Philadelphia, June 1979
Princess Celestia feels trapped underneath her own crown - her subjects see an immortal goddess, not a pony trapped in a gilded cage.
In a moment of boredom, she strikes out on her own in search of adventure - and New York pizza.
Come along with the pony Princess as she rides the rails of the Northeast Corridor - rolling ever closer to her final cheesy destination on board a Night Train to New York.
Warning - this work has been rated PG by the Literature Association of Equestria for the following:
- Mild Profanity
- Excessive Railway Knowledge
Featured December 16-20 2020!
Chapters (11)
Huzzah!
The worst prison is the prison of one’s own making.
Fly free, Celestia. You have wings, you were meant to be in the air.
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With Amtrak, the only sure things are that the train is late and that it isn’t on the track it’s supposed to be on. Throw in a war-surplus PA system, and that’s just a recipe for disaster.
Fun locomotive facts!
The GG1 was designed in part by Raymond Loewy (which is why it’s so sexy), had 12 385hp electric motors, and a top speed of at least 128mph (206kph). They had an oil-fired steam heater, a continuous 4,600 hp output, and were in revenue service from 1935 to 1983 . . . nearly a half century.
therailwayhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/41/2020/03/RM-Archive-2017-GG1s.jpg
Stamped Passport isn’t wrong.
Also, that poor cake. Don’t ponies know trains and cakes don’t mix?
New Yuck flatbread a pleb.
Patrician Princess requires proper deep dish.
If Dutch King Willem-Alexander can fly for KLM, there’s no reason a retired princess can’t drive trains.
Man I wish I wasn't on mobile, so I could get We're Not Gonna Take It cranking.
Note to self, come back and edit in song...
Edit: edited.
I’ve got to say, the S1L7ER METPOR -T is my favorite train.
Honestly, Johnston should be happy that the ponies are smart enough to understand need-to-know and operational security.
Heck, they might even panic if they learn that Princess Celestia’s favorite student can turn ponies (and presumably people) into potted houseplants.
I have altered the deal. Pray I do not alter it further.
What’s really amazing about those huge interlocking plants was that all the switches were once controlled manually from the tower by some dude with a big lever . . .
I couldn’t find a pic of Penn Station’s tracks in its glory days, but here’s what Sunnyside Yard looked like back in the day:
i.redd.it/uh198zwll3121.jpg
Someone has her priorities straight.
Charlie is a wise man.
Poor Tempered Steel. Turns out that the Princess isn’t in the habit of stealing trains, but she’s not above hitching a ride on a light engine move.
I like this fellow, he's chill.
Why doesn't she just step down and put somebody else in charge? That's what she did in canon.
Her security detail is going to see this & assume she was abducted.
They will FREAK.
She should have left a note.
10584537
That hasn’t happened yet in canon
10584434
I got so excited when I found out that the 30th Street Station board did train names with individual flaps, instead of single cards with the train name on it - it made that whole scene possible.
10584577
Um that's how Friendship is Magic ended, it's twenty years later in the last episode, Twilight is sole ruler now, the royal sisters passed their power unto her.
10584586
It hasn't happened yet in the story. At this point Celestia is still in charge.
Hey, seems trains just like ponies.
June 1979. I was alive then.
Something I believe less than half the people that visit this site could say.
This is great, can we get some more of this "universe"? Perhaps like the events between the last chapter and the news article in the epilogue, and answers for questions like: "What happened to Charlie?", etc.
- MLP: FiM
- Sad
- Slice of Life
Steel doesn’t worry about a colt’s well-being. Railroad cars don’t have much concern for the bodies of ponies. But, despite the dangers, I wanted to be a railway pony. I wanted to be like Highball.10584650
According to Wikipedia, the median age in the USA is 37.9 years.
That means they were born in 1982 or later.
My father was born before there was science fiction
(Hugo Gernsbeck invented the term in the spring of 1926)
Best part is definitely Charlie talking to his engines like a pair of misbehaving schoolgirls. And Celestia got her pizza! Huzzah!
Train gossip. Just when I thought this couldn't get any better, you bring us train gossip.
And pizza.
I never want this to end.
Aw, over already? Charlie got a new job out of this, yeah?
Seriously though, this was a fantastic story, and my only complaint is that it wasn't longer.
Lovely story. Thanks for writing and sharing it with us!
10584723
Charlie is old and has a government pension - he isn't going back to work!
That being said, he does have a lot of pony -related stories to tell the grandkids.
Faved solely for the GG1 in the cover art. Now to read it!
Celestia has got a somebody-else's-problem field running something fierce here. Love it.
“You could be more on-brand for Amtrak“
NOT SCIENTIFICALLY POSSIBLE!
Reminds me of 17776.
10584459
Perhaps Juice will wake up even earlier in this universe, and have a discussion with 4883 about Lunchables.
And hopefully Charlie and his wife have a new "retirement" destination.
Wonder if there are any Tank Engines that go by Thomas puffing along across the pond...
Sounds about right.
I just realized something I have needed all my life: adult-oriented Thomas the Tank Engine, or similar, stories. This was fucking amazing, and I need MOAR!
10584428
Just what I was thinking! But Chicago ain’t got GG1, and that wasn’t the focus, so I’ll let it slide for now.
10584880
No, but that was a major inspiration.
So do I man, so do I.
11/10, fucking amazing, would very much re-read, want moar still. Somehow. I don’t even care what, though seeing some 611, 844, 3985, or 4014 would be wonderful.
10584889
Well, what’s stopping you? You nailed the these folks, what’s so hard about someone who spent their whole damn career in Utah and Wyoming?
Now I'm just imagining the Crazy 8s incident with a sapient train. Did the train just get board and leave?
For anypony that doesn't speak Spanish, that roughly translates to "No, the f
ing princess horse just came in here."
Now I have read the fic, and I loved it! Great job dude/dudette!
10584413
Not surprised to see you commenting on this story. Got about halfway through it before I realized it wasn't you who wrote it lol. Nice writing so far jz1!
Equestrian magic leaking from the portal. And attempting to turn the Northeast Corridor into Sodor.
I love this XD
Good read.
Someone is always unhappy with how things go.
That's gotta hurt, visiting a foreign place and not once eating the food there
10584508
I think he's also found a breakpony.