Chapter 7-Just a Little Touch-Up!
"Things certainly move quickly around here, don't they, huh?" Sunny said, looking about her in this new location.
"Well, you know how useful it can be to be the Sheriff," Hitch replied, his face in a smile. "Having all the code violations and various shenanigans that Phyllis pulled during her management of the CanterLogic factory proved to be quite a convenient bargaining chip. I keep that quiet, she lets us use a bit of the factory that's been renovated."
And what a sight it was! Whilst construction work continued on refitting the assembly lines for the manufacturing of consumer goods and useful things like combine harvesters, an untouched portion of the facility had been handed over to the six (Misty included, as the others considered her part of their friend group). In this section they had placed the engine that Izzy had found, and were currently at work stripping it down to check what parts needed swapping over.
Izzy looked inside the firebox. "I wonder what's in here?" she asked, as she peered around with a flashlight. "Lots of dark metal bits in here!"
"It's a firebox, Izzy," Zipp pointed out. "It's meant to contain a fire. Plastic wouldn't be much use in that regard."
"Well, I have heard pegasi talking of plastic trains, but I guess that isn't what was meant." Izzy closed the firehole door again, before cringing as one of the handles came flying off in her hoof. "That's gonna need replacing."
Zipp was at the other end, looking up at the locomotive from an inspection pit below the engine. "I've seen worse," she said. "A bit rusty, but some EDTA should do the trick."
"EDTA?" Misty asked. "What's that? It sounds like some sort of food code."
"Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid," Zipp explained. "It's a commercially available rust remover that's easy to find and simple to use. Applying it to the rust here should be a breeze."
"You sure do know a lot about science, Zipp."
"Thanks," Zipp replied. "I spent a lot of my foalhood behind test tubes and blackboards trying to figure out how pegasus flight might have worked. It was a relief from endlessly being in the spotlight of heir to the throne." She paused. "Guys, has anypony seen Pipp anywhere?"
Suddenly, their phones buzzed and lit up. "Pipp stream beginning now?" Sunny asked. "Nopony told me she was streaming!"
"That explains a lot," Izzy replied.
The stream started on one phone.
"Good morning, Pippsqueaks!" said the familiar voice of the spare to the Royal Throne. "I have got something SOOOOOO exciting to share with you guys! Just a few days ago we found an old train! They're these things that run on rails and can go long distances. We're trying to get it running again, but six ponies can't do it all alone!"
"Technically, five ponies and a streamer," Hitch said, to nopony in particular.
"Which is why I am hosting a fundraising stream to raise money for the restoration! If anypony can also lend a hoof in fixing it, let me know! Love you lots!"
Zipp nodded. "Huh. This may actually be helpful."
That evening, Misty hid in the trees near the Brighthouse and activated her compact that allowed her to talk to Opaline. "I'm ready to report."
Opaline's eyes looked from the other side. "It took you long enough to pick the thing up. Re- Misty, why is that tree so huge?"
"I think you're holding it too close to your face," Misty replied. "I can only see your eyes."
Opaline's face suddenly moved into view. "That better?"
Misty nodded.
"Good. Then report. Any important news?"
"Well," Misty started, "I accidentally found an old train, and the other ponies you asked me to watch are fixing it. Something about an old railroad that used to link bits of the country together and an attempt to rebuild it?"
"Now is not the time to be playing choo choos- wait, what did you say at the end?"
"Something about an old railroad that used to link bits of the country together and an attempt to rebuild it," Misty repeated. "Unity or something like that."
Opaline's eyes widened. "They want to be even more united? Give me a break. This unity talk makes me want to vomit! But I think we can use this to our advantage."
"But how? I don't know the first thing about building a railroad!"
"Neither do I, Misty. But I do know that causing chaos can disrupt it. There's an old story from the archives of three villains who divided the pony tribes by causing little acts of sabotage here and there, and before anypony knew what was happening they were at each other's throats. If they attempt to rebuild the railroad, a few acts of damage scattered about will have them all blaming each other. They'll go back into isolation, and I'll have the Unity Crystals to myself! HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
Misty joined in on the laughter. "HA HA HA-" She stopped when she saw Opaline looking annoyed. "Is something wrong?"
"How many times, Misty?" Opaline sighed. "If we're both going to do an evil laugh, we have to be in sync. Otherwise it sounds like somepony machine gunning a seal. Or that weirdness that unicorns insist is music."
"Hey, Misty, you there?" Sunny called. "We're about to start!"
"What is this?" Opaline asked.
"Izzy's organised another sleepover as the last one was a little rushed. I'll try and get some useful intel during the meeting."
"Very good! Your training is paying off. Report back to me in the morning. Out."
Opaline's face vanished as Misty shut the compact. "Err, yeah! Coming!" She trotted out of the woods and towards the Brighthouse. The same conflict that had plagued her heart was back again, as although she wanted to please Opaline, at the same time these ponies were her friends!
She couldn't be the servant of two masters forever. At some point things were going to go wrong."
A week passed by, and Pipp's stream clearly had the desired effect. The money flowed in for the restoration, and the appeal had also resulted in a flood of volunteers offering to help out with the restoration effort. Many of them were engineers and mechanically minded ponies, or otherwise former employees of CanterLogic's machine repair shop before it was automated and used drones.
Parts were pulled out and checked. Bits were swapped around and put back into service, or cleaned and polished. Paint pots were collected and used well- not as stacking tools as the Pippsqueaks had hoped, but instead to paint things. As that, dear reader, is what paint is for.
It took a lot of work to get the engine looking presentable. But then, one gloriously sunny day, it all came to be worth it. The ponies of the town gathered outside the former CanterLogic building to the blaring of trumpets and drums, and watched with amazement as the doors to the factory slid open.
And then, the engine was pulled out into the open world, looking better than it had done in what was probably a very long time. Black paint gleamed in the sunlight, and the metalwork had been polished so closely that you could see your reflection in it if you stepped close enough with the face. The silver paint on the smokebox probably helped.
"Looking good!" said a bystander. "You six should be proud of yourselves."
"We couldn't have done it without help," Sunny replied. "Thanks to Pipp, we got plenty of helping hooves!"
Hitch trotted over. "We don't have enough space here to properly check the engine over, so I've arranged for it to be conveyed to Zephyr Heights by a truck. They've got a testing facility where we can ensure it's working properly."
Suddenly, there was a loud noise.
"Yeah I'm Awesome!
Take Caution!
Watch out for me I'm Awe-"
"Sorry!" Zipp said, and swiped her phone. "Pipp, changing my ringtone wasn't funny then and it's not funny now!" She popped it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Ah! Zipp!" Queen Haven replied. "How are things for your band of engineers?"
"Glad you asked, mom. We've got the engine rebuilt, and we're having it moved to a testing facility to ensure it works properly. Wouldn't want it to fail on its first run, would we?"
"After all the work you've put in, of course." There was a pause. "I have good news!"
"Is it about the Dacia Sandero?" Zipp asked.
"What's a Dacia Sandero?"
"Never mind. What is the good news?"
"I was able to pull some diplomatic strings and get the other leaders round the negotiating table. In a few days myself, Alphabittle, and Phyllis will be meeting to host a conference on this railroad project of yours. I'm certain things will go swimmingly, but it would probably be worth you all being there just in case."
"Got it. Thanks for helping us with this!"
"What sort of mother wouldn't want to support her foal's hobbies?" The line abruptly ended.
Zipp lowered her phone. "Looks like we're on."
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Behold, a new chapter.
Again, this was a really well-done chapter. VERY much appreciated the work going into the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set up once again. Absolutely loved Hitch using that information as leverage to get Phyllis to allow the gang to use the factory to work on the train, Zipp's description of the rust cleaner as well as Pipp's live-streaming to get the money to repair the train. Though, yeah, Opaline is starting to make her plan to wreck the gang's hard work. That's bad (but makes for good story-building). Also loved Haven's checking up on Zipp.
I will be gone most of the day tomorrow, so I probably won't be able to respond to your next chapter until somewhere around the early evening. Of course, I'll still be looking forward to more of this.
great chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter
Or replacement of any parts too.
It's called a firebox door, not firehole. Also wow, looks like that handle is in need of a serious replacement!
Try saying that 5 times fast.
Yep, Pipp is doing something good for once.
Let's hope that doesn't happen.
wrong.*
Oh most definitely.
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I intend for this one to have a more complex and dynamic plot than the original story, as that had strong elements of random events plot (mainly a side effect of the fact I had no clue what I was doing back then). The crew will certainly need to work hard to pull this one off.
Enjoy your day!
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Glad you enjoyed.
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1. If required. If a part can be fixed, it's generally more efficient than making new ones.
2. Firehole door is the UK term. The firehole is the thing into which the coal goes. The firebox sits beyond it. The history of the less well maintained railroads of the US are full of stories of bits dropping off locomotives.
3. With popcorn in your mouth.
4. Indeed.
5. One thinks Opaline is overconfident.
6. There's certainly something mildly ironic coming back to these chapters, considering what we know now with G5.
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got it, on the firehole reference.
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Np.
Amazing how Pipp and Haven were able to accomplish a lot for this campaign.
I definitely caught tge Top Gear joke
In reality, fixing that engine would have taken years. I'm going of the Flying Scotsman's 10 year restoration here because despite the engine still being widely used, by the time of that restoration so much of the engine required repairs or replacing the Scotsman had become practically a brand new loco. Many parts had to have been rebuilt from scratch because the tools and things didn't exist anymore. It would have been a similar thing for the engine in this fic, some parts would have needed totally rebuilding and what not.