An Adventure on Rails and Time

Chapters

Let's do the Time Warp Again
Pardon me, miss...
...is this the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?
Credits
Back to the Future

Let's do the Time Warp Again

It was a Saturday, but not in Manteo. No, we are going somewhere else this time altogether!

(Really got you there, didn't I?)

Today, we find ourselves in Canterlot, a wonderful city found on the West Coast of the United States. It was a Saturday indeed, but not a good Saturday. Indeed, it was a boring Saturday in June, though how a Saturday in June could prove to be boring I have no clue. But still, it had proven to be boring, at least to three girls trudging down the streets of Canterlot that day.

Those three girls were the Crusaders: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Cozy Glow. This is not the usual lineup for the Crusaders, I am aware, but let me explain. For a long time, Cozy had been something of a bad girl at Canterlot High, but the Crusaders had seen who she was in real life; a lonely, sad girl who simply wanted a friend. Her behavior issues were just a way of venting the frustration she felt, and as such Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had shown her the errors of her ways. Now she was the fourth member of their society, and a close friend of theirs to boot.

But today, they were down one member. Scootaloo was away with her aunts (and not her isn'ts), which was an obvious downer. Normally, they would just go to one of the other's houses. But today that wasn't an option. Rarity was away for Fashion Week in New York, taking on her old rival Suri Polomare. Applejack was away as well, at a reunion in a place called Leadville in Colorado, and Granny Smith and Big Mac probably wouldn't appreciate those three tearing around the fields of Sweet Apple Acres. Finally, and perhaps the most obvious reason, was the fact that it was a Saturday. Canterlot High School was shut, and as such very little was there to do.

I'm not entirely sure I've got Watermelody out of the system yet. Let me try that again.

Canterlot High School was shut, and as such there was very little to do.

Sweetie Belle perfectly summed up how they felt, as she stood on a street corner, not in Winslow, Arizona. "Argh!" she cried. "I'm so bored! There's literally nothing to do today!"

"I'm amazed there was no homework, to be honest," Cozy Glow sighed. She then stepped back when she noticed some pedestrians eyeing her with disgust. Although she had changed, there were many in town who were yet to accept it. Which meant Cozy knew exactly how Sunset had felt after the Fall Formal.

"If only we were in Scotland!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "We could have caught the Jacobite up ta Mallaig!"

That's an entirely separate story, Apple Bloom, but I'll ignore that for a moment.

She went on, looking about. "If only there were somethin' we could do."

"Shh!" Sweetie Belle said. "Do you hear that?" A strange wheezing and groaning noise could suddenly be heard, as a large blue object suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the opposite street corner, a blue light glowing on the top as it landed. Just then, the door on the other side opened, and a man walked into a wall.

"Not that way round!" he said, shutting the door again. The object suddenly vanished again, before appearing the other way round, and the same man walked out. "Much better!"

"Who are you?" Cozy Glow asked.

"Relax," Apple Bloom said. "It's just Mr. Turner. Ya know, Ditzy and Dinky's pa?"

This Mr. Turner had Caucasian skin, and brown hair complemented with brown eyes. He was currently dressed in his familar blue suit with waistcoat, red tie, brown pants, and a large brown overcoat. "Hello girls!" he called. "How are you?"

"Bored," Sweetie Belle replied. "We could do with something to do."

Mr. Turner smiled. "Well then," he said, his eyes lighting up. "Fancy traveling back in time again?"

"Remember when we went back to 1968?" said Apple Bloom. "Ah'd love to travel back in time again!"

"Gives us something to do," said Cozy Glow. "I'm in."

"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle cried. "Onwards to adventure!"

The three girls stepped through the doors of the TARDIS, and into the massive control room that was bigger on the inside than the outside. It never ceased to take your breath away when you saw it, and the girls quickly crowded around the center console as Dr. Turner got to work.

"One last thing," he said. "Call me the Doctor."

"Doctor... what?" Cozy Glow asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "That's a new one," he said. He then threw some switches, and turned some dials. The control room began to gently hum, and then another strange wheezing and groaning noise started up. The girls ran to look at the scanner, which showed the TARDIS lifting off from the ground and entering the time vortex.

"There's one thing I never asked," Sweetie Belle said.

"Yes?" the Doctor asked, looking up from his console.

"What does TARDIS actually stand for?"

"Time and Relative Dimension in Space. My granddaughter came up with that one." The Doctor chuckled as he stepped around the central console. "Built at the Gallifrey Black Hole shipyards in 1963, by Earth's timeline. I stole her when she was in for repairs, which is why she doesn't always quite work properly." Just then, some sparks flew down from overhead. "Like that. Anyway, I've been flying through space and time ever since." He glanced back at the scanner.

Cozy Glow nudged Apple Bloom. "What's he talking about? Does this make Ditzy and Dinky aliens?"

"It's... complicated," Apple Bloom replied. "Ah'll tell you later."

Suddenly, the scanner beeped, and the Doctor looked closely. "Ah!" he cried. "We're here! June 8th, 1952. Norfolk, Virginia, about 7AM. That's the morning. Let's see. The 1950's are just underway, jazz is still the dominant force it has ever been, and Rocket 88, the very first Rock and Roll single, is in the charts. We have just arrived outside Norfolk Terminal Station, built by the Norfolk and Western in 1912, alongside the Virginian and Norfolk Southern. First things first, you three need to get changed. Your clothes won't fit the time period. At all."

The three girls headed off, but Apple Bloom looked back. "Which way's the wardrobe?"

"Take a left by the swimming pool, turn two rights past the library, then go down a never ending corridor, and take a left into the trapezium, and finally into the wardrobe room!"

"Right," Sweetie Belle said. "Sounds simple enough. Sort of."

A few minutes (or was it a few hours?) the three girls reappeared. Sweetie Belle wore a pink blouse with a blue skirt, and a black bow tie around her waist. She also wore black shoes to complement it.

Apple Bloom had kept her jeans, but had swapped her boots for shoes, and had gained a white shirt with a black bomber jacket.

But Cozy Glow had really gone to town for her outfit. She wore a pink blouse and a green skirt that had a pink underskirt. She had a bow in her hair, a scarf around her neck, and white shoes on her feet, sat on top of a pair of white socks.

The Doctor nodded. "You'll fit right in. Now then, You'll need to leave your phones on the TARDIS, as if allowed into this time they could cause problems with the timeline, resulting in the Blinovitch effect."

"What's the Blinovitch effect?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I'll explain later," the Doctor replied. "Now then, shall we head outside?"

"If you don't mind me asking," Apple Bloom asked, "but why have ya brought us here?"

"That's a secret," the Doctor smiled. "I'll see you three again tomorrow, but until then, cheerio!"

With that, the three girls stepped out of the TARDIS and into the booking office of Norfolk Terminal Station, nobody noticing the giant blue police box behind them, which suddenly vanished.

"What a hon'!" said a teen sitting nearby, wolf whistling at Sweetie Belle. She just ignored him, and went over to the booking office with her friends to show the tickets they had been given to the guard.

"All is in order," the guard said, punching a hole in them. "Have a nice trip!"

The three girls headed for the platform, and the departure board told them theirs was Train 25, the Powhatan Arrow, pulling away in 25 minutes time. As they stood on the platform, they saw the train pull into the platform, whistle thundering as the engine pulled in. The machine on the head, resplendent in black, red, and gold, was J Class number 611. It rolled to a stop, and the three girls boarded, ready for their journey to start. There's was a high speed train trip, not only at great speed, but through time itself!

Author's Note

Just thought I could point out a few things in this new 17th story from me:

As you can tell, this is the first time for one of my stories on my account that doesn't focus on me. (And let's be honest, y'all wanted to see me do a little bit of diversity outside of having stories just focusing on me all the time )
Unlike stories 2-16 from me, of which the pattern was once per week with some exceptions like the one week break in April because of April Fool's Day and the long gap from April 8th (aka the Lily Love story on that day) to May 13th (aka the Cherry Jubilee story on that day), this story will be a daily basis this week with the days being from Monday to Friday. Reason why for that will be revealed when the last chapter is up on Friday.
To those wondering what Apple Bloom is referring to before the trio enter the TARDIS, it's a reference to one of my UK Friend's stories from last year. And it's this one if y'all need to know:

EEnd of an Age

The Golden Age was Over...

The Blue EM2 · 1.2k words · 11 3 · 346 views

To anyone wondering what the trio's clothing for the 1950's looks like, here are the 3 images for them:

And before y'all ask, the clothing seen in the images are modified a bit to fit the size and frame for our trio.

And lastly, here's an image of the locomotive that is used in this story:

I hope y'all enjoy this new story from me! :yay:

Pardon me, miss...

The clock slowly rolled by, the minutes turning into hours, the hours into days, the days into years, and the years into decades.

Sweetie Belle looked at the station clock. "At this rate, we'll wait for so long that we'll meet ourselves in the future!" she exclaimed.

"We can't do that!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "It would lead to the Blinnyvitch thingy!"

"The Blinovitch Limitation Effect," Sweetie Belle said, matter of factly, her face rapidly switching to 'know it all mode'. "A time traveler cannot carry out the same act twice, and not only that, if two different versions of the same person come into contact, it leads to a shorting out of the time differential between the two individuals."

Apple Bloom looked confused. "Ah wish Ah hadn't asked," she sighed.

"What happens if two of the same person come into contact?" asked Cozy Glow.

"It leads to an energy discharge between them, usually transferring memories from one to the other," Sweetie Belle continued. "Not only that, it makes a lot of energy, which is perfect for dealing with time problems. The Doctor says he once used the energy from the effect to undo the Pandorica and reboot the universe!"

"How confusing," Cozy Glow said.

"Ah know, right?" Apple Bloom added.

"One of the wonders of traveling in time," Sweetie Belle said. "Although, sadly, it means we cannot repeat this experience as we may run into ourselves. Unless of course we regenerate, but that's impossible."

Just then, a whistle echoed from the platform, and a voice shouted; "ALL ABOARD!"

The engine responded in kind, a long, loud whistle blast echoing across the station. A few seconds passed, and then slowly, imperceptible at first, the ground began to move.

"We're on our way!" Cozy Glow cried. "Whoo!"

The train slowly picked up speed, though it was limited through the Norfolk approaches to 20 miles an hour as there were many sidings and points the train had to cross to reach the mainline. As the set rolled past the freight yards, a group of switchers were rolling backwards and forwards with boxcars and heavy gondolas. As the visage of 611 rolled past, the drivers on the shunters sounded the whistles on their engines, whistles and chime notes echoing across the stations. Unfortunately, the visage was cut short by a diesel locomotive rolling past with a passenger train bound for Miami. They flew along the track as they left the station, the speed limit at last opening up to 100 miles an hour. Once this was clear, the engineer opened the locomotive up, and they were off to high speed running. The wheels roared round and round as the train gathered speed, thundering along the rails at speeds so high they seemed to fly down the track (although, at least, it seemed they had cured the class' problems with instability at high speed based on the current performance). Eventually, the city of Norfolk gave way to rolling fields and soaring mountains, and the train made its first scheduled stop at Petersburg, Virginia at 8:45 AM. After a short wait, the train then set off again, the sun now shining on the rails and the train as it sped along. The next few miles saw uninterrupted high speed running, with a long goods train passing on the left, with a 4-8-0 pulling a long line of boxcars that seemed to go on into eternity.

"That's 475!" Apple Bloom noted, writing the number down as she did so.

The train continued to race along, the landscape turning into a blur and steam pouring into the skies as the train thundered along. It made a second stop for 10 minutes at Roanoke, Virginia. at 12:25 PM.

"So," Cozy Glow said, looking out and seeing the station sign. "This is ranokee."

"ROANOKE!" Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom chorused.

Cozy Glow looked at them. "Fine, Roanokee," she replied, with a smirk on her face. They sat there for a while, before the train started off again at 12:35 PM. As it would be many more hours before the train arrived anywhere interesting, it was decided by the trio to go get some lunch. And luckily, the set had some dome cars in which they could do so. The tables were set with white cloths, and beautiful china plates, cubs, and saucers were set upon those same tables. All sorts of people sat enjoying whatever delicacy was being cooked up in the chef's car. The girls chose to sit in the top floor of the dome car to see the sights. The fields made a most pleasant sight as they flew along, and enjoyed a most delicious selection of items from the menu, although the trio went for some sort of fish based dish, combined with vanilla cake for desert (seriously, how boring), and soon had finished, continuing to watch the train fly along the track. After another stop at Bluefield, West Virginia at 3:00 PM, and departing at 3:05 PM, they ran along for about two hours, before calling at Williamson, West Virginia (5:50 PM arrival and a 5:55 PM departure), before running almost uninterrupted to Kenova, West Virginia at 7:37 PM. Then the train got held for a while.

"What's goin' on?" Apple Bloom asked.

"The line seems to be blocked ahead," said Sweetie Belle, seeing the signals up ahead. Just then, a freight roared through, headed by a Mallet of some description, number 1218. After that had gone, they were off once more, and running to Portsmouth, Ohio, which saw them arrive at Portsmouth, Ohio at 8:25 PM, before setting off again five minutes later at 8:30 PM. Then things got very slow, as the train was effectively working as a stopping passenger working from there to Cincinnati, meaning it stopped everywhere. The girls got their evening meal onboard the train, as it would take a very long time before they got anywhere. The sun descended, and the wondrous blues changed to reds and oranges, before the sun dipped entirely below the horizon and the sun was replaced by the moon, with stars blinking in the skies above them. After a very long journey, the train rolled to a stop in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Cincinnati, Ohio and Cincinnati Union Terminal, at 11:05 PM.

Once off the train, the trio went to a hotel to rest, and got changed for bed, settling under the covers until Sweetie Belle had a brainwave.

"Didn't the Doctor say something about something tomorrow?" she asked, suddenly going over to her clothes, currently lying in a disorganized heap on the floor (good thing Rarity wasn't there). She then went into the pocket on her skirt, and with a small effort, pulled out three objects. She squealed in excitement when she saw them.

"What is it?" Cozy Glow asked,

"Three tickets for the return trip tomorrow!" Sweetie Belle cried, her face lit up.

"Awsome!" Apple Bloom cried.

"Keep it down!" shouted a passing porter. "It's past 12!"

"Oops," Apple Bloom said. Sweetie Belle hopped into her bed, through the light switch, and the three drifted off to the world of dreams.

Author's Note

To those wondering what the chapter title is a reference to, it's a nod to this well known song for any railfan:

Also here are two pictures of the two locomotives that made cameo appearances in this chapter for those interested:

N&W 4-8-0 #475 (Seen during the stretch from after the first stop in Petersburg and before the next stop at Roanoke)

N&W 2-6-6-4 #1218 (Seen during the wait at Kenova, West Virginia)

Hope y'all enjoy this 2nd chapter and I promise that I will have the 3rd chapter out by tomorrow! :raritywink:

P.S.: Can you find one other reference in this chapter? If you do, I will be sure to reply to anyone's comment if they spot the 2nd reference :yay:

...is this the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?

The next morning came, and the trio pulled themselves out of their beds and got themselves through the shower. As they got dressed, they took to conversing with one another.

"Ah don't know how anybody coped before air conditionin'," Apple Bloom said. "Ah knew Ah'm used ta the heat, but come on? It was boilin' last night!"

"Careful!" Sweetie Belle told her, fiddling with the buttons on her blouse. "You don't want to bring anachronisms to the conversation here! Air conditioning hasn't even been invented yet."

"I wouldn't want to be the one who messed up the history of America," Cozy Glow sighed. "The Doctor mentioned that Adam Mitchell person once. What did he do again?"

"He tried to beam technology from the future back to the present day," Sweetie Belle explained. "Not a smart thing to do, given the damage he could have done to the past, or present. This gets very confusing at times."

"Tell me about it," Apple Bloom sighed. "Ah mean, Ah still struggle with the whole 'bigger on the inside thing'. How does that work?"

"It's environmentally transcendental," Sweetie Belle answered, a smug smile on her face. "That means the interior exists in an entirely different dimension to the rest of the craft. Basically, imagine a big box in a separate place to a smaller box, but you can get into the bigger box via the smaller box."

"Yes?" Apple Bloom said. "Ah can imagine that!"

"Imagining it is the easy bit," Sweetie Belle added. "It's actually building it where most people struggle."

"I thought a performance of time reversal occured at the inner door," Cozy Glow said, tying up her shoes. "Shall we get something to eat?"

After breakfast in the hotel lobby (which really showed that hotel breakfasts hadn't really changed at all in 60 or so years, as they still tasted pretty much like plastic), the girls headed for the station and showed their tickets at the ticket office, before heading onto the platform and boarding the return trip, or Train 26. Once again, 611 was at the helm, and pulled out at 8:20 PM, passing an outbound freight pulled by 2156, another Mallet of 2-8-8-2 wheel arrangement. They made a number of intermediate stops, functioning as a conventional passenger service, before arriving at Portsmouth at 10:45 AM. After a 5 minute rest, the train pulled away at 10:50 AM, but this time skipped the stops at Ironton and Kenova, before stopping at Williamson, West Virginia at 1:20 PM, pulling away again at 1:25 PM. As it had been many hours since they had last eaten, the girls decided to get lunch, which this time was salmon with carrot and potatoes. This being a relatively formal express, fast food was not the order of the day, and indeed slow food would have been a more appropriate description. They enjoyed it very much, and the train flew onwards through the countryside, rolling into Bluefield, West Virginia, at 4:15 PM. It paused again for 5 minutes to let some more passengers onboard, before another freight rolled by, and they were off at 4:20 PM. The train then flew through Pearisburg at 5:08 PM. Cozy Glow looked over to Apple Bloom, a clear question in her mind, and by logical extension on her tongue.

"Is that where the Pears are from?" she asked.

Apple Bloom shrugged. "I' don't know," she replied.

"Doesn't Ida Know play First?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"No, Who plays First," Apple Bloom answered.

"What?" Cozy Glow asked.

"What's on second," Sweetie Belle said. "Who is on first." Opposite them a conversation was ongoing between a chef and two waitresses.

"So, where do these plates go?" asked one of the waitresses.

"Over by Clear Skies," said the chef.

"There are clear skies everywhere," the waitress sighed.

"Clear Skies is over here!" said the second waitress.

"There are clear skies over there too!" the first waitress sighed, pointing to an area behind the chef. The chef suddenly looked very confused.

"That's Open Skies," said Clear Skies, indicating to the chef.

"There are open skies everywhere!" said the first waitress, now very confused.

"I'm not everywhere," said the chef, or Open Skies. "I'm here."

"So," the first waitress sighed, "if you're Open Skies, and you're Clear Skies, then what's all that?"

"Open Clear Skies!" Open Skies and Clear Skies chorused. Then Open Skies looked over.

"Hey, where did the Fluffy Clouds go?"

"Fluffy Clouds?" said Clear Skies. "He's in the baggage car!"

Sweetie Belle face palmed. "This is so confusing," she said.

The train rolled into Roanoke, not Ranokee, at 6:45 PM, and then left at 6:55 PM. It stopped at Lynchburg, Farmville, Crewe (no, not that Crewe. Not the one where Henry was rebuilt, or where the heritage center is now), Blackstone, and Petersburg. After the last intermediate stop at Suffolk, Virginia, at 11:22 PM, the train rolled into Norfolk at 11:50 PM, after a mammoth journey for engine, passengers, and crew. It came to a stop under the platform canopy and stopped, steam leaking from cylinders as the engineer uncoupled the engine from the train. The engine then moved off the train, and whistled loudly as it vanished toward the roundhouse, another hard day over.

The girls hopped off the coaches before a nondescript shunter coupled up to the coaches and began to move them toward a nearby siding for storage and cleaning, ready for use another day. Apple Bloom glanced over to Sweetie Belle. "It's a shame we can't speak to nobody about this," she said.

"I know," Sweetie Belle sighed. "That was a fun day."

"Glad you enjoyed yourselves!" said a voice. Standing nearby, leaning on a station canopy support column, was the Doctor. "But not everything lasts forever. Shall we head for the TARDIS?"

"OK," Cozy Glow replied. "We certainly did have fun!"

They walked through the station concourse, to the TARDIS, which nobody was paying any attention to despite the fact the sight of an incongruous blue box should have attracted attention. As the Doctor threw the switches, the machine lifted off with a loud 'vworping' noise, and vanished into the time stream.

Author's Note

Here's a picture of the 2156 that made a cameo as Train 26 (The eastbound Powhatan Arrow) pulled out of Cincinnati Union Terminal

So anyways, now that the journey is over on The Powhatan Arrow, there's only 2 chapters left in my story! (you will see what the last chapter will be on the next to last day of this week :raritywink: )

Be on the lookout for Chapter 4 tomorrow! :raritywink:

Credits

Claire Corlett-Sweetie Belle
Sunni Westbrook-Cozy Glow
Michelle Creber-Apple Bloom
David Tennant-the Doctor
Vincent Tong-teen in booking hall
Brian Drummond-ticket inspector
Cathy Weseluck-Sunshower
Ashleigh Ball-Open Skies
Tabitha St. Germain-Clear Skies, Rarity
Jimmy Vee-Ood
Nicholas Briggs-Daleks

Author's Note

And with that..... this concludes my 17th story on my FIMFiction account.

Beginning tomorrow, and lasting all the way till a certain day in September, there will be no stories from me for a quite a while. During that time however, there will be some more TG TF's of me, but not written by me.

So until September.... this has been JimmyHook19 and be on the lookout for more unexpected TG TF's of me written by other people! :raritywink:

Back to the Future

The trio headed off to the wardrobe, following the painfully convoluted instructions from previously as the TARDIS roared through the time vortex. After a few minutes, they re-emerged onto the main control room floor, to see the Doctor focusing on the screen, a look of concentration on his face.

"So," he asked, "did you three enjoy yourselves?"

"Yes sir!" Apple Bloom replied. "That run were amazin'!"

"Did it all run to time?" the Doctor asked. "I suppose I should technically know that, it being in the past, but you know how this can be."

"Not a single delay," Sweetie Belle smiled. "Though three members of staff appeared to be doing a Abbott and Costello."

"What?" Cozy Glow asked.

"The stuff about skies."

The Doctor smiled. "Few people know that I gave Abbott and Costello that sketch, by finding them performing it in the future, taking it back in time to their early career, then giving them the script to ensure they would perform it, so that I could take it back in time in the future."

"I think I've head enough of mind bending for one day," Cozy Glow added. The machine rolled to a stop, and the Doctor opened the doors.

"We must feed! We must feed! We must-"

The Doctor shut the door. "Sorry, wrong planet. Shouldn't have gone to Krop Tor." He threw some switches, and they were suddenly elsewhere. "This should be right." He opened the doors again.

"EXTERMINATE!"

"Nope!" the Doctor added, and shut the door seconds before a laser blast entered the control room. "Third time lucky?" At last, they touched down in Canterlot, only a second after they had left. "I hope you girls had fun, and if you ever wish to travel again, you know who to call."

The trio stepped out of the doors of the TARDIS, and into the street. "Thank you!" they called, as they headed off.

The Doctor shut the door, and stepped back in, throwing some levers. "Allons-y!" he cried.

That evening, Sweetie Belle was sitting downstairs when her sister got back in from fashion week. "Hi Rarity!" she called.

"Oh, good evening Sweetie Belle," Rarity replied. "My word fashion week was hectic. But there's something I was wondering." She turned to a page in an old magazine. "This was a photograph taken back in 1952. The question I want to answer is... why are you in it?"

Sweetie Belle gulped. "It's kind of a long story..."

Author's Note

Thought I could throw in my favorite song from Back to the Future X3 :yay: