High up in the mountains of the Skarloey railway, stood a massive boulder. It had stood for a long time ever since it was let loose back in 16th October 1998 and transported to a hill close by the yard. But after 22 years, the rock underneath the giant boulder started to loosen.
All of a sudden, the boulder slipped, it rolled off the hill and on to the track. Then as if it had a mind of its own, it started to roll along the track.
One morning, Rusty the little diesel engine was inspecting the line with Apple Bloom but stopped so their crew could clear a branch off the rails next to the old abandoned quarry. Rusty’s driver was just about to leave the cab, when there was a massive jolt in the ground.
“What on earth was that?” explained Apple Bloom.
“That was weird,” said Rusty, “maybe it was an earthquake.”
“Shh, you two, listen,” Rusty’s driver exclaimed.
They rumpling sound grew louder, Apple Bloom grew worried. “Rusty, I think we should…”
But before she could finish, Rusty suddenly drove in reverse, pushing Apple Bloom out the way as fast as he could. Rolling straight towards them was the massive boulder. It missed Rusty by a few feet then crashed down the slope before coming to a stop.
“What the Tartarus is that?!” exclaimed Apple Bloom.
“That is a thing I hoped never to see again,” Rusty replied, equally as shocked.
The Thin and Fat Controller came to inspect the boulder, from a safe distance of course. Many other people came too including a historian.
“Well Boulder, we meet at last,” said the Fat Controller, “My father told me everything about you.”
“How fascinating,” said the historian, “Do you realize how sacred this thing is?”
“Sacred?!” boomed the Thin Controller, “it almost crushed two of my engines. It’s dangerous and needs to be destroyed.”
“No, no, no,” the historian complained, “this boulder is an artifact that dates over a thousand years ago. I say we move it to a museum or something. We will secure it of course.” He added.
The railway was closed for the rest of the day and the engines all the engines talked about the mysterious boulder.
“You three weren’t here,” Rusty said to the CMC, “but that boulder caused massive destruction last time it came loose.”
“but where did it come for?” asked Scootaloo, “no piece of rock would be naturally that round.”
“That’s because it’s technically not natural,” Skarloey replied, “it was created thousands of years ago by the early Sudric tribes.”
“Really?” asked Sir Handel.
“Yes,” he replied again, “no one know what it’s purpose was or how it was created, but it obviously had some spiritual significance. Some even theorized that it may have been used as a weapon to crush the enemies. But whatever the reason, it stood alone for thousands of years, no one dare go near it. Until the Fat Controller decided to build a quarry on the land below in 1998. This of course didn’t end too well. Now the boulder was obviously set loose by Thumper’s drilling back then, but some say that the boulder enacted his revenge for have his land disturbed. Many people believed that this boulder is a real living thing.”
“What nonsense,” declared Duncan, “it’s a blood rock.”
“You wouldn’t think so if it chance you down the line!” Rheneas yelled, “it barely missed Percy and crashed into a shed full of dynamite. Causing the building to explode.”
“Regardless of whether it has a mind of it’s own or not,” Duke said wisely, “That boulder is dangerous, it should be destroyed.”
“I know this sounds silly, ya’ll,” chimed in Apple Bloom, “but ah feel if we destroy it, it’s spirit with come back to haunt us.”
“Rubbish,” Scootaloo called out.
“Why not just return it to where it was before the quarry was built?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“According to Sir Topham Hatt,” Rusty replied, “years of erosion plus the quarry activity made the ground unstable so it would most likely get dislodged again.”
“And that’s why it’s going to be moved to a museum,” cut in the Thin Controller, “They claim they can secure it there, but I don’t believe it.”
“A museum!” Rusty shouted, “I don’t believe it either, that thing needs to be left alone or it’ll just wreak more havoc.”
The next morning, Rusty and Apple Bloom took some men up to the old abandoned line to Boulder’s Site to try and find out what caused it to move. The men inspected the area.
“Last time it got loose,” Rusty told Apple Bloom, “it had rained the previous day, which loosened the rock. However, there wasn’t a drop of rain in sight.”
“You’re right,” remarked Apple Bloom “rocks just don’t move on their own accord.”
They men climbed down from the ledge. “Found anythin’,” Apple Bloom asked.
“Based on the evidence,” a workman said, “we believe that over 22 years, the ledge started to wither away from old age.”
Rusty remembered back to all those years ago, when the boulder went on it’s rampage destroying the newly opened quarry.
“I wounder what happened to that Thumper,” Apple Bloom asked.
“Oh, he’s still around,” Rusty replied, “When I sometimes take passenger trains, I’ve seen him chugging around along the road to various quarries. He’s quite a funny guy very chill and cool, though he does have a serious regret at what happened during his first job.”
“I can only imagine that would be so”, Apple Bloom scoffed.
The next morning, Harold was brought into the hills to move the boulder, it was fastened to a strong cord which was attached to Harold.
“All right Harold,” cried a workman, “ready for take-off.”
“Roger that,” Harold called out, “tally-ho.” Boulder took off into the sky. As Harold flew in the air carrying Boulder, everyone on the ground looked up to see the massive boulder, and hoped the cord was strong enough.
“You have got to be joking,” Duncan exclaimed as he looked up to see Boulder.
“When my driver said, ‘Boulder was high’ I thought he meant to city Colorado,” Sir Handel complained, “not that.”
The journey went fairly well, until Harold reached Crovan’s Gate. “Oh no,” he cried, “the cord’s slipping.”
“Crap,” cried her pilot, “we’ll try and find somewhere to land.”
Harold started to descend, and that’s when it happened. Boulder slipped from the cord and land on the rails with a thud.
“Oh no,” Rusty gasped.
“Would you look at that,” called a workman, clearly never heard of the boulder, “that is one big-ass boulder.”
“Get away from that!” shouted another workman, the ground started to shake as Boulder started to slowly and picking up speed, roll down the track.
A workman watched as the boulder thundered away. “Oh fu…”
Down the line, Gordon, Rainbow Dash and Rebecca where at Kellsthorpe station for their passengers. When they suddenly heard rumbling along the line.
“Good lord,” Gordon stated, “what’s that?”
“Hmm, sounds like landslide,” Rebecca guessed.
“But why would there be a landside on the mainline?” Rainbow asked, “there aren’t any backs near here.”
“Oh my god!” Gordon shouted, “Look out!” as Boulder thunder passed them. Boulder was too big and crashed though and destroyed the bridge behind the station.
“Tell them to clear the line,” Gordon’s driver yelled, as Boulder smashed down a signal box standing above the railway.
“Well that was rude,” replied the signal man. Boulder roared under Neville’s bridge; Douglas was sitting in a siding as Boulder rolled in.
“Holy shi…” Douglas cried as Boulder crushed a line of coal trucks and thundered on.
Meanwhile the Fat Controller had a nice lunch at a BBQ Rib joint and was walking in the street holding his stomach.
“Oof, that was a thick prime rib,” He said as he licked his lips, “I won’t be able to use the toilet for weeks.” He felt some rumbling down below, “Oh damn I can feel that gas churning.”
“Oh Jesus,” yelled a man, “That thing’s rolling straight towards us!”
“What?!” cried Sir Topham Hatt, “OH!”
Boulder crashed through some walls before coming to a stop after smashing against a big rock.
“whew, that was close,” sighed The Fat Controller, “but god damnit how many times does my family have to deal with this wretched ball.”
“Evacuate the town centre!” cried the man’s wife, “we don’t know what will happen next!”
“See that,” said the wife, “the rock’s cracked, it won’t hold the weight of the boulder for much longer.”
“Destroy it then,” said the Fat Controller, “blow it up.”
“Well whatever happens we can’t destroy it here,” stated the husband, “we’d risk setting the town on fire. We should at least try and move it away from here.”
“I already tried moving it with a helicopter and it failed miserably,” Sir Topham Hatt complained.
“Perhaps you could have something push it,” the husband stated, “like I don’t know a tractor with a plow.”
“A tractor wouldn’t be strong enough,” the Fat Controller pouted, “hmm, but there is this very strong machine close by that could help, in fact he’s had an experience with this Boulder before.”
The Fat Controller gave the machine’s driver a call and told him that he was needed. A few minutes later the machine rolled in reliving to be Thumper.
“Yo man what’s up,” called Thumper as he rolled in.
“Well as you can I’m not…” Sir Topham Hatt never finished his sentence, as thumper spoke again.
“I was talking to the Boulder not you dude,” he remarked, “I remember when I accidentally set this thing free. That was not cool at all. But I’ll set you straight this time man.”
“All right,” The Fat Controller said as thumper got ready, “ready, push!”
“Come on man, get moving dude,” thumper groaned as he try to move the boulder. His engine whirred, and his treads ached. “Almost got it,” he groaned again, “Oh crap, I’m losing it!” he cried as the boulder slipped and rolled away.
“NO!” boomed the Fat Controller, as boulder smashed through so fences, crashed through a wall and landed on the rails again. “Damn”.
Meanwhile Percy and Pinkie were sitting on the viaduct as workmen were giving it a routine check then they heard a familiar sound.
“What is that Percy-Wercy,” asked Pinkie, she couldn’t see due to Percy being in front of her.
“Oh crap,” Percy replied as her started puffing backwards, “get out of here!” Percy and Pinkie where running away from the Boulder rolling along the track as they raced through Maron station. “HELP!” they screamed. Luckily for Percy and Pinkie just before Maron was Gordon’s hill. Pinkie and Percy where able to go up it but not the boulder.
“It’s coming back!” yelled the station master, and it did but it went off the rails again. Harold fell over-heard.
As he fell over Boulder, he then dropped a bomb. “I’ve got you now, you son of a…” his insult was cut off as the bomb exploded.
The Magnificent boulder was no more. The Fat Controller came to inspect what was left of it. “So, this is how the story ends for you,” he commented, “22 years later.”
“What a shame,” said Twilight feeling sorry for the boulder, “though this thing stood alone peacefully for thousands of years but we had to come and disturb it, and now it’s gone. I wish we could have Preserved it.”
“There are times when harsh decisions like this must be made,” stated the Fat Controller, “Regardless, of how innocent this thing was, it put many lives in danger and there was no other way.”
“I think we need to preserve the pieces that are left,” the Thin Controller added, “they can go in the museum. It’ll be a good reminder to how we shouldn’t interfere with nature.”
The remains of the boulder were put in a truck and then were taken away bound for the museum. Rusty and Apple Bloom were quite sad when he heard had happened but relieved at the same time.
“I can’t help but feel sorry,” he commented, “It always felt like this thing was a living, breathing creature. We came in and disturb it’s peace regardless I hope it’s spirit doesn’t come back to haunt us.”
“Ah highly doubt that,” Apple Bloom assured her friend, “I think it’s safe to say that the boulder is dead now.”
“I say good riddance,” scoffed Duke, “I can’t believe people were trying preserve that thing. It’s a weapon I tell you.”
“I really hope that something like thing never happens again,” pouted Rusty, “because of our actions, an important part of Sodor’s history had to be destroyed.”
That evening, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Rusty inspected the old abandoned line one last time. They gazed up at where the boulder once stood, proud and silent for 22 years. Even thought the boulder was no longer there, Rusty and the CMC could feel that his spirit was still gazing out into the starry night. I wonder if Rusty and the CMC where right, don’t you?