The Red Sun Rises: Homefront

by The Atlantean

10. Moving On

“Nimble Spirit, Purple Haze, I have a job for you.” Cadence told the train operators.

They both looked up from their steam engine. Purple Haze had been filling the water tank from the tower next to the train, and Nimble Spirit was oiling the wheels and refilling the sand dispensers. The work had been slightly tedious, sure, but getting the engine back to Fillydelphia in one piece held priority. They wanted those paychecks.

“What can we do for you, Princess?” asked Purple Haze. The violet Unicorn looked sternly at the alicorn below her. “Surely you don’t need to go to Filly.”

“No, I do not. What I need is for you two to take the Equestrian army to Baltimare. There’s a Changeling threat out there, and I’m afraid an overcharged shield spell boosted by love won’t cut it. If you would allow it, I also request the designs of your locomotive for the building of military trains. Your patent will stand, compensating for any monetary losses inflicted by the factory production of your design.”

Nimble Spirit blinked. “You want our locomotive design for official military transport?”

Purple Haze hopped down from her perch on top of the engine and whispered something to her brother. He replied in a hushed shout, saying something about the patent not actually have gone completely through the bureaucracy yet. She told him to ask if it could just be approved right then, and he continued trying to argue in favor of copyright and patent laws. From Cadence’s point of view, they were doing lots of body movements to emphasize their points.

“If the patent hasn’t gone through the system yet, I can approve it now.” she called.

Nimble Spirit shook his head at his sister and turned to face the princess. “Well then, we accept. Hazy, could you get the design from the cab?”

She nodded and climbed into the locomotive’s cab. A loud clank ricocheted off the steel, and more than a few words not fit for formality flowed outside soon after. Moments later, a second clank could be heard, with Purple Haze poking her head out the window. It was obvious that she’d been injured from the look on her face.

Nimble Spirit climbed into the cab and hauled his sister out. Her left hind leg had been smacked, with a deep bruise forming where she’d been hit by whatever it was. Then Nimble climbed into the cab and came out a minute later with a blue sheet. He gave Cadence the sheet and tended to his sister, who already started up a healing spell to repair the damage. From the look of things, neither sibling wanted to mention the event.

“We’ll take your army to Baltimare, Princess. And that paper has the design specifications, developed over the last few years.” Nimble said.

Cadence said her thanks and told them to be at the station by noon to pick up the troops. The passenger and freight cars would all be lined up at the station when the time came.

A few hours later, the entire Equestrian army had loaded into the long line of cars and the engine just pulled alongside them. It was a wonky-looking locomotive to all the soldiers, but it could apparently haul the entire train in one run. With a fifteen-meter engine, two sand dispensers, a two-meter funnel, and a rather large coal tender, this steam hauler certainly didn’t look like it could pull all fifty-some cars. And the two driving it were ready to prove them wrong.

“Alright Nimble, let’s show ‘em up.”

“Fire up the secondary heaters. We’ll need them to get this line moving. I’ll sand the rails.”

The two worked as the train reversed and backed into the first car, a freight car with ammunition and tools. It made a loud clunk as the coal tender hit the coupling of the load and latched. Nimble went back there to ensure the coupling had indeed engaged, and locked it into place. “We’re good to go back here, Hazy!” he called.

“Got it.” The Unicorn shoveled some coal into the firebox and lit the fuel with a flame spell. She felt the wave of heat sweep over her and welcomed it. A brisk morning in late September had cooled the weather faster than last year, which was interesting. It never got this cold in early autumn, except for the Crystal Empire.

Nimble Spirit climbed back into the cab and pulled on the whistle. The low sound reached around the area, signaling the departure. Its second lonely blow was drowned out by the engine springing to life as water in the boiler heated up and excess steam was vented out the cylinders without pushing the pistons. Soon, enough steam was recycling itself through the system to give Purple Haze the confidence to nod completion of start-up to her brother.

A high-pitched whine let loose and the heavy steel wheels began to turn. The pistons slowly moved from the pressure of steam, pushing the rod connecting the wheels together and rotating them. Purple Haze shoveled more coal into the firebox to heat the water more quickly, and the scalding gas moved through the system even faster and harder. Nimble Spirit released the emergency brake, causing the entire train to lurch forward as it began a slow but sudden acceleration. He set off the sand dispensers, giving the driving wheels more traction along the rails. The wheels in turn grabbed the sand and slipped less. Black smoke hurled itself out of the funnel as the train worked its way down the line.

In the fifth car from the engine, Crimson and his officers talked strategy. They needed an effective way to combat the Changelings without putting too much risk into the endeavor. Any suggestion was welcome.

“Colonel, I say we use our Unicorns to scan everypony to make sure they aren’t Changelings. The standard illusion-breaking spell should do the trick just fine, and virtually everypony knows it.” said Captain Midnight Shadow.

“We should just whack them as hard as we can, and fast. If the temporary alliance with those steel warships off the coast holds, it’s one more problem we won’t be facing.” Lieutenant Silver Comet was more aggressive than last time he spoke at a strategy conference. Too aggressive.

Midnight noticed it as well, and instantly cast a spell over the lieutenant. He revealed a Changeling in disguise, who then proceeded to try to incapacitate the officers. It wasn’t successful in any regard, and the intruder was soon tied up and interrogated.

“What did you do to the Lieutenant?” Crimson growled.

“I will not say.”

Crimson dragged the Changeling to the space between the fourth and fifth cars. The other officers shrieked with horror and tried to stop the colonel, but he simply held the Changeling over the rails. The Changeling had complete terror in his eyes, but would not speak. He was as resistant as ever. Crimson was just about to throw him off the train when a familiar but far voice filled his thoughts…

“Wake up, Colonel!” Midnight shouted.

Crimson blinked a couple times and looked around. “What?”

“You kinda dozed off, sir. We were talking about how to defeat Chrysalis when you suddenly slumped over onto the table.”

Crimson’s face went sheepish and he apologized. “I must be more tired than I thought. But can we still just check if any of the officers have been replaced by Changelings?”

“Sure.” Midnight cast his Changeling detection spell, and came up negative. He looked at the colonel as if the red Pegasus was paranoid.

Outside the train, the greenish countryside whizzed by in a blur. Trees were noticeable if one followed them with their eyes, but everything else couldn’t be easily distinguished. The noonday sun beamed heat down to earth, keeping the train from freezing as the twenty-knot wind blew around it. From the look of things, the train hadn’t stopped accelerating slowly, probably crawling up to sixty miles an hour.

Staring out the window, Crimson took in the report. They were headed to Baltimare, sure. No Changelings ended up on the train, Cadence and Shining Armor were extremely worried about Twilight, which was the case before the army left, and the steel fleet had sent a message accepting the final stages of an alliance. Everything was, for once, going according to plan. They would be in Baltimare in a few days.