The Little Lost Engine

by The Blue EM2

Apple Bloom and the Dinosaur

It was a gloriously sunny day on the railway. The sun shone, the clouds were clear in the sky, and the trains were packed full of excited travellers.

Cheerilee came to the sheds with a special job for Apple Bloom.

“Apple Bloom,” she said. “I want you to collect a special delivery at the wharf.”

“What is the special delivery?” the engine asked.

“That’s a secret,” Cheerilee smiled. “But it needs to be handled carefully.”

“Got it Miss!” Apple Bloom replied. “Ah won’t let ya down!” and with a wheesh of steam, away she went.

The wharf backed onto the main line, with a large crane nearby to move goods. It had 3 tracks from which to load and offload goods, but only one was used on a regular basis. Ocellus was already in position to help move the cargo.

A V2 pulled up to the wharf, pulling a cargo train, with a flatbed behind the tender, and many vans. She was painted turquoise, with two tone amber and gold lining. “Good morning!” she called.

“Do you have the cargo?” asked Apple Bloom.

“It’s on the flatbed,” the V2 said. “I’m called Lightning Dust, by the way.”

Ocellus started up the crane. It was a noisy and old piece of machinery. It clattered and roared as it lifted the object off of the flatcar. The package had a white tarpaulin and was most mysterious.

The crane briefly stuttered with the cargo in mid-air, but the crane corrected and the package was lifted onto the wagon that Apple Bloom was positioned next to. Dust pulled away and set off on the rest of her journey.

Ocellus stepped over to couple Apple Bloom up, but the tank engine was simply too excited. "Can ya hurry it up a bit?” she asked.

“Careful,” Ocellus told her. “You need to be careful with this load.” The changeling coupled the tank engine up, and gave her the green flag.

Apple Bloom pulled away, ready for the long run ahead.

The yellow tank engine rumbled through the stations, the other engines stopping to see her through and whistle her onwards.

But the load started to get heavy, and Apple Bloom’s face progressively got redder and redder. When she pulled to a stop at the station before the lake, she was exhausted.

Diamond Tiara ran back in the other direction, running light engine. “Hey, do you need help?” she asked.

“No!” replied Apple Bloom. “Ah can do this on mah own.”

“My offer remains open,” Diamond told her. “I’m waiting on a shipment of logs.” Just then, Pip came down the line with logs from the sawmill.

“Phew, boy is it a scorcher!” he exclaimed.

“Ah can testify to that,” Apple Bloom added. Suddenly the signal dropped. “Gotta go!” With an audible grunt, she pulled the flatbed out of the station and ran toward the station by the lake.

Pip glanced over to Diamond. “Any bets on whether she will stall?”

Apple Bloom rolled forward, getting slower and slower. The gradient between the lake station and the top station was fierce, and she couldn’t handle the weight. Her driving wheels spun and skidded, until she ground to an embarrassing halt on the climb.

“Gosh darn it!” she cried. She looked all around her, and realised nobody was there to help.

“Ah’ve failed,” she whispered. “Miss Cheerilee trusted me with this load, and Ah’ve failed. She’ll be really mad at me now.” Apple Bloom was so sad she nearly cried.

The foreman appeared at the lakeside station. “Apple Bloom has stalled on the climb up to the Top Station. She needs help.”

Diamond spoke up. “I’ll go sir!” Before anybody could say anything else, she set off up the hill and toward the rescue of Apple Bloom.

She reached the stricken tank engine fairly easily. Bloom was sobbing her tubes out.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” asked Diamond.

“Here ta gloat?” Bloom snapped back.

“Hey, I know we didn’t get off to the best of starts, but I’m here to help,” Diamond reassured her. She buffered up before Apple Bloom could say anything else. “Now, let’s get this load to the Top Station, shall we?”

With a grunt and a groan, Apple Bloom pulled with all her might, and Diamond pushed hard as well. With the two engines working together, they reached the Top Station in no time at all. The sound echoed off the walls of the valley and roared throughout the valleys, a magical sound that never ceases to amaze those who hear it.

Upon arrival at the top station, Apple Bloom uncoupled and ran into the passing loop.

“Thank you for this!” said the Station Master. “Hopefully this will encourage passengers to stay around for longer than it takes you to run around.”

“What is it, sir?” Apple Bloom asked.

The Station Master whisked the tarpaulin off of the truck, and the two engines gasped at what was underneath it.

It was a dinosaur!

“Wow!” Diamond exclaimed. “I’ve never seen one of those before.”

“It’s to go in the station garden,” the Station Master replied. “That was an incredible performance on the hill there.” But he stepped over to Apple Bloom. “But I hope that you have learned an important lesson.”

“Yes Sir,” Apple Bloom replied. “Ah shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help from mah friends. Sorry for inconveniencing you Diamond.”

“Not to worry,” smiled Diamond. “That’s what friends are for.”