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Introduction1 words
Stepney Gets Lost1,407 words
A New Blue Engine1,570 words
Better Late than Never1,006 words
The Crovan's Gate Club2,393 words
Thomas, Percy, and the Coal1,024 words
Haunted Henry1,329 words
Thomas and the Rumours1,176 words
Peace and Quiet1,216 words
Double Teething Troubles1,299 words
Rheneas and the Rollercoaster1,321 words
Rusty and the Boulder1,449 words
The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor1,444 words
Cranky Bugs1,107 words
Henry Spots Trouble1,535 words
Thomas gets it Wrong1,195 words
The World's Strongest Engine1,239 words
Busy Going Backwards1,266 words
Percy's Chocolate Crunch1,227 words
Thomas and the Jet Engine1,180 words
The VIP1,708 words
The Old Bridge1,210 words
Bulgy Rides Again1,185 words
Lady and the Magic Lamp1,042 words
Drip Tank1,008 words
No Help at All1,685 words
The Other Number One1,085 words
Twin Trouble1,109 words
Thomas and the Wonky Whistle1,212 words
Gordon takes a Tumble1,206 words
Duncan the Humbug1,588 words
Signals Crossed1,200 words
Fish!1,242 words
Thomas' Christmas Party1,161 words
The Last Goodbye2,378 words
Credits249 words

The Crovan's Gate Club

It was nearly Christmastime on the Island of Sodor, and merriment abounded wherever you looked. On the Skarloey Railway, the last Santa Special had run earlier that day, and it would be time for the Skarloey Railway to go to bed until the start of the new operating season in March (barring the odd track inspection and maintenance train). The last coaches had been put away, and as Ocellus backed Skarloey into the shed, Sandbar was busy decorating the tree that sat at the side of the shed, singing to himself.

"Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly, Falalalala lala!
'Tis the Season to be Jolly, Falalalala lala!"

He glanced back from the chair to see nobody else joining in. "Come on, everybody!" he exclaimed. "Join in!"

He then leaped off the chair and headed over to Skarloey.

"Don we all our Gay Apparel, Falala, falala, falala!
Troll the ancient yuletide carol-"

He indicated to Ocellus, who looked at him blankly.

"Troll the ancient Yuletide Carol," Sandbar sang again. "Come on, Ocellus! Finish the phrase!"

"I don't know this one," Ocellus mumbled. "I'd rather not troll anybody."

"Troll in that context means to sing loudly or to celebrate in song," Rheneas explained.

"Falalalala, la la la la!" Skarloey finished.

Sir Handel snorted. "You never were a good top tenor, Skarloey."

"Says the baritone," Peter Sam said to him.

Yona rolled her eyes as she finished raking out Rheneas' ashpan. "Not everybody celebrate in same way, you know!" she said, apparently not able to speak proper English.

"Yeah," Smoulder sighed, pulling on her coat. "Christmas was mostly just another day for me, and I don't do cheery sappy stuff."

"That is a shame!" Rusty interjected. "Christmas is a lovely time of year!"

"And," Mr Percival added, "it is a time of coming together, as we remember that Christ was born to save us all."

"Even steam engines?" asked Duncan, looking at Mr Percival with a skeptical eye.

"Even steam and diesel engines."

Silverstream danced about on the concrete floor. "My family have got the greatest plans for this year! We're off to Spain!"

"Spain?" Gallus asked. "That's not special. I go to Spain on the weekends."

"You can't go to Spain on the weekends!" Duncan snapped.

"Yes you can!" Gallus retorted. "A special part of Spain called... Penrith." He glanced over to Ocellus. "Two whole weeks without working on an engine or school. However will Ocellus survive?"

"I imagine you'll all enjoy the time off," Mr Percival said, "to enjoy time with your families. Please collect your items from your lockers, and don't miss the train! I look forward to seeing you all after the break!"

The six drivers shuffled off to the locker room, and Mr Percival walked back over to Duke, who was sitting outside in front of the tree. When Cheerilee wasn't around, Mr Percival drove Duke. "How is it out here, Duke?"

"It's very quiet," he smiled. "How I like it. I never thought I'd say it, but I think I'll miss those six. I hope they don't miss their train!"

Suddenly, there was a loud creaking, and the tree began to topple over. "Sir! Look out!"

Mr Percival jumped clear, and the tree crashed down over the track, blocking the shed and throwing the Nativity scene everywhere. The loud crash attracted the attention of everybody in the area, and the six drivers (or the Young Six, as people had taken to calling them for some reason) ran outside and stopped in front of the remains of the tree.

"What happened?" Silverstream asked. "Why is the tree in such a state?"

"I'll tell you what happened," Duke said grimly. "The tree fell over and blocked the line. And it was no accident. Look at the bottom of the tree!" Sure enough, there were several cuts in the wood, indicating it had been weakened beforehand.

Sandbar shook his head. "That is so not cool. This'll take the brakedown gang forever to clean up!"

Mr Percival looked at them. "Neither Duke nor myself could have done this, and you six are the only personnel on staff today, and the only ones around when it collapsed. Therefore, it has to be one of you."

"Yona offended by accusation!" Yona exclaimed.

"Why not just check the CCTV?" Gallus suggested.

"The marks suggest the cutting was done in the west courtyard, where the cameras don't cover," Duke answered. "Now please close your eyes. If you did this, raise your hand."

The six drivers closed their eyes. Duke glanced over- to see Mr Percival had closed his as well. "Not you, sir."

"Oh."

Not a single hand had been raised.

Mr Percival sighed. "Seeing as none of you will own up, all six of you and your engines will be needed to clean up the mess."

"What if we miss our trains?" Smoulder asked.

"That is not my problem," Mr Percival replied. "Whilst you are all working, Duke will keep an eye on you. I will take you to my office one on one and interview you all. The engines should hopefully still have warm fires, so starting them again shouldn't be a problem." He then walked away.

Half an hour later, the engines and their drivers were busy moving trucks about. Sandbar had started on cutting the tree apart with tools so that the fragments could be more easily loaded, and Yona was helping to throw pieces into the waiting wagons.

Duncan was grumbling the entire time. "Stupid tree on the stupid tracks!" he grumbled. "Why do we all have to suffer because of one buffoon? It's not fair! It's not fair!"

"Tell me about it!" Sir Handel grumbled. "What happens if nobody confesses, and what'll happen to the guilty party if they do?"

"Then they will have to stay here over the break doing maintenance work," Duke sighed. "Now get back to work."

"Gallus!" shouted Mr Percival. "You're up first. Secure Sir Handel and come to my office."

"Yes sir," Gallus replied. He applied Sir Handel's brakes and walked off. "This won't take long."

Once he was out of earshot, Ocellus piped up. "What are you all looking at me for?"

"Who did this?" Smoulder asked. "If they fess up now, it'll save us a lot of bother!"

"It wasn't me!" Ocellus snapped. "I would never want to sabotage Christmas! It's my favourite holiday!"

"You've never spoken much about your family," Skarloey noted. "How do you mark Christmas?"

"Well," Ocellus began, "we always have a fresh tree that we put up in the house, unlike our next door neighbour who uses an articificial one. The ambience just isn't the same. Other things we do is pass presents around, although we sometimes don't know when to stop, dive into a bowl of punch (whoever would have known that punch would be so good for bathing in?), and sing carols, like this one." She cleared her throat.

"Here we Come a Wassailing,
Among the Fields so Green!
Here we Come a Wassailing,
So Fair as to be Seen!

"Love and joy come to you!
And to you your wassail too!
And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year!
And God send you a Happy New Year!"

The others applauded. "You have a lovely singing voice," Sandbar commented.

"Thanks."

"Well, that's complete rubbish!" Duncan said. "Passing presents doesn't mean to do it endlessly like a neverending game of pass the parcel! Besides, a bowl of punch is a drink! It's not a hot tub! And that carol you quoted isn't even for Christmas. It's Twelth Night."

"Well?" Rusty asked. "How do the Scottish mark Christmas?"

"We have Hogmanay," Duncan replied. "Lots of partying, lots of music, and plenty of fun to be had. The workers in my old factory always had a party on Christmas Eve, and it was quite the riot!"

Mr Percival reappeared. "Ocellus, your turn. Ensure Skarloey doesn't roll away."

"OK sir," Ocellus nodded nervously, and applied Skarloey's brakes. She stepped away, shaking the entire time. She didn't like being yelled at.

Gallus sat back down at the controls of Sir Handel. "I told him it wasn't me," he said. "Now where's the next load of wood?"

Yona cried in frustration. "Yona hate the waiting!" she exclaimed, as she backed Rheneas into position. "Yona going back to original country for Christmas!"

"Where are you from?" Rheneas asked.

"And how do you mark Christmas there?" Sandbar added.

"Yona from Scandinavia!" Yona replied. "Yona know the old story of Sinta Klaas, the bringer of presents! Sinta Klaas like Saint Nicholas and Santa Klaus! Only problem for Yona is Christmas is over by Christmas Day!"

"Interesting," Smoulder said. "Though we call him Father Christmas over here. I doubt he'll visit if we're all stuck here, thanks to somebody here."

"Hello?" Ocellus said, walking back over. "Sandbar, apparently Mr Percival wants to see you next."

"Well, there goes the woodcutting for now," Sandbar replied, putting down and securing his tools. "Stay still, Rusty!"

"I can't go anywhere," Rusty replied.

"You haven't said much yet, Smoulder," asked Peter Sam. "How do you mark Christmas?"

"My Christmasses mostly consisted of my relatives trying to outdo each other," Smoulder replied. "I come from a very competitive family, and they all have stupid rivalries of some sort. One thing we often do is tell tall tales and silly stories. Whichever one is the best gets a pat on the back. The best one last year was about a dragon usurping the throne and leaving the old leader to die."

Ocellus gasped. "That's horrible!"

"You don't have much else to do when you grow up on a dodgy housing estate in Carlisle."

"Silverstream!" Mr Percival called. "Your turn!"

"Let's get this over with," Silverstream said sadly, and walked away.

"After you've put Peter Sam's brakes on."

Smoulder looked back to Sandbar. "Well? Did you tell them you did it?"

"What?" Sandbar replied. "No way!"

"Being stuck on this railway wouldn't be a problem for you, as you live in Crovan's Gate," Gallus pointed out.

"Good point," mused Rusty.

"Besides, I want to be with my folks for the holidays," Sandbar admitted. "I have the best story ever. It's called 'the time my stocking almost fell into the fire'!"

"Oh, here we go again," Skarloey said, rolling his eyes.

"It was the Night Before Christmas,
and all through the House,
we were busy putting up our stockings so that Santa could visit. Thing is, I didn't secure mine properly, and it nearly fell into the fire!"

"Did it?" asked Silverstream, incredulously.

"Nope!"

"Well, that was an anti-climax," Rheneas sighed.

"Got a better story?" Sandbar retorted.

"Yes!" Rheneas said. "We Welsh celebrate Christmas like no other. We have a strong tradition of male voice choirs, and when we're all assembled it's a beautiful sound. We would always gather in the town square to sing carols. I was always a Tenor, whilst Skarloey was a Bass. Our favourite moment was always Handel's Messiah."

"We had a very similar custom on the Mid-Sodor, didn't we?" Sir Handel pointed out.

"That we did," Duke admitted, the first he had said in a while.

"At this rate we'll be stuck here forever," Rusty said.

"And ever! And ever!"

"NO HANDEL'S MESSIAH!" shouted Mr Percival from his office. "I'm going to speed this up. Yona, Smoulder, my office, now."

Both drivers left, whilst Silverstream returned. "Are we going to be stuck here?" she asked. "I can't miss Spain!"

"What do you do whilst overseas?" Gallus asked.

"I have Polish ancestry, so we commemorate and give thanks for our freedom! Admittedly, the actual anniversary is on the 1st September, but the fact we are free to act as we see fit is what we are celebrating!"

Moments later, Smoulder and Yona returned. "Mr Percival said wait here!" Yona grumpily exclaimed.

"Maybe he'll let us off!" Silverstream exclaimed.

"I doubt it," Smoulder grunted.

"Stupid tree," Duncan growled. "I was looking forward to a rest."

Ocellus, on the other hand, looked upset. "If I'm stuck here working on the line, then I can't be with my family!"

"Oh quit being so melodramatic!" Rusty snapped. "If anything, always be suspicious of the one being overly emotional!"

Duncan glanced over to Peter Sam. "That does make sense," he said. "Maybe Ocellus did do it, and is pretending to act like this so nobody would suspect her!"

"That's ridiculous," Sandbar retorted.

"Oh, that's right, protect your girlfriend," Sir Handel said sarcastically. "I bet it was the two of you the entire time."

"That's nonsense and you know it!" Skarloey shouted back.

"Oh, just confess already!" Smoulder yelled, and the entire yard devolved into a loud shouting match between engines and drivers.

Moments later, Gallus, having had enough, blew the whistle. "SHUT UP!" he yelled. They all turned to look at him. "Look, just stop fighting! It's not what Christmas is about!"

"Actually, family breakups are most likely to happen around Christmas," Rusty said. "What?"

"And my parents are pretty rubbish," Smoulder added.

Gallus rolled his eyes. "At least you have parents."

There was a moment of stunned silence.

"Grandpa Gruff is my grandfather, but he mostly takes care of me out of obligation rather than any real love. And Christmas is a rubbish time for me. All my cousins Gilda and Gabriella seem to do is complain about everything. I've never felt like I belonged, until I started working here, at the Skarloey Railway and met all of you. You are the only family I've got. And that's why I demolished the tree."

There was another moment of silence. "I figured that if I was working here, I would at least have Sir Handel to keep me company. That way, I wouldn't be alone, but I never meant to drag the rest of you into this. I'm sorry."

It became so quiet that everybody jumped when Mr Percival spoke. "Thank you for speaking up," he said. "But that means you will have to work here over Christmas. I will give you Christmas Day off, though. I'm not that cruel."

"Then we're staying as well," Sandbar said. "We're not leaving a friend alone at this time of year."

"Very well," said Mr Percival. "Whilst you are here, why not take out the carol books?"

"Handel's Messiah it is!" Skarloey called. "Merry Christmas to all!"

Author's Note:

This story is my first adaptation of an MLP episode for this series, being based on The Hearth's Warming Club, which itself is a ponified version of The Breakfast Club.

The use of Deck the Halls is a double joke; not only is the song that Sandbar sings in the original episode modelled on it, the carol is Welsh, meaning that Skarloey and Rheneas would probably know it.

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