Thomas and Friends: Race to the Edge

by The Blue EM2

So, here's a Health to the Company

One nice evening at the Fisherman's Arms, several familiar faces were seated in various different chairs around tables. The usual gang- Sunny, Hitch, Pipp, Zipp, and Misty- were sat around one table, and several of the adults were seated to themselves, conversing about a variety of different things.

You will probably have noticed one notable exception to this list. "Have any of you seen Izzy anywhere?" Hitch asked. "She's not usually this late."

"Well, she did mention something about helping with a festival or something," Pipp replied. "She's been suspiciously quiet on Twitter though, so I can only assume she's preoccupied."

"Though with what?" Zipp added. "She did seem to be quite bouncy when we finished work earlier today."

"That's Izzy normally," Misty commented, then drew back. "Sorry. I shouldn't have spoken."

"No, it's OK," Sunny replied. "You're more than welcome to contribute. But let's focus on where she could be."

"She's probably not home, as her parents are here," Zipp contributed. She indicated to Isaac and Aurora seated nearby, currently in conversation with Argyle and Lady Haven.

Somebody then walked in through the door. "Sorry about that," Goldie said, as she rejoined the crew at the table. "Client decided to phone." She popped her phone away. "Hopefully that's the last of the excitement for this week."

"Same here," Argyle added. "It's been an incredibly busy month, what with all these new engines, extra business, and even Misty joining the crew. How's she coming along, Haven?"

"She seems to be fine, although rather quiet. I don't blame the poor girl. She did have an awful shock, and this Opaline woman sounds awful."

"We must keep an eye out for her," Isaac concurred. "Speaking of keeping an eye out, where on earth is Izzy? Surely it can't take her this long to get changed."

Suddenly, the door burst open, and there was Izzy. She had made some 'adjustments' to her usual dress, having added a headband with hearts on bouncy springs. She giggled as she walked in.

"Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!" she called, and began to sprint between tables, handing out card. "Just show a little love!"

And then the worst possible thing happened. She started to sing.

"It's all about your fellow people/
We all need a little love/
Don't have a heart of stone-y!"

She began leaping between tables with perfect precision and touching down near people, continue to hand out her cards.

"If you're feelin' what I'm feelin'/
Then get up and show me!
'Cause today's not the day/
For bein' lonely!"

Finally stopping with the jumping, she stopped in the middle of the bar.

"Oh, oh, I'm spreadin' the love/
Like, oh, oh, it's all I've dreamt of/
Oh, no, don't hesitate/
You better follow your heart, it ain't gonna wait!"

She finally skidded to a stop in front of her friends, grinning.

"Love, I'm gonna show it!
Love, I'm gonna show it!
Ain't no doubt about it/
Love's in the air, let's shout it!"

There was a monentary pause, then the sound of large numbers of people walking over to bins and dumping the cards in them.

Isaac rolled his eyes. "Not one of these incidents again. Izzy, people will think you're crazy. And look at the mess you've made!"

"Oh, I'll get that cleaned up," Izzy replied.

"Besides, Valentine's Day was several weeks ago," Sunny pointed out.

"It's a second Valentine's Day," Izzy explained. "The world could do with more than one day to spread love, after all!" She slid onto a chair that seemed to appear from nowhere. "So, how are things?"

"There already is a second Valentine's Day, Izzy," Zipp said. "It's on the 24th. You know, Christian Love Day?"

Izzy's jaw dropped. "YOU'RE A CHRISTORIAN?"

"Yep," Zipp casually replied. "Investigating internet oddities is my specialty. Seeing his reactions to the new generation of My Little Dragon was quite entertaining."

"Still," a louder voice called, "this is a perfect opportunity to have a toast." The voice was soon revealed to belong to Aurora Dawn, Izzy's mother. "Here's a health to the company!"

"A health to the company!" came the reply, and a variety of liquid beverages were consumed by the crew.

The merriment was suddenly interrupted by a series of loud roaring noises outside. "What on Earth was that?" Lady Haven asked, glancing over from the table.

Argyle heaved himself out of his chair. "I'll go look." He walked to the door, and opened it. "Well, that's something you don't see every day around here."

He stepped back as three men stepped into the room. All of them had short hair in varying colours and seemed to be wearing racing gear.

"Well, we seem to have arrived in the right place, Mark!" said one of them.

"Should be an easy challenge based on the locos they had in the shed."

"Gentlemen, you appear to be lost," Aurora said. "Brands Hatch is several hundred miles north."

"No, we're in the right place," 'Mark' said. "I'm Mark, and this is Clive and Harris. We're from the world of motorsport, and fancy a real challenge. I hear you have an express passenger train, so we hereby challenge you to a race from Penzance to Paddington."

Hitch looked concerned. "That may be a bit much on Rebecca," he said amongst his friends. "Considering the number of times she's gone wrong on shorter runs, 360 miles may be pushing it."

"We'll take it!" Pipp said suddenly.

"Very well," Clive smiled. "We'll see you on Monday for the race. Though I doubt you'll be able to keep up."

Once they'd left, Sunny looked over. "Pipp, what were you thinking?" she asked. "Rebecca isn't even your engine!"

"This will look great on social media!" Pipp replied. "Besides, cars racing trains is a staple of TV! Wasn't there a time in the 1930s when a plane raced a train from London to Crewe?"

"And the plane lost," Zipp added. "This may just be doable!"

Goldie overheard the conversation, and walked over. "If you're going to go for this, we'll all need to pull together," she said. "There goes my hopes for a quiet weekend..."

Author's Note:

Hello, one and all, and welcome to the first of three Thomas and Friends specials! These are longer form adventures similar in style to the MLM specials. To kick off the gauntlet, I decided to write a story based on what is, in my opinion, one of the best Top Gear specials; the Race to the North (the one where the trio raced Tornado to Scotland).

'Christorian' refers to somebody who academically analyses the curious internet phenomenon known as Chris Chan (I spent much of the last year analysing his magnum opus Sonichu).

Next time; does somebody have a spanner?

Comments

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

And then the worst possible thing happened. She started to sing.

Should someone get some ear plugs or should we just let her go at it?

She began leaping between tables with perfect precision and touching down near people, continue to hand out her cards.

continuing*

There was a monentary pause, then the sound of large numbers of people walking over to bins and dumping the cards in them.

Not surprised there.

"We'll take it!" Pipp said suddenly.

Thx a lot Pipp.

"This will look great on social media!" Pipp replied. "Besides, cars racing trains is a staple of TV! There was that show where those fat blokes raced a train to Edinburgh."

Of course she was thinking that.

[The Blue EM2]

11517370
1. Indeed.

2. Whoops.

3. Well, Pony Izzy experienced the same thing.

4. Indeed.

5. I've actually removed the reference since you wrote the comment and replaced it with another. On reflection, having one of the characters reference the very episode the story is based on was a little too on-the-nose.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

While I know that Valentines Day was already by, I don't see why Izzy singing is a bad thing, I like her singing. But I can understand most people being off put here and there.

"There already is a second Valentine's Day, Izzy," Zipp said. "It's on the 24th. You know, Christian Love Day?"

Izzy's jaw dropped. "YOU'RE A CHRISTORIAN?"

Had no idea those even existed.

"Yep," Zipp casually replied. "Investigating internet oddities is my specialty. Seeing his reactions to the new generation of My Little Dragon was quite entertaining."

Why am I not surprised? Of course, I can kinda relate to that with my times of researching interesting things with Star Wars.

"This will look great on social media!" Pipp replied. "Besides, cars racing trains is a staple of TV! Wasn't there a time in the 1930s when a plane raced a train from London to Crewe?"

Pipp, you're obsession with making good social media posts is gonna get you in trouble one day.
As for the example, is she referring to the race Flying Scotsman had with that plane and speedboat?

But more importantly, now I understand why this story is called: "Race to the Edge". It literally is about a race.

[The Blue EM2]

11517558
1. It is pretty antisocial, what she did. What if people had been eating and she'd trodden on their plates?

2. It's something of an in-joke amongst people who look at Chris Chan (the Sonichu guy) academically. Christian Love Day is the name he gives his own birthday.

3. And me as well. In fact, the early years of the Brony fandom were considered an internet oddity, given it started life on a branch of the 4chan website.

4. Actually, no, although I can see the comparison. It's actually a reference to a publicity stunt the LMS organised to promote the launch of the Coronation Scot passenger service. For this service, the LMS had built the Duchess class of steam locomotive, which at the time were amongst the most powerful steam engines in Britain. To showcase this power, 6220 Coronation raced a biplane to Crewe. The biplane lost.

This video is an LMS promotional film, and bits of the run mentioned above can be seen within it.

Indeed. And quite a race at that.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

11517777
In that case, I can see why people would be bothered. But then again, Pinkie's done more crazier things.

I don't know how to comment on that.

Understandable.

Oh. I didn't even know about that one.

Aye.

But still, Pipp really needs to think before saying.

[The Blue EM2]

11517800
In truth, I wasn't aware of the Scotsman/speedboat race before you mentioned it.

We've already seen examples of how Pipp's desire to chase views has gotten her in trouble.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

11517981
Oh.

Yes, but I mean like serious trouble.

[The Blue EM2]

11518061
Like, dangerous trouble? Oh yess.