"Wow! You really went all out with these outfits, Pipp!" Sunny said, taking a look at herself in the mirror. "I really do feel like a Queen!"
"That's odd," Pipp admitted. "According to my notes you're meant to be a jester in this court. Zipp's meant to be the queen."
"Looks like we got our costumes the wrong way around," Zipp said, awkwardly. "Probably best we swap them over."
The duo shuffled off. "Zipp, you wouldn't mind not treading on my skirt?"
"Pipp did this on purpose, didn't she?"
Pipp huffed. "I heard that! Queens wear puffy gowns! It's the law!"
Izzy, who was dressed as... something, looked at Pipp. "What exactly are we celebrating?"
"Well," Pipp smiled, "I decided that this year we should bring the magic of Carnival to Falmouth!"
Izzy looked at her. "What's carnival?"
"It's a really big festival that originally comes from a place called Mobile, which is a city in Alabama. It's held before Lent, which in traditional culture meant that a lot of things, like most meat, could not be eaten for 40 days. So, they have a big party and celebrate and do all the things they won't be able to do for forty days. The name comes from the Latin words 'carne' and 'vale', the former meaning meat and the latter meaning goodbye."
"So it literally means meat goodbye!" Izzy said.
"Exactly!" Pipp grinned. "And today we'll be bringing that Mobile spirit to the West Country!"
Sunny and Zipp then reappeared, looking very silly. "I look like a clown!" Sunny said.
"You're telling me," Zipp said. "Can't Sunny be Queen instead?"
"You two have different body shapes, so your costumes won't fit each other. Rarity precision tailored these to your measurements." Pipp checked her phone. "Now, I got Misty scouting out the route for any problems, but we won't be able to do any of it until Hitch and Rebecca bring the floats down. Now where are they?"
At that moment, Rebecca was pulling into the yard at Truro, where the train containing the equipment had been dropped off. There were railway vehicles of all shapes and sizes. There were flatbeds loaded with wooden objects, and vans painted bright colours that carried useful equipment. Trailers, horse boxes, and even an elephant van were in the train. It looked marvellous.
Brookes appeared from behind the trucks. "We'll be glad for you to take this lot off our buffers!" he said. "Nigel and I had a tough old time getting them to fit in the sidings."
"You can say that again," Nigel said. "It's like finding gold sometimes."
"How would you find gold?" Brookes asked.
"With a metal detector, of course," Nigel smiled.
"How would an engine use a metal detector?" Brookes questioned. "We're made of metal!"
"True that." Nigel saw Rebecca's face. "We can bank the train out of Truro if you'd like."
"And say some really neat poetry along the way," Onyx added.
"Please don't," Argyle complained. "I've had quite enough of listening to John Coltrane for a morning."
"I could play some Charlie Parker if you'd prefer."
Hitch leaned out of the cab. "We should be fine, but I'll get on the radio if we have any trouble."
Rebecca was coupled to the enormous train, and with an enormous heave and a haul she got the formation underway. People cheered as the spam can got the train moving, and continued waving even as she vanished out of view.
Hitch looked out. "Now comes the tricky part," he said.
"Let's hope my wheels don't slip!" Rebecca said. "I've had trouble with this hill in the past!"
Misty was out in the streets, taking a close look at the decorations. "Parade route clearly marked, scenery set up, marker boards in position, and food carts in place ready for people to enjoy food. This festival is ready to go!"
She walked past a stand and quickly picked up a beignet. A beignet, for those wondering, is like a donut, and they are usually covered in icing sugar. They give the consumer quite the sugar boost!
Little did she realise, but a figure was watching from a nearby rooftop. He adjusted his binoculars and smiled. "Perfect," he said. "They won't expect a thing."
"Have you got everything in place?" Opaline asked over the radio.
"Of course," the figure replied. "That silly Misty just had some food, and of course the machine is set up. These people are in for a nasty shock!" He then pushed a button on a remote, and the street suddenly became enveloped in a wall of fog.
"Brilliant!" Opaline laughed. "They won't be forgetting this one in a hurry, will they?"
"Their stomachs certainly won't!"
Pipp was most concerned when she saw a sudden blast of yellow cloud fly past the window of Mane Melody. "What's going on?" she asked. "Why is there fog on a perfectly clear day?"
"Agreed, this is weird," Sunny said, taking a look herself. "If I were to hazard a guess, then it seems the weather has turned somewhat."
"I'll go take a look," Zipp said, quickly sliding out of her costume. "Good thing I decided to wear a stealth suit underneath!"
Zipp stepped outside, and was almost immediately greeted with a noxious odor. "Eurgh! This stuff smells awful!"
As she continued on her way, she discovered what had happened to the townsfolk. Many of them were bent double as they walked along, or hanging onto railings. Zipp soon found Misty in the same situation.
"Misty? What happened?"
Misty turned around from the railing, her face green. "Those beignets did not agree with me at all..." She immediately turned back around as she ejected other food from her stomach.
Zipp looked about. "People being ill, bent double, and smoke... the parade has been sabotaged, and somebody has to do something about it! But first, we must call doctors for all these people!"
Rebecca was soon over the hill and heading down towards Perranwell. "Things are going well so far!" she said, as they rolled into the short climb towards the next station.
"Here's hoping," Hitch said, as he glanced further down the line. Suddenly there was a loud bang, and wheeshing steam began to escape from the regulator valve. "Spoke too soon! Something's gone wrong!"
He closed the regulator as best he could and applied the brakes, bringing the long train to a safe stop. He looked back. "And we're blocking the points at the other end as well. This just keeps getting worse."
"What has happened?" Rebecca asked. "I feel so weak!"
Hitch looked out. "Looks like the safety valves have gone wonky again," he said. "I thought we had this problem fixed. Now we'll probably be sitting here for a while until help arrives."
Zipp opened the doors to Mane Melody once more. "I've got it!" she said.
Izzy glanced over. "Can I say it?"
"No," Sunny said. "We've already done that joke several times. The narrator will get cross."
"Who's the narrator?" Pipp asked.
"The person telling the- oh, never mind. Zipp, what's the game plan?"
Zipp told them her plan, but safe to say they were skeptical. "You sure that big thing can push all the smoke away?" Pipp asked.
"If it can clear massive snowdrifts, then it can get rid of smoke," Zipp said confidently. "Let's get it fired up!"
The townsfolk were very surprised when a strange machine arrived. It looked like a box on wheels, and belched smoke and steam from its chimney. The front didn't look like an engine at all. It looked like somebody had taken an ice cream mixer, scaled it up, and put it on the front of a double decker bus.
Zipp looked over to Sunny. "Start machinery on my word," she said.
Sunny moved her hand to the lever. "Ready!"
Zipp looked back to Pipp and Izzy. "Keep the boiler hot. We'll need as much steam pressure as we can get out of it if we're gonna clear this fog."
Izzy nodded. "It sure is hot back here!"
"Pass the water, would you?" Pipp asked.
Zipp looked out of the window. "NOW!"
Sunny pushed the lever down, and the enormous device on the front started to spin. It produced an incredible racket as it did so, with those who could covering their eardrums from the noise.
As it moved forward, the smoke began to disperse, being blown all over the place by the spinning fan. Zipp smiled. "Told you this would work!" she said.
There was puffing and panting from behind, and Izzy spoke up. "Keeping this thing stocked is hard work!"
"It gets through a lot of coal, but is really useful!"
Sure enough, the machine blew all the fog away, and before long sanity had returned to the waterfront. Sunny powered the fan down. "So, what is this thing?"
"It's a rotary snowplough," Zipp explained. "They use these across the pond to clear large snowdrifts and snowfall. Dad thought it'd be a good idea to get one to clear the Swanage Railway when the snow comes."
"I never thought we'd be using it to clear smoke, though," Sunny replied.
"Can we stop shovelling now?" Pipp asked. "My arms are about to fall off!"
Hitch was trying to figure out what to do when suddenly the radio started up. "Hitch? Can you hear me?"
Hitch grabbed the radio. "Loud and clear, over. How can I help, Mr Starshine?"
"Nigel and Brookes are here to push. We can get you out of the station and into the loop so we can break the train up into sections. Then we'll move them separately to Falmouth."
"Rebecca isn't going anywhere, I'm afraid," Hitch replied. "Her safety valves have gone kaput."
Just then, two whistles attracted his attention. Coming towards them were Alexandra and Harvey! "How did you two get here so quickly?"
"We headed up here when we learned of the trouble," Alexandra said. "I'll take the passengers to Falmouth, and Harvey will help with the trucks."
"You sure you're strong enough?" Rebecca asked Harvey.
"Consider it one friend to another," Harvey said. "After all, if you and Hitch hadn't found me, I'd probably still be quietly sitting in that siding."
"Don't forget my wife returned you to working order," Argyle said over the radio.
"Enough discussing who did what, we have a train to pull!" Goldie retorted.
That they agreed on, and sure enough they got to work. The four engines got the train clear of the loop, and Alexandra was loaded with passengers whilst Harvey shunted Rebecca into a siding. Brookes and Nigel then moved the rear portion of the train into the other platform once Alexandra had departed. Harvey departed first with his section, which allowed Brookes and Nigel to run round and attach to their bits one at a time. Hitch waved them off. He had to stay and fix Rebecca as best he could.
When they arrived, everybody cheered. The doctors had helped people with their health problems, and with the fog cleared the parade could finally go ahead.
Once the floats had been assembled and the performers were in position, the parade got under way. And what a parade it was! The floats rumbled magnificently down the streets, with performers walking beside and doing all sorts of interesting things. People on the floats waved down and tossed things to the observers on the ground.
But perhaps the most exciting thing of all were the King and Queen of the festival. Hitch had been able to make it after all, and he looked resplendant in the robe of a King. And Zipp... well, she certainly had gotten into the carnival spirit, even if the clothing wasn't entirely to her taste.
The figure from before looked down. "It didn't work!"
"'Ello 'ello 'ello!" said a voice behind him. He turned and saw a policeman. "You're nicked, sunshine."
"Opaline, what should I do?"
Opaline snorted. "Why are you asking me? It's your mess, not mine!"