Dragging Along
"Thomas was a tank engine who lived at a Big Station."
Dear Mom and Dad,
Well... It almost happened, I won't say what, or I will ruin the stories I have sent with this letter. Life this past month and a half was, interesting, to say the least. Thankfully, I have amazing friends to help, anyways, I miss you guys and hope you know I will try to visit soon.
Love, Matthew
**********************
It was early next morning, and Edward was showing Thomas around the yard.
"This set of sidings is for coaches, that set is for trucks, those are for setting things that are in the way," he explained, happy to help a young engine learn about the yards.
"Is there anything else?" the little tank asked.
"Well, there are the freight cars. But you need to get used ta the coaches first. Those things are a damn menace." Troy replied.
"Now Troy," Matthew said, "that wasn't nice, they are just a little sensitive is all and don't like being bumped." Troy just stared back with a deadpan expression.
"Uh huh. You just keep tellin yerself that. Though Ah will admit that their ability to create songs on the spot is incredible. Well, shall we get back to work?"
Matthew rolled his eyes and nodded, soon Thomas came up to Gordon. Gordon had been late with the Express and had to go extra fast to make up for lost time. Due to this, he was quite tired and was taking a nap. Thomas being a cheeky little thing, decided he was going to have a little fun. Remembering a trick he loved playing on the rude tender engines of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, he giggled and blew his whistle as they past the big engine.
"Wake up Lazybones and get to work, you can't catch me," he said, and puffed off laughing. Naturally, this made the big express engine rather cross.
"Little nuisance doesn't know what hard work is. I've a mind to teach him what... Hmm." Instead of going back to sleep, Gordon instead started coming up with a plan to teach Thomas a lesson. Thomas, of course, didn't realise this.
In his cab, Matthew and Twilight were not pleased. "Now Thomas," the man said, "I know he was rude to you, but that doesn't mean you can wake him up with your whistle."
"Troy would have found it funny." Thomas protested.
Matthew just rolled his eyes as he spoke. "Yes Thomas, he probably would, and I will be honest, seeing Gordon jump was a bit funny, but that doesn't excuse what you did.”
Thomas just huffed and kept working. Later, they met up with Edward and Troy as they pulled in with a train. Thomas told Troy about his trick thinking he would at least find it funny. He was surprised when the man simply sighed and fixed him with a serious expression.
"Boy, lemme tell ya somethin. Ah'm well aware of mah reputation as a prankster. A reputation Ah've more than earned. And Ah admit, that was pretty damn funny. But ya need to learn when to be serious too, or those pranks are gonna come back to bite you where the sun don't shine. And trust me, it ain't pretty."
Thomas was confused, pranks were fun, why was he getting scolded for it? Was something wrong? He resolved to apologize to Gordon at the sheds, but Gordon wasn't there when he arrived. He tried to stay up to apologize, but Gordon was still busy. The little blue engine ended up falling asleep extremely late. Because of this, Thomas had trouble waking up the next morning. His fire kept going out, and he couldn't make enough steam. Matthew, who was slightly stuffed up, was slowly losing patience.
"Come on," He said in an annoyed tone. "This is your fault Thomas, we are already 5 minutes late."
"Sorry" Thomas said in a small voice.
"Hey, ease up on the kid." Troy called. "These things happen. Here, let a pyro take a crack." Even still, the best they could do was a weak fire. Twilight and Matthew walked up to Thomas' face while Troy tried to get the fire going, Matthew speaking first.
"Sorry about that bud, my nose is sorta messed up and is making me a little short tempered, you aren't fully to blame, but why were you up so late last night?"
"Its okay. I just wanted to apologize to Gordon. I didn't mean to make us late."
Twilight smiled and spoke "That is very nice of you Thomas, that is a sign of trying to be friends and having friends can be magic"
"Thank you. I'll do my best!" Thomas exclaimed.
"Ha! Got it!" Troy called. "Shouldn't be no time before you get a good head of steam."
Matthew and Twilight hopped in the cab and thanked Troy before heading off to Knapford to arrange the Express. They were about 10 minutes late, but hoped to make up for lost time. As they pulled into the yard, the coaches looked down at Thomas.
"And where have you been?" they sniffed.
Matthew sighed and rolled his eyes, "None of that now please coaches. He had a rough night and his firebox refused to light. Please be kind."
"Hmph. Very well, at least he isn't dawdling anymore."
Twilight sighed, "Don't listen to them Thomas. Just focus on working.”
"Yes ma'am." Thomas replied. As he brought the coaches to the platform, despite his best efforts, his inexperience and the fact that he was in a hurry led to him bumping the coaches on accident a few times. The coached grumbled a bit, but were otherwise silent. Soon Thomas passed the big bossy engine himself.
Gordon just huffed as Thomas went by, but allowed himself a smile after the little tank engine was past and whistled. "Quickly, now!" he called.
Matthew was just about to hop out to uncouple thomas, but Gordon backed up with a bump, making him lose balance.
"Are you okay?" asked Twilight.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just need a second Twi," he replied woozily. As he got up, the floor underneath him lurched again and knocked him right back down. As he shook it off, he noticed the scenery moving.
"Oh no, Twilight, Thomas, if what I think it about to happen is about to happen, BRACE YOURSELVES!”
None of them could do anything else as Gordon picked up more and more speed. He laughed as the coaches sang "You can't get away! You can't get away!" Thomas started to cry as Gordon pulled him. Meanwhile, further down the line, Edward, Troy, and Fluttershy were doing a freight service.
"Makin good time. We're only a few miles out from the Main Line." Troy said. "How do y'all think Thomas and Twilight are doin?"
Edward chuckled, his eyes lighting up, "Pretty good I would hope. That engine is so eager."
"He's such a nice little engine too." added Fluttershy. "Oh? What's wrong Troy?" she asked after noticing the troubled look on his face.
"Do ya think Ah might have been a bit hard on the boy when Ah got on to him about prankin Gordon?" he asked.
"It is possible," the number 2 engine replied. "But he does need to learn the proper times to joke."
As they approached the 'Y' that joined the main line, they heard a familiar whistle. "Well hey, looks like we're just in time. After the Express, there ain't no more high speed trains due through for a while. By the time the next one comes thr- WHAT THE F**K?!"
As they were reducing speed, the trio noticed Thomas still on the end of the train crying. Troy immediately lurched back into the cab and slammed the brake lever to full on before jumping out. Edward was just as surprised, he knew Gordon could do dumb things, but this, this was worse. He called Thomas' name and the little tank engine yelled Edward's name, obvious fear in his voice.
"W-w-what are we going to do?" asked Fluttershy.
"Ah'll tell you what we're gonna do." Troy growled, climbing back into the cab. Fluttershy let out a shriek at the unexpected and murderous voice behind her. "We're going after them. Ah've already uncoupled us from the train, but there's no time to throw the switch, so it looks like we're goin tender first."
Edward was about to reply when they heard a whistle. There was Eagle puffing down the main line, shock clear on his face. He came to a stop before speaking to the trio.
"Was that... Thomas?"
"Yes. Eagle, I'm very glad you showed up. Can you take my train?" asked Edward.
"Sure, but where are you going?" the red tender engine asked.
Edwards eyes hardened at that. He now wore an expression that promised much pain and suffering. "We're going after that thrice damned fool." he said. "He's going to regret messing with my boy."
Eagle was shocked. Both at the uncharacteristic look of fury in his old friend's eyes, and the fact that in all their years, he'd never once heard the old Seagull curse. But it was the last line that confused Eagle the most. '"My boy?"' Eagle thought to himself. 'What does he mean by that?' Out loud, he simply said:
"Very well, then. Be careful. All of you."
Fluttershy shivered, tears coming to her eyes, "P-please calm down Edward..."
"Don't bother."
Fluttershy turned to Troy. "W-what? Why?" she sobbed.
"Because there is nothing we can say or do that will change the facts.” he said coldly. “What Gordon has done is inexcusable. He's put both Thomas and his crew in mortal danger over a harmless prank. Either way, Edward will probably calm down when we stop them." He then bent down and gave the terrified mare a hug. “Hey, if you'd rather go with Eagle and his crew, you can. We won’t judge for it."
"N-no, i-it's ok, I wanna stay with Edward," the kind mare replied.
"Alright. And for what it's worth, Ah'm proud of ya."
With that said, Troy stood up and took his place at the controls. "Alright. We've wasted too much time already. Here's the plan. Despite Edward being older, smaller, and running in reverse, we have the advantage of not pulling a heavy train and a full tender. We should be able to catch up pretty quick. When we do, Ah'll climb across and unhook Thomas from the express."
Edward sighed, but still in his angry tone, replied. "No. It is too risky, especially with how quick the speed can change. We will go to the station, take Thomas to Vicarstowm, and I will comfort him while you two tell the Fat Controller, then and only then, we will confront Gordon."
"We'll see. It worries me though. Thomas was never meant to go that fast." Troy said. "No point arguin about it, though. Let's go."
Fluttershy was half-scared, half-worried, 'He wasn't meant to go that fast? Oh dear, oh dear, I hope he will be ok,'she thought to herself. She jumped when she felt a hand on the top of her head. She looked up to see Troy smiling at her.
"Relax. We'll save them. If all else fails, we still have the original plan to fall back on. Eyes up, Shy! We're not savin our friends standin here jawin! Get this loco movin! We got a train to catch!"
Fluttershy felt a burst of determination, she would NOT let Thomas be hurt, she WOULD help him, and she WILL give Gordon a stern talking to. She set to work, once she ensured the line was clear, she shoveled some coal, pulled the lever, and Edward puffed off.
Meanwhile, Thomas, while still scared out of his mind, had found slight comfort in catching glimpses of the scenery as it flashed by. Although even that was dampened by the coaches laughing and singing "You can't get away! You can't get away!" Matthew and Twilight had found somewhat comfortable positions and were just trying to ride it out.
"You wanna know what makes all of this worse Twi," the brown haired man asked.
"What?"
"Thomas wanted to apologize."
"Oh. Poor guy. I hope we stop soon, for his sake."
"Me too, we can tolerate this speed, he is the one forced to go that fast”
As if by magic, the two felt the train slowing down.
"Maybe we're there?" Twilight asked hopefully.
"No, the closest station is Wellsworth, but we are definitely slowing down, I wonder why..." Deciding to try to figure it out, Matthew got up and looked out of the cab. "Huh, the signal is on caution"
"I wonder what might have happened that could be dangerous." Twilight wondered aloud.
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out at the station.”
Sure enough, they stopped at Wellsworth, and without missing a beat, Matthew ran and uncoupled Thomas from the train. Seeing this, the stationmaster allowed Gordon to leave, which he did, but not before give one last remark. "Well little Thomas," he started, "now you know what hard work means, don't you."
Thomas could only groan in pain. Something didn't feel right, and he was scared.
Twilight, hearing the little engine's groans, ran up to the front and hugged him as best she could. Matthew walked up to the front and patted his buffer beam. "It will be ok Thomas, I promise," he said, trying to comfort him.
Thomas sniffled. "A-are you sure?" he asked. "Yes, do you think you can make it to the siding?”
"I, I think so."
The pair hopped in his cab and started, slowly.
"Oh my wheels and coupling rods!" Thomas cried. "Oh, I shall never be the same again!"
At that point, Edward pulled in and Troy jumped out to see the express pulling out. "Damn. Well, he's got to come back to the shed eventually. Ah can til then to rip him a new one." He looked over to the siding where Thomas was sitting. "How ya feelin, kid?" he asked Thomas.
“My wheels feel like they’ll fall off if i move much more.” Thomas replied.
Under normal circumstances, Matthew would ask for Thomas to stop being so dramatic, but in all honesty, he was worried about the engine. Edward pulled over onto the siding and buffered up to Thomas.
"It's alright, I've got you." he said.
The little blue engine gasped but then smiled softly, speaking, "Thank you Edward."
"Quite alright, little one." Edward smiled.
"So when Ah'm done with Gordon, should Ah go see about adoption papers?" Troy said so only Edward could hear. Fluttershy also heard and smiled, giggling at the little joke. Eventually, the two engines made it home. Once they were settled in their berths, Troy decided to look Thomas over.
"Well, good news is ya get a clean bill o' health. Get some rest, an you'll be right back in the yard tomorrow." Troy said when he finished. "However, Ah can't inspect all the internal gears and whatnot, so, Matthew, Twilight, keep a close eye on how he performs. Anything out o' the ordinary, and you park that boy IMMEDIATELY."
They both nodded, worried about the engine, Matthew spoke. "Hey Thomas, this will sound bad, but I wanna say good job today, what Gordon did was unexceptable, but you aren't mad or anything. That is a sign of a good person, or engine as the case may be."
"T-thank you." the little engine's cheeks had gone rosy. Matthew couldn't help but smile until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"So does that make me a bad person? Cause Ah'm tearing into him when he gets back." Troy asked.
"No Troy, no it does not," Matthew replied, his fists clenching and eyes squinting. "I am going to do the same, but let's call The Fat Controller first."
"Right. He should be finishing up with his meeting. Ah'll just use the phone inside." Troy said. Matthew nodded as he, Fluttershy, and Twilight comforted the little blue engine a bit more.
Meanwhile, at Tidmouth Station, Sir Topham Hatt was finishing up his inspection and was preparing to board the Express. Before he could, the stationmaster came up to him.
"Sir, you have a phone call from the Vicarstown Sheds. They say it's urgent." he said.
Topham rolled his eyes, "Bother that Telephone," he said as he walked to his office and picked it up. "Hello, who is this?"
"It's Troy. Ah'm afraid there's been a problem."
The controller could tell by his tone alone, that this was not a normal issue and he became slightly on edge. The last time he'd heard that particular tone, Troy had almost killed a man. "Of course Troy, I will be there right away," he said before hanging up and rushing off the catch the express to Vicarstown.
Back at the shed, Troy was sitting on the tailgate of his truck cleaning his pistol. Matthew rolled his eyes as he turned back to the rest of the main 6 and spike, who had arrived a bit before, and finished explaining what happened, "And then Troy, Edward, and Fluttershy arrived and took us back to the shed." Rainbow Dash, who had been too busy earlier, and thus wasn't with Gordon when he pulled Thomas, had an angry look.
"He's done some stupid things to soothe his ego, but this. This is just too far." Troy said.
The thoughtful silence that had descended was soon interrupted by Troy jumping up and slamming the tailgate shut and getting in his truck.
"Wait, where are you going?" asked Twilight.
"To clear my head." Troy replied before starting the truck and taking off in a cloud of dust.
"That is probably for the best, he can get pretty violent when someone he cares about gets hurt. Anyways what do you girls wanna do while we wait?," Matthew asked.
"How about a game?!" Pinkie asked popping out of a barrel.
"Why were you- nevermind," the man swore the pink mare was in front of him a moment ago, yet suddenly she was in the barrel.
"What game should it be Pinkie, Darling?," Rarity asked
“How about Go Fish?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and spoke, "Ugh, but that's a boring game." Before she could continue or anyone else could comment, Matthew burst into laughter. "What's so funny?!" Rainbow demanded.
"Y-you think i-it's boring?" He dissolved into more laughter before slowly calming down enough to continue, "You clearly have never played it the way I do."
"And how's that?"
"Before I can explain, Pinkie, do you have a... Why am I even asking, of course you do." Sure enough, she gave him a pack and she gave each girl, and the dragon, five cards each.
"Okay, now what?" Rainbow asked.
"So in the regular game, you have a stack in the middle and nobody knows what card you just picked up aside from yourself, right?"
"Right. So, what, we show our cards?"
"No, but notice how I didn't get 5, this version of the game, I call, Trick Fish. Basically, when on of you needs to 'fish' I pick the card you get, so you don't know if I am helping you, or someone else, till you look at the card. Plus, I switch who I help, one round I could give Twilight a few cards she needs, the next, Pinkie, the next none of you, and so on."
"Seems interesting, I guess. Alright, let's play already."
After a few hours of fun had all around, the group was interrupted by the sound of Troy coming back.
"Are you feeling any better?" Twilight asked.
"Ah'm not gonna kill him on sight if that's what yer askin."
"That still doesn't sound very nice."
"Well excuuuse me, Princess. Ah dunno if you've noticed, but I'm not a nice person to people I don't like."
Matthew had started to get upset himself, and spoke his mind, "You DO like Gordon, he just made a bad choice. It is my belief that, while certain people, or in this case, engines, can be considered evil, not all are. Most simply make bad choices, such as what happened today. That does not mean, however, that he is evil, he just had a bit of anger issues."
"And while those are all good points, it doesn't change the fact that you two could have died. However, it doesn't matter either way. In the end, his fate is up to Sir Topham." Troy replied.
Matthew just rolls his eyes, munching on some chips as they wait.
It wasn't long after that they heard the sound of a steam engine approaching, along with Sir Topham's car. Matthew sighed and went to meet Gordon, while Troy went to meet the Controller. Matthew walked up to the crew driving Gordon and talked them for a bit and waved as they left. His face then made a frown and he walked to the front. "Hello Gordon," he said in a very upset tone.
"And what do you want now?" Gordon sniffed.
"Oh nothing, just to deliver you unto fate." He grinned and climbed into the cab, Driving the engine to the sheds, Eagle taking the coaches to the yards.
"What the devil are you talking about?"
"Oh nothing, just having a bit of fun." He chuckled as they arrived on the turntable, Edward glaring daggers as Gordon as he was spun.
"And what's your problem little Edward?" Gordon huffed. He was beginning to get annoyed. Edward's glare just sharpened.
"You know what you did." Edward said with a coldness that made the bigger engine shiver.
"Indeed he does!" Sir Topham boomed.
The ponies also glared at the engine as Sir Topham walked up after Matthew backed the blue menace into his berth in the sheds.
"Troy has told me everything, and I am very disappointed. You should have known better! Those speeds could have damaged Thomas beyond repair!" At that point Sir Topham stopped to calm down a bit and sighed before continuing. "As it stands, I shall have to send Thomas off to the works so that he can be thoroughly examined."
"But I've already been ex-" Thomas was quickly cut off by Troy smacking his elbow into Thomas's smokebox.
"And not only that, but Edward is busy with other jobs, as is Eagle." Sir Topham continued. "Therefore, for the foreseeable future everyone will simply have to fetch their own coaches. And Gordon will continue to do so until I say otherwise. Understood?"
"You can't be serious sir! I am a tender engine. Tender engines don't shunt!" Gordon cried.
"Very well." said Sir Topham.
"If you want a station pilot that badly, I suppose Edward or Eagle could fill in."
"Thank you sir." siad Gordon.
"Of course, that means you'll also have to take their goods trains." Sir Topham said.
The ponies laughed, but Gordon gasped and spluttered. "B-but, but, I, WHAT?!
"To put it simply Gordon, I brought Thomas here so that Edward would be free to return to fully normal service. There is a lot of work to be done and your little stunt has put us down an engine. In fact, until further notice, Henry shall take the Express and Edward shall look after his coaches while you take Edward's goods trains."
Gordon grumbled as Troy and Matthew towed Thomas to the works with Edward, an inspection starting quickly. It took a few days before the crew declared that Thomas wasn't hurt and was clear to return to service. Over the course of thoes days, Gordon moaned and groaned every time he had to pull a freight train. The cars would just giggle and joke about his misery. Little did anyone else know, this incident would provide troubles a few years down the line. But that's another story.
"He went home very slowly, and was carefull afterwards never to be cheeky to Gordon again."
Stats
Page generated in 0.018 seconds
Total duration
1,031 users online
2,190,446 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
9239740
I do
Thomas and the Magic Railroad. First movie I ever saw.
I think watching Percy Runs Away on video was my earliest Thomas memory.
9239909
I also remember watch Thomas and the Magic Railroad in the cinema. And being scared of Diesel 10.
(Side note, Diesel 10 I think was just the placeholder name for the character, as he was the tenth diesel character the TV series staff had introduced to the franchise and they never found another)
9240173
Diesel 10 is my favorite villain
9240512
I think I can see why. For me today I find him just a bit silly.
9240560
Stupid testing audience