Engines of a revolution

I awoke feeling a dull pain and opened my eyes to find myself in a hospital room, at least there was one thing that was similar to earth.

“What happened”  I croaked out in English, immediately regretting my decision to speak as pain shot through my chest, causing me to hiss in pain and clench my eyes shut, as if my lack of vision would cause the pain to magically go away.

“Luke” I heard Emerald say, followed by hooves clicking on tiles, I felt a hoof gently touch my left shoulder “You need to rest, you have cracked ribs, a sprained ankle and a broken collar bone”

“Damn it” I muttered, barely above a whisper “how long was I out?”

“a week” she said “you’ve been under a medical anaesthetic as the doctors weren’t sure if you would react badly to magic”

“And Falcon?”

“The locomotive is built, and is soon going to undergo running-in tests, the train itself will be another two weeks at least, it’ll then be leaving for Manehatten in time for the Manehatten exhibition”

“well at least there’s still chance for me to see it in steam” I chuckled, before wincing slightly.

“What is it?”

“It’s funny, I never got to see my world’s version of the J3 in steam, but on this world I helped to build it” Emerald snorted and rolled her eyes. We were both startled by a commotion outside the door and looked over to see a very irate Autumn storm in.

“Alreight, which bitch 'ospitalised 'un o' uz drivers!?” she thundered “Ah swear ta celestieur ah'm gonneur leev 'em eytin art o' eur straw!”

“Autumn!” Emerald chastised “he has only just woken up”

“Ah don't gi' eur rubbish, theur fru-fru bitch.” she barked, Emerald visibly shrunk, Autumn sighed before walking to the other side of the bed “Wor it 'a' Vinyl Scratch?”

“I can’t understand a word your saying” I whispered. “Speak clearly, please”

“Was it Vinyl Scratch?” she asked.

“No, Vinyl was one of my first friends here” I croaked out. “She’s not the type to do this”

“Then who was it?” I heard a knock at the door and we looked over to see the one that put me in this condition to begin with, along with Twilight.

“I don’t know what you’re doing here, Rainbow Dash” I said, speaking as loud as a dare. “Especially after what you did to me” Autumn rounded on the sky blue Pegasus.

“Sa thas t' cunt whoa 'ospitalised 'un o' uz drivers!?” she roared.

“wha...”

“Shut it! Naw ah dooant care 'a' thas 'un o' t' elements o' 'armony, ah av everee reet ta tie theur up 'n leev theur liggin' across t' tracks li' um clique!”

“Autumn!” I shouted, causing me to hiss in pain, the burnt-orange Pegasus turned to me “Please, just…now is not the time” Autumn snorted, before stepping back and leaning against the wall with a thoroughly pissed off expression marring her features. Rainbow hesitantly stepped into the room.

“Ah'm watchin theur” Autumn growled to Rainbow as she and Twilight entered, Rainbow’s ears snapped down. She nodded to Twilight as she passed “Thy 'ighness” her voice held no emotion towards the princess, merely an acknowledgment of here presence. Once they had passed, she left the room and I just caught a glimpse of here sitting down outside the door before it shut. Both Twilight and Rainbow stood awkwardly at the edge of the bed. Eventually Twilight spoke up.

“Well” she said. “Moving on, I think Rainbow has something to say to you”

“I’m sorry” the mare mumbled. “for breaking into your house…and for putting you in here” I didn’t answer straight away, eventually I sighed, sending a dull throb through my chest, but I could handle it.

“I’m not sure how long it will take for me to fully accept your apology” I said “but I understand that you’re sincere about it, come find me when I’ve fully recovered and I’ll tell you if I’ve accepted your apology” Rainbow Dash sighed before turning to leave the room.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you at some point,” Twilight said “I obtained the key to your home and one of my friends is currently looking after your pet wolf” I let out a small sigh of relief

“Well dis is just girt” Autumn said “We needed theur for runnin falcon ta Manehatten”

“Do you think I intentionally got my ribs broken?” I asked.

“Theur should kna betta than ta pick fights” she retorted, rolling her eyes, she then sat on her Haunches and sighed “Who's supposed ta dri' 'a naw?”

“What?” I asked.

“I said, who’s supposed to drive her now?”

“Why not you?” I asked.

“Why t' blazes 'ood theur pick uz!?” she asked in surprise.

“You’re older and you actually have experience on the eastern road” I said “plus you’re perfect for what I have in mind”

“What do you mean?” Emerald asked.

“I’ve been looking on a route map and there was one section that caught my eye” I said “roughly 90 miles from Canterlot” Autumn baulked.

“Yoke bank?” she asked, before laughing “Theur can't be serious”

“Look, where I come from there was a bank with a very similar name” I said “The railway used to use it to set records”

“What are you saying?” she asked.

“We take Falcon down there we’ll go at least 140 mile per hour” I said.

“The thing isn’t even built and you want to set a speed record?” Emerald asked “You humans certainly have an obsession with speed” I chuckled.

“[My species didn’t get to the moon by crawling]” I muttered in English.

“You say something?” Emerald asked.

“Thinking aloud” I said “There’s one thing we’ll need to keep an eye on when she runs”

“Wha’s tha’?” Autumn asked.

“The inside cylinders” I said “There used to be a problem with the way the valves worked causing the inside cylinder to overheat under lack of maintenance, it’s why I designed air vents into the casing. The way the valves are arraigned on this should solve the problem…”

“But it’s best to keep both ears up?” Emerald guessed.

“Huh?”

“means to keep watch of something” she explained.

“Ah, we’d say keep an eye open”

“Makes sense” she said “with ears like that you’d rely more on your eyes”

“Ahl mek sure not ta run 'a tooa 'ard” Autumn said with a hint of a smirk.

The next Day I was released from Hospital, for the time being I would be staying at Emeralds house in the guest room, so as to make traveling between to the works easier, at least I wouldn’t have to set off at the equivalent of 4 in the morning just to get to work on time. That often included working a run from Ponyville to Canterlot on either a suburban or a freight train.

“Well” I said, attempting to hide my current discomfort as I walked along with a rucksack on my back and using a walking stick. We’d had to head back to my house to pick up some changes of clothes and Sam, and my chest and ankle were killing me “at least I can sleep in”

“Don’t think that just because you cracked your ribs I’ll let you slouch around in my home” she said, before glancing at Sam “And you’ll be the one picking up after him at the least”

“don’t think I’m just going to laze around” I said “I was merely saying it’ll be good to get a rest”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that” Emerald said, smirking.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“You’ll see” she sang. I muttered and cursed in English, partially from the discomfort, partially from my annoyance at Emerald’s vagueness coupled with the stares I was getting from the ponies of Canterlot.

“Tight-arsed, stuck up twats, the lot of them” I mentally seethed, glancing at the social elite regarding me as one might regard a particularly curious creepy-crawly in the bug exhibit of a zoo.

“Ignore them” Emerald said, following my gaze and noting my sour expression. I clicked my tongue in frustration before focusing on the architecture in an attempt to distract myself from their stares. It was like nothing back home in north east England. Whereas Ponyville had a style akin to the Tudor-era, this was a mish-mash of various styles, but all the buildings shared the same flowing rounded look.

“Well at least the J3s will fit in” I said.

“What?” Emerald asked.

“The styling” I said “It’s very flowing, much like the casing on Falcon, yes?” she stopped and tapped her chin in thought.

“I suppose” she said, before continuing “But on falcon it’s a little different”

“How so?” I asked.

“It’s a lot more subtle compared to this” she gestured to the architecture as she said this.

“Of course it is, your architecture is about as subtle as a bull in a [china] shop” I said “I still want to know who decided on the livery for the locomotives, call me minimalistic but they are downright garish”

“That would be me” she said, giving me a level look “The livery changes with each designer”

“But love hearts on the cowcatcher?” I asked incredulously.

“A simple conversion” she said with a shrug “And that was for one service”

“Ah, your ‘Friendship Express’” I said.

“Like you could do any better” she said.

“‘11th Century limited’, ‘The Canterlot flyer’, ‘The Griffonian’, ‘The Manehatten Streak’, ‘The Fillydephia Flyer’, ‘The Empire Voyager’, Those are all one’s I’ve come up with on the spot, need I go on?” I asked.

“No, I get the picture” she said, turning down a side street “But I still get to design the engines for the line to Griffinstone, I’m thinking a 2-10-0”

“Of course” I said “but take my advice on that line”

“Yes?”

“use Inclined cylinders” I said “fantastic for sheer power, not to mention they climb hills like a mountain goat”

“Including 20 miles of 1 in 300?” she asked.

“Is that all?” I asked “with the power we could make it produce it’ll manage 1 in 37”

“I’ll take your word for it” she said, before stopping outside a house, she then flashed me a grin with her teeth exposed, taking me by surprise. “Don’t do that, we don’t have [something] like you do” I took the hint, my teeth had caused  problems in the past, like when I scared a young pony away simply by smiling. It was one of the cultural differences I’d never be able to fully get used to, because of the ponies being a herbivorous species, when I flashed my teeth, I may as well have been a snarling beast to them.

“Understood” I said “but might I ask why you’re telling me this now?” she didn’t answer, simply walked up to the door and opened it, before gesturing for me to follow inside, I did so, remembering to duck to get through the doorway. Think of Gandalf inside Bilbo Baggins house and that’s what it’s like for me.

“Your room is just down the hallway” she said, standing to one side and gesturing with a hoof. “Drink?”

“Yes, please” I said. As I shuffled into the guest room she pointed out, she went to go pour a couple of drinks. I examined the room I would be staying in for however long it too for me to heal properly, it was as one would imagine a typical guest room to be, the bare essentials with a few creature comforts here and there, such as a small book case in one corner.  I placed my belonging neatly in one corner to be sorted out later before making my way into what I assumed was the living room. I was taken aback by the lack of T.V., then I shook my head and promptly slapped myself in the forehead. “Of course there isn’t any T.V, Idiot” I made myself comfortable on one of the armchairs and shortly Emerald walked in with a familiar cream-coloured liquid in a couple of whiskey glasses. She offered one to me.

“A bit early for Alcohol” I said, taking the glass all the same, I took a drink and sipped it, it was similar to cream liqueur, but with a honey-like aftertaste

“It should help dull the pain” she said, sitting in one of the chairs and taking a sip of her own drink “besides, you should be celebrating, it’s not every day a designer sees their first creation completed, we’ll be going later today to see her steam it up for the first time”

“In that case then” I said, tilting the glass towards her “[cheers]” at that moment I heard the door open.

“Mom, I’m home!” a young, female voice called, I looked at Emerald in surprise and she just shrugged before mouthing “[later]” in English, something she’d picked up from me.

“In here” Emerald called. “we have a guest who will be staying for a while” through the doorframe stepped a light green Pegasus with blue hair, she looked and sounded younger than ten, maybe eight if I had to guess. She saw me and stared in shock, before letting out a scream.