Less than an hour later railroad employees of all kinds were working frantically. Rose winced frequently—haste, the inexperience of station and clerical workers dealing with rolling stock alongside the actual trainponies, and the lack of modern concepts of workplace safety made for a hair-raising spectacle. Sunset simply couldn't bring herself to watch and accompanied Cook as the latter buttonholed the portly, sweating earth pony unfortunate enough to hold the office of mayor. It took all the diplomat's wiles to soothe the older stallion's jitters enough that his stovepipe hat no longer threatened to fall off his head. That was, unfortunately, the last thing that went to plan.