> Equestrian Railways
>  by shadowspark101
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> Chapter 1
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Chapter 1
The year is 2013 in Equestria. The Railways were falling into a state of disorganization. In order to combat the problem, Equestria National sent out orders for all railways to be nationalized into Equestria National. Many railways tried to fight it, but one by one, they all succumbed to nationalization. Now, there remained only four railways.
One of these is Equestrian National Railways (EQN), which serves Canterlot, Ponyville, Manehatten, Vanhoover, and other major cities in Equestria. This railway’s headquarters is located in Canterlot, and the board of directors is headed by the princesses, but they do not worry about the railways, so they handed power to another pony named Waybill. It was Waybill’s idea to pass the Railway Nationalization act three years before, and to see the complete nationalization of the railways into Equestrian National.
The second is called the Tall Tale & Pegacific (TPRR). This railway serves the lines between Vanhoover and Applewood. In terms of rail mileage it had the least out of the four remaining companies, and consequently, was the poorest and least equipped. The railway board decided that it was pointless to try and fight the Nationalization act, and so within four years, the railway would be absorbed into the EQN.
The last two were the Dodge City, Appleloosa, & Southern (DASRY). And the Baltimare, Northeastern, and Fillydelphia (BNFR). Both railways were class two railways, meaning that they weren’t as powerful as the EQN, but they were important to the regions they ran in. These two railways fought hard against the Nationalization Plan, but the DASRY fell five months after the TPRR was absorbed, leaving the BNFR to stand alone against the oncoming onslaught.
Now my friends, this is not where the story begins. But instead, allow us to move towards another planet, one I think you know well.
Earth. Where the railways of the planet had fallen into shadows of their once former selves. But we’ll look at two countries in particular. The United States, and the United Kingdom, which were railway giants back then.
“So Benn, what do you think of this design?” 
“Hmmm. Look’s kind of messy, let my camera focus in on it John.” 
Two voices spoke. These belonged to two humans, Benn and John, respectively. The two were fans of My Little Pony, better known as Bronies. And also fans of steam locomotives. John was showing Benn a drawing of a 2-6-2 ‘Jazz’ class steam locomotive, which was one of the engines he had designed. Benn nodded. 
“Not bad, I see you remembered to draw a valve gear this time.” He chuckled. 
John just stared at him. “Shut up ya bloody Brit.” He said, faking Benn’s British accent. This sent the two into a small chuckle fit. At least, until both of their laptops started rumbling and whining.
Both boys looked at each other through their computer screens.
“What the heck is that?” Benn asked. 
John shrugged. “Dunno. But it’s starting to hurt my ears. I think we should give our vid chat a rest for today.” 
Benn agreed. The two bid each other good-byes, and started to turn off their computers, when all of a sudden the computers began flashing. The boys had no time to react, as they were blinded by the very bright light.
When the light finally stopped, there was no sign of Benn, John, or their laptops and some of their belongings. They had disappeared into the unknown.
“This is an outrage!” Yelled a very angry Earth Pony Stallion. “First that damned Nationalization Plan begins, and now all the railways in Equestria are being absorbed. Do they not have ANY form of identity anymore, or are they so worried of the unknown that they have to just go and be absorbed into one railway!” The earth pony slammed his fists onto the desk in front of him with a very loud WHAM!
“Now Mr. Hoover, please calm down, remember your blood pressure?” Came a very concerned voice, which belonged to his secretary. “You were almost sent to the hospital last time you started ranting like this.”
“Blasphemy, Lightning Slinger! I’m as young as I ever was! I feel prepared to take on the EQN with one arm tied behind my-”
Hoover was cut off as a huge racket could be heard from the small printing room from behind him and Lightning Slinger. It sounded like two ponies got stuck in the tiny room, and the two ponies couldn’t help but overhear bits of the conversation.
“Ow…. What the hell? Where am I?”
“You’re preaching to the choir here. Who are you, and where am I, and to top it off. WHY IS IT SO FREAKING DARK!?”
“Oh, like I had a choice there…John?”
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out. And you are?”
“You really don’t remember me? Benn, you know. From Google Hangouts.”
“Oh wow, small world Benn. Now if you wouldn’t mind. Get your ass out of my face!”
“Sshhhh. Do you hear that?”
“No, I only hear the building of my ang-ow!”
Lightning Slinger had gone over and unlocked the print closet with a key that she had in her pocket, causing the two humans to come tumbling out with their belongings. They both scrambled to their feet and looked around. They then noticed the ponies looking at them, one looked very confused and a bit scared, while the other looked angry enough to break steel with his anger, as evidenced by the pulsing temple on his forehead.
“SPIES!!!” He suddenly yelled, causing John and Benn to scramble back. “Spies from the EQN! Here to make this railway disappear like the others have you!? Well you won’t get this line without a fight! I’ll send you back to your boss in-”
“Mr. Hoover that is enough!” Shouted Lightning Slinger. “Look at them, do they look like spies to you?” She asked, pointing towards the two humans. “They’re not even ponies, so I doubt the EQN would send them, and from the racket that they made, there is no way that they would have been in there for that long without somepony noticing that they were there.”
Both boys looked at each other in disbelief. “Spies?” Benn asked out loud. “I would hardly say that we are spies.”
John nodded. “Yeah, and uhhhh. Pardon me for asking, but where on Earth are we?”
Lightning Slinger looked at the two humans. “What is Earth? You are in Equestria. And what are you, if you don’t mind me asking.”
The two humans looked at each other. “Benn,” John said. “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore….”
Benn raised an eyebrow. “Where have you been for the past five minutes? We’re in Equestria, not Earth,” He said, crossing his arms. He then looked at Lightning Slinger. “And also, what is the EQN?” He asked.
Lighting Slinger sighed. Obviously, these things obviously were not of Equestria, or they would have known of the Nationalization Plan that had been passed 3 years before, she then looked as John reached over for the newspaper. She took this time to look over the two humans.
Both were pale-skinned, and had brown hair, with John’s being a shade darker. John was wearing glasses, and both were about above the 6 inch mark, she figured. But she was also curious. Despite having hands and standing on their bock hooves like ponies, their faces were, in her eyes, horribly misshapen. They only seemed to have hair on the tops of their heads, and in John’s case, around his mouth in the form of a short beard with sideburns. She was examining the two humans so closely, that she missed the next sentence to come out of John’s mouth.
“TPRR absorbed in Equestrian National Rail,” John began, reading the newspaper that he was holding. “TPRR Board of Directors decided that on the fifteenth of October that they would be formally absorbed into the new railway powerhouse,” He then looked back up at Benn, before turning his attention to the newspaper. “When asked for his thoughts on his Nationalization Plan, Mr. Waybill quoted, ‘I created this plan in order to combat the poor and sorry state that our railways have found themselves in. It is my dream to see that the railways of Equestria are nationalized under one company and may move forward as one adhesive, wholesome unit.’ And now that TPRR has been absorbed, all that leaves is the DASRY and BNFR as the last two railways that have yet to be nationalized.” He then turned to Hoover, but it was Benn who spoke up.
“Nationalization Plan? Sounds like a load of garbage to me. He’s just using it as an excuse to try and charge what he wants. I mean, look at the railways where I came from John,” Benn said. “First there were close to perhaps a hundred. Then the ‘Big 4’ were created after World War One. Then after World War Two, the railways were nationalized into British Railways. And then BR decided to privatize itself.” He then walked up to John and Mr. Hoover. Before putting his hands on the table. “I’ll be damned if I see a railway lose its identity.”
Mr. Hoover grinned. “Now THAT’S the kind of get ‘em spirit I need for my company!” He yelled, standing to his hooves. “How would you boys like to help me run a railway, and show that EQN what a real railway is made out of?”
“Sounds like a plan.” John smirked.
Hoover continued. “But, I’ll tell ya this, the Nationalization Plan isn’t going to be easy to combat, especially considering our run-down out of date fleet of Poniston 4-4-0’s. Those wooden engines just ain’t what they used to be.”
Benn laughed heartily. “Don’t worry about that,” He said, nudging John. “We’ve got plans of our own for locomotives, the best engines that will ever roll out of your workshops.”
Hoover’s grin grew wider. “That’s good to know,” He said. “You know I’m counting on you boys, don’t try and disappoint me.” He laughed, then left his office, Lightning Slinger followed.
When he was gone, John and Benn’s faces went from pure gusto and know-it-all, to worry and fright. The two looked at each other.
“Did we just?”
“Yep..”
“And we don’t know how to run a….”
“Nope, not unless you do.”
“We’re royally screwed aren’t we….”
“Oh yeah. Big time.”
> Chapter 2
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Chapter 2
After the two boys had realized what a big hole they had lied themselves into, they did the only sensible thing that they knew how to do. And that, was to panic.
“Damn it damn it Damn it,” John huffed as he paced along the same stretch of flooring that he had been pacing for the past hour. By this point, he had worn quite a bit into the flooring, as Benn could only see him from his knees up.
Benn grunted. “Okay, so what should we do? We can’t just admit that we lied and that we have NO idea how to run a railway. I mean, it would be a shame to all rail fans, this is almost every rail fan’s dream.” He said, as he looked over at the window looking out into the yard. “Hey John. Stop pacing and come here for a second. What do you see out there in that siding over there?”
John hopped out of his hole, and walked over to the window, he peered out. “Where, I don’t see anything, just those 4-4-0’s that the older pony told us about.” He said, glancing out at the line of 4-4-0’s getting ready for work. Soon, Benn slapped him in the back of the head. “OW! What was that for!?”
Benn pointed again. “Not them. Over there, near those wagons. Doesn’t that engine look like it’s made of metal, and it doesn’t look like a normal pony engine. It seems, familiar.”
John rubbed his eyes, then looked again to where Benn had indicated. “Now that you mention it. Yeah, it does,” He then suddenly thought of something. “I think I’ve got an idea, but we’ll need that engine first. We better go find Mr. Hoover and tell him.” With that, the two boys left the office.
Mr. Hoover was just walking out into the yards. He liked going for a stroll when his employees were around. It made him remember that, even though there was a Nationalizing of the railways, at least there were ponies that would keep going till the very end to keep the railway running. But his was shaken out of his thoughts, when all of a sudden his crews jumped quickly into their engines. “What is going on?” He asked the crew of one of the engines.
The pony, an Earth Pony, stuck his head out. “Coalburner saw something over there, they looked like two shaved monkeys, they’re so close to the yard limits, we just hope they leave.” He said, before looking around. “AAHHH!! There!” He yelled, pointing frantically near the sidings, where the two humans were, walking around an engine.
Mr. Hoover laughed. “Now is that anyway to talk about your two new bosses-to-be?” He asked, then whistled loudly. “Boys! Come here, I need to introduce you to the crews.” He called.
John and Benn were over at the R.I.P lines. These lines were used to store locomotives and rolling stock that was due to be taken to the scrapyards outside of Baltimare to be cut up or left there to rust. The boys were quietly poking and inspecting the engine, with John taking some notes and sketching in a sketchpad. Both were shocked at what they were seeing. Not only was this engine made of metal like the locomotives on Earth. It WAS an engine from Earth. Both boys looked over as they were being called by Mr. Hoover. They looked at each other, then nodded before walking over the Earth Pony Stallion.
Mr. Hoover grinned at the two humans as they approached. “I see you two are getting around fine. And you seemed to be looking at that weird engine that appeared out of nowhere last month,” He then looked over at the crews hiding in the cabs of their engines. “It’s alright everypony, they won’t hurt you,” The crews looked out of the cabs at the two humans. “C’mon now, at least say hello. These two could be the only thing standing between our company’s identity and nationalization.” That got the crews attention. They hopped out of the cabs and came over to the two humans, and welcomed them to the sheds. Benn spoke up.
“Mr. Hoover. You said that the B17 just appeared out of nowhere last month.” He said, causing Mr. Hoover to blink.
“A B what?” He asked, looking at his crews, who just shrugged and scratched their heads.
“A B17,” John said calmly. “That metal engine over there is one engine from our world. It was built for fast secondary express trains, and sometimes mixed traffic work, and most were named after famous football teams from Benn’s country. We have a plan, but we need that engine put into service in order to try it out.”
Mr. Hoover just chuckled. “Well, it’s not like the thing won’t run, it’s just that…” He trailed off before speaking up again. “That thing is known to eat coal like a trainee guard at a buffet. It’s nearly impossible to keep steam up, and none of my crews know where to start looking in order to get her moving.”
John and Benn looked at each other, before John spoke up again. “Well,” He said. “If you can’t get the B17 moving because of those problems, we can help you out.” He grinned, before Benn spoke up.
“Y’see, B17’s and most engines from Earth have mechanical stokers, so constantly having to shovel coal back and forth is almost completely unnecessary,” He said as a matter-of-factly. “And what you could do, is let us test it out against one of your 4-4-0’s. Because you said it yourself that these engines just aren’t what they used to be. And it can give you a one-up on the EQN.”
Mr. Hoover sighed, he knew that there was no getting around the nearly flawless logic that Benn had presented to him. “Alright,” He said, looking at the two humans. “I see what you mean about getting a one-up on the EQN. But we need to know most of the controls in the B17-or whatever it is, and suppose that this little experiment fails, then what would you do?”
John chuckled. “Easy, we build our own version of the engine. I’ve been jotting down notes and sketching ideas for a class of 4-6-0’s based on the best of Britain’s 4-6-0’s. I call it, the ‘Fort’ class.” He said, before showing his sketches and notes of the engine to Hoover, who took the notepad from him and started looking over the notes and drawings.
Hoover blinked, then whistled for a pony. “Blueprint!” He called, and a Unicorn mare walked up to the three of them. “I want to you get the works to begin drafting blueprints of this locomotive,” He then looked at John. “Since you designed this locomotive, after you’re done with the test on that B17, you are to go help Blueprint with designing the blueprints of the new locomotives,” He then called over two more ponies. “Coalburner, Berkshire, I want you two to help John and Benn get that B17 fired up for the test. It’s going to be running trials against our fleet of 4-4-0’s to see how much of an improvement it is compared to our fleet,” He turned to John and Benn, but the two were already climbing into the cab of the B17. He chuckled. “They remind me of myself when I first started, no experience what-so-ever, but I was sure willing to work.” He said to himself, then he walked over to his office.
Meanwhile, John and Benn were poking around the cab of the locomotive. They had both agreed on the test of the B17, which was number 61643 ‘Champion Lodge’. To their surprise, the engine was in great running shape, no levers were out of place, and no pipes were cracked in the cab.
“So Benn,” John said. “What’s the plan for the test, I mean, this is very sudden to just drive this B17 on a service on the BNFR. We don’t even know the schedules and timetables.”
Benn nodded. “Well, what I’m thinking is, we get Champion Lodge up and running, then we test the controls out ourselves, and by that I mean I will test them, while you take notes. Then we have Mr. Hoover give us permission to take over one of the trains that would normally be pulled by a 4-4-0, and we run that service to show them the speed of the B17, then we can compare the times that were run.” He explained. “And then you can put the notes of this run, into building your ‘Fort’ class of engines.”
John nodded, and both of them continued messing with the levers, while John took notes of where everything was, from the throttle, the regulator, the brakes, sanding gear, and so on. When some of the crewponies came with the coal and water, the boys told them about the plan.
“Seems like it could work,” A driver said. “I mean, with what you said about this class of engine really makes it sound promising.  And the service that I think you should take is ‘The Fillydelphia Flyer’, that service is supposedly the railways fastest service,” He finished, as the two humans got a fire going in the firebox of the locomotive. “It will start off in Fillydelphia, and here in Baltimare is where we have a crew change, so I think we’ll need to have an engine change instead for the test. Also, you’ll end up running into Canterlot station, there you’ll have to go to a turntable and turn round for the trip back.” He finished, before handing John and Benn the schedule and timetables.
Soon a pony called out from the tender. “She’s full with coal, and we’re finishing up topping off the tank.”
Benn nodded. “Alright,” He then turned to the ponies. “Stand back, let’s get this engine running.” When the water towers hose was clear of the engine, and the ponies had hopped off. He then released the brake, and opened the throttle into the reverse position. And slowly ‘Champions Lodge’ began moving out of the siding and into the yard, to the shock of all the crews and staff that were watching.
John examined the sight glass. “Looks like we have enough water for the test. But I think we should take it easy for the time being, just to be safe.” He said, as he opened the cylinder cocks, which released steam and condensed water from the cylinders. He then closed the cocks when enough water had been released. “So, let’s get this B17 into the station.” He grinned, before pulling the whistle, which gave off its signature shriek.
Benn nodded, before they sidled up into Baltimare Station’s bay platform 2, to wait for the Fillydelphia Flyer. The boys quickly went over John’s notes that he had taken down about the controls of the B17. “How about this?” Benn asked. “You be fireman for the trip to Canterlot, and I’ll be fireman on the way back.” John nodded.
The two didn’t wait that long though, for about five minutes later, another whistle sounded out. And after that, The Fillydelphia Flyer pulled into the station, at the point of it, a run-down, and very worn out 4-4-0. Both boys just couldn’t bear to look at the engine, it was coated with grime and dust, with only a bit of black paint showing. And leaked steam from its inside cylinders.
The stationmaster came hurrying up to the two boys. “Thank Celestia that you two erm… Humans are here, and you have your own engine too.”
“What’s wrong?” Benn asked.
“The engine pulling the Flyer failed, its right cylinder has a major leak in it, they can get it to the shops light, but another engine is needed. We were told by Mr. Hoover of your ‘test’, so you two can take the Flyer onto Canterlot, we’ll have another engine waiting when you return to Manehattan.”
“Yessir,” Benn said. He then looked at John. “Can I rely on you for a strong fire John?”
John raised an eyebrow. “Can I rely on YOU to not get us killed going to Canterlot?” He asked rhetorically, crossing his arms.
Benn nodded, then after the 4-4-0 had been moved out of the way, the B17 moved to the train, and John coupled the engine and cars together. He was surprised to see that the couplers looked the same. He chuckled as he coupled ‘Champions Lodge’ to the Flyer.
Mr. Hoover walked up to the platform, along with a pony, who the boy’s recognized as Regulator.
“Thought you boys would like some company,” Mr. Hoover called. “Regulator knows the line from Baltimare to Canterlot like the back of his own hand. He’ll be going with you to make sure you get back in one piece.” He said, as Regulator climbed into the cab.
John looked back, as he heard a whistle, and saw the guard waving green flag. “Right of way Benn,” He said. “Let’s get going.”
Benn nodded, and opened the regulator. And, hissing steam from its cylinders, and with a long blast of the whistle, ‘Champions Lodge’ set off with The Fillydelphia Flyer, bound for Canterlot Union Station.
> Chapter 3
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Chapter 3
‘Champions Lodge’ thundered along the line between Canterlot and Baltimare. The two boys and Regulator were feeling very pleased of themselves. The engine seemed to run almost on its own, all the boys had to do was keep on the controls and watch where they were going.
John turned to Regulator. “So, what’s the huge deal about this Nationalization Plan? I understand why you don’t like it, but I am not fully grasping the situation here. Care to enlighten us?”
Regulator nodded. “Well, the full story begins about 4 years ago,” He began. “The railways were losing a lot of money because of lack of maintenance to the tracks and locomotives. A lot of Equestria doesn’t exactly take the railway because of Unicorns having the power to teleport and all, and also because of the new Zeppelin business going on right now,” Regulator said, pointing to a floating Zeppelin that was going above the train. “Anyway, this had been going on for a while. Until the Board of Directors at the EQN decided to pass a National Traction Act, which would bring all the railways into Equestrian National. Of course, it had to be approved by the Board before it could be mailed out, and luckily it didn’t. So we were safe for a few months. Fast forward 5 months, and Waybill came along. The Princesses decided to pass the railway board unto him. He decided that it would be impossible to simply ask the railways to be nationalized. He chose to try and force the companies into a state to which they really had no choice but to be nationalized. He started off by buying out all the smaller companies that he could, until there were only three other major companies left.” Regulator said, but John quickly cut in.
“So, allow me to dumb it down in a story of five minutes or so,” John said. “This Waybill dude comes along AFTER the EQN Board’s original plan failed. So he decides to buy out the competition in order to shove the other railways into a corner. Now that has happened, he thinks that it’s all a matter of time before the last companies become nationalized into the EQN, in order to combat a zeppelin company?”
Regulator nodded. “That’s about right, more or less.” He said, as John turned to put more coal in the firebox. Regulator turned to Benn. “You said that this engine was from your world, care to explain to me about your world, and some engines that are there?”
John and Benn looked at each other. John waved his hand, and Benn began to speak. “Well, it’s a long story. But our world has few remaining steam locomotives, since many countries have gone to diesel and electrification. The only place where anyone can see steam locomotives at all is in museums and on heritage railways,” He said, thinking of what else to say. “As for individual engines, there are quite a few that John and I could name. A good engine to start with would be the LNER A4’s, they are the speed record holders on our world for steam traction, with a speed record being 126 miles per hour.”
Regulator blinked twice, dumbfounded. “126 MILES PER HOUR!?” He yelled in amazement. “A steam locomotive managed that feat of speed!? Our fastest engine can only go about 60 miles per hour. And how fast is this engine going!?”
John looked at the speed gauge. “Ha-ha. About 80-90 miles,” He said, as if it was no big deal. “Don’t you start fainting on us now.” He chuckled, looking at Regulator, who was looking a bit pale.
“What other engines are there on your world?” He asked Benn weakly. Almost afraid to find out what else human’s had made.
“Oh, lots actually,” Benn said, then he stopped to think. “Let’s see, we have the LMS Black 5’s, about 842 of them were built. Then we have the Great Westerns’ 4-6-0s, like the Kings, Castles, Halls, and so on. Oh, then we have the Southern Railway’s Bullied Pacific’s. But that’s only some of the thousands of engines that were built in Britain,” He then turned to John. “What about you John, I know America built the Big Boy 4-8-8-4’s, but what else did you yanks make?”
John nodded, before thinking. “We made some pretty good engines, actually,” He grinned. “We made the Challenger 4-6-6-4’s, which were basically smaller Big Boy’s. There were the GS-4 and GS-6’s, those were 4-8-4 Northern types. There were also the Hudson 4-6-4’s, the Niagara 4-8-4’s, the B&O Dockside Tanks, which were 0-4-0’s,” He then looked at Regulator. “Shall we go on?” He asked with a smug grin.
Regulator was leaned up against the tender, he looked completely pale and was shaking. “N-n-no, I-I-I think I have heard enough.” He said weakly.
John and Benn looked at each other, before breaking out in complete laughter. Regulator gulped as the two had their laugh, before John looked out the cab window. “Hey, I think I see Canterlot guys!”
Regulator managed to get out of his stupor and look out the window as well. “Yup, that’s Canterlot alright,” He said. “We better slow down to pull into the station.” He then looked at his watch, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head at what he was seeing. Dear Celestia, we’re ten minutes early! I thought we had left fifteen minutes late. He looked at the two humans. Something tells me that these two are the saints we’ve been looking for. Regulator grinned, as the city came into view.
Canterlot Union Station was the biggest station in Equestria. It had almost twelve platforms, four of these were bay platforms. The station was also busy, with commuters, vacationers, and passengers taking the EQN’s trains to their destinations, as well as any BNFR trains that came in.
A little foal was with his mother and father at track five when the little foal saw something. “Mommy Mommy!” He cried, pulling his mother’s tail a bit. “I see a train, I see a train!”
The mother looked at her son. “I know sweetie, we’re in a train station, so you’ll see a lot of trains and-” She was cut off as a Gresley whistle cut through the air.
‘Champions Lodge’ pulled into the station. The passengers were shocked at the sheer size of the locomotive, the engines that all the railways had were 4-4-0s. But this was something new. This locomotive was a 4-6-0, it was painted black with red stripes, and was numbered 61643. It was also owned by a railway called British Railways. But that wasn’t the shocker of the day for the passengers and ponies. Leaning out of the cab was a sort of hairless monkey, and there was another in the cab, with a pony as well. The ponies looked on, as the tallest monkey leapt out of the cab of the engine, and uncoupled the engine from the train, before joining the other monkey and pony in the cab.
“Alright, so according to my notes, we’re about ten minutes early.” One said.
“Impressive, I thought you said we were fifteen minutes down Regulator?” Asked the other one.
“I did, we left Baltimare fifteen minutes late, but because of you hitting eighty or ninety miles per hour on the main line, we managed to make up a lot of time, and then some.” The pony, who the passengers knew as Regulator, said.
“Ha! Just imagine if this train was being pulled by Sir Nigel Gresley, or any of the A4’s. Wouldn’t that be a shock Benn, I mean look at those ponies, they’re all in a state of shock.” Laughed the tallest monkey.
“Oh, wow,” Chuckled Benn. “You’re right John, we are a sight to behold, John?” Benn asked, turning to where John was, but he was not there.
“Behold! The elegance that is Sir Nigel Gresley’s B17s!” John said with tons of bravado, as he stood on the platform. Benn looked out of the cab and facepalmed, before grabbing John by the ear and dragging him back to the cab. “Ow, ow, ow! Okay okay, I’ll behave!” John whined in pain.
Benn then opened the regulator, and ‘Champions Lodge’ moved out of the station, and towards the yards.
The turntables at Canterlot were Equestria’s largest turntables. Not only were they used to turn engines around for return trips, they were also used to turn coaches and trucks around, so they were large enough to accommodate about four coaches. Benn parked the B17 right on the table, to the shock and awe of the crews that were already there with their locomotives.
“What is that thing?”
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t look like any engine I’ve ever seen before.”
“What company is ‘British Railways?’ I mean it sounds like gibberish to me.”
The crews watched as John motioned to the turntable pony. “Yo!” He called. “Do you think you could turn us towards the hopper and water tower? We need to fill and coal up before our return train.”
The turntable operator nodded, still stunned at the fact of a creature talking to him. He turned the table towards the coaling and watering line. And watched as the B17 moved forwards towards the hopper and water tower.
John clambered up to the top of the tender and grabbed the hose bag, before putting it in the tender tank. As the water tank was being filled, and the tender being filled with coal, he looked around. He just chuckled at what he saw, ponies staring slack-jawed at the sight before them, and behind them, the city of Canterlot. Now, John and Benn were bronies, so John could only guess that Benn was taking in the sights as well. He waited a few minutes more, before removing the hose bag and swinging the tower arm away from him. He then clambered down and back into the cab. “You should see those ponies out there,” John said, laughing. “They’re staring at us so confused, I swear I saw a fly go in one stallion’s mouth, and four came out another’s mouth.” 
Benn laughed. “I see,” He said, as the tender was being finished being coaled. “So, remember our deal, you’re the driver now.” Both boys shook hands, before the B17 moved back to the turntable tracks.
The boys didn’t see it, but in a larger building overlooking the yards, a white Unicorn Stallion moved the curtains back. “What sort of machine is that!?” He yelled, turning towards a long table with ponies sitting at it.
“Well, Mr. Waybill, we’re not really sure, but we will look into it.” A unicorn mare said, trying to hide a bit of her fear.
“Make sure you do, that Fillydelphia Flyer was early! You hear me? Early! How are we supposed to get that BNFR to be nationalized if they are able to run trains to that schedule!?”
The other ponies looked at each other. This had been a surprising turn of events, ordinarily, the Fillydelphia Flyer was hardly ever on time, and only was 5 minutes late. This never gave the crews a proper time to coal and water the engine before having to set off again, which made the service usually late to Fillydelphia.
“Sir, we will look into it, that engine was nothing like we’ve ever seen before, and I’m sure that it will make headline news tomorrow, if not for the engine, than maybe for the crew of the engine.” Another pony said, this one a light yellow Earth Pony Stallion.
“Maybe, Maybe,” Said Waybill coldly, as he moved the curtain back to see ‘Champions Lodge’ back into the covered station. “We’ll get our answers and then some.”
Back at the station, Benn had just coupled up the B17 to the train. Some ponies came walking up to the engine. “Excuse me?” Asked a blue Pegasus stallion. “But what locomotive is this?” Benn looked at the two ponies, and was shocked at what he saw. There, standing in front of his face, was his OC, Shimmering Honor.
“Erm, well,” Benn said, trying to keep his composure. “This is a B17 my friend. It’s a prototype design, so there may be more being built, or maybe not. Anyway, I am Benn. And you are?”
“Oh, how rude of me. I’m Shimmering Honor, and my friend over here is Shadowspark,” Shimmering Honor said, motioning to the gray Pegasus next to him. “We were just curious about what engine this is, and a bit on who you two were.”
Benn nodded. “John!” He called. “You may want to answer some questions!”
John poked out of the cab window. “Hello there,” He said calmly. “Name’s John, and I’m guessing you two are Shimmering Honor and Shadowspark?” He asked, playing dumb. “And to answer your first question, we are humans, NOT monkeys!”
Shadowspark nodded and held out a fist, to which John bumped. “Cool meeting you two,” Shadowspark said quietly. “We better get going Honor.”
Shimmering Honor nodded. “Right, thanks for talking you two.” He said, as he and Shadowspark stretched their wings and flew off.
Benn and John looked at each other, before John quickly looked back and saw the green flag waving, and the loud whistle of the guard sound out. “Right of way,” He said. “Let’s turn loose the dogs of war.”
And with a loud whistle, ‘Champions Lodge’ set off for Baltimare. Leaving behind a quite surprised Canterlot Union Station.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4
The sun had just begun to set over Baltimare as Mr. Hoover stood on the platform waiting on the Fillydelphia Flyer to return. He had only just gotten to the platform after running through the drawings of the supposed new engine design with Blueprint. The project had been approved, but hoover wanted John to go and assist with the naming of the locomotives, and to explain some concepts to the Unicorn mare.
Another engine pulled into the second bay platform behind Hoover, and an Earth Pony looked out. “Been waiting here long sir?” He asked, as he as his firepony examined their locomotive.
Mr. Hoover looked back. “Not at all, young Al,” He smiled. “In fact, I just got out from the workshops after going over that new engine design. It seems that these two boys might be our saving graces,”
Al nodded. “I see what you mean sir, and I’m inclined to agree.” Both ponies then looked up as the B17’s whistle cut through the air.
‘Champions Lodge’ pulled into the station. Benn hopped down from the cab and uncoupled the train, as John moved the B17 to a crossover switch, so Al’s loco could take over.
When the two engines had swapped places, John called over to Al. “I know, I know. We’re about a half hour early, but can you blame us. I mean. We did hit eighty coming down the mainline.” He said.
Benn cut in. “All you have to do, is try to get the train to Fillydelphia on time, no need for record breaking. Because, I think we’ve already done that.” He laughed, as did John.
Some passengers looked out the windows of the coaches to see the two humans talking to Al. One with a press hat and a camera even took a picture of the sight. Now THIS will make headline news! She thought happily. Two monkeys in Equestria, and with that record breaking run in that strange locomotive. She quickly ducked back into the coach, and then grabbed her bags, before leaving the train with any other passengers that were disembarking the train. She then turned towards John and Benn. “Excuse me!” She called, running towards the humans. “My name is Telegram, and I’m with the Equestrian Daily Newspaper. Could I ask you two umm, whatever you are, some questions?”
John and Benn looked at each other, both with different grades of worry. After all, they had never been in the spotlight before. And to top it off, they had only been lucky so far. They both knew that they could only get so far on luck alone. “One minute please.” John said, and the two humans huddled together in a pep-talk fashion.
“What do we do man?” Benn asked. “If word gets out that we have no clue what we’re doing, it’ll be the end of us AND the BNFR.”
John nodded. “I know, and we don’t want this to wind-up like that movie Shark Tale, where the fish lied himself into a web of shit.”
Benn gulped. “Yeah, but I think that it has already gotten into that. Any ideas on what we should do?”
John thought for a moment. “Yeah, we explain to them about a standardization plan we have, to modernize and standardize the BNFR. We don’t explain much, but we tell them what we have planned.”
Benn nodded, the two then fist bumped before turning back to Telegram. “Alright. What’s your first question?” He asked, feigning confidence.
Telegram smiled. “Well,” She said, looking over the two humans. “What are you? Never has there been creatures like you in Equestria.”
John smiled. “Well, my dear reporter,” He smirked. “We’re humans, to answer any human-related questions, we are scientifically called 'Homo Sapiens', and I guess you could say that we’re a form of monkey or so. We wear clothes to keep warm, and because on our world it is considered taboo to walk around without clothes. That, and other reasons I am not at liberty to say.”
Telegram nodded, writing down most of what John had said. “Very well,” She said, before turning to Benn. “What is this locomotive, is it from your world?”
Benn had a rail fan glint in his eye, before he spoke up. “Well, this is a Gresley B17, better known as the ‘Sadringham’ or ‘Footballer’ class,” He smiled. “The class was built by Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley of the London North Eastern Railway, mainly for hauling fast secondary express trains,” He said. “Also, the class was mainly named after famous football clubs, but a few were renamed later.” He grinned.
Telegram quickly jotted down what had been said, before looking up. “So, what are your plans for the BNFR, in spite of the Nationalization Act that has pushed it to the corner?” She looked from both John to Benn, and back again.
John cleared his throat a bit, gaining the mare’s attention. “Well, we have plans to update the engines and rolling stock of the BNFR,” He said calmly. “Also, I seem to see that signal arrangements will have to be updated a bit, and I have to go see the works in order to make sure things are up to code.” He finished, and nudged Benn.
Benn caught on. “Between the two of us, relays plenty of ideas to help modernize and assist the BNFR in fighting back against the Nationalization Act. So this B17 isn’t the only engine that you will see along the BNFR network, we have plans in the works to build a new class of engine based on engines from our world. It’s unknown if the plans will pass, but if that fails, we can just copy this locomotive and have a new fleet of ‘Sadringhams’ riding the rails.” He finished, before John cut in with a smart aleck remark.
“And don’t worry your pretty head off,” He grinned. “Benn and I are single, so don’t worry about dating,” He then laughed, as Telegram blushed a bit, and Benn punched him in the arm. “Ow, what did I do?” He whined, as if he had done nothing wrong. Benn glared at him.
“Strike that off the record please Miss Telegram,” Benn said. “Johns just being foolish is all, bless his little American brain.” He smiled, before poking John in the head.
John just brushed it off. “Whatever Benn,” He grinned. “Like you haven’t tried getting a girlfriend?” He chuckled.
Telegram nodded. “Umm, could I get a picture of you in front of the locomotive nameplate please?” She asked the two humans.
The two nodded, before John motioned to Mr. Hoover and Regulator to join them. Mr. Hoover laughed.
“Sorry boys, but this is your interview, not mine. Besides, mares love famous stallions, and this could boost your popularity with the mares.” He said, before laughing.
John grinned. “I like this guy, he’s a riot. Have you ever considered stand-up comedy?”
Benn just whacked John on the back of the head. “C’mon Romeo, get in from of the engine nameplate.” He said, before the two took position on the platform with ‘Champions Lodge’.
Telegraph then positioned her camera in her cherry red magic, before taking the picture. “Thank You Mr. John and Mr. Benn,” She smiled. “I’ll make sure this ends up in tomorrow’s newspaper, along with the new land speed record that you broke.”
Both boys were confused. “Wait, speed record?” Benn asked. Before Regulator spoke up.
“Remember when I said that the BNFR’s fastest engine can only manage 60 miles per hour? Well, the EQN’s fastest engine managed 70, and that was with only a dynometer car attached. Your engine managed 80-90 miles per hour, WITH a full train, AND managed to keep to the timetables, WHILE arriving early,” He said. “That’s a feat not even the EQN could hope to grab in their operating life.”
John nodded. “That’s nothing,” He grinned. “What if we built the LNER A4’s? Then what would you do?”
Regulator went pale in the face. “I’d retire, that’s what I do. I mean, how could you humans even keep that thing moving without derailing the engine and killing the crew?”
Benn shrugged. “Dunno, but if Gresley were here and alive, we would ask him that.” He said.
John chuckled. “Anyway, I say we get this engine to the sheds, and I need to go to the works to oversee the ‘Fort’ class.” He said, before doing a funny quick walk to the cab, mimicking Curly Howard’s famous whooping. Benn just sighed, and followed him.
About an hour later, the B17 backed down on shed, and was parked in the fifth track near the back of the shed. Both boys jumped out. “John, you better get going to the works and see that new class you’re hoping to build,” Benn said. “I’ll examine the engine, then go with you.” He then started examining the B17’s running gear and the connecting rods for any cracks, as John hurried to the workshops.
When John arrived, he noticed Blueprint with some other ponies, going over some drawings. John realized they were going over the ‘Fort’ Class. So he decided to go over and try and help. “Excuse me?” John called, when he joined the group of ponies by the drawings. “So, what’s the word on this engine? Will you guys be able to build it?”
Blueprint looked at John. “I’m sorry,” She said. “But there isn’t enough facts to try and build this engine. It just seems like a bunch of random drawings.” John nodded. But then he remembered what Benn had said to Telegraph.
“Well,” John said. “You may have heard that ‘Champions Lodge broke a speed record today, and Benn and I were thinking. “What if you just copied the B17 instead? Y’know, take it apart and build copies of that engine with the same parts and stuff. Also, you can draw out proper blueprints as well, so you can build the design as a standard engine.”
Blueprint raised one eyebrow in surprise. “Copy that engine?” She asked, as if she hadn’t heard John correctly. “You mean that we would have to open up the engine, examine the parts, and then draw the blueprints as we go along?”
John nodded, but he then wished he hadn’t, as Blueprint grabbed John and shook him around in complete happiness.
“Human!! That is the greatest idea I’ve ever heard!!” She yelled in joy, which caused some ponies to turn and see what was going on. She blushed, then dropped John, who at this point was looking very dizzy and had three A4 Pacifics chuffing around his head. She turned to the workmen. “Everypony!” She called. “I require one empty track in order to park the human’s engine! We are going to begin construction of that class! And we will have engines that can give that EQN a run for its money!”
The works began to clap and some cheered. Benn had just arrived, and saw the cheering ponies, and a very dazed John. “Hey John, what’s going on?” Benn asked.
John turned to Benn. “Hey Benn, my engine idea failed, so I brought up just copying the B17 idea, and using it as a standard class of engine. It sounded like a good idea.” He explained.
Benn nodded. “I see, and you’re right, it could work in a way,” He said. “I say that we get the engine here then,” He turned to the workshop manager and Blueprint. “Where do you want to engine?” He asked, but then he heard some weak chuffing.
Everypony turned, to see one of the old engines trying to shunt ‘Champions Lodge’ into the works. When the B17’s driving wheels begin to touch the points, the old loco began to slip, trying to push the B17 into the works track. John and Benn tried not to laugh.
A second engine was called in to assist, and, with smoke blasting from the funnels, the two old engines moved the B17 into the works. When it was parked, workponies began swarming the engine, as Blueprint took tons upon tons of notes. “Excuse me?” She asked John. “Do you think I could have the notes you took on the controls in the cab?”
John nodded, then grabbed his notepad. “Page 12. They’re all marked.” He said, before he and Benn left the works. And headed outside to the R.I.P Line.
“Y’know John,” Benn said. “I’ve been thinking about these engines that are here,” He motioned to some 4-4-0’s in the R.I.P siding. “They’re so old and worn out, I mean it’s such a shock to see that they haven’t fallen on their own weight.”
John nodded. “I see what you mean, but an engine literally falling to pieces by itself,” He said, leaning against the running board of one of the locomotives. Right as he pushed his weight on the engine, the running board creaked, and some snapping sounded out. The running board shifted, and the boiler began to roll. “Look out!” John yelled, and both boys jumped clear, as the boiler rolled down an embankment that led to a coal pit. Both boys watched in shock as the boiler rolled down the embankment, and slammed into a pile of coal. John and Benn looked at each other, before John smirked and broke out in complete laughter. “Wow! Did you see that!?” John said between snorts and roars of laughter.
Benn looked at John, before he saw the funny side and started to laugh as well. “Yeah, what are the odds of that happening?” He chuckled. “We better go ask for a crane to get that boiler back though. I’ll get it John, you stay here and don’t touch that engine again.” Benn left to go find a crane.
John just looked at the boiler, which was lying in a pile of coal, nearly completely buried. He looked at the engine which the boiler belonged to. “Yeah, we’re gonna have to withdraw these old engines,” He said quietly, before walking to the engine again. “The odds of that happening again,” He grunted, before touching the connecting rod on the driver’s side, which fell off and hit the ground with a clang. “Are completely biased.” He said, before noticing Benn coming back with some Pegasi.
“Looks like we’ll have to invent cranes too John,” Benn said calmly. “But these pegasi were sent to pull the boiler back on the engine,” He then turned to the pegasi. “The boiler rolled into that open coal mine over there. So we just need to move the engine and put the boiler between the tracks to prevent it rolling.” He then noticed an engine coming up to move the broken engine away.
The engine slowly buffered up to the broken engine. The firepony coupled the two engines up. But when they tried to move, the engine came along smoothly for five seconds, but then the broken engine’s coupling fell off, followed by the cab slowly moving backwards, then hitting the ground with a sickening crunch.
“What are the chances of that happening!?!? I ask you!?” John yelled, indicating to the broken pile of scrap lying before him. “I mean, I could just walk up to this pile of scrap and kick it, and it’ll move faster than the Mallard on Welsh Coal,” With that, he walked up to the chassis and gave it a tap with his foot. To everyone and ponies surprise, the chassis rolled as one unit down the siding, before rolling off the siding and coming to a halt in the ground. “Shut up…” John grunted, holding up his hand, before turning away and holding back his laughter.
Benn just sighed. “I see that we’ll have to do more than just build one class of engine,” He said, as the pegasi moved the boiler to where it was needed. “We’ll need to build a whole new fleet of engines,” He then looked at John. “C’mon John,” He said, before walking away. “We have work to do.”

> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5
It had been a few days since the boys had arrived in Equestria. Both had been discussing plans to modernize the BNFR’s clapped-out fleet of engines, and had decided on a list of locomotives to build in order to do so.
One morning, John had just woken up and walked out of the flat that he and Benn shared, which was located not far from the yards in Baltimare. He then looked down to see the paper at his feet, and chuckled when he saw the headlines. He picked it up and went inside to read it to himself.
Benn was in the bathroom cleaning up his face. A few days working in a railyard had taken its toll, and he was having trouble washing out the coal dust and oil from his face and hair. He looked in the mirror, examining his usually spiky brown hair, which had started to fall in some spots. He then heard John knocking. “Take it easy John, I’m almost done.” He heard no more knocking, and guessed that John had left. He finished cleaning up whatever he could of his face, then headed to the dining area. He noticed a newspaper called ‘The Equestrian Daily’, and looked at the headlines. ‘Strange locomotive with crew seen in Canterlot Union Station.’ He opened up the newspaper, and read the article. “A new engine design was seen pulling the usually late Fillydelphia Flyer into Canterlot Union Station. The engine was a strange wheel arrangement, with four leading wheels, six driving wheels, with no trailing wheels. The locomotive was owned by a railway called ‘British Railways’, and was driven by two strange monkey-like creatures that called themselves humans. When interviewing these humans, they gave me a small explanation on the engine and their race. This engine was apparently a ‘B17’ class, that were created by Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley for a railway called ‘The London North Eastern Railway’ These two humans also discussed a plan to standardize the BNFR’s fleet of engines and their rolling stock, as well as their signals. It is unknown what else these humans have planned, but if what they say is true, than the BNFR will not have any fears of Nationalization.” Benn finished reading the newspaper. He was sort of shocked at what he had read, as he hadn’t expected them to be able to get the news out that the BNFR had two new creatures helping them. He sighed, then went to go get his work uniform and head down to the yards for another day of work.
John had already at the Baltimare workshops overseeing the construction of the new B17’s. So far, they had managed to build the wheels and the coupling rods with no problems, but now they had to try and cast a whole new boiler, as well as make the valve gear and cylinders, which had been presenting a list of problems.
The new B17 boilers were copies of the LNER 100A boilers, which had a boiler pressure of 225 psi. This was 85 pounds more than the old Poniston 4-4-0’s, which had a boiler pressure of 140 psi. There had been many rumors of the new boilers being very dangerous, and that they may have to lower the pressure to 150 to 165 psi, they did want to go lower, but John and Benn had discussed this with Blueprint and the forepony of the works. They had agreed, that if the testing engine didn’t work out as planned, then all the B17’s would be built with lower pressure boilers, which would have 180 psi. But the boilers weren’t the only problem.
The Gresley congulated valve gear was very awkward to try and copy, unlike the easier Walschaerts valve gear. And the new idea of having three cylinders, two outside and one inside, was very different to the ponies, who were used to building two inside cylinder engines. The new engines were, as they put it. “Very large, and could possibly run the railway into the ground just by building one.” But construction still went as planned, nonetheless.
Blueprint glanced over at the new engine being built. So far there had been plenty of problems in introducing the new design practices in the workshops. The boiler by itself was going to take a week to cast. And by the pace that they were making the B17, there would only be three, not counting ‘Champions Lodge’, ready by the end of the month. She decided to go and talk to Mr. Hoover about the humans and their so-called ‘innovations’.
Benn had reached the office at the same time as Blueprint did. The two had almost bumped straight into each other as they reached the door, but Benn had stopped himself and opened the door for Blueprint as she strolled into Mr. Hoover’s office. ‘She seemed mad,’ Benn thought. ‘I wonder why.’ He then entered the room, and soon found out why.
“Mr. Hoover, this is just an outrage!” Blueprint screamed, slamming her hands on the desk. “This new engine design is taking too long to build, and we’re running into so many problems, how do we know that these humans know what they are doing?”
Mr. Hoover just sighed. “Be patient Blueprint,” He said calmly. “Just because something seems tough, doesn’t make it impossible to do. Have some faith in John and Benn’s new design.”
“But that’s just it,” Blueprint said, not noticing the Benn had entered the room after her. “This new design is so huge, it’s taking a lot of resources to just build one engine, much less a whole batch. I mean, the cylinders are an awkward configuration, the boiler and cylinders are bigger than what we’re used to casting, and the valve gear configuration is very strange.” She finished.
Benn cleared his throat. “Ahem,” He walked up. “That’s why I am here, sir, we do realize that building the B17’s will take time. So,” He said, looking at Blueprint, then pulling out some large rectangular shaped object. “John and I have thought of a new fleet of locomotives to keep things moving until the first batch of B17’s are ready to go into service.” He said, before placing the object down and opening it up. 
Blueprint looked at the object on the desk in front of Benn and Mr. Hoover. It was a very thin object. The side that opened up had something like a screen on it, and the bottom part had Equestrian lettering on it, as well as numbers, and a few strange characters. She looked as Benn pushed a button, and the machine whirred to life. He then began typing something by pushing the keys down repeatedly, as words and pictures showed up on the screen in front of him. “Excuse me Benn,” She asked. “What is this strange device?”
“A laptop, my dear Blueprint,” He said calmly, as he showed Mr. Hoover the screen. “Now this is what we’ve thought up. The engine is an older design, but it won’t take very long to build, possibly one a week, if it were to be built elsewhere on the network.”
Blueprint by this point had heard enough. “Don’t you see what you’re doing?” She yelled at Benn. “You’re having us create new designs that possibly won’t work, and will be very expensive to create!” She grabbed Benn’s shirt and brought him to her face. “And what makes you think that these new designs will even work on OUR railway?”
“Because,” Benn said. “These designs have been used before and improved on by the railways they were built for,” He then clicked some keys and clicked the little pad in the middle of the bottom piece of the computer, as an image appeared on the top screen. The image was that of a small tank engine. It had six small wheels, which made it an 0-6-0, a tall funnel, and a dome that was the same height as the funnel, a cab and bunker just below the back windows. The tanks of the engine followed just below the boiler except one part which dipped just slightly where the smokebox was, and it had an opening in the tanks, revealing part of the running gear, and the valve gear. “This, is an LNER J50 tank engine. I was thinking of building some of these engines to serve as shunting engines for the railway’s workshops, after seeing how much of a struggle it was to move the B17 into the workshops, and the fact that it took two of your 4-4-0’s to move one engine.” He looked over at Mr. Hoover, who was looking at the design carefully, seeing the blueprints and taking down the details.
“Well,” Mr. Hoover said calmly. “It seems you boys have some very erm… different ideas on locomotives. But it doesn’t look like this design will take as much time as the B17’s will,” He looked up at Blueprint, who was carefully looking at the locomotive’s picture. “Blueprint, do you think the works at Fillydelphia could get started on this new engine?” He asked.
Blueprint glanced at the laptop, moving some of her short, green hair out of the way to see better. “I believe so Mr. Hoover,” She said calmly. “It would strike me as odd as to why we would need smaller engines when what we really need are newer designs to keep up with the EQN. But other than that, I have no qualms for this design, and his facts and reasons make sense as to why this design could help.”
Benn just grinned, and looked at Blueprint. “I would be happy to loan you my laptop so you can copy the designs Blueprint,” He said. “But this laptop runs on batteries, which need to be charged by an electric outlet, would you happen to have one at all around here?”
Blueprint looked at Benn. “Well, we don’t have these ‘electric outlets’ that you speak of. We do however pay Unicorns to recharge our electrical devices for us, unless you’re a unicorn yourself, than you can just charge your own device. Luckily for you, I happen to be a Unicorn,” She finished, tapping her horn to prove her point. She looked over the picture and drawings of the J50 Tank Engine. She looked over to Benn. “So, how long do I have to copy these drawings into Blueprints?” She asked.
Benn thought at what Blueprint had said. If she could keep the laptop charged with her magic. That would eliminate the need for plugging it into an outlet. That the ponies hadn’t invented yet. “Well, since you ARE a unicorn,” He said. “You can borrow my laptop for a few days to copy the drawings, but I do want it back when you are finished.” He handed his laptop off to Blueprint, who held it carefully, as to not drop it.
Blueprint nodded and looked at the laptop one more time, before turning and leaving. After she had left, Benn looked at Mr. Hoover. “Son, I hope you know what you are doing. These new projects of yours are going to cost a shiny bit. And this railway doesn’t have all the funding that the railways on your world may have.” Mr. Hoover said, eyeing Benn, as he looked at the door that Blueprint had just exited. Benn nodded and left. “So do I sir, so do I.” The Brit said softly to himself.

> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6
A month had passed since the boy’s arrival in Equestria. The works at Baltimare had been working on the B17, as well as the J50 Tank Engines that Benn had asked the Fillydelphia Works to build for use as yard shunters for the railway. But that wasn’t the only thing that had been going on in the workshops of the BNFR. Even though that only after a month, three B17’s, excluding ‘Champions Lodge’, were finished and running, and about ten J50’s were completed. Those weren’t the only locomotives being worked on.
The old Poniston 4-4-0’s had been receiving numerous upgrades as well. Three of them were being tested with outside cylinders, instead of inside cylinders, and two of them were having a new compound boiler tested as well, which had a working boiler pressure of 165 Psi. The science behind compounding steam was rather basic. The outside cylinders were lower pressure than the third high pressure cylinder that was tucked away in the frames. So the steam was recycled between the high pressure cylinder and the lower pressure cylinders, which moved the engine. The very last upgrade was on a rear pony truck under the cab, that was supposed to stop the locomotives from rocking and swaying when brought up to speed. These locomotives, if the tests proved successful, would be rostered under the new BNFR classification system, ‘3P 2F’. The ‘P’ stood for passenger, and the ‘F’ stood for freight. But, withdrawals commenced of the 4-4-0’s, the very first were the engines already rostered to be scrapped. And by the end of that very month, out of thirty Poniston 4-4-0’s that the railway had when John and Benn arrived, there remained less than ten in original condition, with the rest either being rebuilt or scrapped.
The engines weren’t the only things that were being built in the railways workshops. True to his word, Benn had commissioned the coach and wagon division of the works to start construction of new cranes to assist with rerailing locomotives and rolling stock, to dealing with maintenance of way trains that ran from time to time on the railway.
In order to keep the new locomotives and wagons a secret, the Poniston 4-4-0’s that hadn’t met the cutters torch or had been rebuilt were allowed to run from Baltimare to Canterlot, and from Fillydelphia to Hollow Shade Junction, which was owned by the BNFR, but the EQN also had trackage rights to this station, which was only a stop on the way to the stations in Neighagra Falls and Manehattan. The station was only a four track station, with two platforms. Platform 1 dealt with the EQN’s trains, while Platform 2 saw the BNFR’s trains. The station itself looked of Victorian Era, with arched windows, and arch doorways. The only thing that looked remotely modern was the overpass that passengers used to move from platform to platform without setting hoof on the railway line.
Meanwhile, John was at the works in Baltimare, overseeing the construction of the B17’s. He and Benn had been thinking of naming the engines, but so far hadn’t thought of any suitable names for the engines. He was taken from his thoughts, when he heard Blueprint call him over to her office which was situated in a room overseeing the works. He headed up the stairs to the door and entered, to find Blueprint looking over some papers. “You wanted to see me Blueprint?” He asked as he shut the door.
“Yeah, I would’ve sent for Benn, but you’re the nearest human here,” Blueprint said, as she motioned for John to sit down. “I bet you’re wondering why I asked for you? Well, the answer is simple. Has anyone told you how radical these designs that you and Benn have asked us to build? I mean, honestly!” She raised her voice, tossing her arms up in exasperation. “Outside frames?! I mean have you ever heard of such nonsense? And why would we need goods engines when all we have and need are passenger engines to combat the EQN!” She finished, before turning her glance to the works where some B17’s were having their boilers tested for cracks. “Y’see. The EQN hasn’t exactly been fighting fair all the time, and sooner or later they’ll plant a spy in here to see our new design practices.”
John scoffed. “You’re joking right?” He asked. “That is a dirty, underhanded trick. But….” He said, trailing off. “It HAS happened a lot in our world. Where one company has planted spies in another company to copy designs and plans. There is only one….. THAT’S IT!!” He suddenly yelled in realization, before turning to Blueprint. “Are there any patent offices at all in Equestria?” He asked.
Blueprint raised an eyebrow. “Yes but I fail to see how Patent Offices could help with the problems at hand. Unless you’re planning to…” She trailed off thinking for a second, as John motioned her to continue. “Unless you’re planning to patent the designs!” She finished, glancing over at John, who just nodded and laughed. “That’s a brilliant idea! Why didn’t we think of it sooner?” She asked, moving to her desk before rummaging through some drawers. She came back up a few seconds later with a folder labeled, ‘Patent forms’.
John looked at the patent form. It was labelled, ‘Equestrian Provisional Patent Application.’ The paper itself looked very simple, asking for the name and information of the patentee, details of the invention, and a signature of the patentee. He looked up at Blueprint. “And I’m guessing that Benn and I would have to sign and explain the inventions that we would give to the patent office?” He asked, thinking of how many of the patent papers he and Benn would have to sign, which shockingly, was a lot.
Blueprint looked at the papers, then back at John. “I hope you two have applied for citizenship. Because only a citizen can be able to sign forms like these in Equestria. Besides, imagine if we had all these ideas of yours patented,” She said, her Ocean Blue eyes sparkling in wonder. “We could build all of these ideas of yours without the EQN getting in the way.”
John raised an eyebrow. “Oh,” He said, crossing his arms. “What happened to you saying that all of these ideas were ‘radical, and difficult’? He asked. But he wasn’t expecting what happened next.
Blueprint slowly turned her head towards John. “Forget what I said!” She yelled, lunging towards him. “I was hysterical! Now, you and Benn should start work on these patents and then go down to the patent office in Canterlot!” She grabbed the folder of patents and shoved them into John’s arms, who fell out of the chair. “Now get going!” She yelled again, enveloping John in her sea green magic aura, before nearly flinging him out of her office, down the stairs, and towards the workshop doors, before finally taking a deep breath and plunking down on her chair. “I really need to get a vacation…..” She breathed in relief, as she looked down at the workponies working on the engines.

> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7
After getting chucked out of Blueprint’s office, John stood by the workshop doors, trying to process what had happened in the office. After roughly five minutes of staring at some bushes, his brain sparked to life and he remembered the folder of patents that he was holding in his hands. NOW I remember! Benn and I need to fill out these patents then take them down to the patent office in Canterlot. He thought. He then looked at the folder, which was filled to nearly ripping with patents. He sighed, as he headed towards the apartment complex that he and Benn shared.
Benn was looking at some papers that had shown up in the mail for them. Most were just some questions from the press about scheduling interviews and having a look behind the scenes at the workshops to see what the BNFR was working on. He had managed to keep the paparazzi and reporters at bay for so long, but he knew that it wouldn’t be long before they came knocking with more than just polite words. He was just looking through the last paper, when John walked in. “Benn, have you ever signed and filled out patents?” He asked, still holding the patent folder in his hands.
Benn glanced over at his American friend. “No John,” He said. “Why do you ask about patents?”
John put down the folder, and explained what had happened. “And so Blueprint thinks in order to stop the EQN from planting bugs in the BNFR’s workforce so they can copy all of these designs and work practices, we need to patent what we’ve already done so they cannot copy it without having lawyers rain hell down on them.” He finished as he opened the folder and grabbed a pen.
Benn glanced down at the sheer number of papers. “Okay…” He said, trailing off. “Who in their right mind keeps a folder filled with just patents? That makes no sense, even in work practices,” He then looked at John. “And you know that this will take the better part of an afternoon, right?”
John nodded. “Yeah,” He said, cracking his knuckles. “Let’s get cracking.”
Finally, after a grueling five hours of patent signing, signature writing, design explaining, and technical drawing. The two boys had finished. “Aahhhh…..” John moaned as he lay on the ground with his left hand in a bucket of ice. “It’s over…. Finally!” He sighed in relief as the ice began to cool down his fingers and hand.
Benn was on the couch, his fingers in a glass of ice. “You’re preaching to the choir John, I’m glad it’s over. But now one more question, who is going to take this down to the patent office?” He glanced over to John, as if giving him the answer to the question.
John nodded, but didn’t move from his spot on the ground. “Yeah Yeah, I’ll get it. But I think Blueprint said something about the patent office in Baltimare is closed at 6, but the one in Canterlot is open 24/7. At least, that’s what she told me,” He said, before managing to grab the folder that had the patents in it, and putting them in his backpack. “Don’t wait up Benn, I’ll probably get back late anyway.” He headed towards the door and as he left to the station to catch the train he then thought of something.
Wait. How am supposed to get these to the patent office in Canterlot without causing a panic and blowing my cover to the EQN’s board of directors. I mean, if anyone sees me, then I won’t be able to just leave Canterlot quietly without a crowd of reporters following me like baby ducklings. Not every day that a new species just waltzes into the nation’s capital. He thought as he entered the station and bought a ticket. He stood waiting on the corner of the platform, away from the crowds, which were already thin. He couldn’t help but get the feeling that someone was watching him, as he stood in platform three. He looked, but couldn’t see anything safe for the late night commuters, and the station staff. He sighed and looked down the line, to see one of the Poniston’s pull into the station.
As opposed to what it looked like before John and Benn arrived, the engine looked much cleaner. With sharp Holly Green paint with red and white lining, and the letter’s ‘BNFR’ on the sides of the cab, above the engine’s number. It also had a new whistle, which was really only a copy of the B17’s Gresley whistle. John just grinned as the engine stood at the station platform with its rake of 6 coaches. He entered the train and sat in the back of the last coach, as to try and draw little attention to himself as he could. He didn’t notice a mint green unicorn looking at him from across the coach.
So, with a blast of the whistle and a whoosh of steam, the train set off into the Equestrian darkness. Next stop, Canterlot.
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8
After a few hours, the train pulled into Canterlot Union Station. John disembarked the train, looking around for a map of the city, or an information booth. He quickly scanned the station. Bad luck for him, the station was partially crowded with commuters and the staff going about their business. John knew that it was only a matter of time until he was seen, so he the second he saw an information booth with what looked like maps in a bin, he hurried towards it, ignoring any stares that he was getting. Okay. He thought as he grabbed a map and opened it. The station is here. So if I leave here and go down three blocks, then the patent office should be on my left between Donut Joes and the Jewelers, simple enough. He put the map in his jacket pocket and headed towards the station exit, unaware that he was being tailed.
Lyra looked at the leaving human with intense interest. Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh! A human! She thought as she followed John through the station. What’s a human doing here? Unless he is one of the new CME’s of that railway. She smiled as she began formulating all the questions that she would ask the human when she caught him. 
Meanwhile, John had left the station and had turned right on Lunar Drive, according to the map he had, it was the fastest and shortest way to the patent office. He was speed-walking, hoping to get his espionage job finished and over with. But as he got closer and closer to the end of the drive, he was also getting a sick feeling in his stomach that something, just something wasn’t quite right. He looked around, nothing was around that could set him off, just buildings, anthro ponies, and the streetlights to guide him. He looked around a bit more, the sights were the same. Must have been those hay fries I had for lunch… Must be allergic or something. He thought to himself as he crossed the crosswalk with the crowds.
Lyra meanwhile, had continued tracking John through the streets, keeping pace so she could see him, yet not getting close as to be spotted. I wonder what he is looking for. And why would he be carrying a small backpack through the streets in the evening? While Lyra had been asking these questions and more to herself, she had failed to see that John had turned down a side street, and continued going down the main street. It was until she nearly bumped into a stallion did she realize that John had, unknowingly, given her the slip. Oh no! Where is he?! Lyra thought, nearly panicking to herself. In less than ten minutes, her greatest wish had simply vanished from her sight. She looked around and quickly backtracked herself to where she had lost sight of John. Perhaps he went down this side street, yes. That must be it! Hold on my little human, I’m coming for you!! She thought as she ran down the road after John.
John had found the patent office with no problems. He entered the building and looked around. The layout was very simple. The desk was in the back wall of the room with a door leading to what John assumed to be where they kept all the patents. On the left were chairs and tables for the patentee’s to sit while their name was being called. John approached the desk and took a number. 23. And the number on the board is? He looked at the white board that was being erased. 19. Not bad at all. Unlike the DMV… He sighed as he sat down in a chair next to the wall. He looked at the number on the board again, hoping that it would change quickly, but as he turned his head away from the board, he saw something. Tacked to a cardboard panel next to the door, was a poster to something. John stood up and walked over to the board and looked at the poster.
‘The Great Canterlonial Steam Fair,’ It read. ‘Come see Equestria’s advances in steam technology. Awards will be given out to top contenders in all classes.’ Below it, showed a list of the events that were there. Let’s see here. Advances in Steam Rollers. Advances in saunas? Advances in Steam Locomotives.. Wait a sec….. John thought, scanning over the last words. Advances in Steam Locomotives? THAT’S IT! In a flash he quickly zipped and saw the date that the Steam Locomotive event would be on, which was the last day of spring. I don’t think they would mind if I took this. John thought, swiping the paper off the cardboard and turning to see what number was being called, which, laughably, was his number. Alright. Let’s get this over with. He thought as he entered the room, where a burly stallion was sitting.
Lyra was walking up and down the side street where John had walked down. She had already passed the patent office a number of times, and she was nowhere closer to finding John than she was five minutes ago. Oh Lyra. The biggest discovery of your LIFE, and you let him get away without even asking him a single question. She thought as she approached the patent office. She wasn’t paying attention to where she was going, and so she didn’t see the door opening util it literally slammed into her face, sending her onto the ground. She looked around in a daze as a figure walked out from behind the door. “I’m so sorry,” The voice said, holding out his hand. “Here, let me help you up,” Lyra grabbed onto the figures hand and felt herself getting pulled up into her hooves. “Are you alright? Do you need anything?” The figure asked. Lyra shook her head rapidly to get the stars and flashing lights out of her vision. “That’s good. Well, I must get going, I guess I’ll see you again.” The figure said. Lyra managed to shake the lights out her eye just in time to see John’s retreating figure.
“Wait!” She yelled. But it was too late, John had already jogged down the sidewalk and turned onto the main road. I have to go after him, I may never have this opportunity again. She thought as she ran after the human. But as soon as she turned towards where John had gone, she noticed that he had vanished into the crowds. NO! My little human come back! She thought loudly to herself, as she ran down the sidewalk after John.
John had managed to get back to the station with no disturbances. The second he had noticed that the pony he had helped was in fact Lyra Heartstrings, he knew that he had to get back to the station, and quickly. He had managed to get a ticket for Baltimare and leapt into the train heading for Baltimare. He had poked his head out of the window just in time to see Lyra come charging onto the platform in a frantic pace. Oh God. Not good not good not good!!! He thought as he saw the mint unicorn charge onto the platform, looking at him with a stalkerish look. But to his relief, the guard called out the right-of-way, and the train began to move. It was only when the train was away from Canterlot did John relax into his seat and look through his backpack. Inside his backpack were the patent acceptions, and the flyer for the Steam Fair. He looked it over, trying to see if there was anything about accepting contestants for the fair. And there was, at the bottom of the paper, explaining where to do to send an application to compete in any of the competitions that the fair was having. I think I see how we can get the big word out the the EQN just can’t do what they want. He thought to himself as he put the paper back in his backpack and groomed his tail. Wait… John thought, as he grabbed his tail lightly. It was mint green. Mint Green… Uh oh… John followed the tail, until he came face to face with Lyra’s golden eyes. 
“Human….” Lyra said breathily at John, giving him a look that made John freeze in his tracks. “Mind if I ask you a few questions?” Her horn began glowing it’s faint golden aura, making sure John couldn’t escape her. She took a deep breath, and the torture began, as the train continued down the railway line to Baltimare.
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9
The train pulled into Baltimare Station, and out strode a worn-out John. Being trapped with a human-obsessed pony had done its toll on him, and he would be glad to receive ANY rest after that experience. He was just leaving the platform, when he heard Lyra call out from the carriage window. “Good-bye my little humie! I’ll see you at the Steam Fair!” She waved good-bye, as the train pulled away, heading back to Canterlot. John shivered.
Back at the apartment, Benn was going through some requests made by members of the workshops staff. Some were explaining about the problems with the coagulated valve gear, and some were discussing the problems with the new fleet having too many different parts, and that the works would have to build all sorts of spare parts to keep them working properly. This got Benn to thinking about what was going on with the railway already. And he had to admit, they made good points. The B17’s and J50’s that were being built were LNER designs, and the new engines were GWR. There had to be a reason for having the engines as they were. But he couldn’t think of what to do about the problems at hand. He then heard the door open and close. “So, how did your trip to Canterlot go?” He asked, as John appeared in his line of sight.
“Just horrible Benn,” John groaned, as he collapsed onto the couch. “Lyra apparently caught me as I was just leaving the station, and when she finally caught up to me, she barraged me with tons of questions about humans and our world in general,” He sighed, as he stood up from the couch. “I’m going to bed, no interruptions please, I would just like to sleep.” He grunted, and stumbled to one of the bedrooms in the apartment and shut the door. Benn just sighed and looked outside, as pegusi gathered clouds overhead.
That night, a fierce storm raged over Baltimare. The pegusi had planned a huge storm in order to make up for the lack of water in Baltimare. It was during these rainstorms that the railway opened the water towers in the yard to allow water from the storm to fill the towers. A strange way of filling towers, but it worked. Many ponies had shut themselves in for the storm, all were trying to ignore it, but one.
Benn was relaxing on the roof of the apartment. He had clambered up the fire escape to the roof, and was now watching the lightning dance from cloud to cloud overhead. Ah what a night, nothing like lying on an apartment roof in the middle of a thunderstorm. He thought as the lightning rumbled. Benn just chuckled at the lightning strikes, but soon something caught his eye, the lightning was getting lower and lower as it struck. Oh god.. Is it? It IS! Benn thought rapidly, as a few bolts struck down on the BNFR’s sheds, which began to burn, as the structure was made partially out of wood. He ran inside the apartment, and hurried to John’s room.
Meanwhile, John was clenched into a ball on his bed. He hated storms, and never could get used to them. The noise and sudden bursts of light unnerved him. So when Benn charged into his room and shook him, he froze up in fear. “What!?” He yelled, still locked with fear.
“John, the sheds have caught fire! We need to go alert the fire brigade!” Benn yelled, as he tried to snap John out of his fear-stricken state. By this point, he had begun to shake John back and forth rapidly.
“What!?” John yelled, finally snapping out of his state of fear. “We better do something1 Right now!” He hopped out of bed and turned to Benn. “Go to the local fire station then, I’ll head down to the sheds and do what I can there. MOVE!” He yelled again, as the two went amongst their duties.
Benn went over to the nearest fire station. Luckily for him, it was open, and he quickly ran inside. “Help!” He yelled. “The Baltimare sheds have been hit by lightning, and they’re on fire!” He finished, catching his breath.
The fire ponies looked at him in a bit of disbelief. “Alright then,” Called the fire chief. “We’ll be down there soon.” He finished, as the other fire ponies hurried past Benn and into old style horse-drawn carriages, which were painted in bright red with the words ‘Baltimare Fire Dept.’ on it in gold. Benn quickly leapt in the back of one, while large Earth Pony stallions took up the front, and pulled the carriages away towards the sheds. Benn could only hope that they would get there in time, and that the damage wouldn’t be too severe.
Meanwhile, John had been trying to get as many engines as he could out of the sheds, it had been lucky for him that some cleaners and Regulator were still around, and so had already been there when he arrived. They had quickly decided to try and get the wood-boilered engines out first, then try to pull out the B17’s, as the heat would end up melting some parts in the cab, or would set the wood-boilered engines on fire. They worked fast, and had only gotten three of the rebuilds out first, which were charred a little bit. “Get some ropes or something!” John yelled. “We need to pull the engines out now or we’ll lose all our hard work!” The crews complied, quickly tightening ropes around the buffers, front couplings, and funnels of two B17’s which turned out to be ‘Champions Lodge’ and No. 1224.
“Alright!” Yelled Regulator, “Now let’s ease them out!” The crews did so, while John turned to Regulator.
“Do you have any hoses or something?” He asked. “We need to try and cool off the engines, as well as put out the shed fire.” He finished, as the fire brigade arrived.
Regulator and the crews watched, as the fireponies got to work, quickly hosing down the fire, and then starting to cool down the engines. John and Benn could only watch, as the smoke subsided.
“I just hope that the sheds haven’t been totally trashed.” Benn said to John, who could only agree, and both hoped for the best.