The Test Begins
The sun dawned upon Ponyville the very next morning. Slowly, the town awoke to the new day, bathed in the glorious light of the autumn, and they remembered to thank Celestia for her kindness in raising the sun.
Filthy Rich trotted out of the door of his considerable pile, and surveyed his home with pride. It was built in the Plantageneight style, with great vaulting ceilings, thatched roofs (yes, several), and tall windows, each made of 8 sections. The home (for it really was demeaning to call it such a thing) had cost considerable amounts of money, and was a permanent reminder to the townsfolk that New Money was very much on the rise.
Having said that, marrying a Milk had certainly helped. The family was exceptionally wealthy, and that had helped propel him up the social ladder. Unfortunately, it had had a negative effect on his darling Diamond Tiara. Rich shuddered as he remembered the olden times, when she and her friend Silver Spoon had bullied Blanks Flanks wherever they went. He was lucky he hadn’t lost crucial business over it. Getting Spoiled to back down had been the key.
As he trotted down the street, the window opened on the top floor. Spoiled Rich poked her head out from it.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“Just down to the railway station,” Rich replied. “There’s some merchandise that needs loading, and I wanted to oversee it myself.”
“Just be back before 6 o'clock!” she boomed. “There’s a special visitor coming to see us, and I intend to show us at our best!”
Rich nodded, to show he understood, and trotted away. "By Celestia, I have a difficult life,” he thought.
Meanwhile, Silverstream had flown to the station, to see Derpy already manning the ticket booth.
“Season ticket, or return?” the cross-eyed pegasus asked.
“Return please,” Silverstream replied. “As much as I support this scheme, I’m not sure we’ll survive the month.”
“Have some faith!” Derpy exclaimed. “If you guys could save friendship, you can save a railway.”
Silverstream handed over her bits, and walked off. “I have faith alright,” she said. “Faith that somepony will try to ruin everything.”
Amongst the various innovations that had been made in Ponyville, a large engine shed had been built by moving a spare barn from Sweet Apple Acres. Inside it the train was stabled, the engine cold and still.
Ocellus and Smoulder wandered in, to start the train. As the Changeling hopped onto the footplate, she gasped in shock.
“The fire hasn’t been lit!” she exclaimed. “And we only have 30 minutes before we depart!”
“I thought Gallus was meant to be doing that,” Smoulder growled in frustration.
“Did he forget to set his alarm clock?” asked Silverstream.
“Probably slept through it, more like,” Smoulder shrugged.
“I’ll go wake him up!” the hippogriff exclaimed, and flew away as fast as she could. Ocellus, meanwhile, desperately tried creating sparks to light the coal in the firebox, but it was no use.
“Oh no!” she cried. “Our first run, and we shall be late!”
“Let me,” Smoulder suggested, and a blaze of fire roared from her mouth. They had a roaring fire in no time, but the pressure gauge refused to budge.
Ocellus tapped it with all her might as she tried to move it, but the pressure was sluggish and crept up extremely slowly.
Elsewhere, Gallus was sprawled out on his bed, his alarm having been going on his bedside table for at least 20 minutes. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
“Who...is it?” he asked. “Is it breakfast?”
“It’s well past breakfast!” called a rather worried sounding Silverstream. “In fact, you need to be firing a train!”
Gallus rolled onto the floor, and wandered to the door. He grumbled as he opened it, and wandered through. “That Changeling takes this way too seriously,” he complained. “Creatures ought to be happy if trains run at all.”
Gallus flew to the depot rather slowly, and touched down outside the shed. Inside, the boiler pressure had finally reached 170psi, and Ocellus adjusted the regulator and opened the cylinder cocks. A great jet of steam flew from the pipework, and any leftover water was quickly expelled from the cylinders.
And slowly but surely, the tank engine started to roll forward. It rumbled past Gallus and into the platform, only just on time. Smoulder stood proudly in the brake van, her hand on the brake and two flags in her mouth. One of them was red, and the other green. She also had a whistle around her neck, and put the flags down so that she could start loading cargo onto the van.
That day saw a load of eggs for delivery to Canterlot market, as well as a consignment of apples. Filthy Rich was on the platform, and surveyed the scene with pride.
“Oh bravo, bravo!” he cried. “Truly you have all done a splendid job!”
“Thank you, sir!” Smoulder replied, as she wheeled in the eggs. “I think you’ll especially like what we did to the second carriage!”
Rich stepped inside the carriage in question, and was stunned. It had been turned into a mobile store, all stocked with Barnyard Bargains products. Best of all, he no longer had to comply with opening hours as given in law, as they didn’t apply to trains.
Yona was sitting behind the desk, a massive smile on the yak’s face. “Yak happy to see rich pony!” she said. “Rich pony like what we did to carriage?”
“Very much!” Rich replied. “I shall stay in here, if you don’t mind.”
Silverstream suddenly flew into the carriage. “Hi!” she cried, in her typical excitable manner. “Are you excited? I sure am! This is going to be incredible, isn’t it?”
“Have you ever considered shopping at 8 in the morning?” Rich asked her.
“No, actually,” Silverstream admitted. “But we didn’t have shops in Seaquestria. What is shopping like?”
“Shopping like bartering, but with gold things!” Yona said, helpfully.
Gallus finally stepped onto the footplate. “Morning,” he said.
“You very nearly resulted in us being late, you know,” Ocellus told him. “Set your alarm clock properly next time.”
“OK, bossy-hooves,” the griffon replied sarcastically.
Just then the whistle went. Ocellus pulled on the whistle cord, and let off 2 short, sharp blasts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnG-ouiueEQ
The doors closed, and the regulator was opened. With remarkable precision, the train rolled forward out of the station, and onto the main line.
But a chariot was quick to pursue them, racing down the road ahead of the train.
The engine rolled along the line, steam blasting from the funnel as a percussive bark echoed across the landscape.
Ocellus was grinning from ear to ear. She was living her dream at last! The engine rattled round the bends and rolled across viaducts, stormed across deserts and puffed through tunnels. It felt good to be really useful, as the last time she had done this was to pave the way for a Changeling invasion.
But here she was, doing it because she wanted to! Before she knew it, she was singing a song as they rolled along the line.
Gallus, however, had a permanent scowl etched onto his face, seemingly chiselled out of granite. “Will you stop singing that song?” he asked.
“It’s the new Sapphire Shores song!” Ocellus protested. “I got the single for my Hatchday, and it really inspired me this last year!” She paused. “Besides, it sums us up perfectly!”
Gallus put his talons to his face. “I’m stuck here, on the footplate of a steam engine, with a know-it-all Changeling who loves trains, and also sings Sapphire Shore’s entire back catalogue. It’s gonna be a long day.”
Ocellus was, thankfully, completely oblivious to this, and simply whooped for joy as the train sped down the track.
Meanwhile, in the commerce carriage, Filthy Rich and Silverstream were having an animated conversation.
"And, by capturing the whole sale market, purchasing in bulk and slashing all prices, we undermine every other gift market in town, and that's how Rich's Barnyard Bargains became the cornerstone of retail in Ponyville." Rich finished his spiel on his business policy.
“Amazing!” Silverstream cried, as she took another sip of Apple Family Apple Cider. “When I go back to Eris at Hearth’s Warming, I’ll make sure to spread this idea!”
Suddenly, the train juddered to a violent stop. “What the?” asked Rich.
“Trains stop to take on water!” Yona said.
“These engines lack water scoops, and the track lacks water troughs.”
“Well,” Rich suggested, “If we were to fit those, it would remove a lot of slack from the timetable.”
Ocellus stepped out of the cab, and walked over to the water tower, when Gallus flew off in the direction of a nearby field and grabbed something.
He flew back with a rabbit in his claw.
“What have you got there?” the Changeling asked.
“My dinner,” the Griffon retorted.
“Well, you just cost us 25 seconds!” Ocellus snapped.
“What’s 25 seconds in the scheme of things?”
“Time we can’t afford to waste! How many times do I have to keep telling you this before you understand?”
The griffon crossed his forelegs. “Fine,” he said. “I quit.” And he flew off toward Ponyville.
Ocellus shook her head. “Oh, for Thorax’s sake,” she muttered. She shouted after him. “Gallus! Gallus!”
Gallus turned around in mid-air, and flew back. “What?”
“We need your help! I can’t drive this engine on my own!”
The griffon touched down, and leaned into Ocellus’ face. “Let me get this straight,” he said. “You resist meddling in my affairs, and I won’t meddle in yours. OK?”
Ocellus nodded. “Now, let’s use the water tower.”
It took a few minutes before the water tower filled the tanks, but at long last they set off along the line.
Then they encountered another problem. A chariot loaded with bricks had stalled on the crossing. Jet Set and Upper Crust were trying to push it off the road.
Ocellus applied the brakes, and hopped down alongside Smoulder. “What’s going on?”
“The chariot has stalled, and we can’t move it,” Set explained.
“Well, move it!” Smoulder exclaimed. “We can’t wait all day!”
“What do you think we’re doing?” Crust retorted. The jack being used to release a wheel snapped.
Ocellus lost her temper. “Time to do this the hard way,” she said. “Smoulder, stand back! Gallus, watch the track for me!”
She hopped back into the cab, and opened the regulator to full. The engine rolled forward with power and speed.
“Stop!” shouted Jet Set, but it was no use. The engine smashed into the chariot and effortlessly knocked it to one side.
Ocellus stopped the engine, backed up, and set the engine to go ready for another run at the hill.
But before she could move the engine forward, a steamroller rumbled onto the level crossing, hissing steam and spitting water everywhere.
At the controls of the steamroller, looking very angry, was a pink filly with a blue mane, rolled into curls.
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Trouble is with Road Rollers, is last time I checked, they were a lot heavier than a thatched wood frame cottage, so a lot harder to drag?
Also, pity they couldnt just hitch up a pegasus and flight magic it out. Young Hippogriffs dont have the flight haul capability the same?
9262026
Fly the chariot out, you mean?
9262053
Needs more research. Im pretty sure Ive seen pegasi take a rolling lift as in following a ramp, but with capable enough should have a shorter roll until its effectively S/VTO?
Derpys wagon, with the piano, anvil etc wouldve been a couple ton overall? Where Twilight was trying to work out how Pinkie?
9262142
I see. As ever, fascinating.
Well that was indeed a god way to start off their first journey and adding: "Try Everything" was a genius move! And the way you use a cliffhanger in here was a nice tip to the iceberg.
9262447
I was watching a video on the Titfield Thunderbolt and the song simply came to mind. I thought a nod to Sam Weech singing 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' was in order.
9262465
Totally makes sense to me.
And I see Gallus catching rabbit is a shout out to Dan getting that rabbit in the movie, now I have to wonder what Gallus will catch the next day, a pheasant perhaps?
But then again, I don't see how he could, since there are no guns in Equestria, let alone, I don't think they would give one to a young Griffon
9262474
He doesn't need to. There's a key advantage to using claws over firearms; they never need reloading.
9262480
Very true, he is a Griffon afterall.
But now I'm starting to wonder what Mount Eris' railway was like. Maybe like t he Culdee Fell railway perhaps?
9262486
Given how steep the mountain is, that seems plausible. Or maybe a rope hauled line like the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway in Tennessee?
9262490
Yeah, maybe that was for the steeper parts of the mountain
9262498
I may write a story about it someday...
I like what you do with the songs, especially with the "Try Everything" one.
9262509
That would be interesting to read, and maybe for that one, You could have Skystar and Silverstream's brother be some of the main cast for that one.
9262678
I added the music to try and get the feel of the scene across. Plus, that song was a perfect match.
9262707
I'll definitely consider it.
I'm sure we'll be fine
Oh my God it's the crazy kid again
Well it looks like things are not going too well for them so filthy rich checking out the train how the kids are doing and he was pretty impressed how all of them really pitched in well except for one problem Gallus is late but luckily they got the train ready to go so far everything is going smoothly until they run into a bump in the road which apparently jet sets and Upper Crust are kind of blocking it trying to move their carts out of the way but that's just a minor bump on the road but it looks like we have another problem that crazy kid is back again what the heck does she want now