//------------------------------// // Percy's Promise // Story: Thomas and Friends: The Retold Adventures // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// Every summer, much like most of Britain, the Island of Sodor is busy, especially so now that 'staycations', as horrible a word as it is, are so popular now. People come to the island in droves to see the sights and ride on the railways of Sodor, and when the weather is good, sometimes there are some places you simply have to be. Some like the valleys, and others like the mountains. Others like it when the producer cuts seperate takes together and Annie and Clarabel are the wrong way round. DISCORD! Anyway, some like the valleys, and others like the mountains. Children and the young at heart, on the other hand, love the seaside. One lovely Sunday morning, Thomas and Twilight rolled along the line that runs alongside the sea. Annie and Clarabel were conveying a Sunday school group to the beach for a day out. Everybody was happy when Thomas steamed into Knapford harbour, and the children got off, barely able to contain their excitement. "Seaside! We're off to the seaside!" cried one. "Building sandcastles with buckets and spades!" added another. "Seaside! We're off to the seaside!" cried the first again. "We're gonna have a lovely day!" a third interjected, and they whizzed off to the beach. Twilight put a hand to her chin. "There's a song in that, I think," she said with a smile. "So do I!" added Thomas. "Twilight comes up with songs all the time. What was that one about procuring a tiara?" "Hello Thomas!" Percy called excitedly, Pinkie shuffling over in the cab to chat with Twilight. "It's a hot day, isn't it?" Pinkie asked, producing a massive ice cream from nowhere and starting to eat it. "Want some?" "It is a lovely day," Thomas replied. "Where are those trucks going?" "To the wharf," Percy replied. "I wish I could pull passengers rather than these trucks." "Those passengers are the Sunday School of the Vicar of Wellsworth," Thomas explained. "Unfortunately, I can't take the children back today, but I was wondering if you could take the children back for us." "Of course I will!" Percy said. "I promise!" "Pinkie promise?" Pinkie asked him. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Percy replied. "Good!" Thomas replied. "Good luck!" "Good luck Pinkie!" Twilight called, as Thomas set off on his way back up the line. Later that day, he saw Harold being fired up. "Sorry, can't talk, I'm on high alert!" "What?" Percy called. "I can't hear you, your engine is too noisy!" "SORRY, OLD CHAP?" Harold asked. "I can't hear you, my engine is too noisy!" "I said I can't hear you, your engine is too noisy!" Percy replied. Pinkie Pie suddenly took out a megaphone. "PERCY CAN'T HEAR YOU, YOUR ENGINE IS TOO NOISY!" she boomed, the shockwaves from the sound pushing Harold back slightly. Soarin' cut Harold's engine, and waited for the blades to stop rotating. He then walked over to Percy. "Harold and I are on high alert," he explained. "Bad weather is due, and we may be needed for rescue and recovery. Take it easy on the rails today!" He walked back over, restarted Harold, and they took off into the sky. "Pah!" Percy snorted. "As long as I have dry rails, I can go anywhere, anyhow, anytime. Goodbye!" he said, despite the fact that there was nobody to say goodbye to. And away he went on his merry way. Later, Edward and Applejack met them at the junction. "Be careful!" Edward called. "There's a bad storm approaching from the West. It could lead to rain and lightning. Applejack looked apprehensive. "Ah just hope mah family are OK," she said. "Ah've told Apple Bloom ta get home nice and early, and last Ah heard the family were securin' anchorin' ropes ta the trees with Trevor's help." Percy sighed. "I understand that you are worried, but I MUST get the children home from the beach. After all, a promise is a promise, and I made a Pinkie Promise on it. So I must not break it!" The children had a lovely day, but by the late afternoon, around 5, the weather began to turn. The clouds thundered and the rain poured down. Thankfully, the floods didn't come up or else the houses built on the sand would have gone splat, but the children were clear in time and into Annie and Clarabel before too long. Percy backed down onto the train just as the worst of the rain was starting to drench the coastline. Water lashed down his boiler in a torrent. "Yuck!" he said, but set off anyway, thinking of his nice warm shed that was awaiting him. Percy struggled on through the countryside past coastal villages and waterlogged fields, which had been filled up in support of the European Common Agricultural Policy, which had resulted in many new lakes appearing, and an equal number of confused ducks. His sanders struggled to let him grip the rails, as the weather got worse and worse. The river began to rise, slowly turning into a torrent. "I wish I could see! I wish I could see!" Percy exclaimed. The water had got in his eyes, making it difficult to navigate. Naturally, Pinkie always had the right clothes for every occasion, and was currently dressed as a sailor equipped for stormy seas, complete with hat. Suddenly, they flew into a dip and straight into an accumulating pool of water that went up to Percy's running board. Pinkie seemed to be enjoying herself. “HeEeEy!” she said, laughing at the changes in the pitch of her voice as they rolled over the bumpy rails. “ThIs MaKeS mY vOiCe SoUnD sIlIy!” "This isn't funny!" Percy shouted. "Shut my firebox door, my footplate is starting to flood!" And it was. Pinkie slammed the firebox door shut just in time, and changed into a diving suit to be safe. How she did it nobody knows; her clothes just mystically changed in the nick of time. She jumped out of the cab, into the water with a loud splash, and swam over to the brake van. "I need some wood from your floor in order to keep Percy's fire going," she said to the guard. "I only swept it this morning," the guard complained. But he helped anyway, pulling a few of the floorboards up despite the brake van's protests, and handing them to Pinkie. Before long, Percy's fire was burning well, and he felt happy again. You could say he was singing in the rain! Just then, a loud buzzing tempered his mood. Percy looked up and saw Harold hovering overhead. "Oh no, he's here to gloat," he sighed, before objects began raining from the sky. "Ow! He needn't throw things!" "Harold's dropping supplies for us!" Pinkie laughed. "At least these ones didn't hit any people unlike in that other episode." "CHOCKS AWAY!" called Soarin'. "Glad to be of service, old chap!" Harold exclaimed, and he flew away. Percy continued on into the dark, his boiler pressure dropping all the time. But he never gave up, and he never faltered. He fought on, and climbed on, as hard as he could. The rain threatened to slow him down, but he refused to be beaten. "I must make, it, I must!" he cried. "I made a promise, and I cannot break it!" And with a last triumphant effort, he rolled into the station where Thomas was waiting. "Good show!" Thomas called. "You kept time and got the passengers home despite everything nature could throw at you. You are a really useful engine!" "That's my line!" said a grumpy voice, that of Sir Toppham Hatt. "Harold told me about it all. He says he can beat you at some things, but not at being a submarine. I honestly have no idea what you two get up to sometimes, but I can safely say you are a really useful engine, and you Pinkie are useful too." Pinkie smiled, and then burst into song. "'Cause I love to make you smile, smile, smile, Yes I do! It fills my heart with sunshine all the while, Yes it does! 'Cause all I really need's a smile, smile, smile, From these happy friends of mine!" And nobody was in the mood to disagree, and despite the rain, it was indeed a happy day on the Island of Sodor.