Goldie didn't quite know what to make of what she was looking at. "What in the world is this?" she asked.

The thing sitting in front of her looked like some sort of horse. But it had a number of features that made it look very different to a horse of our world.

For one, the muzzle was oddly short and squat, and seemed to sit more like a human mouth than the long muzzles of Earth's horses. The eyes were positioned facing forwards, rather than on the side of the head like a conventional equine. The coat was also a source of confusion. Most horses were brown in colour, but this one had fur that was oddly pink in tone, and not a shade found in nature at all. The mane- where to begin? It flowed down one side of her head and almost down to her hooves, which were purple for some reason. Part of the mane had braidwork in it, and otherwise it flowed like human hair (the shades of purple, orange and yellow oddly clashing with one another in a rather strange way). The pony also had a purple tail, coloured in two different shades of purple.

The pony looked up at her. "Thanks for getting the crate off me! I have no idea how long I was under there, and I'm glad to be back in the open air. Thank hoofness you came along."

Goldie was very confused to another degree. For one, why could this pony apparently speak perfect English? Usual pony conversations she had observed mostly consisted mostly of snorting and 'neigh'. Secondly, what was up with its word choices?

And perhaps most importantly of all why was this pony's voice a dead ringer for her sister in law? Did they all have pony counterparts in some other reality?

Goldie looked at her. "I need to get you somewhere safe. Follow me." Without any hesitation, she headed back to Harvey's cab and climbed in. "I'll pull you up if you need a hand."

The pony nodded and trotted over slowly, before climbing up some steps and into Harvey's cab. "These are steep," she said. "Does nopony in this world use ramps?"

There was another example of her strange vocabulary. This pony seemed to have pony varient versions of every single phrase and word in the English language. Goldie would have to investigate this more later.

Once she got Harvey back to his siding, she took the pony with her to the house and went inside before pointing. "That spot will mean nobody will see you in here.

The pony nodded and dashed over, positioning herself in the required spot. "Thanks for helping me," she said, with a smile.

A smile that was reminiscent of Veronica. This just kept on getting weirder. Goldie sighed. "No problem," she said. "Glad to help. You know, I never got your name."

What the pony said next completely threw her for a loop.

"Oh, sorry! My name's Stella. Stella Starscout. Have you seen a filly called Sunny anywhere?"

A considerable distance away up at the Newham gasworks, Argyle was going through a similarly weird moment. He stood there, looking confused at what was sitting in front of him.

The pony that looked up was coloured blue and had a dark blue mane and mutton chops (not a full beard and moustache like Argyle himself). He also had a tail and he seemed to be wearing glasses, albeit of an unfamiliar design to account for is muzzle.

This pony was the spitting image of himself.

And was also the first of them to speak after the extremely awkward pause. "Erm, do I know you?"

"Probably not," Argyle replied. "My name is Argyle Starshine."

The pony looked astonished. "That's my name too! What a funny coincidence. Funny as in odd, not funny as in 'ha ha, I told a funny joke'."

Argyle nodded. "This is turning out to be a weird day indeed. Look, I don't know how well the locals are going to react to anthropomorphic talking horses in their locality, so I suggest you come with me to my home. I've got a place where I can keep you away from prying eyes."

"I'd appreciate that," pony Argyle said. "Something about this place feels off and away from home. I can only hope Sunny's OK. I'd find my way back if I knew how."

Argyle indicated for the pony to hop into the cab. "Sunny, huh?"

"Yeah," the pony said, with a smile. "She's my daughter. I presume you know somebody of that name?"

Argyle glanced back down the train to see the tankers were still being filled with gas. "Yeah, that my daughter's name too." A pony who looked like him, who sounded something like him, had the same name as him, and had a daughter of the same name as him. This was all getting far too strange for words. Would it turn out he was married to a mare called Goldie who worked in an office somewhere whilst he worked in a University?

Argyle set those thoughts aside as they set off on their journey. For the most part, taking the tankers down the line was fairly routine. At every station they stopped to set down tankers and place them in sidings. At some sidings this was easy, as it simply meant pushing trucks back into the sidings. Other sidings required Brookes to run round and push the trucks into place under freight sheds and in covered locations.

The train grew shorter and shorter until they arrived in Falmouth, shunting the last two into position in the station siding.

"Why does this town get two?" pony Argyle asked.

"Falmouth has a much larger population than the other settlements of the Fal River Valley," Argyle explained. "As such, they need more gas."

The journey to the house was also swift, and at last they arrived at the home, stepping inside. "Goldie, the strangest thing happened whilst I was out," Argyle said. "I found a po..."

He trailed off as another pony emerged from behind a chair, and looked at the pony next to him. "Argyle?" she asked.

Pony Argyle looked equally astonished. "Stella? Is that you?"

"Oh, the times were hard and the wages are low!"

"Leave her, Johnny, leave her!"

"I guess it's time for us to go!"

"And it's time for us to leave her!"

"Leave her, Johnny, leave her!
Oh leave her, Johnny, leave her!
For the voyage is done/
and the winds don't blow!
and it's time for us to leave her!"

As was a well established tradition in Falmouth Yard, Salty was leading the trucks in a sea shanty. The diesel shunter rolled back and forth whilst he collected the trucks he needed for his long train.

"There's Liverpool Pat in his tarpaulin hat!"

"Leave her, Johnny, leave her!"

"And Yankee John the pocket rat!"

"And it's time for us to leave her!"

Salty continued to work hard. "Well, we can't disappoint those kids, can we? Our duty is that we continue to collect the stock and so they can have a merry Christmas."

Sunny nodded. "That I can agree with. I mean, I guess I'm kinda lucky that I can spend it with my family."

"What do you mean?" Salty asked.

"This will sound crazy, but it turns out that on the other side of some portal there's a pony version of me. When we first met, I learned her parents died a long time ago. She's been alone for a long time, and she relies on her friends for something resembling a family structure."

Salty sighed. "Aye, that is sad. Remember, Sunny, those you love are never truly gone from the world. They live on in those who remember them and ensure their legacy is preserved."

Just then, Salty bashed into a van. "Oops! Hit that one going a bit fast!"

"Hello?" said a voice from inside the van.

Sunny's ears picked up. "That voice! I know it!" She secured Salty in position and walked to the van and unlocked the doors before opening them.

"Thanks for opening those! It was very dark in there and..."

Sunny's eyes widened when she saw who was sitting inside.

Her pony counterpart looked back. "Sunny? What are you doing here?"

"That's a question I was wanting to ask you as well," Sunny replied. "I live here, but I don't think this is Equestria."

Pony Sunny climbed out of the van and looked around. "Neither do I. I've hopped between dimensions a lot, but I don't think I should be here."

Sunny shrugged her shoulders. "I'd say something about this being weird, but I'm used to being a weirdness magnet by now."

"Whatcha doin'?" pony Sunny asked, as she looked at the train.

"We're putting together some stock to take presents to some children," Sunny explained. "Want to help?"

Pony Sunny nodded. "I'll do what I can!"

And so, work continued, the strangeness of the day overlooked for the moment.

Author's Note

So, now you know what the crew found- their pony counterparts (sans Goldie, of course). Otherwise, the story continues to march forward.

Stella's design here is based on Makaryo's custom rig he built for the character, which is meant to emulate the Make your Mark artstyle:

Once again, a real sea shanty appears in the story.