//------------------------------//
// The Orange Controller 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: Tales from the Mainland Volume 1 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

The streets of Falmouth hummed and buzzed to the sound of commerce, as people set about their days. Many made their way to bus or tram stops to continue their journey, whilst others who worked in Falmouth stopped off at local cafes and similar establishments to get their breakfast before continuing their journeys to their jobs.

Some had also taken to doing a bit of shopping, and a brass band was trialling new material that morning. The railway was also starting to awaken and light up, with engines being prepared for service.

Suddenly, the peace was shattered by a the familiar rumble of a set of roller blades. "Excuse me!" Sunny called, as she weaved through the crowd.

"Careful!" called one person.

"I nearly dropped my sandwich!" said another.

Sunny rolled over to one side and slid down a nearby rail before hopping off and stopping in front of the brass band, who were just finishing playing. "Do I have anybody's attention?"

"No," said a voice sarcastically.

Sunny turned to the bandmaster. "Good Morning, Good Morning?" she suggested.

The band once again began to play, and this seemed to have the desired effect. People shuffled over to see what was happening.

Sunny tapped a microphone to check it was on. "Hello, everybody!" she said. "I have a very important announcement to make, one that may change all of our lives." She paused for dramatic effect.

"Well?" asked Posey. "Out with it!"

Sunny drew some more air into her lungs. "I have an important announcement to WHOA!" She had forgotten she still had her roller blades on, and as a result rolled forwards and impacted the ground.

She slowly picked herself up, taking the blades off as she did so. "And that's why wearing protective equipment is always so important. I was going to announce that- we, as a town, eat far too much junk food!"

The silence was punctuated by a member of the crowd eating a packet of crisps.

"Talk about trying to drum up attention," grumbled a voice. "After all, you would benefit if people ate less fast food. You do run a fruit drink stand."

"That's not what I meant!" Sunny replied. "Weight issues and obesity are a serious problem, largely caused by the fact that most of our food is shoved full of fattening substances."

"Fruit and vegetables are expensive at the moment," said another voice. "What if somebody cannot afford them?"

Sunny smiled. "I have a proposed solution to that problem. Instead of buying fruit and vegetables, how about we grow our own?"

Several of Sunny's friends had joined the crowd. Hitch nudged Zipp and rolled his eyes. "It seems old habits die hard. She's back on her soapbox again."

"You mean like dig for victory?" said an older gentleman. "I remember that my parents maintained a vegetable patch even after the war had ended. And that was in the 1960s!"

"Yes! Exactly!" Sunny exclaimed. "And with that, it would also help with biosecurity. We import most of our fruit and vegetables, which is ridiculous when we can grow them ourselves!"

"Hypocrite!" said a voice. "I saw you and Hitch going to the chippy a few days ago. That's fast food."

Assuming Sunny was finished, most of the crowd dispersed.

"Seems your campaign isn't going brilliantly," Izzy said. "Perhaps a new approach is needed."

"Nobody even took one of my flyers," Sunny sighed. "So that's a bust. Ah well. I'll try again tomorrow and-"

"Perhaps a change in message is needed," Zipp suggested. "You did sound like you were doom mongering there, and at the end of the day anything is bad for you if eaten in excess. I'd suggest instead promoting a balanced diet with the whole 'growing fruit and veggies' thing as a part of that." She paused. "Besides, the back of the card shows a french fry with a stop sign in front of it. The meaning is unclear. Does it mean not to eat french fries? Or does it mean prevent french fries from entering Falmouth?"

"You mean chips, right?" Pipp asked. "French Fries is the American term. I know we speak with American accents, but still."

Sunny put a hand to her chin. "Hmm. On reflection, that messaging was a bit harsh. But, seriously, imagine the possibilities. People working together in harmony, helping each other out and in turn improving their own world! Michael Jackson once said that if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make a change. I feel we should live that every day of our lives!"

She hadn't noticed this, but she had started glowing during that sentence, and suddenly the translucent wings she seemed to gain periodically flared back into being.

The bright flash of light caught the attention of the entire crowd, who came rushing back to hear her speak. The man eating the crisps earlier was the first to speak. "So, tell us more about this plan. We're listening."





About half an hour later, work was proceeding on the dockside. It was Sunny and Salty's turn to work the harbour, and they set about the task quite happily. Several cargo ships had unloaded in the night, and goods needed delivering from the sidings to the marshalling yard, where the cargo could be taken to places far away.

Normally this was routine work, and Salty was well suited to it. "Well, this is all very odd," Salty said, as he rumbled backwards with some more trucks.

"What's odd?" Sunny asked.

"There seem to be more people than normal on the dockside," Salty replied. "And they're all taking photographs and video. This is very strange."

"Perhaps they're just railway enthusiasts, wanting to document the last Class 07 to be working on a dockyard," Sunny suggested.

"There's that, I suppose," Salty said. "How about some music to liven up proceedings?"

"Exquisite!" Sunny smiled.

As Salt rolled into the exchange siding, Sophie was waiting. "I don't recall anybody inviting Cool Cat!" she said.

"Don't say that!" Salty said. "You may get a frivolous lawsuit sent your way!"

Sunny climbed down from the cab and looked at Pipp. "Here's the conflats from the ships. I'll need to get the fish vans and..." she trailed off as she noticed Pipp's facial expression. "Erm, is something wrong?"

"You're still ponied up!" Pipp exclaimed.

"Ponied up? Is that even a adjective?"

"It is now," Pipp smiled. "This is totes good. You should make the most of it, as everybody will take notice. Before long, everybody will be breathing down your neck chanting 'Sunny, Sunny, Sunny'! We love you!"

Sunny did not like the sound of that. "Can you excuse me a moment?" she asked, and walked around the other side of Salty. There, she pulled the compact Pipp had given her out of her pocket and looked in it, seeing her reflection on the other side.

"OK, this couldn't be worse timing," she said to herself. "I don't wanna be like this right now. If only there was a way to make this go away!"

As if on cue, the wings and translucent energy phased out. "That's better!" Sunny smiled, and climbed into Salty's cab, keen to continue working.

"What was Sunny talking about?" Sophie asked.

"I don't know," Salty said. "It's all Greek to me!"





Sunny didn't realise that Misty had streamed the entire thing through a pair of goggles to Opaline. The latter was most surprised. "Sunny can change into a alicorn form?" she asked, in surprise.

"I didn't know you went to the Clarkson school of grammer," Boomer said, having joined the chat.

"Whatever," Opaline said. "If she had access to this 'ponied up' power, then why wouldn't she want to be using it all the time! I would, if I could. In fact-"

Opaline's speech was briefly interrupted by loud slurping. Once it had finished, she continued.

"However, I sense an opportunity here. If I can pursuade her to maintain her powers long term, then she could conceivably do most of our dirty work for us! Brilliant! I'll be even closer to retaking what is rightfully mine! And WILL YOU STOP WITH THAT ACCURSED SLURPING?!"

"Sorry," said Misty over the radio. "But this smoothie is really delicious. It's a pineapple and banana blend with a bit of raspberry in it which gives a bit of extra punch."

"Now is not the time to be drinking vegetables!" Opaline snapped.

"But the items in the smoothie are all fruits."

"Whatever. We have another plan to put into motion, and that requires your help. I need you to do whatever it takes to get Sunny to remain in her powered up form, whilst I engage in some... persuation."

"Understood. Athena!"

"My name isn't Athena," Opaline said. "Get moving and stop your blabbering. You sound like an idiot."

She walked over to a projection pool, and activated a device. "The benefits of a false mirror fitting," she smiled, and she laughed as the image morphed into an exact duplicate of Sunny when powered up.





Lunchtime came on the dockside, and work temporarily stopped. Pipp and Hitch sat at the same table, Pipp with a salad and Hitch with a sandwich. Pipp sighed loudly and slumped her head on the table.

"Something wrong?" Hitch asked.

"Yes!" Pipp exclaimed. "Nothing I've been uploading to either YouTube or TikTok has been doing well. On YouTube, it's these shorts with the Filly Four, whoever they are." She showed a short clip of four teenagers engaging in elaborate dance moves. "I mean, how is this entertaining?"

"Beats me," Hitch said. "I'm not a content creator."

"And HOW exactly am I supposed to get traction on TikTok with the double whammy of a new dance craze AND Nathan Evan's new sea shanty blowing up the ratings?" Pipp said. She flipped open the video.

"Well me father often told me when I was just a lad/
A sailor's life is very hard, the food is always bad/
But now I've joined the navy, I'm aboard a man-o-war/
And now I've found a sailor ain't a sailor any more!

"Don't haul on the rope, don't climb up the mast/
If you see a sailing ship it might be your last/
Just get your civvies ready for another run-ashore/
A sailor ain't a sailor, ain't a sailor anymore!"

"Look!" Pipp said. "This video has thousands of likes, whereas my most recent upload has only five likes, a few taps, and a monkey. AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!"

"Sounds rubbish," Hitch said, not really understanding what was going on.

"None of my usual tricks have worked," Pipp sighed. "What if I've been... shadowbanished?"

Jazz, one of Pipp's colleagues at Mane Melody, sat down at the table with her own lunch. "I don't know what that means, but it sounds awful."

"Thanks Jazz," Pipp said. "Any reason you're wearing your heir that way today? It looks like you have no ears."

"They're just under my hair, that's all."

"Anyway, shadowbanishing is when your content gets blocked to viewers thanks to other things being more popular. It can't be that I've lost my creative touch... can it?"

Hitch interrupted. "Is this the dance craze you were referring to?" He turned his phone. "Because I have no idea how this has any artistic merit."

"Bunny, bunny
Do the bunny-unny-unny/
Bunny, bunny
Do the bunny-unny-unny!

"Kick up your paws and slide to the right/
Shake your tail, now, side to side!"

"How can this be trending?" Hitch said. "It's just a bunch of people making silly gestures and generally making fools of themselves."

Pipp's eyes lit up. "Could you share the video to me? I have an idea."





On the other side of town, Sunny had mysteriously powered up again, and was being approached by four kids her age. Sunny recognised one of them as Misty, but the other three were new to her.

"Oh, hello Sunny," said one, a girl with grey skin and red and white streaked hair. She was currently dressed in a grey shirt and blue jeans with a set of white sneakers. "My name is Sugar Moonlight. Me and my friends were about to go shopping in main street, and wondered if you wanted to join us."

"I don't need to go shopping right now. I'm not exactly short of clothing."

"But if you do, it will help you immensely," said one of the others, a girl with pink skin and purple and blue hair. "We are immensely influential, and some causes do need to celebrity boost."

"Imagine all that power!" Misty said.

"Indeed, Minty," Moonlight said.

"Misty."

Moonlight scoffed. "Whatever. All you have to do is hang with us and stay powered up as you are."

"That got a bit dark," Sunny thought to herself. "Well, OK then. I'll just go freshen up and be right back." She dashed in the direction of a store.

Moonlight rolled her eyes. "Freshen up in a bait and tackle shop? Weird."

Sunny ducked round a bend and pulled her phone out of her pocket before speed-dialling Pipp. The call took a few moments to connect. "Hello?"

"Bunny, bunny
Do the bunny-unny-unny-"

"What?"

"Sorry!" Pipp said, as the music came to a stop. "Just working on something. "Need something doing?"

"The Filly Four want to hang out with me! What should I do?"

There was a scream from the other end, followed by a loud crash. "The Filly Four? They're super influential right now. You need to get them on side. Think of all you might achieve if you have increased popularity!"

"True," Sunny said. "Some people still see me as a crackpot. I'll do it then. See ya!"

As she hung up, there was a strange fizzing and popping noise, and in that instant her wings phased out of existance. "Oh great. Just the best possible timing for that to happen. This power incontinence is a real bind sometimes."

"Sally," said a voice.

"Who's Sally?" Sunny asked.

"Sally," the voice said again. It seemed to be coming from her bag. Sunny popped it open and realised the sound was coming from the compact. She flipped it open- and nearly dropped it in surprise.

In the mirror was not her reflection. Instead, it was her when powered up. "Nice of you to open it up."

Sunny's eyes widened in surprise. "Is this some sort of projection? Articifical Intelligence? A manifestation of the inner workings of my mind?"

"I'm your inner voice," the other Sunny said. "I'm hear to guide you on your journey through life. And make sure not to tell anybody else, as this device will only work for you. Wouldn't want anybody thinking you were crazy, would we?"

"OK. Why are you calling me though?"

"To get you back on track. You're better than those other humans you communicate with. This is because you carry the power of magic within you. You're better than them. Why not show them the fact?"

"I have no idea how to control it. It seems to turn on and off at random. How do I control it?"

"Find the source of your power and harness it. Locate that, and all your wildest dreams can come true!"

"Even the community garden?" Sunny asked excitedly.

There was a momentary pause, where the other Sunny seemed to be lost for words. "That's your wildest dream? We can work on that. But harness it."

"I will!" Sunny replied, her thoughts turning to her plans. "I've already found a plot of land that will do the trick, and we can use that to make Falmouth a better place!"

"Good," the other Sunny smiled. "See? You're all powered up."

"Thank you so much!" Sunny said, punching the air in triumph. "I'll come up with a new name for you later, but it's time to make things happen!"

Once the call ended, Opaline rolled her eyes. "She is possibly the most boring person... in the world."





Sunny's powering up seemed to have the entire town out to see her. Shopkeepers and visitors were walking over with goods and supplies.

"Ah! Sunny!" said Lord Haven, making one of his rare appearances off the footplate. "Would you like to sample some new cheese I've been working on? It's a new type of cheddar made with Cornish milk."

"That's very kind of you," Sunny said, and reached to pick some cheese up.

"No!" Misty said. "Royalty such as you should not pick anything up! It must be passed to you!"

"That sounds more like laziness than anything else," Sunny replied.

She was soon barraged with questions from townsfolk.

"What products do you use to style your hair?"

"Does it feel strange when you're powered up?"

"What's it like to be ethereal?"

Sunny was beginning to think this was a bad idea. Nobody had ever behaved this way when she'd come through here before without being powered up. A nagging suspicion was building at the back of her mind. "Just a moment. I need to check my phone."

Before anybody could react, she ducked round a bend and stopped, before pulling out the compact again. "Hey, other me! I need some advice! The townsfolk are fawning over me and I suspect it's not for entirely altruistic reasons."

"Well, you're making progress. As I said, you're superior to other humans. You should take advantage of that. You should be praised, admired, feared."

"I don't want to be feared."

The other Sunny suddenly turned nasty. "Do you remember what it was like before the magic came back? How nobody took you seriously? Saw you as a nuisance? A problem? A crackpot?"

Sunny closed her eyes, wanting to prevent this other thing from seeing her tears. The browbeating had touched some very raw nerves.

She shut the compact as she powered down. A horde of people rushed by her, wanting to see 'the ponied up girl'. "I don't need to be like that for people to like me and care about societal causes, right?"

She quickly realised she was near the shed, and walked that way to Salty. "Day been tough on you?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, as she climbed his cab steps. "Let's go to the yard. I need to clear my mind."





About half an hour later, a massive crowd had assembled at the bandstand. Sunny, who was still at the controls of Salty, brought him to a stop next to a workman. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Apparently, they want to hear the girl with those shiny wings speak," the workman said. "Personally I don't see the appeal. Surely a social message matters no matter who is saying it."

Sunny secured Salty in place and shut down his engine, before hopping out and walking over to the bandstand. "Let me through please!"

"Can you please stop pushing?" said a large, round man. "A very important person is due to speak!"

Sunny's eye twitched. "Oh, we'll see about that," she said darkly, and continued pushing her way through. The girls from earlier were there, and looked very unhappy.

"What are you doing?" Misty asked. "You have to be powered up! You'll never get their attention if you're like that!"

Sunny glared at her, her breathing heavy. "We'll see about that."

Misty got the message and backed off.

Sunny took the podium and checked the microphone. "Citizens of Falmouth, I am here today to speak about the-"

Her voice was drowned out by loud booing. "Where's the celebrity?" shouted one voice.

"Yes, get off the podium, little girl," shouted another voice. "We have more important things to attend to."

Sunny blinked in surprise, and looked over to Moonlight. "What's going on? Why is everybody here?"

Moonlight shrugged her shoulders. "People are here to see you when powered up, of course. We want you to like us."

Sunny spluttered as she tried to form coherent thoughts. "Of course I like you!"

"But the town only like you when powered up," said somebody else, a girl called Rosedust. "Nobody really cares about the causes."

Those words confirmed all of Sunny's suspicions. "Nobody really cares," she whispered. "Falmouth really hasn't changed at all." She grabbed her helmet and roller blades, which she had somehow hidden behind the podium, and dashed off in the direction of home.





A while later, Zipp and Izzy made their way towards the lighthouse. "They told me she'd last been seen heading in the direction of her home," Zipp said. "I was wanting to check some stuff with her as there's a goods manifest bound for Truro later today."

"Porter and I put that together for you," Izzy said. "We also moved Salty back to the shed as he'd been left in the middle of nowhere for some reason."

Zipp knocked on the door, and waited for it to open.

Argyle looked out. "Oh, hi Zipp. You hear to see Sunny?"

"If possible," Zipp replied.

"That may not be so easy," Argyle said. "She's in her room and won't come out. She's also locked the door. I think she's really upset about something, but won't tell us what."

"We may have more luck," Izzy said.

"Good luck."

The pair made their way through the kitchen and up the stairs, eventually arriving at Sunny's room. Zipp knocked. "Sunny?"

"Go away," Sunny's voice replied.

"Hey, Sunny," Izzy said, "we're here to help. We want to speak to you and see if you're OK."

There was a sound of movement within, and the door bolt disengaged. The door slid open, and Sunny was on the other side. "Do you want to talk to me or the 'ponied-up girl'?" she said, her voice tinged with anger born of sorrow.

She looked a mess. Her hair was all over the place and her eyes were red. Not only that, her face was stained with tears.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Izzy asked.

"Well, what isn't wrong?" Sunny replied. "Nobody cares about these causes, and they never have. They only care about me being powered up. I don't want that! I don't want people following ideals just because some teenager with fairy wings and skin sheen happens to believe in them! People should truly stand up and fight for what they believe in!" She slumped. "The more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems."

Izzy spoke up. "Nothing has changed. You are still you. You haven't changed because of these magical thingies."

"I... haven't?" Sunny asked, sounding baffled.

"No!" Izzy said. "You're still the same person who took Porter and me in when everybody else was trying to get us! You've inspired us to push for a better world, both within and without. As you said this morning, if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make a change. Sometimes, all it takes is one person to change the world, and their actions can ripple out like a butterly's wings beating on the wind."

Sunny smiled, the first time she had done that in a while. "Thanks, Izzy," she said. "That means a lot to me."

"That was also some beautiful symbolism," Zipp said. "You sure have a way with words, Izzy."

"I was reading a philosophy book on my way here," Izzy smiled.

"And we have something pretty awesome to show you," Zipp noted. "Let's go!"





"Keep your hands over your eyes!" Izzy said.

Sunny nodded.

"Two more steps to the left! Slide to the right! Criss-Cross! Take it back now y'all!"

Sunny frowned. "Did you bring me out here to do the Cha-Cha Slide blindfold?"

"Izzy, stop being silly," Zipp said.

Izzy pouted. "But I'm so good at it. OK, open your eyes!"

Sunny opened her eyes and looked in amazement. "You build the proposed garden?"

"Yes we did," Hitch said. "We have space for everybody in town to grow the food they need, as well as plenty of natural fertiliser to help it grow." He frowned. "Never really used the chemical stuff on my own flowers."

"You seem to know a lot about growing plants," Pipp said.

"My grandmother was a botanist by trade. She's retired now, but more than happy to help me out if I need help cultivating plants."

"Besides," Pipp continued, "you've helped us all so much over the last year that it only seemed fitting to help you in return."

Sunny closed her eyes. "I don't know what to say. Thank you." In that instant, her wings flared back into being.

"Hey! You've transformed again!" Hitch said.

Sunny turned to him. "I think I've finally got the handle on this. I only power up if I'm helping somebody or working in pursuit of a cause I truly believe in."

The silence was interrupted by Zipp scribbling something in a notepad.

Pipp then spoke up. "And I found a way to both cheer you up and get back on top of the trending section!" She raised her phone, and two vidoes were near the top. One of them was something called the 'Pony Hip-hop', and the other was a video simply titled 'The Last Shanty'. Pipp opened this one, and the video began playing.

""Well me father often told me when I was just a lad/
A sailor's life is very hard, the food is always bad/
But now I've joined the navy, I'm aboard a man-o-war/
And now I've found a sailor ain't a sailor any more!"

Sunny's eyes widened in amazement. "You got to duet with Nathan Evans?"

"I know you like his output, so it was a no-brainer," Pipp smiled.

"Awesome!" Sunny grinned. "With you guys by my side, how can we go wrong?"