USRWC "4-8-8-4"
Somewhere in the Everfree Forest
Equestria

Celestia's sun has risen well and truly into the sky, signaling the start of another day in the peaceful lands of Equestria. Deep within the Everfree Forest the warm rays struggle to penetrate the thick foliage of the tree top and provide natural lighting to the many critters and predators that thrive here. Serina expresses little concern as the hundreds of external spot lights fitted on the war-train light up the surrounding area. In this particular situation the "4-8-8-4" is in a openly vulnerable position with little room to traverse the close range weapon systems freely which is why Serina had to resort to activating the railway battleship's array of single, twin and quad .50 calibre turrets to put down any hostile wildlife. For extra measures Serina also activated the onboard automation units, Specialised robots that are transported in their own configurated railcar with a robotics repair shop outfitted in a following railcar.

These robots however aren't just your typical piles of scrap thrown together from post-nuclear salvage dumps from coast to coast. The majority of the robots that operate in today's post-nuclear society date back to the pre-nuclear days when every home in North America had a robot that would do all the chores for it's caretakers while they went to work for the day. Long after the bombs had fallen while the remnants of Humanity waited out the nuclear winter in their shelters the robots left on the surface continued their tasks even when their previous owners have long died. Thanks to their nuclear fusion cores and the robotics factories that survived and still operate fully autonomously, the robotics industry played a pivotal role in rebuilding the United States once the first people emerged from the safety of their bunkers.

Much like all new forms of technology they undergo a trial of fire to see if they possess any form of military application before they are passed on for civilian use. The first military robots to enter service in the 21st Century were a game changer in Mechanized Warfare despite the first models being large and cumbersome each new model solved previous problems while revealing new ones. The crew of the "4-8-8-4" were fortunate to acquire some of the most deadliest units in the available arsenal that survived the nuclear exchange over 200 years ago.

The war-train's robotics compliment comprises of; Four Assaultrons that serve as Captain Ryan's bodyguards, eight Eyebots to serve as Surveillance/Reconnaissance units which can be refitted as artillery observers for the train's artillery platforms. Twenty Mister Gutsy's are divided into two squads of ten with various weapon loadouts, formidable as they are the general annoyance of their constant blabbering of pre-recorded anti-communist propaganda tends to get old very quickly much to Serina's amusement when she programs one of the squads to chase some fellow crewmates around the train with patriotic music blasting out of their speakers. Thankfully that particular instance is seen more of a boost of morale compared to psychological warfare when they get the jump on some unfortunate commies. To fulfill the utility and maintenance department the train has enough utility-based Protectrons to keep the train running indefinitely. Lastly in the heavy weapons category are six Sentry bots with enough spare parts to build four more.

With a good balance of armour and heavy armament integrated into it's chassis, the Sentry Bot is a powerhouse in the U.S Robotics division. For a robot like this it has surprisingly good mobility thanks to the mecanum wheels mounted on its three legs. Sentry Bots were designed with the purpose of taking the fight to the enemy when active in the heaviest battles during the war. Should one take critical damage or as the Commies try to do every time is disable one to capture it, the Sentry Bot will initiate its self-destruct sequence and charge at the enemy before their two fusion power cores detonate, enveloping them in a small nuclear explosion with a blast yield equivalent to a Davy Crocket Rocket Propelled Nuke.

And the last of the embarked robots there was Jeep. A civilian variant of the Mister Gutsy's battle robots known in the civilian department as Mister Handy. Having only been activated shortly after Serina stopped the train Jeep had already tended to the unconscious Captain and laid him on his bed until he had awoken which was six hours ago as Serina recalls as she thoroughly examines the reconnaissance data feed from the Eye Bot's scouting the surrounding forest area. The sound of a door opening pulls Serina from her thoughts as she noticed the now awoken Captain Ryan stumbling out of his night cabin. Joining his side was Ryan's fellow companion, Rex.

Rex is a German Shepard dog that went through many owners before Ryan adopted him after he was nearly killed in a Tri-Communist night bombing of Chicago. He's front left leg was lost and is replaced with a Cybernetic one. His body is held together by a flexible Cybernetic torso piece, along with a Weapons System upgrade. Two Rocket Pods, each holding two rockets and a modified 50. Cal Gauss Sniper Rifle. He lost sight in his left eye and had it replaced with a Cybernetic implant with a Laser Designation Mod. It took sometime for Rex to get used to the upgrades, but eventually made his first kill by accidentally capped a TCA Assassin when he was startled by the intruder.

For Ryan's own safety of not getting accidentally killed, he would remove the munitions at night and reload them in the morning as his weapons are permanently fixed to his body.

"Well, look who's finally awake!" Serina spoke with a false sense of joy. "Sleep well?"

"No thanks to your driving but yeah, it's nice to get some shut eye by being rendered unconscious." Ryan retorted back at the smug avatar.

"Ah! Good morning, sir!" Jeep announced as he floated out of the kitchen space of the observation car, his voice programed to resemble that of a cliché English butler. "Good to see you're well rested, I have made your Chai Latte as you always liked it, sir. Brewed to absolute perfection!"

"Thanks, Jeep." Ryan politely took the mug from one of Jeep's three appendages and turns back to Serina. "Situation report please."

"Well..." Serina paused uncertain on how to describe of their current situation. "To start it off, we're no longer in Nevada or even anywhere within the continental U.S territory anymore."

Ryan pauses to take a long sip of his drink as he processes what the hell Serina was going on about 'not being in Nevada anymore'. She didn't give enough information to wrap his mind around as the young Captain boots up the Holo-Sit-Rep projector, only to be met with the "no signal" popup.

"Could you be a little more specific, please?" Ryan replied as he turned to the A.I, arms crossed and his stance showed impatience and uncertainty to Serina as she reads her superior's body language like a literature critic.

"Um, what I'm trying to say Captain, is..." Serina stalled as she tries to explain what had brought them to this strange new world in some way that will appear believable to Ryan. Her avatar paced around the holographic projector, both her hands placed against her mouth as the A.I struggles to comprehend the situation that the "4-8-8-4" and her crew have found themselves in. "After our disastrous operation back in Vegas when we were on route to assist the downed VTOL that crashed nearby, the sudden spike in radioactivity from the nukes triggered an anomaly of sorts. One that draws it's energy from the Space-Time Continuum and if triggered by a nuclear reaction can generate, in rare cases mind you, an artificial wormhole."

"Okay." Ryan interrupted Serina. "First off, our fight for Vegas would not have been a disaster if we had known the Commies had nukes in play but we didn't and we paid the price for not establishing a solid intelligence network with the way that our dodgy bureaucracy has brought up the Unified States Armed Forces. Getting back on topic, I've spent a good portion of my foster life tracking anomalies in Texas. But never have I heard of an anomaly like this before?"

"Well, like all anomalies." Serina continued as she pulled data logs on known anomalies from the train's onboard digital archives and displaying them in holographic data pages as they appeared on the Holo-Sit-Rep Projector. "They come in different forms and rarities. The one that brought us to this alternate world is one of the rarest you can encounter in the American Wastelands."

Serina highlights one of data files and opens it to show the Railway Captain when she is trying to explain to him. "This file contains the first and only ever encounter of such an anomaly and thankfully the person that wrote up this file is also on our crew roster."

Ryan leaned over the large tabletop device to examine the illuminated file closer as he hastily read through the information provided. Using the motion touch function he scrolls down the file till he reached the bottom as he searched for a signature from the author. As clear as daylight, he finds what he seeks as the author's initials were written at the bottom of the report file. alongside is the well familiar insignia of the Brotherhood of Steel stamped next to the signature.

"Well, I'll be damned!" Ryan exclaimed surprisingly. "I didn't know Victoria was part the Brotherhood expedition sent to the Boston Commonwealth to investigate 'this anomaly'?"

"Correct." Serina's avatar nodded in agreement. "Knight Paladin Victoria is the Brotherhood's leading expert when it comes to anomalies. So it was only fitting that she was sent there in regards to one of the theories of the Institute's use of teleportation technology being tied to the existence of Space-Time anomalies."

"Interesting..." Ryan stroked his chin with interest. "And what did Victoria managed to find while she was in Boston?"

Serina's avatar gently shook her head in disagreement. "Unfortunately, not much in terms of the amount of data that was recovered following the Institute's destruction left little in the ways of valuable data and the tech that made teleportation a reality was lost."

"bummer." Ryan sighed. "Well, we can't worry about anomalies for now, we need to secure a perimeter and wait for the others to wake up. Then we'll see where we will make our next move from here."

"I have the perimeter secured with our robotic assets and our Eyebots are scanning the surrounding area. So far they've found nothing of significant interest apart from the mostly unique wildlife that inhabit this forest." Serina chimed as she switches the projector to Tactical map mode as a 3D view of the train and the surrounding was rendered in by the onboard scanners and external cameras.

"Perfect, keep our assets close to the train. I don't them straying too far away or attracting the wrong attention back here. I'm gonna withdraw back into my quarters, let me know when someone's woken up."

"Aye, sir. I'll keep an eye on things here while you recover from those after effects the anomaly have inflicted on you. Your vitals diagnosis chip is also going crazy, you should get Jeep to look at it." Serina gestures to the cybernetic joint on Ryan's neck.

"Will do, yell if you need anything." Ryan turns to head back into his private quarters as Rex follows behind him.

Serina simply nodded in acknowledgement as she watches her superior and his canine companion disappear behind the cabin door as it slid shut before turning back to the 3D map. With her attention focused back on the train she suddenly takes notice of the locomotive, the Big Boy's atomic boiler had excess steam pressure building up and needed to be vented. With a simple thought process the "4-8-8-4" opens her blowout valves and the excess steam is released into the hundreds of tubes surrounding the reactor and bypasses the two steam turbines that power the locomotive's two sets of eight driving wheels, eventually making an escape up and out of the twin funnels as a large steam cloud rose high above the Everfree Forest.

Somewhere near Fluttershy's Cottage.

As the "4-8-8-4" remained hidden deep within the darkened cover of the forest beyond it's reach it was business as usual for Equestria. Zecora, a Zebafrican Alchemist and Ponyville's resident Witch Doctor was making her way back home when she notices a growing smoke cloud rising from the forest canopy. As the sole resident of the Everfree Forest it wasn't unusual for Zecora to notice odd phenomenon's and encounter fellow travelers taking risky routes through the mysterious forest. At first she dismissed it as a bonfire made by a Diamond Dog camp but the smoke cloud was too pale for it to be made by a fire. She could only ponder about it as she continued on her journey.

Zecora follows her usual scenic route that takes her along the rim of the forest, passing Fluttershy's Cottage and down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres where she makes her final trek to her home within the forest when she noticed a timid Pegasus was out doing some gardening. Zecora decided to quickly stop by and say hello to Fluttershy and ask her if she had noticed the smoke cloud as well.

As the zebra crossed over a little river bridge leading up to Pegasus' property Zecora couldn't help but admire the efforts and commitment that Fluttershy puts into looking after some of the Everfree's local wildlife as she is, from Zecora's point of view, one of the best veterinarians in Equestria and hold a unique trait that allows her to communicate with said wildlife. The front gate leading into Fluttershy's front yard creaked open loudly as Zecora trotted in, the butter yellow Equestrian looked up from her gardening with a surprised expression on her face as she saw the visitor.

"Oh! Good morning, Zecora. I was not expecting you to stop by today?" Fluttershy greeted the Zebafrican with a soft voice.

"A good morning to you too, Miss Fluttershy." Zecora replied with a head bow in greeting. "I was trekking from town seeking ingredients for my latest brew when I spied with my little eye, a billow of smoke blooming from the forest canopy."

Fluttershy's expression immediately changed from humble a near panic state. "Smoke? From the forest, l-like a fire!"

"No, Miss Fluttershy." Zecora calmed the Pegasus. "The smoke I speak of pales in comparison to the more troublesome entity you speak of."

"Oh. Um, do you know what's causing that smoke?" Fluttershy asked with renewed curiosity.

Zecora politely shook her head. "It is definitely not a steam geyser or a hot spring for that matter." Zecora pondered with thought. "My best guess is that the origin of steam is artificial and blooms from an engine of titanic proportions."

Fluttershy awed at the thought of a steam engine big enough to make that much smoke. "Engine? Like a steam train?"

"That is the only logical conclusion I can think of. I don't know what a steam engine is doing in the Everfree, I don't remember hearing any news about railway tracks being laid through the forest?" Zecora pondered again.

"So do I. Maybe when Twilight comes back from Canterlot for her anniversary I'll be sure to ask her or I should go see Spike later today and see if he has any books about railways going through the Everfree." Fluttershy suggested to her zebra friend.

"Good idea, let me know what discoveries you find today on this interesting turn of events, I'll be back in town later today for more ingredients to complete my latest potion so I will be sure to stop by again later this afternoon. If you are not preoccupied with any plans you have put forward today?" Zecora took her cue to leave Fluttershy's property.

"No, of course not! You are always welcome to stop by anytime, Zecora!" Fluttershy insisted.

"Well then, it looks like I'll be taking the scenic route more often. Good day to you, Miss Fluttershy." Zecora says as she trots away.

"Bye, Zecora." Fluttershy farewelled the Zebra as Zecora continued on her way home, leaving the Pegasus to ponder in thought and wonder as she glimpses at the large smoke cloud still blooming above the forest canopy. "Hmm, hidden railway tracks in the forest, big steam trains... This is something Applejack would know more about than me, I should ask if she wants to look into this too."

Fluttershy shifted her focus back on her morning routine as she got stuck back into her gardening but her curiosity about the smoke never left her mind.