Firefly paced up and down in her office, a look of deep concern on her face.
“What’s the matter, President Firefly?” asked one of her aides.
“We have a serious matter with timetabling,” Firefly replied. “The 300-mile run between Canterlot and Los Angeles is currently timetabled to take 3 hours nonstop for steam power, and 2 hours 40 for diesel.”
“Is this a problem, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Firefly sighed. “Yes. Yes, it is. It means we cannot compete with air traffic. And with Canterlot getting an airport, what’s to stop people from just flying from LA to here?”
“And the goods traffic too,” the aide replied.
Just then, Director Hurricane entered the office. “Good morning, Firefly!” he called.
“Morning,” Firefly replied unenthusiastically.
“Why the long face? Is it due to the airport opening?”
Firefly turned to face him. “We need to get speeds of our passenger trains up as soon as we can, or else those flights will leave us in the dust.”
Hurricane put his hand to his chin. “Well, when I was in England many years ago, I visited a place called Crewe. In a depot nearby, they had a most remarkable train...”
A few weeks later, the press gathered outside a shed to the side of the mainline at Crystal City. It was a very long shed, with a rolling shutter, and was built of stainless steel. Firefly stepped out front to address the crowds.
“Good morning, everyone!” she called. “I am certain you want to learn why we called you here today. It is because I am proud to announce a new initiative to improve our railway.”
There was a brief murmur of voices, before Firefly spoke again.
“As you know, Canterlot is due to get an airport, which would severely affect passenger numbers. However, after some brainstorming, we have come up with a new train to leave the airlines in the dust!”
There was some more murmuring.
“Open the shutter!”
There was a brief humming noise, as the motor for the door complied and lifted that great shutter clear of the rails. A rumbling sound was briefly audible, and the reporters were ushered back as the machine emerged from the shed.
It was painted black, white, and red, with the exception of the engine’s front end, which was painted yellow with an angular nose to offset the wind resistance. The cab window was accented with black, and the front end bore the text InterCity APT. The set consisted of two power cars in the middle, also bearing the text InterCity APT, 6 carriages, and two driving cars, one at each end. The set rolled forward until it stopped with four carriages outside the shed.
“May I proudly present, the Advanced Passenger Train!”
Director Hurricane excitedly nodded. They were most lucky that Crewe had agreed to loan them those plans, but at last they had the weapon with which to fight the airlines!
One of the reporters in the crowd took a photograph of the train, which looked most splendid.
That Thursday, the Canterlot Herald arrived on the doorstep of Sweet Apple Acres. As the family was having breakfast, Big Mac went out to collect the paper, and brought it back in with him, opening it up as he did so.
Apple Bloom caught a glimpse of the front cover, and couldn’t help but be excited. “Is that the new train they’ve been talkin’ about? Ah’ve heard it tilts so it can go round bends real fast!”
Applejack laughed. “Simmer down Sugarcube, and let Big Mac read it.”
Big Mac cleared his throat. “New train ta slash travel times,” he read. “On the weekend beginnin’ 18th o’January-”
“That’s this Saturday,” Grand Pear noted.
“The California Coast Railroad is launchin’ its new high-speed electric train.” Mac’s eyes scanned down the article in confusion. “The InterCity Advanced Passenger Train-wow, that’s a mouthful-will commence runnin’ a new trial service between Canterlot and Crystal City. This new train will cut journey times between the two cities by 45 minutes, and has a number o’new features the company was not willin’ ta comment on. This new train muddled up the yard, causin’ delays-”
“What?” Granny Smith said. “That don’t make a lick of sense!”
Applejack peered over Big Mac’s shoulder. “Yer readin’ the wrong article.”
Apple Bloom simply turned bright red and moaned, hiding her head in her hands. “Why do we need constant reminders of that?”
Mac chuckled nervously. “Yup. This new train was unveiled to the public last Saturday, and the first public service leaves at 10:00, returnin’ to Canterlot at 13:00.”
Apple Bloom looked at her mother, and activated pleading mode. “Can we go on it ma, PLEASE?”
Pear nodded, with a laugh. “Well, Ah suppose ya can.”
“What in tarnation?” Granny Smith asked. “Who in the world will do her chores?”
“Ah’ll do them for her,” Big Mac said. “But who’ll accompany her on the train?”
“Ah’ll happily go,” Applejack noted.
“Ah’ve always liked the new trains,” Grand Pear admitted. “So, Ah’ll happily go as well.”
“Well, that’s that sorted!” Pear smiled. “Off to school you three!”
After arrival at school, Apple Bloom walked down the corridor to her locker, when she encountered Cozy Glow.
“Heya Cozy!” she called. “Long time no see!”
“It’s nice to see you again too,” Cozy replied. “Anything exciting going on?”
Apple Bloom showed Cozy the front page of the local paper. “The new train service their launchin’ looks sweet!” She paused, and then added “And Ah will be ridin’ it.”
“Oh golly!” Cozy replied. “How’d you manage that?”
“Ya don’t have ta pre-book,” the Apple explained, “but the train could be pretty full. Apparently, it can do the Canterlot-Crystal City run in just 3 hours round trip!”
Cozy nodded. She herself was interested in the new development, but was unsure she would want to ride on something that had just come out of testing. She was about to say something when the bell went. “I’ll be late for class! See you and the others at break!”
“See ya!” Apple Bloom replied, and headed off down the corridor. Cozy headed in through a door on her right, to enter a room full of computers and buzzing printers.
This small room was the headquarters of the CHS Chronicle, the school newspaper. It reported on practically everything, ranging from new shops, to food reviews, as well as films and new local developments. Most of it was fairly mundane (MAN TRIPS UP OUTSIDE SHOP OWNED BY RAINBOOMS MEMBER was one of the more memorable headlines), but at last they had a chance to strike at gold, the nice, juicy story that would make front pages everywhere.
“Cozy Glow!” called the familiar voice of the editor, Diamond Tiara. Cozy walked over to her desk.
“Yes, ma’am?” she asked.
Diamond laughed. “There’s no need for the formality, I’m just a friend!” Her face then shifted to a serious mood. “You’re aware of the new train they’ve launched?”
“Who couldn’t have heard of the Advanced Passenger Train?” Cozy asked in response. “It’s been all over the news this last week!”
“Well,” Diamond continued, taking charge almost immediately, “I was originally going to take this scoop, but mother won’t let me anywhere near it, as she thinks railways are too...unladylike.” She snorted. “When will she realise that I no longer care about that?”
“So, what do you want me to do?”
“That’s the easy part,” Diamond said. “I would like you to take pictures of the set at Canterlot and Crystal City stations, as well as in-cab photographs. That’s right, you’ll be doing this from the cab.”
The look of amazement on Cozy’s face was priceless. “Thank you very much!” she replied.
Diamond smiled in return. “Have fun!”
Saturday arrived, and it was wet, wet, wet. The rain poured with reckless abandon upon the California coast, making the ground, already covered in snow, extremely slippery indeed, Cozy Glow grabbed her coat and carefully packed her camera into its back, keen not to get water on the lens. She then headed out into the world, calling to her parents to tell them when she would be back.
She arrived at the station with 20 minutes to spare before departure, seeing that already people had begun to congregate on the platform. Amongst those already gathered were Apple Bloom and Applejack (as well as their grandfather, who had helped them recover the locomotives for the Everfree Forest Railway), Sweetie Belle and Hondo Flanks, as well as Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, Cheerilee and Will. The last of those particularly puzzled Cozy, so she walked over to them.
“Hi Cozy!” Scootaloo called to her with a massive grin on her face.
“Hi,” Cozy replied. “It’s nice to see you here, but isn’t your dad meant to be in Germany?”
Will shrugged. “I PCS’d to Canterlot.”
“Sorry, what?” Cheerilee asked.
“PCS-Permanent Change of Station,” Will explained. “Please try to keep up with the acronyms.”
Cozy then turned to Rainbow Dash. “I thought you had soccer practice on Saturdays?”
“It’s Tuesday evenings now,” Dash explained. “Besides, I usually do railroad work on Saturday. I’ll be starting my shift after I get back from this trip.” She paused, before grinning and ruffling Scootaloo’s hair. “Besides, it means I get to spend more time with the best little sister ever!”
Scootaloo smiled in response. “Thanks Dash!”
Cozy didn’t have a chance to speak to the others, when suddenly Rumble appeared with a news camera.
“Sorry I’m late!” he said. “Diamond Tiara asked me to do a report on the APT, so I hope I haven’t missed anything.”
“Unless it was going so fast, we couldn’t see it, there’s been no sign of the APT yet,” Sweetie Belle replied.
“I’m already having trouble keeping up with the acronyms,” Hondo admitted. “It was so much simpler when it was just NYC and PRR.”
A loud horn echoed out of the distance. And then they saw it.
Rolling toward them from the Crystal City end of the station, was the APT. Rumble started his camera and began filming the set rolling into the platform, whilst Cozy took still pictures.
Although she had seen the official press photos, it was a stunning sight to see in real life. It was shiny, and modern, and nothing like it had ever been seen on the California Coast Railroad before! The 10-car set rolled to a stop in the platform with precision, all the coaches fitting neatly into the platform.
Rumble walked over to Cozy. “Excuse me,” he said, “but you wouldn’t mind holding my camera whilst I speak a bit about the set?”
“No problem!” Cozy replied, putting her camera away and switching on Rumble’s.
Once sure it was running, Rumble began speaking.
“This set behind me is set to revolutionise rail travel in California. The Advanced Passenger Train, or APT for short, was built and fully tested in the space of a few weeks. The reason for this remarkable turnaround is the decision to use tried-and-tested British technology.”
He began to walk down the train. “With the exception of the two power cars, the entire train is articulated, which means that 2 carriages share a single bogie. This gives the trains an extremely smooth ride. Although the original was built for 25 kilovolts AC, these sets are configured to run on 1500V DC.”
He stopped when he reached the power cars. “As you can probably hear, these power cars produce an incredible amount of noise. These are, put simply, the most powerful electric locos to have ever operated in California, producing a combined power output of 8,000 horsepower. According to the company, this means the train can comfortably run at speeds of up to 155 miles per hour. On that note, let’s take a look inside!”
He signalled for Cozy to stop the camera, and took it back. “Thanks,” he said. “I believe you get to ride in the cab?”
“By golly, yes!” Cozy replied. “What about you?”
“I’m filming the return trip from the cab.”
Cozy nodded, and walked up the train to the driver’s cab, opening the door and stepping inside.
Seated at the controls was a girl with turquoise skin and amber-and-gold hair. “Hi!” she said. “Are you the reporter for the outbound run?”
“I am, as a matter of fact,” Cozy replied, taking a seat next to her.
“I’m Lightning Dust, and I’ll be your driver.” Lightning fiddled with some levers, and brought most of them into neutral. She then moved the reverser handle forward one position to ‘auxiliary’, which was followed by a loud beep.
“What’s that?” Cozy asked.
“Relax, it’s just the AWS activating.” Lightning hit a yellow button to cancel the tone, then brought the brake lever back to the ‘initial’ position. She then punched a button on the wall marked ‘MOTOR ALTERNATOR START’. A rumble started up in the cab to signify the generators warming up.
Lightning ran her eyes over the control board. “Good, batteries are on, AWS is running, brakes are released.” Another beeping started up, which Dust cancelled by pressing a blue button. “There’s in in-cab signalling.” Finally, she slid the reverser handle into ‘forward’, and brought the brake lever into ‘running’.
Cozy had written this all down, and taken pictures with great interest. Dust then reached over and pressed another button, marked ‘door release’.
Nothing happened.
Out on the platform, Scootaloo checked her watch. “Oh, come on!” she exclaimed. “We’ve only got 5 minutes till we depart!”
Will laughed. “Take it easy squirt, I’m certain they know what they’re doing.”
“SQUIRT?” Scoots exclaimed. “Only Dash is allowed to call me that!”
“Really?” Cheerilee asked. “I wouldn’t have known.”
Elsewhere, Sweetie Belle was shivering due to the cold. “I wonder what’s going on?” she asked Apple Bloom.
“We had a similar problem on an EMU once,” Bloom admitted. “Doors got stuck and the driver had ta release them manually. Boy was it embarrasin’!”
Back in the cab, Dust took to hitting the button repeatedly. “Why won’t it open?” she asked in frustration.
“Maybe try the manual override?” Cozy suggested.
Dust’s eyes went wide. “Good idea!” she said, getting up and pulling a switch on the back wall of the cab. With a groan, the doors slid open and the foot ramps deployed.
Out on the platform, the crowds climbed aboard. Sweetie Belle took her seat next to the window on the right-hand side, with Hondo sitting next to her.
Suddenly, her attention was drawn to the girls sitting opposite her. One of them she knew as Gilda, a friend of Rainbow Dash’s and a driver from Crystal City depot. But the girl sitting next to her was one whom Sweetie Belle had never even met before.
She had grey skin and dark grey hair, with large blue eyes and a permanent grin etched onto it. She was wearing grey boots, black leggings, a grey skirt, a white shirt, a dark grey bomber jacket and yellow gloves.
“Are you excited?” she asked Gilda. “Because I am!”
Gilda just shook her head. “This is my job Gabby, so no, this isn’t hugely exciting.”
Sweetie Belle decided to speak up. “Well, I’m looking forward to it myself.”
Gilda took notice. “My name’s Gilda Griffin,” she said. “This is my sister Gabby.”
Gabby jumped forward and shook Sweetie Belle’s arm so hard it nearly fell off. “I’m so excited to meet you!”
“I work on the railroad too, ya know,” Sweetie Belle replied.
“We know,” Gilda sighed. “You’re the girls who blocked up Canterlot yard last Saturday.”
“HEY!” shouted Scootaloo. “That wasn’t our fault!”
“Yeah, the shuntin’ instructions didn’t make a lick o’sense!” Apple Bloom added.
“Technically, I was at Cloudsdale at the time, but I did help them with the cleanup,” Sweetie Belle added.
Suddenly the intercom went. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the inaugural run of the Advanced Passenger Train. We apologise for the delays in opening the doors, and assure you that the rest of the journey will run as smoothly as is possible. We will be departing the station momentarily, so prepare yourselves for an historic run.”
They would remember it all right...for all the wrong reasons.
Lightning opened up the power lever to Notch 1, and the mighty train slowly got moving down the line.
“Why are we going so slowly?” Cozy asked.
“Speed limit is only 20 until we clear the station approaches,” Dust replied. “Then we can really open her up.” The train rolled along at a sedate pace.
In the carriages, Will looked around. “It’s a very smooth ride,” he said. “It feels as though we are hardly moving.”
Scootaloo sighed. “Dad, we’re only doing 20 miles an hour. It changes to 75 just outside the depot.”
Sweetie Belle chimed in. “The speed is to protect the sidings and junctions for the depot, as well as the point-work for the platforms.”
Gabby spoke up next. “Do you remember when that train came through those points really fast?” She then found her sister staring at her. “What?”
“What did I tell you about not mentioning rail accidents on trains?”
Cozy was keeping comprehensive notes in the cab, when a bell rang and a drum switched on at the front of the train.
“Good,” Dust smiled. “C-APT is active.”
“C-APT?”
“Control-Advanced Passenger Train. Monitors speed limits. At the speeds at which this train travels, I cannot read the lineside speed limits.”
The drum displayed a speed of 155. Dust grinned, and opened up the throttle to Notch 4. The set rapidly began to accelerate, reaching 80 miles an hour in next to no time.
In the carriages, the passengers were pushed back into their seats.
“This feels like a plane taking off,” Rainbow Dash groaned.
“Is that a problem?” Applejack asked.
“I HATE FLYING!”
The APT zoomed along at 155 miles an hour, the scenery and other trains flying past in an unclear blur. Cozy found holding on to the seat armrests and trying to write at the same time very difficult indeed.
“Where are we now?” she asked.
“About to run through the curvy bit of the line, just outside Halfway.”
“We’re at Halfway already?” Cozy asked, then felt silly. Of course, they were! On her timing sheet she noted down that they passed through Halfway at 10:38:42.
Just then, that beeping sound started up again, which Dust cancelled, then applied the brakes. “We have a maximum speed through this section of 125.”
“I thought it was limited to 95.”
Dust laughed. “On normal trains, yes, but this is a tilting train!”
At the set roared into the first set of curves, Cozy braced herself-then began to feel a little odd as the tilt mechanism engaged.
The track curves back and forth several times during that stretch of the line. The tilt system was working like crazy to compensate, but couldn’t keep up with the rate at which the change in direction of the track was going. Back and forth the carriages rocked, the engineering being pushed hard to keep up.
“This is like some sorta fairground ride!” Apple Bloom observed.
“I have never known a train this rough,” Grand Pear added.
Sweetie Belle had gone even more pale than usual. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
Hondo’s eyes widened in horror. “NO, NOT ALL OVER THE-!”
The train pulled into Crystal City station at 11:15, right on time. Lightning Dust opened the doors and got out of the cab, indicating for Cozy to do the same.
“We’ll be starting the return trip at 11:45,” Dust told her, “but we’ll pause for 30 minutes here so you can all have a rest.” She walked away toward the station canteen.
The other passengers staggered out as if they’d been at sea. Gabby was one of the first to leave, followed by Gilda.
“That was fun!” Gabby exclaimed. Her face then fell. “Ending up with Sweetie Belle’s breakfast all over my clothes was less fun though...”
Sweetie Belle’s face had the image of guilt written all over it. “Sorry Gabby,” she said sadly.
“Hey, no worry,” Gilda replied. “You’re not the first to be sick on a tilting train, and you won’t be the last.”
“But we’ve got the return trip to do,” Hondo added, pre-emptively bracing himself. “You don’t.”
Gilda nodded. “See you later.”
Apple Bloom sprinted over, and spoke to Gabby. “Would ya consider joinin’ the Crusaders? It's our little club, but we’re always lookin’ fer new members.”
“I’d love to!” Gabby exclaimed. “But getting to your meetings might be a little awkward for me.”
“How about ya do one meetin' here and another one in Canterlot?” Applejack suggested.
“Sounds fun!” Gabby exclaimed. “Bye!”
The two girls walked away, Gilda toward the depot to clock in on her shift.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were chatting about the experience.
“That could do with some tweaking,” Scootaloo admitted.
Dash nodded. “Being hurled into curves was 20% less cool than I’d hoped it’d be.”
“Given how slowly the tilt system was updating, yes,” Cozy added, walking over to join them.
“How was the cab ride?” Scootaloo asked.
“I got notes on how it all works for my report, as well as photos from the journey. Rumble’s filming the return trip.”
“Rumble?” Scootaloo suddenly perked up, her cheeks going red as she did so.
“Yes Scoots, your crush,” Dash joked.
“HEY!” Scootaloo replied. “I don’t like him that way-!”
“Sure, you do,” Cozy laughed. “I recall finding the two of them kis-”
“SHUT UP!”
Suddenly, the station clock bonged 11:30.
“We’d better be getting back onboard,” Will said, by now having joined the conversation.
Scootaloo nodded, and got up-only to stop and put her hand to her forehead.
Dash shot up. “Squirt, what’s wrong?” she asked.
Scootaloo groaned. “Sorry, momentary dizziness.”
After letting Scootaloo recover for a moment, they went to re-board the train, and sat down at the Canterlot end of the service, when suddenly a message came in over the intercom.
“We apologise for the inconvenience, but the 11:45 Advanced Passenger Train Service to Canterlot has been cancelled. This is due to driver illness. We are sorry for the inconvenience, and encourage you to find alternate means of transport.”
Dash groaned. “Great. How am I supposed to start my shift now?”
Apple Bloom spoke up. “Cozy, did ya write down the drivin’ and setup procedures for the APT?”
“I did,” Cozy replied.
“Are you thinking of driving it yourself?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“No, Ah’m thinkin’ we can drive it back.”
Scootaloo shook her head. “Surely you can’t be serious...”
Apple Bloom sat down at the controls of the APT with a grim look of determination.
“Are you sure you can do this?” Scootaloo asked.
“Ah am,” Apple Bloom replied. “And stop callin’ me Shirley!”
“Can we have the instructions please?” Sweetie Belle asked Cozy.
Cozy quickly read them out.
Apple Bloom pushed the lever forward, only for a loud beeping to assail her eardrums.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“That’s the AWS! Push the AWS Canceller.”
“THE WHAT?”
“THE BIG YELLOW BUTTON!”
Bloom slammed her palm down on the button, and the beeping stopped. But the button, on closer inspection, now had a crack in it.
“Oops.”
Cozy adjusted her seat. “Now push the two buttons on the wall marked ‘Motor Alternator Start’.”
With considerably more care, Apple Bloom pushed the two buttons in.
Nothing happened.
With a cry of frustration, Apple Bloom clicked the buttons multiple times, until they lit up and the engine began to rumble.
But another beeping started up, causing the young girl to fall out of her chair in surprise.
“What the hey was that?”
Cozy sighed. “That’s C-APT. You cancel it with the blue button.” To demonstrate, she reached over and gently pushed it. The beeping stopped.
Apple Bloom sighed. “Ah prefer shunters and tank engines.” But she brought the brakes back to Initial, and then moved the reverser into Forward. This led to a satisfying roar from the generators, which had finally woken up, and set her mind at ease.
She switched on the in-cab radio. “Crystal City Control, this is APT 11:45, we are ready ta depart, over.”
The intercom sounded confused. "We cancelled that service! Who am I speaking to?”
“Apple Bloom.”
There was a loud sigh. "I should have known it would be you three. Look, just get that train back safely WITHOUT crashing it, OK?”
“Got it sir!” the radio clicked shut, and Apple Bloom moved the brake lever into the off position, before applying the throttle.
They each took shifts of 25 minutes driving, whilst Rumble filmed everything. When they were on the final part of the run, something bad happened.
As the train swung out of the last curve, it failed to correct, and the front car was left tilted to the right.
Scootaloo grimaced. “Tilt’s jammed! I can’t get it to correct!”
“Maybe the cold temperatures are interfering with the hydraulic fluid,” Rumble suggested.
“Either way, we’ll be arriving with a stuck tilt system,” Cozy concluded.
Scootaloo looked back. “You’re not exactly filling me with confidence!” she replied, as the world zoomed past at a 25-degree angle.
At the station, the media was waiting for the train to arrive. And there it appeared. Rolling out of the rain, the Advanced Passenger Train rolled into the platform and came to a smooth stop. Engineers corrected the fault in the tilt, and the three girls stepped out onto the platform.
“I have to say,” a local news reporter said, “I was not expecting you three to be driving.”
Sweetie Belle spoke up. “It was Apple Bloom’s idea. The driver had fallen ill, and these passengers would have been stranded otherwise.”
Scootaloo chimed in. “We took turns back there, but it wasn’t easy.”
“And,” Apple Bloom added, “we couldn’t have done it without Cozy here. She taught us how ta drive it, and a’ course Rumble here recorded the whole thing.”
“Truly are you three a credit to Canterlot,” the reporter replied. “Dramatic scenes, heroism, and four girls who saved the day. This is Super Eight, reporting for KTCC!”
Scootaloo looked to Apple Bloom. “Hopefully this redeems us for messing up the yard.”
Apple Bloom went crimson. “Why did ya have ta go and mention that?” she asked.
On Tuesday, the Crusaders walked down the corridor to their lockers. A loud buzzing came from the printing room as they wandered along, indicating that copies of the CHS Chronicle were being produced, ready for distribution later that day.
“Well, look who it is!” asked a familiar voice.
Apple Bloom turned her head to see Diamond Tiara, smiling and waving to them. “Mornin’ Diamond!” she replied.
Diamond handed her a copy of the new paper. “Check out our front page. You’ll love it!”
Sweetie Belle poked her head over. “That’s the editorial.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious!” Scootaloo replied.
Bloom shrugged. “Could ya read it aloud Sweetie Belle? Ah ain’t got the best public-speakin' voice.”
Sweetie Belle took the paper and began reading. “A very busy week, by Diamond Tiara, editor of the CHS Chronicle.” There was a pause. “Since our last issue reached you, many things have happened in our fair town. A new line of perfume was unveiled, some new shops opened, a man tripped up outside a shop owned by one of the Rainbooms-”
“That again?” Cozy Glow asked.
“It seems to happen a lot,” Diamond admitted.
“-Mr Cranky Doodle set a new record for number of detentions administered...” Sweetie Belle’s voice tailed off as she looked further down. “How long does this go one for?”
Scootaloo took a glance. “AT LEAST 3 pages.”
Sweetie Belle shrugged. “Swift Order took a smoke, blah blah blah blah blah! Ooh, here we are!”
There was a dramatic pause. “Three girls save the day, by Cozy Glow, photographer in chief for the CHS Chronicle.”
Below was an image of the three of them stood next to the APT. Sweetie Belle continued reading, looking stunned as she did so.
“What very nearly turned into a PR embarrassment for the California Coast Railroad became a story for all of Canterlot to be proud of. When mechanical problems and driver illness threw things into jeopardy, the three girls known collectively as ‘the Crusaders’ stepped in to return the passengers home. They are truly a credit to the community, and we would be in a worse place without them.”
Sweetie Belle grinned. “Thanks, Cozy!”
“There’s just one error,” Scootaloo pointed out.
“What’s that?” Cozy asked.
“Ya said ‘the three girls’,” Apple Bloom replied. “There are four Crusaders. Mahself, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and you.”
Cozy’s grin was so wide it gave the Cheshire cat a run for his money.
Firefly groaned. This whole incident had been a PR nightmare.
Following the discovery of errors in the tilt system, the 6 APT sets had been withdrawn for servicing and the timetable briefly suspended.
Then came the news that Canterlot Airport had been refused planning permission. This meant no flights to compete with.
Rendering the APT utterly pointless.
“Looks like it’s back to the old timetable for now,” she said, looking out of her window as an A3 departed on an express.
Author's Note
The Advanced Passenger Train, or APT, was an experimental train fielded by BR between 1981 and 1985, but was deemed a failure due to its complexity and constant mechanical failures. The only surviving set can now be seen at Crewe Heritage Centre in Cheshire, right next to the mainline it used to run on.
This story is based on those runs, and several of the passenger complaints (yes, people did throw up due to the tilt system...). I hope you enjoyed it.
