Fallout: Equestria - Iron Horses

Chapters

Prologue - Mare's Lake
1. - Maple Station
2. - Vanderhoof
3. - Biscuit
4. - Misery Range

Prologue - Mare's Lake

"With all due respect sir, no." The musty, cool air of the dispatch office bit at my coat as I stood before the desk, shoving the consist order back across it. The stallion on the other side let loose a sigh, shaking his head slowly as he lifted a hoof to rest against it. "You know how I feel about stuff like this, and beyond that you can't honestly expect Kipper to operate down by New Appleoosa. They're so under-equipped they can't even keep a single one of their locomotives running under it's own power!"

The stallion let off another long sigh, leaning forwards before pushing himself back upright to met my eyes, a weak look on his face. "Listen, Water Case, I know more than anyone how much slavery is a sore spot for you, but I need road locomotives and engineers to run them, not just switchers with tenders. I can't afford to keep you or your engine on my payroll if you're going to refuse every single job that so much has one slaver car in the consist. There just isn't enough caps in hauling freight alone, and I've given you more chances than anyone else at this point. I just can't let it go on for much longer."

I felt myself fall back on my hooves, the frustrations having ebbed off to be replaced by fear. Off the payroll? But... I couldn't afford to keep Kipper all by myself! That locomotive is all I have in this world, without it... The dispatcher seemed to take notice, another sigh leaving his lips. "Okay, listen. There's a special goods train down south, leaving out of Maple Station in the next few days, it'll be a big bonus for the railroad since the whole thing is owned by some Saddle Arabian prince who's paying handsomely for the package onboard it. Take the mail down and come back up here with the special, and I won't have to let you go immediately." Coming back to my senses, I blunk a few times, looking at the dispatcher. He brought down another work order and two consist lists from behind him, setting them on the desk, before passing a stern glare on. "This is your last chance, Water Case. If we don't receive full payment for this, I'm out of options, and you won't be working on this railroad anymore."

Taking the sheets of paper from him and looking them over, I answered him with a nod, sliding the papers into my vest. "Understood, I won't let you down, sir." The dispatcher went back to his other papers as I made my exit, the air of the main office soon giving way to the chill and aroma of the Mare's Lake railyard, just as alive and miserable as ever. The red brick roundhouse at the far end of the yard had lines of steam drifting up out of the roof vents as Kipper simmered softly inside, Cross-Tie already on the turntable with the Cannonball, leaving only two other locos in their stables besides. The low chuffing of the partly-streamlined steamer could be heard across the yard as he finally pulled it off the table, a quiet sigh leaving my own lips. Can't fuck this one up, Casey...

Making my way over to the shed, the commotion of the yard was slightly broken over by a low buzzing noise from the inner city, myself and a few other workers stopping to look back towards the decaying concrete buildings. Wasn't sure who was the first to let off a scream, but once one pony recognized the sound as being from those thrice-damned skyraiders' buzz-bombs, well, nobody was much keen for hanging out in the open. The trot I was using to get across the yard turned into a full gallop, the alert whistle finally sounding out loud from the engine shed. Just my luck, gonna get offed by a junkie riding a bomb before I even get a chance to climb on Kipper for the last time...

A scream went up from somewhere else in the yard as I finally reached the brick walls of the roundhouse, looking up to see three of the bastards peeling out over the lake, two on the outer sides breaking off and looping back in towards the city. Well, least they aren't going for the yard again, I guess... distant massed gunfire chattered away, echoing through the concrete canyons, as well as the thrum of some non-skyraider engines. Explosions rattled the windows and scrap structures, soon followed by a loud cheer as the other vehicle appeared out of the city, making a wide turn to the east. Oh yeah, that Galloway flying thing... Honestly, sometimes I swear they let those skyraider buzzbombs reach the city just so they can have an audience when they shoot them down.

The cheering soon died off in the railyard, everypony getting back to their business as I slipped inside the long, curved structure. The smells of hot metal and burning wood filled the air in the shed, a quick hop across the tracks to the third stable finally bringing me over to Kipper. The dark green locomotive hissed quietly as I stepped over to her drive rods beneath her large water tanks, resting a hoof gently on them for a moment. This is gonna be our last chance, girl, we're gonna have to make it count...

Heading up to the cab, I hefted myself up into the heated interior, the all-too-familiar sight of the unicorn sleeping in his chair just pulling an annoyed grunt from me. For goddess' sake, Crown Sheet... Rummaging through the toolbox for a moment, I grabbed a long prybar, bringing it around in a long swing and smashing it hard against the metal floor, my oh-so-competent fireman finally jolting himself awake with a definitely dignified foalish scream. Wearing a smirk, I put the bar back into the toolbox, the unicorn beside me picking himself back up as he rubbed at his head. "Nnh, I wish you'd stop doing that, Case, I was just resting my eyes for a bit."

"You just managed to sleep through a skyraider attack, ya damn moron. Be glad I didn't strap a torpedo on the end first." The unicorn let off a weak chuckle as I stepped forth, grabbing hold of and sliding over the levers to open up the firebox doors. Peering inside, the crackling wood fire was... quite disappointingly low. Resting his eyes for a bit, my ass... "Come on, get working, we've got a job to get done. Mail train to Maple Station, then taking a special back up. Aren't gonna get anywhere if you're gonna let her fire die out."

I took to handling the rest of the startup as Crown started drawing from the locomotive wood stacks, stoking the firebox. The turntable rotated about for our stall, the hiss of the brakes releasing and clatter of the reverser setting us on course to start heading out into the yard. Tapping the main gauge a few times, I gave a nod, a short double-blast coming from our whistle as I eased us forwards. The first chuff from the cylinders and up the blast pipe prompted me to let off a light sigh, sliding the left-side window open and leaning out of the cab as we eased onto the centuries-old rotating bit of track.

We eased to a stop dead center on the table, myself looking back over at the main steam gauge, noticing the needle having dropped a bit further than it was supposed to've done. Crown Sheet was passing logs into the firebox as fast as he could manage without suffocating the flames, myself only answering with a shake of my head. This is why you don't take naps, ya dingus. He peered into the firebox for a moment before letting off a huff, looking up towards me. Just out of the corner of my eye, I saw him pull something red and log-shaped out of one of the toolboxes, pulling my gaze away from the tablemaster's signals to get a good look at what he was doing.

He froze in place, looking well more than a little guilty as he stood there with one of those fancy self-oxidized logs, probably noticing that heavily disapproving glare I was passing on to him. "You weren't planning on throwing that thing into Kipper's firebox, were you?"

"Oh, come on Casey, it's just some smashed anthracite and a few strips of cordite bundled in twine, it's not gonna hurt! It'll take longer for us to get up a good head without it." Glaring at him again, I leaned out the window to catch the tablemaster's signal, taking off the brake and easing on the throttle, more than a little concerned about just how low we were running on pressure already as we pulled out into the yard.

"And it wouldn't be like that if somepony hadn't fallen asleep, again. For the last time, Crown, you're not throwing that thing into-" The loud clatter of the firebox doors being opened got my attention off the tracks ahead, myself looking over just in time to see that daft unicorn about to shove that glorified bomb into the fire. Leaping from the chair, I bit down on the bundle of red twine and other flammables hard, wrestling it from his magic and managing to tear it open. The bitter taste of powdered coal met my tongue almost instantly, a big cloud caking my face black and stinging in my eyes. I coughed heavily, rubbing at my face with a foreleg, steadying myself on the seat beside me. Just what I fucking needed to top off the shitshow that was today, black lung disease...

The sound of cut wood levitating over to and being tossed on the firebox met my ears as I pulled myself back up into the chair, still wiping at my eyes. I just about managed to keep them open long enough to watch... something suddenly pull up onto the tracks ahead. A black-dusted forehoof quickly reached for the whistle cord, blowing a few long blasts to try and get their attention as I cut throttle and started putting on the brakes. Yeah, today's just been an all-around shitshow so far...

The half-track car-thing eventually managed to pull itself backwards off the tracks as we drew nearer it, letting me get off the brakes and start opening the throttle again. I leaned out of the window to look down into the vehicle, more than a little annoyed about the moron who nearly added vehicular slaughter onto my list. The glare turned to more surprise as I finally did manage to get a look - sweet Celestia above, and I thought my day was going bad. That poor mare looks like she's been hit by a train already! Missing an eye, more scars than I can count, and Luna knows what else she might have wrong with her... yeah, maybe I'm not really having the worst day today, after all.

Pulling ahead past the siding the mail train rested in, I brought us to an easy stop, Crown's horn alighting as he leaned out his side and threw the switch for us. The old levers and connecting rods clunked into place as I put us in full reverse, easing open the throttle and leaning out to look past the tender. Yeah, you're not really a yard locomotive, are you? Cutting throttle and swapping it for brakes, the wheels squealed only slightly as we came up to the short four-car train, feeling just a slight bump as the buffers met each other. Crown hopped down out of the cab to hook us together, myself spitting a bit more coal dust out of my mouth. Ugh, that damn unicorn and his daft fancy new logs...

Letting off a soft huff, my eyes fell to the torn-up bundle of red twine and black dust laying on the other side of the cab, lingering on it for a while. I should just throw that damn thing overboard... damnit. Dropping out of the chair, I trotted over and picked up the fancy log, opening up the toolcase it came out of. Setting it back inside carefully, I stood looking at it for just a moment, a sigh escaping me. If the damn fool just didn't put cordite or gunpowder in these things, maybe... ah, whatever, maybe we'll need a quick start-up sooner or later. I just better be the one making that call.

Bringing myself back up into my seat, Crown Sheet climbed himself back up into the cab as well, seeming to look back towards the train we had behind us. "Huh, we're pulling the southern mail? Thought we were just gonna be working yard duty again today. Guess that kinda explains why you were so pissy earlier." The unicorn tossed a few more cut logs into the firebox, shutting the doors and looking out through his windows. I just shot him a glare in response.

"Yeah, the fact you were completely asleep and letting the fire go out anyways had absolutely nothing to do with it." Putting the reverser back to forwards and opening the throttle, a large cloud of steam chuffed from the funnel as we slowly started off again, pulling out of the siding and heading out of the yard. Looking over to Crown again, I just about caught him rolling his eyes in response, keeping them more focused out the side of Kipper than on the gauges.

It's gonna be a looong trip south...

1. - Maple Station

The welcoming southern railyard town was alive with activity as we slowly chuffed down the few active clear lines, pulling up alongside the eponymous station. Looking across the platform, the end car of a passenger train just about poked out past the main building, a rather snappily-dressed ghoul stepping down out of the car - heh, glad to know that old seamster's still finding work down here. Least that is someone working... A quick double-blast on the whistle managed to jolt Crown Sheet back awake as we came to a full stop, a soft chuckle escaping me. "We're here, you can stop with your whole 'narcolepsy' routine now."

"Nnh, narcolepsy is one thing Case, having to heave firewood single-hoofedly over three hundred fifty miles of switchbacks and five percent grades is another. Can we at least get some decent rest now that we're finally down here?" A light sigh left my lips as I watched the unicorn stretch out, dropping onto his hooves. Well... yeah, I guess we could take a breather. Made good time getting here, at least, better than usual... hope the return trip goes just as smooth.

Crown tossed a couple more logs onto the fire as we pulled further ahead along the platform line, before ducking through the tender passageway and uncoupling the mail train. I heard the screech of the mail train's brakes as they were quickly disconnected, Kipper giving a slight lurch forwards as the weight was loosed, myself quick on applying our own brakes to keep us from hitting the switch leading back onto the flythrough. Crown soon reappeared, getting back to his seat and sticking his head out, his magic flaring and the switch ahead changing in our favor. Heh, darn lazy unicorns...

"We'll head back into the main yard and find where they house their locomotives nowadays, what with their Roundhouse being a bar and theater. I think that one of these outer works sheds might fit the bill..." Kipper picked up some speed as we eased out onto the main line for a moment, Crown pulling the next switch to divert us east before going back to throwing a few more logs on. I kept her going at a slow pace, the unicorn beside me resetting the two switches as we passed, the steel lines of Maple Station stretching out ahead of us. "That Prince guy's probably expecting us tomorrow, we should be good to spend the night and set off early. Once we find where his train is, anyways..."

"If he's a prince like those old stories tell of, I doubt we'd have to look too hard. Probably brought his own jewel-encrusted solid gold carriage along or something, air conditioner and everything. Hell, all we'll have to do is just look for where all the blinded townsfolk are walking away from..." Crown tossed another few cut logs onto the flames as we headed across into a small four-track yard section, a service shed still standing nearby the town. Lights were on... hope somepony's home. The unicorn beside me set the switches to lead us into the shed, myself saying a quiet prayer that the electrical alert systems weren't wrecked and they'd know to open up before we got there.

Mercifully, the doors did swing open after a moment, but as I started to ease us down to roll into the shed Crown Sheet leapt for the brakes, throwing the lever all the way to emergency. A loud screeching noise filled the air as I was jolted forwards, regaining myself in time to look over at a very surprised unicorn, the shock fading to annoyance as we finally came to a stop. "Thanks for the brake test. Now, what in the seven hells did you do that for!?"

"Uh... eheh... tank on the line?" He wore a weak grin as he leaned back, looking out of his window. Tank on the line, what the hell is that supposed to mean? We're a tank engine, and I don't see any water tower scaffolding missing its tank anywhere, just something... big, and green, and pointing a bunch of guns straight at us. Oh, THAT kind of tank. What.

Looking out of the stoker-side window with Crown Sheet, a hatch clattered open on top of the big tank's main turret, a ghoulified zebra poking his head out of it. We both shared a blink in bewilderment, the zebra letting off a soft chuckle before lifting one hoof up towards us, ducking back inside his tank. The large machine's motor revved for a moment, before it reversed back inside the engine shed, parking up alongside the tracks... Why do I get the feeling this service shed isn't really servicing locomotives anymore? The unicorn beside me met my eyes with his, one hoof scratching at his head. "So... whadda we do? I mean, ask nicely if we can park up in there, I guess? I didn't see any Cordite markings on it, so, maybe they're independent?"

I answered him with a shrug, stepping back to close the throttle and shut the brakes off, letting the pressure build back up again with a loud hiss. "Well, I mean, you seeing anywhere else we could leave Kipper? Wouldn't hurt... long as they don't test-fire their guns inside there too, anyways..." I leaned up to look out my window again, trying to see any movement inside the shed. Let's hope the ghoul with the tank is as friendly as he seems... "Hang in here, I'm gonna go ask. Should be enough space for us to fit and them to still get out... maybe."

Crown Sheet responded with a nod, and I made way to Kipper's cab door, dropping down out of it to the gravel below. Trotting along, I couldn't help my eyes moving to look at the state of the rails leading into the shop - Huh, well, I guess they at least cared enough to sink them in concrete outside for a short ways, least they don't seem too beat up. Yanno, for being run over by friggin' tanks on the regular...

Trotting inside the service shed doors, the first tank rested idling alongside the tracks, the zebra that was inside it having climbed out to talk with another ghoul, this one a dark green pegasus with a full mane of blond hair... if I ever go ghoul, I can only hope I'm as lucky as she is on the mane front. They seemed to take notice of me after a moment, the pegasus finishing up with a nod and starting to trot over towards me, as the zebra climbed back up his ridiculously tall tank. She wore a grin as she extended a forehoof, myself reaching to take it and returning a small smile as we shook. "Rangefinder, Maple Station Tank Ghouls, and the current most senior member. Aheh, ah, I do hope you weren't commin' in because your, uh, steam engine needs some repairs, I'm not sure if we still have the stuff for that here anymore..." She let off a weak chuckle, rubbing at the back of her head with her hoof for a moment, before stammering. "I-I mean, um, if you do need repairs or something, I... guess we could ask at the engine shed, but, uh, yeah, might... might be a while..."

I could only join her small chuckle, giving my head a slight shake. Yeah, definitely not Cordite, way too nice for that... "Oh, no, we're fine, we just need a place we can put her for the night, keep her out of the rain and all. Normally we park up in a roundhouse, but, well, last time I came through here I heard you'd had it turned into a restaurant, eheh. We'll be heading out early tomorrow morning, won't be in your hair for long, I promise. Oh, uh, I'm Water Case, by the way."

The ghoul pegasus blunk in surprise for a moment, before putting on a grin and letting off a small laugh of relief. "Oh, good, thought we were gonna have to worry about a ticking pressure bomb being stored so close to the tanks or something. Yeah, sure, can totally hang here overnight, we can probably squeeze our way out with Mad Jack and Rhymey being up north. Never seen him motor Porschia out so fast before, guess he really wanted those extra parts from Mare's Lake or something..." We'd begun trotting out to Kipper as a clattering came form the other end of the shed, the doors opening on the opposite side and the long tank from before starting to turn itself about with a loud scraping of metal on concrete. I paused for a moment at the bottom of Kipper's cab ladder - huh, so that's who that tank belonged to...

"Mare's Lake? Small world, we actually just came down from there with the mail. Only caught a glimpse of that Cordite tank on the edge of the yard, thing looked pretty intact when we saw it. Didn't even realize it was with the scrap..." Rangefinder took an understandable step backwards as I moved back to my controls, the soft hiss from the dome as the throttle was opened soon giving way to the steady chuffs out the smokestack as Kipper started rolling forwards once more. Looking back, I watched as the tender eventually cleared the doorway, the ghoul pegasus starting to shut the large shed doors as I cut throttle and brought us to a smooth stop inside.

The hiss from the brakes soon subsided as they were fully applied, Crown Sheet dousing the fire as I let the steam vent out through the stack, Kipper seeming to let it off in a long sigh of relief as his boiler emptied of the pressure. That's it, buddy, you can take a nice long break now... The unicorn beside me gave his back a long stretch, turning to rummage about in his storage box as I watched the steam gauge get lower and lower. The needle eventually landed on zero, and with it the soft hiss stopped, myself giving a light nod and grabbing a few of my own items before climbing out. Rangefinder was looking up at the ceiling of the shed, one hoof rubbing at the back of her neck, eyes wide - eh, what, something wrong? As I turned to look with her... the massive fluffy, foggy cloud that hung between the rafters answered that with a yes.

"So... I should probably open a window, yeah?"

A soft swansong came out of the railshed-turned-restaurant as I stepped inside Maple Station's former roundhouse, taking a healthy whiff of the air. In place of engine grease, hot iron, and warm steam, hot meals, warm drinks, and cooking grease met me, the bustle of evening not yet arrived but the restaurant still a pleasant level of lively. Reaching into my vest pocket, the small bag of bottlecaps jangled as I moved it, letting off a light sigh. Well, if we pull through... no, -when- we pull through, then I won't be worrying about not being able to afford relaxing at the end of a day. Come on, Casey...

The restaurant area broke into a soft applause as I trotted up to the bar, following it along to find an empty stool. The molded neon sign hung above the array of drinks flickered, myself unable to help but let off a small chuckle as I sat down. 'The Stiff Drink', huh? Well, I can definitely use one of those... Leaning forwards, I let off a sharp whistle, catching the attention of the unicorn behind the counter. He set down the glass he was wiping off, instead picking up a pen and paper, for some reason. He does know that he's just working a bar, right? "Ah, sorry, didn't see you come over. Old eyes and all. What'll it be?"

"Could I get a RAD Dash?" Pappy always said it's never too early in the day for some whiskey. Had to question his argument when he tried taking a stroll through the railyard while plastered, though. The bartender... just stared at me blankly. We both blunk for a moment, the old stallion glancing down at his notepad. Was he even writing it down? "A RAD Dash, y'know. Erm..." Yeah, still doesn't look like he's getting it. Oh boy, must be one of those old hires... "Okay, okay, could I get a bottle of Wild Pegasus and a bottle of Sparkle-Cola RAD, and a clean glass, then?"

The stallion nodded for a moment, moving to get the two drinks, before his eyes went wide and he let off a cackle, smacking a hoof against the side of his head. It sorta drew some notice from the other patrons, but from the looks of things a lot of 'em were already too tired and emotional to really care. He was still chuckling as he set the drinks down, and I started going through my cap bag to pull them out. "Aheh, sorry, still getting used to working this position. My usual bartender was visiting family in Bridleshade, when... well..."

The old unicorn's face went heavy as he let loose a sigh, his magic picking the glass he was polishing earlier back up and going back to it. I popped the caps free of both the bottles, leaning forwards. Bridleshade... no rail connection there, don't remember ever going through it. Huh... "Why, what happened there? Uh, if I can ask."

The old unicorn set the glass down in front of me, letting me mix the drinks together in that sweet amber-green cocktail, before letting loose another long sigh. "Cauterize, that's what fucking happened. Whole town of people just wiped clean off the goddess-damned map. Sure, you see it happen here and there still, but the... the sheer efficiency of it when it happened, it's... it's just disgusting. Small miracle is at least the Enclave forces that did land there are all dead, went up thanks to one of the Hopeville gunsmiths heading down there with a balefire egg launcher, Luna rest his soul." He rested up against the counter as I quietly swirled my glass, finding myself at a loss for words. A whole town, just... gone? That's... hard to get the head around. Not that I really would want to...

The stallion let off another sigh, nodding over to the mare singing on stage. As I turned to look... okay, so ghouls down here get to keep both their hair -and- get vocal chords ripped straight outta angels? Hell, someone point me to the nearest reactor and I'll dive right in if I can get out of it as well as they did. "See the dame onstage? Vera Lynn, one of those singers from before the war. She's been performing down here for well on two decades now, been keeping her accommodated best that I can. Trying to preserve something of beauty down here, at least... don't have the heart to let her travel further north."

Taking a sip of the rough drink, I turned to look at the stallion, more than a little confused. He'd leaned himself up on the bar, letting his head hang low. Now that's the look of a stallion ashamed of himself... "You've probably seen at least some of the town, the folk down here are kind, nice even. You don't get that too often nowadays, even with some of those starry-eyed youngsters wanting to follow in that, egh, light-giver's hoofsteps or whatever. Only heard of things getting worse as you get further north, last thing I ever want to hear is the wasteland's claimed someone like Vera. Heck, I find the right group heading up, I'll go out of my way to pay 'em, just to be sure she stays safe wherever she settles down."

I only nodded in response as he continued, a few more sips of the drink making their way to my stomach. Well, I mean, his heart's in the right place, but... mmh, I guess what she doesn't know can't hurt her too much, especially in a nice place like this. Least I doubt they're ducking from a skyraider attack every other day. The old stallion eventually moved the glass he was washing up to the shelf behind him, tossing the rag aside. "Ah, well, sorry, tend to ramble sometimes. So, what's your story, eh? Engineer, 'r somethin'?"

Setting my drink down, I passed on a nod, swallowing down the rough fizzy mix. "Mmh, yeah, down here outta Mare's Lake to pick up a special goods train, or somethin'. Some kind of personal charter, owned by some fancy prince. You seen 'im around anywhere?" The stallion behind the counter paused to think for a moment, while I mixed up a bit more of the whiskey and soda. Hey, if I knew what a prince was supposed to look like nowadays, I would've found him myself - as it stands, it's anyone's guess. Finding him to let him know we're here wouldn't be a bad start, at least. "We aren't due to set off until tomorrow, just haven't a clue as to what we're looking for far as his train goes."

"Hrm. Haven't seen any princes, but there was a short train that rolled in a couple days ago, think they might be who you're looking for. They're parked up in one of the sidings just around back of the Roundhouse, can't miss 'em. Their end carriage is all done up in some fancy gold trimming, and even ivory, I think." The stallion gave a small shudder, myself having to think for a second. Ivory... ivory ivory ivory, where does that come from? I swear I read about this once... um... Oh, right, one of those rarities before the war, or something, export from Zebra lands... and I think also was harvested from living creatures. Ah. Yeah, no, he's right, that's a bit creepy. Don't care how good or bad it might look, you don't see me dressing Kipper up with unicorn horns... "Dunno if there's actually a prince on it, anyways, only guy I've seen come out of the carriage looks like the mercenary type... well, competent mercenary type."

Nodding and mixing up the last of the soda and whiskey, the door to the restaurant was ripped open just then, drawing both of our attentions. Well, he sure seems like a nice character... the angry-looking stallion in a small biker helmet trotted over to the bar, the old stallion behind it putting on a pained-looking smile. "Ah, Mr. Boomer, back again so soon? I thought the restocking shipment would've arrived by-"

The stallion slammed his forehooves on the bar, making a bit of my own drink jump up out of the glass. "Well damn well hasn't, ya old bastard. We're still waiting on that damn lazy locomotive from the railroad, and my employer's getting annoyed enough about it without your own incompetence showing up and not delivering on the whiskey." He looked around for a moment, before reaching across and grabbing the mostly emptied bottle of Wild Pegasus out from in front of me, looking into it. Letting off a grunt, he threw it back behind the bar, the old unicorn just barely managing to catch it with his magic. "Get the whiskey loaded before sundown, or I'll be taking it from you myself. And for your sake, maybe stop selling it off to..." His eyes looked me over, as a very unfortunate thought crept into my head. This is the guy who's from the prince's train, isn't it? "What are you supposed to be, a carpenter or something?"

Oh, I'm probably gonna regret asking this, but a job's a job. Not like I have any other options... "Locomotive Engineer, Equestrian National Rail, just pulled into town a couple hours ago with the mail. Am I right in assuming you're the one I should talk to about the Saddle Arabian Prince's special?"

The mercenary looked me over again, before letting off a short grunt and leaning back from the bar. "Hmh, took your sweet time getting here. P.T. Boomer, reclamation associate for Prince Brayef. And the only passenger you should care about - my employer's elected to travel ahead." Well, at least that's a small relief, no need to deal with two assholes being dragged behind Kipper. Still, would be glad if it weren't even the one... "I'm just to ensure the package gets to him without any incidents. Your oversized tea kettle will get us to Mare's Lake without breaking down too much, right?"

Oversized tea kettle? TEA KETTLE!? Why, this absolute prick-- Calm, Water Case, calm. It's only three days of travel, you only gotta put up with him for that long at best, and the rear door on the tender walkway does lock if it gets too much. Much as I'd love to slap this guy with a torpedo strapped to a prybar... I bit my tongue for the moment, letting off a loose sigh. "Should be only three days' travel, barring the track being taken out for some reason. We'll be setting off first thing tomorrow morning."

Boomer gave a nod in response, pushing away from the bar and turning to face the door. "Better be, for your sake. Wouldn't want to have to ask my employer to find another locomotive because the last one had an... accident." The mercenary started trotting for the door, before catching himself and looking back towards the bartender. "Make sure the whiskey's loaded before sundown."

The merc turned and trotted back out the door, opening and closing it with just as much grace as he previously showed upon entering. Still wincing from the slam of the door, I leaned back over the bar, looking into the amber-green liquid in the cup in front of me, finishing it off in one go. The drink slid roughly down my throat, a quick shudder escaping me - oh, I'm gonna need more than one of these to get through the next few days. The tinkling of magic caught my attention as I sat staring into the empty glass, a second bottle of Sparkle Cola and Wild Pegasus being placed in front of me. The aging unicorn behind the bar wore a small, pitying smile, passing on a soft nod. "One on the house, for the road. He isn't gonna count every last bottle we load on anyways, and technically it'll be getting on the train..."

The old stallion let off a soft chuckle as I picked up both bottles, my eyes looking up at him in genuine surprise. Huh, guess ponies down here really are just generally a whole lot nicer than up north... The band playing over in the restaurant area broke into a melancholy eight-note opening, the mare onstage following it up with some old pre-war song, as I passed on a smile and hopped down from my stool. "Hah, guess so. Thanks, gonna be a lifesaver later, having to deal with you-know-who."

"Why d'you think I'm giving it to ya in the first place!" The old unicorn let off a long chuckle, one that I joined him in, the song from the other part of the Roundhouse suddenly gaining a lot more presence as it sounded like every single one of the patrons joined in on it. 'We'll meet again some sunny day', huh? The stallion behind the bar passed on a wave as I made for the exit, myself returning it as I paused at the door, pulling it open and stepping through. We'll meet again...

Oh, I really hope that we will.

There was a slight bump as Kipper's buffers met those of the luggage car that kept us separated from the fancy ivory-plated car on the end, the brakes squeaking only slightly as I applied them. Crown Sheet's magic echoed down through the tender's walkway, the sounds of the brake hoses being connected up and the couplers being secured following, before the washed and hopefully well-rested unicorn reemerged from the darkness. His magic carried over a few more logs from the long tender behind us, his hoof opening up the firebox doors and tossing them on the roaring flames before he flopped into his stoker's chair. "Don't tell me you're exhausted already, Crown Sheet, I've been up for just as long as you have and I think I got even less sleep than you did."

My oh-so-perpetually-competent fireman let loose a long groan, twisting himself around to lean his head out of the cab window as I eased open the throttle. The slack was taken up in the cars soon, small chuffs pulling us slowly out on the tracks ahead of us and along towards the north. "Good for you, Casey. Bet you weren't dealing with those damn dreams again like I was." Oh, was that it? Seriously?

"Crown Sheet, you're a full-grown stallion who hefts chopped wood into the firebox of a rebuilt modified Trottingham and South Coast Rail J2 Tender/Tank locomotive as a job, how in the name of Tartarus do you keep having nightmares about a steam-powered robot horse?" Of all the things we chat about while on long trips, that one still ranks as the most out of the blue thing that daft stallion ever told me. He works with a huge steam-powered thing all day! And he has nightmares about it? Honestly...

"It's a freakin' huge steam-powered robot horse, is the thing! Oh, sure, it starts off small and innocent, but I blink and next thing you know it's five stories tall and looking hungry! And I'm looking like a nice can of Cram, or some hay fries or something!" After a few mad flails of his hooves for emphasis, my fireman eventually calmed down, levitating over another few logs from the tender to the firebox. Three or four pieces of cut firewood in, however, he stopped, looking at the one bit of firewood held between us. "Or, maybe a wooden marionette, I guess? What would a giant steam-powered robot pony eat, anyways?"

"Well, considering it takes around ten trees to make enough wood for Kipper's tender, and I'm willing to bet that a giant steam-powered robot would be just a little less efficient than a tested and well-developed steam locomotive... a forest, maybe? Probably would drain the Vanhoover Reservoir, too. In other words, I don't think you need to worry about being a snack anytime soon." The wheels clacked slightly as they passed over the junction, Kipper easing out onto the main line and letting me open up the throttle a little further. Crown Sheet stuffed a bit more wood into the firebox, going back to lean out his side window, myself letting off a chuckle and shake of the head. "C'mon, Crown Sheet, it's only a three-day trip. Just promise me you'll try and stay awake for most of it?"

The unicorn beside me let off a long sigh, giving his head a slight shake as he leaned back into the cab. "Yeah, yeah, I promise. Couldn't let you have all the fun of tossing firewood into Kipper once we reach the Misery Range, after all-CELESTIA WEPT!!" ...loathe that I am to admit it, my flanks did leave my seat as Crown Sheet so gracefully fell against the side of Kipper's cab, his eyes locked to something behind us. Regaining at least some comfort as we passed out of the yard and into the countryside, I finally had time to look back at what'd startled my ever-so-stoic fireman - of all the things, a somewhat weak-looking pony standing on the tender hoofplate was not one that I was expecting. Hell, a robot pony would have made more sense... if just barely.

The weak unicorn looked between us for a moment, before promptly smacking himself just below his horn with his forehoof, muttering something under his breath as he looked to the floor. O...kay then. I glanced over to Crown Sheet - anytime you wanna pull yourself off of Kipper's valve systems would be nice, yanno - him returning it, just as confused as I was. After a moment, the strange unicorn on the hoofplate looked back up to us, adjusting a worn pair of glasses on his muzzle before clearing his throat. "I-I'm sorry to startle you, I... I'm with Master Brayef's train, part of the, uh, special! Ahm, uh, I was just wondering if I could bother you for a spare piece of firewood or two, I just want to ensure the cargo works fully."

Once again, myself and Crown Sheet could only exchange confused glances, myself taking a moment during the second one to ease back the throttle a little. Not gonna get Kipper derailed just because somepony's talking a bit crazy... and invaded the cab. Somehow. Despite us not even knowing they were onboard the train in the first place. Crown Sheet finally seemed to fall back onto his hooves to stand normally, giving a little bite at his lower lip as he passed on one last glance to me. "Uh, sure, sure, we can spare a couple pieces. Though, what do you mean by 'ensuring the cargo works'? And what's your name, anyways?"

The other unicorn passed on a long, bowing nod before pulling exactly two slices of firewood out of the tender, turning and looking back at us. There was a short moment, before his eyes suddenly went wide, the two pieces he retrieved falling through the air momentarily as his magic gave out, Crown only just managing to catch them both in his magic instead. Oh dear, that poor unicorn is not well, is he?... though, Crown did have a point. "U-uh... I... I'm, uh, I'm S-Stopwatch! Yes, uh, yes, I serve under P-Prince Brayef, and, uh, did-did I say cargo? I, um, I meant... I meant the fire stove! Yes, uh, the fire stove, in the baggage carriage, yes, um, heh, just want to have somewhere to warm up, in case we're traveling at night, or through any mountains, or, whatever."

Stopwatch looked nervously between the both of us, his magic taking the two logs from Crown Sheet. He passed on another long bow, this one done a little bit quicker, before he rushed down the tender's corridor, the access door slamming shut echoing along the metal hallway. Well, I guess that does solve the mystery of how he got in here... but that just raised a lot more questions than it gave answers for. Crown Sheet reseated himself, looking back down the access corridor for just a moment, before facing me. "What d'you think that was about? I mean, I... suppose a prince might need servants or whatever, but... what did he mean by cargo?..."

I let off an uneasy grunt, refocusing my attention back out the front window, watching the tracks ahead. "Tell the truth, I'm a little more worried about him in general. Poor guy didn't look like he's been eating a lot... How about we get him something for lunch in Vanderhoof, see if that might get him a little less nervous, maybe. I'd ask why he isn't riding in the end carriage, but after meeting the other pony we've got onboard, I can't really blame him for not..." Much to my annoyance, what I got in response was a stifled chuckle from Crown Sheet.

Looking over to the unicorn, I caught him shaking his head, another piece of firewood going into the firebox. "Water Case, you're too much of a bleeding-heart for this world. He's a servant to a prince, it's... it's a tough pill to swallow, but it isn't like he can just up and leave if he wanted to, or could, even. I ain't gonna push your sore subject button any further, though... yeah, we'll get him something, I think I know a pretty good restaurant there." I took a breath, biting at my lip softly and shutting my eyes, letting the air out in a long sigh. Don't think about it too much, Casey... reopening my eyes, I likewise opened up the throttle a little more, trying to focus back on the lines ahead. Oh, that's always a calming sight... "...Hey, Casey? Isn't it the middle of summer?"

"Uh... I... I think so, yeah. Why you askin'?"

"Why would he need the stove in this kind of weather? It never gets below, like, fifty degrees at night..."

...Damnit, Crown Sheet, I was almost relaxed again...

2. - Vanderhoof

The brakes squeaked softly as Kipper came to a stop in the service siding, Crown Sheet's magic flaring already to undo the filler cap on the right-side water tank. The evening sun painted the mountains ahead of us a brilliant gold, a soft sigh escaping me as I leaned back in the seat, just enjoying the view for a moment... and blocking some of the sun out with one of my hooves. Egh, much as I love Kipper's windows, the left-side engineer's position is the least bit annoying during sunset. Not annoying enough to detract from the view, though...

The clatter of the water tower's spout swinging over echoed outside as I hopped down from my seat, looking back to the tender. Hrm... might as well stock up while we're here, probably would have enough to make it to Biscuit but better safe than sorry. The tugging of a chain and creak of a valve being opened, followed by the rushing of water into Kipper's tanks filled the air ahead, as Crown Sheet ducked back into the cab as well. "I'm gonna go see if the road crew can spare some firewood for us, and pick up that meal for Stopwatch. You want anything while I'm in town, before we head in for the night?"

"Well, if you can find me a replacement for a good night's sleep for last night, that'd do me fine." The unicorn in front of me let off a chuckle as he watched the tank's water level rise, myself giving my eyes a roll in response. How about a hoof sandwich, ya doofus... "Eh, if you're going to the Blitz Cafe, pick me up a Torpedo, maybe? Ol' Swordfish always knows how to make one hit the right spot. This oughta cover it..." The unicorn rummaged through his bag, pulling out a few bottlecaps and passing them over, eyes still looking in his pack as I pocketed the caps. Torpedo, huh?

Wearing a smirk, I turned about, lifting the lid on the emergency box under my seat and pulling out one of the red satchels, making sure to not bend the metal bands too much. Turning in one quick motion with the charge in hoof, Crown Sheet had just enough of a reaction to see what I was doing as the small explosive warning device smacked him clean in the face. He stumbled back a bit, giving his head a shake, while I just chuckled. "What? You said you wanted a torpedo, didn't you?"

"Funny, Casey, very funny. Just don't take too long, I'm starving and refilling the water is always a bit dull. And if I'm asleep when you get back, please don't wake me up with... this." The unicorn picked up the rail torpedo and waved it in the air between us for a moment, before putting it back in the emergency box for me. A smirk was across my muzzle as I stepped through the cab door and hopped down to the gravel below, taking a breath of the cool evening air. Mmm, maple sugar...

Heading eastwards into town, the rebuilt structures and odd newer wooden shack stood out against the remaining piles of rubble on the outskirts, streets lively with the residents and few caravans. A small engine began rumbling away as I headed past the mail office, looking over in time to see a caravan starting to head out for the north, led by one of those cute tiny tankettes they were making up at Cordite. Still surprised they can squeeze three ponies into one of those things... the deep, low blast of a large whistle snapped my attention off of the departing caravan, hoof reaching to retrieve the watch from my pocket. Yikes, knew we were held up for a bit due to that signal tower being out, but I didn't think we pulled in this late. Dinner's gonna have to wait a bit, especially if that was the whistle I think it was.

Picking up my pace, the street that would've led me to the diner passed by my side, as I headed out of the town and towards the chuffing steam and clattering tracks of the local Road Crew's vehicle. The scraping of metal on concrete filled the air as it rounded a corner, momentarily mounting the curb, the headlight and large front dozer blade of the Mammoth presenting themselves. Hopping out of the path of the steam tractor, I waved up at the cab as it trundled past, the flywheel atop the boiler slowing down slightly before coming to an idle, the tracks likewise coming to a halt. Least they're considerate, I guess... or, more likely, they just wanna pack it in for the day already. Make it quick, Casey.

A soot-faced stallion dropped out of the cab of the steam tractor and trotted over to me, rubbing at his muzzle a little. "Mmh, what'cha need, and why can't it be handled tomorrow? We're heading off-shift, night guys get on in fifteen." Well, bit more of a pleasant demeanor than I was expecting from a Road Crew guy, at least. I held a gentle smile as I nodded to him, leaning back on my hooves.

"I'm an engineer with Equestrian National Rail, just came to ask if you guys can spare some firewood for my locomotive while we're parked up here overnight. Just need enough to get past the Unicorn Range and to a proper service yard." The stallion ahead of me blunk, scratching at his scraggly mane under his hardhat. After a moment, he shrugged, spitting off to the side.

"Eh, guess we could spare a cord or two, yeah. I'll chat with Crosshead, see if we can't get the skidder crane over to load you up, and wire the costs ahead to Cantercross, see about getting the bill up to ENR HQ. You the only one stopped over?" Answering him in the affirmative, he responded with a quick nod of his own, turning about and trotting back to the simmering beast. I stepped back as the Mammoth's flywheel got up to speed, thick, white clouds blasting out the smokestack as it went back underway, the tracks clattering loudly as it steamed back into town. Right, that's one thing taken care of, let's see to dinner...

Kipper simmered quietly - least of all because my always-alert fireman was letting his fire die out while he took a nap, again - as I returned to the cab, a short sub and a hayburger carried in a paper bag along with me. The cab door slid open, and I pulled myself inside, the snoring unicorn in the seat beside me barely reacting, even as I slammed the door back shut behind him. Honestly, Crown Sheet, we could've at least gotten a hotel room before you passed out...

Setting the bag down on my chair, I pulled it open and retrieved the burger from it, carrying it down the tender's walkway and to the passageway behind us. Stepping through to the mail car, the faded light of night did me no favors in trying to find my way around - egh, thought we had this hooked up to Kipper's electrical systems, should at least be some light in here... "Stopwatch? You here anywhere? I, uh, got you something for dinner, if you wanted it. Dunno what you like, hope it's hayburgers, heh..."

Trotting further along inside the dark carriage, the cloth-covered metal of a crate met my forehoof, if a bit unfortunately at speed. A quick curse echoed in the darkness as I shook my hoof, getting the aches out of it, the hayburger I was carrying miraculously not getting dropped in the process. Fuggin... must be the cargo, I guess. Pretty damn heavy packaging there, the hell would they be hauling that needs that much protection? They find some buried treasure, or something?... maybe a peek wouldn't hurt...

Glancing around the railcar for a moment, I set the paper-wrapped burger down on a nearby table, trotting back over to the cargo. Moving around the large box, I lifted a hoof to push the fabric cover against it, trying to make out what some of the writing on the cloth said. RobronCo & Baltimare Locomotive Works... the heck was RobronCo doing partnering with a steamworks? Pff, maybe this prince was just pining for a top-of-the-line low-maintenance live steam model train set, or something. Would explain why Stopwatch would've needed the wood... must be a damn big set, though.

Doing one last check to make sure I was alone - Stopwatch could just be sleeping, or running errands, or something - I let curiosity get the better of me as my hooves moved to the bottom of the fabric cover. Starting to lift it up, the sudden, sharp hiss of steam being released caught my ears, making me fumble and drop the tarp back down, taking a step away from the crate. Kay, maybe he just forgot to drain the boiler before repacking it up, or something... and forgot to turn off the headlamps, too. An orangeish-yellow light escaped through portions of the fabric bag, myself the least bit hesitant to try getting another peek. But, damn my curiosity...

Trotting back up to the crate, I took hold of the fabric again, keeping my eyes closed shut as I tossed the edge up on top of the metal box. My ears caught the sounds of errant small hisses and moving clockwork, the soft yellow glow filling the area beside me, along with a small clatter of metal upon metal. Tentatively, I let my eyes reopen, turning to look into the crate. What I saw inside there, past metal bars... I can honestly say, of all the things that could've been in there, I was not expecting that. "H... hello."

I fell to my haunches, eyes staring in at the amber glow of... what were those things called, radio tubes or something? Pixie tubes? Whatever they were, they probably weren't originally meant to be serving as pupils in the eyes of... well, how else could I describe it other than a robot pony! It's eyes followed me as I sat in silence, jaw agape, its head tilting to the side curiously with a small whine of gears and hiss of steam. "Are you okay? You look a little... erm... surprised?"

"What... who, are you?" The brass and copper of the robot pony's coat glinted in the faint light that was being reflected around from it, as I steadied myself into a more comfortable sitting position. Okay... robot pony... well, erm, I guess it could be a he, maybe? And it's either programmed for conversation, or something else... gears whined and steam hissed as the robot mimicked me and sat up, its ears clanking against the roof of the cage it was inside. Rather unnervingly, it actually went and ducked after that. It formed a grin, somehow, resting on its metal hooves as it looked at me.

"I'm a worthless scrapheap automa-whatever, or, at least that's what the pony with the helmet called me. I think I like what the other pony calls me better, though - an automaton." The way that this robot just so cheerfully called him- itself a worthless scrapheap automaton... yeah, I gotta hope that whatever learning system he's- it's got isn't entirely persistent. Or, at least can understand some kind of abusive situation... Its pistons hissed again as it adjusted itself, the glass tube eyes flickering in what I assume was it's way of blinking. "He's been calling me Ottie a lot more often, though. I like that name. What's your name?"

"U-uh... Water Case, I'm, uh, I'm Water Case. You can call me Casey, though, if you want." The robot pony... Ottie, blunk as he nodded ahead of me, still smiling through the bars of his box. That crate would barely be comfortable if it were a normal pony inside it... this was the cargo... "What... this might seem a bit out of the blue, but do you know where you're going? Who you're... who you're going to... uh... live with, I guess?"

Ottie tilted his head again, his metal ears scraping against the cage's top, and flinching as they did once again. He thought for a moment, his inner workings whirring and hissing idly, before the grin came back across his muzzle. "I'm going to go live with a prince in a far-away land! Oh, it's going to be so exciting to be able to see new things and meet other new ponies, I hope he's a nice guy. The pony who talks to me the most doesn't like chatting about the prince too much, he just sorta reaches his hoof around his belly like this when I ask." Sitting himself back, Ottie lifted one of his metallic forehooves up, moving it around to press against his back left side with a few metallic clinks and scrapes. Stopwatch always reaches there when he's asked about the prince, huh? Hrm... The robot pony moved back to his sitting position, still grinning. "He says that there'll be lots of things for me to do there, though, and lots of ponies will be able to see me every day!"

"Until the novelty wears off and Master Brayef is crowned as King, anyways." I'll admit, my rump did leave the ground entirely when that quiet, familiar voice broke the air in the darkness beside us. Damn that stallion, he's too good at sneaking around! If he doesn't give me a heart attack before this trip is over, I'll consider myself lucky. Stopwatch trotted forth as I calmed myself back down, the unicorn's horn alighting and turning on the electric lamps in the carriage. In retrospect, I dunno why I didn't do that myself in the first place. "After that... Ottie would be lucky if he ended up like me."

Practically knowing what I was going to ask next, Stopwatch turned to face his left flank towards me, myself taking a moment to see what it was that Ottie said he reached for. That was, until, a rather ornately-formed, scarred-over 'B' in a similarly-scarred circle became clear, just ahead of his cutie mark. That kind of scarring... oh, goddesses... "Truthfully I'm not entirely certain of how Master Brayef would brand Ottie's peculiar coat, but that's beside the point. Once we reach the port in the north..."

"What do you mean by 'brand my coat'? Is he going to give me a RobronCo paint job or something? That would be nice of him, even if I kinda like my coppery-brass look." He doesn't even... Celestia above... Stopwatch let off a resigned sigh, as I shakily pulled myself to my hooves. I'm gonna be sick. Stumbling forwards, I managed to just about get to one of the loading doors for the mail carriage to pull it open a little ways, just enough to lean my head out. Heaving a few times, gagging for most of it, the taste of dinner and bile only just came back up, all four legs shaking as I eventually pulled myself back together. This... this robot was going to be... I was pulling... oh, no...

Shuddering, quick breaths left me as I blinked my eyes back open, wiping some errant drool from my muzzle. With weak hooves, I pulled the door back shut, resting against the wall for a few moments as Ottie clanked and hissed idly behind me in his... in... gweuh... Stopwatch's hooves trotted lightly on the wooden floor, the unicorn meeting me with a faint look of surprise. "I... didn't realize you'd react quite in that manner. I'll be sure to refrain from any further contact, if you're so adverse to speaking to slaves-"

"No! No, uh, no, it's really... pretty much the opposite..." I turned about, trotting back over to where Ottie sat in his box, still shuddering from the taste of bile. He doesn't even understand what's going on, what's going to happen to him, does he? A sigh escaped me as I sat back down in front of the robot pony. "I... I took this job, because I thought that it was that one rare chance to pull a train that doesn't have any slaver cars on it. If I don't get this job done... I'll lose pretty much everything. But, now, if I do get it done..." I let myself trail off on that, just shaking my head.

Stopwatch trotted over, gently resting a hoof on my shoulder, all three of us just sitting quiet for a moment... that lasted about two seconds, before there was a very loud banging on the other end of the carriage. "HEY, PROPERTY OF PRINCE WHAT'S-HIS-FACE! Get up to that lazy engine of ours and ask what's the deal with the hot water line, my bath's running cold!! They better get this fixed, or I'll throw you on the flames myself!" Oh, right, that guy was still onboard with us... and assuming he meant the steam heater lines, then that means I've got a certain unicorn to wake up myself.

Stopwatch loosed a long sigh, as I took one last long look at Ottie, getting to my hooves. The malnourished unicorn took a glance back at the rear door, eyes settling on myself instead. I passed on a nod. "Al... alright. I've... gotta go wake up my fireman. You both..." Ottie looked up at me with those curious, amber-glowing eyes of his, tilting his head again - ears scraping against the cage again. I blunk after a moment, looking at the metal bars a bit more closely. Maybe there is at least something I could do... "You both just wait here. I've... got an idea."

Rubbing at my sore eyes a little - gwuugh, the aftershocks always take a while to settle - I stepped through the passageway to the tender, the idle chuffing of a small steam engine and clattering of steel tracks catching my ears as I stepped back out into Kipper's cab. A short double-blast on the whistle of the Mammoth proved sufficient to jolt Crown Sheet back awake, his magic hastily grabbing another few pieces of firewood and holding them defensively in front of himself, flailing his hooves as his eyes darted around the cab. After a moment, he finally relaxed, looking at the cut wood and tossing them on, the flames nearly died out as it is. Honestly...

"Ewuh, given how low the fire was, I would've thought you'd go for the prybar and torpedo trick again, Casey. We aren't exactly running a surplus of steam..." Really? I would've never guessed, any other discoveries you wanna share with us, AK Yearling? Crown Sheet tapped the main steam gauge with a forehoof, eyes going wide as the needle settled... oh, jeez, how in the hell is that bathroom set up on that car?! Does it just condense steam down to hot water directly or something? "Fuck me, we don't have a leak somewhere, do we? Uh... wait, could we have the Road Crew look at it? They've at least got some tools for steam maint-"

The low whistle of the Mammoth broke the air again as it came to a stop beside us, Crown Sheet finally moving to look out his window. There was a volley of shouted commands as another steam engine hissed to life, a bucket clattering against a pile of chopped wood moments later, Water Case letting off a guilty chuckle as he turned to look back to me. I just gave him a roll of the eyes in response. "Was gonna wake you up anyways, reason we're so low on steam is because - besides the fact that you're letting your narcolepsy get the better of you, again - that damn mercenary's gone and used all the heating steam for a hot bath. Wants us to fix that for him."

"...you're shitting me. Ugh, figures it'd be our luck that the fancy prince car doesn't have it's own water heater onboard..." Crown Sheet gave his head a shake as he looked over the levels and gauges again, fiddling with a few of them. Well, at least we're not too short on water ourselves... this is over a thousand-gallon boiler, how in the hell did a hot bath drain it so fast like that!? The injectors hissed to life regardless, the unicorn beside me in the cab letting off a sigh as he started moving some more wood onto the fire, further bucketfuls being dropped in. "Well, might take a bit, but I should be able to get a good header back up before tomorrow. So long as that idiot isn't taking all-night baths, anyways..."

"Worse comes to, I'll just tell him he'll have to explain to his boss that the reason we're running late is because he drained all our steam. Who knows, that might even get him off our train for good..." There was another loud clatter as another bucketful of chopped wood landed in the tender behind us, myself moving for the doorway to step down out of the cab. Crown Sheet seemed to have it all under control for the moment, anyways... and it *was* his fault for letting the fire die down. "Hold the fort for a sec, gotta ask the Road Crew for something."

Crown Sheet gave a quick nod as I hopped back to the gravel of the yard, the crane still chuffing away and loading more firewood. One of the crew tending the boiler looked over to me for a moment before refocusing on his own gauges, most more focused on running the crane - yeah, can't blame them too much for that, that A-frame sure is a bit of a far cry from some of the more modern stuff available. Trotting over towards the resting Mammoth, the faded print on the side of the crane's skids made me snicker the lightest bit - sure is appropriate for a steam donkey like that to be owned by something called 'Burro Industries'. Or, well, previously owned, anyways...

The Road Crew stallion in the Mammoth's cab climbed down out of it to meet me, rubbing at his forehead slightly with his foreleg. Whuff, not to be too rude, but a warm steam bath would not be the worst idea for you to consider... he let off a short grunt, looking over to Kipper behind me. "Should have the wood loaded for you in about an hour or so, Flyball's already wired the bill up north. Lucky we finished the big chop a few days ago, if you showed up a few days later we'd had to've just sent you on through. Gotta keep some wood for our stuff, after all."

Giving him a small nod, I leaned back on my hooves, wearing a smile. "No worries, I understand that. Nice seeing these old things not rusting away or being used for some yahoo's armored wagon..." The stallion smirked in return before giving his back a stretch, the loud clatter of firewood falling upon itself echoing from the tender again. Alright, small talk made, let's get on with the actual reason you're here, Casey... "So, question, you guys wouldn't happen to have a portable cutting torch free anywhere, would you? My fireman managed to padlock a storage closet on the luggage car there shut and lost the key for it, kinda seems like it'd be too hefty for some bolt cutters, frustratingly."

The Road Crew stallion let off a noncommittal grunt, scratching at the back of his head under his hard hat idly. Please just be thinking, please just be thinking... please just be thinking yes. After a moment, he passed on a shrug, looking back to the Mammoth. "Eh, guess we could do that for ya. Ain't like they're getting much use down here anyways, hardly any scrap left 'round here for chopping up. I'll get one of the boys to grab it for ya, just hang tight for a while." Answering him with a nod, he started to turn back towards the Mammoth as I likewise headed back to Kipper, before he caught himself. "Ahm, you do know how to use one, yeah?"

Looking back towards the stallion, I gave my hoof a wave, wearing a smirk. "Of course I do, I've been working for ENR for most of my life, that includes general maintenance of the locomotives. Trust me, I know what I'm doing." The Road Crew stallion studied me for a moment before passing on a shrug, turning and continuing on his path. Another bucketful of wood clattered into the back of Kipper's tender as I headed back towards the train - yeah, well, it'll work out...

"Try and stay back, Ottie, because I don't entirely know what I'm doing here..." The cutting torch hung heavy on my back as I stood inside the mail carriage, the jet from the torch burning a bright blue a few inches short of the first of the bars. Only need to cut away enough of them that Ottie can get out... and screw covering our tracks about it. No passengers ride in cages on my train. I flipped the goggles' visor down, making the interior just as dark as it was before, even with the lights on now. The bright jet from the cutting torch was dimmed just enough as to not be too blinding, and taking the bit in my mouth - and making sure Ottie should be mostly clear from the splash - I started to make the cut.

Hot yellow-orange slag flew from the steel as it was blown through, showering the heavy fabric on the other side of the cage with the burning embers as the bar was sliced clean in half... okay, well, maybe not 'clean' per say, but, you know, it's been cut at least! I've got like three or four more bars to practice on anyways, at the least... releasing the trigger for the cutting jet, the flame returned to the bright bluish-white color, and I brought it over to the second bar, starting to heat that one up. Flipping the visor up for the time being, my eyes focused back on Ottie, his tube-eyes watching with a certain level of curiosity... or maybe worry. "You doing alright?"

The robot pony nodded slowly, watching the flame from the torch as it heated the steel red hot, then a glowing orange. Flipping the visor back down and taking the trigger in my muzzle again, I started the second cut, this one going a bit easier than the first... I think. Maybe I should've asked for some pointers before doing this. The second bar split with a small metallic twang, and I soon started on the third bar, watching the flame jet heat it up through the stages before beginning the cut. Orange bits of slag and sparks littered the floor of Ottie's cage and smouldered on the inside of the tarp that covered it, the robot pony inside whirring and hissing as he pulled back to try and avoid them. Two and a half down, two and a half to go...

The fourth and fifth bars went about as smoothly as the rest, which was at least comforting in knowing I'm consistent with my inexperience, myself moving back from the cage and flipping the visor up, grin on my muzzle. Five bars cut at the top, just gotta bend them all out of the way and... what's that clanking noise? Looking over to the side of the cage, the... padlock keeping the door shut was jerked a few times in a magic aura. Looking past it, Stopwatch's horn was alight, the unicorn looking to me with an expression somewhere inbetween 'seriously?' and 'for Celestia's sake', the snark levels peaking dangerously as he gave a classic single-eyebrow-raise. Yeah, in retrospect, that probably -would- have been faster to do. A weak chuckle escaped me as I met his eyes with mine, rubbing at the back of my neck. "I mean... well, I tried! Better this way, it can't be used as a cage again, right?"

Stopwatch only responded with a sigh, as I flipped down the visor and started to work on the significantly smaller-in-diameter lock bolt. It was cut through in about half the time it took just one of the steel bars, the unicorn carefully manipulating the hot steel to remove it before casting it out the door on the side not visible to the Road Crew. Spitting out the bit for the last time, I fumbled with the valves for a moment, cutting off the flow of gases to the torch nozzle and letting off a relaxed sigh. There we go.

The cage door creaked open on its hinges as I stepped backwards with it in hoof, Ottie's tube eyes blinking at me. Slowly, with several soft hisses of pressure and whirs of gears, the robot pony moved forwards, out of the cage, his steel hooves tentatively pressing against the floorboards of the railcar. As he lifted himself to full height, the mechanisms in his lower body ground and squealed for a few short moments, before he stumbled and fell back to sitting instead with a heavy thud and clang. And, rather alarmingly, quite a real expression of pain on his muzzle as well...

Acting more than thinking, I rushed to try and help him, only to find myself caught in a magic aura. Stopwatch soon entered my view, quite an equal look of concern on his own muzzle, a short satchel of tools being pulled over from one of the other areas of the car. "I'll tend to Ottie. You should return the torch, and I would also suggest coming up with an excuse for the thud as well, if your fireman asks. You've... you've done enough for now." Moving backwards, out of Stopwatch's aura, I couldn't help but catch the faintest sparkle of a tear resting in the corner of the unicorn's eyes, a grin creeping along his muzzle.

Looking down to the cutting torch still hung off of my side, I passed on a nod, moving over to the side door opposite where the Road Crew were working. Sliding it open a crack and making sure the coast was clear, I widened the gap and dropped down, making sure it was slid closed right after. A sigh escaped me as a pair of short whistle blasts came from the opposite side of the yard, and I started the long trek around the front of Kipper to try and catch the Road Crew before they wrapped up fully. You did good tonight, Casey...

The early dawn light made the mountains cast long shadows across the town, Kipper simmering gently as we woke her back up. The firebox doors clattered together as Crown Sheet brought the flames up to a roar, taking a few deep draws of the cool morning air and giving his head a shake. Come on buddy, just a few hundred miles of switchbacks and five percent grades to go... "You awake, there?"

"Nnfh, just dealing with last night's dreams, had that friggin' robot pony dream again. Second night in a row, seriously..." He shook his head in disbelief, turning on the main pumps and tuning the water level indicators. I admit I chuckled a little harder than usual at that - if only he knew... A sigh left my lips as he passed on a short glare, resting back in his seat. "Yeah, yeah, at least I did sleep some. Let's just try and hit the Biscuit switchback before night, dunno how long that Sparkle-Cola I had for breakfast will keep me going."

Giving him a roll of the eyes, I started on the checklist. Cylinder cocks open, reverser forwards, and a short double-blast on Kipper's whistle had us starting off as I pulled the throttle back, steam hissing through the dome and to the cylinders. Billowing white clouds blew out either side to the yard, covering everything in a fine mist, the junction passing underneath with a clack from each of the wheels. Our speed slowly picked up as we headed onwards to the Unicorn range, the white clouds being directed up out through the stack as we properly got underway. Crown Sheet looked back towards the tender as he pulled a few more logs up, tossing them in. "So, uh, you know what that metallic clang was last night? Just the Road Crew being clumsy, or something? Hope they didn't bang up the tender any..."

I jerked a little as he brought it up. Shit, he did hear that? And, of course, I forgot to think up an excuse... well, at least Ottie's out of the cage now, anyways. "U-uh... yeah, probably just the Road Crew being a bit clumsy. You saw what they had to work with, that ancient steam donkey... pfeh, get this, it used to be owned by some company called Burro Industries. Saw the faded branding on one of the skids." That at least got a chuckle from him, might have distracted him enough. Smooth, Casey... Crown Sheet tossed a few more pieces of firewood in, the countryside giving way to the steep range that rose up to the air above.

"Hah, insultingly appropriate, I guess. Well, least we've got plenty enough to make it to Biscuit now, even if they need more firewood in back... what was it for, again?" Goddess-damnit Crown Sheet, stop asking so many questions, would you? Or... nnfh... maybe he ought to know about Ottie... guh. I'll try and figure it out before we get to Biscuit... "...uh, Casey?" ...and maybe I should figure out what to say right now, too.

"Um, ah, fire stove, yeah, they've got an old fire cooking stove back there that he wanted to make sure worked. Yeah, isn't standard for a mail carriage, but, y'know, it's something. Ahem." The unicorn beside me nodded slowly as the firebox doors clattered again, myself looking straight ahead towards the tunnel leading into the mountains.

Smooth, Casey, real smooth...

Author's Note

Dreadfully sorry about the delay on this chapter, the drive's been a bit funky. Gonna try and hit a better stride for the next one, see if I can't get the rest of this story wrapped up before the year's out, at least. Hope you've been enjoying the ride so far!

3. - Biscuit

The steady chuffing from Kipper's stack echoed in the valleys as we climbed the steep gradients towards our next stop, Crown Sheet's magic sending another few pieces of firewood onto the flames as he leaned back in his chair. A long yawn escaped him as he rubbed at his eyes, my own trying to stay focused on the tracks ahead. "Mmmnm, think that Sparkle-Cola's finally starting to wear off on me. Least we aren't too far off from the switchback, at any rate... You'd think pre-war they would've figured out a way to get a train up more than a five percent grade."

"I'm sure an unladen locomotive could do a steeper grade, least as far as it's fuel tanks would permit, but I dunno if you were taught this back in Fireman's school Crown Sheet - trains are heavy. As in, hundreds of tons of steel and fuel heavy. Only reason they move at all is because of some black magic physics fuckery with the smooth steel wheels and rails..." Being gentle with Kipper's throttle, we slowly rounded another bend in the track as we ascended through the mountains towards the switchback. Sure, it was hardly the fastest route, but when the mainline's all but completely shut down because of some magical pre-war supertrain you make do with what you've got. Least they do provide the courtesy of a reverser engine...

Crown Sheet just let off another annoyed grunt at me, another couple pieces of firewood going in through the doors. "I know the physics behind it all, Casey, what I meant was why didn't they come up with some *actual* magic physics fuckery for getting past steeper grades? That just be too much to ask?" My thoroughly miffed fireman leaned back in his chair as we continued on, the first step of the switchback starting to descend beside us as we trundled up towards the points. Well, small mercy, we're definitely short enough that we don't have to worry about splitting the train and going through all that headache... Please let the Misery Range be cleared by the time we reach Cordite, at least.

"Yeah, and I'm sure such a system that lets a thousand-ton train negate it's own mass to better get over hills would have survived multiple balefire bomb impacts completely unscathed. Didn't they interfere with electro-magical systems or something? Cause a lot of the complicated ones to get fried? Something crazy like the Ouroboros might have it, but even if they developed it to a working place, I really doubt it was too widespread by the time the bombs started hitting." The switch points passed underneath our wheels as we trundled along the first step, the small siding that housed the little switcher diesel running parallel alongside us. I started to slow us down, leaning and watching out Kipper's side window as the prince's fancy lounge car finally cleared the switch. "We're good on the first step, I'll head over to the switcher and get us ready for the ascent. Don't let Kipper's fire get too low while I'm gone."

Crown Sheet let off an annoyed grunt as I hopped out of my chair, climbing down out of Kipper's cab. A crisp breeze blew up along the canyon as I crossed over to the stout switcher, the gravel railbed crunching underhoof as I hefted myself up onto the running boards. 'Ten Cents', huh? Well, you're no Kipper, but long as you've got the grunt in you to pull us up the switchback, let's get rolling. Flipping on the ignition circuits and holding the starter button, the small diesel engine under the hood whined for a few rotations before rumbling to life, my hoof giving the small control console a couple gentle pats. Atta boy...

The little diesel switcher trundled smoothly down the line towards the points, brakes squeaking as I stopped past the switch. Climbing out of the cab, my eyes led back to the end of the train, and the fancy observation deck on the prince's carriage. Egh, always hated working with those kinds of cars, buffer & chain couplers aren't fun to work with with you don't have headroom. Trotting back a ways, the old pair of manual points sat still set to the siding and lower track, a pair of loud screeches of rusted metal on metal setting them right. Nodding to nobody in particular, I made way back to Ten Cents, a faint thought creeping into my head as I got back into the cab and closed the door shut behind me. Oh, Celestia please let that mercenary guy be dead asleep right now...

Easing the switcher up to the back of our train, the observation deck on the prince's carriage quite annoyingly obscured view of the rear buffers, myself being as gentle with Ten Cents' throttle as I could to make the bump not as bad. From the bit of a jolt I got even despite that, I probably should've tried to be more gentle. Maybe next time I'll have Crown Sheet do this instead... Loosing a sigh, I made sure the brakes were full on, hopping down out of the cab once again to get us coupled up. Definitely gotta remember to apologize to Crown Sheet and Stopwatch, and Ottie... from the loud curses and yelling coming from the car to my right as I ducked inbetween both pieces of railway equipment, probably gonna skip the apology for him.

The door to the observation deck above me slammed shut as hooves stomped across the wood flooring, angry grunts heralding his arrival as I got the brakeline connected with a hiss of pressure. "What the hell is going on?! Why in the name of Celestia are we stopped, and what's that dinky smelly rusty pile of junk doing backed up to this car! Grrh, they better have a real fucking good explanation for this shit, did their stupid teapot break down finally?" Biting my tongue for the moment, the chain clattered into the hook, a few quick turns on the handle tightening it together and finally getting us fully hooked up. Gravel crunching underhoof, I stepped out from under the deck, turning to go back into the switcher - and coming face to face with Boomer instead. "You! You better start explaining yourself right now you incompetent inbred, my boss is not gonna be happy to hear his train's been delayed because of your fucking incompetence."

Doing my best to resist the urge to throw this guy onto the tracks and start pulling us up the slope, I drew in a deep breath, releasing it nice and slow. Don't get yourself a charge of railway murder before you can be fired for not delivering the package, Casey... "The reason we're stopped is because the main line is locked out due to the Ouroboros, so we had to divert onto the Biscuit Switchback instead. We can't run a train up the switchback backwards, so we need this locomotive to get up the grade. We're getting underway shortly, get back in your car or stay out of the way, we're only being paid for delivering the package. That means, not delivering you. Get it?"

The mercenary fumed underneath his ratty helmet, grinding his teeth as he stood on the side of the tracks. After a moment, I just turned about and climbed back up into Ten Cents' cab, only just making it inside as the stupid grin I was holding back broke across my muzzle. Oh, how much I wish we could just leave him in a valley somewhere out here, would make saving Ottie a bit easier... kind of. Looking back, I was slightly disappointed to see him slamming the door to the rear carriage shut, watching a bit of his fury getting taken out on the furniture inside the car. Hey, it's his head if the prince finds his fancy railcar trashed...

Turning back around, the steady grade of the middle leg of the switchback stretched out ahead of me, my hoof reaching for the whistle cord. Letting loose a steady two-blast signal on the switcher's middle-toned whistle, Crown Sheet responded with a pair of blasts on Kipper's own, the brakes on the whole train releasing with a hiss of pressure. Ten Cents' little diesel engine roared as I opened the throttle up, the slack in the train getting picked up as we started to make the ascent finally. Come on, ya cute lil' thing, I believe in ya.

We soon arrived at the top leg of the switchback, myself throttling back Ten Cents some as we passed over the upper points. The end of the tracks sat a couple hundred meters away, plenty of space for our modest load, and I watched out the side of the cab as Kipper's nose cleared the switch. The brakes on the train let off a squeal as they applied, a light smile on my muzzle as I climbed back down to the rails, moving in to uncouple the small switcher. Not entirely finished here yet, but getting up here with no incident's an achievement in and of itself. The brake line hissed slightly as it was disconnected, the last bit of pressure in the hose releasing, myself starting to get to work on the screw couple, when Kipper's whistle started going off. What the?...

Quickly giving the tensioner a spin and pulling the linkage off the hook, I pulled out from between the cars and looked to the green locomotive at the far end of the train. Four short blasts... something must be wrong. Breaking into a gallop, I could just about hear Crown Sheet's screams over the hissing of steam, doing my damndest to throw myself up the ladder and into Kipper's cab as I reached the brass hoof rails. Hooves clattering onto the metal floor, I looked over to Crown Sheet's seat, seeing him white as a ghost, but otherwise none the worse for wear... uh, okay?

His eyes, wide as dinner plates and with marbles for pupils, met mine, his forehoof shakily raising to point backwards to the tender behind me. Turning around fully - threw myself in here a bit further than I expected - I looked to the corridor beside the wood stowage, getting a little shaken myself as some glowing eyes stared back at me from the darkness. They blunk once or twice, the pony they belonged to stepping out and into the light, his copper and brass coat glinting in the sun. Oh, thank Celestia, it's just Ottie... Letting off a sigh of relief, I turned to face back to Crown Sheet, still seeing him cowering in the corner with his hoof raised - and finally figuring out what the choked noises he was trying to say were. "R... r... r... r-robot... p-p-p-pony..."

Confusion met him from me for a few seconds, before I worked out what was giving him so much of the heebie-jeebies. Oh, for the love of Celestia... "Crown Sheet, I need you to try and get the color back in your coat right now, and your head back on your shoulders. I know this is really freakin' you out right now, but just let me explain, mkay?" My oh-so-stoic fireman lowered his hoof, though didn't seem to relax much. Well, small blessing, he was too freaked out to do anything about it, at least... I let off a small sigh, the inner workings of Ottie whirring and hissing as he adjusted his head, letting his flanks fall to the floor. "This robot... Ottie... Ottie, he is the package. Yup."

The unicorn beside me blunk for the first time in a while, leaning forwards slightly. Well, least he didn't impale himself on any of the controls during his freak-out. His eyes glanced between myself and Ottie a few times. the color in his coat slowly coming back. "P-package? What... you mean... *he's* what we've been hauling? He's the thing for the prince? What... Why would a prince want a freaky steam-powered robot?" The figurative gears in Crown Sheet's head turned for a moment, the very non-figurative ones in Ottie's head whirring away likewise. "Waaait wait wait, back up - you called it a he. Why did you call it a he?"

"Because *he* isn't just a robot, something that gets programmed and does a thing. He's... he learns. I don't know how to say it, he can think for himself, and speak, and all that sorta freaky stuff actual ponies can do. And lemme tell you Crown Sheet, that's been giving me a fuckton of shit to have to think about and deal with the last two days." I caught myself for just a second, feeling my vision start to go blurry as tears streaked along my cheeks with each blink. Swallowing dryly, I wiped my eyes as dry as I could, looking back to Crown Sheet. "He... he's gonna end up as a slave to that prick, paraded around like some sort of prize animal, or something. Or worse." I choked the words free, Ottie picking himself up and trotting forwards a bit, resting a hoof on my shoulder.

Trying to calm myself down some, and succeeding for the moment, my eyes fell back onto Crown Sheet. From the way he wasn't cowering in fear now - much, at least - he got the jist of it. Ottie's head motion whatevers hissed as he looked between us, the unicorn in the chair letting off a sigh. "I think I get it. But, Casey... we don't really have a choice, do we? We can't just... *not* deliver him. What would dispatch think? Or the prince? A guy who can afford a railcar like the one on the end of ours, and afford to have it shipped over here, I think he can just as easily afford to have our heads on silver platters if he wanted it!"

"Fuck's sake, Crown, I know!" I fell to my haunches as the tears came back, dripping onto Kipper's cab floor as they ran down my cheeks. Ottie's forehoof kept comforting me as I cried myself out, sniffling in after a short while. "I... I know. We'll... I'll... I'll think of something. Even if it's just throwing you two off to safety and finding a ravine to crash Kipper into, I'll think of something. Just... go get the switcher back to it's siding, I'll pull us off the switchback." Rubbing at my eyes with an oil-stained foreleg, I stayed sat on the floor of Kipper, hearing Crown Sheet rise to his hooves and start trotting for the door. Looking to him, he stood in the doorway, the concern obvious on his muzzle. I picked myself up after a second, passing on a small nod, my fireman dropping down out of the cab and trotting along the gravel railbed, as I settled myself into my chair.

Even the cold steel throttle of Kipper did little to put me at ease, as I went through the usual routine to get her moving again. The brakeline hissed as it was pressurized to move the shoes back, the usual hiss coming from the dome ahead as I opened up the throttle, slow chuffs echoing up from Kipper's stack as we eased forwards along the track. Extra hisses and noises came from my right, catching my attention momentarily as Ottie trotted forwards, glass tube eyes still focused on me. The upper junction passed underneath Kipper's wheels as we both sat in silence for a moment, before Ottie... hit me with one hell of a bombshell. "Why... why do you hate slavery so much? I don't know a lot, but I don't think you'd really survive crashing into a ravine. That seems a little... extreme, I guess?"

The tender had cleared the junction by the time my brain caught up with me and processed what he'd said, my hooves tensing up on the levers. That was the whole point, you stupid, stupid, bucket of... you stupid, stupid mare. Of course he wouldn't know. Perking up and refocusing, I leaned out the window, watching the end of the train starting to pass over the junction finally, myself easing us to a stop after another forty meters or so. Kipper simmered quietly as I let loose a long breath, resting my forelegs in my lap. Grab the can opener, Casey, Ottie wants to see these worms...

"When... when I was a little filly, my family... we didn't have things great, but we almost managed. Almost. Dad worked the railyard, mom stayed at home caring for me, it wasn't exactly like a pre-war paradise but it-it was home, damnit." I blunk a few of the fresh tears from my eyes, leaning back in the seat. You can do this, Casey, just... keep it together. "Mom couldn't do much - I... she... she had my sister in her at the time. I was gonna have a sister to play with..." Trying hard as I could, I couldn't hold it back this time. Silent weeps coughed up from me as I sat in Kipper's cab, the steam-powered pony beside me still looking at me with those orange-glowing eyes. His hoof lifted to rest on my shoulder, the gentle, familiar hisses from him and Kipper offering a small comfort.

After a short while, I managed to pull myself back together enough to continue. Gonna get worse before it gets better... "Dad... dad worked in the yard, where they shunted all the cars together. The... the railbed was fresh, loose gravel, he tripped and got one of his hooves smashed by a moving car. The railroad... let us live where we were, while he went up to get treated and a prosthetic, but soon as he got back, they... they threw his bills at us. I didn't know at the time, all I saw was that my dad was finally back home, could hug me again. We were a family again..." I felt the tears starting to well back up, lifting a hoof to my muzzle to try and keep them at bay. Taking in a shuddering breath, I held it off this time - if only just.

"There's just no way we all could've afforded to eat and pay off what he owed, not with what he was earning, especially after it all. My, dad... mom... they..." I scrunched my face up, hard, trying to hold back the tears again, a long whimper escaping me. Come on, Casey... "Mom... woke me up, one night. She... she was sitting on my bed, crying. Soon as she saw me moving, she pulled me into a hug, held me tight as she could, k-kissed me... c-comforted..." Couldn't hold it back this time. Fresh, stinging tears flowed down my cheeks, metal scraping against metal as Ottie shuffled himself a little closer to me. "It- it w-was... it was the l-last time she... she..."

Ottie's softly warmed forehooves wrapped around my middle as the steam-powered pony pulled me into a hug, myself returning it and squeezing his metal midsection tight. My muzzle came to rest on his shoulder as I sputtered and cried myself out, the brass of his body offering little physical comfort, but it... it was enough. We sat like that for a small while, myself eventually calming down enough again. I leaned back, rubbing at my sore eyes, swallowing hard. Nearly finished, Casey, just get through it. "I... I woke up just in time to s-see her get l-loaded on one of- of the stock cars... I never saw her again. Ev-even today I can't see those things without getting sick..."

Ottie nodded, though the look on his muzzle... one last bit. Letting my head drop as I leaned on my forelegs, I gave it a slight shake. "That's why I always refused all those jobs, any one that might've had a slave car on it. If one of those cars had my... my sister on it... and I took her somewhere, where she would end up worked to death... I just... I just couldn't take that risk. I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

My hooves were still shaking as I got myself back together, mostly, Ottie nodding gently with a few small whirrs and hisses of steam. Memory lane's never a fun place to go, not back to then... A long sigh escaped me as I lifted my head back up, looking to the brass pony in front of me. His glass tube eyes met mine, a solemn look on his muzzle. "Stopwatch did tell me that family was an important thing. I think I might understand what he meant, now." A faint smile started find itself on my muzzle, looking at Ottie. He does learn...

The robot pony started to return the small smile to me as we looked at each other, though something seemed to catch his attention behind me - at least, the way his expression went from 'gentle understanding' to 'unbridled excitement' seemed to make it look that way. Before I could react, he'd leapt forwards, his hooves clanging hard against the side of Kipper's cab as he looked out the window, his eyes following something while his muzzle was held in a wide smile. Staring at him in pure confusion, he glanced over to me for just a moment, pointing out the window at something. "It's my glinty friend, up on that hill! Do you see him?"

I could only blink at him in bewilderment, the excitement on his face hardly faltering as he pressed his muzzle to the glass with a metallic clink. Half-wondering if this was the start of my mental break after so many years of suppressing those memories, I turned myself about in the chair, looking out of Kipper's window with him. Eyes traveling up the hillside, sure enough there was... something up there, glinting sunlight off of it. Even if I couldn't exactly make out what it was... it seemed to be hovering, or flying or something, at least. Oh, Celestia above, don't tell me Ottie's got some alien hardware in him or something... wait... could it be one of those fish-drone-things, maybe? But, why would one take interest in us...

The door to Kipper's cab opened opposite us, Crown Sheet climbing up into it, the unicorn stumbling only slightly as he caught sight of Ottie again. Credit where due, he at least regained himself fast enough, already pulling some wood from the tender and tossing it onto the fire as he settled himself back in. "Switcher's back on the upper siding, we can head off again. Oh, and, uh, our one passenger has really made a mess of the prince's car... Pray to Luna he doesn't try to pin the blame on us."

Ottie stayed fixated to the window as I gave one last glance out it, that fish drone still hovering out there. Maybe it's looking at something else, or something... yeah, next to a switchback smack in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. That glance might have been longer than I expected, as Crown Sheet piped back up. "Uh, Casey? Something interesting out there?... Something that might wanna kill us out there?..."

"Uh... no, no, just one of those drone things. Maybe it's thrusters are broken, or something, let's just get going." Kipper's brakes hissed as they were released, the dome ahead hissing likewise as steam flowed to the cylinders. We continued our ascent up the incline to Biscuit, Ottie giving a light wave out the window to the drone... I think. Why did he call it a friend... "Should be able to hit Biscuit by dusk, at least, barring any other catastrophes."

Crown Sheet gave a noncommital grunt beside me, another pair of logs getting thrown into Kipper's firebox. The pile in the tender clattered as more fell into the gap, Ottie finally setting his hooves on the floor. Crown Sheet still looked at him warily. "Okay, I've... mostly gotten used to the idea of a steam-powered robot pony on the train now. Still freaky as hell. You... you can't turn yourself into a giant pony-eating robot, can you?"

My eyes rolled almost out of their sockets as my truly fearless fireman turned his uneasy attention towards Ottie. The automaton pony beside me passed on a confused look, thinking for just a moment. "Not... not that I know of. Besides, I eat combustible material, anyways. Or, well, anything that can burn. I think." Ottie rubbed at the back of his head, looking more than a little guilty. "Truth be told, the reason I came up here was because Stopwatch already fed me the few pieces of firewood you gave him, and I'm starting to get hungry again. Oh, and thirsty too, I guess, water's running a little low."

"A robot that actually gets hungry and thirsty, now I've seen everything..." Crown Sheet gave his head a shake as I kept us moving up the hill, easing back on the steam flow as we picked up a bit of speed. The firebox doors clattered as he tossed a few more pieces of firewood in, seeming to take interest in something out his side window... or, maybe just trying to ignore Ottie. Oh, for the love of... reaching down under my seat, I simply - loudly - undid the latch to my toolbox, Crown looking over as my hoof wrapped around the prybar again, an eyebrow raising towards him. He seemed to get the hint. "Ugh, fine, I get it. I guess if he's full on firewood, that's less of a chance he'd be hungry for pony... assuming overfeeding him isn't what causes him to grow giant and carnivorous, anyways..."

The wood pile behind us clattered as Crown Sheet pulled out a small stack of the cut logs, setting them near Ottie. A hungry look in his... tube-eyes, the clockwork pony wasted little time in starting to chomp through the wood, the ease at which he did so giving the both of us no small amount of alarm - Crown probably a bit more than me, in all likelyhood. Still, that's solid oak... note to self, don't put things I wanna keep into a robot pony's mouth. Not that I could imagine myself doing so for any reason to begin with...

Another clatter came from the tender, neither of us paying much mind to it, thinking it was probably just the wood settling again. We did, however, start paying attention when it was followed by yet another clatter, and then the passageway door shutting. Leaning over to get a better look myself, Crown Sheet was quick to get to his hooves, the uneasiness of Ottie's presence being replaced with a more distinct look of worry, his magic rapidly pulling out the medkit we had onboard. That... that is really not a great sign. Especially considering who's the most likely one needing medical attention...

Crown Sheet helped Stopwatch out from the corridor and onto the hoofplate of the tender, his magic already starting to apply some of the bandages and put a healing potion to his lips, myself likewise moving from Kipper's controls to be by Stopwatch's side. The malnourished unicorn showed more than a few very large bruises across his body, the crimson stain glinting along the passageway just driving the point in further - the fact that he managed to drag himself all the way up here with this sorta damage, that's impressive on it's own. And, more importantly, really should not have happened in the first place...

Purple potion dribbled across his cheeks as he coughed back against the flow, Crown Sheet moving the bottle back as Stopwatch gagged and sputtered, spitting up a sickly mix of blood and bile onto Kipper's floor. The battered unicorn paused for a moment to catch his breath, visibly starting to recover as the healing magic did it's work, leaning back to sit upright and look towards us all. "You... you're good ponies, you know... thank you. Nngh, while I'm not new to abuse, this is the first time Boomer's gone so far with it..." Boomer... I can't say I'm surprised. Maybe throwing him off while we're skirting around a valley somewhere actually wouldn't be a bad idea after all. "When are we likely to reach the next town? Master Brayef might have hired that goon, but if I'd died then it'd be his head, regardless of if Ottie made it to them. Master really doesn't much care for hearing other people have abused his property, you see."

A dark chuckle escaped Stopwatch's muzzle as myself and Crown Sheet shared a look, Kipper still chuffing away... oh crap! Stumbling on my own hooves for just a moment, I jumped back into my seat, looking down the single-track line ahead of us. Signal, signal, please tell me we didn't already pass the signal... Rounding a bend, one of the older semaphores caught my eye, in the down position - still green, line's clear ahead. Phew. A sigh of relief left me as I leaned back in the seat, looking back to the rest in the cab. "I think that was the signal for the switchback junction, we'll be getting back onto the mainline soon. Biscuit isn't too far off from there."

Stopwatch nodded to me a few times, gently pressing at some of the bandages wrapped around his midsection before drawing in a sharp breath from the action. "Egh... Good, good. I'll see to getting the message up to his ship when we arrive, likely after our mutual pain in the side has fallen asleep. Perhaps it would also be best if Ottie stayed up here while I left, less chance for him to become damaged, maliciously or accidentally." The weak unicorn let off a small chuckle as my eyes fell back to the brass pony behind me, his eyes still staring happily out the window. Glancing out with him... that Silverfish was still following us. "That, and it wouldn't hurt for him to see a little more of the world. Enjoying the sights out there, Ottie?"

He took a moment to turn and answer, those tube-eyes of his still affixed on the drone. "Yeah, the glinty-friend found us again! Looks like he can move pretty fast, too..." Shifting myself about to look back at Stopwatch - wish I would've gone for a swivel-seat instead - the unicorn wore a confused expression for just a moment, seeming to think, before he gently nodded in realization. Hnh, so he knows more about them after all... understandably, he seemed to recognize the look of wanting to be filled in a bit more, which I'm sure both myself and Crown Sheet were wearing.

"If you're expecting a thorough explanation, I'm afraid I don't know much. Whatever that thing is has been following us for quite some time, and to tell the truth I'm not sure why. Doubtful that it's something of Master Brayef's, though, he's one more for the spectacle. Would probably employ one of his robotic djinn had he wanted to check up on us..." Wearing a faint smirk, Stopwatch's expression was fast to darken as he let his head droop. "Sadly may remain a possibility, especially if I alert him to the current state of things. It would still take time to reach us, however..."

The firebox doors clattered loudly as Crown Sheet shook his hooves in front of himself, turning to address us. "Hang on, if even you don't know what that thing's up to, shouldn't we all be a lot more worried about whatever it might be doing? Sure, we saw 'em going around back at Mare's Lake, but I've never been stalked by one... I think. I don't wanna start being stalked by one now!" Oh boy, here we go again. Honestly, Crown Sheet, you get over one freakout and just find something brand new to get all worked up over...

Stopwatch gave his head a slight shake. "I don't think it means any harm, if it did then it's had plenty of opportunities to act upon it. Any of the times we've been stopped overnight, as one example. It just seems to want to... observe us." A quick chill ran up my spine as the bandaged unicorn said that, looking back out the window to see the little thing glinting sunlight, keeping pace with us as we transitioned onto the mainline. Harm or no harm, something really doesn't sit well with just being watched...

Oh, Biscuit can't get here any sooner...

The sun was well along it's descent as we sat in one of the sidings in the Biscuit service yard, the bright floodlamps turning on one by one with a loud buzz. Letting off a small sigh, I let the small curtains either side of Kipper's side windows close, blocking most of the cold blue light to let the soft yellow of the cab bulb illuminate everything instead. Ottie simmered softly as he sat in the fireman's chair, still looking out the window as he'd done when Stopwatch and Crown Sheet left half an hour ago to send the message north. Hope those two are doing alright...

His tube eyes looked towards me for a moment as I trotted up to him, resting a hoof on his metal shoulder. I swore I heard him let off a sigh as he looked back out the window, scanning the sky. "Guess my glinty-friend can't come into town here, or something. Haven't seen him since we arrived." Sad as he looked, I couldn't help but let off a small, sympathetic laugh. How can a bunch of gears, clockwork, and pistons act so cute?...

"Don't worry, Ottie, I'm sure it'll be back. You know, up in Mare's Lake, and another place called Cantercross, we see those things all the time, just flying around. They never really get too close to us ponies, but, who knows, maybe you'l be able to keep one of them as a pet, or something." I passed on a smile as those tube-eyes met mine, Ottie seeming to sit up slightly. If there's any pony who I could see having a flying robot as a pet, well, a steam-powered one would definitely have the best chances, I'd think. Ottie returned the smile for a moment, before his metal ear twitched and he sat fully upright, looking towards the left-side door.

As I joined him, a heavy hoof knocked against the hard wood, a stallion clearing his throat and seeming to find the right words to use echoing between Kipper and his tender. We wasted little time in getting Ottie at least partially hidden in the corridor before he finally, properly spoke. "Ahem, ahm, Equestrian National Rail Inspector, er... routine check?" Well, that definitely didn't sound convincing at all. Biscuit wasn't a top five vacation destination, but I thought they'd at least be above trying to rob a train. Not that our last car is doing us any favors... Moving quietly, I headed for my toolbox, and the prybar within. "Miss Water Case, please, I mean you no harm. I only wish to discuss matters about Ott- your, uh, special cargo. Privately, preferably."

O...kay, the weirdness scale just shot off the charts. They know my name, and more importantly, they also know about Ottie. Right... "Al... alright. No funny business, I have torpedos and I know how to improvise." Carefully, I pulled open the cab's side door, being greeted by a stallion adorned in a high-vis jacket and hardhat. Credit where due, it's definitely a good disguise for sneaking around a railyard. As soon as his hooves were all inside, he quickly pulled the door shut behind him, looking out the window for a moment. Meanwhile, I moved over to the tender passageway, blocking out Ottie's glowing eyes best I could. "Okay, get talking, how do you know me, and what do you know about the package I'm carrying?"

The construction pony turned about, looking towards me with a smile that... didn't entirely seem natural, but didn't seem to be too devious at the same time. Mostly it just seemed really... off. "We've been following you since you were assigned to pull this train, and we've been following the package for much longer than that. Moreover, we know enough about you that you seemed like the most likely candidate to assist us in rescuing Ottie, as well. He is a very unique automaton, as you've come to learn." Rescuing Ottie? Like... actually maybe being able to send him somewhere he'll be safe? That's... wait. He said 'we'.

"Uh-huh... what do you mean by 'we'? Just who are you, really?" Okay, I'm not daft enough to just hoof over Ottie to some freaky hivemind cult, no matter how much better an alternative they might be. Assuming there actually is a better option between the two current ones, if that's the case. Ottie hissed softly in the corridor, myself glancing back to him for just a second, as the construction pony let off a small chuckle.

"Oh, do forgive me, it has been a while since I've approached somepony directly. My name is Ping, I'm a diplomat for a sheltered, safe settlement that specializes in giving robots such as Ottie a more welcome home, among others of a similar nature. It's unfortunate that his systems aren't quite advanced enough to be able to interface with our more rapid communication abilities, but we have been keeping a very close eye on his journey all the same." The construction pony - Ping, I guess - leaned forwards slightly, seeming to speak past me and to the corridor. "I believe you might know it better as your 'glinty-friend', correct?"

Ottie's eyes seemed to glow slightly brighter as he moved forwards, out of the darkness of the corridor. I stood firm all the same, keeping him back - protected. "Okay, so you're from the place that owns all those silverfish drone-things? And it's a home for sentient robots... you're... not... you're not a robot, too, are you?" I mean, if he is, that's... that'd make sense. On whatever crazy logic I'm trying to process right now.

Ping let off a small chuckle, passing on a short, almost-but-not-quite-natural nod, myself not knowing whether to relax or try and protect Ottie even harder. Pony-eating steam-powered robots are one thing, Crown Sheet, robots that can convincingly look like ponies are a whole different kettle of freaky fish. "Have been for as long as I can recall. But, believe me when I say, our intentions are purely for what's best for Ottie. And yourself and your crew, should you decide to accept our assistance. The leader of our town, The Architect, has already devised a way for you to safely disappear off the radar of any prying eyes for a while... once a certain party has been taken care of, anyways."

I leaned aside slightly, Ottie moving further forwards. So, these guys want to help Ottie, *and* help us, too... and they already seem to have more of a cohesive plan than we do. Hrm. Steam hissed as pistons moved and gears whirred, Ottie pulling himself fully forwards out of the corridor and onto the tender hoofplate. He looked to me, his tube-eyes meeting mine as a smile formed on his muzzle. "He's talking kinda like Stopwatch does, he sounds like he means it. Living with a bunch of other robots like me sounds like it'd be more fun than going to live with a mean old prince, anyways."

A soft sigh left me, eyes falling to the floor. Well, Ottie trusts him, so I suppose there is that. Being around other living, learning robots too... doesn't sound like it'd be a bad thing, either. Guess that's the decision made, then. I looked back up to Ping, that not-quite-right smile on his muzzle. "After we do that, and... if we can go back out, leave and still do work somewhere, for some independent, small railroad or something... will I be able to come and visit Ottie, when I want to?"

Ping seemed to pause for just a moment, his eyes - quite alarmingly, as a matter of fact - changing to look a bit like some old-world terminal screens as text scrolled across them, before he blunk and they returned to normal. "Of course you can! There's no reason why you couldn't, really. All we ask is that you don't reveal the location of the Factory to anyone... The Architect will fill you in with regards to more of the details when you do arrive, but currently you do have more pertinent matters to attend to."

I let loose a long sigh as I nodded towards the pony-robot. Well, that's a relief... but, right, come on Casey, we have to get there in the first place. Hopefully their plan is better than throwing us off a cliff... "Since you do seem to have accepted our assistance, we'll have one of the drones drop off the information and some of the tools while you're underway tomorrow. You'll have plenty of time to prepare before you reach the planned area, and I would highly suggest memorizing the map route whenever the moment is available." Ping's expression lowered slightly as he leaned back some, continuing. "However... there is still the matter of your one passenger, Paper Trail 'Boomer'. We have good reason to believe he may direct the violence he imparted upon Stopwatch last night towards yourself and Crown Sheet in the near future, and beyond that we haven't been able to properly work out a plan of action to remove him from the equation prior to your disappearing. I'm afraid you'll have to sort that part out yourselves."

A somewhat baffled guffaw left my lips, as I ran a forehoof through my mane, eyes focused on Ping. Oh, sure, of course there'd be a hitch like that... "So you're telling me, you, this Architect guy, and an entire settlement of robot ponies couldn't have worked out some way to get Boomer away from us yourselves?"

"You'll have to forgive us, we've been rather preoccupied preparing for the arrival of another pony of interest, and their own friends, among the usual work at the Factory. Rather humorously, you'd actually crossed paths with them not long after receiving that delivery order. But regardless, we haven't had the time to work out all of the necessary details." Ping adjusted himself on his hooves slightly, myself letting off a small sigh. Well... great. Barring booking it while he's out drinking or something, assuming he does leave the train, this is probably not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows...

Ottie whirred beside me, moving forwards slightly, an... odd expression on his muzzle. I think he was actually trying to look a bit confrontational. "You stopped sounding like Stopwatch does. Did you really not think of anything?" Well, that definitely caught me offguard. From the looks of things, did so to Ping too.

The construction pony in front of us leaned back on his hooves for a moment, looking side to side, before letting his head drop. "We... did calculate one favorable possibility, yes. We don't resort to violence unless it is absolutely necessary, but unfortunately the only way to ensure removal of Boomer from the equation is to have him perish. This would also allow the ruse to be more convincing and increase the chance of your safe disappearance, as having a recognizable body at the site would remove a greater deal of suspicion should anyone come to investigate further."

Ping looked especially somber about the whole thing, as I tried to process it. So, best bet to remove Boomer from the equation is to... -really- remove him from the equation. That does make ya think... as does wondering exactly what they're planning, if the phrase 'recognizable body' is factoring into our chance of success, for cryin' out loud! As I was about to ask him about that, though, a clatter came from outside, sounding like somepony falling onto the gravel railbed. There was a short curse, before it sounded like they rushed onto their hooves again, and started running off - towards the back of the train. I really hope that wasn't who I think it is.

Ping looked towards myself and Ottie, the alarm clear on his face. "I'm afraid we haven't much time now. Protect yourselves as best you can, you will receive the needed materials and full plan tomorrow morning. I do hope to get good news from the Factory about you all. Good luck." The construction pony looked around the railyard through Kipper's window for a moment, before sliding the door open and allowing himself to drop to the ground. The door slid back shut with the sound of magic, myself swallowing dryly, looking over to Ottie. His tube-eyes met mine, that unfamiliar uneasy expression on his muzzle mirroring me quite well.

Tomorrow is not gonna be a fun day.

Author's Note

Again, my apologies for the delay on this chapter as well, been getting back to work at a proper job so creative efforts have been tanking as of late. This story still has some to get through yet, however, and believe me when I say I do fully plan on seeing this through to it's conclusion!

Hopefully it won't take until it's anniversary to wrap up.

4. - Misery Range

I jerked myself awake in Kipper's engineer seat, the light of dawn streaming through the curtained windows to my left. The clatter of the firebox doors closing shut again caught my groggy attention, looking over to blink at them a few more times. Was... Ottie playing with them, or something? Stopwatch, maybe? It's barely 6 in the morning, it couldn't possibly be... Another few pieces of firewood were tossed onto the fire in a familiar aura of magic, as my eyes looked over to see Crown Sheet in his chair, humming softly, tending to Kipper. Crown Sheet. At six in the morning. And he actually looks like he's awake. "Mm, mornin' Casey. Was wondering when you were gonna wake up, we gotta get moving soon, right?"

My jaw hung slack as I could only bring myself to blink at him in bewilderment, sitting myself upright. Slowly, I took a forehoof and brought it over to one side of my head, giving myself a quick right hook. And then coming to regret the fact that I somehow managed to just sucker-punch myself. "Sonuva- frrgh, gah, Celestia wept... Don't do this to me Crown Sheet, I'm not used to you being awake before I am, at all. What's the occasion?"

"Biscuit's pharmacy had some anti-exhaustion meds in stock, figured I might as well give 'em a try. Decent night's sleep later, and here we are." He passed on a smirk, leaning forwards to get a look at his clock before gesturing towards my side of Kipper's controls. We couldn't be... oh crap, we are leaving this early! And that bastard was gonna let me sleep in... steam hissed away loudly as I started Kipper along to get us back onto the mainline, large white clouds billowing from the cylinder cocks as we pulled forwards. The points eventually passed underneath, Crown Sheet shutting off the valves to get the blast pipe working. "Ottie also filled me and Stopwatch in on what happened while we were out... sorta, anyways. Took a bit of sweet-talking and a month's wages, but I also picked up this little number from the gun shop in town. Y'know, just in case..."

The latch on his toolbox undid itself in his magic as he lifted open the lid, his aura wrapping around a thing in an old cloth rag and pulling it out to see. Unwrapping the cover, it turned out to be... some sorta big-bore carbine, or something? Really oversized revolver? Er... He let off a small sigh, his magic pulling another thing out of the toolbox. This one just so happened to be a small cardboard box, and from the label... "Seriously? A revolver shotgun? Nevermind the fact that you're a complete idiot if you're thinking of firing that thing inside Kipper's cab, was a regular pump-action not good enough for you, or something?"

Crown Sheet let off a guilty chuckle as he put the ammo back into his toolbox, wrapping the gun up in the cloth again. Of course, couldn't just get something not-unique... wait a minute. "Hold up, hold up, hold up, what the actual FUCK are you doing buying a gun!? Whaddaya mean 'just in case'?! Have you gone completely daft!?" From the way he so gently managed to drop that gun right between his legs - and from the looks of things, really did feel doing so - I'm gonna guess he wasn't entirely expecting that completely justified outburst. His forehooves covered his crotch as he regained himself, drawing in a sharp breath and letting it out in a small shudder.

"Ow... egh, I mean, we gotta have some way to deal with the, uh, 'problem', right? From what Ottie said, all the details are pretty much solid, we just need to get rid of our one passenger, somehow. A little 20-gauge should do the trick, right?" Picking the gun back up in his magic and putting it back into the toolbox, he took a short moment to toss a bit more wood onto the fire, still regaining himself a little. I, meanwhile, only could continue staring at him in disbelief, even as we accelerated down the mainline.

"Yeah, or get us both killed when you fumble a shot right into Kipper's boiler. Don't try and be a hero, we'll figure something out when the time comes. Maybe we bolt him in Ottie's cage, or something, would at least be fair..." Granted, that didn't quite fill the 'recognizable body' quota we needed, but, well, it was something. Easing back on the reverser some, we were soon hitting our proper speed, the rolling expanses of the mountainous terrain climbing around us. "We still need to get the details from one of those silverfish drone-things first, anyways. Still want to know whatever the hell this 'Architect' guy came up with..."

Crown Sheet let off a small grunt beside me, the firebox doors clattering open once more. The track slowly started to ascend, the modest two-percent grade, while hardly the worst on the route, still making me go a bit easy with the reverser. Can't have the wheels slipping... Mmh. A sigh escaped my lips, eyes looking out through the front window. "You... you don't think we jumped onboard with this idea too quickly, do you? I mean... not like we really have much time to think about it anyways, but... I dunno. I guess we'd still have Kipper, at least."

The pony beside me, in another bout of uncharacteristicness today, promptly responded to that with a sharp laugh, soon followed by a sigh. "There you go again, Casey, just because I'm your firepony doesn't mean I'm automatically onboard with every single crazy plan you've ever come up with." A few more logs went into the flames, the firebox doors clattering shut again. Crown Sheet looked over to meet my understandably surprised gaze - he's not gonna follow, but he still bought a freakin' shotgun for this? He let off a small sigh, leaning back in his seat. "But, don't get all panicky, I am still onboard for this one. Even as bad as it seems in the short run, won't let you just go throw your career away by yourself. 'specially not out here, you'd never be able to keep the fire going."

Credit where due, least that did get me to chuckle a little. The cab air fell silent soon after though, save for the usual sounds of Kipper's motions, Crown Sheet adjusting himself again. "Water Case, you know as well as I that we aren't going to be reaching Mare's Lake. I overheard Stopwatch's conversation with the prince, whatever the hell those 'djinn' things he has are coming to take over for us soon as we get out along the Misery Range, before Cordite. From the way Stopwatch looked after he got off the phone, I can only imagine they're more like what I keep actually dreaming about, and I still really don't wanna end up robot pony food. They see that Ottie's out of the cage, the chance of that happening is way higher than I ever want it to be."

Another short, incredulous chuckle left me - still stuck on that, ain'tcha? - as I let my eyes fall back to the route ahead. So, we're not gonna be getting back home with Ottie either way, then... huh. Leaning back, I reached into my inner pocket, retrieving the old, slightly smelly work order. Unfolding it carefully enough, I started to read through it again, first silently, but slowly starting to do it aloud. "'...special... Saddle Arabian prince... full payment only on delivery of the package to Mare's Lake, partial payment per stop.' They won't be getting the full payment... they won't be getting the full payment!" Laughter overcame me as I leaned back in Kipper's engineer seat, hugging the work order close. They're not gonna get the full payment after all... sniffling in a little as I calmed back down, I looked over to find Crown Sheet looking at me, quite understandably, as if I'd just gone nuts. With the kind of relief this brought, I might have... just a little.

I sat myself back up, taking the work order and crumpling it up, much to his surprise. "You wanna know something, Crown Sheet? We're fucked. We. Are. Fucked. We're never gonna work on ENR again. And you know why?" Wearing a grin, I dropped to the floor, trotting over to the actuator for the firebox doors. I pressed down on the pedal, making the steam pressure swing the doors open, still holding the crumpled-up work order. "This was our last chance. The dispatcher told me before we left that he'd have to let us go, if we didn't get this haul done. Well, guess what, if the prince is gonna come and get Ottie himself?" With one swift motion, I chucked the crumpled paper into the roaring fire, letting the metal doors clatter back into place. "We're fucked. And that makes things at least a little bit easier."

The unicorn across from me blunk a few times as he processed this information, leaning back in his seat as I returned to my own. That grin I had wasn't going anywhere fast, not when it meant we'd had our options properly narrowed down for us. Just have to wait for whatever that Architect guy would be sending along so we can pull this off, now... Crown Sheet let off a small grunt, adjusting himself in his chair. "Well. Guess that's one way to get things sorted out. Didn't think things were going that bad on that front, seemed like we were still doing pretty good work around the yard, and all... guess I won't owe Crossing Grade for that poker match anymore, at least..."

"That's the spirit, Crown Sheet." A dry chuckle left my lips as I leaned back, looking out the window with a relieved smile. No more work schedules... no more slaver cars... no more worries. Just me, Kipper, Crown Sheet, Ottie, Stopwatch... things'll work out. Watching out the window, the wide valleys and forested mountains continued on by, along with the minutes. The loud chuffs out Kipper's stack slowed as the grade increased, the unicorn beside me shuffling the hot coals around and putting another few logs on, closing the firebox doors with a sigh.

"So... what's the plan, after this is all said and done?" Crown Sheet piped up again, catching my attention. You know... that was a point. It was hard to figure what he was thinking, but that slight frown gave some clues, at least. "I mean... say everything goes exactly to plan, we get to the Architect guy, Ottie's safe, we're scott-free. What do we do after that?" ...damnit, Crown Sheet.

We sat in silence for longer than I'd hoped we would've, as I tried to think of an answer. Spent so long worrying over Ottie, didn't even wonder what the next part would be... what if they need to take the whole train to make it convincing? If they actually had to crash Kipper at the bottom of a valley... they said they were watching us for a while, so maybe they might at least have something else planned, so we can keep the train. I mean, those silverfish drones aren't big enough to carry a pony anywhere, let alone a steam-powered automaton one... right? They'd need us to get Ottie to wherever they are, probably. Hopefully. But then... after that...

"I... I don't know. We'd probably still have Kipper, and I guess the whole train too, so it's not like we'd be completely homeless. There're probably at least a few tunnels with sidings we could make home in if needed, maybe go around doing odd jobs wherever the tracks take us around here. Probably gonna be a few years before we can actually try working for another railroad, if at all..." A sigh escaped me, only to be answered with a small, dry chuckle from Crown Sheet, myself looking over to see him shaking his head. Did I miss a joke or something? Or... is crazy a transmittable disease?

"Casey, you forget about something? If the plan is that we're supposed to end up 'crashed', and they need somepony's body there, what do you think that means for us?" The confusion already on my face stayed, as the unicorn beside me just wore a tired grin. It means we're safe, alive, and... "It means we're supposed to be dead. We 'die' in the crash. Unless that Architect guy has some fancy thing that makes people forget faces, we can't be going around anywhere, especially with Kipper and the train. Last I checked, stealth bucks don't work on a few hundred tons of steel, steam, and smoke, so we have to find some other way to disappear."

I leaned back in my chair, looking down to my hooves in my lap, the firebox doors clattering with two more logs going in. Right. Ponies usually don't survive train crashes in ravines. A long sigh left my lips as I leaned forwards, working the controls a bit. "Damnit, Crown Sheet... well... they do have whatever Ping was using for a disguise, maybe they have one that works for regular ponies? And... maybe locomotives, too?" A weak chuckle left me, looking over to see Crown Sheet at least cracking something of a smile. Grasping at straws and desperate, but hey, you never know. Maybe they already figured it out for us... maybe. "We'll work something out, eventually. They'll at least let us visit Ottie, so maybe we can stay there while we try to find somewhere to go?"

"You want me to willingly run the chance of having my everything eaten by a giant robot pony? I thought you knew me better than that!" We both broke into a small laugh as my oh-so-good-at-acting fireman put on his performance, eventually calming back down. Kipper's stack chuffed quicker as the tracks leveled out, myself letting back on the throttle a bit. "Maybe. We'll see if we get there, I dunno if I could sleep if the next door neighbor's whirring and hissing all night. Might just need to find somewhere we haven't been and settle down for a while."

"Whatever we do, we're in agreement that anywhere near New Appleoosa is absolutely out of the question, right?" We both shared in another chuckle, Crown Sheet giving his head a light shake. Yeah, don't wanna go anywhere Kipper might end up even worse off, at least... A light smile on my muzzle, I turned my attention to back out the cab windows, watching the snowy mountains and valleys ease on by. Just waiting, now...

A faint glint caught my eye in one of the valleys, before it rapidly shot up past the cab window, the speed of the darn thing nearly causing me to throw myself off of my chair backwards. Now what in the hell was that!? Catching myself, I pressed my face up against the glass to try and get a look at the thing again, it having disappeared over the roof. Moments passed, before a new sound started to permeate the cab, over Kipper's chuffing and the hiss of live steam - sounded like some sort of small thrusters, I think. Glancing about, it seemed that Crown Sheet found sight of it first, his magic already flaring to take something from... huh, that's definitely a bit larger of a silverfish drone than I remember seeing. Maybe they're all that size, and I've just never seen one this close before... neat. Surprised it fit between the cab and the tender, actually...

A folded-up map was pulled out from it's stowage compartment, along with a holotape and something that looked worryingly like a remote detonator. The Silverfish hovered idly over the footplate as Crown Sheet unfolded the map, scanning over it. Levitating it over for me to look as well, the map was plainly marked out with the route ahead of us, an X marked up at a point along one of the large turns that hugged a mountainside, the other edge leading to a deep, forested valley below. Well, guess that's where the crash is supposed to be... and this other thing further to the south is where the silverfish met us. Robot timing, I guess.

Looking up north past the crash site, our attention was drawn to one of the many tunnels that cut through the Misery Range, the tracks - quite interestingly - diverting while still under the mountain. I know that there are underground switching yards and all, but I didn't think extra points and wyes inside tunnels were all that common. The line drawn on the map followed over to the west, not seeming to follow any marked rail lines, before abruptly terminating near a town by the name of Tungsten. Well... it's something, I suppose.

Crown Sheet put the detonator into his stowage box, levitating up the holotape in his magic for a closer look at it. We both shared a glance between ourselves, before turning back to the silverfish drone, myself leaning against the back of my seat as I scratched the back of my head. "Uh... dunno if you just overlooked this, but, neither of us really have a way to play this thing. Guess you guys might work with a lotta ponies with pip-bucks, or something? Er, when you do have living ponies helping... now I think about it, holotapes probably do work better for robots."

I might've gone crazy, but I swear that the silverfish drone just sighed at the both of us. Righting itself, it opened up a compartment on it's side, the slot big enough to accept the holotape. Crown Sheet slid the tape in, the slot accepting it with a click, a new and quite unfamiliar voice coming from a speaker nearby the slot. "Water Case, Crown Sheet, I'm glad you accepted our invitation. We'll have time for proper introductions later, but just so you have some assurance on who you're listening to, I'm known as The Architect." ...huh. For a leader of a robot settlement, he sure sounds much less... robotic, than I expected. Then again, Ping sure sounded like a normal pony, and so does Ottie...

"The map provided contains the location of the prepared wreck, as well as the route to our settlement. We'll have the points already prepared for your departure from the main route after you complete the necessary tasks, so you needn't worry about anything beyond the operation of your locomotive after that point. The detonator also included is set to alert you when it'll be safest to activate the explosives as well, to cause an artificial avalanche, and won't be active until you reach that location. Hopefully the location decided upon will provide a cinematic enough experience for you all, heh." Well, glad to know he still cares enough to wanna give us a good view of it all. Avalanche... yeah, guess that makes sense, especially considering how that turn isn't nearly sharp enough to have us thrown off the tracks by speed alone.

"We trust that you've got a means of... 'dealing with' Boomer as well, as that's the only part in planning we were unable to get to. Your assigned Ping unit reported that Crown Sheet had bought a carbine of some description while you were in Biscuit, but if that fails you could possibly turn Boomer's own shotgun upon himself. Or, as he also reported, you apparently do claim to know how to improvise, Water Case, so I'm certain you'll still manage if either of those options are unfeasible. I'll be first to admit that this plan is far less certain than I would have preferred, but at this stage we do not have any further options. We will be observing you as you enact the plan, and hoping for the best." Crown Sheet passed on a smug look to me, myself returning a glare - so buying the shotgun might not have been as daft an idea after all, shut up.

Waiting for the click of the holotape ejecting, we instead heard the Architect's voice continue, albeit faintly. "What?... They don't have... Oh, in the name of Turing. Well, get a drone installed with a player and send it instead. I know, I know, it was my own oversight in this case... oh, and I forgot to-" The holotape cut out at that point, the slot it went in ejecting it for Crown Sheet to take, the silverfish drone still hovering idly by. Possibly seeming a bit annoyed at it's own creator, from the looks of things. Hey, I'd be too if I had to be woken up to fly out to the middle of the butt-freezing mountains...

The unicorn beside me pulled the tape, putting it in his stowage box with the detonator and shotgun, the drone seeming to give a slight nod before hovering back out and away. The metal door closed shut as our eyes met each other's, Crown Sheet pulling the map up again to work out where we were. Guess all that's settled, then...

Now to play the waiting game.

The section of track marked with the X was coming up on us soon, myself giving a look over to Crown Sheet as he undid the latch on his stowage box, tossing a few more cut logs onto the fire. Giving one last glance to the map, he passed on a nod, and I cut the throttle and turned on the brakes. The wheels squealed as we slowed to a full stop, the towering mountain to our right with the valley on our left, snow-capped trees lining it's far depths. The remains of an old locomotive and a couple carriages could just about be seen laid up against some of the trees further down the slope - guess that's what'll be the wreck for us, then. Detonator isn't sounding off yet.

The air was quiet beyond Kipper's idle hissing, both of us just waiting tensely for the pounding of hooves. Hope Stopwatch was able to hide himself well this time... a minute passed, and I fidgeted in my seat. He should be storming up to the cab by now... Crown Sheet seemed to share in my anxiousness. "Something's up. It's late enough in the day, he should be awake. Hell, I'm awake..."

"I know... it's not-" A sharp crack left my ears ringing, head ducking forwards as shattered window glass peppered my back. Un-wrenching my face, I managed to blink a few times, looking over at Crown Sheet - he seemed just as startled by it, his magic flaring to grab the first aid kit from off the cabinet behind him. A second blast sent a wave of heat over my back from the window, splintered wood raining down from the roof as dull sounds started to return to my ears, that ringing persisting. Fuck me, how do ponies handle getting shot at like this all the time?!

I fell forwards in the cab for Crown Sheet to look me over, affording me a good vantage point as the door opened up on my side of the cab, a very angry mercenary with a short double-barreled shotgun in his muzzle climbing in. He dropped onto his hooves as he pulled the shotgun from his mouth, fumbling around with his jacket to pull out two more shells for it. Rather unmercifully, my hearing started coming back just in time to have to listen to him. "So, you two fucking useless excuses for ponies gotta 'remove me from the equation' huh? Trying to get a bigger cut for yourselves, or were you just trying to piss me off again? Because believe me, you've been doing a great job at that second one."

Boomer eventually managed to get the fresh rounds loaded in, closing his gun with a snap and readying it to fire. "Or was it somethin' else, you having some delusions about being a goody two-shoes savior for a useless junk heap? I saw the crate all cut up, wonder if that prince would like to know that his prize is able to run free and all. Or maybe he'll pay even more if I gave him a whole town of living rust-buckets instead..." The merc flashed a smirk as he leveled his shotgun at us both, and the very much so pressurized boiler, looking between us. "So, here's how it's gonna go. You both are gonna get this oversized teapot on the move again, and we're gonna get to delivering the atuoma-whatever onboard, along with whatever you got that'll point the prince towards all the other robots. If you don't, you're gonna learn what it feels like to get your face filled with lead, and trust me, it ain't pretty."

Looking over to Crown Sheet with both barrels still pointed towards me, I let loose a sigh, taking a step back and raising both hooves in submission. Boomer's muzzle behind his gun turned into a grin, my eyes falling back to Crown Sheet. He seemed pretty understandably shocked by this decision, eyes focused on me, before I looked over to his stowage box, and then back to him. Shock gave way to realization as I slid myself back into the engineer's seat, making sure Boomer was still focused on me. "Alright, we'll get moving. The snowfall's made it dangerous here, there could be avalanches, and we're not really prepared for snow on the line."

The faint tinkling of a magic aura just about caught my ears as I took off the brakes, the loud hiss of the air line getting repressurized hopefully covering the sound of the compartment door being opened. Boomer let off a bit of a growl, and I could hear his hooves trot closer to me. "Why the hell would you think I'd give a rat's ass about a bit of fucking snow? Just drive the damn thing, that's what you're here for. And let me watch, just in case you suffer an accident and get 'removed from the equation'... whatever the fuck that me-"

A sharp click was heard throughout the cabin, the breath catching in my throat. That was way too close, please tell me you didn't aim that thing where it'd shoot me after going through him, Crown Sheet! Looking back at Boomer, he blunk in confusion, shotgun in his hoof, as my own eyes fell on... the detonator being held against his head. You have got to be fucking kidding me. I turned my eyes over to look at my ever so very fucking competent fireman, the distinct look of a pony who is seriously regretting his decisions clear on his face. This is gonna suck.

Boomer jumped back to the tender hoofplate, Crown Sheet dropping the detonator to the floor as the mercenary put his shotgun back into his muzzle, his full attention directed to my fireman. Still with his magic up, Crown Sheet instead grabbed the muzzle of the shotgun, wrenching it over to the side away from us as I go to my hooves. Okay, plan A didn't work, improvise time... please let plan B be good enough. One of the rounds was fired with a loud bang, making all of our ears ring and taking out the glass in the fireman-side door, myself covering and ducking while I tried to recover from it. Looking back to the tender again, I saw the magic aura dissipate from the shotgun barrels, along with the faint glow of two nixie tube eyes in the tender corridor. Boomer regained himself quickly, though, his attention falling back to me - he still had one shot left.

With a mighty hiss of steam and pistons, a copper and brass form lunged out of the darkness, plowing into Boomer's side and knocking his aim off just at the last moment. The second shot buried itself into Kipper's floorboards rather than my face, pinging off of the metal structures underneath while Ottie fought with the mercenary, Boomer somehow managing to stumble around even with Ottie's full weight on his back. Crown Sheet's magic ripped the shotgun from Boomer's mouth, being just enough to make him stumble on his hooves and fall with a loud thud, still struggling against the automaton. Oh, I should so kiss that robot pony...

I grabbed the long prybar from under my seat, seeing the mercenary still somehow putting up a fight, holding it firm in my muzzle. I gave it a swing, feeling it's end only just connect with one of Boomer's legs, sending him prone again as Ottie pounded his hooves against his sides. Looking over to Crown Sheet, he had finally grabbed the right gun, and was fumbling with the shells for it. Oh for crying out loud, we need to finish this sooner! Looking around, the red emergency box drew my eye, one of those crazy ideas that just might not work forming. "Crown Sheet! Toredo! Mouf!"

The unicorn looked at me like I had lost it for just a second, before he dropped the shells he had in his magic and pulled out one of the small warning devices, quickly levitating it over. Ottie pounded on Boomer's side again, making him cry out in pain, which offered just enough space for the torpedo to get wedged inside his opened muzzle. That definitely helped with muffling him, but we need to silence him for good... "Geh clear!"

I reared up on my back legs, prybar still at the ready, seeing Ottie push himself back off of Boomer and pin him further against the floor in the process. Putting as much weight behind it as I could, I brought the dense steel bar down on Boomer's head, the force being just enough to activate the small explosive satchel. We all stumbled back as our ears were left ringing once again, myself falling against my chair, letting the prybar fall from my mouth. Heavy breaths escaped me as I rested there, the sound coming back - hissing steam, Kipper idling, Ottie's gentle whirring, and Crown Sheet letting off a long, relieved sigh.

Looking to the center of the cab, the mangled remains of Boomer's jaw painted a small red splotch on the cab floor, burn marks accompanying it. Hurk, well, it was effective, at least... A magic aura, this one being a different shade than Crown's, brought over the familiar sack that had covered Ottie's crate originally. With little grace, Stopwatch pulled Boomer's corpse into it, removing it from view. He also pulled over a couple sponges and a bucket of water... and started to clean up some of the gore. How nice of 'im.

The bespectacled unicorn passed on a warm smile as he trotted out of the corridor's darkness, one that I returned, and Crown Sheet shared in as I glanced to him. Eyes falling to Ottie, his were looking at the sack for just a moment, before they turned towards me. He rose to his hooves with a soft hiss, moving forwards towards myself, as I moved to meet him in a hug. He saved my life, and I'm saving his.

We've done it.

Kipper's brakes squeaked softly as we slowed, the detonator letting off a steady beeping in the stowage compartment. Looking out my side window, the curve of the tracks let us have a pretty good sight of the mountainside we'd passed by, the train coming to an easy stop. Crown Sheet pulled the detonator free of the compartment, getting to his hooves and holding it out for me. I dropped from my own chair, passing on a nod, moving over to the cab doorway and stepping down out of it.

The chill mountain air bit at my flanks as I trotted a bit closer to the edge, Crown Sheet coming up alongside me on my right, soon followed by Stopwatch and Ottie on my left. My fireman passed the small beeping detonator to me, my breath condensing into a gentle cloud in the cold air. Well, this is it... "We're as good as free, now, guys. No more cages, no more slaves, no more worries... maybe still a few fears of hungry robots." Crown Sheet passed on a small grunt and smirk, giving me a gentle smack on the back of the head with his hoof. Yeah, I was asking for that.

We all let loose a small chuckle, Stopwatch trotting forwards. "I might have only known you two for a few days, but all the same, it's wonderful to have encountered a couple of ponies who truly care about others so much. Whatever happens after this, wherever we end up, I hope it ends with us all still being together, in some capacity. It's... it's wonderful to have some ponies to call friends."

"Family." Crown Sheet spoke up beside me, catching our attention. A soft grin was on his muzzle, as he rested back on his hooves. "I mean, hey, it's definitely a dysfunctional one, but, yanno, what one isn't in these wastelands? Wherever we go, we're in it as a family." Ottie happily clapped his hooves together as I had to rub at my eyes with one of my own, vision blurring a bit. Oh, ya big softie, you never told me you were so good at tugging the heatstrings... "Besides, those who slay together, stay together, am I right?"

"Oh, shut up, ya dumb unicorn." I couldn't keep myself from breaking down into laughter, giving Crown a shove in the side with a hoof, watching him stumble a little. Couldn't just let that heartwarming moment stand without being a smartass, could you? Ottie whirred a little beside me as I regained myself, drawing my attention. Looking to him, a smile was on his copper muzzle, those orange-glowing eyes meeting mine, full of hope and happiness.

"I like having a family. Especially this one." A wide grin held on my muzzle as the automaton pony rested a hoof on my back, leaning up against me in a gentle hug. Who knew a robot could be so sweet... letting off a last breath, I brought the detonator up, holding it in my mouth and looking to the mountainside. With a light click, the beeping finally stopped, a moment later the mountainside erupting in a big bright fireball. Sweet Celestia, you'd think a buzzbomber landed there...

The snow started to flow down the hillside towards the tracks, slowly at first but soon gathering plenty of momentum by the time it reached them. By the time the explosion reached our ears with a booming thump, the valley below was engulfed in a big white wave, trees being bent and snapped out of the way as it charged onwards. The old train and body left behind were undoubtedly carried on the tide, buried under the tons of snow, marking the place where we all... well, where we all died. I pulled the detonator free from my mouth, still wearing a smile, and move a hoof to reach around Ottie's back, pulling him closer into the hug. The snow eventually slowed and settled, a big white flood on the valley's side far below the tracks.

We were free.

Author's Note

So, yanno that thing about hopefully not taking until it's anniversary to finish up I posted in the footer of last chapter? Yeah... looking that way. Still, after long last finally an update, and we're drawing ever nearer it's conclusion as well! Hopefully you all enjoyed this new chapter, and I do hope it was all worth the wait.