The Ben Cownie Series

by SagwaandThomas

The Precious Gift

One morning, Percy was working happily when he saw something buried in tarpaulin

"What is this?" he wondered. His crew cleared the tarpaulin. It was a jewel-colored coach. "Wow! I loved it!" He thought it was marvelous.

At Ffarquhar Quarry, Mavis was very lonely. "Where is it? I wonder where could it be."

Ben felt sorry for the young diesel. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do?"

"No, Ben, It has to be around here somewhere."

Meanwhile Percy was pleased with the lost coach. It may be covered in cobwebs, but it was still in good order. He met Thomas.

"What's that?" he asked.

"It's mine, it's my treasure!" said Percy.

"Okay, okay." Thomas said. "What is it?"

He saw the jewel colored coach, and it was a cool sight he had seen.

"That's so handsome." said Thomas. "I've never seen anything like it. What are you going to do with it."

"Take it to the shunting yards."

At the sheds, Mavis was still sad about something. Ben walked up to her.

"What's wrong?" asked Ben, patting on the buffer.

"I was thinking about my owner, and this made me a little sad." said Mavis. And her story began.

"Back on my old railway, I waited for my old owner to come by after my shunting duties. And he would always bring the special gifts. But as of today, I lost one of the most precious gifts, the jewel colored coach."

"Not to worry. I'll send the Mane 6 on a search til it was found."

Thomas had heard everything and decided to tell Percy about it.

At Elsbridge Station, Percy arrived and saw Gordon and Henry.

"What have you got there?" asked Henry.

They saw the jewel colored coach. "This is so nice." said Gordon.

"I found it on the siding. It was covered in tarpaulin but my crew got it off." said Percy.

"Mind if we take a closer look?" asked Henry.

Percy wasn't sure.

"Hey, I don't want it, it's all yours. Finders keepers."

"Finders keepers?" asked Percy.

"It's simple." said Gordon. "You found it, you keep it!"

"So, don't you mind if we take a bit of a look?" asked Henry.

"I guess so." muttered Percy.

Just then, Rebecca came in.

"Hey, guys! Sir Topham Hatt wants you to take your trains to you destinations!"

And so, Gordon and Henry left. Just then Thomas came by.

"Percy!" called Thomas. "The coach you're having belongs to Mavis! It was a special gift her old owner gave her before she came to our railway. You have to return it right away."

Percy was cross. "No it's mine!"

"But it's not yours." said Thomas. "It's Mavis."

"Finders keepers!" snapped Percy. "I find it, I keep it."

"But if you lose something that belongs to you, and you miss it so much, won't you wanna give it back?" asked Thomas.

Meanwhile the Mane 6 were looking for Mavis' lost coach. ?

"Where could it be?" Rarity asked.

"I dunno." said Rainbow.

Back at the station, Percy realized that Thomas was right. "I guess I'll give it back to Mavis, but I'll sure miss you."

He started off with the coach and puffed on towards the opened line. On the way, he met Gordon.

"Hey, little Percy." said Gordon. "Where are you off to?"

"I'm returning this to Mavis."

"Mavis? Right now? What a shame!"

"What doc you mean?" asked Percy.

"Well, I was asking if I can borrow it. Rebecca was having a party."

"A party? With passengers?"

"Yeah!" said Gordon. "Lots of passengers!"

"Okay, you can play with it, just for a bit. I have to take it back to Mavis, and you have to do your express run."

Then, trouble began. Gordon started shunting the jewel-colored coach.

"BE CAREFUL!" cried Percy.

"Here comes a push!" called Gordon as he biffed the coach. Percy was cross. "I think you shall give it to Rebecca now!"

"What's the rush?!" Gordon teased. "Rebecca's party was cancelled!" He laughed as he biffed the coach even more.

This made Percy scared. "GIVE IT BACK!" he wailed. Gordon didn't listen as he took off with the coach. "COME BACK HERE GORDON! IT'S MAVIS! AND YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING YOUR WORK!" But Gordon had already disappeared. Percy started to cry. Thomas saw that Percy was upset.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Gordon played a trick on me and took Mavis' coach with him! What shall we do?!"

Then Thomas thought of something.

Meanwhile Ben and the Mane 6 confronted Mavis again.

"Not to worry, my darling. Your coach will be found." said Twilight.

"Thank you, guys." smiled Mavis.

Later Thomas spoke with Gordon. "Give it back to Percy, Gordon!" he snapped. "You played a trick on him! He's my best friend!"

"Really?!" laughed Gordon. "I didn't trick him. He gave it to me."

This made the two best friends cross.

"I got an idea." said Percy. "Maybe we can use something to get the coach back. Gordon's express."

So, Thomas and Percy shunted two halves of Gordon's express coaches into the area where Gordon was bashing the jewel colored coach. He stopped and saw his express. "Hey! My express!"

He went down to couple with his train, while Percy finally got the jewel colored coach back.

Gordon's joy expression turned to horror. "He tricked me! The jewel-colored coach!"

"Sorry, Gordon!" laughed Thomas. "You've tried!"

Percy was excited he got the coach back, he didn't realize the buffers of each end were broken til....

"Oh dear!" Gordon cried as he noticed how broken the buffers of the coach were. "What have I done?!"

"Oh no!" cried Percy. "Mavis! She's gonna be mad! What am I gonna do?!"

Gordon's heart sank as Thomas and Percy left for the journey to Mavis. He steamed off with the express feeling ashamed of himself.

Thomas and Percy arrived at the shed where Mavis was there.

"But, Thomas-"

"No buts!" snapped Thomas. "It's hers! I know it's hard, but you'll do it as I tell you."

And Percy did. But to his surprise, Mavis was smiling. "My coach! Oh my coach is found! Even if it's buffers were broken, it brings back the memories of my old railway. Thank you Percy. I'll take it to the works."

This made Percy very proud. The jewel colored coach was repainted and given new sets of buffers. Mavis now takes it along with another jewel colored coach Sir Topham Hatt ordered from her old railway. Mavis calls them Jewel and Jade.

Author's Note:

This is loosely based off the Sagwa episode of the same name.