Tales of the Rails: Pacesetter's Story

by Trolley Car Brony

Ch.3 "Who's on first?"

Chapter 3

Who’s on first?

Pacesetter wasn’t quite sure how long she had been wandering for. She had wound her way around the entire yard at least once by now, everywhere from the riverbank to the shop buildings and back. She’d even crossed the western bridge to the Switchtower that stood guard between the end of the freight yard and “Riveryard” itself, chatting it up with the pony inside for a good long while. The glasses wearing light green mare who was stationed inside seemed happy for the company and someone to talk to in between the few times she had to get up to throw switches or adjust signals. Funny thing was, as Pacesetter started back across the bridge after what felt like at least an hour, she didn’t even know the mare’s name. She wondered what kind of pony could work all day like that with no one to talk to, as it must get incredibly lonely.

By now the commotion of earlier had long passed, the only thing remaining was the new engine itself still sitting under steam on the ready track with not a soul around it. She had taken great care to avoid the area as she had wandered around, but now figured she was due a closer look at her future “crew member”. As she approached, the true size of the machine became very apparent. Considerably larger than the “Mountaineer” that she had just spent the last two months working behind, it was possible even two “Mountaineers”s back-to-back still wouldn't match the length of the newcomer! If she were asked what the color of the locomotive was, her first answer would be black, but that wasn’t entirely accurate. The tender, cab, and some outer pieces were black yes, but the boiler jacket had a more subtle deep blue tint to it that seemed to reflect light more akin to polished metal than paint. Brass trimmings on the boiler, domes, and the short straight smokestack accented the engine, as well as the fresh whitewall paint on every wheel. In large gold lettering on the tender was the number “485”, matched in kind by the rather simple looking red round number plate which hung centered on the front end. The builder’s plate near the front stuck out to her, as instead of the usual Baldwhinney round or Alcolt rectangle plate designs the rest of the “Road” engines carried, it was a shield, the very same style she had only ever seen on some of the small switch engines like “Rainy Goat''. Prominently molded into the top of the plate was “H.K. PORTHERD COMPANY, MANEHATTEN”, with its serial number and build date in less prominent font below. Now standing directly next to it, her eyes drifted up and stared at the side of the engine’s cab. Typically, it was here that the name of the locomotive was proudly displayed, but as far as Pacesetter could tell it was just a collection of incoherent scribbles in the same gold paint as the lettering on the tender. ‘No…non…pair?’, she tried mouthing it out as her brain tried to make heads or tails of it. Infact, she was so focused that she missed the trickle of water starting to pour out from one of the pipes below the cab.

With a sudden “pwhoosh”, a small burst of steam erupted from in front of her, showering the front of her legs in a collection of hot water and mud that had been kicked up in the process. She yelped instinctively and quickly hopped back a couple of steps, only to look up again to see an unfortunately familiar dark colored pony staring back wide eyed at her.

“Oh shit! I…I thought I was all alone out here! Are you ok?”, he worriedly asked.

Pacesetter started to try to shake the mud off her legs, “Yea I’m ok…what in Tartarus are you doin’ slammin the injector on like that without lookin’?! Damn new engine watchponies, I swear I’ll take this all the way to Fellowers if I have to!”

His expression calmed a little as he raised his left eyebrow, “Who?”

“Who?!? Our Trainmaster shit for brains! I swear you ain’t gonna last long here if you already forgot-”, she stopped as a thought crossed her mind. “Wait…you ain’t one of the new watchponies, are you?”

He shook his head, “Sorry Miss, just got into town not even a few hours ago.” He looked down at the mess she was still trying to shake loose from, “I am really sorry, it’s no excuse, but I’ve been having a really rough morning…my mind isn’t in the right place. I should’ve looked to make sure nopony was close by.”

Pacesetter let out a sigh as she tried to calm herself down, “No, it’s ok. That makes two of us that ain’t exactly having the best morning so far…” She glanced around, “I take it y’all are one of the ‘Portherd’ ponies that brought this thing in then huh?”

He seemed to flatten at her question, “Yea, we ran it over the pass in the dark; to say I am exhausted after being up all night would be an understatement. But, Mr. Portherd wanted to make sure it was here by today to ensure it was ready to start testing and meet the crew who we would be working with.” He rolled his eyes, “Well, I say ‘we’, I should say ‘me’, didn’t find out until just before we got here that I would be testing alone…”

She started to say something to the effect of how brilliant it was to leave the pony who couldn’t even be bothered to check before turning the injectors on with the very large, likely expensive new engine, but stopped. It was painfully obvious the stallion was upset, and if this was in fact the pony who she would have to be working with, the last thing she wanted to do was antagonize him more. As if he could hear her thoughts, his expression quickly changed to one of amusement as he tried to hold in a laugh with his hooves. She realized why far too late, and her cheeks became red hot with embarrassment as she snapped her mouth shut.

He finally couldn’t hold it, “Hahahaha! So YOU’RE the pony from earlier! Is that a habit of yours to stare at handsome engine ponies with your mouth wide open? If so, I’m flattered!”

“I...YOU-”, she stammered out. “I WAS going to insult ya, but stopped as to not make you more upset! Next time I won't be so kind!”

He laughed again, “Next time? Ha, I mean no offense Miss, but unless you are assigned to the top Conductor around here, I doubt I’ll be seeing you very much. I don’t intend to stay here any longer than I absolutely have to, just long enough to test ‘Nonpareil’ here and then go back home. I want nothing to do with this place.”

“Colt are you in for a rude shock…”, she said more to herself as she shook her head. The pony in the cab’s ears perked up, and it looked like he was about to ask her what she had said when a third voice interrupted them both.

“‘Set!! I knew that was your voice I heard yelling!”

The two turned to see a magenta mare happily trotting over from behind the roundhouse, her black cap and blue and yellow mane bouncing as she did. As she approached, the pony in the cab pushed in the brass handle to shut the injector off and moved away from the window to check something.

“...Jazz??”, Pacesetter very confusingly responded as the mare quickly closed the distance and forcibly embraced her in a hug. “I...I don’t understand, why are you here? I thought you didn’t come back from visiting your family until tomorrow!”

Jazz released her friend, “What, and miss all the excitement of today? I’m disappointed in you, ‘Set. I thought you knew me better.”

Pacesetter smiled a confused grin at her Brakepony friend, “Excitement? Over what, the riveting nature of scheduling meetings?” She chuckled, “You’re right, I guess I don’t know you very well.”

Jazz rolled her eyes, “Not that! I mean, well yes partially that but…” She paused as she started to bubble with excitement, “Oooohhh I can’t help it! Guess who’s crew I got onto??”

Pacesetter’s eyes lit up, “Oh! Did you finally get onto the ‘Fireball Mail’ like you’ve been wanting?! I heard ‘Hot Shot’ was needing a new brakepony recently.”

“I did consider it”, Jazz laughed, “...until I realized, why work with somepony as boring as her when I can get in with Equestria’s newest and bestest conductor!”

Pacesetter was dumbstruck as she realized she was talking about her, “Wait, what?! I mean, wow thanks but, why?? You have the seniority; you could’ve easily been with anypony on nearly any run out of here! Why me?”

Jazz put a leg around her, “Exactly! After only three years I could've been with any conductor, but I didn’t want just any conductor.” She chuckled, “You remember the promise we made years ago when we met on the train ride here, right??”

“Whoever got promoted to Conductor first, the other would be their Brakepony”, Pacesetter now laughed with her. “Yea Jazz, I remember! I just didn’t think you would actually follow through with it.” Jazz scoffed and put on a look of disgust, which Pacesetter dispatched with a quick tap on the shoulder. “I’m kidding! Well tell me! You obviously have talked to Schlick, who else did we get?”

“Oh, am I not enough??”, Jazz gave a flick of her eyelashes before breaking with another chuckle. “Well, I better be, ‘Minimal Crew’ I believe is the term he used. Four ponies total, with extras being added only for specific runs. He didn’t say much past that, was too busy arguing with some round elder stallion about something or another.”

“Did the other pony have brass glasses and a green vest on?” The two turned to see the graphite stallion now sitting in the gangway between the engine and tender facing them.

“Uhhh, yea?”, Jazz replied. “‘’Set, who is your friend here?”, she asked, eyeing him up.

“Uhhh-“, was all Pacesetter could get out, realizing she didn’t actually know.

“Oh, I’m Iron!”, he said. “Did you happen to hear what they were talking about? Mr. Portherd and this…Schlick Fellowers was it?”

“That’s right”, Jazz responded. “And no, not exactly. Just that neither seemed exactly happy at the situation. It was all mostly the same stuff I’m sure ‘Set here already told you.”

“Told him what?”

“Told me what?”, the other two said in unison.

“Well, why else would you two be out here yelling? I thought you were being a good Conductor and telling your Engineer whatever bad news had this…’Portherd’ so upset.”, she replied with a smile. Iron now stared at Pacesetter as she closed her eyes.

“Wait…you’re the Conductor assigned to me?!”, Iron retorted. “What was that you said?”, gesturing to Jazz, “that she was the newest Conductor out here?? Oh it’s no wonder why Mr. Portherd is so upset, you think your T.M. would know better!” Iron now laughed, “Oh I am so sorry ladies, I think there has been some misunderstanding. You can’t have a rookie crew paired with a test engine, that just isn’t how it works! In the past we’ve always, borrowed the most senior crew, that way we have ponies who actually know what they are doing so ‘we’ can focus on the locomotive.”

The two mares scoffed in unison. “Woah woah, hold on there mister ‘Iron’”, Pacesetter sneered at him. “We’ve been workin’ out of here for the better part of two years! I assure you we know our jobs and our territory just fine.”

Now it was Iron’s turn to scoff, “Yeah, I mean YOU might know it in general terms, but I need a crew who knows the road like the back of their hoof. Who can help guide me on certain sections, where the curves are, the grades and everything. You can’t seriously expect me to put my trust into two rookie brakeponies, recent promotion or not!”

“You should be happy to have us!”, Jazz shot back. Glancing to Pacesetter she added, “Unless you heard differently, we aren’t even getting a regular Firepony on our crew.”

Iron’s mouth dropped, “Not even…WHAT?! The entire point of this endeavor is to TEST this engine! How in all of your country bumpkin west coast thinking is that supposed to work?! We need a consistent firepony to gauge what the engine is doing! I just don’t-.”

“In case you haven’t noticed you pompous prick…”, Pacesetter cut in, “EVERYPONY is shorthooved from here to Phillydelphia! I won’t lie, it’s likely why I made Conductor as quick as I did. That doesn’t mean I don’t know my stuff, but I’m now easily the youngest Conductor running out of Vanhoover.” She paused as she snorted at him, “Speaking of, ain’t you a little young and green to be in charge of testing engines? Y’all must be downright desperate for help!”

Iron flashed with anger, “I have been working with steam locomotives NEARLY my whole life!” He jumped down and got in Pacesetter’s face, “I have been testing engines since before you even likely SAW the railroad, let alone even BEGIN to comprehend all that goes on!” He turned and began to storm off in the direction Jazz had come from, “Offices are this way, yea?! No way in HELL am I putting up with this!”

As he moved away, Pacesetter, who was now boiling over herself and ready to fight, was stopped after a step by Jazz sticking a leg across her friend’s chest. “Let him go ‘Set. I know that look when I see it.”, she calmly said.

“But-…He!…”, she yelled in frustration. Jazz had a point; she was more than ready to tear him apart right here in the ash ballast of the yard. She took a deep breath to try and calm down, “Did you hear how he talked to us?! Who does he think he is??”

“A pony too big for his own hat who thinks he is hot shit?”, Jazz replied with eyebrows raised. “Look, I get it, but fighting here will only make it worse. Not to mention put your new promotion in jeopardy.”

Pacesetter sighed as she fully calmed down, fully agreeing with her friend. “Yea…I never would live that one down huh? Beat the snot out of my first engineer within mere minutes of meeting him? I’d be lucky to get transferred to station duties if I still had a job.”

“Exactly!” Jazz turned her head and watched Iron disappear around the corner. “Let him cause his own damage. We don’t have to see him again until tomorrow morning, and who knows? By then he may be on his way back east in a medical bed, courtesy of some other pony’s mean left hook.”, she said with a wink, shoving into Pacesetter’s shoulder.

“You even knew what I was going to open with?”, Pacesetter complained with a laugh. “Wow, you do have me pegged huh Jazz?”

“Somepony has to keep you out of trouble,” Jazz replied slyly. “Come on, I don’t know if you’re hungry, but I’m starved. I’ll buy ya brunch if you’re willing to listen to my family stories from the reunion!”

“I ain’t hungry, but I’ll still join you.”, Pacesetter said as they started to walk. “Just…please pick anywhere other than ‘Haybagel’.

“What?! But, but that’s like your favorite-“

“I’ll explain later,” she said with a laugh.

Author's Note:

Oooh boy. This one was a struggle. This is the first time I've completely thrown out most of the chapter after the initial draft, but I think it was worth it. I really wanted the dialogue to feel tight, without dragging on forever without moving the story forward. Speaking of, "the next morning" is where wheels start rolling, literally.

Terms Used!
Road-Short for "railroad", or referring to a specific area of track.
Injector - a steam powered device that forces water into an engine's boiler while under pressure. Cool thing if you ever want to look it up.
Engine VS Locomotive - Technically speaking, an "engine" is part of a "locomotive", where the latter is the entire machine itself, with "engine" sometimes referring to just the power bits. In common speak, they are rather interchangeable.

If you want more of an idea of locomotive styling mentioned here, look up examples of 1880-1900s American Steam locomotives, as that is the athetic I'm rolling with.

As always, if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer!