10: Invasion
It was on the morning of August 1st when it began.
I had just finished marshaling a passenger train consisting of the three six-axle coaches I had brought from Sodor and was reversing to the Canterlot Station Platform.
“Any ideas on why the princesses were being secretive about this private service?” Eric asked from my cab.
“Can’t say,” I replied. “Short notice, early in the morning, I’d say it's for diplomatic reasons.”
“Hm.”
“Say, how does the whistle feel?” Brimstone asked as he shoveled some coal into my firebox.
“To have not one, but two whistles I can blow?” I asked back. “Let’s see.”
FooooWOOOOOOOOH! FOO! FOOOO!
Eric and Brimstone covered their ears as I let my new secondary whistle sing. It was loud, clear, and could be heard for miles. The whistle was actually a Canadian National 4 Chime that had been found in one of the coaches of the Royal Hudson. When I was given the offer of being fitted with it, I accepted. So now I have two whistles. The one from my days on the Furness Railway, and the one from CN.
“You’re going to wake up the entire city with that whistle,” the familiar voice of Princess Cadance stated as she walked onto the platform.
“I think I already did!” I laughed. “I see you’ve brought some protection?”
“Yes. We did,” Celestia replied as she too stepped onto the platform.
Behind the princesses was a small platoon of guards, some of whom carrying some rather large crates.
“What are those crates for?” I asked.
“Classified,” Cadance replied. “Do you know where we can put them?”
“The brake coach has a space for storage. You can put them there.”
“Excellent. We’ll load the crates and then we can get underway to Ponyville.”
“Right.”
The princesses and the guards stepped onto the second coach where they were greeted by Thorax, who checked their credentials before letting them proceed.
“Is something on your mind, Edward?” he asked, noticing my pensive look.
“Just a hunch is all,” I replied. “No proof, nothing. Just an old engine’s hunch.”
“What sort of something?”
“Just a hunch that something interesting is going to happen with whatever this Royal Business is."
“Something always does.”
Eric looked back to see Thorax waving. He waved back.
“Alright, let’s get moving.”
I blew my normal whistle, and we departed in short order. Down Canterlot Mountain we went, then to Ponyville. Here, we picked up a couple more guards and a few more classified crates.
As we were about to depart, Thorax looked at his list.
“Huh…”
“Something wrong?” a guard asked.
“I’m just wondering where Paper Mache is,” Thorax replied. “Celestia’s personal guard. I just noticed she’s on the passenger list.”
“She is? Oh right! She got tied up at the castle. We’ll charter another train.”
Thorax looked at the guard, then leaned out a window to wave at Eric. He waved back and gave me the go-ahead. With two toots of the whistle, we were off to Appleloosa.
At one point, the changeling was sitting down next to Cadance, who was reading some documents.
“So. Uhh… Cadance. Are you sure you can’t tell us what this run is about? Or at least why you specifically wanted us?” he asked.
Cadance scoffed. “Obviously not. It’s classified. Civilians aren’t allowed to know.”
“I know we’re civilians. It’s just that, since we’re the ones transporting you, it would be a lot smoother if we knew even a bit of what’s happening.”
“We’ll take our chances,” Celestia stated in an almost threatening tone.
Thorax’s ears dropped. Averting his eyes from everyone in the coach, he stood up and walked to the front where a small cord lay. He pulled it twice which sounded a small whistle in the cab.
“Here comes Thorax,” Eric said.
A moment later, Thorax climbed over my tender into the cab where he was met with warm smiles from Eric and Brimstone.
“Something wrong, Thorax?” Eric asked.
“It’s just that, uh… Something about everypony back there feels… off,” the changeling replied.
I raised a brow.
“What sort of something?” Brimstone asked.
“Well, everypony keeps… staring at me. Really staring at me.”
“Are you sure that isn’t because you’re a changeling?”
“I don’t know. It’s not the kind of look I normally get from ponies. Especially Cadance. It’s like… Ugh. I don't know how to explain it.”
Neither Eric or Brimstone said anything, which made Thorax continue.
“She didn't feel like how she normally feels when I'm around her.
That started a new train of thought.
“She didn’t sound considerate, she was a bit… snappy, and…”
“Even her voice sounded off?”
“Y-Yeah. It did. Celestia’s too. She seemed angry.”
“Perhaps they’re just antsy because of what all the classified information is about,” Eric suggested.
“Perhaps…” I slowly said.
“Something on your mind?” Eric asked back.
“Yes. This entire trip feels off. I feel like the princesses would at the very least tell us why they wanted us to take them. They could have easily chosen Sierra Three. From now on, I’m gonna have to make sure we’re always told of even basic information.”
“Uh-...”
“Thorax, head back to the coach. If anything else seems off, come back up here and tell us.”
Thorax sighed. “Alright. If you say so…”
With that, he begrudgingly climbed back over my tender and into the forward coach.
There came a point in the journey where everypony was taking a nap in the second coach, including Thorax. Everypony except for three guards. One guard was in the brake coach watching over the crates while the other two guards were looking at a map of southern Equestria tracks.
“With this speed, I figure in about one hour we’ll be at Hangmare’s Curve,” one whispered. “That’s five miles from Appleloosa. At Hangmare’s Curve we’ll take over the train. With us in control, we’ll highball right through Appleloosa and continue off the main line and through Flat Top Tunnel, after which we’ll stop at Tartarus Turn and wait for the others to get the switch ready.”
“What about the engine? Edward?” the other asked.
The first guard chuckled. “I’m sure he’ll be cooperative once we take his crew hostage.”
About an hour later, we did indeed approach Hangmare’s Curve. A curve so named because of a mare being hung when the tracks were first laid due to her trying to murder several ponies. As we entered the curve, we passed a sign telling trains to whistle. In response, I blew the CN 4 Chime twice.
This woke up Thorax, who got up from his seat to stretch.
Bump
His ears twitched at the sound.
Bump Bump
He looked back at where a crate was stored, seeing the lid jump up.
“What the?” he silently mouthed as he slowly made his way to the crate. Unknown to him, Princess Celestia had noticed him, who tapped the shoulder of Cadance to wake her up.
A little bit of adrenaline kicked in, causing Thorax to quickly step over to the crate, unlock it, and open it up. He gasped as he found a white Royal Guard Unicorn Mare. She had a white coat, blue hair, and golden armor.
“Princess Celestia! Princess Cadance!” Thorax called out as he began lifting the guardsmare out of the crate.
“It’s alright, Conductor,” Celestia replied with a smile, stepping behind him.
“But this mare! How did she get here?!”
WHAP!
Suddenly, Cadance swung her hoof into the back of Thorax’s neck, knocking him to the ground. The guardsmare looked at Thorax, then up at Celestia, who looked back with a devilish smile, motioning for the mare to get out.
The mare stepped out, and Cadance began leading her to the brake coach. Celestia looked back at the group of guards.
“Alright boys,” she said. “We can stop playing soldier now. We’ve got work to do. Come on.”
All the guards stood up and followed Celestia into the brakecoach. From the outside, it looked like the inside of the coach had suddenly lit up in green flames for a second.
In the cab, Eric watched the track ahead. He then looked over at the clock installed on the wall, then he looked out at the sun, which still hung where it was since we started the journey.
“That sun still hasn’t moved,” he said.
“Maybe Celestia has it there for a reason,” Brimstone theorized.
“Perhaps…” I slowly replied. “It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from Thorax. Brimstone, mind climbing back there and checking on him and the passengers?”
“Yes sir,” Brimstone replied, setting his shovel down before jumping onto and climbing over my tender. He made his way through the first coach. He opened the door to the second coach and was quick to notice that none of the passengers were there. He was just as quick to see the doors between the second coach and the brake coach were open, giving him a clear view inside.
To his horror, he saw that the coach was completely filled with changelings that had just finished tying up Thorax and a mare he recognized as Celestia’s personal guard, Paper Mache.
“W-Why did they put you in that crate?!” asked a hyperventilating Thorax.
“Not just me,” Paper Mache replied. “These bastards captured Celestia and Cadance. Who knows who else is in these other crates.”
“Would you two shut it?” the lead changeling snapped.
Eyes wide, Brimstone silently closed the door and ducked below the windows.
“Ohhhh sweet Celestia…”
In the cab, Eric took a big drink of water from a bottle. “Ahhh… So. Edward. What do you think of the whistle? Are we keeping it?”
“I think I might,” I replied. “It’s nice having a loud whistle. The way I see it, I could use my normal whistle when we’re in stations and yards, and then use the CN whistle when we’re out in the country. We can get more range out of it.”
“I see it the same way.”
“EDWARD! ERIC!”
We were surprised to hear the panicked voice of Brimstone as he scampered into the cab.
“The train’s being held up! Those guards aren't guards at all and those aren't the real princesses! They’re changelings! They’ve got Thorax and Celestia’s personal guard tied up and have the real princesses knocked out in those boxes they loaded!”
“WHAT!?” we yelled.
“Uh- I- wha... MM! I-I knew there was something wrong!” I yelled. “Brimstone! Get that fire as hot as you can. We’re five miles from Appleloosa. We’ll make a run for it.”
“Yes sir!”
“I’ll help too,” Eric said, jumping off of his seat and grabbing a second shovel.
Opening up the regulator, I surged forward, picking up speed as I quickly thought up a plan.
“Both of you get up here,” I ordered after a mile. The two did just that, climbing onto my cab roof and alongside my boiler.
“Do you have something?” Eric asked.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Eric, I want you to fly ahead to Appleloosa and alert the sheriff. Rally as many ponies as you can. When we stop at the station, board the train from the front and back. Tell them to grab Celestia and Luna in whatever way they can and bring them to the forward coach. We’ll uncouple the rear two and dash for the next town. Now go. Now!”
“Right!”
With a whip of his wings, Eric took off down the line, quickly disappearing from view.
“What do I do?” asked Brimstone.
“When we stop, I want you to uncouple the other two coaches as fast as you can. When the princesses are in the forward coach, whistle twice, and I’ll take off. Hopefully, the ponies can fight them off until we gain enough ground on them for us to either make it to another town, or hide.”
“Where would we hide?!”
“I don’t know! Now get back to my cab. Keep firing.”
“Ugh. Yes sir. But really quick, do you think there will be enough ponies in town good enough to fight off a group of changelings?”
"I don't know," I replied. "I'm doing an awful lot of hoping."
With an inferno in my firebox, we tore down the tracks at criminally reckless speeds. At this very moment, nothing else mattered. It was Appleloosa or burst.
This sudden increase in speed, however, did not go unnoticed by our parasitic passengers.
“Looks like we’re coming off slick as a whistle,” one changeling said to the lead changeling.
“Good,” the leader replied before turning to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“Up front to take over the locomotive,” the leader stated before walking away with a mighty sharp dagger in his magical grasp.
“You won’t get away with this!” Paper Mache yelled. “You’ll have the entire nation searching for you! Actually, you’ll have the entire WORLD after you!”
“Great! We don't care!” a changeling yelled back. His eyes turned vengeful, suddenly, as he glanced at Thorax. “As for you, I can’t wait to see what the queen will do to you. I heard she's been fantasizing ways to punish you.”
Thorax bit his lip and said nothing. Suddenly, the changeling hissed and punched him right in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.
Four miles ahead in Appleloosa, Eric had gathered a platoon of volunteers. By an amazing stroke of luck, there were two veterans of the royal guard that had been taking a small vacation together in the town. They certainly stood out among the motley crowd with their golden armor and steel spears, not to mention their overall bulky appearance.
“Now remember!” the sheriff yelled. “Fight off them changelings for as long as ya can while these guards take the princesses into the forward coach! Equestria is countin’ on ya’ll!”
Eric cringed at the southern accent, but shook it off and looked down the rails. “God I hope this works.”
Back in my cab, Brimstone was shoveling furiously as we closed the distance to Appleloosa, giving what was without question the best performance of his life.
“Three miles!” I called out.
“Right!” Brimstone replied.
Thunk
Brimstone turned around only to stop short, suddenly meeting a very sharp dagger inches from his neck.
“You know why I’m here,” the changeling stated.
Brimstone scowled. “That dagger gives me a pretty good idea.”
“Where’s the engineer?”
“He got off back at Ponyville," I said, almost too fast. "He said he felt sick. Didn’t Thorax tell you this?”
“No he didn’t, but it doesn't matter. Just makes my job easier.”
“What did you do with Thorax?” I asked.
“That traitor got hurt. And your friend here will get hurt too if he tries to interfere. You’re not gonna interfere with the queen’s plan, are you, Edward?”
I scowled. “I don’t see anything I can do.”
There was silence between us for several seconds as the changeling forced Brimstone to sit down on the driver’s seat.
“I’m gonna change your timetable, Edward,” the changeling finally said.
“You can’t change it much,” I replied. “Another two miles and we’ll be into Appleloosa.”
“We’re not stopping in Appleloosa,” the changeling firmly stated.
My eyes widened in horror. “Well, we have to stop someplace! We’re running low on water!”
“You’re going to highball it right through Appleloosa and keep going to the Midwest junction. Then south through Flat Top Tunnel and out of Equestria.”
Blast it. This wasn’t good. If we weren’t stopping, the plan wouldn’t work. We’d have no way to warn everypony that something had gone terribly wrong, which meant these changelings would firmly capture myself, Brimstone, Thorax, and most importantly, the princesses.
I began to panic as I tried to improvise. In seconds, I found myself thinking about my CN 4 Chime. Suddenly, an idea flew into my funnel. Quickly acting on it, I began to blow the whistle.
FOO! FOO! FOO!
FOOOO! FOOOO! FOOOO!
FOO! FOO! FOO!
Three short blasts, three long blasts, and three more short blasts.
“What are you doing?” asked the changeling,
“Standard railway procedure,” I replied as I repeated the message.
“Well, you’re gonna need to stop it.”
I sighed. “Alright then. I don’t mind colliding with another train.”
“Why would we collide with another train?”
“That’s why I was blowing the whistle. That way they didn’t send out another train towards us. But don't worry! I'm sure It's totally fine that we smash into another train. Your plan incorporates that, right?”
The changeling snarled. “Fine. Keep blowing that whistle. I want this to be as smooth of a run as possible.”
I scowled as I began repeating the message.
Then, noticing that Brimstone wasn’t in any position to do anything, I spoke up.
“If you don’t let Brimstone keep the fire going, we won’t even make it to Appleloosa, much less ‘highball’ through it.”
The changeling thought for a second before making his decision.
“...Alright. Do it. Keep that fire running.”
He allowed Brimstone to step off the seat, grab his shovel, and start stoking the fire. This was great, as it put him in a better position to fight of the changeling, just in case.
Up ahead, everypony had noticed my frantic whistleblowing. Most were confused.
“What’s he doing?” the sheriff asked. “Eric, ya never told us he’d be blowin’ the whistle like that.”
“That’s because he never told me. I wonder why he's doing that. Maybe-”
“QUIET!” one of the guards snapped. “Let me listen.”
Everypony stood silent as the guard listened intently at my whistle.
FOO! FOO! FOO!
“S…”
FOOOO! FOOOO! FOOOO!
“O…”
FOO! FOO! FOO!
“S! Oh sweet Celestia he’s blowing SOS! It’s Morse code! Something about his plan must have gone wrong!”
“What could have gone wrong?!” Eric asked.
“A changeling must have made his way to the cab,” the other guard stated. “Look! He isn’t slowing down!”
Eric’s eyes widened as he saw me thundering towards them, not slowing down in the slightest. “You’re right… he isn’t slowing down! What do we do?”
“THROW THAT SWITCH!” one of the guards exclaimed.
“But he’ll hit the buffers-” another began.
“Oh for the love of- I’ll do it myself!” Eric yelled, running over and changing the points as fast as he could with a resounding CLANK!
In seconds, I thundered across the points. The sudden turn offset the balance of the changeling in my cab, which I used to my advantage to slam on my brakes.
“Hey, what’s going on?” the changeling asked, looking ahead to see the buffers.
Suddenly, Brimstone acted. As he went for more coal, he didn’t pick any up, instead picking up coal from the firebox. Before the changeling could react, Brimstone took the shovel and slammed it and the searing hot chunks into him, causing the changeling to scream.
Seeing the changeling lose his grip on the dagger, Brimstone tackled him. The two only exchanged a few punches before suddenly…
BANG!
I hit the buffers hard, causing everything on my train to jump forward, including the passengers, who quickly grew nervous.
“Where are we? Why are we stopped?!” one changeling asked.
“End of the line for you, most likely!” Paper Mache replied.
A changeling opened a door to find several ponies waiting outside, one of which was a lightning-fast unicorn who blasted one of the changelings in the chest exactly the way a gunslinger would.
“OH SON OF A CADELA!” the bug yelled, slamming the door shut.
In the cab, the much stronger changeling had pinned Brimstone down and had the dagger in his hoof, aiming for what he deemed was the perfect spot to plant it.
CRACK!
Suddenly, the changeling was tackled off of Brimstone by Eric, who grabbed the dagger and threw it to the other end of the cab. Brimstone grabbed the dagger and watched as the changeling and thestral fell out of the cab and into the sand.
“Brimstone! The coach! Uncouple it!” I yelled.
Fists were flying between my driver and the changeling. Eric got a clear shot at its left temple, driving the bug back with a sharp jab. The bug, in return, came back with a haymaker, causing Eric to fall against my wheels. He was quick to get back up, doing so just in time to deliver a nasty uppercut to the changeling’s jaw, causing the bug to go down like a ton of bricks.
“YES!” he yelped.
“Great! Now go back and help Brimstone!” I commanded.
“Right!”
While Eric’s scrap had been going on, an even bigger fight was happening in the brake coach. It was an all-out brawl between ponies and changelings. The two veteran guards, Thorax, and Paper Mache, quickly dragged the princesses out of their crates and to the first coach. In the other crates, they were surprised to find none other than Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Apple Jack.
After getting them all into the front coach, they signaled to Eric and Brimstone, who ran back to my cab.
“GOOO!” Brimstone screamed.
Pumping my pistons hard, I reversed, shoving the coaches backward onto the main line.
“Points!” I yelled, causing Eric to fly out and throw the track switch again, allowing me to move forward.
We tore down the line at criminally reckless speeds, almost where my valve gear wanted to shake itself apart. For a few minutes, it seemed as if we had escaped.
Unfortunately, this was not to be, as everypony soon saw the group of changelings flying after us.
“Right!” I yelled. “Eric, Brimstone, get to the coach. Those guards will need all the help they can get to fight off the changelings.”
“Yes sir!” the two replied, scampering over my tender and into the coach, both grabbing shovels and Brimstone grabbing the dagger.
“Get the princesses and elements under the seats!” one guard said. “Make sure they don’t get hit!”
Everyone managed to do just that with mere seconds to spare, putting spare cloths on the ponies to hide them. Thorax, knowing he'd never be able to fight the changelings, hid under the seats as well.
“Incomiiiing!”
SMASH!!
To their surprise, the changelings came through the windows, sending glass everywhere throughout the coach. Eric was even cut by a few stray pieces.
Despite this, the ponies fought valiantly against the changelings, driving them into the walls and seats in whichever way they saw fit. The sounds of banging metal were heard as Eric and Brimstone put their shovels to good use, Brimstone even more so, striking two changelings back to back numerous times.
The guards were doing the brunt of the work, taking on two or even three changelings at a time. Paper Mache managed to take on four at a time for a few seconds. What helped them was the fact that a few of the changelings had landed in my cab, stupidly trying to take control. As stated before, they couldn’t. I had far too much leverage.
That didn’t stop them from trying, of course, which meant less work for the others.
Having long accepted that I was unable to do anything besides rocking the train back and forth - a move that could potentially harm my friends efforts to fight off the changelings - I began surveying my surroundings to hopefully gauge some sort of plan.
It was just desert, but there was a mountain ridge fast approaching. Also approaching was a track switch far ahead that lead to a canyon track. I immediately shut off steam and applied the brakes, not wanting to give away my new plan.
Back in the coach, the ponies were winning. Eric, being the hard man he was, ditched the shovel and went all-out with his hooves, taking changelings one by one. Brimstone was still going strong with his shovel, and the guards were doing equally well. They had most of the changelings on the floor with few to go.
Soon enough, every changeling had been dropped, including the ones from my cab who had foolishly tried to take a three versus five fight.
We had won. For now, at least.
I sat waiting while everyone caught their breath. After a moment, Eric came out.
“Everything alright back there?” I asked.
“Yeah… Yuh… We’re fine…” he panted.
“Oh thank god… Get the changelings off of the coach. I don’t want to risk retaliation. The moment words gets around their forces about this incident, we’ll have the entire hive looking for us.”
“I say we keep one or two changelings aboard,” Paper Mache called out as she too exited the coach. “That way we can get details on their plan. We’re three highly trained guards. We can keep them in line.”
“Fine. Just get the other changelings off as soon as possible. Eric, I want you to fly ahead and change the points. I want to get off the main line as soon as possible.”
“On it,” Eric said as he tiredly flapped his wings and took off towards the track switch.
In less than a minute, most of the changelings were left in a row next to the tracks, save for two that had been firmly tied up. We quickly departed and traveled over the switch, after which Eric changed them back and flew back into my cab.
"Bloody hell, wings really do work wonders," he mused.
“What's the plan now?” Brimstone asked.
“Go wherever this track takes us,” I replied. “Preferably a dense forest or a tunnel. How are the others doing?”
“They’re doing fine,” Brimstone said. “The princesses and Twilight’s friends were hit with a spell. They won’t be awake for at least twenty-four hours.”
“That’s just TOPS!” I snapped. “Alright. We’ll find someplace to rest. A town, an overgrown siding, wherever will hide us. We’ll camp out until tomorrow.”
“Great! Where will we find food?”
“Let’s worry about things as they happen. Not before.”
The track we traveled on was old and rusty. After passing over a switch that split it in two, twisted back and forth upon a mostly-wooden bridge as it hugged the canyon wall. It did this for miles, sometimes going up grades of 10% or more. A total logging line.
How this kind of trackage was ever approved, nobody knew.
Soon enough, the tracks converged into one, but still continued with the perilous terrain. Fortunately, we soon managed to find another track that went deep into a dense forest.
As we traveled through the forest, I noticed a track switch ahead that lead into a siding. Parked within it was something that made me smile.
“Eric, Brimstone, take a look ahead,” I said, making the two lean out of my cab.
In the siding sat a very old 4-4-0 with a single hopper and caboose sat behind it. The locomotive looked like it was plucked right out of the Old American West. It had a silver boiler, brass fittings, a black wooden cab with the number 17 under the windows, black wheels, a giant funnel and headlamp, and a black tender piled high with wood that had the words VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE on its sides.
Behind the engine and tender was a short metal ore car. It was dark gray and also wore V&T insignia, but lacked a number. Contained within this car was a 4.5 ton load of fine raw silver; such a load would having been worth millions back in Britain. Why I committed the weight of the load to memory, I have no idea.
Behind the ore car was a bright yellow caboose. It had six windows, red V&T wording along the top, a gray roof, and the number 7 just below the windows. Most interestingly was that it lacked a “cupola” that most American cabooses had. As in that little box located on the roof.
“Well would you look at that,” Eric said.
“Right then. This is where we’re stopping,” I said, applying my brakes and bringing us to a stop next to number 17.
Seconds later, one of the guards came out of my coach.
“What are we doing?”
“We’re going to camp here for a day or two,” I replied. “Since the caboose is in far better shape than the coach, you can move some seats and sleep in there. We can retrofit some pipes so I can provide heating.”
“Oh thank Celestia. It’s been agony dealing with the wind.”
I am pleased to say that my decision to camp in the wilderness proved invaluable. Try as they might, the changeling forces were unable to find us. After over 24 hours of waiting, the princesses and the mane six woke up one by one, all of whom were grateful for me having possibly saved their lives.
There was, of course, the case of where Luna and Rainbow Dash had been during all of this. While there had been concerns for the two having been captured and brought to the hive, both were entirely fine.
Luna had only been on an incredibly well-timed outing with City of Truro and was quick to notice the anomalies when she got back to Canterlot mere hours after we had left. Choosing to bide her time and get more information on what was happening, she had quickly drove City of Truro back out of Canterlot and hid on the old line where she had first found the engine, staying there and managing the sun and moon cycle herself.
After Celestia woke up and reestablished communication with Luna, they and the other princesses went on a day-long spree of capturing each and every changeling in the major cities and towns of Equestria. After rallying the might of the Royal Guard, every changeling was eradicated from the nation in a matter of days.
Rainbow Dash, unknown to anypony who didn't live in Ponyville, hadn't been in Equestria at all. You see, two weeks prior, she went on a pranking spree throughout town. Her friends thought she needed to be teached a lesson, so they went at her with their own prank. Simply put, they pretended to be cookie-craving zombies.
This heavily backfired, as an horrifically well-timed steam locomotive happened to be approaching. Rainbow heard the whistle, gathered her courage to fly up and over the zombies, and convinced the engineer to open the throttle as wide as it would go. Twilight and a few Pegasi attempted a pursuit, but were forced to break off due to the engineer taking four of them down with a gun he somehow had.
She had been just south of Equestria working on a once-failing railroad known as the Midwest and Central Railroad, which served various towns located down there. It would be over a month before Dash came back to Equestria, arriving via an express pulled by Midwest and Central Number 382.
To hear her tell it, neither she nor any of the railroad had any idea that Equestria had been in trouble. If they did know about it, they would have immediately provided their services. Nevertheless, Rainbow Dash and Luna were fine. Better than fine, in the case of the former.
Overall, the invasion had been thwarted, all thanks to myself, Eric, Brimstone, and Thorax. Had it not been for us, Equestria may very well have lost three of their four princesses. The day after what was hoped to be the last changeling - excluding Thorax - was forced out of Equestria, a ceremony was held at Canterlot to commemorate our accomplishment. Here, we were each given medals of honor.
Well, my crew was given medals of honor. Since I was an engine, they decided to give me a very, very, very, VERY special coach. As in special enough that, when I first laid eyes on it, my jaw nearly went straight through my buffers and into the tracks beneath me.
It was a coach of gold. Literally.
Everything from top to track was made of gold. Pure 24 Karat Gold. The body, the frame, bogies, the wheels, everything except for the coupling and springs. The coach itself was essentially a copy of one of the coaches off of Luna’s train, that being a six-axle Pullman from the GWR, except with an added observation deck on the rear.
“No,” was my reply when I was done registering it in full.
It should go without saying that I very rarely pulled the coach. It spent most of its days in Luna’s shed, collecting dust. Call me ungrateful, but what in blazes am I supposed to do with such a coach? It wasn't even part of a coach set. I'd look silly pulling it unless I was repainted.
A few days after the ceremony, we would find out most of the plan for the changeling invasion. Long story short, it consisted of putting prominent powers into a deep sleep, impersonating each of them as they went. This included the Mane Six and the princesses.
Using their new statuses, the fake princesses chartered me and my crew for an urgent express run to Ponyville and Appleloosa. After they took us over and forced us through the Midwest Junction and out of Equestria, they would have taken us to their hive, where we would have been forever kept as to never be nuisances ever again.
At least, that was the case for the princesses and Mane Six. As for myself, the queen - who I would later learn went by the name “Chrysalis” - wanted to experiment on me. Particularly on how much love I could produce. To her, a new being like me could - for all she knew - produce entire stores of love.
You can be sure that “her royal highness” was raging in her chambers for days when she learned of her plan’s failure.
And yes, I know some of you would like to know what happened to that old Virginia and Truckee engine we found. It was assigned to mixed-traffic duties throughout Southern Equestria and was often seen pulling a boxcar, a baggage car, three or four passenger cars, and its caboose. All of which had bright yellow paintwork with Virginia and Truckee lettering. A very fitting service for the engine.
The silver the ore car had been carrying was divided between the small town throughout central Equestria, much to the dismay of the south. That ore car was then used throughout Southern Equestria, usually when there was sand or ballast that needed to be moved.
For weeks, we had it going extremely well for us. Everything was calm, the engines from the Norfolk and Western had finally been brought back to working order and were able to deliver very long trains of steel, kicking Equestria into overdrive with its modernization.
This happiness wasn’t to last for me and Eric, however. Because those weeks turned into months, and Twilight still had no idea how close she was to completing her inter-universal spell.
And not only that, a severe issue would begin rearing its ugly head.
Maintenance.
The bane of every engine's existence.
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More new engines, a few new characters, and the main highlight; the attempted Changling invasion.
I gotta say the 'plan' on paper sounds like it has a strong possibility that Chrysalis could've finally won. But as we've seen, a lot didn't go well for 'her royal highness'. And as a Prussian general famously said once everything starts to fall apart, 'Plans never survive contact with the enemy'
Edward, I can literally see and hear Chrysalis screaming bloody murder her head off in my mind! 🤣
I had a good laugh
at what Edward was rewarded (and his response/refusal after his mind reset itself); A literal gold Coach.
But at least Equestria's railway is getting improved thanks to these new locomotives being discovered here and there after being stagnated for so long.
And oh dear... it looks like progress to send Edward and Eric back to Sodor will take even longer.
Yeah, except he didn't have wings.
Cannonball Express?
I suppose it's got something to do with ol' Casey Jones then?
11339476
Mayyyyybe!
11339476
AYE, AND EDWARDS SECOND WHISTLE WAS SATANS WAIL.
11342967
YES! YES! YES! I KNEW SOMEONE WOULD RECOGNIZE THE PLOT EVENTUALLY!
Ummm... what happened to this?
11378656
Two rewrites and counting for the latest part, writer's block, another rewrite, writer's block, writer's block... uhh...
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/6/13/915937.gif
Would you like some special apology muffins as compensation?
11378689
Sure
Hey, have you interessant of belgian steam locomotives ?
11392746
I'm interested in any steam locomotive, no matter the country. And after taking a look at some Belgian ones, they all looks very interesting!
Why do you ask?
11392782
Mabye can one or two of belgian steam locomotives in your old iron stories ?
11392798
I'll see what I can do!
11392831
oh ok and thank you
wait ? Midwest and Central Number 382 ? is that not Casney jones loco ?
Equestria is getting all of the engines for free, but why?