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One day, a kirin was coming to Ponyville. This kirin had brown fur and orange scales on her back that matched her mane. She also had yellow eyes, some earrings, and a beauty mark on her face.
This kirin was named Kindling Sparks. She had come to Ponyville thanks to the advice of her friend, Autumn Blaze. The kirins had been quiet and didn’t interact much with the ponies, Autumn asked a couple of her friends if they wanted to explore more of Equestria. Kindling had chosen Ponyville and decided if she could try and find something to look into.
The kirin thought to herself as she rode the train to Ponyville, which soon came to a stop. Passengers disembarked from the train and started to head into town. Most other passengers stayed onboard waiting for their next stop. Kindling, meanwhile, walked toward the front of the train to look at the engine.
Kindling honestly forgot about when they had used this locomotive since they took a dip in the Stream of Silence. The unsure kirin stopped beside the steam engine. The engineer was walking onto the platform. “Hello there miss,” the engineer said. “Can I help you?”
“Hello there,” Kindling said. “This is kind of my first time in Ponyville. I haven’t really seen that much of this engine.”
“Oh, the friendship express is the best service in Equestria. Not every pony can fly, so they need some way to get around Equestria.”
“It did feel like a pretty smooth ride. Um… Do you mind if I take look inside the cab?”
“Be my guest. I just need to grab a drink until my next trip. You just wait here until I get back.” The pony walked away from the engine, leaving Kindling to look at the train. Suddenly, she heard someone taking a few deep breaths before looking over to see a stallion pacing back and forth on the platform.
The stallion was a unicorn with a silver coat and a dark blue mane that he was trying to keep combed. He looked to have a rail coach as a cutie mark and he seemed pretty stressed. Concerned, Kindling walked over to him. “Excuse me, sir,” she said, “What seems to be bothering you?”
The stallion looked over at the kirin and was shocked to see her. “Oh, hello there,” the stallion said. “I… Don’t think we’ve ever met each other before.”
“I’m Kindling Flames. I’m visiting from the kirin village. I’m taking an interest in this steam engine.”
“Yeah… It’s a very cool piece of equipment.” The stallion looked at the engine again before he turned back to Kindling. “My name is Railcar. I’m going to be a steward on the next train to the Crystal Empire.”
“Ooh, I’ve heard about that place. That’s where Princess Cadence lives, right?”
“Yes. I’m a little concerned with how the trip will go with the snow getting in the way.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“Yes. The crystal heart is one of the main things helping to keep the constant storms out. However, it’s not the storm that’s the only thing that worries me. I’ll be helping to serve on this train as a conductor. It’s my first day on the job and I’m nervous.”
Kindling felt sorry for the stallion’s concern. “Listen, I think I know what it’s like to be worried about the future,” she said. “My whole home overreacted to an incident and it caused more problems than it meant to solve. There was a stream that made us go mute… It was a long story. I’ll be on the next train you’re going on.”
“That… That’ll be nice. Thanks.” The stallion and kirin smiled as they felt like they were quickly warming up to each other.
A short while later, Kindling bought her ticket for the Crystal Empire. Railcar was still feeling nervous about his first trip. He held up an old-looking pocket watch, which grabbed Kindling’s attention. “Hey, what’s that?” the kirin asked.
“It’s my grandfather’s old pocket watch,” Railcar explained. “It was passed down to my dad then down to me. They say it’s a bit of a good luck charm.”
“It looks very nice. It makes you look like a professional.” Railcar smiled at the kirin’s comment as they saw the train pull up to the platform. The stallion quickly started helping passengers get on board, including Kindling herself. Soon, it was time to go to the Crystal Empire.
“All aboard!” Railcar called. He blew his whistle and the Friendship Express slowly pulled out of the station. Kindling looked out the window as they got further away from Ponyville until it was out of sight.
Kindling got herself comfy in one of the seats, waiting until they got to the Crystal Empire, which would take a couple of hours. A little while into the trip, Railcar approached the kirin.
“Hello again,” the stallion said. “Ticket please.” Kindling followed the order and handed the conductor her ticket, which he punched out. “So I don’t think I got the chance to ask you why you want to travel by train so much. Why is that?”
“Well, my home village went through a quiet phase, and we kind of just…. Hung around there for a while,” Kindling explained. “We were too afraid of conflict so we just stayed home with only awkward silence for company.”
“That sounds kind of depressing.”
“It was. Thankfully some ponies showed up and helped the talking kirin, Autumn Blaze, make a cure for us and get our voices back.”
“That’s good to hear. Heh, no pun intended.” Kindling just rolled her eyes at the unintended joke as Railcar was about to hand her ticket back until the wind blew through an open window, blowing the ticket down the hall and through an open door as another pony walked in.
“Oh, darn it!” Kingling quickly got up, ran towards her ticket, and saw it fly through most of the carriages as if it were being pulled away on a fishing wire. Kindling was struggling to keep her anger in so she didn’t set anything on fire, but she was really wanting to get her ticket back.
Eventually, she got into the engine’s cab where the engineer was surprised to see her. “Oh, hello there,” the engineer said. “Passengers aren’t normally allowed in here.”
“I know, but I’m busy looking for my ticket,” Kindling explained. She panted a little bit as she didn’t think she would have to run so much. “I swear it had a mind of its own.” She looked around the cab for a little bit, but there wasn’t any sign of her ticket.
“Before you ask, I had the firebox closed for a few minutes,” the engineer informed. “It’s unlikely that anything flew into here.” Kindling carefully looked around the cab for her ticket, but it was nowhere to be found like it just disappeared.
The upset kirin walked back to the coach to tell Railcar the bad news. When he saw Kindling’s expression and quickly picked up on what was wrong. “You lost your ticket, didn’t you?” he asked.
“Yes,” Kindling responded, “Is… Is there going to be trouble?”
“I’ll try and work some things out at the next station,” Railcar explained. “Just get back to your seat and…” A sudden thud interrupted the conversation, which made the pony and kirin worried.
It had come from the engine’s cab and they found the engineer looking sick, he could barely stand. “What happened?” Kindling asked.
“I think I had… Something bad,” the engineer groaned while he held his stomach.
“Oh dear,” Railcar said. He helped the engineer up and started carrying him to the coaches. “Let’s see if we can get you some help.”
As they walked out of the cab, Kindling noticed there was no one at the controls. “Um, Railcar,” she said, “I think that…” But the stallions had walked away, leaving the kirin the only creature in the cab.
Kindling felt a little worried since she thought they would crash. However, some parts of her brain remembered how these controls worked. She didn’t know how but she found herself controlling the engine’s speed to make sure it was safe for the passengers.
“Maybe I paid more attention to how these things worked than I thought,” Kindling said to herself. She looked towards the pile of coal and levitated the shovel, thinking the engine could use more steam.
She shoveled a scoop or two of coal into the firebox and looked to see it roaring nicely. Kindling closed the firebox and placed down her shovel before she noticed something odd; the pile of coal had disappeared. She couldn’t have shoveled that much coal.
The confusion arose when Kindling saw the shovel she put down was gone too. “Where did they go?” she questioned. She could only hear the sound of the pistons pumping and flicking flames of the fire in the firebox. Then the flames inexplicably fizzled out and the volume of the pumping pistons started decreasing.
“What’s going on with the engine?” Kindling asked. She tried to look at the window and the steam was quickly fading away. She would’ve focused on that but was distracted by some strange poles that started appearing beside the tracks, each pole having some kind of wiring connecting them. This increased the confusion when Kindling saw they were spreading up when the silent engine should’ve indicated that they would’ve been slowing down.
Kindling was about to go back and ask Railcar for help when she got a jolt of energy phase through her. She felt drained for a second before she brought her hoof to her head and stood up… On her hind legs? Kindling tried going back onto her forehooves but that didn’t feel right. Kindling had been walking this way all of her life, why did it feel so wrong?
The kirin groaned as she felt something happening with her hooves. They started split apart in multiple areas, each hooves growing fives points. She found she was able to bend them with no issue and at their ends, clean well kept nails started to grow. Kindling brought her hands to her face as she didn’t know how her fingernails…
“Wait, how do I know what these are? What is happening to mEEK!?” Kindling suddenly felt another jolt as felt like something pulled her onto her hind legs. Strangely, this felt more natural to stand than on her hands- Hooves. Fairly scared, Kindling looked at the rest of her body as she couldn’t feel anything from her horn or tail.
Kindling touched her horn and felt it start to bend unnaturally, plus it felt like it was made of plastic. She then grabbed onto her tail and gave it a couple of tugs, which she didn’t feel at all. Kindling was scared, and she was about to run back to get Railcar when a thought entered her head, “Takushī kara hanare rarenai.” Kindling had never heard these words before, yet she fully understood them.
The transforming kirin looked towards the train controls and started changing just like her. The firebox door was getting sealed up as the gauges to control the water were shrinking away. The entire cab was starting to move forward so that a new window could grow in front of the engine. Kindling could see the tracks in front of her.
They looked to be moving very fast past hundreds of poles with wires connected to them. Kindling then saw the controls had changed to have simpler levers, a speedometer, various buttons, and other controls. More knowledge entered Kindling’s head of learning how to work all of these.
“I need to get to help… I…” Kindling groaned as a new seat slowly grew into existence. She was thinking about sitting down as she looked down at her hind hooves, which wear stretching outwards a little bit and gaining a couple of toes before they were covered up. Black soles grew underneath her changing feet, as brown leather covered up the rest of her feet with laces quickly tying themselves up to keep the shoes tight.
To ensure comfort, a pair of warm socks appear on Kindling’s feet underneath the shoes. She wiggled her toes as she enjoyed how these socks and shoes were a perfect balance of comfort of professionalism. She sat down in the chair that just showed up, but she felt that she was sitting on something.
Kindling stood up and looked at her tail. She would’ve been scared if she… If she even had a tail. Her mind went foggy for a brief minute as her tail detached from her body and wrapped around her legs and turned into a nice brown. The materials of the tail started turning into polyester fabric, which grew all the way down to her ankles, meeting up with her footwear.
Kindling was much calmer now as she focused on the tracks and the controls with her hips flaring out a little bit. She didn’t know why, but she had felt a little naked at the moment. She had always dressed professionally. Maybe she thought about that one time she went skinny dipping when she was a teenager. She shrugged it off as the scales on her back were peeling off.
She sighed with relief as it felt like she had gotten a much-needed back massage. The brown fur on the front of her body slowly peeled like her scales as they both would be starting to change into fabric materials. Her scales would lose their colors to turn white as snow and morph into a nice button shirt that covered up her chest, which grew tiny lumps in her chest. Kindling was happy that her breasts were small she didn’t have to worry too much about bouncing.
The fur, meanwhile, was turning into a suit that was buttoning up by itself. She quickly gained a name tag that showed “Kimiko.” She was a little confused about why she was thinking about firewood for some reason. Kimiko shrugged it off as the mane around her neck was splitting from the parts on her head and straightened out and wrapped around her neck with the white button shirt underneath it. Kimiko thought her tie was a little tight as she quickly readjusted it before continuing to focus on the tracks.
Kimiko’s head was completely out of place at this point. Her orange mane would quickly get darker to the point it was black. It reached her back after straightening out and gaining a little shine in the light like it had been combed and conditioned daily. Her ears would move downwards to the sides of her head, weakening her hearing but kept her earrings.
For her face, Kimiko’s muzzle shrank quite a bit with her face soon gaining a new button nose and soft pair of lips. The changes were almost over as Kimiko’s horn would be one of the last parts to change now. The base of the horn detached from Kimiko’s forehead, leaving no kind of mark on her. The horn’s base turned black and started forming into plastic as the rest of it turned brown to match the rest of her uniform with an emblem developing on the front.
The emblem looked like a globe that had a bullet train speeding around it. The horn had fully formed into a hat, which Kimiko adjusted while her eyes turned green, finishing off her transformation. Last but not least, Kimiko’s eyes started becoming slanted as they changed from Amber to green.
New knowledge flew into the woman’s head, knowledge of her home language; Japanese. She still remembered English, as it was her second language. Kimiko had been trained as an engineer for the new cross-country express, which connects Canada and America to Europe thanks to the new undersea tunnel.
Where once there was a kirin, there was now a woman from Japan known as Kimiko Fumi. She sat in her seat and kept the engine in order so she wouldn’t notice certain other things happening.
It would just be Kimiko that would be changing. The engine she was driving had turned into an electric bullet train at this point. The front was fully formed at this point and the rest of the carriage was following suit.
They would all be reshaped to be longer and connected to the electric wires powering the engine via the pantograph. The rest of the passengers would quickly change just like Kimiko, they would all stand in bipedal positions and have their fur turn into clothing. Railcar would be no exception to this.
His uniform would change to be similar to Kimiko’s, with dress shoes, pants, a jacket, a tie, and even a cap with a matching emblem. His hair color turned black and eye color changed to green and he looked around the coaches at the changing passengers. Most of them were taking modern technology such as smartphones and laptops. Ryan smiled as he was happy for the passengers’ comfort. He checked his old-fashioned pocket watch to check the time before he checked the window to see that they were heading into the snowy territory.
The train’s PA system quickly switched on. “We are now approaching Vancouver,” announced Kimiko, “Passengers prepare to disembark.” Some passengers started grabbing their backs as the train started to slow down.
The cross-country express started coming to a stop at the station in Canada. Kimiko stood up so she could stretch after sitting down for so long. She walked out of the cab and found Ryan standing nearby.
“Nē, Ryan-kun,” Kimiko spoke.
“Hi, Kimmi,” Ryan responded. “See anything interesting while driving?”
“Nothing too out of the ordinary. But the snow is looking beautiful near the tracks.”
“I don’t think it’s as beautiful as you.” Kimiko brought her hand to her face as she blushed with embarrassment. She couldn’t but be like this when Ryan say cute things about her in public, let alone on duty.
Since reality and history had changed to make Kimiko an engineer, she and Ryan would have gotten closer now. Both workers had wedding rings appear on their fingers as thoughts of their past started coming back.
Early in their careers, both Kimiko and Ryan had recently graduated from high school. Both were on their first days of the job and taking their first train known as the Local Looper. Kimiko was getting ready before she went into the cab as she saw Ryan helping to load up baggage.
“Hajimete no densha no chōshi wa dōdesu ka?” Kimiko asked. Ryan wasn’t sure what she said since he didn’t know too much Japanese at this point of time, so she repeated herself. “How are you feeling about your first train?”
“Um…. Pretty nervous,” Ryan admitted. “I’ve got a lot of things to focus on for the passengers.”
“Me too. Kind of worried about running a red signal or running late. We take our scheduling very seriously back in Japan.”
“Well, around here, our schedule is a little more forgiving. Besides, this is our first train, so we can’t be perfect the first time.” He pulled out his pocket watch and took a deep breath. “Here’s to hope luck’s on our side.”
Kimiko smiled and waved bye to Ryan before she boarded the cab. Eventually, everyone was on the train and they slowly set off. Kimiko kept an eye out on the tracks, checking the signals and making sure the line was clear. A little while later, they arrived at the station, stopping at the platform, right on time.
As they waited for their next departure, Kimiko checked on Ryan, who was wiping his brow as he felt nervous. “How are you doing?” the engineer asked.
“Just the nervous sweats,” Ryan admitted. “Have to… Make sure that the passengers are alright.”
“Well, you’re doing a great job. I haven’t heard any complaints.”
“Maybe that’s because you did such a good job driving us here.” Ryan chuckled nervously as Kimiko reminded him of something.
“Just thinking about how your grandfather handled the passengers.” The conductor took out his familiar heirloom. “They probably had a lot more troubles to deal with in the past. Like no warning systems, radios, having separate brakes.”
“...You have a point there. I don’t know how we’d get that work.”
“Technology advances more and more to make people safe. Just have to find the right amount of it and we’ll be fine. Now, I better get back into the cab before it’s time to leave.” With that, both resumed their work and carried on keeping calm.
About a year after that, Ryan and Kimiko were on their break, chatting about the new changes to the railroad. “Do you really think that these driverless trains will take over?” Ryan questioned.
“They couldn’t get it to work with driverless cars or even buses,” Kimiko admitted. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have a fifty-ton object in control of itself. What’s stopping someone from hijacking the cab and stealing the controls?”
“Or even someone driving on the tracks? People are unpredictable, plus you can’t just run a train with less than two people. Do these people learn nothing?”
“Nothing is a problem until it’s their problem.” Both stopped talking to see a freight train loading with rubble slowly rolling past them.
“That new tunnel is coming along well. I can’t wait to see how it’ll go.”
“Me too. I can’t wait to explore it. I’ve always wanted to travel the world. In fact, this new cross-country system was one of the reasons I wanted to be an engineer.”
“Wait, really?”
“Yeah, but…. I would still need a good conductor.” Ryan smiled a little bit at this comment as both of them felt something. They both saw they were holding each other’s hand, making them blush and pull their arms back in embarrassment.
“Um… You’re pretty professional since you’ve learned from your family members.” Kimiko kept trying to speak English but her nerves were making her want to slip into her native language. Ryan just nodded as he was having fuzzy feelings towards his coworker and the feeling was mutual.
This event caused them to start dating during their time off from work. The two would watch movies together when they were at hotels and on occasion when they were at home they would dine out. The two would be very close with each other until one fateful day.
Kimiko wasn’t expecting to be one 1st class train with Ryan, especially having a meal in the dining car. Kimiko didn’t know what the special occasion was, but she was enjoying the meal she had ordered. “Ryan, you didn’t have to go through all of this,” the off duty engineer said, “I would’ve been fine with just some pizza.”
“I know that, but… I want to make this event feel a little more special,” Ryan explained. “You know we’ve worked together for a long time. I feel like we’re both peas in a pod and we help each other out.”
“That’s true. You have helped me use English more frequently.”
“And you’ve help me learn some Japanese. More importantly, you’ve help me keep my cool while on our first days as engineer and conductor. We’re a perfect team, and I thought about something I hope you agree to.” Ryan got out of his seat and got on his knee beside Kimiko.
“Ryan, what are you…?” She paused when she saw her coworker pull out a small box that opened up to reveal an engagement ring. The japanese woman gasped as she brought her hands to her mouth.
“Kimmi, you’re the best partner anyone could ask for. You keep your cool and help keep others safe. I want to join you in your dream of exploring the world on the new cross country express. So, will you perimently pair us as partners by marrying me?”
Kimiko was just shocked. She removed her hands from her face before she started shaking them delightment. “Hai. Hai! Watashi wa anata to kekkon shimasu!" She picked up the ring as she was overjoyed. Ryan stood up and help slip the ring onto her finger. Unable to contain her excitement, Kimiko stood up and hugged her new fiance before they shared a kiss as the passengers who witnessed the event clapped and cheered for them.
The wedding cemented Kimiko and Ryan’s relationship. Ryan opened up his pocket watch again to see the empty slot covered the face of the watch now showed a picture of the two them as their wedding. This even also painted a good image of them to the public along with their engine.
It was one of the newest models and a bit of weird one. It was almost like an electric multiple unit with the lead and tail engines having pantographs on their roofs. The coaches were where things got a little complex. The power came from the engines and went into the coaches, had several batteries stored into them or they were connected to a battery car.
The coaches were interchangeable and could be paired up with auto cars, so people could bring their road vehicles across the countries. The service itself had tracks leading from USA through Canada, passing through Alaska and going into the tunnel that leads out to Japan. Further down the track, another tunnel led the service into China, then into France, before entering the Eruostar tunnel into the UK.
Kimiko suddenly felt a little lighthead for a brief second before she snapped back to reality. “Kimmi, are you okay?” Ryan asked.
“Ryan-kun, I’m fine,” the former kirin responded. “I think I might’ve been sitting for too long. I need to stretch my legs more.” They double checked the time to see they would be leaving soon. “I hope we’ll have a good rest by the end of our shift.”
“We could watch a movie at a hotel,” Ryan suggested. Kimiko smiled at this idea. She and her husband shared a quick kiss before she got back to the cab to start the train. When everything was set, Kimiko sounded the horn and drove the express out of the station towards the underwater tunnel.
This is the first story to include an OC, or rather two. Both of which are made with help from my friend Proper Noun.
MLP © Hasbro
This kirin was named Kindling Sparks. She had come to Ponyville thanks to the advice of her friend, Autumn Blaze. The kirins had been quiet and didn’t interact much with the ponies, Autumn asked a couple of her friends if they wanted to explore more of Equestria. Kindling had chosen Ponyville and decided if she could try and find something to look into.
The kirin thought to herself as she rode the train to Ponyville, which soon came to a stop. Passengers disembarked from the train and started to head into town. Most other passengers stayed onboard waiting for their next stop. Kindling, meanwhile, walked toward the front of the train to look at the engine.
Kindling honestly forgot about when they had used this locomotive since they took a dip in the Stream of Silence. The unsure kirin stopped beside the steam engine. The engineer was walking onto the platform. “Hello there miss,” the engineer said. “Can I help you?”
“Hello there,” Kindling said. “This is kind of my first time in Ponyville. I haven’t really seen that much of this engine.”
“Oh, the friendship express is the best service in Equestria. Not every pony can fly, so they need some way to get around Equestria.”
“It did feel like a pretty smooth ride. Um… Do you mind if I take look inside the cab?”
“Be my guest. I just need to grab a drink until my next trip. You just wait here until I get back.” The pony walked away from the engine, leaving Kindling to look at the train. Suddenly, she heard someone taking a few deep breaths before looking over to see a stallion pacing back and forth on the platform.
The stallion was a unicorn with a silver coat and a dark blue mane that he was trying to keep combed. He looked to have a rail coach as a cutie mark and he seemed pretty stressed. Concerned, Kindling walked over to him. “Excuse me, sir,” she said, “What seems to be bothering you?”
The stallion looked over at the kirin and was shocked to see her. “Oh, hello there,” the stallion said. “I… Don’t think we’ve ever met each other before.”
“I’m Kindling Flames. I’m visiting from the kirin village. I’m taking an interest in this steam engine.”
“Yeah… It’s a very cool piece of equipment.” The stallion looked at the engine again before he turned back to Kindling. “My name is Railcar. I’m going to be a steward on the next train to the Crystal Empire.”
“Ooh, I’ve heard about that place. That’s where Princess Cadence lives, right?”
“Yes. I’m a little concerned with how the trip will go with the snow getting in the way.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“Yes. The crystal heart is one of the main things helping to keep the constant storms out. However, it’s not the storm that’s the only thing that worries me. I’ll be helping to serve on this train as a conductor. It’s my first day on the job and I’m nervous.”
Kindling felt sorry for the stallion’s concern. “Listen, I think I know what it’s like to be worried about the future,” she said. “My whole home overreacted to an incident and it caused more problems than it meant to solve. There was a stream that made us go mute… It was a long story. I’ll be on the next train you’re going on.”
“That… That’ll be nice. Thanks.” The stallion and kirin smiled as they felt like they were quickly warming up to each other.
___________________________________________
A short while later, Kindling bought her ticket for the Crystal Empire. Railcar was still feeling nervous about his first trip. He held up an old-looking pocket watch, which grabbed Kindling’s attention. “Hey, what’s that?” the kirin asked.
“It’s my grandfather’s old pocket watch,” Railcar explained. “It was passed down to my dad then down to me. They say it’s a bit of a good luck charm.”
“It looks very nice. It makes you look like a professional.” Railcar smiled at the kirin’s comment as they saw the train pull up to the platform. The stallion quickly started helping passengers get on board, including Kindling herself. Soon, it was time to go to the Crystal Empire.
“All aboard!” Railcar called. He blew his whistle and the Friendship Express slowly pulled out of the station. Kindling looked out the window as they got further away from Ponyville until it was out of sight.
Kindling got herself comfy in one of the seats, waiting until they got to the Crystal Empire, which would take a couple of hours. A little while into the trip, Railcar approached the kirin.
“Hello again,” the stallion said. “Ticket please.” Kindling followed the order and handed the conductor her ticket, which he punched out. “So I don’t think I got the chance to ask you why you want to travel by train so much. Why is that?”
“Well, my home village went through a quiet phase, and we kind of just…. Hung around there for a while,” Kindling explained. “We were too afraid of conflict so we just stayed home with only awkward silence for company.”
“That sounds kind of depressing.”
“It was. Thankfully some ponies showed up and helped the talking kirin, Autumn Blaze, make a cure for us and get our voices back.”
“That’s good to hear. Heh, no pun intended.” Kindling just rolled her eyes at the unintended joke as Railcar was about to hand her ticket back until the wind blew through an open window, blowing the ticket down the hall and through an open door as another pony walked in.
“Oh, darn it!” Kingling quickly got up, ran towards her ticket, and saw it fly through most of the carriages as if it were being pulled away on a fishing wire. Kindling was struggling to keep her anger in so she didn’t set anything on fire, but she was really wanting to get her ticket back.
Eventually, she got into the engine’s cab where the engineer was surprised to see her. “Oh, hello there,” the engineer said. “Passengers aren’t normally allowed in here.”
“I know, but I’m busy looking for my ticket,” Kindling explained. She panted a little bit as she didn’t think she would have to run so much. “I swear it had a mind of its own.” She looked around the cab for a little bit, but there wasn’t any sign of her ticket.
“Before you ask, I had the firebox closed for a few minutes,” the engineer informed. “It’s unlikely that anything flew into here.” Kindling carefully looked around the cab for her ticket, but it was nowhere to be found like it just disappeared.
The upset kirin walked back to the coach to tell Railcar the bad news. When he saw Kindling’s expression and quickly picked up on what was wrong. “You lost your ticket, didn’t you?” he asked.
“Yes,” Kindling responded, “Is… Is there going to be trouble?”
“I’ll try and work some things out at the next station,” Railcar explained. “Just get back to your seat and…” A sudden thud interrupted the conversation, which made the pony and kirin worried.
It had come from the engine’s cab and they found the engineer looking sick, he could barely stand. “What happened?” Kindling asked.
“I think I had… Something bad,” the engineer groaned while he held his stomach.
“Oh dear,” Railcar said. He helped the engineer up and started carrying him to the coaches. “Let’s see if we can get you some help.”
As they walked out of the cab, Kindling noticed there was no one at the controls. “Um, Railcar,” she said, “I think that…” But the stallions had walked away, leaving the kirin the only creature in the cab.
Kindling felt a little worried since she thought they would crash. However, some parts of her brain remembered how these controls worked. She didn’t know how but she found herself controlling the engine’s speed to make sure it was safe for the passengers.
“Maybe I paid more attention to how these things worked than I thought,” Kindling said to herself. She looked towards the pile of coal and levitated the shovel, thinking the engine could use more steam.
She shoveled a scoop or two of coal into the firebox and looked to see it roaring nicely. Kindling closed the firebox and placed down her shovel before she noticed something odd; the pile of coal had disappeared. She couldn’t have shoveled that much coal.
The confusion arose when Kindling saw the shovel she put down was gone too. “Where did they go?” she questioned. She could only hear the sound of the pistons pumping and flicking flames of the fire in the firebox. Then the flames inexplicably fizzled out and the volume of the pumping pistons started decreasing.
“What’s going on with the engine?” Kindling asked. She tried to look at the window and the steam was quickly fading away. She would’ve focused on that but was distracted by some strange poles that started appearing beside the tracks, each pole having some kind of wiring connecting them. This increased the confusion when Kindling saw they were spreading up when the silent engine should’ve indicated that they would’ve been slowing down.
Kindling was about to go back and ask Railcar for help when she got a jolt of energy phase through her. She felt drained for a second before she brought her hoof to her head and stood up… On her hind legs? Kindling tried going back onto her forehooves but that didn’t feel right. Kindling had been walking this way all of her life, why did it feel so wrong?
The kirin groaned as she felt something happening with her hooves. They started split apart in multiple areas, each hooves growing fives points. She found she was able to bend them with no issue and at their ends, clean well kept nails started to grow. Kindling brought her hands to her face as she didn’t know how her fingernails…
“Wait, how do I know what these are? What is happening to mEEK!?” Kindling suddenly felt another jolt as felt like something pulled her onto her hind legs. Strangely, this felt more natural to stand than on her hands- Hooves. Fairly scared, Kindling looked at the rest of her body as she couldn’t feel anything from her horn or tail.
Kindling touched her horn and felt it start to bend unnaturally, plus it felt like it was made of plastic. She then grabbed onto her tail and gave it a couple of tugs, which she didn’t feel at all. Kindling was scared, and she was about to run back to get Railcar when a thought entered her head, “Takushī kara hanare rarenai.” Kindling had never heard these words before, yet she fully understood them.
The transforming kirin looked towards the train controls and started changing just like her. The firebox door was getting sealed up as the gauges to control the water were shrinking away. The entire cab was starting to move forward so that a new window could grow in front of the engine. Kindling could see the tracks in front of her.
They looked to be moving very fast past hundreds of poles with wires connected to them. Kindling then saw the controls had changed to have simpler levers, a speedometer, various buttons, and other controls. More knowledge entered Kindling’s head of learning how to work all of these.
“I need to get to help… I…” Kindling groaned as a new seat slowly grew into existence. She was thinking about sitting down as she looked down at her hind hooves, which wear stretching outwards a little bit and gaining a couple of toes before they were covered up. Black soles grew underneath her changing feet, as brown leather covered up the rest of her feet with laces quickly tying themselves up to keep the shoes tight.
To ensure comfort, a pair of warm socks appear on Kindling’s feet underneath the shoes. She wiggled her toes as she enjoyed how these socks and shoes were a perfect balance of comfort of professionalism. She sat down in the chair that just showed up, but she felt that she was sitting on something.
Kindling stood up and looked at her tail. She would’ve been scared if she… If she even had a tail. Her mind went foggy for a brief minute as her tail detached from her body and wrapped around her legs and turned into a nice brown. The materials of the tail started turning into polyester fabric, which grew all the way down to her ankles, meeting up with her footwear.
Kindling was much calmer now as she focused on the tracks and the controls with her hips flaring out a little bit. She didn’t know why, but she had felt a little naked at the moment. She had always dressed professionally. Maybe she thought about that one time she went skinny dipping when she was a teenager. She shrugged it off as the scales on her back were peeling off.
She sighed with relief as it felt like she had gotten a much-needed back massage. The brown fur on the front of her body slowly peeled like her scales as they both would be starting to change into fabric materials. Her scales would lose their colors to turn white as snow and morph into a nice button shirt that covered up her chest, which grew tiny lumps in her chest. Kindling was happy that her breasts were small she didn’t have to worry too much about bouncing.
The fur, meanwhile, was turning into a suit that was buttoning up by itself. She quickly gained a name tag that showed “Kimiko.” She was a little confused about why she was thinking about firewood for some reason. Kimiko shrugged it off as the mane around her neck was splitting from the parts on her head and straightened out and wrapped around her neck with the white button shirt underneath it. Kimiko thought her tie was a little tight as she quickly readjusted it before continuing to focus on the tracks.
Kimiko’s head was completely out of place at this point. Her orange mane would quickly get darker to the point it was black. It reached her back after straightening out and gaining a little shine in the light like it had been combed and conditioned daily. Her ears would move downwards to the sides of her head, weakening her hearing but kept her earrings.
For her face, Kimiko’s muzzle shrank quite a bit with her face soon gaining a new button nose and soft pair of lips. The changes were almost over as Kimiko’s horn would be one of the last parts to change now. The base of the horn detached from Kimiko’s forehead, leaving no kind of mark on her. The horn’s base turned black and started forming into plastic as the rest of it turned brown to match the rest of her uniform with an emblem developing on the front.
The emblem looked like a globe that had a bullet train speeding around it. The horn had fully formed into a hat, which Kimiko adjusted while her eyes turned green, finishing off her transformation. Last but not least, Kimiko’s eyes started becoming slanted as they changed from Amber to green.
New knowledge flew into the woman’s head, knowledge of her home language; Japanese. She still remembered English, as it was her second language. Kimiko had been trained as an engineer for the new cross-country express, which connects Canada and America to Europe thanks to the new undersea tunnel.
Where once there was a kirin, there was now a woman from Japan known as Kimiko Fumi. She sat in her seat and kept the engine in order so she wouldn’t notice certain other things happening.
It would just be Kimiko that would be changing. The engine she was driving had turned into an electric bullet train at this point. The front was fully formed at this point and the rest of the carriage was following suit.
They would all be reshaped to be longer and connected to the electric wires powering the engine via the pantograph. The rest of the passengers would quickly change just like Kimiko, they would all stand in bipedal positions and have their fur turn into clothing. Railcar would be no exception to this.
His uniform would change to be similar to Kimiko’s, with dress shoes, pants, a jacket, a tie, and even a cap with a matching emblem. His hair color turned black and eye color changed to green and he looked around the coaches at the changing passengers. Most of them were taking modern technology such as smartphones and laptops. Ryan smiled as he was happy for the passengers’ comfort. He checked his old-fashioned pocket watch to check the time before he checked the window to see that they were heading into the snowy territory.
The train’s PA system quickly switched on. “We are now approaching Vancouver,” announced Kimiko, “Passengers prepare to disembark.” Some passengers started grabbing their backs as the train started to slow down.
The cross-country express started coming to a stop at the station in Canada. Kimiko stood up so she could stretch after sitting down for so long. She walked out of the cab and found Ryan standing nearby.
“Nē, Ryan-kun,” Kimiko spoke.
“Hi, Kimmi,” Ryan responded. “See anything interesting while driving?”
“Nothing too out of the ordinary. But the snow is looking beautiful near the tracks.”
“I don’t think it’s as beautiful as you.” Kimiko brought her hand to her face as she blushed with embarrassment. She couldn’t but be like this when Ryan say cute things about her in public, let alone on duty.
Since reality and history had changed to make Kimiko an engineer, she and Ryan would have gotten closer now. Both workers had wedding rings appear on their fingers as thoughts of their past started coming back.
Early in their careers, both Kimiko and Ryan had recently graduated from high school. Both were on their first days of the job and taking their first train known as the Local Looper. Kimiko was getting ready before she went into the cab as she saw Ryan helping to load up baggage.
“Hajimete no densha no chōshi wa dōdesu ka?” Kimiko asked. Ryan wasn’t sure what she said since he didn’t know too much Japanese at this point of time, so she repeated herself. “How are you feeling about your first train?”
“Um…. Pretty nervous,” Ryan admitted. “I’ve got a lot of things to focus on for the passengers.”
“Me too. Kind of worried about running a red signal or running late. We take our scheduling very seriously back in Japan.”
“Well, around here, our schedule is a little more forgiving. Besides, this is our first train, so we can’t be perfect the first time.” He pulled out his pocket watch and took a deep breath. “Here’s to hope luck’s on our side.”
Kimiko smiled and waved bye to Ryan before she boarded the cab. Eventually, everyone was on the train and they slowly set off. Kimiko kept an eye out on the tracks, checking the signals and making sure the line was clear. A little while later, they arrived at the station, stopping at the platform, right on time.
As they waited for their next departure, Kimiko checked on Ryan, who was wiping his brow as he felt nervous. “How are you doing?” the engineer asked.
“Just the nervous sweats,” Ryan admitted. “Have to… Make sure that the passengers are alright.”
“Well, you’re doing a great job. I haven’t heard any complaints.”
“Maybe that’s because you did such a good job driving us here.” Ryan chuckled nervously as Kimiko reminded him of something.
“Just thinking about how your grandfather handled the passengers.” The conductor took out his familiar heirloom. “They probably had a lot more troubles to deal with in the past. Like no warning systems, radios, having separate brakes.”
“...You have a point there. I don’t know how we’d get that work.”
“Technology advances more and more to make people safe. Just have to find the right amount of it and we’ll be fine. Now, I better get back into the cab before it’s time to leave.” With that, both resumed their work and carried on keeping calm.
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About a year after that, Ryan and Kimiko were on their break, chatting about the new changes to the railroad. “Do you really think that these driverless trains will take over?” Ryan questioned.
“They couldn’t get it to work with driverless cars or even buses,” Kimiko admitted. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have a fifty-ton object in control of itself. What’s stopping someone from hijacking the cab and stealing the controls?”
“Or even someone driving on the tracks? People are unpredictable, plus you can’t just run a train with less than two people. Do these people learn nothing?”
“Nothing is a problem until it’s their problem.” Both stopped talking to see a freight train loading with rubble slowly rolling past them.
“That new tunnel is coming along well. I can’t wait to see how it’ll go.”
“Me too. I can’t wait to explore it. I’ve always wanted to travel the world. In fact, this new cross-country system was one of the reasons I wanted to be an engineer.”
“Wait, really?”
“Yeah, but…. I would still need a good conductor.” Ryan smiled a little bit at this comment as both of them felt something. They both saw they were holding each other’s hand, making them blush and pull their arms back in embarrassment.
“Um… You’re pretty professional since you’ve learned from your family members.” Kimiko kept trying to speak English but her nerves were making her want to slip into her native language. Ryan just nodded as he was having fuzzy feelings towards his coworker and the feeling was mutual.
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This event caused them to start dating during their time off from work. The two would watch movies together when they were at hotels and on occasion when they were at home they would dine out. The two would be very close with each other until one fateful day.
Kimiko wasn’t expecting to be one 1st class train with Ryan, especially having a meal in the dining car. Kimiko didn’t know what the special occasion was, but she was enjoying the meal she had ordered. “Ryan, you didn’t have to go through all of this,” the off duty engineer said, “I would’ve been fine with just some pizza.”
“I know that, but… I want to make this event feel a little more special,” Ryan explained. “You know we’ve worked together for a long time. I feel like we’re both peas in a pod and we help each other out.”
“That’s true. You have helped me use English more frequently.”
“And you’ve help me learn some Japanese. More importantly, you’ve help me keep my cool while on our first days as engineer and conductor. We’re a perfect team, and I thought about something I hope you agree to.” Ryan got out of his seat and got on his knee beside Kimiko.
“Ryan, what are you…?” She paused when she saw her coworker pull out a small box that opened up to reveal an engagement ring. The japanese woman gasped as she brought her hands to her mouth.
“Kimmi, you’re the best partner anyone could ask for. You keep your cool and help keep others safe. I want to join you in your dream of exploring the world on the new cross country express. So, will you perimently pair us as partners by marrying me?”
Kimiko was just shocked. She removed her hands from her face before she started shaking them delightment. “Hai. Hai! Watashi wa anata to kekkon shimasu!" She picked up the ring as she was overjoyed. Ryan stood up and help slip the ring onto her finger. Unable to contain her excitement, Kimiko stood up and hugged her new fiance before they shared a kiss as the passengers who witnessed the event clapped and cheered for them.
___________________________________________
The wedding cemented Kimiko and Ryan’s relationship. Ryan opened up his pocket watch again to see the empty slot covered the face of the watch now showed a picture of the two them as their wedding. This even also painted a good image of them to the public along with their engine.
It was one of the newest models and a bit of weird one. It was almost like an electric multiple unit with the lead and tail engines having pantographs on their roofs. The coaches were where things got a little complex. The power came from the engines and went into the coaches, had several batteries stored into them or they were connected to a battery car.
The coaches were interchangeable and could be paired up with auto cars, so people could bring their road vehicles across the countries. The service itself had tracks leading from USA through Canada, passing through Alaska and going into the tunnel that leads out to Japan. Further down the track, another tunnel led the service into China, then into France, before entering the Eruostar tunnel into the UK.
Kimiko suddenly felt a little lighthead for a brief second before she snapped back to reality. “Kimmi, are you okay?” Ryan asked.
“Ryan-kun, I’m fine,” the former kirin responded. “I think I might’ve been sitting for too long. I need to stretch my legs more.” They double checked the time to see they would be leaving soon. “I hope we’ll have a good rest by the end of our shift.”
“We could watch a movie at a hotel,” Ryan suggested. Kimiko smiled at this idea. She and her husband shared a quick kiss before she got back to the cab to start the train. When everything was set, Kimiko sounded the horn and drove the express out of the station towards the underwater tunnel.
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This is the first story to include an OC, or rather two. Both of which are made with help from my friend Proper Noun.
MLP © Hasbro
Category Story / My Little Pony / Brony
Species Kirin
Gender Multiple characters
Size 120 x 67px
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