The Canterlot Cannonball
The next morning dawned in Ponyville, and Ocellus made her way down to the station. Almost everything was ready. The Cannonball’s fire was lit, and Smoulder was already in position in the brake van.
There was only one slight problem; no coaches.
Ocellus took position on the footplate and checked the engine was warming up correctly. The loco certainly seemed to be steaming properly in spite of not having been used for decades. Boiler pressure was soon up to 150PSI, and the Changeling nervously adjusted the regulator.
Steam shot out of the engine’s cylinders as it rolled forward slowly. The brake was applied, and the engine came to a gentle stop.
Just then, a voice called out: “Need some coaches?”
Ocellus looked behind her to see the townsfolk wheel three coaches onto the track. They had doors at either end, and were entirely made of wood. There were several windows, and each sat on two bogies of four wheels each. There was a valence running along the top of the carriages, and each was finished in a white and brown livery.
“Where did you find these?” the Changeling asked.
“They were in a field nearby,” explained one of them. “Seeing as you have no carriages, we thought you could make use of them.”
Meanwhile, Jet Set and Upper Crust were taking a chariot down the road.
“They’re not coming back from this one!” laughed Crust.
“This road business of ours is guaranteed!” Set added.
As they drove into town and past the railway station, they saw an utterly bizarre sight. There was a train in the platform!
“What?” exclaimed Crust. But as she wasn’t looking where she was going, she swerved off the road and the vehicle fell into a ditch!
The two ponies staggered out, coughing and spluttering. Only to see the Royal Guard there.
“Set and Crust,” said Shining Armor, “I am hereby arresting you for dangerous driving, sabotage and property destruction, and acts of sabotage aimed at undermining competition.”
Meanwhile, Ocellus continued to fiddle with the footplate controls when a voice called out. “Ocellus!”
She poked her head over the left-hand side of the cab, and saw who was approaching. Her heart went into overdrive!
“Sandbar!” she cried. Although he had been helping for a while now, she’d never seen him here this early before. Whilst they were friends, she did have a bitof a crush on him.
“I came down early to see what was going on,” he said, with a friendly smile.
“We’re just waiting on Gallus,” Ocellus explained. “Can’t drive this thing solo!”
The Earth Pony laughed. “Very true!”
Just then, Silverstream appeared in the sky. “We’ve got trouble!" She cried.
“What’s happened?” they chorused.
“Gallus fell down the stairs whilst going to breakfast, and broke his leg!” Silverstream exclaimed. “Oh dear, what are we going to do?”
Ocellus looked at Sandbar. “Sandy, can you-”
“Yes, Celly, I’ll fire!” Both of them whooped with joy.
The conversation was interrupted again by Yona. “Come down!” she called. “We got problem!”
Ocellus and Sandbar jumped down to the scene of the issue.
The yak started her explanation. “These things not couple!” she said. “Chain not fit!”
The Earth Pony instantly spotted the source of the problem. “That’s because the couplings are incompatible!” he cried.
“These carriage bodies have been mounted on modern frames,” Ocellus realised. “But when the Cannonball was built, they hadn’t introduced this design of coupling, nor for another 30 years!”
“35 years,” Sandbar added.
Ocellus thought for a bit. “136 BLR, you’re quite right.”
Silverstream flew in, with a piece of rope, and tied them together. “Don’t put any strain on it,” she said. “Or else we’ve had it.”
The passengers assembled on the platform, and amongst them was Director Neighsay.
“What brings you here?” asked a passenger.
“I’m here to inspect the railway,” Neighsay admitted. “But what surprises me is the distinct lack of a train.”
Just then, the whistle sounded, and what should roll forward, steam blasting from its cylinders and producing a beautiful puffing sound, but the Canterlot Cannonball, resplendent with 3 coaches and a brake-van.
Neighsay was impressed. “They restored the Cannonball?” he asked. “I had no idea they were this dedicated.”
“Would you like to board sir?” asked Smoulder.
“Yes please,” Neighsay replied, and stepped in through the door to see the carriage interior. “Neatly furnished,” he noted, as he sat down in a plush seat.
“This really is a blast from the past!” said one passenger.
“This must be what rail travel was like in the time of Laurelore the Firsticorn!” said another.
Neighsay smiled. He then checked his watch.
Smoulder remounted the guard’s van, blew her whistle, and waved the green flag. The engine began to puff away with a rumble and a roar. They were away on time! They had-
“STOP!” shouted a voice. Smoulder slammed the brakes on and brought the train to a screeching halt, the driver not having heard.
Ocellus looked back. “What happened?” she asked.
Shining Armor walked up to Smoulder. “I commandeer this train to transport these two criminals to Canterlot.”
“Yes sir, 3rd carriage is free,” the dragon replied.
After the prisoners had been loaded, the train set off once again. Neighsay noted things down in his journal.
“Allocated departure time, 09:00. Delay of 3 minutes caused by stop.”
“Given the delay,” said Silverstream, “Wouldn’t it be fair to simply time us from when we actually left?”
“The OBER guidelines say that all timings are done from what is written on the timetable.”
Yona ran up to him. “Please be nice pony!”
Neighsay looked in her eyes. “I’m afraid it’s not about being nice, it’s about safety and following the rules. And the Government is getting tired of having its books thrown into lakes; we had enough trouble fishing the EEA guidelines out of the School of Friendship’s pond.”
The engine puffed down the line, making a lovely sound. The train ran smoothly, the passengers were all impressed at the quality of the coaches, and Filthy Rich approved of the job that had been done with the store area of the second carriage.
Sandbar was having the time of his life at the front of the train. He enthusiastically threw coal into the firebox whilst merrily singing along with Ocellus to the latest Songbird Serenade single.
But then, Neighsay got up out of his seat.
“What’s happening?” asked Silverstream.
“Emergency brake test,” explained Neighsay, and he pulled on the cord.
A siren went off in the brake van, and Smoulder slammed the brakes on. This had a knock-on effect throughout the train, as the vacuum brakes were linked to the brake van as the locomotive had not been fitted with continuous braking (yet).
The train juddered to a halt, but the coupling was strained to its limits. With a load groan, it snapped, leaving the coaches stranded on the branch line whilst the engine steamed into the distance!
Neighsay poked his head out of one of the windows. “Test successful!” he called, before pulling his head back in, trying not to get his horn caught in the curtains.
Smoulder sighed, exasperated. “Test successful indeed,” she growled, moving to the back of the train.
Meanwhile, the Cannonball steamed onwards.
“We’ve done it!” Sandbar cried. “We’re home and away!"
The engine rolled to a stop at the water tower. Ocellus hopped off the footplate and gasped.
“Why, bless me!” she cried. “We’ve left our train behind!”
Sandbar groaned. “I knew it was too easy!” He motioned over. “Let’s refill her, and reverse up the line.”
Ocellus filled the tender, and hopped back onto the engine. “The lever’s jammed!” she shouted. She looked to be on the verge of tears. “I knew we couldn’t do it!” she sobbed.
Sandbar put his hoof under her chin, and looked into her eyes. “Whatever happened to the Ocellus I knew?” he asked. “The Changeling who would never give up, no matter what? Who could think her way out of any problem?”
He spoke once more, inspiringly. “You would never let life bring you down, even when all seemed lost at the Tree of Harmony. You never let the tide of fate push you back!”
“Push you back,” Ocellus said. “Push you back! That’s it!”
Sandbar looked confused. “Sorry?”
“We push the engine back up the line; that’s how we link the train back together!”
“Brilliant idea!” cried Sandbar.
The two of them hopped down to the rails and started pushing. But it was hard work.
“It’s very heavy!” Sandbar groaned.
Ocellus suddenly had an idea. Green fire washed over her as she shifted her form to a Centaur.
“Let’s do this!” she cried, as the engine began to roll down the line, faster than before.
Meanwhile, a few of the passengers had climbed out of the passenger train and were helping Smoulder push the train up the line. It was slow, hard work, but the stock moved, slowly, painfully, but it moved.
A few miles up the line, the engine and train met. There was an audible clunk as the two crashed together.
This left the problem of how to couple them together.
“We can’t use the rope again,” Smoulder noted.
Suddenly, the sound of a steamroller could be heard below. Silverstream and Yona rushed off to find it, and found Cozy rolling down the road.
“Stop!” cried Silverstream. The steamroller ground to a halt.
“What do you want?” Cozy asked.
“We need chain for train!” Yona exclaimed.
“You’re not taking my steamroller!” Cozy replied.
Ocellus, who had remembered to switch back to her usual form, saw it all, and started undoing the bolts on the drive chain with her magic.
“What are you doing?” Cozy asked.
Yona walked up to her. “You give us drive chain, we give you pardon from Princess Celestia!”
Cozy looked stunned. “You’d really do that?”
Silverstream smiled. “If friendship has taught us anything, it’s that we should forgive and forget. That’s what Professor Shimmer taught us!”
“Isn’t that the teacher who does flying visits every now and then, and is being bombarded with questions by Lyra?” Sandbar asked.
Cozy grabbed a wrench, and began disconnecting the chain herself. “Here you go!” she called.
They started by linking the chain to the front of the first carriage. Then, they wrapped in around itself several times, to avoid unwanted tension building up in the chain. Finally, they hooked it to the locomotive’s tender.
With a whistle, they were off once again. The Cannonball sped along the line, the clock very much against them. The engine puffed and roared across bridges and tunnels, through hills and past fields. Everywhere you looked, ponies were emerging, waving their hats and cheering the train onwards to its destination.
Mounting the final bank into Canterlot station, the train rolled to a stop in the platform. Ocellus wiped her forehead, which was drenched in sweat.
Neighsay came forward to reveal his timings. “Total time, 58 minutes 47 seconds. Arrived at Canterlot 26 minutes late. Average speed, 24.9 miles an hour.”
Ocellus’ heart fell. “So, we didn’t do it?” she asked.
“If you had gone any faster, you certainly wouldn’t,” Neighsay replied.
“You mean-?” Sandbar asked.
“I’m making the Light Rail Order permanent,” Neighsay told them. “You should all be very proud of yourselves.”
Shining Armour took the opportunity to walk Set and Crust away. Set waved his hood angrily at them. “We’re not finished with you!” he shouted.
“But we are with you,” Smoulder replied coolly.
Just then, Gallus touched down. “How’d it go?” he asked.
“We’ve got the Light Rail Order,” Silverstream told him.
Gallus looked sad. “Ocellus, I’m sorry for mocking you. If anycreature could have pulled this off, it would be you.”
Ocellus smiled. “Don’t thank me, thank us. We couldn’t have done this if we hadn’t worked together.”
Sandbar spoke to her. “Celly, I want to tell you that I-”
He never finished his sentence. The Changeling knocked him over, and both of them locked in a passionate embrace and kiss.
The stationmaster looked over. “Kids these days,” he snorted.
Just then, a photographer arrived. The 6 of them marshalled around the engine, and the picture was taken.
But then a whistle echoed through the station. Ocellus jumped back onto the footplate, and replied with another.
Yet more whistles rang out through the station. Loud ones, harsh ones, sweet ones, quiet ones, chime ones, all whistle types and none were heard that day.
It truly was a day for celebration. For it proved that the old saying was true; you never walk alone.
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Wasnt sure which way you were going with the steam roller, probably because I was thinking too much of the movie, and I find it intresting that the definition of the speed limit is that of one which may be reached but only exactly? Given the overall time and average speed, someone better recheck the timetable, as all the included stop times were taken up with the pushback, but they were that late, to get there on time was the old main speed average of 30 mph and it was missed in the exitement?
Just realised a horrible pun. Having the sales carriage on the train is sort of like the ancient pheonetian ship traders? Call it the Argos?
Puns, because comedy? And because Im really bad at it?
9267581
Maximum speed allowed under a Light Rail Order is 25MPH.
Beautiful.
9269355
I always thought something was going on between them. Besides, best Changeling needs somecreature to love.
Cozy Glow is not changing overnight, though.
9303483
Change is a slow process.
Ocellus knew what those three words were.
9415961
Indeed she did. Thanks for reading, I thought this story had been forgotten.
That would be Karma on their part ha
bit of
Plus I think it is cute that she really likes him
Nice Sandbar
Well then that was easy to convince her
Sandbar spoke to her. “Celly, I want to tell you that I-”
He never finished his sentence. The Changeling knocked him over, and both of them locked in a passionate embrace and kiss.
Awww that's so sweet 🥰
Aww this was a pretty nice story so it looks like a finally got everything under control but unfortunately Gallus got injured and there's nobody going to drive the train but sandbar volunteered to help out and Ocellus was pretty happy that he will do this for her and it looks like Neighsay is here to inspect everything and so far things are going pretty good although there is some a couple of hiccups but it looks like Jets sets Upper Crust got themselves in trouble and not only that cozy glow was about to cause a lot of trouble but luckily with a little convincing they told her not to do it for now but with all the hard work and everything Unfortunately they failed which that's very unfortunate but at least they tried their best but it looks like not for lost they at least find a way to make this place work somehow