Ulfstead Mine's Unwlcome Guest
Chapter 1: Ulfstead Mine's Unexpected Guest
Stephen was puffing merely don the tracks. Sure, it was nice to allow the visitors to tour Ulfstead, but, it was nice to relax and stretch his pistons. His yellow paint shone brightly in the mid-day sun.
"I wonder how Ulfstead Mine is doing down there. Shall we look?" Stephen asked his driver. He nodded, and Stephen set off to the mine. The brambles and bushes had been removed, and the bridge was restored to its original state. The entrance was no longer boarded up, and had many warning signs across it. The workers had their day off today, so the usually packed entrance, was now empty. He looked down, to see his smokestack, dented and dusty, wedged in a pile of dust.
His trail of thoughts were interrupted as a bright flash of red erupted from the entrance of the tunnel.
"Trembling tracks, what was that!?" Stephen shouted. His question was soon answered as a small equine exited the tunnel. It was cloaked all black, from muzzle to tail tip. It soon galloped off into the tunnel without a word after it made eye contact with him, it's orange, blazing eyes, staring right into his, making him shiver and shutter from funnel to footplate. "Hey! W-Wait for me!" Stephen shouted to the very short horse. His lamp shone bright as he chuffed quickly through the extensive track of the mines. He only thought about the strange pony. 'Why is this horse here? We don't usually have them here, except for jousting or shows.' He thought. But these thoughts distracted him of what was about to happen ahead... until it was too late.
He was snapped back to his senses as he got ever closer to the dead end at the edge of the track. Sparks flared out of the bottom of his two driving wheels as he was sent into overdrive. But this wasn't enough due to the slight decline of the tracks. His whistle tooted loudly twice, before sounding as nothing but an echo at the bottom.
He was sure his end was coming. He closed his eyes, and waited for the scrunching and crunching of wood on stone... but it never came. He slowly, very slowly, opened his eyes. He gasped in utter surprise a and amazement.
***
Twilight Sparkle was studying "Biologist's Guide to Highly Advanced Atlas of Equestria in her tower in Canterlot, when a resounding crack echoed through the air. She jumped high, a little too high, and collided with a stack of books. The massive tower tipped and wobbled, but didn't fall. Twilight sighed in relief, but this didn't last long, as Spike barged in, which gave the books a mighty shake, and an avalanche of books washed over Twilight. Spike giggled sheepishly and said, " Whoops, sorry. I'll clean that up." He imeadiatley went to go get the ladder, when Twilight stopped him with a hoof.
"I'll do it. You deserve a break. You' r been working all week long." She said with a gentle smile.
"Y-you really mean it?" He asked. Twilight nodded, and Spike danced to his reading spot to read his latest edition of one of his comic books. Her horn glowed in a violet aura, and every single book rearranged themselves onto their correct shelves. Another crack sounded, but only a lot louder than the last one. Then, a loud whistle-like sound echoed throughout Canterlot. Could just be another train from Ponyville. Twilight thought. But, something was... off... about that whistle it had a much higher pitch than the Ponyville Express. She just brushed off. She remembered what her mother told her long ago; if it happens once, it's an accident, twice, it's a coincidence, thrice, it may be real or something big.
***
Stephen just tried to take in the beautiful view. One minute, he's in the mines falling to his doom, next he's in a beautiful field on a junction. Then, he heard two heavy snores from behind him. He noticed his driver and fireman snoozing quietly.
"Wake up lazy bones! Our shift is over! We need to get back to Ulfstead Castle, stat!" Both crewmen woke with a start, one banging his head against a lever.
"Yow!" He shouted, while the other managed to help him get to his feet. The driver rubbed the spot where a bump grew.
After twenty minutes of getting warmed up, Stephen finally set off down the rails.
"I'm not too sure, but," the driver said, "Maybe that's a part of Ulfstead." He pointed to a rather large castle with many tall spires that pierced the heavens.
"Maybe it is driver." Stephen replied. His chuffing got slightly faster, but, because of the steep incline, he wasn't as fast. Sometimes his wheels would slip, or he would take a break every chance he got, but he finally made to the castle... but it wasn't Ulfstead Castle. On the platform, stood a brigade of tiny little horses in shiny, golden armor. They were all holding spears pointed at them, but something nagged at him in the back of his head. He examined them a bit closer, and found that some had horns, and some had wings. One had ran inside, in what looked like a hurry, in the other direction.
***
Thomas and Percy were heaving a load of wood and stone to the Ulfstead Mines for repairs.
"I cant'... wait... to meet Stephen. It's been... a long time since... we've seen him." Thomas said in between heavy pants.
"Yeah! It's going to be... ugh... so much fun." Percy chirped as he hauled the heavy stone.. They dropped off the stone and wood and pounded up the steep slope to Ulfstead, where they would find news that would shock them for good.