Thomas and Friends: Fun in the Sun

by The Blue EM2

Sunny-Day Dinners

One morning, Sunny was in the kitchen before the others were up. She had special plans for a special treat for all of them. Butter simmered in the pan and ingredients were at the side as Sunny got all the equipment up to spec.

"Perfect!" she said, as she added the batter to something else. "They won't forget this breakfast in a hurry!"

After a few more minutes, the items were ready, and Sunny placed the plates onto the table. The results were marvellous. Eggs sat neatly in rows in egg cups, ready for their new customers to eat. There was toast, and bacon, and pancakes, and of course butter and maple syrup. What more could you want for breakfast on a lazy weekend morning? It was Sunday, so the railway was running a slightly reduced timetable, which gave time for eating.

Unfortunately, there was one ingredient missing. The people to eat it.

Sunny stuck her head out of the door. "Breakfast's ready!"

And suddenly there they arrived. First Izzy dashed through the door. She took a bite out of some of the toast and was suddenly on her way. "Sorry Sunny! Gotta go! See you later! Looks delicious bye!"

Sunny was confused. What could Izzy be doing on a day like today?

Then Isaac and Aurora drifted through, taking the plates with them and depositing the food into tupperware boxes. Expect the eggs, which they casually cracked and poured over the bread before heading on their way.

Sunny was even more confused. Was there some sort of joke she was missing out on? Was it National Take your Breakfast With You Day?

Sunny sighed as Argyle and Goldie entered. "So much for a slow start to the day. It feels like we're drifting apart."

Argyle looked in amazement at what had been made. "You did all of this for us?" he said. He took a seat. "Come on Goldie. I don't think we need to be there in too much of a hurry. Sometimes it's nice to just slow down."

Goldie took a seat, and noticed how dejected Sunny looked. "I know it's disappointing when friends aren't around," she said. "But the Moonbows do have their own lives apart from ours, and it's important to respect that."

Sunny sighed. "It's a little hard to buy that when they don't so much as say thank you."

"Now that is rude," Argyle commented. He took a look at the eggs. "Right, how do I do this again?"

---

Later that day, Sunny got a telephone call. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Ah! Sunny!" said the voice, the general manager of the Kingswear Railway. "Sorry to say we've had a bit of a problem. Last night some high winds knocked over the telegraph wires, which in turn has damaged the block signalling system. We can't resume safe rail operation until the system is fixed as otherwise the token machines won't work. Can you and Salty take an engineering train along the line to fix it?"

"Can do!" Sunny said. "I'm on my way!"

Goldie, who had heard the call, stepped in. "Who was that?"

"The General Manager of the railway," Sunny replied. "They're having problems with the telegraph lines, and they want me to work an engineering train to help fix them."

---

Later on, Salty and Sunny had assembled a train of supplies, and the permanent way department had boarded a brake van to convey them to the damaged wires. Sunny looked up and smiled. "There's hope yet!" she said.

"What is it?" Salty asked.

"There's a rainbow over there!" she said, pointing to the sky.

Salty smiled. "Arr. The ancient symbol of hope and happiness. An old sea story says that you'll find something magical at the end of one."

"Right away!" shouted one of the engineers.

"Gotcha!" Sunny replied, and advanced the throttle.

Salty, as was his custom, launched off into a sea shanty. "I heard, I heard, the old man say!"

Their first stop was Goodrington, where there were many cables to fix thanks to the nearby carriage sidings. As the first group of mechanics got off to fix the system, Sunny noticed something. "Bother! The rainbow's moved!"

Salty laughed. "Maybe we have a runaway rainbow on our hands!"

"A what?"

"Another old sea story tells of a ship that chased a rainbow all across the world, but never found it. It's something about a fool's errand or something like that."

"I see," Sunny replied. Noticing the engineers had gotten off, they headed on their way up to Churston for another dropoff. This time they had to leave some equipment, and Porter was there.

"Nasty storm, this!" he said. "Could you two help me dig some trucks out?"

"Sorry, we can't stop!" Sunny replied. "Got to deliver some supplies!" And before anybody knew what was happening they were on their way.

Izzy looked sad, and then the irony of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks. "First I was too busy to spend time with her, now she's too busy to spend time with me. Why does life have to be so ironic?"

---

Salty made his way slowly down the bank towards Kingswear. The weight of the train and the steep hill were giving his brake blocks a workout, and as he reached the bottom he sighed in relief. "Easy does it now," he said. "Not far to journey's end."

Unfortunately, he was wrong. Sunny's eyes widened at what was ahead. "STOP!" she shouted, and slammed on the emergency brakes. The train stopped just in time.

"Shiver me cylinders!" said Salty. "There's a tree on the line!"

And there was. The tree was so big it blocked the track, and there was no way around it, this being a single track railway. Sunny quickly went back to ask for help. "Hello?" she asked a member of staff. "Does anybody have a chainsaw? There's a big tree in the way."

Within a few minutes the tree was no longer a threat, and the train proceeded to Kingswear, where to Sunny's surprise Isaac and Aurora were already waiting. "Hello you two!" Isaac called. "Sorry for rushing off at breakfast this morning, but we had to help clear up storm damage down at this end of the line."

"We got here by boat, in case you were wondering," Aurora explained. "But yeah, our bad. We should have explained we were in a hurry, and it doesn't justify just taking stuff without saying thank you."

Sunny smiled as she put Salty into neutral. "It's OK," she said. "Besides, we all have our own lives. I guess I didn't really appreciate that. It's a bit unreasonable to expect everybody to drop everything at the drop of a hat and put their lives on hold. And besides, I can always cook breakfast another day."

Porter then arrived with some trucks. "You won't need to do any cooking now," he said. "Meals on the house, guys! The general manager has ordered this food as a way of saying thank you for working so hard today! Sure makes Sunday great, eh?"

Izzy hopped off the footplate. "And in honour of the person who made sending the messages possible, I propose today is 'Sunny Day' from here on out!"

And there was much merriment and laughter.

Author's Note:

This story combines elements of the Tell your Tale short Sunny Day Dinners and the Thomas and Friends episode Thomas and the Rainbow, although truncated to try and achieve the feel of a Classic Series episode.

There is also a G3 reference in there if you can spot it.

Comments

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

Goldie took a seat, and noticed how dejected Sunny looked. "I know it's disappointing when friends aren't around," she said. "But the Moonbows do have their own lives apart from ours, and it's important to respect that."

Yep, we all got our own schedules to keep up with.

"Another old sea story tells of a ship that chased a rainbow all across the world, but never found it. It's something about a fool's errand or something like that."

Uh huh...

Izzy looked sad, and then the irony of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks. "First I was too busy to spend time with her, now she's too busy to spend time with me. Why does life have to be so ironic?"

You kinda had that coming Izzy.

Izzy hopped off the footplate. "And in honour of the person who made sending the messages possible, I propose today is 'Sunny Day' from here on out!"

Ha ha ha!
I'm laughing in a good way not a mean way.

[The Blue EM2]

11638486
1. That's kinda the moral of the story.

2. Indeed.

3. True, but it's sad nontheless.

4. It was meant to be funny.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

I spot the G3 reference as soon as Salty said it. "Runaway Rainbow".

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

11637790
Very true. Infact, I chosen Peter Cullen to be the voice if my OC Alicorn that is Celestia and Luna's father

It is totally worth seeing. It puts in many things the other films didn't incorporate.

[The Blue EM2]

11638639
Very good.

[The Blue EM2]

11638670
I'll do so, then.