//------------------------------//
// All Mixed Up 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: Tales from the Mainland Volume 3 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

One evening, the drivers of Falmouth had gathered in the engineering workshop at the end of town. The facility was currently largely home to rolling stock being repainted or overhauled, but presently there were two engines in the facility. The first was, of course, Charles, owing to his earlier mishap with a tanker. The other was Bellerophon, who's paint was now somewhat shabby and needed to be redone. At that moment in time, the team were busy removing the old paint and preparing to apply an undercoat, which is needed to protect the metal of the boiler from any damage.

"Quite a job, this!" Misty said. "I hadn't realised his paint looked so shabby."

"Well, when you're in an a place or condition for a long time you don't always pick up on the shabbiness," Hitch said. It was only then he noticed the others looking at him oddly. "What? Just saying it as it is."

"But given he is such a hard worker it only made sense to reward him with some new paint," Zipp chimed in. "This should look pretty good, especially the blue."

"It's only an undercoat, right?" Bellerophon asked. "I much prefer brown with cream lining to whatever livery this is."

"Don't worry, it is an undercoat," Misty said. "We'll be back in business in brown in no time."

Pipp then chimed in. "Guys, I was looking through the records and saw something interesting- Bellerophon was never formally commissioned into traffic."

"He wasn't?" Sunny asked. "That's surprising. Normally there's a big ceremony to launch the engine into traffic."

"I'm a colliery engine, remember?" Bellerophon pointed out. "Soon as I was through running in I was put straight to work moving coal trucks about a yard."

"And," Sunny said, "by some strange coincidence there's a commissioning ceremony going on at Truro very soon. A whole host of new machines are being commissioned into traffic by none other than Lt. Colonel William Haven!"

"It's Left-enant, not Loo-tenant," Zipp quickly corrected her.

Sunny went a little red. "OK, I do use a hodge podge of British and American pronunciation. Then again, our pronunciation does shift over time. I found my parents watching their wedding tape back, and mom sounds completely different to how she does now. Her northeast accent used to be really strong!"

"Given she sounds Canadian now," Hitch noted.

"Anyway," Pipp said, taking charge once more, "I was thinking we could submit Bellerophon for a commissioning ceremony!" She looked to Misty. "With your permission, of course."

"What exactly is a commissioning ceremony?" Misty asked.

"Well, basically, the engines are all cleaned up, and then they are taken to a special place with their nameplate covered. Then an important person pulls back a pair of curtains and voila!"

"What if the engine doesn't have a nameplate?" Misty asked.

"Then the running number is momentarily covered over," Sunny explained. "That's what we did with Salty when we finished fixing him up."

Misty looked over. "How precisely did you come to know Salty?"

Sunny smiled. "That's an interesting story. It turned out he'd been dumped in a siding near Eastleigh when being towed for scrap, as his axleboxes had run hot during the move, and they'd just left him there for decades. Dad happened to be in the area doing photography and arranged for him to be shipped to Falmouth. He was working on him for nearly 20 years in the shed near Lighthouse Quarry when I found out Salty existed. We got him working again on limited power, and between our big cross country journey and the Christmas Misty arrived we got him back into working order. And I was given the position of his driver as dad, although he has no issue with diesels, was rather hopeful a steam engine could be sourced."

"We know how that ended," Izzy smiled. "Speaking of which, Porter was acquired by the East Lancashire before I was born, actually. The overhaul went long as he wasn't exactly near the top of the priority list, but he was handed over to the kids group to look at. I was part of it, and was there when Porter's fire was lit for the first time in decades! And I eventually passed my driving and firing test on him, so it only made sense for me to drive him. One of our first trips was to the Dartmouth Steam Railway, but we took a wrong turn at Newton Abbot and you guys know the rest!"

Hitch spoke next. "We got Rebecca fixed here. Turns out most of the work had been done by Swanage-"

"You're welcome," Pipp said.

"And to get her running took a bit of remedial work. It took about six months of work parties, but we got her back into traffic just in time for Christmas."

"What about you, Zipp?" Misty asked. "What's your connection to Charles?"

Charles looked over from the maintenance road he was currently parked on. "That's quite an interesting story, actually. Me being launched into traffic was one of Her Ladyship's last duties before Pipp and Zipp were born. I remember the week they were born like it was yesterday..."





Charles was rather surprised when he felt his engine being started considerably earlier than expected, and a lot of cheering from outside. "Hold on a moment! What's going on?" As he was new into traffic he was usually put into service on the afternoon trains.

"Come on, Charles!" said the man on his footplate, a driver. "They're coming home, and all the engines are needed to help!"

"I need a bit of context on that," the somewhat blue diesel replied.

"The Duchess was at the hospital earlier this week, but they're coming home by train from Bournemouth! Their train is at Norden, so we need to be in place for when it arrives."

Charles was still confused. "Why are we all needed if Her Ladyship was in the hospital?"

The sound of a facepalm was audible from inside his cab as Charles moved out of the shed. "The Duchess was in the hospital to have her children, but they were kept there for a few days to ensure all was medically well. They are coming home today, so we need to welcome them home."

Charles finally followed what was being said. "Ahhh," he said. "Now I understand. Sensible, really."

Charles was finally backed into the cattle dock, and looked over as other engines were gathered in the platform, primed to sound their whistles or horns. As the minutes passed, tension continued to mount. The Household Staff stood on the platform, with their uniforms neatly pressed. A brass band was on the platform.

"STAND TO! THEY APPROACH THE PLATFORM!"

Charles then saw Ray back into the platform, two coaches in tow. The train came to a stop with one set of doors aligned with the red carpet. Wadsworth stepped forward to open the doors, and stepped back once done. "Welcome home, Your Ladyship," he said.

As the party exited the coach, with two more members than when they had left, the brass band began to play 'Congratulations', and engines blasted their whistles and sounded their horns in celebration.





"That must have been exciting!" Izzy asked.

"Apparently it was!" Pipp replied. "Obviously neither myself nor Zipp remember it, so we only have photos to go off, but it looks spectacular."

"According to mom we were the first to be born in Bournemouth in quite a while," Zipp added. "Historically it was either Swanage or Southampton, but she'd been advised to head to Bournemouth as she was at risk of complications."

"I guess you two were early," Sunny said.

"They were," a voice said. They all turned to see Lady Haven had somehow appeared without them noticing. "Four entire days, as a matter of fact."

Charles looked around awkwardly. "Apologies," he said quickly. "I wasn't aware you were there."

"I don't remember a huge amount about the day to be honest," Lady Haven replied. "But considering what my girls do now it seems rather fitting." She looked to Pipp and Zipp. "And raising both of you was well worth the awkwardness of having twins."

Izzy nodded. "I was early too!"

"Interesting," Sunny said. "I was a week late, apparently."

"How did we end up comparing our moms' pregnancies again?" Hitch asked.

"The connections we have to the engines," Zipp said. "I was later passed out on Charles, so it's actually quite fitting."

"And my story is actually pretty boring," Pipp said. "I did my driver training on Sophie and became her driver after passing. I later took a steam loco module and passed that, meaning I can operate Ray when required. Not that I usually do. Jazz appears to have a pretty good handle on that."

"Sounds fun," Misty said. "Well, we'd best get to work on repainting Bellerophon."

"You know what song it's time for!" Hitch said.

"Haven't we sung this several times before?" Izzy asked.

"Who cares?" Pipp said. "It's a certified hit!"

And so, as they got to work, they went into song mode.

"Just a little touch-up!
Just a little paint!
And we'll be done in no time-"

"Hey, this is looking great!" Izzy interjected.

"'Cause they say many hands/
And the work gets lighter! (work gets lighter)
And working with your friends/
Will make the whole day brighter!

"Gonna work, work, work!
Got so much to do!
Well, I don't mind the work/
'Cause I get to work with you!

"Gonna work, work, work!
Make our dreams come true!
'Cause when we work together/
There's nothing we, nothing we can't do!"





That evening, Misty had an idea. As much as she liked how she was, she figured sometimes it would be nice to change things up a bit every now and then. And she had just the thing to vary her appearance for just a little bit. She had made sure she had one of the house's many bathrooms to herself, and got to work on using some hair dye she'd picked up.

"Well, here goes nothing," she said, as she began to try and apply the colours. It took a few goes, but finally she had something she was happy with, a mixture of red and orange shades that blended nicely with her blue skin and really brought out her eyes.

"Well, that doesn't look too bad," she said. "I'll get it out in the morning before anybody notices."





When Misty got up the next morning, the first thing she did was shower. But something wasn't right. She was using a lot of water and hair conditioner, but the colours didn't seem to be budging!

"Why can't I get it out?" she asked, partly out of frustration.

Once done showering, she got dressed, and then tried to hide as long as she could.

Just then there was a knock on the door. "Misty? Are you in there?"

"Sorta!" Misty replied.

"Good! Mom sent me to tell you breakfast is ready, so pop down soon please?"

"I'm not sure I can," Misty replied.

"What do you mean?" Pipp asked. "May I come in?"

"I'd rather you didn't," Misty said.

"Why? It can't be that bad, right?"

"No, it's not bad."

The door then opened and Pipp walked in. "Misty? Where are you?"

Misty gulped. She knew Pipp would find her eventually, and popped out of her hiding spot, revealing her rather confusing mess of hair. "Err, hi?"

Pipp gasped. "What have you done with your hair? This is so you!"

"It is?" Misty asked. "I tested it yesterday, but now it won't come out!"

Pipp took a closer look. "Hmmm. You've applied rather a lot. It'll take a few days for this to come out naturally. Did you bleach your hair first?"

"What's bleaching?"

Pipp stepped back, looking shocked. "Oh no. You'll have an even harder time getting it out! We can fix this, but you'll have to try and act normal for a bit. Even if you may look a bit strange in the commissioning photographs."

Misty's eyes widened in shock. "That's today? I can't go out there like this! I look like an explosion in a paint factory!"

"Well, if it's any help you could try putting your hair under something," Pipp suggested.

"That doesn't really work. Keeping this lot down is rather difficult."

"We can always try," Pipp smiled. "It's not a case of something not working, it's how we find a way to make it work."





Unfortunately, they didn't find a solution which was particularly satisfying. Misty instead just tried to make her way to the workshop in a stealthy way. She hid behind lamp posts, and snuck through buildings. She even hid in a bin to avoid being spotted at one point.

Unfortunately, Hitch spotted her in there and looked over. "Misty? Why are you in a dumpster?"

"Hiding from the others," she said. "I look silly." She clambered out and got on her way.

Hitch then saw why. "Oh. Bad hair day? At least nobody's hair is becoming sentient and fighting each other."

Misty heard Hitch catching up behind her. "Yeah?"

"Why a bin, though?"

Misty sighed. "Back before I met you guys, Opaline would often send me out on missions without sufficient provisions. I got very used to scavenging food from bins."

Hitch looked concerned. "Misty, you were risking becoming seriously ill by doing that!"

"You'd be amazed at how many people throw away perfectly edible food," Misty said sadly. "I doubt I had the most balanced of diets, but beggars can't be choosers, especially as a person who had slipped between the cracks."

By this point they had reached the workshop, and they arrived to find Bellerophon in steam. Painted blue.

"Are we out of paint?" Misty asked.

"Yes, unfortunately," the painter said. "Lorry has been delayed. Apparently a tanker carrying red paint and a tanker carrying blue paint crashed just outside Plymouth. Reportedly the drivers were marooned."

"That joke is terrible," Hitch said.

"So we'll have to delay things a bit," Misty said. "That's fi-"

Suddenly, the telephone rang, and another worker answered it. "I'll tell them right away!" he said, and put the phone down. "Bad news, I'm afraid," he said. "Sophie has failed before the first train of the day. As Bellerophon is the only engine in vaguely presentable condition, we'll have to use him."

"I can't go out there!" Bellerophon said. "I'll look like somebody emptied a pot of blueberry jam all over my cladding!"

"What about the passengers?" Misty asked, rhetorically. "They don't deserve to be left out in the weather."

Bellerophon sighed. "I'll do it for their sakes, then."

"If it's any consolation you won't be the only one looking silly," Misty said, as she hopped on his footplate. "Open the doors, please!"





Safe to say the passengers were rather surprised to see a blue tank engine pulling into the platform and being attached to the coaches. "I didn't know there was a blue tank engine!" said one.

"Isn't that Sonny?" asked another.

"I don't know a Sonny," said Bellerophon. "I'm normally painted brown if that's what you're wondering."

Eventually, they had the train set up, and got to Truro without any further mishaps. Many engines were assembled there. There were diesels and electrics of every shape and size, all waiting to be formally launched into traffic. Bellerophon dropped off his coaches in the platform and drew forward to hide.

"Haydock's Haypennies!" he said. "I'm probably the oldest engine here!"

But nothing else was said, as an older man in full military uniform stepped forward.

"And now," said the familiar voice of Lady Haven, "we have to oversee the event Lt. Colonel William Haven!"

The Colonel stepped forward. "Thank you, Elizabe- sorry, I mean your Ladyship." He cleared his throat. "It is my great honour today, on behalf of all assembled, to launch these engines into traffic. May they provide smooth and reliable service for many years to come!"

He walked between the engines, formally removing the nameplate coverings and declaring them named. He got to Bellerophon last, and smiled. "Are you Misty?" he asked.

"Yes sir!" Misty replied.

The Colonel nodded. "Elizabeth has told me about you."

"Who's Elizabeth?" Misty asked, but then realised. "Oh. I didn't know you were friends with Lady Haven, sir."

The Colonel laughed. "More than friends, actually. She's my twin sister."

Misty thought to herself. Her Ladyship had a twin. Pipp and Zipp were twins. Did twins run in their family?

Before she had a chance to speak again, the Colonel addressed the engine. "What is your name, little engine?"

"Bellerophon, sir," Bellerophon replied. "We had a bit of a mishap and couldn't get the nameplates fitted in time. You see, we had to rescue some passengers as their engine had broken down."

The Colonel nodded. "Well, that was a very brave thing to do. The military teaches many values, but I personally feel the air force puts it best- Per Ardua ad Astra."

"What does that mean, sir?" Misty asked.

"It's Latin, and means Through Adversity to the Stars. You both made your way through a challenging time to be here, and are well deserving of this reward." He stepped back and cleared his throat. "I name this engine Bellerophon!"

There was clapping and cheering, and all was merry.





That evening, the team had returned to the Haven's home and were holding a celebratory dinner in Misty and Bellerophon's honour. "You did great Misty!" Sunny said.

"Thanks," Misty replied. "I only did what anybody would have done."

"Going out of your comfort zone is something we all struggle with, but you pulled it off pretty well, both of you," Hitch added.

"As long as this fair island has more people like you, I think we are in very safe hands as a nation," William said, as he glanced over. "My compliments to the chef. The beef is simply exquisite."

"We figured you would fancy something well cooked after weeks of ration packs," Lady Haven said.

"Hyde Park Barracks has a fine canteen," William replied. "Arguably a perk of being part of the Royal Tank Regiment."

"You sure are a well connected family," Izzy mused.

Misty then turned to a carrot and put her fork into it. But it wouldn't budge. "This carrot seems to be made of concrete!"

Moments later it went flying into the air and landed in Sunny's soup.

"Funny," Sunny said, "I can't remember ordering carrot soup!"

But they all had a good laugh about it nontheless.