The shape continued to steam towards them, unable to slow down. The engine was also seemingly unable to sound their whistle as it approached.
Sunny knew she had to react, and fast, or else they were risking an accident. Without hesitating she pulled her roller blades out of nowhere and strapped them on, before speeding off the platform and racing down the nearby ramp.
"Sunny?" Hitch called. "What are you doing?"
"Saving your lives!" Sunny replied, as she rode towards the out of control train.
The engine looked frantic. "Look out!" he shouted. "Get clear! Get clear!"
Sunny kept her cool, rattling forward towards the looming danger in front of her. She focused, and saw the rails for the cab steps. It got closer... and closer... "Steady... steady..."
When the rail was inches away, she jumped. Her hand made contact with the closest rail, and she grabbed on, then held the other one with her other hand.
With a small bit of effort, in part due to the fact that roller blades are not designed for climbing things, she made her way up to the cab. Once she was inside, she was surprised that the cab was completely empty. There was nobody there!
She moved over to the driver's side, and closed the regulator before applying the brakes. There was a loud screeching noise as the brake blocks engaged to slow the train down.
"Horrors!" the engine cried, and he shut his eyes.
Sunny braced for impact- but when she looked out she saw that the train had stopped completely. Admittedly, the coaches weren't in the platform, and they were inches from the buffers, but at least they hadn't gone through them.
Sunny sighed. "Phew! That was a close one." She swung the cutoff handle round to reverse and released the brakes, before backing the train up into the platform to let the passengers on and off.
"Good heavens!" said one passenger. "That was a rougher stop than usual. Twilight must be losing her touch."
Sunny secured the train in position before hopping back to the platform and removing her blades. She saw her friends crowding round where she had been.
"That was seriously brave of you, Sunny!" Misty said. "I'm not sure I'd have done the same in the same circumstances."
"You risked life and limb to haul Hurricane out of the exploding steelworks," Sunny replied. "I'd say we'd all do what needs to be done in the circumstances."
Hitch seemed to be peering closely at the engine. "Sunny? This engine looks familiar. Is it one of the ones from our playdates?"
Sunny turned around, and now that the tension of the situation was over she could properly analyse what she was looking at.
The engine before her was painted blue, with red and yellow lining. But that wasn't all. He had six blue wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler, and a short stumpy dome.
The engine looked over. "Thanks," he said. "I've been through enough walls and buffers to know it isn't fun."
"You're not Thomas, are you?" Sunny asked.
"How did you know?" Thomas asked, confused.
"Her dad knows a lot about Sodor," Hitch explained.
Zipp walked forward. "Guys, I hate to interrupt, but we can't stand around here at F-Farquhar all day."
"Farquhar," Sunny corrected. "Only the first F is vocalised, as in Sudric two Fs represent the single F sound. The second syllable is pronounced similar to 'quark', only with the K sound left off."
"Never took you for a linguist," Zipp replied.
"Her dad is a Sudriologist, remember?" Hitch pointed out.
"Anyway," Pipp said. "It's coming up on elevenses. Though knowing our rate of progess it'll probably be twelveses by the time we get there."
"What's elevenses?" Misty asked.
"Something posh people do," Izzy replied. "Most people call it a tea break."
Thomas just looked confused. "There's a cafe at Knapford if refreshment's what you're looking for."
"When's the next train?" Sunny asked.
"That's rather dependant on a driver, but the next train is supposed to depart at 10:30," Thomas said. "Though with nobody to drive it I suspect it won't be departing at all."
"I'll drive!" Sunny said. "I know my way around a locomotive cab."
"Then you'll need to switch on my automatic stoker and automatic injector controls," Thomas answered. "I'm Auto-Fitted, and Clarabel has a cab you can drive from for the return trip. Saves us running round!"
"I'll do that bit," Hitch said. "You get set up in Clarabel, whomever she is."
"She's one of my coaches," Thomas said. "I never go anywhere on my branch line without them. Unless it's a freight working, but this is as far as I go given Toby handles the quarry."
Izzy looked at Pipp. "I have no idea what any of this means, but it sound quite important."
"Possibly best we keep notes," Pipp answered, as they boarded the train.
After a quick brake check, and the guard blowing his whistle and waving the green flag, the train set off on its way to Knapford. Soon the landscape changed to rolling fields and lovely river valleys.
"Well, this is nice," Pipp said. "It's like we're riding through a watercolour painting!"
Izzy grinned. "I've never seen so much green and open space before!" she said.
"Really?" Zipp asked.
"I grew up in a very urban area, and the one local park was a bit rough until quite recently." Izzy lowered the window and inhaled. "Smell that air!"
The train continued on its journey, and they rattled past the window. Hitch was in the cab of Clarabel, and Sunny was, of course, at the controls. "On our left is Hackenbeck windmill. This regularly appears in promotional material for the North Western Region of British Railways and is significant for being one of Britain's oldest surviving post mills, having been built in 1686."
They rolled over the Ellsbridge river bridge. "This is the bridge over the River Ell. Nobody is quite sure of the etymology of the name; the Guardians certainly disagree over it a fair bit! The town of Ellsbridge is named in reference to the bridge that runs over it, and-"
"Sunny," Hitch said. "I know you're excited to be here. But perhaps focus a little more on what you're doing and less on giving a guided tour?"
"Are you implying I can't multitask?" Sunny replied. "Human beings are multitasking by virtue of being awake!"
Hitch shook his head. "Missing the point."
The train came to a stop in the platform at Ellsbridge. Thomas whistled. "Get in quickly please!"
After a quick stop, which involved exchanging some parcels and a rather confused station master calling Sunny 'Twilight', the formation set off again, with the train not calling at the now closed station of Torywreck. "This particular station is only open during peak periods; otherwise, passengers go to Knapford Junction to catch a connection."
Hitch sighed and turned to one side. "This is gonna be a long day. In case you've forgotten, we have some missing crystals to find, so perhaps prioritise that over living out your childhood fantasies!"
Sunny glanced at him. "In case you've forgotten, we're legally children. And I haven't forgotten about the crystals, actually. Helping other people out is a good way of finding information."
After a stop at Knapford Junction to allow passengers to board a connecting train (pulled by a big orange engine), the branch train sped down the line to Knapford itself. The impressive station approaches loomed before them, the signal gantry controlling entry to the station like a large guardian. Trains rattled in and out at speed, carrying all sorts of goods across the island. Shunting engines were propelling and assembling passenger and goods trains, whilst others were taking coaches away to the sidings to be stabled for later in the day.
Thomas' train was routed into Platform 1, and rolled to a stop, right on time. "Thank you for travelling North Western!" he said.
Sunny hopped out of the cab whilst a member of cleaning crew came up. "We'll take the stock to the yards for cleaning!" he said. "You'd best grab a bite to eat now- no doubt Sir Topham Hatt will have new work for you shortly!"
Sunny nodded. "Welcome to Knapford, where you don't pronounce the K. The station was originally built in the 1880s to serve the growing and prosperous town of the same name, but was remodelled in 1956 to the current platform layout. At peak times it can handle up to eighty trains an hour!"
"Where's the cafe?" Pipp asked.
Sunny indicated to a sign. "M. C. Bunn's is this way! Let's go!"
The six stepped through the door of the cafe, to find a cheerful atmosphere of conversation and laughter. A person was playing a somewhat out of tune piano on the back wall, which sounded very jangly indeed.
The girls queued up. "What would you guys like?" Sunny asked. "Menu is right above the bar!"
It took them very little time to decide, and they selected pastries and either coffee or tea, depending on preference. "Ugh! I don't understand how you can drink coffee at 11 in the morning!" Pipp said. "Won't you be bouncing off the ceiling?"
"Suits me better, princess," Zipp replied. "Besides, tea has caffeine in it as well."
"Yes, but nowhere near as much."
The woman on the counter, an orange skinned woman with blonde hair, looked over to them. "Good morning!" she said. "I don't believe we've met before. What can I get you today?"
"Two teas, four coffees, and six donuts, please," Sunny replied.
"One check or split?" the woman asked.
"One," Sunny said. "This one's on me."
The woman rang this up on the till. "So, what brings you to Sodor? And what's your name?"
"Tourism," Sunny replied. "I'm Sunny. These are my friends Hitch, Pipp, Zipp, Izzy, and Misty."
"Those are lovely names," the woman smiled. "I'm Mane Allgood. I run the teashop here. My daughter works on the railway- if you travel up to Arlesburgh you may see her." The equipment beeped, indicating the payment had gone through. "I'll bring your food and drinks to you in a moment." She handed them a wooden spoon with a number. "Pick a table and ensure the number is pointed facing the counter."
Sunny nodded. "Thank you, Miss Allgood." The group took their seats at a table and sat there for a bit, before their food and drink arrived. Pipp checked the tea. "Served in a teapot!" she said. "I never was much of a fan of filter tea."
Izzy looked at the donut. "Freshly baked!" she smiled. "Sometimes they can be old."
"Donuts don't work like cheese, Izzy," Pipp said. "If you at one that's out of date you'll be sick for days."
"Not all cheese improves with age," Hitch said.
"Sorry?" Misty asked.
"Not all cheese improves with age. You would each cheddar that's been aged for hundreds of years, but you wouldn't eat a hundred year old piece of stilton. I believe that whether a cheese keeps well is partially determined by whether it has a rind or not, as that allows it..."
The others tuned him out as he continued to talk about cheese at great length.
"Good thing these have a low calorie content," Pipp said. "Never a bad thing to watch your weight."
"I've noticed you looking closely at that sort of thing a lot," Misty noted.
"Yeah, why are you so picky about that?" Izzy asked.
Pipp sighed. "Unlike Zipp, who can easily absorb food, I struggle to keep weight off. I did use to be overweight, and trust me it wasn't fun."
"You're also a teen, like me," Zipp pointed out. "High metabolism and all that. I mean, look at Izzy- she eats like a horse and is pretty slim."
"I eat like a unicorn, actually," Izzy pointed out.
Pipp assumed Izzy was being random and continued onwards. "No excuse to eat excessively. A lot of my followers are kids, and I do blog about healthy eating. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't practice what I preached."
Zipp nodded. "True. But that doesn't mean you can't have fast food every now and then."
Suddenly, the door opened, and a workman bustled in and stopped at their table. "Excuse me, but when you are finished Sir Topham Hatt would like to see you."
"Us?" Hitch asked, having finished rambling about cheese.
"Correct," the workman said. "He wishes to commend you." He then vanished.
"What could this be all about?" Misty asked.
"Beats me," Sunny said, taking a sip of her coffee- and nearly jumping. "Argh! Burnt my tongue!"
Once they were done, they entered the office of Sir Topham Hatt. It was a nice room. There were tables, windows, a few posters from the North Western Railway, and a large table with a map of the island, and lights set into it to denote where trains were (presumably through track circuits).
"Good to see you arrived!"
The six glanced over to see a large figure arrive. This was, presumably, Sir Topham Hatt. He was what some people would call, erm, stout. He took off his hat and put it on a hatstand. "I am Sir Topham Hatt, the head of the railway."
"There is no doubt about that," Sunny added. "Controller of the line, you could say."
"Sorry?" Izzy asked.
"In fact," Sunny added, "It's plain as plain can be, for anyone to see that this is Sir Topham Hatt's railway."
Sir Topham Hatt sat down at his desk. "And I thought only Pinkie made references specifically aimed at older readers." He glanced up. "I heard how you six prevented a nasty accident at Ffarquhar, so I want to praise you on a job well done. The truth is that we're short of drivers. Some of them have vanished."
Sunny suddenly remembered that Thomas' cab had been empty when she had boarded. "Vanished, you say?" she said.
"Yes," Sir Topham Hatt replied. "Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity- none of them are responding to their radios. It's left us in a frightful pickle, and is on the verge of causing confusion and delay."
"That doesn't sound good," Misty said.
"It isn't," Sir Topham Hatt. "But it's the ability to persevere and overcome any odds that helped to make Britain great. Sodor has been through much harder times, and it was the Blitz spirit that saw us through. I have no doubt we'll emerge from this crisis once again, stronger than before." He glanced up. "But that's not why I called you in here. I need more drivers to cover the crisis, and I was wanting to recruit you six."
There was a momentary pause, before a familiar voice spoke. "Where do I sign?"
"Sunny! Stop and think for a moment!" Hitch said.
"When else am I going to get a chance to live and work on Sodor's North Western?" Sunny replied.
"Well, if that's all settled, we'll take you out to Tidmouth Sheds and introduce you to your engines."