Henry and Gordon were lonely when Thomas left the yard to run his branchline. They missed how everything seemed to run like clockwork when the little engine was around.
And by that I mean they missed that he shunted their trains for them.
Ever since Thomas had left and James started doing more work, the three big engines had to shunt their own trains. No longer could they wait in their warm sheds in the morning and come to the platform to find their trains neatly sorted. Now they had to leave earlier and do the work themselves. And they didn't like that one bit. This left them feeling snippy and overworked.
"Why do we have to do all this work," mumbled Henry at the sheds one morning. "Our coaches should be shunted for us."
"We get no rest!" complained James. He edged onto the turntable and spoke rudely to Henry.
"What's the matter Henry? There's no rain today! Stop complaining and do some work for a change!"
"You're one to talk," Rarity muttered. She, her friends, and their sisters cared deeply for the three engines, but they could only listen to them complain for so long.
"I'm not afraid of getting wet anymore," huffed Henry. "Anyway, you look silly enough to be a clown with that paint. Why don't you go join the circus?"
"Oh, so you've heard the news?" Edward chortled as he puffed into the yard.
"What news?" grunted Gordon.
"'Bout the circus!" Applejack laughed.
The big engines were still confused. "What on Earth are you two talking about?"
"The circus is in town!" puffed Edward. "I've been helping shunt the trucks in place for them. You're all supposed to help, too!"
The three engines soon forgot to be cross and were hard at work helping to shunt the circus trucks. They marveled at the animals and the performers they saw. Although they wished they could go and see them perform like their crews planned to.
At the end of the week, Gordon and Henry were dreadfully jealous when James was chosen to take the circus away. They quickly forgot about the animals and were soon grumbling about their work again.
"It was nice while it lasted," sighed Rainbow Dash. "Think we can pay them to stay on the island long term?"
The day after the circus had left, Henry had to take some workmen to clear a blockage in his tunnel. He complained to himself as he collected some trucks and shunted them towards the tunnel.
"I can't stand the thought of having to spend more time than needed at that stupid tunnel," he huffed.
"Don't worry, Henry," Fluttershy soothed. "As soon as we're done with this job, we can head home."
Henry scoffed. "We could've been at home now if Celestia had given this job to one of the other engines.
"You're really bumming me out," Treehugger sighed. "Could you, like, lower it down a skosh?"
Henry grunted and said nothing more as they reached the tunnel.
One of the workmen looked inside, but couldn't see the other end.
"That's a pretty big blockage. Come on, guys! Let's get to work!"
The workman grabbed their shovels and ran inside to clear away the blockage. They hadn't been inside for more than a few seconds before they came running out screaming.
"Wh-whatever's in th-there," one of them stammered, "i-it's alive a-and angry!"
The foreman scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Look, Henry and I will go in and try to push it out of the way. Then we can all have a good laugh at how silly you all are."
"It was nice knowing him," one workman muttered to the other.
Henry wasn't so sure about this and neither was Fluttershy.
"D-do we h-have t-to go in th-there?" she asked shakily.
"Afraid so," said the foreman as he climbed into the truck at the front.
Henry blew his whistle and slowly made his way into the tunnel. It seemed darker and more cramped than usual inside. He was just about to back out when he felt his trucks his hit the blockage. The blockage shifted a bit...and then it bellowed angrily and began pushing Henry and his train out of the tunnel!
First came Henry, and then his trucks, and finally, a large and angry elephant.
"Goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "He must've been separated from the rest of the circus."
"Leave it to James to leave something as big as an elephant behind," Henry muttered.
Fluttershy paid him no mind as she slowly approached the elephant.
"Is she mad?" the workman asked.
"Hello there, big guy," she said quietly. "Are you upset that mean old Henry pushed you?"
"I didn't want to push him," Henry muttered pitifully.
Slowly but surely, the elephant calmed down. Fluttershy began petting his trunk until he wrapped it around her and gently placed her on his back.
Fluttershy giggled. "You're just a big old softy, aren't you? Yes, you are!"
While the foreman phoned Celestia to tell her what had happened, the workman fed the elephant some of their cakes and a few buckets of water. He had just started drinking his fifth one when Henry suddenly let off steam. The frightened elephant reared back while Fluttershy held on as tightly as she could, and he sprayed water all over poor Henry!
Once the elephant had calmed down, Treehugger, Fluttershy, and the workman began laughing.
"I'm glad someone found it funny," Henry grunted sarcastically. "Silly great beast."
An hour later, the elephant's keeper arrived with Edward and a large van to take it home. Henry was glad to see the elephant was leaving, and puffed home feeling crosser than usual.
"An elephant pushed me," he fumed. "An elephant whooshed me!"
That night at the sheds, Henry told Gordon and James about what had happened. Instead of laughing and telling him he was being silly, they sighed sympathetically and said he had been badly treated.
"You poor engine," Gordon sighed. "It's a shame you were treated in such a way."
"Indeed," hummed James. "To laugh at an engine who had just been attacked is deplorable."
Their crews, who had been preparing to go home, heard this and scoffed.
"Honestly," muttered Rainbow Dash, "they're acting like the elephant charged him or something."
"Yeah," Scootaloo agreed. "They spray us with water all the time and you never see us whining like they do."
"They've been getting irritable ever since Thomas left," put in Rarity. "I think it'd be best if we kept an eye on them. You never know what those three might do to make their complaints heard."
Rainbow snorted. "Like what? Go on strike? Even those three wouldn't do something that stupid."
For some reason, the others weren't so sure about that.