Work on the new Haven residence was proceeding apace, and the property was looking pretty good. The house itself dated from the 17th Century, which explained some of the lower ceilings. The very difficult stuff was being done by a group of contractors, who were working in the upper levels of the house. But the lighter work was being handled by the Havens and their daughters.
One day, Pipp and Zipp had invited their friends to help with some minor tasks on the bottom floor. The work was relatively simple, mostly consisting of hanging paintings and adjusting some tables. Boxes sat all over the floor with various things inside them.
"Seriously, how did you guys end up with so much stuff?" Izzy asked, as she pulled some more things out of a box. "You must have a very cluttered house back in Swanage!"
"Tell me about it," Zipp replied. "Every time we get important visitors from some important place we get given gifts. I've lost track of how many bottles of different things or boxes of jewels we've received. We must catalog it someday."
"I quite like it when people come to visit," Pipp admitted, as she propped up another table.
"That's because it gives you an excuse to play princess," Zipp replied. "Our chances of becoming monarchs are nil as we have no claim to the throne."
"Really?" Izzy asked. "Aren't members of the Royal Family dukes and things like that?"
"The British nobility and the Royal Family have some connections, but remain two distinct things. Something that I often find myself explaining to foreign visitors."
"Where should I put this vase?" Sunny asked. "I just ask as it's heavy and I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to hold it up."
"Place it on the table there," Pipp pointed, as she folded something out. "There's the guestbook!"
"Why would you need a guestbook when you live here?" Hitch asked.
"Because we won't live here for some of the year, and so the place doesn't fall apart we're planning on renting some of it out as affordable housing," Pipp explained.
Zipp dropped a pair of goggles in to check everything was in shape. "Wait, that's weird. See that small painting over there, on the wall?"
"Which one?"
"The oil painting," Zipp specified. "I used the heat vision function on my goggles and spotted a massive heat spike behind it. But based on the floor plans we have there's no logical reason for the wall or space behind it to be that warm."
Sunny walked over and removed the painting- to reveal a swirling void beyond it. Suddenly, the room began to shudder and shake. The portal wobbled and wheeled. And the narrator began to feel his brain cells decreasing by the second.
Everything in the room began to be pulled towards it. Sunny was pulled through it and vanished.
"SUNNY!" Izzy cried, as she held onto a rod attached into a wall. This, unfortunately, broke, and she was sucked into the portal.
Hitch did his best to catch Pipp as she went flying past, but his hand missed hers by a few inches. Her screaming gradually gew quieter as she was pulled into the portal, as if somebody was turning a volume dial down.
Zipp held on as best she could as her body was buffeted by the winds of the portal. The wall which the handrail she was holding onto buckled, and the handrail was ripped out. She flew sideways and slammed into Hitch, who was knocked loose and fell. The duo were sucked into the portal, which closed the second Hitch was in.
Lady Haven stepped through a few seconds later. "Pipp? Zara?" She looked around in confusion. "That's funny. I thought I heard their voices in here a few moments ago."
The portal vomited the five out into a strange place, where they landed on the floor in a heap.
"Hey!" Sunny called. "Can you guys get off?"
"I've got other people weighing me down!" Izzy said, who seemed to be struggling to breathe.
"I can't easily move!" Hitch complained. "Not least because of Zipp's weight!"
"Are you calling me fat?"
Suddenly, the pile rolled to one side, and the five were deposited onto a platform. They looked about themselves with a mixture of bafflement and confusion.
"Anybody hurt?" Hitch asked.
"I have a chipped nail!" Pipp replied.
"Hardly qualifies as an injury," Zipp replied.
"Easy for you to say," Pipp snapped. "This is your fault!"
"How is it my fault a portal was there?"
"Well, you spotted it, and then told us about it."
"I never said anybody had to move the painting! Stop putting words in my mouth!"
"Guys, can we please stop arguing?" Hitch asked. "We need to figure out where in the world we are. Because this looks nothing like any place we know."
Sunny was looking about, seemingly recognising what she was seeing. "This feels familiar," she said. "Like I've seen this place before."
Izzy was digging about on the platform, and found a board. "Apparently, we're in a place called Knapford," she said. "What a weird place name."
Sunny's eyes opened wider in a mix of surprise and confusion. "Sorry?"
"Knapford," Hitch clarified. "I'm guessing it's a place you know."
"Of course I know it!" Sunny said. "It's a place I've heard of. We're on Sodor!"
"Looks like it is real," Zipp noted, as she scribbled something down. "Something feels a bit weird about this place, though. I can't quite explain it, but something doesn't quite right."
Strange, haunting music played through speakers, sounding like something you'd hear in a horror film. "You're right, Zipp," said Sunny. "There's something wrong, but I'm not quite sure what."
Suddenly, a voice spoke from one side of the station. "Here comes Thomas!"
Sunny's eyes widened as she saw what was approaching. "Can it be... no, no, no..."
This 'thing' that was approaching came to a stop. He looked like some vulgar parody of the little tank engine so many had come to know and love. His whistles were weird and shapeless, and his tanks sloped upwards at weird angles. He had no connecting rods, and a hideously mishapen cab, smokebox, and face. He smiled at them in a creepy manner. "Do you want to be really useful?" he asked. "Because we can friends forever... and ever... and ever."
Pipp screamed in fright. "WHAT IS THAT THING? GET IT AWAY FROM US!"
"Run for your lives!" Izzy shouted, and the five dashed for another platform as another blue engine pulled in.
He also lacked connecting rods, and seemed to be some sort of Prairie engine (albeit with a tender). It called over. "With me! I will help you escape! My name is Gordon!"
Keen to escape the madness, the five piled onto his footplate, and Gordon pulled away as the 'thing' looked on. "I just want to be friends," he said, in the weird, singsong voice, and flew after them.
Gordon looked behind him as the thundered along. "Oh no you don't, little Thomas," he said. "You will not have them!"
This seemed to only annoy Thomas. "Aww, can't I play with them?" And in one motion, his frames wobbled and lurched, and he jumped from one line to another. He was now pulling up on Gordon and fast.
"What is this place?" Hitch asked. "Because I'm pretty certain metal can't bend like that."
"Physics seem to be a bit out of wack here," Zipp observed. "Interesting. Maybe we can also jump amazing distances."
Gordon laughed. "Two can play at that game, Thomas." He jumped from one line to another, and opened a crossing gate with a leading wheel. Several trucks rolled out of it and stopped Thomas in his tracks.
"It would seem the fugitives have escaped my clutches so far," said a man, sitting at a desk as he consulted a map. "But never a problem. The last we knew was that Gordon had helped them escape."
"Their presence here consitutes a problem, Topham," said a voice. "You must capture them and bring them to me, or else the entire plan may fall apart. Your position is, shall we say, on the line as well."
"Yes, Opaline," 'Topham' replied.
"Good. Now get to work."
As the call ended, 'Topham' started to laugh. "The world shall tremble in fear. First, this dimension, then, those next to ours! I shall become the most powerful man in the universe, for I AM EMPEROR TOPHAM HATT!"
After many hours of hard travel, Gordon came to a stop in a gorge. "We can rest here," he said. "Alongside the others."
"What others?" Sunny asked. "Did others make it here?"
"Yes," Gordon said. "Though rather more quadrupedal than you."
As the five got off and walked to the encampment, their eyes widened in shock. Sitting around a campfire were five ponies. Ponies who looked similar to them.
The yellow one looked over, and his jaw dropped. "Bipedal things that look like us? Whaaaa-"