It was a crisp fall evening in the Smokey Mountains of Northern Equestria. Nightmare Night was just around the corner and the first snows of the year would soon begin falling on the tall peak of Dragon Tooth Summit, signaling an end to the busy summer season for the Tall Tale Mountain Short Line that climbed the big hill.
All these facts couldn't have been further from the minds of five colts as they slunk their way through the dimly lit streets of Tall Tale and made their way towards the railyard at the center of town. "Are you really sure this is a good idea?" One of them, the youngest of the group, would ask.
Most of the others would roll their eyes as another answered, "For the last time Ash, it'll be fine. It's not like this is our first time walking around the yard."
Crushed Ash, the young 11 year old son of Ash Pan, grumbled to himself as the group kept moving. Along with him were Filler Rod, the 13 year old son of Blow Torch, Blow Down, the 16 year old son of Blastpipe, and Hotbox Jr and Fire Stoker Jr, the 15 and 13 year old sons of Fire Stoker.
He had been woken up at a little after one in the morning by rocks hitting against his window, to find his group of friends assembled for another night of mischief, though he found himself regretting agreeing to come along already.
"This is our only chance left to try this Ash, my dad said that they'll be installing the lights in the backshop next week and return to running 24 hour shifts. If we wanna do this, we have to do it now." Fill added on.
The main locomotive shops of Tall Tale were still being rebuilt after the fire that had hit them two months prior. The work had started immediately after the site had been cleaned up, but had been proceeding slowly as without proper lighting available to the crews, progress could only be made during the daylight hours.
Leaving the empty shop at night wide open for a group of troublesome colts to go explore.
"I still don't see the point in doing this, we're gonna be in so much trouble if someone catches us." Ash grumbled as the sounds of the distant yard grew closer.
Blow Down gave a laugh and a shake of his head, "I'm with ya there Ash, I'd rather be back home sleeping right now. But I'm not giving these three jokers the chance to make up some crazy story to prove their point." He said, motioning to the younger teens in the group.
"Don't give me that Blow Down, you heard that story Dad told Box, I'm telling ya we'll find something!"
Indeed the group had heard an, altered and shortened version of the story Fire Stoker had told his son Hotbox about the first back shop fire. With Nightmare Night closing in, the topic of ghosts and hauntings had popped up in the group. Hotbox, Stoker, and Fill were all among the belief that there had to be ghosts creeping around the shop, while Blow Down was of the opinion that ghosts didn't exist.
Crushed Ash was more or less just along for the ride.
"Yeah! And I've overheard my Dad telling my Mom about all sorts of strange things that happen on night shift! There's got to be some ghosts creeping around those old shops!" Fill added again as the railyard proper came into view.
Blow Down just rolled his eyes, "You three just keep telling yourselves that. After tonight you'll see that I'm right and that there's no such thing as ghosts."
"Oh we'll find out real soon Blow Down, we're here." Hotbox said as he pointed towards the dark outline of the currently vacant main roundhouse.
The group fell into silence as they carefully made their way across the yard tracks, sticking to the shadows to avoid the shunters moving around and the large pole mounted light towers that cast the yard tracks in a dim glow, towards the stone structure.
Coming up along the right side, Fire Stoker found the access door to the back shops and motioned to Filler Rod. Fill crept over and took a pair of tools out of his saddlebags as carefully began to pick the lock on the door.
Thirty seconds later, there was a soft click of the lock falling into place as Fill pulled the door open, and the group quickly disappeared inside. Once the door was safely shut behind them, Filler Rod reached into his other saddle bag and pulled out a number of flashlights.
"Remember, keep the lights away from the windows or we'll be busted for sure." The others nodded and grabbed a flashlight each from Fill, turning them on to examine still mostly empty confines of the backshop.
The shop had changed in shape and size several times over the years as the needs of the railway changed, in its current configuration it spanned a total of 24 tracks. The center twelve connected straight into tracks of the main roundhouse for the use of the general maintenance area, this being done so that engines could be rolled into the back of the shop when coming off a train, and then moved straight into a roundhouse berth when work had been completed on them.
The five tracks all the way at the left of the shop were used for the five year inspections, while the 7 at the right that the group found themselves amongst made up the car shed area. In addition the shop building and tracks were long enough in all but the car shed to fit an HG-10 or TT-8 while still attached to both their tenders and allow the back doors to be closed, if only just.
"Well we're in, what now?" Crushed Ash asked as he looked around with his flashlight in the pitch black.
"Guess we just hang around for a bit and see if anything happens." Fill said as he started walking deeper into the shop. "Keep your eyes open, they've got tools and flatcars scattered all over the place in here." He added as the other four fell in behind him.
As they made their way towards the center of the shop, they kept looking around but there wasn't much to see as nothing had been moved back into the shop area yet, leaving them to enjoy a big black open space.
It grew boring pretty quick.
"Wow, I never would have thought it was so dull in here when there's nothing inside." Stoker muttered as they hit the center of the shop, and he dodged around a set of sawhorses.
"I'm not. We're basically just walking around a big empty box. I told you guys this was a waste of time." Blow Down muttered as he nearly tripped over a tool box on the floor. "We're just gonna get hurt walking around here in the dark anyway. I say we just call it a night."
"Scared already Blow Down? Come on we've barely been here ten minutes, give it a little longer." Stokes Jr teased.
"Yeah. Dad said the big explosion happened over on the five year side anyway, let's stake out over there a bit before we call it a night."
Blow Down rolled his eyes, "Fine, whatever."
But as they walked along over toward the far end of the shop, Ash's ear flicked as he thought he heard a pair of hooves behind him, which was impossible since he was at the back of the group. "Uh, guys, do you hear that?" He asked as he tightened up to Filler Rod in front of him.
"Hear what?" Fill asked.
"It sounded like somepony was walking behind us."
Blow Down rolled his eyes in the dark again, "It's just the echo of our hooves bouncing around a big empty space Ash. Don't let their imaginations get to you."
"Yeah… yeah you're right." Ash muttered as Hot Box and Stoker threw up another retort as they got over to the first of the five year tracks.
"Alright you three quit your bickering." Fill said as the group looked around the equally bare five year area, besides a few flat cars and a rail mounted crane.
They would hang around in the bays of the five year area for another ten minutes at least before Blow Down groaned, "Alright, we've been sitting in the dark long enough, nothing's happened and I'm tired, let's call it a ni-"
Just as he was about to finish, three loud bangs echoed out across the back shops as if someone had just struck the side of one of the flatcars with a hammer.
The group went dead silent and stood as still as statues, all staring at each other in the beams of their flashlights with wide eyes.
"What, was that…" Ash muttered, before the air around them seemed to drastically drop in temperature.
"Uh guys, I think we overstayed our welcome…" Hot Box muttered. The others quickly nodded and went to move when Filler Rod let out a yelp as someone seemed to bump into him and his flashlight fell to the ground and broke against the concrete floor of the shop.
"Hey watch it!" Fill yelled.
"Uh Fill… we're all over here…" Blow Down muttered as Fill quickly realized that the others of the group were all in front of him.
"Alright, nope! We're out!" Fill yelled as he moved towards the group just as another series of hammer blows rang out.
The group of five by the light of four torches moved as fast as they could to the end of the five year bays to get at the door along the left side of the shop. But as they got there and put there weight against it to try and get it open, they found it wouldn't budge.
"The door's jammed!" Stoker yelled out.
"How's that possible! These things are brand new!" Filler Rod shouted back as he kept pushing against the door.
"Come on, we'll just use the one we came in through!" Blow Down yelled as he turned and prepared to sprint across the shop.
The others followed but just as they were about to take off, the four still holding flashlights quickly found that said source of light was swished knocked from their collective hooves, falling to the ground and breaking just like the first, plunging them and the shops into an eerie pitch black.
The group, blinded by the dark, quickly pressed into each other to not get lost. "What the heck is going on." Ash muttered, a quiver of fear in his voice.
No one could respond in time before a loud crash rang out near them that made the whole group jump and cry out as they looked around, trying to find the source.
"We gotta get out here." Blow Down said as he tried to figure out some sort of plan.
His thought process was cut short as Hot Box next time him started stammering, "G-guys…. L-look over there…"
Not knowing where over there was, the others looked around until they saw it as well.
To their left about 20 feet away, by the front wall of the back shop, was a pair of floating, glowing eyes. They were all scared stiff again as the glowing eyes stared at them and they stared back, only to scream in terror as the glowing eyes narrowed their look.
Just before they took off running to get away from the floating eyes, a new sound filled the back shops.
The sound of roaring laughter as a hoof pounded against the wood deck of a flatcar nearby, joined by another voice coming from where the glowing eyes had been as they disappeared.
"Oh that was priceless!" A familiar voice, especially for two ponies in particular, yelled out before the group groaned and squinted as they were hit with the oppressive glow of a flashlight.
"Oh I wish you could have seen the looks on their faces Stokes!" The voice to their left said as the glowing eyes reappeared.
"Trust me, their looks of shock right now are more than enough!" Fire Stoker Sr. said as he walked towards the five colts holding a large flashlight himself.
"Dad? What the heck are you doing here? What's going on?" Stoker Jr asked as the grow relaxed a little.
"Well a certain pair of naughty colts didn't notice their mother using the bathroom when they snuck out earlier, and she asked me to come and get you. Once I realized what you were doing I beat you over here and decided to give you a good lesson in sneaking around in places you know you aren't supposed to be." He said, just barely able to hold in his laughter.
The chuckling from the glowing pair of eyes brought the colts' attention back to them. "Well how did you do that!" Filler Rod shouted.
Fire Stoker just laughed again, "Oh that was easy. Bright light comin your way Cloudy!" He said, before swinging the beam of the flash light over to the eyes to reveal a wildly grinning thestral stallion hanging upside down by his tail from the rail mounted crane they saw earlier.
"Boys, this is Clouded Eclipse, him and his brother are in charge of night watch for the roundhouse to make sure no one sneaks in and steals any of our tools."
"You guys were too easy! Couple hammer blows against a flat car and you were running around like chickens with your heads cut off!"
"Hold on!" Blow Down yelled as the two adults laughed, "You mean all of that, the banging, the cold, knocking our lights out of our hooves, that was you?!?"
Cloudy only grinned wider, "Guilty as charged. Though the access door being stuck shut was my brother's doing."
"Boo!" Another thestral stallion shouted as he ripped open the door directly behind the group of five, causing them to scream and jump again while the adults broke out into another string of laughter.
"S-so… n-no ghosts…?" Ash asked as his heart rate calmed down a bit.
Fire Stoker shook his head, "No ghosts, just a couple bat ponies teaching you kids a lesson."
Blow Down threw his hooves up triumphantly as he laughed before pointing to the brothers and Fill, "See! I told you guys ghosts weren't real!"
The three colts in question were still trying to come to terms with what just happened. "B-but, how did you do that without us seeing you?!" Hot Box asked in complete confusion.
Clouded Eclipse and his brother, Midnight Shadow, both gave a fang filled smile, "Oh that's easy, it's thestral magic!" Cloudy said before his brother continued, "We can literally meld with the shadows and move around without being spotted. Watch!"
He said as he stepped out of the light coming from Fire Stoker until all that could be seen was the soft glow of his slitted eyes. "One moment I'm over here."
His eyes then closed and a soft, cold breeze passed over the group of colts before Shadow's eyes reappeared on the other side of them. "And now I'm over here!"
Cloudy and Fire Stoker Sr couldn't help but laugh at the dumbstruck look on the colts' faces, "Makes them the perfect type of ponies to have around for nighttime security. You don't know they're there until they want you to."
Stokes said with a laugh before letting out a low yawn, "And speaking of nighttime, it's getting pretty early in the morning and I'd like to go back to bed, so let's go you five. I think you've had enough fun for one night."
The group of colts all nodded their agreement as Shadow passed them a spare flashlight. "You five get on home, I'll be along shortly after a quick chat with these two."
The colts mumbled their understanding as they made the walk across the shop and back out the door they came in through.
Stokes waited until the door closed behind the exiting colts before turning back to the thestral twins, "It really was all just the two of you, right?"
The bat winged duo nodded before Cloudy spoke, "Yeah, it was all us. They weren't in here long enough for anyone from the graveyard shift to get involved."
Stokes nodded, "Good, they don't need to be worrying about stuff like that right now."
The thestral twins looked at each other again before Shadow spoke up, "Stokes, you do know they'll figure out the truth sooner or later. Chances are one of them will be on third shift when they start working for the shops."
Fire Stoker let out a little sigh before responding, "I know. I'm not trying to hide the truth from them, but I feel like finding out in this sort of setting will just give off the wrong impression."
Cloudy and Shadow looked at each other before giving a shrug, "Fair enough I suppose. You want some help getting them all home? You look pretty tired."
"Thanks for the offer Cloudy, but I'll be alright. You two can get back to your post."
"If you say so, have a good night Strokes." Shadow said before him and his brother spread their impressively sized leather wings and took to the air, quickly disappearing back into the rafters of the new back shop roof.
With his part done, Fire Stoker turned around and slowly made his way over to the access door in the car shed.
As he was making his way there, he happened to notice that one of the flatcars he was passing had a series of loose boards across the top, most likely from having a heavy piece of the roof put down on it too hard.
"Hmm, I'll have to have someone address that in the morning." He muttered to himself before continuing to the access door. Just as he got to it and pushed it open, a series of loud hammer blows against hardwood echoed across the shop.
Fire Stoker, unlike his sons and their friends, didn't jump or panic, he simply looked up and turned his light back into the shop. It would soon fall upon the same flatcar he had noted just moments earlier, and could just barely see that one of the boards that was loose had been hammered back into place.
Smiling softly to himself, he let out a little chuckle, "Heh, good old graveyard shift." He muttered again before sliding out the door and walking off into the night after five troublesome colts, as another series of hammer blows rang out in the back shops.
Author's Note
Just a fun little Halloween story I thought up that I felt would be a good way to end our month of Tall Tales from the ponies of Tall Tale. This was supposed to be up before Halloween came and pasted, but good old real life got in the way sadly. That being said, while this will be the last story for the time being for our railway friends, it is not the absolute end. A blog post will be up very soon detailing the future plans for the Tall Tale Mountain Short Line, so keep an eye out. Along with that will be a separate post detailing what I hinted at in the notes of Birth of A Beast, no spoilers but, there has been a big project in the works. That being said I hope you've enjoyed, and I'll be seeing you all, very soon. Mason out!
Edit: Blog post! https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1000596/future-for-the-tall-tale-mountain-short-line
