• Published 19th Apr 2020
  • 3,319 Views, 295 Comments

Thomas, Twilight, and the Magic Railway - The Blue EM2



Stoke up the Magic that Lies Beneath the Mountain, and the Lady will Smile...

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Autumn Arrives

Thomas and Twilight rolled towards Crosby signal box, fully expecting a red signal to stop them and a signalman to ask them where their coaches were. As they approached the box, suddenly a bright golden light appeared in the sky, and out of it fell Autumn Blaze! She fell through the air and landed on the signal box balcony.

"Ouch!" she said. "That gets rougher every time I do it! I really must figure out why it drops me off in random places each time."

Thomas whistled. "Excuse me, are you the woman who will be covering for Sir Toppham Hatt whilst he goes on holiday?"

"Hello Thomas!" Autumn replied. "I'm Autumn Blaze, and you must be Twilight Sparkle!"

"You know me?" Twilight asked, confused.

"Everybody knows the little blue tank engine and his bookworm of a driver!" Autumn replied, bouncing down the step of the signal box and climbing into Thomas' cab. "I can't wait to meet you all and get started! Do you have any idea how rare sentient engines are on the mainland these days?"

"Sorry, what?" Thomas asked. "I've run into engines from the mainland before, and they've been perfectly talkative."

"Oh. Never mind, forget what I was saying. Shall we get going? I'm looking forward to get to work!"

Thomas started off towards Dryaw station, stopped beyond the reversing points, and waited for them to change so he could cross over to the Up line. All done, and he whistled and reversed backwards up the line towards Knapford.

The signalman sighed. "First engines who think they are pulling trains, then women fall out of the sky onto the balcony. Whatever next?"

Meanwhile, Twilight adressed Autumn. "It's good you're here," she said, "as some really weird stuff has been going on lately."

"Indeed," Thomas sighed. "There's a new diesel on the island, a Western hydraulic. Boy is he nasty, and I bet Sir Toppham Hatt won't like it."


Elsewhere, in a set of sidings, Diesel 10 sat talking with a pair of Class 08 shunters. One of them appeared to be purple, but his paintwork was so filthy it was hard to tell precisely what colour he was. The word 'Splatter' was barely visible on the side. The other one was painted some form of lime green, and was similarly filthy. The word 'Dodge' was on the side of his bodywork, which was also scarcely readable.

Leaning out of their cabs were two girls. The one leaning out of Splatter wore dark blue shoes with a light blue buckle, dark purple socks, a purple tartan skirt, a white long sleeved shirt buttoned up at the neck, a purple jacket, a blue scarf, and had pink skin, hazel eyes, and purple hair done up with a hairband. The other girl, leaning out of Dodge, wore a nearly identical outfit, but had switched the jacket for a purple waistcoat, and had no scarf on. She had yellow skin, and icy blue two tone hair, in which an orange flower sat.

Across from this most odd combination, Diesel 10 was prattling on proudly about a sculpture of him carved into a boulder nearby. "So," he said, "Fatty's going away to the mainland for a holiday, eh? He needs the exercise. Superb work, Splodge!"

"I'm Splatter," said Splatter.

"And I'm Dodge," added Dodge. "My driver's called Coco Pommel!"

"And mine Suri Polomare!" Splatter interjected.

"I don't have time to say four names every single time I want something done!" Diesel 10 snapped. "Be glad I'm not calling you Splococomaregde!"

"Isn't that a form of art?" asked Coco. Her real name was Catherine, but we'll stick to Coco. NOT MISS.

"Yeah, I think Jackson Pollock painted that," Sarah, or should I say Suri, added.

"Anyways, now that Fat Hatt is away," Diesel 10 continued, with a smirk, "the cats will come out to play, and we shall catch our mice!"

Splatter and Dodge just stared blankly at him. "Well," Splatter started, "Thornaby did have a depot cat at one point."

"Let me explain," the big diesel said. "With nobody to keep an eye on the engines of this island, we can cause as much chaos as we see fit. We're the future. Steam ended on the mainland nearly fifty years ago, and as such we can easily remove them and make their lives an absolute misery."

"There's one slight problem boss," Coco said nervously.

"It's more than slight!" Suri added. "But this island is the home of Thomas the Tank Engine, and he has brought Autumn Blaze with him!"

"How did they get there?" Diesel 10 asked. "This makes things so much more complicated."

"It only makes things more complicated if you let them be made more complicated," added another voice, and the man in the trench coat appeared from a nearby hill. As he strode down, he cast off his coat and hat, fully revealing his appearance.

He had white skin and piercing blue eyes, as well as white hair that was slowly balding. He wore a suit of jet black armour with two parallel lines running up the chestplate, combined with grey boots. "Never fear, anybody," he said. "Diesel 10 and I can take care of this all."

"Who are you?" asked Dodge.

"Why," the man said, "I'm the Storm King. That's all you need to know. Besides, I have a little trick to show off that'll even the odds in our favour." He pushed a button on his remote, and a panel slid back on Diesel 10's roof. Out of it slid a grabber with a heavy claw fitted, which appeared to be the colour of rust. As it bent down into the stored position, the hydraulics failed and it smacked down on top of Diesel 10's cab roof.

"OW!"

Splatter and Dodge conversed with one another. "I doubt he intended for that to happen."

Suri shook her head. "You two, that is the understatement of the year."

Little did they realise, Thomas, Twilight and Autumn had witnessed the entire scene. "I don't think they'll be a problem," Autumn said bravely. "I can keep them under control. There's a special object called gold dust, which I can use to travel from one point to another in the blink of an eye. He won't know what hit him."

Thomas noted the existence of the boulder. "Wow, Diesel 10 is seriously vain. He makes James look modest!"

"You think?" Twilight asked, rhetorically.


A few minutes later, Autumn Blaze had set herself up in Sir Toppham Hatt's office, and was checking all was in order whilst reading from a letter that took up most of the desk. "To Autumn Blaze, I hope you have had a safe and comfortable journey to Sodor." She laughed. "Yeah, right." After that interlude, she then continued reading. "If you need anything whilst at work, or are unsure of anything, please do not hesitate to contact a member of station staff, who will be perfectly happy to help you. From, Sir Toppham Hatt."

Seconds later, the phone went, and Autumn picked it up. "Good afternoon sir! Yes sir, I'll make sure to keep the railway running and on time. Of course, I'll keep an eye on Diesel 10. Speak to James? Yes sir! Of course, the three r's; reading, writing, rithmetic!"

She paused as a confused voice spoke on the other end. "Sorry sir. Responsible, reliable, and really useful!" She then put the phone down, and looked about. "It's a long walk from here to Tidmouth sheds. Of course, I have gold dust on my side!" She took out her whistle, and blew it.

Nothing happened.

"Huh?" she asked, looking into her whistle in confusion. "I should have sparkled out by now! Is my whistle broken or something?" She blew on it again, and her face looked noticably relieved as she sparkled out and vanished.


James was still stuck in the shed, and Thomas backed into the berth next to him. James looked annoyed, and snapped at him. "Wobbly wheels."

"You're just jealous," Thomas replied. "Only I am useful enough to collect Autumn Blaze."

"Puffy pistons," James retorted. "Only an engine as splendid as me could possibly have collected Autumn Blaze. It's just the way of the world."

"James!" Rarity snapped. "A gentlemen never boasts! He only ever shows modesty!"

"James is an engine, Rares," Rainbow Dash called over, as Gordon reversed into the shed.

"Indeed," Gordon smiled, his pomposity visible for miles around. "Collecting the replacement controller is a very important job that can only be done by very important engines. James and I are important. You are not. You are small."

Thomas was annoyed, and once again did not look where he was going and bashed into a truck that had been left on the shed road for some reason. And it was into this truck that Autumn Blaze sparkled, and fell back.

"Can we please all stop arguing?" she asked, as she climbed out of the truck and walked out to the turntable. "Sir Toppham Hatt has asked me to keep this railroad-"

"Railway," Twilight interrupted. "We are in Britain, not the United States, irrespective of what the animators think."

"This railway," Autumn continued, "really useful. Bumping trucks is not useful, Thomas."

"The trucks were being silly," Thomas replied.

"Shush."

"You can't say that!" Gordon exclaimed. "Only Sir Toppham Hatt is permitted to say that."

Autumn shook her head. "Get back to work," she snapped. "Oh, James? You can come out now."

Just then, Thomas headed out of the yard, complaining to himself. "Little engines can do big things," he grumbled, "especially if they have smart blue paint like me!"

"Be careful what you wish for, Thomas," Twilight said. Sure enough, Harold flew overhead and covered Thomas in dust.

"Sorry, old chap!"

"MY PAINT!" Thomas cried.

Nearby, Splatter and Dodge coughed as they were covered in dust too. "What just happened?" they asked, in unison.

Author's Note:

Fun fact; Diesel 10's claw would put him out of the British loading gauge.