"I can't believe how loud this thing is!" Sunset called out over the sound of 1506's massive engine as the diesel continued to make its way toward Ponyville with the disabled Friendship Express in tow. "How are you not deaf from this?!"

"What?" Nathan replied.

"I said how are you not deaf?!" Sunset repeated a bit louder

"Just kidding!" The human replied. "When you've been around these things for as long as I have, you get used to the noise!" After hearing that, Sunset just turned her head to look forward while doing her best to keep the noise from giving her a headache. Nathan looked over and saw that the noise was getting to the gold unicorn."I may have something that can help you though!" He yelled, gaining her attention again. When she looked at the human again, she saw that he was holding his hand out to her with some strange little things in it.

"What are those?!" She asked while taking two of them with her magic.

"Earplugs!"

Upon hearing this, Sunset immediately tried to put them into her ears, but found that they were too small for them. "These won't work for my ears! They're too small!" She said, making the human look at her before he rubbed his chin for a little bit. He then snapped his fingers before he leaned forward and grabbed something else for her to try. They looked like earmuffs, but they didn't have any cloth padding. They appeared to have rubber pads instead.

"Try these then!" He said, prompting Sunset to take them from him and place them over her ears. To her surprise, this actually worked as she couldn't hear a thing now. To show that these were working for her, Sunset smiled and nodded her head. This made Nathan smile too before he turned his head back to look out at the track ahead.

"Why would he be doing all of this for me?" Sunset thought as she looked at him for a bit before she turned her head back to look out the front window. "Maybe he really isn't doing this out of pity.... Maybe... he actually is trying to be my friend." As the train continued on, her eyes shifted back and forth between looking at the track in front and the human who had spared her from getting a migraine. No one had been this nice to her in quite a long time. Not since Princess Celestia had taken her in from the orphanage as her pupil.

An hour had quickly gone by before Ponyville began to come into view. As soon as Nathan could see the familiar buildings coming up, he started to ease the brakes on, not knowing how the rest of the train would react if he tried stopping the normal way.

"At least it isn't too late." Sunset said as she took off her ear protectors. "What is this thing? I would've had a major headache if you didn't give this to me."

"Earguards." Nathan replied as he continued to slow the train down on approach to Ponyville Station. "My friend back home gave that to me on my first day as an engineer. It helped me out big time." After saying that, he grabbed the whistle lever and pulled down on it twice, sending two long blasts from 1506's horn across Ponyville before the train slowly rolled by the station before coming to a halt. Once fully stopped, Nathan and Sunset exited the cab as the rest of the ponies disembarked as well. Sunset walked to the rear platform of the diesel, leaving the human to shut down the engine before joining her.

As the human and the gold unicorn stepped onto the platform, a crowd of ponies with cameras began to swarm around them, the bright flashes from the cameras blinding both of them as numerous questions were asked in regards of what happened. The noise of all of the different voices and flashes were just getting to both of them until the entire crowd was engulfed in a purple aura of magic.

"Quiet!" Twilight's voice cried out from behind the crowd before all eyes were glued on the little alicorn as she walked over to Nathan's side. Each pony contained in the aura looked at each other before they all nodded their heads. "Thank you." She said before cutting off her magic, allowing the crowd to step back from them. "Now before you all start up again..." Twilight went on to say. "I need to know something first."

"What's that?" A pony in the crowd asked.

"Is anypony here a representative of the Equestrian National Railroad?"

The ponies gathered on the platform all whispered to one another for a few moments. Twilight looked at both Nathan and Sunset before somepony cleared their throat, gaining all of their respective attention.

"I believe you must be looking for me." A dark brown colored earth pony with a yellow mane said as he separated himself from the crowd.

"And who might you be?" Twilight asked as the stallion stopped just a few feet in front of them.

"My name is Gold Spike." He said before bowing in front of the purple alicorn. "Chairpony and CEO of the Equestrian National Railroad." Twilight immediately looked up at Nathan as Gold got back up again. "I must say that this is quite the coincidence." He said. "I had just arrived in town not that long ago for a meeting with a pony named Applejack tomorrow morning."

"Mr. Spike!" Steamer's voice called out as he rushed over to them. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Hello there." Gold said as Steamer stopped next to Sunset. "I'm terribly sorry. But could you refresh my memory as to who you are?"

"My name is Steamer, sir." He replied. "I drive the Friendship Express."

"Ah yes." Gold said. "So... Could you care to explain to me as to what exactly is the reason behind one of my trains having to be pulled here by this umm....." He paused as he tried to make out what the massive steel object was in front of him.

"Engine." Nathan's voice said.

"Thank you." Gold said before turning his attention to the source of the response. His pupils shrank as he stepped back slightly before slowly coming close again. "And who or what exactly are you?"

"Nathan Bridgeport." He replied. "I'm a human from another world that now lives here in Equestria."

"I see." Gold said as he rubbed his front hoof under his muzzle. He then turned his attention back to Steamer. "So are you going to answer my question?"

"Oh! Right." Steamer said before clearing his throat. "Well we weren't really given any coal up in Canterlot because they gave the last of it to the train that was going to get more from the mines. But I didn't want to keep the passengers waiting. So I uhh... tried to... get here on what I had."

"Well clearly it wasn't enough." Gold said. "That was a very foolish and unprofessional decision you made."

"I know." He said before letting out a sigh. "I guess this means I'm fired. Right?"

Gold just stared at Steamer as he rubbed his hoof under his muzzle again. "I should fire you right here right now." Gold said, making Steamer gulp in response. "But... I'm not going to do that." This made the engineer pony's eyes light up when he heard that. "The reason why is because we are short on engineers right now." He continued. "Firing you right now would only cripple this company even more. So instead, I'm placing you on probation for a month. Screw up again during that time and you won't be so lucky as you are now."

"Oh thank you sir!" Steamer exclaimed in relief of not losing his job. "I promise never to mess up this badly again."

"Good." Gold replied before looking back at Nathan. "So you say this thing is an engine?" He asked as he slowly stepped close to the parked diesel. "Where are the pistons and the connecting rods?"

This made Nathan chuckle a bit before he cleared his throat. "This isn't a steam engine." He said. "This is a diesel locomotive."

"Diesel?" Gold asked. "What does that mean?"

"Well..." Nathan began as he walked over to the fuel tank. "Instead of running on coal like this train over there." He emphasized this by pointing at the pink steam engine still coupled to the back. "This runs on diesel fuel." After saying that, he gently tapped the giant tank a few times.

"I've never heard of this before." Gold said while continuing to look at the diesel. "But clearly your engine must be strong if it can pull an entire train, plus the engine itself, with no trouble at all. How strong exactly is it?"

"This old girl has a 3,000 horsepower engine, capable of pulling quite a lot of weight by herself."

"Horse....power." Gold said. "You mean to say that this thing is as strong as three thousand ponies?"

"Well..... I'm not so sure about that. It's actually a really complicated math problem." He replied. "But she is pretty strong to say the least."

"Hmm...." Gold said as he looked at the massive object. "Well perhaps you and I have much more to discuss. But I don't really believe that this is the best time or place. Perhaps we could meet again sometime later on this week."

"Sure." Nathan replied.

"Good. Now if you all will excuse me. I must return to my motel room so I won't be exhausted when I'll be meeting with the Apple family in the morning."

"But Mr. Spike. Applejack is right here." Twilight said as she pointed to her friend. "You could talk to her now if you wanted to."

"I would, Princess Sparkle." Gold replied. "But I am very tired from my long trip here from Manehattan." He then turned to look at Applejack. "I'm afraid it'll have to wait until after I've gotten a good night's rest."

"That'll be fine." Applejack said before yawning herself. "I'm plum tuckered out as well. I'll see you in the morning. You know where to find me." Gold simply nodded his head as a response before he turned and walked away.

"So...." Steamer said as soon as he could no longer see his employer. "What exactly are we gonna do about my train?"

"Don't worry." Nathan replied before turning to his friend. "I'll pull it to the closest rail yard and we'll leave it there. How far would that be?"

"There is one just a few miles outside of Ponyville." Steamer replied. "We'll just have to leave it there and I can get more coal in the morning."

"Sounds good to me." Nathan replied.

"You guys be careful now." Twilight said as Nathan and Steamer climbed back onto their respective engines. She then let out a yawn before she could speak again. "We'll be going back to our homes now for some sleep."

"Alright." Nathan said as he watched Sunset climb back on board the diesel. As soon as she came up next to him on the walkway, he handed her the earguards again. Sunset smiled as she took them with her magic before placing them over her ears again. Once she did this, Nathan gave her a thumbs up before allowing her to go by him and into the cab. Once she was in, he brought the engine back to life. Minutes later, Nathan let out two quick blasts of 1506's horn before he released the brakes and set off with the Friendship Express in tow.

An hour had passed until Nathan, Sunset, and 1506 had arrived back into Ponyville after taking care of Steamer and his train. As the diesel rolled over the switch, Sunset used her magic to move the lever, just as Twilight had done, so the human could park the giant diesel in the siding again. Once this was finished, Sunset moved the lever back as Nathan shut the engine down for hopefully the final time that night.

"Well." Nathan said after Sunset had taken off her earguards. "I think it's time we got some sleep now."

"Yeah." She replied. "I wasn't really expecting all of this to happen."

"Me neither." The human replied. "But at least I now know that this old girl is still in good working order." He then paused as he looked at the fuel gauge. It was now between the full mark and the three quarters mark. "But if I don't find something that she can run on here, she'll eventually stop working."

"Hmm..." Sunset said. "What exactly is this diesel fuel anyways?"

"It's basically a special type of oil."

"Oil..." The unicorn said as she thought about possible alternatives. A few minutes of silence passed as both of them tried to think of what else 1506 could run on. "I think I may have a solution."

"What would that be?"

"Is it possible that this machine could run on the oil that can be produced from black oil sunflowers?" This made Nathan's eyes shoot wide open before immediately looking at the unicorn.

"Of course!" He exclaimed. "The oil from the sunflower seeds could be turned into something called biodiesel. This can definitely run on that. Do any of those flowers exist in this world?"

"Think so." Sunset replied. "But I'm no expert on flowers so I can't say for sure if they do or even where they are."

"Darn." He said. "Guess I'll have to ask Twilight about it when I see her again tomorrow."

"Yeah." Sunset said before yawning. "But I think it's time we get some sleep."

A yawn escaped from Nathan's mouth before he could reply. "I'd say so too." He said before leaning the back of his seat down. Instead of getting back up into her chair though, Sunset decided to just lay down on the floor of the cab before another yawn escaped her mouth. "You gonna be alright sleeping down there?" Nathan asked as he looked over at her.

"Yeah." She replied. "This may not be as comfortable as a bed. But I've definitely slept on worse things."

"Alright then."

"One thing though before I forget to ask." She said, making the human look back over at her. "What was it like back in your world?"

"That answer will have to wait until morning, Sunset." He replied before returning his gaze to the cab roof. His eyes soon started to close as he placed his hands behind his head. "It would take a long time to explain what it was like back home."

"Well.... did you have a family back there?"

"Of course I did."

Sunset sighed a little after hearing that. "Lucky. I never really got to know my parents. Only way I've gotten to know their names is from my birth certificate." She then looked over at Nathan as he laid back in his chair. "But I'm guessing your parents must be very sad right now since you're not there anymore." This made Nathan's eyes open very quickly only for them to slowly look in the opposite direction of where Sunset was.

"Yeah....." Nathan said. "I'm sure they would be."

This confused Sunset as she immediately looked at the human. "Would be?" She asked. "What do you mean?"

"Well....." He replied. "The last time my parents and I talked to each other was.... almost 10 years ago."

Sunset's eyes immediately lit up as soon as she heard that. "How is that possible?" She asked. "Do you even know where they are?"

Nathan just shook his head in response. "Yeah. I know exactly where they are."

"Where?"

All the human did as a response was sigh for a bit before slowly raising his arm to open the window beside him. Sunset looked on as he stuck his arm out the window before pointing straight up into the night sky. This action confused Sunset for a bit.

"What exactly is he trying to say?" She thought as Nathan continued to leave his finger pointing up at the sky. But soon, her mind finally caught on as to what he was trying to tell her. "Sweet Celestia...." She said as he pulled his arm back into the cab before closing the window. "You mean to tell me that your parents are...."

Nathan just nodded his head in response.

"H-how?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." He replied. "It's something that I've kept locked inside ever since it happened."

"Oh." She said. "Well.... I understand then." A minute or so of awkward silence passed before she spoke again. "But I suppose if you're willing to listen to me blab on about my past, the least I can do is listen as you talk about yours."

"Thanks." He replied. "Maybe when everything settles down, we'll talk about it."

"Okay." She said while slowly nodding her head. "Well. Good night then."

"Good night Sunset." He replied. And with that said, both of them set off on their own paths to dream land.

Author's Notes:

What's up everypony?

So yeah. My apologies for there being a bit of a delay in the making of this chapter. I've just been trying to figure out what to write, what not to write, blah blah etc.... But I'm just going to say this now. I don't plan on ever letting this story fall into the realm of unfinished stories. Even if the space between chapters is a bit long, just know that it's only because I'm either having trouble with what to touch on, being busy with work, or just not having the creative drive to write.

Hopefully, that will end soon. But I'm not making any promises. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this latest chapter. It was a really difficult one to make despite it just being over 3,000 words. The next one will be longer.

- Harms Way