Oon aa clleaarrr ddaayy whhen the skkkkyyyy iiisssss bbblluueee, aaaaand theeeere iiiiis juuuust enouuuugh breeeeeze to blloooow the clouuuuuds awaaaaaaay....
Hold on a minute, the narrator seems to be in Season 8 mode. Let me fix things.
On a clear day when the sky is blue, and there is just enough breeze to blow the clouds away, you can stand on top of one of the great cliffs and watch Oliver, Duck, and Stepney all hard at work on the Arlesburgh branch line. Oliver is the newest of the three, as is his driver Scootaloo, but both are keen to make their mark and show what they can do, in Oliver's case because he wants to live up to the Great Western ways, and in Scootaloo's case because she doesn't want to let her adoptive parents down.
Both engines are painted in approximately matching livery, and make a marvellous sight with their auto-coaches and trucks. One day, Duck and Oliver were having a conversation at the junction at Arlesburgh West, where the Arlesburgh Branch meets the Arlesdale line. Oliver was mentioning the time he had escaped from scrap with Douglas' help.
"If Douglas hadn't saved me," he said, "I would probably have been scrapped, and would never have worked here or met any of you. I want to thank him for giving me a second chance."
"Me too," Scootaloo added, glancing about her. "A working railway beats an orphanage, any day. Still feels a little wierd calling my parents 'mom and dad' though."
"Yer all welcome ta come over ta Sweet Apple Acres if ya want," Apple Bloom told her. "We'd love ta meet yer folks."
"Stop talking and get back to work!" shouted Rex, from the nearby railway. "You're making us look quick!"
Oliver looked at Duck. "Well he's rude," he said.
"Don't mind him," Duck replied. "He takes his jobs very seriously."
It wasn't long before the others wanted to meet Oliver too, and although Scootaloo was initially uncomfortable with all the attention she was getting, she eventually opened up to the other drivers, who were very interested in her and Oliver's story. One night, Oliver had just finished telling the other engines the story of how Douglas had helped them escape.
"Remarkable," Henry said. "A credit to us all."
"That," James told Oliver, "is Resource."
"And Sagacity," Gordon added.
"What's that?" Scootaloo asked.
"It means yer sagacious," Applejack told her.
"And what does being sagacious mean?" Oliver asked as well.
"It means you have the ability or have shown the ability to make good judgements," Rarity explained. "You chose your moment well, and have reaped the rewards of your sagaciousness."
"Sagacity," Thomas commented quietly. "What an odd word."
"Oliver and Scootaloo are examples to us all," Gordon finished. "Three cheers for the Little Western!"
Unfortunately, Oliver took the meaning of Gordon's words entirely the wrong way. Given Gordon's word was law, he took it he knew what he was doing. Unfortunately, the opposite was true. "I feel as if we can do anything if we put our minds to it!" he said.
"I wouldn't be so sure," Scootaloo replied. "It's been years since we last handled trucks, for instance. I'm not looking forward to that at all."
Later on, Oliver was assigned to the goods yard at Arlesburgh. Every wise engine knows that you cannot trust trucks, and Oliver tried his hardest to listen, but it was a lot to take on and he began to get confused. "Do you think I'm doing a good job?" he asked Duck, one day. "Gordon says I'm sagacious, but these trucks are something else!"
"At least you have the honesty to admit the fact you're having issues," Duck said. "You might be goodgracious or whatever it is you said, but trucks can be trouble and-"
"OLIVER!" shouted the foreman. "THERE ARE SOME TRUCKS THAT NEED TAKING. HOP TO IT!"
"Yes sir!" Oliver called, and he stormed away.
"He seems OK," Donald said sadly, "but I fear the engine will have ta learn how ta handle trucks by himself."
Oliver removed some of the loaded trucks from the sidings, and moved empties to the chute at the other end of the yard. When they were loaded, he came back to take the loaded trucks away. They were warm and comfortable, and didn't want to move.
"What right do those two think they have to poke about here?" asked one.
"We want Duck!"
"Or Donald!"
"Or Douglas!"
"That's quite enough," said Scootaloo sternly. "We're the only engine crew on the depot today, so you'll have to grit it and bear it."
"So that means no nonsense," said Oliver as he coupled up to them.
This was the last straw for the trucks. "That's it," said one. "Time to pay those two out."
Oliver, of course, heard nothing at all. The train moved smoothly at first, but suddenly the trucks all slammed into each other. "ON! ON! ON!"
The combined noise of screeching brakes, sliding wheels and screaming trucks, who seemed to have some sort of death wish, was both deafening and terrifying. Scootaloo slammed Oliver's brakes on, but the speed wasn't dropping. If anything, it seemed to be climbing as they slid through the yard.
"Why are we still picking up speed?" she yelled.
"We're on a downhill bit!" Oliver replied. "Duck told me!"
The brakes were useless as they slid along at speeds in excess of thirty miles an hour. Scootaloo glanced behind in shock. "Oh no! The turntable's occupied!"
And it was. Duck was still being turned. Any minute now there would be a crash!
Oliver began whistling loudly to warn them. "DUCK! DUCK! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Duck shot backwards off the turntable, which had turned to face a different way to that which Oliver was approaching from. Apple Bloom shouted over to her friend. "BAIL! BAIL!"
Scootaloo jumped from the footplate as Oliver fell backwards into the turntable pit. The coupling snapped, and he toppled into the hole, coming to a dead stop as the trucks rolled to a stop.
Duck glanced over the damage. "Just you hang in there, Oliver!" he called. "I'll get these trucks moved, and then we can pull you out!"
"Much appreciated!" Oliver replied. "But I must say I thoroughly doubt the word 'sagacious' describes me accurately now."
"That," Scootaloo said, looking worried, "I think is the least of our troubles. My first day on trucks, and I messed up. Way to make mom and dad proud."
It took them a few hours to lift Oliver out of the turntable pit, and they put him back on the rails. He looked miserable. "I guess I'm just a foolish engine after all," he sighed.
Mr Shutter and Mrs Allgood had turned up to check if Oliver was damaged, and if Scootaloo was hurt. "Are you alright?" they asked their daughter, who was looking at the floor.
In response, Scootaloo just mumbled. "Sorry for messing up." She glanced up at them. "I know. I really let you down."
"No you didn't!" Snap Shutter said. "We all make mistakes, you know. Why, on my first day of driving lessons, I put diesel fuel in a petrol engine. That didn't end well!"
"Wait, really?" Scootaloo asked. "But you always know what to do!"
"Kiddo, there's a difference between knowing a load of stuff and knowing how to apply it. You clearly know a lot, but just need to learn how to apply it."
"The same goes for me," Oliver added. "I'm not sagacious, I'm just silly."
"You now know the damage trucks can do, the hard way," Sir Toppham Hatt said. "But that is an important lesson to learn. You aren't foolish, just inexperienced. There is no teacher better than experience, and I imagine tomorrow will be a better day."
Both Oliver and his driver were determined to ensure this was the case. But when they came into the yard the next day, there were a lot of laughing trucks.