• Published 13th Jan 2019
  • 3,164 Views, 103 Comments

Thomas & Equestria Girls 2: Adventures From Sodor - LPFanFic



The Equestria Girls travel to the Island of Sodor to stop an old enemy and their devastating scheme. All while Thomas and his friends try to find purpose in an ever changing world.

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Chapter 25: Kart Crashing

Thomas & Equestria Girls 2:
Adventures From Sodor!

Chapter 25: Kart Crashing

"Welcome back to day 3 of the Crystal Race!" Principal Cadance greeted from an announcer booth.

The Crystal Race's next big event was about to begin. Her and Shining Armor were watching every student and faculty from Canterlot High and Crystal Prep fill up their seats situated along a roadway's sidelines.

"Our audience and folks watching at home are in for a real treat," Shining Armor said. "If it isn't already obvious based on what challenge our students are up against."

"That's right, Shining Armor," Cadance said. "For today's event, both teams will be racing in CPA's cutting edge, go kart derby!"

The downhill, go kart derby was being held on Canter Slope Lane, a curvy roadway decorated, outlined, and padded with protected bleachers lined up along the road to get a close-up view of racers zipping by. Canter Slope Lane was a slope that reached from the top of a slanted hill, to the very bottom where the finish line was stationed. The road consisted of a few strait paths from the start and near the bottom. But the rest consisted of nothing but switchbacks or hairpin curves. Hay bales and other protective barriers were set up along this roadway to prevent any accidents to both contestants and audiences.

Audiences watching expanded to more than school students and faculty. Random citizen had began piling in to witness the event too. It was mostly parents and their children who arrived and gathered near the playing field. Some children were sporting yellow number ones on different parts of their blue colored clothing. Others simply tired closing in with their phones ready to snap pictures of the competing players. There wasn't enough room to account for the unexpected capacity, so some people had to stand, set up blankets, or bring lawn chairs to watch from around or near the roadway.

Cadance slid down her headsets and looked over the now vast number of people.

"Huh. A lot more people here today," She noticed.

"Hey, I'm not questioning it," Shining Armor admitted. "A bigger audience means greater awareness, right?"

"I suppose."

Cadance slipped her headsets back on as the two continued their announcements to everyone watching and listening.

"The rules are simple," Shining Armor explained. "Contestants must cross the finish line to earn a point. Whoever comes in last, however, won't receive any. Here's hopping our contestants brought their A-game today."

"And that they make it through Canter Slope Lane safely," Cadance advised. "We have professionals on all corners of the track on standby should an accident occur."

"And I'm betting everyone watching is anticipating another riveting event!"

But most students didn't seem all that eager, especially from Canterlot High's side. Seeing the Wondercolts in action the other day lowered their confidence and expectations. It was obvious their team weren't earning a solid victory anytime soon. They weren't nearly as capable as the other Wondercolts they had expected to see competing. Luckily, the people just tuning in were more ecstatic. They were at least eager to see a good old fashion downhill derby, but on a grander scale.

Juniper Montage and Edward sat within the escalating bleachers close to the track. Juniper was eager to be sitting next to him, but Edward had his arms cross and wore a disapproving glare at the monitors. She continued gushing over Edward but tried playing it cool.

"So," She bragged, offhandedly. "Hope our friends win this one. Been giving them some serious coaching. No biggie. They've been properly instructed to somewhat drive. So, to speak."

"Thanks, Juniper," He said, still a bit peeved. "That'll surely do them some good."

"Is everything alright, Edward?" She asked, now noticing his demeanor.

"Forgive me," Edward sighed. "But I don't much approve of Thomas' idea to get back at the Shadowbolts for sabotaging their karts."

"Oh… me neither!" She said, sucking up.

"There's plenty of other ways he could've approached this problem. Even this seems very unlike Thomas."

"Agreed. Terrible plan. Should've gone with Gordon's suggestion."

"You really think so, Juniper?"

Juniper nodded with a silly grin.


Meanwhile, The Wondercolts and Shadowbolts were all lining up their karts atop of Canter Slope Lane's summit. Both teams had both decorated and painted their identical vehicles to sport their school's logo, along with a few extra details of their own. Each team wore proper go karting uniforms with matching, clear visor helmets. The Shadowbolts wore violet colored gear they sported during the Friendship Games. And the Wondercolts wore different colored racing jumpsuits appropriated to their choice of color, with Thomas and Gordon being blue, Percy green, Toby brown, James red, and Emily emerald.

The Shadowbolts' karts were all nearly identical in design. The base of each vehicle was painted in violet while fenders, side pods, roll cage, and other panels were painted purple or light blue. Crystal Prep Academies' lightning bolt logo was stamped on a panel above the front bumpers. Diesel's had painted his to resemble his jet-black jumpsuit, while keeping some elements of CPA's colors visible to a certain degree.

The Wondercolts had a more unique line up of karts to represent not only Canterlot High, but also the color of their liking. Thomas' and Gordon's karts were blue with red, Percy's was green with red, Toby's was brown with grey, and Emily's was emerald with gold. James had an almost entirely red kart with a few hues of black and yellow along the roll cage and bumpers. Each kart sported Canterlot High's horse shoe logo on their front panels with some tints of light blues and cream yellow mixed in.

Everyone was now in their karts and ready for the coach to arrive and signal them to start. Diesel held on his devious grin while faint snickers slipped his breath the more he looked over to the Engines. He was eager to start the race, to finally earn a point for his team, and to watch each engine's kart falls apart piece by piece after he had them rigged. The Engines were in for a big surprise as far as he knew, but what Diesel didn't know was that Thomas cooked up an idea to counteract Diesel's devious scheme. Sour Sweet caught on to his giddy grin and squinted with suspicion. There was no way he went a head and sabotaged the other team after being told not to, did he?

The crowd became energetic and cheered louder when the televised monitors broadcasted both teams lined up on the starting line. The Monitors shifted back and forth between the raceway and opened bleachers. The Engines were all amazed. They had thought everyone would stop rooting from them after yesterday's challenges. But it seemed a few new faces were eager to show their own pride.

"Wow!" Percy said, watching the monitors. "Look at all those people!

"But I thought they didn't like us anymore?" Thomas said.

"Those don't all look like CHS or CPA's students to me," Toby observed.

"There certainty weren't this many people here last time," Emily said.

"They must be here for you, Thomas."

"You think so, Percy?" He asked.

"Good!" James said. "This'll be my chance for everyone to see me in the spotlight for once."

Gordon chimed in. "And for everyone to see me, most importantly, stealing both the show and lead."

People clapped and cheered, even more so when camera's focused on Thomas and his beaming smile. He absolutely loved the sight and sound of everyone encouraging and calling their team's name, even if he hadn't caught on yet why they were routing for him. The Shadowbolts were irritated by the Engines soaking it up. They knew it was only a matter of time until the crowd saw them in action and quickly turn on the Wondercolts.

The Coach walked out to the front lane and stood between Thomas and Diesel's karts. Thomas was parked in the middle with Percy, James, Gordon, Toby and Emily to his right, while Diesel, Sour Sweet, Lemon Zest, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare and Indigo Zap were lined up to his left. Each Shadowbolt gripped their brake levers and readied themselves. The Coach explained the rules to both sides and instructed some last-minute safety tips to avoid unwanted injuries. The Engines were nervous and shaking with anticipation. Regardless, everyone was determined, especially the Shadowbolts.

At last, the Coach held a racing flag to the air, about to flag it down to begin the race.

Thomas looked to his left at Diesel and the Shadowbolts all staring back at him and his team with confident intent.

"See you at the bottom, Wondercolts!" Diesel chortled and waved.

He then panned over to all his friends shooting him nods of acknowledgement. Thomas did the same, before gripping the rim of his steering wheel, and peered down the slope with as much determination boiling inside. Soft, blowing breaths escaped their mouths, sweat already dripped down their foreheads, and hearts raced faster than the speed they'll need to beat in order to reach the bottom finish line, and earn enough points to out score one another.


Then, the coach waved his flag. A bell dings, and both teams released their brakes. One by one, each driver descended down the first track of Canter Lane Slope's dodgy hill.

"And they're off!" Cadance announced.

But to Diesel's surprise, his kart barely made it past the starting line before it's panels, fenders, wheels, and steering wheel fell off one after another. The kart skidded to a stop once every piece was gone. It then toppled over to its side with a bewildered Diesel still stiff in his seat and gripping the detached wheel.

The crowd roared with both excitement and confusion. Diesel's kart had just fallen apart right before their onlooking eyes. Shining Armor and Principal Cadance were just as surprised, but continued commentating the race.

"Ouch!" Shining Armor winced. "Seems like the Shadowbolts are off to a rough start this time."

"The Wondercolts have taken an early lead," Cadance said. "But the Shadowbolts are still hot on their trail."

Each team rode side by side as they quickly gained a proper, downhill momentum. The Engines drove their vehicles just fine, but were barely able to navigate on top of figuring out how to work a steering wheel and stay on course. Their karts rattled and jittered against the bumpy road. Thomas and the others tried keeping their hands glued to the wheel despite distracting vibrations quickly numbing their fingers. But the Wondercolts kept at it.

Drivers approached a slew of hairpin curves, urging them to turn down left, then right, then up a small incline which immediately deseeded to a deeper lane that throttled everyone into full speed. Wondercolts and Shadowbolts continued racing down through the conduit without any interruption. The Engines were deeply focused so as to not crash their vehicle and took their anxiety off the constant worry of such.

Sunny Flare and Toby rode side by side, both often glancing over to one another. The two were approaching a sharp turn. Toby nervously shifted his lever and prepared to steer his kart. When Sunny Flare reached for her brake lever, however, it completely snapped off the second she pulled it back. Her rear-view mirrors, side panels, and roll age completely fly off as well. Sunny Flare was too stunned to react on time as her kart raced head first into the hay bale barriers lined up along the curved track. An explosion of straw drizzled everywhere on impact. Her head emerged from the other side of the hay bale, and a dizzy Sunny Flare coughed out stalk while Toby and everyone else continued racing past her.

Indigo Zap caught a quick glance at her washed out teammate. Furious, she turned her anger on one of the Wondercolts. She steered and headed left towards James riding close and showing off to the bleachers. James looked through his rear-view mirror, however, and noticed Indigo Zap closing in on him. Thinking quickly, James gripped the kart's lever and applied his brakes. His kart screeched to a provisional stop just on time for Indigo Zap to zoom in front of him. As she did, both her right wheels and hubcaps flew off, leaving its spindles to skid with flying parks scratching against the pavement. A frightened Indigo couldn't control her kart any longer before she rammed straight into the hay bales. James chuckled a little while passing her. A fuming Indigo accidentally removing her loosened roll cage as she got out from her kart, which now hung around her shoulders.

Meanwhile, Sugarcoat was casually racing to reach first place, which was being occupied by Emily and Thomas. However, the wing mirror rattled against the bumpy pavement until it completely detached, along with her side panels and front panel where the Shadowbolt logo was. Sugarcoat looked over her shoulder in worry at everything flying back, catching a glimpse of her kart's back bumper flying off as well. The back bumper clanked and bounced across the roadway until getting caught on Lemon Zest's front section. This startled her into accidentally detaching her steering wheel, which then triggered other parts to fall off from her staggering. Side panels, fenders, wheels, and other parts beginning flying off as Lemon Zest found herself spiralling out of control. Her kart twirled off the roadway and into the hay bales, leaving Lemon Zest dazed and surprised while everyone else zipped by in their still intact vehicles.

Everyone in the bleachers but Edward and Juniper kept roaring with an enthusiastic cheering. Cadance and Shining Armor couldn't keep up with the sudden wipeouts. They were highly suspicious but kept their commentary consistent.

"The Shadowbolts are all falling behind one after another," Shining Armor said, hiding his anxiousness.

"How is it they're disassembling the further they get is still a question, Shining Armor," Principal Cadance added.

"You're telling me. CPA's students excel in our woodworking program, but these karts must've been really poorly assembled."

The Wondercolts, and what's left of the Shadowbolts, came across a small, switchback section of Canter Slope Lane. They drifted through the first sharp corner before rolling down and approaching another sharp turn, and so on and so forth. Percy's voice shook in sync with the rattling and rumbling kart as he coasted along the roadway. Him and the others were going much faster now. There was a lot of steering involved, so everyone remained vigilant and turned at each passing curve until they exit the switchback.

Gordon peered a head and saw Sugarcoat closing in on Thomas. It looked like they were about to collide. So, he leaned forward to gain more speed. Thomas was completely unaware of his surrounding or Sugarcoat approaching him. He was only preoccupied with passing Sour Sweet, who had gained the lead back at the switchback. Before the two could ram into each other, Gordon zipped in and got between Thomas and Sugarcoat, bumping into and grinding against her kart with both their wheel's hubcaps screeching against each other. Her kart was also unstable compared to Gordon's, so he managed to scuff her wheels off and send its spindles grinding against the pavement. Sugarcoat frantically tried steering her kart straight, but with many of its parts already gone, the rest of her kart finally broke down too. She found herself skidding to a stop with both wheels now gone. Sugarcoat sat stunned while watching James, Percy, Emily then Toby zoom through. Thomas and Gordon quickly shared an appreciative head nod before racing onward again.

Both teams were now close to reaching the finish line. They had to cross underneath a metal, overhead scaffolding marked with black and white tape lined up along and leading to a circular road field. People stood behind barriers to get a clear view of the racers passing the finish line.

"The Shadowbolts are going to need a miracle in order to gain the upper hand at this point," Cadance said.

"You said it, Principal Cadance," Shining Armor agreed. "It's not looking good for CPA or its competitors. The Wondercolts may finally regain their lead after all."

"You got this, guys!" Juniper cried from the bleachers.

Her and Edward were now caught up in the tension as well. Every racer sped down a steep incline slope from here on out.

The other engines hanged back while Thomas and Sour Sweet rode neck in neck, both scowling with unwavering intent to get ahead of one another. Sour Sweet soon inched her kart head and gained first. Thomas did the same, regaining his lead again. Both teens caught on to what they were doing and battled it out to stay in first, with Sour Sweet lurking forward, then Thomas, then Sour Sweet, then Thomas again, both arching their heads forward to gain more speed. The two were closing in on the Finish line. Percy, Juniper, Edward, audience members, Cadance and Shining Armor watched in slow suspense. Who was going to come in first?

A green light flashed in sync with a ringing bell. Thomas crossed the finish line and under the scaffolding.

Upon the bell going off, everyone from Canterlot High and spectating visitors, all up roared into a celebratory applause. Soon Gordon passed the finish line too, then James, then Emily, then Percy, and then Toby. Lastly, Sour Sweet slid cross the finish line with nothing but herself, her seat, and her steering wheel. There was nothing left of her kart, which had spontaneously crumbled before her during Sour Sweet's scuffle with Thomas. A completely mystified Sour Sweet just sat in her seat even as it came to a final stop.

Cadance and Shining Armor shared skeptical looks before making their announcements. They knew something was off about this event.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, The Wondercolts are today's winners!" Cadance broadcasted.

Juniper and Edward were cheering along with the audience members, who began chanting their team's name over and over in a collective mantra.

The Engines all climbed out of their karts and removed their helmets. Thomas looked out to the crowds of people all around them and the monitors broadcasting everyone from the bleachers chanting him and his team. The other engines were amazed by this as well. People were finally praising them again. They were almost caught up in all the celebratory admiration that they forgot to be excited for their win over the Shadowbolts.

Gordon, James and the others, thinking they were approaching them to sing more praises, proudly invited a mob of people to swarm towards them. But instead of going up to any of the Engines, they went over to Thomas, who was surprised to see so many people lining up to see him as they whipped out their phones and snapped pictures. Thomas, loving the attention, simply chuckled and posed for cameras and soaked in everyone's compliments.

Off to the sides, the Engines all looked over to the mob surrounding Thomas and angrily crossed their arms, aside for Percy. How could Thomas receive more fame from their victory when they were competing too? They all thought. Only a select few of people came over and quickly snapped their photos before going off to meet Thomas.

Back over at the bleachers, Edward noticed how many of them where sporting Thomas' number one insignia from the televised monitors. They were also lots of children holding Thomas merchandise and balloons.

"Hmm. Quite an awful lot of people sporting Thomas' number here today. Wonder why that is?"

"Well, Thomas is starring in a movie now," Juniper answered.

"But how did they know he'd be here?"

"I may have been posting pictures on Snapgab," Juniper admitted, sheepishly. "And telling everyone where he'll be, and doing, and a bunch of other stuff that give away his whereabouts."

Edward politely smirked.


The Engines and their grimace were quickly diverted by Diesel and the Shadowbolts, who all showed up at once after recovering from their wipeouts.

None of them were hurt, but the Engines could see they were definitely staggered and banged up. Each member carried a piece of broken parts with them. Lemon Zest a steering wheel, Sugarcoat a regular wheel, Sunny Flare a brake lever, Sour Sweet a panel with CPA's logo, and a roll cage still hung on top of Indigo Zap's shoulders. Diesel struggled to remove the kart's seat still wedged to his bottom until finally plopping it off.

"You, you, YOU!" Diesel was too furious to get a word out.

"Swapped our karts with yours?" James crossed his arms smugly, "Why, yes, yes we did."

The Shadowbolts were all shocked. Thomas' had the idea of switching their broken karts with theirs the moment upon discovering Diesel's scheme to disassemble them. With a few tune ups and paintwork, the Engines were able to decorate the Shadowbolt's kart with their colors while they were left with the broken ones, which looked completely identical to theirs. This provided a prime opportunity for the Engines to replace theirs with ones that the other team would barely notice being different up until the actual race begins.

The Engines were proud of how well Thomas' idea worked out, but the Shadowbolts themselves had no clue about Diesel's scheme. Only Sour Sweet knew, and she proceeded to shoot a furious glare over at him.

"Nice try, Shadowbolts," Gordon said. "Thought you could sabotage a big, strong engine like myself? Ooh how wrong you were."

"Bet you didn't expect us to pull a swap 'n' paint over!" James added.

James and Gordon then both high fived each other while chuckling. Everyone on the Shadowbolts was confused and furious. Indigo Zap removed the roll cage over her head and threw it aside.

"That's why we crashed?!" She exclaimed. "You rigged our karts?!"

The two began butting heads again as they approached each other.

"Hah!" James argued. "More like you tried to rig ours. Good thing we came up with this brilliant idea and exposed you for the cheaters that you are!"

"What are you talking about?! We didn't do anything!"

Then, everyone froze stiff when hearing a prominent voice clear their throat to get their attention. James and Indigo Zap's eyes widened in fear, because standing between the two were Principal Cadance and Shining Armor giving everyone disapproving glares. Both teams looked over and were met with immediate anxiety.

"Uh-oh," Diesel said, quietly.

He tried sneaking off by slowly stepping away. But Diesel's attempt was foiled when Sour Sweet angrily grabbed his jumpsuit's back collar. Diesel still tried kicking his legs forward despite remaining stationary in her firm grasp.

"Does anyone want to explain what we just saw out there?" Cadance demanded.

"I do!" Percy volunteered.

He angrily stepped up to Cadance and Shining Armor waiting for an explanation. Percy was more than willing to throw them under the bus, especially the one he thought was his friend.

"Ma'am, it was all the Shadowbolts fault!"

"Percy?" Lemon Zest said, worried.

"We only switched out their karts because they're the ones who messed up ours in the first place." Percy scowled and pointed to them, "Our friend Juniper Montage heard them planning it right after you left."

The Shadowbolts were all appalled by Percy's accusations, especially Lemon Zest, who began to feel saddened and utterly betrayed from seeing her friend blame them for something they still had no idea about.

"Is this true?!" Shining Armor asked, sternly turning to them.

"It wasn't us!" Sour Sweet exclaimed. "It was Diesel! Okay, yeah, I did consider it but-"

"But instead of taking up this issue with either me or Shining Armor," Cadance began, "Both teams decided to put each other in danger."

Her and Shining Armor then turned to the Wondercolts, now starting to piece everything together and seeing who were at fault. Both sides were pointing fingers, so it wasn't easy to tell who was really to blame. The Engines were shocked. Why was Cadance now suddenly turning on them? Things weren't looking so good for either team.

"But we did want to report the Shadowbolts!" Gordon claimed. "Thomas-"

"My students were nearly hurt because of this stunt you pulled," Cadance continued scolding.

"Cadance should have both your teams disqualified for disrupting our fundraiser," Shining Armor presented.

"Along with conducting shameful tactics!" Cadance scolded to the Shadowbolts. "Honestly. Not even Principal Cinch would teach you girls to stoop this low."

Both Wondercolts and Shadowbolts gasped. They begged and pleaded with Cadance and Shining Armor, but they were close to making a decision. Before the two could say anymore, a faint, but fairly loud collection of voices boomed from across the finish line. It was all the visiting audience members surrounding Thomas and chanting his name. Cadance and Shining Armor looked up to one of the TV Monitors and saw Thomas happily watching all his fans cheering for him.

"Thomas! Thomas! Thomas! Thomas!"

Both Shining Armor and Principal Cadance shared perplexed looks. They didn't know why he was suddenly so popular. Shining Armor then examined at his smart pad. Readings displayed on screen were sky rocketing. The Fundraiser was now making more money than either initially calculated. And It was upon seeing this that both realized their fundraiser was generating funds because of Thomas.

"Are we still in trouble?" Emily asked, shyly.

Despite their confusion, Principal Cadance and Shining Armor decided not to take any action for now. They couldn't afford to ruin the fundraiser by letting go their only participating teams.

"We can't disqualify them, Shining Armor," Cadance confided. "Not without ruining the Crystal Race."

"She's right," Shining Armor said to everyone. "But don't think you got off lucky just yet. The last challenge is being held tomorrow. Cadance and I will happily award the winners, but a proper punishment for both teams will be decided afterwards."

Cadance exhaled a frustrated breath and shook her head.

"I am very disappointed in you all," She said.

And on that, her and Shining Armor left both groups to themselves. Now they all felt horrible about their actions, especially since the catalyst of their predicament were singlehandedly caused by one member from their teams.


Meanwhile, Thomas was still soaking up all the attention and fame from everyone that cheered him on during the race. He quickly noticed that a lot of these people were mostly Thomas fans, as they and their children possessed merchandise with his name and face on them, and wore clothing with his signature number sewn on.

Things soon started to settle down when CPA staff and faculty members arrived to clear the area. Thomas watched everyone leave, a little disappointed but glad that many people seemed to have been happy just to meet him in person. But as everyone cleared out, only one boy remained and slowly stepped gingerly closer to Thomas.

As Thomas went to find his friends, he stopped in front of said boy, who stood with arms behind his back and head hung low with both eyes staring back at Thomas.

The Boy had orange hair, apple green skin, and light blue eyes. He wore a dark and sky-blue polo shirt, blue pants, brown shoes, and a red baseball cap with a yellow number one on front. Another feature that stood out to Thomas was a Thomas shaped whistle held clutch within both his hands.

Thomas immediately recognized who he was, and smiled after staring back at one another.

"Oh! I remember you. You're that boy I helped back at the theme park, when you were separated from your parents."

The Boy was especially happy that Thomas remembered him. Thomas knelt down to meet him at eye level.

"Did you and your family come out to watch the race?"

He nodded, shyly with arms hidden behind his back. Thomas chuckled a little under his breath.

"I'm so glad you did!" He then began showing off in a prideful manner. "So, what did you think of our go kart derby? Was my team amazing or wha-"

Out of nowhere, the Boy lunged at a surprised Thomas and wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. He kept hold of his grasp, almost like he'd been waiting days to give this out specifically to him. Thomas smiled warmly. He figured this was the Boy's thanks for helping him out before. Thomas then gently wrapped his arms around the Boy and hugged him in return, both feeling relaxed and happy.

Thomas was grateful that he came all this way just to thank him. But the Boy had other reasons than just an appreciative gesture. When Thomas returned him to his parents a few days ago, the Boy realized a lingering query that made him want to see Thomas again to officially confirm something. And what he uncovered from this little exchange all but validated the Boy's innocent but outlandish theory; outlandish in a sense that could only be possible if he knew about the two worlds connected to the Wondercolt Statue.

"There you are!" The Father called, as he made his way over. "What did we say about wondering off?"

The two finished their hug with the boy now looking regretful.

"Sorry, daddy."

But the father soon forgot to be mad and worried when he noticed Thomas still kneeling next to his son.

"Hey, aren't you that young man who helped my son at the park?"

Thomas got up. "Yes, Sir. That's me! Steam Wheeler; my uh, 'real' name."

The Father smiled. He took Thomas' hand and proceeded to shake it.

"Well, it is an honor to meet you again, Steam. No wonder my son seemed so fascinated and eager to come here. You're his favorite movie star right now."

"Huh? Oh, right. But, how does everyone else know I'm in a movie?"

"Why, they just released a teaser trailer for it today!" He explained, while whipping out his phone and pointing at it. "It's trending all over social media as we speak."

Thomas barely understood a word he said, but was happy regardless. Could that be the reason why so many people were interested in him now all of a sudden? Thomas became fascinated by his sudden popularity. He was curious to know how this trailer got people eager to see his movie.

"I personally think you're perfect for the role. You even sound exactly like the character."

"Are you a fan of Thomas too?" Thomas beamed, a little surprised.

"Ever since I was his age," The Father said, patting the Son's head. "But now, I'm a little too old for that kind of stuff. And, well, I've since out grown it. But kids will like what they like. Better to encourage their interests than stifle it, right?"

"Absolutely!" Thomas agreed. "I'll bet he probably knows a lot about Thomas because of you."

The Father chuckled, lightly. "Yeah. Well, we better head back. His mother's probably worrying about us. Good luck with the new movie, Mr. Wheeler! Our whole family's looking forward to seeing it."

He picked his son up and left in the opposite direction. The Boy stared back at Thomas as they walked on. His chin laid on his father's shoulder, and with the Thomas whistle in is right hand, the Boy waved back at Thomas until they descended within the crowd.

"Bye, Thomas!"

Thomas chuckled and waved back.

"Hope we see each other again soon."

Everyone has been doing nothing but praising and admiring Thomas. His movie hasn't even been released yet and yet people all around him were gushing over Thomas and his big movie role. 'Is this what being a star is like?' Thomas thought. If so, Thomas was liking his movie star status more and more with each person that wanted to take pictures and have him sign autographs.


Both Wondercolts and Shadowbolts were now arguing over who's fault it was for destroying their vehicles. The Shadowbolts tried defending themselves despite having no knowledge of what went on behind the scenes, and the Engines were not having any of their explanations. Diesel only quietly stand off to the side and listened to their bickering.

"So much for not wanting to hurt us, huh Sunny Flare?" Toby judged with crossed arms.

"For the last time," Sunny Flare stressed, "It wasn't us!"

"I told Diesel not to do anything," Sour Sweet said. "But he must've gone behind our backs."

"We don't doubt Diesel had a hand in it," Gordon said. "That was already obvious. Having you all take part in such silly schemes is what's most despicable."

"Like we'd ever go along with anything that nitwit ordered us to do in the first place," Sugarcoat argued.

Diesel was a little upset by this, but continued growling with frustration.

"Oh, you'd like us to believe that, wouldn't you?" James said.

"We wouldn't put it past you not to either way," Indigo Zap insulted.

"And what's that suppose to mean!" Emily chimed.

Both sides once again embroiled themselves into an endless squabble. Juniper and Edward showed up to find everyone budding head. Edward cleared his throat, which gained everyone's attention and looked over to him and his disapproval stare. The Engines begrudgingly withheld any further arguments they had built up and collectively decided to just leave, eventually joining Edward and Juniper.

Before they left, however, Juniper Montage faced the Shadowbolts, all giving her mean glares. They were waiting for her to explain that she only heard Diesel and Sour Sweet discuss his schemes. The Engines all looked to her. Juniper didn't know what to do or say. So, she said nothing, and joined her friends as they all politely took off without another word.

"Yeah, well, fine by me!" Sour Sweet yelled, bitterly. "Not like believing us would've made a difference. You're still going down tomorrow!"

The group then turned their attention to Diesel, who had been looking for an open window to flee and avoid anymore confrontation brought upon himself. Diesel didn't know what to expect. But seeing all his teammates agitated frowns gave him a pretty good idea.

"Thanks a lot, Diesel," Sour Sweet grumbled.

"W-what for?"

"For using up my one reason."

Diesel was stunned. "Does… does that mean-"

"You're out of our team!" Indigo Zap said.

"At least until we find a replacement," Sugarcoat stated.

"No! P-please!" Diesel stammered. "Give me another chance! I-I-I promise I'll do better! Please!"

But none of them listened. Instead, the Shadowbolts hung their chins to the sky and walked off in a sophisticated manner while Diesel tried begging and pleading. But it was no use. The Shadowbolts had enough of him. Now a frantic Diesel was left alone, and left to wonder how Adagio or Gisborne was going to react when they find out he couldn't bring the steamies back to Sodor, because of his own impatience and obsession with control getting the better of him and his lonesome in the end.


Unknown to any of the Shadowbolts, however, Lemon Zest had snuck off to catch up with the Engines. She wanted to check up on Percy after he blamed them for ruining their karts, and make sure he wasn't really mad at him.

"Percy, wait!" She called.

But he ignored her and continued walking on with Lemon Zest following from behind. Percy felt too betrayed to listen to her.

"Percy, please talk to me."

"I don't want to hear what you or any of your friends have to say, Lemon."

"But we're friends too… aren't we?"

Percy stopped in his place and turned around to face Lemon Zest.

"That was before I learned you were only pretending to be my friend. All so that you and Diesel could put my friends in danger to win some silly race."

"… No." Lemon Zest was completely taken aback. "Why would pretending to be friends put you in danger?!"

"Don't bother, Lemon Zest," James came to his defence. "Percy knows better now than to trust a Shadowbolt."

Lemon Zest was fuming. Now she had to convince Percy that her team had nothing to do with Diesel. But she could see Percy wasn't going to listen to none of it.

"I never would've done that, Percy." She hugged her arm, "Not anymore. Don't you believe me?"

Percy turned his back away from her and simply stared at the ground through lidded eyes in complete downcast.

"I'm sorry, Lemon Zest. But, I don't."

Hearing this absolutely crushed her. Percy then rejoined his friends. Emily and Edward wrapped a supportive arm around him to comfort Percy and his growing sadness. He felt awful. But not as awful as Lemon Zest and her quivering fury.

"Fine! Be that way!"

Lemon Zest turned her back away and hugged herself tight. Tears began swelling in her eyes, much to her annoyance. Lemon Zest whipped them away before storming off with more beginning to stream down.


To Be Continued.