A tragic blow
The new day dawned, and it wasn’t long before the city was up and running again. That morning, on the way to school, Apple Bloom flicked on MyStable (a communication app not dissimilar to Facebook) and started the following conversation:
Apple Bloom: Hey, Diamond, Silver, you there?
Diamond Tiara: What’s going on, Bloom?
Silver Spoon: Did you find your engine?
Apple Bloom: Not on this channel!
Diamond Tiara: It’s a private conversation, Bloom, nobody else will know what we’re saying.
Apple Bloom breathed a sigh of relief. She then started writing again.
Apple Bloom: Come see us at break. We have something to show you.
There was a brief pause, before another message came in.
Silver Spoon: That sounds good. I take it you found the engine?
Apple Bloom: Yes, we did!
Diamond Tiara: Sorry, gotta go. I’ve just arrived at school.
Silver Spoon: See ya!
Apple Bloom: Thanks, y’all!
The rest of that morning, apart from a history lesson that proved to be not the most stimulating of exercises, given that the teacher talked at great length about a rock on the East Coast, went fairly smoothly. Apple Bloom and her friends waited in the engineering room, when suddenly, two familiar faces stepped through the door. And I’m sorry to say that they weren’t Diamond or Silver.
Snips and Snails stepped in through the door, followed by an older girl. She had red and yellow hair, peach skin, and blue eyes. She wore a purple shirt with a sun emblem on it, a black bomber jacket, an orange skirt with yellow and purple lining, and a pair of knee-length black and purple boots. Her hands were rolled up into fists, and she had a nasty smirk on her face.
This was Sunset Shimmer, and Snips and Snails were her lackeys, for lack of a better term. Sunset had been a terror for years here, as she pushed around anybody foolish enough to stand in her way. If that didn’t work, the rumour machine that was the internet was more than enough to do the job. This helped to explain why Sunset had run unopposed for a number of events, including winning the title of Fall Formal Princess for 3 years in a row. Nobody doubted she’d win it a 4th.
“Well, well,” she sneered, as she looked at them. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
“You got a problem or what?” Scootaloo demanded.
“Yeah,” Sweetie asked. “Why are you picking on us? We did nothing to you!”
“Other than refuse to swear allegiance to me? Other than to boycott the Fall Formal ballot last year? Or how about that incident with the paint pot?”
“Yeah!” shouted Snips. “The paint pot!”
“Shush you!” Sunset thundered. “What I’m trying to say is, you get in my way...and you pay.”
“Real lovely poetry,” Cozy Glow said sarcastically.
“I strongly advise you do as I tell you, or would you want me to reveal what you are really like?”
Cozy’s confidence faded. She stepped back, looking pale as a sheet.
“I know who you are. I have dirt on everyone, including that you used to be a bully!”
Cozy dropped to the floor and hid her head in her hands, sobbing.
Apple Bloom stepped forward. “Hey, that weren’t called for! Apologise, now!”
Sunset smirked. “I think you meant, ‘hey, that wasn’t called for.’ No wonder you're so dumb, given you were born on a farm.”
Apple Bloom knew better than to reply, and simply stood there, seething with rage. Sweetie Belle had dropped onto her knees to comfort Cozy, whilst Scootaloo simply looked at the floor.
“I’ll see you around, losers,” Sunset smiled. “Just don’t do anything to challenge me, or it will end badly.”
Sweetie Belle was the next to speak up. “Cozy, was that true?”
Cozy Glow had stopped crying, and looked up, her eyes red. “Yes,” was all she said.
“Was this when you lived in Europe?” Scootaloo asked.
Cozy nodded. “At school, I was seen as odd, mainly due to being the only American. As a result, many students were mean to me.”
“What did they do?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Move my stuff, steal my belongings, talk loudly in Welsh whenever I was around, so I wasn’t sure whether they were being mean or not.”
“That sounds horrible,” Sweetie Belle empathised.
“It was,” Cozy admitted. “As a result, I turned to bullying as an escape. It was a stupid thing to do, ultimately, as I got into a lot of trouble.”
“What sort of trouble?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I was put in Tartarus,” Cozy answered. Seeing the confused looks on her friend’s faces, she quickly added, “that was the nickname for Saturday detention. How stupid it all was! And I should have just gone to the Principal in the first place!”
She paused. “Do you guys trust me? Do you truly believe I’ve changed?”
“Cozy,” Apple Bloom started, “That was the past, and this is now. If we don’t forgive each other and move on, all that will happen is that we’ll hate each other. But we gave you a chance, and so far you’ve shown you’re a good person. So, in short, ah’m honoured to call ya ma friend. Is that true?”
“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle cried.
“Rock on!” Scootaloo exclaimed, punching the air. “Rainbow taught me that one.”
There was a ring at the door. Diamond and Silver stepped through. “So,” began Silver. “What did you want to show us?
Evening came, and the four friends, and Miss Cheerilee, gathered in the Engineering department to await the arrival of the boiler inspector. At last he arrived, a tall man with a long face and brown hair, dressed in a pair of overalls that must have been boiling in the heat. He smiled. “Good evening,” he said. “I’m Spinning Gears, which of you is Mrs Collins?”
Cheerilee waved. “Please,” she said, “just call me Cheerilee.”
“A pleasure. This is the engine you want me to look at?” he asked, pointing at the locomotive there in front of him.
“That’s the one,” Scootaloo said.
Spinning got down, and looked at the frames with a stethoscope he had got out of his toolbox. “Frames look to be in good order,” he said. “Cylinders are clear of muck, rods are painted and not rusting, though the paint is peeling in places. Trailing wheels are secure, driving wheels are in good shape.” He moved around the back of the engine.
“Bunker is secure, cab is fine, tanks are secured properly in place,” he continued. “The saddle tank could do with a repaint, but is otherwise fine.” He stopped. “Now then, I need to check the boiler. You wouldn’t mind helping me?”
The 4 girls stepped forward, and shoved with all their might against the mechanism which held the smokebox door shut. With a considerable effort, it finally opened, and the door swung back...
...revealing a truly horrible odour. “Eww!” the 4 girls chorused, holding their noses.
Spinning Gears poked his head inside. “What died in here?” he asked. Looking around, he saw the cause of the problem; somebody had left a sandwich in there, and it had gone horribly mouldy. He grabbed a pair of tweezers, picked the sandwich up and tossed it into a nearby trashcan.
“You wouldn’t mind releasing the locking bolts on the tubes, would you?” he asked.
Apple Bloom took the left-hand bolt, and began to release it.
“It’s stiff,” she began, but suddenly the bolt came flying off in her hand. “Wha?” was all she could say.
Scootaloo suddenly removed the other bolt, and the tubes started sliding. Both girls jumped backwards in surprise as the tubes fell onto the floor with a loud bang.
“Why did that happen?” was all Bloom could say.
“Oh dear,” said Spinning Gears. “That isn’t good at all.”
“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked, although she feared the answer.
Spinning Gears picked up the bolt, and showed it to them. “These bolts are three-quarters the width they should be. As a result, they came loose easily and the tubes went with them. Furthermore, the tubes are damaged and in poor shape. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to condemn this boiler.”
The shock of it hit the 4 girls like a physical blow. Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo. “Does this mean?” she asked, tearfully.
“Yeah,” Scootaloo replied. “It’s over. All that effort, wasted!” With that, she kicked a table leg in frustration.
Even Cheerilee seemed down. “Thank you for coming out here sir, even if it was for nothing,” she said.
“It’s no problem,” Spinning Gears answered. “I sadly have to do this an awful lot.”
Apple Bloom had remained oddly silent the whole time. Suddenly, she leapt up in the air and cried “I got it!”
“Got what?” asked Cozy Glow.
“An idea!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, then started speaking before anybody could interrupt. “Wecouldalwaysproduceourownoenandthenthatwould-”
“Apple Bloom, slow down,” Cheerilee interrupted. “We can’t understand a word you're saying.”
“If this boiler don’t work, then we make our own!” Apple Bloom said. “We can overhaul the engine, each doin’ different bits.”
“This sounds crazy,” groaned Sweetie Belle.
“Well, if those guys in... how do you say it again, Cozy?”
“Tal-y-thlyn.”
“Those guys in Tal-y-thlyn can do it, so can we!”
Scootaloo sighed. “I know I shouldn’t have showed her the Titfield Thunderbolt.”
Apple Bloom looked at her. “Ya in or not?”
Scootaloo continued, “I think we need some more help. With just the 4 of us I will take years.”
“I know someone who can help with CAD and such,” said Sweetie Belle.
“Some extra muscle wouldn’t hurt,” Cozy said. “And don’t forget that we need paint as well.”
Apple Bloom took out her phone.
Apple Bloom: Hey, Silver, Diamond, you still there?”
Diamond Tiara: Yes, I’m here. Just come back from another of mother’s rants. She doesn’t like me going near father’s miniature engines for some reason.
Silver Spoon: Anything you needed help with?
Apple Bloom hesitated, and then started typing again.
Apple Bloom: Can I take you up on your offers?
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While you are waiting for the next chapter, enjoy something truly epic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5C2pQ5Z3y0
Anybody have any suggestions what the cause of the downvotes are?
9523822
You're the first person other than me to comment on this chapter.
Eek.
Might just be me, but I don't think bully Sunset was the "swear allegiance to me" type. More like the "I'm at the top of the food chain, so don't mess with me" type.
Ouch.
Do people still speak Welsh?
Cheerliee Collins. Huh. Has a nice alliterative ring to it.
Ouch. That sucks.
How do you pronounce that?
CAD?
Ooh, ooh! Is it Sir Toppum Hat? (Don't think I spelled that right)
Serious guess: All Aboard.
9576556
1. It was strange writing Sunset as a mean girl, given all that has happened since.
2. I see, but I'd always got the sense that those who refused to side with Sunset got taken down.
3. Sadly, based on the treatment a primary school friend of mine received.
4. According to data from the 2011 Census, there are still 562,000 speakers in Wales, and about 1 million globally.
5. I know, right?
6. Again, based on a real event.
7. As written.
8. Computer-Aided Design.
9. Wait and see, Tilfy. Wait and see.
9608962
I thought that'd make a good reference.
Oh crap!
Like hell they would!
At least she admits she regretted what she did.
us?"*
Someone must've done it prior to the Railway closure.
Not to mention something not done much in the 21st century.
us, it'll take years."*
11842006
This story was written in my very early days when I didn't really know what I was doing.