My Little Pony: Origins.
Chapter Eleven.
Fowler 4F.
February 16th 2015, Ponyville, Equestria. 12:30 pm.
David looked at the number on the cabside as the pieces fell into place. This engine, this Fowler 4F was 43999. The same engine that was part of the robbery of the four banks of the Four Kingdoms of The United Kingdom. He placed his hand on the cabside. Dusty lent out, over the cabside and looked down.
''You ok?'' Dusty said, looking at David, he looked up at her.
''I'm fine Dusty, it's just i wish my dad was here to see this.'' David said, looking down again at the overgrown ballast before looking back up at Dusty, ''He told me stories about this engine. How she went missing. How British Railways erased her from history.'' He added, some of the rusting paint work of '43999' flaked away as David ran his hand along her running board.
David noticed that '43999's front buffer beam was crushed and buckled but still, by some luck, had the buffers, vacuum pipe and the screw link coupling intact.
''Hey, Dusty? Wanna survey the train for any damage?'' He asked her, she smiled.
''I've got a pad of paper and a pencil in 47500's cab, I'll go get it.'' She smiled some more, she climbed down from the cab. David followed her, his hand brushing against the the flaking paint work of '43999's tender. As the two walked back towards the tank engine, green mist began to leak from a nearby tree and began to flow around '43999''s drive wheels.
The leaves in the trees rustled as a nearby robin tweeted, '47500' hissed slightly as her safety valves popped, releasing some steam out the brass valves. The Everfree Forest was eerily quiet with the exceptions of a woodpecker pecking at a nearby tree trunk.
Dusty climbed up into '47500's cab and grabbed the pad of paper and the pencil, she noticed that the water level in the boiler was low, she gave David the paper and pencil.
''Why don't you start surveying, i'll be along once i've filled the boiler up.'' She said, he nodded. David walked back along the side of the train. Dusty went to open the injectors.
The green frog dissipated as David flashed his phone on '43999's front buffer beam and quickly drew a rough sketch of the beam, he noted that pieces of broken wood was caught in the screw link and the vacuum pipe.
Dusty heard an eerie, low moan coming from the tree line, followed by the hiss of '47500's safety valves blowing of more steam, the sudden sound of steam being released startled Dusty. Breathing in calmly, she released the brakes and slowly closes the gap between the Jinty and the brakevan. The buffers of the two gently touched each other, Dusty put the cutoff in the neutral position and closed the injectors before climbing down from the cab.
David looked around the cab, like the buffer beam, he drew a rough sketch of the cab, noting on the drawing that the regulator was closed and the cutoff was in the neutral position. The needle in the boiler pressure gauge was at 0 psi and the glass plate covering the gauge was cracked. He turned to the brake pressure gauge, the glass plate covering it was completely gone, leaving sharp and broken glass around the gauge there were two needles on the gauge, one black and one red. The black needle was scratched and bent slightly, it was pointing far to the left, hovering over the 0 psi mark. The red needle was worse for wear, missing most of its paint and rusted, it was pointing to the right, hovering over the 120 psi mark.
David looked down at the brake lever, it was swung over to the right as far as it could go, it was currently in the handle off position, he placed his hand on the handle of the lever, he was about to try and move the brake lever when. ''What are you doing?'' He heard Dusty say behind him.
''Ah! Oh, i was just looking around.'' He said in a panic, she raised an eyebrow and then saw the sketch of the cab on the pad of paper in his hands.
''Mind if i see that?'' She asked, looking at the pad, David looked at the pad and gave it to her, she looked at the two used pages, ''Not bad, not bad at all.'' She smiled, giving the pad back.
Dusty climbed up onto the tender and looked into the bunker where coal was, or should be, she was confused to see the bunker was lacking coal, David followed her and he too looked into the bunker.
''Shouldn't there be coal in there?'' He asked, just as confused, ''I'd understand if she was dumped here but, why leave her with wagons, gold money and skeletons?'' He added, scratching his head, ''But anyway, why erase her from history?'' He mumbled.
''Well there is someone i know who lives not to far from here Zecora i think her name is? Maybe she used all the coal for her house?'' Dusty said, noticing the open water filling cap.
''That would explain it.'' David said, he too noticed the open cap, he helped Dusty down, the two climbed out the cab and walked over to the gap between the tender and the first TPO. David helped Dusty up onto the tender, she found a stone resting near the open hole for the water tank, she picked it up and dropped it into the tank, instead of hearing a splash, she heard the sound of stone hitting metal.
''Water tank is empty, either Zecora used it too or it just dried up.'' She said, climbing back onto David's shoulders, ''You sure are strong.'' She added, David rolled his eyes, ''I wanna have a look at the internal cylinders and valve gear rods.'' The mare said, hopping off David's shoulders.
Dusty crawled under '43999', wriggling between the valve gear and the track, once she was directly under the crankshafts, she flipped over onto her back and looked up, the crankshafts was only a few inches from her face.
''Ok, David, you got the pad with you?'' Dusty said, trying to move as little as possible, ''Yeah, it's here.'' She heard the human say. ''Ok, write down the following; The left and right cylinders are in perfect condition. Left crankshaft is slightly bent, can easily be fix, right valve gear rod is in good condition, in need of oiling. While i'm under here, i'm gonna check the bearings for the axles.'' She shouted out from under the engine.
Dusty wriggled around some more, trying to get a good look at the six bearings on the six axles.
''Ok, write this down too, all bearings and locking plates are in good condition with the exception of the locking plate on the central left axle, locking plate is cracked and needs replacing.'' She said, David wrote this down as well, Dusty wriggled out from under the Fowler. The green mist leaked into the first TPO as David and Dusty climbed up into the carriage. David started sketching the inside of the TPO, the green mist flowed into one of the skeletons, its bony hand began to clench into a fist.
End of Chapter Eleven.