The Blue Crescent

****

On a cold Ponyville morning, the silence of the Caine Street Railroad Yard was shattered as two diesels roared into life. The twin red FP9 loco's rolled slowly out of their shed, startling a flock of pigeons nesting on the roof, and began a slow journey out to be cleaned.

At the helm of the great passenger engines were the hostlers Snips and Snails, filling in for the engineers while they prepared the engines for their daily assignment. This assignment was no mere local or mail train, or a lowly freight, it was Celestia's newly-proposed Blue Crescent, a train that would cut the journey time between Ponyville and Manehattan in half. Using the newest (well, in Equestria) in railroad technology, the great express would cruise at around 60 miles an hour, beating the 40 MPH accomplished by the common tank engines of the current trains.

After nearly running them into several lines of freight cars awaiting sorting, Snips and Snails managed to hook the FP9's up to their waiting train. They were about to exit via the side doors, when the crew, Wilcox, Mel and Eldorado hustled in.

"Scoot over, kids," Mel chuckled, "Let's the pro's handle it!"

As Mel and Wilcox, the engineers of the train sat in their seat, they became flabbergasted at the comfort of the locomotive: Power seats, cruise control, a microwave, it was more of a living room than a cab.

After marvelling at the quarters for several minutes, the two had to get down to buisiness. The trouble was, how could the big machine moving?

"Uh, Will?" Mel muttered, scratching his head.

"Yes, Mr. Hutchinson?"

"How do you get this damn thing moving?"

After a quick browse through the operator's manual, which was conveniantly placed on one of the seats, the two had figured out where all of the controls were, and began the process of moving the train into the station.

After half an hour, the station was buzzing with life. Ponies hustled out of their cabs to the trains, most heading for the Crescent. Spike would greet them all, being his duty as a pullman porter, but was shocked to see the diabolical, malevolent prescense known as Chrysalis trotting casually over to him.

"Er-Hello, Ms. Chrysalis!" he stuttered, attempting to cover his fear by practicing the courteous ways of athe porter, "Pleasure to have you riding with us today!"

She didn't reply. The only thing she did was look the other way, and board, a great relief to him, for he had never attempted to bring up conversation with a changeling. Two of her minions trailed behind her, carrying her suitcases and baggage. These two were called Razorback and Silverwing, although they were commonly referred to by their birth last names, Steinmetz and Talloway. Spike had seen them once acting as ambassadors at previous Grand Galloping Galas, but most recently at their queen's side during the Changeling assault. He shivered as he thought of what they might be planning on doing to him.

"I bet they'll hang me by my legs in the baggage car, and suck my heart out with a straw!" he thought.

But Talloway waved hello, and Steinmetz actually complemented the station's layout!

"Why, thank you!" the purple dragon replied cheerfully, surprised that a changeling could even speak, "We built it back in '78, when we overhauled the entire system!"

"You know, kid?" Steinmetz remarked, gesturing to the length of the train with her jet-black hoof, "I don't think I've ever BEEN on a train before!"

"Well, I hope you enjoy the ride!"

The next passengers were less unusual. Berry Punch, Carrot Top, Flegel, and many others were loaded into the massive Budd streamlined cars. But there was one, too familar to ignore. A rival, a nemesis, his name was Fleetwood Brougham.

As soon as the brown pegasus-turned-alicorn saw him, he froze in shock for a moment. After Luna, who was accompanying him on the trip knudged him and asked him what the matter was, he continued on toward the platform, walking quite slowly, as if he expected Spike to leap onto him and melt him into slag.

"Erm, hello, Mr. Spike," he awkwardly greeted the dragon, "How art thou doing?" he turned to Luna. "Am I doing it right this time, dear?"

"Don't think you're out of the woods just yet, Brougham," Spike growled back, "You stole the only mare I ever loved once, and your stupid friends humiliated me during your bachelor party!"

"Oh, fear not, Mr. Spike," he reassured, brushing up affectionately against Luna, "I won't be stealing your dear Rarity today. Have a pleasant ride!"

Spike was confused. Maybe he had misjudged the car salesman. Maybe he had a change of heart? Well, he couldn't bother with that not, as he noticed a switcher attatching a heavyweight observation car to the end of the train, without the conductor's permission!

"WHOA, WHOA ,WHOA!" he yelled to the pony in the switcher, "Dutch, what are you doing?!"

"You have royalty on board!" he explained, "Father Night himself is riding today, and so are Luna and The Keeper!"

After the explaination, Spike continued greeting the passengers, until thre were no more. He went back to his compartment, where he freshened up. He straightened his dorsal spikes, and splashed some cold water on his face.

Meanwhile, while Spike prepared himself for the long journey ahead, Snips and Snails, who had a double duty as baggage loaders, were loading suitcases into the train. The first batch belonged to Luna.

All went well, until one busted open, and the contents poured all over them.

"Son of a BITCH!" Snails exclaimed, digging himself out, "Why does a mare fill a suitcase with nothing but SOCKS?!"

Upon realizing what he just said, Snails froze in shock.

"Wow," Snips muttered as he began repacking the case, "Fleetwood is lucky...."

The next bags were easier, but the two had to keep themselves from opening some of Equestria's biggest mysteries, such as how many bottles of booze Berry Punch kept with her, the mystery surrounding Fleetwood's rumoured mafia ties, Colgate's toothpaste fetish, and Father Night's archives. At last, they finished, loading some black bags with green trim onto the train.

Spike was on his way over to the diner car for some breakfast, when the conductor, Fleetwood's father, Eldorado, intercepted him.

"Alright, kid," he asked, "Everypony onboard?"

"Yessir."

"Alrighty then, let's get this beast movin'!"

Eldorado opened one of the doors on the sleeper car, leaned out toward the direction of the locomotive, and began swinging an oil lantern, a symbol of departure.

"'BOOOOOOOAAAAAARD!" he howled, and the engine responded by blowing the horn a long, single blast.

****

"Alright, Will!" Mel instructed, throttling up, "Time to MOVE!"

There was a great jolt as the train began to move, that swept down the train to the tail end, until all of the cars were moving. The engine began to slip on the damp rails, but Mel applied the sander, and they regained traction almost instantly.

As the train journeyed out of the yard, Pinkie stuck her head out the window, and looked back at her hometown, which was now disappearing rapidly.

"GOODBYE, PONYVILLE!" she yelled, waving her hoof, "SAYONARA!"

"Get yer head back in, woman!" Eldorado ordered as he walked by and took her ticket, "We don' want ya to get decap-a-te-mated, do we? It'd get blood all over the brand new paint!"

The train continued on without incident for a while. As the sun set, it entered the Outer Ponyville region, and large forests of Redwoods were present. That's when it all started, when Spike decided to get some dinner.