Thomas and Friendship is Magicby Boytrain1
Chapters
Chapter One
So here I am, sat on the buffer beam of a bright blue E2 steam engine, waiting for the magical set of wooden buffers in front of us to open their portal to reveal the final member of this little 'camping trip' if you can call it that. Well, I may as well introduce myself, my names Jack (but my friend’s call me Captain) and I live here, on the Island of Sodor. I moved here many years ago for reasons I’d rather not discuss… anyway im now sixteen years old and in case you haven’t guessed, the little blue E2 I mentioned earlier is indeed none other than; Thomas the Tank engine. Yep that’s right, as soon as I moved here Thomas was the first of the amazing talking trains I met and well to put a LONG story short, we got on like a house on fire and have been friends ever since. Thomas and the rest of the gang have really matured and aged since the book the Rev wrote. In short, Thomas is no longer the childish, silly engine he used to be, he is now a responsible, kind- hearted, rebellious teenager of a locomotive… so you could say we are pretty well matched!
“Come on!” the impatient steamer sighed, breaking my train of thought. I looked up from my sitting position into his huge black cartoon eyes. It’s something I’ll never get used to, how big these engines faces are compared to that of a human. “Where the heck is Lady!?” he groaned “surely it doesn’t take that long to travel through dimensions… does it?” he looked down at me hopefully, I simply chuckled and jump down of him, landing with a thud on the aging sleepers.
“Aahh stop your whining!” I teased “just cos you can bear to be away from your ‘Lady’friend for more than a day!” I stuck my tongue out at the blue engine as his big white face quickly turned red and a blast of steam shot out from beneath him.
“Come on bro, you know how much of a big thing this is for me!” Thomas replied trying to get rid of his blush and sudden rise in steam pressure that seems to appear every time he even thinks about Lady. Of all the engines on Sodor he had to fall for the magical inter-dimensional one!
“Relax bro im only joking” I said allowing myself another small laugh, which only got me a annoyed stare from him “anyway, im sure she will be here soon, probably just getting slowed up by the portal, you know how buggered those things are nowadays” Thomas did know, after the defeat of Diesel 10 the magical buffers weren’t used very often so started to get a bit temperamental. “And to be honest, if she don’t turn up in the next couple of minutes” I said looking at my watch “we can just go in and look for her” Thomas seemed to except this and I gave small smile. I walked down to his Cab and jumped in to do some general checks and grab a drink. Since we were meant to be having a sort of camp out next to the portal with lady I had a tone of gear with me, being human sure can be a pain sometimes. I looked over Thomas controls, pressure gauge, water level, how much coals is on the fire etc. after making sure everything was in order I went into my laptop bag and pulled out, well what else, my laptop. I clambered down from the cab and wandered back over in front of Thomas “well” hauling myself back onto his buffer beam “might as well keep ourselves entertained while we wait!” Thomas smiled, that in turn making me smile, yeah that happens a lot. I opened the laptop and powered it up, quickly scrolling through my media files trying to find the right folder.
“I’ll never get my smoke box round computers and all this new tech-nol-ogy” Thomas interjected as I scrolled through folder after folder. It was true, Sodor wasn’t exactly keeping up with the world, never had and never will as far as I see it, but that’s what I love about this place. At last I found what I was looking for, the latest episode of MLP: FiM. Yep believe it or not me and Thomas are both casual bronys! As crazy as it sounds we have been following the show ever since the first episode, we aren’t exactly the hard-core bronys like the ones you’d find on YouTube, we just enjoy the show and fanfics. I got myself comfortable leaning my back on Thomas’s cheek and started the episode.
“That was pretty damn awesome” I said as the credits came to an end, Thomas simply smiled and whistled in agreement. I chuckled and shut down my laptop and set it beside me and yawned slightly.
“Well” Thomas started, beginning to realise, to his disappointment, Lady never came “looks like we got to go find her ourselves” I nodded, was very strange of her not to show. But, an adventure onto the magic railroad (hate calling it that, so American) was better than any camp out! I grabbed my laptop and put it back in its bag in Thomas’s cab.
“Right then” I said rubbing my hands together as it was now night time and getting rather chilly “let’s get ready to go” I secured all my luggage in the cab and went about helping Thomas raise some steam. Some energetic shovelling later we were ready to go. “Oki Doki” I leaned out the cab “you gona let me drive or what?” I asked hopefully. There was a pause while my blue companion considered this and then with what I was sure was a smirk replied.
“Nope!” and before I could get another word in, the reverser, brake and regulator all moved of their own accord and we shot off towards the old mangled buffers. After recovering from the sudden start, I simply grumbled at being refused living out my dreams, yet again, typical teenager. Thomas quickly gathered speed towards the buffers.
“You sure you remember how to do this?” I shouted looking through the cabs left porthole at the fast approaching magical portal.
“I think so!” Thomas shouted back, a mixture of apprehension and excitement in his voice. The sound of the little engine with his regulator full open was almost deafening but I loved it all the same. Wait… did he just say I think so?!
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU THIN…” I was cut off by the flash of rainbow coloured lights and the sound of a hard working steam engine plus… my own screaming.
Chapter Two
Blackness, pretty much all I could see was blackness, I quickly came to the conclusion id lost conciseness when we went through the portal. It took what felt like an age for me to wake up but eventually each one of my senses returned to me. When I finally opened my eyes and retrieved my glasses, I found myself on Thomas’s cab floor, my overalls covered in coal dust. I slowly pulled myself back up and staggered to my bag to find some water.
“Alright back there dude?” came a familiar voice, I think he was a bit shaken in all honesty but he was hiding it very well. I dropped down from the cab still shaking a little and made my way over to Thomas (when I say that I mean his face, just to avoid confusion) as I walked towards his front I checked him over for any damage, he seemed to be fine. Finally I stumbled over to him and leant on his left buffer, holding my head a moment to stop it spinning.
“Yeah… im fine… I think…” I said still feeling a bit weird after the jump from one reality to the next. “What about you?” I asked “been a while since you’ve done anything like that, you feeling alright?” Thomas simply let out a sigh of steam and smiled.
“Never better!” he announced looking all smug, I just laughed at him. Now my mind was up to speed, I rather important question popped up.
“Right, first off” I began, taking a look around “where the hell are we!?” I asked with a bit of sharpness in my voice. “And second of all, why the hell do you look more cartoony than usual?” it was true, he really did look more like animated than usual and for him that’s saying something!
“Wait what!?” he replied slightly confused.
“I mean it, you look like you’ve been animated like twice over!” I chuckled “here let me go get a mirror out of my bag and you’ll see what I mean” I walked back over to the cab and jumped up to find my bags were slung about on the floor after the jump. I soon found my overnight bag and pulled out my old travel mirror and went back over to Thomas and showed himself to him. “See for yourself” he stared and kept staring for rather a long time. Finally, after a good minute he simply said
“What the actual hell?” his big face was full of confusion, surprise and just general ‘the f**?’ I chuckled. He soon stopped staring at himself and turned his attention to me, in all the confusion and getting knocked out I’d forgotten that if Thomas looks different, then there was a good choice i would too. “Well, to be honest mate you don’t look any better!” he said stifling a laugh at my now animated human form “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this colourful!” no longer being able to hold his laugher Thomas burst into that cute giggling he does. I glare at him but soon I realise there’s no pint getting angry as I flip the mirror over and take a good look at himself, I had indeed, turned into a very colourful animated human. My skin becoming very radiant and eyes that shone bright, even my coal-black overalls had a brighter tone.
As I looked over myself, cogs in my head started to turn and the overall look of me and Thomas started to ring bells in my mind, I quickly started to look at our surroundings, something I had neglected to do thus far, we were in a valley on what look like a very old unused line of track. The mountains towered above us and where covered in snow and ice and the rock was a light grey in colour, this in turn rang more bells in my aching head. I decided it was time for some exploration.
“Well, I think it’s time we went and had a look around” I said walking back towards Thomas’s cab “what you reckon?” he simply replied with a smile and a long whistle which seem to echo through the valley. I clambered up to the cab, once again secured all my luggage, brought up Thomas’s fire with a few shovels of coal and took my position in the cab, leaning out the lift hand side with hand on the regulator. “Now, please can I drive this time?” I begged.
“Ha-ha oh alright then” said the little blue engine, I beamed and threw forward the reverser, took of the brake and with a smile on my face I open the regulator. Thomas responded like he always did, quickly and smoothly. Steadily we puffed over the creaking track and made our way round the corner.
What we saw, when we turned that corner, made my blood run cold and Thomas’s axels shake. Rolling green hills, huge forests, massive mountain ranges. Everything was bright and colourful, like it had been taken straight from a child imagination. But, that wasn't what surprised us, it was the fact that bellow us on the huge expanse of land was a town that looked ow-so familiar... looks like inter-dimensional travel is harder than i first thought.
Chapter Three
Equestria, we are in Equestria… fizzling fireboxes it all makes sense now! The animations, the mountains, the colours! How the hell did I not figure this out earlier!? How the hell did we mange this? We were trying to go into the magical realm of Railroads, not talking ponies. Must of knocked my head harder than I thought…my inner ranting was interrupted by a sudden jerk, Thomas had stopped himself.
“Im guessing your thinking what im thinking?” he said with a slightly shocked tone. I did my best Big Mac impression as a response, which got a chuckle out of him. “Well…” he continued trying to break the sudden silence “what do we do now?” I pondered this for a moment, but quickly came to a simple conclusion. I locked up the cab as I stepped down, making sure the doors were closed so my bags wouldn't fall out. I clambered up onto Thomas’s boiler, minding his hot safety valve and then slid down by his funnel so I was standing next to his face, finding secure places for my feet, i placed my hands on the hand rails that ran along his smoke box and smiled.
“Its simple dude, we explore” i reply confidently "we just steamed ourselves into the land of talking ponies completely by accident, no point sitting around eh?"
Thomas looked up at me with a apprehensive expression. "you sure?" i looked at him puzzled "i mean, come on, you know how it goes, you of all people have read the fanfics!" poor guy, read too much stuff on FIMfiction i think.
"Dude, relax, we will be fine" i say reassuringly "now come on, mush!" with that, Thomas sighs and sets off at a cautions pace.
After roughly five minutes of travelling along the old track, some times catching more looks at Equestria through cracks and holes in the rock we arrived at a set of points, the rails and sleepers of the other track looks well maintained and well used. We came to a stop well clear of the points and I jumped down to inspect them, after a good looking over I conclude they hadn’t been used in a VERY long time. There was no lever to change them over so they were clearly only there for emergency's. "Well well well" i say, turning back to Thomas "i do believe we have come across the Equestrian main line" i began to now ponder our options.
"Whats the plan then?” Thomas asked, was a silly question really, we had plenty of coal and water. We shift these points and we run on down and see where the line takes us!
"Simple mate" i reply as start digging through his cab again "we go exploring" I found my oil can and went back to the points and gave them a good going over with the oil. I was surprised that when a kick of my steel toe cap boots caused the rail to shift slightly. I repeated booted the rail with my foot over and over, Thomas simply laughing at the constant clanging sound of metal on rubber-covered-metal. After a good 20 kicks or so and a sore foot I had succeeded in moving the rail over and I signalled Thomas to roll over. With a chorus of whistles he was now on the mainline. I set the points back with more kicking and another aching foot. I finally clambered back into the cab and started to put on more coal as Thomas had mentioned he was feeling low, i didn't get far though as i was interrupted by a whistle... and it wasn't Thomas's.
I looked out the rear of the cab, to be honest i wish i hadn't because all i saw was another train barrelling towards us...
"aahhhh crud!"
Chapter Four
“Let me guess” began the little blue engine with a sigh “ there's a train behind us?”
“Eeyup”
“Run?”
“Run!” (Yes I know engines can’t run but it has the same concept) and with that, we were off, steaming for our lives, not wanting to be splattered by the magic pony driven train behind us. I was shovelling for dear life as we shot along the mountain track, the gradient was insanely steep in places, typical cartoon. After a good ten minutes of being chased we had finally put some distance between us and the cartoon train trying to kill us. Thomas was panting hard now, he had really pushed himself and I was damn proud of him for going that fast for that long! “I’ll save you soppy praise bro” I shouted over the wind, he gave me a weary smile “but just take it easy from now on ok?” If he could have nodded I think he would of. With that we simply coasted along the hills, i grabbed my bottle of water and had a good drink and some well deserved food. Cheese sandwiches, quality meal, anyway now we could relax and take in the scenery. Until my thinking was cut short as Thomas let out a whistle.
“Tunnel coming up jack, tracks levelling out too” he shouted back to me “I think we’re coming out of the mountains!” I leaned out the cab and sure enough a tunnel was fast approaching.
“Alright Thomas get your lights on, it looks like a long one so best be ready for whatever’s on the other side” I replied, I had a pretty good idea what was on the other size but I didn’t want to let on just yet. We entered the tunnel pretty silently as Thomas’s regulator was shut since he was still pooped from the chase. I was right, the tunnel seemed to go forever, I looked at my watch, we had been in here for a good twenty minutes before we could even see glimpse of the end of the tunnel.
“Alright dude, there’s the end, drop your speed and come out the other side slow and steady, we got no idea what’s waiting for us” I shouted as I was digging through my bag. Thomas did so and reduces his speed to a cautious 15mph as we neared the exit. Finally I found what I was looking for, my home made travel speakers and male-to-male jack cable, I set my speakers up on the wooden shelf in the cab and dug into my pockets, after much fishing about in various pockets I found my phone and plug everything together.
“Were coming out jack, jeez the sunlight’s bloody blinding!” I heard Thomas say and sure enough, I was blinded by the same light. When we had both recovered, what we saw was just… well, magical! The rolling green hills, the flawless blue sky, the perfect sunshine… yep, this was the Equestrian country side. A grin grew on my face as I unlocked my phone and flicked through the track, A no, B no… ahh C. finally I found the song I wanted and clicked play… nothing. Ow wait, DERP, I turn the volume up full on my phone then slowly increase the volume on the speakers, soon the intro to ‘Country Song’ by Seether was playing and growing in volume.
“Very appropriate” I heard Thomas chuckle up front just before the music reached a level of loudness that blocked out all other noises. With the music all set up i set to work recovering our lost steam pressure and managing what was left of our fuel, but soon the chorus of the song echoed through the cab and we could help but sing along.
“I keep on thinking that it's, all done and all over now, you keep on thinking you can save me, save me, my ship is sinking but it's all good and I can go down you got me thinking that the party's all over!” we both sang our hearts out as we rolled through the immaculate world of ponies. We sang a good five songs before we saw something in the distance, something that made us both practically jump for joy. There up ahead of us just next to the track was a water tower, just what we needed! We rolled up alongside it and I wasted no time opening Thomas’s filler cap and filling up his tanks. We both let out a sigh of relief as we no longer had to worry about water troubles, as we sat there filling up with water I stood up on Thomas’s cab roof and had a good look round. We were not too far from what a presumed to be the very outskirts of Ponyvillle and I could see what I thought was the Apples farm up ahead, apart from that it was just green countryside for miles around… or so I thought, as I took a look up into the clear blue sky I noticed something very strange for equestrian sky’s, a rogue cloud!
I stared at this one tiny cloud In the middle of sky just above us; I scratched my chin, thinking surely the weather patrols would have kept the skies squeaky clean. I frowned, so I consulted Thomas about, soon both of us were staring at this one cloud while Thomas’s tanks slowly filled up. (Equestrian water towers are really small, took bloody ages!)
“So what you reckon?” I asked after a good couple minutes of joint silent thought
“I don’t know” Thomas replied thoughtfully “it’s not like pegasus ponies to leave a stray cloud” damn right it wasn’t I… wait… no, surely not… my eye grew wide and I threw my hands to my head in disbelief
“Of course!” I yelled smacking myself at my stupidity “how did I not realise this before! Stupid stupid stupid boy!”
“Jack what the hell’s wrong with you, your making as much sense as derpy right now!” said the confused engine, I laughed at him, he’s going to kick himself when he realises. I jumped down off of him and stood dead in front of his face and began to explain with a grin on my face
“Dude, which Pegasus do we all know that likes to leave a cloud around for her own personal use?” I laughed again at my own previous stupidity. Finally after a few seconds Thomas finally understood what I was getting at. His eyes going wide, his mouth dropping open and steam escaping from under him.
“You mean she’s…” I nodded “probably sleeping?” another nod “and we are under…” a final nod confirmed his wildest dreams, we had been sitting under a sleeping Rainbow Dash all this time.
Chapter Five
“owmygosh owmygosh owmygosh!” he was doing a perfect imitation of Dash, squealing and blowing steam like a true fan boy. I simply laughed at the little blue engine having a fan-gasm in front of me over his all-time favourite pony.
“Well” I began with a naughty smile growing on my face “going to introduce yourself?” he instantly looked at me and went red in the face, quickly looking away from me and back at the lone cloud.
“I… I… errmmm, well” was all he could manage before I laughed at him and waved away his response.
“Relax I was only teasing” I smile at the thought of being able to meet the Mane 6 one day “but” I continued “im not missing this opportunity to prank the cockiest Pegasus in Equestria!” without waiting for a response I set to work getting us ready to move off, the tanks were full and I begun stoking the fire and building up a good head of steam.
“Hey jack” I heard Thomas begin to say “just to check, you do still have the conductors whistles with you don’t you?" I could hear the slightly worry in his voice. Id completely forgotten about the magical whistle around my neck, I reached into my overalls and pulled it out, still shining its blinding silver. These special whistles are commissioned by the Fat Controller himself and can use the magic of the Island of Sodor to do a number of things, with the aid of gold dust of course. The main trick of these whistles is teleporting; I smiled as I looked down the whistle, sure enough a small deposit of gold dust glinted in the bottom. I placed it to my lips and closed my eyes, concentrating I blew hard, the high pitched noise filling my ears and the weird tingling taking hold of the rest of my senses. When I opened my eyes I was standing in front of Thomas’s smiling face, I let the whistle drop back around my neck.
“Does that answer your question?" I replied with a chuckle, I took another quick glance at the cloud above us, my earlier theory was confirmed as the cloud shuffled and i glimpsed a rainbow mane being whipped around by a rough sleeping Pegasus. I wandered back to the cab and made sure all the preparation were complete.
“Ready Thomas?” I asked moving forward the reverser and taking off the handbrake.
“Ready and raring to go!” the little blue engine replied cheerfully.
“Right then” I said placing both hands on the chain that attached to Thomas’s whistle “as soon as blast her with the whistle, get us the blazes out of here, got it?”
“Got it!” he replied, I swear I heard him giggle
“3… 2… 1… GO!” with a good hard pull I let rip a long loud whistle that was followed by the yelp of a frightened pony. Seconds later Thomas jolted forward and rapidly accelerated away laughing his funnel off. Over the ruckus and noise I heard a distinct splash, I looked back out the cab to see I cyan blue Pegasus with a now soaking wet mane climbing out the top of the water tower, confusion and anger plastered on her face as she stared at use, I ducked down making sure not to be seen, but quickly dissolved into laughter as the face of the poor wet pony was plastered onto my mind, it was fair to say, we had made Rainbow Dash wet, you mad?
After recovering from our laughter, we got back to the job in hand, making it to a overnight stop before Celestia and Luna stick us in the dark. It had been a long day and by the looks of it, we weren’t going to make it, the sun was already setting and we had no idea where any siding were. We had just entered Sweet Apple Acres, you realise how big the Apple’s farm is when you’re going through it on a railway line! Thankfully we soon found a siding alongside a loading dock, looked like the apples used it to loads apples onto the trains. I decided that was as good a place as ever to stop overnight, thankfully these points had a lever so no kicking was involved. We parked up alongside the loading dock and I began the ritual of dropping the fire and releasing steam, like every crew member must do on his engine at the end of the day. I dropped Thomas’s fire to small a campfire to keep me warm in the night ahead; as I did Thomas vented the rest of the steam out of his boiler and into the sky, which looked pretty cool against the setting sun. It was always a loud process letting off steam, tonight was no exception, little did I know this time we had been a little too loud as a certain three young filly’s eyes shot open at an alien sound.
“You’ll have to find a way to clean my tubes in the morning” yawned Thomas as put the oil can back in the cab. I sighed in reply, knowing the morning was going to be a difficult one. As Thomas enjoyed the sight of Equestria at dusk I finally unstrapped all my bags from Thomas’s cab, throwing them onto the loading dock creating enough space on the hot, coal dust covered floor for me to sleep. I went back to my bags and started sorting through them: Living bag with all my clothing and general supplies, Food bag pretty much self-explanatory and Guitar case for my beast of an instrument. I pulled my sleeping bag out of my living bag and rolled it out onto the cab floor.
“You better keep me warm tonight, I aren’t freezing like last time you hear?” I joked as I set up my sleeping arrangements… no reply; surely he hadn’t gone to sleep already? “Thomas?” no he couldn’t have, cautiously I step back out the cab and looked towards him, what I saw next almost made me Dawww so hard but at the same time scream with terror.. Standing there, staring Thomas in the face, wide eyed and open mouthed, was three very small fillies… “ow bugger…”
Chapter Six
Well this is awkward… stood here being stared at by the Cutie Mark Crusaders, not a word had been spoken for a good minute. I had to say something quick, but what?! I soon got my answer as all three of them looked at each other and simultaneously… fainted. Crap. I smacked my forehead at how incredibly long this night was going to be. Of all the ponies that wind up finding us, it had to be these three, ugh! “Aright there Thomas?” I asked as I walked over to the fainted trio.
“Yeah, im fine, just… shocked” he said, his voice shook ever so slightly as he spoke “one second im looking up at the moon, the next I look round and see those three staring at me like im some sort of bloody monster!” I nodded in agreement, it was clear these ponies weren’t ready to meet a talking train as of yet. “What you going to do with them?” he asked as I bent over each one of them in turn making sure they weren’t hurt or anything; just to be safe you know?
“Well, if my intuition serves me correct” I began thoughtfully “knowing these three they are probably having a sleep over in their club house or something similar, which presumably is the light I can see flickering through the trees over there” I didn’t bother pointing as the light was out of Thomas’s field of vision, one of the disadvantages of being a train, you can’t turn round to look at something. Thomas simply took my word for it as I went back into his cab; I needed to change for this next challenge. Soon I was out of all things steam related and into my usual attire, black combats, black shirt, black steel-toe-cap boots and my full length black trench coat. It felt good to be, as they say, back in black.
I left all my valuables in my living bag and zipped my coat up all the way, the zip goes all the way up to my nose so now only from the bottom of my eyes upwards can be seen, then up goes my hood which comes down to my eyes. To anyone, or anypony, right now im just a shadow. I scooped up the three bundles of sleeping fur and told Thomas id be back as soon as possible. With that, I began walking towards the light in the distance, looked down at three fillies in my arms, I Daawww’d so hard at how cute they were sleeping, especially Applebloom. After much walking and Dawwwing I found the source of the light, I swore silently but violently when I realised it wasn’t the tree house, but the Apples family residence. Well, I was here so this was as good a place as any, I walked up to the front door of the wooden house, bugger how the hell do I get them in house? I had to think fast as the trio began to stir in my arms, only one thing to do. I set the three down as gently as possible and bangs on the door until lights upstairs flickered on, then I did what I do best, became invisible. I blended myself into the shadow of the building, in daylight I would be plainly obvious, but with my coat and the night, I was just a shadow. I heard movement in the house and soon the door opened and light was cast out into the night, I held still as stone as I heard a gasp I knew well, Applejack was in the doorway staring down at the stirring trio of adventures. Quickly she took them inside, I heard muffled sleepy voice from the interior of the house, my work here is done.
I slowly began to move, making sure to keep my stealth to an absolute maximum.
“Who’s there? Ah know you’re out there?!” A southern voice cut through me making me stop dead, thought raced through my head, what do I do? How the hell did she know?... great, I'm screwed. Ah bugger it, when in doubt, run. With that i grabbed the whistle round my neck and blew hard, a cry came from the orange earth pony but i wasn't there to hear the rest of her reaction.
I appeared next to Thomas; I whipped off my hood and unzipped my coat, letting it flat in the wind; I learned my head back and sighed loudly. Thomas was simply sat there, staring at me, I smiled back at him. “well that went well”
“Yeah, sure it did” he replied with a chuckle. “So what’s the plan batman?” I pondered this for a moment but soon settled on the following: evening meal, go to bed, wake up, raise steam and continue on towards wherever. I quickly dug into my food bag and found my old pack up, the sandwiches were a bit hard but I hadn’t eaten all day so I wasn’t too bothered. After my midnight lunch I hung my coat up, looked Thomas over one more time and put all my bags safely behind my head in the cab. I slept in my boxers to be on the comfy side, I snuggled down into my sleeping bag, I felt the fire grow as Thomas did his best to warm me. We said our goodnights and he quickly nodded off, I stayed up for a while clearing my thoughts until finally I too was overcome by sleep. Bring on the morning!
Chapter Seven
“Gah!...” I jolted upwards as I awoke abruptly, what the hell? What woke me? I can’t hear any… wait… ow crap I know why. My Sixth sense was going crazy in my mind, the one that all humans have but seem to ignore, not me. Someone, or somepony, was nearer than they should be, I silently unzipped my sleeping bag and got out, the cold air making my body shiver uncontrollably due to the sudden change in temperature. I very slowly stood up and looked out of the cab, what I saw almost made me crap my pants on the spot… a very angry Big Mac, a rather worried looking Applejack and a excited looking Applebloom were coming towards us.
I stood up and banged on Thomas’s fire door, best way to wake an engine up, as soon as he snorted awake I shushed him and I hoped he got the message. I quickly put on my old ragged clothes and my overalls, I opened the cab door and walked out to meet the Apples. The faces that met me were not exactly happy, more sort of confused and scared. The three Apples stopped a good five meters away from me, I thought it best I broke the silence.
“Good morning” I said as politely as I could, all three jumped, probably not expecting me to speak “before you say anything can I just apologise for last night, I didn’t mean to scare young Applebloom and her friends, it was a complete accident” the angry expression was slowly falling from Big Mac’s face, thank Luna for that! The little red haired pony eyes went narrow as she stared at me.
“How’d you know mah name mister?” she asked in a very suspicious tone, Applejack quickly hushed her and whispered something about me being dangerous, hail to my awesome hearing. I took off my glasses and wiped them on my shirt then replaced them onto my head.
“You have no need to worry Applejack” I said with a smile “im not here to hurt anypony, quite the opposite” she turned back to me, so many emotions fighting for rights on her face I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
“You know mah big sis’s name too?! But… how!?” Applebloom blurted out, I need to get things explained quickly.
“Look, I can tell all three of you are confused beyond belief right now so here’s the deal” I began with a sigh “me and my friend will answer all your questions and explain everything, on one condition” Applejack raised her head slightly as a signal to continue, I turned to Big Mac “don’t buck my lights out!” after a awkward couple of moments, the big stallion nodded. I smiled in relief and began introducing myself, then doing the same for Thomas who had been silently listening all this time. I took a good hour I think just to explain to them about Thomas! Applebloom instantly fell in love with Thomas; we all know he’s got that effect on kids. It was a long explanation i tell you that, most of consisted of me and Thomas explaining what a human was and where we both came from, but it all seem to go rather well i think, ponies really are as open minded as the show makes out.
“There still something ah don’t understand” said AJ as we finished our explanation “how dya know our names!?” I knew she’d ask that, hopefully she will just trust me and leave it for a while.
“Haha, trust me, you wouldn’t understand even if we told you, just trust me when I say we aren’t spy’s or anything like that” I smiled at her hoping shed except my answer, after a few silent moment she nodded, thank Celestia for that! After that Big Mac said his goodbyes as he had to get his head round what wed told him, that and all the mornings work he had to catch up on, Applebloom went with him after saying her goodbyes to Thomas and I. Applejack didn’t go however, she stayed to ask me some more questions, still keeping her distance however.
“Hey jack” I pulled myself out of my mind and turned to face the earth pony “why are ya here?” I shrugged, she was about to say something else but didn’t get to start her sentence however as Thomas cut in, urgency plaguing his voice.
“Pegasus nine o’clock high, coming in hot!!” he shouted, I spun round to see a cyan blur heading straight towards me, instinctively I took a defensive stance, dug my feet into the ground and threw my arms into a cross in front of my head. Dash dived at me screaming something about saving her friend, as much as I love that mare, i don't enjoy getting spontaneously dive bombed! She impact my arms with such force I skidded along the grass a good metre or two until finally stopping just next to a tree, as soon as I could I uncrossed my arms (which I’ve got to say are now red raw and in are so much pain right now) I wound up a punch and socked Dash straight in the muzzle, sending her barrel rolling backwards. Now i know hitting a pony is not the sort of thing any being should do but il be damned if i just stand here and let a angry Dash kick my ass! I took my stance again ready for whatever Dash threw at me, it never came however as we were interrupted by a rather angry voice.
“Dash!!” yelled AJ, red faced with anger “what in the hay dya think ya doing?!” the dazed Pegasus rubbed her sore muzzle and stood up, she opened her mouth to reply but didn’t get a word in “ah don’t need saving, ah was havin a conversation with Jack here ya bucking fool!” Dash just looked even more confused as her gaze shifted to me, tending to my arms, which thankfully still functioned! Finally she spoke up.
“First of all, what and who the hay are you?!” she began with an angry tone pointing a hoof at me “second, why does that train have a giant talking face!” she pointed at Thomas who ‘eep’ed “and lastly, why the buck did you two wake me yesterday and soak me!?” she literally screamed that last bit, I thought it best to leave to Applejack.
“Applejack, I think it best you handle this” I said through my teeth, I was still in pretty bad pain, she sighed and nodded, she began dragging the confused fuming Pegasus away to give her a lecture on Humans and talking trains. I smiled her a thank you as she walked away with Dash, she simply smiled a weak smile back.
I turned to Thomas who was still in shock, after a couple of pokes he soon came back into reality and flashed me a smile.
“If this is how every encounters going to go we may as well go home now” he joked, but there was a hint of sadness in his voice.
“Yeah I know” I replied with a sigh, massaging my arms “Im sure AJ will sort Dash out and I don’t think we will have much trouble with the others, well apart from the obvious” I chuckled at he thought of a very timid Fluttershy, a very nosey Twilight and a very fashion disgusted Rarity. “Well, I think our next plan of action should be steam and breakfast, what you reckon?” Thomas agreed, so I set to work. About an hour later, id cooked a full English on Thomas’s fire, gosh I hope my food bag don’t empty too quickly, steam pressure was steadily rising and I gave Thomas a once over with a damp rag, trying to get his shine back, tonight I planned to go for a nigh time run, that will do us both some good!
Chapter Eight
Nopony came to us after Dash’s little visit, the night time run was good, going up and down the mainline did us plenty of good and we did pretty much nothing for the rest of the next of next morning. Soon midday came and went, the Apples nor Rainbow Dash returned so I steamed Thomas up and he happily puffed up and down the loading dock to keep himself entertained while I went through my bags of kits. Id sorted what I had in my living bag and food bag, by my guess I could last about a week on what I got, which was pretty damn good. Thomas however wasn’t fairing as well, we could go back up the line to the water tower and fill up whenever sure, but coal wise, we had problems. His bunker was almost empty, only about another ten shovels full of coal were left. Of course Thomas could run a few days on that since he was a Sodor engine, in case you didn’t know, Sodor engines can not only drive themselves but fire themselves too! They can burn emotions so to speak, so as Thomas has been pretty happy (he’s hardly not when im around) he’s hardly been using any coal, just burning happiness to keep the fire hot and the steam up, that’s the magic of Sodor! Celestia eat your heart out!
As I look over my bags I realised I hadn’t touched my guitar all the time I was here I pulled my heavy case onto its side, unzipped it and opened it up, revealing my jet black double neck SG guitar. I smiled as I pulled it out of its case to inspect it, still awesome! I looked it over for any damage and to my relief there was none, I strummed each string in turn playing a few notes, everything seemed to be in order. I heard familiar puffing and the squeal of brakes as Thomas pulled up alongside me after his tenth run up and down the loading dock.
“You haven’t touched that in a while” Thomas remarked letting off some steam, the engines version of a sigh “gonna give us a tune?” I could tell he wanted to hear me play; he always does whenever I get my guitar out. I hadn’t played in a while so I thought what the hell let’s do it! I turned my case round and unzipped the panel, revealing my portable amp id built into the back of the case long ago, for a battery powered amp it was bloody loud, which is a good thing! I dug the wires out of the case and plugged my guitar in flipping the master switch, I then proceeded to make sure the amp and guitar were tuned correctly, takes longer when you got two necks and twice the strings. After a few minutes of messing about I was ready to play.
“Any requests?” I asked as I cracked my fingers
“As long as it rocks I really don’t care!” I grinned as I wacked up the volume on the amp and ripped into the intro of . “Ohh you legend!” Thomas laughed barley audible over the noise of my strumming. I got to the first verse, realising he was expecting me to sing too, I took a deep breath and let loose:
Deep down Louisiana close to New Orleans
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens
There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood
Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode
Who never ever learned to read or write so well
But he could play the guitar just like a ringing a bell
Go go
Go Johnny go
Go
Go Johnny go
Go
Go Johnny go
Go
Go Johnny go
Go
Johnny B. Goode
He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack
Go sit beneath the tree by the railroad track
Oh, the engineerswould see him sitting in the shade
Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made
People passing by they would stop and say
Oh my that little country boy could play
Go go
Go Johnny go
Go
Go Johnny go
Go
Go Johnny go
Go
Go Johnny go
Go
Johnny B. Goode
His mother told him "Someday you will be a man,
And you will be the leader of a big old band.
Many people coming from miles around
To hear you play your music when the sun go down
Maybe someday your name will be in lights
Saying Johnny B. Goode tonight."
Go go
Go Johnny go
Go go go Johnny go
Go go go Johnny go
Go go go Johnny go
Go
Johnny B. Goode
I was left panting by the end, arms limp by my side, hair in a mess, but smiling. Thomas looked at me and beamed at me, whistling wildly as a form of applause, I waved him away, I was red in the face so my blush was unnoticed. I unplugged my guitar and swung it on to my back. The pain in various parts of my body were now making themselves known, I looked at my hands, most of my fingertips were cut and bleeding, drops of blood dripping onto the green grass. I let out a chuckle as I rolled my shoulders to try and relive some of the pain. “Where’s Fluttershy when you need her eh?” Thomas would of laugh im sure, if we hadn’t heard an ‘eep’ when I said the shy ponies’ name. Our eyes widened as I did a 180 on the spot and Thomas looked round me, behind me was AJ, Dash and Fluttershy, standing there open mouthed. (What is it with ponies and staring at me?!) “Well” I began, blinking madly “wasn’t expecting you three, how long have you been there?”