Buffer Stop
Track Switch - Double Traction
by Celefin
I am in a Taxi on the Autobahn 661 and the weather is atrocious. Someone else is going to drive my train the rest of the way. Not sure I like it, but it is probably better that way.
Squeak plop. Squeak plop. Squeak plop.
The Mercedes’ windscreen wipers make Frankfurt’s distant skyline appear every few seconds before it gets obscured again by the rain and spray. Low hanging clouds are hiding the skyscrapers’ spires and upper floors.
Lightning high above lights up the clouds with a leaden yellow for a second. Distant thunder, almost drowned out by the engine and traffic noise.
Thankfully, the driver has given up on trying to get more than one-word answers out of me. Cannot deal with that right now. I have talked more than enough already.
Explaining everything to the police officer was much harder than I had imagined. Which is stupid, really. I have not done anything wrong, quite the opposite. I prevented a disaster. Well, not me. At least not just me. Did not tell her that though. Obviously.
It did not help that it took a minute to convince her that yes, the pony before her was a pony engineer working for a subsidiary of DB. And that I had indeed been driving the train all the way from Dijon.
I was even still wearing all my gear, but that did not appear to be enough.
Felt that I somehow needed to justify my presence and defend myself. As if it was me who was in any way responsible for this mess because I am not human. Not sure if she even saw it that way. Just a feeling. The way she looked at me and how her voice sounded.
Might just as well have been my imagination. I am afraid I am a mess.
Got a phone call from a colleague some twenty minutes after the almost-crash. He is a guy trained in emergency psychological aid, standard protocol for accidents involving a person.
Well, he would not have needed to. I did not run anyone over.
I did not mash that car and spread a father and his baby who had not made it out in time because the front door of that vehicle was stuck after that accident with the boom lowered on the car’s roof over a hundred metres of track bed and everything smelling of petrol and blood and the look in the man’s eyes and-
Stop! Stop. Take a deep breath. Maybe he did need to talk me through it after all.
We overtake a lorry, its tires whipping up dirty water from the black road surface. The spinning wheels at eye height are mesmerising for a few seconds. A brief shudder as we leave it behind and get hit by side wind it shielded us from. Rain lashing at the window.
I hope Trax is alright. She has no one to talk to.
I feel a headache coming on. Can she get stressed? She can definitely get annoyed, I felt that clearly enough. How did she even know? Did the rails feel wrong somehow? Does she sing to everything around her? Come to think of it, her song sounded different just before the madness began.
I wish I could ask her. Like, really ask her. Ask Trax like a real person.
Because she is real. Real. Really real. I guess I am going to have to remind myself of that many times over. She did not feel stressed. How do I know that? I just know. Does not make sense. She was concerned about me. I know that. When I put my head against her console, I knew.
What am I to her?
They will have to check her for damage, especially to the wheels. Unbalance caused by abrasion, that was a long way to slide on sanded rails. Can she feel that? Does that hurt or can she not feel things happening to her body?
Will she feel alone when she wakes up in the depot and I am gone?
I think of my cutiemark and it makes me splay back my ears. Does she even wake up when I am not there? Is there a Trax without me?
Does it matter?
“Are you okay?”
The driver’s hand on my shoulder jolts me out of my thoughts and the mild pain of the ill fitting seatbelt brings me back to reality. I blink a few times and drag my fetlocks down my face and muzzle. They come away damp. “No,” I say and look out the window again. “Sorry, not your fault,” I add after a pause.
“It’s alright.” He gives a sad little chuckle. “It’s just that I’ve never had a pony passenger before and want to ask you stuff, but I guess you get that a lot. Like, a whole lot.” He taps his lower lip with an index finger. “Hm. At least now I know how alien pony fur feels like,” he says with a wink.
Despite everything, a little smile finds its way onto my muzzle. Maybe I should humour him a bit. I will be alone with my thoughts again soon enough.
I take a deep breath and let it out again slowly. “Okay. Ask away,” I say and turn my head away from the window and the depressingly murky morning light. Seeing his honest grin makes me feel better. It does not happen often that I enjoy the ‘never met a pony before’ routine. I think today I will.
A little while later we cross the bridge over the Main river, the grey water below us does not look as if it is flowing. It is rippling and foamy. We leave the A661 just before it passes over the Frankfurt east freight terminal, my original destination, back when everything mostly made sense. I will be home in five minutes or so.
***
I should have let the driver drop me off at the bakery. A stocked pantry is a virtue, sadly not one I posses. You would think that I knew that, having lived most of my life in Equestria where there are no supermarkets.
The mere thought of going out again to buy something is exhausting. Maybe I do not have to. There is a can of baked beans in the cupboard, half a glass of pickled beetroot in the fridge and a packet of crisps past its sell by date on the floor beside my bed. I decide to call it a meal.
I must have been really hungry. Maybe the shaking was not from distress but mainly from low blood sugar. The thought makes me feel better. A small glass of scotch improves my mood even more.
I treasure my Scapa single malt whisky and I just realised that I do have something to celebrate. I may have nightmares for a while, but no-one was killed or hurt (or damaged, in Trax’ case). I will drink to that. And to my girl.
It is quiet around here in the late morning. Most of the other tenants are at work and we did not meet anyone when we arrived. That was nice. The driver was kind enough to follow me inside and also negotiate with the lock on the door to my flat.
Faced with the choice of bed or shower, bed wins hooves down. I look down at myself. Good thing I forgot to put clean sheets on it before I left, that would have been a waste. I close the curtains with my hook on a stick and smile in the resulting murky darkness.
Even resisted emptying that bottle.
***
My phone wakes me up. Where am I? Oh right. Dammit, where is my stylus? Where is my phone for that matter? I am lying on it. No wonder it is muffled but my belly is vibrating. Arrgh!
It takes some contortions, but I end up pressing my nose against the screen in the hope of either accepting the call or shutting off the infernal device. The screen blinds my poor eyes in the process.
“Yes?!” I would have liked to put more venom into those three letters, but I am too groggy.
The caller appears unimpressed. “Nightline?! Where are you? Are you okay? You’re in the news!”
...what?
“Hello? Are you there, Night?” A female voice.
Maybe i should say something. “Huh?”
“It’s me. Penny. Are you okay?”
Oh right, that female voice. “Hi, uh, yeah, I think so. Penny, give me a second to-”
“Okay!”
“-wake up.”
There is a small pause. “Oh. Sorry. Totally forgot. Are you at home?”
I shake my head to try and clear the mush from my brain. “Yeah, I’m in Frankfurt. And I’m fine. And my train is fine.”
“Who cares about your train, when-”
“Trax.”
“-you are- oh sorry, sorry. Okay.”
I have to smile at how her voice just changed. She means it. “It’s okay.”
“No it isn’t, but anyway. Do you need something for dinner and do you want to stay at my place tonight? I don’t have to work tomorrow, so I don’t mind staying up long.”
“Uh. I don’t know, maybe? Can I get back to you on that when my brain is up and running?”
“Great! Irek gave me your address, I’ll pick you up!”
“Uh, I-”
Click
“-have to shower first.”
I blink at my phone’s lock screen. I guess that is taken care of then, even if I did not get to have a say in it. Oh well. With a sigh, I roll onto my back and close my eyes.
Just five more minutes.
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Amazing ... I was just thinking, it would be nice to have a new chapter of Nightline ... and there it was :)
Also I think Nightline really needs some company after that close call.
9940742
Well, it was short and overdue, really. Maybe I needed a break just as much as my bat.
She really does.
Im going to give a weak exuce in missing this story cos of other updates.
Something to really worry about with all the keep busy warnings etc thats been demonstrated, Pavlovian Training. The concious mind shuts down and reflexes keep retriggering all the supposed to keep alert systems. If anything, the dance of the Reflex enforces the Zone.
I have no idea of the code running the trains etc, all I can go on is what Ive used in home varients of commercial offerings, but to me, the general philosophy of modern computer systems sint to be responsive and efficint, because get computers smart enough, why do you need humans, that you have to pay, then demonstrate to have to charge for services for to pay etc.
Ive seen Deep Mind on a Pi do half the job as a dedicated server, at percentage cost, and even the modern Pi is less capable than Smart phones a couple year old.
And the Pi still doesnt have the most responsive code ever created running on it.
Nothing beats a collection of totally different parts working together Harmoniously, driven by C.A.O.S, powered by the Belief of the Fanatical.
I wonder how to backronym a distributed synchronous drive control for distributed hub motors on trains. maybe SWARM? then again, they got the Massively Multiwheel Modular Transporter to work. And thats got Steering on every wheel, never mind just propulsion.
Blech, level crossings on main roads and fast lines. At least the one I had to use recently when visiting relatives, accross the end of the two platform station, still had the control box there, heritage reasons, but its still manned. And currently has a massive steel brace arching right over the tracks due to some structural faliure.
Yep. When a train hits or nearly hits someone, in a front-row seat is a person who knew that they were in possibly the best position to stop it from happening, even if they also know that that might just have meant they were the closest to having it not be impossible. Drivers don't generally just shrug and move straight on when something like that happens. This was a good outcome, where the extent of the damage might just be some wheels and rails needing repair and a bunch of people and goods running late, but as Nightline demonstrates, that still doesn't stop the mind from thinking about what so nearly did happen.
Stay safe and sensible around train tracks, everyone.
The question on all our minds: So how is Trax ??!
I know, I know... The slow buildup is a good thing, right ?
I liked Nightline's musings on how Trax felt.
Unbalance caused by abrasion, that was a long way to slide on sanded rails. Can she feel that? Does that hurt or can she not feel things happening to her body?
Just five more minutes... yeah... totally not going to be woken up by the doorbell. Penny is going to be there in the bat of an eye...
9940969
One of the worst things about accidents like they almost happened here (or suicides where the person is waiting on the tracks, for that matter) is the time you need to stop the train. In Nightline's case, a long and heavy freight train travelling at 100 km/h (62 mph), her train needed some 45 seconds and about 900 m to come to a halt. Wet tracks add a few seconds. 40 seconds is a very, very long time to have a front row seat in an impending horrific disaster you can do absolutely nothing about. Without Trax' help and also because of poor visibility, she might have triggered the emergency brake ten seconds or so later - with terrible results.
And yes, most drivers don't just carry on like before. Because of that, DB has a comprehensive support and treatment program in place, especially to reduce the instances of people losing their ability to work due to PTSD.
9941475
Thank you, that was quite satisfying to write about.
Well... without her bat, is she even, right now? Who knows.
9942178
We've all been there, haven't we?
9943033
[nods soberly]
You know Celefin? I really, really love these stories. Biscuit was right to link me to you.
9944863
It's good to see how Nightline is doing right after incident. I'm glad a friend is coming over even if it's early for her. Nightline needs the support even if she doesn't realize it.
9953285
She does. Penny to the rescue. :)
9940969
9943033
There was an article in the Washington Post a few years back about suicides by train. Apparently Amtrak has to train it's drivers to not hit the emergency brakes when they see someone on the tracks. They can't save the person and the sudden deceleration can harm their passengers.
9962865
I hadn't heard that, but it makes sense.
I took an economics class with a professor who'd worked as a lawyer for a train company some years previous. He had a few amusing anecdotes about his time with the company, but also a sobering note: the company had counselors on staff to help drivers when their trains killed people.
Not if.
I like your stories.
10007904
Thank you!
i love this stories.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
10076903
Thank you so much!
So glad to be caught up with this fic again. Really hope that you get to continue it, this whole situation is making me really curious to see what comes next.
10213905
Thank you, really hope so too. Too much stress and my depression also said hello again - it's not for a lack of ideas.
Just wondering... How would react Nightline to this whole Covid situation? How would her life go? She is not a human so the virus shouldn’t affect her but... she is also a bat... How would people see her? How would it affect her?
10285243
It would probably be very strange... able to wander deserted streets in normally bustling town centres without fear of infection or infecting others. Her actual job doesn't require much social interaction though, so that wouldn't change much. There would certainly be conspiracy theorists claiming it's an Equestrian virus or that ponies were helping China to spread it in their quest for communist rainbow harmony world domination. Might spend a lot of time inside with Irek and the other humans in their gang (in turn, because of humans visiting each other being forbidden). Some stories there I guess :)
10286170
I, for one, welcome our new communist rainbow harmony pony overlords.
10767732
I'll have to have a look at that one, thanks. And happy you could connect enough to my story to bring up memories.
Oh, damn was getting super invested towards the end there I was shocked and disappointed there wasn’t more, haha.
10781080
Thank you! And yeah, I'm sorry. Shortly after the last chapter everything turned to shit for me and killed my writing ability. Better now, I managed to write two chapters of a new story so far. No promises, but for the first time in ages, I've got some ideas bouncing around my brain again. I love Nightline too much to just leave her like that. ;)
Please continue the story!
10937922
I'm trying... *sigh*
I really am.
The character art link is dead
11123273
Repaired.
Thanks for telling me, that means I need to check all other stories as well :/
Finally all caught up, I'm slow
This series is definitely among my favourites, blending two of my literary vices: mundane slice-of-life and dialogue that just flows.
I'm not exactly a train person, but it's easy to empathize with Nightline's distinct love and appreciation for Trax and the field in general. You clearly know your stuff, and it enrichens the story that much more.
I love Nightline herself, and would really love to see how her story continues, especially once she finally reconnects with Penny and Irek, whom I also have a soft spot for.
Even if this story never continues, though, I'm very glad it exists.
11175319
*fluffy bat hug*
Thank you so much for your kind words, made my day.
Nightline and the gang are still very close to my heart.
Well, this maintains its place in my favorites list, and I wish you luck getting this story back on track after sitting idle for 3 years. Further interactions between Nightline and Trax would be great, and I hope you get your path to the mainline, and a smooth journey all the way to the next station and beyond!
Ok, now we've surpassed 3-years since the last chapter, and with no blog posts or updates from the author, I'm starting to lose hope.
Given the four years, I assume this will never be finished, but nonetheless, I wanted to say how much I enjoyed what was written of it. Nightline and Trax were delightful, and how Nightline thought about Trax was great. Simply put, this was excellent to read, even if it will remain unfinished. One of my favorite takes on ponies on Earth that I've seen.
Oh, although the character art is all gone, unfortunately, which was a shame, would have been nice to see.