Chapter 1-That Lucky Old Sun
It was a beautiful morning in Maretime Bay, as mornings in Maretime Bay usually are. This partly was due to the fact it was in a fairly coastal and somewhat humid part of the world, with the temperatures and weather patterns to match. Storms were rare, or at least Sunny could only recall two in recent times. Having said that, rainfall was pretty common, but is was usually intense and over quickly (perfect for the farmers, so to speak).
This morning was also a busy one. The Crystal Brighthouse rang to the sound of activity and action as its five residents were busy going about their days.
Pipp, on the one hand, was streaming, as she was want to do at this point in the day. "Good morning Pippsqueaks!" she said, her voice ringing in its usual manner with a level of cheerfulness some found endearing and others found irritating. "Will you take a look out of the window! The sun is up, and the sky is blue. There are no clouds to spoil the view!" She popped a pair of sunglasses on. "Now then, I imagine you'll all want to do things outdoors today, but there are a number of tips I should give you guys for doing things outdoors." She produced a bottle. "First, make sure to wear plenty of sunblock to keep those pesky sunrays from burning you. And the brand I especially recommend is BreezeTech Factor 5! I have literally never gotten sunburn with this stuff!"
"Could you keep the noise down?" Zipp called from the other side of the room. "I'm trying to connect some dots here."
Pipp glanced over. "Well maybe you could connect them later!" She turned back to the camera. "Well, that's Zipp for ya. Always solving another mystery!" She laughed, even though the statement wasn't particularly funny. "Where was I? Ah, I remember. Second, always make sure to have plenty of water with you so you don't get dehydrated. And third, be sure to ventilate your home!"
"Why would we need to ventilate?" Zipp asked. "We live in an air conditioned building, and so do most ponies in Maretime Bay."
Pipp glanced over again. "Most homes in Bridlewood aren't, because they're so far north it rarely gets this hot!"
"And why would we need to wear sunblock anyway? We have fur."
Pipp huffed. "I was thinking of those poor unfortunate ponies with bald spots. But may I suggest the new Sbog shampoo to get your manes back in order? This stuff really makes manes shine! Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back!"
"Pipp, I see you're still confusing entertainment for advertising."
"I have to get the sponsors in somehow!"
Sunny was in the sitting room, looking through her dad's notes. Although some of her father's records had been lost when the lighthouse had been destroyed, a remarkable amount of information had been preserved by sheer luck. Sunny was, naturally, keen to ensure the remainder survived, and as such had built a bomb proof vault to store them in. At the moment, she was scanning through an earlier volume of research. Not only did this provide clues as to where to go next, it also gave her some comfort. She'd barely been out of her teens when he'd died, and in a sense these collected words gave her a direct connection back to him, even when the world had taken everything else.
Sunny's attention was suddenly caught by something about iron. Obviously, Imperial Equestria had the capability to make iron and steel (have you ever tried making an airship out of stone?), but one area which merited more research was the nation's massive transport infrastructure, as relatively little information had survived.
And the repeated references to the three nations once been connected in other ways was fascinating. True, there had always been the balloon network, but the writer whose works had been collected kept referring to a network of iron rails covering the land.
Sunny shook her head. "Clearly I've been reading too much. I should probably get some fresh air." She trotted over to the door and slipped her skates and helmet on, before speeding out of the door and onwards into Maretime Bay.
Sunny whooped and hollered as she thundered along the streets of Maretime Bay. Although she could fly when in alicorn mode, nothing for her could best the sheer adrenaline rush of thundering down the streets in a set of roller blades. This had always been her preferred method of getting around town, even with the city's streetcar system. Having said that, she didn't exactly have the best of relations with Maretime Bay's public transport, with a lifetime ban for spraying pro-unity graffiti on a streetcar still hanging against her. Oh well. At least with her skates she had a mode of transport nopony could take away from her.
Her phone suddenly began buzzing, and she skidded to a stop at the waterfront and removed her front blades to take a look. It was a text from Zipp.
Hey Sunny! Just got a note from the library that a book a requested is in stock. Could you ride over and pick it up for me? The collection code is 09202018. Thanks!
Sunny quickly typed back a response.
Sure thing, Zipp! Just on my way now!
Sunny popped her phone away, got her skates back on, and then, ahem, got her skates on to the library. She slid in through the door and stopped at the collection desk.
The pony manning it looked up. "Hello, Sunny," she said. "Here to collect something?"
Sunny nodded. "Yes. Zipp asked me to pick something up. Apparently the code was 09202018?"
The librarian nodded. "Yes indeed. Here you go." She handed over a largish white book. "You know, I remember the days you used to come in here and pick things up for your dad like it was yesterday. Congratulations on achieving his dream."
"The credit goes to him, really," Sunny replied. "Without his work and guidance I'd probably have fallen in line with the rest of the town. And that wouldn't have ended well."
"Very true," the librarian answered. "Good day, Sunny."
Sunny was soon back on her way when suddenly there was a crash, and something broke! Before she knew what was happening the sky and the ground were revolving at high speed, and the mare slammed into something. Something flew high into the air and splattered upon landing, covering Sunny in some sticky, goey substance.
"Sunny, I run a fruit stand, not a jam factory!"
Sunny groaned as she pulled herself up, realising she was covered in pulped fruit. "At least it wasn't the bananas this time," she replied.
"Ah!" the mechanic said, looking at the shoe. "Some of the wheels broke off. This should be easy to fix, but it will take a few minutes."
"Thanks for helping," Sunny said, as she took a seat in the waiting area. Feeling a bit bored, she decided to take a look at the book Zipp had requested. Thankfully that hadn't been covered in fruit.
Sunny scanned through the pages, reading closely in the academic manner her father had taught her. Her eyes widened as she read the contents of the pages. Clearly this was a rare text if the knowledge wasn't known to her. Argyle had collected an incredible amount of stuff during this time, yet this was news to her!
She pulled her phone out and took a note on it. This was important! The information within this book had the power to change everything they knew about relations between the three pony races.
"This is perfect!"
Izzy was standing in the middle of what looked like an abandoned field. A few buildings scattered the perimeter, but the region was otherwise quite badly overgrown and full of weeds. Obviously that would need cleaning a bit.
Izzy trotted through the field, humming happily to herself as she began mapping something out in her mind. "This is a big field. Which is perfect for my craft fair!"
Yes, she should see it now. Ponies selling trinkets! Trading supplies! Giving things to one another! Enjoying specialty beverages! Throwing parakeets through the air!
Wait, what?
Izzy had seen many silly things in her time, but she doubted somepony would get that worked up over something to throw a plushy parakeet through the air. Ponies could be silly sometimes. But not Izzy. She was always silly!
As her brain worked feverishly to stick this all together and make it work, she forgot to look where she was going, and without warning she crashed to the floor. "Oww! This place has some trip hazards! We'll need to remove those in case somepony gets hurt!"
She turned around to take a closer look at the place she'd tripped, popping on her glasses as things close to her had a habit of going very blurry. Her eyes widened in surprise.
Right about where she had tripped was a piece of metal, glowing in the sunlight.
Hello, one and all, and welcome to this story! About five years ago now I published my very first story to Fimfiction. Set in the Equestria Girls universe, it concerned the CMC trying to restore an old abandoned railway line:
Little did I imagine where that one story would take me. And so, in honour of five years, 140 stories in a whole host of genres, and more than one million words written, I am proud to present this project, which thoroughly rewrites the original with new characters, a new story, and a conscious effort to make this one more accessible to non-railway enthusiast readers.
Numerous references to both the fourth and fifth generations are hidden in this chapter. Can you spot them all?
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great start mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter
11685391
Glad to see you're liking it so far.
At least she has some things left of her later father.
Ngl, I kinda thought that ban would be lifted after she and her friends saved Equestria by bringing back its magic. Though knowing she still did vandalism, I can understand it clearly.
a book I requested*
I see the reference now with that code.
Was that supposed to be a reference to the T&F season 3 ep "Percy, James & the fruitful day" or was it shoed in for the scene just now?
Lol, I'm guessing that's a reference to "Rollercoaster of Friendship?"
11685485
1. Indeed she does.
2. Vandalism is a pretty big no-no on most public transit networks.
3. Corrected.
4. Yep. In the US date format, that's the day I joined Fimfiction.
5. It is indeed. The moment when Sunset expressed her disagreement about the importance of parakeets quickly became a meme.
11685488
I still find that parakeet moment funny from the special 5 years later.
11685491
Funny?
11685555
Yes... Guess I forgot to add it while typing it.
Very nice work on here.
But then again, all stories you produce are outstanding works. No matter what setting.
11685623
Hey, no worries.
11685668
Putting this story up, my mind recalls what uploading Railway Adventure was like all those years ago. Was it any good? Would anybody read it?
The rest, as they say, is history. With five years of writing experience under my belt, I hope this exceeds that first story in terms of quality.
Well, the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up are well done. Definitely appreciated the discussion concerning "entertainment" and "advertising" as well as Sunny reflecting on some of the stuff from her father that she and her friends were able to recover, the build-up to the gang working on fixing the railroad and Izzy getting perplexed about the "flying stuffed parakeet".
REALLY looking forward to more of this.
11685683
I have full confidence it will.
11685710
Thanks.
11685701
Hello there! Welcome onboard for the ride! One of the issues of the original story was that the pacing was all over the place (it was my first real attempt at a fanfic in many years). This time around I'm determined to ensure it all flows more naturally, such as tying the history back to Sunny's dad (in the original it rather comes out of nowhere).
That collection code looks like a date, 09202018 (20th of September 2018)
11687312
It is the 20th September 2018 written in the US date format. It's the date I joined Fimfiction, nearly 5 years ago.