumped his hoof against hers.
“Vinyl told me about you, she said you’d help me settle in.”
“She talked about me?” his ears pricked up. “Oh, yes I can help you. Well basically we move the coal from there,” he pointed to the large hoppers behind them, “To the engine, but it’s a bit more complicated, we want to keep a steady burn not go all out.”
“Got it!” said Lyra.
“You can use a shovel or your magic, get a couple of loads into the furnace and I’ll show you how to arrange it properly.”
“Ok,” Lyra looked back at the coal supply, she mostly used her magic for fine manipulation like playing her lyre or illusions, her lifting capacity wasn’t great, she decided against trying to move tons of coal with her horn and started to crawl into the shovel. She got it around her neck but the large tool made her look very small.
“Let me help you with that,” said Heavy adjusting a few straps and finally managing to draw it light around Lyra’s diminutive frame. “That should do.”
Lyra moved around a bit to get used to it, then leaned forwards and stuck the blade into the coal, with effort she straightened and staggered over to the fire before dropping the load into it. She turned and started to repeat the process with difficulty starting to feel her back and neck muscles complain. It wasn’t easy but she would do it, her friends were depending on her!
Heavy watched Lyra for a moment before turning back to his own work, a look of concern on his face.
“Hay bacon and eggs for table two,” came a cry, “Full Equestrian for table five.”
Vinyl shook herself awake and looked around blearily, “Huh?”
One of the servers was standing at the kitchen door, looking worried, “You alright?” he asked.
“Yeah, no problem,” said Vinyl, it was just as well the kitchen was so cramped or she would have fallen down when she fell asleep. “A hay bacon and eggs and a full Equestrian, right?”
“Yep.”
“Right, give me five minutes,” she started to open random cupboards to try and find the meals, she guessed she might have to cook the eggs now so she levitated a frying pan and turned on one of the small gas burners.
“Porridge for table twelve,” called another server.
“Eggs benedict for eight.”
“Full Equestrian, hold the tomato’s for fifteen!”
Vinyl groaned, maybe shovelling coal would have been easier.
“So you’re the new assistant conductor then?” said Spitshine looking down his muzzle at Bluenote. The two of them were standing in his office at opposite side of his desk, it was clear he didn’t think much of her.
“Apparently,” said Bluenote, briefly wishing she was back in the train’s comfy kitchen.
“So what does a conductor do then?” he asked.
Buenote was glad she’d talked to Lyra earlier. “We’re here to do whatever we have to keep the passengers happy. We mostly focus on first class but do what we can for standard class as well.”
“Wrong!” roared the stallion causing Bluenote to jump back into the partition behind her. “You’ve been talking to Silver Service haven't you? We are here for all the passengers, standard or first class, everypony deserves the best possible service we can provide. If you don’t understand that then you won’t have long in this business.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be! Be better!” A small bell rang against the wall, Spitshine glanced up at it. “Carriage two, come on, we’ve got work to go.”
The old stallion checked his watch again and stiffly trotted towards the door followed by Bluenote, they made their way down the train and into the first class section. As they entered there was shouting from ahead and two diminutive forms almost slammed into them as they rushed past. Bluenote just about recognised them as Double and Trouble half running, half gliding down the corridor.
Ahead of them a carriage door opened and a light blue coated middle aged mare with her white mane wrapped around curlers stuck her head out and shook a hoof at the foals as they disappeared down the corridor. “Young hooligans,” she screeched. Then she noticed Bluenote and Spitshine. “You there, conductors, those little monsters have been rushing back and forth for hours now, do something about it! I didn’t pay for first class to be awoken by those creatures, they’re not natural you know! No true pony would, well you know, with a griffin.”
Bluenote felt her hackles rise at the comment but she tried to keep herself under control. “I’m sure they didn’t mean to disturb your beauty sleep,” she said trying to sound calming. “But kids will be kids you know, I’m sure you remember what it was like being their age, even if it was a while ago,” she grinned.
“What do you mean by that!” bellowed the mare, no doubt waking her neighbours if the colts hadn’t already.
“It was a joke, sorry.”
“Not a very funny one! I will be complaining to your manager about this!”
“That would be me madam,” said Spitshine smoothly. “I apologize for her poor choice of humour. Rest assume I will have words with the children and you will not be disturbed by them again. Now is there anything else we can do to make your time with us better?”
“Well,” said the mare seemingly mollified. “I think I would like breakfast in bed, porridge covered in rose petals and a glass of orange juice.”
“I will see to it personally madam, if that is all?” The mare nodded and Spitshine gave a bow before turning and grabbing Bluenote’s leg and dragging her down the corridor. “What do you think you were doing?!” he hissed.
“You heard what she said about them, she deserved to...” Bluenote was interrupted as the two colts returned rushing down the corridor chasing each other and screaming loudly.
“Lads!” said Spitshine threateningly as he put himself in the way of Double and Trouble. The two young hippogriffs skidded to a halt in a tangle of wings, hooves and claws. “You know you kids aren't supposed to be here!” he growled.
“We’re sorry!” said the two little hybrids looking up at the conductor eyes wide. “But we’re so bored!” they chorused. “There’s nothing to do and auntie’s got one of her headaches!” said one as the other nodded.
Bluenote readied herself to try and distract the older pony’s fury but to her surprise Spitshine knelt with some difficulty in front of the kids. “Now Lads,” he said gently. “I know how you feel but you can’t just run up and down the corridors, you’ll disturbing other ponies and you might hurt yourselves.” The two colt’s heads drooped. “Tell you what, we’ve got some games and books on board, I’m sure you can find something to amuse yourself with for a few hours. How about that?”
Both children nodded rapidly.
“Good,” said Spitshine getting to his hooves again. “Bluenote, take these two young gentlestallions to the supply cupboard in carriage six, you should find what they need. If you’ll excuse me,” he nodded to Double and Trouble, “I’ve got to get somepony’s breakfast.” He turned and walked away.
Bluenote watched in astonishment as the older stallion walked away.
Finally after several hours and what seemed like hundreds of different recipes the breakfast crowd died down. Some of the passengers had been so finicky, she’d had to go through a dozen boiled eggs for one they were all too runny, or too hard leaving Vinyl with the washing up. A few quick bring to life spells dealt with that particular chore although they brought a little twinge to her horn. She guessed she had a few hours before she was needed so Vinyl decided to have a look at the equipment around the kitchen to pass the time.
Most of it was fairly standard, if miniaturized, still it was fun to take it apart and have a bit of a look around inside. The heating system for the cabinets was interesting, it seemed to draw waste water from the engine itself and used it to keep the contents warm. It was a bit wasteful though, maybe some sort of heat exchanger could be added so that less of the heat was lost, it might even be possible to use the steam directly for some meals, she wasn’t sure about the hygiene implications though, although steam was steam right? It wasn’t anything she could do on the fly anyway but it might be interesting to try in her kitchen at home, she thought she still had some of granddad’s stuff in the basement, she should be able to build a small boiler without any trouble.
The last device she found was the most interesting to her, it was a medium sized oven, about the size of a ponies head, with a glass panel in one. Most of the kitchen, although cleaned, looked worn but this thing was pristine, untouched. After scanning it with her magic she discovered that it seemed designed to react to a unicorn’s field but it wasn’t clear how. She turned it on and a short blue flame appeared at the bottom, she concentrated and realised she could control its position and strength through her magic. Finally it occurred to her what it was, a live flame, a quick magical way of cooking food. She’d heard of them but never seen one before, they were supposed to cook really quickly, she couldn’t see why they didn’t use it, her hooves itched to give it a go. She flipped though the recipe cards but none mentioned using it. So she just filled up a cup with water and loaded it in. Carefully steering the flame under the cup and elongating it she watched with interest as after a few seconds the water started to boil, neat!
She was about to start a few more experiments when the train came to a stop and the lunches were loaded on. She flipped through the menu, the ever present mac and cheese, she could deal with, the courgette salad the same, but there were things she hadn’t even heard of before on the first class menu, what was scampi anyway? She glanced at the live flame, maybe she could use that to make things easier? She mused for a moment, probably not, she didn’t understand it properly yet, maybe later.
Gritting her teeth Lyra tossed another load of coal into the furnace, she stopped for a moment to use her magic to settle the coal out like Heavy had shown her to make it burn more evenly. Then slumped back for a moment, her neck muscles were screaming at her after moving so many loads of coal and her legs had started to feel like lumps of coal themselves, but she would not give up! Everypony on the train was depending on her to get them to their destination.
“You really should take a break, you’ve been at it for hours,” said Heavy looking concerned. “Here take a drink, you need to keep hydrated.” He raised a bottle of water and she took it in her aura, it was heavier than she expected and she almost dropped it before she concentrated and it make its shaky journey to her, she poured a good load into her mouth and swallowed gratefully before upending the rest over her head. She sighed feeling the luke warm water wash over her mane, it felt heavenly in the boiling heat of the engine.
“I’m good, I can keep going,” she assured the large stallion.
“You should listen to the lad,” said Stopping, the break-stallion, sticking his head into the engine room. “I remember back when I was a fire stallion my partner damn near killed himself one time, trying to impress a mare he was,” he glanced at Heavy. “Ended up putting himself out of commission for weeks.”
“I can do it,” insisted Lyra, “Just another ten minutes.” She lifted another load trying to stop her legs from shaking. “So why did you all decide to work on the trains?” she asked.
“It’s in my blood,” said Stopping, “My father was a driver and my grandmother was an architect, laid out a good chunk of the railways in the south and west of Equestria she did.”
“I’m in it for the speed,” called Steep from the front of the train. “Not that you get much of that on the passenger runs but I got to run tests on the Spirit when they first put her in service, damn she was fast, weren't you girl, she’s rated for one hundred and twenty but I saw her do twenty over that down a hill.”
Lyra grinned at the old stallion talking to the engine, all the staff seemed to do it, talk about the train as if she was alive. She found it romantic in a way, making the Spirit herself part of the team. “How... about... you?” she asked panted to Heavy, she was finding it difficult to catch her breath, it was so hot, the furnace itself looked cooler than the room.
“Well I’ve always loved trains, great powerful, beautiful things,” mumbled Heavy looking down. “You could see the trains go by from my house, I spent hours watching them go back and forth off to exciting places, I told myself that one day I’d drive one of them. I’ve not quite got there yet but I will one day.”
“We all got to pay our dues lad, but one day, you’ll get your turn,” said Steep. “How about you lass? Why you working here?”
Lyra tried to speak but she couldn’t seem to get the words out, straining herself she lifted another load of coal and dragged her body across the room. For some reason the room seemed to be getting dark despite the fire, it wasn’t that late was it? She leaned forwards to empty the shovel and she just seemed to keep going moving forwards towards the fire. She should probably stop, she thought, but she couldn’t quite remember how, it was probably something to do with those things sticking out of her body, legs she thought they were called but she couldn’t remember how to use them.
The last thing she saw before it all went black was Heavy rushing over towards her.
“Lyra! Lyra!” someone was yelling her name, they sounded very worried.
“Bon Bon?” she asked hopefully, trying to open her eyes, she felt dizzy.
“Are you alright?” asked Heavy, Lyra peered at both of him for a moment before the image resolved itself, he looked worried.
“What happened? Where?” She asked.
“You gave us a scare, lass,” said Stopping. “You fainted. Pushing yourself too hard.”
“I’m fine,” said Lyra trying to get up, her legs didn’t seem to want to work. “I need to help Heavy, we have to get to Canterlot!”
“Heavy will be fine on his own for a while, you built up a good fire and the next few hours are mostly downhill.”
Heavy nodded. “Cool off up front, rest, get something to drink, maybe we’ll send back for some left over breakfast. You can help again when you’re feeling better.”
“No I’m fine I... Whoops!” cried Lyra as she tried to get to her hooves again, they seemed to slide away underneath her and she would have fallen if Heavy hadn’t gotten in the way.
“Well maybe a few minutes,” she admitted letting herself be lead to the cooler environment of the drivers cabin. She felt so useless right now.
It seemed to Bluenote that that bell never stopped ringing, she’d only just gotten back to her station when it was going again. She and Spitshine had split up to be able to deal with all the requests although she thought the old stallion still didn’t trust her. She glanced up at the board, first class again she grumbled to herself, why did they have to be so picky?
She almost galloped down the corridor and yanked the carriage door open. “Speedy delivery service, how can I be of assistance?” she quipped.
“Hum,” said the white stallion sitting at a desk, for some reason the cushion he was sitting on was shaped like a duck. “Oh, could you get me another bottle of ink please, this one is almost empty and I have some rather important correspondence to finish.”
“Right away sir!” said Bluenote as she left the room. In her short career as a conductor she’d found out that a surprising amount of junk was hidden around the train, ink shouldn’t be that hard to find. In fact it was in the first place she found, about half a bottle, it looked a little old and partially dried up, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. As she was closing the door she noticed a second unopened bottle at the very back of the cupboard, she’d have to empty almost everything out of it to get to it. She considered for a moment then she heard the call bell ring again and she slammed the cupboard shut, no time now. She rushed back to the white ponies room and presented the ink to him.
“Oh is this all,” he asked.
Bluenote sighed. “I’m afraid that’s all we have at the moment, although if we happen to find a squid on board I’ll be happy to milk it myself.” Where did they get ink from anyway? she mused.
“Oh, um, no, I’ll just have to make do, I suppose.”
Bluenote spent the next hour rushing up and down the train trying to keep the peace with the various customers. She’d had a go at fixing one of the bunks in a cabin, passed on requests for various snacks, listened to one old biddy go one about her cats for half an hour and offered to get the cleaners to tidy on particularly messy room.
Feeling exhausted she slumped down in the staff room for a few minutes to let herself recover. She supposed the job wasn’t that bad but she certainly wouldn’t want to do it full time, still she’d be back home in Ponyville within twenty-four hours now, that thought made her perk up. However, her good cheer quickly evaporated when Spitshine entered his face like thunder.
“You!” he bellowed, “What have you been doing?!”
“What you asked me to, helping the passengers,” she managed to stutter a sinking feeling in her stomach. “I helped fix a bunk...” she began.
“Fix it! You did a half assed job of it, the thing broke an hour later, somepony could have been hurt!”
“I’m sorry I’m not a carpenter, I did what I could in the time.”
“You should make time! I’ve had complaints, it’s taking forever for food to get to the passengers.” He glared at her.
“I’ve been passing on the orders whenever I pass the kitchen, I keep getting called away to other matters.”
“You should deliver the orders as quickly as you can and then move on to the next request, and what about the cleaning in cabin eight? When’s that going to get done?”
“I... I was just getting a bit of a rest, I was going to pass on the request as soon as I saw a cleaner.”
“Rest! You can rest when you’re dead,” he roared, “Do it now! Wait, you obviously can’t be trusted, I’ll do it myself, you take these orders to the kitchen,” he shoved a pile of papers into it hooves. “And do it straight away, no dawdling, if you don’t buck up your idea’s I’ll have you thrown off the train at the next stop!”
He stomped off leaving Bluenote feeling shell shocked.
Vinyl wiped sweat from her brow, the kitchen was boiling. Around her a dozen bowls, plates and other implements were orbiting as she tried to keep up with the demand. She was good, but even her magic couldn’t deal with all of this at once.
“Caesar salad,” called one of the servers. Vinyl grabbed the item from the cupboard and levitated it over.
“Side order of roasted chestnuts for table ten, they also want more gravy.”
Vinyl grabbed the gravy pot in a hoof, it seemed awfully light, she checked it, empty. She’d have to cook some more from the granules. She glanced around, all the hobs were in use. “They’ll have to wait.”
“It’s that Duke, he won’t like that.”
“Look, tell him fifteen minutes.”
“His meal will be cold by them.”
Vinyl glared at the sauces on the burner, none of them were finished and removing them would mean she’d have to start again. Then her eye fell on the live flame, that would do it. “Tell him two minutes, then.” She quickly poured out some water and added the granules before stirring with a spoon and putting it in the live flame and activated the device stretching the flame as large as she could and positioning it under the bowl.”
“Hey Vinyl,” called Bluenote sticking her head around the door. “How’s it going?”
“Could be better, could be worse,” said Vinyl, pouring a creamy sauce over two meals and levitating them out to a server. “You?”
“Could be a lot better, I can’t seem to do anything right, what do these ponies want? Blood?”
“Well it’s not on the menu tonight.” She peered at the live flame, the gravy was starting to bubble.
“You’re not using that thing are you?” asked Bluenote her eyes widening. “Those things are unstable, plus they leach all the flavour out of a meal.”
“Hey, these things are great, you can make a meal in minutes rather than hours, what’s not to like?” said Vinyl. Suddenly there was a loud crackling sound and the door to the live flame exploded outwards in a burst of smoke and hot liquid. Reacting quickly Vinyl threw herself aside only to knock the saucepans off the grill, flames shot into the air.
“Fire!” yelled Bluenote.
“No wait, I got this,” cried Vinyl as she began to cast a fire suppression spell but it was too late, Bluenote’s hoof lashed out and caught on the emergency cord.
Lyra paced back and forth for a bit trying to stop her legs from shaking. “I’m fine now,” she told Steep.
“I think you need a bit more rest, we don’t want you collapsing again, if Heavy hadn’t caught you things could have been nasty.”
“No really, I’m good, Heavy will need a hoof!” Back in the engine room the large stallion was methodically filling both boilers but she could tell it was taking a toll from him.
“Give it another half hour, then you can give it a go, Stopping can give you a hoof.”
Lyra was just going to argue when she heard a loud clanging from somewhere overhead.
Steep looked up puzzled for a moment. “Emergency cord?” he muttered. “Emergency stop! Everypony brace!” he yelled.
Puzzled Lyra wrapped her forelegs around a piece of machinery. Steep looked over to Stopping who nodded. “Venting!” he cried before grabbing a large wheel and spinning it, the air around the train turned white as a full tank of steam was vented from the boiler stopping the motive power of the train almost instantly.
“Braking!” cried Stopping leaning against the brake lever starting to gently bleed off the vehicles momentum. There was a squeal as the brakes engaged and Lyra was almost thrown off her hooves by the jerk. Then slowly bit by bit the train started to slow and after several minutes finally came to a complete stop.
“Whatever was that about?” asked Steep busying himself with various gages and controls. “Heavy! Get back there and find out what’s going on, it better not be some joker or there be Tartarus to pay.”
The large stallion nodded and taking off the shovel headed into the body of the train.
“Will it take long to get going again?” asked Lyra.
“Depends what’s wrong,” said Steep. “But regardless it takes time to build up a head of steam and there’s a whole book full of checks before we can get moving again, an hour at least maybe two, plus we’re low on water and the next stop’s not for a while, we’re have to go careful. I don’t think a lot of the folks back there will be getting home for Heartwarming.”
“I am sorry but due to an... accident in the kitchen lunch has been cancelled for the trip. However, we still have a good selection of snacks on our trolley service and you will be refunded the cost of the meal. And do not worry, we will be serving dinner as normal. I apologize for any inconvenience,” said Spitshine through gritted teeth to yet another group of passengers. Making angry mumbling sounds the hungry ponies shuffled away.
“Well!” he cried once the passengers had left. “What do you two foals have to say for yourselves?”
“Um, in my defence there was actually a fire,” muttered Bluenote.
“Only a small one,” said Vinyl.
Spitshine looked like he was ready to explode. “How can you be so glib? This kitchen is a state! Passengers left hungry! And worse now we’re almost an hour behind schedule!” He checked his watch again.
“Oh come on, nopony was hurt, a bit of a delay won’t kill anypony. There are more important things than your time table.”
“This isn’t about the timetable,” snarled Spitshine. “This is about ponies missing connections, being stranded over the holidays, not getting to see their families! Did you think of that!”
Vinyl staggered back at the stallion’s angry outburst and Bluenote paled. “I’m... I’m sorry I didn’t think of that.”
“Ay, well maybe you should,” muttered Spitshine. “These ponies put their welfare in our hooves. We need to do our very best for all of them. Now maybe you don’t have family waiting for you but our passengers do.”
“I’ve got family,” said Vinyl.
“Well aren’t you the lucky one!”
“Mum’s waiting for me, Dad’s working again though,” said Bluenote quietly.
Spitshine stopped and his face softened for a moment. “I’m sorry... I’m sure he...” then he scowled again. “Look just clean up this mess, both of you,” he pointed to Bluenote. “I’ll expect you back on duty in an hour.” He turned and stormed off.
“Well I guess we better get started,” said Vinyl.
“Yeah, I guess so,” said Bluenote thoughtfully watching the old stallion go.
“Sorry, but I’ve got to get back to work,” said Bluenote looking around the half cleaned kitchen.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” confirmed Vinyl her levitating rag wiping at a particularly sooty part of the kitchen. “Just make sure you don’t pull the emergency cord again on your way out.”
“Look I said I was sorry!” muttered Bluenote getting up from the freshly scrubbed floor and straightening her uniform.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it.”
“Yeah, I know but I don’t know how much longer I can put up with Spitshine, he’s so demanding, he’s getting me stressed.” She wrung her hooves.
“Chill,” said Vinyl, “We only have to put up with him for another day, then we’re home.”
“I suppose you’re right and it’s not entirely his fault, I’ve messed things up, I’m just not used to this sort of thing.”
“Hey don’t worry, you’re good at getting ponies to relax.”
“Yeah, mostly foals!”
“Well adults are just big foals you know.”
“Well some of us anyway,” she grinned, yes, that sounded right, she might be able to deal with this after all. “Thanks Vinyl.”
“No problem, now off you go, I’ve got cleaning to finish.”
Panting slightly Vinyl wrung out a dirty rag in the sink, that was the last of it she thought. Around her the kitchen was, well if not shining at least clean enough to cook in, the soot from the fire had been washed away and the cutlery cleaned and stored. Unfortunately not all of the damage could be easily fixed, one of the gas burners was out of commission, a few saucepans and some ingredients had been lost as well. As for the living flame itself, Vinyl doubted it would ever work again and she wondered if the train company might let her take its remains home with her? More likely they would charge her for it, how much did it cost anyway?
She was shaken out of her revelry by the food for the dinner being brought on board, she thanked the ponies carrying it and quickly busied herself looking through the menu and recipes. Maybe it was because tomorrow was Hearth’s Warming eve but it seemed like the food was getting more complicated. It sounded very tasty but she had to make it all, and in, she checked, less than an hour.
Fine, half stocked kitchen, damaged equipment, a dozen recipes to work on including two she’d never heard of before, piece of cake. She checked the menu, yes cake was on it.
The rest of the afternoon went a little better for Bluenote, she was just as busy but she managed to keep the various disasters under control. There were a lot of hungry ponies around she tailed the food cart and helped entertain the guests juggling a few of the rolls before catching them in her mouth, or that was the plan anyway, she got hit on the muzzle a few times instead, but at least it cheered up the passengers.
She found the corridors increasingly blocked with bored foals as the excitement of being on a train started to wear off to be replaced by the monotony of life on the rails. She and the train’s small collection of toys and games got a good workout trying to keep up with them, at least the different foals could entertain each other.
Then she spent a rather painful half hour clambering through a store cupboard trying to get out a chair of a particular height for a passenger who insisted that her’s was just a little too short. Followed by a further hour trying to coax out the pet cat of another passenger who had crept into the cupboard while she wasn’t looking.
Finally she returned to the staff room looking for a moment peace. Slumping forward onto the table she closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. Then her ears pricked up, she heard music, a trumpet from nearby. Opening her eyes again she looked around, it seemed to be coming from Spitshine’s office, it was quite good, something on the blues side of jazz. She got up and gently pushed the door open.
There sat the conductor with the instrument to his mouth, eyes closed as he concentrated on his performance. The two of them stood there for a few minutes as he finished the piece, then his eyes snapped open and he glared at Bluenote. “Don’t you have anything else to do?” he growled.
“Not at the moment,” she replied. “You’re good.”
“Thank you,” he said grudgingly. “It’s my act for the first class passengers tonight.”
“I play tuba myself, I didn’t bring it with me though, it’s a bit big.”
“That it is.”
“I sometimes wonder if it just needs me to move it from place to place and provide the wind,” she grinned.
Spitshine didn’t seem impressed. “Well you better come up with something for standard class,” he checked his watch, “You’ve got one hour forty two minutes.”
She remembered what Lyra had told her, she better think quickly, she tried to wrack her brain, what could she do to entertain the passengers... Then it struck her. “Stay here for a moment, I’ve got an idea?” she rushed out of the staff room and down the corridor. She stopped outside of Medley’s family’s cabin and knocked on the door, it was opened by Rockall.
“Excuse me,” she said with a grin, “Do you mind if I borrow your children? I promise to return them more or less intact!”
Steep and Stopping had run through the checks as quickly as they could once they had found that the emergency was under control. Lyra had been worried about a fire in the kitchen but she was sure that Vinyl would have it dealt with quickly, small fires were not unusual around her. Once steam pressure had been built up enough the machine slowly and painfully started off again kept at a low speed due to lack of water. It seemed to take forever to reach the next stop where they could take on water. Lyra nervously chewed on her hoof watching the scenery pass by, would this delay mean they would miss their connection at Canterlot? Or not even reach the city? Would she let down both Medley and Vinyl and even her own and Bluenote’s parents.
Once the water tanks were filled again the train started to move off again and pick up speed. Given her long rest Lyra was allowed to start feeding the engines again although she noticed Heavy keeping an eye on her. Her limbs still felt heavy and she relied increasingly on her magic to strengthen herself but she couldn’t sit around doing nothing.
“How far behind schedule are we?” she shouted through to Steep.
“A bit over two and a half hours,” he called back.
“Can we make that up overnight?”
“Not a chance, even if we ran flat out we’d still be an hour behind, maybe more.”
“But you said that the Spirit was fast, surely we’re not pushing her?” she glanced outside, the trees were zipping past but this couldn’t be as fast as it could go.
“She’s fast but we’re pulling a lot of weight.”
“But she could do it? She’s a strong mare, right? She can do anything she puts her mind to. Run through a meadow in the rain with the pink and blue streamers of her mane flowing behind her. Make the sweetest sweets. Get her passengers home on time! She can do anything!” she stared into the distance her eye glazed.
“Um, are you talking about Spirit?” asked Heavy looking confused.
“Well, more or less,” admitted Lyra lifting another load of coal and rushing over to load it into the boiler again.
“Lass, slow down, you’ll hurt yourself again,” said Stopping. “It’s not worth it just to meet a schedule.”
“This isn’t about a schedule!” gasped Lyra blinking back the spots in front of her eyes as she worked like a mare possessed. “This is about our passengers, this is about getting them to their loved ones on time. This is about Hearth’s Warming!”
Heavy looked at her for a moment then nodded and began to load more and more coal into the furnace. “We can do this Mr Gradient, the Spirit can do this, if you let her.”
“You two are crazy, you’re going to hurt yourselves!” said Steep.
“One of my friends, Medley, she’s one of the strongest mares I’ve ever known, she’ll go to the ends of the world to help her customers, she never gives up. And neither will we, we will get these ponies home on time. Maybe we won’t make it, but they can’t say we didn’t try, and they can’t say it wasn’t because Spirit wasn’t the greatest train in existence!” She staggered as she lifted another shovel of coal and to her surprise found Stopping standing next to her.
“You’ve got heart kid, but I don’t think you’re quite built for this. Let me help, it’s been a while but I think I remember how this goes. I used to be the best firestallion on the line you know.” He gently lifted the shovel off her and put it over his own head quickly adjusting the straps. Flexing his neck he started to move the coal.
“You’re all crazy!” said Steep. “And I guess it’s contagious. Lyra get up here.” Staggering slightly she made her way up into the controls. “Ok, we’ve got a good two hundred miles until the next stop, more or less straight and flat, just the place for Spirit to show us what she can really do! Now, hold this and push it forwards,” he indicated a large lever, “And shout out if that gets into the red.” He pointed to a gage.
“What are you doing?” asked Lyra taking the controls.
“Showing Stopping that he’s wrong, he wasn’t the best firestallion, I was,” he stepped back into the engine and took up the spare shovel before attacking the coal with vigour.
Lyra leaned forwards onto the controls and Spirit shot forwards like an arrow from a bow, flashing onwards at an ever increasing rate.
“Three salads!” called one server.
“One lasagne, one stew with no carrots, and two basil gnudi.”
“Three chocolate sponges and a Hearth's Warming cake for table twenty.”
“Table two says if they don’t get their food in the next five minutes they’ll sue!”
“A soup, a pate and a cheese starter.”
The kitchen was in chaos, with lunch being cancelled everypony on the train seemed to want to eat at once, fearful they would miss out again. The dining carriage was packed to bursting and some passengers were even ordering food to their rooms. At least twenty separate objects were levitating around the room at any one moment powered by Vinyl’s increasingly aching horn.
At the centre of it all Vinyl was desperately trying to keep her cool exterior, inside she was close to cracking up. She was having enough difficulty just remembering the orders let alone serving them up. She had more sauces and extras that needed to be cooked than she had cooking space. It was just too much for one pony, the servers had offered to help but the kitchen was just too small for more than one pony, they would just get in each other’s way.
She was still recovering from yesterday’s exertions but even at full strength she’d have difficulty keeping this may plates in the air at once, literally. She lost concentration for a moment and two half completed meals collided spilling their contents, she swore, now she’d have to start them again.
At this rate Spitshine would throw her off the train and she’d miss Hearth’s Warming despite all the effort she’d put into it, at least Medley’s family would make it home. Around her the plates trembled dangerously. She concentrated again and they stabilized for the moment but it was like a storm of crockery, sooner or later she’d loose control.
Like a storm...
She remembered being caught by a sudden downpour from the Everfree and taking shelter in Medley’s store. The blue pegasus has been sitting in the window humming and nodding to herself as she looked out at the storm. Vinyl had asked what she was doing and Medley had said she was singing the storm. To Vinyl it had just seemed like chaos but to Medley there had been an order, the two of them had spent the afternoon working on a composition based on the storm and it’s changing patterns, she’d never quite seen them herself but they’d been there, Medley had been sure.
She just needed to find a pattern, a beat she could organise the work by. She closed her eyes and all movement in the carriage ceased for a moment. Come on, she told herself, she was DJ-Pon3 Queen of the Wubs, she could drop a beat anywhere.
There! There it was, the gentle click-clack of the train as it moved, regular as a heartbeat, something she could base her work around.
Around the kitchen the dishes started to move again, no longer were they discorded now they flew around in perfect interlacing lockstep. Each dish followed its own path but never intersected with any other. Open cupboard, click-clack, click-clack, move to stove, click-clack, add sauce, click-clack, click-clack, return to cupboard, click-clack, change saucepans, click-clack, click-clack, click-clack, add second sauce, click-clack, pass to server.
Slowly a wide smile grew over the DJ’s face and her head started to bob, humming to herself she started to trot back and forth up and down the cabin. It was said by the servers that it was as if she was dancing to some unknown beat.
“Hey guys!” cried Bluenote. The viewing carriage was packed, not just with the standard class passengers but also with the first class customers who didn’t look at all happy to have to be jostled by the hoi polloi. “I know there’s normally two sets of entertainment for the different classes but well Hearth’s Warming is all about ponies of different types coming together so I thought I’d mix things up.” The various groups in the carriage started to look around at each other. “Rather than just us staff putting on a show for you I thought it might be an idea to let you guys show each other what you can do, a sort of audience participation night.” There was a rumble through the crowd and everypony started to look away. “No one want’s to volunteer to go first? I guessed it might be like this so I’d like to welcome my first act to the stage, everypony stomp really hard for the foals of the Spirit of Friendship!”
Bluenote began to stamp on the ground as about two dozen foals of various tribes were herded onto the stage by Spitshine and began to set up a homemade orchestra, one of the larger colts had a broom with some strings tied to it to act as a double base, a filly proudly carried a washboard she’s found somewhere and ran her hoof up and down it. Others used tins and pots to make drums. One or two carried real instruments, possibly early hearth’s Warming presents. Spitshine carried his trumpet and Bluenote produced a harmonica from somewhere.
Around her the foals parents, rich or poor started to stamp their approval of their offspring followed by the rest of the crowd.
“Ok, folks, given where we are and the time of year I thought we’d start with something a little topical.” Bluenote nodded to the band and lead by Spitshine they started to play with rather more passion than skill.
Hi there, Bluie, whatcha say? Cried all the foals together, more or less in rhythm.
Get ready kiddies, let’s play! Sang Bluenote
Everyone listen to a foal version
Of a really solid Tenshoee excursion...
Pardon me foal, is that the Appleloosa Choo Choo?
Yes, yes, she’s really fine!
She’s so clean, look at that shine!
Can you afford to board the Appleloosa Choo Choo?
I got my fare
And just a few bits to spare.
You leave the Pennsylmaneia station 'bout a quarter to four
Read a magazine and then you're in Baltimare
Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer
Than to have your hay and eggs in Carolina Trouble and Double stepped forwards and sang together in surprising harmony
When you hear the whistle blowing eight to the bar
Then you know that Tenshoee is not very far
Shuffle all the coal in
Gotta keep it rollin'
Whoo Whoo, Appleloosa, there you are!
Look at the Hearth warming party at the station
Ice cream and Cakes
We can all drink cold milk shakes
We’re gonna play
Games so fun that we’ll never want to roam
So Appleloosa Choo Choo
Won't you choo choo me home
Get aboard...
All aboard...
Appleloosa Choo Choo
Won’t you choo choo me home...!
The music died down and there was silence for a moment as dozens of scared little eyes looked out at the audience, then the cheering started. Proud parents rushed forwards to congratulate their offspring and even strangers showed their appreciation.
Unnoticed in the hubbub Bluenote wiped her brow, she was glad that had worked.
Once the first act had finished more and more ponies volunteered to demonstrate talents, singing, dancing, surprisingly Duke Fancypants proved to be something of an amateur magician, just bad enough at it to make it seem a joke while still entertaining the crowd. Rockall got up and told several bawdy tales which had half the crowd rolling in the aisles while the other half hurried to cover their foal’s ears.
Where the room had started divided by class and riches, the night ended with a group rendition of the ancient Hearth’s Warming carol
The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be to the very end
Once the crowd has dispersed back to their cabins, and in one or two cases each other’s cabins, Bluenote stayed behind to tidy up, she could have left it to the cleaners but she thought she deserved to do her bit.
“Glad to see you decided to actually put your heart into your job,” growled Spitshine as he entered the carriage. “But don’t think this makes up for your screw ups earlier!”
“I’ve got a friend like you, grouchy, grumpy, prickly,” Spitshine scowled but didn’t say anything. “But she’s like that because she’s a perfectionist, she wants the best for all her customers, the same way you do and she doesn’t quite understand normal ponies like me who think that good enough is well, good enough.” She grinned. “But she’s been acting extra grumpy recently because she thought she wouldn’t get to spend the holiday with her family. So where’s your family?”
The old stallion stared for the moment then staggered back into a chair his head slumped. “I don’t have one,” he said.
“Everypony has somepony.”
“Not me, not any more, I just sort of drifted away from my kids, I was always on the rail, too much time away from home. After the missus died there was nothing to keep us together anymore, I haven’t seen them in years, they probably don’t even think of me, better off without me.”
“Don’t say that!” cried Bluenote with surprising force. “My dad, well he’s busy a lot, always touring or practicing but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love me and I don’t love him. I just means the time we do spend together is that much more precious. Where do they live?”
“Well my youngest, last I heard she was in Canterlot, an artist she is.” He reached into a jacket pocket and opened his pocket watch, on the inside of the case was a portrait of four ponies, one a younger version of Spitshine, a yellow coated mare of his age by his side and two younger mares in front of them. “She made this,” he said glowing with pride, “I always keep it close.”
“Why not go to see her once we arrive? She probably misses you.”
The old stallion looked up from the picture. “But what will I tell her after all this time?” he asked, sounding a little scared.
“Merry Hearth's Warming would probably be a good start,” Bluenote rested a hoof on his. “You might find you’ve got more to say than you think. At least think about it.” She turned and started to walk towards the cabin door.
“Bluenote,” he called from behind, she turned. “I you put some effort into your work you might actually make a half decent conductor you know.”
She grinned. “Thank you, I hope you don’t take it the wrong way but I don’t think this is the career for me, far too stressful.”
“Well it’s not for everypony, but I think you could make it if you wanted.”
“You seem surprisingly conscious,” said Vinyl suspiciously glaring at Lyra as she entered the staff cabin. “A day shovelling coal had me totally wiped, you just look, well, just a little bit exhausted.”
The mint mare wiggled around in her bunk to face the DJ. “I guess I’m just tougher than you Vinyl, it’s all the healthy sweets I eat, made with love from the best mare in Equestria.” She yawned. “Plus I might have spent a few hours just driving the train rather than shovelling coal.” She said a little bashfully. “I sort of wore myself out early.”
“Yeah,” said Vinyl slumping into her own bed. “You’ve got to pace yourself.”
“Well it might have been easier if somepony hadn’t started a fire.”
“It was only a little one, Bluenote just over reacted,” said Vinyl defensively.
“Don’t worry about it, the boys made up the time, we’re even ahead a bit now, you should have seen them, real troopers.”
Vinyl raised an eyebrow behind her shades. “Does Bon Bon have some competition in your heart or something?”
“Never!” gasped Lyra in horror. “Although I think Heavy might have intentions towards you.”
Vinyl grinned. “Him and every other red blooded stallion in Equestria, not to mention mares of all blood colours, some of us have just got it.”
The door opened and Bluenote trotted in humming to herself.
“Evening!” called Vinyl. “You certainly seem happier than you were earlier.”
“I have had a very good time,” she announced. “It was fun!”
“How’d you ever get away from Mr time obsessed?”
“Spitshine? He’s not as bad as you’d think, just a bit grumpy, hopefully a good Heartwarming will sort him out.” She slouched over her bed. “How’d the cooking go?”
“Not bad once I’d sorted things out, I don’t think I’ll make a habit of it though. Still it might make a decent set some day.”
Bluenote frowned at that, then shrugged before covering herself with the blankets.
“Well you’ve still got to get up early for breakfast.”
Vinyl growled. “I’d forgotten that!”
“Don’t worry we’ll be in Canterlot by noon.”
“Then home a few hours later,” added Lyra. “I can’t wait to see the look on Medley’s face when she sees her family.”
The other two element bearers nodded.
“Yes girls,” said Vinyl. “We’ve done good this time.”
“It looked bad,” said Lyra, “But we persevered and now we’re on the home stretch, nothing can go wrong now!” She ducked as one of Bluenote’s pillows flew past her head.
“Don’t say that! Now you’ll jinx it!”
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It looks like they might get back to Ponyville on time. That means that something else will go wrong in the next chapter. ¡Gotta keep up the dramatic tension!
Dang it, Lyra...
Now I'm picturing the train pulling in, only to find that Medley changed her mind and coughed up the bits to go to her folks' place in Manechester in some sort of awkward Gift of the Magi slap in the muzzle.
*Throws ALL the pillows at Lyra*