Equestria Girls: The Railway Stories

by friggin normie

Henry's Special Coal

One morning, Henry was feeling very sorry for himself. Sometimes he could pull trains just as well as the other engines, and sometime he felt as though he had no strength at all.

"I suffer dreadfully and no one cares," the green engine moaned.

"I do," Fluttershy assured him. "And Treehugger does too!"

The firewoman nodded.

"What a load of rubbish!" snorted James.

"No it isn't! We care about Henry immensely!"

The red engine rolled his eyes. "I was talking about Henry. He just doesn't work hard enough!"

"Now darling, that's hardly fair," Rarity admonished. "If I remember correctly, it was Henry who covered for you while you were suffering from a dreadful case of boiler ache last week."

Celestia Hatt came to the sheds, and she looked like she had bad news. "I'm sorry Henry, but you're too expensive. We've given you plenty of new parts but nothing seems to work. If we can't fix whatever's ailing you, we'll have to get another engine to do your work."

As she left, Henry became sadder than ever. "Oh dear, I shall have to go away."

Fluttershy, who had been on the verge of tears, sniffed and pulled out her phone. "No you won't! I'll make sure of it!"

"But how?"

Treehugger looked over Fluttershy's shoulder and smiled. "Wait and see, man."

---

When Henry got to the station, he was surprised to see Celestia. Instead of her usual suit, she was wearing a pair of blue overalls.

"M-Miss H-hatt?" Henry stammered. "What's going on?"

"Fiona texted me earlier and said that she thinks she's found the root of your problems. So I decided to come and see for myself."

As Henry and his train pulled slowly out of the station, Treehugger motioned to his firebox.

"Well man - uh, ma'am, - Henry just isn't feeling it the way the other engines are. His chakra isn't on the same wavelength as theirs."

Celestia turned to Fluttershy and mouthed 'What?'.

"Oh, erm, what Treehugger means to say is that Henry's a poor steamer. We'll build up his fire as best as we can, but it usually can't create enough heat. It was manageable when we first joined, but it got worse after his time in the tunnel."

Poor Henry struggled down the line but as they pulled into Wellsworth, he could go no further. Edward arrived to take over and kindly helped Henry into a siding.

"Keep your spirits up," the old engine puffed. "You'll be back at it in no time!"

"If you say so." He wanted to believe his friend, but Henry was certain that he'd be sent away now.

Celestia and Fluttershy went on discussing Henry's issues.

"So, what do you think is wrong?" Celestia asked.

Fluttershy reached into the tender and pulled out a lump of coal. "It's the coal. I'm sorry to say that we've had a poor lot lately. The other engines have larger fireboxes than Henry, so they've been able to manage. Henry's is much smaller and can't generate enough heat. But he'd be a much different engine with Welsh coal."

The controller thought for a moment. "It's expensive, but Henry deserves a fair chance! I'll send James to pick some up tomorrow."

---

That night, Henry could only think about being sent away.

"Oh dear, oh dear."

The other engines and their crews hated seeing him like this, and tried hard to distract him.

"Hey, Henry?" asked Apple Bloom. "Ah've been meanin' ta ask, but what kinda engine are ya? Ya look a lot like Gordon, but yer wheels an' firebox are different."

Henry perked up a bit. "Oh, well that's quite the story-"

"It's a story to you," grunted Gordon. "I think it's a disgrace."

"It's been eleven years, Gordon. You can't still be mad about that, can you?"

"I can and I am."

"Well, excuse me for being built."

Rarity cleared her throat. "Pardon me for interrupting, darling, but what are you two going on about?"

"You see, Rarity, Gordon and I were designed by the same man. Sir Nigel Gresley. I was a protoype for Gordon's class, believe it or not."

"But," cut in Gordon, "Gresley decided not to use the design. Unfortunately, a man with a vendetta against him stole the plans and built Henry."

"Without bothering to fix any of the flaws, might I add."

Twilight was confused. "And Celestia didn't find it odd that she was buying an engine that looked remarkably similar to an A1 that wasn't built by the GNR?"

The green engine grinned. "Well, that's a funny story..."

---

10 Years Earlier

"Oh dear, what to do," Celestia muttered. "What to do?"

Another one of the coffeepot engine's boiler had given out, and Celestia didn't know what to do. Edward had already been doing most of the work on his own, and with the loss of their number three, the blue engine was being swamped with work.

Suddenly, she heard a knock at her office door.

"Enter!" she called.

"Excuse me, ma'am," said the man who walked in. "It seems that you're in need of an engine."

"I'm not sure how you knew, but you're right. Unfortunately, I haven't the money to get one."

"Well, what I told you I could give you one for cheap?"

"...What's the catch?"

"He's just got some teething troubles. Aside from that, he's pretty efficient."

"How much?"

"Eh, let's say a thousand pounds?"

"Sold!"

---

"Personally, I think I'm worth a little more than that, but I've always found it funny how she didn't bother asking what kind of troubles I had."

"But," said Fluttershy, "if she had, then you might not be here with us."

Edward chuckled. "I doubt that, Fluttershy. Miss Hatt was beyond desperate for another engine, and the railway didn't have the money for anything better. No offense, Henry."

"None taken."

The others laughed at the thought of Celestia buying an engine for such a low price, and for a short while, Henry forgot about his worries.

---

The next day, Fluttershy couldn't contain her excitement when the Welsh coal came.

"This stuff better be worth it," muttered James. "I had to go all the way to the Mainland to get it."

But Fluttershy paid him no mind. "Now we'll show everyone what Henry can do!"

She and Treehugger placed the larger lumps like a wall inside Henry's firebox, then covered the glowing middle with smaller ones.

"What are you doing?" moaned Henry. "You're spoiling my fire!"

"Trust us, Henry! This'll be great!"

In no time at all, Henry had a roaring fire going. He puffed happily into the station and let of steam.

"How do you feel, Henry?" Celestia asked. Although, she felt that she knew the answer.

"Better than ever before!"

"Good. I trust that he has a good fire going, Fiona?"

"Like you wouldn't believe, ma'am!"

"Alright then. But no record breaking! We don't want to push him too hard."

Fluttershy laughed. "Henry won't need pushing. If anything, we'll have to hold him back!"

Henry had a wonderful day. He'd never felt this strong in his life. He wanted to go fast, but Fluttershy wouldn't let him.

"We have plenty of time, Henry."

They ran so well, that they arrived at Elsbridge early. When Thomas arrived, he was surprised to see Henry.

"Where have you been, Lazybones?" asked Henry. "Oh, I can't wait for dawdling tank engines like you! Goodbye."

"Well," puffed Thomas, "Have you ever seen anything like it?"

Twilight, Spike, and the coaches agreed that they hadn't.

Author's Note:

Alright, there are three things I want to say before we end the chapter:

1. May Michael Angelis rest in peace. I grew up listening to him, Carlin, and Baldwin, and it's a shame to learn that he passed.

2. There won't be a new chapter for a couple days (I say that as though I wasn't already going days at a time without posting anything new). For reasons that evade even me, I decided to adapt It's Good to be Gordon at the very last second.

3. I feel like that scene at the sheds and the subsequent flashback felt awkwardly crammed in. I thought the flashback was a little funny when I wrote, but now I'm not sure.

Comments

[Sudrian Engineer]

I like the flashback, it is funny

[The Blue EM2]

10281790
I can only assume the set crew had no idea what they were doing.

[E t the extra terrestria]

harny nex cheaper the flying kipper